Star Wars: Force of Nature Chapter 10: Monster Mash, a Godzilla + Star Wars Rebels Crossover fanfic

Chapter 9: Monster Mash

Godzilla looked into the cold unfeeling eyes of his opponent as it stood across from him. The cybernetic creature flexed its metallic arms about in a show of force at him in response. So this was the secret weapon the Rebels had been so fearful of. They neglected to mention it was a fellow kaiju. He was not angered by this, but he had wished they had told him sooner. It would've made their pleas easier to stomach from the beginning.

As if the robotic parts hadn't given it away, he could smell the stench of the artificial and the unnatural coming from the monster itself. This thing had been grown in a lab and had then been augmented with machine parts. He could sense nothing behind it's robotic eyes. No life, just wires. This thing was a tool. The Empire had found a way to create life and then butchered it for their own ends. This abomination was a perversion of the natural world, built only to serve the will of it's human masters. This thing couldn't even be called their pet, it was a walking gun to be used at their discretion.

The Rebels were right to fear this monstrosity, for it was a crime unto itself. A beast with no independence of thought, born only to be a slave, to kill those its tyrannical overlords wished to crush. It disgusted Godzilla to even look at it, that was how wrong it felt. Yes, this thing had to be destroyed, but the initial goal he had set out with no longer held sway at the forefront of the atomic saurian's mind. Making this world safe for him to rule alone was now secondary, the Jedi had shown him that. This thing had to die because of what it represented, he saw that now. The Empire's perversion could not be allowed to escape this world and serve at its behest. He would not allow it. He would put this unfortunate monster out of its misery and see to it that the Empire would never again give life to more like it. Nature would not be enslaved to serve their war.

After another roar of defiance, Godzilla charged at the Cyborg Zillo-Beast, jaws open wide. His opponent did the same, screeching as it did with its arms raised into attack position. The two massive monsters collided violently, Godzilla's jaws closing in around the cyborg's neck. The Zillo-Beast pounded one fist against the saurian's eye and grasped another around his neck. Even as he was choked, Godzilla continued to push the Zillo-Beast backwards, his teeth keeping a firm grip on his enemy. Then the Zillo-Beast's third fist came crashing down on Godzilla's head. The first punch loosened Godzilla's bite slightly, the second was a far worse hit. A cutting pain creased the atomic lizard's forehead and he released his hold on the Zillo-Beast's neck.

As he backed away, Godzilla spotted a huge saw blade jutting out of the side of his opponent's fist. It retracted back inside before too long. The cyborg then punched Godzilla again along the jaw with his other hand and continued to choke the giant lizard. Finally, he grabbed at the hand at his throat and forced it loose. He prepared to deliver a slash back at the Zillo-Beast, but was suddenly interrupted when the cyborg delivered a kick to his lower jaw. Godzilla stumbled back slightly as the Zillo-Beast spun about, its tail aimed directly at his neck. Electricity started arcing between the pointed spikes along the tail's tip. They stabbed into Godzilla's scaly skin around his neck. The electricity now jumped from the spikes to the monster king himself, sending several hundred thousand volts through his system.

Godzilla roared in pain but he fought through it. He grabbed the tail and pulled it free from his neck. He tugged on the tail and forced the cyborg towards him where he punched it in the back. The Zillo-Beast barely flinched and delivered a backwards chop with it's third arm. The saw blade returned, slicing into the side of Godzilla's arm. He released the tail and quickly raised his other arm to block and incoming punch from the Zillo-Beast as it turned back towards him. The cyborg then went in to bite Godzilla on the neck, but the saurian moved faster, punching the test-tube monster's face away from his throat. He then raised up his foot to deliver a powerful kick to the cybernetic beast's chest that sent him stumbling away.

That didn't deter the cyborg though. It turned all three of its arms towards Godzilla and activated another weapon, powerful energy cannons that all targeted Godzilla from afar. It started blasting away, peppering the giant lizard's body with explosions. Godzilla absorbed the blows as best he could and charged up his atomic beam. He sent a sweeping blast across the Zillo-Beast's field of vision, blinding it's targeting systems. As the smoke and fires raged in front of it, Godzilla launched himself forward and delivered a powerful blow square into its nose. The cyborg reacted quickly, forcing both of its arm cannons into Godzilla's chest and firing a barrage of shots. Godzilla tumbled back, his torso smoking from all the close range blasts.

This artificial monster was a lot quicker and smarter than Godzilla had given it credit for. He sensed no will of its own, just wires and metal bits inside its head. He suspected it would act like a robot, but it wasn't so. When it came at him again, it prepared a flying punch as it jumped slightly into the air. Godzilla used that as leverage and grabbed the arm. He then grasped at the cyborg's neck and deftly tossed it over his shoulder. He suspected the machine to tumble down into a heap, but somehow it managed to land like a cat on all fours, with the extra one on the back lashing about slightly, before standing back up with relative ease.

Godzilla cocked his head in a mixture of bemusement and confusion. This had to be this creature's first fight and yet it felt seasoned. Could programming give it such capabilities? It didn't seem possible. The Zillo-Beast now charged again, racing at Godzilla like it did before. The giant lizard raised his arm slightly to prepare to catch the beast in the head, but it ducked the swing at the last second and sliced Godzilla's side with one of the saw blades in its hand. Godzilla moved away and turned to face the creature again. It stared him down in kind with a cold glare, its cybernetic eye on the left side of its face glowing bright red.

Godzilla realized the disadvantage he was faced with. As strong as he was, he could still feel pain. This thing couldn't. Even the other cybernetic enemies he had faced before could feel pain, this thing didn't. He didn't know why, but it meant he'd have to fight smarter. Brute strength alone would not prevail against this abomination, he needed to find a weakness and fast.

Getting back to the speeder and navigating them out of the tangled jungle interior took a bit of time, but eventually Ahsoka and Ezra were on their way. They avoided the raging melee now underway in earnest just a few kilometers away from them as they raced across the volcanic plain. Godzilla was getting hit by heavy cannon fire from the zillo-beast currently. It didn't seem to hurt him too badly, but it was enough to antagonize him into trying to lash out more. Ahsoka watched as the giant lizard swung his tail at the Cyborg Zillo-Beast, but missed as it deftly backed away. When Godzilla went in for another close quarters struggle, the Cyborg grabbed the giant lizard's jaws and held them open. It then began beating the giant radioactive creature with its third free hand before pushing him away.

"Godzilla must still be trying to recover after what happened," Ezra suggested.

Possible, but Ahsoka sensed something else at work. She noted how the Zillo-Beast moved, how it reacted, what its tactics were. Goading Godzilla into aggressive moves, quick thinking, ample recovery techniques, it felt familiar to her somehow. She couldn't put her finger on it though. Overall there wasn't much she could really do anyway, Godzilla was on his own for this fight. Right now, Ahsoka needed to get Ezra to the battlefield and help him find his crew. Then they could see about figuring out a way to destroy the Cyber Zillo-Beast once everything else was resolved.

Their speeder came to a stop near the outskirts of the breached outer wall of the facility. They jumped off the bike and ran up to the now relatively abandoned Imperial position. They found bodies of dead Rebels and Imperials strewn about the field. The still active squads had probably already pressed on ahead of them, moving towards the Command Center to preoccupy the majority of the Imperial Forces. If that was the case, things were going according to plan. They'd find out more once they linked up with them and got a report on the situation.

As they looked about the deserted field, they heard the battle between the giants still raging behind them. The two looked back to see Godzilla and the Zillo-Beast trading blows. Punches and swipes from left and right struck both creatures for awhile. Godzilla delivered a gut punch to his foe before swinging in a furious haymaker towards the Zillo-Beast's electronic eye. The cyborg suddenly ducked and butted his head into the grey giant. Godzilla's head flew up, but he recovered quickly and tried to throw another punch. This time however, the Zillo-Beast caught the strike with one hand and then struck Godzilla with the third hand atop his back. The saw blade embedded in the fist slashed Godzilla across his face before the Zillo-Beast pulled the giant lizard's still captured arm backwards. A pained roar sounded before the Zillo-Beast released the arm and then rose up to deliver a powerful kick into Godzilla's face.

"That thing is stronger than we anticipated," Ahsoka observed as Godzilla stumbled backwards.

"It's probably all the cybernetics boosting his strength and agility," Ezra suggested. "Only way it could be pulling this kind of stuff off."

Ahsoka didn't doubt the cybernetics were playing a role, but something still felt off. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted a downed Stormtrooper. For whatever reason she was drawn to it, as she saw something emblazoned across the soldier's arm. It was a patch of some kind, an insignia she had once served beside. The 501st, a hold over from the original in the Clone Wars. Ahsoka's interest was suddenly piqued by this discovery and a thought occurred to her.

She looked back to the ongoing battle between Godzilla and the Cyborg Zillo-Beast and watched the latter spin itself about. The cyborg's blades slashed Godzilla across his chest in quick succession, but luckily the big grey lizard managed to duck the electrified tail this time. Godzilla bit at the Zillo-Beast right arm as it turned around. The Cyborg placed the laser cannon in it's hand to it's adversary's head and fired. Godzilla released his opponent as his head began to smoke and he backed away.

Whether her sudden suspicions were right or not, one thing was certain to her now. That cyborg was not doing this on it's own. The reactions, the moves, the methods, the tactics, it all smelt of someone operating behind the scenes. Somebody was controlling this creature and giving it an edge.

"Ezra, I need you go find your Master and your friends," she ordered the young Apprentice. "There's something I have to look into."

"What is it?" He asked sincerely. "Can I help?"

"No, right now your crew needs you more than me," she assured him. "Don't worry, I will find you all when I'm done."

Ahsoka moved into the facility, looking back only briefly at the boy.

"I promise, I'll be back as soon as I can," she called out.

She would've told him the whole truth, but she didn't want Ezra's emotions getting in the way here. He had helped Godzilla enough today, it was time she stuck her neck out for the big reptile. Besides, if she was right about who was at those controls, Ezra wouldn't stand a chance. She just hoped Godzilla could last long enough in his current state for her to even the odds again.

So this was what they had been protecting all along. Why they were here from on this planet in the first place. Arch stood watching the two monsters pummel each other, particularly the bigger cybernetic version of the smaller creatures that had tried to kill him earlier. Everything suddenly fit, the secrecy, the massive resource gathering, the security, that island with the mock-up city, this giant science facility, all to create the huge living super weapon that was currently fighting Alpha Predator One.

In all honesty, he wasn't entirely sure it was a satisfactory answer to his questions. His fellow soldiers had died at the hands of this thing's smaller brethren. Part of him wanted to believe the Rebels had accidentally set them loose like idiots, but another part of him wondered if that really mattered. The Empire had still made them, probably in an effort to perfect this giant one. Ultimately, as far as he was concerned, no matter who set the things free, it was the scientists who made it who were at fault in the first place.

What was this giant one supposed to be for anyway? Probably just for this kind of thing, squashing Rebel attacks. Nice of them to set it loose now and have it attack the giant lizard instead. Hell, they could've done that way earlier, but Arch supposed they didn't want to risk destroying the stupid thing. Better to let the fodder tire the big monster out first before unleashing their own.

Arch wasn't sure where all these semi-insubordinate thoughts were coming from. Maybe it was just the sting of Devo's death still fresh in his mind that was affecting him. It could've been the preceeding days and all the crap they had gone through. Command made constant bad decisions, all of them without regard to him and his fellow soldiers' lives. They threw them at the meat grinder of this giant again and again, all ultimately to protect their little science project. He didn't sign up for this. He didn't join to become a glorified bodyguard to a monster.

His thoughts of anger made it impossible to enjoy the fact Alpha Predator One was seemingly on the ropes from this thing. He was putting up a terrific fight, but this half-machine monster appeared to have the upper hand. It should've been a great moment after watching the big lizard appear alive once more, its survival being a blow to what little morale he had left. Witnessing a monster on his side fight the big grey beast should've been glorious, but instead it left him cold. None of it felt like it was worth it anymore. They had bled countless drops of blood to protect this thing, that was all Arch could think of.

Regardless of his thoughts, he decided to turn his attention to something he could do. This fight with Alpha Predator One was out of his hands now. He had to re-focus on the Rebels. They were still in the complex and they had regained the advantage from all appearances. He could see the fighting had resumed and there weren't many Stormtroopers left in key areas to stop them. The Mutants had hurt the Imperials worse than anyone it seemed. Arch scanned the radio waves, trying to hear if there were any nearby squads he could link up with. Eventually, he found something on the comms of note.

"Alarms triggered in the main servers, possible Rebel activity. Move to intercept."

Arch brought up his holomap of the facility and saw he wasn't too far away from there. If he hurried, he could link up with a squad. He didn't expect to accomplish much at this point, but at least he'd be doing something of his own accord. With no Kamo or Devo around to give orders and no clear directive from Command, he had to play this by ear, choose his own battles for once. Fine by him, maybe with some luck he'd actually find a fight that was worth it in all of this.

For a brief moment, Kanan had been a Padawan again. Specifically, a Padawan watching as soldiers he fought beside turned against him suddenly. Memories of his Master being murdered in cold-blood filled his head the instant the Clone had revealed his face. The same words he heard from them uttered once over a decade before, and then again mere moments ago, still echoed in his ears, "Good Soldiers Follow Orders." The fear passed quickly though, he wasn't a Padawan anymore. He wasn't a scared naive kid with fantasies of glory and fame dancing around in his head. He was older, wiser, stronger and he was more prepared this time.

He hid in the shadows of the assembly area for the moment, carefully watching for the Clone he knew was out there. For whatever reason, this one thought Kanan had come here to kill him, that he was after revenge. Kanan couldn't deny he had strong feelings about Clones, admittedly biased ones but well deserved regardless. He never tried to seek out Clones to kill at random though, partly because the ones that killed his Master were dead anyway and mainly because that was not the Jedi way. This Clone, however, thought that was exactly what he was here for and that gave him a slight edge. This time, it was the Clone who was more afraid than him and he could use that.

"Hiding like a coward are we?" The Clone asked aloud in anger. "Guess not much has changed then has it? Only way you could've survived this long."

Kanan kept out of sight, dashing to another piece of machinery for cover. The Clone kept scanning the room, his gun following his line of sight as he walked. Scared or not, he still figured himself the hunter in this scenario that much was clear.

"I know you're not alone either," he continued. "I know there's at least two more of you running around. You're controlling that big reptile out there. I remember you Jedi could do that with animals, one of your best tricks. Well, once you're all gone he'll be easier to contend with."

"You really think you can take on three Jedi?" Kanan asked aloud before bolting to another piece of machinery.

The rotary blaster slashed through the air, cutting up bits of metal as it fired over a hundred bolts a second. The Clone stopped after one pull of the trigger and scanned the area more.

"You wanna call them go ahead," he declared, carefully eyeing the platforms above him. "They won't make it in time. Even if they do, I already rigged a few key spots in here with explosives. Once I saw that big cyborg monster in the other room I realized you'd be coming this way eventually. Guess it's my luck more people were concerned with the other Rebels, getting in here was easy once you people breached the perimeter. Point is, the second every Force User I'm aware of shows up in here, I'm sending this place up in a puff smoke with everyone in it."

"You think the Empire is going to be okay with you blowing up their stuff?" Kanan asked as he quickly jumped to another platform and hid.

"Acceptable losses," the Clone countered as he changed direction. "This entire facility has just been compromised. Standard protocol requires all important assets to be moved off site in such an eventuality. The only reason the Empire came here was for secrecy. They've lost that now. Hell, I'm probably saving them the time scuttling part of the place for them."

Kanan wasn't about to call Ahsoka and Ezra in anyway. He didn't want to put them at risk along with himself. There was only one Clone to be sure, but it would be foolish to pretend he wasn't a threat. This one knew there were three of them and prepared a strategy beforehand. He knew what he was doing and he was prepared to potentially kill himself in the process of killing all of them. It was better to deal with him alone and not suck the others into this.

"I always suspected some of you would come back," he cried out. "In the back of my mind, I always knew a few of you were alive. You Jedi are a sneaky lot, very slippery, with a lot of little tricks up your sleeves to boot. You all thought you were so clever. That's what made you think you could take over back when."

"Is that what you think or what the Empire told you to think in your Pod?" Kanan asked back.

He then reached out with the Force and caused some cybernetic pieces to fall down to the factory floor. The Clone saw them tumbling towards him and ran out of the way just in time as a large metal hinge crashed through a platform and nearly crushed him.

"Don't try to play your mind games on me," the Clone argued. "I know what happened. You betrayed us, all of us. Sworn defenders of the Republic on the outside, but always plotting behind closed doors. Waiting for the day when you could use the war to overthrow the very Government you sought to protect."

"You sound just like a propaganda poster, you know that?" Kanan shouted down, his voice echoing throughout the chamber. "We didn't betray anyone, you did. You turned on the Republic and helped a dictator take power."

"We did our duty," the Clone argued vigorously. "Good soldiers follow orders! I followed them! I did what I had to do, for the Republic."

"Don't you mean the Empire?" Kanan countered quickly as he jumped to another platform. "The Republic doesn't exist anymore because of you."

The Clone let off a few bolts suddenly in a widespread. They barely missed Kanan, who quickly took off to another set of cover.

"Fine, I did it for the Empire then," he relented. "But that doesn't change anything. I did what I had to. I fulfilled my mission. The fact you're here, bringing a bunch of terrorists to attack fellow soldiers, proves us in the right. Whatever I did, I did for the good of the Galaxy."

Kanan didn't get the chance to respond, as he heard something clanging against some nearby machines. Suspecting what it was, he made a dash for another platform. He reached it just seconds before an explosion ripped apart a large chunk of an assembly line and sent it crashing to the floor. As the dust finally settled, Kanan could see the Clone looking through the wreckage.

"Gonna have to be quicker than that," Kanan shouted down at him, taking off once more.

"You can't hide forever, Jedi," the Clone declared. "There's nowhere to run. I hunted your kind down easily enough in their own temple. How long do you think you can stay out of sight in here?"

Long enough, Kanan thought to himself. He just needed to take his time and find the right moment to strike. Grabbing his blaster in one hand, he made his way down one end of the platform, keeping an eye out for the Clone to cross his path.

