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Continuity & Analysis

Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Secret Weapons (2012) [S5E10]
Humility is the only defense against humiliation.
"Secret transmission intercepted! The Jedi Council has intercepted an encoded transmission
of General Grievous; however, Republican intelligence officers have failed to crack the new encryption
code being used by the droids. Fears escalate that the Separatists are about to mount a major offensive.
Having located the source of the transmission deep in Separatist space, the Jedi plan a counterstrike
to capture an enemy decoding chip which will allow them to understand the transmission and thwart
the Separatist plot..."
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - A Sunny Day in the Void (2012) [S5E11]
When all seems hopeless, a true hero gives hope.
"Secret weapons! The Jedi Council deploys a squad of droids on a desperate mission aboard
a Separatist cruiser. Under the guidance of Colonel Meebur Gascon, the droids succeed in stealing
a crucial encryption module. Now the Colonel and his droids squad must return the module to the Jedi
Temple to crack a Separatist code detailing an impending terror plot against the Republic..."
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Missing in Action (2013) [S5E12]
A soldier's most powerful weapon is courage.
"Stranded! On a secret mission for the Republic, Colonel Gascon and his intrepid droid squad
successfully steal an encryption module from a Separatist ship. During their escape, our heroes crash
on the Outer Rim planet of Abafar and find themselves stranded in the strange wasteland called The Void.
Now, after surviving against all odds, our heroes must find a way home and deliver the encryption module
to crack the Separatist code and stop an enemy attack..."
Star Wars: The Clone Wars - Point of No Return (2013) [S5E13]
You must trust in others, or success is impossible.
"Mission accomplished! Colonel Gascon and his droid squad steal an encryption module
needed to crack a Separatist code and stop an impending attack on the Republic. After surviving The Void
and escaping the hostile planet of Abafar, our heroes finally appear to be headed in the right direction..."




CONTINUITY
These four episodes form a single storyline about the Droid Squad. The chronological order of episodes is as given by Lucasfilm, and follows their
release order. The planet Abafar is seen for the first time, as is the planet Carida, but only from space. Three worlds are seen in these episodes:

'A Sunny Day in the Void' and 'Missing in Action' explore the artwork style of Jean Giraud, who was a significant influence on
George Lucas and Star Wars. This storyline, pitched by George Lucas, is said to be his favorite of The Clone Wars series.
These episodes begin with the blue opening title indicating the Droid Squad storyline.


- The Republic has intercepted a Separatist transmission, but as it is encrypted, they are unable to access the message without decoding it.
They were also able to successfully triangulate the source of the transmission within Separatist space.
Main Article: Hyperspace Communication

- Republic Strategic Command is the central command for the Republic military, which has existed since before the Clone Wars and the clone army. Colonel
Meebur Gascon is referred to by Mace Windu as one of their top minds, and is noted for his strategic contributions to the first Battle of Geonosis.



Colonel Gascon is the only Republic army officer we meet in this series who isn't a Jedi or a clone. He twice boasts
about his inevitable promotion to Brigadier General in this storyline. This suggests that within the Grand Army,
officers other than Jedi can be promoted to be Generals, or at least Brigadier General. Considering the size of
Grand Army and the theater of war, it would make sense for the Army to have a large and complex staff. What is
an issue is that his 3 square insignia doesn't fit into the insignia seen used by the clones of the Grand Army. Why
the Republic has a separate insignia system for Army officers who aren't clones is odd, especially since the Republic
is known to have not had a standing Army before the creation of the Grand Army based around the clones. It's likely
they just gave him some colored squares without caring about the insignia structure, and since he is small it was only
possible to give him three squares without making them hard to see. As the Jedi Generals and Jedi Commanders
in the army don't wear rank insignia, we have no basis to compare this to other non-clone officers of the Grand Army.
Main Article: Ranks and Rank Insignia
Colonel Gascon's uniform also features two shoulder patches with the Republic insignia, but they are the 'reduced' form
with the 6-spoke solar emblem, instead of the regular 8-spoke solar emblem. The only other example of this that
is seen is on Anakin's starfighter in Episode III. It could be theorized that this symbol is used to represent military
high command, and that Anakin's use of it is to represent his martial nature and loyalty to the command structure of
the Republic. Its use in the film is meant to represent Anakin and the Republic's transition into Vader and the Empire,
as the Imperial symbol is an inversion of this 6-spoke version of the Republic symbol. Supplementary material from
Episode III suggests it is an old Republic symbol which dates back around 25,000 years to the Unification Wars which
led to the founding of the first Republic. While 8-spoked symbols denote balance, 6-spoked symbols are typical of
the Sith and the dark side, and yet they aren't necessarily symbolic of evil. It may be that this was intentionally used
on Colonel Gascon for some reason, but it is also possible the 6-spoke symbol was used because he is very small,
and the regular Republic symbol would be hard to make out from a distance.



