Sorry about the long delay, everyone! I hope you all had a lovely Christmas season and New Year's Day! :)

Kit Fisto entered the central chamber of the third level and halted. Frowning, he looked carefully around the room once, and then again. The note of warning in the Force had grown more intense the further they traveled into Grievous' lair, but the Jedi Master couldn't perceive where the danger lay.

The commandos moved silently into the room on either side of him, their guns tracking wherever they looked. It seemed that it didn't take a Jedi to feel the imminent danger looming over them. "Sergeant," he said. "I suggest you and your men set those charges quickly. We don't have much time."

The sergeant's glowing visor stared in Kit Fisto's direction for a moment, as though he were considering something. Then he turned away, pointing his men to three corners of the room. They followed his orders without a word – even Scorch, who seemed rather talkative, on the whole.

"General," said Boss. "How much time do we have?"

"I'm afraid I can't give you specifics," Kit Fisto replied, shrugging. "But the Force is warning me that the farther we travel, the more danger we are in."

The sergeant's fingers, busy tapping in the code on his demo charge, stilled momentarily. "Any idea what kind of danger?"

"I sense no intelligent beings nearby . . ." the general replied slowly.

"Droids, then," said Fixer, returning.

"That," grunted Sev. "Or an explosion set to go off when we enter the last room."

Scorch cast a quick, tense glance up at the ceiling. "Yeah, isn't that a cheerful thought. Uh – which is the last room?"

Sev shrugged, not looking up from his work. "Well . . . it's not this one."

Kit Fisto grinned as Fixer's chest plate lifted in an inaudible sigh. Then the commlink on his wrist flashed green and Advisor's voice came through. "Delta Squad, I'm reading an incoming ship headed straight for us."

"What's the ID?" the sergeant asked. He turned on his heel, raising his left hand and closing it. The other commandos fell in behind him, armored boots clicking quietly over the stone floor. Kit Fisto followed soundlessly, the feeling of imminent danger looming higher.

"Still too far out for a scan, but judging by the size and speed, it's fighter class. One moment . . . running a scan now . . . Delta Thirty-Eight, it's scanning as Soulless One."

Kit Fisto stopped mid-stride, and Boss' focus zeroed in on him. "You recognize that name, General?"

"The Soulless One is Grievous' ship," he replied, narrowing his eyes.

There was an instant of silence as the other commandos exchanged glances, and then Kit Fisto drew his lightsaber and smirked. "Well, it would seem that the general is no longer on Rattatak."

Advisor spoke again. "He's on a vector for the north landing pad."

"Good," said Boss. "We might still have a chance of reaching the shuttle. Transmit the remaining demo charge positions to me."

"Transmitting now. General, if I shut down all nonvital systems, I might be able to slow him enough for you to complete your objective."

"An excellent idea – but be sure to leave the systems on this level running for the moment," Kit Fisto answered. "Once we get out, you can lock down the entire fortress."

"Will do, sir."

Boss glanced at the chronometer on his wrist. "Advisor, how long until that data transfer is complete?"

"Four minutes. I'm looking for a good rendezvous point now. . ."

"Get into the shaft and climb down?" Boss suggested, a definite hint of a smirk in his voice. "It'll be safer than waiting for Grievous to find you."

"I'll do that." Advisor's tone was not as sarcastic as Kit Fisto would have expected.

With that taken care of, the Jedi stood in the open doorway and waited. Scorch and Fixer set charges at either side of the hall they currently occupied.

Boss motioned to Sev. "I want you to watch our backs," he said. "We'll finish this."

Sev nodded. He pulled two charges from his pack and marched over to Scorch, opening the other's backpack. "Hold still," he muttered, dumping them in. "Thirty-Eight wants you to carry these."

Scorch clicked the final few buttons with an added flourish. "Yes! More explosives!"

Kit Fisto watched the commandos, as he had been most of the time they'd been on Vassek III. He swung his lightsaber again, almost hoping that a MagnaGuard or two would come rushing out of the shadows that surrounded him. He knew he hadn't killed them all the last time he was here – so where were they?

The sense of oncoming danger pressed against the back of his mind, and he studied the narrow hallway. Grievous was most deadly in places like this, where there was no room for his enemies to dodge. The commandos would have a better chance of accomplishing their mission if Grievous was engaged elsewhere.

