Chapter 6:
A Pau'an man stood before the rebels, dressed in all black. His face was pale white, he had an elongated head with crooked and sharp teeth. He had red accents going from his eyes to his cheeks, the same red accents struck down his forehead. Luke immediately noticed what seemed to be a lightsaber on his back.
"impossible" a couple of rebels murmured.
"It seems some of you know who I am, for those who don't know... I am the Grand Inquisitor of the Empire. Believe me or not I am not here for your pitiful rebel movement. But rather the sons of Skywalker, surrender yourselves and I might let your rebel friends live." The cold and mannered voice echoed throughout the temple.
"Raise your blasters!" A rebel commander screamed. The entire rebel alliance had their blasters trained on the Inquisitor.
"I wouldn't do that if I were you" the cold voice spoke. Suddenly from the tree line, what seemed to be thousands of imperial stormtroopers raised their blasters.
"I am only here for the Skywalker bloodline, I can sense your power so don't try to hide."
Leia turned to Luke, with a stern expression.
"Don't think about it Luke, he'll kill you." Leia said.
"I've got no choice Leia, I won't go down without a fight" Luke said, he only had a couple of hours of training from Obi-Wan. And even with that, it was only deflecting blasters, not fighting with a dark force wielder.
Luke stepped out in front of the crowd, his eyes staring into the bleak nothingness of the Inquisitor's gaze.
"And who might you be, young man?" The Inquisitor asked.
"My name is Luke Skywalker, I won't back down without a fight." Luke said.
After Luke stated his name, the inquisitor knew he wasn't the Jedi, he was told the Jedi was named after Anakin Skywalker, this must be the boy that blew up the Death Star.
"I'm sure you won't, where is your brother, the real Jedi" The Inquisitor mocked Luke.
"He's not here, you've only got me."
"Now somehow I don't believe you, boy. I can sense the combined power of two, not one." The Inquisitor's words shocked Luke, Anakin wasn't here so who was he talking about.
"I don't know where you got so deluded Inquisitor, my brother isn't here" Luke replied.
The inquisitor could sense Luke was telling the truth, but what was he sensing then?
"Very well, come then Luke Skywalker. Show me what you've got." The Grand Inquisitor said before grabbing his saber off of his back. He ignited it to reveal a crimson red blade, what Luke didn't know was that it was double sided. However the Inquisitor wouldn't reveal that yet.
Fear was struck in Luke, he ignited his own lilac blue saber, focusing on the Inquisitor. Luke knew he couldn't win, but he either went down with a fight, or as a coward.
"Are you ready to meet your demise boy, or do you fear death?" The Grand Inquisitor asked. Slowly inching toward Luke.
"I'm not afraid" Luke was blatantly lying to the Inquisitor, everyone knew but no one blamed him.
"Do you know what happened to your father, orphan? Do you know of your brother's deepest and darkest secrets?" The Inquisitor was gaining on Luke's position, slowly by surely. Luke had never been so petrified in his life, all he could do was protect himself.
"You know nothing of me and my family!" Luke shouted.
The rebels could do nothing, if they were to fire a blaster then they would all be destroyed by the Imperial's superior firepower, just then an Imperial transport ship looked over the Temple, It's magnetic locks ceased to reveal two AT-ST walkers, there was no escape.
Suddenly the Inquisitor stopped his advance, giving a rather puzzled look. He sensed a new presence, one far more powerful.
All of a sudden the two AT-ST walkers crumbled to the ground in a display of fire, a Y-Wing bomber entered the atmosphere and fired its proton torpedoes.
The Imperial forces were stunned, they immediately fired upon the rebels. The Alliance had no choice but to retaliate. The Inquisitor's face turned from a sadistic smirk to a gruesome grin, this was the moment he had been waiting for.
A figure fell from the beautiful skies of Yavin IV, he landed onto one knee with his cloak covering his face. The man rose and summoned his lightsaber, the blue light emitted from the weapon illuminated the figure's face. It was Anakin.