"Attacking the Jedi in their own home is nothing to be proud of," Kanan goaded him. "You desecrated a place of peace and hope with mass murder."

"I don't have to feel proud," the Clone shot back. "Never said I was. It was simply the only way. You wouldn't go quietly, you would've attacked soon enough. We had to act while you were off your guard. It was our only option."

This conversation of sorts suddenly felt a lot stranger to him. Kanan suspected he'd try to goad him out of hiding by mocking the deaths of the Jedi. That he'd keep calling them easy pickings or relate a bunch of foolish last stands. Instead, he just kept trying to justify it, keeping it vague. Why wasn't he making this personal? Why wasn't he trying to make him angry? He had been mentally preparing himself for something like that, but he didn't.

"Not everyone in that temple was a powerful Jedi Knight," Kanan argued back, hearing the Clone get closer. "There were children, younglings, padawans who hadn't even gotten their lightsabers yet. You're telling me you had no problems murdering them all? That everyone that night was just a traitor to you?"

The Clone's footsteps stopped suddenly. Kanan suspected a response, another excuse or justification, the Clone finally laughing about how he didn't care or something. Nothing came though, just silence. He looked out slightly to see the Clone standing his head down with his hand clutching at his head. He began shaking it heavily and then suddenly shouted something.

"I didn't," he said. "I never did. It didn't happen. I didn't. I had to do it. It had to be done. We had orders."

"You're contradicting yourself," Kanan noted, moving towards his next position along the side of the platform.

"Shut up!" The Clone shouted up at him. "I'm not a murderer! I'm a soldier! A good soldier! Good soldiers follow orders!"

He raised his rotary blaster up to the platform, pointing where Kanan had been. This was his chance. Kanan pointed his blaster out into the open and leveled it at the Clone, ready to fire and end this. The Clone spoke up once again as the rotary began to spin, louder and louder.

"And I will execute mine!"

The rotary blaster suddenly turned, pointing towards Kanan's position. The Clone pulled the trigger and hundreds of blaster rounds started firing at him. Kanan ducked behind cover again as a blaze of laser bolts shot through the air, blasting bits of machinery and metal everywhere. Eventually, the laser bolts turned towards the platform supports and began to slash through them. He only had seconds to move before it was too late. Igniting his lightsaber once again, Kanan raised it up to block incoming shots as he ran across the crumbling platform. Just as he managed to get off it, the support system gave way. The catwalk and parts of the assembly line fell down to the factory floor below, nearly taking Kanan with them.

As he caught his breath, he realized the Clone was smarter for his age than Kanan gave him credit for. He had caught on to his trap, probably guessed where he actually was in the platforms above. It was unlikely he'd fall for it again. As he got up, he heard something clanging against a nearby ladder. Before he knew it, the Clone was up on his level again, the still smoking rotary blaster pointed right at the Jedi.

"Told you," the Clone stated. "Nowhere to run."

Kanan raised the lightsaber to block the laser bolts as the Clone pulled the trigger again. He deflected the incoming shots, but with so many shots coming at him, Kanan knew it was a losing defense strategy. He ducked around a nearby corner and made a dash along the platforms. He had lost the high ground, the Clone was onto him and he couldn't risk calling for help. He needed to find a way to beat this guy and fast.

Controlling a giant monster wasn't really the same as a starfighter, but some of the principles still applied. You turned the sticks one way, activated weapons in sequence and adjusted power accordingly to your desired tactics. For Darth Vader, it was little trouble controlling this cyborg. The Force flowed through every action, it was why he was such a great pilot to begin with. It was no different here, Alpha Predator One might as well have been just another Starfighter. What strength and skill the giant lizard had to match its determination, it was nothing against Vader's experience and own power. For the Darkside of the Force flowed through him and thus it did so through the Cyborg Zillo-Beast. No creature could withstand it.

Yet he had hoped this would've been over sooner. The creature was clearly still weak from Vader's last attempt to kill him and yet, as miraculous as its survival, it kept fighting. Perhaps even fiercer than before. Vader could not understand why, but he felt as if something had changed. No matter though, it would not be enough.

Once more the monster came again, but not head-on this time. It was changing its tactics, trying to get around Vader's defenses. The reptile turned sharply to the left as it moved in, jaws wide open and ready to bite in the Zillo-Beast's side. Vader turned the controls to counter this attack with a sideways punch. The monster ducked the attack and then bit into the wrist of the cyborg's arm. He then tried to pull, attempting to flip the cyborg over or even rip the arm off. Vader quickly countered this action, using the third arm to slice into the back of the creature's neck with its saw blades.

Alpha Predator One let go of the arm he was biting, but reached up to grab the third arm in the process. He then pulled on the arm, forcing the Zillo-Beast's head towards him. When it was close enough, he punched the Cyborg in the face and Vader's screens went static for a brief moment. The Zillo-Beast must've been knocked back, because when the image returned the Zillo-Beast was already being pulled in a second time. The overgrown lizard kept a firm grip on the third arm the whole time, using it to force his opponent's face into his giant saurian fist over and over again. And he'd keep doing it until the cyborg was dead.

Warning lights and sirens screamed loudly as Vader attempted to counter. He finally managed to raise the Zillo-Beast's foot and kick Alpha Predator One's under his jaw. The reptile grabbed his mouth in pain and then Vader, free once again, had the Zillo-Beast deliver a second blow, using the tail once again. The electrical spikes struck against the side of the monster's mouth and sent the big lizard toppling over onto his back.

Vader moved the Cyborg over and stared down at the giant. For all it's strength and cunning, the fact remained that his own flesh inevitably failed him. The Cyborg Zillo-Beast could feel no pain and therefore it lacked the one thing that would always hold Alpha Predator One back. The creature could not harness that pain into hatred like him, like all Sith did. For Vader, Pain was a strength, for this dumb animal it was a chain.

"Now to end this," Vader stated simply.

Vader raised the Cyborg's foot and prepared to slam it onto the downed lizard's head. No more half measures, he'd make sure it was dead this time by crushing it's head. But as the foot speeded towards the creature's skull, the reptile's arms shot up and grabbed the foot in mid-air. It then forced itself up, snarling as it did. It pushed the leg away from him, causing the Zillo-Beast to stumble before the big lizard delivered a powerful tail swipe that knocked the cyborg clear across the battlefield and into the perimeter wall of the science lab complex.

As the smoke cleared, Vader forced the cyborg to stand up amongst the debris. He stared once more at the giant lizard, its massive chest heaving with every deep breath and its eyes staring unwaveringly at Zillo-Beast's own, as if peering behind their veil. Vader had seen this look on many before, a sense of purpose, of drive, of unyielding determination to stand against the inevitable. It was the same look on Obi-Wan when they faced each other on Mustafar. It was how Captain Rex looked before every battle they fought together. It was Ahsoka's face whenever she stood against an enemy that was out of her league.

Every one of those memories made his hatred greater, his anger towards this creature grow. It did not know when to lay down and die. It would learn, one way or another. It was tired, still weak from before. The outcome of this fight was all but certain.

"You are indeed impressive, monster," Vader admitted aloud. "But you are no match for the Dark Side. Nothing is."

Vader flicked a few of the switches along the control board, transferring power from the electrical nodes in the tail to all three hands. The Cyborg punched them together as they charged, sparks arcing between the balled fists. Alpha Predator One just roared and raised its claws as the cyborg charged, Vader punched once, the creature blocking him, before swiping again and striking the lizard in the face with a powerful electrically charged haymaker. He'd beat this thing to death if he had to. And once the monster fell for good, the Rebels swarming the base would learn the same lesson. That nothing could face the Empire and survive its wrath.

Ahsoka took a brief pause to watch the battle through a large hole blown out of a wall. Godzilla was standing bravely against the cybernetic monstrosity, but courage and drive were not enough. He was still weak from his earlier encounter, as Ezra suspected. He had not yet fully absorbed enough radiation to bring him up to full strength. Unless something changed, and fast, he would not survive. Ahsoka hoped that if she was successful, it would turn the tide back in the monster king's favor. It was the only hope they had now if they wanted the Zillo-Beast defeated. Like it or not, Godzilla's victory in this battle was now tied to that of the Rebels' own success.

Weathering the onslaught of punches, Godzilla struck out with a single claw swipe that batted the cyborg backwards. He then threw his entire body weight into a powerful shoulder check that pushed his adversary away from him. Godzilla lumbered after his opponent, determined to keep up the fight. This took him out of Ahsoka's direct view, as the open gash no longer provided a visual. She continued on, the Force as her only guide. Something told her there was another presence in this facility, something working the strings of the Zillo-Beast. The source was not far, although it was through areas of the complex that the Rebels had not yet breached.

She only got a few more feet down the platform before a trio of Stormtroopers and an Imperial Officer appeared around the corner. They spotted her instantly and pointed their guns towards her. That was the problem with being a Togruta, it was really hard not to stand out. Especially when you were wandering the halls of an Imperial installation.

"There's one, take her down!" The officer ordered.

Ahsoka wasted no time in reacting, she pulled out one of her lightsabers, activated it and blocked the incoming shots. She thought she heard the Imperials shout aloud in surprise at the revelation of what she was, but it wouldn't matter. As they kept firing, she advanced and their blasts bounced back off to strike the Imperials down. The officer was the last one standing and Ahsoka easily aimed a final shot right back into his face. As the man went down she looked over their bodies.

The fact they had spotted her so easily seeped in even more. If her concerns were right, then what she was about to do was incredibly risky. She couldn't completely hide her species, but she could hide her face. At least partially anyway, hopefully that would be enough.

She cut a large piece of cloth off the officer's uniform, big enough to wrap around her head. She then wrapped the makeshift bandana around her face, covering her mouth and nose. It wasn't much, but at least it would partially hide her identity from whoever was at that cyborg's controls. Then again, it was hard to hide anything from a fellow Force User.

She could still hear Godzilla's battle raging outside. Her makeshift disguise secure, she hurried to her destination. She suspected she wouldn't like what she found there, but it didn't matter. Her instincts told her it was where she needed to be right now.

Moira never liked being stuck on the ground. She belonged in the air, that was her element, where she knew the score. Down in the dirt, nothing was ever so clear cut to her. She was just grateful that most of the surviving Stormtroopers still couldn't hit the backside of a bloated bantha. It probably had a little to do though with the fact they didn't want to damage their precious servers with all their valuable research.

She fired up at the scaffolding above them, but her shots went a bit wide. The Stormtrooper she was aiming for returned fire and she ducked back into cover. She looked over to Jetty who was leaning partially out of cover himself and firing at the Stormtroopers above. He jumped back into cover as a few dozen blaster bolts hit his server. They stopped moments later and Moira thought she heard one of Imps shout in anger.

"I told you to watch the computers, idiot!"

So they were being careful about destroying their stupid servers. At least that was one advantage they had. She looked over to Chopper, still fiddling with the computer port.

"How much longer is it gonna take?" She asked him.

The astromech just growled a bunch of annoyed electronic grunts at her in response.

"Well, work faster then!" Moira growled back.

She stuck her blaster out again and fired on the Troopers once more. Her shots managed to hit one of them this time, stopping the others in their tracks before they could get to their flank. She wouldn't be able to keep that from happening for long. They needed a new plan. She tried scanning the upper platform before spotting a power conduit near the Imps' position. Her blaster probably wasn't enough to breach the shielding around it, but maybe someone with a rifle could.

"Jetty, can you hit that thing?" Moira asked the droid as she pointed to the target.

"Roger, roger," Jetty happily replied, giving a thumbs up as he did.

Jetty took aim and released a wild spray of laser fire. The power conduit exploded into a burst of electricity and took out two Stormtroopers as it went off. Arching pulses of wild energy prevented any further movement along the upper platform, not until they managed to shut the power off. They had bought Chopper more time, but Moira knew Imps. She knew it wouldn't slow them down forever.

"Really starting to think we should've just bombed this place," she argued aloud. "Honestly, how much data can you recover from melted slag?"

Chopper countered her statement with a series of annoyed electronic grunts.

"Oh and this is somehow less risky," Moira replied in equal displeasure. "Just delete this Imp Science Junk already so we can get the hell out of this hole!"

She went to fire on the Stormtroopers once more, but quickly ducked back behind her server when a barrage of fire raked the ground in front of her. Great, someone broke out the heavy blaster repeater up there. This was not what she needed right now.

"Enough of these games, Rebel!" Demanded one of the Stormtroopers. "Our reinforcements are on their way. Whatever you're doing to our data won't matter, you won't get out of here alive."

"That's all you people ever say you know," Moira shouted back. "It's gotten seriously old. Honestly, do they give you Imps like a book of phrases to say when in the field? Do they list all the times it's appropriate to say Rebel Scum? Cause if they do, maybe they should re-prioritize on making you idiots decent shots instead! Maybe then you'd actually hit something!"

Another raking of blaster bolts cascaded across the ground.

"I can assure you, we won't miss," the trooper promised. "Call off your droids or we'll start shooting through the Servers just to get to you!"

Moira suddenly felt this was a bit off. She would've put this up to them just trying to scare her or taunt her into action. But why would they start that now? Seemed a bit pointless to ask for a surrender after you've killed a few of their friends. And really? Now they were ready to start hitting the servers and risking the data they were probably told to recover? She supposed it was possible, but it just felt like they were too quick to turn around on that. No, something was off here. It felt like they were doing what she did in the air, drawing her attention to them. As if they were trying to... distract her.

Moira turned to their left flank. No one on the platform above, but maybe they weren't on the platform. She looked to Jetty and motioned him over to the left side of the servers. The droid nodded while she kept up the ruse.

"What's it matter anyway? Your little science project is exposed now," she told them. "How many credits is it gonna cost the Empire to rebuild everything you need, data or no data? And when they destroy the weapon you've been making here, then you're back to square one. Seems pretty pointless to still be here."

"That's not your concern," the Stormtrooper reiterated. "You try to escape and we'll cut you down. That's all you should be thinking about."

Moira looked to see Jetty nearing the other end of the servers. If they were trying something they'd know soon enough.

"And you'd think I'd prefer who knows how many months of torture before being executed then?" She asked with a chuckle. "That's the problem with the whole iron fisted regime thing guys, it's really hard to convince people you care at all about negotiating."

"This is not a negotiation," the trooper insisted. "Surrender or die, those are your only options."

Suddenly someone appeared around the corner of Jetty's server, a Scout trooper of all things. Jetty screamed in surprise as the Imp grabbed his head suddenly and threw him against the opposite server. Moira took aim with her blaster just as the Imp aimed his at Chopper.

"You didn't even wait for me to refuse the stock Imp demand," Moira told him. "How incredibly rude of you. Now put the rifle down and back away from my droid friends."

"Tell your droid friend to get out of the system and I'll consider it," the Imp replied.

Moira looked to see Jetty was still functioning, thank the Maker. The Imp didn't spot it though, still leaving his gun trained on Chopper as he worked. He apparently knew the real danger here and was relying on his trigger being faster than Moira's. That may have been true, but it wouldn't matter.

"Need I remind you what your pal up there just said," she replied to the Scout with a grin. "This is not a negotiation."

Jetty pulled the trigger of his rifle and shot the Scout trooper in the back of the leg. The Imp's gun misfired as he stumbled. Moira rushed up and clocked the man in the jaw with her blaster, where he fell to the ground limp on his back. She grabbed the rifle away from his unconscious form and aimed it through one of the breaks in the server towers. She fired a few bursts, killing at least one trooper on the platforms above. As she back away into cover, Chopper chirped happily over to her.

"It's done?" She asked. "All the data is getting deleted?"

Chopper beeped a satisfied response in kind, saying it would be less than a minute before these servers were empty husks.

"Then lets book," she ordered, helping her downed battledroid to his feet. "Jetty, escape plan alpha!"

"Roger, roger," the battledroid stated with a thumbs up.

Jetty pulled a smoke grenade off his waist, activated it and tossed it into the air. As it was flying, Moira shot it, creating a huge instant cloud burst. The Stormtroopers above were effectively blind.

"Shoot! Shoot everything! She's making a break for it!"

The Imp on the heavy repeater began blasting up a storm through the Server room. Meanwhile, Moira and the droids were ducking the incoming fire and rushing towards the back exit. There was probably going to be a few Imps outside just in case this happened. If that was the case, they'd have to shoot their way out.

As they neared the exit though, Chopper beeped over at Moira, asking her for the rifle. She tossed the weapon over and Chooper caught it in one of the robotic arms that sprouted from his head. He then dropped down one big wheel in front and sped towards the exit. It opened moments later, to reveal two stormtroopers trying to block their way. Only for them to see the image of a screaming little astromech, armed with a gun charging and shooting at them. Needless to say, they ran right back out the door as the laser fire came at them. One of them got mowed down as Chopper raced through the exit, the astromech's bulk knocking him into a wall. Moira and Jetty followed closely after him.

"Let's get to your ship, Chop," she told the droid. "I've had enough of the ground for one day."

Ezra made his way through the facility, trying to find his friends. He decided that heading towards the sound of the most blaster fire was the most surefire way of locating them. Surely at least one of them was on the front lines. He soon found himself closing in on the command center for the entire base. The Rebels now had the Empire boxed inside there from the look of things. While tying up the Imperials with the defense of their Command Center had been the initial goal, it seemed like that had shifted a bit. The Rebels were pretty much on the verge of overrunning it by the time Ezra showed up.

The Stormtroopers were holding out, if only just. They had set up a number of laser turrets to keep the Rebels out, pinning a number of them down on both the ground and inside buildings nearby. Ezra had to duck and run as one of the turrets tore through a wall and caused debris to fall. After that, he worked his way through the Rebels around him, keeping his head low as laser fire was exchanged overhead. He scanned around him all the while, until he spotted pink Mandalorian armor just ahead. Sabine was still fighting, her twin blasters taking shots at the bucketheads in front of her. Zeb was there too, doing the same. He quickly scurried over to them, dropping in beside them.

"Hey guys," he greeted as he plopped down between them.

"Finally decided to join the fun, huh?" Sabine asked, sounding a bit annoyed. "Bout time."

