Chapter 259 - Escorting Poggle The Lesser

The interior of the Laat was filled with corpses. The crash had obviously been violent, as of the thirty clones inside the gunship, more than twenty had died. Their bodies were laying everywhere, and some were so twisted that their armor had cracked open.

Dageer wanted to kill every single clancker on the planet when he saw that, but he controlled himself. It wasn't something he hadn't seen before, but it saddened and angered him every time. However, he had survivors who needed help.

He entered the gunship, stepping over the bodies of his brothers, and quickly ran his eyes over the six survivors. Most just had broken bones, or were unconscious from the impact, but two were in critical condition. The first was a sergeant, probably the highest-ranking officer in the Laat. His head was bleeding profusely, and his two legs were bent out of shape, broken in many places.

Still, the sergeant was ignoring his wounds, and holding up a trooper. The clone was laying on the ground, and a sharp piece of metal, about a meter long, had pierced his back, and came out on his abdomen. Blood dripped down his white armor, marking it with red stains. Dageer just needed one glance to know he wasn't going to survive.

He knelt down, and touched the sergeant's shoulder.

"The pilot?"

"Died before we hit the ground."

"Hang on tight, brother. I will be back for you. You two, I need you to get up, and help them."

Dageer gestured to the soldier with the broken ribs, and to another one, who seemed mostly unharmed. Together, they picked the two unconscious troopers, and prepared to leave the Laat.

"Ugh... We are never going to get past that stretch, commander."

"Don't worry. We have a Jedi. General, you better be ready."

Helping to drag one of the wounded, Dageer warned Ragout before going out. Immediately, he saw a blue light spinning amidst the dust, as Ragout made his way towards them.

When he was fifty meters or so away, the Jedi turned off his lightsaber, and the four wounded clones floated towards him, falling clumsy, but alive, on the ground.

"Take them back! Hell Squad, Delta Squad, cover!"

Seeing that the four troopers were almost safe - as safe as they could be in the middle of a giant battle - Dageer went back inside the gunship. He planned to painfully explain to the sergeant that they couldn't save the last trooper, but he stopped when he heard them talking.

"How was... How was your first... Cough! Ugh... First battle, sarge?"

"Pretty similar to this one, rookie. We were on Dantooine, and our ship crashed. However, we still showed the clanckers who is boss."

"Haha... Cough! Cough... Show them who is boss once more, sarge. Ugh... For... Cough... For the Republic... For the Repu..."

Dageer saw the light in the trooper's eyes die out. The poor trooper died in his first battle, before he could even have a proper fight. Unfortunately, that happened far too often.

The sergeant let his brother down. He had seen the horrors of war before, and it wasn't the first time a soldier died in his arms. Cruelly, every veteran had to grow used to this, even to the point where they wouldn't be fazed by it.

"Are you sure you can get me through there, commander? I am pretty much useless."

"Try to stop that bleeding on your head, sergeant, and let me worry about the rest. It won't be easy."

The sergeant grunted in pain when Dageer dragged him, but there was no other way. Either that, or the clone died. Looking forward, Dageer once more warned Ragout that he was coming, and stepped out of the Laat.

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It took three weeks, and it cost two hundred and seventy thousand clone lives, but Geonosis was retaken by the Republic, the droid factories on it were mostly destroyed, and Poggle the Lesser was captured.

Hell Squad was now escorting a Geonosian to a ship. The Separatist leader, Poggle, had been captured, and was to be escorted to Coruscant for further interrogations.

After putting Poggle inside a cell, Dageer let his men relax. They had been fighting for almost a month, and gone through days of uninterrupted battle. Now that they had the chance to stop and rest, they would take advantage of it.

Hell Squad had been in the frontlines the entire time, and on some occasions spent over forty-eight sleepless hours locked in battle. As such, it was impossible for them to be unharmed. Their bodies were adorned with countless scars, but after spending some time in a bacta tank, they were mostly healed. One of the differences between lasers and projectiles was that lasers left a clean, and cauterized, wound, which were quick to heal, as long as they hit just flesh.

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Dageer pushed Poggle forward, and the Geonosian shrieked in his native language. The clone didn't understand a thing, but he was sure the bug wasn't praising him, so he used the butt of his DC-15A to hit his back, and the Geonosian stumbled, almost falling. After that, he kept quiet.

They were now in a medical station, in the middle of space. They were originally going to Coruscant, but there were some complications. Two padawans, Ahsoka and Bariss, who were in another ship, going for the medical station, and initially had the objective of grabbing supplies to take to General Windu's troops on Dantooine, had to face some sort of parasite from Geonosis. Those parasites infected some troopers, and controlled their minds. In the end, the padawans were able to kill the parasites, but by that time, several clones had died, and the Jedis were terribly weak.

As such, the frigate originally transporting Poggle had stopped at the medical station, so General Skywalker and General Unduli could help their padawans.

After putting the Geonosian in another cell, Dageer went to the command bridge. From what he had been briefed, there had been an attack on a Republic ship, and Jedi Master Eeth Koth had been captured. Dageer didn't know the details yet, but a rescue mission was bound to happen, and it probably involved Hell Squad.

When he got to the command bridge, he found General Kenobi, General Skywalker, and a Jedi he didn't know. She was a Tholothian, recognizable by the hair-like flesh on her head.

When Dageer approached the hologram table, a trooper was telling the Jedis something, but General Skywalker signaled for him to stop, and introduced the Tholothian to Dageer.

"Dageer, this is Master Adi Gallia, a member of the Jedi Council. And Master Gallia, this is Commander Dageer, of the 303rd Attack Legion, and leader of Hell Squad."

"General."

"I heard a lot about you, commander."

After the necessary introductions were made, General Skywalker gestured for the clone to resume his report.

"Although it took some time, we were able to recover footage from General's Koth ship. It appears that the one who boarded the ship, and took him prisoner, was Separatist commander General Grievous..."

"What? Repeat that, trooper."

Every Jedi and clone around the table was surprised by Dageer. The usually calm and collected commander had an incredulous expression on his face.

"Err... Grievous, commander? He was the one who attacked..."

"That is impossible! Grievous is dead!"