The next morning Dagger woke with the sun, she was warm and it took her longer than usual to recognize where she was. She jerked slightly when she felt something shift against her back. Then, she remembered where she was and that Echo was behind her. He was still snoring lightly, his arms wrapped around her.

She gently maneuvered out of his grip and made sure that neither he nor either of their squad mates were awake. When Dagger was sure that she was the only one awake she grabbed a ration bar out of her bag, stomach growling in anticipation. Quietly, she removed her helmet and started to munch on her ration bar. She listened to the sound of the planet waking up. Critters in the woods chirped and the sun started to rise over the horizon.

Echo was woken from his own sleep by the click of a buckle. He opened his eyes groggily and blinked the sleep out of his vision. His front was cold, as if something had recently been removed, taking all the heat with it. Pulling his arms in he realized that the something that had moved was Dagger.

He saw Dagger adjusting his helmet, he had just put it back on. His eyes fell, he realized that he still wasn't allowed to see the face of his partner. He wished that he could show his trustworthiness to Dagger so that he wouldn't keep this secret anymore. Echo wouldn't ask, he wouldn't pry.

Echo was just curious and wondering. Yet that didn't mean he didn't feel a prick of sadness at the thought of his partner, his brother, not trusting him. He still didn't know what Dagger though would happen if they saw him without the helmet.

Dagger turned back around and started to check his pack. Echo just watched quietly, there was no need to start moving with any hurry yet. Once Dagger was satisfied he reached for Echo, to wake him up. The helmeted clone paused when her eyes met Echo's. Grey eyes open and watching curiously. Her heart was hammering. Had he seen? How long was he awake?

Echo smiled lazily, "morning Dagger. Were you warm enough last night?"

She let out the breath she had been holding, instead her worry was replaced with a red flush on her cheeks. Not trusting her voice to answer, she nodded.

Echo smiled again, "I remember what it was like to be small, I was always cold on Kamino. Never could get warm enough. You don't need to be cold among brothers."

"Thank you Echo."

The morning wake up patrol came in the form of Fives running around the circle of tents banging on a helmet with a stick. He was yelling at them to wake up and get their armor on. They were getting a last minute brief on the mission for today in 20 minutes, leaving the base camp in 40.

Everyone in the tent was awake now, all pulling their armor out of the tent and strapping it on. As the sun rose so did the temperatures, apparently the planet was only cold at night. The next hour went by in a blur, soon they were stalking through tall grass on an animal trail.

The mission units had divided into their companies. General Skywalker and Captain Rex took their men and were headed to the communications tower. General Kenobi and Commander Cody were sneaking off through the forest in the opposite direction. They were headed to the droid fortress. Echo and Dagger followed dutifully in line with the rest of their brothers, most belonging to the 212th.

Laying in the tall grass on top of the hill they all looked down upon the fortress. Through the binoculars Dagger could see the sentry droids patrolling the perimeter, everything was heavily armed. The Separatists had decided that they would put their fortress in the middle of a shallow lake with only one boardwalk to get into the base.

"Looks like we are going for a swim gentleman," the Jedi said with a happy glint in his eye.

Echo leaned in close to Dagger and whispered, "I don't like it when the General gets that look. Means he's up to no good."

Dagger tilted her head in question and Echo shook his head, "you'll find out soon enough kid."

"I'm not a kid," she grumbled under her breath, you know like a kid does.

Within the next twenty minutes, Dagger was ankle deep in mud and waist deep in water alongside the rest of her company. The General was happily leading their troop, the Commander followed less happily. They approached the backside of the compound, a blind spot in their defenses.

It was a smooth wall with no purchase in the middle of a lake, the Seppies didn't even know that the Grand Army was on the planet. So they were not expecting an incursion of any kind, much less a sneak attack.

They all lined up against the wall, backs flush to it while Commander Cody gave one last briefing, "alright you all know the deal. Today stealth is our friend, those clankers don't know we are coming. Take out as many as we can quietly, but as soon as the first blaster goes off that whole complex is going to go onto red alert. We have ten minutes from that point to silence the alarms or get out before the first support groups will be on our tails. This needs to be quick. General Skywalker is counting on us to get this base under control. They should have started their attack just minutes ago and will be on their way soon."

Time to get to work. Dagger's heart was pumping, eyes narrowed and breathing controlled. Her first real mission was about to start. She turned to Echo, who gave her a thumbs up and then grabbed his grappling hook.

In unison they shot the hooks to the top of the wall and secured them into their belts. The clones began the slow, but steady climb to the top of the towering wall.

Once they reached it, one by one they hopped over the ledge and disconnected from their lines. Sneaking up behind the lone droid patrol on the wall, Cody quickly snapped the mech's head sideways severing the control systems. The threat was neutralized and he gave the signal to continue the advance.

Dagger saw the ends of cloak tails disappear around the corner going the opposite direction of their group. Where was that Jedi going? She shook her head slightly, there was no telling with those creatures and their force magic.

They were all fanning out through the compound, Echo trailed along behind Dagger, scanning all angles dutifully. The clones were neutralizing the droids as quickly as possible. It was hard to tell how long they could go before they would have to resort to using their blasters. The company was working from the perimeter inward towards the more heavily guarded areas of the strong hold.

Dagger rounded a corner, she saw a droid with its blaster drawn aimed straight at the Commander's back. There was no time to think, she just had to act. There was no way to take out the droid any other way, no one was close enough to take it out in time.

In a flash, her blaster was drawn and fired. A smoking hole through the chest plate of the droid and the clatter of metal to the floor. Everyone turned to her.

The Commander whipped around to look for who had fired the shot, he saw Dagger holding the smoking gun. With a growl, he started barking commands to everyone. The halls flashed red and an almost deafening siren screamed from the speakers.

Everyone drew their blasters and opened fire on any and all targets. Dagger was panting with adrenaline, swept along with the action of the mission.

Before he could say anything to Dagger she was gone with Echo down the hall to secure the fortress and shut down the distress signal before it got off-world.

Cody was furious, had Dagger not heard him or just chosen to disobey his orders? How could he endanger everyone, all of their brothers like that? There was something wrong with that clone. He should not have fired on that droid.

Echo had taken off down the hall, Dagger followed hot on his heels. She didn't even realize the trouble she was going to be in after the mission. In her mind, she had done the right thing. Her reason was sound and she just assumed that everyone else understood. Now it was time to put it in overdrive.

Their boots thudded down the hallway, the occasional shot from a blaster was shot off followed by metal crashing into the floor. The blast doors in front of them opened up suddenly to reveal 20 B2s.

"Oh shit!"

They both dove out of the way and into the cover offered by the sides of the hallway. Unfortunately, they both dove in different directions. Dagger on the left and Echo to the right. Pinned down and separated, the droids were closing in.