AN: Welcome back for Part 5. If you've made it this far you know the drill: updated on Monday and Thursday, please enjoy.

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

Cal had become a semi-permanent presence in the Fortress' workshop.

Lingering against the clear section of wall that had all but became his, Cal didn't say much as he watched the engineers and technicians work away at the projects that filled the room.

Machines whirred. Data bank cooling fans created a constant hum. The scrolling holofeed of projects and their statuses seemed endless, as did the flow of workers attending to them.

Most of the stations contained some half-built machine, specifically designed for some obscure mission that Cal didn't want to know about. Occasionally a trooper or disgruntled officer would come in to drop off some damaged equipment, asking that it be analyzed or sometimes recreated. Only once did Cal see and Inquisitor come through. Tall but bent double, he had three fingers and a wiry build. Cal wasn't sure who or what they were, since a sloped helmet covered their features and obscured the shape of their head.

That was days ago. Cal hadn't tried to speak to the unfamiliar man.

He'd barely spoken to the workers either, instead opting to closely watch them as they occasionally worked on BD.

A half done by the time Cal had returned from Bracca, the little droid was nearly finished now. Most of BD's computational hardware had needed to be rebuilt from scratch, with explorer droids being uncommon in the galaxy at large and nearly unheard of in the Empire. Much to the engineer's dismay, the project was made even more difficult by Cal's insisting that the droid's memory banks be carried over.

Coordinating the one little project across most of the departments in the workshop hadn't been easy to begin with, and Cal's constant lingering presence had only made the process more nerve wracking.

As obvious as the workers' discomfort was, Cal had no intention of leaving shop.

Not like I have anywhere else to go. Besides, I got to keep an eye on them, Cal idly thought as an engineer set to work on BD, their whirring hyper-spanner making quick work of attaching a newly fabricated leg to the droid's chassis, Trilla could have told them to do anything while I was out.

Halfhearted in his paranoid thoughts, Cal wasn't sure if he were clinging to them so that he had a safe excuse for when something terrible inevitably happened to BD, or because he was desperate to find some reason to still consider the Inquisitor an enemy.

While Cal tried not to consider his situation, a difficult to ignore truth picked at the edge of his mind, …but we are on the same side now.

Cal tried to crush it down, No. Just because I'm not who I was doesn't mean I'm one of them.

Deeply aware of where he was and what he had done to get there, Cal looked down, catching sight of the saber hanging from his belt as he did. Still the same cobbled together tool, half beaten, half held together by dented bolts and thin luck, Cal thought the piecemeal sheath hiding an angry red blade reflected his own state a little too well.

That's enough of that, Cal tried to make himself relax, to drop the tension from his shoulders and unclench his jaw while letting go of the terrible life he'd found himself living, That's enough…

"…yeah?" A familiar voice rose just above the din of the workshop.

Staticky and almost garbled, a recording nevertheless picked its way through Cal's distracted mind, just enough to make him look up.

"May the Force be with you," Mari's voice came over the recording.

A long pause grew in the wake of her farewell, the only proof that the recording was still on being a faint buzz of static, before what was clearly Cere's tired voice replied, "and also with you."

Then came a dull click at the comms channel being switched off.

Cal stopped, sure that he had misheard, that some other voice came from some other corner of the lab, that the words he thought he heard must have been an illusion created by the grinding and whirring of machines.

Unsure of when he had moved, Cal found himself gone from BD's repair station and suddenly standing behind a tech at a computer station.

"Play that again." He spoke from behind the worker.

Startling at the sudden and perfectly silent appearance of one of the Inquisitors, the technician fumbled at the control panel.

"That voice recording." Cal repeated, "play it again."

Knowing better than to question one of the Inquisitors in general, and left with a deep unease at the tone of this one's voice in particular, the tech tried to move calmly as he replayed the file.

"You've got the coordinates?" Mari's voice came over the speakers, unmistakable now as it had been the first time, Cal didn't want to acknowledge what he was hearing.

