Chapter 330 - Dirty Tactics

"This is Commander Dageer speaking. Captain Arbol is dead. The attacker is some sort of unidentified creature, possibly more than one. I don't want any trooper alone. I repeat, I don't want any trooper alone."

Even as he transmitted his orders to every trooper under him - something only commanders could do, and on exceptional occasions - reports of more clones being found dead came in.

There was no way of knowing when or where the unknown enemy would strike, and Hell Squad could only run around aimlessly. However, his orders of grouping up worked. Whatever was attacking them slowed down, since it couldn't find easy targets.

"Sir, we need you on the south side! We trapped it!"

Hearing that, Dageer gestured for Hell Squad to follow him, and ran to the south part of the base. Meanwhile, he also contacted Cell and Dab, to see if they had noticed any movement by the Separatist, but the answer was negative.

Dageer was both relieved and worried at the same time. Relieved because that meant the enemy didn't plan a big attack tonight, meaning they could worry about killing the creature or creatures that were attacking them. However, he was also worried about how patient and cold-blooded the seppie tactician was. They knew the Republic couldn't send more troops to reinforce Christophsis, so they were taking their time to slowly chip away at the Clone Army's forces and morale.

Either way, Dageer couldn't see how the Republic would win the battle, unless they found and killed that new strategist. He also knew that such responsibility was bound to fall upon Hell Squad's shoulders.

But that was something to worry about later. For now, they had to kill the thing that had ambushed them. And that was exactly what Hell Squad would do.

Arriving at their destination, they found a bunch of clones surrounding a deposit. The building was actually a two-storey Christophsian mansion, repurposed for storage of ammunition.

"Is it inside?"

"Yes, commander. It attacked us, but we managed to repel it, then it ran inside. Two of them actually. We thought it was better to call you before entering."

"You did well, lieutenant. What did they look like?"

"Uhmm... I'm not sure, sir. They were too fast, and it was dark. But I saw that they used their front legs to attack. They were sharp enough to leave an indent on the walls. We gotta be careful."

"We will. All right, listen up! We got two of them right here, but we don't know how many others are lurking around our base. Until the sun rises, I want every precaution to stay in place. Sparks, you are in charge while Hell Squad goes inside. Split the men into two groups. While one keeps watch, the others rest. You know the drill."

"Got it, Commander Dageer. Leave it to me."

"Combo, Racr, Alsten, Heater, Scar, Bulldozer, and Flint, you are with me and Tech. Nerf, Fallout, Dash, Hawkeye, and Drum, you guys are with Metal, Three-four, and Brain. Brain, take the first floor, I will take the second. Keep your guards up, those things are smart and deadly."

The chosen clones nodded, and prepped their blasters. At a signal from Dageer, the door was opened, and they entered.

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Two red eyes flashed in the darkness, searching. It knew the prey would come to them on their own accord. However, it was unknown who was the prey and who was the hunter now. And it knew that. It knew it had to be careful. It's instincts told it that danger was nearby, so it didn't dare to be arrogant. No. It would be cautious and deadly, like it was taught. Kill and retreat.

Hissing, it contacted it's partner. They were brother and sister, and had been raised together. They were the sole survivors of their litter, after they had killed all their weaker siblings. Only the strong survived in their world.

Somewhere along the wall, it's brother answered with a hiss of it's own. Silently, it climbed to the ceiling, and stood upside down, waiting.

Suddenly, a bright light illuminated the building, hurting it's eyes. Growling, it dropped down instinctively, and hid beneath a crate. Anger and bloodl.u.s.t started to emanate from it. It had lost one of it's advantages, and it didn't like it.

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Turning in the lights of the deposit, Dageer and his brothers walked forward slowly. It was a labyrinth of ammo crates reaching up to their chest, and it was full of hiding spots for small beasts.

With a hand gesture, Dageer told his group to follow him, and went up the stairs, leaving Brain and the others to search the first floor.

Minute after minute passed, and there was still no sign of the creatures. Dageer was starting to think that maybe they had found an open window or something, and got out, when he saw movement up ahead. Without hesitating, he fired, but missed. Whatever the shadow was, it had hidden beneath a crate very quickly.

"Surround it. Racr and Tech, you are the best shots, so stay back and kill it if it escapes us. Brain, do you copy?"

"Yes, commander."

"We got one up here, but we don't know where the other is. Keep your eyes peeled."

"Got it."

After warning the other group, the clones started to slowly encircle the place where they last saw the beast. At the same time, they pushed some of the crates aside, so it wouldn't have where to hide if it tried to run. What they didn't expect was that the being didn't plan to escape, but to take the offensive.

"Agh!"

Heater screamed and almost fell to the ground when a limb sharper than any blade appeared under one of the crates, and impaled his foot. Cursing, he shot at it, hitting the creature, which let out a screech loud enough to hurt their ears, and retracted it's leg. Limping, the clone staggered back, and leaned on a wall, as blood kept gushing out from the wound. It was about five or six centimeters long, and two or three centimeters wide, and went all the way through his foot.

"Ah! Ugh... Damn thing! That hurts!"

"Stay back, Heater. That thing was able to pierce through the armor, you, and the ground. We aren't taking any risks anymore. Combo, Bulldozer, and Scar, get ready. You are going to push the crate, and we will kill it."

"How are we supposed to push it, sir? If we get close, we are gonna end up like Heater."

Dageer felt like cursing when he realized he hadn't accounted for that. They couldn't use grenades, obviously, so the only way would be to move it manually. But whoever took up the task risked ending up with a severed limb.

"We could try using a droid popper, Commander Dageer. It won't hurt it, but it might scare it enough so it jumps out by itself."

Alsten's idea was immediately approved by Dageer, who took out one of the Electromagnetic Pulse Grenades, and rolled it under the box. The creates were all raised a few dozen centimeters over the ground, in case of a flood - standard procedure - so the droid popper disappeared under it with no problems.

Next thing they knew, a spider-like creature jumped at Combo, it's sharp teeth ripping his throat open.