Okay, here we are . . . the last 'set-up' chapter before the big fight begins! I hope everyone's excited for it, because I must admit - I am! :)

A sharp clang of metal jolted Anakin from his doze, and he looked up to see Tar Saresh striking the cell bars with the barrel of his pistol. "Come, Jedi Skywalker. You too, soldiers."

Anakin followed Trap and Flash into the hall, where a Weequay guard put stun cuffs on them, linking their wrists together with Anakin between the two clones.

"Don't worry," Tar Saresh said, resting a friendly hand on Trap's shoulder. "I'll remove those when the time comes for you to enter the arena."

Anakin rolled his eyes. "Not taking any chances, I see."

"Not when there are over a million credits on your head alone."

"What?"

With a languid wave, the Twi'lek led them down the hall. "That is how much I stand to lose if you do not win in the arena tonight."

"Great," Anakin retorted. "I can't say I've ever wanted to losebefore, but –"

"Winning is the only way to survive here, Skywalker."

As they walked, Ghost reached slowly across with his free hand and started working at the binders connecting his wrist to Anakin's.

Anakin stared straight ahead. "I suppose you've got Obi-Wan here as well. Have you thought about how your men are going to fight off two Jedi? It'll be expensive to replace all your guards."

"It would be." Tar Saresh stopped in front of a large door and entered a code. "But I am not having you fight my guards, remember?"

There was a sudden snap and Ghost jolted and dropped to his knees, yanking Anakin off-balance.

Tar Saresh opened the door and glanced over his shoulder. "Did I forget to tell you that those are much stronger than normal stun cuffs? Yes? My apologies."

Anakin dragged Ghost upright. "Do you ever stop talking?"

"Call it excitement, if you will," the Twi'lek said, gesturing them into the room. "There has not been an event this big in many months. Forgive me, I must go fetch your other companions."

"General Skywalker!" Fives jumped up from a long bench and joined them as the door shut behind them. "We've been wondering what happened to you guys."

"Hey, Fives. Det, Waxer, Boil . . ."

"Glad to have you aboard, General," Boil said, with a sardonic salute.

"Always a pleasure," he replied automatically, staring at the metal wall that covered the far end of the cell. "What's that?"

"It looks like a door," said Det. "We spent the entire afternoon trying to find a way through it."

Anakin shut his eyes. Even with his dimmed perception of the Force, he could feel the excitement from beyond the wall. . . excitement from hundreds – thousands – of beings. "We're right next to the arena."

"Yeah, we figured." Waxer slouched back against the wall just as the door opened again.

They all turned to face it – Anakin and Trap and Ghost somewhat awkwardly – and then stared as Ventress sauntered into the room.

"Ventress!" exclaimed Anakin.

She ignored him and turned to Tar Saresh. "They're all accounted for?"

"Yes, Lady Ventress. The last few are on their way . . . Ah, here."

"So good to see you again, Saresh," came Obi-Wan's insincere voice, followed shortly by the Jedi Master himself. He stopped as he caught sight of the tall woman blocking his path. "Ventress. What a lovely sight to start off this perfectly unenjoyable evening."

"Flattery won't get you anywhere, Kenobi, so don't try it." She stepped aside as Echo, Flash, and Namer passed her, and her cloak shifted one side.

Obi-Wan looked disdainful. "Is that my lightsaber you're carrying? I hate to be rude, but blue really isn't your color."

"Trust me, my dear Obi-Wan, I don't intend to use it," she replied, touching his cheek with one hand and causing Obi-Wan to flinch away. She swept back to the door and stopped, not looking back at him. "Perhaps I will sell it to General Grievous. He's always shown such an interest in adding it to his collection."

The door shut, and Obi-Wan made his way over to Anakin. "Well, I see they're not taking any chances with you."

Trap held up their linked wrists ruefully. "General Skywalker is worth over a million credits."

"Is that right? I wonder when that happened?"

Anakin had long ago concluded that the more displeased Obi-Wan was, the more snippy his conversation tended to get. "Master, I don't know if you've noticed, but we're kind of in trouble here."

"I did, now that you mention it." Obi-Wan glanced at his own restraints. "And how did you manage to get captured again?"

Anakin huffed and sat down where he was, obliging Ghost and Trap to join him on the floor. "An ambush, of course. I take it no one's seen Cody."

"No, sir," said Fives.

Obi-Wan pulled experimentally at his stun cuffs.

"General, don't –" Ghost began.

Snap!

" – try that. . ."

After recovering his equilibrium, Obi-Wan glared dreadfully at the offending cuffs and sat down with a huff. "Anakin, I don't suppose your Force-abilities are back, by any chance?"