But then Cere replied, leaving Cal with no choice but to listen with a mounting dread, "They're coming in now."

A moment ticked by where the only sounds were distant clicks and rumbles of the Mantis' cockpit

Then Mari spoke again "Good. Raymond can tell you more when you get there. I'll try to make sure he knows you're coming."

"Thanks, Mari," A distant sadness that Cal wasn't sure he could place came through Cere's voice, "For everything."

"No problem," the rebel answered, "And Cere?"

"Yeah?"

"May the Force be with you."

The same pause lingered, sitting even more heavy in Cal's gut this time than the last.

"And also with you."

A long moment stretched out after the recording came to an end. The tech considered playing it again, if only to fill the unnerving silence.

But Cal spoke, his voice pained and mind struggling not to let the rest of him acknowledge that he had never heard this conversation, "When is this recording from?"

"The mission to Kashyyyk, sir." The tech calmly answered despite the inquisitor's tone.

There's been a lot of those, Cal bit down a sarcastic comment before beginning again, "When exactly is this from?"

The tech swallowed, his hand shaking as he checked the metadata attached to the audio log, "One month ago, sir."

One. Month. Ago. Cal carefully considered each word of the technician's answer, knowing perfectly well what they meant individually, while refusing to process what they meant together.

Barely nodding his head, Cal managed a flat, "Okay… Okay. The Second Sister's still in the fortress?"

The tech wasn't sure if Cal were asking or telling him, and he wasn't sure how the Second Sister was at all relevant to the timing of the audio log. But he answered, doing his best not to anger the Inquisitor behind him, "Yes, sir."

Cal barely register the tech's words, forgoing a response and instead nodding his head slightly like that would do something to stop the gut churning realization that Cere had been alive to willfully abandon him in the fortress.

Without waiting or asking for further comment from the worker, Cal took a slow step back from the computer before stiffly walking out of the workshop.

He had words for Trilla.

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

"Those trees are pretty tall," Greez peered out of the viewport as the Mantis descended below a thin layer of clouds and flew scarce inches over a thick forest, "They should cover the Mantis' fin."

"Try to find us a spot near town," Having heard none of the local imperial stations note their appearance, Cere removed her headset before standing from her station, "Let's hope Mari's contact is still here."

An unease settled in the cockpit. Taking a long and winding route away from the heavily traveled hyperlanes had given the Mantis crew plenty of time to talk about their plans. Talks that had invariably ground to a halt as the three of them realized that they had no real idea of what they should be doing.

They'd gone to Kashyyyk only to hear Mari out and to lay low for a few days. But then Merrin had found that recording of Cal rescuing imperial troops, and then they landed and spoke to the rebels on the jungle planet, with a pantoran named Gillers insisting that he'd met a young Jedi on Kaller and that his situation was just as dire as Cal's had been on Bracca.

Long talks on the painful topic of that to do with Cal dragged on for days, with seemingly everyone involved changing their mind several times: He had to be saved! They didn't know what he was doing. Was that the same Cal? The Empire must have brainwashed him. They didn't even know where he was.

And then came the matter of this other Jedi.

Insisting that they not get involved, Cere was adamant that Cal was still their first priority. To that, Merrin and Greez agreed, but they had no means to do so or even an idea where Cal was being held, or if he was being held against his will at all. And that confusion left them to muddle along to the coordinates Mari had given them with only half a plan and a deep debate on whether or not they would actually follow it.

A debate that suddenly clattered to a halt a few days ago.

In the middle of deep space, unsure of when the transmission had been sent, or what awful events had led up to it, they'd gotten word from Kashyyyk once again.

A garbled and hurried message, Cere listened and relistened to it before sharing with Greez and Merrin. There were only three sentences, each of them more horrifying than the last:

Kashyyyk had been attacked.

The Empire had the Mantis' destination.

Cal led the assault.

They hadn't spoken a word about Cal since. All of them either too wounded, or too afraid of hurting the others to dare bring him up. So, they continued their journey, quietly descending on the forested and snowy planet of Kaller while refusing to acknowledge that they could be anywhere else.

