~Cira's POV~
A sigh of relief escaped my lips when I saw the two blue skinned padawans sprint into the ship, ready and eager to go.

"Master Ell and his Padawan, Jek Ocuruf, will be accompanying us on this mission. They've been chosen to lead the second Stealth Squad and are going to see how these things typically go," I said to my three Troopers, making sure Wing would hear us from the cockpit where he was preparing the jump to hyperspace.

"General, isn't this mission much more difficult than what's typical?" Fitz asked in a way that would make most General's jaws drop to the ground. I, however, enjoyed his spunk.

I crossed my arms and glanced over to Jek and Ray,"Then everything else will be a piece of cake."

Jek nodded and smiled eagerly, with Master Ell laughing a bit at his response. They seemed a lot closer than most Master-Padawan pairs. But there was indeed a very good reason.

Yula's told me this story before, otherwise I wouldn't have known it. Jek was orphaned on his home planet of Csilla, also the origin and main world of his species, the Chiss. Jedi were sent there to moderate a small civil dispute, and Ray Ell, at the time a Jedi Knight, sensed him from miles away and as quick to find him. It wasn't before long that he had taken him under his wing, got permission to train him, and basically raised him. Jek was only 4 when Ray found him. They were like a father and son duo if there ever was one. Even if it's not by blood.

        I shut down the blue holo-projector once we left hyperspace and I saw Yula go to the cockpit and I followed right behind her, motioning for Jek and Ray to follow.

"Alright Wing, you know the drill," I said as I leaned over his chair while he wildly plugged in numbers and codes. The projector got all fuzzy and then went blank.

"Alright gang, we're invisible to them now," I said as we steadily approached.

The padawans' jaws dropped to the floor and their eyes widened as the Seperatist Cruiser came into view.

"How are we gonna infiltrate that?" Yula asked as she marveled at it's mass.

"Just like we went over in the plan. Magnetize to the side, then go for a little space walk." I couldn't help but feel like a little kid about to use their first lightsaber. I've never been in space before!

"I'll go get the suits," Yula said, turning on her heel and going to the storage. She came back wearing the ultra thin suits we were given as part of our new, more advanced resources. Looked like normal clothes with a sleek helmet. All the suits were black, for sneaking around. Once we were all suited up, including the Troopers who wore the same thing but had a belt of weapons, serums, and devices of all kinds, we strapped in so the ship could magnetize.

"We ready?" Ray asked once we heard a loud clank from the ship's magnets.

"Lets do this!" Jek cheered relatively cheerily, clearly unaware of what would lie ahead. But to be fair, none of us did.

"Alright Wing, just like always, we need you to guard the ship and keep it hidden. Right now you're very hard to find but with monster ships like this, when they find you, you're toast," I warned Wing as we all put out helmets on and finished suiting up.

"Not a problem, General," he replied with a salute. I knew he was smirking proudly under his helmet.

I Saluted him back and went to join the others by the door.

"We're ready," Yula said confidently, Key and Fitz at her side.

"Then let's go, we don't have time to dawdle." Fitz eagerly pressed the button to let the ramp down. I, and probably everyone else too, took a deep breathe and then jumped out the door, into the never ending, starlit abyss known as space.

We floated for a few gut wrenching, yet thrillingly amazing seconds until our magnetizing boots kicked in. They pulled us to the Seperatist Cruiser and the familiar sense of gravity returned, even if it was fake. I quickly glanced around, seeing thumbs up from everyone We we wobbled around to regain balance, and then started walking. Or, more like leaping and not so elegantly floating.

Looking around, I felt really old seeing the innocent faces of the padawans, even if I was only in my 20's.

Yula looked simply fascinated and maybe even overwhelmed at everything, but I could sense lots of confidence and assurance from her as well. Jek had the most innocent grin on his face, as if he was a youngling getting suprised by his clan-mates on his birthday. At one point he got carried away and pushed off too hard, throwing himself father and farther from the ship until he was floating away. The innocent grin morphed into a terrified one, but luckily Ray grabbed onto his foot in perfect time to pull him down.

"You okay there?" Ray asked through the radios hooked up to our helmets.

"All good," Jek replied with a wave.

The three troopers all marched on with perfect footfalls and accurate height. They all knew exactly how to push off so they moved quickly and made the least amount of noise, but didn't fly away, like Jek almost did.

I just tried to take deep breathes and stop worrying. This plan had been rushed and ill-prepared. There was question as to wether or not Yula, the troopers, and maybe even I could handle a mission this size. Not to mention I've never seen Jek in more than saber training, which he is very good at, but I'm going 100% off of Yula's recommendation on that front. I do consider Ray to be a friend, but like Jek, I've never seen him in much action before. Yes, the two of them do have great Military records, but this is certainly unlike anything they've ever done. On the other hand, we're gonna need all the help we can get.

The space walk to our opening seemed to take years, but it was really only a minute or so. We all thankfully reached our entry point perfectly fine. It was the Trash Ejector Port.

"I can't believe we have to go through this way," Yula said with a groan that was met with chuckles from Ray and I as well as a nod in agreement from Jek. The Troopers stifled laughter, but were well used to Yula's attitude.

"Well the sooner we do, the sooner we can take these helmets off," I said as I took our our R2 Substitute to control the openings through a port. The chute opened to reveal a horrendous smell and an energy field so nothing came flying out, yet.

"Okay, everyone in. Quietly," I said as I waved them in, myself taking the rear. Once we were all inside, I shut the doors. Jek, Ray, Yula and I all took our helmets off, stashing the light, retractable, metal buckets into our back packs.

Next we all stealthily made our way to the main door. This is where things get tricky, but we aren't called Stealth Squad for nothing.

"Whatever happens, just remember. We've got this," I said with a smirk as we all fist bumped each other before taking the first, nerve-wracking steps into the hall of the Cruiser.

Little did we know, we were w walking straight into a trap.