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 XXXIV

Knowing the road ahead for Jayna will be full of peril and with the Empire on her trail, Halas Torone went back to her desk and unlocked the lowest cabinet drawer using a special key kept around her neck. Nestled within was a lightsaber hilt, with a still functioning kyber crystal. Taking this up in her hand, Halas smiled fondly at the memories that came flooding back during her time as an active Jedi. Now it was time for her to pass it onto Jayna who will hopefully have a better use for it.

"Take this," she said, holding the lightsaber out to her former apprentice.

Jayna's eyes broadened in shock upon realizing what exactly it was that her former mentor was holding between her hands.

"H-How do you have a lightsaber? Why do you have a lightsaber?!" Jayna breathed in shock, refusing to believe what she was seeing.

"That is a story for another day. Take this and may it protect you in many battles to come," Halas said, pushing the weapon into Jayna's hands.

Her fingers closed around the hilt of the weapon in silence, the tips grazing against the cool metal as Jayna stared at the intricate designs that wound themselves around the hilt, all the way up to the emitter. Wood was inlaid into certain parts of the duralite hilt, giving it an aesthetic look that was certainly pleasing to the eye. What caught her attention was the fact that the lightsaber had two emitters, one on either end of the hilt. Jayna's thumb brushed up against the button and she pressed down on it, igniting a blue blade that hummed loudly as she twirled the weapon several times. Once she was satisfied it was in working order, Jayna deactivated the weapon and clipped it on her belt.

"I've contacted an old friend of mine to take you off the planet. She was reluctant to do so since she's apparently tied up in some business, but relented after I told her it was urgent. Take the back entrance and make your way to the shipyards, my friend will be waiting to pick you up there. I'll buy you some time to escape in the mean-"

Loud screams of terror from the front entrance cut their conversation short. Halas ran over to the window and peered outside to find one of the Inquisitors had impaled an officer with their lightsaber.

"No!" the commander said in shock.

Jayna peered over Halas' shoulder and recognized the officer as Bryna.

"Bryna! No! Why!" she cried, making to jump out the window and run to her friend.

Halas grabbed her by the waist and yanked her back before the brunette could do something drastic that would jeopardize her life. The girl struggled against the older woman's vice grip as tears streamed down her face.

"If you jump out there you'll only end up back in their hands! You need to get to the shipyards!"

"But Bryna-"

"Would want you to be safe above all else. I know you and her were close, and your reunion was short, but you need to prioritize your safety first now that the Empire has you on their radar. Take this poncho to blend in with the other scrappers and go!"

Shoving a spare poncho into her arms, Halas pushed Jayna towards the back entrance and made sure the girl was on her way towards the shipyards. Then straightening herself back up, the commander made her way towards the front to find out what was going on.


Cal felt nothing as he impaled the officer through with his lightsaber.

He retracted his weapon and watched as her body slumped onto the ground with a thud, drawing attention from the other officers and Dia. Upon seeing the body of one of theirs lying on the ground, everyone started screaming in horror and tried to run, but Dia ordered the Purge Troopers to block their escape routes. The group huddled together in one large mass, completely terrified as they looked at the Inquisitors in fear.

"Why did you do that? Now you've gone and terrified the others," Dia hissed, shooting him an accusing look through her helmet.

"Isn't that what we do as Inquisitors?" Cal replied calmly, deactivating his lightsaber.

"I see you're taking to your new role rather well," the Twi'lek complimented with a short nod of her head.

"What is going on here!?" an unfamiliar voice demanded.

The two Inquisitors looked up to find an older woman dressed in the robes of a BracSec Commander coming out of the building and towards where they were standing.

"This is Imperial business. You have no authority to stop us...Commander Torone is it?" Dia said after looking at the name stitched in the uniform of the former.

"You just murdered one of my officers! You've made it my business to get to the bottom of this! What did this poor girl do to deserve such a fate?" Torone accused, pointing a finger at the two.

The Purge Troopers trained their weapons on the commander.

Cal waved a hand to dismiss them and stepped forward to confront the human woman.

"That officer proved to be useless in aiding our search for a escaped fugitive."

"It does not give you the right to end her life!"

