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A portal opened up and N walked out of it... ONLY TO FIND A WARZONE WAITING FOR HIM!!! N was utterly shocked at his bad luck when it came to returning to his home universe.
Granted the first universe he visited DID have explosive fire power as well, but this? This was a full fledged war!!
He had experienced forces both Heavenly and supernatural but even they couldn't compare with the absurdity of being dropped right in the middle of a crossfire of clashing armies.
And if he was reading things right, one of the armies looked completely mechanical! Marching through the night, firing lasers at...... Well N wasn't sure what they were! Certainly not like the humans or other life forms he had already met!
They were certainly bipedals like humans but outside of that.......they had physical features just too weird to be considered human. Like... Tentacle... Hairs??
N didn't have any more time ponder as some of the mechanized soldiers finally spotted him and started to fire.
N, being the drone that he was, did the only sensible thing. He screamed and ran away from the laser fire.
N was thankful that it was nightfall for wherever he landed. He still needed to hide! And fast!!
"Oh dear... EXCUSE ME?! MYSTERY DROID?! OVER HERE!!!"
N could just barely hear the voice shouting to him. If the voice were any quieter it would have been drowned out by the sounds of the battle.
The voice came from a short distance away, two robots were hiding in a makeshift bunker of some kind. They were clearly dug into the ground and were using a large metal sheet of debris for a roof.
N didn't need to be told twice. He deployed his wings and flew to them while ducking and dodging laser fire.
Once inside, the robots he found that were hailing him were very unique. Of course none of the robots he had met on his journey so far were like any of the drones that he was used to, but something about these two seemed.... special.
One was gold plated from head to toe, humanoid by the look of it, but N would gather probably not very fast if the situation called for it.
The other one wasn't humanoid at all. More like a trashcan found in one of the abandoned buildings he used to hunt in.
"Thanks for the save, fellas. It's nice to meet you!"
"You are most assuredly welcomed. I am C-3PO and this is my associate R2-D2." greeted the gold one.
"*BEEP! BOP! BOOP!*" fidgeted the other one.
N hopped into a salute. "I'm Serial Designation: N! You guys really saved my butt out there! What exactly is going on around here anyways?"
"... The war?"
N quietly waited for C-3PO to continue.
"Between the Separates and the Republic?"
N politely blinked.
"The war for the entire galaxy?!"
"I wouldn't know anything about that. I'm not from here." N explained with a friendly tone.
"*BOOP! BOOP! BEEP! WHIIIIIIIIRL?*"
"This galaxy? Oh no. I'm not even from this universe."
The uncomfortableness in N's face showed that he knew how this sounded despite it being the truth.
R2-D2 immediately started to scan him but C-3PO wasn't anywhere near the same level of giving N the benefit of the doubt.
"Must have a loose wire! Or more likely a Separate trick of some kind!"
"*BEEP! BEEP! BOOP!*"
"Telling the truth?" C-3PO echoed. "How can you possibly be sure?"
R2 displayed a holographic image of some strange particles and then showed a second image of N.
"Oooooh!" N awed.
N looked at the projections with the same wonder a child would to something new and shiny.
He playfully ran his hand through his own image and laughed when it blipped out for a fraction of a second.
A close up zoom was done on N's image and revealed some of his surrounding particles matched the ones from the other image.
"Oh my goodness!" gasped C-3PO.
"What is it?"
"Your surrounding particles are a exact match for the very machine our current mission is surrounded around!"
N cocked his head to the side in confusion. "I.... Still don't understand."
"On this planet, and this planet alone, a strange power source was discovered. The power source is so powerful that it could potentially punch a hole in our entire universe!"
"*BEEP! BEEP! BOP! BOOP!*"
"Yes, I suppose in this case, punch a hole to a different universe!"
"Wait! I.... Do you think I could use this machine? To return to my home universe? I've been trying for an awful long time now and..."
N trailed off as uncomfortable silence between the other two robots set off some red flags for N.
"What is it?"
"The power source was recklessly tampered with once and ended up taking the entire space station it was being experimented on!" explained C-3PO. "It's dangerous and unpredictable! Exactly why we can't let the Separatists have it!"
".... But if your side got it, would they let me use it?"
"*BEEP! BEEP! BOOP! WHIIIIIIIIRL!*"
"I'm afraid R2-D2 is correct. There is a very good chance that we will need to destroy it."