- The communications center on a Providence-class dreadnought is located on C Deck.


Why is it that some WAC droids speak Basic, and others only speak in squeaks? This WAC, and the WAC droids in
'Nomad Droids' (S4E6), seem to have all the personality of a protocol droid, and speak Basic, which is what
English is called in SW. The first WAC droids seen, in Episode I, only seem to communicate in squeaks and high-
pitched noises, as do others seen since. Supplementary material has also identified these droids as DUM-series
repair droids, and yet WAC-47 tells the Colonel he is a WAC, not an astromech. This is not a contradiction, as
astromechs are a type of droid not a series, nevertheless, it is unusual for droids to have designations which
don't correspond to their series, in which case he would have been DUM-47, and still could have been a WAC.
It is unclear what WAC stands for, and thus it would have made more sense if these were the WAC-series.
In this storyline, and many others, droids do have names which don't include their series as a prefix.


- The Droid Squad, or D-Squad, is led by a Zilkin, Colonel Gascon, and also includes Corporal WAC-47, the pilot who is given a field promotion during
the mission. The other members are astromech droids who received upgrades for the mission. R2-D2 was given better rocket boosters, which had
increased range and longevity. QT-KT was given a remote-controlled repulsorlift super magnet. U9-C4 was given a powerful laser cutter. M5-BZ was
given the 'upgrade' of having his memory and likely some other components removed from its head to make a mobile command center for the Colonel.



What exactly is this Separatist fleet up to? They are flying around in interstellar space deep in Separatist territory
in the Outer Rim. They sent a transmission at least a couple of days ago, and haven't moved from this location.
This fleet is too large to be operating as a communications center. A single ship could perform this function and
be ready to jump to hyperspace and escape to safety in the event of an ambush. Perhaps this is a reserve or
reaction force, standing by to provide a rapid reaction to incursions, or to reinforce regional battles. That said,
it seems a waste of a number of large and powerful warships to be spending days on guard duty to a mobile
resource which isn't under threat. It is also extremely convenient the fleet is still in place days later, so that
the Republic can attempt this mission at all. The possibility that the ships won't be there isn't mentioned.


- Cutting the power to the comvault put the security system into manual override.

- Many droids don't like being looked down upon by others, but are so used to it that they put up with it most of the time. At the same time, they have
egos as an emergent property of their various layers of programming, and take a pride in their purpose and function. It is specifically noted here
that droids don't like to be given nicknames they calculate are insulting, and at other times they don't even like their names abbreviated. Some
droids, like WAC-47 and R2-D2, have personalities which are so well-developed, their priorities can transcend their programmed imperatives.
These droids usually calculate that they deserve more respect than the dismissive treatment they are often afforded.
Main Article: Droid Intelligence

- An encryption module, also referred to as a decryption module, is employed by the Separatists as the cipher for their encoded messages. This likely
allows for a measure of security, as the module is independent of the ship's computers. This may also allow for a system of chip dissemination
which ensures that current cyphers aren't distributed via hyperspace communications, a potential security concern.

- Artificial gravity in a room can be deactivated using the computer, despite the fact that it has been shown that artificial gravity usually functions even when both
main power is down and the computers aren't in control. Despite being somewhat independent, the artificial gravity system does interface with the computer.

- Sensors have some ability to scan through hyperspace, meaning that when in hyperspace, a certain number of lightyears away can be scanned in normal space.
As is seen in other SW material, this also means that a certain number of lightyears away from a planet or ship not in hyperspace can be monitored for
approaching ships, allowing at least a few moments knowledge of arriving ships, and sometimes many minutes. The shuttle is able to detect solid objects ahead
of them, at least if they are large enough, which means that if something in normal space is in the flight path, it may be detectable, and in time to stop.
Main Articles: Hyperspace Travel & Scanners, Sensors, and Cloaking Devices

- A ship's main engines are also referred to technically as the primary motivators. A shuttle's auxiliary power may not be enough to fire the main engines.

