Chapter Text
Trilla felt his presence long before she heard the mechanized breathing and heavy footsteps. It was a dark and overwhelming presence in the force. One that bore down heavily on her entire being. She’d felt it when she first arrived at Fortress Inquisitorious and every time he came to check on her training. He didn’t even need to use the force for Darth Vader to hold Trilla in place. Her fear of the Sith Lord was more than enough to do so. Her shoulder still burned from where Cal Kestis’s lightsaber had stuck her, but it felt like a faraway pain now.
She stood up straight and kept her body facing ahead, afraid to even turn back to face Vader. Ahead of her, the two Jedi, Cal Kestis and Cere Junda, backed up slightly.
“That doesn’t look good.” Cal’s voice spoke, gripping the holocron in one hand tightly and his lightsaber in the other.
“It isn’t,” Cere agreed, her grip on Trilla’s own lightsaber tightening. “It’s him…”
Cere’s face appeared semi-stoic, but her widened eyes and parsed lips betrayed her fear. She too would have encountered Vader in her time at the fortress long ago. Part of Trilla briefly wondered if Vader had been the one to break Cere into revealing her hideout all those years ago. Her anger and hatred towards Cere was still there, would likely always be there… but she couldn’t bring herself to keep drawing from it anymore. She felt Cere’s grief over her turning through the force as clearly as she felt her fear now.
Cal’s fear next to her was also stained with tense confusion, but understanding this was a far different opponent compared to Trilla. The young scrapper from Bracca likely had no idea of who Vader was, too focused on trying to survive and keep hidden the past five years to know. Would she have been the same if she’d never been found? A foolish line of questioning to ponder, yet one she had gone too often since her second encounter with him on Zeffo.
Kestis’s stubborn determination since meeting him had been profoundly annoying to Trilla initially. Once a boy caged by fear and desperate to survive, to now a hardened fighter, one that had even bested her. It stung that she had been beaten, but she certainly wasn’t at her prime, not since Bogano. He was so determined to restore the Jedi order. Surely he had to see how desperate and naive it was, to think he and Cere could hide a school of younglings and train them to oppose the Empire. Surely, they’d be found within a year, and that’s if she’s being optimistic. And yet he still fought, even after she had revealed to him her identity and her master’s betrayal. He had chased her all the way to the heart of this fortress to get Cordova’s holocron.
His resolve was admirable. She gave him that. He’d of made an excellent inquisitor if she’d managed to catch him on Bracca.
And even though all that, he’d still wanted to help her. Get her to let go of her pain and forge a different path from the one she’d been thrust into through torture and betrayal. What was worse was that for a brief moment, he and Cere may have been able to do that for her. Let her believe she could change. Live a different life. Let go of her pain.
And that brief moment of doing so would be the song of her execution.
Cal and Cere lit their lightsabers, red and orange light illuminating them both from their blades.
The fortress was always cold, but it felt especially cold now as she felt Vader’s presence directly behind her. He’d passed over the interrogation chair with such ease. How many times had she been strapped down there, put through agony until her throat was hoarse from screaming? Not just her; so many Jedi and Padawans had gone through what she did. Some had refused to break, and their corpses now littered the oceans of Nur. Others like her broke, let the dark side take them and give meaning to their endless suffering.
So many souls broken and gone, and for what? What did it matter now? What did all her work for the empire mean now? Nothing… it all meant nothing.
“You have failed me, Inquisitor.” Vader’s voice spoke behind her. He didn’t even sound angry, like this had been expected, maybe he had expected her to fail. Regardless, failure was the one thing that was not tolerated in the Inquisitors. Would another Inquisitor replace her? Probably. Just another broken soul that would continue her work.
Vader’s lightsaber lit up behind her, she could feel its heat on her back. This was it. She would die now. Die like all the other Jedi and padawans in this fortress had before her. Trilla swallowed and locked eyes with Cal. It was naive, but she hoped he and Cere would escape. If he was the path of the Jedi for the future, then maybe… maybe this wouldn’t be for nothing—maybe he’d be better than the others.
Trilla Suduri hoped he’d carry on her last wish.
“Avenge us.”
