章 286: Elites

As if sliding thirty meters amongst rocks and dirt was nothing, Hell Squad got to their feet with weapons ready and firing. A group of twenty battle droids was destroyed before they even understood how the clones had gotten to them.

Immediately after, Hell Squad split up, each member doing their part. Dageer jumped over a Separatist vehicle, and landed on top of a Dwarf-Spider droid. Putting his blaster against the clancker's head, he kept pressing the trigger until the outer layer of the Dwarf-Spider droid had melted, and it's circuits were destroyed.

As the droid's legs lost power, and it crumbled to the ground, Dageer took cover behind it's body, and pulled out a thermal detonator. He threw it over his shoulder, and it landed just under the next Dwarf-Spider droid, destroying it immediately. A few B1 units, and a Droideka, were also caught in the blast, and became scrap metal.

A few meters away from him, Dab pressed the trigger on his DC-15x four times. The first two lasers hit the stabilizers of two STAPs, sending them - and the droids using it - to the ground. The other two lasers hit the pilots of another two STAPs directly, and the two vehicles crashed on one another, creating a small explosion.

Not too far away, Tech and Metal ran forward, using the clanckers they killed as shields, until they got to the AATs. Metal climbed on it, and rolled two detonators into the barrel before jumping off. A few seconds later, a big explosion happened, shaking the ground, as the tank disappeared in a cloud of smoke and debris.

Three-four and Cell opted for a different approach. The scout got on top of the AAT, and opened the hatch, before unloading an entire magazine Into the crew. His next step was to grab the medic's arm, and pull the clone inside the AAT. Soon, the Separatist's own weapon was being used against them, blowing up a group of Droidekas, two Dwarf-Spider droids, and a whole bunch of B1 and B2 units. When they finally got out of the AAT, having rigged the tank with thermal detonators, a radius of about fifty meters around them was a scene of complete chaos and destruction.

All the while Hell Squad was wreaking havoc amongst the droids, Brain hadn't fired a single shot. He was fully focused only on putting explosives in every ammo crate and battery he could find.

"Ready, commander!"

"Roger that! Hell Squad, fall back!"

Instantly, Hell Squad disengaged, and, while Dab gave cover, taking down five more STAPs, hid behind the carcass of one of the AATs.

"Have fun, Brain!"

"Hahaha!"

Dageer's second-in-command laughed out loud as he pressed a switch, and a chain of explosions sent a heatwave over them, blowing up a cloud of dust, mud, soil, and pieces of droids. Metal cursed as half a B2 super battle droid almost hit him.

"Filters on!"

Turning on the filtering function on his helmet - tibana gas could be highly toxic, and the ammo crates had been full of it, in it's raw form - Dageer looked at the damage they had done. The convoy was gone, and it's escort was mostly in shreds, but there were still about two hundred clanckers alive.

"General Offee, we might need help down here."

"Got it! 41st, attack!"

With the AATs and Dwarf-Spider droids gone, more soldiers showed themselves, and started firing at the seppies. Once again, the height advantage proved to be important, and the remaining clanckers were quickly eliminated.

From the moment Hell Squad took action, to the end of the battle, only twelve minutes had passed.

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Bariss was too concentrated on the lasers in front of her to notice Hell Squad's crazy stunt as the unit slid straight into the bulk of the enemy forces. However, she would have to be blind and deaf not to see the Dwarf-Spider droids, AATs, STAPs, and Droidekas that had been slaughtering the troops under her, disappear.

Just a few minutes after that, the 41st only had to deal with normal B1 units. A few more minutes, and a gigantic explosion shook the ground as the convoy was destroyed.

"General Offee, we might need help down here."

The padawan heard Dageer's voice through her communicator, and realized that only Hell Squad would be as crazy - and capable enough - as to do what they just did.

"Got it! 41st, attack!"

The camouflaged clones came out from behind the trees and rocks, and showered the seppies in blue lasers. They didn't last too long.

...

"Good job, Commander Dageer. We would have taken a lot more losses if it wasn't for your squad."

The padawan thanked Dageer, but the commander just acknowledged it with a slight nod, and, after confirming there was nothing else, went to talk with the wounded troopers. It was a commander's job to be with his men not only in battle, but also out of it.

Looking at Dageer's back, Bariss shook her head. She had never expected a squad of seven men to do what three hundred of the 41st were having trouble doing. Not for the first time, the padawan understood that Hell Squad was truly the best the Grand Army of the Republic had. They were elite soldiers, and they were good at their job.

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"Did it all go well, Bariss?"

"Yes, master. Thanks to Hell Squad, we didn't suffer many casualties."

General Unduli nodded at her padawan, and was happy to see so many troopers return unharmed. They had only lost about twenty clones, which was excellent. They had expected about a hundred deaths.

Hell Squad, on the other hand, went to their quarters - a simple room, with many bunk beds - and started taking off their armors. They were full of bruises, from sliding down the valley, but, apart from that, were unharmed. All of them, without exception, had several scars on their bodies, mostly from lasers.

After putting simple, brownish-red clothes on, the clones started cleaning their weapons. They were always on the edge, ready to jump into a battle at any moment, so they took the chance to take care of their blasters whenever they could. After all, a weapon was the same as a soldier's life. With it, they might die. Without it, they die for sure.

They were still doing that when Ragout entered the room. Promptly, Hell Squad got up and saluted him.

"At ease. You can continue what you were doing."

The seven men nodded, and sat down again. They were too used to Ragout's presence to care when he was there. That didn't mean they were disrespectful, just that they could ignore his presence, and do their duties without being nervous about a superior officer.

Seeing the focused clones, Ragout decided not to interrupt them, and sat down on a bed, his legs crossed and eyes closed. He felt more comfortable in Hell Squad's presence than with the other Jedis.

Dageer saw that his general didn't seem intent in saying anything, and finished checking his blaster before picking up his armor. He used a piece of cloth to wipe out the laser marks, but left the dust and mud. It didn't bother him, and helped the camouflage.

His eyes ran through the scratches on the shoulder pad, and he touched them. He didn't need their help to remind all the brothers he had lost, but whatever the dead went, he wanted them to know that he had avenged them.