The luxurious vessel Coronet soars gracefully from Mandalore into deep space. Inside its darkened cargo holds, Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker brief their clone contingent led by Clone Commander Cody and Captain Rex. All aboard are to remain vigilant for any sign of the Death Watch. Even R2-D2 commits his scanners to the cause.

Kenobi and Skywalker are called to attend the Duchess, and Skywalker senses a touch of anxiety within his old mentor, something Obi-Wan is reluctant to talk about. In the Duchess' opulent throne room, she immediately begins verbally sparring with Kenobi. She did not ask for Jedi protection, and finds the notion of fighting for peace distasteful. They put aside their argument in time for dinner. The Coronet leaps into hyperspace.

Back in the darkened cargo hold, two clones -- Mixer and Redeye -- sweep the pallets for any signs of a security breach. They are both silently attacked by a horrible, spider-like assassin droid, and their squadmates remain oblivious to the danger.

As they make their way to the dining chambers, Anakin asks Obi-Wan about his history with the Duchess. He reveals that when he was younger, on an extended mission with Qui-Gon Jinn, he spent a year on Mandalore protecting the Duchess from insurgents who threatened her world. When Satine returned to rebuild her world after a devastating civil war, Obi-Wan was assigned elsewhere, and had to leave despite his feelings for her.

Kenobi's wistful reflection is cut short when Captain Rex reports in. R2-D2 is frightened by something in the cargo hold, and Redye and Mixer have gone missing. Anakin volunteers to head to the lower decks to help investigate while Kenobi bears the brunt of diplomatic duty. Artoo and Anakin discover an empty container. Whatever was inside was released, or escaped. Skywalker orders his troops to fan out.

Stirring in the shadows appears to be Redeye, walking as if in a trance. As Anakin gets closer, he sees that a huge, spider-like assassin probe is animating Redeye's corpse like a puppet. Discovered, the droid hurls Redyeye's body like a missile. Anakin dodges, and ignites his lightsaber, ready to take on the pick-footed terror. The clone officers arrive with their troops, and riddle the droid with blaster bolts.

A second assassin probe takes advantage of the distraction and scurries towards the turbolift shaft. Skywalker calls Obi-Wan via comlink, warning him of the loose droid. The probe charges into the dining room, slicing through guards. Kenobi cuts it down before it can get at the senators.

Each assassin probe has tiny pits along its cranial dome, filled with smaller spider-like probe killers. Dozens of the crawling droids emerge to continue their mission in both the cargo hold and the dining room. Anakin, Artoo and the clones crush, blast, slice or zap as many as they can. Kenobi and Satine also defend themselves, with the Duchess producing a small hand-held droid deactivator from her robes.

With the droids destroyed, Anakin focuses on learning how the killer was smuggled aboard. According to the cargo manifest, someone used a Senate stamp to approve shipment of the crates containing the droids. That means one of the four senators aboard -- Orn Free Taa, Kin Robb, Onaconda Farr or Tal Merrik -- was behind the shipment.

Kenobi hatches a plan. He carries a mini-assassin droid under a glass serving tray to each senator in turn, theorizing that it is programmed to kill anyone except the one who programmed it. The droid remains passive when exposed to Senator Tal Merrik. Merrik knocks the droid from Obi-Wan's grasp, pulls a blaster, and holds it to Satine's head. Using Satine as a shield and hostage, Merrik leaves the dining hall.

Kenobi radios Skywalker with the update on Merrik's treachery, but Skywalker is preoccupied hunting down the third and final assassin probe. The large droid and its tiny spawn attack Rex and Cody. Anakin cuts off its legs and Rex jumps on the droid's head, peppering it with blaster bolts.

Merrik forces his way onto the bridge and murders the crew. The ship drops from hyperspace, and Merrik contacts Pre Vizsla via hologram. He reports his success to the Death Watch leader, but requests reinforcements to cover his escape. Darting in from space are droid boarding ships that plunge into the Coronet's hull, disgorging squads of super battle droids. Anakin leads the clones and Satine's guards in defending the corridors against these invaders.

Kenobi races to the bridge and finds Merrik and Satine. The evil senator has wired the ship's engines to explode and carries the detonator. Satine begs Kenobi not to risk any more lives on her behalf. Merrik backs his way off the bridge and into the corridors, Kenobi following closely, looking for an opening in Merrik's guard. Satine, fearing that all is lost, proclaims her love for Obi-Wan, a sentiment that Kenobi echoes.

Satine stamps her heel into Merrik's foot, wriggling out of his hold and grabbing Merrik's blaster. Satine, staunch pacifist, now has Merrik at gunpoint. Merrik doesn't believe she'll fire, for to do so would undermine the very pacifist ideal that is embroiling Mandalore in controversy. And yet, if Kenobi steps in to kill Merrik, the Jedi will be proven as a cold blooded killer in the eyes of the woman he loves.

Merrik relishes the stalemate, until he is fatally stabbed through the back by Anakin Skywalker's lightsaber. Free of any ideological struggle, Anakin states pragmatically that he killed a bomber set to destroy the ship.

The clones report their defeat of the droids. The Coronet continues undisturbed to Coruscant, where Satine is greeted by Chancellor Palpatine.