Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Shadow Part Five [SWJ:FO/SI]
I rubbed the ridge of my nose.
Ryloth's situation had been solved, though I was now needing a new Moff and a new Colonel for that colony. I couldn't really reward the actions of the Moff's underling by giving him the spot he had planned to acquire through treachery; it would give the wrong message.
At the same time, the Moff had to go. Seriously. I should probably get around to dealing with the Hutts, but that would have to wait until the birth pains of the Empire were finally set behind us.
Even so, I was in a good mood. My good mood remained even as I wondered about the Inquisitors sent off on the hunt for the running Jedi.
My thoughts must have left ripples across the Force, because worry rippled back leaving a bitter aftertaste in the back of my throat.
I extended a hand, watching as the holographic communication opened to reveal the figure of Trilla standing down on one knee.
"My Emperor," Trilla spoke, her voice wavering, her doubts and fears evident.
"Trilla," I mused, "How goes the hunt?"
"It proceeds," Trilla spoke. "They are on the run, their ship has been destroyed; the whole planet of Zeffo is on high alert. They will be captured soon, my Emperor."
"And yet you are wary," I remarked, "And worried."
"It is nothing, my Emperor," she said, but then quietly gasped as her head bowed. I had done, nor said nothing, but the implicit feeling of seeking more told her enough, for she quickly added, as if ashamed of her own thoughts, "They have eluded us once already, I do not wish for them to have a repeat. The Force...is strong in the Jedi."
"I see," I mused. Anakin had once more returned to Coruscant, where Padme was held and where his children were. Padme persisted in utilizing the Senate, rallying the senators to her side, attempting to have the voices of the people heard.
And I was a good listener, but the final word was mine; it would always be such.
This, of course, chaffed those irresponsible fools who sought to have their own opinions turned into laws.
But I knew best.
I would always know best.
"My Emperor..." Trilla's voice was a wavering whisper now, for my thoughts had turned to something distasteful, and she probably felt it was referring to her. Poor girl; pity took the place of distaste, and while she did not relax, her fear dimmed. "Is there...anything you wish of me?"
"Trilla, continue the hunt. They cannot hide forever; eventually, they will make a move, though I will be requiring Masala to head for Kashyyk. She is needed there," I would have sent Anakin, but the man needed time with his family.
Not that the time he spent with them made him any happier; if anything, it heightened his frustration and then made him seek out work at the far edges of the galaxy to cool down, only to then attempt to return.
It wasn't like I didn't see the toxicity in that rapport, but even if I spoke to him, he wouldn't accept it. I would have suggested couple therapy, or a clean divorce with children visitation rights, but I feared for the therapist's life and for the judge in the divorce procedure, and for the people who would be near Anakin in the foreseeable future after such a decision.
Thus, I said nothing.
Sometimes silence was the better part of valor.
"Your wish is our command," Trilla said.
"Good," I concluded, "You have done well for now, Trilla," I said, smiling at her. "Keep it up, you and Masala both are making me proud."
There was a pleased feeling emerging from Trilla at my words, and as I closed the connection I also closed my eyes.
I needed to rest, and bask in the presence of the Force.
I also needed to get the Hutt cartel off Ryloth. Drug dealing was a profitable market, but only in the hands of the rightful government of the Galaxy; just like gambling, it was an addiction that I disliked, but which inevitably brought credits into the Empire.
Credits which went on to finance good things, like free education for Ryloth's own children, or safe places for families low on credits to make ends meet, military academies to indoctrinate the people into loving the Empire and much, much more.
Were some fingers digging and scooping up some of the Credits for themselves? Inevitably so; the machine known as the Empire's bureaucracy was a riddled beast, a carcass festering with worms that wriggled, and for every one that was taken out another took its place on the fresh wound.
It was inevitable, even in the democratic senate corruption was rampant, and changing it to an Empire did not remove it. It merely gave a new coat of paint to it.
Still, now was not the time to think. It was the time to let go, and allow the Force to share with me what it wished, and what it did not want to give me...
...I would take.
---
"There's an imperial shuttle preparing to leave the planet," Cere said. "It's our best bet out of here."
"Are you saying what I think you're saying? That's madness," Greez hissed back. The noises of the cantina were drowning their voices out, but as BD-1 beeped, the four-armed Latero shooed the robot away from his side. The droid angrily beeped back, and then returned to sit in front of Cal.
"The underground cavern system is pretty vast," Cal said instead. "There might be a way through."
"We'd have a very small window of time between taking the vessel and escaping before they raise an alarm," Greez said. "You're going to need one hell of a pilot to do that."
"Glad to have you onboard, Greez," Cere whispered.
"Contract's still up, and you owe me a ship," Greez said instead, huffing. "This will have to do."