"Who are you?" Anakin asked.
"I am the Grand Inquisitor of the Empire, I have been searching for you." The cold voice shook Anakin to his core, he sounded just as evil as Vader himself.
"I assume you hunt Jedi? That's why there's none left"
"You would be correct child, however I'm not in the mood for games. There is someone who wants to meet you, if you surrender now I will cease the onslaught on your rebel friends" As soon as the Inquisitor finished his statement, the Y-Wing bomber came in for a second bombing run, this time taking out several squadrons of stormtroopers, the rebels had a fighting chance. The Bomber was being controlled by R2, Anakin had jumped directly out to engage with the mysterious Inquisitor, according to data logs the Inquisitor was deemed to be dead.
Anakin stared into the darkness that was the Inquisitor's eyes. The dark side emitted from him like the stench of a garbage chute.
"Who wants to meet me?" Anakin asked, he really didn't care but figured it would give him an opening to attack the Pau'an man.
"Why the Emperor child, your power is rivalled by our Emperor. He merely wishes to speak with you."
"You mean kill me." Anakin responded.
"Why you really are stupid aren't yo-" The Inquisitor was cut off by Anakin's immediate strike at his torso, it caught him off guard. The Inquisitor used his elegance of form two to parry the attack and strike at Anakin's abdomen. The attack was blocked by Anakin as the two duelists entered a dance of sorts, both of them swapping strikes and trading blows.
Luke was still somewhat frozen in fear, he couldn't aid Anakin in his duel with the Inquisitor, but he could aid the rebels. The imperial forces were decimating the Rebel troops, more and more fell at the hands of the Empire. Leia, Han, Chewi, Biggs and Wedge were all pinned down next to the resupply station. Luke ran over to his friends, vaulting over a supply crate he landed next to Biggs, who was still rather drunk.
"The one time I drink, the bloody Empire attacks!" Biggs shouted.
Blaster fire from the Imperials rained over the group as they ducked and weaved out of blaster fire. Luke had an idea to cover the group as they retreated to a safer and more advantageous location.
"I'll cover you whilst you make your way to the loading bay, it has more cover and less of a chance of being blown up!" Luke screamed, his voice barely recognisable by the sounds of blaster fire and nearby explosions. Whilst there were no imperial walkers, R2 was still bombarding the Empires forces, giving the rebels a fighting chance.
"Ok, are you going to use that Jedi lightsaber like your brother or are you just going to stand there!" Han shouted, he had been drunk 5 minutes before the skirmish, but it almost seemed like it had worn off immediately.
"You'll find I'm full of surprises" Luke said before once again vaulting over a supply crate, lightsaber in hand he began to block all the fire that came their way. Luke was able to block all of the fire, but unable to redirect it. The group ran towards the loading bay, there was tons of crates that could be used as cover without any fuel nearby to blow them to hell. Luke kept the Imperial fire upon him as his friends ran towards the bay.
The Inquisitor and Anakin's sabers were locked in a standoff, both pushing against the direction of their sabers. The Inquisitor was extremely impressed by Anakin's skills, he recognised the form was almost identical to his supposed father, the hero with no fear.
"Interesting, you share the same style as your father. It seems you were also trained by Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi?"
"How-... who are you?" Anakin said before disengaging in the saber lock and kicking the Inquisitor in the gut. The Inquisitor started to worry, it was clear Anakin's power surpassed his own, but his form lacked finesse... the Inquisitor would use that to his advantage.
"The temple records were quite complete.." The Inquitor suddenly dodged one of Anakin's attacks and managed to kick him in his back, toppling him forwards. "Your Father's technique relied on both speed and power which you seem to favour to a ridiculous degree."
Anakin got to his feet and jumped over the Inquisitor, he was going to stab him in the back until he was suddenly met with another blade.
