บท 316: Buried Alive

At first, when the Jedis told him that the pile of rocks was their way out, Dageer thought they were going crazy. There were tons upon tons of boulders stacked there. But when he felt the current of air passing through the cracks, he finally understood what the Jedis meant.

"But how are we going to get all of this out of the way?"

"Hard work, Jesse. Everyone who is able will start removing the smaller stones, while we three will concentrate on the bigger ones. We will have to be careful not to cause a landslide."

"On it, General Skywalker. I will bring the others."

Soon, twenty or so clones arrived. They were the ones who only had light wounds, and no broken bones. The others, like Dageer, had to hesitantly lay back on the walls, and just watch. They didn't like to stay still, but didn't have much of an option.

...

At some point, Dageer fell asleep, exhausted. Three-four had no medical supplies to work with, so Dageer's leg was just immobilized by a piece of wood. There was nothing they could do about his ribs, other than let it heal on their own. As such, every move he made caused pain, even if his face didn't show it.

But, as a veteran soldier, he was used to waking up at the slightest sound, and ready for battle. Only, this time the enemy wasn't someone he could fight.

"Get away!"

Huge parts of the cave were collapsing, probably because the Jedis had used the Force to move a rock they shouldn't have. It was already dark before, and, with the dust that was lifted, he could barely see one meter ahead of him, even with the flashlight. Somewhere in front of him, he heard a yell of pain. One of his brothers had been hit by a falling rock.

Scrambling to his feet, Dageer did his best to run. There was nothing he could do to help the others, at least not now.

He didn't know for how long the landslide went on. The noise was deafening, and he couldn't see anything. Small pebbles hit his armor, and sometimes he would see the white armor of a clone briefly, before they disappeared in the darkness once again.

Forcing himself to get up, he walked to the sources of the other lights he saw. The troopers seemed shocked, but mostly unharmed. Clearing his throat, he started calling out names. Three didn't answer.

"Damn it! Rex, Fives, get some men, and search for them."

The two clones looked at him for a moment, knowing fully well that the three clones were already dead and buried. Dageer knew it too, obviously. But they still had to try.

"General Skywalker, General Kenobi, Commander Tano, how are you?"

"Sore, but okay, Dageer. But we have a real problem now. Our only shot at leaving this place is now buried, even more than before."

The clone didn't say anything. It was the Jedis' fault, and they knew it. They had been too rushed, and caused the death of three more soldiers. Of course, he would never say that out-loud. Just thinking about it went against all the discipline and respect for hierarchy on his blood, but it had been a long time since he gave that much importance to those. The last time was probably when he was a cadet, still thinking that winning the war would be easy.

"We found Det, Dageer. He was already dead. No sign of Data and Knot."

The commander slowly nodded. Gesturing with his head to Hell Squad, he started walking back to the big cave that had become their temporary camp, and now, their tomb.

"Help the generals. Tech, you go ahead, and make an inventory of what we have. Let's see how long we can last."

The Jedis didn't contest Dageer. They were too tired and guilty to do so. Their only hope was now lost, and they were the culprits.

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

Three weeks passed, painfully slowly. That day was when they ran out of water. The clones didn't have any qualms with dying, since that was a constant threat, but they always thought they would do so with a weapon in their hands. To die like that, stuck in a hole in some forsaken corner of the galaxy, seemed wasteful.

"The grand offensive must be over now. I wonder if we won."

"Haha... For what matters, I believe it worked, Fives. The commander's plans rarely fail. But it's a pity we weren't there. I would have liked to kill a few more seppies."

Several heads nodded, although no one could see them. The batteries had died after one week. However, by now, they were all used to the darkness, and even without being able to see anything, could find their way through the cave system.

Dageer, Brain, Cell, Tech, Dab, Metal, Three-four, Captain Rex, Commander Cody, Jesse, and Fives were sitting together, talking. That was all they could do.

"Destroying a few more clanckers would have been satisfying, that's for sure."

"I don't know about that. Do you really want to go back to all the deaths and war? We already did a lot more than it was expected of us."

There was a startled silence after Dageer spoke. He was the last person they would have expected to say such words.

"What do you mean?"

"Don't get me wrong. If I had the choice, I would also prefer to be put there, fighting. But I can't stop thinking about all our brothers. How many more will die before this hellish war ends?"

"I don't know... But we were created for this, commander. Many more will die if we don't fight."

"And, one day, the war will end. It can't go on forever."

"And what will we do after? You said it yourself, Dab. We were created for war, and nothing else. And... For us, it will never truly end. It will always be in our heads."

An eerie silence fell upon the clones when they heard that. For a long time, no one said anything. It was only when General Kenobi approached them, followed by General Skywalker and his padawan, that the silence was broken.

"Gentlemen, I believe it's time we try our last resort."

None of the clones said anything. The Jedis couldn't see them, but they knew they all had a resolute gaze in their faces, as they put on their helmets.

"We waited all this time in the hope that we would be found. It didn't happen, and I doubt it will happen now. So, either we will bury ourselves, or we will die of thirst. Or we will find our way out."

All the clones looked in the direction of General Kenobi's voice, and got up. They could have tried their desperate plan a long time ago, but odds were that they would kill themselves by doing it. As such, they held back. But now, they would die anyway, and there was no way to avoid the truth. So, every trooper was of the opinion that it was best to try one more time.

"Brain, prep the detonators."