"Once we're on, we should head for Kashyyyk," Cal said. "It's our best bet on finding out more about the tombs...and the rebellion there could help us."
"It could," Cere acquiesced, "But we're going to need to find a way through the cavern system first."
Cal nodded. "Let me look for one then."
How hard could it be anyway?
---
"Jedi sighted! Open fire!" the Stormtrooper in question was holding on to a heavy duty blaster with shield-reinforcement. As the Blaster bolts sailed in rapid succession, whizzing all around Cal, he deflected those he felt would otherwise hit him, and kept on running.
BD-1 beeped from his back. "It's just an elevator! Why are they guarding it so much!?" Cal yelled, hastily jumping while aided by the Force to avoid a couple of missiles, which detonated on the spot he had been before.
He turned around as more came, his left hand rising to freeze those in place, before pushing them back with the Force towards the heavy gunners; the shields of their heavy guns couldn't protect them from the shockwave of the explosion, and as they were launched like broken puppets against the walls, Cal took the cue to dash forward.
BD warned him just in time to turn, and push further missiles back to their senders. With a resounding explosion, little remained.
"Cere, Greez, you can come now," he talked into the comm-link. "We won't get another chance like this."
"We'll be following BD's coordinates, Cal-stay safe," Cere said through the communication channel.
"Don't worry about me," Cal answered back. "I've got this."
As soon as the elevator came to a halt and the main doors opened up, he watched a squad of Stormtroopers hold their blasters in his direction, while two jet-black and blood-red armored Stormtroopers ignited their twirling electrostaffs.
BD beeped.
"Maybe I don't have this," Cal said in the end, swallowing his fear down as he took a stance.
"Surrender now!" one of the Purge troopers exclaimed taking a stance.
"Or prepare to fight!" the other snarled, doing the same.
BD beeped something back at them, which did little but make Cal chuckle. Still, it was enough to lighten the fear he felt in his heart.
"Sorry, but I'm in a hurry," he grumbled before dashing forward.
The two Purge troopers rushed in return, one taking the right and the other the left side as they spun in mid-air, both's electrostaves slamming against his lightsaber, even as he bent his knees to allow them to slide past him. He spun, kicking one in the ribs only for the trooper to bring his staff' handle to parry the blow.
It didn't matter, for Cal used the staff's handle as a stepping stone to jump upwards, twirling his blade back down against the other trooper's right shoulder-pad. The lightsaber struck, but didn't cut through. It left behind the smell of charred ceramic, but it wasn't enough.
He got on his feet and weaved back, avoiding the electrified tip thrust in the spot his head had been a second before.
"For the Emperor's glory!" one of the two snarled as he rushed to support the other, both formulating a rhythm of lunges and strikes, which Cal ended up being hard-pressed in deflecting away from him.
"For the Emperor's might!" the other growled.
BD beeped once more. "Not now BD!" Cal yelled as he twirled to the side of a lunge, and this time managed to strike through the Purge trooper's guard, leaving behind a diagonal slash on the chest plate. As the trooper stumbled backwards, Cal pressed the attack with the Force, pushing the enemy against the normal Stormtroopers who had stayed back.
As the enemy collapsed into them, he barely brought his lightsaber behind him to block a blow meant for his back.
"This is what I've trained for all my life!" the Purge Trooper screamed, spinning his staff in a barrage of unending glancing strikes, "the Emperor's sight shall set on me! I will be elevated!" Cal deflected the blows, the rhythm growing slower with each strike, and as the last one was stopped, a window of opportunity opened up for him to push upwards the staff with his lightsaber's tip, and then thrust through the opened guard against the trooper's armpit.
The man collapsed on the ground with a scream, and a swift kick to the head knocked him unconscious the next.
"Anyone else?" he asked, turning to look at who still remained, the Stormtroopers, of course, opened fire.
He deflected the bolts back at them, catching his breath as the last one fell on his back, hopefully unconscious for a long while.
"See BD?" Cal muttered, "I can do this."
He began to walk past the unconscious troopers, heading for the lift-off hangar just outside the hallway.
"I can totally do this," he added, more to himself than to BD.
The doors at the end of the hallway slid open, and the figure of the bigger inquisitor came into view. "CAL KESTIS!" the Inquisitor roared, igniting its crimson lightsaber.
"Why do I even bother talking?" Cal mouthed in disbelief, before taking the part of valor and breaking into a run. "Inquisitor's hunting me!" Cal yelled into the comm-link. "Head for the ship, I'll distract her!"
Just outside the corridor, the main outer hangar spread open, a metal panel that gave into a deep chasm and the Imperial Transport waiting for its quarry.
Yet to the right was an overhanging passage nailed to the side of the mountain by thick metal beams. He jumped for it, even as he felt the harsh breathing of the Inquisitor literally against his neck instants before.
