Chapter 1: Repression

A village in East Efrika, 15th October 3241, 1:30 pm

The first thing Elias spotted when he exited the troop transport were the bodies.

Countless amounts of them lay scattered across the ground beneath him, with some piled onto one another in an effort to clear up the area of the gruesome sight around them. The rest lay where Elias suspected they had been killed, all of them either littered with blaster wounds, or lying on the floor in pieces, the result of having been put to the lightsaber.

He stepped down the final few steps of the transport and knelt by the body of a young male anthropomorphic cheetah in his early twenties. He was holding a blaster in his hands, which suggested he had tried to defend himself against the inevitable end that awaited him. The young man had been shot repeatedly in the chest and abdominal area, and likely been left to die from the wounds, the result of heavy internal bleeding that came about when wounded by blaster rifles.

Elias studied the dead cheetah's face with a look of disappointment on his own. What a waste, he thought. The dead cheetah looked so handsome, so promising. Yet he had decided to risk his life in order to 'free' his homeworld from the grip of the Empire. A futile effort, to say the least. The Empire would not be leaving this world for quite some time, yet. Much less Elias himself.

The village which he stood on the outskirts of was just one of many new 'cells' of Mobian citizens who had openly rebelled against the Imperial occupation of the planet, striking against Imperial supply bases and sometimes even Imperial military bases, if they were bold enough and strong enough. And as recently as half an hour before his arrival, it had become the latest of these cells to fall to the might of the Galactic Empire.

He was driven from his thoughts by a voice he had come to love dearly since their first meeting two years before calling him by his title:

"Grand Inquisitor?"

Elias looked up, and smiled underneath his mask. "Colonel Aryn."

"Reporting for duty, sir." Colonel Aryn replied, smiling back. She was flanked by two Imperial Stormtroopers, both of whom she quickly dismissed with a curt nod.

"At ease." Elias said, stepped forward. "Anything to report?"

"We've killed most of their fighters, but we've left a few of their key commanders alive for now. They refuse to tell us who exactly who the main leader is, though." Colonel Aryn replied. "Your colleague is getting rather impatient and suggested we should just kill them all and be done with it, but we've managed to convince him to stay his hand until you arrived."

"That fails to surprise me. Death has always been a favoured punishment of the Third Brother." Elias replied. "Only recently, I've had to reprimand him for killing a promising young officer who'd simply laughed at the joke a colleague had made at his expense."

The colonel frowned. "Further proof you should ask Lord Vader to send a more moderate replacement."

"I doubt he would acquiesce to the request." Elias replied. "Lord Vader told me I shouldn't ask for any more 'assistance' as he puts it, unless he feels the need to send some."

"Well perhaps if you told him your colleague requires further training, he would." Colonel Aryn replied.

"Perhaps." Elias said. "But first, let's see what the Third Brother has for me." With this, he and the Colonel walked towards the centre of the village.

Centre of the village, not long later…

"About time." The Third Brother snapped as he saw the Grand Inquisitor enter the area, alongside the colonel. "I was beginning to wonder if you were ever going to come at all."

"Then you should learn to be more patient, Third Brother." The Grand Inquisitor replied as he walked up. Looking away, he smiled. "Now what do we have here?" He asked as he walked up.

An entire company of Stormtroopers had encircled the captive rebels, who were all huddled in one large group. One Stormtrooper, likely the commander, came up to Elias and saluted.

"Approximately two-hundred captives in full, Grand Inquisitor." The trooper reported. "Nine of which are the key commanders of the rebel cell."

"Excellent." Elias said. "And where are these key commanders?"

"In the centre of the captives." The commander said, gesturing with his rifle.

"Seize them and bring them to me." Elias commanded, facing the trooper. "I'll leech their leader out from them."

Within seconds, the nine that had been specified were brought before him. All appeared to have been beaten to some degree, indicating they had been interrogated prior to his arrival. One of them, a big burly Water Bison, looked the worst, with one eye swollen completely shut and with numerous lacerations leaking blood.

Elias regarded all of them before asking: "Do you know who I am?"

"No, and we don't care. Just like we don't care for the oppressive regime you serve." Snapped the water bison, who quickly received a rifle butt to the face for his troubles, opening up a fresh laceration on his face.

Elias shrugged and said: "You may not care who I am now, but depending on the next few minutes, you'll either know me as your worst enemy or your very best friend." He folded his arms and asked: "So tell me: Who among you is considered the leader of your merry band of dissidents?"

Again, it was the Water Bison who spoke: "Funny. Your friends asked us the same question." He was about to get another smash from one of the Stormtrooper's rifles when Elias held out a stopping hand.

"Let him finish." Elias warned.

"As I was saying: As with your friends, we're not telling you anything." The Bison replied.

