163

Somewhere in HyperSpace

The three Jedis were moving around a crappy spaceship that looks like it would crash at any moment. Anakin and Tony were busy fixing components all over the place, while Ahsoka was assisting the two wherever she can.

Ahsoka: "Master. Do we really have to arrive in Tatooine in this rust bucket? I'm not even sure this thing will get past the atmosphere."

Anakin didn't answer his Padawan immediately as he was busy tightening up the components. When he was sure it was tight enough, he rested for a bit and reassured his Padawan

Anakin: "It's fine Snips. It's actually nice to do these kinds of things once in a while."

Ahsoka: "Fine. But can you at least tell me why Ventress gets her own spaceship while we are stuck in this?"

Tony: "It's called a handicap Ahsoka. It's something you do to make things interesting."

Ahsoka: "Then why did you bring your mobile suits on-board."

Anakin: "It's called a backup plan Snips."

Tony: "Yep. Enjoy the challenge but never underestimate the enemy. Especially since Count Dooku is planning to ambush us."

Anakin: "It's also the reason why we sent that stinky Hutt-let on another spaceship."

Beeping Noise

Anakin: "Looks like time's up."

Anakin did some final touches and went on the driver's seat. Tony saw that Anakin was piloting so he warned Ahsoka to put on her seatbelts.

Tony: "Make sure you fasten properly Ahsoka. Your master has a reputation of crash-landing all of the spaceships he is piloting."

Anakin: "Hey!!! I safely landed that Consular Cruiser from our trip to Mandalore."

Tony: "Fine. He crash-landed most of the ships. Oh right, HARO"

HARO bounced around until it reached Ahsoka. Ahsoka grabbed the ball and it slowly released another set of nanites that transformed into Jabba's son. She grabbed hold of the fake Hutt-let while HARO bounced onto R2's head.

_____

After they jumped off of Hyperspace, they were immediately greeted by a pair of Separatist Fighter ships.

They tried to shoot at the crappy spaceship but Anakin already anticipated this and dodged the blaster fire.

Tony: "Two fighters. Need any help?"

Anakin: "No need. R2 can handle those. R2..."

Enthusiastic beeping

R2 went to the control panel and took over controls of the ship's weapons system. Anakin coordinated with his droid as they maneuver around space.

Anakin told R2 when he was about to stabilize the ship and had R2 shoot whenever it's ready.

R2 fired the moment it noticed it could and was able to shoot down the 2 fighters.

Ahsoka: "Good job R2. Looks like the enemy is a lot weaker than we expected."

Tony & Anakin: ""[groaned]""

After groaning for a bit, Tony talked to Anikin, asking him why he didn't teach his Padawan not to say those kinds of things.

Anakin tried to reason out but Ahsoka asked first as she didn't understand why they were upset.

Anakin: "I didn't think she'd..."

Ahsoka: "What did I do?"

Anakin: "You shouldn't have said what you said, Snips."

Tony: "Yup. Now things will escalate very quickly."

Ahsoka: "Huh?"

She was just trying to understand what they were saying when the ship's panels started beeping. Something big just exited Hyperspace and it sent smaller spaceships to pursue the Jedis.

Tony: "Destroyer. And it just released a squad of vulture droids"

Ahsoka: "Sorry."

Anakin: "At least we finally have a proper challenge. Tony..."

Tony: "On it."

Tony pulled out a helmet and gave it to Ahsoka. It was connected to the weapons of the spaceships. He gave it to her so that she could use it to shoot down the enemies.

After giving her this, Tony put on an Iron Man suit and went to the airlock to exit the spaceship. When he got out, he turned on magnetic boots and walked over to vulnerable parts of the spaceship. He took drew a lightsaber of each hand while a Gatling gun slowly formed behind him.

The suit extended a power line and connected to the spaceship's power system and used it as the power source.

The Jedis started shooting at the enemy fighters.

_____

They had a dogfight and Tony acted as the deflector shield for parts of the spaceship that had weaker defenses. He was able to deflect most of the attacks but it wasn't enough as he couldn't cover the entire spaceship.

The Jedis were able to eliminate their pursuers but the ship they were on was damaged in the process. The engines were shot and they were slowly losing propulsion.

