Ragout, the jedi apprentice, jumped out of the trench with another somersault. Dageer and the clones got out more casually, by climbing it.
Surprisingly, they did not come immediately under fire, because most of the droids were still worrying about the forces attacking the fourth trench. They didn't expect a small group of clones to come out of the trench they were defending.
Thanks to that, the clones got to the AAT pretty quickly, and without complications.
"Tech, get in there, get it moving!"
Tech grabbed the barrel of the tank, and pulled himself up. He pushed the droid body out of the way, and it made a scraping sound as it slid down the tank. Seconds later, another droid was thrown out. When it hit the ground, Dageer stared at it curiously.
"A droid sergeant. Although I've been fighting with them for four months, this is actually the first time I see a droid officer."
"I think we killed a couple of those not long ago. They were on that bunker Brain destroyed."
The droid sergeant had a yellow circle in his chest, and the top of its head also had yellow markings. In Dageer's opinion, both made for pretty good targets the clones could aim at.
"Got it!"
A muffled voice came over from the AAT, and suddenly, it started trembling. The front part, which was buried, raised little by little, and then snapped back to position. Soil was thrown in the air, showering the clones with mud.
The tank hovered in midair, and although it seemed to a little damaged, it was working. The barrel made a sharp turn, and started aiming at the fifth trench, instead of the fourth. The main body of the AAT followed soon. Dageer climbed the back of the tank, and entered it.
The interior of the Separatist vehicle was brownish red, and full of mechanisms which functions were unknown to Dageer. The only two obvious controls were the driving on and the cannon one. It was all Hell Squad needed.
"Cell, hop inside, this cannon needs two to operate. The others, stay close to the back, use it as cover. General Ragout, when you give the order..."
The padawan nodded, and Tech pushed a lever, making the AAT go forward. Inside the tank, Dageer was looking at the red aim control panel, while Cell was loading the ammunition.
The screen in front of Dageer showed a huge number of droids right in front of them, each of them marked with a white dot. He figured that meant they were considered allies.
"Tech, see if you can override the aim weapons system. I don't think it will let us shoot at the droids."
"On it. Cell, take control here for a moment."
"All right."
Tech and Cell switched positions, and Tech started tapping on the screen. Suddenly, there was an impact, and everyone inside the AAT was thrown from one side to the other.
"What was that?"
Cell returned to the driver seat, and apologized to Dageer.
"Sorry, sir. This thing turns a lot slower than I thought. We hit a tank carcass."
"Get this thing back in track! Now!"
"Yes, sir."
However, before Dageer could even get back up, the AAT shuddered.
"What now?! Cell, that better not be your doing!"
"It isn't, sir."
"Brain, status!"
"They saw us, sir. That was one of their turrets, although it missed. I think we can start attacking now."
After Brain said that, he immediately fired his blaster, although the distance made hitting something difficult. Dageer put his head out of the tank, and saw one turret had turned towards them, and one AAT was advancing in their direction."
"Tech, we need the weapons system online!"
"Just another second... got it! We are free to fire!"
"Cell, get over here, reload as soon as we fire! Tech, get back to driving! General, how are you doing out there?"
"Still all right. The AAT is blocking most of the lasers."
Since there was no immediate threat to the jedi, Dageer sat back at the gunner's seat, and looked at the screen. The white markings had changed colors, and became green. Besides, the AAT coming towards them was marked with a bigger target.
Dageer turned the cannon towards the enemy AAT, and both fired at almost the same time. Both missed.
The red blast fired by the enemy passed two meters away, while the one fired by Dageer caressed the enemy tank without doing any harm.
"Reload!"
Cell picked up the big shells used by the AAT, each filled with a deadly amount of tibana gas.
"Ready!"
As soon as he heard Cell's voice, Dageer fired again. He had corrected his aim, and the laser hit the enemy AAT in the bottom left. The vehicle swaggered with the impact, but although a chunk was missing, it was still firing.
The first hit Hell Squad's AAT took was right in the center of the tank, where the armor was the strongest. Still, everything trembled, and the ammunition was knocked out of Cell's hands. That gave the enemy the chance to fire once more, and they hit the same place. No matter how strong the frontal armor was, it still was heavily damaged.
"Frontal plate at sixty-one percent! Another two rounds and this thing will be gone!"
"Quick, Cell!"
Doing his best under the precarious conditions, Cell managed to put another shell inside the cannon's chamber. Dageer aimed at the same place he hit before, trying to take out the enemy tank's mobility.
His aim was perfect, and the whole bottom of the AAT suddenly was gone. Without its support, the tank couldn't hover above the ground anymore, and it flipped over, leaving a scar in the earth.
"One more!"
Without the threat of the AAT, Dageer could aim calmly at it while it was down. The immobile tank could neither fire nor run, and Dageer blew it up with a red blast.
Nevertheless, it was too soon to celebrate. The turret was still on the game, and since Hell squad had been advancing towards it while dueling with the AAT, it was dangerously close.
The already damaged frontal armor of the AAT took two consecutive shots. Although individually they were less powerful than the main cannon of the AAT, the turret could fire a lot faster.
"Armor at thirty percent!"
"Cannon is ready, sir!"
Dageer turned the cannon, and locked on the turret's position. The laser found a straight path to the turret, but Dageer had failed to account for the distance, and it fell short. A bunch of unlucky droids were blasted to pieces, but the turret was intact. One more laser hit the AAT, but Tech managed to dodge the other.
"Nineteen percent!"
"Ready!"
That was the final shot. If Dageer missed, he would order the clones to leave the AAT, and they would be on open ground.
He adjusted the angle of the cannon barrel, and took a deep breath before pulling the trigger. In a millisecond, the red laser left the AAT, and hit the turret.
"Ohhhh yeah!!!"