One of Qiilura's two suns had settled onto the horizon. Twilight stretching on for over an hour on the grain covered planet, the Fourth Brother decided that there was plenty of time left in the day to search for the missing Jedi.
Mia walked here… Cal distantly though to himself as he left in inn in search of Colonel Bleen, how many farm houses could there be that close to town?
The street had been cleared of the throngs of prisoners, the most suspicious of the town's people having long ago been moved into claimed buildings and a makeshift prison. Those who were free carefully hurried along, shoulders hunched and sight firmly fixed on the ground. A few farmers formed a line to a hastily formed checkpoint, their documents and speeders being thoroughly checked before they were allowed to leave for their distant homes.
Past the check point, a second lambda shuttle had joined the one Cal arrived in.
Not having landed long ago, the ship's loading ramp was still slowly winding its way to the ground.
Cal approached, arriving at the thing no sooner than it's passengers began to disembark.
Trilla was the first to step out, a handful of purge troopers behind her attending to a recovered long range communicator.
"Took you a while." The Fourth Brother called out slightly louder than strictly necessary.
The Second Sister had her helmet firmly set over her features, but the annoyance on her voice left Cal sure that she had an irritated look on her face, "I though you could handle being left alone for a moment. Besides, I stopped to investigate a lead."
"Hm," The Fourth Brother decided that now wasn't the time to take the bait. "Same, I think I got Jenussa's location. We found one of her friends in town."
"And you made them talk?" Trilla somehow managed to add a mocking twist to her question.
"I figured out where they were hiding." Cal gave a non-answer.
Sparing a second to watch the purge troopers drag the communicator out of the ship and into the empire's temporary headquarters, Trilla was sure everyone else was out of earshot when she looked back at Cal, "And I suppose you were just about to run along, burst in with no plan, and kill the Jedi."
Brows raising and then eyes narrowing slightly, Cal gave a flat, "What about it."
"Nothing," Trilla removed her helmet to hold it beneath an arm, "Jenussa is a side show, it's all the better for me if you deal with it."
"Leave me to deal… Trilla, that Jedi is just letting Sol run around! I think she's helping him too. Sometimes at least, if I'm right about what I saw back at the processing plant."
"Ah, yes. You're old rebel acquaintance." Trilla remembered the -now one year ago-skirmish on Kashyyyk
"He's not-" Cal caught himself, "Look, Sol's blood thirsty and leaves people behind all the time, he's no better than Cere. If I find him, I'll save everyone some trouble and just kill him too."
"And I'm sure the ISB will put you in for some sort of metal for that."
Not really sure what was getting under his skin this time, the Fourth Brother spoke in an energized hush, "Why does it suddenly sound like you don't care about this mission?"
"Because I'm playing at something bigger than catching a single measly rebellious jedi." Trilla rolled her eyes, "Cere intends to begin the Order anew, and is a much more cunning opponent besides. I will stay here to lay a trap for her, and you will go see to our nuisance jedi."
"We both have a grudge against Cere."
"And I'll be settling mine, now go."
Cal stopped, voice catching in his throat. Settling the score. Yeah. Alright.
"Fine." He settled on. "Fine, stay here and put your plan together. The last comm is somewhere in town, the army hasn't found it yet."
"I'll have it before you return." The Second Sister turned to the side, her cape rustling slightly with the movement, before she strolled into town.
Cal let her go, a competitive twinge poking at him as he did, We'll see about that.
.***.***.***.***.
Long shadows painted the empty town roads something sinister against the warm twilight suns.
For the locals walking half hunched over and fearful that any quick burst of movement might draw an Imperial eye, it was nothing but pure horror. For the troopers in Sergeant Kendima's squadron, it was a particularly dull post.
One that could only be livened by semi-mindless banter.
"So, who do you think would win in a fight?" Corporal Gains asked no one in particular
"What?" Privet Xane asked
"Fourth Brother versus Second Sister?" Gains clarified, "who would win?"
Rolling her eyes, but humoring the corporal, Xane replied, "The Second Sister."
