Author's Note: Sorry this is very late. I was actually traveling and jumping around for a while in response to a rather interesting writing conference. But I have returned and I am ready to continue this story of desperate frenzied survival. Without further ado, let us continue. Merry Christmas! NEW CHAPTER!
Chapter Eight: Enemy of my Enemy
Grandel
Flames. Heat. Smoke. All of Grandel's senses were being tormented as he felt himself slowly begin to regain conciousness. High-pitched whining drilled into his ears painfully as he took in another intake of smoke, producing another violent hacking fit. He painfully slid his eyes open as he tried to recall his thoughts once more.
His nerves were immediately overwhelmed with immense discomfort as he felt his charred skin dragging painfully against the heated metal floor of the burning of the hanger as someone, or something, pulled him along through the crackling of flames and smoke. The cold hand of fear began to strangle his heart as everything rushed back to him in an instant. The officers, the battle, the creatures. He felt his arms shoot up, pushing through the pain as he desperately grabbed at the arms dragging him. He didn't know where these things took people, but the last thing he wanted to do was lay down and let this ugly bug drag him to wherever they came from.
He continued to struggle against the force and through the painful cracks of pain throughout his heavily burned body before the arms holding him dropped away. Before he could even take another intake, the arms lifted him up once more, pulling him up towards the figure the arms connected to.
As he began his struggle once more, a voice roared into his ears through the noise of the burning hanger. "Goddammit, smuggler! It's me! Snap out of it!"
Grandel stopped his struggle almost instantly, his eyes slowly recognizing the figure dragging him along and away from the battle. "Rashno?!" He demanded.
"You can still see! Fucking A!" The officer leader yelled through the roar of the flames. Fresh scars and burns now peppered the officer's face, twisting it into a gallery of battle wounds. He had a visible limp as he pushed Grandel forward towards his ship, which was blanketed in black smoke from the fires. "We need to get the hell out of here! Now!"
"What about the others?!" Grandel groaned out through his pain.
"The last of the survivors are on the ship!" Rashno replied. "We need to leave now! Your explosion bought us time, but those things are recovering fast! It's now or never!"
Grandel knew the officer wasn't wrong. He could already hear the ominous hiss of the creatures, even through the roar of the flames. And they were approaching fast.
He felt adrenaline course through his blood as he began to run his least burned leg against the ground to give speed support to Rashno as they continued their run to the ship. They finally reached The Scavenger's ramp and, just as they began their ascent into the ship, an all-too-familier chorus of hisses began to fill their heads.
"Shit," He heard Rashno growl through his blood-scarred mouth. "They're coming." He whirled around and faced the interior of the ship. "Pilot, how long till we can get the ship up?!"
"We need a minute at most, sir!" A voice called back.
Grandel felt nervousness and fear rush through him as a grim realization came over him. "We don't have a minute." Grandel groaned out as he drew his laser pistol with his good arm, his eyes locked on the wave of smoke in front of him. "They're already here."
Through the smoke, the forms of the insectoids began to take shape, the hiss and the growl of the creatures beginning to grow as they approached at an alarming rate. Grandel felt himself painfully raise his pistol as Rashno raised his rifle beside him.
"We have to hold the line!" Rashno called out to his men. "Get together men! We have to hold the line!"
Battle-scarred officers stepped forward once more, their guns trained on the line of creatures approaching them. Fear was visible in all of their eyes. And Grandel couldn't blame them. He was scared as well. But they knew that, if they didn't fight now, none of them would make it out alive. This was their only chance to live.
Seconds before the wave impacted the line of officers, a high pitched buzz soared out and came to a landing in front of them, latching firmly on the ground. The device let out a click and an electronic beep as a blue light escaped from it.
"What the hell is..." That's all Grandel could utter before the device detonated. It sent an explosion of blue fire out towards the wave of insectoids. The flames slammed into the insects, morphing the anamalstic hisses into roars and screeches of pain.
