Inside Master Plo's pod.
Having ended his meditation, Master Plo saw the three clones who were with him successfully reroute what remaining power their pod had to boot up a makeshift comms system, allowing them to send a signal out. It didn't take long for them to receive a signal back, which made them relieved. It was none other than Samus who had picked it up, and according to Adam, Samus's gunship was around ten minutes away. They had to cross through a huge obstacle to get to the clones too, a fleet that was entirely destroyed by the Malevolence. But with Master Plo ending his meditation, he was able to reach out to Samus, allowing her to latch onto the pod's location.
It was a waiting game now, but Master Plo knew they couldn't sit by doing nothing. And there was a very good reason for that.
"General, I don't think we can sit around for the next ten minutes just waiting for them. It looks like trouble found us first. It won't do them any good if they find us dead.", Commander Wolffe said, pointing his hand out toward the glass that covered the pod. The clones and Master Plo traced his fingers, and sure enough, they saw that they were no longer alone.
Near the pod, a similar-sized spacecraft could be seen with a three-pronged gigantic arm sticking out of its frontside. Not the gripping kind, but instead, it could easily latch onto something smaller, clamping its target into place. These crafts had a single purpose. Latch onto surviving pods, and either crack the lid open, or smash the pod altogether, killing whoever is inside them.
Master Plo's gaze turned serious.
"It looks like trouble found us first. You are right, Commander. We need to be alive for our rescuers to find us. We need to hold out, and I say we take the fight to them.", Master Plo said, causing the three clones near him to become surprised.
As Master Plo suggested that, outside of the pod, inside outer space itself, the claw-like craft was inching ever so closer to them. It wasn't autonomous, a few droids could be seen operating it. Normally one would think these droids would just freeze over due to the rigid cold of outer space, but these droids were specially designed to withstand such low temperatures. That's how busted Samus's Ice Beam and Ice Missile combo is. She can freeze these droids from the inside out due to its sub-zero temperatures. Her firing was much more deadly than what outer space could do. But here, that wasn't taking effect.
"Corporal, there's one more pod over there. This looks like it's the last one. Let's crush it to bits and report back to General Grievous.", The droid operator said to their commanding droid.
"Do not let it evade our sights. The General was very strict with our orders. Leave no one alive, or else we'll be decommissioned!", The Corporal droid responded.
"Roger-roger.", The couple of droids, including the operator droid, said, acknowledging how serious the Corporal's words spoken to them were. They did their nods, and became busy.
In the next moment or two, the spacecraft started to shift. Its three-pronged claws began to open up ever so slightly. Once it was prepped and ready to go, it sped off. Woosh! The droids were so used to this mission that the operator droid even began humming the "Imperial March"!
Back inside the pod, the three clones, including Commander Wolffe, could now be seen standing nearby Master Plo.
"General, we can't wait any longer. Are you sure we should take this fight to them?", Commander Wolffe questioned, still unsure of what he had just heard.
"What other option do we have? If we continue waiting, it will be too late. Our contracted hand will not be pleased to see corpses once they arrive, nor will I let Little 'Soka down. We shall take the fight to them, and destroy them outside.", Master Plo declared, causing the clones to turn serious.
"You can't be serious, General. Fighting in outer space!? That's suicide!", Commander Wolffe immediately retorted with a frown. He knew he was taking a gamble by saying that, as Master Plo still outranked him as his commanding officer. Master Plo had just issued their orders so it's not like Commander Wolffe could reject it, he just didn't see how it was plausible for a Jedi to fight like that. The clones could withstand it, but worry could be seen in Commander Wolffe's eyes.
"Your worry is not unfounded, Commander. I am not like other Jedi. I can withstand its pressure for a brief moment of time. There are not many droids operating that machine. We're on equal grounds here, and it should be enough to take them down. I can promise you all we will live to see another day. It is crucial we get this information back to the Republic at all cost so they can stop this ion cannon.", Master Plo stated.
Seeing how serious Master Plo was showing them right now, the three clones looked at each other, and then nodded.
"Very well. We'll follow your lead, General.", Commander Wolffe said. "You heard him boys, get your helmets and head to the latch pronto!"
They received their orders, and scrambled. It's not like there was much room to scramble, considering they were inside a rather small pod. The clones put on their helmets, and Master Plo's eyes became determined, wanting to see this through. Even though it was just ten minutes away, they had to live to make it back to the Republic. It would not serve them any good if all they found were their corpses, so Master Plo knew he had to take the fight to the droids if they were going to make it out of this.
This played out very similar to what originally happened in Clone Wars. What was different this time around was Master Plo and the clones weren't in the dark knowing if rescue would be coming beforehand. They just had to wait it out long enough.
"Everyone, I know staying alive will be a difficult challenge for us to overcome, but our odds of survival have drastically increased knowing that we have help on the way. I will get you back to your brothers.", Master Plo stated while his hand remained on the latch that separated them and outer space, giving the clones a little pep boost.
"That's good enough for us, General. Let's kick those clankers' asses!", Commander Wolffe responded, showing a new look of determination.
Feeling determined, the clones saw the droids get busy, and started the process of latching onto their pod. With them being distracted, Master Plo made his move. Creaking the latch of the pod open, three clones slowly flew out, making sure not to wander too far. They were in outer space now so one wrong move could send them flying off into the vastness of outer space, unable to return back. Keeping steady, they were able to lock their blasters onto the droids, awaiting the command to fire.
These droids weren't expecting anyone to actually show up here, so they just did what they were programmed to do, and that was to destroy the glass that kept the pod secured.
All of a sudden, the closest droid heard the hum of a lightsaber ignite nearby, causing it to look upward, only to see Master Plo look directly at it. It took the droid a moment to let this sight register in its circuits.
"What's a Jedi doing out here?", The droid questioned, unable to comprehend why Master Plo was now out in outer space.
"That doesn't matter. Blast the Jedi!", The Corporal droid said, issuing its command to the other three or four droids next to it.
The fight was on!