The Clone Wars: Mouse Hunt

"Rex & Cody root out a spy in Mouse Hunt!"

- Tagline

The Clone Wars: Mouse Hunt is a six-page web comic in The Clone Wars web comic series posted on StarWars.com on October 23, 2008. It leads directly into The Clone Wars television series episode "Rookies." The comic was written by Pablo Hidalgo, illustrated by Thomas Hodges, and lettered by Grant Gould, with cover art drawn by Steven D. Anderson. Mouse Hunt shows Commander CC-2224 and Captain CC-7567 inspecting a tracking station in the Pastil system, where they find and neutralize a Separatist spy.

Plot Summary
"A clone never leaves anything half-done, Sir!"

- Stripe

Clone trooper commander CC-2224 and the clone trooper captain CC-7567, nicknamed "Cody" and "Rex" respectively, are inspecting a tracking station on the planet of Pastil in the Pastil system. While Cody reminds the "Shinies"&mdash;the younger and inexperienced clones who are manning the station&mdash;the importance of their duty, Rex notes that the station looks unusually clean. A clone trooper, Stripe, explains that an MSE-series droid, nicknamed "Rodent" by the clones, spends a significant amount of time polishing the station, which Stripe believes to be the result of a glitch in the droid's programming. The inspecting officers immediately see the droid's action as suspicious and issue an alert Code Aurek on the station. Captain Rex orders the clone troopers to search the station and find the droid by whatever means necessary. During the search, a clone trooper nicknamed Bouncer asks Stripe for his opinion about the alert, wondering whether the officers do the same at every inspection just to drill the rookies. Stripe, however, realizes the danger of a potential spy within the base and abruptly tells Bouncer not to ask stupid questions.

When the droid is spotted by one of the clones, Rex immediately points his blaster at it, preparing to shoot. Seeing that his position as a spy is revealed, Rodent tries to escape, but Rex chases the droid and destroys it with a blaster shot. However, the droid's wheels are revealed to be individual droids on their own, and they try to escape by splitting up. One "wheel" is smashed by a clone trooper with his helmet, another one is shot down with a blaster and the third one is disabled when electrical energy from a loose wire is directed at it. When looking for the fourth wheel droid, Stripe notices that it is heading towards a grate. He realizes that if it gets through, it would be impossible to find again. Determined to stop the spy, Stripe throws a V-1 thermal detonator at the grate, which destroys both the droid and a solid portion of the station's interior. When Captain Rex asks Stripe if such a radical solution was necessary, Stripe proudly responds that as a clone, he never leaves anything half-done. Rex then orders the troopers to clean up the mess caused by the thermal detonator's explosion before preparing to depart the station with Cody.

Behind the scenes
The Clone Wars: Mouse Hunt is a six-page web comic in The Clone Wars web comic series, which ties into the television series of the same name. Mouse Hunt leads directly into "Rookies," the fifth episode in the first season of The Clone Wars television series. The comic shows Rex and Cody inspecting the tracking station on Pastil, which Cody mentions as being fully operational to Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi in the episode.

Development
Mouse Hunt was posted on Star Wars.com on October 23, 2008 and was written by Pablo Hidalgo, illustrated by Thomas Hodges, and lettered by Grant Gould, with cover art drawn by Steven D. Anderson. Originally, another artist, Jeffery Carlisle, was supposed to illustrate the comic, but due to a scheduling conflict he was unable to get this story together, and Hodges stepped in at the last minute. Special thanks were also given to Leland Chee, Sue Rostoni, and Dave Filoni.