Chapter 331 - Acklay Infants

Faster than any of the clones, even Dageer, could react, a green blur appeared from under the box, and jumped on Combo. Scared by the explosion of the droid popper, the creature had attacked the first thing it saw, and sunk it's razor-sharp teeth into his throat.

The clone couldn't even scream, and all that came out was a gurgling noise. Letting go of his weapons, he tried to push the creature away, but all he managed to do was trip and fall. Dageer watched as two of the six legs of the spider-like being pierced Combo's torso, and he stopped struggling immediately. The Phase II armor, reinforced with blast padding, was weaker than paper before the sharp limbs.

Although it was clear Combo was dead, Dageer and his brothers couldn't bring themselves to shoot the creature, for fear of hitting him. Instead, Tech ran forward, and kicked it. The animal, however, didn't appear to feel the blow. Instead, it shrieked at the clone, before jumping towards him.

But Tech wasn't just any trooper, and was prepared for it. Pressing the trigger two times in quick succession, he hit it's head. Still in midair, the creature was launched in the opposite direction by the force behind the lasers, and, impressively, managed to get up, even though two black holes had replaced the right half of it's head. Still, it's steps were shaky, and it was clear it was at it's wit's end.

Not wanting to take any chances, after seeing what the beast was capable of, all the clones fired at it a few times. This time, when it fell, it didn't get up.

Alsten knelt besides Combo and checked on his brother before shaking his head. Not only had the animal bitten his throat, but it had also pierced his heart with it's legs. There was no doubt it was a creature that evolved to kill quickly and efficiently.

"What is that?"

Finally being able to have a good look at the beast, Dageer couldn't help but ask. He had seen and killed many monsters in the galaxy, including the mighty Rancors, but he had never seen anything like that. It was light green, and had six long, and extremely sharp legs. They didn't end in any kind of paw or claw, but in a tip that would put any blade to shame. As for it's head, it was supported by a long neck, and it was slightly flat. Most of it was completely deformed because of the lasers, but Dageer could make out the rows of sharp teeth.

"I think it's called an Acklay, sir. I saw it during the First Battle of Geonosis. I was on the gunsh.i.p.s sent to that arena to rescue the Jedis, and the bugs had trained one of those things to fight. It was trying to eat General Kenobi when we got there, but he managed to kill it. Only, that one was about four meters tall, while this one here doesn't even reach my h.i.p.s."

"Maybe it's still young. Still, it's as deadly as the bigger ones. And look at the scars it has. I bet you the Geonosians also trained this one, only it hunts clones instead of fighting in an arena."

Looking closely, Dageer realized Tech was right. Several scars, of all sizes, covered the Acklay. It had been trained to be deadly and savage. But his thoughts were suddenly interrupted when the lights went out without any prior warning.

All the clones there were had seen too much to believe in coincidences, so they immediately lowered their night vision devices, which made everything acquire a shade of green.

"Brain, what is your status?"

"Nothing down here yet, commander. But we heard a lot of fighting up there. What happened?"

"We killed one of the creatures. They are called Acklays. Unfortunately, they got Combo. What about the lights?"

"I was about to ask you if I should send someone to fix the power, sir."

"No. There is one of those things still here, and it is smart enough to mess with the power panel. If you go there you are only gonna find cut cables. Keep searching, and be extra careful. We will do the same here."

"Understood. Good hunting, sir."

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Using it's sharp teeth, the remaining Acklay bit off the energy cables. It had heard the dying scream of it's brother, and it was angry. But it knew it wouldn't be able to survive if it tried to fight the prey head-on, so it had to bring back one of it's few advantages. The darkness.

Holding back the urge to throw itself at it's hateful enemies, the Acklay started crawling towards them slowly. When one of the clones heard it, the creature was already lunging at them. With an ear-piercing shriek, the Acklay cut up the clone's throat using one of it's limbs.

"Argh!!!"

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Brain turned around as soon as he heard Hawkeye scream, and found a dark shadow gripping him tightly, as blood tainted the front of his blue and white armor.

Night vision didn't mean they had eyes on the back of their heads, and the Acklay was an ambush predator. It had waited patiently for it's chance to strike, and, when it did, it reaped a life.

Before they could do anything, the Acklay had already jumped back into the shadows, and Hawkeye fell dead. However, the creature had never faced an enemy with night vision devices such as the clones, and had thought that just hiding a few meters away was enough to escape. It was severely wrong.

Blue lasers lit up the entire deposit, two of them hitting the Acklay before it would run, screeching in pain. It limped away, and hid behind one of the many crates.

At about the same time, Dageer and the others ran downstairs, having heard the blasters being fired.

"Where is it?"

"It disappeared. We lost one..."

"Drum and Metal, guard the stairway to the second floor, don't let it go through. The others, we need to search this floor meter by meter. Let's start on this side, and go all the way through."

The soldiers barely had time to acknowledge Dageer's orders when the Acklay stroke again. Out of nowhere, it appeared and bit Tech's leg, grabbing onto it, and not letting go. One of it's legs tried to stab him, but the clone managed to grab it.

"Argh! Get this thing off me!"

He tried to pull off the Acklay, and thrown it away, but ended up hurting himself more than anything.

"Tech, stay still!"

"Stay still, Tech!"

It should have been a difficult, almost impossible, command to follow, considering the pain he was in, but the clone didn't hesitate when he heard both Dageer and Brain yell at him. Ignoring the creature glued to him, he stopped moving. Almost immediately, two lasers missed him by a few millimeters, and hit the Acklay's neck and torso.

Shrieking, the beast let go of Tech, and tried to crawl away, but the clones wouldn't be dumb enough to let it hide again. Dageer stepped forward, and, wielding his vibroblade, cut off it's head, putting an end to it once and for all. For a few seconds, the headless body twitched, then stood still.