To Vader, the Jedi's decision was never in doubt.
He knew how many Jedi knights – those who actually had been active in the field and not existing in the Temple like bugs under a rock - had chafed under the edicts of the Council, finding their hands tied when they had most needed to act. To call someone a 'fallen' Jedi was to paint with a broad brush as the appellation encompassed everything from acting counter to the most picayune or wrongheaded of orders to mass treason and planeticide.
This man, the foundations of his faith crumbling to dust, cast about desperately for solidity. The light within the Jedi was guttering in the winds sweeping the galaxy and he was searching for a way to rekindle the flame within himself by breathing to life dying embers within others.
Like Abhaia, and like Vader himself – a few those who were lost to the Light carried a small bit of it, a memory of Light, but to be one with the Dark side meant that the spark could never flare to life. It would remain a small and precious gem - refracting warm-colored memories when the Dark offered only the stoniness of death and the finality of the blade.
The Jedi wrestled within himself, now, with all that he had experienced chafing against all that he had been taught. Vader would bet a hefty portion of his fortune that the Jedi had only very recently allowed his toes to creep off the official line and was suffering from the requisite guilt-induced impulse to atone.
Vader felt the first stirrings of Abi's fight for consciousness. The extent of her injuries was severe - as powerful as she was there was little hope for her survival if she did not have medical support. Dueling with this Jedi would result in her death. Offering the Jedi the lives of Abhaia's heart-kin rid Vader of the Jedi as well as the necessity of getting rid of Abhaia's heart-kin some other way. This solution also insured Abhaia's good will – the tale of the events in the café had reached him along with a holo of the actual scene. It was deeply obvious that Abhaia's attachment to her origin ruled out any harm coming to those she still cared for.
The Jedi's gaze was fastened to the decking as he spoke, "What is to stop you from blowing me out of the sky once I left, or from ambushing me when I exit Illoni?"
"Only my word that I will not." He would never lower himself to lie. Once he was lied to, however, all bets were off and rules suspended – as more than one duplicitous adversary had discovered to their mortal sorrow.
The Knight's face reflected his inner struggle. Vader watched it all- anger, denial, guilt, resentment, bargaining, weighing, and finally acceptance and resignation colored with deep shame. He was walking away and leaving 'his' charge to his enemy, abandoning both his duty and his hopes.
The Jedi held out his hand as if offering his soul. Vader passed over the data stick and watched as the man pulled a small datapad from a belt pouch. Scanning the data, his face was empty of expression and when he spoke, it was in a voice devoid of inflection.
"I'll need a ship. A medium cruiser or freighter."
Acquiescence secured, Vader allowed himself to savor his triumph before reaching for his comlink.
~
Once, during the Clone Wars, Naum had undertaken a mission that had been compromised before he and his team ever left Coruscant.
They had been ambushed, shot down over Bretea. The ship had begun to tear itself apart in the atmosphere, metal screaming as it was heated and rent from the frame of the vessel. The pilot managed to nurse the deteriorating craft through the heat of atmospheric entry with a set of failing thermal shields and hold it together long enough for the crew and passengers to bail out with paragliders. Naum had been about ready to become one with the Force as his feet left the deck and he began the count until he could pull the ripcord and slow his fall.
He felt as if he were in freefall now as Vader ordered a medunit to the bridges as well as an escort to bring Naum to the spaceport and see to his departure. The escort would pilot Naum to the first jump point outside of Kalini space and debark to one of the interdiction ships, from there Naum would be on his own.
In many ways.
The fog was split by the high intensity lights of two Imperial transports. Both moved in close, maneuvering on their repulsors and grappled themselves to the stanchions of the bridges. The medshuttle disgorged two techs with a medsled and a floating, spherical EmDee unit. The men paused, warily eyeing the Sith Lord as he moved back and gestured them in.
