Kanan Jarrus - Warrior Jedi

Year: 19 BBY

Location: Brighthome

Fire and destruction in the hangar of the former Jedi space station. The explosion damaged a significant portion of the structure, but more importantly, it compromised the mechanical life-support suit of Darth Vader and hurt the already badly burned corpse further. His helmet and almost all of his suit are broken, parts of his face are burnt off further than they already were, leaving him with only one remaining eye. His mechanical breathing sounds have stopped entirely, and the inside of his lungs is smoking. The stomach's left side was burning, giving insight to the intestines. His left leg no longer exists at all now; his right one was burning again. His entire left side, including his arm, is reduced to nothing, turning the sorry sight even worse, if that is even possible. With pure fucking hatred and the Dark Side, he manages to stay alive right now, digging deeper than Maul did when he was bisected. His mind can not cope with all the pain, as he lies on the ground. The droid finally arrives, looking for him and tries to support him, carrying him across the ground towards the ship. Vader looks at the ground. 

He catches a slight glimpse of the burnt remains of Caleb Dume, one of the most promising young Jedi after Anakin Skywalker. Seeing the corpse of the Jedi Padawan, Vader only grows angrier. The idea of being so thoroughly defeated by a Padawan fuels the flames of his fear, anger and hatred and pushes him to not yet die. The droid, which Vader was provided with, starts to list everything that was damaged, but is ignored. 

Vader is unable to speak, so the droid chooses the destination himself. 

[We will return to Coruscant, Lord Vader. You are in critical condition.]

After the starship leaves Brighthome, Caleb is the last remaining one there. Why did the fight go the way it did? How could he, who had access to the Essence, allow himself to fall into Vader's trap? Why didn't he flee or use more explosives? Didn't he know that it would turn out this way? Was this worth it?

The truth is, Caleb was aware that he couldn't cleanly defeat Vader, not yet. His power in the Dark Side of the Force was growing; Caleb could feel it. And he didn't want to leave yet. He had come to Brighthome to obtain some items to aid him now that he was a fugitive. And then there was another problem. With Vader having 'killed' him, Caleb was now officially dead. The Jedi Padawan has been eliminated. So, the clones will stop looking for him, giving him time to adjust and create a new persona. And he damaged Vader more than he was before, limiting him in his ability to do damage to the galaxy and its inhabitants. Chosen One or not, you need some parts of your body to function. Vader was now closer to death than he was after Mustafar.

Caleb's fingers twitch. He is lucky that Vader didn't remain to see his body healing. Thanks to the Essence, Caleb is virtually immortal as long as a single cell remains. Not only that, but each time he undergoes a cycle of injury and regeneration, he gains an overall boost in all physical attributes, energy capacity, and output. This means that, unlike what happened to Anakin Skywalker, Caleb only grows stronger. 

After 20 minutes, Caleb stands up from the ground, naked but healed. He cracks his joints and moves his muscles. He looks around and sees the destruction to the hangar and the station itself. What Caleb used was not a normal explosive but a kyber crystal. He destabilised the crystal inside a lightsaber he picked up from the wall, causing it to absorb so much energy that when it finally did reach critical mass, it exploded with enough force to destroy over half of his body. Vader managed to use the Force to protect himself somewhat. 

Caleb moves to the side. The walls were adorned with Jedi robes, many lightsabers and even holocrons. Most of the robes are now burnt, but Caleb didn't come here for those anyway. He walks to the other room, where the Imperial stormtroopers had been doing inventory and looks around. He finds several crates full of holocrons and lightsabers. These will be more than useful for him. The only thing holding him back now from learning more about the Force is limited resources. The Jedi Order has nothing to say anymore, and with these holocrons, Caleb may gain more insight. He was never more thankful for the teachings of Master Baas than now. 

As he is loading up the crates, he feels the arrival of a spaceship. He grabs his and Master Billaba's lightsabers and hides, waiting for the person to show himself. Caleb expects Imperial troopers, but what he sees surprises him. 

"What are you doing here?" Caleb asks. 

"You're... alive?! Balls, how did you manage to do that?" Janus Kasmir asks. 

"With great pain. So what are you doing here? Back for a score?"

"Sure... and I wanted to see whether you made it," Janus admits.

"How kind of you. You can sell a few lightsabers. Those fetch a price ranging from 8'000 up to 500'000 credits, depending on who you sell it to and who the lightsaber belonged to. However, the Kyber crystals are not for sale. Those are too important. If you're fine with that, we can get to work."

"Hehe, sure. There are other things around here which might also sell rather well."

They salvage what is still left and then start loading the crates onto the Kasmiri. 

"You know, we could leave with one of those Eta-2 Actis Jedi Interceptors. How about you grab one of them?" Janus suggests. 

"I could do that. But I will have to get rid of it later."

"Don't worry about that. I'll take care of it for you."

"Where will we--... meet?" Caleb asks and looks troubled suddenly.

He rushes to the hangar, where the Kasmiri is located and sees it. A Star Destroyer exits hyperspace. Caleb's eyes widen at the scene. He should have known that this might happen. If someone hurts the prized pupil, the master will want to know exactly what happened. But not just that, a moment later, several ARC-170 fighters and gunships can be seen flying towards the hangar. 

Caleb runs back towards Janus who looks at him confused.

