A Treacherous Path (2)

For a second, Dageer leaned forwards dangerously, as gravity tried to pull him down. However, he steadied himself with his feet, and quickly took aim.

Finding a slit on the other side of the abyss, he calmly fired his blaster. Instead of a laser, a black cable was sent flying. The slit he aimed for was barely a meter wide, and was more than a hundred meters away, but he hit it perfectly. The hook opened, and penetrated the rock.

On his end of the cable, Dageer hammered it to the wall his side. After making sure it was firm enough, he pushed a button on the cable launcher, and the cable tightened up.

Dageer used one of his hands to pull it, and, after making sure it wasn't going to falter, he passed his blaster above it, and held the DC-15A with one hand on each end.

Looking down, he saw General Kenobi nodding at him, and took a deep breath. Without hesitating anymore, he pushed himself off the wall.

The journey to the other side was brief and slightly terrifying. Since the cable had to be angled downwards, Dageer could see the abyss below him as he slid towards the wall. In less than ten seconds, he was already there.

Before he crashed face-first into the rocks, he put his feet up, and slowed down. Maintaining his legs bent, he put them against the wall, and stopped. He felt a sharp spike of pain, but it quickly went away.

Finding somewhere to grab and hold, Dageer pulled out another hook from his belt, and pierced it into the rocks, making a steady support for himself, and put a cable around it, tying himself. He wouldn't be able to use it all the way up, but at least now he could help the other clones who were sliding down the cable without worrying about falling.

One by one, the troopers followed Dageer. There was one tense moment when Stock's hand slipped, and he almost fell off in the midst of sliding down the cable. However, the clone was able to grab hold of the cable with his hand, although his blaster fell. He had to do the rest of the crossing by putting one hand after another, and when he finally got to the other side, he could barely move his arms. Thankfully, the droids didn't know they were there, so they had the luxury of resting. That is, if you could consider holding on to the side of a cliff resting.

The last one to come was General Kenobi. Graceful like all Jedis were, he jumped before he even got to the end of the cable, and grabbed a groove on the rocks easily.

After waiting for a few minutes, General Kenobi started climbing, and the clones looked at each other. Now that they were there, there was no retreat, but glancing up, Lessu seemed so distant that it looked like it was out of reach.

"Aren't you coming, troopers? You wouldn't let an old man like me be all by myself, right?"

Hearing General Kenobi, Hell Squad stuttered. The Jedi was already meters above them, climbing without any equipment as if it was nothing, and he was calling himself an old man.

"Let's move lads! We didn't come all the way here so you could appreciate the view."

"We are right behind you, Commander Dageer."

Detaching themselves from the safety of the hooks and cables, the clones started climbing. Surprisingly, it wasn't as difficult as they thought it would be. The irregular rocks gave them plenty of supports, and there were even some spots where they could stop and rest slightly.

Still, climbing without the help of ropes or cables was difficult, and the wind didn't help. After climbing for more than an hour, they weren't even halfway done.

"What the...? Arghh!"

Suddenly, Dageer heard a clone screaming. Looking down, he saw Dingo barely holding on to the cliffside with one hand. His other hand was holding something that looked like a bug. Dageer recognized it as a Frotorr, an insect-like lizard that was usually inoffensive. Dingo, however, seemed to have put his hand inside the nest of the Frotorr, and the creature had attacked him.

Dingo swung his arm, launching the Frotorr in the abyss, but the surprise attack made him lose his hold of the wall. His body leaned backwards, and his hands grabbed empty air as he tried to grip on to something. The others - including General Kenobi - could only stare at the poor clone as he fell, screaming. There was nothing they could do to help him, or they would also fall.

The stunned clones stared at the spot where their brother had disappeared for a few seconds, before Commander Cody finally came back to his senses.

"Keep moving, boys. We still have a mission to complete. And be careful of where you put your hands."

Dageer shook his head, and started climbing up again. He knew the chances of losing somebody during the climbing were high. He never expected Dingo to die because of a small creature like the Frotorr, but accidents happened, and sometimes they were lethal.

Thankfully, they arrived at the top without losing anyone else. There were some close calls, but the clones were always able to steady themselves, sometimes with the help of General Kenobi.

After two hours of climbing, even General Kenobi was tired. However, if they stayed outside the city like that, they would soon be found. So, they couldn't stop, and had to once again pull out their grappling hooks, but this time they would use it to climb up the wall around Lessu. To do that, however, they needed cover, or the Separatist would easily spot them.

"Start the attack on the east side."

A few seconds after Commander Cody gave the order through his comlink, Dageer saw huge blue lasers leaving the AT-TEs on the other sides of the abyss, and impacting the all. It was far enough so it would distract the droids, but wouldn't hurt the small invading force.

"Now is our chance. Let's go!"

Three cables were fired up, and the hooks went over the walls before catching into something. They didn't have the time to check if it was safe or not.

"When we get up there, don't fire unless it is necessary. The longer it takes for the droids to notice us, the better our odds get."

Commander Cody, Dageer, and General Kenobi were the first to go up. Thankfully, the attack the 212th was faking made the droid commander in Lessu divert his troops to defend against an attack. The few droids that saw the hooks were quickly cut down by General Kenobi.

Dageer and Commander Cody helped the other get up, and General Kenobi gestured for Dageer to take the lead. Hell Squad stayed in Lessu for a few days, and knew the walls way better than him.

"The bridge controls are over there, in the tower. Our attack plan is quite simple. We have to get there, and get the bridge back up. Once we are inside the control room, defending it should be easy. Our major source of problems will be how to get there. There should be more than a thousand droids on the way."

"We should have thought of that before."

"Quiet, Cell."

"Do you have a plan to slip past the droids, Dageer?"

"There are two options, general. Either we go down the wall, and try to sneak through the buildings, or we can go on the offensive up here."

"We probably should go to the city. It will take longer, but it will be safer."

General Kenobi played with his beard, and looked at the city below them. Dageer already that would be his answer, and he already had a counter to it.

"I wouldn't bet on that, General Kenobi. Last time, we were betrayed by some of the freedom fighters. I have no doubt that some of the civilians would hesitate to turn us in."