Coward Tank

"The ammo box!"

When Cell yelled that, Dageer's eyes instantly looked for the ammo box of the E-Web. It wasn't very difficult to find it, since it had to be close to the turret. The black box wasn't a big target, but it was worth a try.

Once again, Dageer aimed, took a deep breath and only then fired. The blue laser hit the ammo box, and made a hole in it, but it didn't look like it affected the turret.

He lowered his macrobinoculars, and saw that green mist was leaking out of the ammo box. It wasn't what he was expecting for, but it would also work. He took three more shots. One missed, but the other two hit the target, and now the green mist was leaking profusely.

Soon, the E-Web stopped working. No matter how much the droid controlling it pulled the trigger, not a single laser left the barrel.

The green mist was, of course, tibana gas. When the tibana gas was transformed into ammunition, it had to be condensed into liquid. When that liquid entered in contact with the air again, it reversed to its original condition.

With one of the turrets out of combat, the attack became a little bit easier. Just a little bit, because the AAT and the other E-Web were still active.

"Ragout!"

The scream from General Di cut the battlefield. Instantly, Dageer looked away from the droids, and to where the jedi was. That was a mistake, because if Brain didn't pull him back to behind the building, he would have died.

Firstly, Hell Squad's leader saw General Di deflecting lasers while spinning, and cutting droids like they were nothing. Then, his eyes scanned the dirty snow, looking for the padawan.

He found Ragout laying beside a hole that most likely resulted from an AAT round. The youngling wasn't moving, but Dageer knew that being knocked away by a cannon blast was more than enough to make anyone unconscious. He himself had suffered from that.

General Di was moving to his padawan, but he would have to cross the whole battlefield to get there. And the tank was still active. Seeing that, Dageer yelled at him through his comlink.

"General Di! We will get General Ragout! You need to stop that AAT!"

General Di looked over at Dageer, his thoughts conflicted. His emotions were telling him to disregard the battle, and go after his apprentice. But the rational, and calm, part of his mind knew that he couldn't do that. Dageer's tipped the balance, and he started running towards the AAT.

After he told his general he would rescue the padawan, Dageer didn't even wait to see what the jedi would do. Followed by Tech and Cell, he ran to the padawan's position, in open ground.

As he left the outskirts of the city, the terrain changed from clean ground to snow once more. While dodging red lasers, Dageer got to the unconscious jedi.

He grabbed the young Togruta, and put him over his shoulders. Securing Ragout with one hand so he wouldn't fall, and his other hand holding his DC-17, Dageer made a sharp turn and started heading back.

Thanks to Cell and Tech, he made it back safe and sound. Without much time for graciousness nor respect, he dropped Ragout on the ground. Brain checked the pulse of the padawan, and nodded. Dageer turned on his comlink.

"He is just unconscious, general!"

However, there was no response. Peeking from behind the building, Dageer saw that the jedi was too busy to answer.

General Di was having a face-off with the AAT. He dodged one laser blast after the other, and was getting closer and closer to the tank. Seeing the jedi approaching, the AAT started retreating, instead of attacking.

It was an awesome and at the same time awkward sight, a big AAT running away from one person. But the AAT was soon pinned down by General Di. It had retreated so far that it was at the bridge now, and all that it had behind it was an abyss.

The tank stopped, but didn't fight back even if General Di was just a few meters away.

Dageer killed another droid, then walked out in the open, and positioned himself behind General Di. Commander Keeli and Hell Squad soon followed, as well Ragout, who had just woke up.

The reason why the clones did that was that each and every clancker in Tkala had been killed, the only exception being the AAT.

A few tense seconds passed as the clones surrounded the tank, and about ten RPS-6 Rocket Launchers were aimed at it. The hatch on top of the AAT opened, and a droid sergeant, recognizable by the blue marks, appeared with his hands up.

"Ermmm... we would like to discuss the terms of our surrender."

"Humph!"

In response to the droid shameless surrender, all that General Di did was snort. With a lifting motion from his arms, the droid sergeant was pulled off the tank while screaming, and cut in midair by General Di's lightsaber. Then, the jedi extended his hands, and the AAT creaked as pushed back by an invisible hand.

The might tank, who could kill countless clones in a battle, fell in the abyss just like that. For a few seconds, it was possible to hear the sound of it crashing against rocks.

"Don't waste time. We are moving to the next Separatist outpost."

It took a few seconds Dageer and Commander Keeli to assimilate what the jedi had said. They were still in awe for how he had handled the AAT.

"Yes, sir!"

"Cell, Gar and Hammer, take three speeders and scout ahead. Dab, Hurricane and Vigo, go with them, find a suitable spot."

Dageer sent three teams, with the standard configuration of one scout and one sniper. They couldn't afford to send much more than that, mainly because snipers and sharpshooters were few, even in an elite legion like the 303rd. The main reason why he sent them ahead wasn't really to scout, but to position the snipers where they could take out enemy officers and other important units. In a small city like Tkala, Dab couldn't find a spot to take out the E-Web gunners because he didn't have the time to.

...

The clones had been marching for half an hour waiting for the scouts' report to come in. In the meantime, General Di had contacted Admiral Dao, but the fleet was still engaged in a fierce battle.

Not long after that, they receive some intel from the clones ahead, and a few minutes later, reunited with the scouts. The first thing Cell did after they grouped was, of course, report to Dageer what he had discovered.

"It is a normal seppie outpost, sir. High walls, spider droids, loads of clanckers and at least two AATs. Nothing unusual, as far as we can see."

Dageer lowered his macrobinoculars, and looked at the outpost. It was just like what Cell said. By the amounts of droids he could see on the top of the walls, it was fully guarded.

"Sir, I think I found something. Permission to shoot?"