Chapter 109 - Sharpshooters

The warehouse was totally open, and besides the pillars there wasn't much else to be used as cover. On the far left end of it was a set of stairs that led to some sort of office.

When Dageer looked briefly, he felt the warehouse was smaller than he expected. Paying closer attention, he saw a door at the opposite end of it. The wall they were seeing was only a division separating the warehouse in two. Since the missing clones weren't in his line of sight, they were most probably on the other side of that wall.

"Ahhhh!!!"

A clone fell behind Dageer, his body becoming another one on the pile that was growing at the door. The door was only big enough for three troopers to pass together, and was turning in a choke point of death.

But there was nothing Dageer could do besides keep advancing. Only if all the enemies were cleared out would the clones be able to take better positions. The only positive side was that their distractions had worked, and there were fewer gang members than they had expected.

Dageer heard Dab shoot, and a body crashed in the floor near Dageer. He looked and saw Dab aiming his blaster to above. Dageer hadn't noticed before because he was too worried about the problem ahead - namely the huge amount of blasters firing at them.

There was another office-like room right above the door, and if Dab hadn't noticed it, the first clone to advance would have died for certain.

"Dab! Get up there, and provide overwatch!"

"Gilli, Heet, Blove, Tarry, go with him! See if you can get the ones on the far end of the warehouse!"

Commander Fox went along with Dageer's commands. Dab and the other soldiers got up the stairs, although one of them, Heet, was lost in the middle of the way.

Dab was actually the only one with a sniper blaster, but the soldiers that Commander Fox brought with him were also the elites of the Coruscant Guard, and weren't to be outdone. They hit four shots in five, and with Dab to make up for the ones they missed, they soon established a foothold.

With a group of sharpshooters now providing help, the clone attack couldn't be stopped. All they needed was one chance and they would win. Dageer decided to give them that chance.

"Metal! Suppress them! Cell, Three-four, with me!"

Metal had just finished reloading his Z-6, and got up as soon as his squad leader called for him. He sprayed laser through the warehouse, without worrying if he was hitting anything, but making the enemies keep their heads down.

Hundreds of hours of practice made Hell Squad actions seem like they were connected. Every member of Hell Squad knew what the other was about to do, and what they had to do. Every time Dageer, Cell or Three-four had to reload, Dab would take down any enemy aiming at them.

Just like that, Hell Squad conquered half of the warehouse all by themselves.

"Go, go, go!"

Commander Fox was close behind Hell Squad, bringing the Coruscant Guard with him.

"Sir, the construction on the left!"

Dab warned Dageer, who immediately looked at the left. The office-like construction was similar to the one Dab was using, so Dageer first thought there were sharpshooters there. But then he saw a bunch of gang members running down the stairs.

He understood what caught Dab's attention. They were much more organized than the other gangsters, and moved in a way there was also a space in the middle of them. Dageer knew this well, because he had practiced it a lot when he was a cadet. They were protecting someone.

"Commander! Left, maybe it is the enemy leader!"

Before Commander Fox answered, however, Dageer had already turned his attention. He had heard a very familiar scream. Sure enough, Hell Squad had one member on the ground.

Cell was already besides Three-four, spraying blue laser to keep the enemies away. Two members of the Coruscant Guard were pulling Three-four back. He had a black spot on the left side of his torso, and Dageer knew the armor wasn't enough against something like that.

But, no matter how much Dageer wanted to go after him, he couldn't. If he stopped now, the enemy leader might have the chance to flee.

So Dageer had to throw all his thoughts to the back of his mind, and keep going. Commander Fox had charged forward, and was near Dageer.

"Dageer, remember, we need him alive!"

"Yes, commander."

"Move, we don't want to lose him!"

Since they couldn't kill the enemy leader, the clones also couldn't fire directly at the group crossing the end of the warehouse. The most they could do was fire in front of them to keep them from going further, but the enemy was fearless. No, not actually fearless, but well trained. They understood that the clones didn't want to kill them, so they stopped worrying about dodging the lasers.

Luckily for the clones, they had already got their entire force - nearly a hundred - inside the warehouse, so their fire output was strong.

Dageer took cover behind a pillar, and peeked by the sides of it, killing one enemy and then hiding again. One of the men protecting the enemy leader fell to the ground, wounded by a blue laser that missed its mark. Dageer got the chance to see a tall, blue person in the middle of the group. They were almost on the door, and near escape.

"Dageer! Get your men to fire on that cl.u.s.ter! They can't make it to the other room!"

"Yes, sir! Dab, you have permission to take them down. Just don't kill the one in the middle."

"Copy that."

"Brain, Tech, Cell, let's charge! Metal, cover us the best you can!"

Time was tight, and Dageer didn't have time to devise a better offensive strategy. So he just gathered as many Hell Squad members he could and jumped from behind the pillar, trusting that Metal would cover them.

Four clones ran forward, their blasters spraying lasers, but with surprising accuracy. The cl.u.s.ter of enemies near the door started to diminish, their members falling to the ground like dead leaves.

When Dageer, Cell, Brain, and Tech got near, only four enemies had made it to the door, including the leader. Dageer halved that number with three quick pulls on the trigger.

Nevertheless, the remaining two still made it past the door, at almost the same time the clones finished clearing all the enemies in this half of the warehouse.