Elias frowned. "Pity. Looks like we're going the worst enemy route." He said with sarcastic regret as he pointed to a random civilian. "Bring them to me." He said.

Within moments, the prisoner, a young male anthropomorphic cheetah, similar to the dead one Elias had seen earlier, had been brought to him.

Elias smiled, looked at the Water Bison, and without a second thought, had drawn and ignited his lightsaber, beheading the cheetah faster than the Stormtroopers could react.

"You bastard!" The Bison bellowed. "He was just a boy!" He made to attack Elias, but was restrained and hit in the head, again.

Turning to the now horrified nine Mobians, including the bison, Elias said: "Now, here's what's going to happen: For every time you fail to reveal your leader to me, one of your fellow villagers will die." He motioned for another to be brought forward, this time, a beautiful female anthropomorphic lioness. "Now tell me, who is your leader?!" He snarled, brandishing his lightsaber.

This time, the entire group remained silent.

"So be it." Elias replied darkly as he turned and stabbed the lioness dead centre in the heart. Drawing his blade out, he had another civilian brought forward, and repeated the question. When answers were not given, he again beheaded the civilian. Bringing over another civilian, he repeated the question. Again, answers were not forthcoming. Beheading that one as well, Elias scoffed. "Fine. You want to be tough nuts? Then I'd best find someone to crack you all open." He scanned the crowd of terrified civilians, before his eyes fixated on someone: An anthropomorphic Caracal child, barely more than two or three years of age. Pointing towards the child, he commanded: "Bring me that boy."

The Stormtroopers moved in, any villagers that tried to resist being beaten down. The child's mother tried to resist, but the troopers simply shot and left her dying on the floor, dragging the child over to Elias, despite the child holding out his hands to his dying mother, crying his little eyes out.

Once the boy had been brought to him, Elias extinguished his lightsaber and hooked it back to his belt, and instead drew a large knife from his belt, brandishing it in front of the key rebel leaders. Grabbing the child roughly by the hair, Elias said: "Now then… care to tell me who your leader is now?"

"You're a monster." Shouted another of the leaders, an anthropomorphic female cheetah in her forties. "First you kill both of my boys and now you threaten an innocent child? Shame on you."

"A monster, eh?" Elias replied, smiling sadistically. Looking to the boy, he said: "Hear that, little one? I'm a monster." He looked at the leaders, and shrugged. "A pity that wasn't the answer I was looking for." He snarled. At this, he yanked the boy's head upwards, exposing the young boy's throat. But as he made to cut the boy's throat, a lone voice forcefully shouted:

"Enough!"

Elias lowered his knife, and looked up.

Standing before him, flanked by the rest of the key rebel leaders, was an elderly anthropomorphic Caracal, who bore some similarities to the boy in Elias' grasp, and the child's mother, who now lay dead.

"You've killed enough people today, Darksider." The Caracal said. "I won't let my grandson be the next one you kill."

Elias let the boy go and sheathed his knife. "So what do they call you?" He asked.

"Caleb." The caracal answered. "They call me Caleb."

Elias folded his arms and scoffed. "Caleb, huh?" He asked sarcastically. With an almost casual wave of his hand, he said: "Seize him."

Despite resistance, Caleb was restrained, and his colleagues returned to the circle, joining Caleb's grandson, who looked on with large, tearful and fearful eyes.

The Third Brother drew his lightsaber and made to kill Caleb, but Elias stopped him.

"He's coming with us." Elias said.

The Third Brother failed to move from his position, which led to Elias stepping over personally and pushing him away from Caleb. "Leave him be, Third Brother." Elias snarled.

Reluctantly, The Third Brother relented, turning off his lightsaber.

Elias looked to Colonel Aryn and said: "We're done here."

"So we are." The colonel said with a smile, which faded as she asked: "What of the villagers?"

Elias looked towards them: All staring at him with large eyes that pleaded for mercy. With no emotion visible on his masked face, Elias growled: "They're of no use to us now. Kill them all."

"NO!" Caleb shouted in horror, as the Stormtroopers opened fire on his people, cutting them down like cattle.

All while Elias casually strode away, listening to the screams of those that were dying. All in a day's work for him.

Hello guys, and Happy New Year!

I was initially planning on publishing this on New Year's Day, but I never got around to it in the end. So I decided, since I now have a small reprieve from some heavy revision, to start publishing my next Star Wars and Sonic the Hedgehog Fanfiction: In All But Blood.

Dark beginning, right? Well, this fic's going to have a dark tone. You'll know when the dark parts of the fanfiction are when you see them.

I have been working on this fic tirelessly throughout the Festive Period into the New Year, so I have completed the majority of the chapters. As a result, unless something else comes up or I don't get round to it, I will be uploading chapters daily.

See you tomorrow.

T-Rock14