𝐂𝐑𝐈𝐌𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐒𝐓𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 - 𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐤𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐬

𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 ⸺ 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐬.

1956 standard hours. Year 7963 (14 BBY)
Stinger Mantis, Outer Rim.

⸺ CAL.

⚡︎ ⁺. ◍ 。

"𝓦E HAVE TO go back for her!" Cal exclaimed for the tenth time, pacing restlessly across the Mantis.

"Get yourself together, Cal." Cere said calmly with the patience of the one who explained the same thing a million times. "Your feelings for her are clouding your judgment. Væmas told you herself that the priority is getting the holocron to safety. Mounting a rescue mission would be suici..."

"She knows about Trilla." Cal interrupted her dryly, hazel eyes cold as ice. Cere stopped abruptly, but not looking surprised, as she saw the two fighting before they escaped. He continued, sharpening every word like daggers. "She knows that we lied to her, all this time, and she still sacrificed herself so we could escape. And now you want to abandon her?"

"That's not what I said." Cere sighted loudly and ran a hand on her face. "We cannot sacrifice the lives of hundreds of innocent children for one. And you know that."

Cal rubbed the back of his neck, trying to make sense of the raging thoughts inside of his head. He took a deep breath. His brain knew that Cere was right, but in his heart... his decision had already been made. "I promised her." His eyes found Cere's and did not waver. "I promised that I'd come back for her, and that is a promise I'm going to keep."

Cere slowly got up from her seat and to face Cal, slightly lifting her head to look at him. She laid a hand on his shoulder and said: "I know where they've taken her. There's a Fortress. Where they take Jedi. Where the Inquisitors come from. It's a place of torture. It's the place I escaped."

Cal remembered what Cere told him about Trilla, about how she was forced to reveal her location after being relentlessly tortured by the Empire. His face darkened. The last thing he wanted was to make Cere relive this nightmare, but they both knew they had no choice.

"I just never thought I'll be going back there." His mentor added, her mask of impassibility faltering for a moment.

"You don't have to come with me." Cal said quietly.

Cere stayed silent for a moment, eyes fixed on the ground after she sat down, Cal sitting beside her. "It is my fault if Væmas got captured. I never should've kept the truth from her. She deserved to know what Trilla had become. The least I can do is help rescuing her."

"You won't be going alone." Cal said. "You'll have a friend with you."

Cere looked at him for a moment, her expression unreadable. "No." She finally responded, getting up. Cal's eyes followed her, intrigued, before she finally said: "I'll have a Jedi with me."

Cal straightened up on his seat, not sure what to say. Cere's glance fell on Trilla's lightsaber, placed on the table, and outstretched a hand. The weapon took off the table to fly directly into her hand. It probably was the first time Cere had used the Force since she escaped the Empire, what must have been decades ago.

She ignited the red blade, looking at its shimmer in the darkness of the ship, then turned to Cal, addressing him only one word. "Kneel."

Cal hesitated for a moment before slowly getting up and landing on knee on the ground, his gaze not leaving Cere's face. She lowered the lightsaber on one shoulder, then the other, and finally the head, pronouncing these words on a ceremonial tone: "By the right of the Council, by the will of the Force, rise, Cal Kestis, Jedi Knight."