"What's wrong?" he asks. 

"You need to leave. The Empire is here, and they will want to know what happened. Let's go!" 

Caleb levitates the crates they filled to the Kasmiri, urging Janus forward. 

"Again? I have known you for one day, and you got me into mortal danger twice!" Janus complains. 

"Where will we meet?!" Caleb asks, ignoring his words. 

"Back on Kaller. It would be the last location they would look for you anyway. And now, the troopers have started to leave from there anyway. They had to come somewhere, I suppose. So less risk."

"Very well."

The Kasmiri takes off and shoots into space. He is fast enough to evade destruction or capture by the ARCs and jumps to hyperspace. The only problem now is that Caleb is once again alone. But he has a plan, and if they willingly send him test subjects to train, he won't complain. 

Most of what he wanted has left Brighthome with Janus Kasmir, meaning that he can freely use what is left to his advantage. Caleb awaits the arrival of the Imperial Clone Troopers. He has his lightsaber in his hand and his master's at his waist. It is time for him to continue what he started on Kaller. 

.

(Clone Commander POV)

Our gunship touches down on the hangar, and we move out. I signal for my men to move into the predetermined squads. Two squads move to the upper terraces, one to the archives and the other to the miscellaneous parts of the temple. 

"Alright, set up the perimeter and prepare the explosives. Faxx, you and Bromm with me."

We move through the halls and check the damage. We enter the overgrown atrium. The walls are damaged, fire burns throughout, and rubble lies on the ground. 

"Urgh... baaarff..."

I look at one of my men, Knife and see him buckle and gag. He tumbles around and over his own feet. I hear and see him vomit all over himself. Then he falls and smashes his head on the large statue. Several of my men rush forward and check on him. I'm confused. How could this happen? Is this one of the Jedi's magi--

"WATCH OUT!" I shout. 

The statue which Knife hit his head on groans and falls over. I have to watch as it crashes onto five of my men and takes them out. I look up and my eyes widen as I see a figure perched above. I fire up with my blaster rifle, aiming to take him out. But he reaches out with his hand, catches them and... absorbs them. I haven't seen this since--

"FIRE!"

My fears are confirmed, as the figure descends suddenly holding a lightsaber in his hand. I fire all I have, but lose him for a second. A blue wave cuts through two of my men in one blur. Another slash bends mid-air, blocking our blaster fire and redirecting it back at us. I clench my jaw, seeing the Jedi take out more of my men. 

I throw a grenade forward, moving to a better position, taking cover behind a fallen boulder. He jumps up and waves his hand, redirecting the grenade to the side. It explodes and sends him flying. Or so I think. I signal for two of my men to move in, when they are fired upon by one of our own. 

"Friendly fire! Repeat, friendly fire!"

I turn around, point at my man and pull the trigger. I feel anger at having to kill one of my own brothers. However, we lost the Jedi. I look over the boulder and move forward, not seeing well through the smoke and fire. 

[Movement in Section Two, north archive—wait, I see—aargh!!]

"Move in!" I shout and sprint forward. We move around the corner and reach the archive, where blaster fire is flying through the air. I catch a glimpse of him. He moves like a shadow. No... less than a shadow. My helmet doesn't pick up anything. He moves too fast, or maybe another of his Jedi tricks. I grit my teeth as another squad stops reporting. 

"Squad three, report!"

[zzzzz]

"Squad three!"

[Commander, there's something here, I-- ZZZZZ]

"Squad four, advance with me. Lock your visors, full 360. Don't trust your eyes, some bloody Jedi trick. Trust your HUD."

We move in a tight formation, blasters out and fingers at the triggers. I believe he can't see anything either and uses our shots to determine our positions. I listen, and then something moves fast. 

"Contact, left!"

We spin around, firing our blasters, only to see nothing. The space is empty, too empty. My instincts scream. Before I can do anything about it, a bright light, a flash of light, almost blinds me. I keep my blaster raised and fire forward. I don't know what I hit, but I feel my body move on its own and then hit something hard, almost knocking me out. 

The shouting of my men is accompanied by high-pitched sounds telling me of my concussion. Then a wave of heat from some explosion rips through the hall and throws me further back. 

Then... silence. 

I use all of my strength to stand up. I reach up to feel the damage to my head. My breathing is ragged, and it hurts. Blasted Jedi, we never should have trusted them. And now, it seems that I won't be able to do what Emperor Sidious asked of me. But I need to warn him, warn the others on the Venator... 

Walking forward, I suddenly stand in front of the Jedi. He... is naked and a child. Did we get done in by a bloody child? Before I can raise my blaster and end this, he speaks for the first time. 

"Stand down. This isn't a fight you can win," he says. 

I falter. It must be the concussion, but I still force myself to fire at him. Good soldiers follow orders. He charges forward, swinging his lightsaber and redirecting the blaster shots back at me, hitting my legs and shoulders. 

"ARGH!!"

Then he pushes his palm forward and makes me fly through the air and hit the wall full force. 

"PFFF..."

He walks forward, and I feel my body being lifted, like a ragdoll. 

"I feel your anger, trooper. It is misplaced. Take consolation in the fact that your pain will save many of your brothers."

The last thing I see is his hand covering my face, and with the darkness comes pain. 

_______________________

This is not a repeat of what happened on Kaller. It will be important later on.