[Vader, my men and I have captured the rebel, Kanan Jarrus, during a raid against the Lothal Communications Centre. We have him imprisoned on the Sovereign and are on route to Mustafar. His resistance to mind probes is interesting. Once we arrive, I want you to do what you usually do and gather as much information as possible about the Rebel Alliance.]
"..."
[Do you hear me, Vader? Was that understo- kkakk... Va... der...]
"I find your lack of respect disturbing," Vader says and chokes the man.
He looks at the fear in Wilhoff Tarkin's eyes and then drops the Grand Admiral in the last second before he suffocates.
[*Cough Cough* ... The Emperor will hear of this. *cough cough* I guarantee that.]
"Good. Run off, like the child you are."
After saying that, Vader turns off the connection. He has had quite enough of Tarkin's attitude and doesn't care if he runs off to his daddy and whines about what the evil Vader did. He will kill Tarkin if he continues with this. But what bothers him more than that is that he wasn't contacted by the Grand Inquisitor yet. So he calls him right away.
.
On Tarkin's Star Destroyer, the Inquisitor continues the torture of Kanan Jarrus.
"AAAAAARRGHHHH"
"Still protecting your precious crew. Quite admirable," the Inquisitor chuckles. "But what I want to know is about the other rebels, code name Fulcrum."
"I know nothing... of a larger rebellion. And if I did, I'd rather give my life than tell you." Kanan says.
"So heroic. Just like your master. Tell me, Jedi, how did you survive Order 66, hmm? It was your Master Billaba who laid down her life for yours. Do you remember her last word to you, her last final breath before she died?" the Inquisitor asks.
Kanan doesn't answer.
"You do, don't you? You see it in your sleep. You hear her voice when you wake. Tell me, Jedi, what was her last word to you?"
"Run."
"And does your loyal and precious crew know you ran as your master fell, abandoned her and the Jedi Order when they needed you most?"
The Inquisitor's words manage to get through to Kanan. He hasn't ever fully made peace with himself.
"What do you think your rebels would do if they knew their leader was a coward? You're even afraid of your own power. You don't dare to wear your full sabre out in the open. Let me tell you something, Jedi. You are right to be afraid. You couldn't save your master then, and you can't save your followers now," the Inquisitor says.
"..."
"And once we arrive on Mustafar... you will understand what true fear is," he says.
*Beep beep*
"Speaking of..."
The Inquisitor leaves the torture chamber and makes sure he is alone, taking the call.
"My Lord Vader, I have good news," he says.
[Is that so? Do tell, Inquisitor.]
"We managed to capture a Jedi and rebel leader and are on our way to Mustafar."
[Explain to me, Inquisitor, why was I not informed of this sooner?]
"I... I assumed that Grand Admiral Tarkin had-"
[What the Grand Admiral does or doesn't do is none of my concern. You are to report to me directly! You are walking on thin ice there, Inquisitor. Your series of failures has started to pile up, and-]
Vader's hologram is cut off. An electromagnetic pulse blows through the entire Imperial I-class Star Destroyer, neutralising the flagship's power and knocking out the Troopers on board.
"They're here. So predictable," the Inquisitor says.
On the main deck, Tarkin is not happy. Not happy at all. He was just Force Choked by Vader, and before he could notify the Emperor, this happened.
"We've lost main power. Some kind of pulse detonation in Bay 5."
"Go to auxiliary power," Tarkin commands.
The men start running about and try to do what they are told, while Tarkin is left to deal with his anger and annoyance at the incompetence of the men who work for him.
"How is it?" he asks.
"The Destroyer is down to emergency power and life support only."
"I have been sending an all-clear message to the rest of the fleet. As soon as we miss an interval, they send reinforcements. And that interval is up now!" Tarkin says.
And indeed, several shuttles bearing stormtroopers are sent to the Sovereign to stop the rebels. Despite what it should be like, the Troopers quickly locate the small band of rebels on the ship and try to corner them. They block them by closing the heavy doors, and the young Padawan, Ezra Bridger, uses his lightsaber to seal the doors shut. The group of four splits up, with Ezra making his way through the vents and reaching Kanan's cell.
"Turns out you taught me pretty well," Ezra says.
"You shouldn't have come here, but I'm glad you did," Kanan says.
"You would have done the same for me. In fact, you have."
Ezra frees Kanan and helps him walk. They make it to the Star Destroyer's reactor. But as they look forward on the bridge, there stands the Grand Inquisitor. The dark sider grins, showing his sharp teeth and ignites his lightsaber.
"I can't fail now... Too much is at stake."
Kanan looks at the man.
"Let me borrow that," Kanan says and grabs Ezra's lightsaber.
"Yeah, no problem."
Kanan wields Ezra's lightsaber and starts attacking. They engage in a fierce battle... for their standards at least. All of the anger and fear that the Inquisitor has of what is to come, should he fail here, fuels his power, and he deals with the unpredictability of Kanan quite easily. But Ezra is not simply a bystander. He pulls Kanan's lightsaber from the Inquisitor's belt and tries to help.
"At last, a fight that might be worthy of my time," he taunts and ignites the second blade.
Both Jedi and Padawan attack the Inquisitor and try to overwhelm him, but it doesn't work. Unlike what Vader did to the Jedi Youngling, who tried to surprise him by becoming an Inquisitor, neither Kanan nor Ezra knows how to deal with the fast pace the gyroscopic double-bladed lightsaber brings to the table.
