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 XXXI
Merrin glanced out the window just as Cal left and witnessed the entire scene between him and one of the Inquisitors. Though she couldn't hear what was being exchanged, the unmistakable actions of Cal choking the Inquisitor and igniting his lightsaber was more than enough to alarm the Nightsister. The Cal she knew would never threaten someone just for mere enjoyment, yet the look in his eyes was enough to convince Merrin he was slowly falling to the Dark Side.
The door to her room slid open at that moment, disrupting her from her thoughts as the unmistakable presence of Darth Vader entered.
"Greetings Nightsister," the Sith Lord said, the mechanical whirring of machines filling in his words.
"Darth Vader...why are you here?" Merrin asked suspiciously, immediately putting up a mental barrier around her mind.
The Sith Lord chuckled when he tried probing her mind, only to be met with a mental block. He should have known better than to underestimate someone who also dabbles in the Dark Side of the Force.
No matter.
They will all break eventually.
"I am here with an offer...if you will," he replied.
"I will not accept any offers from the likes of you," Merrin hissed, narrowing her eyes in anger.
Vader chuckled at her unbreakable willpower.
"Listen to what I have to say first, then you can decide. Though I firmly believe you will have no choice but to accept my offer."
Jayna was repeated tortured for three more rotations of the guards until her mind was on the verge of breaking.
The only thing that kept her sane was the thought of Kit telling her to never give up.
She clung onto that tiny piece of hope as the Stormtroopers activated the device for the twentieth time. The one overseeing her torture was one of the Inquisitors with a muscular build. Somewhere in her mind Jayna could recall the Stormtroopers addressing the Inquisitor as the Eighth Brother.
Her agonized cries echoed loudly in the air as electricity coursed through her entire body. Her fingers curled against the arm grips of the chair she was strapped to, her wrists already raw from struggling against the restraints that held her down.
"Enough," a familiar voice interrupted.
The machine was shut off at that moment, granting Jayna a small reprieve as she sucked in several mouthfuls of air into her deprived lungs. Once the room stopped spinning, she looked up to find the familiar silhouette of Cal standing before the others. Even the Eighth Brother had no choice but to bow his head in greeting as his rank was lower than Cal's.
"I'll take over from here," she heard Cal say.
"Understood First Brother," the Stormtrooper in charge of the squad beckoned for the others to leave the room.
The Eighth Brother lingered behind briefly as the two Inquisitors locked gazes with one another. Even Jayna could feel the tension from where she was, but the helmets on their heads prevented her from seeing their expressions. Eventually the latter grunted in response and lumbered out of the room, leaving the two of them alone at last.
"I thought you were going to get me out of here?" Jayna accused, glaring at Cal as he approached.
Cal undid the straps around her wrists through the Force, then held out a small bottle of what appeared to be water towards her.
She grabbed the bottle and greedily gulped it down, nearly choking in the process as the cold liquid soothed her parched throat. Cal waited for her to finish, then took the bottle back and allowed her to rub her wrists, though he refrained from removing her leg restraints in case she made a mad dash for the door. The last thing he needed was to have to chase her down while Stormtroopers were firing at her.
"You still haven't answered my question," Jayna grumbled, giving a pointed look at Cal.
"I'm working on a plan. It's not easy when you're being watched and monitored by Darth Vader," Cal answered, removing his helmet to run a hand through his hair wearily.
"I don't know how much more of this I can take."
Cal wished he could take her away from the room, but unless he had an excuse as to why he needed to move her to another area, she was stuck here. The only thing he could do was visit more often to give her a break from being...tortured, but even then he knew she had a limit before she cracked and became another Inquisitor like Trilla.
He needed to move fast.
"Are you sure about this?" Cere asked for the tenth time as she questioned Trilla and Entiran.
"If you want to save your friend, this is the only way."
After deliberating for what seemed like an eternity on the best way to save Cal and Merrin, Trilla and Entiran reluctantly came to the agreement to allow the latter to bring her back to Nur as his prisoner. Once they were inside the fortress, it was up to Entiran to figure out what happened to the two while Trilla would try and break free from the prison she would no doubt be placed in as a traitor.
"So you go in, figure out where they're holding Cal and Merrin, and break them out of the fortress as soon as you do. Greez and I will remain on the Mantis in orbit above the planet. As soon as you contact us, we'll rendezvous at the pick up point and fly away, hopefully unscathed."
"That's the plan," Trilla said with a soft exhale of a breath.