- There is no known or postulated theory of starsystem formation which would create a huge swarm of comets moving at the same relative velocity, along
the same orbital trajectory, in a group this tightly packed. There are numerous reasons why such a formation wouldn't be sustainable. If this is possible
it must be an extremely rare and temporary arrangement, and the odds of accidentally running into them would be astronomical.
Main Article: Planetology

- Abafar is a strange and desolate planet located in the Sprizen Sector, in the New Territories of the Outer Rim. The planet can be found in a Republic database
in this time period, but the information on the planet is void. The world is also referred to as the void, since it seems to lack much in the way of terrain,
is hot and oppressive, and has a strange atmosphere which appears as a uniform haze that radiates light from its star, but somehow doesn't allow the star's
position in the sky to be ascertained. It has a dry ground which doesn't leave tracks, and thus isn't made of loose material, however the surface seems to
be covered in smaller flakes which tend to stick to people and things. Some water, or water-containing liquid, does exist on the planet, probably mostly
underground, as the surface shows none of the signs of rainfall. The planet supports an interesting if sparse ecosystem, including bird-like creatures and
roach-like bugs. The planet did contain some deposits of a mineral rich fuel known as Rhydonium, which is likely the reason any civilization exists on this
planet at all, however it is noted in this storyline that it has been mostly mined out. It is possible that the small settlement of Pons Ora is the only one on
the planet, although there is no evidence ruling out other settlements.


- Droids have rudimentary programming, just as living beings have instinct. Droids also have task specific programming, just as sentient beings have education.
Droids and living beings both have memory and experience, as well as a personality which is an emergent property formed from all three aspects. A droid's
personality is a combination of their base programming, their application programming, and their experience. A living being's personality is a combination
of their genetics and instincts, their socialization, and their experience. Droids therefore have no natural instincts, but they do have mechanical ones. Their
intelligence and awareness aren't necessarily superior or inferior to living beings, they simply possess a different form of intelligence. Colonel Gascon insists
he is superior to droids because he can "think outside my training, and I can make decisions based on a complex analysis of a situation." While it is true that
not all droids seem to be able to transcend their programming, many seem to, and certainly many can handle complex analysis. Just as Obi-Wan observes in
Episode II, droids cannot "think". While this mostly seems to be true, droids with experience and intelligence are at times capable of the machine equivalent.
Main Article: Droid Intelligence

- Colonel Gascon rhetorically asks the divine for assistance when he feels the situation is hopeless. WAC-47 suggests the Colonel must be talking to whoever
programmed him, drawing yet another parallel between Droids and living beings. Each are productions, which are the result of a development chain which
has designed their features. Droids therefore assume they have a designer and creator, with many having knowledge of their creator, and some even have
a personal relationship with their creator. Sentient creatures, on the other hand, have widely different views about their creation and their creator.


Why does this diner on Abafar produce so much food waste? There are heaping mounds of what seems to be spoilt or
fully rotten food in the alley beside the diner, and in the brief time we are there even more garbage food is thrown out
there. Considering how rare supplies are on this planet, which likely imports all or nearly all of its food, one would think
there wouldn't be so much surplus. This diner is ordering way too much food, leading much of it to spoil, and then
throwing it out. Perhaps if Borkus managed his inventory better, he would be able to hire a dishwasher, instead of
having to trick a clone with amnesia into being his dishwashing slave.


- "There's no way in Malachor" approximates 'there's no way in hell', in this case equating Malachor, an infamous Sith planet of legend, with the worst place imaginable.
Main Article: Awareness of the Jedi and the Sith

- Each clone has an ID chip in their arm, called an identifying code. When linked to the military database, it detailed a trooper's military records.


- This is the first appearance of Captain Gregor, whose birth number is CC-5576-39. He is a Commando attached to the 212th Attack Battalion led by Obi-Wan and Cody.

- The Battle of Sarrish was one of the Republic's most devastating losses. It took place not long before these episodes, and involved the 212th. It seems to have occurred
sometime around or during Obi-Wan's capture by Zygerrian slavers and his undercover mission as a criminal. As such, it is quite likely that Obi-Wan did not participate
in this battle. Sarrish was a loyal Republic planet and homeworld of a yet as unnamed species represented in the Galactic Senate. Its location in the Expansion Region
of the Rim suggests it was conquered during Grievous' press from the Mid Rim into the Expansion Region and Inner Rim, seen in the Umbara storyline and elsewhere.


How did Gregor end up on Abafar after the Battle of Sarrish? Gregor says that all he remembers is waking up on
a transport, and somehow we crashed on Abafar. It sounds like they were leaving the planet, and this was on the way
somewhere. Sarrish and Abafar are both in the Rim, but are on opposite sides of the galaxy. These two planets are
over a half a galaxy away. This is not a problem with the script, but is entirely the fault of supplementary material
which has placed Abafar within grid coordinates N-5, in the Sprizen Sector. As this is assumed to be unconfirmed
canon by association, in lieu of any on screen information to the contrary, the real question is what gave
the supplement creators the idea that it wasn't near Sarrish?



- Rhydonium fuel is highly volatile, and thus can also be used as an explosive. In addition to being explosive, it is poisonous, and thus must be handled carefully.