Greez set the ship down. It buckled slightly to one side as the fresh snow compacted under the ship's weight, the dry crunches from the same echoing through the living quarters.

Going through the motions of what little they had agreed to, Cere spoke over her shoulder as she left the cockpit, "I'll go find out contact, see what's going on here. Lay low until I get back."

"Got it," he replied, already swiveling his chair over to a different set of controls, Greez began scrambling the Mantis' signal, though he did pause "Hey Cere?"

She opened the side door, "Hm?"

Having so much to say but not knowing how to even begin, the lateron managed a sheepish, "Be careful out there."

Feeling the weight of the comment and all that was left unsaid, Cere replied with a meaningful, "I will be."

Not satisfied but unwilling to say more Greez nodded before turning back to the ship.

Stepping into the living quarters, Cere found the main compartment already cold, all of its heat bled out through a single open door in that short time. Suppressing a shiver, Cere shrugged on a coat. In the short moment she did Merrin appeared from the back of the ship and moved to the door.

Cere looked at the younger woman.

"I'm going with you." Merrin stood between Cere and the open door, bright light reflecting off the snow behind her and casting her features in deep shadows.

"It's not far to town, I'll be fine." Cere, replied as she tried to shuffle past Merrin

"You're in no state of mind to be traveling alone." Merrin quickly moved to stand in the other woman's way before repeating, "I will go with you."

Knowing that the nightsister wasn't as easily satisfied as Greez, Cere paused for a moment. But eventually she exhaled and gave an almost defeated, "Fine. Grab another layer, you'll freeze out there."

Taking the concession for what it was worth, Merrin nodded in appreciation. Quickly finding a shawl, the nightsister decided that would be good enough before rejoining Cere at the door.

So they set off, freshly fallen snow crunching beneath the their feet. For a long while they traveled in silence.

Which Merrin eventually broke.

"This contact," she began, "they will tell us where to find another former jedi, yes?"

Cere knew that Merrin knew what they were here for, but she didn't know what point the nightsister was trying to make, "Yes."

"And this other Jedi," she continued, "You will not contact them?"

Now Cere saw the young woman's point, "We've been over this. We're only finding out where this other Jedi is. We make sure they're okay, and maybe throw the Empire off their trail if they need that help."

"And nothing else?" Merrin pressed.

"And nothing else." Cere confirmed before letting out a heavy sigh, "but you don't believe me when I say that, do you?"

"Not at all."

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

The Fortress was a twisting mess. Crisscrossing halls doubled back on each other with long windows whose views only served to confuse rather than guide. Cal had learned not to bother looking out into the gloomy ocean. Nervously pacing through the halls between his room and the workshop had left him with some understanding of the place, besides.

Intently focusing on Trilla's presence and using that as a guide helped him even more.

Unsurprisingly, Cal followed his senses straight to the dojo. Coming to the terrible place from the main fortress, he found himself retracing the same path that he had taken on that fateful mission. Though it had only been months, it felt like a lifetime.

Quashing down that lifetime's worth of regret and anger, Cal made for the wide stairs that lead up to the observation platform.

The doors whooshed open, leaving Cal to step out onto the platform. In the dojo he found Trilla sparring with a droid. Cal didn't recognize the model, the thing being bulky but impossibly fast. A faint shield surrounded the droid's four arms, leaving the appendages safe from Trilla's lightsaber as the droid whirred around, each of its blows powerful enough to shatter bones if they weren't deflected correctly.

Thought the walk was long, and Cal had plenty of time to consider what he would say to the Inquisitor, he was at a loss as he looked down on Trilla.

Gracefully working through well practiced lightsaber techniques, her movements seemed more a part of a carefully choreographed dance than a dangerous training routine.

Cal didn't bother watching for long.

"You knew!" He shouted down, not bothering with an introduction or minding Trilla's fervent battle with the training droid.

