The traveling clones looked quite a sight. The Republic troops with their starkly white armor, Flame's band in varying shades of brown, black and even green, each side eying the other with open suspicion out of identical dark eyes. Nitro, dressed in dark green camo, was in the lead, closely followed by Jac and Flame. The two of them were alone in their comfort. Neither was concerned much with the other. They had settled things back at the walker, which had been left behind in favor of checking out the droid base. Neither considered the other to be a threat. Either that or they were exceptional at pretending to be completely at ease.

Red hadn't taken his eyes off Flame once. He didn't trust Flame. And he didn't like how the former sergeant seemed to look down on Jac, regarding him as an adult might gaze upon a simple child. Nor did he like following this deserter into who knew what kind of danger. Red didn't like any of this. And he especially didn't like the uneasy look Jac hadn't quite managed to hide. There was something about the caves which had Jac on edge, and that made Red tense.

The forest didn't so much thin out as end abruptly. The clones found themselves standing on the edge of a cliff, looking down. Cold wind lashed at them, whipping icy rain into a frenzy around them. Jac remembered this place all too well. Perhaps not this spot exactly, but one much like it.

Nitro didn't hesitate for a moment, turning sharply to the left and expertly beginning to pick his way down a narrow trail which was almost invisible from above. The trail was actually just natural formation of the cliff face, little more than a sliver of rock winding its way down into the valley.

"After you," Flame said.

Jac followed Nitro. He wasn't quite so sure-footed as the clone ahead of him, but Nitro had doubtless had more practice. He looked like he could climb this trail blindfolded, picking his way swiftly and surely. He looked back a little less than halfway down and realized the others were falling behind. He slowed down, but not much.

Jac had never seen Nitro before, which vaguely surprised him. He'd assumed Flame's clones were all soldiers leftover from the Aakaria campaign, but it looked like some had made their way here from other places. Nitro was very young, he didn't even look old enough to have finished his training. Jac wondered at that, but didn't have the breath to ask. It wasn't important anyway.

Nitro made it to the bottom, where he proceeded to fidget impatiently. Jac jumped the last few feet, tired of Nitro's annoyed look. He landed next to the younger clone and fixed him with an irritated stare. Soldier or not, such open impatience was uncalled for. Not everything ran on the timetable you wanted it to, and there was quite a string of clones trying to make their way down the slippery rocks without falling or running into each other. Slow caution was called for.

Nitro stared back defiantly at first, but eventually withered under Jac's silent glare. Nitro was a firecracker, alright, spoiling for a fight, but he knew when to back off. Jac was not his commander, but he could still probably pin Nitro in five seconds flat. Less, if he really wanted to.

"You'd better show some respect," Flame said, reaching the bottom of the trail and directing his comment to Nitro "Jac here is the probably the smartest soldier you'll meet in your lifetime."

Nitro's gaze flickered to Jac briefly, curiosity lining his features. Flame was against the Republic, and its army, so why hold this representative of that government in such high regard?. Jac pretended not to have heard the comment, or to notice Nitro's expression.

"Where do we go from here?," he asked.

"That way," Nitro answered, nodding to the Northwest "not too far now."

"We should be quiet from here on out," Flame commented.

Jac nodded. When the other clones reached the bottom, each told his men that they were to keep the noise down to nothing. They were in enemy territory now. The two groups exchanged distrustful glances, as though each expected the other to intentionally make a racket and give away their position.

Red eased his way to Jac's side and conveyed all of his concerns with a single unhappy look. Jac responded in kind, his eyes alone serving to remind Red of what was at stake. They didn't have to like this, but deserters were not their biggest issue right now. Nobody here was stupid enough to start a fight between clones when there were giant spider creatures and droids to worry about.

Flame's band had traveled with them until the caves were in sight. Then they had melted away like shadows. Jac knew they would be back. Flame would want to collect on Jac's promise. He wanted to convert more clones to his cause. Whatever that was.

While it was certainly tempting to rebel against the Republic who treated them so poorly, Jac could see no point in it if he wasn't also fighting for something. Far as he was concerned, you couldn't fight to get rid of something, you had to fight for the introduction or continuation of something. Bad things don't just evaporate, they have to be replaced with something else. If that doesn't happen, they'll come right back, most likely in a worse form than before.

Using hand signals, Jac indicated that he wanted Red to come with him, and the rest to remain behind and keep a sharp lookout. With just a handful of clones, he wasn't up for a full scale assault. This was recon, plain and simple.

Red hesitated a moment, and Jac knew he was questioning the wisdom of leaving rookies (and Bristler) untended. Jac waited for him to work out for himself that the real danger lay inside the caves. The absolute worst place for any of the others to be was inside. Luey and Tag could probably keep things in order, especially given Jac's instructions were clear.

The two clones crept across the open ground to the cave entrance as quickly as possible, running low. The others watched tensely as they disappeared into the mouth of the cave. Then they settled in to wait.

Jac and Red were plunged into darkness on entering the cave, and both employed their night vision. Jac couldn't suppress a shudder. He hated this place, and every memory it represented. Jac wasn't used to returning to places of sorrow or agony. You got through and went on, never looking back.

But now it returned in a flood. The darkness, the isolation, the hunger... the brutal shattering of the great trust he had once placed in all Jedi. Everything. The point of origin, or turning point. When his perception of reality had been irreversibly altered. Jedi had been as Gods to him, but that had ended with the arbitrary cruelty and violence which had taken place here.

