Chapter 262 - General Kenobi

The sound of metal being torn apart was heard as General Kenobi cut the last MagnaGuard in half with his lightsaber. When the persistent droid tried to crawl away, still alive, the Jedi spun his lightsaber, and pierced the clancker's head.

The Separatist leader, General Grievous, watched coldly as his bodyguards were cut to pieces. He could make more of them if he wanted to.

"General Kenobi. I will make you suffer today, just like I did to your fellow Jedis. Cough..."

General Grievous spread his cloak, showing over ten lightsabers hanging on it. Each one belonged to a Jedi he killed. General Kenobi felt pain and anger when he recognized some of them.

"Why do you do this, Grievous? Only hatred and rage in your heart, and so many meaningless deaths."

"Cough... Cough... Kakakaka! Meaningless deaths? Don't say that to me, Jedi. Your kind came to my planet, and killed my people! Cough... I will hunt you down, and I will use the greatest droid army the galaxy has ever seen to do it."

"An army with no soul or purpose, which only aims to kill."

General Grievous laughed, full of hatred, noticing that the Jedi hadn't said anything about the massacre of his people.

Without saying anything else, General Grievous lunged at General Kenobi, swinging four lightsabers in an 'X' motion. The Jedi jumped backwards, deflecting General Grievous' attacks, and counter-attacking with one of his own, which the clancker defended against by bringing back one of his lightsabers.

"You are a monster, a pawn of Dooku!"

"Kakakakaka..."

General Kenobi dodged a stab from General Grievous' lightsabers, and jumped over the clancker's head. However, before he could turn around and attack General Grievous, he was kicked in the back, and sent flying. His head buzzed, and he couldn't get up.

"And what about Skywalker, Kenobi? Did you really think... Cough... Did you really think I wouldn't be prepared for his little rescue mission aboard my ship?"

A metal claw grabbed the Jedi's neck, threatening to break it, and General Kenobi's vision started to go back. But he got lucky. Something hit the ship, making General Grievous lose his footing, and the Jedi used the chance to swing his lightsaber at General Grievous, and used the Force to push him back.

"Grrr... I will see you again, Kenobi. For now... Cough... Cough... I will kill your friends."

General Grievous put away his lightsabers, and got on all six - he had four hands - and crawled away like a spider, faster than the Jedi could react.

"Cody! Grievous is heading your way! We have to keep him on the ship!"

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Dageer heard General Kenobi yelling on Commander Cody's comlink. He executed a commando droid who was still alive, even though half of his head was gone, and turned to his brother.

"Hell Squad will go to the connector. You try to hold him here."

"Understood. Good luck, brother."

Stepping over the clanckers' bodies, Hell Squad ran as fast as they could to the connection between the Republic's and the Separatist's sh.i.p.s. They had been saved by Commander Cody and the 212th troopers, who had dealt with the clanckers who went after them, and came to help Hell Squad.

"Metal, prepare your blaster. When that clancker appears, shoot everything you have. We can't let him through."

"Yes, sir."

Hell Squad took position, kneeling on the ground, or standing up, their weapons aimed at the direction General Grievous would be coming from. Dageer knew they weren't match for the clancker, but that was no reason not to try. He would rather die than let General Grievous escape.

"Dageer, we couldn't hold him! He is coming to you!"

Almost at the same time that he heard Commander Cody, Dageer saw a spider-like figure running towards them. Immediately, he and the others opened fire, and the corridor was filled with blue lasers, but General Grievous was unfazed by this.

He crawled on the walls and ceiling, dodging everything that was thrown at him, and smashed into Metal. The poor clone was sent flying, and crashed into the wall, falling to the ground, unconscious.

Doing something impossible to a normal person, the clancker got up, each part of his body turning into a different direction, and punched Cell and Three-four with the back of his hands, knocking them out.

Dab was literally kicked out of combat, while Tech was grabbed by the neck, and flung away. In less than three seconds, only Dageer remained up.

He fired his blaster, hitting General Grievous on the left shoulder, but all that happened was a scorch mark, and the clancker didn't even bulge as he glanced at Dageer with bloodshot eyes. He slapped the blaster out of the clone's hands, and tried to kick him, but Dageer dodged, and pulled out his vibroblade. Seeing a clone use such a weapon made General Grievous remember something.

"You..."

The entire ship shook very suddenly, cutting off General Grievous, and almost making Dageer fall. The connector between the two sh.i.p.s flailed, almost breaking, and the clancker turned his attention to the more pressing matters at hand. Escaping to his ship before every Jedi on the Republic went after him.

Thanks to his moment of carelessness, General Grievous wasn't able to dodge when Dageer slashed his vibroblade at his torso. However, all the weapon did was leave an indent, and cut off a piece of the clancker's cape.

In return, he received the same fate as Dab, and was kicked, flying a good four meters before crashing on the ground. His head was spinning, and no matter how much he tried to get up, he couldn't.

He saw several blurry figures run past him, and get into the connector moments before it broke, almost pulling Hell Squad into the vacuum of space. They were saved by the emergency doors, that closed immediately.

Getting up, he saw that the laser cannons on General Grievous' ship were targeting their cruiser's engines. It was only a matter of minutes before the entire ship blew up. Without hesitation, Dageer connected his comlink to the loudspeakers of the ship.

"All troops, this is Commander Dageer speaking. Abandon the ship! I repeat, abandon the ship! Get to the escape pods!"

He helped Metal get up, and a few 212th troopers came to Hell Squad's aid, and brought them to the escape pods.

Suddenly, Dageer stumbled upon something. Looking down, he saw two metal sticks, of different sizes. Lightsabers.

Surprised, he picked them up, and put them into his belt. The Jedis would be interested in the weapons.

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Not much later, all the troopers and crewmen were in escape pods, floating in space. The battle was still happening, but it was clear the Republic was winning, so the clanckers had no time nor troops to waste with a few pods.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed, and General Kenobi's cruiser cracked in half. For a millisecond, flames burned, before being extinguished. Luckily, the Jedi, as well as Commander Cody, had followed General Grievous to the Separatist ship, where they had been picked up by General Skywalker. It was a quite confusing series of events, but it all worked out. The only ones who remained on the ship were the captain and his copilot. Both clones refused to leave. A captain always went down with his ship.

"Commander Dageer?"

"Here. What is it, admiral?"

"I'm sending someone to pick you up. General Skywalker says he has something for you."