"Oh, crap," Eli muttered under his breath the moment he, Kanan, Arion, Ezra, and Veronica stepped into the main reactor. By the core stood the Grand Inquisitor, who reached behind him and pulled out his obsidian black hilt, igniting one end of the lightsaber he always carried with him. Eli had faced the Pau'an a few times before- once in the days of the Republic, when Odyn had dared him to challenge Kirek the Temple Guard to a duel (which ended with Eli getting sent to the medbay), and once about 4 years after Eliezer's death, during a mission to protect Force sensitive infants who were due to be taken from an orphanage. Both times, he'd proven to be a deadly opponent.
Kanan straightened and took Ezra's lightsaber. "Let me borrow that."
"Yeah, no problem," Was the boy's nonchalant response.
Igniting it, Kanan charged the Grand Inquisitor, then retracted the blade and put it in blaster mode. As the Pau'an deflected the shots, Kanan reactivated the lightsaber and the two clashed in a lightning fast paced duel. The Grand Inquisitor bared his teeth through the bladelock, then glanced up before pushing his opponent off and attempting to roundhouse him in the face. But Kanan wasn't ready to go down yet, and retaliated with a few more blaster shots.
"I never thought of that," Ezra murmured from behind.
"Incoming!" Arion hissed as Eli sensed another presence above him, ducking just in time to avoid the spinning red blade of Fifth Sister.
The female Kiffar landed, catlike on the platform. "Oh, you didn't think I'd just let you go, did you now, Henderson-?"
In response, Eli force pulled his confiscated lightsaber from her belt and ignited it. "I'm not naive."
"Good, good..." Fifth Sister sneered, twirling her lightsaber once more. With that, she lunged at him. Eli deflected her strikes, and the two took their duel to the platform below, leaping and parrying each other's attacks. From above, he saw Arion telling Veronica something shortly before she nodded and ran out of the room. He hoped it was to either alert the Spectres or Phoenix Cell...
His thoughts were interrupted as Fifth Sister bore down on him, spinning her blades in an attempt to shake his stance before locking blades. Eli grit his teeth, pushing back before breaking the bladelock and Force pushing Fifth Sister a few feet away. The Inquisitor proceeded to retaliate by slamming Eli to the bottom of the platform deck above, causing further damage to his ribcage.
Seconds later, another lightsaber hilt rattled, then flew from her holster- the one Eli had built after his ordeal with Palpatine. With a ferocious battle cry, Arion ignited the lavender blade before leaping at Fifth Sister, unleashing a barrage of uncontrolled swings and momentarily distracting her long enough for her to lose her grip on Eli, who fell to the floor with a THUD before getting back up.
"If you're going to defend your master, you might as well learn how to use a lightsaber properly," Fifth Sister sneered, using the Force to yank it out of his hand before pulling him closer to her own spinning blades, illuminating his face in red light as her outstretched fingers slowly tightened around his neck. "It's no fun killing amateurs."
She let go before telekinetically tossing Arion aside to the catwalk right across from their position, eliciting a pained cry from the boy. From the corner of his eye, Eli saw Ezra falling from the edge of the upper platform 2 seconds later, landing hard on his back a few feet from Arion's position.
"NO!" Kanan could be heard screaming from above. Eli glanced up to see him doubled over the edge where Ezra had fallen from, staring at his padawan's unconscious form in horror while the Grand Inquisitor gloated over his apparent victory.
YOU ARE READING
Earthlings 3: RISE
Fanfiction"Oppression breeds rebellion." For more than a decade, the Galactic Empire has had the galaxy in its iron fist. Any traces of the past Republic have all but been erased, and all opposition has been suppressed. Or has it...? After the death of Eliez...
