Kapitel 350: Taking Over Nabat

Dageer had suggested that they ziplined through the abyss, and climbed like they did last time, but as soon as he looked over the edge, he saw countless electro-mines, all activated. Anything that touched them would suffer a cruel death.

"Seems like the only way is through the bridge. Thit isn't gonna be easy."

Everyone nodded, agreeing with Brain. They had to find a way to turn on the ray bridge, and, when crossing it, they would have no cover and little area to run. They would be like sitting Tartags. They also couldn't bomb the city, for obvious reasons.

"I might have an idea..."

Grey, Dageer, Hell Squad, Syndulla, Gobi, and Yva all turned to Ragout. The Togruta had a faint smile on his lips that sent chills down Hell Squad's spine. Unaware of that, Syndulla looked at him curiously.

"What is it?"

The Jedi turned to his unit, this time not hiding the wide grin on his face. Grey suddenly remembered some of the stories his brothers had told him, about how over half of Hell Squad's crazy, suicidal plans came from Ragout's mind.

"How would you like to relive Nevarro, Hell Squad?"

His proposal was received differently by each member of the unit. Dageer and Brain had sighed profoundly, knowing that the Jedi's mind was already set, and nothing they said could change it. Metal, on the other hand, was laughing loudly, while sending a provocative glance towards Cell. Even Dab, Tech, and Three-four were looking at the scout, both excited and worried. Meanwhile, Cell had taken off his helmet and was shaking his head continuously.

"No, no, no, no... Anything but that, general. Anything."

"Hahaha! Come on, Cell, we all know that deep down you love it."

"I don't! I definitely don't!"

Everybody else was looking at them weirdly. Their image of the stern and serious Hell Squad had completely crumbled.

"Err... May we know what you are talking about, Master Ragout? They don't seem very... Receptive of it."

Grinning, the Jedi looked to the blue sky.

"We are going to attack Nabat from above."

-------------------------

Two days later, Hell Squad was flying above Nabat in a Laat, almost at the atmospheric limit of Ryloth. The doors of the gunship were open as they hovered in the air. Each of them had a jetpack on their backs, including Ragout.

"Ready?"

"I hate heights. I hate heights so much. Can't I just be on the ground assault with Grey, general?"

Even though Cell was complaining, he didn't back out. He just looked at the ground kilometers below through the door, and shook his head. His brothers looked at him and laughed.

"Ready and set to go, sir. Cell, you are first."

"Why me? No, don't do tha..."

The scout felt what was coming before it happened, and turned around just to see Dageer pushing him. Cursing, he pummeled down, quickly disappearing in the clouds. Of course, his commander had only done that because he knew Cell could easily regain control of his flight.

Without saying anything else, the other six clones, and the Togruta, crossed their hands over their chest and jumped.

...

As soon as he started falling, Dageer felt the air resistance, and heard the wind. In fact, he could only hear the wind. It was smashing against his body, throwing him from one side to another. His comlink bipped, but whoever was trying to talk didn't manage to.

Instead of worrying about that, Dageer paid attention to his altitude. When they passed by the layer of clouds, he saw a tiny black spot, growing bigger by the second. That was Nabat. All around it was an unending brownish red expanse.

He briefly saw his brothers and Ragout, but it was difficult to focus on one thing when he was falling at breaking neck speed. Still, he felt no fear or anxiety. He had done that many times before and a lot more.

When he reached the right altitude, he turned on his jetpack. The sudden reduction of speed felt like a punch to his chest, and he let out a grunt. Still, now he was much slower, and able to control where he was going.

"Checking! Everyone okay?"

"Yes, sir."

"Definitely not okay, but alive."

"Everything good here, commander."

"Uhum!"

"What about you, general?"

"I'm fine. The show is yours, Dageer."

"Got it. All right, everyone knows the plan. Land directly on top of the bridge controls, break the windows, and go in. We don't have time to waste."

"Got it."

"Roger that."

"Understood."

Without wasting any more time, the group directed their jetpacks down, and flew towards the city. All it was needed was that one single droid looked up and saw them, and they would most definitely be killed immediately. But machine or not, people rarely looked up. They tended to think that danger only came from ground level.

Seven minutes later, they all landed on top of the building that housed the bridge controls. They rested for a few seconds, just to take in the situation, then Ragout warned Syndulla and Grey to be ready to start the attack.

The Jedi looked at Hell Squad, and nodded. The seven clones activated their jetpacks again, while Ragout pulled out his lightsaber and started cutting a hole in the roof.

Needless to say, all the seppies inside immediately turned around to face the green tip that was appearing on the ceiling. Taking advantage of their certain distraction, Dageer and the others flew down, until they were in front of the windows. Brain and Tech glued two thermal detonators to them, and Dageer flicked the switch.

The explosion sent shards of glass flying everywhere, but they couldn't penetrate the Phase II armor, so Hell Squad just ignored it. The clanckers, which had been thrown to the floor by the explosion, didn't even manage to get up before the soldiers executed them.

"Tech, the controls are yours!"

"Got it!"

The mechanic just used a few seconds to to power up the blue ray bridge. As soon as it appeared, the mixed army of clones and freedom fighters outside started marching through it.

Many fell victim to the red lasers fired by the droids on the walls, but there was nothing Dageer could do about it. At the moment, he and his brothers had a more important task.

"General, you go help them! We will defend the controls!"

"Are you sure?"

"Of course. The tin can that is gonna kill us haven't been assembled yet."

The Togruta laughed, and left the room through the hole he had made in the ceiling. Soon, Dageer heard the screams of the clanckers outside, and he could imagine they being torn apart by a green tornado.

Smiling slightly, Dageer turned his attention to the seppies that were charging through the door, trying to retake the controls. If they managed to do that, they could deactivate the bridge, dropping thousands of Republic troops to their deaths. Unfortunately for them, Hell Squad had defended that room once before, and they would do it again. If they wished to pass, the Seppies would have to step over their dead bodies. And anyone who knew Hell Squad knew that wasn't going to be easy.