Chapter 117 - Rescue Mission (1/2)
”Commander Keeli, do you copy?”
”Bzzz... zzz... bzzz...”
There was only static coming from his comlink. Five minutes of the thirty Dageer proposed had passed.
Dageer used his macrobinoculars, and saw the smoke clearing out from the battlefield. There were five trenches waiting for them to conquer it. Still, the clones had taken a huge chunk out of the Separatist defenses.
The AT-TEs blew holes in the droid defenses, and without the AA turrets, more and more troopers were being deployed. Sporadic laser shots could still be heard, when the snipers on both sides found someone being too bold.
”Dab, anything?”
”Still nothing, sir. There are just too many gunsh.i.p.s on the ground. But, sir... I identified at least six Laats with survivors, all of them uphill. Commander Keeli can be on any of them, or in none.”
”This is better than nothing. Transfer their location to my comlink, and we will see what we can do.”
Using the positions Dab gave him, Dageer compared them to where Commander Keeli should have landed.
”Those two are quite far from his last known position. We will leave them to the end. Then we have two gunsh.i.p.s crashed roughly two hundred meters from us, both on the left. They are his most probable location. On our right, fifty meters, there is also a downed gunship, in between this trench and the next. The last one is the worst. It crashed just before the top of the hill. Getting there will cost us a lot.”
As Dageer analyzed the hologram map, he used his fingers to trace red lines between their position and the Laats.
”We will split into three groups. When we start our attack, nineteen minutes from now, Lieutenant Fondor will aim for the closest one. If Commander Keeli is there, prioritize bringing him back. If he isn't, rescue our troopers. Captain Narza, your target is the two gunsh.i.p.s on the left. They are pretty close to each other. The problem will be getting to them.”
”If we can bring in some fresh troops, I can take the third and fourth trenches in a row, and aim for the Laats in the chaos.”
”Good plan, we will do that. Now, as for the last Laat, Hell Squad will take care of it. No comments.”
”Yes, sir.”
”You have your orders. We have seventeen minutes to take back the wounded, no more. After that, I want every available trooper on the front. We can't lose our momentum.”
”Yes, sir.”
The clones scattered, each following their orders. A line of injured clones was created, protected by the unharmed ones, starting on the second trench and going to the temporary headquarters the clone army built.
”Hell Squad, replenish your ammunitions and anything we need. Especially you, Kuvu. If we are going after that last gunship, we will need a well-equipped medic.”
”Yes, sir.”
”Brain, bring some ammo for me. Dab, get up here. I want all of Hell Squad together.”
Brain nodded and Dab made an affirmative noise. Dageer looked at his comlink. Fifteen minutes left.
He wanted to sit down and rest, but didn't do it. He expanded the hologram map to show the whole hill, then zoomed in again. Hell Squad needed a plan if they wanted to get to the top of the hill and come back with the rescued clones.