The Pau'an throws his lightsaber at Ezra, who just manages to block somewhat, but stumbles backwards and falls off the bridge.
"No!"
Seeing his Padawan fall shocks and dismays Kanan. But he recovers and controls his emotions, gaining new resolve by remembering his Jedi training.
"That was a mistake."
"Why? Because you have no one left to die for you?" the Inquisitor taunts.
Kanan pulls the lightsaber, which Ezra dropped when he fell into his hand, and ignites both of them at the same time.
"No. Because I have nothing left to fear."
The two engage in their battle once more, and this time, the Inquisitor has no advantage at all. On the contrary, he is handling all the attacks fluidly and is starting to push him back further. This surprises the Inquisitor, who has to back away as the fight goes on.
"You were right. I was a coward. But now I know there is something stronger than fear... far stronger. The Force." Kanan says.
His resolve has made him strong and scares the Inquisitor, who tries to stop Kanan's advance by activating his gyroscopic double-bladed lightsaber and having the blades twirl in front of him.
"Let me show you how strong," Kanan says.
He stabs his lightsaber forward, right in between the hilt of the Inquisitor's lightsaber and cuts it apart, destroying it and making him fall backwards, forcing the Pau'an to hang on the ledge of the platform. The two pieces of his lightsaber fall right into the reactor and damage it. It starts to burn and is about to explode. The entire Star Destroyer rocks because of it. Looking up, the Inquisitor sees Kanan tower above him.
"You have no idea what you've unleashed here today. There are some things, far more frightening than death," he says and then, lets go, falling into the ship's exploding reactor.
.
On the command deck, Tarkin is still standing there stiff and waiting for 'success' to be reported to him.
"There's damage to the power core. The hyperdrive's overheating. We can't hold the ship. We need to evacuate, sir. For your safety, we need to leave now."
"There is still one thing left to do. Set the course to these coordinates." Tarkin says and then walks off.
"But that's... oh no."
Tarkin makes his way off the Sovereign and onto a shuttle, leaving for another Star Destroyer. As he does so, a space battle is going on outside between the rebels who have stolen two TIE fighters and the dozens of Imperial TIEs. It is not looking good, as they are far outnumbered. However, before they are dealt with, three CR90 corvettes jump out of hyperspace and start supporting them. These blockade runners, as they are also called, give the two rebel TIE fighters time to dock and then, a moment later, escape to hyperspace.
"The rebels have escaped, sir."
Tarkin looks unhappy about that. He always looks that way, but this confirms his and the Empire's worst fears: there is a larger rebellion active in the galaxy, and they have just defied the Empire successfully and then fled. Should this become publicly known, the Empire will be called weak, and if this scent of weakness is picked up once, more will rise to join the rebels.
"Contact Emperor Palpatine. This is urgent."
.
Down on the planet Mustafar, inside Fortress Vader, the Dark Lord sits on his cold throne and observes the battle unfolding in his space. The guards who used to stand watch have long left as his power in the Dark Side grew more potent. The darkness and coldness he exudes unconsciously have become unbearable for them. To a Force-sensitive, it would be even worse. His anger is spiked as he sees the Sovereign, Tarkin's Imperial I-class Star Destroyer, fall from the sky, aiming right at Fortress Vader.
"My Lord, the Sovereign is falling from the sky! We must evacuate immediately!" one of the Troopers yelled.
"No. We must do nothing."
Vader stands up and walks out to the balcony and observes the large object. This is Tarkin's way of answering the previous Force Choke, and despite it being insolent, Vader enjoys this. He is constantly challenged by both the Force and himself, so why would he care about this? He looks into the sky and reaches out.
If someone were on the broken piece of a Star Destroyer, he or she would hear the materials groan under a powerful strain that pushes against the ship and the gravity of Mustafar. Vader's telekinesis takes hold of the hull first and then of all the different pieces that make up the Star Destroyer. The fall starts to slow down... more... and more. Until it stops moving entirely, just as it is about to crash into Fortress Vader. The entire thing stops moving and is being held up by Vader.
The Imperial I-class Star Destroyers are 5'300 feet long (1'600 meters), 3'300 feet wide (990 meters) and 1'500 feet high (460 meters). Additionally, there are all the systems, power plants, shielding hyperdrive engine units, and other components. Vader is holding roughly 40 million tons of material on his own. His training over the years has paid off, and it has paid off massively. He uses the Force to push the Star Destroyer towards his training area, where the other Star Ships are located and then lets it fall to the ground.
*KKRRBOOOOOMMM*
Darth Vader walks into his throne room and sits down again. He uses the Force and reaches out to the Force. There, he grabs a certain spirit that was just about to pass into the Netherworld of the Force and pulls it back.
'NooOOo no no no NO no NONONONOOOO... please.' The spirit wails.
"You were warned, what defeat would bring. Your usefulness hasn't served its purpose yet," Vader says.
'NOOOOO...'
"You have failed and now you will serve!"
Vader installs the spirit of the Grand Inquisitor at a High Republic Era Jedi outpost on Tempes, hoping that anyone seeking knowledge from the place would be caught in his trap. He uses the Inquisitor as a means to trap and kill aspiring Jedi, torturing them and preventing them from passing on.
"The rebellion has begun. Good. Time to show you that you control me no longer," Vader says, but not to Darth Sidious.