“Survival is one step on the path to living.”

ON THE WINGS OF KEERADAKS
Trapped! On an unsanctioned mission to rescue
ARC trooper Echo, General Skywalker,
Captain Rex, and the Bad Batch travel
to Skako Minor, headquarters of the
Techno Union.

After a harrowing encounter with the
natives, our heroes infiltrate the
city of Purkoll, only to find
themselves surrounded by Wat Tambor’s
forces….

Anakin Skywalker, a Jedi Knight, and the Bad Batch fight against multiple D1-series aerial battle droids. Meanwhile, Rex and Tech are trying to free Echo from the tubes that connect him to the stasis chamber. Echo doesn’t remember much from his previous mission to the Citadel. Echo’s life signs still depend on the machine, and computer-generated brain waves control his body. Since their mission to Skako Minor was unsanctioned, the clones and Skywalker can’t seek reinforcements.

While outside the core systems chamber, the D-wing commander informs the Techno Union leader, Wat Tambor, that the clones are surrounded and trapped inside the lab. Tambor orders his men to prepare the Decimator, a prototype combat droid capable of vaporizing organic life.

At the Techno Union facility, Skywalker and the clones surround themselves with a large group of D-wing droids. Tambor decides to deploy the Decimator against the intruders. However, Tech manages to figure out how to disconnect Echo; who informs them about an exhaust pipe above the chamber they can use to escape. Echo opens the top exhaust door to reveal the escape route, and when Crosshair asks how they can get up there, Wrecker throws Hunter into the vent, much to Hunter’s annoyance. Wrecker then throws the other clones up, except for Anakin, who declines his help. As they prepare to leave, Wrecker plants several detonators as a parting gift to show what he thinks of Tambor’s “science experiment.” Skywalker manages to levitate Wrecker just as the Decimator enters the chamber. The clones manage to escape, and Tambor’s machines and years of research are destroyed in an explosion. Furious, Tambor vows to take revenge on Skywalker and the clones.

Skywalker and the clones make their way through the facility’s cooling systems. Rex asks Echo how he knew about the vents, and he explains that the Techno Union’s cybernetic implants gave him access to their database while they were using his memories. Anakin realizes that Echo can help them find a safe escape route. Echo has an escape route, but he knows it will take work. When they reach a door, Echo points the way across a long, narrow pipe that leads to a building with a landing pad. While Tech comments on their poor chances of survival, the clones, and Skywalker try to cross the pipe. However, they find themselves trapped by D-wing droids on either side. Crosshair loses his balance, and Wrecker catches him, leaving them both hanging from a protrusion on the bottom of the pipe. Tech comes up with a plan to summon several keeradaks that they can ride to escape. The entire party jumps onto the flying reptiles and manages to escape the D-wing droids. Skywalker and the clones flee on four keeradaks into the wilderness. Their droid pursuers crash into a cliff face, but the clones return to the Poletec village they had encountered earlier.

The Poletec leader is impressed that the off-worlders have tamed the Keeradaks. However, he is unhappy they have returned to his village, bringing the war with them. Tech apologizes on behalf of the group for overstaying their welcome. Several D-wing droids follow them, but Crosshair manages to shoot them down, except for one that flies back to Tambor. Rex apologizes for breaking their promise and gives a speech denouncing the Techno Union. He shows the Poletec the cybernetic prosthetics that the Techno Union has inflicted on Echo. The Clone Troopers’ arguments win over the Poletecs. Meanwhile, Tambor sends a force of D-wing droids and two octuptarra magna tri-droids to wipe out the clones and the villagers sheltering them.

During the battle, Skywalker, the clones, and their Poletec allies led the droid army into a valley and attacked them from all sides. The Poletec fighters fought fiercely against the droids, but their blaster fire killed many. The clones joined the fight and used charges to short-circuit the D-wing droids. The Octuptarras, massive droids with multiple legs, descended into the valley to join the battle. Anakin instructed the clones to take out the Octuptarras while he used his lightsaber to disable one of the tri-droids’ weapons. Wrecker then threw Rex and Hunter onto one of the Octuptarras. Rex and Hunter destroyed the droid by turning off its eye sensors. Meanwhile, Anakin toppled his tri-droid onto the other one, crushing more enemy forces and ending the threat of the Octuptarras. The surviving D-wings fled back to Wat Tambor empty-handed.

Wat Tambor, the leader of the Techno Union, regarded the loss of Echo as a devastating blow to his company’s profit margin. He decided to find a way to recoup his losses.

Back in the village, the Poletec chief praised the bravery and courage of Skywalker and the clone troopers. He told them that they would always have an ally on Skako Minor. Rex also praised Echo for his courageous performance during the battle. As everyone else boarded the Marauder to leave, Rex apologized to Echo for not being able to rescue him earlier. He assured Echo that it would be like ” old times ” when they got back.” Echo repeated the phrase but sounded doubtful as he boarded the ship.