—
Cal didn’t know what he was thinking next. When he saw the… Inquisitor? No… not Inquisitor… Sith. The level of malice and hatred that the Force bled around him was nothing short of infinite. He had to be a Sith, a conclusion that did nothing to quell his racing heart. Just feeling the Force around him was enough to make him feel like he was thirteen again. Back in that escape pod hurling towards Bracca, powerless and alone.
But when the Sith had raised his saber to strike Trilla down. His body acted on instinct.
No!” His hand shot out and pulled back. The Force responded in kind and Trilla lurched forward, her back only just missing Vader’s strike. Instead, the blade sliced through her cape, letting it flutter uselessly to the grated floor. Trilla skidded and rolled across the floor to land behind the two Jedi just outside the entrance to the interrogation room. She was panting and her eyes were wide in shock as she looked back up at the two… and at the Sith. Fear radiated off her like a beacon, stronger than any hate and anger he’d felt from her just before.
“Cal!” Cere ordered as she stood in front of him. “Take Trilla and run!” She lifted her saber and charged straight at the Sith… only for him to simply wave his hand, causing the former Jedi to be thrown over the rail and disappear from sight with a cry.
“Cere!” Cal shouted, but his body wouldn’t move. Whatever instinct had managed to help him pull Trilla away had left him now. The Sith had thrown Cere away with such ease. Cal didn’t need a scan from BD to tell him he was undoubtedly and almost hilariously outmatched. Was Cere dead? No… no he didn’t have time to focus on that. If he did, he was a goner, not like he already wasn’t.
“You would be wise to surrender.” The Sith spoke to him, taking a single step forward.
Trilla was still on the ground just outside the entrance, paralyzed by fear. BD-1 let out a small bwoop and shrank back, gripping tighter to Cal’s vest beneath his poncho.
“Yeah…” Cal swallowed and adjusted his grip on his saber “Probably…” Surrender wasn’t a word that Cal knew though.
Cal charged at the Sith and tried to go in for a quick strike to the side. The Sith deflected the simple attack with ease. He deflected the next two strikes quickly as well. This wasn’t a fight, Cal knew that, the Sith was toying with him. Before he even had a chance to think of a new plan, he suddenly felt the Force close in around his neck, cutting off his airways and dragging him forward to be just in front of the Sith now.
So this was what Force choking was. It was just as horrifying as Cal had imagined. He gasped and struggled to breathe, one hand vainly clawing at his throat to pry at the invisible force gripping him so tightly. His eyes scanned the room desperately for something, anything that could help him.
Above. He could see a large turbine moving above them. If he could pull it down to them, maybe it could distract the Sith enough to…
He caught it. The Sith used his other hand and caught the turbine with the Force like he was catching a ball. Just how powerful was-?
He couldn’t even finish that line of thought as the Sith thrust his hand and Cal felt his body be thrown back, out the exit and crashing into Trilla, who was still at the entrance. The Force bent around the Sith and caused the ground to start breaking. The recently caught turbine was thrown after them, and Cal pulled Trilla and himself down to avoid it.
Yeah… there was no chance he was winning this fight. He felt like he was against an unstoppable force of nature. He couldn’t fight it. Only run.
He grabbed Trilla and tried to pull her up. “Trilla, we have to go!” he shouted as metal flew past them. “Get up!”
The Inquisitor still seemed to be completely shell shocked, unable to move as she started back at the Sith in abject terror. How was he gonna get her to move like this? She needed to snap out of it! He can’t leave her behind!
BD chirped on his shoulder and Cal heard the familiar sound of a stim ejecting from the droid’s head. Trust BD to have a plan. Cal immediately grabbed the stim from the air and stabbed its needle end into the skin above Trilla’s shoulder wound. The rush of adrenaline from the stim seemed to do the trick. Trilla gasped like she’d been holding her breath and finally responded when Cal pulled her to her feet.
“We have to go now!” Cal shouted and gripped her hand, pulling her along. The path back was distorting horribly as they did so from the Sith’s use of the Force but it was at least not distorted enough that they couldn’t cross it. Trilla’s body seemed to have finally found its flight state and now she was able to at least keep up with Cal running. The stormtroopers still on the bridge were quickly dispatched by Cal since Trilla no longer had her saber, left in the interrogation room alongside her helmet and cape.
They scrambled into the elevator, and Cal frantically fiddled with the controls with BD “Let’s get out of here!” He spoke in a panic, looking over and feeling his heart siege in his throat upon realizing the Sith was right there.
