Chapter 153 - Deadly Wound

Ventress looked at him, and even with dozens of meters and hundreds of droids between them, Dageer could see the hatred on her eyes.

Memories from what she did to him appeared in his mind. He wanted revenge, but now was not the place nor the time for it. Quickly, he signaled full retreat to the few soldiers he still had with him.

They disengaged the droids and started making their way towards the bridge. Only Hell Squad remained behind, because they saw that Dageer was looking at Ventress without moving.

When he saw his brothers staying with him, Dageer felt grateful. He loved all his brothers, but he had a stronger bond with the members of his squad.

"Forget the clanckers, focus on Ventress. And be careful with lasers she reflects. General Di can do that, so she probably can too. We have to get to the bridge."

"Aim for her legs."

Dageer nodded at Tech's suggestion. Aiming at the legs would make it more difficult for Ventress to deflect them, and also slow her down. His biggest worry wasn't the lightsaber, but the Force she used. If she got close enough, she could just pick them up and throw them away.

Six clones started firing all they had against the single rogue Jedi, including Metal's double-barrel repeating blaster, but all of the lasers were either dodged or deflected by Ventress. Some of them even hit the droids close to her, destroying them, but Ventress continued her relentless advance.

"Reloading!"

Dab and Cell ejected the two empty magazines from their blasters, and inserted new ones as fast as they could, but the small amount of time was enough for Ventress to get a few more meters closer.

Surprisingly, she didn't use the Force as Dageer expected she would, but kept advancing. It appeared she wanted to kill them with her lightsaber. What Dageer didn't know was that she wasn't able to use the Force because of Dageer's avalanche trick.

Suddenly, Dageer felt the snow beneath his feet become something more solid. Quickly looking down, he saw they had arrived at the bridge. There, Captain Narza, Captain Hilix, and the rearguard troopers were waiting for them.

"Sir, the charges are set! We just have to cross!"

"Go, go, go!!!"

And then Ventress was above him. She had jumped, and flew meters above the ground until she was right on top of him. Dageer raised his blaster to defend himself, but the red lightsaber sliced through it like it was nothing. He saw a flash of red, and then searing pain on his face.

Dageer fell, unable to do anything but scream in pain. His face was burning, especially his right eye. He couldn't open it. Vaguely, he saw an explosion near him, and Ventress was thrown on the air.

Two arms grabbed and pulled him. The bottom half of his body dragging on the ground, he saw four or five clones bravely taking cover behind the sides of the bridge.

"Go! We will hold them!"

He saw Captain Hilix wave at him, or most probably, at the soldier dragging him. He tried to lift his arm and stop Captain Hilix, but he didn't have enough strength. Then, more hands grabbed him, and he felt the cold snow under him. They were on the other side of the bridge.

He was lifted and put on an improvised litter. Leaning on his elbows, Dageer saw Captain Hilix fire at Ventress, while the troopers he had with him went down one by one under the concentrated droid fire.

"Blow... Blow it up."

The clone near him leaned closer to listen. Dageer's voice was so low he thought it might have been his imagination.

"What, sir?"

"Blow... it... up."

The clone spoke with someone, and Dageer saw Timer give the trigger to Captain Narza. The captain looked at Dageer uncertain.

Dageer's eyes haven't left the bridge. He saw Ventress hold Captain Hilix by the throat, and stab him in the chest with the lightsaber.

Hell Squad's leader nodded. Without hesitating anymore, Captain Narza pressed the trigger. A chain of explosions crossed the entirety of the bridge, and it crumbled, pieces of it falling in the gorge below.

Just before he passed away, Dageer saw Ventress do a backflip, and jump out of the collapsing bridge.

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When he woke up, Dageer was inside a building, laying on a hard bed. For some reason, his vision was blurry.

By his side were his armor and his blaster. Aside from dust and battle marks, there was also a terrific scar on his helmet.

The entire right side of it had been cut through, starting above the visor and going all the way down to where it connected to the neck. Through it, Dageer could see the inside of the helmet, where broken wires were hanging.

"Sir! You are awake!"

On the other side of the bed, near a medical droid, was a clone Dageer hadn't seen for a long time.

"Three... Cough! Urghhh... Cough... Three-four! What are you going here?"

"Calm down, sir. I recovered from my wounds. See?"

He slapped his side, where many weeks before a laser had hit him, almost killing Three-four.

"Where are we?"

"We are on The Sincerity, sir. You have been unconscious for the last few days, so you lost quite a lot. The 303rd pulled out of Mygeeto. We left the Galactic Marines to take care of it. The planet is now half ours half the seppies'."

That was expected. From the start, it was obvious Mygeeto wouldn't be conquered in just one battle. Dageer needed to know what was happening, so he tried to get up, but Three-four held him down.

"Hold on, sir. Your eye isn't good enough yet. We took you out of the bacta tank because there isn't anymore it can do for you, but you have to..."

"My eye? What is wrong with my eye?"

He raised his hand and touched his face. Half of it was covered by bandages that he hadn't noticed before. Over his right eye, there was a huge bump.

"What happened?"

Three-four looked uncomfortable, but he knew it was better to answer at once. He scratched his head and looked away from Dageer.

"Brain and the boys told me you fought with a Jedi traitor or something on Mygeeto. General Di called her a Sith. Well, she... she almost sliced your face in two. You were lucky, sir. But her lightsaber reached your face... and your eye."

Ventress. At the last moment, after she had injured Dageer, someone had blown something near her, keeping the Sith away from him."

"How bad is it?"

"Your eye might, or might not make it. We could try replacing it if it doesn't recover, but I'm not optimistic about that. The higher-ups rarely replace limbs or anything. Too expensive, they say."

There was a small grudge on Three-four's voice, but Dageer could understand it. Clones were extremely loyal to the Republic, but even they had grievances with how it worked. More than one brother of Dageer had to retire early after losing a limb, because it was cheaper to make a new clone than to make metallic limbs for every disabled soldier.

"Help me up, Three-four. I have to talk to General Di."