"A saber staff? You need two blades to kill a Jedi, pathetic." Anakin realised the Inquisitor's form was similar to that of Count Dooku's, however he was just significantly less powerful than the Sith Lord. Anakin knew form two required elegance and concentration, he would have to make the inquisitor make rash decisions and ruin his concentration by throwing him off.
"The Jedi never took advantage of what was given to them. We have unlocked the full potential of a lightsaber, allow me to demonstrate..." The Inquisitor suddenly activated what seemed to be a metal sheath of a disc, the emitters on his saber were magnetised on said disc and began to spin like a rotor blade.
"Nice gimmick, unfortunately it's not enough to save you!" Anakin lunged at the inquisitor, he was immediately caught off guard by the air resistance and strength of the rotating blades. Anakin stumbled back before thrusting his saber forward, the inquisitor parried the attack and aimed to kick Anakin in the face. Anakin barely dodged the kick and retaliated with a kick of his own, this time actually landing cleanly on the Inquisitor's nose.
The Grand Inquisitor stumbled back, he normally would have predicted such an attack. However, Anakin was no orthodox Jedi.
"It seems you posses the same skills as the Jedi of old, it's a shame your brother does not, it makes him a very easy target."
"You won't touch him!" Anakin bellowed.
"Oh I believe I will. In fact it's about time I put an end to the Skywalker bloodline, for good..." The inquisitor slowly inched towards Anakin, the crimson red blade pierced the gravel floor of the outskirts of the temple as the Inquisitor dragged his saber. Anakin's anger increased, how dare he try and harm Luke.
"I sense your anger, lash out and strike me down. I sense the same anger within you as your father. Tell me Jedi, what were his last words to you?" The Inquisitor was trying to rile up Anakin, unsuccessfully due to Anakin not having a father and him time travelling instead.
The skirmish raged on as the Imperial forces began to overwhelm the Alliance, even with R2's support.
"We're losing ground, we have to even the playing field!" Han shouted. The main group had managed to hold their position at the loading bay, however other groups of rebels hadn't had that luxury.
"We can use the manned turrets on the side of the temple! We just have to get to them!" Leia responded.
"Well we're waiting on you princess" Han replied, Leia immediately stood from her cover and ran into open fire, there was no other way to reach the cannons. The group followed swiftly after her. Luke saw them all bolt for the cannons and ran to join them. The battle would soon shift in their favour.
Anakin summoned the force around him to push the Grand Inquisitor to the hard rock floor. He quickly recovered and began an onslaught into Anakin's defence. Anakin had switched from his favoured Djem So to Soresu, it was by far the best stance for defence and was favoured by his late master Obi-Wan. To be honest Anakin was useless with the form compared to Obi-Wan, but it seemed to throw off the Inquisitor giving Anakin the advantage. Anakin parried one of the inquisitor's jabs and immediately cut at his opponents torso, this led to the Inquisitor's saber cutting in half.
The sparks emitted from the Inquisitor's lightsaber blinded the Pau'an man. He now had to make use of only a single blade. It was clear that both Anakin and the Inquisitor were fatigued, but they were both eager not to show that to their opponents. The inquisitor noticed a slight flaw in Anakin's defence, it was clear he wasn't used to fighting with Soresu. The Inquisitor jabbed low at Anakin's abdomen only to swiftly bring his blade up, stroking Anakin's right eye.
Anakin bellowed in pain, however he wasn't blinded. He could still see out of his eye but the lightsaber seemed to have grazed the skin, cutting him open like prey.
Anakin retaliated by using his metal hand to punch the Inquisitor in the gut, winding him. Anakin took this opportunity to kick him in the face once again, sending him toppling to the ground.
Anakin clenched the skin around his eye, he didn't feel his ordinary skin but rather peeling, and charred soreness.
The Jedi summoned the greatest force push he could to knock the Inquisitor off of his feet and all the way to his Imperial reinforcements.