"No." Anakin tilted his head in thought, then glanced back up. "My mind is clearer than it was, though. Maybe that dark energy is wearing off."

"Hmm." Obi-Wan considered for a long moment, got to his feet, and came to sit across from Anakin. "Maybe we can do something to help hurry that along."

He held out both hands and closed his eyes.

"Uh, Master . . ." Anakin pulled back just as the tug in his wrists told him that Ghost and Trap had tried to edge away as well. "You said yourself you didn't know exactly what it was. . . Maybe we should just wait for it to fade on its own."

"Very well." He sat back on his heels. "If you'd rather go up against all manner of creatures without any defense whatsoever. . ."

"Fine." Anakin decided that there was no one in the universe who could look quite as smug as Obi-Wan Kenobi could when he was being difficult. "Just don't . . . I don't know, accidentally put me in a trance or something."

"Really, Anakin." Obi-Wan closed his eyes and reached out again. "That only happened once."

Trap and Ghost edged farther away, and Anakin sighed as he was forced to hold his arms at an uncomfortable angle. Boil leaned against the wall, looking very much amused at their predicament. Anakin sent him a warning glare before closing his eyes and attempting to clear his mind.

"This shouldn't take long," Obi-Wan said, in a voice that was probably meant to be reassuring, but really, really wasn't.

Kit Fisto sat cross-legged on a wooden crate and let his gaze wander over the soldiers that hovered about the room. Jesse lounged against the wall, swapping tall tales with Scorch. Sev stood nearby with Snap. Both took turns making derisive comments whenever their companions' lies became a little too outrageous.

Kix had apparently given up on all of them some time ago. He sat near Jesse, reading something on his datapad and ignoring the entire conversation.

Fixer was upgrading one of Gadget's devices for him, all the while explaining what he was doing – in fact, he'd probably talked more in the last half hour than he had the rest of the mission.

Captain Rex stood across from Kit Fisto, staring at a holomap of the surrounding area. Delta Thirty-Eight leaned over to point something out, and Rex nodded.

Kit checked his chrono, jumped to his feet, and stretched. "Half an hour to go, troopers! We must consider our plan of attack."

The others gathered as Boss said, "Advisor, anything new?"

"Saresh's residence is mostly emptied of guards, but I can't get an accurate read on the prison levels."

"Another jamming device?" asked Rex.

"Most likely. If you can take it out, I'll be able to provide more information. I can't deactivate any of the alarms from here without full access."

Boss glanced at Fixer, who nodded. "I can handle that, sir."

"The easiest way to get access would be to shut the system down, but that might make the situation worse. There are over four thousand civilians inside the Cauldron, with more entering every moment."

"I see." Kit Fisto rested his chin in one hand. "We'll have to reveal ourselves to get the others out, but the moment we do, we risk being attacked by the civilians."

"We'll have to play it by ear," Rex said.

Jesse elbowed Kix. "Good thing we're used to General Skywalker playing it by ear."

"All right," said Kit. "Let's get to Saresh's house first. We'll clear it and use it as our retreat route."

Boss gestured at the hologram. "The street there is wide enough for the shuttles to land on," he said. "We could use them to prevent anyone getting in from the front."

"Hmm." Rex looked at the building in question for a long moment. "Oddball, how good a pilot are you?"

"One of the best in the Two-Twelfth," came the confident reply.

Snap nodded his agreement, and Rex grinned mirthlessly. "Good, because I want you to land General Fisto's shuttle with the boarding ramp inside the front door."

Scorch whistled softly, but Oddball was unfazed. "Just tell me when, sir."

Kit Fisto drew his lightsaber. "All right, let's move out."

After a careful check outside, they hurried back to the landspeeder, and Kit Fisto drove slowly towards the Cauldron. The night sky was sprinkled with glittering points of light, and he glanced up at them, breathing the cool air. He remembered the last arena he'd been in, on Geonosis, and how many Jedi had been killed. He and his men had an even smaller chance of success this time.

There were more prisoners to rescue, fewer troops, more enemies, fewer Jedi. . .

Kit Fisto smirked as he braked gently to a halt just outside the house. He spoke over his shoulder as the men jumped out. "Our only advantage is that we can't be out planned. We don't know what we're doing ourselves."

"You're right about that, sir," Rex admitted, not sounding particularly concerned.

The Jedi Master turned the speeder around. "I'll leave the landspeeder back at the warehouse and return."

Boss motioned to his commandos. "Scout the perimeter. Don't destroy anything that might set off an alarm."

They slipped off into the darkness.

SO - what do you guys think is going to happen next? Is there any way this rescue attempt will work?

Seriously? :)