Rough Landing

Dageer saw the pilot of his Laat, Heater, die. A piece of metal, previously part of another gunship, had pierced the cockpit, and cut half of his neck. The commander put pressure on the wound, trying to stop the blood from gushing out, but it was too late. All he could do was put the body aside, and take control of the Laat before it crashed.

Cursing, he turned the gunship to the left, and went down. The dials on the controls flashed, indicating that they had been hit, and were losing fuel.

"You on the back, brace yourselves! We are going in!"

Dageer wasn't the best pilot, but he had learned a few things, mostly out of necessity. Dodging a few LR1K Sonic Cannon shots, he pushed the throttle to the maximum. He knew that if they left the bigger group of Republic forces, they would easily be shot down.

He heard Ragout warning General Kenobi that they had been hit, and the sound of troopers grabbing their blasters and tying their cables. The wasn't too sure why, until Ragout touched his shoulder.

"The doors are broken, Dageer! They won't bulge! Slow down as much as you can, and get us low. I will cut the floor, and we will rappel down."

"Can't I just land?"

"Only if you wanna be blown up. Look over there."

Dageer glanced down, only to see that there was an entire section of the Separatist forces set apart to go after the gunships that crashed or landed but weren't destroyed.

"Cables it is. Get ready, general."

The Jedi nodded, and, using his blue lightsaber, cut a circle on the floor. When he kicked it, the piece of metal fell, and the hot air of Geonosis entered the gunship, the strong winds hitting the troopers' faces.

"Go, go, go!!!"

Six clones pushed the cables through the hole, attached their carabiners to it, and jumped down. They quite literally flew for a few seconds, until they started sliding down the cable, and reached the end of it. Detaching, they rolled in the sand before getting up.

A Laat could hold up to thirty troopers, maybe even forty if they were willing to be squished. It took all but two minutes to all the clones to leave the gunship. Hell Squad, obviously, were the last ones to slid down the cables, leaving only Ragout and Dageer still on it.

"You go first, general! I have an idea!"

The Togruta looked at Dageer, but didn't disagree. He knew the commander well enough to know he would never do something he wasn't sure it would work. Waving his hand, he jumped down the hole, and landed softly on the sand below.

The battle on the ground was in full swing. Dozens of thousands of clones spread out for kilometers, fighting three times their number in seppies. Every second, hundreds died on both sides. It was a scene that would make any normal person terrified. Geonosians picked up troopers, only to drop them from high up in the sky. Cannons, tanks, and turrets sent clanckers and clones flying, in a mess of broken limbs and death. And the noise was deafening.

This was a head-on battle. No skirmishes, no stealth, no mercy. Both sides collided against one another, and only one would survive.

"Where is Commander Dageer, general?!"

Pulling a droid with the Force, Ragout made it levitate in front of him, and used it as a shield against the incoming lasers, at the same time spinning his lightsaber, and cutting in half any seppie that got near.

"He said he had an idea. I don't know what it is."

Cell looked at the other members of Hell Squad, and then at the gunship that was slowly approaching an AAT and a group of seppies. Only Dageer would be so crazy to try that again.

"He is doing the same he did in Kamino, only on a smaller scale."

"What did he do in Kamino?"

"The commander and Berro hijacked a Separatist ship, and threw it on the seppies. The Kaminoans weren't happy."

Ragout was slightly confused by what the last phrase meant, but he perfectly understood the rest. Still, he wasn't the least bit surprised. It was Dageer's style to do something like that.

The clone left the ship just a few seconds before it was hit by an AAT. Dageer slid down the cable, rolled, and knelt, his DC-15A already in position and firing. The gunship lost a wing, and spun to the right, missing the cluster of droids, but hitting the tank. Both went out in a small explosion.

Instead of retreating until he reached the Republic's lines, Dageer waited for them to go to him. Using the burning remains of a Hailfire as cover, he killing every seppie in sight. Any Geonosians who tried to get to him gained another hole in their heads, thanks to Dab, who was over six hundred meters away.

"How are you doing, Dageer? Having fun?"

"Where is your squad, Scorch?"

Dageer heard the voice of the explosives expert in his comlink, but there was too much smoke and dust in the air for him to see where Delta Squad was.

"Behind you, to your left. We managed to land, although I have to say I would have liked to crash our gunship as you did."

"Shut up, Scorch. Dageer, Boss here. Do you see the crashed Laat about a hundred meters to your left?"

He scanned the area that Boss had indicated, and easily found the gunship, and, three hundred meters behind it, Delta Squad. The clone commandos were using their DC-17m to perfection, shredding any seppie that they could lay their eyes on.

"I got eyes on it. Survivors?"

"Yeah. Do you think you can get there? We will provide cover."

Dageer surveyed the path he would have to take, and knew the chances of him surviving were slim. However, he couldn't let his brothers wait for their deaths inside the gunship.

"Wait. Hell Squad, find a suitable position, and aid Delta Squad. General Ragout, I will need your help too. Going in will be difficult, going back will be almost impossible."

"Roger that, commander."

"Leave it to me, Dageer. Go get them."

Dageer waited for Hell Squad to get into position, then looked at the gunship, and took a deep breath. Before his courage failed him, he started running.

Almost immediately, dozens of red lasers came after him. He could see and hear them flying past him, barely missing, or hitting the ground where he just was. Even with the suppressive fire of the two special squads, he was still being targeted by dozens of clanckers.

Zigzagging, Dageer also fired his blaster, making the heads of three droids fly, and a Geonosian fall out of the sky.

He didn't know how, but he arrived at the crashed gunship unharmed. Dropping his blaster on the ground, he grabbed the door, and, grunting, pulled it open. He was received with a fist.

Ducking, Dageer instinctively pulled out his DC-17, and aimed at the owner of the fist, only to find out it was a trooper using the dark blue of the 501st. When the clone saw he was friendly, he dropped to the floor, panting, and holding his torso. Just by that, Dageer could tell he had a few broken ribs.

"Slow down, brother. I'm here to help."

"Cough... Sorry, commander. We didn't know it was you."

Getting up, Dageer looked inside the gunship, and cursed. It was a graveyard.