Chapter 274 - Deal With It Later

There was a traitor.

Maybe not here on the ship, but somewhere, there was a traitor. And it had to be someone of a high position. Few people knew of General Piell and Hell Squad's departure, and even fewer people knew their course. To get their hands in those pieces of information, and that quickly, the traitor had to be someone powerful, and whom the Jedi trusted.

But now wasn't the time to think about that. Their cruiser had already been pulled by the tractor beam, and was locked in place. Soon, they would have enemies to fight.

"Attention all troopers! We are about to be boarded! I repeat, we are about to be boarded! To your positions!"

Tarkin's voice could be heard in the loudspeakers, and General Piell, instead of returning to the command bridge, ran towards the docking area where the Separatist would come from.

Dozens of clones were also running there, and taking defensive positions, including Hell Squad. Dageer nodded at him, and knelt on the ground, aiming his blaster at the door. When it opened, it would be a mess.

...

It didn't take long. After a few transmissions asking for surrender - which the Republic didn't answer- the seppies started boarding the cruiser.

They came as they always did, blowing up the door, and coming through the smoke. Several fell before even crossing the door, but as more came pouring in, their sheer number, and the firepower they had, started to overwhelm the clones.

As more and more of his brothers died, Dageer ordered them to retreat. He knew they had no hope of winning that battle, so they could only make the clanckers pay a hefty price for their lives.

It was at that moment that they saw General Grievous himself entering the cruiser. He had his hands behind his back, as if he was taking a stroll, and not entering a battle. His cold eyes lingered on Dageer and Hell Squad for a moment before fixating onto General Piell.

The Jedi returned the stare, and used the Force to push away a group of B1 units.

"Commander Dageer, take care of the droids. I will deal with Grievous."

"Yes, general!"

"Stay out of my way! Cough... Cough! I will deal with the Jedi."

In a silent agreement, the battle moved away to the other parts of the cruiser, leaving the two powerful beings staring at each other, surrounded by bodies.

"Jedi, surrender now, or face the consequences."

"I was about to say the same to you, Grievous."

"Kakaka... Cough... I will enjoy killing you."

Catching General Piell by surprise, the clancker jumped forward mid-sentence, four lightsabers aiming at the Jedi. However, General Piell was experienced, and was already expecting that. As such, he deflected the lightsabers using his own, and pushed General Grievous with the Force, sending him staggering backward.

Immediately after, General Piell jumped to the left, against the wall, and used it to propel himself forward, bringing his weapon to strike a fatal blow against General Grievous. The clancker wasn't to be outdone, and defended himself with two arms, while attacking with the other two.

A terrifying battle had just begun.

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Brain rolled two droid poppers, making a group of six B1 units turn off, and opening a small window of opportunity for Metal. Needless to say, the heavy machine gunner was ready to take advantage of it.

In a few minutes, Hell Squad cleared the corridor, and didn't see any more droids. After General Piell gave the order to leave General Grievous to him, the battle had taken over the entire cruiser, and the combatants had split up.

Hell Squad was able to deal with their enemies - about thirty seppies - pretty quickly, but the other clones might not fair as well as them. That was proved true in the next few seconds, when they received a transmission from Tarkin.

"The command bridge is being attacked! Requesting help immediately!"

Hearing that, Dageer pulled his vibroblade from a clancker's body, and put it on his back. Gesturing with his head, he started running, and Hell Squad followed him.

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Using a blaster pistol, Tarkin killed a droid, and hid behind the hologram table just in time to dodge a volley of red lasers. To his left, a crewman wasn't fast enough, and died.

The command bridge had only been under attack for less than five minutes, but they already had heavy casualties. The crewmen were clones, and, as such, had been trained to battle, however, they never entered direct combat. Because of that, they were rusty, and weren't able to defend themselves against an enemy that already was bigger than them.

Exposing part of his body again, Tarkin was about to press the trigger when he noticed the droid he had targeted falling forward. The clanckers nearby also fell one after another, hit in the back.

The seppies turned around to face the new threat, but that was a grave mistake. Seeing their exposed backs, the crewmen spared no efforts to take down as many of them as they could.

Caught between two fires, in less than ten minutes, the group of over fifty B1 and B2 units was entirely dead.

Getting out of their hiding spaces, the seventeen surviving crewmen, and Tarkin, looked at their saviors, Hell Squad. The seven clones weren't even hurt, and their leader, Dageer, just nodded and left, as if killing fifty droids was nothing.

Tarkin hesitated for a moment, startled, then ordered the crewmen to get back to work. They had to free themselves from the tractor beam as soon as they could.

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"Die, Jedi sc.u.m!"

"Uff..."

Grunting with the effort, General Piell did a backflip, and exited General Grievous' attack range. The Separatist had cut his tight, hindering his movements.

He also wasn't so young anymore, so after twenty minutes he was already slowing down, while the clancker was only getting faster. General Grievous wasn't a Force user, but that also had it's advantages. The mental drain a Jedi faced when using the Force was enormous, and, if they were careless, they could faint in the middle of a fight.

"How did you know we were here, Grievous? And how did you know we were coming after you?"

"Kakakaka! Do you think I am an idiot... Cough... Jedi? Stay quiet, and I will make your death painless. Cough... Cough!"

General Piell frowned, and dodged a swing from General Grievous' lightsabers. He was almost certain that there was a spy, but he couldn't confirm that. Just when he was about to attack General Grievous, the Separatist heard something on his communicator, and jumped back.

"I will find you again, Jedi. Cough... And when I do, you will regret not... Cough... Cough! Not dying today!"

Leaving a confused Jedi behind, General Grievous switched to his spider-like form, and crawled away. General Piell was about to follow him, but his wound prevented him. Instead, he let the clancker go, and ran as fast as he could towards the command bridge, cutting down any retreating droids on his way.

Something had made General Grievous give up on his prey, and fall back. He didn't know what or who, but the Republic cruiser had to take this chance to escape, before the laser cannons on the Separatist sh.i.p.s torn them apart.