015. WARNING THE EAST

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ACE HAD BEEN AGAINST THE IDEA OF LEAVING HIS POST, BUT WHEN THE COMMANDER SET HER MIND TO SOMETHING, IT WAS NEAR IMPOSSIBLE TO STOP HER. He'd learned a long time ago to concede just a bit of control in order to maintain the situation. Unfortunately, the situation was far beyond his control.

He cautiously poked his head around a corner, before quickly recoiling as the clatter of clankers could be heard just down the hall. He lifted a fist so that his team knew to hang back as the roaming droids passed.

"Stay alert," Ace warned in a harsh whisper under his breath before motioning for his team to follow. He'd only taken a few steps before his ear twitched at the sound of armor knocking against itself. He glanced over his shoulder and silently sighed at how tense his troops held themselves. He specifically called out Bits who held his blaster close to his chest as if afraid he might lose it. "Loosen up, Bits. You're rattling."

Burst quietly chuckled under his breath, but even quiet for the large clone was louder than the captain liked. "You might just snap yourself in half, orikih."

The tension in Bits's shoulder shifted from a behavior of nervousness to one of anger. From his reaction, Arimiya could tell whatever had been said in Mando'a hadn't been flattering.

Her brow knit in confusion as she turned to face the team medic. "What did he say?"

"Orikih?" Skid asked for clarification but didn't actually give her time to answer. "It means 'tiny.'"

Burst either didn't notice Bits's frustration, or cared more about getting under the younger clone's skin, so he showed no hesitation as he slapped the back of Bits's armor. "I'd hate for Skid to be the one to put you back together again. Seriously, loosen up, mate."

Bits rolled his eyes from beneath his helmet, readjusting his blaster to release his building nervous energy. "This place gives me the creeps."

Burst nodded his head in agreement after the beat of silence that he used to look around the area. "That makes two of us."

"The sooner we warn the Jedi Masters, the sooner we can leave," Ahsoka hissed under her breath to remind them of their goal.

Ace nodded in agreement, signaling for the team to move on, but sighed at the soft rattling that Bits failed to conceal. "One last time, loosen up, soldier."

"Alright, alright," Bits's tone grew defensive as he tried to ease the tension from his shoulders. "I'm looser than the Woodoos, I'm looser than all the ends of this assignment. I'm looser than a—"

He was interrupted in the middle of his rant as they turned the corner and clone crashed into clone. 501st blue and 212th orange clashed against 107th black. Ahsoka and Arimiya narrowly stepped back in time to avoid the collision, and facepalmed at the lack of stealth displayed from those that prided themselves on their covert operations. It certainly didn't help that Bits dropped his blaster and released a shrill shout of alarm, immediately followed by Burst's boisterous laughter.

"That sounds like a Woodoo alright." Burst grinned.

Although his helmet had remained on, Arimiya could tell that Ace was glowering from the way he held himself as he stood. The initial shock of the situation quickly wore off as their superior officers regained their balance.

"What's the meaning of all this?" one of the 212th troops asked in confusion, glancing over the group of clones and padawans that had made their surprise appearance.

"Relax, Boil," Lieutenant Waxer stepped forward. "I know these boys. Umbara, right?"

Ace slowly nodded his head, before straightening to stand at attention despite outranking just about everyone there. It was meant as a sign of respect, especially since he hardly considered himself a leader, what with hardly a squad to lead.

Fives stepped forward, tilting his head as he looked at his padawan commander. "I thought General Skywalker gave you strict orders to remain behind."

"We didn't really have much choice," Ahsoka crossed her arms as she explained her side. "We intercepted a transmission from Dooku explaining the whole thing was a trap."

The posture of each clone hardened and Boil stepped forward, indicating that he'd been assigned point. "We'll take care of this. You focus on returning to the ship... unfortunately we'll still need to report—"

"Hang on a minute, Boil," Lieutenant Waxer interrupted. His gaze had yet to leave Bits, who'd noticeably grown sheepish following his startled outburst. "I owe these troops my life. I think we can let this one slide knowing their intentions were well meant."

Boil sighed but nodded his head as if he couldn't argue with his squadmate. He lifted a hand to pinch the bridge of his nose, but the gesture looked somewhat awkward as he did still have his helmet on. "Alright, as long as they head back to the ship this instant—"

Jesse raised a hand to silence the group. A single word whispered was enough of an explanation. "Clankers."

Shadow squadron pressed their backs against the wall, joining the pair of 212th members and the 501st duo. Instinctively, Ace held out a hand, pressing Arimiya back against the wall while also forcing her in the middle of the Shadow squad. Although she normally would've voiced complaints, she remained quiet while the droids passed.

From around the corner, the pair of droids stopped and practically scratched their heads in confusion. Their robotic voices filled their air, only increasing the tension of the air,

"I swear I heard something."

"I think you need to have your circuitry looked at."