One produced a scanner and visibly winced as he ran it down Abi's body, the other opened a compartment on the medsled and began pulling out infusion units and an injector gun. Intent on their patient, they even managed to ignore the Sith Lord all but breathing down their necks.
"Broken ribs, five through nine on the left side with intrusion into the lung. Impact injuries to the spleen, heart, kidney and liver, with marked contusions and bleeding. Major concussion with fracture to the parietal bone. Penetrating injury, cauterized, to the"
Her clothing cut away to lie like rags on the deck, Abi was loaded into the medsled. Telemetry devices, bone knitters, infusion units and breathing apparatus were being attached to her like macabre ornaments even as the tank began to fill with bacta. The unit sealed and was hustled up the gangway by the techs. They vanished inside and Naum felt a part of himself go with them as the ship disengaged and made haste for land.
He stood numb and staring as the fog swallowed the running lights of the transport.
"Jedi." Vader's voice shattered his daze and he turned to face the expressionless armor mask. "Your part of the bargain awaits."
Naum could only nod and grip his data reader. The stormtroopers from the transport surrounded him and marched him into the ship at blasterpoint as Vader gave the squad leader his orders. Naum's last sight of the Sith before the fog blocked his view was of Vader calling Abi's lightsaber to his hand.
The ride to the port passed in the way all such rides do – in silence, with only the empty numbness in one's soul for company. The troopers did not so much as glance at him, and spoke to him only to rouse him from his stupor and herd him onto the landing platform. A plank-faced major in a naval uniform who presented him with a datapad displaying the available ships in the appropriate class met Naum at the foot of the ramp.
Studying the offerings, Naum chose a Corellian YT-990 dual purpose freighter meant for both passengers and cargo carriage. Passing the datapad back to the major, he turned and studied the city as the man spoke quietly into his comlink. The fires were still burning brightly, casting a lurid glow against the fog. From time to time, the sound of blaster fire and light artillery could be heard.
A speeder pulled up and the major waved Naum into it, climbing in after him.
"Pad 9, east ring."
They arrived just as the technicians were finishing transfer of fuelmass and unhooking the umbilicals. Another expressionless black-uniformed naval officer – a captain, this time - met them at the ramp and both of them escorted Naum into the ship. When they reached the wardroom, the captain continued forward to the cockpit while the major stopped Naum with a hand on his blaster.
"Strap in, you," he ordered, pointing to the bank of acceleration couches meant for passengers. Naum obeyed as the major followed his example. Once secure, he spoke into his comlink again.
"At will, Captain Sirril."
"Sir, yes, sir. Lift in five four"
The whine of repulsors shrilled and then settled to a harmony with the powerful rumble of the escape drives. Naum leaned back against the padding and closed his eyes. He reached for Abi, to touch her, tell her he had not given up, to reassure her and maybe himself. A wall of Dark energy blocked the way - with Vader's signature laced all through it.
"Three two "
The ship lifted smoothly at 'one' and rose through the atmosphere. Naum did not stir even when the insystem drives kicked in; instead he fell within himself, seeking the calm center and instead found only jagged edged disorder. Only the feel of their exit from hyperspace roused him to the unwavering gaze of the impassive major.
"Sir? The Bladewind is standing by to dock," the captain's voice came over the ship's comm.
"Proceed, Captain." The major unstrapped himself from the couch as the ship jostled gently into position.
Both men debarked hastily, leaving Naum alone in the vast emptiness of the large ship. As if in a dream, Naum undid his shock web and went forward to the cockpit, falling into the pilot's chair as if dropped. The jolt of undock roused him as the readouts on the status boards went from reds and yellows to green. Pulling the memstick from his datapad, he slipped into the reader on the navicomp and began to plot his course to Illoni.
He moved away from the interdiction group - aware as he prepared to orient for the first jump, that they kept him targeted the whole time. Once clear, he powered up the hyperdrive, the steady hum of power peaking as he moved seamlessly out of realspace.
Naum carefully set the controls for AI input, then put his head in his hands and wept like a lost child.
~