Chapter 71 - Variable

The mon calamarians were advancing slowly, looking for traps. It seemed that they learned that clones were a tough nut to crack, as the fifty or sixty mon calamarians bodies on the ground showed. In contrast, there were only seven dead clones there, showing how high the price to take the medical base was.

Things had gone quiet for the moment, but it wouldn't take long before the air was filled with lasers once more. Involuntary, and certainly to their worry, one clone had been left behind.

Dageer checked his belt, and even the dead mon calamari, for anything that could be used to stop the invaders. He had on DC-17, one DC-15S, and two thermal detonators. Not nearly enough to escape his current predicament.

No, that wasn't all of it actually. He also had some electric grenades, but he had thrown them to the back of his mind because they could only be used underwater.

Underwater, underwater... The word kept ringing on his mind as if he was missing something. And then the idea dawned upon him. It was no wonder that Commander Keeli always said he had really bad ideas when he was in battle. That was another one of those bad ideas.

Dageer took out the grenade launcher and attached it to his weapon. Then he got one of his thermal detonators and activated it, before rolling it to his right. When the explosion sounded, and the mon calamarians turned to it, he ran the opposite direction, circling around them, hoping they wouldn't see him.

They saw.

"Looook!"

The mom calamari who pointed at Dageer was the first one to receive his greetings. He looked surprisingly unconcerned at the hole on his chest, as if he never thought it would happen, and then fell to his knees.

Dageer pressed the trigger madly, sending wave after wave of lasers onto his enemies. By the time he arrived at his objective, another five mon calamarians were gone forever.

Dageer had gone all the way back to the treadmill and was once more using it to hide his body from his enemies. This time, however, he wouldn't run away, but in fact, he would get closer to the well.

Alternating between crouching and standing to shoot, he walked as fast as he could towards the well, paying little attention to anything else besides the mon calamarians dead ahead. And that almost costed his life.

The treadmill was only half a meter large, and the moment he stood up, one mon calamari appeared right in front of him, on the other side of the treadmill. The mon calamari grabbed Dageer's neck with one hand and used the other to stab his vibro-trident on Dageer.

Or at least tried to. If he had the chance he would have stabbed Dageer without mercy, but his head blew up before he could. On the doorway of the medical base, one of the clones who had taken cover before was now shooting. Dab used his DC-15x to kill not only the immediate threat to Dageer's life but also three other mon calamarians who were close.

Although those events might seem long, in truth they all happened in quick succession, and before they knew, the mon calamarians had lost almost ten men.

Without any enemies right next to him, Dageer did the unthinkable. He grabbed the diving mask and put it on, before jumping into the well.

Before that, he left a little gift for the mon calamarians, a small and round metal ball, who killed three of them when it exploded.

Needless to say that Hiigi was furious. He had started the assault with a full one hundred and twenty-eight men, but now only fifty-eight remained. He had expected to lose some men, but not more than half of his forces, all because of a single variable, a clone squad he hadn't paid attention before.

"Tart! Chase and kill that bastard whooo dared to jump in ooour dooomain! I want his head!"

The elder mon calamari, Tart, acknowledged his orders, and gathered twelve mon calamarians before jumping in the well. He could only think of this clone as stupid, who decided, at his own will, to fight the mon calamarians on the habitat they knew better.

Then he was greeted by a chain of electricity, numbing and paralyzing his body, as well as his men. The 'stupid' clone didn't show any mercy, and tried to finish them off while they couldn't fight back.