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Monster

Ace narrowed his eyes as he stared through his macrobinoculars at the massive facility before him. It was still under construction, but there were several conveyors and machines powered up, beginning to assemble droids. Just from where he was he could see B-1s, Super Battle Droids, Commando Droids, Droidekas, heavy artillery weapons, and even MagnaGuards, if he was seeing things right. And there was an army already moving about the facility. He sighed, sliding back a bit and pulling a retractable cable from his PDA to connect to Jack. Then, he tapped out a coded message to Eila, warning her what he'd found and that he'd need reinforcements after all. After a few minutes, he moved in. He needed closer recon for the rest of their forces, so he closed into the factory, then had Jack cloak and sent him in. After a moment, a video feed appeared on his PDA's screen as Jack slowly made sure to look at everything being assembled. It was worse than Ace had expected. In addition to the droids, the factory had bays for assembling starships, mountains of ammunition, fully-assembled vulture droids, and a Tactical Droid overseeing operations.

"Well, that certainly complicates matters," Ace sighed. "Jack, return."

Jack turned and flew back to him instantly, and they silently escaped from the factory's surrounding area in silence. A couple of hours later, Clone forces began to land several kilometers from the factory, where they wouldn't be seen right away.

"What's your tactical assessment?" Eila asked Ace as they and the other Clone commanders and ARC Troopers gathered around a holoprojector Ace tossed onto the ground.

Ace pressed his datapad's screen, bringing up the schematics of the factory and the area around it that Jack had formed while conducting recon. "My tactical assessment is that this weapons factory is too dangerous to be left standing. The other ARC Troopers and I need to destroy it. While we infiltrate, the rest of our forces will have to launch a frontal assault as a diversion. We'll need gunships as air support, because they have functioning vulture droids."

Eila nodded. "Alright, let's figure out a specific plan."

Ace narrowed his eyes as he watched the droids below him and the ARC Trooper with him. The frontal assault had begun, but despite the battle outside, the droids below them were perfectly calm, two Battle Droids and a Super all standing around discussing how wasted the Super's potential was with him working sanitation. Ace shook his head, looking to the ARC Trooper, who was resting his hand on the front of his helmet. Finally, Ace dropped a droid popper, shutting all three down and they dropped quietly to the ground. They both dragged a Battle Droid into a maintenance closet before working together to move the Super into it, then shut the door, Ace quickly using his lightsaber's blade to weld the door shut.

"Now, let's set our charges," the ARC Trooper said quietly.

Ace nodded, and they quickly began to set their charges. They were responsible for the Vulture Droid section of the factory, which included a lift up to the landing pad. Within about five minutes, they finished their work as the others all began to radio in on their private, secured line, which included Eila.

"Super Battle Droid Fabricators are primed," one of the ARC Troopers reported.

"Main Droid Fabricators are primed," another reported.

"Vulture Droid Fabricators are primed," Ace reported.

"Power Generator is not primed!" an ARC Trooper shouted over blaster fire. "We're under fire! We're not going to be able to make it to the generator!"

"What are the forces?" Ace asked.

"Two dozen Clankers and counting!" the ARC Trooper reported. "Supers mixed with basics! A few Rollers scattered around!"

"Are you alone?" Ace asked.

"Affirmative!" the ARC Trooper confirmed. "They caught us in a surprise attack!"

Ace grit his teeth. "Jack, is there a route to the power generator through that air vent?"

Jack scanned the vent and beeped in the affirmative.

"Oh shit!" Eila shouted suddenly.

"What is it, General?" Ace asked. "Eil!?"

"The droids have assistance!" Eila shouted. "A mercenary!"

"Description!" Ace requested urgently.

"Tall!" Eila said. "Silver armor! Strong!" She paused as an explosion went off, then another, followed by a long spray of blaster fire. "Immortal!"

Ace swore harshly. He'd heard those rumors once before. "You, take Jack and get that Power Generator Primed!" Ace ordered the ARC Trooper with him, taking the emergency rocket launcher from him. "Eila, I'm on my way! Be careful, if it's who I think it is, he's a Gen'Dai!"

