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Dott was with several injured soldiers, they were stuck up on a bit of a ledge that barely gave them cover. The medic had an injured right arm that he could barely use due to here he had been shot but he was forcing his body through sheer force of will to use it to hold his large blaster. The seven injured clones behind him were packed close together with their injuries tended to for the most part considering they were in active battle – they weren't in danger of bleeding out at the moment so Dott wasn't too worried for them. Though if those damned droids kept shooting the ledge then yeah, he'll be more worried.
“Sir-” one of them spoke up and Dott's glare could be felt through his dusty visor of his helmet. “Shut it trooper. Conserve your energy, I'll keep you all safe-” he quickly ducks on instinct to avoid a blaster bolt near his head and he turns back with a twisted snarl on his face, eyes blazing in determination. The Shadows are mine and no Seppie droid is going to snuff their light under MY watch. The clone medic thought as he shuffles backwards and without looking snatches one of the grenades from one of the several downed troops, pressing the button and quickly throwing it, he shouts, “Fire in the hole!”
Soon an explosion rang out and the sounds of a couple droids being blown could also be heard.
A canyon was not a great place for this kind of thing, Dott notes as the upper most rocks shift from the force of the grenade but thankfully stay. A couple more and it'll cause a landslide... Dott thinks as he ducks back behind cover. His thoughts racing as he quickly grabs another but doesn't activate it just yet. Looking to the left he sees more and to his right he sees the squadron of brothers still fighting, taking cover and with a look up to the huge boulders he makes the choice. He opens comms with Copper and the other troops down below, “::.So I have the craziest idea and I need all of you to retreat.::”
“::.What? Why? What's wrong?.::” one of the troops asked and he could see Copper's helmet turn in his general direction. Those boulders shouldn't hit us, though if they do, hopefully it won't be too bad. Dott thinks as he tightens his grip slightly on the grenade. He could feel in the Force the fear and nervousness of the injured behind him, but also the trust they had in him for whatever he was planning and it made the medic more determined.
“::.I'm going to blow the canyon up. Get moving you have an ETA of 5 or less minutes before a large pod of droids comes to overwhelm you from the north. Your south is clear to retreat a safe distance, though I recommend clearing this whole part entirely as I'm not sure that more won't fall. The acoustics of this part of the canyon are quite impressive.::”
A beat of silence before Copper chimes in on the channel, “::.Got it, Lieutenant. We'll evac but I expect you and whoever you have to follow us out after 10..::”
“::.Permitting that the rocks settle in time to make it possible.::” Dott replies before he hears a distant call of Copper ordering the men to get asses in gear and retreat. The medic knows that it wounds Coppers' pride to fall back, however this was the only plan on the fly that would save his brothers – the men he considered his; Outsider and Crash and Reece may all have higher authority over him but when it comes to spiritual claims, Dott considers all the Shadows his. Even Outsider and Crash, they were both his. If it makes him Dark to be possessive of his brothers, then let him be Dark.
“Sir...?” One of the two Shinies in the group of seven speaks up, sounding pained and scared. “Don't worry, I'll make sure you all get out alive. You're mine. And I'll keep what's mine alive, you're all dear to me.” Dott says with conviction, determination, a fierce will that made him sound a bit possessive. It comforted the Shinies and the other clones behind him, even if only a little. Their fear was strong and he couldn't fault them for it.
With a little fiddling he upped the charge on the explosive in his hand to it would have a stronger explosion, even though it caused said grenade to be very unstable. With a quick press of the activation button, he quickly throws it as it had started to heat up dangerously fast. He had aimed at the wall itself and quickly turning around he drapes himself over the injured as a loud KABOOM rings out and shakes the canyon horribly and not even seconds later rocks and boulders begin to fall, crashing against the jagged sides. Dust and dirt filled the air, catching in the filters of their helmets and suits and making the eight of them cough a bit.
Thankfully none of the boulders directly hit their spot though they got dangerously close.
After a while Dott deemed it safe to get off his soldiers to turn around. The dust and dirst was making it a bit hard to see, but he couldn't hear the marching of the droids, nor could he hear blaster fire any longer. “What...did you do sir?” One of the Shinies asks. “I blew up a wall to handle the droid problem. A couple points, one we are no longer under fire. Two, we have a way down now for all eight of us. Though a con I do suppose is a problem is that our shelf may be unstable, especially near the edges.”
“M-may, sir?” The Shiny asks and Dott turns to the group. “Yeah. Don't worry, I'll check it out first and if it holds my weight then i'll help you guys across and comm Copper for some support.”
“Ah...I-I see sir.”
Dott pats the top of their head affectionately before he stands up and turns around, walking to the edge which was about 6 paces or so and begins cautiously testing it before he carefully climbs down onto the rocks. The ledge was about twice his height and he frowns at this in thought. They'd have to take this real slow, but it was doable. “Okay the ledge is safe! Can any of you help down the more injured?”
There was a couple confirmation, the two Shinies were the most injured and so began the long and slow careful process of getting everyone down from the ledge. “Easy now guys, as soon as everyone is off the ledge I'll comm Copper and Outsider for some aid.”
“Th-thank you sir. For coming back.” One of the vets, one with a cracked breastplate and helmet spoke up. If Dott remembered this was a recently 'promoted to vet' vod. His name was Grease I believe. “Shadows look after each other, myself especially will look after all of you.”
“Because we're yours, sir?” Another brother spoke, a bit of a tease to his tone. “Watch it soldier, or I'll purposefully keep you longer in the medbay when we get down.” Dott threatens half-heartedly as he sends a quick comm to Copper and Outsider requesting aid before he focuses back on his men. Oh how Dott adored his men.
“If any of you are lucky, you'll have some interesting battle scars.” Dott joked as he takes lead, even with his severely injured arm. He hardly noticed the pain, compartmentalizing and shoving the pain behind his walls and using bits of what he taught himself of the Force to make the slow trip down easier. For someone who has never trained with a 'professional' at least he can reliably lift things or use it to stop someone from falling, as he has had to catch a few of his vod from taking a fatal tumble down the rock-slide. It was an open secret amongst the vode that most of the upper command was Force-sensitive to some degree. Thankfully Reece hasn't caught on yet that some of his clone troopers were able to use the Force. Dott shudders to think what the general would do if he found out...