Proof of Loyalty

[Xanatos Etanial]

// Zeltros //

It was by no means Etanial's first visit to the pleasure world of Zeltros, though he had to admit it was the first he'd made for business purposes. Had he the time he'd have to see a show or two, perhaps enjoy some company at one of the finer establishments in the capital. For the moment, however, he found himself far removed from the hustling crowds and overpowering pheromones of the planet's capital city, or at least to the extent one could on such a planet. The population thinned, and civilization died down to a harsh murmur, much as you'd expect at the edge of any party. Stragglers, those tired of the revelry or simply catching their breath.

It was far calmer than the center of this world, he had to admit it was rather refreshing, as he'd never seen it from this side of things. There was time for such concerns later, though. He was here on Imperial business. He'd been watching the home for the last 3 hours. Intel had been right on the money, though, Dargus Marr was inside. Dargus Marr had been a wealthy benefactor and supporter of the Empire throughout their campaign against the Rebellion. Xanatos had heard tale that the man's family had previously been with the senate, and managed to maintain their influence despite their loss of political power. So, when a man like that suddenly becomes scarce, and reserved of course Imperial Intelligence is going to take the time to look into it.

The coward had been talking to known Alliance operatives, and intel had flagged him as a travel risk. He must have gotten wind of the operation from someplace though, as he'd suddenly vanished from the public eye entirely. He was running, and most likely planned on making the jump from here to Alliance space. That was why Etanial had been chosen for this mission, his background of nobility and wealth made the perfect cover for travel to Zeltros. Not that Xanatos' had an issue with taking this mission, especially not when the stakes of it had been made very clear by his C.O.

A personally signed letter of commendation to the Imperial Knights, while not a guarantee of getting in, would at least open the door for him. After the Inquistoriate, he'd found himself bounced around Intelligence, never quite finding that role he was meant for. He blamed that for the fact that he was still, after so many years, merely Agent Class I Etanial, rather than any rank higher. He brought his wrist to his mouth, speaking quietly into a comm-link sewn into his tailored cuff, as he sat across from the home.

"Command, I have confirmation of target, please advise." There was static for a moment, and then a calm female voice spoke across the line.

//Do you have visual, Agent Etanial?//

Xanatos considered that, as he did not. He'd wanted to be certain that the man wasn't going to just decide to leave after he'd arrived so that he'd have time to make any moves that he would be directed to make. "Acquiring now." He got up from where he sat and crossed the street quickly and quietly, shuffling to the space between the home Dargus Marr had entered and his neighbor, and slowly crept further back, rising up to see past the semi-closed curtains of the home's first-floor window. Inside was Dargus Marr, busy gathering suitcases in the entryway of the house.

"I have visual, command." Xanatos gave a short update, and was about to continue when a woman, slightly shorter than the pudgy human, came into the room holding a young girl's hand. There seemed to be an argument occurring, Marr waving his hands in frustration, before even through the thick walls of the home Xanatos could hear the child's cries. Dargus seemed to deflate and pulled the child into his arms, lifting her up into a warm embrace. Memories of his own childhood, flooded back, of his mother and his sister. He'd put those memories out of his mind years ago, or at least he'd believed he had. So drawn into the scene he was, that he barely registered when the order came across the comm.

//Dargus Marr is to be considered an enemy of the state, Agent Etanial. He may be in possession of sensitive information that cannot be allowed to fall into the hands of our enemies. You are ordered to eliminate him and all potential co-conspirators, and leave no evidence of the Empire's involvement.//

He blinked rapidly, unsure for a moment of what he'd actually heard, his eyes focused on the woman, now hugging tightly to Marr after their argument, who simply seemed terrified for her and her daughter's safety - quite likely the source of their argument. "The subject has his family with him. I repeat, a wife and daughter are present. Advise, command." They couldn't have been aware of this, surely. For any sin against the Empire this man had committed, or even his wife, the child was no more than 10 standard years. She was innocent in all of this. There was hesitation on the other end of the comm-link, and then a gruffer, louder voice where there had been the female operator before. His C.O. directly.

//You have your orders, Agent Etanial.//

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos couldn't see straight, everything had gone fuzzy in his peripheral vision as his commanding officer had spoke. No mistake, no confusion. They knew, if not before then surely now, exactly who was in the home with the man. The order had not changed. His mouth went dry and he had to lick his lips just to manage the words. "Understood, sir. I am switching to radio silence."

With that he grabbed his cuff and tore, the sound of breaking wires, and momentary electric crackle buzzing before it went dead. He'd have to move quickly now, it wouldn't be long before the Empire realized he had no intention of following that particular order. He'd accepted the invitation to join the Inquistoriate, and with it the Empire, on the promise of protecting the Empire's people, not murdering them.

