Walking through the familiar city picked at Cal almost as much as the fearful glances and quick shuffling movements that people made to get out of his way as he walked down the main road.

He had to admit that he knew nothing. Not as far as searching for this Jedi was concerned.

Scabbers does still owe me a favor, Cal half sarcastically thought as the courthouse loomed into view.

Growing closer to the building, the number of stormtrooper patrols increased until the amount of armor-clad personal seemed to match that of the poncho-wearing workers. Trying to tell himself that his dark outfit didn't draw the eye quite as much as the stormtrooper's gleaming armor, Cal willfully ignored the continued frightened glances.

The odd and half-hidden looks continued as Cal came to walk along the courthouse's perimeter fence. Built long before the shipyards had grown to consume the entire planet, the imposing building was made of the smooth nearly blackened stone that formed much of the planet's surface. At the base of the heavy building was a muddy yard, the few plants that managed to survive the constant rains being dull green spots among the brown-grey sludge. Surrounding all of that was a high fence, the bottom meter made of the same slick stone with occasional pillars of the same framed weather-treated durasteel rods. Flat white lights dotted the stone pillars, giving the entire street a deathly pale glow.

Looks more like a prison than a courthouse, Cal couldn't help but think as he circled the building.

As Cal turned a corner to approach the courthouse's main gate, he just managed to catch sight of two stormtroopers turning away a ragged-looking worker. He didn't hear any shouting or know why the worker was trying to visit the courts in the first place, but Cal was still left with a bitter sense that the people here were just as ignored now as they ever were.

Trying not to focus too long on that harsh reality, he wasn't sure what he was going to say as he approached the stormtroopers guarding the entrance. Not even sure what he thought he was doing here, Cal knew he looked uneasy.

The stormtroopers noticed as much as well. Not recognizing the strange man approaching, they tensed as Cal came to a stop.

Well, here goes nothing, Cal wasn't sure what he was getting himself into, "Excuse me. I need to go inside."

A beat passed as the troopers looked Cal up and down. Clearly some kind of imperial, he obviously wasn't in a military uniform. They hadn't been told about any visiting officials, and the armor across the young man's chest and shoulders clearly meant that he was in some sort of battle-ready role.

"Who are you?" The guard to the left asked, standing slightly taller than the other and with their hand ready to quickly draw their blaster.

"My name is Cal."

"Ok, Cal." The guard somehow made Cal's name sound like an insult, "What business do you have here?"

Not wanting to go into much detail, Cal tried to answer without really answering, "I'm here to talk to the governor. I just spoke to Colonel Aldo, he sent me this way."

Increasingly sure that Cal was lying about something, the same guard pressed, "Colonel Aldo? You don't look like army to me."

"I'm not. I-" Cal quickly replied before stopping himself. Not wanting to say it out loud he muddled his way through a half-hearted, "…I'm with a different group."

Suspicious almost running over, the nearest guard was only interrupted by a small movement from the guard behind him.

Moving forward slightly, the guard to the right bumped the lead in the process. Cal was also sure that he could hear a muffled comment that was clearly passed between the comms in the two trooper's helmets.

Clearly getting some message, the closer guard's tone immediately changed, "Of course, sir. My mistake."

Do I want to know? Cal wondered as the guard moved out of his way

"Please, go in. Your squadron will be waiting when you return."

Cal tried not to grimace. No. Probably not, He decided before simply nodding and shuffling his way past the troopers.

Leaving the dingy street, Cal found the inside of the courthouse to be somewhat put together. Mostly clear of people, the halls felt gloomy. Though the overhead lights strained to put out as much light as the bulbs would allow, the dull gray rains seemed to seep through the walls and paint the place in a flat grey.

Luckily, it was still more than enough to read by as Cal passed a directory. Looking at the long list of names next to office numbers, Cal was fairly confident that he was going the right way as he traveled deeper into the building.

Going up a winding set of stairs, and across the length of the courthouse, Cal still had no idea what he thought he was going to say to the governor. And he was quickly running out of time to think of something as he came to the narrow hall on the fourth floor that was his destination.

Empty besides a single stormtrooper standing outside of a door near the end of the corridor and off to the left, no one questioned Cal as he moved down the hall.

Wondering what exactly he was going to say to this governor and trying to ignore the stormtrooper's curious stare, Cal stilled himself as he opened the door.

The room that he found on the other side was wide and mostly empty. Rows of desks, cluttered with computers and files, filled most of the floor, with two private offices off to the side. It seemed like that kind of place that should have been bustling with energy at every hour of the day, but there was only one person busily working away at one of the small desks.

"I'm looking for the governor," Cal said more than asked.

The single man in the room didn't spare a glance up, "Well, I'm afraid you'll have to check Coruscant, in that case. She's been off-planet since last week."

Just leaving Bracca here to rot, why am I not surprised, Cal thought at the governor's absence. Though unsurprised, he was curious, "When will she be back?"

"That depends on when the senate finally gets around to voting on the new defense bill. Assuming they ever do."

Cal's knowledge of galactic politics started and stopped at the fact that the emperor had absolute power, the very fact that there was still a functioning senate coming as a surprise, "Huh? What bill?"

Stopping his task, the clerk looked up to Cal as if he were an idiot, "The new defense bill. That includes a clause for establishing new shipping yards."

Cal blinked.

"The presence of which would create jobs. Good ones too, not more of this scrapping nonsense" The clerk explained slowly, "Hence why the governor is lobbying to establish one on Bracca… I'm sorry, who did you say you were?"