Trilla had seen the young man enter the room, though she didn't acknowledge his presence. He had interrupted her, and it only seemed fair that he be made to wait to discuss whatever it was that had convinced him to stop moping around the workshop.

Unfortunately for her, Cal didn't think the same. Acting on impulse, he jumped down from the platform and onto the dojo floor.

Programing set to a single opponent, the hulking droid didn't react to Cal. Oblivious, it slowly drove onward against Trilla, double jointed arms near invisible blurs as they swung at impossible angles against the inquisitor.

Lighting a single blade, Cal only had to hurry a step before slicing the machine across the back of its unguarded legs

The droid hit the floor with a solid thud, eyes quickly flickering off and many arms going still.

"You do understand that the goal was to practice your forms, not just to attack it's legs, right?" Trilla chided, before taking a long but still unimpressed look at Cal's still activated blade, "So that's why you've been so timid about drawing your saber."

"We're not talking about that." He answered as he flicked the red blade off.

Trilla stood tall, deactivating her own weapon but holding it in its usual opening position, "Then what are we talking about?"

Cal's mouth went dry, whether because of the anger that came with his accusation or because of a muddled sense of grief that he hadn't even begun to confront, he wasn't sure, "Cere."

Silence lingered over the dojo.

Then Trilla asked, "What about her?"

"She's alive!" Cal didn't even try not to shout at the Second Sister. "You told me she was dead!"

"When did I do that?" Voice perfectly flat, Trilla replied without a hint of humor.

Words catching on another shout just long enough for Cal to breath and speak level instead, he retorted, "You told me that she died for nothing while we were on Kashyyyk."

"I told you that her supposed sacrifice hadn't been much of a sacrifice at all," Trilla corrected.

Features twitching with a spike of annoyance, Cal stammered out, "You said-! You…" before forcing himself to stand straight. "You're still looking for her."

"Obviously."

Cal had expected a biting reply, but when Trilla didn't elaborate he was left to fill the silence, "Where is she?"

"If I knew that I wouldn't be here."

"Don't-!" Cal bit his tongue, realizing that he was about to incoherently shout rather than get any real answers, "Don't play games right now. You knew she was still alive when we went to Kashyyyk."

"Yes, and…?"

"And you didn't say anything!?" Cal quickly gave up the thin veneer of calm he tried to cling to.

"You're welcome," she spoke over Cal's rage.

Seeing red as he was, the apology seemed little more than an insult meant to worsen his mood, "Why didn't you tell me?"

"What difference would it have made?" Trilla avoided answering.

A harsh bark of a laugh escaped Cal, "You tell me. You made your point, she left me behind just like she left you behind. I probably would have got the message sooner if you told me she was alive."

While Trilla's face had been a perfectly guarded neutral, and unmistakable flash of rage whipped across it before disappearing just as quickly, "Not every decision I make is about you."

For once, it was Cal's turn to be the insufferable one, he relished it, "Could have fooled me."

Trilla wasn't about to let him stay that way, "You asked your question and got your answer, we're done here."

"No we're not." Cal quickly replied, "I just found out Cere's alive, and now you expect me to not do anything with that information?"

"What you'll be doing is leaving." Trilla turned to leave through the far door of the dojo, deciding that this conversation was over whether Cal wanted it to be or not.

"Hey! Don't just walk away like that." he followed along at a trot, "You're looking for Cere, and I'm going with you."

"Absolutely not." Trilla answered without a glance over her shoulder.

"Afraid that I'll show you up?"

"More that you'll make a misguided attempt to run away."

Though he'd had the upper hand, something bitter traced across Cal's mind and features as he replied, "It's a bit late for that."

"And it's too late for you to do whatever it is that you think you're going to do with Cere," Trilla added on. "Locating and eliminating her is my mission, not yours."

Moreso than usual, something dark lingered in Trilla's words, it even gave Cal a moment pauses as the other inquisitor continued her walk through the Fortress's halls.

But he recovered quickly enough, "Do whatever you want, but I have questions for Cere and one way or another, I'm getting answers."