His fist slammed on the control “Come on! Come on!”
The Sith walked closer with his saber out. Cal drew his own saber again as the elevator doors mercifully closed “Trilla! BD! Stay behind me!” He shouted but quickly yelped and fell back when he felt the elevator lurch back as a red saber pieced through the elevator doors. He almost wanted to cry with relief when the elevator started going up, watching the saber slide down and disappear.
Cal panted and pushed himself to his knees. He took in the now quiet droning of the elevator and looked over at Trilla on her knees next to him, panting. Despite her tanned skin, she looked paler than him. “You… you saved me…” she spoke like the sentence was foreign.
“I … I couldn’t let him kill you.” Cal managed to respond between pants. He tried taking deep breaths to centre himself and gripped his hands tightly to stop them from shaking. “Trilla… who was that?”
Trilla’s head moved to look at him. She was also visibly shaking and trying to stop “Darth Vader.” She spoke the name of their foe like a child would name a monster hiding under their bed.
A Sith. Being right about that didn’t make Cal feel any less terrified. Fighting Inquisitors was one thing, but a Sith Lord? Only a Jedi grandmaster could have any hope of stopping that! He felt his belt and breathed a sigh of relief upon feeling the holocron still there. At least they still had that.
“Cere…” Trilla muttered lowly, head looking down. “I don’t…” Conflicting emotions clawed all around her. Cal could sense them clearly. The Inquisitor’s mental walls were currently shattered, allowing him to feel her ranging emotions through the Force clearly: anger, fear, guilt, confusion, more fear, hatred, more guilt. It was enough to make Cal lightheaded. He didn’t feel much better, though. The thought of Cere had Cal feeling grief ready to wash over him, but he forced the floodgates closed tight. Just like on Bracca with Prauf. He’d find time to grieve later. Not now.
“Trilla... I know you’re going through a lot, but please, stay with me.” Cal begged as he got up and helped her to stand. “We have to go. If we can get out and to the surface, our ship can pick us up and-“
“And what?” Trilla demanded, her voice weary despite her attempts to be sharp. “We hide? No one can hide from the Empire. From him.” She let out a shaky breath. “And you can’t be suggesting I flee with you. Not after everything.”
There was a beat of silence between them as Cal studied her face. Her gold eyes were no longer glowing with anger or sadistic joy. They were tired, so so tired, and scared. Sweat made her dark hair cling to the sides of her face. Even with her uniform, she didn’t look anything like the Second Sister who had tried to kill him what felt like minutes ago. She looked like a scared, lost woman who desperately needed guidance.
“Trilla, that’s exactly what I’m suggesting.” Cal insisted and gripped her hands. She may have been taller than him, but they locked eyes. "I’m not gonna let you die here. Just… trust me for now. We’ll escape… somehow… and then we can figure things out from there.” He promised, “Deal?”
Trilla’s emotions were still all over the place, but her gaze at Cal was unreadable. Finally, Cal could start to feel her mental walls hiding her emotions rebuilding, at least temporarily; they still felt paper thin. “Your plan is terrible, Kestis, but,” she swallowed and let go of Cal’s hands. “Fine, we focus on not dying now.”
BD gave a trill of his own, agreeing that Cal’s plans were usually terrible, but they managed. If he wasn’t in a life or death situation, he’d of been inclined to laugh.
Cal forced a weary smile and nodded as the elevator finally came to a halt. The blast doors opened. “What’s the fastest way out of this nightmare of a base?”
—
Cal still led the way with Trilla behind him, ready to defend them both if more guards came or, Force forbid, Vader found them again. His comm crackled, and Greez’s voice spoke out, worry in his tone. “Kid, you read me? They’re not responding!” His voice was slightly off, as if he was turned away from the comm.
“They will.” Merrin’s voice replied, a small distance from the comm, “I am certain of it.” Her even tone made Cal’s heart swell just a bit with relief. Hearing them both meant they were close to the surface, close to freedom.
“Greez, I’m here!” Cal’s breathy voice echoed as he kept running with Trilla, not letting himself slow down. “I have the holocron and Trilla! We’re heading to the surface now!”
“You have who with you?!” Greez’s voice was loud “Oh no! You’re not bringing an Inquisitor on the Mantis!”
