Kicking open a door, Dab entered a small apartment. A family of three blue-skinned Christophsians looked terrified at the clone. His battle-scarred armor and raised blaster made him seem scarier than he actually was.

"Joordi! Kolllia hishila tamee!"

The two parents pushed their child behind them protectively, and one of them grabbed a knife and pointed it at the clone while saying something he didn't understand. Even though he tried to appear strong, he was shaking in fear.

Ignoring them, Dab advanced further into the apartment, followed by Cell. The scout wasn't as coldhearted as him, and tried to calm down the family.

"Don't worry, we won't hurt you. We just need to check your house. It will be over soon, I promise."

He didn't like to intrude upon civilians' homes, but there was no other option. They couldn't risk leaving a bunch of clanckers on their backs. If the natives weren't hiding anyone, then Cell would apologize and leave. If they were... He wouldn't be so soft.

"Clear!"

Dab came back from the back of the apartment, and nodded to Cell. The scout made a small gesture with his hand to the family, and left. He pitied them. For reasons they couldn't control, and maybe didn't even know about, they were caught in the middle of a war. It didn't cross his mind how similar of a situation the clones were in.

"This was the last one. All right, Byson, it's time you leave."

"Sure thing, Cell. Good luck."

Without waiting, Dab and Cell climbed the stairs up to the rooftop, and set camp there. Many idle hours would pass before they got the chance to do anything, but they were patient.

----------------------------

While their two brothers were finally having the chance to rest, Dageer and the rest of Hell Squad were locked in a life-or-death struggle.

"Reloading! That's my last mag, commander!"

"I'm almost out too! We gotta get out, sir!"

Hearing Brain and Tech yell, Dageer looked over the pile of rubble he was hiding behind, and almost had his head torn from his shoulders by a torrent of lasers.

"They got two crabs looking at us. We have to take them out first. Besides, the droid captain is still there. Remember he is our target."

"We won't be able to get anything from him if we are dead, commander."

Three-four brought up a good point. If they couldn't make it out alive, then capturing the clancker would be of no use. Albeit unwilling, Dageer had to give up.

"All right. Brain, how many droid poppers do you still have?"

"Only two."

"It will be enough. Metal, Tech, and Three-four, cover us. Brain, on go we run to that statue, okay?"

"Roger that, sir. Ready when you are."

"One... Two... Three... Go!"

Together, the two clones jumped out of their cover, aiming for the fallen statue fifty meters away from them. Red lasers passed zooming by their heads, and blue ones came from behind them.

As the first row of droids fell down, Dageer and Brain arrived at the piece of cover. Two consecutive yells of pain marked the deaths of two clones behind them, and Brain let put a grunt as a laser scratched his arm. Luckily, the pain was caused only by the impact, and the laser didn't actually injure him.

Peeking over the rubble, Dageer saw the Crab-droids just a few meters away from them. Like the rest of the droid army, they were marching forward inexorably, although they had yet to make the clones retreat a single step. The two armies were locked in what seemed like a standard battle, which left Dageer with a bad feeling. After over a week of new and unusual tactics, why would they suddenly revert to the normal?

Pushing those thoughts to the back of his mind, the commander focused on the problem at hand. Catching the Electromagnetic Pulse Grenade - or droid popper - that Brain three to him, he activated it and launched it over his shoulder. He had already memorized the clanckers' position, so he didn't even need to expose himself to throw the grenade. Brain mimicked him.

Two weird noises, followed by metal falling to the ground, rang. In one fluid movement, Dageer and Brain got up and unloaded their entire magazines onto the two Crab-droids, until their heads exploded. After all, only deactivating them momentarily wasn't enough.

"All right, boys, we are falling back! To the barricades, and hold your ground!"

Dageer's apparently contradictory orders set a few thousand clones in motion, as they positioned themselves on any kind of cover they could find or had built. As night came, their job wasn't to advance, but to stop the clanckers from gaining terrain. And, even though Dageer's idea of capturing a seppie officer failed, the Republic Army managed to maintain the battle in a stalemate until the droids decided to retreat.

And it was when night fell, and the clanckers left, that the real attack began.

------------------------

"Ahhhh!"

When the first blood-curdling scream cut the night, Dageer woke up immediately. There was no mistaking it. The one who just uttered such a noise was a clone.

Without worrying about putting on his helmet, Dageer dashed out of his quarters, holding his DC-17 and his vibroblade. Hell Squad, apart from Dab and Cell, were right behind him. Countless other soldiers were also searching frantically, trying to find the source of the scream. It didn't take long before they found the bodies of a patrol, all six clones with their throats cut.

"Arbol, come in! We got seppies here! They sneaked behind us, and are ambushing our sentries!"

The commander was so focused on the reports of more and more troopers being found dead that it took him a while to notice Captain Arbol hadn't answered him. When he tried again, there was still nothing.

"Hell Squad, on me! Move, move, move! Lieutenant, keep an eye on the seppies, don't let them take advantage of the confusion to attack us! The others, search for whoever is ambushing us! Frist, contact our other troops, warn them! Target, I want numbers, and I want every captain or above to enter in contact with me in the next three minutes, otherwise assume they are dead!"

"Got it!"

"Understood, commander!"

"Roger that!"

"Yes, sir! I'm on it!"

Without waiting for his orders to be carried out, Dageer led Hell Squad to Captain Arbol's quarters. As the commander of this battlefield, he had a room for himself.

When they got there, they found the two guards dead, pierced in the chest by something sharp and powerful enough to break through the Phase II armor where it was the hardest. The door was open, and the control panel broken.

Carefully, Hell Squad entered the room, and found Captain Arbol dead on his bed, his throat torn open. There was still blood gushing out, which meant that it had happened very recently.

"Damn it! We were too late!"

"No... Arbol was their first target. He was the commander of this battlefield, at least until we arrived, but the seppies couldn't know that."

"Commando droids?"

Dageer shook his head, and approached Captain Arbol's body. Examining the wound, he was even more sure of it.

"Look at the cut. It isn't clean, as a blade would leave it, but ragged. Whatever killed him didn't use a vibroblade, but teeth and claws."