Desperately, Shesprer continued to swing his lightsaber. The blaster shots seemed to never end and the heavy shells from the guns gradually took away their cover. All around him they split rocks, made craters in the ground, or set trees on fire. The smell of burning wood was everywhere in the air and if it continued like this the fire would spread so far that all they could really do was retreat. Heaps of more explosions shook the ground and Shesprer could only imagine how many had already died. He slowly began to think seriously about escaping.

But just at that moment it suddenly became quieter. The shrill sounds of blasters could still be heard, but he no longer heard any explosions. Then he looked up and saw the guns lowering. They stopped firing. They have been deactivated! Shesprer knew immediately what had to be done.

"All hands: charge!" he shouted to the rest of his men. "The guns are disabled! This is our chance!"

Together they gathered all their courage and plunged into battle. Although they continued to come under fire, they reached their enemies before they could inflict any more serious casualties.

Shesprer immediately sent a Force blast ahead to unbalance his enemies, then picked them off one by one with his lightsaber. He then heard the sound of glass breaking and had to take a step back to avoid being hit by falling shards.

He saw Duke rappelling down from above.

"Hey!" he called to him. "Couldn't this have gone a little quicker?"

"Theoretically yes, but we had to find out that Cuyaes had betrayed us and was working for Mandalore the whole time."

This dry statement hit Shesprer like a blaster shot.

"What?" he asked again.

"He held us captive here for a short time, but we were able to free ourselves and have now deactivated everything."

"Better later than never, I guess," Shesprer said. He looked around briefly. "Where's Ken?"

"He went to the top with Ornan to secure the lab and Ornan's experiment. If we manage to secure the outside area now, then we have won."

This statement aroused Shesprer's euphoria.

"Then let's finally claim victory," he said and, followed by Duke, stormed into battle with his lightsaber raised.

….

A few stairs, and fortunately no incident, later they arrived at the laboratory. Ken was a little afraid to enter, but when he looked inside, his worst expectations were once again exceeded. In front of him, in a cage, stood the huge beast. Certainly two meters tall and at least six meters long, thorns on its back, a hideous mouth full of razor-sharp teeth, six strong legs and green-purple skin.

Ornan, on the other hand, beamed with joy. So much so that he even took off his helmet.

"So this is your ultimate weapon?" Ken asked.

"It is great, isn't it?" Ornan said, sounding like a mad scientist from a bad holo-thriller. "It's impressive how quickly it has grown in such a short time."

Ken didn't even want to know how short that was.

"But that's just the beginning," Ornan grinned. "Once it grows up and can fly, it will be more unstoppable and fearsome than one of those Zillo beasts from Malastare. Then nothing can stop me from overthrowing Mandalore the Ultimate."

It let out a deafening roar that gave Ken goosebumps.

"Isn't it a little too untamed?" he asked anxiously.

"Like any animal, you can tame it," Ornan dismissed the question.

"Are you really sure? Because if you don't, you will unleash a monstrous and dangerous monster on the galaxy, which we probably won't even be able to stop."

But somewhere he was right. With this beast at their side, they can defeat the Mandalorians with ease. That's why the Duinuogwuin genes were obtained. At least this way they could continue the researchers' work and protect the Republic.

Suddenly Ken heard a slight hissing in the air. He reflexively jumped to the side and saw a spear whiz past him. But Ornan wasn't so lucky. Before he even realized it, the spear pierced his head and he died on the spot. Ken could only watch in horror as Ornan's dead body collapsed and a pool of blood spread beneath his head.

It all happened far too fast for Ken to process. Only seconds later did he realize that Ornan was now dead. But he didn't have time. His sense of danger immediately snapped him out of his state of shock and he used his lightsaber to block two blaster shots that came from the door. And then he saw Cuyaes standing there, his face burning with rage.

"If I had known how careless you were just now, I could have killed you straight away."

The sight of him made Ken's blood rush again. He felt the adrenaline pumping through his body and his strength increasing.

"Not taking advantage of this opportunity was a big mistake," he growled hatefully. "Your last one!"

Cuyaes took a fighting stance.

"We'll see," he said confidently. He didn't seem the least bit afraid of Ken.

Ken jumped at him with a quick leap and stabbed him with his lightsaber. Unfortunately without success. Cuyaes was more nimble than expected. He quickly dodged to the side, ran to Ornan's body and took his spear again. But Ken was not impressed. He immediately caught up with him and beat him continuously. Cuyaes managed to block all of the punches, but found himself under pressure from Ken's sheer power and speed. But he was by no means the incompetent fighter he had always portrayed himself to be. However Ken was sure that he was still no match for him. He failed to break through Ken's attacks and go on the offensive. He tried to gain an advantage by quickly backing away to take advantage of the length of his spear. However, he only succeeded in this for a short time, as Ken repeatedly avoided the few stabs he made and reduced the distance again. But no matter how hard Ken tried and made him sweat with blows all over the place, he couldn't break through his defenses. He slowed his attacks, hoping to put Cuyaes on the offensive and counter his attacks. Cuyaes seemed to notice immediately and pushed Ken back with the center of his spear. This was followed by a strong, horizontal, one-handed spin, which then transitioned into an overhead punch. And then Ken saw the opportunity. Cuyaes drew back his spear to strike. But Ken was prepared. As the spear rushed towards him, he moved to the side faster than Cuyaes could see and kicked the back half of it with his left foot with full force. This sudden jolt caused Cuyaes to fall forward and Ken didn't hesitate for a second to reach out with his lightsaber and plunge it through his chest, deep into his body, until it protruded from between his shoulders again. Even if his attacking skills got better by the time, Soresu was still his best option.

The blade went out, leaving a steaming hole in Cuyae's chest. He tried with the last of his strength to support himself, but collapsed and remained lying there. Ken looked down once again contemptuously at the dying Mandalorian and then made his way outside.

"You were right," Cuyaes gasped behind him. Ken stopped and turned his head slightly. However, out of disrespect for him, he didn't look at him, but continued to turn his back on him.

"It was my last mistake not to kill you straight away. And it wasn't your turn to give me the coup de grace."

Those words sent shivers down Ken's spine. Now he turned around and saw Cuyaes leaning against a control panel. When he pressed a button on it, Ken then understood the meaning behind it. The door to the cage opened with a slight squeak. Ken tried to stop him with a Force push, but it was too late. The monster was free.

"See you again in hell," Cuyaes said spitefully and laughed.

Ken, on the other hand, was stunned. Even after all that, he wouldn't have thought that Cuyaes would actually go that far. The beast stepped out of the cage with mighty steps. It sniffed and the first thing it noticed was Cuyae's. With a cruel roar, it lunged at the still-laughing Mandalorian and pushed him down the dark maw of its throat.

Ken actually just wanted to run away. He could definitely manage to quickly fork over Shesprer and disappear into one of the shuttles. But he knew very well that if he wanted to prevent a catastrophe, he would have to kill it here and now.