"I guess we won't need to talk to the droids, after all," he commented.

He could see movement from Roshton's position now as the clone troopers abandoned their positions, running toward him and the plant now wide open behind him.

"Come on," he added, returning his lightsaber to his belt and nudging the Neimoidians toward the approaching troops.

The two groups met halfway. "I see you've been busy," Roshton greeted Tories as he trotted to a halt, gesturing his troops to continue on toward the plant.

"What's it like inside?"

"Empty, as far as I could tell," Tories told him. "The tunnel's been unsealed, too, if you want to get the techs back in."

"Excellent," Roshton said in grim satisfaction. "We'll get the Cranscoc to undo any retooling they did, then get back to work.

"I doubt the Neimoidians got very far with their retooling," Tories said.

"Speaking of which, what should I do with them?"

Roshton glanced past him toward the plant. "Would you mind taking them to Commander Bratt? He's in one of the gunships heading over to shut down the Number Two C-9979."

"No problem," Tories said. "I'll see you later."

Roshton nodded and hurried off after his men. Tories started his own party off in the opposite direction. "It is not yet over," Ashel warned as they walked.

"We have not yet been defeated."

"You just keep thinking that," Tories said. They'd reached the site of Roshton's stand now, and he paused for a moment, gazing across the battlefield. The ground was almost literally covered with the wreckage of droids, with the bodies of probably a dozen clone troopers lying among the debris, their armor no longer white. Fires were still burning in the remains of a couple of vehicles, one of them the gunship Tories had seen being destroyed. Standing amid the general carnage were probably a hundred more droids, still upright yet with an oddly sagging look about them, where the loss of their control ship had left them.