Chapter 321 - Revenge For All Those Days

Seeing a laser flying straight towards him, Dageer dropped to the ground, just in time to avoid a fatal injury. Still, the laser grazed his chest, leaving him gasping for air thanks to the impact. A loud shot rang next to his ear, and he knew Dab had taken care of his attacker.

Rolling to the side, and getting up, Dageer stopped for a second to look at the battlefield. Three hundred thousand clones were facing about that same amount in clanckers, which was rare. Normally, the Separatist had an overwhelming numerical advantage. However, because of the grand offensive, the seppies had been forced to split their forces, and fallen right into the Republic's trap.

Thinking that the Republic was at it's last breath - which wasn't entirely wrong - the higher-ups of the CIS had taken the retreat of Republic troops from Core planets such as Felucia as a sign of surrender. Taking advantage of that false impression, they had diverted the majority of their troops from less important systems to the big targets. It was all the Republic needed.

In one single swoop, nine Separatist planets were completely taken, while sixteen others were still experiencing the flames of war, but the Republic had a clear advantage. To make matters worse for the seppies, the supply lines for the systems they wished so much to take were cut, just as Dageer had predicted. Now, it was only a matter of time before Mon Cala, Dantooine, and such were taken back, once and for all.

Kiros was one of those planets that was still an active battlefield. Of course, the six hundred thousand fighters weren't all in a single place, but all over the planet. Only twenty thousand Republic soldiers, and twenty-six thousand droids were fighting at Hell Squad's location.

That didn't mean the battle was any less intense than anywhere else. Dozens fell every minute, on both sides, some wounded, some eerily silent.

"Arghh!!!"

"Ugh..."

"Bzzz... Ah!"

"No!"

Ignoring the screams of pain and death, Dageer analyzed the battlefield. If he had to guess, the Clone Army had lost about four thousand soldiers, between dead and wounded, while the Separatist were down by nine thousand clanckers. It couldn't be said that the Republic was crushing them, but they certainly were faring much better.

"Incoming!"

Hearing Cell yell, Dageer looked up, only to see a cl.u.s.ter of missiles flying over his head. Most of them accurately hit an SPHA-T, bringing the enormous vehicle down. A few, however, missed the target, and exploded on the ground thirty meters away from Hell Squad's position.

In a very familiar situation, Dageer was thrown off his feet, and into the air. When he fell, he hit his head hard, and his vision went dark for a few seconds. His ears were buzzing, and, for some time, the sound of battle faded away.

Albeit he knew it wasn't advisable to do so, Dageer still took off his helmet. The smell of blood and smoke reached his nostrils almost immediately, but he ignored it.

"... der! Commander!"

Slowly, gradually, as his hearing returned, he heard someone calling him. Turning his head made him feel sick, but his instincts and experience took over. He knew he couldn't stay still for too long, or he would get shot.

Struggling to get up, he saw Three-four and Dab doing the same. Metal was the one who was calling him, even as he tried to pull a dead or unconscious Brain to cover. He couldn't see either Cell or Tech, but he had other worries at the moment.

Picking up a DC-15A - it was unknown whether it was his or someone's else - he fired some lasers towards the clanckers. Not bothering to see if he hit something, Dageer grabbed Brain's left arm, and, together with Metal, dragged the grenadier until they were behind the burning remains of an AT-TE. Soon, Dab and Three-four joined them.

"How is he?!"

"Let me see! Get out of the way, Metal!"

Dageer hadn't said a word yet, even as the medic brusquely shoved Metal aside, so he could examine Brain. His brother wasn't offended, of course. He knew Three-four was just worried about Brain.

Putting his hand on his head, Dageer finally realized it was covered in warm blood. It was only when he touched the wound - a gash about six or seven centimeters long, just above his hairline - that the pain decided to show up.

Barely holding back a grunt, he blindly looked for a bandage or cloth of some kind in his belt, and used it to clean up the blood, but more kept gushing out.

"Dab, wrap it up."

"Sir..."

"Don't worry about it, and let Three-four take care of Brain. Now, bandage it."

The sniper had been so focused on Brain that only when Dageer called him that he noticed the commander's wound. A single cut might not seem like much to a member of Hell Squad, but any head injury was potentially fatal. He almost called Three-four, but Dageer stopped him. To him, Brain's life was more important than his.

Hesitantly, Dab did as he was told, wrapping Dageer's head with a bandage that got red almost immediately. Still, it seemed to slow down the bleeding.

"Three-four, you stay with Brain. Metal, Dab, let's find Cell and Tech."

"Uhmm..."

"Roger that."

The medic didn't even lift his head to answer Dageer, while the other two nodded. Together, they left their improvised cover. The battle was reaching it's peak, as the two sides brutality collided.

Killing four or five droids as they advanced, Dageer, Metal, and Dab found their two brothers trading shots with a Dwarf-Spider Droid. Well, Tech was doing so, at least. Cell was half-buried beneath soil and debris. A sharp piece of metal, about fifteen centimeters long, had pierced his right shoulder. It must have been part of the missile itself, otherwise it wouldn't have had enough force to pierce through the armor.

"Metal, it's all yours!"

"Got it, sir. Hey, tin can! Over here!"

The needless provocation didn't get the Dwarf-Spider droid's attention, but the torrent of blue lasers Metal's double-barrel repeating blaster unleashed did. Coupled with Dab's charged shot, they quickly took care of it.

"How are you holding up, Cell?"

"It hurts like hell, commander. How are the others?"

"Three-four is taking care of Brain, then he will have a look at you. After that, we will get you to the medical center. Come on."

"Agh..."

Dageer helped Cell up, while the rest of his unit provided cover, and brought him back to Three-four. The medic had already taken care of Brain, and said he only needed a few minutes to wake up.

"It was just a concussion, sir. Cell, can you hold on for a while? Just let me take a look at the commander first. And don't complain, sir."

Dageer didn't plan on doing so. He was already getting dizzy because of blood loss. After Three-four properly sewed and bandaged it, he felt much better. While the clone was treating Cell, Dageer contacted the back lines.

"Sergeant Hyde, I need to evacuate one trooper. Grave wound."

"I will send someone right away, commander."

While they waited, Three-four decided to take out the piece of metal in Cell's body. It wasn't advisable to do so if he couldn't stop the bleeding that would ensure, but the scout could barely keep conscious because of the pain.

"Bite this."

"Oka... Argh!!! Uff... Three-four, you... Couldn't you have warned me?"

"It hurts less this way. Now, sit still. I need to close the wound before you pass out."

Sweating profusely, Cell laid on the ground. The pain was immense, but he had gone through worse before.

"Got it. Hey, sir?"

"Yeah?"

"Kill some clanckers for me, will you?"

"Haha... Will do, Cell. Will do."