The climb up the ladder was perhaps the least strenuous activity that Caleb had undertaken since this foolhardy mission had begun. That said, it was up against other events such as fighting off General Grievous, and traversing through a harsh sandstorm completely blind aside from the Force.

Suffice to say, the ladder was almost like a vacation for Caleb.

Reaching his hands up he continued to pull himself upwards, climbing the ladder towards what he hoped was escape. If they were lucky, a concept the Jedi did not usually believe in, then Captain Styles would be waiting for them.

If not… then it was likely they were walking into yet another trap.

"Keep going Caleb, you're doing great." The gentle soothing voice of Ahsoka came from below him, distorted by her helmet, but warm nonetheless.

Encouraged by her words he pushed on upwards, hands grasping metal bar after metal bar as he continued up the ladder until finally he reached an opening, sunlight shining on his face. Reaching a final hand up he grasped the now evident ledge and vaulted up, finding himself in the middle of a group of heavily armed clones, who in turn were surrounded by a ring of droids of a unique variant he had only ever heard of before.

"Oh great." Caleb muttered under his breath, reaching a hand down to help Ahsoka out of the hole, sealing it behind her as she exited into the open space of the facilities roof.

The Togruta too seemed to notice the ring of droids that were staring menacingly at them, ensuring they could not run. It was then that Caleb noticed the presence of a pair of droid gunships circling above them as well, covering the skies just in case.

"This day just gets better and better!" Commander Grey quipped from beside Caleb, blasters drawn and sighted on one of the Magnaguards, who in response activated an electrostaff, twirling it dangerously as a threat towards them.

They hadn't attacked yet, so clearly they were waiting for something.

Or someone.

Seconds later, said someone arrived. A single blue lightsaber erupted through the metal of the hatch they had just sealed, melting the metal and creating an opening for the person beneath it.

A single clawed hand reached up, pulling it's cyborg body up in the process, rising to his full height before the assembled group of Jedi and Clones, who backed away in caution.

Caleb audibly gulped at the situation. They were essentially caught between a rock and a hard place, or a droid army and its murderous general, in this instance.

For a brief second an image of Big-Mouth flashed in Caleb's mind. He had stayed behind to hold off the cyborg General, and considering Grievous presence before them now…

Had he suffered… or had it been quick and painless. Merciful.

Caleb doubted very much that it was.

"A valiant effort today Master Billaba, though ultimately futile. Did you really think that leaving a single clone behind would delay me? Or did you order him to waste his life?" Grievous snarled, taking a step towards Depa, who was now standing between her troops and the leader of the droid armies.

"Big-Mouth's sacrifice will not be in vain and we are hardly finished here. You haven't won yet Grievous." Depa responded, hand tightly gripping her lightsaber hilt before her, ready for when the General inevitably attacked.

"That was not a sacrifice Billaba, but a suicide mission. Then again, I suppose your troops are created with the intention of being disposal pieces of flesh!"

Caleb didn't miss the way the various clone troopers stiffened in anger at the General's comment. He himself was pretty angry at Grievous for even suggesting that the Clones, his friends, were expendable.

"They aren't battle droids Grievous. They had their own life ahead of them." Caleb came to his friends defence, moving to stand alongside his Master, blocking the cyborg from reaching the Clones.

"Foolish youngling. For every Clone killed two more take its place. That is the definition of expendable. And besides, unlike my droids your Clones have free will. Free will which is stripped from them by their forced loyalty to the Jedi Order!" Grievous continued to boast, his face turned towards Caleb, golden eyes locked on his own teal ones with a dark sense of joy in them.

"We'll die before you get anywhere near them." Another voice, Ahsoka's, came from beside Caleb in that moment as the Togruta too moved to join the Master and Padawan, ready to defend the Clones from the monster before them.

At her comment the General laughed, a horrific sound punctuated by several sharp hacking coughs before her regained control.

"Nothing would please me more Tano, but my Master for whatever reasons has specifically requested that you be left alive. The rest however shall meet their fate!"

