**Chapter 446**
**Despair and a Handful of Hope – Part 7**
**Helska IV – Yuuzhan Vong Facility**
The group had almost reached the surface extraction point when the voice echoed through the burning corridors like ice sliding down Dagon's spine.
"Hello, Dagon. It's nice to see you again."
Dagon froze mid-step. The girls behind him stumbled as the same chill hit them through their bonds.
"Girls, run! NOW!" Dagon roared.
He slammed his hands together, forcing open a emergency Force portal — a swirling vortex of blue and silver energy meant to evacuate everyone at once.
But reality twisted violently.
Two invisible force fields snapped into existence with a deafening *crack*, separating the group. Shin, Erictia, and most of the girls were shoved through the portal in one direction. Ahsoka, Zule, and Kayla were sealed on the other side with Dagon before the portal collapsed.
Dagon spun, lightsaber and beskar sword igniting in the same heartbeat.
A figure stepped out from the smoke and flames — tall, broad-shouldered, wearing a scarred tactical vest over what looked like liquid metal armor that shifted and reformed. His face was unmistakable.
John Connor.
But not the John Connor Dagon remembered. This version's eyes glowed with an unnatural blue-white light. His skin had a subtle metallic sheen, and faint lines of kyber crystal energy pulsed beneath it.
**Scene 2**
Dagon raised his blaster pistol with his off-hand and fired three rapid shots straight at John's chest.
John didn't dodge. He simply raised one hand. The red blaster bolts slowed, then stopped mid-air before being absorbed into his palm with a soft *humm*.
"Wow. Shooting first," John said, voice calm and almost amused. "Interesting reaction for an oddity like you."
Dagon's grip tightened on his weapons. "What did you do to John?"
John Connor tilted his head, a faint smile playing on his lips.
"Survival," he answered. "It's what you taught me, Dagon."
John took a slow step forward, the liquid metal of his T-9000 phase-matter body rippling.
"That hurt," he continued, flexing the hand that had absorbed the shots. "Is that pain real… or was that just a trick of memory from when I was… less?" His glowing eyes narrowed. "Well. This explains a lot. Yeah. Who sent you back, I wonder?"
Dagon's mind raced. "So let me guess. When you reached the time machine, Skynet sent Kyle Reese back. Then Skynet — who had already infiltrated your team — killed everyone and sent *you* back."
John's smile widened. "Yep. To 2014. To safeguard Skynet's creation. You were right, Dagon. Infinite possibilities. But now I can't get back to the original timeline… since *you* killed Skynet."
**Scene 3**
Dagon didn't waste another second on words.
He exploded forward, channeling every ounce of rage, fear, and desperation into the Force. The dark side roared through him like a storm.
**Moon Breathing – Sixteenth Form: Moonbow, Half Moon.**
Using his altered crossguard lightsaber as the focal point, Dagon swung outward in a massive arc. Six enormous curved slashes erupted forward, each one releasing a barrage of crescent moon blades made of concentrated silver-white energy fused with crackling red lightning. The attack was powerful enough to crater the reinforced organic floor and tear through walls like paper.
The crescent blades screamed toward John Connor.
John didn't retreat. His body shifted — the T-9000 phase matter flowed and hardened. Kyber-modified circuits glowed brightly beneath his skin as unknown magic — some twisted fusion of Skynet code and dark side corruption — surged through him.
He met the Moonbow head-on.
With terrifying speed and precision, John moved through the storm of crescent blades. Some he dodged with inhuman agility. Others he smashed aside with fists that left afterimages. The final three he caught and *crushed* in his palms, the energy dispersing into harmless sparks around him.
Dagon barely had time to register the impossible before John closed the distance.
A brutal punch slammed into Dagon's armored arm. The force of the blow sent cracks spiderwebbing through the beskar and drove Dagon back several meters, pain exploding through his limb.
"Gah— how?!" Dagon groaned, staggering as he felt bone bruise beneath the armor.
John flexed his hand, the phase matter reforming seamlessly. "You taught me how to survive anything, Dagon. Even gods."
The facility trembled around them as the two former allies — now bitter enemies — faced each other amid the flames and dying screams of Yuuzhan Vong warriors.
Dagon's red-and-black eyes burned with fury and sorrow.
This wasn't just a rescue anymore.
It was personal.