Ahsoka swung her twin white lightsabers relentlessly, attacking her opponent with her most familiar technique in an attempt to end the battle quickly. She reversed her left lightsaber and kept a close eye on her opponent's movements, searching constantly for an opening.
Ahsoka adapted the fifth form, which was originally designed for defending against blaster guns, and demonstrated its remarkable effectiveness in lightsaber combat.
Her skillful reverse grip allowed her to strike her opponent's weaknesses with greater precision while her dominant right hand launched powerful attacks, forcing her opponent to make hasty mistakes.
However, the Fifth Brother was stronger than her, leaving her unable to create an opening for a long time. Moreover, he kept a close distance, preventing her from escaping.
"Could he have help?" Ahsoka thought, feeling an even stronger urge to retreat.
Facing her attacks, the Fifth Inquisitor nearly lost his arm several times, causing him to break out in a cold sweat and remain in a state of high alert. He angrily thought to himself that the Seventh Sister hadn't come to help yet. She wanted him to die sooner!
At that moment, the Seventh Sister was crawling forward inside the ventilation duct. Suddenly, her helmet bumped into a protrusion, startling her. Not paying attention, she continued crawling forward.
"Today, I must capture that boy and bring him to the tribunal for proper punishment!"
"Did I forget something? Hmph! Never mind."
------
Amir was also growing impatient. This stormtrooper was far more resilient than he had anticipated; he had blocked him for two minutes already. Nearly twenty minutes had passed since he activated the spatial disruption device to distort the space. He had to leave immediately. If the space stabilized before he escaped, the ship would be trapped in hyperspace and there would be no escape.
After all, the ship's end was the Empire's prison.
Amir launched another fierce attack. In the constant back-and-forth, the stormtrooper gave him a familiar feeling.
Just as the two were fighting fiercely, the ventilation duct at the port suddenly opened, and the Seventh Sister, clad in black armor, jumped out.
"Die!" The enraged Imperial Inquisitor opened her double-bladed lightsaber and swung it toward Amir.
Amir tried to dodge to the side, but he noticed that the stormtrooper beside him was still frozen in place, seemingly unaware that the Inquisitor would attack him as well.
Amir kicked the trooper in the waist, sending him flying to the side. Then, Amir used the momentum to tumble to the other side.
The lightsaber flew between the two of them, injuring neither.
At that moment, the helmet of the stormtrooper who had been kicked away finally fell off, revealing his face.
"Kaiyin?! No wonder I felt a sense of familiarity." Amir's heart raced, but he didn't speak aloud. If the Empire discovered the connection between Kaiyin and Amir, Kaiyin would at least lose his rank, and his future in the Empire would be ruined.
Before leaving, Kaiyin sent himself a message saying he was on an outing mission, but he never imagined it would be this one.
On second thought, though, this mission was just transporting a prison vehicle, which should have been risk-free—exactly the kind of task they would assign to students like them.
It was all a coincidence. The Force was to blame.
The Imperial Inquisitor reached out, and the Force controlled the lightsaber, spinning it back into her hand. She quickly charged toward Amir.
Amir hurriedly drew his blaster pistol and fired forward to block her attack path, but it only slightly hindered her.
The Seventh Sister lunged forward like a beast shrouded in darkness, repeatedly swinging her crimson lightsaber toward Amir's vital areas.
Amir dodged nimbly across the ground while keeping an eye on the Seventh Sister's movements, but the Imperial Inquisitor's speed was far beyond that of others, and he nearly cut himself several times.
While dodging, he repeatedly fired his blaster at the Imperial Inquisitor, but she dodged all the shots as if she had foreseen them. He eventually discarded the blaster and focused on the weakness of the Imperial Inquisitor's lightsaber: the hilt!
The Imperial Inquisitor typically used a double-bladed lightsaber that could rotate, with a double-headed handle in the middle and a black mechanical ring connecting the two ends of the handle.
This ring was a mechanical device that allowed the lightsaber to spin rapidly around the handle. With the aid of the Force, the lightsaber could even hover in midair like a dragonfly.