"I was busy getting our trump card back into play," Ezra coyly reminded her.

"I noticed," Sabine replied, still taking shots at the troopers. "It's why I'm only slightly angry with you."

A sudden barrage of laser bolts forced Sabine and Zeb to duck down into cover beside Ezra. Fire rained down on their barrier, scorching the metal with every shot. Despite the chaos around them, the three crew members remained calm and huddled together as the shots kept coming.

"Okay, we may have gotten a bit overeager here," Sabine sighed. "We never actually planned to take the Command Center, but after everything went absolutely insane for a bit, objectives have shifted here."

"If we can just get past those turrets we could get inside," Zeb growled. "What's left of their command structure will completely fall apart. Making everything else a whole lot easier after that."

"Well I'm here, so I might as well help and make up for lost time," Ezra suggested. "Any ideas?"

"Yes," Sabine replied with a chuckle. "All of them involving my favorite thing of course."

She held out a few high explosive grenades, about all she really seemed to have left at this point.

"I could throw them, but I'd rather not take the chance of missing," she explained. "But a Jedi can take the margin of error out of the equation."

"Sounds up my alley," Ezra nodded with determination. "Let's do it."

Sabine activated one of the grenades, raised her arm back, aiming for her target and hen she went for it. It was a good throw, but as suspected they were just too far to reach the turret. Ezra reached out with the Force, however, and stopped the explosive as it was starting to drop. With keen focus and skill with the Force, he pushed the deadly little bomb a few feet farther. He let the grenade drop and allowed it to roll just beneath the turret. The gunner spotted it a split second before it detonated. Both him and his gun went up in a huge burst of fire and smoke.

Sabine threw a second and Ezra was right on it, pushing the grenade out the gate. It was enough to get it within spitting distance over the head of the targeted gunner when it exploded in mid air. The airburst of shrapnel took out the gunner as well as a number of Troopers nearby.

"One more, central turret in the overlook area above the main gate," Sabine told him. "Opening is small though."

"I can do it," Ezra assured me. "I've had to move far bigger things today."

He watched as Sabine activated the grenade and tossed it as hard as she could, adding a slight bit of spin to the explosive as it flew. Ezra reached out through the Force one more time, guiding the bomb as if it were torpedo more than anything. He aimed its path, redirecting it as best he could through the air, forcing it to head towards the small pillbox-like opening where the turret fire was coming from. As it rocketed through the narrow space, Ezra released his hold. Moments later a huge burst of flame ejected outward and guns at last fell silent.

"Everyone move in! Finish them off!" Shouted one of the nearby Rebel Commanders.

With a huge gap in the Imperial's line of defense, the Rebels started pouring through. The Stormtroopers weren't about to give up though, they tried to rally and establish a perimeter. Not easy to do when you were suddenly lacking a few heavy guns. Zeb was already moving up with the other Rebels, firing his Bo-Rifle at sharpshooters along the Command Center's roof. Sabine and Ezra followed, covering the ground assault as they moved in.

One of the Rebels soon reached the gate and placed a charge on the door. He backed away and detonated the explosive, opening up the way inside the structure. Rebels rushed in, moving over downed Stormtroopers caught in the blast and firing at those now retreating into the facility. It wouldn't be long until they reached the Command and Control room at the top.

As Ezra, Sabine and Zeb reached the doorway, however, their comms started going off. It was on the secure channel, meaning it could only be Kanan or Hera. Sabine answered first.

"Spectre Five here," she responded. "Go ahead."

"This is Spectre Two," Hera's voice responded. "Where are you guys?"

"In the middle of assaulting the Imperial Command Center," Sabine answered. "I know, not part of the plan but the Empire is stretched to breaking here and every Field Commander decided to switch things up."

"Doesn't matter," Hera growled. "Are the others with you?"

"Yeah, including our runaway," Sabine reported. "He actually bothered to show up after all."

"I'm sending you our position," the twi'lek informed them. "I'm with an important asset and we're under fire. We need your help if we're going to get to secondary extraction."

"Alright," Sabine sighed. "On our way, stay alive."

Before Sabine could shut the comm off though, Ezra grabbed it. Hera needing their help didn't make sense, not unless she was alone. Kanan wouldn't do that unless he couldn't help it.

"Is Spectre One with you?" He asked suddenly.

"He has his own problems," Hera informed him. "We'll meet up with him at extraction, don't worry! Right now, we need you more!"

No sense in arguing with Hera when she was giving orders. The trio backed away from the besieged Command Center and made their way towards Hera's position. Eza just hoped his Master wasn't in too much trouble.

Kanan was in trouble and he knew it. For an old Clone, this guy was still pretty damn tough. He supposed that was no real surprise, Clones were bred for war before they could even walk. Age wasn't exactly going to dull that edge.

The Clone rounded the next corner and began firing the rotary blaster once more. As long as that gun was churning out bolts, Kanan couldn't get close to him. All he could do was back up and find better ground. As he did that, the Clone suddenly pulled out a grenade launcher. He kept shooting the rotary blaster as he fired a explosive in Kanan's direction.

The former Jedi had just enough time to force the grenade away from him, but it hit one of the pieces of machinery instead of him. The explosion didn't harm him, but it knocked him off his feet. Kanan felt the gip on his lightsaber go as the blast flung him away and caused his trusty weapon to fall onto a nearby assembly belt below.

The Clone climbed over the bits of wreckage in his way, aiming his rotary blaster at the downed Jedi. Kanan rolled into cover as the laser bolts slashed into the platform floor. Thinking quickly, Kanan looked around the area for something to use. He saw a bunch of spare cybernetic parts just hanging nearby. Using the Force he started grabbing every piece he could and flinging it back to where he figured the Clone still was. Eventually, Kanan just pulled over a large metal slab and used it as a shield as he stepped out of cover. The Clone's laser bolts hit the slab instead of the Jedi and Kanan kept Force Throwing chunks of Zillo-Beast cyborg parts at the old soldier.

The Clone dodged a lot of the scrap thrown his way, but one lucky throw slammed the Trooper in his stomach. His firing stopped as he dropped to the floor on one knee. That didn't mean he was giving up though.

"You think junk parts are gonna save you!" He growled aloud. "I spent half my life killing piles of scrap! Remember?"

Kanan looked high as the Clone tried to stand again. He saw more cyborg parts hanging overhead. He reached out with the Force once more and pried the cybernetics free. As they fell to the platform below, the Clone tried to duck and dodge the falling bits. The distraction was enough to allow Kanan an opening. He left the slab of metal he had been using behind and dove for the assembly line below. There, he rolled into his dive, grabbed his lightsaber and ignited it again.

The Clone, having survived the falling debris, turned his rotary blaster on Kanan once more and opened fire. Kanan ran for cover along the assembly line, avoiding the bolts licking at his heels. This didn't seem to deter the Clone at all.

"You just keep prolonging the inevitable!" He called out. "I'm going to wear you down eventually!"

Suddenly the assembly line beneath Kanan started up, the belt began to move and pieces of machinery sprung to life. The Clone must've reactivated everything, all just to make things a bit harder. Kanan wasn't about to give up though, not yet. He didn't care how many Jedi that Clone managed to kill, he was not going to be added to his tally. He just needed to even the odds a bit more and that meant removing that oversized gun he kept lugging around one way or another.

A powerful blast from the cyborg's hand cannons sent Godzilla reeling backwards, smoke billowing from the scorched flesh the weapons had struck. The pain would've been unbearable for some creatures, but not him. All it did was remind him he was still alive and along as that held true this battle was not hopeless. As long as he could stand, he would fight this abomination.

He moved in again, intent making it past the electrified fists and biting one of those arms off. At very least he could damage some of its weapons in the process. As Godzilla approached though, the cyborg reared up, two ports on either shoulder opened wide and unleashed their payload, proton torpedoes. The projectiles sped across the sky and streamed straight into Godzilla.

The giant saurian braced himself, but the impact was still too much to bear. The direct hit sent the king of monsters tumbling, crashing towards the ground, but Godzilla caught himself just before he hit the dirt, lessening the blow. As he rested himself against the volcanic dirt, he could hear the cyborg approaching. Another attempt to finish him off for good while he was down.

With little time to think, Godzilla looked for something to use against his opponent. A big rock, a patch of fresh dirt that could blind him, anything. Instead, he spotted one of the war machines he had destroyed before. His eyes were instantly drawn to one fully intact leg sticking out of the wrecked body. A devious little smile spread across Godzilla's face as he carefully tore the leg off. The cyborg stood over him now, aiming all three of its hand cannons at Godzilla's head. If the machine and it's unknown master wanted a quick execution though, they'd be disappointed.

Godzilla suddenly turned, swinging the leg of the walker like a flail. It slammed into the side of the cyborg's face. Godzilla stood up and swung again before the abomination could recover, slamming the big foot of the dead machine into the metal part of Zillo-Beast's face. Sparks flew from the metallic skull as the cyborg reeled back and away. Whatever damage the last hit did, it had been significant to say the least. It had to be if it was forcing the cyborg to fall back so suddenly.

Godzilla looked to his makeshift weapon, the foot had broken off in the last hit and the knee joint now fell away as well. The weapon had given him an edge, but it disintegrated too easily. He looked back to the downed AT-AT and reached for the machine's broken body once more. He slammed his fits into the metal corpse. In one hand, the cockpit and in the other, part of the outer armor from the chassis. Both parts now formed around his fists like gloves. He bashed them together, the resounding crunch of metal pleasing him greatly. He turned back to the cyborg now, still recovering from the damage to its robotic parts. It was now or never then.

Godzilla ran forward, pounding the cyborg with his newly made metal fists. A powerful stomach blow, followed by a right haymaker. The Zillo-Beast lashed back out with one of its arms, but Godzilla was prepared. He blocked the electrified punch just as it closed on his face and delivered an uppercut in return. Godzilla then slammed a follow-up punch into the cyborg's half metal skull repeatedly, hoping to add to the damage he had caused before. An explosion of sparks punctuated every hit as he laid a vengeful beatdown upon the the Cyborg Zillo-Beast's face.

As the Zillo-Beast seemed to waver, Godzilla finished up his attack by slamming both fists down upon the abomination's head. It was the Zillo-Beast's turn to kneel to the ground, where Godzilla swished his tail around straight into the half-machine monster's face. The Cyborg was lifted off the ground and crashed back into one of the buildings of the facility it had crawled out of. Godzilla roared in triumph, but it was premature.

The Zillo-Beast stood up again, whatever damage it had sustained was not enough to finish it. Suddenly, it opened its mouth roaring for a moment, before something began to glow bright beneath its throat. Without warning, a powerful green beam ejected out of the cyborg's mouth. Godzilla's eyes widened in surprise as the powerful blast struck him in the chest and threw him backwards. Godzilla slid across the ground, the force of the blast pushing him back. When the beam stopped, Godzilla dropped to all fours in pain.

The Cyborg was done playing it seemed, it was bringing out its heavy guns. Godzilla had no choice now. He had refrained from using his atomic breath because he was still rather drained from his overuse of it before. He hoped he'd have enough time to draw power from the shimmering lights of the sky where the energy danced above. This battle however had preoccupied him, forcing him to use his energy reserves to heal his wounds. Now though, he had to take the chance.

Godzilla stood back up, raised his head high, opened his mouth and when the energy had pooled into a bright glowing blue light in the back of his throat... he let loose. A powerful atomic beam shot out of Godzilla's mouth and the Cyborg followed suit. The two beams, blue and green, collided together at the center of the battlefield. A small eruption between them blew the volcanic dust from the ground as well as sent whatever was left of any AT-ATs nearby tumbling away.

The attacks continued to fight with each other, their power building as each of the giants poured more energy into them. Godzilla kept the attack up as long as he could, trying to force the beam back, but he did not have enough power to keep it at bay. His beam was soon pushed back, closer and closer to him, until it exploded in his face. Godzilla was catapulted away from the blast zone, crashing down with a deafening thunderclap. The momentum of the blast caused him to roll and tumble further along. He finally skidded to a stop near the edge of the forest.

The Zillo-Beast roared again, taking on a dominant posture as Godzilla rose once more from the dirt. He had seen that pose before, the robotic doppelganger looked that way just before it started shooting everything he had. The outstretched arms, the broad stance, the fact it had those gaudy looking metal things that rested on its shoulder blades pointed directly at him. It was setting up a barrage.

That mattered little to Godzilla now, he would not be frightened off by such intimidation tactics or the danger of an incoming storm. He'd keep fighting, because he had to. He needed to. Standing tall once again, Godzilla roared in defiance as he charged forward, perhaps for the last time.

The Cyborg seemed to grin sinisterly at the display. It finally began its barrage, firing off its missiles, proton blasts and laser cannons. Each shot swarmed towards him, pounding the surrounding area as well as striking Godzilla. Despite the pain, the explosions, smoke and force of impact, the titanic lizard kept pushing.

Some of the Zillo-Beast's missiles turned out to be incendiary, falling down upon Godzilla's back like flaming comets. He could feel the results, his back burned with a terrible scorching pain. He was on fire, set ablaze, but he kept running forward. He could not falter, he could not fail. He could not allow the Empire to use this thing to rage its wars, to pervert nature for their own selfish ends. This was bigger than him now, his life did not matter. This cyborg would die today, no matter the cost.

Ahsoka poked her head out of the maintenance shaft. These things had gotten way smaller since she was a kid, it was not as easy to squeeze through them. Thankfully she managed, it was better than going through the main door where she'd be heard. Now on the upper platform just above the room she could see what she was up against. Working the control panel resided a figure in black, effortlessly switching and turning knobs. She didn't try to read him with the Force, too risky, she needed to surprise him.

Quietly, she dropped down and saw what the figure was looking at. A large viewscreen from, what she imagined, was the point of view of the Cyborg Zillo-Beast. Godzilla was charging towards the cloned monster, soaking up fire from almost every main weapon the cyborg had been given it seemed. In fact, she could even clearly see the poor big lizard was on fire of all things, probably from an incendiary missile of some kind. The big reptile had a lot of heart after all, but his courage alone was not going to win.

Ahsoka knew she wouldn't have much time once she acted, the dark figure would know she was there. She needed to sever the connection between this control room and the monster it commanded. She activated her lightsaber and quickly threw it towards the control terminal. The dark figure quickly threw himself away from the controls, clearly using the Force to propel him backwards.

The lightsaber continued on, slashing through the command terminal with ease. The lights on the panel flicked and died within seconds, switches and monitors exploded outward as the saber returned to Ahsoka's hand. As the dark figure turned, Ahsoka plunged the lightsaber into another nearby control switch. Suddenly, the room's lights went out, casting everything in relative darkness save for the bright viewscreen slightly illuminating things.

Said screen revealed the outcome of the attack, the barrage ended, the Zillo-Beast seemed to pause mid-fight. The giant lizard king wasted no time in exploiting the sudden opening. He charged into the cyborg, punching it in the electronic eye with his massive fist before clawing against its face with his other hand. Ahsoka then saw Godzilla's giant grey tail crash into the screen and Zillo-Beast go tumbling back into the facility. A huge rumble shook the room and at that moment, the dark figure ignited his own bright red lightsaber.

Ahsoka now felt outwarss with the Force, but only slightly, just enough to see in the dim light. There was no doubt now, this was the Sith Lord that Kanan and Ezra had barely escaped on Lothal a short while ago. The one whose presence had knocked her cold when she felt it. She couldn't risk that happening again. At least this time, she was a bit more prepared given her suspicions. She could hear his horrific suit assisted breathing, every inhale and exhale. As Ezra and Kanan had described, cold, that's all she could feel. Just cold.

"If you think the darkness will offer protection, you have no idea who you are facing," he declared, his electronic voice sending shivers up Ahsoka's spine.

She remained resolute, keeping her sabers depowered for the moment as she moved out into the open slowly. She didn't answer him, not yet, she couldn't risk it.

"Your actions have not saved your pet, Jedi," he spoke once more. "It is still weak from battle and the prototype by now has switched to automatic control. Its programming will insure it carries out its mission to the end. It is more than a match for this primitive lizard you have set against us."

Ahsoka activated her lightsabers and rushed in, aiming for the Sith Lord's back. Her white sabers lit up the darkened room and the Sith turned just in time to block her dual blades. He then sent her hurtling back with a Force Push, but Ahsoka maintained her stance regardless.

"He's not my pet," Ahsoka answered at last. "His name is Godzilla, he's doing this of his own free will and, like us Rebels, it's best not to underestimate him. We're both full of surprises."

"Godzilla, so that is it's name," the Sith said, sounding rather unimpressed by her defiance. "Most interesting. But you will find that my estimations concerning the lizard are most accurate. You do not know the power of the Dark Side. It is stronger than any Jedi can hope to be. It flows through me and, even without my influence, through the prototype as well. This Godzilla cannot defeat it and neither can you."

"We'll see," Ahsoka replied defiantly.

Ahsoka charged in again, and once more the Sith Lord met her blades easily. Red and white light clashed together in the dark. She could see his face up close now, a dark sinister black mask staring at her with cold heartless eyes. He had not been lying about his power, she could feel the Dark Side resonating off him. This close it was almost unbearable. She had never faced a true Sith Lord before. Kanan and Ezra had just barely gotten away. But there was no running from this, not now. She needed to face this, face him, alone.

Running through the remains of the complex had suddenly got a bit more difficult. Even with all the buildings in the way, it was impossible to ignore the raging giant monster brawl. Moira almost fell onto her face when the tremor from the Zillo-Beast collapsing into a small tower hit her hard. Again, not something you could just ignore.

Godzilla had finally gained the upper hand and managed to knock the Zillo-Beast back behind the walls. Now Moira could see them wailing on each other every time she looked up. When Godzilla let off that big blue flame that scorched the front torso of the Zillo-Beast, she couldn't help but look. The Zillo-Beast of course wasn't so easily beat, he clocked the big grey lizard in the jaw and knocked the flame away. The display of two titans in a life or death struggle was awe-inspiring as much as it was terrifying. It reminded you of just how small you were in the face of the natural world and the universe in general. Her current struggle paled in comparison and scope, but was no less a matter of survival.

