The Chimera's massive form slumped slightly as the supporting fluid vanished. Then, a single, huge eyelid twitched violently.
It snapped open, revealing a slit-pupiled eye of molten gold, swirling with evident confusion and panic.
The creature jerked its head, banging it hard against the reinforced glass and transparisteel with a sickening *thud*.
It was awake, trapped, and terrified.
A low, guttural rumble built in its chest, vibrating the tube itself. Confusion twisted into raw, panicked fury.
It thrashed violently, its immense tail slamming against the cylinder walls.
Spiderweb cracks bloomed across the transparisteel where its spiked tail impacted.
*crack*
It cracked and shattered the glass, breaking out of its containmennt.
The Chimera staggered from its shattered prison, amber fluid sluicing off scales that shimmered like oil-slicked obsidian under the pulsing red emergency lights.
Its molten gold eye, wide and unfocused, darted erratically.
Blindness gripped it, but deep within its genetically spliced core, the predatory instincts of the Vornskr surged forth.
It *felt* them; the sharp, disciplined signatures of the clones, the calm, resonant pools of the Jedi, the frantic, dying flicker of Zell nearby.
A low, guttural growl vibrated the air, thick with the scent of ozone and fear.
With terrifying speed for its colossal size, the creature pivoted. Its powerful haunches bunched, durasteel claws scraping sparks from the floor.
Then it charged. Not at the Jedi or the clones clustered near the platform, but towards the far wall of the cavern.
Its massive head lowered like a battering ram, aimed squarely at a pair of colossal durasteel blast doors, easily ten times the height of a clone trooper, their surface scarred but clearly designed for egress.
The thundering impact shook the entire facility, dust raining from the ceiling.
Obi-Wan's shout cut through the chaos, "It's trying to breach the surface! Stop it!"
His emerald blade flashed as he sprinted after the beast, Anakin's blue blade a streak beside him, the Padawans and Masters converging.
Rex barked orders into his comm link. Instantly, the two AT-TE walkers, positioned near the cavern entrance, swiveled their heavy mass driver cannons. Simultaneously, squads of clones wielding Z-6 rotary rocket launchers dropped to one knee, shouldering their weapons.
A coordinated barrage erupted - screaming rockets and cannon shells streaked across the cavern, converging on the Chimera's back.
The impacts were thunderous. Flames and shrapnel bloomed against its armored hide.
But the creature merely shuddered, scales shedding molten durasteel fragments like water. It twisted its massive neck, snapping its jaws at the explosions as if swatting flies. Frustration radiated from it.
It inhaled deeply, chest expanding, throat glowing a sickly blue – the telltale sign of the Blue Shadow Virus was going to be used.
But only a weak, sputtering cough emerged, a wisp of harmless vapour. Its primary weapon, the engineered plague, was inert. Unfinished due to the early awakening. A low, rumbling growl of pure rage vibrated the floor plates.
Then came the change. The blue glow in its throat flickered, died, and reignited as crackling white energy.
The air hummed, ozone sharp and acrid. With a roar that shook dust from the cavern ceiling, it unleashed not plague, but raw lightning.
A blinding torrent arced from its maw, a river of pure energy that slammed into the nearest AT-TE.
The walker vaporized in a catastrophic explosion of white light and flying debris, its metal skeleton melting like wax.
The shockwave knocked clones off their feet. Before the echo faded, the Chimera charged the second walker. Its colossal head lowered, striking the war machine's flank with the force of an asteroid impact.
Metal shrieked in protest. The AT-TE listed violently, treads clawing uselessly at the floor as the beast clamped powerful jaws onto its main cannon barrel.
Like a tooka with a scrap-metal toy, it shook its head violently, wrenching the barrel sideways with a tortured groan of stressed durasteel.
Instinct drove it skyward. With a powerful downbeat of its vast, leathery wings that sent a gale-force wind swirling through the cavern, stirring debris and nearly toppling clones, the Chimera launched itself upwards.
It spiraled towards the high ceiling, seeking space, seeking escape. Molten gold eyes scanned the chaos below.
Its throat pulsed again, shifting from electric white to a deep, churning crimson. It inhaled, chest expanding like a bellows.
A jet of superheated plasma, white-hot and roaring like a furnace, spewed downwards towards a cluster of clones scrambling for cover near the wreckage of the first AT-TE.
The ground where it hit erupted into molten slag, instantly vaporizing rock and metal. Clones dove desperately, the searing heat singing their armor even at the periphery of the blast.
The Jedi were already moving in concert. Shaak Ti, eyes closed in fierce concentration, thrust both hands upwards.