Eila swore harshly, and Ace sprinted to the lift up to the landing pad. It rose quickly and Ace braced himself. Sure enough, there were about a dozen droids around him as he reached the top, but as soon as he'd arrived, he scattered a trio of droid poppers into one side as his DC-17m sprayed the other side, wiping them all out. A pair of Vulture Droids swung around to make a pass at him, only for a republic fighter to blast them both, sending them exploding down among the droids' forces. Ace ignored it entirely, sprinting to the edge of the landing pad and looked out ahead of him. There, flashing past their tanks on a speeder and wielding a Power Lance, was Durge, a hulking warrior wearing silver armor loaded with advanced technology and dozens of weapons, many of which Ace suspected were actually contained inside of Durge's body. Ace narrowed his eyes, then raised a hand to the side of his helmet, switching to the open channel.

"I need a fighter to do a low fly-by of the tower, now!" Ace ordered.

"On my way!" someone responded.

Ace looked up, seeing a trio of Vulture Droids nearby. "Bring two escorts."

"Red Five on your wing," one pilot responded.

"Red three on your wing," another reported.

Ace waited, and as the republic fighters swung down, the Vulture Droids swung around to intercept them. The escorts broke off to deal with them, and Ace's ride flew low. Ace leapt off of the landing pad, using his jetpack to get moving, then landed on the fighter's wing, immediately pointing toward Durge. The pilot nodded and swung around, and a few moments later, Ace dropped off of the fighter just as it began to fire at Durge. Durge easily evaded the pilot's attempts to blast him, but Ace stopped himself with his jetpack and raised the rocket launcher, firing and immediately casting it aside as he flew after the rocket.

The rocket slammed home in the front of Durge's speeder, but he'd already bailed, landing on his feet in a long skid as the speeder exploded. Durge swung his Power Lance around to impale Ace as he approached, but Ace hurled a thermal detonator at him. Instead of dodging it, Durge kicked it into a group of nearby clones, killing them. However, it was just enough of a distraction for Eila to close in safely. She slashed the lance off just ahead of Durge's hand, then spun, slashing at him, only for a small, round, Ray Shield to extend from his left arm at the wrist, deflecting her blade. Durge swung hard, but Ace crashed into him, feet first. It did dishearteningly little, but it rocked Durge backward, forcing his punch off course, sparing Eila a crushing blow to the head. Ace dropped to the ground instantly and hurled himself to the side, avoiding a powerful downward blow from Durge's left arm.

Eila struck again, but Durge extended a shield on his right hand, deflecting her blade as Ace began to fire with his DC-17m. The initial burst punched into Durge harmlessly, leaving smoking, glowing red holes in his armor, but doing nothing to stop him from swiping at them both over and over with his massive, battering ram arms. After the fourth swipe, Durge managed to send Ace's rifle flying. Ace swore, diving out of the way of another strike, and Durge turned on Eila, bearing down relentlessly. Ace grabbed his lightsaber, extending the blade just as Durge managed to slam a fist into Eila's gut, hurling her away. Ace lunged, slashing rapidly, but Durge deflected strike after strike with his shields. Then, suddenly, he turned, deflecting the blade as his other fist whipped around, crashing into the back of Ace's head. He crashed down fifteen feet later, his helmet bouncing away, then rolled over just as dozens of clones began to spray Durge. He roared in annoyance, turning and launching himself into a cluster of clones just as they managed to set up an E-Web Heavy Turret.

Within seconds, Durge had bludgeoned the clones to death, their plastoid armor not able to withstand his blows as well as Ace's had, though his helmet had cracked on impact, so he doubted his armor would hold up much longer than theirs. And a second later, the situation had gotten so much worse. Durge had slung the E-Web's turret's power generator over his shoulder as he lifted the turret like a blaster rifle, turning and beginning to mow down the other dozens of clones struggling to deal any worthwhile damage. A pair of rockets exploded against his back, but aside from cracking and scorching his armor, it did nothing to stop the rampage. Durge turned, sweeping his turret's fire around to the clones who'd fired the rockets, shredding them and the cluster around them. Already, dozens of clones had died before the Bounty Hunter. Ace charged again, Eila closing in from the other side. Durge began to turn toward Eila, but Ace reached out, focusing on the turret, then yanked with the Force, forcing Durge's age off just long enough for Eila to slash the barrel off of the turret, then sweep her lightsaber around to slash up at Durge. Durge stepped back, avoiding it, but Ace slashed Durge across the back, severing the power generator, then dove away, Eila doing the same just before the power generator exploded.