There were still a few Stormtroopers around who apparently thought she and her two droid companions were still worth chasing after. Leave it to Imps to have skewed priorities in the worst possible times. If she were in their shoes she'd be trying to find the nearest ship and getting out of here. Technically that's what she was doing, save for the fact she wouldn't be leaving just yet. Honestly, what did they hope to accomplish at this point? Revenge? Part of her could understand that, but she at least knew when to call it a day and hyperspace out to the nearest hideaway.

Jetty stopped for a moment as he fired back on the pursuing Troopers, at least one squad. He didn't hit anything, but the small alleyway was camped enough to force them to take pause. Moira looked back momentarily to try and take a shot herself, to cover Jetty while he caught up. She thought she spotted the same damn Scout Trooper from before among their pursuers. It was odd before that one of those had shown up in the first place, now it was just bizarre that he was still after her. What, was this guy just looking for a promotion or something? She took a few shots at him, forcing him to duck down to the ground. The Imp should've stayed on his stupid speeder, would've at least given him an edge in a chase.

As they made their way out of the alleyway, Chopper stopped by a junction box. He circled behind it and logged into it through a connection port. After a few quick turns, a surge of energy flowed through the power lines to a nearby regulator system for a generator in the alleyway. A sudden explosion followed shortly after, killing at least one Stormtrooper as he tried to continue the chase. The raging fires afterwards gave the rest of the squad pause.

Chopper then quickly caught up to Moira and Jetty who were making a run for some nearby stairs. That would take them up to the rooftops and hopefully closer to the Ghost. Moira suspected that the Stormtroopers would still be on their tails the whole way. She figured she could at least slow them down. She ushered the droids up the stairs first. Chopper grumbling as he bumped his way up to the top of the stairs inch by inch on his big middle wheel. This place wasn't very astromech accessible.

By the time Moira and the droids were clear, the Stormtroopers were close on their tail. That was when she tossed her high explosive grenade down the steps, letting it explode in the middle. The blast ripped apart the stairs, cutting the Stormtroopers off from them. They continued on their way, heading towards the Ghost. The Imps would be on their backs again soon, they had to make the most of what time they had just bought themselves before that happened again.

Kanan found himself constantly moving now, avoiding both the occasional laser barrage and the machinery that was constructing more cyborg parts. If he didn't have to deflect a few bolts, he had to roll underneath a big pounding steel press. Then, after that, he had to run past a heating unit before he got roasted to death. The Clone was trying to overload him now, just wear him down trying to avoid all this junk while he set up a perfect shot. Thing was, the old soldier had to at times do the same things to stay alive as well. He didn't have to worry about being shot at, but he had to avoid getting smashed as much as Kanan did. Not exactly even footing, but better than nothing.

It was likely one of them would make a misstep eventually, but Kanan didn't want to take the chance of waiting. This old guy was pretty spry for his advanced age after all. He needed to take that rotary blaster out of the equation. Sure, the Clone probably had another gun or two, but at least he wouldn't be spewing a thousand bolts per minute at him anymore. He just needed to get over to the opposing assembly line.

He saw his chance when a bunch of cyborg parts started rolling between the assembly lines on a winching system. Probably headed for processing somewhere. It looked to be his best chance to bridge the gap without being an open target in mid air. As it started to pass, he saw the Clone taking aim again. With one mighty effort, Kanan launched himself through the air and grabbed onto the machinery, activating his lightsaber as he gripped the winch line precariously. The clones shots were blocked by the cyborg piece being pulled along. On closer inspection it was probably some kind of leg or arm joint, although Kanan supposed it didn't really matter in the long run.

As the winch neared the Clone, Kanan used the force to push against the winch, making it swing over to the assembly line towards the Clone. The Imperial raised his weapon to fire, but Kanan slashed first. His blade cut through the barrel as he swung by. He then dropped from the winch and landed in front of the Clone who was still looking at his now destroyed weapon, probably fuming under his helmet.

The Trooper tossed the gun away, like the useless hunk of metal it was, right towards Kanan. The Jedi easily cut through it with his blade, only to see the Trooper pull out an Arc Caster. Kanan blocked the sudden burst of electricity with his saber. He didn't have to hold out long against the licking bits of man-made lighting though.

Suddenly the roof shook violently and a part of it was torn clean off by a massive claw. Then, suddenly, a giant grey head was pushed into the roof. It was Godzilla's head. So Ezra and Ahsoka had pulled it off. He wondered what that strange feeling he felt through the Force was before, what those earthquakes had been as he was running around not too long ago. Kanan had little time to be grateful to see the big lizard, as his sudden forced entrance was causing debris to fall everywhere, including on top of him and the Clone.

At least the ruckus had stopped the Clone's Caster shooting. With the lightning halted, Kanan rushed in and kicked the Clone off the side of the assembly line. He only fell another level, however, landing on a different conveyor belt below. By then the Clone had pulled out his Blaster Rifle and started firing on Kanan again. The Jedi ran for cover as both debris and laser bolts tried to either crush or perforate him respectively. Part of the conveyor belt he was on gave way when a large steel beam crashed down. Kanan eventually jumped over to a small platform along the side, just barely avoiding getting crushed by a piece of falling ceiling.

He looked up again and saw Godzilla force his attacker off him, delivering an uppercut in retaliation against his foe. Kanan didn't really see much of who he was fighting, but it could only be the Zillo-Beast. What else around here was big enough to force the big lizard into a boxing match? At least for the moment something was dealing with the big giant Imperial War Machine they had come to destroy. It took a bit of a load off Kanan's mind to know that he didn't have to worry too much about the main objective for the moment. With any luck, maybe he'd actually take care of it for him. Just Ahsoka had hoped.

He promised himself right there that if he got out of this and saw Ezra again, he wouldn't punish him too severely for running off to save the giant reptile. Maybe just a little extra hard training and not a full on punishment of cleaning out the Phantom's engines. Of course, he still had one angry Clone to deal with and given the sound of that blaster fire, he was far from finished with the crazy old buckethead.

The dark presence was gone. Godzilla no longer sensed anything pulling this massive puppet's strings. It was just a machine now, a machine with bits of flesh and bone, but a machine still. Machines could be broken, he knew that better than anyone. With nothing but it's own twisted programming driving it on, Godzilla knew he had to exploit this weakness while he could. He could already tell it was slower, both in deed and thought. It wasn't adapting nearly as quickly and it suddenly became more of a brawler than an acrobat with minimal evasion to his own attacks. He didn't know how long that would last, but it promised an opening that he could use to finally kill this Cyborg.

Godzilla had managed to force the abomination towards a large tower, part of some kind of communications array. Using his massive claws, Godzilla pushed the flimsy tower off its foundation and had it crash on top of the Zillo-Beast's head. Steel beams and bits of sheet metal tumbled down onto the giant cyborg's head. The debris clanging against its hard metal skull.

In retaliation, the abomination raised two of its laser cannons and fired them into Godzilla's upper torso. The impact of the blast was enough to force Godzilla back a step, his chest smoking. He turned to the right of him and saw a large antenna sticking out of a building. Makeshift weapons had been useful against the abomination before, perhaps they could again.

Godzilla ripped the antenna off the structure and held it like a small spear in his hand. He rushed back at the Zillo-Beast, just as it was opening its proton torpedo shoulder port. Godzilla wasn't about to let him use that trick again. Before the cyborg could fire a shot, the atomic saurian stabbed the antenna directly into the port like a dagger.

A small explosion erupted that partially blinded Godzilla for a few brief seconds. When his vision returned, he saw the Zillo-Beast howling as its shoulder spit out smoke and fire. One less weapon in the machine creature's arsenal. If he could remove more he could even the playing field in his favor. No more fancy unnatural tricks given to the cyborg by it's creators. It would have to fight fair for once and Godzilla knew he could easily crush the creature at that point.

With the Zillo-Beast reeling, Godzilla saw his chance to follow up his successful attack with another. He rushed over to grab the Zillo-Beast's head in his claws. Then, spotting another large structure nearby, Godzilla forced the cyborg's head towards it. He rammed the abomination's face clean into the side of the building. Glass and steel shattered to bits, part of the massive wall collapsed in on itself, debris cascaded down from the impact site. Godzilla then forcefully kicked the Zillo-Beast the rest of the way through the building, causing the whole structure to collapse into a heap.

When the dust settled the Zillo-Beast was up again. Losing its puppeteer apparently did not affect its recovery time too much. The creature aimed its shoulder blade missile pods at him once more and began to fire another barrage. Explosions erupted all around Godzilla once more, a number of them striking him. He weathered the bombardment regardless, refusing to be beaten back when he now had the upper hand. Fighting through the projectiles, he closed the short distance between him and the cyborg. He punched the Empire's walking gun in the face and then, when his quarry had been forced to turn away, he grabbed the right missile pod and, with all his strength, yanked it free of the abomination's back.

The Zillo-Beast roared as wires sparked and some discharged missiles went flying. With the cyborg's backside still fizzling, Godzilla slammed the pod into the Zillo-Beast's body. The first hit came with enough force to knock the cyborg down to the ground. Godzilla then started wailing on him with the large hunk of torn metal. He bashed the pod against the Zillo-Beast skull and body relentlessly. The ground itself started to crack with every blow.

Again and again, Godzilla brought the now broken weapon down on its former master. He would keep doing so until the pod broken completely or the cyborg's skull cracked open.

Suddenly, Godzilla felt a terrible stabbing pain in his leg. He looked down and saw the Zillo-Beast's tail had impaled one of its spikes into his upper thigh. The tail then sparked and flashed before sending out a burst of electricity tat shot up through Godzilla's leg and into his body. Godzilla screamed in pain and dropped the missile pod. The Zillo-Beast then stood up, yanked its tail free and then punched Godzilla square in the jaw and nose at the same time with both its left and third fists.

The double blow was enough to send Godzilla twirling backwards at least a whole block until he stopped. When he did, he felt something oozing from the corner of his mouth. The taste of iron, blood. This fight was back in his favor, but it was still taking a toll. Dismantling this cyborg's weapons was a start, but he needed to find a way to wound it. He had to actually cripple it somehow before he could truly kill it.

Godzilla wiped the blood away from the corner of his mouth while snarling, never taking his eyes of his opponent as he did. It had lost half of it's missile capabilities, but it still had a lot more weapons left to use. Godzilla flared his nostrils and huffed, a low rumbling growl in the back of his throat. There had to be a weakness, some chink in its armor. When he found that, he had to strike and fast. A decisive blow was his only chance.

Ahsoka swung her blades with a maddening pace. One after the other, she slashed at the Sith Lord constantly. Sparks flew every time her white blades clashed with his red. She pushed him further back with every strike, but despite being on the defensive, the Sith Lord barely seemed to be even trying. He easily blocked every hit from her dual sabers, shifting from one blade to the next as fast as she could swing them. Then, suddenly, he pulled back, her blades missing completely. At last he struck back, bring his bright red blade down towards her.

Ahsoka moved her sabers up and blocked the blow, but felt the crushing weight of it push her down slightly. Their blades crackled and sparked together as the Sith Lord held the lock and stared down at her. Ahsoka briefly looked in the black soulless mask, a slight twinge of fear as she did. She repressed it best she could, but not fast enough.

"I can sense your fear, Jedi," he told her. "You cannot hide it. If it comforts you, it is a most appropriate emotion for your situation."

Ahsoka finally found it in her to push back against his saber, releasing her from his hold. She swung with both blade at differing angles, but the Sith side-stepped one and dodged the other. He then swung a hard right slash of his own. Ahsoka blocked it, but she was staggered by the hit regardless. As she tried to regain her footing, the Sith stood unmoved, his blade slightly lowered to the ground.

"You know what I am," he stated. "Yet I sense you're holding back. As always, the Jedi fear their true power. Unable to do what is necessary. It is why the Darkside always prevails. Why the Sith shall always be stronger."

The Sith struck again, forcing Ahsoka into a defensive posture to block his slashes. It was almost impossible to keep up with every hit he swung at her, every blow he lashed out with. With each hit he took a single methodical step, his form towering over her like some immense black shadow. Not even General Grievous had been this imposing while he was alive. This Sith was just a big dark mass, pushing through you with ease while all you could do was wail uselessly.

She side stepped to the right, trying to catch him off guard somehow. All he did was move his blade towards hers, barely even looking and delivered a blow that nearly knocked her own sabers from her hand. He followed it up with another strike, locking her sabers with his own. He tried to push against her, to parry the lock away and get past her defenses. Ahsoka forced his red blade back up as best she could. She then ducked and rolled to his other side, but he turned with her, dragging his blade across the ground. Metal melted as his saber cut through the floor and Ahsoka had to move to block the coming upward swing. She caught it, but the Sith used the Force to push her backwards. She slammed into the broken control console and was barely able to dive away before the Sith slashed into her.

As the dark lord pulled his blade from the consoles remains he turned back towards her menacingly. He raised the blade ever so slightly, aiming it near her heart. He approached as slowly and methodically as ever. Ahsoka kept her own sabers high, intending to block the next strike. She also started to circle, trying to keep her distance from him while she looked for a weakness.

"Your persistence is admirable, but it is fleeting," he told her. "This is a battle I have already won. The entire Jedi Order could not stand against the Darkside. What hope do you have now when so little of you remain?"

Ahsoka didn't answer, but she did look to the viewscreen now behind the Sith. She saw Godzilla's face through the Zillo-Beast's eyes. He was also circling his opponent. Suddenly, Godzilla charged left but spun and struck out with his tail towards the right. The Zillo-Beast's head suddenly pointed away from the giant saurian only for an actual big grey fist to knock it skyward. Ahsoka looked back to the Sith and thought of an idea.

"You deceive yourself into thinking your reptilian ally will bring you victory," the dark shadow of a man claimed, nothing where her gaze was previously. "Even now I sense him weakening in his resolve. It is only a matter of time. And once he is dead, your Rebel friends will follow-"

Ahsoka lunged to the right, her swords stretched out along the ground. The Sith moved to intercept, but at the last second she changed direction, she moved to his left suddenly and slashed against his leg. She followed it up by striking him against the shoulder. The Sith grunted in pain and anger.

As she momentarily paused to refocus her attack, he lashed out suddenly, pushing her with the Force into a wall. He then threw himself toward her, lightsaber pointed at her chest. She rolled across the wall, barely escaping impalement. She lashed out with two overhead saber strikes, which the Sith just managed to block. Sparks of light exploded above their heads, before Ahsoka hit the Sith with her foot where she had previously cut him along the leg. The Sith staggered and backed away. Ahsoka lashed out again with a furious series of slashes for a bit.

In retaliation, he used the Force to push her again, but this time she was ready. She pushed back. The result was a small burst of energy that sent both of them flying in different direction. Ahsoka managed to keep herself from falling to the ground. The Sith slammed into another wall, cracking it beneath the force of his impact. Ahsoka looked on as he lay against the wall for a brief second, before he pulled himself out of the small indent he had made in it. He stood upright, sword raised across his midsection, as if he had barely even felt the impact at all. Like everything she had just thrown at him hardly even mattered.

Despite this, Ahsoka didn't waver. She refused to show another hint of fear. She wouldn't give that to him, not as long as she could help it. Even so, the Sith was right about one thing, she had been restraining herself. Whether he suspected the real reasons why she couldn't tell. She knew now thought she couldn't risk holding back anymore. Not if she wanted to survive. Not if she wanted to get her answers. Right now, staying alive and in this fight was the only way she'd be able to do just that.

Moira could finally see the Ghost before her, just waiting on the landing pad. She was eager to get inside, to get off the ground and fly again. She was even more excited at the prospect of flying the thing, given what she had seen Hera do with the ship earlier in the day. However, her excitement was tempered with the fact the damn Imps still weren't leaving her alone.

The incoming laser bolts forced Moira to get into cover behind some spare supply boxes. Jetty at least made it to the ship itself, finding safety behind a landing strut. Chopper rolled on ahead, opening the Ghost's cargo bay door. He activated the switch, opening the entrance to the ship and rolled inside as it touched the ground. With any luck he'd start the old girl soon and they'd be long gone from here in the next minute or two.

Moira fired into the mass of Stormtroopers, hitting one as he leaned out from cover to shoot. She caught another when another Imp started rushing up the stairs. A clean headshot sent him careening back down from where he came. A barrage of shots hit her crate, forcing Moira back into cover. Thankfully, Jetty picked up the slack, firing wildly at the Imps. He didn't really hit anything, but he kept the Stormtroopers' focus split.

"Come on, Chopper," Moira growled under her breath. "How long does it take to start this thing?"

Moira fired a quick burst of shots in a wide spread. One of those actually hit an Imp in the shoulder and made two others duck for cover. Placing her blaster against the top of the crate, steadying her aim, she took another shot at an Imp aiming for her. Her bolt hit him in th neck, sending wild bolts from his rifle into the air as he dropped.

It was then the engines for the Ghost started firing up. Moira looked to Jetty and pointed her head to the ship. Jetty nodded and the old battledroid ran to the boarding ramp. He fired a spread of laser bolts from his blaster as he moved into the cargo bay. Moira moved to assist him, heading to the ramp herself. She kept her eyes on the Troopers, firing on them, trying to keep their heads down.

Suddenly, a wild shot hit Jetty in the knee joint. He fell in the doorway with an electronic shriek. Moira turned as she heard him fall. The poor droid clawed his way to relative safety, as his joint sparked and spurted. The Ghost now started to take off, its landing struts lifting from the ground as the ship started to hover in the air. Moira ran the rest of the way, scrambling onto the boarding ramp as the ship started to climb. As she pulled herself up though, something grabbed her leg. She fell on her face, her blaster clattering into the cargo bay and out of reach. She turned back and saw, of all people, the Scout Trooper again, his armor singed and helmet visor slightly cracked, but alive.

Of all the troopers after her, one of them just had to be almost impossible to kill. The Ghost was now at least five feet in the air, getting ready for take off. Yet this stupid Imp with a death wish didn't seem to care as he tried to claw his way up her leg to get in the ship with her.

"Get off!" She shouted at him, more irritation than anger.

"You ain't getting away, Rebel!" He cried out at her. "Too many people have died because of you! Too many friends! It can't be for nothing! Someone has to answer for it! Someone has to pay!"