Grandel felt like he should have been cheering with everything his burning lungs could muster. Unfortunately, as it turned out, he had problems of his own. The wave of fire not only roared toward the creatures but toward's the officers and himself as well.
Before any of them could react, the flames impacted them as well and for the second time in ten minutes, Grandel found himself burning. The flames rolled across his burns as they began to flare up in pain once more. His felt his very skin began to blister and pop as he began to yell out in pure pain once more. His thoughts began to turn to the most prominent thing on his mind: This may be it. This is how he was going to die. The smuggler who, thanks to his job, was at the wrong place at the wrong time. It was almost poetic.
Just as he felt himself about to black out from the pain, he felt a cool sensation rush throughout his body, almost ebbing the pain away from him. There in front of him stood TK-RY. His robot companion let loose another various array of beeps and whirs as it continued to spray Grandel's burning body with foam from it's emergency fire-foam system.
Through the pain, he felt himself weakly speak out, "Thanks, buddy."
TK desperately beeped once more as the droid turned it's back to Grandel, fired it's cord and began to drag the burning Grandel fully into The Scavenger. Fresh horrific pain shot through Grandel as his now scorched body dragged against the metal floor of the ship. The pain was almost unbearable, but he had to bear it. He knew that if he wanted to survive, he had to bear this pain.
As he was dragged fully into the ship's hall, he heard the familier noise of the Scavenger's engine roar and the whir of mechanisms as the ship's ramp began to slowly close. Grandel got a full view of the officer survivors as those who could move struggled up the closing ramp, wincing and crying out due to the immense burns they each carried. Some of the officers were desperately trying to bring those who were unconcious or couldn't walk into the ship, carrying them and supporting them the best that they could.
They were able to save most of their wounded, but they couldn't save them all. There were still blue-fire explosions scattering the insectoids, but it couldn't fully stop them. Grandel could only watch in horror as the creatures began to leap through the smoke and pounce on the wounded still out there, dragging them away. Their screams echoed throughout the burning hanger as they cried out for help or yelled obscenities, their voices getting steadily quieter as they were dragged away to the-force-knows-where. Guilt racked through Grandel's chest. They were dying out there. Dying and there was nothing he could do about.
Those who made it to the ship and could still move immediatly drew their weapons once more as the creatures held on to the ramp as the ship began to ascend and they desperately pried at the ramp, trying their best to get to those who remained.
As unconciousness began to take him, the hall lit up with plasma bolts as the survivors fired desperately at the ramp door, which began to rip and creak under the assault of the insects.
The survivors fought with every ounce of energy they had left, but the situation still looked critically desperate. The bolts began to break one by one as the insects continued to tear and pull at the ramp, steadily weakening the metal component in front of the remaining people.
As darkness began to cloud Grandel's vision, he heard the last of the desperate officer's voices. "They're getting in!" "They're going to kill us all!" "We're low on ammo!"
Rashno's voice boomed out, "We have no choice! BLOW IT!" A blast of heat rushed past Grandel and his last feeling was of an immense rush of air as he slipped into complete unconciousness.
Hellfire
The main prey had gotten away from the swarm, but that was not the main concern of Hellfire. The main focus of the alpha were the large blue flashes that were killing his siblings. They seemed to drop from a certain point and drop in certain locations where the swarm was most prominent, killing many of the warriors. Hellfire knew that this couldn't continue.
The Queen would not accept the continued slaughter of her children and nethier will Hellfire. Hellfire's senses flared as it whirled around and away from the swarm's advance on the fresh wounded prey left behind by the escapees. Pain flared through Hellfire's body as it moved, but that was of no concern to the creature. It's attention was focused on what it saw in it's vision.
The warm-blooded creature stood atop of the long metal catwalk extending across the hanger itself. It's arm was drawn back as it prepared another one of the small weapons that had killed so many of Hellfire's siblings. It's size was unlike anything that the Xenomorph Warrior had ever faced, but to the one-minded organism, that didn't matter in the least.