For a split-second, there was silence, a massive cloud of smoke enveloping Durge. Then, Durge erupted out of it. Hid arms snapped up, a pair of Heavy Blaster Pistols the size of carbines firing, the two shots slamming into Ace's chest, hurling him backward as both punched into his armor deep enough to burn his chest, but only just enough to scar, rather than enough for a serious injury. Then, Eila had slashed the blaster pistols off, nearly managing to take Durge's hands with them, for all the good it would have done, considering he'd just regrow them. Durge spun, swinging a tree-trunk arm at Eila, and she ducked under it. Then, just as the arm reached the end of its swing, Ace slashed upward at it, severing it at the elbow. Durge roared as Ace and Eila both slashed at the torso, splitting his trunk at two sections of his abdomen. For a moment, Durge began to fall, the sections separating. Then, slimy, fleshy tendrils burst out of the separations, instantly tugging his torso back together and then his arm as well. Then, Durge spun, a ring of barrels rising from his gauntlets before beginning to spray a flood of blaster bolts and flechette rounds.

Ace and Eila dove to the ground, avoiding the attack, but the clones around them weren't nearly so lucky, more than a dozen more dying before Durge stopped firing when Eila's hands curled into fists, crushing the weapons. Durge turned, raising a foot over Ace's head, short, metal spikes growing from the bottom of his armored foot. Ace yelped in fear, the thought that Durge's raw strength made the spikes unnecessary occurring to him just before Eila yanked him out of harm's way with the Force. Then, she and Ace both shoved a hand at Durge, blasting him together with a Force Push that sent him flying. However, as he crashed down among yet more woefully unprepared clones, he immediately extended more than a dozen miniature rockets on small launchers from his shoulders, sides, forearms, back, and legs. A moment later, rockets were exploding all across the area, slaughtering clones before Eila deflected a half-dozen aimed for them, sending them exploding harmlessly into the ground. Then, Durge once again burst from the smoke, this time holding a sword with a medium-length, silvery blade.

On a hunch, Ace drew his blaster pistol and fired, the blast hitting the blade and deflecting, only to fizzle out within a few inches past Durge. Cortosis. Eila swore leaping away, only for Ace to lunge forward, his lightsaber in his left hand as his right drew his kal, slashing hard. With a ringing, musical clash, the cortosis blade snapped off just above the hilt. Then, Durge's foot exploded into Ace's side, hurling him. Eila lunged, assaulting Durge rapidly, but Durge's shields once again began to deflect her lightsaber. Ace shoved himself up, pulling his kal back to himself and sheathing it before picking up the DC-17m he'd miraculously landed beside. He sighted in carefully, and a moment later, fired a short burst. Durge roared as his right leg separated at the knee, and Eila sprung on the opening, slashing off the other leg, then an arm. Then, as Durge crashed to the ground, a pair of huge, framework wings extended from his back, a pair of thrusters on the ends roaring to life. Durge rocketed away from her, then hit a destroyed chunk of tank, arcing into the air before tentacles burst from his three severed stumps. Just as Ace shot off one of Durge's jetpack's wings, the other disconnected from his back and he fell. He crashed down hard, then launched himself forward. Tentacles swarmed out from his missing arm, binding Eila before she could try to evade them, only for Ace to slash them off. Then, Durge's enormous fist impacted with his side, slamming him into Eila, then launching them both away. They crashed down hard, bouncing and rolling to a stop, then looked back at Durge just as a pair of enormous barrels rose from Durge's back aiming at them and beginning to glow.

"General!" the ARC Trooper that had been with Ace radioed suddenly, a storm of blaster fire echoing. "All detonators are primed! Everyone who's going to survive is out and I'm about to blow it! It's been an honor, General! Ace, take good care of her!"