He wanted to throw up, more questions flying through his head than answers. Was this always the plan? He'd thought this was a retrieval mission, find the man bring him back to face judgement, not an assassination. Had he been chosen because they thought he'd be willing to? Is that why the promise of the Imperial Knights had been put before him? To make sure he was desperate enough to go along with this? He should run, flee, hide. No, he should man up and do his damn job. Surely if the Empire wanted these people dead they had good reason, he'd made compromises before. There was the time on Bespin, he'd hated himself for a month after that mission. But hadn't he done it anyway? It was his job after all. It wasn't his place to question these orders. So do your job, Etanial. His eyes caught those of the child through the window even as he warred with himself and his heart jumped back into his throat.

So you're not going to do your job, then run away. Flee and cower and hide, drown yourself in another bottle like you used to do. Who cares what happens to this family? Who cares if the Empire sends someone else to do your job? Brother, why?! The echo of a memory hit him like a blaster bolt to the temple, and a cold realization ran up his spine. These people were going to die, and it was going to be his fault.

He found himself... oddly calm as he walked from between the homes and approached the front door of the small manor. What was that old saying, of a picking a nice hill to die upon? It was an odd comfort now, even as he knocked on the front door. The panicked sound of argument picking up again inside before a voice spoke softly, the wife, from behind it. "Who.... who is it?"

"There isn't much time." Xanatos said, pressing his forehead to the door and speaking softly against the metal to keep the sound quiet. "The Empire knows you are here, we must act quickly." Again the sound of panicked argument, louder this time, and after a moment the door opened, Dargus Marr standing, wide eyes staring at Xanatos. "Are you him? Are you the Jedi?"

Jedi? There hadn't been any report of Jedi involvement in this. It made sense, he suppose, they were the lapdogs of the Alliance. If this man were bargaining for his safety, what better bodyguard than those adept in the Force? He considered for a moment, judging the terrified expressions on the family. There wasn't a reason to frighten them more than they already were, let them think what they wanted to.

"Lets just say I am a friend." He emphasized the last word as if it had more meaning than it should have, and watched the man relax, some confirmation in his own mind to his question. "Please, come in, come in." He stepped aside and Xanatos entered, door shutting behind him.

[Zem Vymes]

Though the distance was small, the travel was arduous. Zeltros lay just beyond the border in Imperial space, and the planet of free spirits and libertines was every bit a slave of the Empire as any bastion of the Core. It took networking and credits to make the journey - a trajectory that took Zem Vymes across three indirect sectors to reach the intended planet. Fortunately, the unorthodox thinkers of what had once been the Alliance to Restore the Republic still maintained a network of creative people who were good at thumbing their nose at authority, and many of these people had worked with the Jedi Master in the past. Even still, there was no room for complacency. A state of war still existed. Only this war was waged fully in the shadows.

When Loklorien had come to him to present the Alliance's case for a retrieval mission of a defector, Zem's mind was already made up. The Order had been on the run for too long, and was slowly getting back on its feet on Ossus. Thoughts of survival at all costs were difficult to overcome, but Zem felt that the Jedi would fail its mandate to the galaxy if they cowered at every risk, becoming ossified in their hesitation. They had once been the guardians of peace and justice, and that mantle needed to be donned once more.

So it was that Zem Vymes found himself on Zeltros - a planet he knew from a time when he too had to hide who he was and survive. It was bright and inviting; some would say garish. It radiated a lively energy matched by few other places. The Jedi Master had arrived in plain clothes, checking into a hotel with credentials bought from a border runner. The credentials were no doubt good, but if Imperial intelligence were on their scent, he doubted it would hold to high scrutiny for too long. That meant that he had to keep a low profile, and when the signal was given, he had to act quickly. The route and the means were already set into place. All that was needed was the message to be sent. A coded message inserted into a holonews sports feed about a grav ball score. The score would give the time of the drop. The means of the drop was a rubbish bin that would be hauled from the house to the curbside, to be picked up by a garbage truck at the determined time. From there, vehicles would change, and they would be well on their way.

Or should be.

It was 2:14 local as the garbage truck approached the street. The third house on the left was the safehouse, but the curb was empty. Zem sat across from the driver, an Aqualish field agent from Alliance Intel. The tusked alien grunted in disapproval, and Zem nodded, keeping his eye on the door and windows as they drove by.

"Let's do one more pass."

[Xanatos Etanial]

He certainly didn't know what further fire he could light under Dargus Marr to get the man to gather his family up and be ready to vacate, but as he should have expected with a man of power and wealth he did nothing but dawdle. By the ancients was he ever so concerned with his own material possessions as to risk his own life, he pulled out a chrono from his pocket and checked it again. Watching as the man took inventory over his luggage.