Moira rolled her eyes and promised herself to never accuse the Rebels of being self-righteous and melodramatic again. Like she cared about this dumb Imp's sob story. His comrades didn't care about what they had done to her dad, what they had done to her teammates and friends. And now he wanted her to feel bad about paying them back?

"Oh boo hoo, join the club, Buckethead!" Moira shouted back un-sympathetically. "Now get! Off! My! Leg!"

With every word, she kicked the Trooper in the head, breaking his already cracked visor even more. Finally the scout let go, falling back to the landing pad with a thud. If he survived that, Moira wouldn't be surprised. She wasn't going to stick around to find out if he had though.

She moved over to Jetty, who had crawled into a corner to nurse his wounds. He had already gotten out his tools and was fixing his damaged leg. Moira bent down briefly to check on the repairs herself. Poor guy, she thought, he had earned an oil bath or two when they got out of this, that was for sure.

"I'm okay, ma'am," Jetty assured as he looked up at her in his usual squeaky voice. "Get to the pilot's chair. I'll drag myself up once this is done."

Moira patted the battledroid on his shoulder.

"You did good today, ya old rust bucket," she told him. "Guess there's still a little of the combat programming left in there after all."

"If it's all the same, ma'am, I'll stick to mechanic from now on," he responded meekly.

Moira chuckled a bit. Then she made a dash for the ladder that would take her up out of the cargo bay. She rushed through the corridors of the ship's cockpit, past Chopper in the corner and slid into the pilot's chair. The astromech grumbled something at her.

"Of course I know how to fly this," she assured. "It's a Corellian ship after all."

Taking up the stick, Moira pushed hard on the throttle and blasted away from the landing pad. At last, she was back in the air, away from killer mutants and crazy stormtroopers alike. Back at last in her element where she had control. She breathed a momentary sigh of relief as she turned the Ghost around. They still needed to get to the rendezvous and pick up Hera and her crew when they arrived. As she did though, she spotted Godzilla and the Cyborg Zillo-Beast.

Even from the air, she still somehow felt small just watching the two go at it. Godzilla was currently keeping his arms crossed in front of his face, blocking shot after shot from the Zillo-Beast's laser cannons. At the very least it looked like the big lizard was holding on and had done some decent damage to the big ugly half-robot monster. They still had standing orders to bomb the reactor for the facility as a last resort. From the looks of things, there was a chance the explosion would be more than enough to kill big ugly cyborg. The easy option would be to hang back and wait for the signal.

At the same time though, it looked like the big grey reptile could use a little extra help. After all he had done, it seemed like a jerk thing to do. To just leave the big guy hanging. It didn't feel right. Damn, maybe these Rebels and their sentimentality was rubbing off on her too much. Perhaps being in the presence of Jedi had affected her sensibilities a bit. It didn't matter though, she already made the call in her head. She opened a comm-channel.

"Raider Lead to all wings, you receiving me?" She asked.

There was a brief moment of silence before she got a response.

"Boss, good to hear you still breathing," Gorossk's voice responded in surprise. "We were starting to think you actually bought it. Stupid us. We've mopped up most of the fighters by now, doing a few bomb runs for the Rebels where we can while staying as uninvolved in the big creature spectacle in the middle of it all."

"I'm afraid we're going to have to get involved in it, buddy," Moira informed him plainly. "Form up all wings on me. I'm flying Hera's ship for the moment. And Anglyph, if you're reading this, get your bombers ready for a run on my mark. We have one really big friend down there that could use some Air Support, Raider-Style."

Laser cannon blasts pummeled Godzilla relentlessly, with a missile colliding into him every other second or two. Without half of it's explosive payload, the Zillo-Beast was compensating with everything else in its arsenal. Godzilla weathered the storm of fire, even as explosions erupted all around him. Whatever didn't hit him, destroyed some other part of the Imperial facility in a fiery blast. Perhaps the cyborg's targeting systems were damaged, causing this less than perfect assault. Godzilla decided to wait the attacks out for the moment, at least until that remaining missile pod ran out of ammunition. Surely there wasn't much left after so much use.

As more balls of fire spontaneously erupted on and around him, Godzilla tried to move forward. He wanted to be as close as possible to the cyborg when this assault let up. He'd rip the thing's arms off first chance he got and then the abomination with them. It wasn't enough to kill this walking gun, he had to humiliate the Empire's perversion of nature at the same time. Seeing him destroy their creation would send the right message to the Cyborg's masters. That no technology they could create would be able to chain nature, that they couldn't improve upon it for the sake of their war. He had to break this monstrosity or more like it would be created.

He would not let that happen.

That was when the Zillo-Beast opened its mouth and fired its devastating green ray beam once more. It struck Godzilla across the chest and forced him backwards, nearly stumbling over the wreckage and debris beneath his feet. Another blast, this one hitting his head. Another struck his arm, cutting into the shoulder slightly. Godzilla kept pushing forward, reserving his near depleted reserves of energy to keep him standing.

Suddenly, one of the blasts struck Godzilla in the leg, near where the cyborg's tail spikes had dug into him. The wound was still fresh enough that the blast struck the titanic lizard hard. His leg buckled and he started to tip over. As he fell, Godzilla eyed the second remaining missile pod. Seizing what was probably his best opportunity, he aimed and fired an atomic blast at the pod. The radioactive beam cut into the pod near the shoulder, blazing clean through the metal. The pod lurched free from the cyborg's back, sparks bursting from its seams before crashing upon the ground in a heap near the zillo-beast's feet.

The cyborg looked at his now useless weapon, completely disarmed of his remaining missiles. It let out roar and lumbered towards the fallen King of Monsters. Godzilla struggled to get up, the pain in his leg still fresh. He tried pushing against the ground, tried to pull himself up and face his foe, but his entire body felt heavy. Every attempt to move back to his feet was a struggle, he just couldn't stand up.

The cyborg now prepared i's remaining weapons systems, its laser cannons on its arms and ray beam in its mouth. It aimed them all at the downed Godzilla, preparing to finish him once and for all. Godzilla stared at him defiantly, refusing to surrender. He just had to get back, he just needed time to get back up. He was so close to killing this abomination, he could not give up now. Too much was at stake for him to surrender.

Then, just as the cyborg prepared unload into him, something miraculous happened. Something exploded against the side of his head. Then came another explosion, followed by another. A volley of red tracer fire followed after that. From on high, something was striking the cyborg with a furious barrage. Bombs and missiles cascaded down like fiery hail, forcing the zillo-beast's attention away. Godzilla looked up as well and saw what was happening.

The Rebel aircraft, several dozen of them, all dive bombing and firing at the cyborg. They bombed, pulled up and then came back around for another run. Again and again, explosions erupted over the cyborg, it tried to fire back, but the plans were too fast for its lasers. It had no more missiles it could use to lock on and fire at the little fighters and bombers either. Godzilla had seen to that just now. It was like being swarmed by bees with no real means to swat them away.

The Rebels had come to his aide again, fighting the cyborg just when he needed them. Godzilla felt a strange feeling of companionship in that. Perhaps not friendship, but for the moment, brothers in battle. He supposed he could accept that. In fact, he dare say he was grateful, for it gave him the moment to recover and think. Pushing himself up best he could, he aimed his back towards the Zillo-Beast. He could already hear it charging up its ray beam, perhaps to kill as many fighters as he could. Godzilla would not give him the opportunity to fire though. With a mighty exhaling blast, Godzilla used the force of his atomic breath to fling his body towards the Zillo-Beast.

The two monsters collided with a tremendous crash, the spikes on Godzilla's back impaling the Zillo-Beast with ease. The two giants fell into a heap on the ground, an earth shattering thud following the collapse. Godzilla rolled himself off the now downed Zillo-Beast and got to his feet as fast as he could. With the dust still settling, Godzilla aimed his tail at the fallen cyborg and began whacking him repeatedly with it.

With every thwack, he beat the abomination further into the dirt. Godzilla's massive tail crushed the metallic pieces of the cyborg's body and cracked its armor with every blow. He started aiming for the head after a bit, hoping to bash the computerized brains of the Zillo-Beast in further. He could hear metal crunching beneath his tail, breaking and bending beneath his might.

Then he felt something bite him.

Godzilla lurched backward to see the Zillo-Beast clutching his tail in its mouth. It bit down hard as it raised its head back up. Godzilla grabbed his tail and wrenched it free, but not before getting kicked hard by one of the Zillo-Beast's legs. The metallic servos in the abomination's appendages managed to punt him away from the Cyborg. Godzilla only barely managed to stay upright. He looked back at the cyborg as he steadied himself and saw it charging its ray beam once more.

The attack came too swiftly to react. The beam hit Godzilla dead center and sent him flying backwards once more. He only stopped when he crashed into another building. Piece of debris fell on top of him, dust settled around him. Quickly though, Godzilla pushed himself back up. This cyborg would have to hit harder than that if it wanted to win.

That was when he saw it charging it's ray beam once again.

Hera fired on the platforms above as Stormtroopers continued to swarm over them. The eggs were of course fine within their protective cases. She and Boll were a bit more exposed. Another burst of shots rang out from the twi'lek's blaster, cutting down two bucketheads in quick succession. As their bodies dropped off the side of the platform above though, they were replaced by another stormtrooper just behind.

"Where are all these guys coming from?" Hera asked as she ducked back into cover.

"We probably ran into right into their retreating forces," Boll suggested. "Security protocol gives strict orders to fall back to mission critical zones in case of attack. We're right in the path of the main labs and reactor core."

"Well that's just great then," Hera sighed. "Our people are winning and that still makes things harder for us."

Hera popped up again and managed to snag a headshot on another buckethead. He too fell over the side of the platform. She knew though that they couldn't stay here, eventually the Troopers would work their way down here and finish them off. They needed to get out of here before that happened.

Luckily, that was when the calvary arrived. Laser fire hit the Stormtroopers on one platform from behind before a small explosion sent the others flying clean off the section. On another platform, bo-rifle shots sounded before one buckethead was punched clear off the side. Jumping up from a catwalk below appeared Ezra, lightsaber in hand. The remaining Stormtroopers on an adjacent higher platform fired on him as well, only for their shots to be directed back at them by the boy's blade. One by one, the bucketheads indirectly shot themselves until their guns at last fell silent.

"Good to see you three," Hera said warmly. "Would've liked you here earlier, but I'll take it."

Zeb and Sabine jumped down to their level from above, landing in front of the egg crates.

"Hey, this place is a bit of a mess," Zeb argued. "We're lucky we managed to find you at all."

"What's in the boxes?" Sabine asked.

"Extra cargo," Hera explained before looking to Boll. "Meet our inside source, Doctor Sionver Boll. We need to get her and these crates to the rendezvous point and fast."

"It's vital to the future of an entire species," Boll insisted.

It didn't take long for Sabine, smart girl as she was, to piece things together from that once she got a better look at said cargo.

"You gotta be kidding," she groaned. "Zillo-Beast eggs? You have more of those things in there?"

"I've already had this conversation with Kanan," Hera grumbled dispassionately. "We're taking them with us. End of story. Now I just need you guys to help me get them there."

Sabine and Zeb looked at each other and just shrugged.

"Alright, I guess it's not like we can argue at this point," Zeb sighed.

Ezra moved over to Hera, a nervous look on his face.

"Where is Kanan exactly?" He asked desperately. "You said he was in trouble."

"Some crazy Stormtrooper shot at us while we were extracting the eggs," Hera explained. "Kanan stayed behind to hold him off."

"Kanan should've handled a Buckethead easy and caught up to you then," Sabine noted. "Are we sure he's okay?"

"I don't know, he's not answering his comm," Hera sadly admitted. "But we can't worry about that right now. We need to get to the ship."

Ezra, however, did not agree. He pushed past the group suddenly and broke into a run.

"Ezra, come back!" Hera called out. "We need to get out of here!"

"Go ahead without me then!" He shouted back. "I'll find Kanan and we'll catch up!"

If Hera said anything more, Ezra didn't hear her. He supposed he should've at least asked where Kanan was, but then again he didn't really need to. He could reach out to his Master, he could find him. He had done it before. Feeling through the Force as he ran, he tried to pinpoint Kanan. If he was hurt or trapped somewhere, Ezra had to find him. It was his fault he was alone right now. It may have been for good reason, but it was still his fault. He needed to reach him.

But, as Ezra felt through the Force, he sensed another presence. This one was not of his Master. It was Ahsoka, yes he could feel her. She was close, very close. She felt distressed, exerted, aggressive. She was in trouble herself and Ezra soon realized perhaps in more danger than Kanan. This was because he felt another presence with her, one he recognized from Lothal. Cold, he felt cold. He knew what that meant.

Ahsoka lashed out at the Sith Lord once more, a furious display of swipes from below and from the side. Despite being able to block her swipes, the Sith was stuck in a defensive posture regardless, using all his skill to keep up with her swings. It felt like things were turning. Then suddenly, the Sith lashed out with a Force Push. Ahsoka went flying towards a wall. At the last second, she righted herself, bracing her feet against the vertical surface. She then pushed herself off the wall, the Force carrying up through the air. She came down towards the Sith, her slashing towards his head.

The Dark Side user blocked the attack, but the force of the impact pushed him down slightly. Ahsoka stabbed through his defenses once, forcing him to pull away. She then lunged at the red blade once more, knocking it slightly back. The Sith Lord finally threw out an attack of of his own, but she blocked it by positioning her blades into a scissor. The Sith pushed on her blades and she his. Sparks and a mixture of white and red light resonated from their lock as each of them tried to push through the lock.

The Ahsoka used all her strength to push back against the blade, the electronic breathing of the Sith growing louder as their struggle continued. Finally, Ahsoka kicked out with her foot, striking the Darkside user in the chest. It was a kick strong enough to send him stumbling backwards, but he did not fall. All she accomplished was beating him back once again.

Ahsoka now reasoned brute force would not be enough, so she decided on another method. She lowered her blades, keeping them along her sides outstretched but deactivated. She closed her eyes and let the Force act as her sight for her. She could feel the Sith rush forward, his feet pounding against the ground. She sensed him raise his sword in a slicing motion and within an instant, acted accordingly.

She moved gracefully away from his first swing and then caught his arm with her second. She then moved herself around his left side, pushing him into a wild spin. She then activated one lightsaber and lashed out. She sliced slightly into the Sith's side, eliciting an angered cry. She finally slid to a stop behind him now and returned to a more defensive stance. Opening her eyes at last, she saw the Sith in pain, but still unrelenting. As if what she had accomplished wasn't a great deal, as if he had felt much worse.

"You are indeed strong with the Force," he admitted. "Your Master taught you well, whoever he was."

Ahsoka tensed slightly, her grip on her lightsabers tightening. She stared the Sith down now, trying to gauge him without sensing too deeply through the Force. She couldn't risk another shock, not now, she'd be vulnerable. She felt a creeping sense of doubt, however, boiling up from within. He must've sensed it too, because that was when he struck.

The Sith sent his red saber hurtling through the air, spinning like a whirlwind. Ahsoka brought up her blades up to protect her, knocking the attack away with a good solid hit. She saved herself from being split in half, but had let her guard down in face of the real threat. The Sith Lord pushed against Ahsoka through the Force and sent her back into a wall. This time, he held her there, an invisible hand bracing her against the steel, pushing her into it, almost crushing her.

"But not well enough," the Sith added as he effortlessly caught his returning lightsaber.

He approached her now, keeping his outstretched arm aimed towards her. She could feel the darkness resonating from him as he got closer, a wall of pure hate and pain. She couldn't struggle against it, his power was overwhelming. All she could do was stare back in defiance as his gaze aligned with hers. His grip through the Force tightened around her as he did.

"I will not kill you, yet," he assured coldly. "Your Rebels will meet a quick end, but for the moment my Master believes you can provide us with information."

"Never," Ahsoka spat back.

"It is useless to resist," he insisted. "You will give us everything we require from you. You will tell us all you know. Only if we are satisfied, will your death be relatively painless."

Ahsoka was not deterred by the threat, she merely looked at her captor with absolute serenity.

"There is no death," she answered back. "There is the Force."

"We shall test that in due time," the Sith assured her. "For now, while my Master requires you alive... he does not require you whole."

The Sith activated his saber and brought it up towards one of her arms. Ahsoka braced herself for the coming swipe, but instead she heard something spark wildly, a stun gun blast. It struck the Sith Lord in the back, removed his concentration for a slight second. Just enough for Ahsoka to force herself out his invisible grip and push back against him. She sent the Sith across the ground with a powerful Force Attack. As she did, she saw her savior, young Ezra Bridger, his lightsaber in hand, still in stun gun mode, shaking but still keeping it aimed at the Dark Lord.

The Sith then pushed Ahsoka back, slamming her head against the wall. He now turned towards Ezra who now activated his own lightsaber. The Sith looked down at the child with utter contempt and loathing. Ahsoka, now sprawled out on the ground from the blow to her head, looked up to see the dire scene for herself.

"That was a mistake, boy," the Sith stated. "Your last mistake."

As the Sith raised his blade to strike Ezra down, Ahsoka reached out through the Force. She pulled on some electronics equipment and computerized systems hanging from the ceiling. With all her strength, she wrenched it all free and sent it crashing down towards the Sith. Tons of wires, extra servers, monitors and such crashed down on top of him. Ahsoka raced to her feet and ran around the mountain of electronic junk towards Ezra.

"Are you okay?" He asked, still a bit shaken.

"I told you not to follow me and find your Master," Ahsoka reminded him. "You coming here was incredibly reckless and foolhardy. You could've been killed if I had reacted a second later."

Ezra looked down slightly disappointed in her response. Her frown disappeared into a slight grin as she ruffled the kid's hair affectionately.

"You're a lot more like me at your age than I realized," she told him with a slight laugh. "Thank you, Ezra. I owe you my life."

The young boy smiled back.

"Yeah, same to you for returning the favor so quickly," he chuckled, still a bit unnerved.

Ezra than looked to the screen and saw the struggling form of Godzilla battling the voracious Zillo-Beast cyborg. The Rebel Air Support was trying to assist, but it didn't look good.