“Greez, I’m trying not to die right now so we can argue that lat-“
“Cal!”
Cal was still getting used to letting himself feel the force around him constantly. Maybe that’s why he didn’t notice the dark presence behind the blast doors until Trilla shouted a warning.
The blast doors opened, and Cal barely had time to lift his lightsaber to block a strike from Vader. Their orange and red blades were locked, but Cal was clearly disadvantaged. He was exhausted from fighting his way inside and now out. Vader, on the other hand, just looked annoyed underneath his mask. His strength felt even stronger now than before. The Force around him howled so loud it rang in his ears. He could feel the bleeding kyber crystal in his opponent’s saber screaming. He made a mental note to avoid touching any part of this man if he somehow survived. Whatever secrets his psychometry could unlock from Vader were secrets he wanted to never know. If the memories in Trilla’s saber had caused him to seize up, Vader’s might just put him in a coma.
He was on one knee now, trying to push back but with no luck. He felt BD’s feet let go of his back and watched from the corner of his eye as the little droid darted up and around til he was behind Vader. BD lifted his leg and unsheathed his scomp link, jamming it into the Sith’s neck and lighting it up with electricity.
Almost like a droid, Vader grunted and recoiled back. The hand holding his saber pushed forward and Cal felt the wind be knocked out of him as the force threw him back. He skidded on the ground and lost his grip on his lightsaber. As he tried to breathe in, he looked up. His heart seized in his throat upon watching the Sith Lord grab BD-1 with one hand and grip the little droid's neck tightly.
No, no, no, he couldn’t lose BD now too!
The Force behind Cal spiked suddenly, and one of the many large storage containers they’d passed sailed past him and suddenly towards Vader. Trilla?
The container did nothing. Vader gripped the container with Force with ease and tossed BD-1 away with his other hand. He saw the droid land with a thud by him but was relieved to see him scramble up and back towards him. Thank the Force; he was okay.
Trilla stood still behind Cal, hands out from where she had just used the Force. Her eyes were wide as if just now processing she had tried to attack Lord Vader. If she wasn’t already well past a traitor to the Empire, she certainly was now. Vader’s hand quickly threw the crate back towards Trilla and she had enough sense to roll out of the way. But then she froze up with a gasp. Her hands rushed to her throat. She floated up and Cal knew immediately the Force was closing in around her neck in a Force choke.
He turned back and tried to force pull his saber to him. He had to keep Vader’s attention off Trilla and sorely on him.
His saber froze ahead of him before he could grab it. Another pull of the Force gripping it. Vader’s other hand was outstretched to him, looking down at him. Of course the Sith could split his focus.
“Surrender the holocron.” Vader’s voice didn’t change in tone, as if this entire ordeal was nothing more than a nuisance. A teacher scolded his kids for disobeying him.
Cal tried to pull harder with the force, tried to pull his saber free of the Sith “I’ll never give it to you!” He wheezed out defiantly.
Trilla was chocking. Her pained and fearful gasps were hard to hear, but he couldn’t look back. She just needed to hold on a bit longer…
“We shall see.” Vader mused
Cal barely had time to react before he felt his saber activate the wrong way and was pushed towards him. He’d been slashed by lightsabers plenty of times before, but a stab from one into his side was unlike any pain he’d felt before. His skin was pierced and burning at the same time. He felt his insides melting. He cried out in pain as he now gripped his saber, trying to turn it off. He could only when he felt the force grip Vader had on it release.
Trilla gasped and Cal was vaguely aware she had fallen to the floor as well, her pained gasps for oxygen the only indication she was still alive. BD was at his side, beeping frantically. His head was spinning. His side was in agony. The wound was immediately cauterized from his saber but it still felt like it was burning. Confusion gripped his mind. Why had Vader stopped?
His question was answered when Trilla’s inquisitor blade came flying out towards Vader from the blast doors. The Sith turned and deflected it easily, and as it flew back, Cere appeared in the darkness to catch it. Her eyes were focused in a cold fury at the Sith Lord, landing in front of him and locking her blade with his “I won’t let you take those children!”
