Prologue
Wind whipped across the balcony, lashing stinging rain against Kanan Jarrus' face. He was soaked to the bone, freezing, pressed up against a railing too thin to keep him from falling several stories to die on the unforgiving ground far, far below.
His fierce cyan eyes reflected the azure glow of his lightsaber. He held it up in a defensive position, but it was no use. He knew that.
A crackling stream of lightning split through the darkness, temporarily illuminating the entirety of the abandoned transmission tower. In that instant, Kanan could clearly see his advancing adversary: the Inquisitor. A broad smirk that displayed each and every yellow-stained fang played across the Pau'an's pinstriped gray skin as the Imperial man stepped closer and closer. Then, with a devastatingly deafening crack of thunder, everything went pitch dark again.
Kanan blinked, staring straight ahead at where he had last seen the Inquisitor. He could sense the terrifying presence of the Dark Side all around, the man was so close. Kanan tried to take another step back on the rain-slicked permacrete and felt only open air beneath his heel. He quickly shifted his foot back to where it had been, fear electrifying his blood.
A cruel, low chuckle rang out. Kanan flinched. It sounded like it had come from right in front of him. Kanan swung his blade, but nothing connected, just like all the other times.
Apparently, the Inquisitor could see in the dark. Knowing well that Kanan, a mere human, could not, he had sheathed his lightsaber, offering the Jedi no way of seeing him through the ink black, inclement night. Kanan desperately wished that his blade's radiance could reach his enemy; then the tables would turn.
But they did not.
The Inquisitor chuckled again. "You are truly the poorest excuse for a Jedi I have ever come across," he mused, his spiteful voice half torn away by the howling wind. "You were a fool to believe that you could protect your Padawan, your pathetic band of 'rebels'. You were a fool to believe that you could ever possibly defeat me. And now, you shall die for your foolishness."
Kanan's eyes widened as he felt an invisible grip tighten around him and yank him into the air. His lightsaber slipped free of his wet hand and, from the corner of his eye, he watched it fall in a descent warped by the gale. The blue light grew rapidly smaller, smaller - and then winked out entirely. Kanan had known from the instant he engaged the Inquisitor on the top of the tower that that would be his own fate.
"Say goodbye, Kanan Jarrus," the Inquisitor hissed from somewhere beyond him. "You have failed."
"No," Kanan said quietly, smiling tightly. "I haven't failed. You're wrong, Inquisitor. I did protect my Padawan and my crew - with my own death."
He heard the Inquisitor snarl, and with that, Kanan Jarrus was flung over the side of the balcony.