Chapter 143 - Rebellion

Dageer counted the number of steps that passed by the crate where he was hidden. If he was correct, sixteen droids had left the armory, which meant that Cell's distraction had worked better than they expected. Now, he only had to confront about two dozen droids.

He could only hope that Cell would be okay. Their plan was for him to kill the droid patrol, then lead their reinforcements in a ghost hunt, while he secured the armory. Lastly, if possible, Cell was to free Hell Squad, Captain Narza, Captain Hilix, and all the others. What to do after, they still had to decide.

Dageer lifted the lid carefully not to expose himself before it was time. He didn't have any thermal detonators, but he had done more with less.

He looked at the armory, and quickly asserted the situation. The droids up on the platforms were still there, but the number downstairs was fortunately smaller. Still, no way for him to pass through them unnoticed.

He got out of the crate slowly, and closed the lid even slower, so it made no sound. He positioned his stolen E-5 above the crate, and got in a stable position. Taking a deep breath, he aimed at the highest-ranking droid - a sergeant - and fired.

The droid sergeant's head popped out of its sockets, and before it fell to the ground, Dageer had already moved to his next target. Ignoring the droids next to his kill, he turned his blaster to the two droids on the left platform. They were his biggest threat, and the only ones who had a good angle on him.

He hit one of them on the chest, and the droid stumbled before hitting the handrail and falling. Immediately, he corrected his aim a few degrees, and shot the next droid. The droid lost one leg, and wasn't able to maintain its balance. It fell backward, and hit its head on the wall, then slid down and laid there.

Three enemies were down in less than ten seconds, but the well trained - or better, well-programmed - droids started to react. A torrent of red lasers filled the air above Dageer's head, and he found himself unable to counterattack.

He had, however, prepared himself to this. He laid on the floor, and peeked at the enemies through the bottom of the crate. Because of how low he was, he was only able to see the bottom of the droids, but it was enough. Before the clanckers noticed he had changed his strategy, he had taken out four more. From twentysomething, only seventeen or eighteen remained.

Once again forced to change positions, he felt grateful for how stupid the droid makers were. Instead of splitting jobs and covering the whole crate, the clanckers all aimed and fired at the same position, and Dageer just had to move a little to get a good angle and take out a couple of droids.

Unfortunately, not even the droids were stupid enough to let him do that indefinitely. Soon, he heard them discussing what to do.

"G5-R6, go and check if he is dead."

"Ermmm... me?"

"Yes."

"Why don't you go?"

"No. You go!"

It was obvious that without an officer, the droids had fallen in disarray. Nevertheless, they soon figured out that all they had to do was send someone over to Dageer's position.

Three droids approached the crate carefully. Clearly, they were scared by Dageer accuracy. But just being careful wasn't enough to save them. The moment they turned around the crate, Dageer hit one of them with his blaster, and the droid crashed on one of its companions. Next, Dageer grabbed the droid that had remained on its feet.

He immobilized the droid with one arm, and forced it forward. When they passed by the two dizzy droids on the floor, Dageer finished them off without remorse.

"Tell your friends not to shoot."

To enforce his words, Dageer touched the head of the droid with the tip of his blaster. At the same time, he hurried forward. He knew his threat wouldn't last much, since the Separatist felt no guilty in killing their own soldiers. However, the battle droids weren't unmoved by the prospect of being destroyed, and using such a tactic could usually buy a clone a few more seconds.

He was proven right, because the moment the droid asked his fellow soldiers not to fire, they hesitated for a split-second. Using all he had, Dageer kicked the droid he was holding. The droid tumbled forward, and crashed into a big group of clanckers, knocking six or seven to the ground in a mess of metal body parts, wires, and sparks. There was even one blaster fired by mistake.

Moments before a whole slew of red lasers transformed him a weave, Dageer dived behind another set of crates. He had planned his actions carefully beforehand. The crates he had chosen created an 'L' shape, so even with his enemies just meters away from him, he was protected.

Without caring to aim, he emptied his magazine on the pile of droids on the floor. He didn't know how many he had hit, but each enemy down was equivalent to a rise in his chances of winning.

Hastily, he tried to reload, but found out that he had nothing left. Looking down, he saw that there was nothing where the magazines were supposed to be. Looking back, he saw them on the floor about ten meters away. They must have dropped when he was struggling with the three clanckers.

He tried to reach the nearest droid body to take its weapon from it, but was greeted with a torrent of red lasers. Quickly, he pulled back his hand, unharmed but vulnerable.

If he was right, there were still twelve or thirteen droids left, and he had no ammo. He looked left and right, but there was nothing that could help him. In a few seconds, the droids would notice that he had stopped fighting. It was then that he saw his only hope.

He had been looking for a blaster on the ground, but forgot where he was. Even inside an armory, weapons couldn't just be laying around. They had to be stocked on shelves or inside something. And he was hiding just behind that 'something'.

Scolding himself for not thinking of it before, he slightly opened one crate, and put his hand inside. He wasn't able to see, but he was familiar enough with weapons to know what he was holding.

For the first time in days, a smile appeared on his face. Looking at the droids which were still firing at his cover, he murmured happily.

"Now you are screwed."