“Cere.” Trilla’s voice wheezed as she managed to crawl next to Cal. Cal could feel Trilla’s complex of emotions about to spill out again. He grabbed her arm, making her focus on him enough to help him sit up. She couldn’t break down now. He needed her aware. He had to focus. He couldn’t rest now. His head was spinning terribly. BD trilled and helpfully deployed another stim. This time, Trilla caught it. She examined it briefly for a moment before repeating Cal’s actions and stabbing the needle end into Cal’s side. He gasped, and his blurry vision focused in again. “You’re not dying now Kestis.” Trilla wheezed through her bruised throat.
Cere was thrown back with the Force by Vader and landed upright back near them, saber back at her feet. She stood facing Vader with a glare. No fear in her face just,
“Such Hatred.” Vader’s voice mused as he approached them. He didn’t run, didn’t even walk quickly, just the same pace he’d kept this entire time “You would have made an excellent Inquisitor."
“She’s stronger than that!” Cal called back in retaliation.
Cere lifted her hands and began to close them in. The Force bent around Vader and the metal structure of the underwater corridor. The anger and fear the fortress already held seemed to multiply as it bent around Cere. She was slipping. Vader fell to his knees and didn’t seem to be fighting it. “Yes,” he lifted his head. “Strong with the dark side.” He mused
“No!” Cal ignored his aching body and pushed himself up with help from Trilla. He couldn’t lose Cere like this. Not after everything, “Cere!”
Cere’s gaze of fury remained on Vader as she tried to crush the corridor. It was like she couldn’t hear him. Vader rose to his feet and kept approaching, saber drawn and ready to strike “I can feel it inside her.” It was like Vader was taunting Cal now. He felt powerless.
“Cere please! Listen to me! You still have a choice!” Cal pleaded desperately, trying to reach her. Her gaze faltered for a moment, but she didn’t stop.
Trilla suddenly moved past him and grabbed Cere’s shoulder. “Master," she wheezed. “Listen to Cal.”
That got Cere’s attention immediately, shattering her trance of anger. The Force stopped bending around them, and Cere’s furious expression broke into one of horror. She turned to look back at Trilla, her former padawan. Brown eyes met gold. Cere’s gaze held such sorrow.
“Cere!” Cal shouted as Vader had closed the distance and raised his saber to strike. Trilla flinched back raised her hands in a vain attempt to protect herself from the blow. Cere looked up and without thinking, raised her hands.
Cal could see the force bend around them into a shield, halting Vader’s blow. The Force had no fury, only the overwhelming desire to protect. She’d failed to protect Trilla and Cal before; she would not fail now.
Vader struck the shield again, and Cere grunted, using both hands to try to hold it in place. She looked tired; they couldn’t hold this for long. Cal scanned the room for any signs of escape and noticed the windows. They were damaged from Cere’s use of the dark side earlier. Cracks on both sides were evident, and small trails of water were leaking through. They couldn’t be that far from the surface, right?
“Trilla!” Cal shouted and pointed to the windows. She seemed to understand immediately. With outstretched hands the two gave a Force push to the windows on either side of the corridor.
The glass shattered on either side, and water came rushing in. Vader halted his attack and sheathed his lightsaber, turning his attention to the water now.
Cere’s energy finally gave out, and she collapsed into Cal and Trilla’s arms. They took advantage of the chaos to dive through the open windows into the ocean. Vader could be seen inside, still using the Force to push away the water on both sides. Cal hoped the ocean would be too much for the Sith, but he knew that was wishful thinking.
Cal only had one rebreather and had given it to Cere. The former Jedi was still unconscious and dragging through the water. He looked up but couldn’t see how close the surface was. His lungs and his side were burning now. Did he miscalculate? Was he about to drown out in the waters of Nur? He couldn’t see Trilla anywhere in the darkness, but he could feel her presence nearby, kicking and struggling as she clung to Cere.
His vision was getting spotty. He was struggling to keep his mouth closed while his body screamed for air. His body went limp, and darkness closed in. Just before he could embrace it, he felt a familiar presence in the Force above him. Darker than his own, but not dark. A force that had become a source of comfort by the time he left Dathomir. A hand outstretched to him and a green flaming light was the last thing he saw.
—
“Hey… hey… kid, come on, wake up.”
The last time Cal felt this bad, he’d just completed three overtime shifts on Bracca with a bruised rib. That is to say, he felt terrible. His vision was blurry as he started to come too, seeing Greez standing over him with his face contorted with worry. BD was next to the latero and was scanning Cal, letting off trills of worried binary.
