Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars – Battle Tales 2

Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars – Battle Tales 2, also credited as Star Wars Adventures: Clone Wars 2, is the second issue of the canon comic book miniseries Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars – Battle Tales. It was written by Michael Moreci, illustrated by Derek Charm and Megan Levens, and published on June 24, 2020 by IDW Publishing.
==Publisher's summary==
This exciting weekly series explores a time of great upheaval in the galaxy—the Clone Wars! While Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker, and other Jedi Knights fight against incredible odds, Commander Cody, Captain Rex, and other clones, pinned down for the duration, swap war stories that feature your favorite characters from The Clone Wars animated series, such as Padmé Amidala, General Grievous, and many more!
==Plot summary==
On Hisseen, Count Dooku engages Jedi Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi in lightsaber combat, and taunts that Kenobi needs a more devoted apprentice. With this, his apprentice and Sith assassin Asajj Ventress arrives and joins Dooku in the fight against the Jedi. Observing from a safe distance, Plo Koon contacts Commander Wolffe and tries to inform him that they’ve discovered the location of the Hisseenian Parliament, but they’re all tied up at the moment and need his assistance to carry out the mission. However, the mountains are obstructing the communication, causing Plo to be broken up, so all that he can do is transmit his coordinates to Wolffe. Wolffe realizes that the coordinates must be to his General’s location, but is hesitant to go to them as that would leave the other men short-handed, but Captain Rex, who is fending off battle droids, tells Wolffe that he and his men can handle the clankers. Cody leaves the call up to Wolffe, and when the latter believes that his General would trust him to execute a mission on his own, the story flashes back to earlier in the war.
On Quarmendy, the Nexus - a trading outpost floating above the planet, has been occupied by Separatist forces led by Wat Tambor, and Plo Koon and the 104th clone battalion gather outside as they prepare to attack. Plo goes over the plan with Commander Wolffe, which is that he and his fighter squadron will attack from the air to draw out the enemy while the Wolfpack infiltrates the seemingly impervious Nexus. Meanwhile inside the Nexus, Emir Wat Tambor is informed of the incoming Republic attack, and he’s pleased by this as they don’t have the arsenal to match the Nexus’ firepower and defenses. The Republic desperately needs to retake this planet in order to regain access to Quarmendy’s hyperlane, and Tambor has leverage in the hostage of Orkle, a custodian of the Nexus. Outside in the air, Plo Koon leads the attack in his Jedi Interceptor and reminds his squadron that their primary goal is defense and evasion, and this distraction allows for the Wolfpack to slip by on a gunship piloted by Corvis. Due to the Nexus’ scanners not being able to pick them up if they stay below a designated altitude, the ship flies low and Wolfee leads the Wolfpack as they’re deployed into the sky with jetpacks. Wolffe outlines their plan, which is to stay quiet and reach the outside wall of the Nexus, and reprimands Comet to focus less on fighting and more on their objective. 
After they reach the wall, Sinker starts to say that the Nexus had only lied about their impenetrable defense as in truth there is nothing, but he speaks too soon as dozens of turrets are activated and protrude from the wall. While the Wolfpack is fired upon from many angles and attempts to keep climbing, a battle droid inside the command center informs Wat Tambor of the Republic’s diversion, but Tambor reassures the droid that the station and their forces are able to handle anything that the Republic throws at them. However, not wanting to take any chances, he orders for their ‘special force’ to be deployed, and shortly after along the wall, the Wolfpack is greeted by a squad of aerial battle droids that engage them in combat. Now trying to avoid blaster fire from two separate groups, the Wolfpack is sent into a panic, but Wolffe uses his quick thinking and grabs a droid before attaching a thermal detonator onto it and hurling it at the Nexus’ command center. The droid breaches the defenses and the explosion causes serious damage, forcing Tambor out of hiding and out into the open. With this, the security systems are offline and the Wolfpack cuts him off and attempts to take him into custody. However, Tambor has something to bargain with in the form of the hostage Orkle, and he’d rather see the entire trading outpost destroyed than surrender to the Republic. Before they can stop him, he releases the hostage and detonates explosives inside the Nexus, which allows him to be picked up by aerial battle droids and flee the scene. With the whole station prepared to blow, the Wolfpack picks up Orkle and begins to jet off to safety, but they don’t have the speed to escape the blast radius. However, luckily for them, General Plo Koon arrives in a gunship just in time and brings them aboard, allowing everyone to escape to safety. After the detonators on the Nexus go off and the trading outpost is destroyed, Wolffe apologizes to his General since the outpost’s destruction wasn’t a part of the mission, and they all failed him. However, Plo Koon doesn’t see it this way, as he looks around and sees his whole squad accounted for, as well as the one hostage rescued and unharmed. This is far from failure, and they each trusted each other to do their parts, and because of that they’re all walking away from this mission together.
Back in the present, the Wolfpack and Commander Cody reach the coordinates that were provided to them by Plo Koon, and they spot Separatist forces up ahead that have taken the entire Hisseenian Parliament hostage. Cody believes that there could be civilian casualties, but Wolffe states that the Separatists have no regard for innocent life, so they should move on them now while the opportunity presents itself.
==Development==
Star Wars Adventures: The Clone Wars – Battle Tales 2 was initially solicited for an April 2020 release, but it was delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
==Media==
===Editions===
*UPC 827714019537; June 24, 2020; IDW Publishing; First printing
**00211; Cover A; Derek Charm
**00221; Cover B; Derek Charm
===Cover gallery===
File:TCW-BattleTales-2.jpg|Cover A
File:StarWarsAdventuresCloneWarsIssue2Cover.png|Cover A (not final)
File:Battletales2.jpg|Cover B
==Appearances==
==Notes and references==
==External links==
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