Three-four used a piece of white cloth to bandage Tech's arm. The clone had been hit during their last skirmish with the droids, but it was nothing serious.

Their journey up the elevator shaft had been almost uneventful. Two stupid droids had decided to look at them through one of the doors, and Ragout pulled them. The clanckers fell down, almost hitting Dab, who was in the middle of climbing up the cables.

Aside from that, the most dangerous moment that they faced was when Brain slipped, and almost fell, but then General Di stretched his hand, and the clone floated in midair. General Di moved his hand slowly, and the clone who was floating above a thirty meters fall quickly grabbed the cables again. Surely it wasn't a pleasant experience.

In the end, they made it to the upper level of the cargo ship, where a bunch of droids waited after every corner. Dageer didn't know how many droids were on the ship, but judging by the number that they already killed, he expected there were at least a few hundred.

Suddenly, Dageer heard metallic footsteps. Many of them. As one, all the clones turned back, and saw a myriad of clanckers. Unnecessarily, Cell yelled.

"Seppies incoming!"

The Droidekas rolled in first, setting up their annoying shields. B1 and B2 units followed closely behind. Taking cover on the sides of the corridor, Dageer turned to General Di.

"You go first, general. We will hold them."

"Denied. Ragout, you are a better pilot than I am. Go to the command bridge, and get us out of here!"

Dageer nodded. One Jedi would probably be enough to clear the command bridge of any hostiles.

"Tech, go with the general."

"Yes, sir."

Tech was by far the best pilot in Hell Squad, and could be of help when going over all the commands necessary to turn the cargo ship away from it's escort.

The padawan and the clone ran away, and soon Dageer heard sounds of combat. Not worried about them, Dageer turned to his own battle.

He saw at least one hundred droids, packed in the corridor. At least the clones had the advantage that not all the droids could fire at the same time.

"Well, this is going to be fun."

Cell spoke with excitement in his voice, and all hell broke loose. The Droidekas in the front fired rapidly, forcing the clones to duck behind cover. Red lasers hit everywhere as the clones couldn't even respond without getting shot.

"Brain! Remember what I said about only using droid poppers? Forget it!"

As if he was waiting for Dageer to say that, his second-in-command pulled out a thermal detonator.

"General! Cover me!"

Up till now, General Di had been deflecting the storm of lasers, and, although some of them hit the droids, most were absorbed by the Droidekas' shields. However, when Brain called for him, the Jedi increased his velocity, his arms becoming blurred as he swung his lightsaber in inhuman speeds.

Brain showed himself just enough to throw the detonator. The deadly metal ball hit the walls, rebounding around until it finally landed amidst the droids. The B1 units looked confusedly at it, as if wondering how did it get there. Then, the thermal detonator exploded.

Seven or eight of the droids became scrap metal. Usually, a single detonator wouldn't kill that many, but the clanckers were so closely packed together that not only the explosion hit them, but some also went down when pieces of their fallen comrades hit them.

The detonation made most of the droids stumble and stop firing for a brief second, except the Droidekas and a few clanckers in the front. Soldiers as experienced as Hell Squad wouldn't let this opportunity slip past them.

"Take care of the destroyers first!"

Dageer took out a thermal detonator, and rolled it on the floor. If he did it too fast, the Droideka's shield would stop it. He, however, had a lot of experience dealing with the rolling droids, and the detonator easily went through the shield, blowing the droid to pieces.

Two Droidekas remained, but then, General Di jumped on the wall, and ran. Literally. As if gravity had no effect on him, the Jedi ran on the wall as if it was the ground. The Droidekas tried to switch its aim to hit him, but the Jedi deflected the first few lasers they shot, and dropped on them.

The powerful shields might as well have been made of paper when the blue lightsaber went through it. The first Droideka flinched and fell went it was stabbed on the head, and then General Di spun, cutting half of the head of the already dead droid, and slicing the second one.

Even Hell Squad was stunned for a moment when seeing this unfold, but they recovered quickly.

The sound of Cell's knew weapon as almost as loud Metal's blaster. He had modified a DC-15S to be shorter and more powerful, creating a powerful shotgun. At such close range, it cut down two or three droids with each shot.

The battle raged on for a few more minutes, and both sides suffered losses. While Dageer himself was unharmed, Dab had his hand pressed in a scratch in his leg, where a droid fragment had cut through the armor. Brain complained continuously about his damaged helmet, ignoring the fact that if it hadn't diverted the shot, he would be dead.

Even General Di didn't get out unscathed, as his shoulder had a nasty wound where one of the B2 super battle droids hit him with two continuous shots. Usually, the Jedi would have been first priority on Three-four's medical list, but now, the medic was leaning over Metal.

It was only when the battle ended that most of the clones, and General Di, saw that the heavy gunner had been wounded. There was a dark spot on his armor, just under his chest. It was clear that he had been hit hard. Dageer walked over to Three-four, careful not to hinder the clone was he worked, removing the Metal's chest armor and helmet.

"How is he?"

Three-four gently patted Metal's face. Hell Squad as a whole closed their fists, as the clone didn't appear to be breathing. But suddenly Metal opened his eyes, and gasped for air, scaring the clones who were surrounding him.

"Stay still. Your ribs are cracked."

Three-four usually was a calm and quiet clone, but now he spoke with such a commanding tone that even Dageer was impressed. Metal stood quietly, as he was ordered, breathing heavily, his face showing pain each time he exhaled.

"You were lucky. If it wasn't for the blast padding, you would be dead."

Blast padding was a new sort of armor, too expensive to be given to all troopers. As such, only commanders and important units were given it. That is why Hell Squad's armor is thicker than normal. Blast padding was part of the armor, and covered the chest, stomach, and back, offering protection from common lasers from a certain distance. Still, the impact from the lasers could crack or break bones, and even rupture organs.

There were many injuries to cover, and little time. General Di only waited for Metal's condition to stabilize before moving on.

"Three-four, Dageer, carry him. Cell, help Dab. Let's move to the command bridge. We are too exposed here, and I doubt those are all the droids the ship had. Once in the command bridge, we can set up better defenses."

"Yes, general."

As quickly as their injuries permitted, Hell Squad moved along the corridor, leaving behind more than a hundred dead droids, and a corridor that could hardly ever be restored to its original appearance.

// AUTHOR'S NOTE //

Hello guys, hope you are all having a very nice day! There are a couple of things I want to tell you.

Firstly, I got some comments in the last ten or so chapters saying that Hell Squad had been getting injured a lot lately, and although I understand why you say that (well, its actually true), I want you all to know that I never planned on making Dageer or Hell Squad (too) OP, so they can't face a hundred droids and be unharmed (example at hand)

That being said, please understand I am not criticizing those who made the comments or think like that. Its things like this that helps me understand what are your thoughts on the development of the novel.

Secondly and most IMPORTANTly, I have a question for you all. The thing is, I've become a much better writer than I originally was, and my chapters became much longer and the quality much better. That being said, I was thinking of revisiting my old chapters from the start, and rewriting them.

Of course, the story won't change, but I will make them about as long as the newest chapters, and they will much better, be it in writing quality or details. I just want to know your opinions on this, and if you think I should do it, so please leave a comment about this.

Of course (again), this will take some time, so I will have to first leave a lot of chapters done and on a timer, so I can dedicate myself to rewriting those chapters without leaving you without updates.

Anyway, this is all I wanted to say, if you are confused, have a question or a suggestion, not only about this, but about the novel as a whole, don't hesitate to ask.

Goodbye, and may the Force be with you.