How is it possible that the Republic destroyer in orbit of Abafar can be clearly seen from the surface, but the sun cannot
be seen? It was already a stretch that this planet is so well lit and yet the star cannot be located in the sky, but if that is
somehow the case, there is no way a non-luminous object like a Republic destroyer can be seen on the surface.
The creators could have done the one or the other, but not both.
Main Article: Planetology


- Republic ranks have officer grades, Brigadier General is grade B1. Colonel Gascon believes he will be promoted to Brigadier General after this mission.

- The Colonel uses the expression "Mother of Kwath", with the implication being that Kwath is an important historical or legendary figure whose mother
is considered similarly important and worthy of being called upon for divine intervention. If this is part of Zilkin culture, or intergalactic culture, is not
known. Non-canon material suggests that kwath is the shortened version of the name of some kind of mynock-like creature, which makes the expression
essentially meaningless. Ignoring that suggestion, Kwath must have been a figure of some importance to have such notoriety.

- The Planet Carida, located in the Barma Sector, in the Colonies region of the Core, is a Republic controlled world that hosts an orbiting military installation,
the Valor spacestation. The planet has thus far only been seen from orbit. Legendary material and earlier supplements present a vastly different picture
of the planet and its inhabitants than disney-era material. All that is agreed upon at this point is that the planet has some mountains.


- Tarkin has been promoted to Admiral, as evidenced by his presence at this high-level conference. His rank insignia is that of an Admiral, but due to
a continuity error in his first appearance, he wore the same insignia when he was seen as a Captain, so only his presence here makes this likely,
combined with the fact that he will be confirmed as being an Admiral in the very next storyline.
Main Article: Ranks and Rank Insignia

ANALYSIS
The Droid Squad were an unlikely group of Republic operatives who proved to be 'secret weapons', because they are all small, usually underestimated, and often
not taken seriously. All are respected by those who work with them, and recognize their value in a support role. A tiny Zilkin is clearly at a disadvantage in combat,
and his experience is as an analyst. The rest of the team are droids who are mechanics, and while some R-series units are technicians in combat situations, this
group is chosen for their size and infiltration potential, as well as their high-level security clearance. All are seen to be droids who work with Jedi, or clone officers,
and thus are already privy to sensitive missions and classified information. They achieve their primary mission, which is a significant breach of Separatist security,
but then proceed to rescue a stranded Republic officer, destroy a Separatist mining operation, before achieving one of the most significant single actions of
the entire Clone Wars. Saving the better part of the Republic military leadership and the Jedi Council from an attack that would have devastated their ranks
was only possible because the right people were in the right place at the right time, and would stop at nothing to save others even unto their own destruction.
R2-D2 and the D-Squad prove to have been among the greatest heroes of the Republic in the Clone Wars.

The Republic strategy conference in the Carida system allows for a comprehensive review of the battlefield situation across the galaxy, and the formulation of
a strategy for what will prove to be the final phases of the war. The meeting includes the Jedi Council, Republic Strategic Command, and important Republic
officers from around the galaxy. Having gained traction throughout the Rim, the Republic is in position to launch offensives that will fragment the core areas
of the Separatist Alliance, and isolate vital political and military targets for siege or capture. At the same time, their consolidation in the Rim is being slowed
by the ever expanding threat of Grievous' offensives in the Inner Rim and the regions of the Core. It has been over two and a half years since the war began,
and the war will last for almost exactly one more year. At this stage in the war, the material and production advantages of the Republic have clearly asserted
themselves, and it is clear that if the war continues to follow this pattern the Republic will eventually be victorious. Grievous increases the menace of his
assault in order to maintain parity, and to press his largest remaining advantage, that of his greater troop numbers. While the Republic is rapidly gaining
an overall advantage in fleet size and naval resources, the Separatists still have a decisive advantage in troop numbers, and the risk to the populous and
economically important worlds of the Core that they pose requires the Republic devote significant resources to defensive action. Separatist tactics are also
becoming more desperate and inventive, such as this attempt to achieve a potentially war-altering victory like the destruction of much of the Republic's military
leadership along with most of the Jedi High Council. The response to this is a series of quick moves by the Republic that will quickly lead to the beginning of
the 'Outer Rim Sieges', which describes planetary wars that took place near the end of the Clone Wars, where Separatist lines had collapsed down to well-protected
and vital installations or planets, and are now isolated and surrounded by Republic forces. These sieges can last months or much of the year, with some only
ending with the surrender and deactivation of the droid army. The Separatist strategy is to concentrate their forces around facilities capable of building more
armaments and war material, and had the war not ended so abruptly, could have conceivably allowed the Separatists to buy time to resume an offensive footing.


FURTHER ANALYSIS
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