The Clone Wars: Hunting the Hunters (Part III)

"The Republic fears the return of an old threat in the moons of Iego."

- Tagline

The Clone Wars: Hunting the Hunters (Part 3) is an eight-page web comic in The Clone Wars web comic series that takes place between Seasons One and Two of the The Clone Wars television series. Posted on StarWars.com on September 12, 2009, it was written by Pablo Hidalgo and illustrated and lettered by Grant Gould.

Hunting the Hunters (Part 3) shows the Jedi Generals Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi returning to the planet of Iego, after being dispatched there because of a disturbance caused by a droid army that was being built by the IG-86 sentinel droid HELIOS-3D. After Kenobi told Commander CC-2224 to dispatch pilots, the Republic group engage a tier of Vulture droids and soon a laser defense system was activated. After the defense system was destroyed by the clone pilots, Kenobi and Skywalker depart Iego, however, HELIOS-3D survived by transferring his identify into the body of an B1 battle droid.

Plot summary
"Gentlemen, it appears the son of Drol lives."

- Jaybo Hood to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker.

On the planet of Iego, Jedi Generals Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker disembark Skywalker's G9 Rigger freighter, the Twilight. Kenobi reveals to Skywalker that while the hunt for bounty hunter Cad Bane has "run cold," Grand Master Yoda dispatched them to Iego to help out a local, who had called the Jedi for help. The two Jedi find Jaybo Hood, who tells them that, in their previous mission, they didn't finish their task of destroying "Drol," a laser defense system installed by the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Skywalker denies Hood's claim, stating that they had destroyed the system, but the young boy replies that they had either missed part of the laser grid, or the Separatists had installed a secret back-up grid.

Reviewing a hologram console, Hood tells them that the grid is within the "Thicket," a term that is used by spacers to describe the debris field surrounding Iego. Hood adds that he had sent probes into space, but they stopped responding. Unbeknownst to Hood and the Jedi, IG-86 sentinel droid HELIOS-3D had intercepted Hood's probe droids and reprogrammed them. Through his comlink, Kenobi tells Commander CC-2224 to dispatch manned V-19 Torrent starfighters to investigate the area. A clone pilot, under the call sign of Torrent Four, sends information to the group as he sees a Galactic Republic shuttle probe droid moving towards him.

While continuing to navigate through the Thicket, Vulture droids appear and engage the Republic starfighters, and the clones come under attack by a laser defense grid. On Iego, Hood tells Skywalker and Kenobi that the "son of Drol" exists. After defeating HELIOS-3D's droid army in the Thicket, Cody tells Kenobi that the control systems that ran the laser defense grid have shut down. Near Kenobi and Hood, Skywalker is looking over the body of the defeated HELIOS-3D. The Jedi Knight takes the head of the droid, although Hood believes it to be useless scrap. Kenobi and Skywalker leave Iego on the Twilight, believing that they had finished their task, but HELIOS-3D had managed to tranfer his consciousness to the inside of a B1 battle droid, which floats among the debris in space.

Behind the scenes
The Clone Wars: Hunting the Hunters (Part 3) is an eight-page web comic and the twenty-fourth issue in The Clone Wars web comic series, which ties into the television series of the same name. Hunting the Hunters (Part 3) is the third part in the "Hunting the Hunters" arc, which takes place between the first and second seasons of The Clone Wars television series. In the comic, Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi return to Iego to find out that IG-86 sentinel droid, HELIOS-3D, is controlling a part of Iego space called the "Thicket." The comic also serves as a prelude to the StarWars.com game, Droids Over Iego, in which you hunt and destroy HELIOS-3D's droid army. If you destroy and stop 3D, the game allows you to view a bonus page of Hunting the Hunters (Part 3).

The comic was illustrated and lettered by Grant Gould, and written by Pablo Hidalgo. Special thanks were also given to Leland Chee, Sue Rostoni, and Dave Filoni. Hunting the Hunters (Part 3) was posted on Star Wars.com on September 12, 2009.