With a quick nod, Kit Fisto moved over to join the commando leader, who was studying a map on Fixer's datapad. "Sergeant," he said. "Would you and your team be able to escape on your own if I left to distract Grievous?"

The glowing visor stared at him for several long seconds before Boss' distinctive voice replied, "Most likely."

"I sense some hesitation from you," said Kit Fisto, in his most mysterious voice. Not that it took a Jedi to pick up on the careful way Boss had answered. He grinned, spoiling the effect.

The commando seemed not to notice. "We could do it, sir. But if Grievous figures out someone's here, we might end up well over our heads."

"Hmm. You do have a point." Kit Fisto twirled his lightsaber a few times, the familiar weight of the hilt reassuring. "Well, then. Where to next?"

The sergeant returned the datapad to Fixer. "Two adjoining rooms at this end, and then we can get out of here. Let's go, Deltas."

Rex sat up painfully, turning to catch his weight on his hands. The sand all around him was pitted and scarred from the battle, littered with the drab-clothed corpses of the enemy. There were no armored figures; he knew that this was a problem, but couldn't remember why. He blinked a few times and stared at the ground, trying to clear the spots from his vision.

The sand shifted just behind him. Someone grabbed his arm, and he snatched at the other person's hand, twisting it hard and using the leverage to get to his feet.

"Gah – REX!" Jesse knelt there, his free hand lifted to ward off the blow Rex was aiming at his eyes.

"Jesse." Rex released him, surprise making his voice sharp. "What did I tell you about sneaking up on me?"

He hadn't, actually, but Jesse only said, "Won't happen again, sir."

As the adrenaline faded, a wave of dizziness rushed over Rex. He wanted to fall where he was and lie flat, but instead he rested his hands on his belt, glanced around, and barked, "Sit rep!"

"Riiiight." Jesse got up and bent his wrist gingerly, testing to see that it wasn't broken. "Snap is checking the courtyard for survivors, and Gadget's –"

"Wait," said Rex. "Weren't they on the ship?"

Jesse shrugged. "Last I remember."

The last thing Rex remembered was jumping off the boarding ramp of the Twilight, and he was quite sure that both Snap and Gadget had been in the cargo hold. Well, first things first. He located his guns, which were absolutely covered in sand, and holstered them before checking the rest of the courtyard. Snap was wandering around, prodding at each body as he came to it with the end of his long blaster, and Kix and Gadget were near what used to be the gate. The Twilight was nowhere to be seen – hopefully Oddball had gotten her out of range of any cannons. If he hadn't, they were down several good men and their only ride off this dust ball of a planet.

Rex removed his helmet and attempted to clean out the ventilator, without much success. No wonder General Skywalker hated sand – the stuff got absolutely everywhere.

"So," said Jesse conversationally. "What's the plan?"

"The plan. . ." Rex gave up on his ventilator and checked his commlink. It seemed to be working, so he cleared his throat and said, "Kix, Gadget, Snap. Let's regroup."

He noticed, as they approached, that Kix was moving slowly, his right arm held stiffly, and he raised a questioning eyebrow at Jesse.

"He landed wrong," the other clone said. "Broke his arm, he said, but he won't let us set it."

Kix's voice came through the helmet, which Rex still held. "The armor's a better immobilizer than fabric."

Jesse rolled his eyes.

"Captain," said Snap, saluting. "Two enemy survivors – I put a stun blast in each of them. There are a lot of civilians outside the walls, but they're not approaching."

"Probably waiting for us to leave," said Rex. He'd seen this before, people waiting for the soldiers to move out so they could loot the dead from both armies. "Weapons?"

"Stun batons and blasters." He motioned to a small pile of rifles and pistols. "That's all I've found so far."

"Good job," said Rex. "Now, what exactly are you doing down here?"

"Gadget and I were uninjured, so Wooley sent us after you. He and Switch scared off the rest of the enemy with the turrets, but most of the men had already been captured."

Rex frowned thoughtfully. "But we weren't."

"No, sir. I guess they thought it wasn't worth the risk, once Wooley got those guns on them."

"That makes sense. But why'd they capture any of us in the first place?"

"Hostages, maybe," said Jesse, watching as the other two clones reached them.

Rex nodded. "Gadget, Kix."

The medic cast a practiced eye over them. "Everyone all right?"

"Looks like you're the only casualty this time," Rex replied. "Take a stim shot?"

