The Varactyl Squadron Commander (A Star Wars: The Clone Wars Fan-Fiction)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

Axel knew they were going to die the instant that hand grabbed the baby rancor and dragged it to its death.

"How the kriffing hell do they expect us to kill this thing?" He shouted over the noise around them as the three watched the gargantuan beast pull itself from within the depths of its pit and onto the arena floor. It was as if a mountain had come to life, the monster was so damn huge. His fear was mingled heavily with disbelief and an almost absent true understanding of the situation. This couldn't be happening, there was no way. There was absolutely no way. 

"I...uh..." Molindi looked around the arena for anything that might aid them in their endeavor, but the only thing present besides them and the monster was the sand under their feet. No cover, no nothing- just them and the gorog. She turned her head to examine the beast once more as it began to crawl towards them, thick arms practically dragging its titanic body across the ground. Her eyebrows furrowed in confusion. "Wait, is it paralyzed?" The woman questioned at the sight of the beast using only its upper body and nothing below its torso.

"What difference does that make?" The trio watched as the gorog inhaled deeply, its chest expanding past an impossible point, and clamped their hands over their ears before the giant let out another blood-curdling scream, then raised its bloody fist in the air. "Scatter!"

It was a split second before the tank-sized fist crashed against the ground that the three soldiers leaped in different directions to avoid being squashed. Despite tucking and rolling out of the way, the disbelief was still present when the gorog lifted its hand from the ground, revealing the tank-sized crater in the sand.

From the new angle Molindi had on the gorog, it was obvious to her that the creature was indeed paralyzed from the waste-down. How thin and spindly it's legs looked compared to the muscular form of its arms was enough evidence. Maybe that was how they got the creature contained in the first place, because it couldn't crawl its way out and fight at the same time.

"Hey, I have an idea!" Molindi dodged another blow that would've crushed her and sprinted to rejoin the two clones.

"We're all ears!" Rex replied as the gorog continued to beat the ground with its fists like a toddler throwing a tantrum. The three had managed to regroup as they sprinted farther away from the giant, towards the opposite end of the arena. If the gorog wanted to get any closer, it'd have to drag its body, buying them a precious little time to come up with a plan.

"It can't use its legs; if we make it crawl completely out into daylight and you two keep its attention, I can sneak around behind it, climb up its body and try to kill it up close. Sound good?"

Axel wanted to ask if she was completely out of her mind, if she'd totally lost it; Rex wanted to say something similar. But with no other options on the table, her plan was better than no plan. The two men exchanged glances before nodding in agreement, then turned to do their part. It was now or never.

"Over here, ugly!" Rex waved his arms and yelled as the two men bolted in one direction and Molindi sprinted in the other. The gorog growled and lunged in anger at the clones, but they'd seen the outburst coming and jumped out of the way before they could be flattened. A wave of sand from the impact threatened to knock them off their feet, but they regained their balance and continued to run. The crowd squealed and laughed at the sound of the clones' taunts. "Come on, you piece of work!"

The gorog did exactly as Molindi predicted and dragged its body towards its targets, completely ignoring her in the process. As she ran for the beast's lower half, the woman leaped into the air and grabbed onto the monster's toe, clinging to its dry skin for dear life as her hands began to pull her up onto the sole of its foot. Though the task was like riding an angry bull with each motion the gorog made with its body, the woman held on tightly and continued to reach up one hand after the other. "Why do I always give myself the hard jobs?" She muttered under her breath and yelped when one hand slipped and let go of the monster's rough hide.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the little running figures in the distance distracting the beast; she swung her free arm back to its original spot on the gorog and continued her perilous climb. It only took a minute for her to reach the back of the monster's calf and from a glance up at the beast's thighs, she knew the easy part was over. 

"Axel! Watch out!" Molindi heard ahead, but couldn't see when the gorog clamped its hand around Axel's body and lifted him high into the air. Her heart stopped, the crowd went wild, and the beast opened its mouth.

"Not on my watch," She grabbed a blade from her belt and plunged the weapon deep into the gorog's calf, so far that the hilt rubbed against its skin and yellow blood oozed out the gash. Another scream shook the facility and the gorog swung around to face its assailant, but didn't know that she was still securely attached to its leg. The monster released the trooper from its grasp and Axel had hardly anytime to drive his own weapon into the beast's skin to prevent the clone from falling to his death on the arena battleground below. The gorog screeched again.

"Alright, my turn!" Rex changed his tactic of distraction to one of offense. With the beast occupied, it gave the clone commander the perfect opportunity to run straight at the monster's torso and go for the more severe areas of its body. Though he couldn't reach up very high, Rex jumped up when the distance was short and drove his sword into the gorog's lower intestines. Despite it being comparable to a toothpick being wedged into your skin, it still caused pain and the attention was brought back to the arena floor.

Rex's distraction was enough for Molindi to climb up the monster's thigh, then clutch onto gorog's back with all the strength she had. Down one sword, she knew if she wanted an attempt at killing the massive creature she'd have to save the blade for the last second. As she climbed nearer and nearer to her target, she hoped that one sword would be enough.

The gorog swung its fist to crush Rex beneath him and Axel took that chance to release his grip on the monster once the hand was close enough to the ground for a safe fall. Tucking and rolling, Axel jumped to his feet and started running along side the clone commander, breathing heavily from all the damn running. And almost being eaten, but the running was the thing starting to get to the trooper. Just the running.

"I hope the others have what they're looking for already!" He yelled to Rex, who'd started sprinting at his side. 

"Hang in there! Commander Rino's almost finished!" The two glanced over their shoulders and saw that Rex was right; Molindi had finally reached her spot behind the beast's neck. The Twarans were going mental at the sight of Molindi's victory so near and the queen herself was cheering from her balcony. 

"I really hope she can do this!" Axel exclaimed. Molindi raised her sword and the metal glinted in the early morning light as if it were made of diamond. 

But the gorog saw it coming.

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Hi guys, quick edit here but did you all think the action in this chapter was okay? I've been working on my story flow and I want to know if I'm doing anything wrong before continuing. Thank you all again for reading! I appreciate your support!!!