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 XXVII

"Merrin! Merrin!"

Cal's eyes locked onto the alcove where the shot had fired from and with an anguished cry, yanked with the Force and the mysterious assailant was revealed to be a member of the Haxion Brood. Anger and rage clouded Cal's rational mind as his fingers switched to a choke hold. The bounty hunter scrambled and clutched desperately at her neck as gagging noises escaped her helmet. Curling his fingers even closer as he choked the life out of the hunter, Cal only released his hold once she was limply hanging in the air.

"Merrin!"

He ran over to where Merrin was and gently pulled her onto his lap.

Her breathing was faint and the edges of her lips were starting to take on a purplish hue.

"Hang on!" Cal hovered a hand over the wound and focused, concentrating intently on using the Force to heal her.

Merrin coughed as her eyes fluttered open weakly.

"Cal..."

"Don't talk," he said, eyebrows furrowing in concentration.

It seemed no matter how hard he tried to guide the poison out, it refused to listen and remained within Merrin's body.

"Calm...your...mind..." Merrin said in between breaths, sensing the rage inside him.

"No! I have to! I have to save you!"

"Whatever...is inside...is powerful...you...can't...extract this...not by yourself."

With a frustrated cry Cal picked up Merrin in his arms and started running for the base when Starkiller's voice stopped him.

"If you want to save her, I can help with that."

Those words prompted Cal to face Starkiller as the latter recovered from the blow to steadily getting back on his feet.

"I don't have time for this!" Cal spat, turning to begin heading for the base.

"Haxion Brood utilizes poison that combines different poisonous aspects of various creatures found throughout the galaxy to ensure not one antidote will cure them all. Now, unless this place has someone with the proper equipment to...identify which poison runs through her body, you'll need the help of the Empire if you want to fully cure her."

Merrin's labored breathing as Cal watched on was torturous to the Jedi Knight. A part of him wanted to run back inside the base and ask Ahsoka for aid, while the other part urged him to listen to Starkiller's words and seek out the Empire for help.

If he did, wouldn't he be playing right into Darth Vader's hands?

"Cal...it hurts..." Merrin's voice snapped him out of his thoughts.

The Jedi Knight looked down at the Nightsister to find dark veins slowly spreading throughout her entire body.

"If I go back with you, that's exactly what your Master wants," Cal said.

"Don't you want power to protect the one you love? If you became a member of the Empire, the Haxion Brood will no longer be a threat to you or your lover ever again," Starkiller calmly said, picking up his discarded lightsaber with the Force.

The clone had a point.

If he joined the Empire, the Haxion Brood would never dare come after him.

Merrin would never have to be put in dangerous situations such as this.

And the crew-

The crew will never forgive him for this ultimate betrayal.

A squeeze from Merrin's hand was enough for Cal to come to a decision.

"Very well. Take me to the Empire," he said, following after Starkiller.


When Trilla heard the commotion from outside and Ahsoka's face peering from the door telling her to evacuate the base, she had a feeling she knew what was going on. She sensed a strong presence through the Force, the energy signature matching that of Starkiller from back on Kamino. Which meant Darth Vader must have sent his personal apprentice to either slaughter everyone, or crush the rebel force as a sign to everyone else on Lothal to never stand up to the Empire.

"We're leaving," she said, yanking on Entiran's chains as the two swiftly departed the base with the rest of the fleeing rebels.

They followed the rebels to another base further away from where they had been hiding, this one located near a large body of water. Hera stood outside the entrance, ushering everyone in and making sure no one had been left behind.

"Are you going to stay with us?" the Twi'lek asked when she spotted Trilla.

"No. It's time we returned to the Mantis to let the others know what happened."

"What about that other friend of yours? I don't see him anywhere," Hera peered over Trilla's shoulder as she spoke.

That's when Ahsoka and Ezra walked into view after escorting the last of the rebels.

"I didn't see him coming back from the other base," Ezra was saying as a worried Ahsoka listened.

"Did you go check?" the Togruta inquired.

"I did! He and Starkiller were both gone!"

"What's going on?" Hera interrupted the conversation.

Ezra coughed several times into his hand until Ahsoka nudged him in the ribs.

"Your friend is missing. I...I think he might have been captured by Starkiller," he said to a shocked Trilla.


Even with Starkiller's personal ship going into hyper-speed for the journey to Nur, Cal couldn't help but feel anxious the entire way there. Thankfully there were no Stormtroopers aboard the ship, so he was able to be with Merrin in relative peace. The Nightsister was laid out on a bed, hooked up to a bunch of instruments that Cal had knowledge of. The only thing that concerned him at first was one of the lines that was injecting Merrin with a stabilizer of sorts. Starkiller told him it was the only thing that kept her from being one with the Force permanently.

"I'm so sorry Merrin...if only...I realized sooner," Cal whispered, squeezing Merrin's hand as he apologized repeatedly.