"When I need to," said Kix. He hated them, and everyone knew it. "Are we going after the general, Rex?"

Rex glanced up at the sun. "General Kenobi and Cody should have been back a while ago."

"I checked the channels," said Gadget. "They're not responding. Neither is General Skywalker, or any of the men who were caught."

"Way I see it," said Rex slowly, "We've got our work cut out for us."

"Yeah," said Jesse. "We'll probably find them the same place we find Dooku and Ventress."

Gadget, who had joined the 212th when Fives and Echo had joined the 501st, glanced from Rex to Jesse and back, his eyes wide. "But – we can't fight them."

"Maybe not," said Rex. "But the generals can."

Gadget put on his helmet, appearing to consider for a moment. "What if we have to fight them to get the generals out?"

"Stop worrying, kid," said Snap, stepping up beside him. "We'll find a way."

"But if the generals are already captured, that means they already lost once," said Gadget, with undeniable logic.

Snap let out an aggravated sigh and smacked him upside the helmet. "Didn't I just say to stop worrying?"

Gadget gave an exaggerated yelp and sidestepped, ducking Snap's hand. "I was just asking . . ."

"All right," said Rex, lifting a hand. "Listen up. They're not likely to be in the castle, so does anyone have any idea where they could be?"

"It'll be a secure building," said Jesse. "Probably nowhere easily accessible."

"Not in the main area of town," Snap added. "Somewhere civilians won't be likely to go, probably. Maybe we can track them."

"Gadget?" Rex glanced at him. "Anything useful in that arsenal of yours?"

The younger clone pulled a small device out of his utility belt. "Scanning for energy signatures won't be useful here," he said. "But maybe I could try a biometric scan."

"Too many people around," Kix said, shaking his head.

"Try boosting our reception," said Jesse. "Maybe you can locate the others' commlinks, even if they're not able to use them."

"Good idea," said Rex, when Gadget nodded. "While he's doing that, the rest of you check the weapons Snap found. Might be something useful in there."

There were a couple of spare energy packs, but most of the guns were stun weapons only – with low charges, at that. Rex stood back and fired a few well-placed shots into the pile, watching with satisfaction when they exploded.

No sense in leaving weapons for potential enemies, after all.

"I found something!" Gadget called. "I can only get a general direction, but they're somewhere that way."

He pointed out the large gap that had been blown in the wall. Jesse boosted Rex up and he leaned his elbows against the crumbled top, peering through the electrobinoculars that Kix passed him. Mostly small apartments and narrow streets – there was nothing nearby that stood out. "Gadget, can you give me the distance?"

He sounded uncertain when he answered. "Not an accurate one. . ."

"Best estimate, then."

"About a kilometer."

Rex adjusted the range, and . . . there. A long, wide, low building with guards at the doors. He checked once more to make sure there was nothing more likely, but that particular building stood out in the city like a cruiser among fighters.

"We've got a direction," he said, jumping down from Jesse's shoulders.

"Ow," said Jesse absently. "What's it look like?"

Rex considered. "It won't be easy," he said, clipping the electrobinoculars to his belt and taking his helmet from Kix. "On the other hand, there are only two guards outside."

"Good," said Snap. "One for me, and the other for me as well."

"Want me to take point?" Gadget offered.

Rex glanced at him. "I'm always first, kid," he replied.

Well, there's not a whole lot of action in this one, but it's coming. :)

Some of you might recognize the scene where Snap smacks Gadget's helmet; that's because the grumpy clone in Specterstick's story 'Second Wind', which I highly recommend to Cody fans in particular, smacked one of the younger clones the same way, and I found it hilarious. When Specterstick's kindly allowed me to name the grumpy clone, and I then got permission to use him in this story, I couldn't resist having him do the same thing. It just seems like one of those things the slightly older/more experienced clones might occasionally be tempted to do. Literally 'knock some sense' into the younger ones. :)

Also, once again: are there any scenes or situations you'd particularly like to see in this story?

Thanks to everyone who read this story or gave me feedback! I'll be working at updating more frequently. My goal this week is a chapter every other day - we'll see. That's the problem with not having a complete outline before I start a story. 'Separatist Web' was originally going to have only the commandos and Kit Fisto's part of the mission, but then I realized that the story would be rather short that way. :] Thanks to all of you for your patience! :)