N's expression became timid, his tail fell limp to the floor, and he started to twiddle his index fingers together.
"P-Please? I just want to go home. My friends need me."
"..... *BEEP!*"
"Oh nooo.... They're really in danger and I can't just let them handle it by themselves!"
"Mr. N, please be reasonable about this! We've already explained..." began C-3PO.
"*BOOP!*"
The sudden sound from R2 caught the other two robots by surprise. N was overjoyed but C-3PO was shocked.
"R2!! You can't possibly be serious!!" pleaded C-3PO.
"*BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! ERR! BOP! BOOP! WHIIIIIIIIRL! BEEP!*"
"The droid army?" asked N. "Well back home I was outfitted to disassemble worker drones. I was the weakest in my squad but maybe I could soften up these 'droids' for you."
N started to quietly leave the bunker while C-3PO mentally scowled.
"He can fight? And here we were trying to save him because we thought he was helpless!"
On the battlefield, N surveyed the scene to the best of his ability (a lot of dust had been kicked up into the air).
He wanted to pick out some droids that were farther away from the biological life so he wouldn't accidentally hurt anyone.
Unfortunately, a platoon found him first. They fired and each laser blast found its mark in N's body. He fell to the ground an oily mess riddled with holes.
The droids marched over to N's body to inspect the kill.
"So was he a new Republic droid or....?"
"I don't know. Never seen him before today."
"His description doesn't match any Republican droid on file..."
"Either way, he certainly was the easiest kill we've had so far."
"Roger Roger. Roger Roger."
As the droids confirmed their Roger Roger with one another, they failed to notice that N's Absolute Solver Repair Program had activated.
The sound of oil covering his wounds to repair and reconstruct his body finally captured his attackers' attention.
N sat up and one of the droids jumped into one of the other's arms in fear.
"AAAACK!!! WHAT THE HECK IS GOING ON?!"
Fully repaired, N wore an innocent smile.
"Oh good. I can still do that! I was afraid all the different oils I was consuming might mess with my repair function."
Speaking of oils, N noticed that his knapsack was missing. Turning around he spotted it... On the ground.... Burning from laser fire.
He turned back to the droids that attacked him, legitimately mad for once.
"Hey!! Those oil cans were a gift!!"
The droid that was cradling the other droid now had his knees shaking in fear.
"What ARE you?!"
N's smile returned but he changed his hands into chainsaws.
"I'm N! And I'm afraid that I can't let you guys stop me from going home."
From inside the little makeshift bunker, R2-D2 and C-3PO watched as N cut the droids to pieces.
"And he's supposed to be the weak member of his squad?" C-3PO scoffed in fear. "Hardly believable!"
"You can come out now!" N called.
R2-D2 and C-3PO came out of the bunker to find the droids chopped to pieces at their feet.
"I know I'm not very good at this but..."
"In what WAY are you not good at this?!" exclaimed C-3PO.
"*BOOP! BOOP! BEEP! WHIIIIIIIIRL!*"
"R2 is right! If you can take out more Separatist droids then please! Take out as many as you can!"
N shifted uncomfortably. "I don't know.... That might be considered genocide? And then there's.... Morality?"
"N! One more Separatist droid you take out is one more innocent life you're saving! And right now, the more useful you are to our Generals, the more likely they are to let you use the machine!"
"...... What would Uzi tell me to do?" N pondered.
N thought quietly for a moment and then a giant yellow X replaced his oval pupils on his visor screen.
He deployed his wings and flew off leaving R2-D2 and C-3PO behind.
"*BEEP.... BOOOOOP.*"
"... I hope it's the right thing too."
Flying low to the ground, N spotted about thirty droids ahead of him marching in formation. He changed his weapons to his swords and cut them all down in one flying sweep.
Landing, N immediately spotted more droids in the distance. So he changed his right hand sword in for his missile launcher and fired off a couple rounds.
*KABOOM!* *KABOOM!*
N was now officially starting to draw the attention of both sides. The non-mechanical life forms exchanged confused looks but the enemy droids started to focus their forces on him.
A shot to the back forced N to turn around to face his latest foe. Three more platoons of droids were on the verge of firing.
N changed his left hand sword into his laser cutter and cut them all in half. Not, however, before they got in a few more shots.
N realized that he had to be more careful. He wasn't on Copper 9 anymore, he couldn't just salvage and scrap from old drone corpses anymore. He'd be in trouble if he ran out of oil for his repair function to work with.
