Chapter 264 - I Don't Like This

"I don't like this."

"When have you ever liked anything?"

"I know, but this is different."

"Shut up, Cell. You are embarrassing Hell Squad."

Dageer knocked the scout on the shoulder, making him close his mouth, but he had to admit Cell was quite right. What they were about to do was crazy.

"Ready?"

"When you are, general."

"Don't be so serious, Dageer. This is going to be fun."

"Go!"

Dageer watched General Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano jump out of the ship, wearing spacesuits and jetpacks.

Dageer looked at his squad, and gestured towards the vacuum beyond the ray doors. A black carpet, with countless white stars. And, in front of all that, a weirdly shaped, upside-down pyramid, floating in space.

"Let's go."

Having said that, Dageer took a step forward, and, without the ray shields, he was instantly sucked into space. Thankfully, they were prepared, and had their jetpacks.

"Argh... I hate this."

Still, Cell jumped. Just like always, the clone would complain about everything, but when it was needed, he wouldn't falter.

Six clones, and two Jedis, using jetpacks, made their way towards the Separatist prison. To their left, or perhaps under them, was the gray planet that was Sull.u.s.t. Several stripes of red and orange crossed the planet, showing the lava streams that ran through the whole surface.

When General Skywalker had told Hell Squad and his own padawan, Ahsoka, what his plan was, he had received quiet, but astonished gazes. It was madness, and genius at the same time. Not even the clanckers would expect someone to attack by space like that. The clones certainly didn't expect.

Now, as the prison got bigger in front of them, and the turrets defending it got more and more menacing, Dageer wasn't so sure if it was a good idea. If they were detected, no matter if it was clone or Jedi, they would be blasted to pieces.

But they reached their target without any problems. As terrifying as it sounded, using the jetpacks on the vacuum was actually pretty easy. There was no wind or anything to get on the way, so all they had to do was aim in the right direction.

That didn't mean the clones didn't grab the first holder that they could, and didn't let go. In that case, it was the bottom half of platform. Dageer looked over it, only showing the top half of his face.

Several B1 units and a few Vulture droids were walking around in the hangar, while at least a hundred clones, wearing ragged clothes, were carrying pieces of metal, putting them together, and building something. That something was then carried and loaded into a Separatist ship, which flew out of the hangar, just over the heads of the Republic group.

"Now!"

The clones followed the Jedis, and pulled themselves up, the zero-gravity making it pretty easy, and entered the hangar, immediately hiding behind some containers. However, it was only when they crossed the blue ray shields and put their feet on solid ground that they felt safer.

Dageer had to admit it was a good tactic of infiltration. No one would ever expect someone to cross one-fourth of a parsec in space. However, he hoped he would never have to do that again. He much preferred the more direct and simple frontal attack.

"All right, we split here. Snips, go to the weapons system, and take it down. Quietly. You three, go with her. I will go free the prisoners."

"Okay, master. May the Force be with you."

"And may it be with you too, my padawan. Now, go."

The group broke up, and sneaked past the clanckers in the hangar, going to separate directions. Tech hacked into the prison's network to discover where the weapons system was, and, at the same time, showed Dageer where the clones they came to rescue were.

Silently, Dageer gestured that he understood, and followed General Skywalker. They had to be as careful as they could, because they were outnumbered a thousand to one by the clanckers.

Suddenly, they heard the sound of metallic footsteps coming their direction, and General Skywalker closed his fist, making them stop, and pointing to their left, where a door could be seen. Dageer nodded, and knelt down. In a few seconds, the door was opened, and they got in.

What greeted them was about twelve B1 battle droids, overseeing a group of twenty clones assemble something.

Both droids and prisoners were clearly surprised, especially when a Jedi jumped at them, and cut the seppies in pieces. The three clones behind him didn't even need to do anything. General Skywalker put his finger over his lips, telling the prisoners to stay quiet.

Dageer closed the door behind them, and just in time, because the footsteps in the corridor grew louder, went right past the door, and disappeared.

After he was sure that they were safe, General Skywalker switched off his lightsaber, and turned to the clones. They all had long hair, and even some principle of a beard, showing that they had been prisoners for a long, long time.

"Who is the highest-ranking officer here?"

The clones exchanged glances, and one of them stepped forward.

"We are all troopers, general. My name is Guard, 187th Legion."

"All right. We came to take you out of here, but we are going to need some assistance. Dageer."

Dageer stepped forward, and told the clones to relax. They had all been standing straight, saluting General Skywalker. Dab and Three-four walked amidst them, seeing if any were injured. Surprisingly, they weren't. They were malnourished, that is for sure, but not hurt.

"Don't worry, brothers. We will get you all out. Not now, though. We still need to take care of their defense systems, and free the others. But first off, Guard, how long will it take for someone to notice we killed those clanckers?"

"At least a few hours."

"We will be long gone by then. Where are the other prisoners kept? And how many?"

"At the lowest levels, although most of the time the shinies have a few groups somewhere else, like us. And there should be maybe one thousand and three hundred of our brothers in this hell."

Dageer saw Guard's fist close in anger, and he could only imagine how the clone felt. Looking at General Skywalker, he noticed that the Jedi was talking to the other clones, so he took the chance to ask another question.

"I'm Dageer, commander of the 303rd Attack Legion, or at least I was. Do you know if a clone named Brain is here? He is part of my squad."

Guard looked at Dageer, and at the scar on his face, and finally realized from where he knew the clone.

"Hell Squad, right, commander? Hahaha... I was wondering who was crazy enough to come here. Brain is at the lower levels. He won't stop talking about how he blew that clancker's ship."

Dageer felt a weight lift on his chest. Brain was alive. He grinned, and tapped Guard's shoulder.

"He will be disappointed to know that Grievous survived. But the ship did blow up. It was beautiful."

"Hahaha..."

The two clones laughed, and Dageer told Guard to rest, while he went to talk to General Skywalker. As much as he would like to rest, there was no time.