I finally beat the game and was thinking, what if Trilla wasn't killed by Vader in the end? What if Cal managed to save her in time? Thus, the birth of this story came about XD (I blame my muse once again)
Summary: Cal Kestis managed to escape Fortress Inquisitorius with Cere and a redeemed Trilla. With the Holocron destroyed to prevent the Empire from tracking down the Force-sensitive children, Cal and his crew begin searching for alternate ways to weaken the Empire. Yet Cal is not safe, for Emperor Palpatine has tasked Darth Vader with bringing him back...with the intention of turning him into his new Inquisitor.
Rating: T
Setting: AU (divergence from main storyline in the game)
Disclaimer: I do not own anything related to the Star Wars franchise aside from my own plot.
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Star Wars Jedi Fallen Order: Redemption
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Chapter XVII
Using the excuse of needing fresh air so he could have some privacy to himself, Cal slipped outside of the cave and immediately had BD radio call the Mantis so he could tell them what was going on.
"So you're telling me you ran into Master Quinlan Vos who just happened to be hiding out on Tatooine with a Nightsister who was the former acolyte of Count Dooku?" Cere's voice sounded like she had a hard time believing what Cal just told her.
"Pretty much?" Cal replied, scratching the back of his head with a hand.
Cere was silent on the call from the other end for a while.
"Did you notice anything...strange about him?"
This question was rather strange coming from Cere.
"I never met Master Vos so I don't know what exactly qualifies as strange in your case," Cal replied earnestly.
"His actions, do they seem funny to you in any way? Has he offered you anything?"
"He did ask if I wanted to be trained by him for a few days..."
Cal could hear Cere suck in a sharp breath from the other end of the line.
"Cal, Master Vos fell to the dark side when he disobeyed Order regulations and went after Count Dooku with Asajj Ventress. He could have ulterior motives for wishing to train you."
Now this piece of information was definitely something unheard of.
If what Cere said is true then he'll need to steer clear of Master Vos in case anything happened.
"I'll keep an eye out. I'm going to end the call now."
BD beeped several times and hopped back onto Cal's shoulders. Vos came out to get him at that moment to inform that Merrin's healing ritual was finished. He went back inside the cave towards the living area. Merrin was meditating in a corner of the area, her body levitating slightly above the ground. Asajj Ventress certainly looked a lot better since she was currently walking around, whereas she had been bedridden a while earlier.
"Merrin! Are you alright?" Cal went over to kneel beside the Nightsister.
Amber eyes cracked open wearily as Merrin gave Cal an exhausted smile.
"I'm fine. Just a bit tired," she answered quietly.
Quinlan Vos saw Ventress walking on her own and immediately rushed over to embrace her tightly in his arms. Both Cal and Merrin first looked at one another, then back towards the two, almost as if they were unwilling to believe what they were witnessing. BD made a series of beeps and whistling, the little droid's response prompted Cal to realize they mirrored the two they were watching in a way.
"Master Vos...are you two?..." Cal trailed off and waved his hand at the duo.
"Yes."
This certainly put things in a new perspective for Cal as he turned his head. So what he had been saying all along to Cere back aboard the Mantis did actually happen to someone else. The Jedi were forbidden from having romantic attachments to others, one of the basic doctrines taught back at the Academy. This was to prevent them from falling easily to the dark side as love was an emotion they must not feel. Yet here he was, watching a Jedi Master and a former acolyte of Count Dooku being intimate with one another.
"When did this happen?" Merrin asked of Ventress, the same thought crossing her mind as it did Cal's.
"Shortly after we started working together as partners. It just...happened..." Ventress answered, slowly lowering herself back down onto the ground.
"Weren't you afraid you were breaking the Jedi Code?" Cal glanced at the Kiffar Jedi Master for his answer.
Quinlan Vos sat down beside Ventress to feed more wood into the dwindling fire.
"Sometimes, we must think and choose our own paths. Strictly following the Jedi Code didn't do much for the Order did it? The Emperor managed to wipe out most of us with a single command. None of us saw it coming because we've become complacent with our monikers as peacekeepers of the galaxy. What happened in the end? We've become scattered, hiding from the Imperial Army who seeks to hunt us down as supposed traitors of the Republic."
Cal knew Quinlan Vos was right. Just like what he told Cere aboard the Mantis, the Kiffar Master was repeating his own words back to him essentially. The reason why the Order fell in the first place was because they couldn't adapt. Who was he to start judging other Jedis now if they fell in love. The Jedi Order was dead. They weren't bound by the shackles of the Code any longer. Still, he needed time to work out whether or not the feelings he had for Merrin were of genuine love or those of a sister-brother bond.
"Isn't it the same for you two?" Ventress suddenly asked, noticing how close Cal and Merrin were sitting next to one another.
It took all of Cal's willpower not to turn away and blush, though he could still feel a little heat rising to his face.
There is no emotion, there is peace.