In an instant Grievous' arms extending, separating into four, each with a lightsaber held in his hands, igniting the four of them simultaneously, before angling them directly at his opponents. Caleb wasted no time, igniting his own blade and dropping into the ready position he knew best. The three of them versus General Grievous would surely be enough.

But then he remembered the surrounding droids as well. There was no way the Clones could take on such droids, and if he, his Master or Ahsoka broke off from Grievous for even a second to help they would be cut to pieces by the General himself.

Grievous had clearly anticipated this, judging from the way he cackled once again.

"Do not worry Padawan, I will treasure your lightsaber as if it was my own!"

Caleb was about to retort, to declare that Grievous would never lay his clawed hand on his lightsaber, when something interrupted him.

A loud bang echoed throughout the sky and suddenly one of the droid gunships exploded in mid-flight, its wreckage crashing down upon the roof, crushing several of the Magnaguards in the process. The force of the impact knocked Caleb off his feet for a brief second, providing Grievous with an opportunity to strike, one that was blocked by his Master. Around him blaster fire began to roar out as the Clones moved to engage, another explosion echoing above Caleb's head in the process, drawing his attention to the sight of the second gunship falling from the sky. Behind the falling gunship Caleb spotted a familiar and welcome sight. Several Republic fighters dropped through the clouds, spearheaded by a Jedi starfighter, which itself had an open canopy, a tall figure bracing themselves on the exterior hull. The fighter was angled for the roof, it's intent clear.

The fighter wing soared overhead, moving to engage a squadron of vulture droids that had emerged from somewhere. The Jedi starfighter too moved to engage, now without a pilot, clearly being directed instead by an astromech droid.

It was then that someone landed in a roll beside him, before pushing themselves up into a ready stance, blue lightsaber blade ignited in his hand, bathing his creme coloured robes in its glow.

And then the Jedi arrival spoke.

"Hello there!"

"General Kenobi?!"

Caleb could only watch briefly as the Jedi Master moved with ease and fluidity towards the towering cyborg General, cutting a Magnaguard in half in the process before pivoting to meet the four descending blades of Grievous, who snarled aloud.

"I suppose I should have expected you to arrive. Always trying to save the day, aren't you Kenobi?"

"You know me so well General, I'm flattered."

Upon Master Kenobi's unexpected arrival Caleb would almost say that Grievous's entire plan had changed. Whereas before he was more than willing and in a perfect position to execute them all one by one, now he seemed to be completed ignoring the chaos around him, his reptilian eyes solely on Obi-Wan Kenobi.

If Caleb didn't know any better he'd assume there was some sort of bad blood between the two of them.

"Hey! Up on your feet Commander! I could use some help here!" The desperate voice of Commander Grey pulled Caleb out of his observations, his gaze moving to where the Clone was struggling against a Magnaguard by himself. The two were locked in a brawl with one another, both having hands tightly gripped to the droids electrostaff, both attempting to rip it out of the others hands for use.

Vaulting to his feet Caleb reigniting his saber and dashed forward, pivoting the blade in a sharp horizontal maneuver, slicing the droid in two and freeing up the staff for Grey's use. The Clone commander nodded his thanks before turning the staff around and clashing it against another Magnaguard that had approached him.

Caleb was about to help when he saw a body flung across the rooftop, landing beside him. Recognizing the heavily armoured form of Ahsoka he glanced up to see a trio of Magnaguards advancing upon her. Clearly she had been somewhat overwhelmed.

Reaching a hand down he helped her up, dropping into a ready position beside her, saber ready for combat.

The first guard closed the gap, spinning his staff rapidly several times before attempted to sweep Caleb off his feet. Caleb countered with his lightsaber, blade locking with the end of the staff, purple energy fizzing against his blade. The droid reacted to Caleb's defense, bringing the staff upward and away from the Jedi Padawan's feet and attempting to lunge towards his midsection instead.

