Notes:
Lets all give DarthBubbles A huge thank you for proofreading this one as well as helping me develop more visual details. She and Wookiepedia have been vital to making this one more colorful. Now as for my previous post, I was surprised you guys enjoyed it, but hey, your satisfaction is my fuel to keep going. I was literally nodding off when I finished it, so I don't really think it was all that great.
Disclaimer: I do not own or make profit from any content within the Star Wars universe. I merely write for the entertainment of myself and others. All things Star Wars belong (unfortunately) to Disney now.
CHAPTER NEIN, NEIN, NEIN, NEIN, NEIN, NEIN! Heh heh, silly Hitler.
Ahsoka parried with such speed and control that the Inquisitor's anxiety began to show. While his unconventional saberstaff was highly intimidating, its options were far more limited than dual sabers that were independent of each other. Just as Ahsoka began to gain the upper hand, the Inquisitor flipped backward and sent a shock wave out to throw his opponent off balance. Ahsoka barely had time enough to recover before seeing the red blades flying toward her. She lunged to her left, and rolled out of the way as the saber sliced through a support beam that held up a portion of the balcony that encompassed the hangar. The melted girder sank hopelessly, and the nearby supports groaned in response to the precariously dispersed weight.
Ezra, the Captain, and the rest of the task force were making their way around the hanger to where the shuttle waited, trying to use crates, machinery, and a few fighters as concealment. Ezra leaned out from behind a troop transport and spotted Kanan on the opposite side of the hanger keeping most of the stormtroopers busy with the three clones. All was manageable until a strange, crescent-shaped ship hovered over head. When it was about fifty yards above the open-air hanger, it opened fire upon Ezra's position, pinning his group down behind the vehicle. It was twilight outside the mine, and the high-energy blasts sent red flashes of light brilliantly sparkling throughout the hanger and icy surface of Sardazour. The barrage of fire melted through several more support girders, and Ezra sensed they wouldn't hold for long.
"The shuttle is still another thirty yards of open ground away!" Captain Cromwell shouted over the din of incoming fire, the light reflecting off the sweat and grime on his face.
"I'm working on that!" Ezra yelled back after the transport they were hiding behind took several more hits. Luckily, he didn't have to. The unknown ship ceased its fire, and four figures rappelled out of the hull: an assassin droid, a heftily built man with curious head wrappings, and what appeared to be two stormtroopers clad in dark gray armor. As quickly as the ship appeared, it flew away.
"Allow me to introduce, Dengar," The Inquisitor said while in a saber lock with Ahsoka. Their lightsabers illuminated every sinister feature of his thin, gray face. "He's quite a reasonable person when he wants to be… Well, when you pay him a handsome sum such as that which the Empire can afford."
"Unlike the Empire," Ahsoka retorted, "We have something worth fighting for. We have no need of pathetic bounty hunters to win our war for us."
Dengar and his assassin droid companion went after Kanan and the clones, who until now, had managed to fend off the wave of Imperials that had arrived with the inquisitor. The pair of bounty hunters made a formidable team and gave Kanan and the aging clones a run for their money. Dengar was a skilled marksman and with quite a reputation. His first volley of blaster fire caught Gregor in the shoulder, who fell behind the crates he was using as cover.
"Gregor!" Wolffe shouted at him, "I didn't survive the clone wars just to see you get gunned down by a bounty hunting, son of a rancor bitch!"
"Don't worry- ungh… about me... just my left shoulder. It's- ahh… better to feel pain than nothing at all." Gregor managed with a chuckle. The assassin droid was a whole different genre of problem. It was considerably more unpredictable in that it could focus on multiple targets at once. Being a droid, It was unhampered by fatigue, and it dodged, fired, vaulted, and fired again with such swiftness, one could barely focus. The newly arrived combatants were wearing down the clones, and Kanan was having trouble deflecting the bolts from both bounty hunters as well as the few remaining stormtroopers.
By now, the shadow troopers where filling in the holes of the bumbling bucket heads. They moved at a slower pace than the ordinary troops, indicating they had much heavier armor. They were far more advanced than the ordinary stormtrooper, had extensive training, and served alongside the Emperor's Shadow Guard of elite, force-sensitive soldiers. Contrary to their pearly white counterparts, they could shoot, and their blaster bolts were pin-pointed on Ahsoka, keeping her distracted from her attack on the Inquisitor.
"Focus on the shadow troopers," Captain Cromwell ordered, "We aren't going to lose Ahsoka!"
Several bolts found their marks on the backs of the mysterious troopers, but the plasma merely sizzled on their armor, sending showers of sparks bouncing on the metallic floor. What was important was the fact that now they were turned around and focused on Ezra's group instead of Ahsoka, but they were closing in
"We need heavier weapons if we want to do more than ruin their paint job." Cromwell earnestly informed Ezra. Just a few yards away from their shuttle, Several speeders peaked Ezra's interest.