Suddenly a barrage of green blaster fire hit the Imperial forces stronger than a pack of wolves. Dozens of Imperials were falling within seconds.
"FALL BACK" The Inquisitor shouted as the Imperials ran into the tree line. He stared directly at Anakin before motioning a cut to his own neck. The Inquisitor then walked into the treeline, moments later the rebels saw dozens of Imperial ships take off toward open space. Anakin sensed they had truly retreated off world.
The rebels began to cheer and shout as they had defended against the skirmish. Anakin immediately collapsed to the ground and dunked his head into his knees. He now had to worry about both Vader and this 'Grand Inquisitor'.
Anakin raised his head to the sight of Chewie, Han, Leia, Luke, Biggs and Wedge all walking towards him. They all were quite happy with the result until Luke noticed his brother's injury.
"For crying out loud, can you not go a day without hurting yourself!" Luke was both worried and sarcastic with the comment.
"I guess not, it's all apart of the charm" Anakin smirked. Luke inspected the wound thoroughly, Leia was equally concerned.
"Do you need to go back into the bacta tank?" Leia asked.
"No there is no time for that, we need to evacuate immediately. Hoth is great and stable for a long term base, however it will require a minimum of weeks to get up and running. We need a short term solution, I asked R2 to scan for imperial occupied settlements within the outer rim."
"Well where is that rust bucket then? I haven't seen him." Han exclaimed.
"He's the one who saved our asses in the bomber" Anakin proudly stated. Just as he finished his sentence R2 had landed the bright blue Y-Wing and ejected himself from the star fighter. R2 slowly moved towards the group before playing a hologram map of the outer rim. R2 had red highlighted Tatooine as a suitable location for their temporary base.
"Is this droid malfunctioning? Tatooine has a great imperial presence." Wedge stated.
R2 responded with some beeps and boops, signalling that the Empire wouldn't look right under their noses.
"I don't know buddy, the Empire can be quite thorough at times." Leia stated.
"Well you all heard the droid, to Tatooine it is." Anakin exclaimed. He had promised himself never to return to the planet since his mother died. However he trusted R2's judgment and figured they would only be there a few weeks at best.
"Are you crazy?" Leia, Han and Wedge all stated. Biggs and Luke agreed with Anakin and R2 since it was their home world.
"Are we going to put it to a vote?" Anakin asked
"There's no time, I'll console the Alliance commanders about Tatooine and sending a squad out to Hoth to prepare." Leia responded.
"R2 has got the coordinates of the best suitable base location, take him with you." Anakin started to grip his right eye, he was in immense pain but there was no time to ponder and get him in a bacta tank. Leia looked concerned at Anakin's condition but walked over to where numerous rebel commanders were consoling the wounded.
"That's not looking too good, you should probably put a bacta patch on it." Biggs suggested.
"I agree with Biggs, you may be a Jedi but you still feel pain." Luke said, immediately grabbing Anakin's hand and pulling it away from his eye. Han called over a medic and gave Anakin a bacta patch. When it was applied it made Anakin look as if he had just been shot in the eye and was on the brink of death.
Leia returned from her meeting with the Alliance leaders, they had decided on laying low in Mos Eisley. The space port would make it very easy to get to and leave the town in case they were spotted by Imperials.
"We're sending the first transport to Mos Eisley now, we have to do it in intervals so the Empire doesn't catch on." Leia said.
"I'll wait till the last one-" Anakin was about to finish his sentence before getting interrupted by Leia.
"Umm I don't think so Anakin Skywalker, you have first priority due to that injury of yours."
"But it isn't that bad Lei-"
"No buts, you're getting on that transport whether you like it or not."
Anakin knew he couldn't win an argument with Leia and decided to give himself a break by obliging. The rest of the group laughed at Anakin's defeat by Leia.
Anakin boarded the first transport and got proper medical attention, it would heal but leave a life-long scar. But that is not the only scar plaguing Anakin...