"Wait, really? Even after we watched the Fourth Brother clear that factory? In less than three minutes? By himself?"
Xane leaned against an unlit street lamp, "and if number four can do that, what do you think number two can do?"
"We have no idea what those numbers actually mean."
"But we can guess."
Before Corporal Gains had a chance to reply, Privet Ogrin gave a quick and semi-hushed, "Guys! Sergeant and Inquisitor."
He nodded slightly in the two men's direction. They'd already collected the red team, Corporal Deffo and his subordinates trailed along. Bringing up the rear, they followed the ISB agent, who had a firm hand clamped on the captured rebel's shoulder; her feet were loosely cuffed, enough so she could walk but would have no hope of fleeing. At the lead of the group walked the Fourth Brother and their sergeant. The Fourth Brother's ever-resent explorer droid clung to his back; Xane didn't like the way it seemed to be perpetually evaluating them.
"Sergeant," Gains greeted the higher ranking man,
"Corporal," Sergeant Kendima returned the greeting, "we're moving out."
Casting a quick look at his team, Gains didn't even have to make a gesture to see that they were quickly forming up, "Understood, sir."
With the other half of his troopers assembled, Jorge had nothing else to do but follow Cal's lead. Only aware that the inquisitor's plan was to find the Jedi's hiding place, he wasn't completely sure how Cal planned to accomplish the task.
He was half sure that the Fourth Brother's mind reading trick hadn't quite got the job done, if the presence of the rebel was anything to go by. But he hadn't questioned what they were doing, and he didn't say a word as the group made its way down a main road.
"Ok," Cal spoke as the came to the edge of town, looking at the rebel, "Lead the way."
Stubborn as always, Mia pointedly stood still.
"Let's try this one again," Cal said, "you're going to show us to that house where you and Jenussa were hiding."
The rebel scoffed, "I guess you didn't learn every thing you needed after all."
Feeling a surge of something petty, Cal bit his tongue before issuing a hasty threat, That isn't going to work here…
Instead he took a much more sinister approach, "I know what your house looks like. I know that the man sheltering you is named Lohma. You can lead me where I want to go, or I can spend all night searching every house in the sector. I don't know how many rebels there are, but if I start looking, I'll find every single one."
The corner of Mia's mouth twitched, something like fear and irritation swirling around her as she wondered if the imperial was bluffing.
Cal felt the question, and said nothing for it as the rebel sowed their own doubts.
Finally she responded with a guarded, "It's Kori you're after. No one else needs to get hurt."
"You're right. No one else does." The Fourth Brother slowly offered, trying and failing to keep a hint of disgust out of his tone. I thought you and Jenussa were closer than that… I thought you would try a little harder to protect her. I guess I shouldn't be-
"I want your word that no one else gets hurt." The rebel interrupted Cal's thoughts.
Deciding that this was close enough, he grabbed Mia's elbow before taking a hasty step down the road, "That's up to them."
.***.***.***.***.
With the trip between the farm house and the town being such a mundane thing, Cal couldn't find a strong enough echo to follow. Most of what he caught on the trail were memories of tired farm hands, either grumbling or inwardly cheering at either the fall or rise at the price of their wares. Occasionally he'd catch a flair of excitement from a young farmer getting their first peek of the city, or a dull wish for something more grand.
With Mia along with them, Cal hardly needed to rely on psychometry at all, her worries and anxiety lighting their trail like a beacon. Occasionally they'd reach a fork, take a few steps down the wrong way, only for Cal to correct the group as Mia grew slightly more calm.
For as much as he tried watching the rebel and the Inquisitor, Agent Manse had no idea how the Fourth Brother divined whether they were going the right way, and he was tempted to say something as they turned down yet another fork in the road towards an isolated farm.
Normally fed power by a scraggly line that branched off the main trail, the wide and flat house looked great from a distance, but as the group approached signs of wear began to appear. Chipped paint at the edges of the building, the roof was missing a few shingles. A loose gutter creaked even against the gentle wind, and one of the windows was missing a shutter. The place seemed dry and tired, but somehow warm; just as worn from years of use as it was from the elements.