Growing tired of hearing her ramblings, Cal used the Force to put her in a choke hold, lifting the woman off her feet as he curled his fingers slightly. The voice inside his head told him to continue choking her. The power and adrenaline surging through his body excited Cal as he gave in to the whispers.

"LET. HER. GO!"


Despite being pushed towards the back door to escape towards the shipyards, Jayna couldn't shake the feeling in her guts that something was going to happen to her former mentor. Therefore, instead of heading for her designated escape route, she turned back around and hid behind a wall to observe what was going 's when she saw Cal place Halas in a choke hold using the Force.

Anger and hurt welled up within the brunette as she clenched her hands into fists. She believed in Cal, trusted him, even saw him as a light of hope since he was the only one to show her kindness when she was being tortured back on Nur. He promised to get her out of the Empire's grasp, so why was he doing this?

Before she could even think of a rational plan, she found herself running out of her hiding spot with her lightsaber in hand .

"LET. HER. GO!" she screamed, jumping into the air and activating her weapon at the same time.

Cal released his grip on Halas and ignited his own lightsaber, blocking the blade with ease and parrying Jayna away from him. She landed roughly on her back from the force of Cal's push, nearly having the wind knocked out of her but somehow managed to keep hold of her lightsaber.

"J-Jayna! Why did you come back?" Halas gasped, sucking in breaths of air into her lungs.

"Kill them all, not a single one is to be left alive!" the Third Sister ordered at that point.

The Purge Troopers opened fire relentlessly on the officers but Jayna gave a loud cry and raised her hand, feeling power well up from within her body and bursting outward from her palm. The BracSec officers suddenly found themselves able to run with renewed stamina, outmaneuvering the Purge Troopers as they all ran for cover inside the BracSec building.

"What..." Jayna stared at her hand in shock.

"Battle meditation. You just used battle meditation," Halas informed her, limping over to help Jayna stand up while the Purge Troopers were preoccupied with shooting everyone they could see.

"Battle meditation?"

Their conversation was cut short by a red lightsaber flying their way in a circle. Jayna blocked the blades with her own lightsaber, feeling herself being pushed back a bit by the momentum of the throw. Halas steadied her with a firm grip until Jayna convinced her former mentor to flee while she still could.

"May the Force be with you my child," Halas said as she fled back inside the BracSec building to be with the other officers.


Dia and Cal ignited their lightsabers and the former threw hers outwards in a circle towards their fugitive target. After the girl managed to repel the blades, Dia called her weapon back to her hand through the Force and the two slowly circled Jayna. Cal definitely felt the surge of power when Jayna did whatever it was she did earlier using the Force. Her potential was strong, and her latent abilities were most likely the same, which meant he should take her seriously as an opponent.

"She's strong. Don't underestimate her abilities," Cal said to the Third Sister as they faced the human girl.

"I felt it. Though she's facing off against two Force-trained users. We have the advantage over her."

"Just keep a straight head and don't get too cocky."

The two Inquisitors slowly circled Jayna as the brunette lifted up her lightsaber, unsure which direction she should defend from. Igniting the other end of his lightsaber, Cal twisted the center and split it into two, partially wondering if Vader was the one who ordered him given this lightsaber. With a quick nod of Dia's head, he launched himself towards Jayna and brought his lightsabers down hard on her own.

Dia attacked from the left side which was left unguarded, except Jayna somehow ignited the other end to block Dia's blades from making contact with her waist.

"You have some skills after all," Dia mocked as she and Cal flipped backwards on their feet.

"Focus," Cal chided.


This battle was going to end badly for Jayna if she let it drag out any further than necessary. The only thing keeping her alive right now was basic survival instincts at this point, and the pure adrenaline coursing through her entire body. Knowing she was severely outmatched by the two since she lacked any form of training, Jayna could only rely on what she had been taught during her time at BracSec.

Cal threw himself at her again, barely giving her any time to react or breathe. It didn't help that her lightsaber couldn't be split into two like Cal's could, which meant she had to twirl her weapon around like a baton. When this battle was over she'll have to figure out a way to modify the lightsaber so she can dual-wield as well. Her legs were starting to give beneath her feet from his weight pushing down on her.