Before either could respond, however, there was a massive string of explosions. Eila, Ace, and Durge's heads whipped around to the factory, just as it began to sag. Then, with a long, piercing shriek of metal and a thunderous orchestra of crashes, the factory collapsed. Ace nodded, turning back to Durge, only to find him still staring at the factory. Then, the cannons sank back into his armor.

"Why did you stand down?" Ace asked suspiciously.

"My job was to protect the factory," Durge answered, his voice deep and distorted by his helmet. "Now that it's gone, I've failed. My job is over, so there's no longer a reason to fight you."

"General!" one of the ARC Troopers shouted, running over, only for Eila to hold her arm out to the side.

"You're leaving?" Eila clarified. "Peacefully?"

Durge nodded, turning and walking away.

"Stand down," Eila ordered. "Are the droids dealt with?"

The ARC Trooper nodded. "All destroyed."

"Gather our wounded and dead," Eila ordered. "Once we've gathered them all, we'll transport them back to the cruiser, then head up ourselves."

The ARC Trooper nodded and left to pass along the order. As he did, Ace and Eila looked around at the field of dead troopers around them that Durge alone had killed.

"What is that, a company?" Ace asked. "A company and a half?"

"Right about," Eila nodded, turning to him. "Thank you for coming to help me."

"Of course," Ace smiled. "I'll always be here to protect you."

Eila smiled, then leaned in, kissing him. Ace returned the kiss, the two remaining there for nearly five minutes before the ARC Trooper cleared his throat.

"There's a transmission from the Jedi Council, General," the ARC Trooper reported.

"Thank you," Eila smiled. "Ace, help with gathering our fallen."

Ace nodded, and Eila gave him one more, short kiss before walking away. As soon as she had, the ARC Trooper took off his helmet, grinning.

"You saw nothing," Ace said instantly.

"Of course," the ARC Trooper grinned. "How sore are you?"

As he asked, Ace groaned as he bent over to retrieve his helmet. The ARC Trooper chuckled.

"I'm not going to be walking tomorrow," Ace grumbled, pulling his helmet on.

For a moment, his visor's display flickered and was covered by snow, but he smacked the helmet with the heel of his hand, and it fixed itself. Then, he set about helping the other Clone Troopers with gathering the dead. There were a lot of wounded, but literally none of them were from the battle against Durge. Durge had left no survivors, save for Ace and Eila. For nearly four hours, they gathered dead Clone Troopers, loading them onto the gunships in waves before finally loading up themselves and heading back to the cruiser.

"Roughly two hundred troops," Eila shook her head in disbelief. "Durge took down nearly two hundred troops by himself."

Ace nodded. "He's a nightmare."

Eila nodded in agreement, looking over at him. "How are you holding up?"

"My armor took the worst of it," Ace said. "But thanks to my bacta processing implant, I'm mostly healed. Still sore as hell, but that medical droid's got me practically swimming in pain meds, so I'll be fine."

Eila laughed, nodding. "He gave me the good stuff, too. I was able to defend myself against the worst of mine with the Force, but that monster packs a hell of a punch. He probably could have put his hand through me entirely."

"Probably," Ace nodded. "My armor's toast."

"The new armor should be here tomorrow," Eila assured him. "Master Nu is bringing it, along with fresh troops."

Ace smiled. "It'll be nice to see her again."

Eila nodded, also smiling, and shut off the holoprojector. Then, she took his hand, walking with him out of the room and through the hallways of the ship to her room. As she opened the door, Ace opened his mouth to wish her a good night, only for her to yank him through the door, sealing it behind herself. Immediately, she pinned him to the door, fusing her lips to his, and Ace let out a noise close somewhere between a relieved sigh and a hungry groan, kissing her back forcefully. Eila whimpered as he sucked her bottom lip into his mouth, her hands tangling in his hair as his own slid down her back to the firm flesh below, pulling her tight against him. Then, Eila reached past him, pushing off of the door, and they were suddenly moving, leaving a trail of clothing in their wake.

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