"There's nothing more we can do for him at the moment, Ezra," Ahsoka informed him. "We have to trust he will find a way to win."

"I know," Ezra assured her, shaking his head sadly. His resolved suddenly returned however as he seemed to remember something else. "We can worry about it later, right now we need to get to Kanan. He's in trouble."

Before Ahsoka could ask what he meant, the pile of computer equipment she had crushed the Sith Lord with began to shake and crumble apart. She grabbed Ezra's hand and bolted out the door he had come through. She should've known better than to assume the man within the pile would've been killed so easily.

"Explain on the way," she shouted to Ezra as they ran. "Keep moving, do not look back!"

Vader broke free of the pile of garbage at last, making the entire heap explode clean off him. He sensed the fleeing boy and woman, rushing away from the room at a lighting pace. They had a good start, but it would not save them. Especially not her. He began to walk after them, following their ripples through the Force, his lightsaber near his side.

"No," he declared coldly. "Not this time, Apprentice. Not this time."

Kanan was starting to wish he had Ezra's lightsaber. He could shoot and block shots, worked on the Inquisitor after all. Without his apprentice's unique weapon though, he was stuck with just his blaster. Normally that would be enough, but against a Clone it was only a slight advantage. Using his saber to block shots and his blaster to fire back, Kanan had started making steady progress towards an exit. He really didn't have time to bother with this guy anymore. He had to get out of here and catch up to Hera. This damn Trooper though had no intention of making that easy. Even when he had lost half his guns by this point, he was still willing to fight.

Now in cover in a small alcove, Kanan kept his head low, as laser bolts continued to hammer his position. He could barely manage to return a few shots when he saw an opening. The Clone apparently thought he had his target pinned. Kanan intended to correct this mistake. After trying to fire back on the Trooper once more, he pulled back into cover and waited for a moment. He could hear the Clone approaching slightly, not too close though. He wasn't stupid enough to get into range of a lightsaber. He had, however, seemingly forgotten about the other weapon the Jedi had at their disposal.

The next time the firing ceased, instead of shooting back, Kanan sent out a powerful Force Wave. The intention was to fling the Clone backwards. However, somehow the Clone rolled to the side. He only caught the lip of the Force Push. That knocked one of his twin blaster pistols from his hand, but the Clone quickly got back up and started shooting again. Kanan blocked the incoming shots with his lightsaber in one hand and fired back with his own. One of his blasts actually scored a hit on the Clone's arm and he dropped his blaster in pain.

Kanan kept his blaster trained on the Trooper with his saber slightly lowered. He thought for a moment to aim for the head, but at the same time he didn't feel it was right. The man was out of guns now, out of weapons, kill shots just weren't his thing. It was over as far as he was concerned. He'd incapacitate him and make a run for it. He would not seek revenge, as much as he may have wanted it. He wouldn't give into this old man's perception of him. He wasn't worth the trouble.

"Stand down, don't make me hurt you," Kanan warned.

"Too late for that," the Clone stated defiantly. "Way too late."

"You're unarmed, you don't have a chance here," the Jedi informed him once more. "Just get up against the wall, give me that detonator for those bombs you've planted and let me walk out of here. This is over."

"Not yet," the Clone insisted. "Not just yet."

Suddenly, the Clone lungd forward, moving faster than Kanan anticipated. He grabbed the blaster in Kanan's hand and forced it up. A single bolt discharged and the Clone punched Kanan in the face. The Jedi moved to defensively slash the attacking Clone away with his saber. The Trooper ducked and punched the Jedi in the solar plexus. They struggled with the weapon for another moment or two, before the Clone threw Kanan to the side. The blaster clattered to the floor and out of the Jedi's reach. He quickly stood back up and raised his lightsaber. He then saw the Clone go for something in his belt.

"Another gun?" He asked.

"Nah, should've realized from the start that wasn't gonna work on you," he admitted. "You wanna face a Jedi, you gotta fight on his terms."

The Clone pulled out what looked like some kind of sword. It was short weapon and very peculiar looking. Then he saw the weapon start to spark electrical energy along its sharp edge. Kanan soon realized what it was before the Clone even spelled it out.

"Vibroblade, kept it as a souvenir off this Seppie Captain I took out," he explained. "One of the only weapons that can stand up to a lightsaber. Never used it on a Jedi, not even with Order 66. Guess it's a good thing I held onto it either way."

The Clone charged suddenly, slashing towards the Jedi. Kanan blocked the strike and followed it up with one of his own. The two clashed their weapons together, the vibroblade not cutting in half no matter how hard Kanan struck. It certainly lived up to its reputation and time had not dulled its effectiveness. He lashed out with swipe after slash after slice. The Clone dodged or blocked every attempt and constantly tried to parry and cut Kanan along his hand.

Kanan tried to get around him, but the Trooper turned with his footwork. He was as nimble and agile as the Inquisitor, but he was rooted in his stance and that was all that mattered. Kanan eventually grew fed up and hit the Trooper with a Force Push. At this close range, the old man couldn't dodge. The Clone crashed into a railing, his back bending it on impact. He pushed himself off the damaged barrier, still swinging the vibroblade furiously. As Kanan defended against the onslaught of strikes, the Trooper put his leg between Kanan's and tripped him. He tried to follow the trip up with a downward slash, but Kanan parried the blade away and kicked the Clone in the jaw.

The Trooper stumbled away, holding his face. He growled at Kanan in anger, gripping his blade even harder. He moved to attack again, but then something struck him in the back on the shoulder, an electrical stun blast. He dropped to one knee and let go of the vibroblade. He reached for it, but something landed on the electrified shortsword and kept it pinned to the ground. He looked up and saw a Togruta female standing over him.

"Ahsoka," Kanan said with a great sense of relief at first, but then he grew concerned.

He had briefly forgotten about the bombs planted all over the room. When he saw Ezra move in from behind, his lightsaber's stun gun leveled at the Clone still, he grew even more concerned. Before either of them could ask what was happening, the Clone pulled out the detonator.

"You all better put down your fancy laser swords now," he demanded as he pushed himself up to his feet and held the detonator close. "I still got this room wired and I put a ton of them near this main exit. Either you surrender now or I take us all out here and now."

"We can slice that arm off before you can press down," Kanan warned. "It will take us less than a second."

"You really want to take that chance, Jedi!" He shouted aloud. "I've took plenty of you out in the Temple with even less time to react!"

Ahsoka looked at Kanan briefly, her lightsaber still drawn for the moment. Just by looking at him, Kanan didn't understand how, but it seemed like she knew what was going on in an instant. She looked back to the Clone and then deactivated her lightsaber.

"What are you doing?" Kanan asked fearfully. "Take him now!"

"I won't have to," Ahsoka insisted. "He's going to give me the detonator and let me disarm the bombs."

The Clone laughed.

"Why would I do that?" He asked.

"Because I know what you are and why you're doing this," Ahsoka assured him. "And it's not the reason you think."

"I'm not falling for any of your mind tricks," he told her, tensing up. "I'm not that stupid, Jedi."

"No tricks," Ahsoka assured him. "Just words. I know what's happening to you, why you're confused."

The Clone backed away slightly, holding the detonator tightly.

"I'm not confused," he declared. "For the first time since the end of the war everything is finally clear!"

"That's an illusion, something implanted," Ahsoka insisted pleadingly. "You're being manipulated, just like you were before at the Temple. But not by the Jedi. The Empire has been lying to you."

"Just because I got tossed into the garbage by them doesn't mean you can make me turn traitor," The Clone shouted back. "I'm a good soldier! Good soldiers follow orders! That's all I've ever done! That's what I'm doing now!"

"You are following orders, but not because you want to," Ahsoka assured him calmly. "They're making you follow them. Think, do you remember anything about the Temple? What you did? What you felt?"

The Clone seemed to tense slightly, shaking his head as she approached.

"You felt nothing, didn't you?" She asked. "You don't remember anything, do you?"

"How do you...? What... what is this?" The Clone demanded to know. "How do you know that?"

"Because it happened to a lot of your brothers," she told him as she inched closer. "Order 66, it came down. You instantly attacked the Jedi. No remorse. No second thoughts. Don't you find that odd?"

"Shut up!" The Clone shouted aloud frantically. "Just shut up! I'm a good soldier! Good soldiers follow orders! That's all there is to it!"

Ahsoka stopped just inches away from him and looked at him sadly.

"You keep saying that," she informed him. "Why do you keep saying that?"

"Because... because it's true!" The Clone shakily replied. "Because-"

"Because it echoes in your head constantly whenever you doubt, doesn't it?" Ahsoka asked insistently. "It makes you ignore and forget everything else. You act without thinking. You act without thought. Like a droid with a voice command protocol. They put it in your head, soldier."

"No," the Clone cried, stepping back further.

"They made it to make sure you didn't step out of line," Ahsoka continued passionately. "They put it in there to keep you obedient! So when they told you to do something unspeakable you couldn't refuse!"

"No!"

"Think, soldier," Ahsoka pleaded. "Try to think! Try to think of what happened at the Jedi Temple! The thing they want you to forget! The crime they forced you to be party to!"

"NO!"

"You have to remember! You need to remember! They blocked it out because you'd question again! Because you wouldn't have done what you did if they hadn't put it in your head!"

The Clone suddenly screamed and fell to the floor in a sitting position. He clasped his hands over the back of his head and shuddered violently. Kanan went to go for the detonator still in his hands, but Ahsoka held him back. After a bit, the Clone spoke again.

"It was a bunch of younglings, just kids," he said shaking and rocking as he sat. "They... they were with their Master. Trying to get to a hangar in the lower levels. Trying to escape. Sniper caught him, they were screaming, running scared. They... they didn't have lightsabers. They had nothing. I... I didn't even hesitate! Why didn't I at least hesitate!? I didn't even consider switching to stun! I just... I just... oh please, no! NO!"

And that was when the hardened Clone Trooper just started openly weeping. Kanan finally deactivated his lightsaber at last. For a moment, he wondered if he should feel mad. The man had just admitted to killing unarmed Padawans, something he had accused him of before. Yet all he could think was how pitiful the poor soldier was, how broken. For whatever reason he had blocked out or had been forced to block out what he had done. It kept him convinced he had done the right thing, unquestioning in his duty and his orders. Now it all came rushing back and he hated himself.

"What have I done?" He asked feebly. "What have I done?"

Ahsoka placed a hand on his shoulder.

"It wasn't you," she told him kindly. "It was your hand, your gun, your body, but it was not you."

The Clone looked up to Ahsoka briefly and, with a still shaking hand, turned the detonator over to her. Ezra walked over, a similar saddened look upon his face mixed with a tinge of confusion as to what was happening. Kanan admitted he was a bit in the dark himself, but decided to stay out of it. Ahsoka carefully used the detonator to disarm the bombs. They heard several dozen beeps signaling their deactivation. The room was no longer in danger of blowing up, at least for the moment.

"Ezra filled me in on the situation," Ahsoka said speaking to Kanan. "I've already called in the transport ships and sent the evacuation signal to all squads. They'll be here within the next couple of minutes."

Good to hear, they were almost home free. They just needed to get to the evac site now. Ahsoka then turned back to the Clone with sympathetic gaze.

"We need to go," she told him gingerly. "If you want you can-"

"No," the Clone replied suddenly, shaking his head and mumbling slightly. "Just leave. Just... leave. I... don't... I'm not... Just go."

Ahsoka moved away sadly and turned to Kanan. It looked like she was about to say something, but her eyes darted up to a corner of the production plant. They grew wide and turned back to Kanan just as quickly.

"We need to leave, now!" Ahsoka insisted.

Kanan didn't ask why, he just accepted that she had good reason. She had just talked down a crazy old Clone after all. She spared a short look at the Clone as they turned to run.

"It's not too late to make it right," she assured him. "Just know that. It's never too late to make it right!"

They took off towards the door, leaving the broken Clone in his pit of sorrow. As they exited, Kanan suddenly felt why Ahsoka demanded they leave. He felt what she must've only moments ago, the cold. The one from Lothal. It was back. Which meant they were in trouble.

Kamo sat on the ground of the platform, gripping his head in anguish. The Jedi had revealed the truth. He could've tried to rationalize it away as trick but it was too vivid to be a lie. His memories, his thoughts of what he did, his feelings, he buried them or something else buried them for him. He couldn't be sure and, if he was honest with himself, he didn't care.

All his life he felt nothing, all this time he just ignored the empty space in his mind. Now the dam had broken and it had both freed and cursed him. He now knew the why of everything. He now knew the reason behind his and the rest of his brothers' dismissal from the military. The forced retirement was because they had served their purpose, they had lifted a Government into power by removing the only thing that could've stood in their way. They had been tools, all along. Just walking guns, no better than that monstrosity he saw in the other room when he first arrived.

In the middle of his dark reflections on his crimes, he thought he heard someone walk past him. He felt a eerie chill as he did. Whoever it was did not notice him and Kamo didn't care if he did. The chill left as quickly as it had come and by then, he had resolved his inner thoughts. A conclusion had been reached.

He got up off the ground and moved towards the edge of the platform. He reached down and grabbed a single demo pack he had latched onto the underside. Without the remote detonator, it could only be activated manually with a timed countdown for it to explode. Fine by him.

The Jedi said he could still make it right. He didn't really believe anything could make it right. At the very least, he could make it even. For once in his life, he was going to make a decision of his own making. This time, he'd follow his own orders and not something placed in his head. He knew where he had to go now and what he had to do.

Another blast of green sent Godzilla hurtling back outside the facility perimeter. He hurt all over, his very bones ached from moving. He rolled over into a kneeling position and tried to keep upright. This fight was going poorly. He just hadn't had enough time to recover, not enough energy to call upon. What little he was siphoning from the lights in the sky kept him going, but he needed more. What he had now just wasn't enough.

He could see the cyborg advancing again, damaged and weakened but not yet destroyed. Despite his strength, Godzilla was still flesh and blood. He tired where this half-machine monstrosity did not. Regardless, he would not give in or accept defeat. If he had to find a way, or at least provide an opening for the Rebels to destroy the partly machine creature. They were still hitting the cyborg, dive bombing it relentlessly. Some of their fighters got too close and were destroyed with a flick of the abomination's tail, others barely escaped a snapping jaw at their tails. It was funny, when the Empire were doing the same to him he found it pitiful and arrogant. Here, he saw something of himself in their attacks, the will to press on.

He had to keep fighting, if only to not be out-performed by the Rebels. He was King of the Monsters after all. The sky lights had saved him before, why not again? The Jedi had opened their power to him, the young child, Ezra, had shown him how. They had revealed a connection, something he could reach for, making him look into himself, making him let go of vengeance. Perhaps there was more he could still do.

Godzilla exhaled deeply and closed his eyes. He again reached out to the sky, where the energy was held, trying to see if he could draw more in. As he did, he thought of the Rebels in that very sky, holding off the Cyborg best they could. Perhaps they hoped they could give him time recover like before. He wondered how much time he had before the cyborg brushed them off like flies. They probably knew that was likely and yet somehow he could feel them fighting on. And he could not tell if it was soley to deprive the Empire of a weapon of war anymore. No, somehow he could feel it had changed. Like he had changed.

And as he felt out further, he could sense more of the Rebels, those on the ground. He could feel their struggles, their pain, their will to fight on. It wasn't for victory or glory though, as he had come to expect of so many of their kind. It was for one another. He could feel the rebellious soldiers pulling away, assisting fallen comrades, desperately trying to race back from the enemy. They were in flight now, but not retreat. They had accomplished what they intended it seemed, now they only wished to fight for another day.

He wasn't sure how he could suddenly feel these emotions, these thoughts of these lesser creatures. Was this the so-called Force that the Jedi claimed tied all beings as one? Was this how they saw the world? How Mothra saw things? He could feel their will, their drive, their compassion and loyalty. Traits he never believed humans or others of their kind could truly have. But there it was, plain for all to see. He just hadn't felt it until now. They were fighting for one another, for what they had lost and for what could be.

That willpower and determination, resonating from these lesser beings, filled Godzilla with a sudden sense of kinship. They were allies, or at least they shared a similar noble goal. That kinship filled him with something. His rage completely left him, replaced with something new and greater that had been dead for a long time. And through that, his reach extended to the sky. He felt a surge entering him once more, revitalizing him. Here, at his lowest point in the battle, he finally fully opened himself to what the Jedi had spoken of and it felt glorious.

He opened his eyes slightly and saw the cyborg looming over him with fists of steel. Through his peripheral vision, he saw the energy from the skies cascading down into his spines in a rainbow of colors. He turned his gaze back slightly to the Zillo-Beast just as he flung his fist towards him. Godzilla raised a single claw to oppose the attack.

He caught the cyborg's punch in mid-air. Slowly, he raised his face to align with the abomination's and saw it was surprised. It had thought him beaten, perhaps it still did. It flung another punch with it's other arm. Godzilla caught this one as well, with even greater ease. He pushed himself to his feet slowly, energy filling him within him every passing second, the power nearly overwhelming but in balance. The cyborg no longer looked surprised, it seemed perplexed. It lashed out with it's third arm, aiming for Godzilla's nose. The giant reptile avoided the strike and then bit down hard on the wayward arm.

Gripping it in his jaws, Godzilla tugged and pulled on the third arm. He then began to turn, carrying the cyborg along as he did. The zillo-beast struggled, activating its saw blades, trying to cut into Godzilla's mouth and palms. It did nothing, the excess energy radiating through his body gave the atomic titan all he needed to quickly heal his wounds. As he spun his giant opponent around, gaining enough momentum to lift the cyborg off the ground, Godzilla clenched down on all three arms, crushing the saw blade apparatus in each and the laser cannons in the left and right hands. The Zillo-Beast roared and tried to bite down on Godzilla's neck, but he barely felt the sting.

Godzilla then suddenly let go of the other two arms, letting them fly back as the force of the spin carried them away. With the third arm still locked in his jaws, he grabbed onto the upper part of the limb with both claws and dug them in. Then, with a sudden jerk, stopped his spin, pulled back on the arm with all his might and let the forward weight of the cyborg tear away from him. There was a horrendous rip, a clash of metal breaking and all at once the zillo-beast was sent flying into the distance, lacking its third arm which was now held firmly in Godzilla's teeth.

