012. TROUBLE UP NORTH

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MATIAS HONESTLY WANTED TO PULL HIS HAIR OUT. They'd been crouched down in a ditch for little over half an hour and his legs were starting to cramp. Additionally, the silence was excruciating. He looked over at Caleb and for once in his life, he seemed completely still. He must have realized how high the stakes of getting caught were.

They had discovered the weapons factory over two hours ago, but had yet to step inside. The rotation of the guards was unpredictable and not even Bishop had been able to crack the pattern yet... which he would undoubtedly give the clone captain a hard time about later. The guards rotated again and Bishop muttered some sort of curse under his breath.

Commander Rook looked over at him, but Bishop simply shook his head. "Just when I think I've figured the pattern out, it changes again."

"You're losing your touch, Captain."

Each member of the Paladin Squad and Matias looked over at the Jedi Knight in shock. It was extremely unlike Master Cors to be making jokes, and the smirk on her face only provided them with more unease. Master Billaba chuckled under her breath and suddenly Caleb had the same look of shock on his face.

The pair of Jedi chuckled to themselves once more, and Silara stood. She dusted herself off before looking over at her troops. "If we can't sneak in from the side, then perhaps we should try an aerial view."

Depa nodded her head in agreement. "You take the lead, Silara. Caleb and I will keep watch."

"Master—"

Depa quickly hushed her padawan. "Someone has to do it, young one."

Castle cleared his throat and took a step forward. "I don't mean to overstep my boundaries, General, but you may be needed once inside. Decoy and I can stay behind to keep watch."

Silara nodded her head in agreement. "Knight and Check should remain behind as well. The smaller our group, the easier it will be to move around once inside."

As no one objected, Silara nodded her head and motioned for those heading inside to follow after her. Caleb quickly sidled up beside Matias and leaned in to harshly whisper, "That was weird. Right?"

Matias nodded his head in agreement. "I don't think I've ever heard Master Cors laugh."

"Okay," Caleb nodded his head with relief, "I thought I was going insane."

"Then again," Matias shrugged, "I've only been her padawan for a few months now."

"Also true." Caleb nodded again.

Silara looked back over her shoulder and hushed the pair of padawans simply by raising a finger to her lips. They were immediately silenced. The brief carefree look that they'd seen on her face earlier had completely disappeared and been replaced by a hardened look.

The group stopped moving forward as they reached the edge of the building. Rook and Bishop quickly took over and attached a pair of grappling hooks to their blasters. The hooks successfully caught the ledge of the overhead wall, but Rook wouldn't allow them to move on until he'd tested the stability of the ropes a few times each.

The commander nodded his head and motioned for them to proceed. Silara and Depa took the lead while Rook and Bishop took the rear. The pair of padawans were sandwiched between them as they climbed. It didn't take nearly as long as Matias had thought it would to reach the top. He didn't quite remember their route after that, but they managed to get inside without a hitch.

As Matias took another step forward, Bishop held out his hand and prevented the padawan from following after his master. Matias looked up at him in confusion, but the captain simply shook his head.

"Stay focused," Bishop instructed, "the General just told you to stay here and keep watch."

"But I—"

Bishop shook his head and interrupted. "Don't push your luck kid. It's a miracle you're still alive after the Citadel mission."

Matias gulped as he was forced to remember how angry Silara had gotten after he'd snuck along despite her command to do the opposite. It was the first time he'd ever heard her raise her voice, much less yell at him. It had probably been the most terrifying moment of his life. Focusing back on Bishop, Matias lowered his eyes to the ground and slowly nodded his head in agreement.

Satisfied, Bishop nodded his head once before carefully jogging to catch up with the others. Caleb kicked his foot against the ground in frustration. "We should be going with them."

"I'm sure there's good reason—"

"You'd be saying the same," Caleb interrupted him, "You ran off to the Citadel for crying out loud!"

"Which is why I'm saying we should stay put," Matias urged him to lower his tone, "There's a reason we're only padawans right now. We still have a lot to learn."

Caleb opened his mouth to retort; however, he was cut off as Matias's commlink crackled to life. He'd expected it to be either Castle or Knight checking in. Matias looked incredulously at the device as it was actually Arimiya's voice that spoke to them.

"Is that Delaway?" Caleb asked in confusion.

"Shhh," Matias shushed him, "I can't hear her. You're cutting out, Ari."

"It's—trap—get out!"

Matias and Caleb looked up from the device at each other. As if on the same frequency, they sprinted off in the same direction, frantically searching for their masters. Both were far too filled with panic to even question the fact that the girl had been instructed to stay behind on the ship. Additionally, for her to be contacting them, she had to be within range.

Although they were searching for the rest of the group, they hadn't expected to run right into them. Silara looked around, first surprised, but then that all-too-familiar look of anger flashed across her face. "Matias, I thought—"

"It's a trap!" he interrupted her, his speech broken as he gasped for air, "We need to get out of here, it's a trap."

Supporting his statement, a squad of battle droids stepped out of the shadows surrounding them. Silara and Depa stepped in front of the others, igniting their sabers in preparation to defend themselves. Silara's commlink crackled to life.

"General. I think this might be a trap."

Silara sighed. "Thank you, Castle... we're aware."

"We're surrounded! We're surrounded and that's all—"

The comm fizzled with static, cutting Decoy's hysterics off. Matias looked over at Caleb uneasily and the look was returned. In unison, they ignited their blades and stepped up beside their masters. However, the droids didn't fire, they simply continued to wait. That is until someone else stepped out of the shadows.

"I'll admit," Count Dooku folded his hands behind his back as he stood before them, "I wasn't expecting this group to be caught in my trap."

"Orders, General?" Rook kept his tone of voice low as he asked his question.

Silara's eyes flashed back and forth as if trying to determine their odds. Matias could tell by the way her lips tightened into a thin line that the odds weren't in their favor. His grip tightened around the hilt of his saber and he prepared for his master's instruction; however, the power shut off in the entire factory before anyone could do anything. The only thing that provided any light at all was the color of the five lit lightsabers. Suddenly, three of them turned off.

Matias hardly had any time at all to drop to the ground as the surrounding droids opened fire upon Dooku's command. He closed his eyes awaiting for the moment when the droids would realize that their target had moved. However, that moment never came. He felt as a pair of arms wrapped themselves underneath his arms and drag him skyward. His eyes widened and he couldn't stop that shout of fear that was released from his mouth as he was lifted into the rafters. The droids aimed their blasters toward the ceiling and fired, but the group was already out of range.

Caleb hoisted Matias to his feet and pulled him along. "Careful now. It's a long way back down."

"What is happening?!" Matias asked in confusion.

"We call this a rescue plan!" Check called over his shoulder as he urged the group to follow after him.

"I thought you were trapped?" Matias's brows knit in confusion.

"Castle and Decoy were," Check quickly explain, again ushering them forward, "I snuck off and circled back. I mean the odds were only eight to one."

"Only," Matias scoffed and laughed as he followed after Caleb into the vents.

"I had the element of surprise," Check insisted.

"Yeah," Decoy muttered under his breath, "Surprised all of us. Wish we'd been in on the little secret."

"It really wouldn't have been much of a surprise then—"

"Enough," Silara interrupted the banter, "We need to get back to the ship and warn the others... although I fear it may already be too late."