When prey was large, that just meant they could and they would produce stronger warriors to defend the Queen and her nest. Hellfire was not going to let this warrior of the prey continue the killing of it's kind. A hiss echoed through Hellfire's drooling fangs, shooting globs of spit across the burning floor. Around the alpha warrior, the swarm began to turn towards the call, their focus pulled toward the figure upon the catwalk. A long droning hiss sounded as the swarm growled in anticipation, their claws snikting across the floor as they advanced upon the killer, ready to take their vengence.
Night-Blood
The Elders spoke inside the Yatuja's bio-mask for the first time since landing on the surface of this planet, which was no surprise to Night-Blood. In his four-hundred years of hunting, the hunter learned that the Elders speak only when they see something that a hunter did that interests or confuses them. Night-Wolf knew exactly what action they were questioning before the Elders even uttered the first word.
You assisted in saving the warriors of this planet, The Elders said to him. For what purpose did you save them for?
Night-Wolf ran this through his mind as he watched the ship containing the wounded warriors achieve flight just in time to avoid the oncoming Serpent Swarm. They have proven themselves to be formidiable and honorable warriors, Night-Blood responded. Too honorable to die at the hands of the Serpents when they are so close to escape. It would be wise to keep them alive and let them grow stronger, so that they may one day make very challenging prey.
An intriguing move, The Elders responded. Paving the way for future hunts. Wise thinking, Night-Blood. Continue the Hunt.
The hunter was actually amused as the Elders cut off contact. As things were, he definitly wouldn't be needing to search to continue the hunt. The Serpent Swarm had turned it's attention to Night-Blood.
The wave sped forward like one large slithering beast, their claws snikting against the metal walls as they steadily climbed their way up to the Hunter, their hisses piercing even through his Bio-Mask.
Most organisms would have felt nothing but fear at the sight of a massive wave of Serpents rapidly approaching their location. Any other species would have fled in absolute fear by then. But Night-Blood Ward Yatuja, one of the fiercest species in the Galaxy. And for Night-Blood, the wave didn't fill him with fear. If anything, it filled him with excitement.
Acting on his impulses, Night-Blood armed one of his explosives with almost lightning speed and threw it before leaping back and out of range.
A massive blue explosion ripped across the swarm as they impacted the planted explosive. Serpent hisses roared through the air as limbs and globs of acid fountained in the air.
Night-Blood's bio-mask took analysis before the Yatuja could even think. Eleven kills in the resulting explosion. Good start for the hunter.
As the rest of the swarm quickly trampled over their dead and towards the hunter, he had already made his next move.
A metal snikt was heard as the blades in his throwing disc drew. With quick precision, the disc was thrown. It arced in the air and down the main line of the advancing wave, severing several Serpent limbs and heads before it flew back to Night-Bloods waiting hands. Twenty-two kills.
As his bio-mask went to work finding ways to escape the hanger before being overwhelmed, Night-Blood went to work defending himself like so many times before. The hunter swiftly drew his spear and spun, arcing the sharp edge across the large circle of creatures surrounding him. The creatures let out roars of absolute pain as the spear opened up their chests, spilling steaming acid blood across the metal floor.
Night-Blood quickly followed up with a snikt of his metal blades, cutting down Serpent after Serpent. His blades struck and pierced the jaw of one of the Serpents, which produced a squeal and a splatter of spit across his mask as he finished the creature off with a stab to the side of the Serpent's head. The hunter swung his tree-trunk of a leg back, striking a leaping Serpent in the mid-section. As the creature flew, Night-Blood swung his leg down and easily snapped the Serpents leg in two.
The hunter whirled away from the maimed beast, outstretched his arm and launched the metal blades from his guantlet, striking another Serpent directly in the head, dropping it almost instantly.
Night-Blood shattered the skull of the maimed Serpent, but had no time to revel in his increased kill count before a bladed tail struck and stuck itself deep in his leg, spraying the glowing green blood of the Yatuja across the floor.
