Broke: A Clone Wars Tale - Volume 1 Chapter 270 To The Last Breath

A blue lightsaber sliced a B2 super battle droid diagonally, and the two halves fell to the floor with a thunderous sound. Immediately after, General Kenobi used the Force to push away two other clanckers, but suddenly he felt burning pain on the back of his left shoulder.

Turning around, he saw a group of over a dozen droids appear in the corridor he was in, and fire at him. Ignoring his wound, he ordered the troopers near him to focus on the first batch of droids, and lifted his lightsaber to face the second.

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General Shaak Ti spun around, her long robe forming a circle, and cut down two droids. Beside her, a clone screamed in pain, holding his stomach, and another fell silent, his visor broken by a laser.

When more lasers started hitting the soldiers around her, coming from above, she jumped up, and used the Force to push several droids off the edge of the bridge, sending them into the ocean below.

Analyzing the battle, she quickly found her next target, and ran towards it, cutting down any enemies on her path.

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Admiral Yullaren watched as a Separatist frigate broke in half under the focused fire of three Republic cruisers. The ship fell to the planet below, colliding with a building, and bringing it down, taking hundreds of clones and droids with it.

At the same time, two V-Wings were hit, and crashed into the cruiser, making it tremble. Soon after, several dozen Hyena-class bombers and over a hundred Vulture droids started targeting them.

Barking orders, he watched the enemy close in, and braced himself for impact.

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Ahsoka Tano spun her Jedi fighter, a modified starfighter, and pressed the triggers, destroying four Vulture droids in quick succession. Her squadron followed her, aiming for a dreadnought, but they were intercepted before they could get there.

An attack from the side killed three of her pilots, and put two others out of combat, leaving them defenseless. With no other option, she turned around to help the soldiers under her command.

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Deep Squad faced an attack coming from three different directions, but held strong. Like Hell Squad, they had been forced to retreat to inside the facilities, but, at least for now, they were holding on.

However, a red light flashed, and the heads of two members of the special squad detached from their bodies.

Broodi was suddenly launched away by an invisible enemy, and hit the wall, entering unconsciousness immediately. An eerie laugh was the last thing he heard, as someone walked past him, and grabbed the sample they had been protecting.

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Commander Cody saw a droid aiming at him, and, before he could dodge, a laser was fired, coming straight for his head. He thought he was gone, but a trooper pushed him down, saving his life. Without wasting time, both of them returned fire, melting the outer layer of the B2 unit.

Then, someone screamed on his comlink, prompting Commander Cody to order his troopers to move to the outside of the building. However, that wasn’t possible. They were being pressured by the clanckers, and would have to deal with them first.

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Two thermal detonators landed right at Captain Rex’s feet. He was able to kick the first one, which blew in midair, but all he could do regarding the second was duck to the side.

The shockwave sent him flying, and he crashed in the ground ten meters away, unconscious, bruised, and with a broken rib, but alive. Three other clones weren’t so lucky.

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Fives knelt on the ground, holding the lifeless body of 99. The poor clone had saved his life, as well as Echo’s and the lives of several young cadets, not more than kids. The price had been his own life.

Closing the eyes of the deformed clone, Fives gave him a quick salute, the same he would give to a proper soldier, because that was what 99 was. A true clone, and a real brother, to the very end.

Picking up his blaster, he nodded at Echo, and ordered the cadets to stay where they were. The battle was still going.

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General Skywalker, now on the surface of Kamino, somersaulted backwards, dodging a swing from Ventress’ lightsabers, and at the same time, pushing her using the Force. The vial on her hands fell, bouncing on the ground, and rolling away.

She stretched her hand, and the vial came flying towards her, but was intercepted in midair by a hand clad in white armor. To her surprise, she saw that the hand belonged to a clone, who was aiming his blaster at her. Over twenty other troopers were doing the same, and she realized, with surprise, that all the droids in the hangar had died or retreated, leaving only her. Clearly, General Grievous thought the price they were paying was too much.

Her ears twitched, and she saw a round, white ship flying towards her. Smiling at General Skywalker, who had her blue lightsaber pointed at her, she slammed her hands on the ground, propelling herself up, and grabbed the open door of the ship.

She was met by the cruel stare of General Grievous, mocking her, but she also noticed that his body was covered in black spots, thanks to laser hits.

Slashing the inside of the ship in anger, she glared at the young Jedi who had fooled her plans. The invasion of Kamino had failed. The Republic had won this battle.

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When the droid that he was about to fire at fell to the ground, split in two, Dageer knew they had won the battle. Giving a slight nod to General Kenobi, the commander let exhaustion take over him, and fell to the ground, holding his left side.

He could fell at least three cracked ribs, maybe broken, although he wasn’t sure of how it happened. And that wasn’t all. His right shoulder was burning, thanks to two laser that had hit it, and so was his left thigh.

The troops that had defended the west facility weren’t faring much better than their commander.

A few meters to his left, Brain was holding his stomach, panting painfully, and his right arm was hanging uselessly. Metal was laying under two B2 units, and couldn’t move because of their weight. One of his legs had been broken when the clanckers fell on top of him.

Tech was unconscious, leaning against a wall, blood dripping down from a cut on his head, but apart from that, he was unharmed. Dab and Cell were also out, side by side. They had been hit by several lasers, none fatal. Around them was a wall of dead droids.

Three-four was the only one mostly unharmed, apart from a few scratches on his armor, and was already treating the injured clones.

Of the four thousand five hundred troopers tasked to defend the west facility, only four hundred were still alive, most in critical condition. Twenty-four hundred of them laid dead on the outside, together with over five thousand of their enemies. Another seventeen hundred clones had died inside the facility, and their bodies, as well as clanckers’, littered the corridors, sometimes even making walking difficult.

The room where the sample was, and where Hell Squad had organized their last defense, was a mess. The once white walls and floor were now destroyed, marked by lasers and explosions. Medical equipment, crates, and droids, were in pieces, and several glass containers, which held embryos, were broken, dripping their content.

When Dageer saw General Kenobi approaching him, while the 212th clones helped their injured brothers, and moved bodies to the side, he tried to get up, but his leg didn’t let him. The Jedi gestured for him to stay down, and sat next to him, to Dageer’s surprise.