Anakin and Obi-Wan mirrored her instantly, their combined Force power forming an immense, invisible wedge beneath the creature's ascent.
The air itself seemed to solidify. The Chimera's upward momentum slammed into this barrier. Its wings beat frantically against the sudden resistance, the leather membranes straining.
A guttural shriek of rage tore from its throat as its climb stalled, suspended for a critical moment thirty meters above the cavern floor.
It thrashed against the unseen hold, clawing at the air.
Below, the clones exploited the opening. Rocket fire streaked upwards, concentrated on the vulnerable joints of its wings and the softer scales beneath its armored chest.
Simultaneously, Ahsoka Tano, agile as a shadow, darted beneath the hovering beast.
Her twin lightsabers became a blur of emerald light, slashing at the thick tendons anchoring its massive wings to its back.
Sparks flew where blades met durasteel-reinforced scales, but she pressed the attack, aiming for the vital connections.
The creature twisted violently in mid-air, a spiked tail lashing towards her like a whip.
She flipped backwards, narrowly avoiding the deadly strike, the tail smashing into the cavern wall instead, pulverizing rock.
The combined pressure proved too much.
The Jedi's unified Force push intensified, a crushing wave slamming downwards.
The Chimera's wings faltered.
With a deafening roar of frustration, it plummeted like a meteor, crashing onto the cavern floor with an impact that sent shockwaves through the durasteel plating.
Dust and debris billowed outwards. Before it could fully recover, Obi-Wan was upon it, his lightsaber a precise, humming barrier, deflecting a swipe of claws that could shred an AT-TE.
Anakin seized the moment, leaping high, his blue blade aimed at the vulnerable underdeveloped spot beneath its neck scales.
He drove downwards with all his strength and the Force behind the blow.
The creature reacted with terrifying speed. Its massive head whipped sideways, catching Anakin mid-strike. The impact slammed him into the cavern wall with bone-jarring force, his lightsaber clattering away.
Dazed, Anakin slid down the rough rock face. Seeing its tormentor vulnerable, the Chimera lunged, jaws wide, revealing rows of glistening fangs and the faint, unsettling blue glow deep within its throat.
Rex saw it happen, he yanked a concussion grenade from his belt, primed it, and hurled it with desperate accuracy straight into the gaping maw just as the jaws snapped shut on reaction to feeling something enter it's mouth. The muffled *THUMP* echoed from within the beast's armored mouth.
Smoke curled from between its teeth. The Chimera didn't explode. Instead, it staggered sideways, a low, pained groan rumbling through its chest. Its molten gold eyes lost focus, blinking rapidly.
The concussion wave had rattled its massive brain, leaving it momentarily disoriented and weakened.
It swayed, its movements sluggish. "Now! All units, concentrate fire! Maximum saturation!" Rex roared into his comm. The remaining AT-TE walkers, reinforcements just arrived through the blast doors, swiveled their cannons.
Every clone within range raised their weapons – blasters, rotary cannons, rocket launchers. The cavern erupted in a deafening, blinding storm of crimson bolts, explosive shells, and screaming rockets.
The barrage hammered the creature relentlessly. Scales shattered. Durasteel plating buckled.
It roared, a sound now laced with exhaustion rather than rage, trying to shield its head with its wings, but the sheer volume of fire was overwhelming.
Each impact drove it back, step by heavy step. Finally, its legs buckled. With a ground-shaking thud, the colossal beast collapsed onto the cavern floor, dust billowing around its prone form.
Its sides heaved, breath ragged. The unnatural glow in its throat flickered and died completely.
For a moment, the cavern echoed only with the fading hum of blasters and the groaning metal of the ruined AT-TE.
Clones cautiously lowered their weapons, watching the unmoving mass warily. Then, the air above the creature shimmered violently, like heat haze over a desert.
The massive body began to contract, scales dissolving into pale skin, limbs shortening, the monstrous form collapsing inwards with sickening cracks and pops of reforming bone.
The wings folded inwards, vanishing. The thick tail shortened, becoming slender and whip-like.
Where the Chimera had fallen, a boy lay curled on the cold durasteel floor. He looked fifteen, with shaggy dark hair matted to his temples, and a lean, human frame trembling in a tattered grey tunic.
Two obsidian horns curved back from his forehead, and scattered patches of iridescent scales shimmered along his spine and forearms.
His breathing came in shallow gasps as he lifted his head, revealing eyes that still glowed molten gold, wide with terror and utterly alien. A thin, scaled tail twitched weakly beside him.
Its eyes closed shut as it murmured something before it lost consciousness as the Clones abd Jedi surrounded him.