Hello everyone! Well, testing's mostly done and I've managed to put my umpiring problems behind me. So we are now approaching the final battle, I hope you are all enjoying the story so far and love this chapter!

Also, for all my American readers, I hope you have a good, meaningful Memorial Day. For all my other readers, never forget those who died for your country, whichever country you may live in, so we can live in relative peace.

Another snippet from my upcoming prequel: I plan it to have three parts: one at an American radar station, one at a Soviet research base, and the last will be an aftermath that will range from a Soviet submarine to a Japanese Self-Defense Force outpost.

teresa. spanics - I'm glad you loved the last chapter. I will say right now, Saw was not the first person to be assimilated. He was assimilated early, but he was not the first. I hope you enjoy this chapter as well!

Achilles453 - I'm so happy you loved the blood test scene! I was a little afraid that it would be too much like the one in the movie, but I'm glad you liked it. Well, I thought these chapters needed a little bit of humor, so I included Sabine's somewhat sadistic trolling of the Gooti-Thing and the "tied to this fucking couch" line. Seeing how Saw is based on Dr. Blair, I think you already know what role Saw will play in this chapter and the next. I hope you like this chapter, there aren't many left

Guest - I'm glad you liked the chapter! As for how the Thing assimilates its victims, I do not believe it is how the borg would. I honestly have no clue how the borg assimilate people, I don't watch Star Trek. For the Thing though, nobody really knows. The best I can say is that the Thing digests the cells of its victim, then changes its own cells to imitate someone. That's also the reason it can't assimilate inorganic matter as well, no DNA to mimic. I'm not 100% sure, but that's what I've been going off of writing this.

Outpost 17, March 13, 1987, 0415 Hours

Ketsu stood at the only unblocked doorway, holding one of the flamethrowers. The others were going to go test Saw shortly, but Ketsu wouldn't be able to fight through the storm with her wounded leg. She gazed out the frosted window in the direction of the tool shed. Her head started to droop; Ketsu hadn't slept in a while. She was so tired she didn't hear the footsteps of the approaching person until a voice rang out from behind her.

"Ketsu." Ketsu's head snapped up to see Sabine standing in the corridor. Several sticks of dynamite and several flares were strapped to her flight jacket and winter gear. Ezra and Kallus walked up behind her, Ezra carrying the other flamethrower while Kallus had a shotgun slung over his shoulder, and several thermite charges strapped to his belt.

Sabine continued, "We're heading out to give Saw the test. If he comes back without us, you know what to do."

Ketsu nodded and opened the door. Sabine lit a flare as the three ventured out into the howling winds of the storm. Ketsu watched them leave with some sadness, she could not shake the feeling in her gut that she would never see them again.

Outside, the blizzard was at its peak, winds battering against them and snow and ice hitting them with the force of hail. The wind threatened to blow them across the ice, and they gripped the guide rope for dear life as they struggled through the blizzard.

They neared the tool shed to find the door wide open, the wind blowing into the hangman's noose sending it swinging wildly. The three paused at the entrance, trying to balance themselves. They entered to find no trace of Saw. Ezra looked at Sabine and Kallus, "How'd he get out? Didn't we bolt the door from the outside?"

Sabine sighed, "Check the room. See if anything's loose."

Kallus stepped further into the room and discovered that he was standing on a loose floorboard. Kallus looked at both Sabine and Ezra, and they pulled it up to see a hole in the ground. There was a humming noise from below. Something was down there. They pulled up a couple more floorboards, revealing an underground tunnel. The three descended slowly into it, Ezra first, Kallus second, and Sabine last.

Cautiously, Ezra called out, "Saw? You down here?"

Kallus joined in, "Hey Saw! Are you down there! We've got something for you!"

The tunnel descended about 10 feet below ground and opened into a chamber. The chamber was almost completely filled by a strange, metallic contraption. It was crudely fashioned, a patchwork job, but still incredibly streamlined. The craft looked like a smaller version of the UFO that they had inadvertently blown up several days ago. It was large enough for one man, or thing, and looked like a mini submarine. There was an engine in the back with directional vanes on the front. There was a bubble cockpit on the top.

Sabine whistled as she approached it, "Saw's been busy out here by himself."

Ezra looked at her, "What is it?"

"Everything that's been missing. Smart son of a bitch put it together piece by piece. He used parts from the vehicles, the roof of Kallus' shack, and the roof of the greenhouse."

Kallus shrugged, "It's a ship of some kind. An escape craft perhaps?"

Ezra nodded, "Where do you think he was trying to go?"

"Anywhere but here." Sabine pulled out a large bundle of dynamite taped together. "But he's not going to make it."

They paused as a loud screeching came from somewhere in the darkness above. The three scrambled up the tunnel to the tool shed to find nothing. For off amidst the howling gale, the screech was heard again. Sabine, Ezra, and Kallus all gathered around the door. Less than a minute after the screech, there was a small boom, and to their horror, the outpost's lights went out.