Cal and the troopers stepped through an open gate. A low fence circled the place. To the far end of the yard sat a coop, cuckoo hens pecked aimlessly at the ground around it, more than able to slip through the fence but simply choosing not to.
Stopping half way across the yard, Cal lazily looked over the home.
Calm, tired. A few people sat inside, three if Cal was correct, none of them with a tell-tale hum in the Force.
She could be trying to hide, Cal told himself, wondering if he'd be able to tell the difference between a force sensitive purposefully shielding themselves and a mundane person.
While Cal wondered, a single man slowly appeared in the depowered home's doorway.
The farmer approached, one hand held up in a something between a surrender and a wave while the other rested at his side, "We haven't turned the droids on, and you took our only generator, I swear."
A weequay man, he had deeply grooved gray-brown skin, whether naturally like that or made more severe from long days in the shadeless fields, Cal couldn't be sure. His off-white hair – pulled back into a few long braids- matched the dull gray of his linin shirt.
The farmer only made it a few steps down from his porch before hastily stopping in his track, the familiar face and the full extent of the crowed in his yard filling him with a sinking dread.
Cal didn't mind it, "What's your name?"
The farmer paused, guts churning with the knowledge that this wasn't some routine Imperial check, "Lohma."
Yep. This is the place, the Fourth Bother thought as looked between the man and the house. A set of curtains swished to the side, a tiny face ducking out of view.
Cal saw it, but didn't flinch as he set his unnerving gaze back on the farmer, "Who else is in the house, Lohma?"
He stalled, trying to hide that his sight lingered on Mia while he looked over the ISB agent and the nearly ten troopers in his front yard. "J-just my daughter, and my younger son."
Breathing deeply and clinging to the farmer's rising panic like a beacon in a foggy field, the Fourth Brother knew the man spoke the truth, "Can we come in?"
Lohma swallowed. Sure that the question was anything but, he desperately wondered what strange authority the young black-clad man held over the rest of the Imperials. Over the ISB.
He was sure he didn't want to know.
He knew he was going to find out.
"Of course." A tremor shook his features, "Of course, right this way."
Glancing over his shoulder, Cal looked beyond BD and at Jorge. Seeing a subtle order in the look, Sergeant Kenimda gestured at the rest of the troops. Holstering their blasters, they wordlessly fell in line as the group entered the farmstead.
Inside the old building was just as worn as the rest of it.
A slight film of dirt lay just by the door, well worn boots sitting beside the entrance. A kitchen sat on the far side of the open room. A back door hung open beside the refrigerator.
The window where Cal had seen the child had a ledge, a chair next to it making a comfortable nook for reading or sipping at a warm drink. The room itself was unremarkable, a sofa and chairs forming a semi-circle around an unlit fireplace. A dining table stood against one wall, a few old chairs gathered around it, while several doors lined the wall opposite that. One of them swung closed slightly as the group entered.
An open door revealed a bedroom, Cal assumed the others hid much the same
Deciding not to acknowledge the poorly hidden child, Cal said nothing as he came to a stop in the middle of the living room. Manse escorted Mia inside, the last of the troopers entered, sliding the door shut behind them
"Can I offer you something to drink?" Lohma walked deeper into the home, speaking with a stiff and fearful quality to his voice, "I've got water. Maybe caf, or tea?"
"No thanks." Cal, gave a lazy wave of his hand, grinding the back door shut in the process, "But I would like some answers."
The weequay swallowed, looking at the ground and carefully avoiding meeting Mia's gaze, "I-I don't."
"How long have you been hiding the Jedi?" The Fourth Brother asked.
The farmer stood silent, the countertop between him and the inquisitor only giving the illusion of safety.
"Do you know what happens to people who try to help the Jedi?"
Lohma froze, a dozen obvious fears swirling around him while the man stood stock still.
"Manse?" Cal didn't look over his shoulder when he addressed the agent, too busy staring a hole through the farmer, "What's the punishment for hiding a Jedi?"
