บท 152: Withdrawing From Combat
Ventress pushed her hands upwards with inhuman efforts to hold back the amount of snow that was about to crash down on her. Blood vessels popped on her hands and arms, and her eyes became bloodshot.
Although she had her fair deal of dangerous situations, she had never used such amount of Force. She could feel her reserves draining, and black spots disrupted her vision. She knew that if the didn't do something soon, she was bound to die.
So, using more Force than she ever had before, she blasted the snow out of the way, sending it flying in the air. The effort left her breathless, and she dropped to the ground panting. Only after several minutes she finally got up. Around her was utter destruction.
The droid army that she had with her was either buried or in pieces around her. Only a few hundred lucky ones, who had been near her when the avalanche happened, survived.
"Bzzz... ma... bzzz... madam! Where.... bzzz... you?"
Her communicator bipped, and she vaguely heard the droid captain's voice, interrupted by static.
With her sensitive ears, she heard the mechanical sounds of droids behind the avalanche. It appeared that part of her army had survived.
Ignoring her exhaustion, she walked towards the snow wall, and put her hands on it. Small pieces of snow fell on her bald head, and the cold relieved her a little bit. She could feel a headache coming, as it always did when she overexerted the use of the Force.
"Captain, stay away from the snow."
"Madam, there... bzzz... snow everywh..."
Ventress shook her head. Sometimes droids were just too stupid, and she couldn't be bothered to explain more to it. Closing her eyes, she let the Force concentrate on her hands, before releasing it at once.
Five or six meters of compacted snow was pushed away, burying the stupid captain that was behind it. Ventress stepped over the broken body, and looked at the troops she had left.
About five hundred droids had been buried, but she still had more than a thousand troops. Against a few hundred, and tired, clones, that should be more than enough, unless they pulled out another trick like the avalanche. Anyway, Ventress didn't care about how many troops she lost. They were expendable, she could just get more.
She looked at a droid sergeant, identifiable by the yellow markings, similar to the ones a droid captain had, but fewer.
"You are the new captain. Move."
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Hell Squad met the other clones two hours later. With Ventress and the droid army out of the way, the clones unconsciously slowed the pace. Dageer thought about hurrying them, but Thartam wasn't kidding when he said that many wounded were at the limit. Many who had recovered slightly worsened because of the fast pace, and more than one was near death.
Dageer was worried about unforeseen problems, but he also relaxed a little when the threat that was Ventress disappeared.
This series of events and coincidences all led to the ultimate flaw in Dageer's plan. He didn't know that not only Ventress had survived, but her troops also did, and were hot on their heels.
So, two days later, Dageer, Brain, Captain Narza and Captain Hilix were on top of a hill, looking down to the bridge that meant safety when they received the bad news in the worst possible way.
Suddenly, chaos broke out. Dozens of clones fell victim to an unsuspected volley of red lasers. Dageer turned around, and saw that the clanckers he thought they had buried were right behind them.
Veteran soldiers, after the first moment of panic, the clones grabbed their weapon, and tried to resist. However, they were outnumbered six to one, and more troopers started dropping like flies.
If things stayed like this, all of them would die. Dageer grabbed his DC-15A, and ran towards the battle, all the while barking orders.
"Thartam, Bliar and Sharp! Take the wounded and go! Timer, plant the detpacks! Lieutenant Shield, take the left flank and go with them! Hell Squad, on me! Narza and Hilix, we will hold them back. Shoot and retreat, understood?"
"Yes, sir! Come on, Hilix!"
At that moment if life or death, none of the clones hesitated to throw themselves at the fray. About thirty to forty troopers covered the retreat of the others. The bridge was only a few hundred meters away. If they managed to cross and blow it, then they would be safe, at least for a while.
Amongst the clones that stayed behind, Hell Squad was surely the most eye-catching. Tech and Cell used their DC-15S to take down two or three droids before running back a little. Dab used his DC-15x to find and kill the enemy officers. The sergeant that Ventress appointed as the new captain was the first to fall.
Brain and Metal also were a force to be reckoned with. The new weapon that Dageer gave to Metal was wreaking havoc amidst the closely packed B1 battle droids, and Brain's thermal detonators cleaned up those which remained. And Dageer was dueling with an AAT.
Only one of the tanks that Ventress brought survived the avalanche, but it was enough to slaughter Dageer's men if left alone. So the leader of Hell Squad had taken onto him the task of keeping it busy.
Every time the main canon if the AAT turned to shoot at Dageer, he would roll out of the way. This made difficult for the AAT to focus on him, but more than once Dageer was almost blasted to pieces. Dodging the tank wasn't an easy feat, but he also had to worry about the clanckers firing at him.
"Dab! I will create an opening, you take it down!"
"Yes, sir!"
Dab stopped sniping the enemy officers and started charging his DC-15x. Long ago, he had modified his weapon so it could charge a powerful blaster, enough to cause a small explosion when it hit. More than once it had proven useful to take down targets that hid behind cover. Still, it wasn't enough to even sway an AAT, whatsoever destroy it. However, since Dageer had spoken, Dab had full trust in him.
Meanwhile, Dageer suddenly stopped. Seeing the clone that had been pestering it for so long stop, the AAT turned its barrel towards him. Just when it was about to fire, Dageer fired two quick shots at the hatch on top of the tank.
His gamble played off. Both blue lasers hit the hatch's lick, blasting it open. At the same time, Dab fired the charged shot, hitting the inside of the AAT. A small explosion happened, followed by a much bigger one when all the ammo inside the AAT blew up.
Without waiting for the reaction of the droids, Dageer swiftly retreated. The bridge was now only a hundred meters away, and most of the clones had already crossed it. Only the ones that were covering their escape remained, now only twenty of the original forty.
At that moment, Dageer's soldier sense warned him. He scanned the droids with his eyes, and saw Ventress looking directly at him. She had her red lightsaber on her hand, trespassing the limp body of a clone.
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