The clerk's question was lost on Cal as a few of Prauf's last words picked at him, "We rebuilt and refit ships, the best in the galaxy. Then engineers became scrappers"

Don't tell me that these people actually care about the scrappers. Cal tried not to let himself believe that the clerk was genuine with his belief that this governor was doing something good for the common people.

Though the possibility did appeal to him.

"I'm Cal. Kestis," he finally managed to answer, "I'm here on a… special assignment."

"Right…" the clerk wasn't sure if that was supposed to mean anything, "And what exactly is that? How did you even get in here?"

At a loss for what he might be doing at the courthouse, Cal found that the only words he came up with were half-truths, "I'm supposed to be looking for a Jedi." He admitted, "Colonel Aldo down at the landing platform told me to meet a squadron of stormtroopers here."

The clerk's eyebrows raised in sudden surprise, "Oh! Oh, dear. Again?" he sighed, his voice going quiet as he added, mostly to himself, "This won't look good to the core worlds. Is there anything else you need? Besides the troopers, we could set a curfew."

"Uh, no." quickly losing his nerve, Cal backed out of the room, "No. I just had a couple of questions, but she sounds busy. I…ah, I can just figure this out myself."

"Are you sure?"

"Yep." Cal came to stand in the open doorway, "Just… keep working on getting that new shipyard here. Sounds like a good idea."

Before the clerk managed another word, Cal slipped out of the room to quickly shut the door behind him. Inhaling deeply and ready to breathe a sigh of relief Cal was interrupted by a voice from behind him.

"You said there's a Jedi here?" the stormtrooper that had been standing guard in the hall asked Cal the second he shut the door., "This the same one that derailed that train over sector 23A last year?"

The hair on the back of Cal's neck stood on edge as sharp memories of his desperate fight on that very train picked at him.

"Uh, no…" He began, "That was, ah. That was someone else."

Put off by the nervous pauses in the Inquisitor's words, the stormtrooper wondered what she wasn't being told, "Hmpf, any idea what happened to that one?"

"…That's not my case."

"Too bad," the trooper was still sure she wasn't getting the whole story, "Lost a lot of my friends on that train. I'd love to get my hands on the Jedi that killed them."

And I haven't thought about one of them since… Cal's skin didn't quite crawl at the realization.

"Yeah. Too bad." He half-heartedly pretended to agree before turning to leave.

.***.***.***.***.

The train lines were the same. The routes, the filth, the grime. Even the persistent rain pelted Cal with not-so-distant memories.

Trailed by his newly acquired squadron of troopers -eight of them- Cal had stepped onto a departing train without so much as a glance from the normally overbearing conductors. Walking down the dingy center aisle of a passenger compartment, Cal counted twenty people, quite a few considering that they were in the middle of a work shift.

He recognized some of the faces, all of them tired, most of them hopeless. He'd worked beside more than of few of the people he saw now.

But they didn't look back up at him.

What rumors he had left in his wake, Cal had no idea.

I guess it doesn't really matter, he realized, they just see the uniform.

One of Cal's guards shifted in place while he checked someone's ID, his bright plastasteel armor at odds with the dingy train car.

…And the troopers.

Emotionless, they did as they'd been instructed, fanning out in search of leads for the Jedi. Cal tried not to wince as they tensely asked the people on the train for identification.

Expecting that to be a dead-end, and not wanting to see it besides, Cal walked to the far end of the train car, ready to pass from this compartment to the next. None of the workers looked up. They'd long since learned what happened to those who dared defy the Empire.

For a moment, their fear filled Cal with shame.

And then shame turned resentment.

And resentment drifted back to an ever-present anger.

I don't need this. Cal tried to calm himself, They don't know what's happening, and I don't need their judgment.

He didn't need to be reminded of the person he once was, of the place he had once been.

Cal was a stranger here.

But the train car felt the familiar. Dirty blue light cut through the slated windows as the train barreled along its route. A grimy bench lined the walls.

Amid the quiet chaos that was the troopers inspecting the passengers, Cal feared finding a nearly forgotten memory. Apprehensive, he traced a gloved hand along the bench.

What felt like lifetimes ago, Cal had sat in a place like this, speaking to Prauf. The man had told Cal that he should go find his destiny. That he should get off this soggy rock.

Prauf hadn't known then what fate had in store. Neither had Cal.

Cal pulled his hand back. There was no echo in the Force here. This was not the last place he'd spoken to Prauf.

That would be too big a coincidence, Cal dully thought as a garbled voice came over the loudspeaker, alerting the car that they were about to arrive at the next stop, being on the same train car. Stuck in the same situation as last time, just on the other side.

The compartment began to groan as the train slowed.

No, this isn't the same. I won't let this end the same way it did for me.

…Let it end, Cal lingered on the thought, Stop thinking like that. Nothing is over. Not yet.

The screeching of the train's breaks and a final lurch as it came to a stop contradicted Cal's resolve, though it did give him the chance to leave the prison-like train car as the passenger doors whooshed open.

Glad to leave the place behind, he stepped onto the rain-slicked platform, his squadron of troopers shuffling out in his wake. Not sure what he had to say to them, Cal began his half-hearted search by picking a familiar street.

Cal didn't have a good idea of where to start with his grim task. Shaking down innocent folk on the train was inefficient as it was an exercise in emotional self-abuse for Cal. Wondering around aimlessly looking for someone carrying a lightsaber seemed equally pointless; This Jedi had remained hidden for six years, Cal doubted that they would be dumb enough to just walk around in the open, carrying a tell-tale weapon or letting themselves make much of a ripple in the Force.

So that left him with only one real option; checking with an old acquaintance that owed him a favor.