Jedi Fugitive (The Bad Batch)

90:

"We've got these." Omega pulled out two smoke grenades from the pack she'd taken off the leech vessel. Hunter took them and passed them to Wrecker, the larger clone arming both and tossing them in tandem towards the transport, where they landed with a clatter at the feet of the advancing line of troopers.

The cloud of grey promptly exploded over the enemy soldiers, obscuring us from the still hovering transport and the troopers underneath it. Unfortunately for us, the second group that emerged from the trees on the other side could still see us, the blue rings of stuns filling the air behind us and forcing Nemec and Howzer to roll to the side before they were hit.

I heard only the beeping of the third grenade before it too was arcing through the air, the smoke that it expelled forming a thick blanket on the other side, lit up only by the sapphire of our own live rounds and illuminating the falling bodies of TK troopers. It was everywhere now - I could barely see my own blasters in front of my face - but it also meant the troopers and the transport couldn't see us. Providing perfect cover for us to take out the rest of the soldiers and escape before the troopers in the transport had any idea what was going on.

"Stick by my side and stay down," I heard Crosshair tell Omega firmly before we retreated into the smoke underneath the transport, using it to cover our movements through the enemy squad. Part of me was tempted to flank her other side and provide extra support, but Crosshair had her covered and it would just end up wasting more time.

The smoke had left the other troopers disoriented - it was too easy to catch them by surprise, soldier after soldier disappearing into the smoke as they were stunned or pulled off the pathways.

Hunter had said no lightsabers, but they couldn't see me use the Force right now. I blew the first trooper I came across right off his feet, sending him flying into two clones and knocking all three of them to the ground at once. A fourth TK jerked around at the sound of his friends falling to the ground, and he was promptly met with one of my bolts to the shoulder. Two more shots from Thread punctured his chestplate at the same time, and he went down, the holes bored in his armour glowing molten orange.

The transport squealed overhead, swooping lower in an attempt to break through the smoke cover still shielding us from its view. Crosshair's rifle immediately came up and he fired on the ship, bolts peppering the hull of the ship with no apparent effect. He pierced the transparisteel windows on his second try, more shots blowing out its left engine and causing the ship to swerve to the side in a steep nosedive. It disappeared over the edges of the canopy, unable to keep itself aloft with a downed pilot and a disabled engine, where it blew up in a burst of fire and burning smoke.

One final stun blast from Rex to knock out the last trooper crawling for his gun, and silence descended upon the jungle, impossibly loud in the absence of blaster fire. No one seemed inclined to trust it, all of us still on guard with weapons ready to fire at the first little noise.

"How much further to the landing zone?" Hunter hopped up onto the rock after Rex, carefully watching him for his response.

"Just ahead. Almost there." Batcher snarled as though in agreement, leaping ahead to track our path yet again. I shivered and clutched my blasters a little tighter - that bad feeling was returning again, and I was really hoping it didn't have to do with the Empire.

Crosshair stiffened in front of me and spun, his rangefinder snapping down and staring into the tangle of vines and trees. The base of my spine began to tingle and I raised my blasters too, searching the depths of the trees for any sign of the threat I knew was out there. We weren't alone.

"What is it?" Howzer asked, noting both of our tense postures and stopping beside us. We never got to answer him - the sound of a blaster bolt resounded with a burst of red and Nemec went down, his body crumpling with a smoking hole in his back. "Nemec!"