Chapter 200 - Bitter Defeat (1/2)
”Artillery strike incoming! Get dow... Arghh!!!”
Dageer didn't know who yelled that, but he was cut short when a barrage of lasers as thick as his waist landed on the walls of Lessu. A huge portion of the wall crumbled, falling into the city below, crushing several houses. More than ten soldiers went down with it, and the situation repeated itself on many portions of the wall.
Dageer stood up again, and fired several shots. He didn't even bother to aim, since the mass of droids outside Lessu was so compact that he was sure to hit something. However, no matter how many droids he killed, it was but a drop in the ocean. For the last four days - ever since the Separatist started a full-on attack all around Ryloth - several more C-9979s Landing Crafts landed on Ryloth, and now the Separatist had almost half a million troops on the planet.
Behind Dageer, Lessu was almost in ruins. Smoke and fire spread all around the city, thanks to the artillery barrage and the Hyena-class bombers of the seppies. Thankfully, most civilians were okay, since they had long hidden inside bunkers.
Tri-droids, MTTs, AATs, and Dwarf-Spider droids bombarded the city without stop, and most of the clones vehicles, which were basically AT-TEs, SHAP-Ts, and AT-APs, were destroyed. In hope of doing a last stand inside the city, General Di ordered the remaining five AT-TEs to retreat. Of course, that only accelerated the fall of Lessu.
Up till now, the 303rd had suffered severe losses under the Separatist attack. In fact, in four days, they lost more than on the entirety of the battle up to this moment.
Of the four cities they were protecting, only Lessu still was under the Republic. The other three - Kala'uun, Nabat, and Rhovari - had fallen to Separatist hands. In total, nine thousand clones died protecting those cities, although it was in vain. The survivors, who didn't amount much more than fifteen hundred, retreated together with the freedom fighters to one of their bases deep in the wilderness. After Lessu fell - and it was going to - the remaining clones would go there too.
That was the alternative that Commander Keeli had found. Since they couldn't win the battle, nor could they send General Di away as Dageer wanted, then they would all retreat. What would happen next, they didn't know.
”Sir! Lieutenant Fondor just died! His injuries were too great!”
Just when Dageer was thinking, a trooper touched his shoulder, and gave him the bad news. Yesterday, the section of the wall where Fondor was had been hit, and he fell down. Although he didn't die immediately, his skull cracked, and several of his bones broke, puncturing his organs. It was a miracle he didn't perish immediately, but the poor soldier couldn't hold on.
Dageer closed his eyes. Fondor had been a good soldier, and, above all else, a good brother. Unfortunately, war didn't wait for the people to grief.
Not only had Fondor died, but many of his closest brothers also had. Captain Narza had died two days before, when he and Bliar decided to stay behind to cover the retreat of the others in Nabat. When they realized that they wouldn't be able to leave, they strapped a bunch of thermal detonators to a speeder, and drove it straight to the droids. They were dead before the speeder blew up.
Thartam, the medic that helped Dageer on Mygeeto, had been blasted in the face by a Tri-droid. Sharp and Spike also died in battle in one of the other cities. Smit and Agil didn't resist their wounds. Lieutenant Jesper, Lieutenant Virgo, Sergeant Pride, Sergeant Vigil, and Captain Plasma also perished in battle.
One by one, everyone Dageer knew, the clones and brothers that he grew up with, were dying, and there was nothing he could do. That caused not only him, but also the others, to be reckless. It was almost impossible to find a trooper uninjured, but anyone who could carry a blaster was fighting. Dageer himself had many bruises and cuts, although the worst injury Hell Squad received was a laser wound on Brain's shoulder, which he totally ignored.