"This is never gonna work," Jesse muttered under his breath. To his left, holding the ticking time bomb in his hands, Wick let out an audible groan, probably to get on his squadmate's nerves. Actually, no; definitely to get on his nerves.

"Stow it, Jesse," the 501st Legion's demolitions expert grunted in between bated breaths as he slowly tapped keys on the pad placed on the side of the bomb. "This is definitely gonna work. You need to have more faith."

A chuckle, muffled by the helmet's filters, escaped Jesse's lips. "Faith. Wick, I've never seen you in work before. Rex recommended you, so I agreed to take you along with me." To jokingly insult his companion, Jesse added, "Hope I don't regret it."

"Don't worry, you won't."

Jesse and Wick were part of a six-man squad of clone troopers, dispatched by General Anakin Skywalker and Captain Rex to infiltrate a droid outpost on Devaron. While Skywalker and Rex were engaging in a full-on firefight with Separatist forces near the entrance into the Devarionian capitol, Jesse was to lead this small squad behind enemy lines and take out the Separatists' airbase, where they were currently hidden. The other four clone troopers were all posted as guards, keeping watch over the entrances into the airbase. More specifically, into the hangar bay, where Jesse and Wick were huddled together, trying to arm the time bomb.

Wick uttered a curse in Mando'a, and Jesse cut in. "Did you have to attach it to the ship before you triggered it?"

"Look, you said this needed to be a quick op. With all those commando droids prowling the corridors, we wouldn't want to get caught off-guard now, would we?"

The clone's helmet tilted to the side, the T-visor glinting in the artificial light as he stared at Jesse. Sighing, Jesse rolled his eyes and his helmeted head along with them. "Fine, fine." He thumped Wick across the arm, getting to his feet. "I'll go check the door. Call me if you need anything."

"Will do," Wick responded, returning his gaze to the time bomb.

Jogging, Jesse approached one of the several doors into the hangar bay. It had been sealed from within, and the trooper standing guard, Calex, was pressed against the wall, DC-15A held in his hands tightly. "Anything?" Jesse asked, figuring the answer.

"No, sir," Calex responded, the blue stripes of the 501st reflecting off his pristine white armor. Almost all of the troops in Jesse's squad were rookies; the 501st had really taken a beating in recent battles. Umbara took Hardcase and Dogma, in a manner of speaking. Tup died after gunning down Jedi Master Tiplar, and Fives was killed on Coruscant when he drew a blaster on Commander Fox. Jesse stilled his mind, not wanting such thoughts to plague his judgement, especially on such critical a mission.

"How's Wick coming along?"

"All right, I guess. He's got the bomb attached and now he's trying to trigger it."

"Why didn't he try to trigger it before attaching it?"

I like this kid. "Didn't have time. He needed to hurry in case any droids stumbled upon us."

Calex nodded. Probably didn't want to speak poorly of his brother; Wick was sort of a "legend" in the 501st's younger ranks. It puzzled Jesse, Kix, and a few other veterans, since he had only served in maybe five missions. He had earned Captain Rex's approval as a competent demolitions expert, but did all that really warrant a fan base, especially when it was made up entirely of troopers who he held seniority over with, what, five missions?

Jesse turned, glancing over to another door where it was manned by another guard. Gesturing with a flat, opened hand, Jesse waited until the trooper, Tib, returned the signal. Jesse turned back as an explosion sounded in the distance. Moving towards the edge of the hangar, slowly, Jesse glanced through the ray shield and saw a large tower toppling over. White-armored figures hovered in the air, and Jesse grinned. 501st jet troopers. "Looks like General Skywalker and Captain Rex are really handing it to the Seppies," he said loud enough so Calex could hear him.

Suddenly, a loud "Jesse!" caused the clone in question to turn and double over towards the droid gunship, where Wick was crawling from. As he stood up, Jesse got a good look at his custom paint job. In the usual 501st colors, blue flames licked above the clone's T-visor, and thick blue stripes ran down his arms, legs, and chest armor. "Got it planted. Ready to blow."

"Good." Jesse lifted his left arm and spoke into his comlink. "This is Jesse. Infiltration team, rendezvous at door one. We're outta here." He turned and moved towards the door, where he, Calex, and Wick waited until they were joined in a few short minutes by the other half of the team.

"Bomb planted?" one of them, a trooper named Lash, asked. Wick nodded an affirmative as Jesse shouldered his blaster.

"We'd better move. Jak, contact Hawk once we clear the airbase. When he picks us up, detonate the bomb, Wick."

Jesse could almost see the grin beneath Wick's facemask as he said, "With pleasure, sir."