Stowaway: A Star Wars Rebels Story

A Date With Darkness

(Credit to @benke33 on DeviantArt)

"Lieutenant, we're under attack!" A soldier alerted me. "Engage emergency protocols! Someone get on the guns!" I ordered. The corvette I was commanding came under heavy fire from an unknown force. Suddenly, a starfighter came into view, coming around for another attack pattern. Another soldier fired at our enemy, but they couldn't land a shot. The ship shot back and I heard a beep from the console. "We lost our shields!" A third soldier shouted. A few more shots took out our engines. "Damn it! Our engines are offline!" I cursed. "The airlock's been activated!" The first soldier informed me. "That's impossible! How?" I wondered. The airlock could only be opened from the inside. "I-I'm not sure," he said. "Seal it shut! We can't let them get on board!" I stressed. They were outmatching us beyond our means and I honestly wasn't sure what to do. "I can't! It won't respond!" he answered back. "Send a distress signal to Phoenix Squadron!" I ordered. I then turned on the internal comms and sent an announcement to the rest of the crew. "All units, make for the airlock," I announced. I ran with my fellow soldiers and we stopped a few feet away from the door, blasters raised. "Fire on my signal," I said, waiting for our adversary to emerge. The tension was high and I was extremely nervous. He completely disabled our ship, and for the first time in forever, I felt powerless. Suddenly, the door opened, and a hooded figure stood at the entrance. I held my fist up, signaling for my crew to hold their fire. Then, they ignited a lightsaber, exposing two red blades.

"FIRE!" I screamed. We sent a barrage of lasers towards him, but most of them were deflected back at us. I bobbed and weaved to avoid getting hit, but the same could not be said for my team. They were dropping like flies as the figure gained ground quickly. As leader of this mission, I had to take charge. I stood up and kept firing as I walked towards him, barely dodging the returned fire. However, this plan proved to be foolish, as I got lifted up in the air. Somehow, my hands went towards my throat. Wait, am I choking? I gasped for breath, trying to inhale as much oxygen as possible. The figure's yellow eyes just stared back at me, determined to complete my demise. There's no way I go out like this. Luckily, the blaster fire averted his focus and I was spared, but not before he pushed me back into the wall. My vision went blurry upon impact, and all I could make out were the lights of laser fire and the cries of the soldiers around me before everything faded to black.

I woke up feeling the ship rock back and forth. I was left in total darkness. I had a splitting headache and felt a little dazed from getting flung. As I tried to get my bearings, the door opened again and I immediately fired. My shot didn't register, so I shot again only for it to be deflected away by a green glow. "We're friends!" the voice shouted. That could only be one person. "Ezra?" I asked. "Y/N? Is that you?" Ezra responded. "Yeah. Help me look for survivors," I said. He walked over towards me with Kanan by his side, using their lightsabers to illuminate my ruined corvette. "This must have been one heck of a fight," Ezra commented. "I can smell the carbon scoring," Kanan added. In this short time of peace, I tried remembering exactly what happened before I got knocked out. A droid emitted a signal, signifying someone did indeed survive our battle. "Over here," I said. Ezra and Kanan followed me into the hallway and I heard groaning from a soldier. "I'm so sorry. We're gonna get you help," I consoled, crouching down to his level. "What happened here?" Ezra wondered. "Red...red blade. After you. Made me tell...the Ghost is in danger...agh," the soldier said through a series of groans. He was clutching his chest and was barely conscious. "Another Inquisitor?" Ezra deduced. "We've gotta warn Hera," Kanan alerted. "Help me get him to a med-bay," I said. I took one arm as Ezra took the other, carrying the soldier out of the corvette and onto our blockade runner. Eventually, we got him into the care of a medical droid. "Please take care of him," I begged. I wasn't going to let someone else die under my supervision. "That is what I am programmed for," the droid replied dryly.