Tony already expected something like this so he went back inside and prepared himself for the crashlanding.

Everyone was calmly waiting for the ship to crash when Anakin's communicator started ringing.

Obi-Wan: "Kenobi here. Is that your ship crashing down again?"

Anakin: "Relax. This one is part of the plan. So, why did you call?"

Obi-Wan: "The Kaminoan we interrogated finally revealed how the clones could be controlled. We haven't figured out to remove the chips but we could stop the clones from turning on us."

Anakin: "You mean..."

Obi-Wan: "Yes. Anakin, Tony. You can capture Dooku now. Ahsoka, you are to protect the Hutt-let. You don't have to return the Hutt-let immediately. Just make sure he's safe."

After Obi-Wan's hologram shut-off, Anakin and Tony looked at each other. They were trying to talk about their own plan but they could discuss it with Ahsoka yet. She was still fresh from the Jedi Council after all, and still had to learn a few things before they could trust her.

Anakin: "Will it work?"

Tony: "Not sure. It's still too early. A lot could change. It's your call on this. What I saw is just one of the many possibilities after all. Besides, the Force doesn't really care what happens as long as it stays alive."

Anakin: "Then let's give it a try."

_____

The crappy spaceship crash-landed on the sand. While a lot of parts dropped off, most of its parts survived.

They started evacuating the ship, while Tony went to the mobile suit hidden in the ship. He left a clone inside as well as HARO to make sure the mobile suit wouldn't get taken for scraps. Then, he went out to join the rest of the Jedis.

Anakin: "Are you sure you want to leave That in there? There are Jawas everywhere."

Tony: "It's fine. HARO can pilot it. We just need to get as far away as we can so that it wouldn't be revealed."

Hearing this, the Jedis jumped down and onto the sand. Anakin led the way, but they stopped once again when they noticed R2 stayed behind.

Reluctant beeping*

Ahsoka: "Oh Artooie. It's just endless tracts of gritty, abrasive sand. I'll clean your servos later. Come on"

R2 looked down at the sand and then rolled back to the safety of the spaceship.

Tony: "Like master like a droid."

Anakin: "I don't see a problem. Sand is really annoying after all. You should follow R2 and leave that suit. It'll just get destroyed by the sand."

Tony looked at Anakin who started going emo again. He thought that Anakin grew out of that phase after he took in Ahsoka but apparently it wasn't the case.

Tony: "Remind me not to come along when you go somewhere sandy."

After this, Tony went towards R2 and reminded the droid of the upgrades on it. R2 launched itself off of the spaceship and the outer shell started folding out again.

Aside from the seats which folded to its sides, a set of skis also folded out. The skis' width slowly expanded until it could cover R2's feet.

After waiting for R2 to fully transform, Tony stepped on the skis and docked it to the suit he was wearing.

Anakin and Ahsoka saw the weird vehicle that R2 transformed into and didn't know what to say. They were staring for quite a while until Tony reminded them to sit and as they were about to go.

____

The Jedis traveled the desert, going towards Jabba's Palace. They were half-way through when a speeder got close and intercepted them.

The moment they saw the speeder, they knew that it was Dooku. Anakin and Tony jumped off to confront him, while Ahsoka remained on R2.

Ahsoka and R2 left the area as fast as they could, bringing along the fake Hutt-let with them.

Dooku: "Surrender or Die. Both of you."

After saying this, Dooku unleashed Force lighting upon the two Jedis.

Tony intercepted the lighting and had his suit absorb most of it. Dooku felt Deja Vu and jumped back but it was useless as no repulser blast struck where he was.

Tony: "What are you jumping back for? Is absorbing Force Lighting really scary?"

Tony acted like he didn't understand why Dooku jumped back. He wanted to continue confusing the Sith and let him lower his guard against technology.

Dooku didn't know if he was being tricked but he didn't care. He drew out his lightsaber and went to confront the two.

During the first two clashes, he taunted the two while talking about all sorts of things. He made sure to increase the pressure on Tony while taking it easy on Anakin. He wanted Anakin to look superior when it comes to fighting.

Dooku: "Stark. Your dependence on technology had made you weak.

While you Skywalker. You're training has come a long way. Boy"

Dooku continued fighting with the two while also trying to incite Anakin's anger.