As the giant reptile removed the limb from his jaws, he watched as the cyborg crashed down near where it had first appeared. It stood up in a daze, screeching and bellowing at everything. Godzilla followed up his successful attack, by taking the severed arm, aiming its laser cannon towards the cyborg and firing. A single blast crashed into the creature's metallic skull, followed by another as Godzilla pounded the weapon again with his fist. The second discharge was the last though, as the weapon exploded in Godzilla's hand after that. He let the smoking limb fall to the ground and aimed himself at the cyborg instead.

He could still feel more and more power being drawn into him, feeding his previously battered form. The dancing colors in the sky now aided him directly, their widely dispersed energy somehow being pulled towards him. He didn't have an explanation, but decided one didn't matter. He had what he needed to end this.

He raised his head back and readied to fire, but instead of a blue glow, a red one filled his throat. With a powerful roar that shook both ground and sky, Godzilla released a spiraling multi-colored beam from his mouth. The energy he had obtained had upgraded his primary offensive power. When it struck the cyborg, exploded against the abomination, sent him falling backwards in a smoking heap. Still, it rose up again, refusing to surrender as its programming pushed it on.

Even with his newfound power, it would take more than that to win. He'd have to get close again, fight claw to claw if he wished to end this. It was the only way to defeat this creature now. He didn't know how long this power would last, but Godzilla intended to use every last drop of it finish this mad science experiment for good.

Fire and smoke surrounded them half the time, nearly blinding them. They pressed on regardless. This hadn't been the easiest extraction she'd been on, but at least they were finally making headway. Even better news, it sounded like all the other Rebels were heading to the extraction as well. They probably would have to dump a lot of their equipment just to get inside the ships quickly. Thankfully, they wouldn't have to worry about that. The only cargo they had were a bunch of eggs after all. She was concerned about Ezra and Kanan though and if they'd finally catch up before they had to leave.

They hadn't run into many more Stormtroopers, just scattered small squads every now and then. Between her, Sabine and Zeb, they managed to push through them easily enough. They weren't actively hunting them after all, they were probably just trying to chase after the supposedly fleeing Rebels. When two bucketheads rounded a corner, they seemed surprise to see them coming up from behind them. Sabine quickly shot them down with her dual blasters.

Before long, Hera heard the sounds of transport engines flying overhead. The small flotilla of ships that had brought the other Rebels here quickly made a beeline for landfall near the edge of the facility. That area had the largest clearing as it had been bombarded the most. The barracks and training grounds had a wide enough space to allow shuttles and such to land. That was they were headed now. If they could only reach it, they'd be home free. So long as Moira was there to greet them of course.

As they ran along the platform, they nearly stumbled over each other when a large earth shattering quake rumbled through the facility. That was the second one they had endured. Hera could only imagine it had something to do with the giant monster battle every other Rebel was reporting about on the various channels. She really hoped they wouldn't remain too distracted by the spectacle. At the very least it was good to hear that Godzilla had turned things around and was back on his feet.

"That was a big one," Sabine noted as they all steadied themselves. "I'm really hoping we can catch a glimpse of this weird new beam I keep overhearing about on he comms."

"As much as I share your curiosity, we have far more pressing matters," Boll insisted. "We need to get off this planet with these eggs. We can admire the giant monster battle from orbit."

"You're assuming it's going to last that much longer," Sabine laughed slightly. "You ain't hearing what we are after all."

They made their way towards a large bridge spanning a the width of the building they were in. Once they crossed here, it was an overall straight shot to the rendezvous with the other Rebels and the Ghost. No stormtroopers in sight, no turrets, it all seemed relatively clear. They started to make their way across the bridge, but then stopped as something approached them from behind a stack of crates on the other side.

It was an Imperial Officer, one Hera recognized from earlier. He was the same one Boll had electrocuted into unconsciousness. Yes, there was no doubt it was him. Hera would've shot him on sight, had he not been holding a thermal detonator in one hand and a blaster in the other.

"All of you, halt," he ordered angrily. "I've already activated the grenade. Shoot me, it drops and the bridge goes with it. You can say goodbye to your escape then, if you even survive the fall of course."

He pointed his weapon at them all and they did the same.

"How did you even get here before us?" Hera asked as she leveled her blaster at him.

"I know this facility like the back of my hand and there's more than a few shortcuts," he explained. "I figured you'd be passing this way. It's the quickest way to the most likely landing zone. Now surrender or we're all going to get blown sky high!"

It was then that Boll poked her head out from behind the crates. Before Hera could stop her, the Bivall had already stepped out towards the front of the group. The Imperial stared her down, focusing his sights on her.

"Klusto," she began calmly. "Put the gun down and let us pass."

But Klusto didn't obey, all Boll managed to do was make the officer's expression turn to one of dismay instead of rage.

"Sionver, what have you done?" He asked pleadingly. "I stood up for you. Whenever Sakal doubted or questioned, I was the first to step to your defense. I trusted you. We all trusted you and you were a traitor."

"A traitor to many things, but mostly my conscience," she explained.

"How long?" He demanded. "How long were you with them?"

Boll looked slightly away, contemplating the answer.

"It's hard to say honestly," he admitted. "I only contacted the Rebellion a few months ago. As for everything else, the secret side projects, the delays, gathering intel prior to smuggling it out, that was over a few regular years. So it's really all a matter of perspective concerning when."

Klusto looked about ready to cry at that admission. Boll didn't seem too happy about it either.

"I never meant to hurt you, Klusto," she assured him. "That's why I never wanted you to get so close. I knew this would happen. It would've been so much easier if you just hated me like Sakal did."

"Why?" He pleaded sadly. "I thought you believed in the Empire. In what we were doing here. We were so close, Sionver. You and me, we could've been the heads of an initiative that would've helped secure the galaxy. All your work, everything you put into this place and the project. You threw it all away. You threw me away."

Boll was barely able to look at him as she answered, her head low and hands fidgeting.

"I thought what I wanted for the longest time was to be recognized for my work," she explained. "That somehow I'd change the galaxy and prove myself. In a way I got what I wanted. I was placed in charge of a great scientific endeavor. Given resources and a lab of my own. But in the end it all felt hollow. What I wanted turned out to be a nightmare with no way out."

She stepped slightly towards Klusto, causing him to backstep a bit himself and point his blaster more readily at her.

"I've spent most of my life making weapons, Klusto," she reiterated. "The only contribution I've made to science in my lifetime is new methods of destruction and death. I killed an innocent creature and was then ordered to bring it back to life just so it could kill countless more innocents. I wanted to create something meaningful with my knowledge, instead all it's been used for is for war."

"We would've used it responsibly," Klusto insisted. "You know me, Sionver. I never would've used the Zillo-Beasts unless they were necessary. With us at the helm we'd make sure they weren't abused. You know me, you know I'd never have done anything as horrible as you suggest."

"Do you really believe that, even after everything that's happened?" She asked in return. "I know you would've tried to keep the Zillo-Beasts from being used to kill indiscriminately. That you had only the best intentions. But the fact is, you wouldn't have had the final say. You've seen first hand what the Empire does to those who don't fall in line. How little it values the lives of those beneath its rule. If you hadn't realized that for yourself, you never would've come to my quarters today. Nulon, Sakal, all those Stormtroopers, thrown away so pointlessly and mercilessly. And for what? So we could breed giant monsters only fit for slavery? I'm sorry, Klusto. I couldn't be a part of it and deep down I don't think you want to be a part of it either."

Klusto tried straighten his expression and his stance. He kept his aim on Sionver, but his hand kept shaking. Sionver walked a bit closer and stretched out her hands.

"Give me the blaster, Klusto," she asked. "It doesn't have to be this way."

"It does, you forced my hand," he argued back. "I love you, Sionver. I thought in some small way you did too. That we could make it work, even if you were an alien. Instead, now I have to turn you over. You have to pay for what you've done here."

"If you really feel that way, then just shoot me now," Boll insisted. "I've already accomplished what needed to be done. Even if I can't bring the Zillo-Beasts back and keep them safe, at least I can say they won't be used as weapons. I can die happy with that knowledge."

Boll stood unmoving, Klusto still pointing the weapon at her head. He was hesitating, Hera could tell even from this far away. He acted like he wanted to pull the trigger, but the way he looked at Boll told a different story. She was right, he didn't want to be here.

"Did you ever really love me, Sionver?" He asked mournfully. "Was I ever even your friend? Was it all a lie?"

"Not all of it," Boll assured him. "I do care for you, Klusto. You're a good man, working for bad people. I may not feel the same way about you that you do me, but that shouldn't matter. I always saw you as a close friend. Someone I could rely on. That's why I knew what I was going to do would hurt me as much as it would you."

Klusto looked away for a moment, unable to stare into her eyes. Probably because it looked like he was about to finally break down.

"I know you have no reason to believe anything I say," Boll continued. "But if there's one thing you can be sure of it's this. Of all the people in this place, you were the only person I considered a real friend. And for that, I'm truly sorry for the pain I've caused you. You deserved better."

Klusto turned back to her, slight tears rolling down his face. Boll stepped closer, her hand still out stretched.

"Just let me go, Klusto," she asked again. "I'm trying to do right for once in my life. I need to save this species we've abused. I have to do it. I know I don't have the right to ask, but if you valued my friendship as much you say you do, if you're as good a man as I know you are... then you'll just let me go."

Klusto's grip on his blaster loosened slightly and he moved the weapon down. He turned it in his hand, lowered it and then gave it to Boll. The Bivall took the weapon and tossed it aside before stepping back. Klusto deactivated the thermal detonator himself and moved to the side of the bridge where he stared off into space.

"I kept thinking about how things would be when this was over," he said distantly. "Had a whole future planned out. Being with you probably would've cost me my job anyway. I was prepared for that. I suppose this isn't exactly the way I thought it would go if it came to that."

"I wish there was a way to make it up to you, Klusto," Boll assured him. "I really do."

"You are right though," Klusto admitted. "Maybe I was fooling myself all along. After what I've seen, what I've learned. Me and Sakal were stupid for thinking we'd ever have control of the Zillo-Beasts. At least not total. We were just the caretakers until they were ready to unleash them. Nothing more."

Hera didn't know if she felt a sense of pride or relief at the moment. Boll had just talked down this Imperial with relative ease. Perhaps he was as good a man as she claimed. It was good to see someone with conviction able to solve a conflict without firing a shot. Although if she was being honest with herself, she was mostly just happy they weren't going to get blown up.

They suddenly heard something clambering down the platform towards them. Hera looked along with the others and saw Kanan, Ezra and Ahsoka rushing towards them. The sight overjoyed her. She had honestly started to wonder if they'd ever catch up.

"You made it," Hera said as they came towards them. "Thank the Force. I was getting worried for a moment."

"Good to see you too, but we don't have time," Kanan hurriedly said. "We gotta move, now. We got a major problem on our tail. Big, tall, black, you may remember him."

Hera did, and it chilled her. Before she could say anything though, someone else spoke first.

"Then go," Klusto suddenly spoke up. "And hurry."

The three Jedi looked confused at the Imperial talking to them, but they didn't really have for questions. The Imperial just kept pointing down the bridge.

"Go! If it's who I think you're talking about you don't have much time," he insisted.

"Klusto," Boll tried to speak, but he quieted her with a look.

"Just leave, you have a species to save, remember?" He told her with a slight smile. "If you're going to accomplish that, then he can't be chasing you. Now go."

He pushed Boll forward down the bridge and ushered the other Rebels forward. They each gave him a cursory glance as they past by. Hera looked back along with Boll as they ran. The last they saw of Klusto, he was standing in the middle of the bridge and holding the detonator once again.

Vader moved into another corridor, following the trail of the fleeing Jedi. He was closing in on them now, he would not let them escape. He would not let her escape. He needed her, much as he hated to admit it. He needed her if he was to find him.

He approached a bridge and saw Klusto standing in his way. He could see a thermal detonator in his hands. It did little to make him pause.

"Move, General," he ordered.

"I'm afraid I can't, my Lord," Klusto answered plainly.

Vader moved his lightsaber into position as he closed. He had no time for this.

"I will not ask again," he threatened.

"I'm sorry, Lord Vader," Klusto stated. "But I don't have a choice. The Rebels still need time to escape."

Vader paused if only for a moment and stared at him incredulously. It was only a momentary pause and not one born out of surprise. Just disbelief more than anything, given the implications of this.

"Are you admitting to something, General?" He asked.

"Yes, I was the spy," Klusto relented. "I betrayed information to the Rebels. Let them know this place existed. I've been feeding them information on our battle strategies and the like for weeks now in preparation. It was easy given my security clearance. No one knew, not even Sakal or Doctor Boll. And as for Nulon, well, he was easy to fool into sending those fighters during the Rebel attack on the blockade. Convenient timing if nothing else."

"Why?" Vader asked with a skeptical growl.

"Well credits at first," he responded confidently. "I asked for more later, my own planet and such. But that's all pointless now, I realized I doomed myself once Alpha Predator One started moving towards the base. So I planned to find a quick way to escape, but after everything you've put me through I settled on just killing you."

Klusto held up the live thermal detonator, clutching it tightly. Vader was unimpressed.

"It would take a lot more than a feeble man like you to kill me," he declared.

"Then I guess I'll just have to settle for maiming," Klusto shrugged. "Goodbye, Lord Vader. Thank you at the very least for the field promotion."

Vader moved to stop the General as he released his hold on the active thermal detonator. He tried to grab the tiny explosive and chuck it away with the Force. Klusto was a bit faster though, kneeing the bomb towards the Sith instead. In the face of that danger, Vader now opted to dive off the side of the bridge. The explosion followed shortly after he made the leap. Klusto's body went up in flames and the structure itself completely collapsed. Vader fell from the dizzing heights, fire and debris crashing all around. He landed on the floor relatively gracefully, as destruction rained down upon him. He used The Force to push it out of the way and continued to walk forwards.

Klusto had cost him time, but it would not save his quarry. His pitiful final act of self-sacrifice would be in vain. He'd have what he wanted, one way or another. It would not slip through his fingers again. As he had said, it would take more than a stupid little traitor with a bomb to stop him.

The cyborg took punch after punch, pieces of its cybernetics sparking wildly as every blow smashed against it. Godzilla continued to level punches on the broken creature, power surging throughout his body. Every hit felt harder than the last, when the cyborg tried to block a swipe with one of its remaining arms, it was brushed aside. Yet the abomination refused to yield.

It lashed out with its jaws once more, biting down on Godzilla's neck harder than before. This time he managed to make the giant lizard roar, but more in defiance than actual pain. Godzilla swung the cyborg while it remained latched onto his neck, slamming him into a small tower. The cyborg let go and ]received a body blow from Godzilla's mighty tail. It sent him tumbling another block or two, through several more buildings or what was left of them. It stood up, sparks spraying from nearly every metal orifice. It opened it's mouth again, preparing to fire once more. Godzilla was ready for what was coming this time though.

He fired his new spiral beam attack at the Zillo-Beast, connecting with it's green beam. Before it had been a struggle to push the cyborg's attack back. Now it seemed all too easy. Godzilla walked forward, still shooting his atomic breath, as the green beam was forced backwards. The weapon in the Zillo-Beast's mouth grew hotter and more strained, trying to keep up with the incoming blast. It was futile though. The red spiraling beam was just too much. The green beam was forced back towards the cyborg's mouth and the spiral attack exploded in the cyborg's face. Godzilla kept the beam up as the half-machine creature fell backwards, screaming aloud as it did with a metallic screech.

Godzilla finally stopped firing when he approached the kneeling form of the Zillo-Beast through the smoke. He saw the arms spastically twitching, one of the legs was uselessly dangling, joints spewing fire and the abomination's armor clearly cracked and broken. It raised its tail, up to now its most effective fall back, aiming the spike towards Godzilla's eye. The king of monsters caught the tail in mid-flight, just inches from his face. Lighting sparked between the little spikes, but Godzilla paid them no mind. He simply raised his free hand and then brought it down, slicing the end of the tail clean from the rest of the cyborg. He then flung the broken piece back towards the cyborg and impaled the spikes into the robotic red eye of the creature. The Zillo-Beast stumbled uselessly backwards, screaming in agony.

So it did feel pain after all. Godzilla took only a slight bit of a comfort in that. No sense in dwelling on it, only time to finish what he set out to do. He did not wish revel in his enemy's pain, not anymore.

He grabbed the cyborg by his jaws and started to pry them open as he stood over the monstrosity. As he did, the Zillo-Beast let out a final blast of green into Godzilla's face. The energy was powerful, intense, but not strong enough to stop him. Godzilla reached down into the Zillo-Beast's mouth and bit down hard on the energy weapon attached the back of the creature's throat. He yanked it free, still firing off it's excess energy before finally tossing it to the ground. The Zillo-Beast struggled uselessly to escape his grip and Godzilla pooled energy in the back of his own mouth. It was his turn now.

With one last blast of red, Godzilla breathed a spiral beam blast right into the Zillo-Beast's throat. He poured the deadly attack on, burning into the cyborg's mouth until finally the blast exploded out of the side of the Zillo-Beast's neck. Godzilla ended his attack and watched the cyborg's eyes roll back and close. With a final triumphant roar, screeching into the sky, Godzilla tossed the carcass of the creature down to the ground. He let loose one last blast, cascading the body in radioactive fire. He let the corpse burn and roared proudly once more.

He had won, nature had prevailed. The Empire's walking gun was dead, no longer a slave to their bidding. He wondered if the Rebels themselves were satisfied with the results. He looked to where he felt them fleeing and saw what looked to be several ships landing towards the other end of the complex. They were keeping their bargain, they were leaving the planet to him. He briefly considered at least going over to see them off, but then something else entered his mind.

He sensed something familiar, something he recognized from his battle. It was cold and dark, unyielding and cruel. It was moving towards the Rebels even now. The fight wasn't done yet after all. There was still a puppetmaster to deal with.

