Chapter 349 - The Ambush

For the next three days, Hell Squad repeated the same actions. They sneaked into the Separatist camp, killed droids, and blew up things. Of course, they couldn't do it with the same efficacy of the first time, since now the clanckers were actively searching for them, but their objective never was to destroy the entire army like that.

Finally, on the fourth day, Syndulla did as Ragout told him, and attacked a convoy that was going to Nabat. Letting the droids escape, but without they noticing it, the freedom fighters chased them until the convoy reached the city. After that, they faked fear, and ran, followed by a group of almost four thousand droids, with tanks and whatnot. Clearly, the Separatist leader was confident that the despairing Twi'leks would lead them straight to their hideout in their fear.

That could have really happened in other circ.u.mstances. Unfortunately for the Tactical Droid, Syndulla executed the plan masterfully, impressing even Dageer. He only lost six of his troops, and managed to lure all the droids into a canyon where the other Republic combatants were waiting. No clancker escaped.

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"Get ready! Here they come!"

The Twi'lek lookout that Gobi had positioned at the entrance of the canyon warned them as Syndulla and his people zoomed by in speeders.

The freedom fighters, plus Ragout and Hell Squad, were positioned at the top of the canyon. As soon as the hunted party reached the end of it, they abandoned the speeders, and started climbing ropes that had been prepared beforehand. It was an elaborate trap, with the sole objective of killing every droid that pursued them.

Soon enough, the clanckers started pouring in the canyon, unknowingly walking into their own tomb. If they had time, they would notice something was wrong, but droids never were very smart, and they were too worried about finding the Twi'leks.

When the last droid stepped inside, the ones in the front row were just starting to feel that something was wrong. The yellow-painted captain leading them tried to order a retreat, but the explosives set at the entrance of the canyon were already detonating, burying three or four hundred seppies, and trapping the others.

Before the even more confused droids could react, countless lasers rained upon them, killing hundreds instantly. Hell Squad was purposely picking out the officers, but the freedom fighters had numbers.

Two lasers hit the rocks close to Dageer as the Separatist started to fight back. Two Twi'leks near him were hit, one falling backwards while holding his shoulder, while the other let out a short yell before dropping to his death. All around the canyon, more freedom fighters died, victims to the red lasers. Some fell to the ground below, hitting the walls on their way down.

Well, it was expected that there would be many casualties. Even if they caught the droids by surprise, there were just about a thousand and six hundred Republic troops, while the droids were over twice their number.

"Agh!"

Metal grunted when an AAT fired it's laser cannon, and hit the wall near him. Three Twi'leks died immediately, while two others were wounded. The heavy machine gunner was holding his right forearm in pain. It had been hit by a rock launched by the explosion.

Ragout quickly pulled the clone back using the Force, to avoid any more injuries. There wasn't much the Jedi could do, apart from helping the wounded and deflecting a few lasers. He took a quick look at Metal's arm, and frowned.

"It's broken. You stay out of this one, Metal."

"No can do, general. Commander, give me one of your DC-17s. The tin cans are so crammed down there I can hit them without even aiming."

Dageer didn't even look back, and threw one of his blasters to his brother. Ragout only shrugged, not bothered by Metal disobeying him.

"Three-four, hit it!"

The medic nodded, and grabbed one of the RPS-6s that they had prepared. Carefully aiming, he sent the rocket at one of the AATs, blowing it to kingdom come.

Dageer felt danger all of the sudden, so he instinctively tilted his body to the right. A laser scratched the left side of his helmet, leaving a burning black stripe, and his head buzzing.

Falling on his back, he blinked hard, trying to clear his mind. Just to make sure, he took off his helmet, and pressed his hand against his head, but there was no wound.

"Are you okay, Dageer?!"

"Yeah. Just a scare, general."

He sensed the Jedi looking at him worriedly, so he forced himself to get up, put his helmet back on, and continued firing.

...

Trapped on the canyon, with nowhere to take cover, the Separatist force was like a Bantha grabbed by a Sarlac. They struggled, and caused some pain, but in the end, all they did was delay their inevitable death.

After five hours of gruesome fight, the last droid was killed, and the canyon suddenly fell into silence.

Each of the freedom fighters there had fought for Ryloth back then, but even so, they were tired. Mimicking Hell Squad, they sat down to rest. Only the medics were still running around, treating, and rescuing the wounded.

"Actan, get Syndulla and Gobi for me, please."

The young Togruta gestured to one of the uninjured Twi'leks, who nodded and ran to fetch the two freedom fighters. Meanwhile, Ragout helped Three-four as the medic went around, first immobilizing Metal's arm, and then treating the Twi'leks. Since the Jedi wasn't able to get close to the droids, he was the least tired of them all.

"Tech, how long do you think before the seppies in Nabat notice something is wrong?"

"Pretty sure they already did, commander. Even though we jammed comms, they must have had managed to relay something. But the Tactical Droid probably is scared now, since we took out one-tenth of his army in one go."

"Tech's right. It's just a pity we can't repeat the trick."

"You asked for us, Master Ragout?"

Two Twi'leks interrupted them while the clones were talking. The Togruta nodded, and got up, while the soldiers paid attention.

"Yep. How were our casualties?"

"Minimal. We are still counting, but there should be less than three hundred dead, and about that same about in wounded."

Those were really good news. They had just taken down an enemy twice their size while losing less than one-tenth of their fighting force.

"That's good. Okay... Uhmm... I know everyone is tired Syndulla, but the sooner we go back, the better. Please tell them that."

"Of course."

There wasn't the need to say much. The freedom fighters might not be exceptional combatants or strategists, but they weren't stupid either.

Ragout looked at the bustling and rustling, and sighed. Dageer and his brothers stared at their general for a while, but said nothing. They knew very well what was going through his mind.

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Three months passed by quickly. Ragout, Hell Squad, and the freedom fighters had their close calls, but they had succeeded in reducing the Separatist army to just a few thousand droids.

Now, they were all outside Nabat, looking at the city. They were joined by Grey and his legion, who had already conquered the rest of Ryloth. Like it happened once before, Nabat was now the last seppie stronghold on the planet.

The Togruta looked at all the familiar faces - and helmets - around him, and smiled slightly.

"Let's take back Ryloth, this time once and for all."