Star Wars Collections

The Games: Task 1 - Kanan

Blaster shots zipped toward him. Using the Force, Kanan twisted left and then ducked down to avoid them. One barely grazed his left arm. A dark-haired man held a hold-out blaster aimed directly at Kanan's chest.

Kanan picked up the nearest weapon on his right and swung it toward the man's head, who backed up and fired at him again. That's when Kanan realized what he himself was holding—a cortosis blade. He cursed but decided it would have to do for now.

The Force lightly trembled, urging Kanan to step forward on a crate. Just as he did, he heard a hum and he jumped just in time to avoid a red lightsaber slashing at his ankles.

A blaster shot pierced his left shoulder, making Kanan groan. He used the Force to guide the blade as he threw it toward the man. Just before it landed in his shoulder, another person shoved the man out of the way, reaching for supplies. The blade landed in the person's back. As the person turned around, Kanan realized it was a Togruta woman.

Kanan winced but picked up the crate that had been beneath his feet. The red lightsaber slashed through the box, shattering the supplies inside in half. The Sith woman wielded the saber, striking toward Kanan. Only this time, his back was against the wall of the gunship and he had nothing else to block it.

Instantly choosing which part of his body would be best injured, Kanan shifted at the last minute so that the lightsaber stabbed his shoulder, exactly where the blaster shot was. It's already injured anyway.

With the laser stuck in his shoulder, Kanan used his left palm to slam the Force into the face of the Sith woman in distraction. With his right, he struck her wrist, causing her to drop the saber. It was imbued with the Dark Side, but Kanan used the Force to call the hilt to his hand.

He held the blade in front of him just as the Sith woman threw lightning at him. Before Kanan could react, the Terentatek slashed her chest with its claws. Immediately her skin turned a dark purple. Using the lightsaber, Kanan stabbed the ceiling and began cutting a circular hole to jump through. Adaara. For now, he was safe, but Adaara was in a cage that the creature could easily tear through, could easily reach and easily kill.

Panic threatened to consume him, but he shoved it down, calling to the Force to steady and strengthen his hands.

The other Jedi entered the room, holding off blaster shots from someone outside the gunship that Kanan couldn't see. "If you have a lightsaber, it's going to take you and me together to take that Terentatek down," Kanan said.

The Jedi nodded, backing up closer to Kanan. "Together then." Kanan backed up as a circular piece of the ceiling fell in front of him. Using the Force, he leaped through the hole to land smoothly on the top of the gunship with the Jedi man right beside him.

Adaara's cage was three feet higher than the gunship, just in front of it—the Terentatek's next target. Without hesitation, Kanan jumped on top of the creature, slicing through two spikes to give him room. The Jedi man used his own lightsaber to pierce a claw that charged toward him.

With a grunt, Kanan shoved his lightsaber deep into the creature's skin all the way to the hilt. The Terentatek screeched and began thrashing. Kanan jumped off it, grabbing onto Adaara's cage with his left hand.

"Didn't you have a lightsaber?" Adaara yelled at him.

Cursing, Kanan glanced at the creature, which had the lightsaber stuck inside it. "Yeah, but it's inside that thing now." Kanan cursed again, reaching inside the gunship with the Force. With the effort of holding onto her cage, combined with sensing for danger, all Kanan had the mental strength to call to his hand was a small hold-out blaster. "Great," he muttered, firing it at the bars of the cage. The blaster bolts barely scraped the metal.

Below him was the Sith woman's body, lying beside a human man with chestnut colored hair.

"I've got an idea." Kanan glanced back at Adaara who clenched the bars tightly.

"Is it a good one?"

Kanan paused. "... It's an idea." With that, he used the Force to back-flip off the cage and land perfectly on the creature's back, which was still thrashing and

howling in pain. With a grunt, Kanan pulled the saber out of the Terentatek's back and threw it toward Adaara's cage. He had never been very good at lightsaber throwing and it had been years. Using all of his concentration, he guided the saber to slice through the bars on the front of her cage.

Adaara crawled to the edge. "Now what?" she screamed over all the noise.

"Jump! I'll catch you!"

In perfect trust, she jumped from the cage. Kanan felt her presence and grabbed her with the Force, grunting with effort. Sweat coated him in a thick layer and all the concentration to hold her nearly made him pass out. He was aware of nothing else except the Force and Adaara. After a time that seemed like forever, he landed her safely on the ground outside the gunship.

Suddenly, Kanan flew through the air, unsure where he was, what had happened or what direction he was in. Pain exploded in his body as he landed on the ground, viewing the blue sky above. He tried to stand but realized he couldn't. Not only that, but he couldn't breathe.

As he looked down at himself, he finally understood why. A Zygerrian man towered above him with a whip wrapped around Kanan's neck. With a laugh, the man ignited the shock waves in it, sending volts of electricity coursing through Kanan's body. He twitched and jerked as agony violently surged through him.

When the pain finally stopped, Kanan gasped, rolling onto his side. "Come on," a voice urged in his ear.

Adaara grabbed his arm and helped him stand. "I have a few weapons and knocked that Zygerrian bastard out. Let's go. Come on!"

Kanan's eyes blinked, but sleep overtook him.