"BEHIND THE NEW DROID!!!" shouted one of the bio organisms. "PUSH FORWARD!!!"
More laser fire came at N from different directions but this time the... Not-Humans(?) jumped in to deflect them away with.... Well to N it looked like sticks made of light.
One of the shorter ones, jumped close to his side and N's visor screen returned to normal.
"So what's your story?!" she asked. "Are you some kind of secret war robot that Republic officials were keeping us in the dark for some reason?"
"Oh no, I just need this energy thingy to go back to my home universe. Your robot friends tell me the quickest way to get all of you to let me do that is to help you out. Good thing I like being useful. The name is N by the way."
"N? Meh. I've heard worse. I'm Ashoka. If you honestly think you're from another universe though then I gotta say it sounds like you got a fried circuit board!"
"If you don't believe me, you can ask your own robot friends. I like the round one with legs. Heh. Heh. Beep. Boop."
"Wait! R2?! You met him?! Was C-3PO with him?"
N was about to answer but a device landed between them that demanded attention. It was circular, had a red light, and it was blinking in quick succession.
"A fragger!! DUCK AND COVER!!!" Ashoka shouted.
"Whoops!" N picked up the bomb like it was a toy. "Up ya go!"
N effortlessly tossed the bomb high into the air, not unlike when he had to toss Uzi into the stratosphere once. The bomb harmlessly detonated over everybody's head and Ashoka was left looking at N dumbstruck.
"That was scary, huh? Maybe you believe I'm from another universe now?"
Ashoka still had her jaw dropped but she nodded at N.
"A little easier now." she confessed.
"Good. Because I really need to get back home! My friends are in trouble and you guys might be my only hope!"
"........... You stay here. I'm going to go get Master Kenobi and bring him up to speed. Then we'll see if we can afford to send you home."
One hour later...
The battle had oddly quieted down since Ashoka left. N was starting to run out of ammo all the same though. The thick dust cloud that had once flooded the area was now only about shin high. He changed his machine guns back to normal hands when he heard voices approaching him.
"This war is no place for a bot like him!" exclaimed Ashoka 's voice.
"What makes you say that?" asked a new voice.
"I spent five minutes in a conversation with him! Maybe if you do too then you'll see why we need to help him get home!!"
"Ashoka, over here!!" called N.
Ashoka and Obi-wan ran over to N who was only too happy to see them.
"So is this that master guy you were talking about? It's nice to meet you! I'm Serial Designation: N!"
"Well... He certainly seems friendly enough. N, I am General Obi-wan Kenobi. Ashoka tells me that you have a rather high ask of us."
N's smile fell and he took on a more timid expression.
"I'm sorry, Mr. General. I know that this power source thingy is very important, but as far as I know it could be my only hope of returning to my home universe."
Obi-wan, despite feeling sympathetic towards the newcomer, wasn't quite sold on his story.
"And you're certain that it's from another universe you hail from? Not another planet? Or galaxy? The universe is a big place."
"Well I suppose I could load up my entire backstory... again.... for the fourth or fifth time this week...."
"... Roger.... Roger......"
Everybody jumped as a halved droid poked it's head up from the dust cloud. It tried to raise its gun to fire but being damaged this was proving to be perhaps a bit too difficult.
Out of reflex, N stabbed the droid with his tail releasing his nanite acid. The droid started to melt much to the horror of N's new friends.
"I'm melting! MELTING!!! Oh what a world!!" screamed the droid.
After a silent moment of horror from the two organics, it was Ashoka who finally steered them back to the conversation.
"His tail is filled with a nanite acid!!" Ashoka stressed. "Who in our universe would possibly design that?!"
"Granted, his concoction does seem quite potent and the placement of his injector for it is a bit........odd, I'm afraid nanite acid isn't unheard of for our universe."
"*BEEP! BOP! BOOP!*"
The sudden entrance of R2-D2 was a surprise to everyone but a welcomed one all the same.
"R2!!" cheered everyone.
"R2-D2 exactly where have you been?! Why weren't you here sooner?!" scolded Ashoka.
"My fault, I'm afraid." called a familiar voice.
C-3PO shuffled in. "I'm not very fast. R2 made sure to stay close by just to be safe!"
"*BOOP! BOOP! BEEP!*"
R2-D2 displayed the same holographic images of the particles, N, and his surrounding particles.
"Well.... It would appear that I owe you an apology, N. This evidence does seem to validate your claim!"
