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Mission to the Vulture's Claw

There are two conflicting canon sources for this article, from "Downfall of a Droid" and The Clone Wars: Wild Space.

A cohesive timeline has not yet been devised by Lucasfilm Ltd. Editor discretion is advised.

The title of this article is conjectural.

Although this article is based on canonical information, the actual name of this subject is pure conjecture.

Battle of Bothawui^[1]

Concurrent

Battle of Lanos^[2]

Mission to the Vulture's Claw

Conflict

Clone Wars^[3]

Objective

Find R2-D2^[1]

Date

21 BBY^[4]^[5]

Place

Vulture's Claw, Bothawui asteroid belt^[3]

Outcome

Unsuccessful; R2-D2 not found^[1]

Factions
Galactic Republic^[1]	Independent scavenger^[1]
Commanders
General Anakin Skywalker^[1] Commander Ahsoka Tano^[1]	Gha Nachkt^[1]
Participants
2 Jedi^[1]	2 IG-86 sentinel droids^[1]
Casualties
None^[1]	Both sentinel droids^[1]

[Source]

Kenobi: "What? He's still programmed with our tactics and base locations? If the Separatists get ahold of him… What possessed you not to erase that droid's memory?"

Tano: "Master Obi-Wan, sometimes Artoo having that extra information has come in handy."

Kenobi: "Well, then find that droid, Anakin. Our necks might very well depend on it."

Skywalker: "Right away, Master."

―Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker, on R2-D2 —

Listen (file info)^[src]

Jedi General Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan, Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano, undertook a mission in 21 BBY during the Clone Wars to find Skywalker's astromech droid, R2-D2, who had recently been lost in the planet Bothawui's asteroid belt during the Galactic Republic's defense of the planet. The Jedi were accompanied by a replacement droid, R3-S6, unaware that the droid was a spy for the Confederate General Grievous. Skywalker and Tano searched the planet's asteroid belt in the Twilight, Skywalker's personal ship, and came upon the Vulture's Claw, Trandoshan scavenger Gha Nachkt's freighter. Nachkt had salvaged R2-D2 from the battlefield and promised him to Grievous in exchange for credits. The scavenger concealed R2-D2 from the Jedi and showed them his wares, but after R3-S6 activated several IG-86 sentinel droids, Skywalker and Tano fought and defeated the assassin droids. The Jedi left the Vulture's Claw, remaining unaware of Nachkt's arrangement with Grievous.

1 Prelude
2 The mission
3 Aftermath
4 Behind the scenes
5 Appearances
6 Sources
7 Notes and references
- 7.1 In other languages

PreludeEdit

"Where's Artoo?"
"I'm sorry, Master, he's…gone."

―Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano, after the loss of R2-D2 during the Battle of Bothawui —

Listen (file info)^[src]

In 21 BBY,^[4]^[5] the second year of the Clone Wars, Galactic Republic forces under the command of Jedi General Anakin Skywalker engaged in a defense of the strategical planet Bothawui against the Confederate General Grievous. When the cyborg general fled, Skywalker gave pursuit in his Delta-7B fighter, but flying debris from the nearby Confederate frigates damaged the Jedi's starfighter.^[1]

Clone Captain CT-7567, nicknamed "Rex," was able to rescue Skywalker from the planet's asteroid belt; however, Rex was unable to save Skywalker's astromech droid, R2-D2. Skywalker was dismayed, since he had developed an attachment to the droid. As such, he had never wiped the droid's memory of secret Republic information. When High Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi learned of this, he ordered Skywalker and his Padawan, Jedi Commander Ahsoka Tano, to find the droid, as the information stored inside the droid would prove fatal to the Republic in Confederate hands.^[1]

Unbeknownst to the Jedi, the Trandoshan scavenger Gha Nachkt had already salvaged the droid from the asteroid field and promised him to Grievous in exchange for credits.^[1] As Skywalker and Tano prepared to depart from Skywalker's flagship, the Resolute, in Skywalker's personal ship, the Twilight, they were issued a replacement astromech droid, R3-S6.^[3] However, Skywalker and Tano were unaware that the droid was a spy working for Grievous, intent on removing Skywalker as an obstacle for the general.^[6]

The missionEdit

"You're right about the hands-on experience, Gramps. Much better than the archives."
"Good job, but you missed one."