"Cal, don't do this. You promised me you'd help me flee from the Empire!" she pleaded desperately, tightening her grip around the hilt of her lightsaber to prevent Cal's own from searing into her shoulder blades.

"I'm sorry Jayna," was all Cal said as he landed a kick to her chest.

The force of his kick landed Jayna on her back as Cal retreated and the Third Sister came flying into view from above. Rolling out of the way just as the red lightsaber slammed into the ground beside her, Jayna raised a hand out, concentrated on throwing the Inquisitor off balance, and felt power surge out of her palm. The Inquisitor was knocked off balance, surprisingly the brunette as she stood up to stare at herself in shock.

Her small victory was short-lived as Cal rained slashes down upon her via a spinning attack. Jayna grunted at the sheer raw power behind Cal's brutal attacks, feeling her legs slip slowly as she was forced to take a step back, followed by another and another. The Third Sister took advantage of this opening to land a kick to her thigh, forcing Jayna down on one knee. Cal aimed another blow towards her unguarded right flank, but she quickly brought the iridescent blade down to block the blow. Mustering all of her remaining strength, Jayna shoved Cal off her and reaching out through the threads that connected them all through the Force. That's when she felt it, all of it. She could feel the hearts of Cal and the Third Sister, their muscles, bones and strong determination to bring her to heel.

Instinctively she found herself twisting the threads ever so slightly, decreasing their will and morale to fight, which began to affect their combat effectiveness. Their strikes became clumsy and lacked coordination, allowing Jayna to dodge their attacks with relative ease.


"Is it me or did our attacks become clumsy all of a sudden?" Dia hissed, circling Jayna from behind while Cal did the same in front.

"That commander from earlier said something about battle meditation. It could be what she's doing to lower our combat effectiveness."

Twirling her lightsaber casually in the air as she walked circles, Dia looked for signs of weakness to exploit and discovered the human female was starting to grow exhausted from keeping up the battle meditation.

"Can you slow her down?" Dia asked.

"I can."

Cal raised his hand and reached out through the Force, using it to distort the flow of time around Jayna's body. Dia darted forward and landed a sharp blow to the latter's solar plexus which effectively knocked her out for good.


"Are you sure this is such a good idea?" Greez said as he pulled the Mantis into orbit above Bracca.

"I have no choice. I promised Halas Torone I'd owe her a favor long ago. I just didn't expect her to call upon it at this time," Cere replied wearily, sitting herself down in the co-pilot chair.

Beep-fwee-do-beep-trill!

"I know BD, I'm just as worried as you are, but the only thing we can do now is trust Trilla and Entiran to bring back Cal and Merrin."

Boop-beep.

BD-1's antennas flattened themselves against the droid's head as it went to perch on top of the control panel.

"Wait, I'm picking up something..."

Cere's fingers fiddled with the dials and buttons on the control panel as she listened closely to Imperial communications.

"Change courses for BracSec headquarters! I've picked up a distress signal coming from Torone!"

The Lateron twisted on the control yoke of the ship and turned the Mantis east.


A low rumbling sound reminiscent of engines interrupted Cal and Dia as the two were suddenly exposed to heat and light coming from a ship that hovered in front of them. The Jedi Knight immediately recognized the ship as the Mantis, with the ramp lowered as Cere began firing at them with her blaster. Deflecting the blasts with their lightsabers, Dia remained by Jayna's side just as the latter began to wake from being knocked out previously.

"Jump!" Cal heard Cere yell to the slightly disoriented Jayna.

Plasma bolts continued raining down upon the two as a distraction while Jayna struggled to her feet.

"We can't let her get away!" Dia shouted.

"Keep deflecting!"

Jayna broke out into a sprint and climbed atop several empty containers that had been stacked in a pile previously. Once she was on the highest one, she leaped from the end and grasped Cere's outstretched hand, with the latter tugging her onto the ramp as it began to close. As a precaution Cere fired off several more shots from her blaster as a distraction, though it didn't do much good.

Cal raised a hand and reached out through the Force, pulling on the ship to prevent it from escaping as the engines burned even brighter in an attempt to free itself from the Force pull. An equally powerful Force pull from within the Mantis severed his connection, throwing Cal into Dia's path as the Twi'lek stood her ground and stabilized him at the same time.

