Chapter 10: A Familiar Foe Returns

Ezra's P.O.V

After hours of fighting through the facility, we went outside, out in the cold, freezing rain. We were forced to go outside after we held out for a while against the imperials earlier, and Von has not showed up, yet. All of us were engaged with the enemy outside, with Starkiller, Kanan and I taking the imperials head on while the others blasted them. There were two stormtroopers with electrostaffs fighting Kanan and Starkiller, while I was engaged with another shadow guard, as Starkiller called them.

He came at me with another strike, but I parried him and hit his shoulder. He grunted at the pain and attempted to go for my neck, until I blocked him, then sent him flying back with the force. His body slid against the wet ground of the Kaminoan platform, with me using the force to get him closer to the edge. He attempted to use the force to send me back, but I didn't let that happen and continued moving towards him, using the force as he was literally near the edge. Just as I got close to him, he kicked me back and swung his lightsaber at me, going for my head then my body. I blocked both then hit him back in his left side of his body. He grunted in pain and went on a barrage to try and kill me, but I saw an opening. I blocked five of his attacks then used the force, sending him flying back, falling off the platform into the ocean below. I went over to help Kanan and Starkiller fight the troopers, but Starkiller killed them both using his force lightening.

"Let's keep going." Starkiller ordered us. We moved throughout the Kaminoan platforms, killing any imperials who got in our way. After I slaughtered another trooper, we heard large footsteps. I turned around, and saw an AT-ST walking towards us. It fired and we got back. Starkiller, Kanan, and I used objects with the force to send them flying, hitting the walker. It fired again, and it almost killed me until I rolled to side. I used a nearby crate and sent it flying with the force which hit the walker, then Starkiller provided assistance by blasting it with force lightening. The walker fired repeatedly at him, until I saw his body fly up in the air. Just when we all thought he died, he quickly got up and started slashing his lightsabers at the walker's leg. Kanan and I helped him out, doing the same thing, until we managed to cut the walker's legs. The walker was now out of control. It fell on its side, attempting to blast us.

The three of us jumped on to it, in which I cut the hatch open with my saber. The two man crew in there panicked. They both pulled out blasters, until I slashed them. They panicked more, me pointing my lightsaber at the two of them. "Get out!" I ordered. With not really much of a choice, they complied, me pushing them out with the force. Starkiller force pushed them off the platform, their screams echoing throughout the area as they fell to their deaths. I climbed out of the walker, force pushing it off the platform, where it joined its crew. Without a word, we continued moving on. As we continued moving, oddly enough, there were no enemies. Then, I sensed a presence.

Kanan and Starkiller sensed this presence as well. This presence felt familiar, too familiar. The cold. The anger. The hate. It was all there. I haven't sensed a presence like this since, since...Malachor. No. It can't be. He's here. We saw him in the distance, a dark figure walking towards us. We drew our lightsabers. "Guys, keep moving." Kanan ordered the others. "This is our fight."

"No." Starkiller said. "Move on with them. I'll deal with Vader."

"Are you sure? He's dangerous, you'll need our help, Starkiller." I replied.

"Guys, go now."

Kanan and I nodded and took off with the rest of the crew.

Starkiller's P.O.V

"The apprentice lives." Vader said to me, revealing himself, his appearance dark as I made eye contact with him through the rain.

"You may have taken Galen Marek, but you won't take me!" I retorted.

"Galen Marek was a fool, a weakling who was just meant to be cast aside from the very beginning. She died with him, along with the rest of his friends. Your feelings towards her, they aren't real."

"They are real to me!"

"Let your hatred flow through you, and use it!"

"You took her, didn't you!?"

"I did what was necessary. You are going to join her, along with your new rebel friends when they die here on this world. Now, surrender yourself."

"I am slave to nobody, not even you!"

"Then perhaps it is that time that we settle the score, again."

I drew my lightsabers. "Your death will be slow, that I can promise you."