"Cal..." Merrin's eyes opened weakly and the corner of her lips tried to tilt upward into a comforting smile.

"Save your strength," Cal said, resting a hand on her forehead.

Merrin slowly moved her head from side to side, her foggy mind trying to process where they were at the moment.

"This...isn't...the Mantis..." she finally said.

"No. It's not," the Jedi Knight replied, turning his face away to avoid looking at her.

"Where...are...we-"

Cal cut her off with a finger to her lips followed by a smile.

"Don't worry about it. I'll make sure you're cured of this poison," he said.

Exhaustion overtook Merrin as she closed her eyes to slip back into slumber. Cal gently stroked her hair for a while, then got up and went to the front where Starkiller was piloting the ship.

"Why are you doing this?" Cal asked, leaning against the smooth surface of the wall.

"What you said back there wasn't completely wrong. I have dreams of a woman with white hair from time to time...I don't know who she is, but I feel a sense of peace and security whenever I dream of her."

Cal resisted the urge to tell Starkiller what he had witnessed in the Force Echo back on Kamino. What would happen if the clone discovered his original self had been killed by Darth Vader in front of the Emperor?

"Here I thought Darth Vader trained you to be the perfect assassin without emotions," Cal said, quietly studying Starkiller's body language.

The latter's hands tightened ever so slightly on the steering.

"We're here," Starkiller said, exiting out of hyper-space to the giant planet of Nur coming into view from the distance.

The Jedi Knight winced and held a hand against his head upon feeling Darth Vader's pull. The Sith was on the planet and waiting for his arrival, no doubt having been informed beforehand by his apprentice.


Cere was starting to go frantic with worry when she hadn't heard from either Trilla or Cal over an extended period of time. She was just about to leave the ship and search for the two when Trilla walked up the ramp with a stranger being led by chains. Immediately Cere became defensive upon recognizing the regalia worn by Imperial Inquisitors.

"Trilla, get away from him," Cere ordered.

"It's fine. He's my prisoner," Trilla said, pushing the male over towards the sofa.

Greez was equally perplexed as he shared a look with his captain.

"Don't look at me," the Lateron said with a shrug of his shoulders.

"What's going on here?"

"We have a more important matter to focus on. Cal and Merrin might have been captured by Starkiller," Trilla looked at her master with a serious expression.

That bit of information was enough to mobilize Greez into taking off from Lothal while Cere sat down beside her Padawan.

"Trilla, what happened on Lothal? Tell me everything."


Darth Vader certainly rolled out the welcome wagon when Starkiller's personal ship landed in one of the hangars. The Sith Lord was there to greet his apprentice, flanked by several Inquisitorius troops and two of the Emperor's personal Stormtroopers clad in their red armor. Cal cradled Merrin against his chest as he followed Starkiller down the ramp of the ship. Her breathing wasn't as labored thanks to the stabilizer but the black veins were still a worrying factor.

"Master," Starkiller knelt on one knee before Vader.

"You have done well my apprentice," Darth Vader replied, every word accompanied by mechanical breathing behind his helmet.

Starkiller rose back up and walked past the group to disappear inside after giving a nod of his head.

"Cal Kestis, my apprentice has informed me of what happened. You wish to save that Nightsister do you not?" Darth Vader inquired.

"Trust me, if there was any other choice, you'd be the last one I'd ever ask for help," the Jedi Knight bit back bitterly.

"We can save her under one condition," the Sith Lord revealed.

Cal laughed out loud at this.

He had a feeling he knew what the Sith Lord wanted.

"I am not becoming your apprentice if that's what you were hoping for," Cal said defiantly.

Now it was Darth Vader's turn to laugh.

"The Rule of Two forbids me from taking on another apprentice, not while Starkiller is alive. No. You will join the Inquisitorius as the First Brother and lead the others in searching for signs of traitorous Jedi. If you do this, we will save the Nightsister. Think wisely Cal Kestis, she does not have long left from what I can see."

The Jedi Knight contemplated Vader's words.

If he became an Inquisitor, he could perhaps warn or save renegade Jedi like Ahsoka and Ezra.

With the future of the Force-sensitive children safeguarded with the holocron gone, this was the next best thing Cal could do.

But that meant the others aboard the Mantis will learn of this sooner or later.

Merrin's life was the most important at that point and Cal strengthened his resolve.

"Save her life and I will join the Inquisitorius," he said.

Darth Vader waved a hand and several Stormtroopers came out with a stretcher carried between them. Cal gently lowered Merrin on it and watched as they took her inside the Fortress.

"Excellent. Follow me," Darth Vader turned with a flourish, his cape billowing out behind like a curtain.

The Jedi Knight followed silently behind.


To be continued...

Review?

Oh boy, Cal has joined the Inquisitorius!

What's going to happen now?

His descent to the Dark Side has begun at last...

How will the others react when they find out?

See you all next time!

Celsius Fate~