"Depends on the circumstance. Execution is an option."
Cal hadn't looked away from the farmer, "You heard that,"
Fearing that he read the situation correctly, Jorge raised his blaster, the rest of the troopers following suit.
At that, Mia struggled against Manse's grasp, "Hey!
"He made his choices." The agent fought to keep a calm keel as he held the thrashing woman.
Lohma braced and searched for some escape. For an instant he considered dropping to the ground, but he knew he would make a mad dash to the bedroom instead.
"No!" Mia wretched to the side
The Fourth Brother held up a hand.
"Agent Manse said it depends on the circumstance." He said, looking unblinkingly at Lohma, "cooperate from now on, and no one needs to get hurt."
Considering and reconsidering his options, the farmer tried not to nervously shuffle his weight from foot to foot. He tried not to be obvious in his panicked looks, but he couldn't help but glance at the barely open bedroom door.
The Fourth Brother followed his line of sight, "I don't need to threaten them."
The farmer made an audible gulp.
"But I could."
He flinched, "Three months. The Jedi's been hiding here for three months."
Cal smiled, something genuine that cast a shiver through the rest of the room, "See, that wasn't so hard."
Lohma's expression begged to differ.
"Come here," Cal gestured at the man's own couch, "Let's sit down."
Numb, not even feeling himself as he took one weak step after the next, Lohma did as he was told. Terror nearly toppling him over, he slowly lowered himself onto the couch.
Cal took a seat opposite of him, on a worn recliner, "So. Where is she now?"
"I don't know." Lohma spoke with haste, sure that bile would escape with his words if he spent too long with his mouth open.
"Hmm…" Cal didn't like the sound of that, "she will be coming back here, right?"
"Yes." Lohma watched as the ISB agent shoved Mia down into the other recliner, before taking a chair from the dining table and returning to the crowded living room, "Of course."
Mia looked to the ground, grappling with some fierce resentment for the farmer mingled with a thick self-loathing.
"Guess we'll just have to wait then," Cal leaned back, ignoring the adult rebels as he caught a hint of movement from the nearly-shut door, "You can come out! It's okay, we're not going to hurt you."
Lohma's hand shook, completely convinced that the reassurance was a threat. Whether it was to his terror or relief, he wasn't sure, but the slowly door drifted open to reveal his daughter and her younger brother.
"Hi there," the black-clad imperial called to them. He had a softer quality to his voice, Lohma had no clue if it were carefully faked kindness, or some twisted genuine thing, "why don't you two come sit on the couch?"
White hot terror clawing through him at what would happen if the kids disobeyed, Lohma called out, "Pina!" he didn't shout, but something rushed and flustered turned his words rough. Loma patted the sofa beside him as he spoke, "Pina, come here. Bring your brother."
Freezing for an instant and knowing something was deeply wrong, the little girl only noticed that she was squeezing her brother's hand when the toddler began to squirm. Looking nervously at the little boy and then back to the room of imperials, she made as wide a circle as she could on her way to her father's side.
Hauntingly unflustered by the exchange, the black-clad imperial looked back at Lohma, "See. This isn't so bad."
The farmer sat in silence, his daughter clinging to the edge of his shirt with one hand and still squeezing her brother's with the other.
Sensing that conversation was going nowhere, Cal considered the wall of doors once more, "Which room is hers?"
The weequay shifted in his seat, trying to put himself between then inquisitor and the children, while he gestured at a closed door. "The basement."
Cal considered the door, again reaching out through the Force, desperately trying to sense if there were another presence in the house. Finding nothing beside a white hot tension with himself at the center, Cal waved Jorge toward the door.
Taking his queue, Sergeant Kendama and half his troopers went to the basement.
The line of the white clad soldiers quickly disappeared down the dimly lit stairs, a few of them clicking on their vizor lamps as they went. After the last of them had slipped away from view, Cal looked back at the terrified farmer.
"Hey, Lohma."
He shivered, "Yes?"
"If you lied to me. If she's down there right now. If anything happens to my troopers. I'm going to be upset."