―Ahsoka Tano and Anakin Skywalker, shortly before the latter destroys the last sentinel droid —

Listen (file info)^[src]

Entering the Bothawui asteroid belt, Skywalker and Tano came across Skywalker's damaged fighter. R2-D2 was missing from the fighter's astromech droid station, and Skywalker deduced that the droid had escaped. Tano was unable to pick up R2-D2 on the ship's scanners, but discovered a freighter salvaging the battlefield^[1]—the Vulture's Claw, Gha Nachkt's scavenging ship.^[3] The Twilight docked to the Vulture's Claw, and the Jedi boarded the ship with R3-S6,^[1] donning simple robes^[7] and disguising themselves as peasants^[3] to avoid being recognized.^[7] Skywalker and Tano met Nachkt, and the scavenger lied to the Jedi, stating that he had not picked up an R-series astromech droid for a while. However, when Skywalker baited the Trandoshan with credits, the scavenger showed the Jedi into his wares that were stored in the ship's cargo hold.^[1]

Entering the dimly-lit cargo hold, the Jedi walked through the room's shelves and noticed a pair of inactive IG-86 sentinel droids attached to wires. Skywalker ordered R3-S6 to access the ship's inventory and look for R2-D2. Skywalker heard a noise resembling R2-D2's voice; believing that it had come from behind a nearby door, the Jedi ordered R3-S6 to open the hatch. However, R3-S6 instead activated the room's lights. As Skywalker began to cut through the hatch with his lightsaber, R3-S6 activated the sentinel droids. The assassin droids sneaked up on Tano, and she yelled out to Skywalker. Tano's master broke off from trying to cut through the door and Force-pushed the droids backward against several crates. Tano ordered R3-S6 to shut the droids down, but before the astromech droid could deactivate them, the droids pulled off the wires keeping them attached to the ship's controls.^[1]

The droids approached and fired their blasters at the Jedi, and Skywalker and Tano deflected their shots. Both droids jumped up onto the shelves above and rained laser fire down at the two Jedi. As Master and Padawan deflected the droids' fire, Tano rebounded a laser shot at one of the droids, and Skywalker Force-pulled a crate out from behind another. Both sentinel droids fell back down to the floor, and one of the droids shoved a crate at Tano, causing her to fall backward. When Tano realized that the other sentinel droid was sneaking up on Skywalker, she jumped up and slashed the droid in half, saving her master. Skywalker himself cut off the head of the remaining assassin droid.^[1]

As Skywalker commented on R3-S6's defectiveness, the astromech droid finally opened the door. The Jedi entered a hallway and stumbled across Nachkt. When Skywalker threatened the scavenger with his lightsaber, Tano convinced her master that R2-D2 was not aboard the ship. The Jedi left with R3-S6 and returned to the Republic fleet in the Twilight.^[1]

AftermathEdit

"You'll be sorry that you even came aboard my ship, Jedi. I'm about to make your life miserable."

―Gha Nachkt, shortly before contacting Grievous after the Jedi have left —

Listen (file info)^[src]

After the Jedi had left, Nachkt contacted Grievous, and reported that he was en route to deliver R2-D2 at the general's rendezvous point^[1]—Skytop Station, a Confederate listening post^[8] over Ruusan 2, a moon of the planet Ruusan.^[9] Skywalker contacted Jedi Masters Yoda and Mace Windu and declared R2-D2 officially lost in action. However, Skywalker believed that the cruisers he used during the Battle of Bothawui—Resolute, Pioneer, and Dauntless—could be improved, and planned to return to the shipyards and modify the cruisers.^[2]

Eventually, Kenobi contacted Skywalker and his Padawan at the shipyards and gave the two a new mission^[2]—Republic intelligence had confirmed the existence of a Confederate listening post, and they were to find and destroy it.^[1] Skywalker decided to personally undertake sweeps of space suspected of Confederate activity,^[3] while the rest of his forces continued along a more central path. Skywalker's fighter was retrieved and repaired, and accompanied by R3-S6, the Jedi departed with a hyperspace docking ring.^[1]

Behind the scenesEdit

The mission appeared in "Downfall of a Droid," an episode in the first season of the 2008 Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series,^[3] as well as the young readers' book Grievous Attacks!, an adaptation of several first season episodes.

The mission was also mentioned in the December 2008 novel The Clone Wars: Wild Space, written by Karen Miller. However, it introduced continuity problems in the aftermath of the situation. The novel stated that Skywalker and Tano returned to the Allanteen VI shipyards after their search and before Skywalker undertook his sweeps of suspected Confederate space,^[2] while the episode "Downfall of a Droid"—in which the mission was first featured—stated that Skywalker's mission of sweeps in suspected Confederate space took place directly after the mission to the Vulture's Claw.^[1] Furthermore, after the mission, the novel stated that Skywalker contacted Masters Yoda and Windu, and during the conversation, Windu stated that Skywalker would be assigned a replacement droid soon. This conversation was intended to take place after Skywalker and Tano's search, meaning that R3-S6 had not yet been assigned to Skywalker and Tano.^[2] However, during the episode, Skywalker had already been given R3-S6 as a replacement for R2-D2 before his search aboard the Vulture's Claw.^[1] This article assumes that the novel's interpretation of events is correct, but that replacement droid R3-S6 was assigned to Skywalker and Tano before the mission.