During the conflict known as the Clone Wars, the Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker and his Padawan Ahsoka Tano found themselves in an ambush. This surprise attack by two IG-86 sentinel droids occurred on the vessel Vulture's Claw. Skywalker and Tano were searching for their lost astromech droid, R2-D2. Their search proved unsuccessful, as the substitute droid R3-S6, who was secretly working as a spy for the Separatist faction, stated that R2-D2 was not present, citing the ship's manifest. Despite this, the ship's proprietor, the scavenger Gha Nachkt, actually possessed the missing droid. This encounter made Nachkt aware of R2-D2's potential value to the Separatists, which prompted him to propose a deal involving the droid to General Grievous at Skytop Station.