-0-

Ketsu was beginning to worry. They had been gone a while, and she had no means to contact them. Ketsu saw the dim glow of the flare disappear, so she hoped that they were still alive. She heard something from somewhere in the building, the echo of a clang. Silently, Ketsu crept towards the corridor, her flamethrower never lowering. She tentatively yelled out, "Saw? Is that you?"

There was a squishing sound from somewhere and Ketsu now desperately wished she was not there alone. Ketsu silently crept through the hallway, inspecting each room. The corridors had once been filled with life and activity from the 13 man crew, but now it was just her. If the Thing was here, then it had to have killed the others. Ketsu shuddered as that thought sunk in, she was alone. She was alone, injured, and the only person left who could kill the Thing. The base seemed different somehow, like the hallways were not the ones she had spent months in.

The squishing sound came from the end of the hallway, and Ketsu saw a trail of viscous yellow ooze leading around the corner. She hurried after it as quickly as she could given her injured leg. There was a gurgling and hissing, and a taloned arm slunk around the corner in retreat. Ketsu cautiously poked the nozzle of her torch into the door, and she peeked around the ledge. There, in the middle of the secondary supply room, was the block of ice the Thing had originally come from, but the Thing was nowhere to be seen.

Something fell on the floor. She looked up at the hole in the roof, and sighed in relief. It was ice dripping down, falling through the hole in the roof. She crept further into the room when there was a clang behind her, out in the hallway. Ketsu whirled, keeping her weapon trained on the door, when she felt something fall and hit her shoulder. Ketsu glanced at her coat, and to her surprise, there was a small drop of red liquid. Blood! Ketsu looked up at the hole, only for her eyes to widen in alarm. Staring down at her was the Thing! It smiled at her, before it let out a bone-rattling screech and a good two-thirds of its body lunged at her.

Ketsu screamed and pulled the trigger, but the Thing was too fast. Its arms clamped down on her and pulled, trying to rip through Ketsu's heavy thermal gear. The flamethrower fell to the ground as Ketsu was hauled out of the room through the hole in the roof and flung through the air. She landed on her back, hard. Lying down on the ice, Ketsu flipped over and tried to light a stick of dynamite, but all her weapons were lost when she was thrown through the air. Ketsu spotted the tool shack ahead of her, and she desperately tried to crawl towards it.

Ketsu heard the screech again and quickened her pace. She looked behind her, expecting to see the Thing right behind her, but there was nothing. Only driving snow and ice. Her confusion turned into terror when the snow opened up and two arms punched through on either side of her. Ketsu shouted in horror and fear as she was dragged below the ice into a tunnel.

-0-

The emergency lights kicked on, casting the base into a strange bluish glow as Kallus and Ezra turned to Sabine, who had become the de-facto leader of the group. Sabine lit a flare inside the tool shack, flooding a reddish light across the walls of the small shack, and looked at her two companions with wide eyes. "It got back inside and blew the generator."

Kallus sighed, "Then the heat's off. In a few hours it'll be nearly a hundred below in here."

Ezra looked at them in shock, "But that's suicide! Right? Nothing should be able to survive that."

Sabine's eyes held a bit of fear and realization in them, "Not for that Thing. It wanted to freeze now. Its got no way out of here anymore once we're finished. It just wants to go to sleep in the cold until a rescue team finds it. Until Commander Tano returns."

"But how could it have known we would be coming here? It can't read our minds." Ezra's voice shook with suppressed fear, "Could it?"

Sabine's eyes widened even further, "It has to. It must be telepathic! Remember before it escaped, it gave you nightmares as well as several other of us. And it's been one step ahead of us this entire time. It knew Saw was going crazy, and what he was about to do, and used that to its advantage. When the lights went out, it lured Jai to the greenhouse, knowing he would discover my clothes and blame me. Now, it knew we were coming out here and knew we would discover its little escape plan. Saw must have used that as a distraction to probably kill Ketsu and get the generator. It knows we can't withstand the cold, but it can!"

"What can we do? Our options are pretty limited now."

Kallus looked at Sabine and Ezra, "Whatever happens to us, we can't let that Thing freeze again. Any suggestions."

Sabine drew a breath in and smirked, her eyes now filled with some mischief. She clutched Jyn's crystal in her hand as she chuckled, "Maybe we should warm things up a little around here."

Kallus nodded, "You both realize that we probably won't make it out alive, right?"

Ezra nodded now, matching the somewhat amused gaze of his girlfriend, "Neither will that thing."

Sabine smirked and ran over to the hole in the ground. She pulled several sticks of dynamite off her jacket and taped them into a large bundle. She lit the fuse, "Time for Saw to miss his flight."

Sabine flung the bundle down the tunnel and turned to catch up with the others. The dynamite rolled down the tunnel before coming to a stop next to Saw's escape craft. The fuse burned away and the tool shed exploded behind them. They hurried back to the entrance through the storm, but Ezra paused, his gaze resting on a small shack next to the hangar.

