Point of No Return

"You must trust in others or success is impossible."

- Jedi Fortune Cookie

"Point of No Return" is the thirteenth episode of the fifth season of Star Wars: The Clone Wars. It is the hundred and first episode of the series overall. It was released on January 12, 2013 on Cartoon Network.

Synopsis
Upon escaping the planet Abafar aboard a Republic shuttle carrying rhydonium, Colonel Meebur Gascon and his droid squad approach a Jedi cruiser orbiting the planet. As Gascon triumphs over his victory and plans to deliver the encryption module to the commanding officer, WAC-47 is uneasy and something isn't right. They land the shuttle in the hangar, which is empty with no ships or crew whatsoever, adding more to the suspicions. Gascon comes up with several solutions as to why no one is present, and the squad heads up to the bridge, which is full of clone officers. Gascon hands the module to one of the officers, which goes right through him. The squad soon finds out all the officers are just holograms, and they soon discover the ship was taken over by battle droids. Before the battle droids can destroy Gascon and his squad, they manage to escape, but are pursued by the droids.

Gascon and his droid squad manage to make it to the hangar control room, where they discover the hangar is full of rhydonium. They soon discover a bomb in the room and conclude that the Separatists have rigged the cruiser to be a bomb. Though the droids want to defuse the bomb, Gascon argues he was not sent to stop Separatist piracy and defusing massive bombs, but WAC explains they cannot escape the ship while in hyperspace. As the squad heads back to their ship, R2-D2 suspects someone is stalking them and finds them. The thing turns out to be a servant droid named BNI-393, or "Bunny" as his Master called him. Artoo leads Bunny back to the group, where he tells Gascon there are survivor that need their help. Meanwhile, on the bridge, the super tactical droid commander commands a buzz droid to spy on D-Squad and report back to him.

Bunny leads D-Squad to their shuttle, where it turns out the survivors are other droids. Bunny then goes on to explain that the Separatists had set course for the cruiser to head to the Carida system, where the Republic space station Valor is located. Gascon then recalls a strategy conference is being held and that the Separatists are going to ram the cruiser into the space station and kill key commanders and almost the entire Republic fleet. As the discussion continues, the droids notice a buzz droid stalking them. The buzz droid escapes and Artoo pursues it through corridors with the rest of the squad and droid survivors following. The droid escapes into the gunnery deck, where the squad is soon ambushed by hundreds of other buzz droids. Artoo spills oil over the droids and sets fire on them, protecting the squad. M5-BZ then makes a suicide struggle and opens the airlock, sending him and the rest of the buzz droids into space. Artoo then ceals the lock. Gascon, on account of the droids, gives a few words for Beezee and how they need to continue their mission.

D-Squad then hatches a plan. Artoo will return to the hangar control room and will make the bomb detonate early while the other droids escape onto the shuttle. As Artoo takes off, the squad is ambushed by battle droids. At that time, the cruiser comes out of hyperspace and approaches the space station at high speeds. Onboard the Valor, Anakin Skywalker shows his boredom of these meetings, and Obi-Wan Kenobi assures him he can list his complaints and that they can get underway. Anakin then notes the cruiser is coming in too fast. Onboard the cruiser, Artoo fights the super tactical droid while U9-C4 and Gascon distract the battle droids. Noticing Artoo is in trouble, Gascon orders the shuttle to delay its liftoff, but WAC takes off without Artoo. Artoo manages to gain the upperhand and changes the detonation of the bomb. The cruiser then explodes, causing a powerful blast shaking the space station and other ships. Gascon reports to the station where he explains Artoo sacrificed himself to save everyone, and Anakin promptly orders a search team to find him. Tug boats search the debris and find the battered body of Artoo. Artoo is repaired and greeted by Gascon, Anakin, and the other droids. Gascon says Artoo is the bravest droid he ever met, and it turns out WAC will be working alongside Gascon in the future.

Cast
Starring
 * Stephen Stanton as Colonel Meebur Gascon / Admiral Tarkin
 * Ben Diskin as WAC-47
 * Catherine Taber as BNI-393
 * Matt Lanter as Anakin Skywalker
 * Matthew Wood as Battle Droids
 * Dee Bradley Baker as Super Tactical Droid / Clone Trooper
 * James Arnold Taylor as Obi-Wan Kenobi
 * Tom Kane as Announcer

Crew
Created and Executive Produced by
 * George Lucas

Supervising Director
 * Dave Filoni

Produced by
 * Cary Silver

Directed by
 * Bosco Ng

Written by
 * Brent Friedman

Score by
 * Kevin Kiner

Original Star Wars Themes and Score by
 * John Williams

Characters

 * Aut-O
 * BNI-393
 * Coburn
 * Cody
 * Meebur Gascon
 * Obi-Wan Kenobi
 * M5-BZ
 * Neyo
 * QT-KT
 * R2-D2
 * Anakin Skywalker
 * Wilhuff Tarkin
 * U9-C4
 * Unidentified Super Tactical Droid
 * WAC-47
 * Mace Windu
 * Wolffe
 * Z9

Locations

 * Abafar
 * Carida System
 * Valor

Events

 * Clone Wars
 * Carida Incident
 * Escape from Abafar
 * Republic Strategy Conference