Without another word, they continued their patrol down the next hall, leaving the clones and padawans to their course of action. Arimiya opened her mouth to protest and argue for a new plan, one where she was involved, but the 212th and 501st didn't wait. Fives, Jesse, Boil, and Waxer had already left. Additionally, Ace had turned to lead his own team back from where they'd come from.

"That's it?" Arimiya's tone turned incredulous. "What about warning our masters?"

"They're capable of handling themselves," Ahsoka announced, turning to follow Ace. "We've done all that we can."

"You're lying," Arimiya contradicted as she noticed the Togruta's gaze break eye contact.

"Rex and Cody can handle themselves—"

"Still lying," Arimiya interrupted, her hands falling to her hips as her eyes narrowed.

At that point, Ace stepped in, placing a hand on the defiant girl's shoulder. "We need to go. This place is crawling with clankers and we'll be outmatch in a parsec if we wait around much longer. We've done what we can, but we've hit a blockade."

Arimiya frowned but ultimately stopped arguing. She understood she couldn't push her side and succeed, so she hung her head with defeat and nodded in submission. She took a breath, then regained her composure and followed after the clones as Bits directed them back toward the ship. Although her landing had been rough earlier, it hadn't been so bad that she'd crashed, and she'd even gotten a congratulations from Skid, who looked less green than when Burst was in charge of piloting. She'd taken that as some of the highest praise. But now, none of that mattered.

Originally she'd rushed into action so she wouldn't be stuck cooped up on the ship. Her defiance insisted that she couldn't be put in time out. But now... the realization that she might actually lose a third master, even if she didn't consider him her master, well she wasn't sure she could deal with the aftermath. Maybe she wasn't ready to be kicked from the order just yet... or maybe it was her attachment to the Shadow squadron keeping her in line as the realization dawned on her that she'd likely never see them again should she leave. The world was an increasingly dark place, but they were her source of light. From now on, she'd fight like a fervent fire to keep their light from being extinguished.

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THE CORRIDOR WAS SILENT AS COMMANDER CODY AND CAPTAIN REX CREPT DOWN THE HALL. A single glance between them was enough to understand they were on the same page that it was too quiet for either of their liking, but it didn't stop them from proceeding onward into the laboratory at the end of the hall.

"Think this is a trap?" Rex questioned in a whisper.

"No doubt about it," Cody agreed with a subtle nod, checking his shoulder as if paranoid. "We should've come across at least half a dozen clankers by now."

As if summoned by their mere mention, the metallic clang of robotic limbs against the stone floor echoed in synchronized cacophony. Rex turned toward Cody and neither had to actually see the other's face to know the deadpan expression that would be found beneath the helmet. "Well that checks out."

And as if the droids weren't enough, a bizarre accent accompanied them, growing closer with each passing second. "Yesh, yesh. Right zis vay. Be very careful vith zat. It is very delicate. Ve vouldn't vant to smash ze doctor's life's vork, now vould ve?"

"Time to move," Cody instructed, signaling for Rex to head back toward the entrance as he understood they were outnumbered, not to mention engaging the enemy would defeat the purpose of a recon assignment.

"Not enough time," Rex contradicted, shaking his head. "We need to find another way out."

Cody's eyes scanned the room, settling on the only other opening in the room. He cast a glance over his shoulder, quickly knocking Rex on the shoulder to collect his attention before nodding for him to follow with his head. "Hope you haven't grown claustrophobic all of a sudden."

"Why do I have the feeling I'm going to hate the idea you've come up with?" Rex rhetorically asked with a sigh, but didn't argue as Cody quickly removed the grate covering the ventilation system then crawled inside.

Rex only lingered behind one second longer to release another sigh before following after the commander. He barely managed to return the grate to its rightful place before the gathering of droids and a thin, gangly scientist entered the lab. It wasn't until he saw the large machine with them that his eyes widened.

Noticing that Rex had stopped following, Cody paused and turned to look over the captain's shoulder. His brow furrowed in confusion as he watched the scientist order the group of droids around the room. His voice was a risked whisper as he asked, "Who is this guy?"

"Doctor Lekso Orslo," Rex replied, reading the information that he'd already jumped ahead to research. The data pad in hand illuminated their helmets, but Rex was careful to keep a hand blocking the glow from escaping the vent. "A Faust scientist that's been locked away for years after being deemed insane. He was broken out of his asylum on Bedlam last year, and based on this intel he's been the separatists' lead scientist since."

"What of his machine there?" Cody asked.

Rex shook his head. "Too much interference to get a clear read. I barely managed to find what I could on Orslo."

"It is time to begin," Orslo eagerly rubbed his hands together as he signaled the droids to step aside. He then closed his eyes and extended his arms while tilting his head toward the ceiling. "Zis... zis is my crowning moment."

Although fate usually had a cruel sense of irony, at least it wasn't biased and one-sided. So as the pair of clones remained concealed, just one step away from failing their mission while the doctor was just one moment away from success, the chaos grew exponentially. Blue clashed against red, sending sparks flying in every direction as four newcomers entering the lab amidst a fervent fight.