He turned to his two companions, "Hey guys! I have an idea!" He beckoned them to the shack and threw open the doors to reveal equipment for launching weather balloons. Ezra smirked at the puzzled expressions on Sabine and Kallus' faces. "We've never used this because Commander Tano's mission didn't include launching weather balloons, but the equipment was kept for future expeditions. Namely, the three hydrogen tanks."

The eyes of the two pilots lit up instantly, "And hydrogen is extremely flammable. Good idea Ezzy." Since Ezra still carried his flamethrower, Sabine and Kallus each grabbed the tanks. They lugged them inside, Ezra leading the way with his torch. They paused in the primary supply room, where Sabine had broke through and shot the Zare-Thing, and began to formulate a plan.

Sabine drew a makeshift diagram of the outpost in the snow that blew through the broken window. Kallus gave the plan, "Okay, we plant the hydrogen tanks in the basement and release the valves. The basement will be our last stand."

Ezra shook his head, "Slight problem, that shack outside wasn't sealed, those valves are frozen solid and they won't open. Slicing the top off or boreing a hole won't work either cause it'd be too dangerous. The tank would become a missile and probably kill you."

Sabine nodded, "Right. They'll still burn if there's an explosion from outside, right?" Ezra nodded and Sabine smiled, "Perfect. Plan A should be torching it up here. We don't want to destroy our shelter if we don't have to. If that fails, Plan B is that whoever's left of us lures the Thing into the basement. A few charges of dynamite and thermite, touched off by that torch or a stick of dynamite should do the trick. The hydrogen would add to it. Nothing should survive that explosion."

Ezra nodded, "Okay, so how do we get it where we want?"

Kallus answered, "One of us will have to board up the last entrance. It might have gone outside to try and kill us there. The other two will place charges down in the basement and lay the trap. For Plan A, we'll meet it at the fork over there," he pointed to the first fork in the corridor. "Lay some oil on the ground, have the torch ready in the main corridor, and some dynamite for backup. We'll get it to enter here at this entrance and chase us to the trap. If it fails, we can fall back to the basement stairs."

Ezra shook his head, "But who will board up the entrance? What if that Thing's already inside?"

Sabine sighed, "It's a chance we have to take. We need to force it down that corridor to the trap, and we need to keep our rear clear so we can retreat if things don't go well."

"I'll do it." Kallus said without hesitation. "I thought it up, I'll take the risk. It might be in the generator room, so watch out."

Sabine and Ezra nodded, fully aware that this might be their last stand. "That Thing with it's telepathy might know of our plan, so take this," Kallus handed them each a pistol from Jyn's cache, "It won't do much against the Thing, but it won't assimilate dead matter. It also won't hurt too much. If it grabs you, put the muzzle in your mouth and pull the trigger. It's quick and painless." Sabine and Ezra nodded grimly again. Sabine held out her hand to the Navy Lieutenant, "It's been an honor serving with you Lt. Kallus."

Kallus took it, "Likewise, Ms. Wren. I hope we see each other again."

-0-

The three humans worked feverishly. Sabine and Ezra walked down the basement stairs to the generator room, only to find it completely smashed and destroyed. They quickly laid their dynamite and thermite charges, not wanting to spend any much longer time than needed down there.

Upstairs, Kallus boarded up the door, keeping a lit molotov next to him the entire time. Everytime he heard something, Kallus stopped and prepared himself for a last stand, but nothing came. It was almost as if the Thing was toying with them. Kallus finished his work and stepped back towards the main corridor. He held the molotov in one hand and the pistol in the other. Sabine and Ezra emerged from the stairs no different than they went down.

Kallus nodded at them, it was now or never. Ezra asked, "How long's it been?"

"Fifteen minutes. Now we wait."

Sabine hummed agreement, "I'll get to the other side of the corridor, cover our rear. Kallus, you and Ezra be ready to torch it."

"You got it."

Sabine ran over next to the radio room and basement stairs as Kallus and Ezra took up position at the fork. Ahsoka's office and the ad building were right across from them. Kallus watched the main corridor, looking at Sabine who was crouched in the corridor, molotov and flare in hand. She had one more bundle of dynamite on her jacket, but she didn't want to waste it. Kallus had the rest of the dynamite, which was also on his coat, he still held a molotov and a lit flare. They needed to keep the dynamite in reserve.

They waited for a long time. Ezra shuddered, it was getting colder by the second. "One hour. Maybe it's not coming."

Kallus shook his head, "It has to. It needs us to escape. Think, if Commander Tano finds only Saw, what do you think will happen? It needs all of us to make the deaths look-."

Their conversation was cut short by a scratching sound at the door. Ezra tensed, his fingers tightening around the trigger of his flamethrower. Kallus cautioned him with a whisper, "Hold on... We need it on that fuel."

The Thing at the door began to pound it from outside. Sabine heard this and lit her molotov. Kallus held out an arm, motioning for her to stay put, "Wait for it..."

The door boomed and the whole building seemed to shake. The ceiling quivered and Kallus and Sabine readied to throw their molotovs.

There was an explosion from above, a screech, and the Thing dropped down through the roof between them.

Don't you all love cliffhangers?

Next Chapter: The Final Battle