Cal groaned. Everything ached. His throat still felt sore from being Force choked. His lungs felt like they were still burning, as did his side from the saber wound. Putting a hand there, he could feel bandages covering the wound and faintly feel the cold tingle of Bacta over the affected area. He didn’t feel it further though, even just that contact was enough to make his head spin. Maybe he could ask Cere to check the wound to make sure it wasn’t-
His eyes snapped open, and he lurched forward towards Greez. “Cere!” He gasped, both in fear for the woman and from pain as his vision got spotty again.
Greez held him steady and made him lie back down “She’s okay kid.” He told him, voice surprisingly gentle “She’s fine.”
BD chirped and climbed onto the bed to be near Cal and let out a trill of binary that told him that while Cere was weary, she hadn’t sustained any grievous injuries. The droid put his head under Cal’s hand and further trilled that he was glad Cal was ok.
Cal smiled at that. Kriff, he loved this little droid. “You too.”
He winced and gripped his side again. One more person was unaccounted for. “What about Trilla?” He asked Greez.
One of Greeze’s ears flicked “Yeah, she’s here too. Hardly spoken. But she’s not tried to kill us yet, so I’m taking that as a good sign.” He muttered.
After everything that had happened, Cal would take whatever good news he could.
He took a pained breath, and Greez held his other hand. “Kid… you did it," he told him.
He… did it? The full memories of everything that had happened before he passed out rushed back. He’d gotten the holocron, he broke into the kriffing Fortress Inquisitorious and escaped. He fought an Inquisitor and a Sith and survived!
The holocron was safe. The list of force sensitive children was safe. The laugh that came from his bruised throat hurt like hell, but he didn’t care. They did it.
He looked to Greez. “Where is everyone?” He asked
“Out there, but kid-“ Greeze had tried to urge Cal to lie back down and rest, but Cal couldn’t stop himself. Despite his body screaming in protest, he stood up and hurried out of the engine room to the main deck. BD faithfully leapt to his back, and Greez followed behind, grumbling over how Cal was in no shape to walk around.
Everyone else was there. As soon he descended the steps, Merrin was up from the couch and hugged him tightly. He grunted from the sudden pressure on his chest and squeezed his eyes shut to stop the dark spots in his eyes. Sensing his discomfort, Merrin pulled back quickly. “Sorry.” She spoke awkwardly.
Cal couldn’t be annoyed though. He had come to find Merrin’s presence on the ship comforting despite how new she was to the Mantis crew. A presence he knew he felt before passing out. “That was you in the water, wasn’t it?” He asked, a smile on his face.
Merrin’s small smile and nod confirmed his question: “I’m glad you’re okay.” She told him. They stayed looking at each other for a moment before Merrin turned away and gestured to Greez, “This one wouldn’t leave your side.”
Greeze made an annoyed sound at the sudden attention but didn’t deny it.
Cal, however, stayed looking at Merrin, his smile not leaving his face. “Thank you," he told her sincerely. The Force around Merrin pinged with something Cal guessed must be happiness from her, and the nightsister stepped aside to let Cal see the couch.
Cere and Trilla sat on either end of the couch. Cere looked weary, but as BD had told him, there were no visible injuries. Maybe there were some emotional scars, but those were just more to add to the many she already carried.
Trilla didn’t look much better than him. The sleeve and armour of her inquisitor uniform were torn off, and her shoulder was bandaged from her own lightsaber wound courtesy of Cal. The faint smell of bacta also emanated from the area. Her throat was visibly bruised from her encounter with Vader’s Force choke, and she had plenty of her cuts and scrapes from the rush of escaping. Her still gold eyes looked up at Cal. Her mental walls were fully rebuilt, so it was impossible for him to decipher what she was thinking behind her unreadable expression.
The holocron sat on the table in the centre of them. Neither made any attempt to touch it. The awkwardness between them felt stifling. There was so much to say to one another, and yet nothing at all. So Cal broke the tension himself and sat between them on the couch. His body was at least grateful for the reprieve from standing. He looked to Cere and gave a tired smile “Hey.”
She gave Cal a weary nod as she helped him to sit. “Hey…”
Cal looked over to Trilla and nodded. “How do you feel?” he asked her.
