Capítulo 175: Racing Against Time

The door of the command bridge opened, and General Di saw a blaster aimed directly at his face. He moved his hand, and the blaster slowly lowered as he used the Force and the person behind it saw who he was.

"Sorry, general. I didn't have how to know it was you."

"It's okay, Tech. How are we on the ship?"

General Di looked around the room, and waved his hand slightly. Two or three dead droids floated and piled up against a wall, leaving the center of the command bridge clear. On the way towards the command bridge, they saw more than a few dead droids, most of them killed by a lightsaber.

"A few more minutes and I should be able to override their countermeasures. It would be quicker if the crew helped, but they refuse to talk."

Tech pointed towards one side of the command bridge, where about ten people were crouching or sitting on the floor in the dim light.

General Di walked over to them, and stopped in front of the one who was clearly the captain, for he was using clothes that no crew would dare to use. The Jedi ordered the human to get up, and, when he didn't follow the instructions, using the Force.

Felling himself pulled upwards against his will, the captain struggled and closed his eyes, his fear was evident. But when General Di waved his hand in front of him, the fear disappeared and his eyes became blank.

"You are going to insert the command codes."

"I-I am going to... insert the command... codes."

After mumbling this, the captain went to the control panel, and typed rapidly. Tech laughed happily.

"Those are the correct ones, general! When you want to, just say the word and we can get out of here!"

"Wait. Ragout, contact Master Skywalker."

"Yes, master."

Ragout fumbled with his comlink, and a hologram of General Skywalker and his padawan, Ahsoka Tano, appeared. Both of them were running, and the sound of blasters being fired could be heard in the background. Occasionally, General Skywalker would lower his head to dodge a red laser, or reflect it.

"Master Di! I was about to contact you! We are... Ugh... In a little trouble. We already put the new coordinates on the control panel, but the command bridge was flooded with droids before we could enter hyperspace. We were forced to retreat. Ahsoka, duck!"

The projection disappeared for a small moment as master and padawan dodged something Dageer couldn't see. Then, they got up as if nothing happened, and started running again.

"Calm down, young Skywalker. Are you able to take back the command bridge?"

"I don't think so, Master Di. There are too many droids. Also, we were forced to split from Delta Squad. They are trapped somewhere in level 2."

"General Di, more seppies incoming!"

General Di looked over to the door hurriedly, and spotted dozens of droids, and probably more were coming. They would lose their own command bridge if they didn't pay attention, so how could they help General Skywalker? Facing such difficulties, General Di made his decision.

"Unfortunately, Master Skywalker, you are your own. We can't reach you. Forget the supplies, reunite with Delta Squad and get out of there. We are going to jump."

"I can't do that, Master Di! Otherwise your troops... Okay. I am sorry, Master Di."

"Don't worry, young Skywalker. We are going to pull through it. We always do. Now, retreat before it is too late."

"Yes, Master Di. May the Force be with you."

The Nikto cut off communications, and turned to the door, his lightsaber in hands. Ragout position himself next to his master, and Hell Squad found cover. Wounded or not, their fighting spirit was burning strong, since they knew that those supplies could very well save many of their brothers.

"Tech, initiate the jump."

"Yes, general."

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General Skywalker sensed a familiar tremor, as if space itself was shaking. He knew that this was the sign of a large ship entering hyperspace. Silently, the young Jedi master wished good luck to General Di and the 303rd.

"Uhm... master? They are coming."

General Skywalker ignored his padawan's warning, only bothering to deflect a few lasers that came his way. With a heavy heart, he ordered their retreat.

"Rex and Snips, come on, we need to go."

"But, master!"

"Enough, Snips! Let's find Delta Squad and leave."

Nobody was more disappointed than him. As a young and newly-appointed Jedi Knight, not being able to help others was a gigantic blow to his confidence and pride.

...

Half an hour later, a very damaged Laat flew out of the remaining Separatist cargo ship, and it was immediately put under a starfighter escort. The other cargo ship had long disappeared into hyperspace.

About an hour later, both sides disengaged from their fight, Republic fighters and droids returning to their respective ships. Soon, the Republic fleet turned around and jumped into hyperspace, but not before destroying the remaining cargo ship. It appeared the Republic commander had decided that since he couldn't take the ship, he wouldn't let the Separatist have it either.

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Dageer felt the ship shake a little as it entered hyperspace. The ever beautiful sight of blue and white lights going past the ship as it cut through space and time appeared out of the command bridge's window. Unfortunately, he couldn't appreciate it now since he had to deal with the onslaught of droids.

He was kneeling behind the captain's chair, which was now full of holes. The doors if the command bridge were starting to get stacked with droid corpses, but the clanckers knew no fear, and kept coming, only to die. So far, none of them stepped one metallic foot inside the command bridge.

Dageer didn't knee for how long the fight went on, for he was too absorbed in it to pay attention to anything else, and so were the others. As such, they only noticed that they had come out of hyperspace when Republic's starfighters zoomed past the ship, and a transmission from the Republic fleet nearby came through.

"Cargo ship Ezntrel, this is a Republic system. Deactivate your shields and let our forces board you, otherwise we will attack."

Dageer, who was the closest one to the communicator, sprinted towards it, dodging the lasers shot at him.

"Admiral Dao, this is Sub-commander Dageer!"

"Sub-commander! I was thinking which bold Separatist captain would dare to..."

"No time for this! Admiral, we are currently under attack by seppies on the command bridge! We need reinforcements, now!"

"Lower the shields and I will send them in, sir!"

Soon, several gunships left the 303rd Attack Legion's fleet, and flew to them. When Dageer saw them landing, he let out a happy yell.

"Uhuuu!!! Just a little bit more, General Di!"

"Good. I was starting to get tired."

That was a joke, if Dageer ever saw his general do one, for he was wounded and had been fighting for hours without stop. He was much more than tired. All of them were.

Thankfully, they didn't have to wait much. At most fifteen minutes had passed when he heard shots coming from behind the attacking droids. The leader of the reinforcements was none other than Commander Keeli, firing his two DC-17s wildly while leading at least a hundred 303rd troopers.

Caught between Hell Squad and the other clones, the droids fell down one after another, without even a chance to react. Certainly, there were more clanckers in the ship, but they would be quickly cleared. The 303rd wouldn't forgive those who hurt their general.