N's face lit up with excitement, not unlike when a certain door guard let him in after an apology card.
"So you'll help me get home then?"
"Okay N, how about this? If you help us infiltrate the base then we will allow you to use the machine ONCE to try and return yourself to your home universe. If it works then you'll be gone and we'll dismantle the machine. If it proves to be a dead end, however, then you must join us in our fight at least until you can find another way back."
Obi-wan expected some reluctance or even just a moment of thought, but what he got instead was a typical N response.
"Sure! I love doing anything!"
"....... Definitely from another universe."
Eventually....
The base was very well fortified and even with N's help Obi-wan still needed to call in reinforcements. Thankfully, this gave N time to fill his new friends in on his whole story about back home; Cyn, Uzi, everything. Together with the Clone Troopers help they took out the outside defenses.
There was never a doubt that they could take the base. Keeping it, however? It was only a matter of time before the enemy took it back.
Which was exactly why they had to work fast!
Kicking the door down, the five of them found what was waiting for them... Was nothing.
Literally nothing.
It was just an empty room. The lights weren't even on. Sheet darkness.
Which was why it wasn't trusted by anyone in the group. The 'lightsabers', as they were apparently called, were immediately deployed and illuminated the room.
Still nothing.
"Is the universe hole punching machine........ labeled?" asked N.
Obi-wan said nothing but made a hand signal to follow him.
Subbasement lab...
General Grievous was not having a good day. It started out promising enough, a high priority mission to protect a terrifying new weapon, but everything went progressively downhill after that.
First the scientists accidentally killed themselves in an experiment with the power source resulting in an explosion. A set back, sure, but manageable. Then he couldn't get any of the other scientists to replace the dead ones because their communications were 'bugging out'; he'd find the cowards later. So some smarty-pants droids were brought in to replace them instead....
BUT...
Grievous discovered that the shuttle that brought in the droids had been bugged so the Republic knew where they were now. A quick alert for reinforcements was the only reason he still had the power source!
That wasn't enough though. Oh no....
The new droids were smart enough to understand the power source but they needed constant orders on what he wanted them to do! Individually!! This was supposed to make them harder to hack or something, Grievous didn't pretend to understand it! Regardless, they still needed to be told what to do one order at a time!
A literal war was raging out there but if he left the droids alone then there was a good chance they would stop working! And to top it off, he was pretty sure the upper perimeter had been breached! He wasn't going to let those Republic Scums take this lab from him though! Not on HIS watch!!
There were two ways down to the lab. An elevator and a rather elaborate staircase. The staircase was squeaky though so he didn't expect them to take that. Too noisy!
That left the elevator! Of course they wouldn't take the actual elevator itself, that would be an obvious death sentence. Now the SHAFT for the elevator on the other hand? Grievous was confident that was what his enemies would be using to infiltrate the lab!
He'd be ready for them though!
Climbing up to the ceiling, he hung himself upside down like a bat in front of the elevator's entrance. He would be the one to get the drop on THEM!!
*CLICK!* *SQUEEEAAAK!*
The sound of the door to the staircase on the opposite side of the room made General Grievous turn around so fast that his head might have spun.
"Wow N!" Ashoka beamed. "You were right! Just floating down pass all the stairs was much easier!"
N lugged C-3PO on his shoulder into the room.
"And less likely to blow up in our faces than untrustworthy elevator options!" N's oval pupils became replaced with sunglasses for a moment.
General Grievous didn't break eyesight with his intruders for one second as he climbed off the ceiling.
"That's just not fair!" accused the cyborg.
"Why hello there!" Obi-wan mock greeted.
"General Kenobi! I am happy to see you! Your death will certainly brighten my day!"
"I've never known you to be a fool, Grievous." admitted Obi-wan. "Think about it! This lab is no place for a battle! Especially with your....... short but no doubt still essential droids running around the place!"
Grievous deployed his arms and activated his lightsabers.
"Don't you even get me STARTED ON THE DROIDS!!!"
Grievous leapt at them but Obi-wan and Ashoka were able to block his lightsabers with their own.
The robots had managed to dodge out of the way but C-3PO took a little tumble.
"*BEEP! WHIIIIIIIIRL! BOP! BOP! BOP!*"
"R2 is right N!" C-3PO exclaimed. "We'll deal with the droids! You help out friends!"
