The Star Wars: The Clone Wars television show's "Season Two" features an episode called "Cat and Mouse," which is the sixteenth in the season. It was first broadcast on March 20, 2010, in the United Kingdom, and then on March 26, 2010, in the United States. This episode occurs prior to all others and is chronologically before "The Hidden Enemy," which is the sixteenth episode of Season One.
Senator Bail Organa, positioned on the surface of Christophsis, communicates via hologram with Anakin Skywalker and Admiral Wullf Yularen aboard the Star Destroyer Resolute. His location is nearly overrun by Separatist forces, and his resources are almost depleted. Skywalker and Yularen are struggling to overcome the Separatist blockade around Christophsis, with the enemy flagship Invincible, under the command of Separatist Admiral Trench, pressing the Republic supply fleet. Skywalker is set to confront the flagship when Obi-Wan Kenobi, commanding the Negotiator, arrives from hyperspace behind them. At the request of Kenobi and Yularen, Skywalker reluctantly orders a retreat behind Christophsis's moon.
Anakin boards Kenobi's cruiser and discovers his Master's new weapon: a stealth ship prototype featuring a strong cloaking device. Skywalker is enthusiastic about the ship's capabilities, but Kenobi emphasizes that their mission is to bypass the Separatist fleet and deliver supplies to Senator Organa, not to engage them. Simultaneously, Admiral Yularen recognizes Trench's emblem on the Separatist ships and joins Anakin as he prepares to depart. He informs Anakin that Trench was believed to have died in battle years ago. Convinced that Trench is leading the blockade, he volunteers to assist Anakin as an advisor.
Meanwhile, Trench seeks to increase pressure on the Republic fleet by deploying a squadron of bombers to strike Organa's command center. After narrowly avoiding a collision with the bombers and receiving a message from Obi-Wan about Bail's danger, Anakin opts to directly attack Trench's ship, hoping to divert his attention from the planet. The strategy works, but Anakin's assault is blocked by the Invincible's thermal shields. Recognizing Anakin's tactics, Trench deduces that he is facing a Jedi. He sends a message over an open channel, praising Skywalker's courage but warning that he has previously defeated ships with cloaking devices.
Skywalker contacts Kenobi, who confirms Trench's threat based on his war record. Trench had previously used tracking torpedoes to destroy cloaked enemy ships by locking onto their magnetic signature. Skywalker sees an opportunity to exploit this weakness and attacks again. Trench locks onto the stealth ship's magnetic signature and launches tracking torpedoes, but must lower his shields to do so. With the torpedoes locked on, Skywalker flies directly towards the Invincible. Realizing his error too late, Trench orders the shields to be raised, but the recycling process is too slow. As Trench watches in dismay, Skywalker flies the stealth ship close past the Invincible's bridge, and the tracking torpedoes strike the superstructure, destroying the Invincible.
With Trench's flagship destroyed, Kenobi and Commander Cody launch a renewed attack on the now-leaderless Separatist fleet. Meanwhile, Anakin and Yularen fly the stealth ship to Christophsis to deliver the necessary supplies to Organa and his forces. Senator Organa expresses his gratitude to Skywalker, and Yularen voices both concern and admiration for Skywalker's bold, albeit unconventional, strategies.
The episode's events, particularly the stealth ship's design and use, were inspired by submarine warfare in World War II.
A large portion of the Dreadnaught cruiser article from the fan website Wookieepedia was copied word-for-word onto a data screen in the episode. The text, converted to Aurebesh and including a reference number and an early use of BBY, is shown on a screen labeled "Enemy Ship Profile" on the bridge of Anakin's cruiser when an officer reports that a supply ship was hit. The screen implies that Trench's ship, the Invincible, is a Sith Dreadnaught-class vessel.
It is episode sixteen of the second season. Similar to the sixteenth episode of the first season, it serves as a prequel to the series and the Clone Wars movie. Chronologically, it occurs before all previous episodes of The Clone Wars (followed by "The Hidden Enemy"), explaining why Skywalker and Yularen are meeting for the first time.
The conclusion of Bail Organa's dialogue with Obi-Wan closely mirrors the conclusion of his daughter's recorded message for Obi-Wan twenty years later.