"I need you to keep them busy. I have an idea." Ezra said before sprinting out from cover. On his own, he made a small target, and with evasive maneuvers, the lumbering shadow troopers couldn't touch him. When they tried, it only gave the Captain and his men the opportunity to fire and disorient them. After taking a look from behind a pillar, Ezra leaped into a roll, closed the gap, and mounted the nearest speeder bike. It screamed to life and Ezra turned it around to begin blasting away. It provided the punch they needed and the shadow troopers were brought to their knees with the echo of their armor hitting the floor. It gave the others an opportunity to move in and overpower them while Ezra took a momentary respite atop the speeder. Seeing that they were losing ground, Dengar and the droid had fled to the front of the hanger where more speeders were conveniently parked.
During the saber battle that was underway, yet another support structure had been compromised by the Inquisitor's destructive nature. The balcony rumbled with a deep rumble and shifted dangerously above the duelists. The inquisitor was infuriated by the abandonment of Dengar and IG-88. His anger welled up and gave him new energy beyond what Ahsoka was up against before. In a rage, the Inquisitor swung viciously, his yellow eyes gleaming maiciously, unblinking, and oozing blood lust. He wore down at Ahsoka's strength and finally she broke. He held her in a choke, her legs twitching, face contorted, but with her eyes still determined. Blinded by his anger, the Inquisitor failed to notice the balcony starting to give way due to the tremors caused by his dark use of the force. Chunks of debris began to fall, narrowly missing the two of them. Now, Kanan came to Ahsoka's aid and after taking a split second to compose himself and focus his mind, sent the inquisitor hurtling into the wall beneath the balcony. With that final burst of kinetic energy, chunks of concrete dislodged themselves and one pinned down the Inquisitor's right leg, a second landed with a sickening blow to his gut. The barrage continued for several more seconds and eased into a fine layer of dust settling slowly to what lay underneath. The Inquisitor lay sputtering, coughing up a sticky mixture of blood and cement dust. His eyes went to and fro between Kanan and Ahsoka.
"There are things… far more frightening... than death." He gave a chilling, gurgle of a laugh, followed by another fit of coughing, and then the Grand Inquisitor slowly slipped away, blood staining his pointed teeth and dripping down his expressionless face into a pool at their feet.
Ezra didn't know what to feel for the lifeless Inquisitor before him. What was it? Hate? Pity? A bitter concoction of both?
"I'm sorry you had to witness that, Ezra," Ahsoka consoled. "It pains me to kill, but even the light side of the Force is not devoid of death."
Ezra continued to stare. "When I first fought the Inquisitor, I felt… emptiness. I know it was because of my emotions, but why do I still feel the same chill?"
"Perhaps," Kanan spoke up, "It is because you still have a grudge toward him. Don't stress out over it. It's only natural. The good sign is that this time, you feel something else aside from hate. You're growing with every mission, and for that I'm proud."
Ezra still stood silently mulling over the recent events. "I guess I'm still figuring things out."
"You fought bravely, and I thank you for the assistance with the shadow troopers," Ahsoka commented. "For now, it's not the time to contemplate what happened. We need to get back to the fleet."
Gregor and a couple of Cromwell's men had received hits during the firefight, and while no one was in a critical condition, they readily agreed with Ahsoka.
"That star destroyer is going to be a problem," Wolffe remembered, "I think if we find a different ship and fly to the other side of the planet first, we could escape Sardazour's gravitational field and make the jump to hyperspace."
"What about the injured?" Cromwell inquired.
Kanan spoke up quickly, "There's no time. They're going to be sending reinforcements down on us any minute now." He turned, and walked briskly toward a humble looking freighter, his boots easily heard in the now silent hangar."
"This should do, but we need to move now."
Ezra let himself relax as he and the others made their way up the ramp. It was a successful mission, but the Inquisitor's death was still replaying over in his mind. He knew something something was imminent. Something dark and intangible, but present nonetheless. For now, he had the solace of silence within the hull of their escape vessel. A much needed silence it was indeed, and he appreciated the space Ahsoka and Kanan were giving him right now. Ezra explored the tight passages that wove through the ship they had seized. He had found a small, dingy cabin with a view of the hyperspace lane. Under a solitary bulb with an eery glow, Ezra sank into a chair that objected with a grown. It wasn't much, but the tunnel of hyperspace was calming to gaze at, similar to the dancing flames of a campfire, but blue, and with defined direction. He knew he couldn't avoid whatever it was he had sensed. For now, he savored the simplicity of the moment, and let out a long sigh before letting his thoughts wander aimlessly for the rest of the trip back to the fleet.
MOAR Notes:
WOW, this chapter was thrilling to write, and surprisingly, that whole battle scene was completely unplanned. I just started writing stuff and randomly throwing in details, and I am pleased with the result. Hey! Lets hear it for the Dengar + IG-88 cameo! I mean, the Empire hired them in the original Trilogy, so I thought it would be cool to have them in here, even if they ran away, but come on, I was trying to stress the fact that bounty hunters are only loyal to money, and not to their employers. If they feel like they will be killed or not get paid, they back out of the deal.
I had a lot of fun with this one, especially the alternate and very gruesome death of the Grand Inquisitor. I hope I killed him off in a believable way. I just knew I had to do it in order to bring around the 5th Brother and 7th Sister. Gawd, the Inquisitors are pretty badass… except for their lightsabers. They look hard to use with that circular hand guard, and having such a short handle doesn't seem practical.