The two Inquisitors watched as the S-161 "Stinger" XL vanished into space.

"We better go after them," Dia huffed, switching off her lightsaber as she made her way towards her TIE Fighter.

A Purge Trooper appeared before them, informing the duo the Emperor wanted to see Cal on Coruscant.


-Coruscant-

Emperor Palpatine was laughing tot himself as he sat in his chair within the chamber of his room.

He had spent many years searching for signs of the girl.

Now it seems he's finally found her after sensing a powerful disturbance in the Force.

However, there was the dilemma of how he was going to bring her back within his grasp. His apprentice was a loyal servant of his, but Vader has been prone to kill those he saw as a threat to his position of power, which meant Vader was not going to be informed of this. The girl was instrumental to his plan and he did not want anyone to jeopardize nor threaten it in any form.

The Grand Inquisitor recently informed him of the progress of former Jedi padawan Cal Kestis, and how the boy was slowly starting to come into his own as an Inquisitor.

Yes.

Perhaps he could make use of Cal Kestis.

Use this as a test of his Dark Side conversion just to see how far the boy will fall.

"Emperor Palpatine, the First Brother has come to see you as requested."

Dismissing the Stormtrooper from the room alongside his personal guards, Palpatine leaned forward in his chair eagerly as Cal Kestis entered the room and knelt on one knee.

"Cal Kestis, I am pleased by the progress you are making. It seems you have taken to your new role as an Imperial Inquisitor," Palpatine praised with a satisfied grin that showed off the wrinkles around his face and lips.

"I thank you for your kind words," Cal replied, quelling the terror in his heart as he knelt there.

"Do you know why I have summoned you?"

"Have I done something that has incurred your wrath, my Emperor?"

Palpatine cackled at this and waved a hand dismissively at Cal's false allegations.

"On the contrary, I require your assistance in a certain mission which only you can do. I need you to retrieve someone and bring them to Coruscant."

"Who would that be?"

"Someone you are already acquainted with. The Force-sensitive human female by the name of Jayna Shan."

Cal's head tilted upward sharply as he look at the Emperor in shock through his helmet.

"I can sense your unease and apprehension. Listen to me carefully on what I am about to reveal in regards to Jayna Shan. Use this information to your advantage, manipulate her, toy with her emotions, bring her back to me so that I may finish what I have long wished to finish years ago."


Jayna groaned and opened her eyes in exhaustion.

It took her several moments to recall where she was.

After being knocked unconscious by the Third Sister and waking up to find a ship hovering overhead, Jayna took the chance that the ship belonged to Torone's friend Cere and leaped on board.

After that everything was hazy since she passed out from fatigue.

"Drink this," a kind voice said.

A woman was holding a bottle of water towards her.

The brunette took the cool bottle and quickly downed the liquid, sighing in relief as her thirst was quenched.

"You are Jayna Shan?"

"Yes. You must be Torone's friend?..."

The woman nodded in confirmation.

"I am Cere Junda, and this is my captain. We were originally waiting on Nur until I received Halas' call in regards to securing you off Bracca."

"Nur? I was on Nur before I was brought back to Bracca!"

At this Cere's pupils dilated in shock as she took a seat beside the brunette.

"Were you able to find someone by the name of Cal Kestis? We believe he was taken there by several Stormtroopers."

Jayna's expression took on a bitter appearance as she slammed the bottle harshly down on the table, eliciting a word of protest from Greez as the Lateron waddled away with the bottle back to the kitchen.

"Cal betrayed me. He promised he'd get me out of Nur but he nearly killed me on Bracca!"

"Wait...you mean?..." Cere was beginning to piece the puzzle together judging from Jayna's harsh words.

"Yes. He's the Inquisitor you saw fighting against me alongside the Third Sister earlier."


To be continued...

Dun dun dun.

Jayna has dropped a bombshell on Cere XD

How is she going to react now that Cere knows Cal became an Inquisitor?

Next few chapters will focus back on Trilla and Entiran as they try to come up with a way to escape Nur with Merrin (and hopefully Cal).

This quarantine has given me too much free time lol.

Next chapter coming sometime next week!

Until then, remember to stay safe and practice social distancing!

Celsius Fate~