Night-Blood roared and growled in absolute pain as he swatted the insect away with ease. The interior of his bio-mask lit up with red in synch with his pain as his systems began to route the nearest escape route in response to the rapidly closing swarm. Night-Blood usually had quarrel with his systems. He had always been a hunter to prefer natrual instinct over the mechanized aiming of technology. But at that moment, Night-Blood found himself slightly appreciating his systems. Anything that could prevent him from expiring before he became an Elder was appreciated by the Hunter.
As the swarm of Serpents encircled and enclosed around the Yatuja, he quickly decided and acted. His arm shot into his side and quickly pulled out one of the few of his explosive devices left. In seconds, he had armed the device, threw it down to the floor in front of him and, using every ounce of strength he had left, jumped just as the swarm fully enclosed.
The hisses that echoed behind the Hunter were abruptly silenced and drowned out as the massive of an explosion ripped through the hanger and the swarm once more. A rush of hot air slammed into Night-Blood's back, pushing him just high enough to reach the thick metal vent stretching out of the ceiling. Sparks flew as Night-Blood thrusted his remaining blades into the side of the metal links, catching himself just as gravity resumed its pull on him.
The Hunter pulled himself fully up just as blue flames began to lick the underside of the vent itself. The dying screeches of the Serpents was the prominent noise through the air, which was no problem to Night-Blood. If anything, it gave him pride to know that his kill count was continuing to soar. This Hunt was proving to be an exciting one.
But even though Night-Blood knew a great many of the swarm were dying, that wouldn't stop the Serpents from continuing their pursuit. Not in the slightest.
As much as Night-Blood wished he could stay and finish the swarm, he knew he could not deviate from his original task, the task that was essential to the Hunt.
With a growl, the Hunter continued towards his original task, leaping from one vent to another and keeping his mind off the pain flaring from his injured leg.
The Yatuja quickly activated his stealth mode the minute he reached the hanger exit and made his escape into the gutted complex with haste. His systems scanners flared as he sent out a search signal, looking for any large excess of heat. To Night-Bloods surprise, there was a large heat flux very close to him, but readings were not confirming the presence of the Serpent Queen. In fact, the readings showed that they were survivors. Non-incubated, living survivors deep within the Serpent Nest.
If centuries of hunting had taught the Yatuja one thing, individuals that survive deep within a Serpent Nest are always formidable warriors and they seem to always have some inclination to the location of the Queen Serpent. Not finding any excuses to not pass up the presented oppertunities, Night-Blood sprinted down the immediate left hall, continuing both his journey and his Hunt.
Haynar
Fire and red bolts shot and ripped the very air in front of Haynar, the fear and force his soldiers were throwing into their fighting shocking him. The reports called them insects. The Hooded Figure called them insects. By the Force, even the reports called them insects. One would assume that, since they were compared to insects, they would show no hint of intelligence. They would just charge the position, easily being cut down by the line of laser fire that Haynar and his forces would present. Any kind of Zabrak would have no trouble taking them down.
Everything pointed to them being easily conquerable. Then what was happening? All around Haynar, the hisses echoed. The snarls and growls of the beasts were prominent even through the roar of gunfire and explosives. The insects had successfully executed an ambush on Haynar and his forces. Nobody was prepared. No one saw them coming. Haynar himself didn't even see this coming.
On all sides, Zabrak soldiers let out roars of pure pain as they were dragged away or killed. He never expected to lose a single Zabrak warrior, but at the moment, he was rapidly losing warrior after warrior. It didn't seem possible, but his forces were in danger.
"Enclose yourselves, warriors!" Haynar cried out to his forces. "Don't dare to split off! Choose an area and discharge! Scatter them! Go!"
The Zabrak warriors quickly followed orders, the survivors bunching together and unleashing barrages of plasma bolts deep into the swarm. The horrific squeals of the creatures and hissing of their blood echoed through the ranks as they continued their desperate battle against the dark insectoids.
