The second episode of Season Two of the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars is entitled "Cargo of Doom". As the twenty-fourth episode in the entire series, it also forms the middle part of a three-episode story arc. It holds the distinction of being the first episode confirmed for the second season.
The fleet commanded by Anakin Skywalker arrives at the Devaron system, thereby blocking the Separatist fleet that was supporting bounty hunter Cad Bane. However, Skywalker learns from clone trooper scouts that Bane has already captured Jedi Master Bolla Ropal along with the Kyber memory crystal. Ropal is being held hostage within an energy field aboard a Munificent-class star frigate. While on the frigate's bridge, Bane instructs the droids to prepare for a jump to hyperspace. Unfortunately for him, his ship is spotted by the crew of the Resolute, Skywalker's Venator-class Star Destroyer. The Resolute's crew opens fire on Bane's frigate, damaging its hyperdrive system. Captain Rex, Skywalker, and his Padawan, Ahsoka Tano, devise a plan to board the frigate, supported by fire from three AT-TEs.
In the meantime, Bane tortures Ropal in an attempt to force him to unlock the stolen holocron, but Ropal steadfastly refuses. Bane then orders the droids to increase the power of the energy field, which electrocutes Ropal, resulting in his death. Needing another Jedi to unlock the holocron, Bane returns to the bridge and sees Skywalker, Ahsoka, and their clones preparing to board the frigate on a viewscreen. Trade Federation Viceroy Nute Gunray contacts Bane via comlink, expressing his anger at the loss of four ships and demanding compensation. Bane assures him that Darth Sidious will reimburse him for the Federation fleet once the holocron is unlocked, and informs the viceroy that two Jedi are about to infiltrate his frigate. Before departing the bridge, Bane orders the droids to erase the navigation charts, activate the self-destruct sequence, and transfer control of the ship to his wrist gauntlet. Skywalker, Ahsoka, and the clones then storm the bridge, destroying several B1-series battle droids stationed there. R2-D2, Skywalker's astromech droid, accesses the ship's computer to locate Ropal.
The group proceeds to the frigate's detention block, where Ahsoka discovers Ropal's lifeless body inside his cell. An explosion rocks the frigate, prompting Admiral Wullf Yularen, aboard the Resolute, to advise the Republic group to stay away from it. The lights then go out, forcing the clones to activate their helmets' night vision mode. The squad spots Bane fleeing, and they pursue him to the frigate's gunnery room. Bane commands his battle droid forces to eliminate the Jedi and deactivates the artificial gravity. Ahsoka instructs Artoo to restore the gravity. Skywalker attacks Bane, kicking the holocron from his grasp, but before he can retrieve it, Artoo reactivates the gravity, and Bane recovers the holocron from the floor. In response, Ahsoka gives chase to Bane, who is fleeing, despite her Master's warnings. Skywalker attempts to cut through a closed blast door to reach Ahsoka, but a droid is tripped and fires an artillery shell, causing an explosion.
Ahsoka and Bane engage in combat in a dead-end corridor. Ahsoka defeats Bane in hand-to-hand combat, and attempts to use telekinesis to retrieve her lightsaber, but Bane deceives her. He grabs her ankle and delivers a paralyzing electric shock, rendering her unconscious. Sensing his Padawan is in danger, Skywalker frees himself from the debris in the gunnery room and orders Rex and the clones to secure a ship for them in the frigate's docking bay.
Bane places her in stuncuffs, and pulling her silka bead Padawan braid, Bane taunts Ahsoka and shocks her with his wrist comm, while he waits for Skywalker to "rescue her". Skywalker enters the room immediately, and Bane threatens to eject Ahsoka through an airlock if he does not unlock the stolen holocron. Skywalker is compelled to comply in order to save Ahsoka. After the holocron is unlocked, Bane inserts the crystal. Enraged, Skywalker then spontaneously summons both his and Ahsoka's lightsabers. Bane opens the airlock and escapes. In a desperate attempt to save his Padawan, Skywalker throws a fragment of a B2-series super battle droid and closes the airlock door. Bane contacts Gunray to inform him of his success. Gunray requests the information be transmitted to him, but Bane states that he will deliver it to Sidious personally. However, the clones have already seized his shuttle. Skywalker sprints down a hallway in a last-ditch effort to capture Bane, but Ahsoka compels him to return to Rex and the clones in the hangar bay. Upon their return, the Jedi find the clones in possession of a Sheathipede-class transport shuttle.
Clone troopers Denal and Koho engage Bane in combat on the hangar bay's upper level, but the bounty hunter defeats them and dons Denal's armor. Ahsoka expresses a desire to retrieve the holocron, believing Bane to be dead, but Skywalker insists that there is no time. Bane, disguised in Denal's armor, boards Skywalker's ship. After departing the frigate, Skywalker says that even though they witnessed Bane's apparent demise, he can still sense Bane through the Force. Upon returning to the Resolute, Ahsoka apologizes to her master for allowing Bane to outwit her, but Skywalker corrects her, saying that the mission's failure was his responsibility, "from beginning to end."