Dooku reminded Anakin of his life in Tatooine. He then reminded the boy that of his mother's death.

Anakin acted like he was disturbed by Dooku's words and let himself get knocked away.

Dooku focused on fighting against Tony, while Anakin got some time to breathe.

While on break, Anakin noticed a ship approach them. It hovered over the lightsaber wielders and Ventress suddenly jumped off.

Anakin went to confront Ventress while Tony kept Dooku busy. He easily beat Ventress and then he called Dooku's attention.

Anakin: "Surrender Dooku. Or else I'll have to kill Ventress."

Dooku: "Using a hostage. I see that the Dark side has already influenced you. "

Dooku kept implying that Anakin is slowly falling to the Dark side. He praised what Anakin was doing but didn't follow any of Anakin's instructions.

Anakin kept packing his lightsaber closer and closer but Dooku just ignored it and continued fighting Tony. He focused on combat and didn't show care for Ventress as he responded half-heartedly.

Dooku: "Kill her then. It is a blessing to be able to get rid of such a useless assassin. "

Anakin decapitated Ventress and her head dropped staring at Dooku.

_____

Inside a spaceship parked at the other side of Tatooine.

Ventress jumped out of a pod and landed on the ground kneeling. She was remembering the feeling of getting killed and how her master didn't seem to bat an eye when she's dead.

She experienced betrayal and felt helpless. She was stuck kneeling until she heard a voice that felt familiar.

A hologram of Mother Talzin talked to Ventress. She told the Sith about how Ventress should just give up trying to live in the galaxy and just stay in Dathomir like the rest of the Nightsisters.

After talking to Ventress, Mother Talzin contacted the Jedi order and told them that she had a way to locate Maul.

The Nighsisters started forming a better relationship with the Jedis than with the Siths.

_____

Back in Tatooine

The fake Ventress's head was just cut-off yet Dooku was still busy fighting with Tony. The Sith didn't appear disturbed in the vary least that Tony even complained about Dooku being too cold-blooded.

Dooku didn't answer the taunt and instead just continued fighting. He didn't seem eager to beat the Jedis until the Jedi's pointed out that he was stalling.

Dooku: "Don't be overconfident, boy. I just wanted to fight Windu's Padawan. I don't have to stall anymore now that I've seen the performance of his apprentice."

After Dooku said this, large quadruped machines started running from the horizon. They got near the three in no time and surrounded them from all sides.

Once surrounded, Tony and Anakin withdrew their lightsabers and got close to each other. They looked at the machines surrounding them and complimented the Sith's team for developing the machines within such a short amount of time.

Tony: "Before we surrender, can I just ask one thing? Why a quadruped? Is it because you can't figure out how to keep them standing up on just two legs?"

Dooku didn't answer the question as he didn't know why the machines are designed this way. He didn't even care about such things before and only ordered their construction to fight against the mobile suits.

Dooku tried to respond but then he heard music getting louder. He ordered his droids to shoot at the two Jedis before their mobile suits arrived.

Tony: "Too late."

Right after he said this, laser beams started hitting the machines. They hit the weapons on Dooku's machines, leaving them with only their bodies.

Tony: "Don't worry. We won't try to capture you using mobile suits. I want to see how good my lightsaber skills have come. Time for round 2."

After he said this, lightsabers started flying out of Tony's suit and flew towards Dooku.

Dooku laughed after seeing Tony trying to overwhelm him with numbers instead of skill, but he soon stopped laughing.

While Tony's skills weren't a match against Dooku's, Tony still had enough control over each lightsaber to beat a Jedi Master not specializing in lightsabers.

Dooku was overwhelmed with the number of lightsabers that were wielded with high skill and couldn't fight back properly.

He started getting exhausted and showed an opening. A lightsaber struck at that weakness and things started spiraling out of control for Dooku. Before he knew it, eight lightsabers blades were surrounding his neck.

Anakin: "Rest first Count Dooku. I still want to fight you before we bring you back to Coruscant."

Tony: "Oh and you're replica mobile suits. I give them 5 out of 10. You should have used something that could maneuver in the air instead of wasting money on a quadruped. Mimicking animal behavior is complicated. You should have just used your old droids and enlargen them a few times."