General Even Piell has been captured! Separatist forces have imprisoned Piell and his crew in the Citadel prison complex, an impenetrable fortress located on the inhospitable world of Lola Sayu. Even carries secret hyperspace navigational data called the Nexus Route, which could tip the balance in the ongoing Clone Wars.

The Jedi gather to plan a rescue mission, but it won't be easy. The Citadel was designed by the Republic, ages ago, specifically to imprison Jedi Knights who might have lost their way. The Citadel schematics the Jedi work from are very outdated, and Lola Sayu lies in the heart of Separatist space. It will be a very tough assignment.

Anakin Skywalker has bad news for Ahsoka. She is not coming on the mission. Anakin is too concerned about Ahsoka's safety and the mission's risks. Ahsoka is frustrated by Anakin's overprotective nature.

To land on Lola Sayu, the Republic infiltration team will need to get past life form scanners. To do so, they entrust their safety to R2-D2 and a reprogrammed squad of battle droids, who will fly a captured Separatist shuttle past the enemy security screen surrounding the planet.

But that's not all. To further conceal their life-signs from any enemy scanners, the clones and the Jedi will undergo carbon-freezing. Encased in carbonite, they will be shielded from scanners. It's a reckless, dangerous plan -- in other words, a signature Anakin Skywalker idea.

Artoo and his battle droid squad pilot the shuttle past the heavily armed ships guarding Lola Sayu. Sensors probe the ship's interior but only detects spare parts and other droids. Lola Sayu is an inhospitable planet of craggy peaks, plummeting canyons, jagged caves and sulfurous lava. The shuttle deviates from its flight path to land in a crevasse. The battle droids unload the rescue team, and thaw them from their carbonite blocks.

Among the thawed team-members is Ahsoka Tano. Anakin is angered to see her -- she has disobeyed a direct order! But Ahsoka claims that Plo Koon assigned her to the mission after Anakin had already been frozen in carbonite. Obi-Wan Kenobi is amused at the interplay between the headstrong Padawan and her master.

The winds on Lola Sayu prohibit the use of jetpacks, and electromines lining the cliff-face prevent the team from using ascension cables. They must free-climb up the harrowing surface to reach the Citadel. Fortune frowns upon the rescue team, as the way in is surprisingly ray shielded. Thankfully, Ahsoka's presence offers an option: she is small enough to crawl through a ventilation duct, allowing access into the Citadel.

An unfortunate slip by a clone trooper, Charger, activates an electromine. The trooper is zapped to death, and alarms wail throughout the Citadel. The Separatists are now alerted to the presence of intruders. The Citadel warden, Osi Sobeck, orders all guards on alert. The rescue team takes care to blast all cameras and laser-gates, but the Citadel is filled with traps.

In a prison cell inside the Citadel, Even Piell is suspended in an energy field. He is repeatedly prodded with an electrified staff, as a torture droid pressures him to reveal the navigation codes for the Nexus Route. Piell refuses to answer. He may be small, but he's tough, and his ally is the Force.

Before the torture droid can permanently injure Even Piell, the rescue team crashes through the door. The clones blast the droid guards, and Anakin slices through the restraints holding Piell. Even reveals he has memorized half of the coordinates to the Nexus Route, but his captain has the second half. The Jedi must now free the captured officers from Even's starship.

The rescue team doesn't make it far before they are ambushed by commando droids. The warden watches via holographic cameras as the nimble droids surround the clones and the Jedi. The droids use magnetic panels on their feet to prevent the Jedi from Force-pushing them out of the way, but the Jedi and clones nonetheless destroy their enemies.

Anakin is nearly done in by one of the warden's wicked traps. A section of the corridor sealing magnetizes, drawing all the clone weapons out of their reach. Anakin's lightsaber jumps from his grasp, clinging to the ceiling -- and so does his mechanical arm! Anakin is trapped, and the ceiling electrifies, but he is able to pry his lightsaber free and cut his way down.

The rescue team finds the appropriate cell, and Even Piell is reunited with his officers. Captain Tarkin is hardly grateful to be rescued. He is skeptical of the Jedi's ability to escape the Citadel. When Obi-Wan suggests the teams split up to prevent the entirety of the Nexus Route data being captured, Tarkin second-guesses his strategy. He think its better to preserve their strengths in numbers. Still, he concedes to the Jedi leadership.

Piell and Obi-Wan go in one direction, while Anakin, Ahsoka and Tarkin go in another. Clone Commander Cody and his troops cover their escape by lining their path with explosives. As Piell and Kenobi make their way to the upper levels, Obi-Wan detonates the bombs, creating an immense explosion that shakes the Citadel.

Meanwhile, Anakin and his team go to the lower levels. Anakin slices his way out of the lower corridors with his lightsaber, creating an entrance into the lower tunnels that the clones muscle their way into. Anakin's team includes Clone Captain Rex and the ARC Troopers Fives and Echo.

The tunnels are clouded by sulfurous clouds and permeated with rivers of lava. Has Anakin's team only traded the threat of the Citadel for the threats of Lola Sayu's treacherous terrain?