The weakness of this dragonfly-like design was the handle. When swinging the double-bladed lightsaber, the Imperial Inquisitor did not keep the single-bladed lightsaber in the safe position in front of her chest, but instead extended her hands slightly forward. Amir judged that this was the best time to attack.
Finally, after the Seventh Sister missed with her attack again, Amir lunged forward, reaching out and gripping the handle of the double-bladed lightsaber.
"You escaping insect! I'll tear you to pieces!" Seemingly driven mad by anger, the Seventh Sister spun the lightsaber at high speed between them.
Suddenly, Amir felt a massive push. The rapidly spinning lightsaber, accompanied by a wave of heat, closed in on him, coming within less than twenty centimeters of his eyes.
He was forced to retreat until he pressed himself against the wall.
The spinning lightsaber and the Imperial Inquisitor roared forward before him. This scene filled Amir with despair. He had severely underestimated the Imperial Inquisitor's strength, and the approaching lightsaber made him feel threatened by death.
In this desperate situation, Amir suddenly became extremely calm and focused his attention on the Imperial Inquisitor's slender neck. Unknown forces began to flow around him.
"Cough!" the Seven Sister gasped for breath, feeling intense pressure in her throat and loosening her grip. Her subconscious urged her to reach back and free herself from the restraint around her throat.
At that moment, gunfire erupted!
Biubiu!
The piercing sound interrupted Seven Sister's struggle. Bursts of energy from the blaster gun struck her shoulder, causing her to lose control of the lightsaber.
Amir seized the opportunity to reach the lightsaber's switch and deactivate it. Then, he kicked Seven Sister in the abdomen with all his strength while she was coughing and holding her shoulder. She flew backward and curled up on the ground.
Amir turned to look at Kaiyin, who was still holding his gun.
"It's you, right? I hope it's you; otherwise, I'm done for," Kaiyin said in his usual low, honest voice. The Imperial Inquisitor beside him was still awake but didn't call out Amir's name.
"Do you regret it?" Amir asked.
"Damn it, I regret it so much." Kaiyin picked up his helmet, switched the blaster to stun mode, and fired a shot at the Imperial Inquisitor. "You go first. I'll take this titanium fighter to find you. I was supposed to fly it tomorrow."
"Haha, you're right. You never forget about the ship, even at a time like this." Amir said, not bothering with Kaiyin anymore. Over the past two years, they had developed a unique understanding.
He ran straight toward his ship, remembering to hold the Sith double-bladed sword he had taken in his hand before leaving.
Amir quickly arrived at the connection chamber and found Lensys being watched by his rebel comrades in the corner. He was staring blankly.
Ahsoka also rushed back from the opposite side.
"Looks like I'm just in time?" Ahsoka said with a smile. Looking at her, however, it was clear that the battle had not been easy.
"We were just waiting for you." Amir wanted to call her "little brat," but he was afraid of getting hit, so he didn't.
"Beep! Zzzz—!" BD-4 opened the hatch and called out to Amir.
"Let's hurry," urged Parks, the rebel technician. The prison ship could take off at any moment.
"Maybe we'll meet again," said Amir, looking at Ahsoka.
"Want to join us?" Ahsoka asked suddenly.
"When I can't come here anymore, I'll definitely come find you," Amir laughed.
"At least take off your helmet when you say that!"
Amir looked around to make sure there were no surveillance cameras, then took off his helmet, smiled, and walked into the spaceship.
------
The huge prison ship suddenly turned streamlined and disappeared into the starry sky. However, the mission it carried was no longer complete.
Kaiyin sat in the TIE reconnaissance aircraft and watched the prison ship disappear. His tense body slowly relaxed.
He felt little sense of loss or lingering sadness. These feelings had flashed through his mind before he fired at the Imperial Inquisitor, but he had discarded them immediately.
The ship was silent and empty, and the starry sky around him was devoid of life.
He pulled the lever and entered hyperspace with the outer ring of the galaxy as his destination.