"You think you can escape me!?" the tall Inquisitor snarled, her lightsaber a startling purplish color as it ignited. She jumped too, landing on the walkway with a huff.
The creaking that followed the impact didn't, mercifully, continue for long. Not that Cal was bothering with it, since he was far busier running.
His boots hit the metal of the walkway until they suddenly didn't, his body rising in the air as the Force pulled at him. "You know," the Inquisitor hissed, "I lost some good men to you and your friends already. Great soldiers. Excellent drinking buddies." Her raised hand began to clench, air starting to lack from Cal's throat. "And I am so angry at you right now," she growled.
BD beeped worriedly from Cal's back. "So, so angry-" the Inquisitor continued, darkly.
Then, she let go of him and spun around, holding her lightsaber in front of her as she deflected bolts coming from Cere and Greez's blasters, the Larato holding four of those at once.
Thus distracted, Cal landed on his knees on the walkway, and then called the Force to his side. With both hands, gritting his teeth, he willed the Force forward with a mighty cry.
The Inquisitor flew away from the walkway, her lightsaber still in her hand as she fell into the chasm below.
Her eyes were wide. Fear radiated from her body.
Cal stared at her, and then froze her in place. With the Force by his side, he pushed her again, this time against the side of the rock wall, where she grabbed on.
"I'm sorry!" he yelled at her, "hold on tight!"
Then, he dashed back towards the shuttle, climbing aboard just as the Stormtroopers' reinforcements were arriving from the main base.
"This is going to be rocky," Greez muttered from the pilot's chair.
They lifted off, the turbolaser batteries not immediately opening fire on them due to the friendly IFF systems. It was enough to get them into space, and into Hypervelocity.
With a sigh of relief, Cal collapsed against the side of the shuttle, his head low.
"That was..." Cere muttered, "That was close."
"You tell me," Cal chuckled at that.
"You...you saved the inquisitor, Cal," Cere said. "Why?"
Cal shook his head, and then looked up at Cere. "Something she said. It made me realize...we're enemies, but beneath the mask aren't they still living beings?" He grimaced. "A Jedi isn't supposed to take a life if he can avoid it."
"Then I hope they reserve you the same courtesy you reserved them," Cere said, and then sat down on a nearby bench, catching her own breath too.
---
"They have escaped on an Imperial shuttle, my Emperor-I am to blame," Masala spoke towards the hologram of the Emperor, kneeling at the lenses of the camera. "I have allowed anger to blind me, and rushed for him alone. I am ashamed of myself."
"He defeated you in combat?" the Emperor asked, "or perhaps..."
Masala held her breath, feeling her Emperor's will and Force lurch through her, she allowed it. Every thought, every memory, every breath of life he wished to see, she would allow. The pain would be excruciating otherwise, and she did not like receiving it anymore than he wished for it.
"I see," he mused in the end, retreating from the corners of her mind. "He has shown quite the mercy, and the kindness. A surprise, but a welcomed one."
"My Emperor?"
"If he truly is merciful, then he merely allows for his enemy to grow stronger by learning of him. Though Masala, you are headed for Kashyyyk next, and there I expect you to leave your anger behind. Can you do that?" her Emperor asked.
She bowed her head. "I will meditate from my errors, and learn not to repeat them, my Emperor."
"Then so be it," he said. "Though remember, Masala...there is no shame in admitting weakness, provided you are willing to humble yourself with further training."
She nodded, and then the communication came to a halt.
She was going to Kashyyyk, and the Force told her that her confrontation with the Jedi weren't over.
She would wash away the shame of her defeat there, and she would bring pride to the Emperor by putting an end to the fight there.
---
I closed my eyes, though I meditated, peace of mind came less with surprising ease. It became apparent why when I felt the shifts in the Force. Anakin had arrived back home, and apparently was fighting with Padme, as was the norm.
I distracted myself from those thoughts, and quietly gazed at the infinite expanse of space beyond the window of my meditation room.
"Though space is vast and filled with wonders, living beings cannot help but stick close to others," I mulled, "seek conflict where there could be peace, feel desires where there shouldn't be," I chuckled, allowing a Holocron of the Jedi and one of the Sith to float closer to me, "Truly, what flawed beasts we are," I watched as the Jedi Holocron slowly opened, the Sith one pulsing darkly on the other hand.
"A balance born of death is no balance at all," I mused, "A balance born of control is but a stale, aseptic thing," I watched the Sith Holocron threateningly, the Jedi one starting to close, "Passions make life worth living, and peace allows for it to keep flourishing."
They began to spin in a lazy circle, now finally both opening at the same time.
"I am one with the Force," I whispered. "And the Force is one with me."
Time would tell if I made the right choice...
...Thus, I delved into the knowledge of the past, in order to prepare for the Future.
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