Evading backwards Caleb watched as the droid lunged and missed, granting the Padawan his own opening in the duel. Seizing his chance Caleb brought his own blade forward, pushing away the end of the electrostaff that crackled with deadly energy, exposing the vulnerable hilt in the center of the staff. the droid stumbled back slightly, allowing Caleb to bring his blade up clean through the centre of the staff, destroying the weapon and leaving the droid defenceless. Not wasting any time, just in case the guard had any more tricks up it's metaphorical sleeve, Caleb sliced through the droids exposed neck, severing the head clean off, before sweeping his saber down and eviscerating the legs.

Smirking at his defeat of the droid, Caleb began to pivot on his heel when he felt something grab is leg tightly and begin to squeeze. Nearly jumping out of his skin in horror, he glanced down at the droid he thought he had just destroyed, only to find it crawling along the roof with its bare hands, one of which was now wrapped around leg, attempting to crush the limb with sheer force.

Acting quickly, Caleb twisted his blade downwards, slicing off the hand that was on his leg, which promptly loosened and fell off, before driving his blade down into the chest of the somehow functioning Magna Guard.

The remains of the guard collapsed to the floor this time, several sparks flashing from the exposed interior in the process, before shutting down for good.

Caleb wasted no time celebrating his victory however. Turing to his right he spotted Ahsoka who was busy in a duel with two more guards herself.

That was until she brought her own blade up in a harsh swing, slicing the guard in front of her into two pieces, before spinning on her heel and impaling the second guard directly in its power cell.

The Togruta seemed pleased with her victory as she nodded over at Caleb, clearly surveying his own destroyed droid behind him. Caleb couldn't help but feel pleased with himself. The fact that she was impressed with his actions meant a lot to him.

"WHERE THE KRIFF IS STYLES?" A loud shout echoed across the rooftop in the midst of the combat around them, originating from Commander Grey, who stood over his own destroyed Magnaguard, staff embedded deep within the droid.

It was a good question, one that Caleb really wished he had an answer for. Styles was supposed to extract them on the roof right? So where on Malachor was he?

"He'll be here Commander. Just keep on fighting!" Depa's voice responded from where she was locked in her own duel with a trio of guards, green blade being forced to move in all directions just to defend herself from harm.

"Go help her Caleb. I'll back up Master Kenobi!" Ahsoka's voice echoed from behind her helmet as she moved towards where Grievous and Obi-Wan were locked in a tense standoff, trading blows but getting nowhere fast. Hopefully with Ahsoka's help they'd be able to take down Grievous at least. That might just turn the mission around for them.

Trusting that Ahsoka knew what she was doing Caleb moved towards where his Master was, delving deep into the Force before thrusting his free hand out, directing the current of Force energy towards the guards, who were pushed backwards away from his Master.

Depa glanced behind her briefly in surprise before spotting Caleb approaching, ready to stand alongside her.

"Glad you here Padawan." She spoke softly to him, despite the ongoing chaos around them.

"Me too Master. Me too."

Both teacher and student watched as the three guards rose back to their feet, staffs twirling menacingly at them, clearly with the intent to kill.

And then they exploded, courtesy of some blaster fire.

Stepping back in surprise Caleb caught sight of Ahsoka's ship, descended before them, back ramp open and ready.

"Hey! You guys coming or what?" Captain Styles stood at the top of the ramp, blaster in hand as he covered them. The ship came to a gentle rest atop the roof, waiting for the team, who promptly broke into a sprint for the ramp, eager to escape this dreadful place.

Caleb couldn't help but agree as he too made for the ramp, turning around once he had arrived at its base to spot both Ahsoka and Obi-Wan, still locked in a duel against Grievous. The two were working in tandem with one another, defending each others exposed areas from the General, allowing them to counterattack and force the cyborg back a step.

Through the Force he could feel their bond gripping tightly to one another, feeding off one another's power. And then suddenly, their bond exploded in a massive discharge of energy, resulting in the cyborg General being flung backwards off the roof of the facility and out of site.

Content that Grievous was disposed of Caleb watched as the two broke into a sprint for the ramp into Ahsoka's shuttle, evidently as ready to escape as the rest of them were.

