Chapter 157 - Too Late

The corvette extended its landing gear, and landed on one of the many rocky plateaus of Iktotch.

The bottom compartment opened, and a ramp extended amidst the smoke that rose from the cooling engines. General Di, Ragout and Hell Squad walked out of the ship. Commander Keeli stayed with the fleet, since it was unwise to leave the soldiers with no officer.

"Where is the Iktotchi's house, Dageer?"

"Roughly that direction, general, but we won't be able to see it until we are very close. There is a rock wall in front of it."

"Well, we better hurry, because something is wrong."

Ragout showed the direction where the Iktotchi's hut was. A small but thick pillar of smoke was rising, although Dageer didn't see it before because of the grey sky.

The group quickly ran towards the smoke, but it still took them a few hours to finally see something. And it wasn't anything good.

"Separatist, general. And a bunch of them."

When Cell returned from the scouting patrol, his expression was serious. He showed the group a large rock platform, from which they could see the source of the smoke.

Below them, one C-9979 Transport Craft had its ramparts open, and droid after droid was entering it. Near the ship, the small hut where the Iktotchi lived was no more, and only ashes were left behind.

Dageer lowered his macrobinoculars, and looked at the platoons of droids outside the ship. They were only nine, and even though two were Jedis, there were hundreds of clanckers.

"There are too much seppies even for you, general. And I don't think the Iktotchi is still alive, otherwise they wouldn't be leaving."

"We have to at least look for him, master! What if he was captured?!"

"Close your eyes, Ragout. Feel the Force. What do you feel?"

The young togruta closed his eyes. Slowly, a frown appeared in his face, and he spoke with his eyes still closed.

"I feel... nothing, master. There is nothing."

"Exactly. The connection that the Iktotchi had with the Force was so strong that even Dageer could feel it when he first came here. No offense, Dageer, but you didn't have any kind of training, so that should have been impossible."

Dageer dismissed the apologies. He didn't understand the Force, and he probably never would, so there was no reason to be angry about that. Besides, no clone could ever be like the Jedis. It was impossible to clone something so rare as the ability to sense the Force, otherwise there wouldn't be just a few thousand Jedis in a galaxy with millions of trillions of beings.

"B-But...! We can't just leave! What if he is not here? O-Or if Ventress captured him and is doing something to hide him! Or..."

"Ventress has no need to hide him. She has no way of knowing we would come looking for the Iktotchi. And they wouldn't be leaving if they hadn't found what they were looking for."

"Brain is right, my young padawan. We are too late."

"No need to ask all those questions, youngling. I can tell you the lizard is dead. Hahahaha...!!!"

Suddenly, a voice that Dageer knew too well intruded into their conversation. Without getting up, Dageer and the rest of Hell Squad rolled to the sides, and aimed their blasters at the owner of the voice.

Ventress' pale face entered his sights, and he didn't hesitate to pull the trigger, nor did Hell Squad, with the exception of Metal, who couldn't fire the DB-RB (Double-barrel Repeating Blaster) because of the awkward position he was, with his back on the ground and his feet pointed towards Ventress.

In the span of a few seconds, dozens of blue lasers were fired at Ventress, but her red lightsaber deflected them all, either hitting the ground nearby or flying away.

General Di and his padawan were already up, both holding their lightsabers, one blue and one green, but none attacked. According to their experiences, attacking first wasn't necessarily the best in lightsaber combat, since the enemy could dodge quite easily.

"You must be Asajj Ventress."

Calmly, General Di ordered the troopers to hold their fire, just instants before Dageer did. If they kept shooting at Ventress, at some moment they would die to one of their own lasers.

While the Jedi master was talking, Ragout slowly circled around, to cut off her escape path, but she didn't seem fazed by his actions.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you, youngling. My troops are already on their away."

Ragout hesitated, then stopped. They were only nine, and couldn't afford to start a battle, or they would pay a hefty price. Dageer frowned. Why would Ventress tell them that, when she could just stall them for long enough for her troops to arrive? Unless...

"General, she is afraid. She can't take both of you at the same time."

He thought he had spoken quietly enough, but Ventress must have heard him, because she looked at Dageer, and her eyes flashed with a dangerous glint that confirmed his suspicions. Then she smiled at him, but her eyes were cold.

"My dear Dageer! I never expected to see you again so soon. I still have to apologize for what happened on that freezing planet. I'm so sorry for your eye. I was aiming for the neck."

The words, spoken with a smile on her face, were enough to send chills down the spine of every clone present when they remembered how dangerous and cruel the woman in front of them was.

"Now, Master Jedi, I believe you have something that belongs to me. A red crystal, perhaps? I never thought I would be able to get it back. Haha..."

"You won't, Sith."

The last word was almost spat out. It was obvious how much General Di despised the owners of a red lightsaber.

The smile didn't leave Ventress' face, but she put her hand inside her robes, and pulled out a second metal stick. She suddenly jumped, and at the same time activated both lightsabers, making a red cross, and brought it crashing down on General Di.

The Nikto calmly parried the attack, slightly tilting his lightsaber, so Ventress' harmless slipped past his. At the same time, Ragout attacked her with a horizontal slash, aiming for her torso, but she blocked it with one of her lightsabers.

The battle became faster and faster, until all Dageer could see were blurs of movement as both parties engaged in one of the most frenetic battles he had ever seen.

Hell Squad couldn't find a chance to interfere, fearing that they might hit General Di or Ragout, so they stayed aside awkwardly while the three Force wielding beings fought.

Suddenly, after just half a minute of the battle, one of the three figures fighting was thrown back by a kick. Ragout rolled on the ground, and Dageer quickly helped him get up.

"Are you all right, general?"

"Yes."

The padawan wanted to get back on the fray, but before he could, they saw General Di give Ventress a leg sweep, and she fell. He brought his lightsaber down on her with a vertical strike, which she blocked by crossing one lightsaber on top of the other. It was clear, however, that she was losing the battle of attrition.

She grunted, then suddenly turned off her lightsabers. General Di was putting all his weight on his own weapon, and lost his balance when the red lightsabers disappeared. He staggered a step forward, and Ventress took the chance to push him away using the Force.

General Di landed on his feet, but the Sith warrior had the chance to run. Doing a backflip, Ventress disappeared over the edge of the rock platform.