Chapter 89 - Counterattack

Tech turned the Crab Cannon, aimed right at the other one, and pulled the trigger. But nothing happened. Tech looked at the panels and cursed.

"Sir! It needs time to charge!"

"What! How much time?!"

"As much as we can get."

It was Dageer's turn to curse. They were getting surrounded by droids, and they didn't have an escape plan. Their idea was to hijack one Crab Cannon, use it to destroy the other and then carve a path amidst the droids.

"Tech, do you best! We will hold them off for as long as we can!"

Dageer said that, but things were going poorly. Hell Squad had taken cover behind the Crab Cannon, but they were getting flanked. And there was the fact that the other Crab Cannon was turning towards them.

They were floating behind the cannon, making some shots at the droids when they could, concentrating on taking out the ones that were trying to get to the c.o.c.kpit.

"Tech!"

"Almost there, sir! It needs another eight seconds!"

Dageer turned to his left, and fired two lasers instantly, each hitting a droid in the head.

"Five seconds!"

"Start getting in the cannon! Dab, Cell, you first, we will cover."

"Sir, I don't know if there is enough space for all of us there."

"It will have to do. That or we fight a whole army with blasters alone."

One by one, Hell Squad squeezed in the c.o.c.kpit with Dageer covering them. Now that he was alone, his position was getting overrun by the droids.

"Three seconds!"

It was time for him to go. Using the last of his magazine, he sprayed blue laser in the incoming droids. He grabbed the border of the c.o.c.kpit and pulled himself inside, and Metal immediately shut the door behind him. There were so many clones in the c.o.c.kpit that Dageer hit someone when he entered.

"Ouch! What did I do to you, sir?"

"Don't complain, Brain. I almost died there."

"Two seconds!"

Dageer looked outside. The other Crab Cannon was facing them, a red light was building inside its barrel. Besides that, the c.o.c.kpit was getting pelted with lasers from the infantry outside. Now that he was inside the cannon, Dageer's confidence grew, and he was fairly sure that they could pull this off, although it would be a close one.

"One!"

"When you are ready, Tech!"

"Firing!"

Tech pulled the trigger, and the red glow that had formed inside the hijacked cannon flew forward with full force. Good aim or coincidence, the shot from the Crab Cannon flew straight inside the barrel of the other cannon. The cannon seemed to inflate, and then it blew from the inside, sending shrapnel in the water.

Both Crab Cannons were only fifty meters apart. When one of them exploded, the other was forced a few meters back by the pure strength of the blast, and almost dropped to one side. The clones inside faced a lot of turns and bumps, but came out unscathed. The droids and quarrens outside, however, became buts and pieces.

Dageer pushed Tech, who had fallen over him, and took a look at the desolation outside. Everything on a hundred meters radio had been thrown away or been smashed into pieces. There was no immediate threat.

"Three-four, do a quick checkup on everyone. Tech, see if this thing can still walk. Brain, do you still have your comlink? Mine was broken just now."

"Here it is, sir."

Dageer turned on the comlink, and after a lot of static, Gefree finally answered, with a lot of noise in the background.

"Sir! We saw the explosions! Damn... medic! I have a man down! Sorry sir. Did everything go as planned?"

"Not exactly, but we did what we were supposed to. Now, lieutenant, it is time to start the counterattack."

"Yes, sir! We will start now."

"And, Gefree, be advised that that is one Crab Cannon on our side."

"Sir, did you...?"

"Try not to shoot us."

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

Considering that they were now in possession of a droid vehicle, Dageer had another of his ideas. After ensuring that the clones that would come knew they were on their side, Hell Squad left the Crab Cannon, leaving only Tech to control it.

Hell Squad advanced on foot - or swimming - until they found a groupment of droids. Following their new plan, Tech drove the Crab Cannon straight in the middle of the droids, and fired it.

Before the droids could react to why one of their own was attacking them, clones and mon calamarians arrived and crushed them.

From then on, it was a totally one-sided battle. The left flank pushed back the droids, and regained enough ground that they could send reinforcements to the other parts of the battle.

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

Monnk was pinned down with some of his men, suffering heavy casualties. They were fighting bravely, killing ten droids for each clone they lost.

Suddenly, a big line of droids was annihilated by a red blast, and a Crab Cannon appeared in their field of vision. Already knowing the power of those weapons, all clones got their heads down, but the attack they were expecting never came.

"Wait. That thing is firing on its allies. Look, commander."

One of the SCUBA Troopers stuck his head out, and saw the Crab Cannon firing wildly, with dozens of clones as support.

Monnk glanced surprised when the c.o.c.kpit of the Crab Cannon opened and Dageer waved at him.

"Hey, Monnk, commander! We thought you might need some support."

"Dageer. I should have imagined. The left flank should be okay, since you have the time to come on our aid."

"There are no droids attacking the left flank anymore, we pushed them back. In a sense, you are now the left flank."

"That is good. Since you are doing so well, take that toy of yours and go be our frontline."

"Yes, sir!"

Dageer got in the Crab Cannon once again. Inside it was Tech, with who he was splitting the job of controlling the cannon. They were now on the outskirts of the city, so a little more and they would take the fight away from a civilian area.

Half of the Separatist forces had been buried by Yos Tivos, and a large number of their Crab cannos had been blown up by Hell Squad. If they pushed the enemies to outside the city, victory was guaranteed.