Helpful Crash

"Arghhhhh!"

A clone fell in front of Dageer, his helmet smoking. Since only the upper body appeared above the trench, most hits would be on the head, and would be lethal. It was the work of the droids above them, who had the high ground, and range advantage.

But the lasers that killed this clone didn't come from above. They came from the last section of the trench that was still under droid control. Making use of the 'S' shape of this part of the trench, the clanckers were holding back the clones.

That is, until Hell Squad arrived. A few of the thermal detonators Brain had taken care of part of the droids. Dageer killed the others almost alone.

He picked up a droid, and used it as a shield. To make the action easier, he discarded his DC-15A and traded it for his DC-17.

Each time a laser hit the droid body, Dageer shook, but his hand holding the blaster never faltered.

Dageer only stopped when he met Brain and Tech. He let his droid shield, now totally shredded, fall to the ground, where it became another one in the pile already there. Tech aimed at it by instinct when he heard the metallic sound.

"We took the first trench sir. Only six more to go."

"That was the most difficult. Now we can attack from both up here and the tunnels below. Kuvu, Tech, take the left. Brain, come with me. Metal, when we run out, fire your toy."

"Yes, sir."

"Lieutenant Fondor, Captain Narza, the trench is ours. Start pushing towards their second line of defense."

"Yes, sir."

"Cell, you have a better visual than us. How is the status of their anti-aircraft turrets?"

"Still kicking, sir."

"Dab, is there any possibility of taking a shot?"

"I can try, sir, but it is a chance in a hundred. And... owaaaa!"

"What is it?"

"One of our gunships just crashed in their anti-aircraft positions! Sir, if we push up now, that might be our chance!"

There were so many explosions going off on the battlefield that Dageer hadn't noticed this one in particular, but following Dab's indication, he saw that two of the AA turrets had been crushed, and the droids managing three others had been blown away.

If they could take that chance to advance and take over or destroy the AA turrets, then maybe they could... However, it was six trenches and five hundred meters away.

"Damn it! We will have to risk it. Dab, keep those turrets out of use no matter what. Fondor, Narza, hurry up. Admiral Dao! Admiral! Do you copy?!"

"Sub-commander Dageer! What do you need?"

"AT-TEs, plus a squadron of starfighters for support."

"That is impossible! Any ship we sent will be shot down immediately! Doing this would be a waste of life and resources!"

"Admiral, we have a chance right now! If we don't take it, then we will lose many more!"

"I can't do that without orders from General Di. I am sorry, Dageer."

"Admiral! Urghhh... General! General Di, can you hear me?"

"Dageer. What is it? We are... in the middle... of a battle. Ragout, force push!"

General Di's voice was choppy, and Dageer could hear the sounds of battle.

"General, there is an opening which we can use to put the AT-TEs on the ground, but I need your authorization."

"How certain are you that our pilots won't be shot down?"

"Certain enough to think it is worth taking the risk."

"Do it then."

"Yes, general. Admiral, I have General Di's authorization. Bring down the big toys."

"You better be right, Dageer. Thorn Squadron, protect those gunships on their way down. Don't let them fall even if you have to throw yourselves in front of their turrets."

With the orders that they needed, adapted Laats flew off The Sincerity. They had a larger space in their bottom, so they could fit the big AT-TEs under them. When they were near the ground, the magnetic locks would be released and they would be dropped on the ground.

"Dab, how are you doing?"

"Fine by now. But once the seppies decide to rush to the AAs, we will be screwed."

"Just keep going. We will have heavy support soon. All right! Metal, empty your magazine on the next trench. We will follow right after."

"Yes, sir."

Metal climbed over the side of the trench, and grabbed his Z-6 with both hands. One hand on the handle above it to aim, the other on the back where the trigger was, Metal sprayed an entire magazine on the second trench, sixty meters away.

A Z-6 Rotary heavy blaster had a magazine of 1,3 kilograms of pure tibana gas, one of the most volatile and powerful substances in the galaxy. At max potency, that was over a hundred and twenty lasers exiting the barrel of the blaster per second. In just four minutes, Metal emptied a magazine worth thousands of Republic credits, for a total of more than thirty thousand lasers.

Aside from the cost, firing recklessly like this also had another obvious downside. The six barrels of the blaster turned orange and red, and started smoking. Metal had to drop his beloved weapon on the ground, and even then there were burn marks on his gloves.

Seconds before Metal finished, Dageer had already walked out of the trench. At the same time, Captain Narza and Lieutenant Fondor started their offensive.

Clones left the trench in a line, and ran towards the next one. At the same time, Lieutenant Fondor started his attack on the tunnels below, forcing the droids to divert their attention.

The second attack was very much like the first, with the difference that the clones attacking now had the support of those on the trench.

Thanks to Metal, Hell Squad had an almost clear path, because all the droids in front of them had been killed or forced to stay down. Sixty meters were neither a big nor a short distance, and at full speed, it took Dageer five seconds to arrive above the clanckers.

Dageer stood above the trench, his two feet planted firmly on the ground, his blaster pointed downwards.

After taking care of the droids and securing that part of the trench, Dageer heard Dab on his comlink.

"Sir! They are about to take it! There are too many of them. It is just a matter of seconds!"

"Then we just got lucky, Dab. Have you looked behind you?"

"What? Ohhhh, yeah!"

Hearing the excited shouts of Dab, Dageer turned off the comlink. Suddenly, big, blue lasers came from behind the clone army, and a huge section of the anti-aircraft turrets of the Separatist was blown to bits.