Haynar thought that he could get through the hanger without raising a single one of his weapons. As the situation stood, he had no choice. He drew his vibro-blade as one of the creatures quickly scuttled towards the Zabrak Commander. With a yell of defiance, Haynar swung down just as the creature pounced, severing the creature right at the neck and sending it's head rolling across the metal floor.
He followed it up by drawing his plasma pistol and firing three shots into the next approaching creature, dropping it to the ground. He continued firing upon the swarm as he turned to the warrior plasma cutting the locked hanger door. "Get that door open, warrior!" He yelled at him. "Get it open fast!"
"I'm trying, sir!" The Zabrak called back. "The torch is experiencing interference by something! It's moving slow!"
"Keep cutting!" Haynar yelled back. "The faster you get that door open, the faster we can leave this damned planet!"
"Haynar!" Germed called out to the leader, still restrained in the center of the fighting Zabraks. "Forget the damn hanger! This entire sector is beyond infested with these creatures, probably including every hanger! We need to leave while we still can!"
"Don't listen to that traitor!" Haynar screamed at his fighting force. "Our ticket out is through the hanger! You want to escape alive, you follow me!"
Just before Germed could get a response out, he was interuppted by the sound of the torch loudly flaring once more before cutting out. "The hanger is unsealed, sir! It's open!" The soldier called out.
"It's unsealed! Let's move!" Haynar called out to his surviving forces, who still desperately fought against the advancing wave. "Pry open that hanger!"
The surviving Zabraks quickly swarmed to the hanger doors and began to pull as the remaining warriors continued to fight and die against the swarm, trying desperately to keep the insectoids at bay.
Haynar let out two more shots at the swarm with his plasma pistol as the grind of metal began to sound behind him. He began to feel a sense of pride rush through him, in spite of the circumstances. He was about to successfully escape the disaster that single-handedly brought down almost every force on Coruscant. This proved that Zabraks were much more capable then all of the races. This would give Haynar the respect he needed to keep recruiting and fully create the Zabrak Reigme.
That's when he heard it. One of his Zabrak Warriors spoke through the gunfire, fear evident in his voice. "Haynar, there's something on the walls here! The walls are coated in-" That was all the warrior got out before a pair of dark claws grabbed and dragged him screaming into the dark hanger. Instantly after that, a new swarm of the creatures rushed into the corrider, spit flying as they began to pounce and attack the Zabrak's around the doors.
For the first time in a long time, Haynar felt true fear course through his body. These creatures were supposed to be nowhere but where the Zabraks wanted them to go. They were everywhere. They had truely infested every corner of the Spaceport. They were everywhere.
In his fear, Haynar failed to notice the creature rapidly approaching from his backside until he felt the immense pain as it's tail tore into and through his shoulder. He reacted by swinging his blade back, catching the creature's jaw and splattering acid across Haynar's cheek.
As pain swirled throughout his body and his forces fell around him, Haynar knew that the plan he once thought was a walk in the park was now falling apart around him. He felt himself call out, "RETREAT! RETREAT AND SCATTER! GET OUT!"
As his soldiers began to scatter, bolts piercing the air and darkness towards the creatures, Haynar felt him turn and begin to stumble down the darkened hall, the horrific screeches and snarls of the creatures entwining with the cries of pain and horror from the Zabrak soldiers. His boots squelched against the slime coating the metal floor as he continued his sprint into the darkness, desperate to find any means of escape, any means to not be silenced by the horror he had unleashed.
Warzone
The red flash of bio-mask would have distracted any rookie hunter instantly. Two minutes remained until the hack was complete. Warzone thanked the Elders that at the current situation, he was no longer a rookie. As it stood, if he were a rookie, he would have met his demise by the Serpent's tail that he just dodged and took hold of.