Cody's mouth gaped in confusion and it took a moment for him to regain enough clarity to actually ask his question. "Is that the General?"

"So much for stealth," Rex muttered his answer under his breath.

General Kenobi was thrown against the furthest wall, crashing against a shelf full of likely volatile chemicals. He groaned as he tried to pick himself up from the shattered glass while his former padawan rushed toward his side. It was only a moment later that Skywalker was forced back as the male Sith engaged him in battle once more.

The female Sith lowered her blade toward Kenobi's throat, forcing him to halt. There was a warning in her voice before amusement gleamed from her eyes. "Stay down, old man... Any last words?"

From across the room, Skywalker could be heard, out of breath, but never out of comebacks. "Is that all you've got?"

He immediately regretted his choice of wording as the male Sith swung his blade harder and faster as if energy wasn't something he needed to replenish.

Realizing he was running out of time, a panicked look crossed the scientist's face. He pointed in several directions as he shouted commands to the few droids that remained behind. "Fire up ze machine! Ve are very limited on time!"

The droids stumbled into one another, but the conversation was instantly lost within the other sources of chaos. Kenobi grunted once more, straining his neck to protect his own skin. It was instantly clear where Skywalker learned his syntactical skills as sarcasm dripped from Kenobi's voice, "I just might have a few things to say, but I'll save that speech for another day."

The female Sith's eyes hardened as if such a simple sentence was really enough to frustrate her. Perhaps it was the fact that her threat was taken lightly, but had she known the pair of generals, she would've recognized it was simply their mechanism for coping with uncontrollable situations. She threw caution to the wind, recklessly raising her saber over her head, stabbing the vent above and practically gutting the captain.

Rex's eyes widened in horror as he stared at the saber's waves of heat that left a scorch across his armor as a reminder of his brush with death. The moment didn't go unnoticed by the Sith either. The corners of her lips curled into a sickening grin as her eyes glanced upward while Kenobi's brow furrowed in confusion. "Friends of yours?"

She didn't wait for an answer, instead, she cut through the ventilation shaft which resulted in the commander and captain falling to the ground atop the other. Pleasantly distracted by the addition of more players, the Sith failed to recognize the rash Jedi rushing toward her. Skywalker clumsily used his shoulder to knock her back before raising his saber to keep the offensive.

"You're welcome!" Anakin hollered over his shoulder with a grin of glee.

"For what?" Kenobi's brow furrowed, but shock quickly replaced the expression as he fended off the sudden attacks of the male Sith as he and Skywalker switched opponents. "I had everything under control."

"Of course you did," Anakin agreed, but it was clear he didn't believe the statement. That mischievous look returned to his face as he looked over at the captain. "Glad you could drop by."

"Now is hardly the time, General," Rex protested as he reached for his blaster to take out the droids gathering at the entrance of the room; however, he was quickly forced to dive to safety as the female Sith lunged in his direction with her saber.

Unbeknownst to those heavily involved in the fight, the scientist rushed to complete his work, scrambling across the room to retrieve each crucial element of the culmination of his life's work. He handed off a vial to one of the droids as he turned to finish another aspect, but the mechanical limbs of the droid fail to safely grasp the glass.

The vial fell, smashing onto the ground which resulted in the formation of a puddle that immediately began to burn a hole in the ground. The doctor shrieked which startled Skywalker into misstepping. While blocking a blow from his attacker, the Jedi fell back into the puddle before serving as a stumbling block to his former master. In an instant, Kenobi was on the ground beside him, groaning from his hard fall.

The commander and the captain immediately rushed to the side of their respective generals, helping each to their feet while exposing themselves to the scattered chemicals.

"No!" Orslo shrieked again, falling to his knees in defeat. His resulting tantrum shattered several other glasses that mixed  the chemicals upon the ground to form a thick smoke that clung to the air.

The Sith coughed and choked, squinting to catch sight of their prey while the clones took advantage of the moment to aid the generals in escaping. Had the ventilation system been operational, the smog would've been cleared from the room in less than a second; however, as it laid in several pieces along the lab floor, it was less than helpful.

Cody wasn't quite sure how they managed to get back to the ship, but he wasn't one to question a miracle too harshly. It was a rare moment that the force worked in their favor and as they weren't yet out of enemy territory, he had no desire to jinx the moment. He was running on pure adrenaline as he flipped several switches and prepared to rendezvous with the cruiser, and he wasn't the only one.

There was a wild and sleepless look plastered to Rex's face, but perhaps it was simply a side effect of the chemicals trapped in the air. He could feel his own lungs heaving to expel the last of the toxic smog.

"That was a close one," Rex muttered under his breath, which was immediately followed by a cough.

Cody glanced back toward the receding separatist base and slowly shook his head. "This is far from over."