As the two ran towards Caleb, Obi-Wan reached his arm up to his mouth, a comm link flaring to life in the process.

"I've got them Oddball. Prepare to provide air support so we can get out of here, preferably in one piece."

Caleb couldn't hear if this 'Oddball' replied or not, and right now he didn't particularly care, not as he was herded into the shuttle by Master Kenobi.

Caleb turned to watch as the hatch sealed shut behind them, feeling the effects of the ship lifting off in the process, leaving the dustball that was Hypori behind.

Suffice to say, he was happy to be off such a planet, and hoped he'd never have to come back to such a place again.


Author's thoughts

A relatively short chapter this time around, yet full of combat and conflict. Hopefully it was written well enough to be engaging.

And oh hi Obi-Wan, nice to have you here for a moment. Hope you all liked his surprise appearance. Who else would Ahsoka call for help against Grievous? XD

Anyway, now that this mini arc is over we are going to hit some peaceful dialogue and plot related chapters, so prepare for some downtime and relaxation ahead.

That is assuming nothing else goes wrong for Ahsoka, or say Palpatine sends her on another mission immediately.

As usual, comment and speculate at will. Speaking of which:

Ghost14lebi: Glorious... quite the compliment. Thanks :)
I'm glad you are enjoying the more brutal Grievous I tried to portray. He's usually outclassed in the show, hence why he is normally beaten. I wanted to show what happens when you don't have a powerhouse fighter like Kenobi around to fight him (even if Obi-Wan did show up anyways)

SWGoji2001: Hey, no worries. I've been busy myself. :)
Glad Grievous was terrifying enough for you. He can be pretty scary in the right situation. Shame he's used and abused in canon.
R.I.P (possibly... maybe not) Big-Mouth. He will be remembered. At least he can't order 66 Depa and Caleb anymore though right. Silver linings I suppose. XD
As for my opinions of the sequel trilogy... this will be fun. You might regret asking this:
I don't mind it so far. It's not perfect but it's not terrible either. There are both strengths and weaknesses of it, especially in the character development aspect. I think Kylo is the character I'm most interested in at the moment. It'll be interesting to see what direction they go with him in Ep9.
As for what I want to happen it Ep9... well I want the fans to realize that it's not their story to tell and stop throwing tantrums because it doesn't go exactly the way they want. That's the one downside to theories I suppose. People expect certain things all at once these day so when all of their questions aren't answered they get uppity about it.
Though I will say I was disappointed with Snoke. He was utterly pointless. And Phasma for that matter. Still, I'm interested in what's next.
So... do you regret asking now? Want to call me out as not being a 'true star wars fan', cause spoilers. I'm not anyways. I'm a fan of Clone Wars and Rebels, that's about it. :)

Travis Middleton: Big-Mouth was brave. Now he's more than likely dead. :(
Grievous most have great issue when choosing what sabers to take with him each day. I wonder how he chooses. Does he have a colour preference, or does he pick at random?

Mysterious Guest one: Big-Mouth is more than likely doomed. Grievous isn't known for taking prisoners, and Big-Mouth knows nothing of use anyways.

1saaa: Thanks, glad you liked it. It was a fun one to write, as was this. Nice to finally wrap up this little arc.
Put Sidious in any situation and it all goes to hell very quickly, usually thanks to him. He's such fun to write for, especially as the kindly benevolent Chancellor persona as opposed to his Sith Lord one.
Ha, sorry about yet another cliffhanger. I usually include them if I want to space stuff out a bit and prepare for the next chapter. Least this one didn't have one right?

Cellorules: Poor Clones indeed. But then they are programmed for this stuff (not that that makes it alright of course)
Ahsoka's help in this case was not Anakin, but his grumpy sassy former Master. Hope that's ok. Who better to take on Grievous after all?

jojobinks01: I'm afraid your son is not here. Maybe you should try the local lost and found?

Jayfeathers Friend: An accurate description for a brave man. May he be remembered. :)