Falling For The Enemy

Chapter 3: Duel in the Desert

General Jones stood in the Hangar of Warhammer, one of the Imperial Dreadnoughts orbiting Tattooine. Beads of perspiration ran down his face and soaked his uniform. On his sides rows of Imperial troopers were assembled in a row, waiting for their guest to arrive. Their 'guest' was what was terrifying the General. Following the destruction of their research station, the Dark Council had sent one of their most powerful warriors to 'whip the crew into shape'.

But General Jones wasn't an idiot. Whenever a Sith visited a military installation, it almost always meant someone was going to die, usually the man in charge of the installation which in this case was him. He could only pray to the stars that the Sith being sent to his ship wasn't the most unstable and unfriendly. The Fury-class Interceptor landed in the Hangar and its ramp opened, releasing smoke in the process. The soldiers and the General stood at attention, filled with dread at the mere presence of a Dark Lord.

Out walked a male human and a Togruta. They both had yellow eyes and scars across their faces. 'M-m-my Lord, w-w-welcome on board t-the Warhammer. We are h-honoured by your pre-' The General suddenly felt the air leave his lungs and something tighten around his throat. He choked and gagged as he was lifted off the ground, clawing at his neck, trying to remove whatever invisible Force that was choking him. He heard the sound of a lightsaber igniting before he suddenly flew forward. The blade drove through his chest and he heard the Togruta, who was holding the lightsaber whisper 'The honour is all ours' before his soul left his body forever. The General's lifeless body fell to the floor, a hole in his chest with smoke coming out of it.

Meanwhile, on Tattooine...

Ezra's eyes shot open and he gasped in shock. He looked around, seeing the broken inside of the escape pod. Feeling something heavy on his chest, Ezra looked down to see a pink, round metal object with something protruding from its side. Suddenly, the object moved and he was left staring at the front visor of the Mandalorian's helmet.

'YOU!' they said simultaneously, reaching for their weapons. Sabine grabbed a blaster from its holster on her thigh and shoved it under the Jedi's chin, ready to pull the trigger and end his life. As the blaster reached his head, Ezra used the Force to call his lightsaber to him and activated it, holding the green blade centimetres away from Sabine's neck. They stayed like this, the Mandalorian hovering above the Jedi, staring at each other, waiting for one of them to make a move.

Hoping to gain the upper hand, Ezra used the Force to toss the Mandalorian out of the pod. He jumped out as well and landed on his feet, narrowly dodging a small missile from her after he landed. The projectile hit and destroyed the pod in a massive explosion of fire and colour. The Jedi let his cloak fall to the floor and raised his lightsaber, assuming a defensive position. He watched the Mandalorian intently, waiting to see what tricks she had. He certainly wasn't expecting to see two red lightsaber blades emerge from her wrist gauntlets.

The Mandalorian charged toward him, ready to cut him down. The red blades met green as they duelled on the sand. Ezra took notice of how proficient she was in lightsaber combat, but wasn't all that surprised. After all, the one he killed on Balmorra was just as skilled. Seizing an opening in her defences, Ezra swung his lightsaber up, knocking her helmet off and cutting into her face. The Mandalorian recoiled and fell back, the wrist blades retracting back into her gauntlets. She grunted, a hand covering the long cut across her face that had miraculously missed her eyes.

She turned her head, looking at the Jedi straight in the face and Ezra was taken aback. He didn't know why, but his eyebrows shot up, his eyes widened and his mouth opened up at the sight of the Mandalorian's face. Angry orange eyes met unknowingly lovestruck blue as they continued staring at each other. But it didn't stay like that for long, Sabine quickly lept to her feet, confused but more disgusted at the stupid face this Jedi was giving her. Perfect! Now to take him down for good.

Taking advantage of his trance, Sabine charged at her target again, wrist sabers ignited and blazing. Ezra, distracted by his foe's beautiful looks, found himself struggling to parry the strikes she was laying on him. He started stumbling backwards, going on the defensive until the Mandalorian's sabers cut his left cheek twice. He grunted from the pain, but regained his stance in time to block her attack. Their blades locked, struggling to overpower each other.

'Did anyone ever tell you how pretty you are?' Ezra said, a flirtatious grin on his face. 'Really?!' Sabine thought, breaking the saber lock and slashing toward his neck, only to hit nothing as the Jedi ducked out of the way. But Sabine had another idea. She swung around and kicked a load of sand into her enemy's face. Ezra was caught off guard and protected his face with his arms. Sabine took the chance and slashed across his chest.

The Jedi screamed in pain and bent forward, clutching his chest. Sabine deactivated one of her wrist sabers and delivered an uppercut that sent the Jedi on to his back. He was barely able to raise his lightsaber to block another attack from her. She was now hovering above him, blades locking. His saber blade was pushed closer and closer to his neck. Ezra raised his knee and threw Sabine off of him. He stood up and saw a Fury-class Interceptor flying low overhead. 'Great, more unfriendly company.' He thought. The fighter landed a few feet from the smoking remains of the escape pod and two cloaked figures with hoods covering their faces stepped out. One was clearly a Togruta since the lekkus could be seen resting on their shoulders near the neck.

'I've got a bad feeling about this...' He muttered, sensing the Mandalorian walking up behind him.

A/N: Thanks for reading. Yay, more action and fighting! Ezra has developed strange feelings for this pretty Mandalorian that's trying to kill him, but she's not interested. Now, we have more characters coming in. Anyway, enough rambling from me. Thanks again and May The Force Be With You.

~Paul