The creature screeched in anger as Warzone quickly yanked the Serpent forward and stabbed his claws up through it's jaws. The Hunter quickly used the body of the Serpent and threw it back behind him, impacting another pouncing Serpent mid-air. Those were far from the last of the Serpents however. Many of the creatures had appeared in the vault room as they began to make their way up the tower and towards the large amount of prey on each level. Many of them stopped on Warzone's level in an attempt to add his strength to one of their kind. That's what their Queen wanted, but Warzone had different ideas.
Another Serpent quickly leapt toward the Yatuja in an attempt to overtake him. Unfortunately for the creature, Warzone was more then prepared for a move like that. His arms quickly shot forward, easily caught the flailing Serpent and threw it down upon his leg, snapping it's spine and instantly killing it. The remaining Serpents lunged forward, seeing it as an open opportunity to overwhelm the hunter.
Warzone instinctivally acted, his bio-mask locking on almost every advancing creature. With a whir, his shoulder cannon came to a stand, hummed and began booming, striking down Serpent after Serpent, hitting heads and torsos with maximum precision.
In less then seconds, the advancing Serpents were smoking husks on the ground. The remaining survivors of the swarm kept their distance, but steadily circled, hissing in anger as they looked for a new opening.
Not intimidated, Warzone roared at the circling Serpents, showing that he could still very much fight. Before ethier the Yatuja or the Serpents could make a move, a hiss caught Warzone's attention. At the very same time, his bio-mask beeped, showing that the vault doors were open.
His mission now taking priority, Warzone quickly armed one of his weapons and planted it in front of him before running into the vault. The Serpents quickly moved to advance, but they only made it so far before they reached the planted device, which violently detonated in front of them. It slayed a majority of the advancing creatures, giving Warzone time.
The vault was laced with thousands of the crystals, all varying in color and look. Warzone's bio-mask confirmed any doubt. These were the energy crystals that the clan needed, that Crossbones wanted to boost their stature. And he needed to confirm if these could be intergrated into the clan's weapons.
Wasting no time, Warzone seized the first of the blue crystals. He held it in is reptillian hand, taking a moment to study the energy provider. He ran his free hand down his wrist gauntlet, pressing various symbols. His gauntlet responded, opening a small compartment in the center of the device. With great care, Warzone inserted the crystal within and secured it. His gauntlet beeped as it began the process of intergrating the energy item to it's systems.
Warzone had to no time to revel in his mission success, as a new wave of Serpents quickly entered the vault and sped toward the hunter. The Yatuja turned to face his new opponents, options running through his mind with blinding speed. His Plasma Cannon needed time to recharge, so he could not take them down that way. His combi-stick was good for close combat, but as it was, the creatures were spreading and enclosing, leaving no option for that weapon.
Before another option could come to the hunter's mind, a steady beep caught his attention. His bio-mask flared once more and displayed a single message in front of him. "Device Intergrated." An image appeared, outlining a red light traveling down his blades. Intrigued, Warzone activated his blades.
To his surprise, the blades now glowed, an intense blue light surrounding the metal. The air around the weapon seemed the hum with intensity as Warzone studied his new blades curiously. What were his blades capable of now? He found his text subject rather quickly.
Two Serpents dropped around him, their drool splattering as they charged. The Hunter threw his claws down in front of him, instantly severing the creatures outstretched arm. To Warzone's surprise, their was no hiss of acidic blood. The entire arm was cut away, but there was no blood whatsoever. The creatures wound had been cauterized in an instant, giving it no time to unleash it's deadly blood.
As Warzone brought his glowing blades down on the wounded creature, killing it, and he charged the other creature, he felt his adrenaline begin to steadily pump. The crystals had given their blades a new advantage against the Serpents, an essential advantage. The Clan had a chance to revolutionize their weapons forever. He just had to get it to Crossbones.
Snowball
Setting foot on the walkway leading to the Jedi Temple would have filled anyone else with a sense of hope and pride, especially in a day like this. Any person would be thankful to be in the shadow of all the Jedi Protecters of the planet. Any person except the Clones.