"I don't know what you're talking about," he said, coughing into the back of his hand.
Of all the times for his wound to start acting up.
Merrin's hand was instantly around the area where he had been impaled and her palm glowed green. Cal's pained expression soon faded away once her magick seeped into his body. The pain was coming in frequent intervals now, some at the most inconvenient of times. How he managed to hide an attack while they were on Kamino escaped Cal's mind. While he was glad that Merrin was always looking out for him, a small part felt bad for being a burden. She had been using her magick for quite some time now, surely she was nearing her limit.
"Is something the matter? Are you injured somewhere?" Vos eyed the way Merrin's palm was placed on Cal's lower abdomen.
"Long story," Cal grunted, removing Merrin's hand when the pain subsided.
After what seemed like an eternity to the duo, Cal and Merrin finally left the cave after answering a never-ending barrage of questions from Vos who wanted to know everything that's happened since the fall of the Order. Who knew the Kiffar Master could be so curious in wanting to know all the details. The sun was already starting to set by the time they made it out of the cave.
"Let's head back to the ship for now. We'll have to pick up the parts tomorrow. I heard the sandstorms on Tatooine are brutal, and judging by how fierce the winds are blowing, I'd say one is starting to stir up right now."
Merrin couldn't agree more as they made their way back towards the Mantis.
Her exhausted looks told Cal she needed rest to recover her strength after that ritual she performed earlier on Ventress. Cal also needed to report to Cere about what he had learned in regards to the rogue Jedi and former Nightsister.
"Please tell me you have the parts I need so we can get off this desert wasteland," Greez mumbled the moment they were near the Mantis.
"We got a little sidetracked. We'll get you the parts tomorrow," Cal said, helping Merrin sit down on one of the sofas.
The Lateron threw his hands in the air and shuffled off towards the kitchen to cook something since he had nothing else to do. Cere was mediating in the back while Trilla still remained at the console, listening closely for communications from the Imperial Army.
"Cal! You're back," Cere greeted as she came out from the rear of the ship.
"We didn't intend to delay getting the parts..." the ginger-haired Knight sighed into his hands.
The former Jedi Knight beckoned towards the other sofa to avoid waking up Merrin. Cal side-stepped around the sleeping Nightsister and sat himself down beside Cere, leaning back against the soft padding of the sofa. All he just wanted to do was sleep, close his eyes and never wake up. All this started because he was Force-sensitive, because he was taken away to the Academy to be trained as a Jedi. Would things be better had he been a regular human instead?
"Did you learn anything from your encounter with Master Vos?" Cere asked eagerly, shifting her body slightly so that she faced him.
"I never knew someone could talk as much as him," Cal sighed wearily into his hands.
This wasn't the response Cere had been expecting and laughed a little when she heard.
"Back to business. Did you learn anything at all?"
"He's with Asajj Ventress...a Nightsister from the same coven as Merrin. I think she was Count Dooku's former disciple?"
Cere's eyes went wide upon hearing this and grabbed Cal by the shoulders, mirroring the way Vos touched him earlier and he immediately flinched reflexively, swatting her hands away from his body.
"S-Sorry. I don't like it when people grab me like that," he apologized.
"No. I shouldn't have grabbed you out of the blue. But did you learn of Count Dooku's fate?"
"Yea. Ventress and Vos managed to kill him but they both sustained injuries, Ventress more than Vos."
Hearing the confirmed death of Darth Tyranus relieved a huge amount of pressure off Cere's shoulders as she sagged into the sofa. Though she wasn't exactly aware of how many Siths are out there, even the death of one was considered a huge blow to their ranks. Back when she was still studying at the Academy during her time as a Knight, she had read up on something called the Rule of Two left behind by a former Jedi Master.
The Rule of Two states there can only be two Siths at a time.
One master and one apprentice.
Should the apprentice wish to become a master, then he needed to kill his current master to become one.
"Get some rest Cal. You'll need to get the parts we need tomorrow so we can continue our way towards Alderaan."
Mos Espa was definitely different from the other planets Cal had visited.
Today he was traveling solo since Merrin still required another day's of rest to fully regain her strength.
It gave him some time to himself as he trekked through the settlement, searching for signs of a junk shop that sold spare parts. BD-1 was busy scanning anything and everything it came across. The sight of the little droid drew a smile upon Cal's lips as the Jedi Knight watched in amusement.
"At least someone's having a good time," he said to himself.
One of the shops to the left seemed to sell spare parts and Cal went inside. It was manned by a service droid which immediately greeted him rather enthusiastically, then proceeded to bombard him with multiple attempts to sell either junk or useless trash which he had no need for. Cal finally managed to get the droid to stop after using a rather aggressive tone with it, then told the droid what parts he needed.
Thankfully the store had what he needed.
"How much is it?" he asked the droid when it came back with the parts.
"Ten thousand credits," it answered in a robotic voice.