He tried to shake it off and took the lead through the tunnels. He remembered scouting tunnels just like these with another clone. His name had been Pariah. He had eventually turned on Rtj-lyr, only to be shot by a clone captain who was, in turn, mistakenly shot by others of his own kind.

With these memories came the painful reminder of Rtj-lyr's return. He had murdered so many, just to get at Jac. It was something Jac could never understand. The thing he understood least was why Gunshy had to die. Gunshy had never done anything to Rtj-lyr, or to anyone. He carried no weapon, he was a medic, a healer. And now he was dead. Not by the hands of the Separatists, but from a former member of the Jedi Order.

No wonder Sergeant Flame had turned to drinking.

The twisting tunnels wound about seemingly randomly, but Jac had learned to recognize their patterns. These were not natural caves and tunnels, they were dug by the massive Mityars, giant arachnids who lived underground. Jac hoped they wouldn't run into any of the creatures.

They'd been in the tunnels for about fifteen minutes when Jac halted so suddenly Red almost ran into him. Realizing the sergeant was listening, Red held still and listened too. There were sounds up ahead, of machinery in action, working on something. There was also a loud hissing, whose cause Red couldn't begin to guess at, but could see from Jac's face that he knew exactly what that sound meant.

The two clones crept around the curve of the tunnel and found themselves looking at a setup much like that which they had encountered on the Baivd planet. Except instead of pens of Sacred woolly-cows, there were small crates with long bodied, legless, googly eyed creatures coated in brilliant feathers. Red could only guess that these were the Eglamorks. Jac knew. It was from them that the persistent hissing cry came. Each in its turn lifted and threw back its head and sent out a furious wail. Before its cry had died away, another raised its own head and echoed the sound.

They've no defense against droids, Jac thought, poison fangs won't do a bit of good if the thing you're attacking has no blood.

He couldn't believe that the Na'taves would knowingly let this happen. At least, not with Meisheb at their head, or at least one like her. He hadn't seen any Na'taves since they arrived. Or Eglamorks, for that matter. In fact, the forest which had been so lively when he was here last had seemed deathly still. Had the Separatists overthrown the Na'taves?. Or were the cat-like people merely in hiding, biding their time and waiting for the opportunity to strike back?.

He shook his head. Why couldn't he keep focused on the task at hand?.

"Clones!. Blast them!." the shout of a droid made Jac spin around.

"Shit," Red growled, dropping to one knee and opening fire "we've got no cover here!."

The bright flashes from the blasters rendered the night vision goggles blind. Jac pulled them off so he could see in the flickering dark. The two droids which had first spotted them went down in a hail of gunfire from Red. A splash of blood hit Jac's armor and he knew Red had been hit at least once.

Swinging to face the room again, he saw droids popping out of various tunnels and heading right for them. Clanking and shouting from the way they'd come said droids were coming from that direction too. Red growled uneasily. They were surrounded.

To the left, Jac spotted a side tunnel. He tapped Red on the shoulder and pointed. Red nodded, rose and headed for it, Jac following close behind. At the mouth of the tunnel, Jac placed an explosive charge. Red looked alarmed, but didn't hesitate when Jac indicated they should run now.

The shouts and clanking grew louder. Utter blackness enveloped the clones. Then a loud bang came from behind, followed by unsteady rumbling. The charge had exploded, and the tunnel collapsed.

Red came to a stumbling halt, breathing hard.

"Great, now we're trapped."

"This is a Mityar tunnel," Jac replied levelly "it will come out somewhere. You can bet on it."

"You just bet with our lives, Sarge," Red replied with a cough.

"How bad are you hit?," Jac asked, changing the subject.

"They got me in the shoulder. I'm okay."

Jac put his night vision back on to take a look at the injury, and patch it as best he could. The wound was in Red's shoulder, but it was bleeding profusely. Okay was not a word Jac would use to describe it.

"They've been in there too long. What the hell are they even doing?," Bristler growled in a low voice.

Tag and Luey exchanged uneasy looks. They knew Bristler's fits of impatient rage all too well. Both hoped that Jac and Red would get back before Bristler decided to do something foolhardy. By right of field experience, Bristler could claim seniority over the lot of them. Unfortunately, experience had yet to instill in him the wisdom it have bequeathed to Jac and Red.

"Dying."

All eyes turned to look at Akida, who had spoken the single word. He did not elaborate, even when Bristler demanded to know what he meant by that. Instead, he fell silent and looked towards the cave entrance, seemingly deaf and blind to those around him.

The members of Lucky Squad tried to shake off Akida's word as doom-saying rookie talk. But the quiet conviction in his voice was hard, no impossible, to ignore. It was as though he knew.

"I thought you said this tunnel would lead somewhere?," Red panted, stopping and leaning against a wall, struggling to keep his legs under him.

"It does. And it will. We've just got to keep moving," Jac replied.

"Okay. Okay, don't get your armor in a twist," Red grumbled, pushing himself upright and starting forward slowly.

"We can rest for a few minutes."

"Wouldn't help, and we both know it," Red returned gruffly.

Jac couldn't argue with that. Moving around kept the bleeding going, but to rest would only delay the inevitable. A few minutes later, Red collapsed. Without pausing to examine him, Jac picked his brother up off the floor and slung him across his shoulders.