Vader drew his. "You have already died, that I can assure you. You aren't real, and you never were."

I charged at Vader, screaming as I ran towards him, bringing my sabers up to slash him. I swung both of them at his head, the dark lord blocking my attack. He pushed me away from him using his saber, swinging at me. I parried his strikes then used torrents of force lightening on him. He blocked my torrents with his lightsaber, so I intensified my force lightening. I got closer to Vader as I intensified my lightening further, my lightening bouncing off his saber and going into his suit. When I got more closer to him, my lightening intensified to its fullest, Vader brought up his saber and slashed me in the shoulder. "Ah!" I grunted, covering up my hit.

Vader swung at me, getting me to back up as he continued attacking me. I blocked his hits, bringing up my sabers in an x shape, engaged in a blade lock with him. "You have lost already." he said, getting deeper into me.

"I was just getting started." I retorted, breaking the lock and slashing Vader in the leg. He let out a cry of pain. I struck his other leg, then landed a couple of hits on him. Then he blocked another hit of mine, engaging me in another blade lock. While we were in the lock, I brought up my right hand and shocked Vader, my lightening going into his helmet. He broke the lock and struck me in my other shoulder, then sent me back with the force.

Then he picked up a relay of some kind, picking it off the ground with the force, the lightening shocking it from the sky. He sent it flying towards me, and it hit me in the stomach. I tried so hard to use the force to get it off of me, grunting in the process, but Vader didn't allow that to happen as he force pushed the relay, and me. I tried harder to get it off of me with the force, me going back further, nearing the edge of the platform. I tried one last time, using up all of my energy to try to get the relay off me. Finally, it worked, and I sent it flying towards Vader, who dodged it in the nick of time.

Thanks to the relay being struck by lightening earlier, I absorbed some of the lightening from that, and I unleashed massive torrents of force lightening on Vader. I screamed out, intensifying my lightening even more, now tampering with Vader's cybernetics as his breathing was not normal. I unleashed even more torrents, screaming out even louder as I approached Vader while still shocking him. When I got closer, I held my sabers at his head.

"You have lost!" I yelled out.

"Let your hatred fuel you." Vader retorted. "Strike me down. It is your destiny."

Third Person P.O.V

As Starkiller, now fueled with hatred and darkness for Vader, lifted his blades up, about to deliver the killing blow, his actions were halted. He let out a loud gasp when he felt something penetrate his chest. He looked down to see two red blades, realizing who it was that was about to end him. The blades were pulled out by the user, with Starkiller falling on the floor and groaning as he tried to cover up his chest, but he knew that he was almost done for.

He tilted his head up, meeting eyes with the cloaked figure. "Von!" Starkiller groaned. Von laughed, taking a knee and eyeing the clone.

"How unfortunate for you." Von responded. "Just as it was unfortunate for him and her."

"No. Not...not them. You took Proxy and Juno!"

Von laughed. "Wow. So it does seem that you could figure it out. But before you die, Starkiller, I suggest that we meet face to face, as we have not done so already."

Von slowly brought his hands up to his hood, then pulled it down, revealing his true self. He was a human male. He had tan skin, bright yellow eyes, raven hair that was relatively long, and a full beard. Starkiller gasped when he saw these physical features, seeing the similarity of him and one of the jedi who came here to stop Von. Von smiled maliciously, looking down at Starkiller in his dying moments. Instead of letting him suffer slowly, Von brought up his sabers, but he was stopped when Vader put a hand on his shoulder. Von nodded, letting Starkiller suffer. And then Starkiller gave out. The clone of Galen Marek was no more.

When he died, Von faced Vader. "Excellent work, Von." Vader said. "But we still have work to do. Find the rebels and take them down! Eliminate the jedi with them."

Von bowed his head. "As you command, Lord Vader." He put on his hood and headed back into the facility, feeling the presence of himself, his younger self, in there.