Cal winced slightly when he heard the price but thankfully he saved up quite a bit of credits back on Bracca. He didn't have much to spend it on anyways, still ten thousand was quite an expensive sum for several parts that were no bigger than the size of his hand. Greez better find a way to pay him back for this or he'll have to start keeping track of how many credits the Lateron owes aside from his debt to the Haxion Brood.
Once the parts were paid for and transported to the ship after Cal requested for a droid to bring it back, he headed out of the shop and looked around to see what else he could buy for the trip back. There were several stores that sold fruits native to Tatooine, and others that had various lifeforms hung up for display. The fruits were the only things that enticed the Knight, and he found himself buying several different kinds to share with Cere and the others.
Maybe Greez could make a dish with them or something.
Sounds of blasters firing drew Cal's attention during his walk back to the Mantis, which alerted the Knight to danger as he quickly took cover behind a sand dune in case a stray bolt came flying his way.
Beep-fwee!
"I know buddy. Let's just hope it's not the Imperial Army," he said, peering over the edge of the dune to see what was going on.
The Mandalorian bounty hunter from earlier was engaged in a shootout match with several other bounty hunters. Clearly the Mandalorian was on the losing side, as he had to fend off not only the other hunters, but protect the little alien child from harm at the same time.
"Shall we lend them a hand huh BD?"
Beep!
"Yea. I was thinking the same thing."
Leaving BD behind to watch over the fruits, Cal reached for his lightsaber and ignited it, running towards the Mandalorian's aid as he did. One of the hunters noticed him from the distance (who wouldn't notice a glowing stick of pure energy anyways?) and turned their blaster on him. Cal deflected the shots fired and reached out with the Force, yanking the weapon out of the hunter's hand.
The Mandalorian took advantage of this to fire a deadly shot right at the latter's heart, sending their body toppling over and out of view.
"Need some help?" Cal asked, sliding into position beside the bounty hunter.
The Mandalorian didn't say anything but simply gave a nod of his head.
"A Jedi? Our pay has just gone up!" one of the hunters shouted gleefully.
Now the remaining hunters focused their attention mainly on the Jedi Knight, having deemed him a more worthy target for a bounty. Cal wasn't surprised after the stunt he pulled at the Fortress. No doubt he was probably on the Empire's "Most Wanted Criminal" database and had a high bounty on his head. His body moved instinctively to dodge the plasma bolts fired, trusting the Force to guide his movements as he did.
One bolt managed to graze his cheek and Cal flinched, feeling the blaster burn left behind from it. He calmly walked forward towards the bounty hunter that fired the shot and lifted his hand. Reaching out through the Force, he curled his fingers into a choke-hold position and directed the invisible tendrils towards the hunter's throat. The blaster dropped from his hand as hands desperately clawed at his neck, trying in vain to pry away that which could not be seen.
Cal twisted his hand and pulled the bounty hunter straight into his lightsaber.
"You're not getting this Jedi today," he mocked, tossing the dead body aside.
With two of their comrades dead because of the Jedi, the remaining bounty hunters fled away from the scene in terror. The Mandalorian fired off several more shots, each hitting their target dead in their vital areas. Cal switched off his lightsaber and went over to the Mandalorian, thankful to see the alien child was unharmed from the whole ordeal.
While the bounty hunter did not verbally express his thanks, Cal could see his gratitude through perceiving the latter's body language. The alien child peered up at Cal with its round eyes, studying him curiously, its ears going up and down at the same time.
Cal wanted to praise its cuteness but the Jedi Knight in him refused to let others see he had a soft side unless it was people he knew. Instead he went back over to where BD-1 had been hiding and picked out one of the fruits, then he returned to the bounty hunter's side and held it out for the little alien.
"Here you go," he said with a smile.
Small talons reached out to grasp the fruit as the alien child looked at it curiously, then turned its head to look up at the bounty hunter. The Mandalorian didn't say anything as his head tilted downwards to watch the child. It took a small bite of the fruit and its round eyes closed happily in content upon tasting the fruit. The scene was too much for the ginger-haired Knight as he hid his smile behind several coughs.
"Your ship is near ours isn't it? We should go back together in case you get ambushed again," he offered.
The two unlikely of strangers started making their way back towards their respective ships.
To be continued...
I seriously need Baby Yoda and Mando in my life ;A;
Why can't Disney+ be released in Asia already!
Anyone wanna see more of Cal/Mando team ups in future chapters? XD
Also please kindly stop reminding me Ezra should be 5 when this takes place/other characters shouldn't be appearing.
I'm messing around with the lore/timeline/canon for this story.
Some characters will only make cameos, others will play a part in progressing the story for Cal.
As of now, I have a whole thing planned with Starkiller playing an important role in this story.
Baby Yoda and Mando might make a return in future chapters (who wouldn't want to see more of them anyways? XD)
Haven't decided yet.
Thank you for your understanding.
See you next chapter.
Celsius Fate~