He didn’t expect her to answer immediately, so he was pleasantly surprised when she sighed and turned her gaze back to the holocron. “Awful… but alive… and you?”
Cal smiled. This was possibly the first genuine conversation he was having with Trilla without the threat of death leering over him. “About the same.”
The cabin settled into silence again for a moment before Trilla spoke again.
“Thank you…” Her voice was tight, and she didn’t meet anyone’s eyes. “For saving me.”
Cal knew that was a lot for her to say, so he nodded. “We’re survivors, Trilla. We protect each other.”
Trilla looked back up at him at that but said nothing. She couldn’t find the words to say anything else.
There was still plenty left to say that went unsaid. He wouldn’t say he was on good terms with Trilla now. Not by a long shot. The memory of how her lightsaber had pierced Prauf’s chest was still burned into his mind as fresh as the day it happened. He doubted he’d ever forget it. But looking at her now. How lost she looked despite her best attempts to hide it. He couldn’t bring himself to hate her.
Greez broke the silence in the end, “So… what now?”
The journey was over now. Greez’s contract with Cere was technically fulfilled now. For a brief moment, Cal was worried the latero would leave, but Greez had quickly corrected that he wanted to stay. Wanted them all to stay together. It made Cal feel warm inside.
“What about that?” Merrin interjected, gesturing to the holocron.
Cal winced as he leaned over to pick it up off the table, examining the green glass and gold metal. He faintly sensed the echos of Cordova around it. His feelings of hope. Hope this would be used for something good in the future should the worst come to pass.
“We use it.” Cere spoke, voice determined, “To rebuild the Jedi order.”
Despite his body’s protests, Cal stood up and focused the Force around the Holocron. He watched as it floated up in his hands, the corners floating back at the holo image inside projected out. A map of the entire galaxy with small lights spiking up all over it. Each light a force sensitive child, with names and all.
“The next generation of Jedi,” Merrin spoke, voice bewildered at the sight of the Holocron in action.
“The Empire will be after them.” Greez muttered “Just like us.”
Cal thought back to the temple on Bogano. The vision of a potential future, training younglings, the Empire chasing them, killing them, capturing them, capturing him. He is an Inquisitor, broken just like Trilla had been. It wasn’t a certain future. But still a possible one. He remembered Merrin’s words from earlier, questioning if seeking out the children was the best idea. He’d tried to dismiss her words earlier but now they clung to his mind as firmly as BD did to his back.
He looked down at Trilla. She was still seated, watching Cal in silence like a predator watched prey to analyze their next move. He realized quickly that she was waiting. Waiting to see what he’d do.
“The lives of every child on that list will be forever changed,” Cere murmured.
They would be. Cal knew that he’d give his life to protect each and every child on that list. He’d guide them as best as he could and would lead them to be better than the Jedi of old… But he wasn’t naive. That future he saw may have been one of many, but he couldn’t guarantee it’d never happen. Couldn’t guarantee one mistake would cause him to fail the younglings. Cause another repeat in the cycle of Masters letting down their padawans.
Trilla had asked him to avenge the broken. He wouldn’t be another link in that chain. No more Inquisitors. No more Trillas.
“Not by us,” Cal spoke finally, his voice firm despite the strain. He looked to Cere. She looked surprised, but she could feel the Force around Cal. Feel his resolve on this. She would follow his lead. Trilla looked surprised, eyes widening ever so slightly.
He took his lightsaber from his belt “Their destinies should be trusted to the Force.”
Merrin’s face had the inklings of a smile, a small nod of approval leaking through her stoic stance. Greez just looked at Cal, ready to follow his lead.
He lit his saber and swiped up. The orange blade cleanly cut through the holocron. The two halves fell to the table and the holo of the map disappeared forever and the names of the force sensitive children along with it.
Cere looked saddened but said nothing.
Trilla’s face was still one of shock “After everything you have been through to retrieve it…” her shoulders sagged, like a weight had left them “You never fail to be surprising Cal Kestis.” The inklings is a tired smile tugging at her lips.
Cal just smiled back returned his gaze to his crew. His family. They still had to much to do. The galaxy was out there waiting for them. They had a lot to fix amongst themselves but they had time now.
“So? Where to now?” Cal asked, knowing the answer now could be anywhere they wanted.