General Grievous was finally having his day turn around. The smaller size of the lab meant that the Jedi had less room to dodge and maneuver. He was winning!
*HIIIIIIIIIISSSSSSSSSSS!*
The sudden noise came across as strange to Grievous. Realizing that the sound was actually coming from his own person, he looked down to see nanite acid eating away at his thigh.
"Hi!" N awkwardly greeted. "You didn't really need that leg, did you?"
Meanwhile R2-D2 and C-3PO had cornered one of the small lab droids. R2 deployed his hacking probe but when he inserted it into the droid, he got shocked out of it.
"*YOOOOOOOOOOOW!*"
"Oh my!! R2 can't hack these droids? Whatever will we do?!" fretted C-3PO.
"AAAAAGH!!! MY OTHER LEG!!!" screamed Grievous.
The small lab droid peered his head around C-3PO to see General Grievous was now on the floor with his legs being eaten away by a nanite acid coming from the tall droid's tail.
The lab droid immediately started to shake in fear where he stood. C-3PO looked at the smaller droid, then followed its gaze and made the connection.
"Are you afraid of that droid? Well you should be! If you don't do what we say then I assure you, you will be next to meet with him! Right R2?"
"*WHIIIIIIIIRL!*" R2 finally stopped smoking and wheeled himself over to the lab droid rather quickly.
"Right! We need you to use this power source to create a portal out of our universe!"
The lab droid looked to C-3PO as if to check if he was serious.
"I assure you, it's your only chance of survival. R2, tell him what he needs to know!"
R2 brought up the holographic images of N and his particles and started to beep very fast.
"*BOOP! BOOP! BEEP! BOP! BOP!*"
Back with N and the fight, General Grievous was losing but much to N's disappointment he wasn't all that helpful in the fight.
Oh sure, his nanite acid took out both the legs, but weapons like his swords and chainsaw hands just got cut away by the lightsabers.
He was starting to feel like he was getting in the way more than anything. Grievous adapted to no legs faster than he liked anyways.
*BLOOP!*
N quickly turned his head and saw a rough version of the type of portals he usually dealt with in the middle of the room.
"OH MR. N!!" called C-3PO. "DOES THIS LOOK ANYTHING LIKE THE PORTALS YOU USE?!"
"A PRETTY ROUGH VERSION OF IT!!!" N answered back.
"You heard him! Make a better version of it at once!" scolded C-3PO.
Sparks and explosions littered around the room as the portal changed and the fight continued.
N got another one of the limbs with his nanite acid and it was just the advantage the Jedis needed. They pinned Grievous down and crossed their lightsabers under his chin.
A few more sparks from the machine in the center of the room caught N's attention. The portal hole reappeared but it looked much more refined now.
"N!!! You might want to hurry!! I don't know how long we can keep it a portal like this!! This is undoubtedly voiding the warranty!" C-3PO exclaimed.
"Right!!" N gave one last salute to Obi-wan Kenobi and Ashoka. "It was nice meeting you all!! I hope you guys win!!"
Without another word N hopped through the portal.
*BOOM!*
With N gone through the portal, an explosion from the machine ended up closing it.
As the Jedis started to interrogate Grievous, the remaining Republic droids shared a melancholy mood.
"I think I might actually miss that delightful weapons arsenal. He was actually a rather pleasant chap."
"*WHIIIIIIIIRL! BOOP! BOOP! BEEP?*"
"I don't know if we could fire it up again. Why do you ask?"
"*BEEP! BOP! BOOP! BEEEEEEP!*"
"Help him?! Help him how?!"
"*BOP! BOP! BOP! BOOP! BEEP!*"
"Reinforcements? Don't be ridiculous! Our side couldn't possibly spare the man power!"
"*BEEEEEEP! BOOP! WHIIIIIIIIRL!*"
"Do it yourself? R2 be reasonable! N was a nice enough chap but his fight is his own and we have our own war to worry about! Why should we drop everything just for the sake of helping him?"
"*BOP! BOP! BOP! BEEP! BOOP! WHIIIIIIIIRL!*"
"Prevent a potential threat from becoming an immediate threat? I..... Well I suppose now that I think about it, I wouldn't want this 'Cyn' nightmare visiting our universe at all!"
"*BEEP! BOP! BEEP! BOOP! BOP! BOP!*"
"Oh very well, R2! I don't think we can get this thing up and running again, but in the name of the Republic and our new friend.... I suppose we should at least try."
To be continued....