To play the part of a captured prisoner, Trilla allowed herself to be given a couple of bruises here and there by Entiran. Cere called up an old friend who owed her a favor and produced a TIE Fighter from said friend somehow. Cere didn't reveal much about her friend, only that he dealt in arms trades and black market goods. They agreed to meet up a few planets away from Nur to do the exchange.
"Just remember to not do anything rash while we're on the planet," Entiran said as he crossed his arms.
"I know," Trilla responded, shaking her head in response.
"Get ready to land," Greez called up from the front.
Darth Vader left the room a long time ago but his words lingered in the air around Merrin as she sat on the bed, hugging her knees against her chest as the Nightsister contemplated on what the Sith Lord said.
So it was true.
Cal was slowly falling under Vader's influence and towards the Dark Side despite her teaching him how to control it.
Vader offered her a choice of either joining the Inquisitorius or watch helplessly as Cal fell until he eventually killed his friends. Vader gave no room for her to waver after revealing the medicine she had been given contained...something that would apparently give her excruciating pain if she went against his words. He demonstrated his words with a wave of his hand earlier, and the Nightsister was thrown into agony as her body twisted and writhed on the bed from whatever it was that was ravaging her body from the inside.
"Mother...sisters...please give me the strength to fight this," Merrin whispered, holding the broken amulet between her hands as she tried to meditate.
The amulet hovered briefly in the air before falling back into her palms.
Merrin let out a frustrated sigh at that point.
"Mother, what can I do? Please guide me," Merrin closed her eyes to lean back against the bed.
Of course there would be no answer.
Cal was about to head back to Merrin's room when a commotion at the front of the fortress caught his eye. Several squads of Stormtroopers rushed past him and Cal caught one of the leaders by the arm.
"What's going on?" he demanded.
"The Sixth Brother has come back from Lothal along with the former Second Sister as his hostage," the commander informed him.
Trilla was here?
He released the commander's arm and followed after the clone towards the entrance. Along the way he was joined by several of the other Inquisitors, including his new 'partner' the Third Sister.
"I hear Entiran has finally returned from Lothal. Shame the Fifth and Ninth Sisters are still missing," she said as the two calmly walked towards the entrance.
"What's going to happen now?" Cal couldn't help but ask.
"That depends on the Grand Inquisitor."
"Grand Inquisitor?"
The Third Sister cocked her head at home and shook her head. Cal had a feeling she was most likely rolling her eyes at him behind the visor of her helmet.
"Since you're newly promoted, you wouldn't know much of how things work around here. Though you hold the rank of First Brother, which would give you rank and power over the rest of us, we all answer to the Grand Inquisitor who answers to Lord Vader alone. Normally the Grand Inquisitor is the one who gives us orders and missions, while Lord Vader only intervenes unless necessary."
So there was someone of a higher rank than him within the Fortress.
"Here we are. Let's hope for Entiran's sake, the Grand Inquisitor is in a good mood today."
The two arrived and stood beside the rest of the Inquisitors while a pale humanoid male walked down from the stairs. Cal glanced up and recognized the male to be of the Paun species, thanks to the lack of a helmet around his head.
"Grand Inquisitor, I apologize for the delay but I have returned from Lothal with the traitorous former Second Sister Trilla Suduri," Entiran explained as he knelt before the Grand Inquisitor.
A dreadful silence hung in the air for a while as the Grand Inquisitor studied the kneeling Entiran and the bound former Second Sister.
"Rise," he finally said.
Entiran stood up and jerked on the chains that bound Trilla, causing her to stumble forward onto the ground. Immediately the Grand Inquisitor used the Force to lift up a struggling Trilla, his fingers curling slightly to compress her air channels.
"What shall we do with you?" the Grand Inquisitor drawled, turning his head to look at the other Inquisitors in the room.
"Death," everyone in the room echoed.
Cal refrained from speaking lest Trilla recognized his voice but his mind was working overtime to come up with a plan to rescue not just Jayna, but now Trilla as well.
Why did things have to get so complicated?
"Death is too simple for someone who was once the former Second Sister. I shall let Lord Vader decide what to do with you," the Grand Inquisitor said.
Several Stormtroopers came forward and grabbed Trilla by the arms.
"Bring her to the prison first," the Grand Inquisitor ordered.
She was led away from the area while Cal willed himself not to look in her direction when she passed by him. Instead he focused his attention on the Sixth Brother until the Third Sister elbowed him in the ribs.
"Ow!"
"Quit staring at him. We need to report to the Grand Inquisitor, it seems he has a new mission for us."
This day couldn't get any worse.
To be continued...
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See you all next time!
Celsius Fate~