Every Rebel and fighter saw it, but could barely believe it. Those who didn't stop to cheer had to push the others who were onto the escape ships, it was either that or risk them getting bulldozed by whatever Imperials were left. Ezra was at least able to watch the whole spectacle for himself as they moved towards the rendezvous. Godzilla had just beaten the Cyborg Zillo-Beast. Ezra could even feel the giant lizard's power resonating within the Force, greater than ever before. It was amazing to say the least.

He couldn't admire the sight forever though, as Hera pointed out.

"Our ride is here! Come on!"

Ezra looked up to see the Ghost preparing to make a landing on the field. All the other Rebels and what was left of their equipment were hurriedly moving onto the transports. Anything that couldn't get in fast enough was being left behind. Sadly that meant a good deal of the AT-TEs, but it was a small price to pay. Right now, all that concerned Ezra was getting aboard their ship.

As they neared the vessel, Ahsoka pushed Hera and Doctor Boll forward slightly.

"Get inside," she ordered. "We'll cover your retreat."

The two women didn't argue with her and rolled the large crate of eggs up the ramp and into the ship itself. Ahsoka's reason for forcing them inside were good ones, seeing as a small group of Stormtroopers suddenly arrived to fire on the fleeing Rebels. Everyone who could do so, fired back on them and a small firefight ensued.

That was when Ezra felt the cold return once more. Out of the smoke and debris of the facility he watched in horror as the dark figure of the Sith Lord moved into the open. Zeb spotted him soon after he did and started shooting at him with his bo-rifle. It was a good effort, but the Sith barely flinched. He just picked up a Stormtrooper with the force, dangling him front of himself. The trooper screamed in horror as Zeb's shots intended for the Sith hit the poor buckethead instead. The Sith then tossed the dead trooper aside like garbage and continued forward.

"Get into the ship," Kanan ordered, knowing as well as anyone this was a battle they couldn't win. "Go!"

Everyone followed, rushing into the Ghost and not bothering to even shoot back. They clambered into the ship, which was already starting to lift off the ground. Then suddenly, it jerked violently backwards. Ezra fell to the floor face first as it did. He turned around and saw the Sith holding out a single hand at them. He was using the Force like a tractor beam! Trying to bring them back towards him!

"Someone get to the Phantom's turret!" Kanan shouted aloud, seeing what was happening himself.

However, Ezra suddenly realized that wouldn't be necessary. In all the excitement, they hadn't noticed a sound reverberating in the air. It was the sound of thunderous footsteps and he knew that could only mean one thing. A large shadow was suddenly cast over the Sith Lord and the dark figure suddenly rushed backward to avoid a giant foot crashing down on him. The Ghost was now free of his hold and launched clean into the sky. Ezra, briefly knocked onto his backside, moved to his feet as the hatch started to close. He watched with Ahsoka and Kanan as they beheld Godzilla's face staring at them, directly at them.

It was hard to tell what the expression was, but to Ezra it seemed like he was ushering them off, tilting his head towards the sky. As the hatch closed completely, Ezra saw Godzilla turn back towards where he imagined the Sith Lord was.

"He saved us," he said, almost without thinking.

Kanan seemed to agree, although he appeared as surprised as anyone else. He turned to Ahsoka, a slight grin on his face.

"Looks like he finally came around," he said.

Godzilla stared down at the dark little man with the great red blade in hand. He could feel the hatred and anguish, a pain almost matching his own. It burned within him, resonated outward and destroyed all that came near. It was unmistakable, he had been the presence he felt behind the Zillo-Beast Cyborg at the start. The puppetmaster pulling the poor creature's strings. The Rebels were free of him, but Godzilla realized the battle would not be over until this man was defeated. He had no science experiment to hide behind now, he had to face him like a true warrior. Godzilla moved himself to face the dark human properly, one last fight, one last enemy.

She had escaped him again. He had watched her flee from sight in the ship. For a moment he thought he saw her looking at him, directly at him. He wondered what it could mean. He brushed the thoughts aside and looked to the giant standing before him. Godzilla as he was called. He no longer felt the same rage within the beast, the pain no longer so readily apparent. It had changed. No doubt the influence of the Jedi.

"I do not fear you, monster," he declared openly. "Your power and strength is nothing compared to that of the Dark Side. And I will prove it."

Godzilla reached down with its claws to grab him, but Vader struck out with his saber first. Godzilla moved his hand back slightly, as if he had been pricked by a needle. Godzilla lunged again and Vader sliced at the creature's claw. The beast drew back and then slammed his fists onto the ground before the Sith. A terrible maelstrom of dust and debris resulted from the shockwave, nearly pushing Vader back. He rooted himself to the ground, resisting the whirlwind. Godzilla roared at him as the shockwave subsided, Vader responded by flinging his lightsaber through the sky towards the monster's eye.

Godzilla jerked away as the blade made contact. He scratched at the side of his face in pain as Vader's blade returned to his hand. The Sith then reached up with his hand and began to constrict it. Godzilla seemed to feel the invisible grip, clutching towards his massive throat. Vader used his other hand to try and contsrict harder. But the creature resisted further.

"Die," he ordered. "Just. Die."

It was almost as if the giant lizard heard that, for his gaze turned back to the Sith. With a powerful roar, Godzilla turned himself about and struck Vader with his powerful tail. The blow knocked Vader several hundred feet through the air. Through the Force, he controlled his flight, doing his best to avoid any solid objects. He crashed through the windows of what was left of a building and then slammed into the dirt of the ground beyond. Through the Force, he had been able to cushion the blow, but it still hurt. He rose back up and saw Godzilla staring him down once again. He was raising his head and aiming towards the Sith Lord. Sensing what was coming, Vader raised his arms.

The atomic breath lashed out at Vader, destroying buildings and incinerating Stormtroopers who were in the way. Vader remained standing though, using the Force as a shield to block the deadly radioactive beam. His cape burned at the edges, his muscles strained, his armor felt like it was ready to melt, but the Force protected him, pushing the fire away from him and redirecting it around him. When it subsided at last, Vader knelt to the ground and looked as Godzilla crushed the ground beneath him with a tremendous stomp. The earth split open and Vader ran to avoid being swallowed up by the encroaching quake. Godzilla moved to chase him and then struck again with a powerful punch into the ground. The shockwave caught the Sith Lord by surprise, sending him tumbling across the earth.

When he stopped, he stood back up and stared the monster down. With all his power, Vader began sending debris of all kinds hurtling towards the monster. Remains of fighters, pieces of buildings, broken rebel attack vehicles, he sent them all cascading towards the approaching lizard. The beast refused to relent, marching forward ceaselessly, even as debris smashed into his face.

When Godzilla neared, he tried to punch Vader with his fist for his transgressions. The Sith avoided the attack and then lunged forward, rushing up the creature's arm. Godzilla tried to stomp him out, but the Sith moved faster than one would expect, propelling himself upwards with the Force. He reached the side of Godzilla's neck and stabbed into it with his blade. The massive reptile roared in pain and tried to slap the Dark Lord. Vader quickly forced himself onwards and upwards, avoiding the attack. He may have been only a bug to this creature, but even an insect could bring down a predator if it struck where it counted.

He moved toward's the monster's eye, finally staring into the face of his enemy. Godzilla looked at him just before he plunged the lightsaber into his eye. Godzilla bellowed in pain and lashed out to try and claw the Sith off of him. Vader just pushed himself upwards and landed on the top of the monster's head. He began stabbing down into Godzilla's skull, intending to break through to the brain.

Godzilla decided on another course of action, he pounded his head into a nearby building. The crash sent Vader hurtling off the saurian, through the rest of the structure and onto the roof of another. When he managed to stand back up, Godzilla stood over him, staring down at him but not out of anger, but of sheer will. As if to say, I will not fall to you or anyone.

Vader intended to prove him wrong.

There wasn't much left of the garrison when Kamo finally arrived. Just a bare bones skeleton crew of sorts. Most of the Troopers had run off, fearing the giant lizard's ongoing battle was going to damage the reactor at some point and they'd be incinerated. Kamo didn't blame them, it just meant less people to deal with. He felt bad about those who had stayed though, they were just doing their duty, following orders like he once had. Except they at least had the choice, he knew now that he never had such a luxury himself.

One of the Officers asked if he needed medical attention. He waved him off, he was in a bad way for sure but it would've been a waste of time. He told them he could still walk and that he just needed a place to sit down for a short bit, maybe some water. That seemed to placate him. The rest of the troops seemed to either ignore him or give him a passing glance. What few of them there were seemed more interested in something going on outside. Whatever it was, he didn't care. Just made this business easier.

He approached the reactor, still siphoning energy directly from the planet's core. The plasma churning inside it was the equivalent of an over a thousand megaton bomb. It would pretty much level the facility if it went off. There would be few survivors. He suspected the Rebels, or at least most of them, were gone now and that any smart Stormtroopers were seeking shelter. He hoped there would be a few survivors at least.

He only hesitated a moment longer, considering what he was about to do. The fact remained though that this place had caused enough damage. The Rebels probably erased some data or what not, but the Empire would probably just rebuild. Create more clones of monsters to their bidding if they gave them the chance. He supposed the Rebels would try to bomb the place themselves or let their monster friend do it. He wouldn't give them that. If anyone was going to blow this place up, it was him. Every person on this planet died protecting this place, protecting this damn facility that only churned out living guns. Things like him, destined to serve unwillingly without a choice.

They took that away from him, he'd return the favor in kind. For every Clone who followed unwittingly, who were tossed aside when they were used up, who were nothing but guns to the Empire to place them on a seat of power. They made him a murderer of children, a monster. He'd destroy their ability to make more.

He took out the bomb, armed it and then opened the primary reactor shielding. That set off an alarm, enough to get everyone's attention. It wouldn't matter, it was already too late. As the core opened itself to him, he planted the bomb next to the exposed inner workings. Streams of plasma and bolts of wild purple lightning shot out randomly as he set the timer, ten seconds. He could hear people coming up behind him.

"Sergeant! What are you doing!?" An Officer demanded.

"Dying as a soldier, sir," he answered him

He started the timer, even as his fellow troopers rushed to stop him. Kamo didn't really feel some of the laser bolts hit him as they opened fire. He didn't feel clean either, not after what he had learned. But unlike that night he had tried to forget, he did feel something. Contentment, resolution, serenity, but more than anything, he felt at peace. That was more than he deserved he supposed.

Vader lashed out with a strike from his saber once again as Godzilla snapped at him. The lizard's nose was cut by the blade and Godzilla answered by crashing his claw down on the rooftop. Vader avoided the strike and stabbed his saber into the creature's hand. Godzilla wrenched it back before quickly spewing out a burst of atomic breath at the Sith. Vader tried to block the incoming attack, but the flames scorched his armor and the impact of the beam nearly sent him hurtling off the side of the building. He used the Force to push Godzilla away from him, but it hardly even made the saurian stumble. He moved to attack again, raising a fist in preparation to crush the Sith. Vader finally wondered how much longer he could last against this giant by himself?

That was when the reactor alarm sounded. Vader and Godzilla looked to it, just a few dozen kilometers away from their battle. Vader quickly reasoned what was happening and moved to find shelter while Godzilla started to move towards the reactor itself. Mere seconds later, and explosion erupted from the building, the alarm's siren call silenced by a deafening roar. Vader found himself blinded by a great light and Godzilla let out a defiant roar as a terrible shockwave followed by a massive fireball spread towards them.

And then, in an instant, darkness.

From the cockpit, Ezra watched as a small purple explosion erupted from where they had left Godzilla behind moments ago. The facility's reactor must've exploded. The mission was accomplished.

"Whoa, that was some explosion," Moira noted aloud as she opened up her comm-link. "What was that reactor packing? Wings, report, everyone still flying?"

"We're all still here, boss," Gorossk's voice replied. "Guess you were right to have us cover the transports and leave our friend to finish off the base."

"Figured he earned the honors," said Moira with a shrug. "Here's hoping he got clear."

"We best do the same," Hera stated from the pilot's chair, edging the nose up towards space. "Only thing left to do is get out of here."

As soon as the Rebel ships could see stars, their hyperdrives started kicking in one after the other. As each ship jumped away, scattering across the void, Ezra took stock with his fellow Jedi.

"You think Godzilla got away from the explosion?" He asked Kanan hopefully.

"I'd like to think so," Kanan admitted. "Even if he didn't though, at the very least maybe he took that Sith Lord with him."

"Don't be so sure," Ahsoka warned. "The Sith are resilient."

She looked out the window and back at the planet.

"In more ways than one in fact," she added.

The Ghost's hyperdrive kicked in shortly after and they left Tsuburonda far behind.

Arch crawled out of the shelter slowly but surely. He had been taken there with most of the wounded after the damn Rebel had kicked him off her ship. It had probably saved his life and those of what remained of the Empire's Forces. He now wandered the smoking remnants of the facility, debris and collapsed buildings surrounding him. There was very little left of anything.

The search for other survivors began shortly after, but he doubted they'd find much more than a handful. He doubted he'd find Kamo either, but he could hope. Someone had to survive all this besides himself and a few others.

He didn't know how long he spent wandering the ruins, probably about an hour was his best guess. He kept wondering if he'd find Alpha Predator One's corpse lying on the ground, or at least his skeleton. He found nothing though, not a trace. Had he fled after damaging the reactor? No, he wasn't like that, he knew better than that.

If he was dead, Arch took no joy in it. Everything just felt pointless now. They had failed to protect this place. Failed to protect a science experiment that was deemed more valuable than thousands of good soldiers. It was a waste to him. Who really cared in the end? What did it matter? He concluded it didn't. They had given their lives in an attempt to save some stupid living weapon. Pointless.

He wondered what would happen after this. He and the other survivors would probably get rotated out to some backwater colony, keep them away from the core worlds. Probably slap a medal on some of them for their bravery and to keep them quiet. The Empire would never admit to getting beaten like this. It was too embarrassing and they couldn't have the rest of the Galaxy learn what they had been doing out here. They'd want them to keep their mouths shut or at least away from people who'd listen. Everyone who died here would be forgotten, their sacrifice lost to history.

All he had to look forward to was probably getting stuck working on some other dunghole planet, probably guarding another stupid science experiment. How else would they keep him quiet? Maybe a promotion or two to go with the medal? Good job on surviving, kid, now keep quiet about all the lives we wasted trying to create a bloodthirsty robotic terror beast. It was just as Kamo predicted, being a hero wasn't worth it. At least not in the Empire anyway. It was funny, he still wanted to hate the Rebels for their role in all this, but he couldn't shake what that woman said to him. About getting in line with the rest of them.

Thing was, he could believe it now. If this was how the Empire treated it's soldiers, people loyal to them, as cannon fodder and meat for a grinder, what did it do to those who were it's enemies? He quickly realized he didn't want to think about that. He didn't want to think about anything. Whatever happened next, he would just be happy to be off this planet.

As he made his way through more rubble, he thought he saw something trembling beneath what looked to be the broken remains of a TIE fighter. He moved over to it carefully and saw that something was indeed moving about in the half buried aircraft. A survivor, at last! If nothing else, he could at least help one person.

He dug at the dirt and debris, moved it aside and pounded on the hatch. After a few solid kicks, it broke open. Then, a dark hand grabbed at his throat.

Darth Vader stood up once again, slowly getting his bearings. Once more he had cheated certain death, the Dark Side his shield. If nothing else, he could take pride in the simple victory of survival. Surely the giant saurian had not been so lucky.

As his senses returned fully he soon realized he was strangling a lone frightened Scout Trooper of all things. In his haze he had reacted rashly, even for him. No sense in killing a nameless worthless grunt like him, especially when he needed to know what was going on.

He dropped the man to the ground with a thud and stared out at the devastated landscape before him. There was nothing left, the whole complex had been raised. The explosion had utterly demolished what the monsters had not. He imagined he didn't look much better, given how the heads-up display in his visor kept flashing randomly. He would need to get it repaired as soon as possible, along with the rest of his armor. That would have to wait for now though. He finally turned to the Scout Trooper, currently rubbing his throat in pain.

"Report," he ordered in a low growl at the insignificant man.

The Scout looked confused for a moment, staring at the Sith's dark visage in awe. He gulped, unable to speak a single syllable. Pathetic, Vader thought.

"I said, report," Vader demanded once more, louder this time.

"Uh, the Rebels appear to have fled, sir," the Scout answered, finally working up the courage. "Facility entirely destroyed. Few survivors."

The Scout didn't seem to know who he was, but at least he knew his place. If nothing else he wasn't a total incompetent. He could work with that for now. He still needed more from him, specifically about one threat in particular, the only one that potentially remained.

"What of Godzilla?" Vader asked.

"Who?" The Scout asked confused.

"Alpha Predator One," Vader corrected himself, his voice seething in frustation. "Where is it's body?"

"Nowhere, sir," the scout replied. "I... I haven't seen. No one else has reported it either."

Vader turned away, deep in thought. No trace? Perplexing. He was only broken from his trance by the scout once more.

"Do, uh, you need medical attention, sir?"

"No," Vader replied firmly. "Return to your squad. I have important matters to attend to."

Vader walked away, leaving the stupid scout to totter off back to his fellow soldiers. He tried to see if his communications channel was still working and contacted his ship.

"Captain, send a shuttle to my coordinates," he ordered. "At once."

"Lord Vader, you're alive," The captain shouted in nervous jubilation. "Thank the Emperor, we thought for certain-"

"My shuttle, Captain," Vader reiterated angrily. "Now!"

"At once, my Lord."

There was nothing more to do here. The facility was destroyed, the project in shambles, the so-called Godzilla was quite possibly dead and the Apprentice had fled once more. All in all, a disaster. The Emperor would have to be informed.

His thoughts lingered on Godzilla though. He did not feel the weight of its death hanging in the air. Odd, considering his power. There was no way it could've survived, but the Force did not resonate with his passing. In the end, Vader supposed it didn't matter. It was gone, but it had allowed his true prize to slip away once more before it departed. That loss hurt more than anything else. He almost had her.

"You can run all you want," he spoke quietly as he looked up to the sky. "But not forever. You'll soon learn what I did long ago, Apprentice. The Dark Side always wins. That will be your final lesson. I swear it."

AN: No time for mini notes here, we have an epilogue to get to. See you there.