Even with everything that Snowball had been through, everything in his body screamed to him that the Jedi were the enemy. That the Jedi were the ones that needed his rifle's attention, not the creatures that infested the planet. It was a strange feeling, but at the same time, everything told him it was right. He was far from the only Clone who felt that way.
Every Clone who exited the ship and laid eyes on the Jedi Temple felt the same thing that Snowball felt. Each felt the unnatrual feeling of wanting to stop and end the Jedi once and for all, regardless of the creatures. Everyone had it, but each Clone knew they couldn't act. They all wanted to survive and they knew that attacking the Jedi in their weakened state would only be their death sentence. That didn't make resisting it any less hard.
Snowball limped his way up the temple steps, following his battered and wounded brothers to the front doors of the Temple. Smoke arced into the air around the ancient structure as the city burned around, crippled under the unrelenting assault of the creatures. The city was burning and the Clones couldn't provide any help to stop the destruction. It was hard for Snowball to imagine that there was a creature out there that could bring the 501st to it's knees. Unfortunately, the creature that could beat back the Clones was no longer so imaginary.
As Snowball walked, Bunt came up beside him, groaning uncomfortably. "Are you still feeling that sir?" Bunt asked his squad leader.
Snowball sighed. "That voice in our minds, telling us to destroy the Jedi, ignoring the destruction around us? Yeah, I feel it."
"How do you ignore it so easily?" Bunt asked. "It's gnawing at the center of my thinking. I can't concentrate."
"I'm not ignoring it," Snowball replied. "It's still prominently in my mind. It's taking a lot of clenching of teeth and strain to keep my thoughts in place."
Bunt took another painful sigh as they approached the massive temple doors. "It's gotta be something else. Teeth and strain isn't really working."
"I've also kept prominent attention on the insect threat more then the Jedi threat. That has been what really kept me in the loop. Every person knows that the most prominent threat to the planet right now are-"
"Halt, Clones!" A voice boomed out amongst their ranks.
There, standing at the entrance, was an army of fully armored Jedi, lightsabers drawn. Their eyes were fixed on the Clones, their expressions steeled and concentrated and their hands clenched firmly on their hilts.
"Stay right where you are!" The Jedi in the front shouted out, his blue saber pointed forward. "Make any move towards the Temple and we execute you where you stand!"
One of the Clone Commanders stepped forward. "Listen, Jedi! We just got done fighting on the front lines against the infestation! We're not staying out here to die! We're trying to survive this, same as you!"
The Jedi glared down at him. "You think we would seriously let you in after the reports we've been getting about Clones on all fronts betraying and killing Jedi? We're not risking you decimating us, especially not in these circustances!"
"You're going to leave us to die out here?!" A digrunteld Clone roared. "After everything we've done for you in this war?!"
"We're not risking the safety of everyone in here by letting you in!" The Jedi yelled back, his saber never dropping.
An eruption of arguments echoed across the courtyard as the two factions began their battle of words, trying to get their ideals across to the other. Through the noise and the voice in his mind, Snowball felt himself ball his fists in frustration. The world was falling around them, both of them were losing too many people to these things and they were still arguing among each other. If they couldn't find a way to look past their differences and band together, Snowball knew one thing for sure: Coruscant would fall to the creatures and drag both the Clones and Jedi down with it.
Next Chapter: The Jedi Temple is about to completely dissolve. As the Clones and the Jedi continue their distrust in each other and the Predator Hunting Party fully begins their hunt, the Xenomorphs begin their assault on the temple. Those who remain in the Spaceport also continue their ultimate battle for survival, trying to find any means to escape the rapidly spreading Xenomorph nest. The situation seems hopeless and it seems the world may fall to the insects. But, little do they know, there may be a way to stop the creatures once and for all. A hidden plan that may stop the creatures at the cost of everything they know.
