Chapter 285 - Not So Different

Dageer looked at the dead Rancor, quite shocked. He had known Hiigi for a long time, and the mon calamari had tried to kill him over and over again. Somehow, it was hard to accept that he was gone just like that, but the bits of flesh on the creature's mouth left no doubt that Hiigi was truly dead.

Sighing, he picked up his vibroblade, dropped by Hiigi when the Rancor had grabbed him, and made another marking on his armor. As cruel of an enemy as the mon calamari might have been, Dageer didn't think it was fair to forget him.

When Three-four finished treating General Unduli - she had broken a rib, and fractured an arm - he approached Dageer.

"How bad is it, commander?"

"Not too much. One or two broken ribs."

"Any problems to breathe?"

"No. My lungs are good."

"All right, let me take a look."

With the major concern of a broken rib piercing a lung out of the way, Three-four was much calmer, and quickly bandaged Dageer. While the medic was doing that, Hell Squad, General Unduli, and Ragout joined them, so Dageer wouldn't have to move.

"That puts an end to your mission, Ragout."

"Yes, it does. I never thought I would see a Sith being born, only to meet it's end so quickly."

"He had so much hatred... I wonder what led to that?"

Hearing the Jedis talking, Dageer knew he should stay quiet. But he could see Hell Squad shuffling uncomfortably, and he himself wasn't feeling too good. As such, he couldn't keep his mouth shut.

"We did, general."

General Unduli looked at Dageer curiously. She could feel that the clone was both relieved and sad.

"Pardon me, commander? What does that mean?"

"We were the cause of his hatred. Hell Squad in special. We killed his entire crew back in Scarif, and Hiigi never gave up on trying to get revenge."

"Weird. The Separatist usually don't show any empathy, even to their own."

"The clanckers don't. But... With all due respect, general, I can understand him. Hiigi deserved to die, for all the clones he killed, but in a way, he wasn't too different from us. He too saw his friends die, and wanted to avenge them."

Ragout wasn't surprised by what Dageer was saying, since it wasn't the first time he heard the clone's thoughts on the war and everything related to it. General Unduli, however, had never expected a clone to say something so... deep. She was used to them just following orders. Not that she didn't notice all the pain they felt, or their emotions, but she rarely - or more accurately, never - heard one of them express those thoughts in words.

"General Unduli, are you okay?"

A group of clones led by Commander Gree suddenly appeared, and glanced surprised at the Rancor's body for a moment before proceeding to join the group that was already there.

"Yes, commander. Three-four already took care of my wounds, you don't have to worry."

"And the fugitive?"

"The Rancor got him."

Commander Gree looked at the creature once again, and slowly nodded. He had no sympathy for an enemy of the Republic.

"We should get back to the base, generals."

"You are right. Let's go."

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"That little apprentice of your died, general. Who would have thought that he actually had power within the Force?"

"Kakakaka... If he couldn't survive, that means he wasn't strong enough. He would be of no use to you, master. Useless insect... Cough... Cough! Kakaka!"

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The tree next to Dageer collapsed, and a trooper got stuck under it. Putting his blaster aside, Dageer tried to lift the tree, but it was too heavy.

"Metal! Come give me a hand!"

Together, the two clones pushed the tree aside, and the trooper crawled away from it, bruised, but alive. He thanked Dageer, but the commander had already turned around and was firing at the seppies.

Two droids fell victim of his lasers, and Dageer hid behind an AT-TE's legs to reload. Felucia was a tricky planet to fight in, where behind every tree and rock, an enemy could be hiding. Of course, that was true for both sides, and there weren't only a few occasions where the Republic had ambushed the Separatist. Just like now.

Like many other battlefields, such as Sull.u.s.t, Mygeeto, Geonosis, and many more, Felucia was locked in a battle of attrition. The side that could withstand the most would win. And, for that, supplies were extremely important. As such, the Republic was attacking a Separatist convoy that carried batteries and ammunition, but they had underestimated the escort that the seppies had prepared.

Dageer had advised that they held on to the attack, and waited for a better opportunity, but General Unduli's padawan, Bariss Offee, was the one leading the ambush, and she insisted on following their original plan.

Dageer disagreed, but he followed his orders all the same. He had long understood that Jedis, especially padawans, weren't used to leading a war, and that they needed a defeat to learn to be better leaders. The fact that many clones had to pay with their lives for the recklessness of the padawan was a fatality Dageer couldn't avoid. He could only hope that she would learn of her mistakes, just like Ragout did.

Back to the present, Dageer showed half of his body, and saw the convoy in the valley below. The ambushing forces were thirty meters above the Separatist, giving them a height advantage, but the AATs still could aim and fire at them.

Firing his blaster at the clanckers below, Dageer looked to the side, and saw Bariss too occupied with deflecting lasers to do anything else. Glancing back at the sides of the valley, he decided it would be bumpy to go down, but not impossible.

"Hell Squad, on me!"

The six clones quickly surrounded him, taking cover behind a tree, and waited for his orders.

"Those two AATs are slaughtering us. Seventy meters to our left, there is a place where the inclination is slightly subtler. We will go down through there. Tech and Metal, you take care of the tank to the left, Three-four and Cell, you get the other one. Dab, you take care of the STAPs, and I will get the Dwarf-Spiders. Brain, do you still have detonators?"

"Yeah."

"Pass them around, and use the ones that are left to blow up the convoy."

"General Offee wanted the convoy intact."

"Not going to happen, and she knows that."

He looked at their helmets for a moment, knowing that under them were determined expressions, and nodded.

"Let's go, then."

As soon as he said that, Dageer got out from behind the tree, and ran towards the area he had seen before. Dodging two lasers, he jumped, landing on his back. Almost instantly, mud, earth, and pebbles started following, and he slid down faster than he expected. He knew by the noise that Hell Squad was on the same path as him.

Firing his blaster without much aim, he fell the last two meters to the ground, right on top of a B2 unit. The clancker was thrown to the ground by his momentum, and Dageer finished him off before turning to kill three other seppies.

His brothers by his side, he ran forward, towards the Dwarf-Spider droids. Now came the complicated part.