Star Wars Collections

The Games: Task 1 - Kanan

The sun glared in Kanan's eyes, making them burn as he frantically searched the arena for his wife. The Imperial Stormtroopers had just finished latching the chains around the top of a large post—nearly fifty feet tall—holding his wrists above his head. The fake Geonosians all cheered in the crowd along the seats of the circular arena. A light breeze blew the sand around his feet, forming a tiny tornado in the center.

As the dust cleared, Kanan finally saw it: a crashed gunship, one of the original models. He hadn't laid eyes on one of them since the Clone Wars. Inside appeared to be supplies, but he couldn't be sure. Adaara's presence strengthened and that's when his eyes finally found her: she was sitting inside a small black cage which hung above the gunship. Metal wires connected the top of the cage to something else high above, something Kanan couldn't see. Nineteen other black cages hung next to Adaara's, each filled with a different being. Some were droids, while others were sentient races.

The Force trembled next to him. What appeared to be a zabrak female was chained to a post on his right, but a heavy weight rolled off her toward Kanan in the Force. Sith, Kanan thought. To his left was someone else strong with the Force...a Jedi. Kanan didn't recognize the human male. Across the arena from him, the gunship blocked the view of who was chained to which posts. To the right, diagonally across from him were several beings, too far away for him to see properly. Several feet behind their posts were large arched doorways slowly siding upward.

The doors opened to reveal large monsters. Kanan barely had time to recognize a rancor before he felt the Force twist and jerk. His breathing stopped as he heard a loud roar from behind him.

I've felt a presence like this before...

It was all the time he had to think. Using the Force, he felt the mechanism inside the cuffs around his wrists and slid the lock open, thankful that after all this time, he still could use the Force to at least unlock chains.

There was a bellowing crack, causing Kanan to instinctively roll to his right. His post collapsed to the ground in two pieces. Walking on top of it with two thick legs was a Terentatek. Jedi-killers, Kanan thought in horror. Along its back were at least six or more large spikes the size of Kanan's body. It towered over him at least nine feet tall, if not more. Its clawed hands were enough to impale a person easily.

It lashed toward him with its left claw, making Kanan back-flip backward to avoid it. He desperately tried to recall what little he remembered about the creatures: they suck blood and something about them is poisonous. What was it? Unfortunately, the Terentatek reared its head and charged straight for him.

Kanan held his hands together and shoved the Force away from his palms, toward the creature. Instead of being thrown backward, like it should have, the orange-colored monster simply continued toward him.

Without thinking, he front-flipped forward, using the Force to guide his landing perfectly behind its head-spikes. He stood in between two spikes. If he moved an inch in any direction, the spikes would stab him. With a curse, he tried calling a weapon from the gunship in his hand, but that didn't work either. I know I can use the Force, so why isn't it working? Am I too far away? If so, why didn't it work on the creature?

With no answers, Kanan called the Force to his body as he took a giant leap. Immediately upon landing on the rough sand, he rolled forward and darted toward the gunship.

Suddenly, he was thrown aside and air fled his lungs as he lurched into the air. The Sith female zabrak, who Kanan realized was actually human with zabrak face tattoos, had force-pushed him backward and now force-choked him, keeping his feet off the ground.

Closing his eyes as he lost more air by the second, Kanan called every ounce of the Force to his hands as he could. With a wild grunt, he shoved it toward the woman's chest, throwing her backward several feet. The movement did as he hoped and distracted her enough to stop choking him. The instant his feet touched the ground again, he entered the gunship, searching for a lightsaber.