"Really, sir, I must insist we travel light. There simply isn't time to" He was cut off by the insistence of the heavy set human, "N..now listen here" He all but barked at the blue-haired man, who pursed his lips tightly to silence his tongue. The man's sharp retort already had him reconsidering this entire venture, or at the very least contemplating throwing the man to the wolves and allowing the wife and daughter to escape unharmed. "I... I am not going to" This time it was Xanatos who cut the man off, raising his hand to indicate silence and shifting the curtains of the front window just enough to observe the noise that had caught his attention, a passing truck. He'd have thought nothing about it, in fact he had thought nothing of it. The first time the vehicle had passed. Once was normal, twice was coincidence, three times was a pattern, but he had no intention of allowing a pattern to emerge. It was as good a point of contention as any.

"We may be compromised." He said quietly, cursing the words as he heard the mother, Allani, as he had been introduced to her let out a short gasp and clutch the daughter, Tameena, closer to her. "And that, is why we must travel, now." He insisted. "And lightly." He added, not wanting to lose that particular argument. "Is there a back way out?" And motioned for the family to follow even as Dargus pointed in the direction of another room. Perhaps that was the Jedi, perhaps it wasn't. He wasn't keen on finding out, and had no interest in dealing with one of their order. Betraying his post with the Empire or not, he had no reason to trust that the Jedi were any better, years of mistrust and brutal stories told to himself and other Imperial officers was enough to sway his opinion away from discovering just how many lies he'd been told.

[Zem Vymes]

"Something's gone wrong."

Before the Aqualish could even chime in with an agreement, Zem had scrambled to the roof of the garbage hauler, and with a great surge, vaulted across the distance from the curb to the house's rooftop. Mastery of his momentum brought him to a halt across the interlocking tiles with minimal sound, and Vymes climbed to a more secure purchase, resting flush against the rooftop at a safer vantage. From here, he could peer across the crest of the roof to the rear of the house. He could also listen for signs of anything amiss inside. Even before that, he could sense at least one presence within, possibly more. There was a considerable amount of tension. That in and of itself said nothing. Even if everything had gone according to plan, Dargus Marr would rightly be shaking like a leaf.

No, nothing here was definitive. Zem looked back, and the Aqualish in the truck simply shook his head as he drove off a few houses down the way. It was dangerous for him to stay after too many passes, but if the situation could be salvaged he was still committed to the getaway.

Climbing back from his purchase, Zem descended back to an upper floor window, and with a flick of two fingers in the air, the maglocks keeping the window closed gave way with a sigh.

[Xanatos Etanial]

His focus fell on the girl, Tameena, and he smiled at her warmly, pleasant memories of his childhood filling him, some for the first time in what seemed like ages. There wasn't time to dwell on such things though, as much as he would dearly love to, and his attention fell back on Dargus Marr, before motioning at the cases that they had gathered for travel.

"Those will have to do, to the back exit then. We must get you and your family off planet at once." He led them past a staircase, motioning them to the door quickly, quietly before standing, at a bit more attention than previously, eyes darting back and forth as if searching for something, something that didn't... feel right. He had inclinations before, nothing concrete, nothing even as robust as other force sensitives could boast. A tickle at the back of his brain of something being amiss, and right now that sensation was as strong as he had perhaps ever felt. Tension perhaps? Concern over his actions, he was - after all - committing treason against the Empire...

He couldn't be sure, and as much as he'd be much happier to be certain, there simply wasn't time to explore it further, Dargus and his family had already reached the backdoor and were waiting for him. Their 'Jedi' rescuer. Let them think what they needed to, as long as he could complete this one, final, act. He stepped away from the staircase and towards the rear exit, trying to figure his next step from here, he'd need to secure passage for the family off this world, and needed to avoid using anything that would immediately alert the Empire to his actions, which meant his own finances were out of the question. He'd need to barter, or trade once they reached a port. "Well..." he said, glancing back at the front door as he opened the rear. "Let's be off then, shall we?"

[Baastian Cain]

Across the street from the Marr household, standing in the driveway of one of a row of quaint, expensive, and nearly identical houses stood a gloss-black SoroSuub speeder with a tinted canopy. It had arrived sometime during Agent Etanial's stakeout, and a young, affluent Zeltron couple had disembarked with a few armfuls of shopping bags and disappeared inside the house.

That left two men in the speeder. One had shifted forward into the driver's seat while the other kept watch out the rear canopy.

"That's the second time that garbage loader's been past," the driver remarked. The windscreen HUD before him was a grid of CCTV camera feeds, and the big truck scudded from one to another like a ghost until it slowed briefly in the street behind them, rumbling audibly through the SoroSuub's soundproofed door panels.

"Tag it. We're too close to move in on it here."

The man in the back seat of the speeder wore a smart blue uniform trimmed in black and silver, his pale yellow hair closely cropped, his chiseled face and lantern jaw made for the holos. He'd spent some fair time on them, in fact. All the more reason to be hiding out of sight, even if the security of the operation hadn't demanded it. Xanatos had been told this mission would commend him to the Imperial Knights, but he hadn't been told just how closely he was being reviewed.

"He's had more than enough time to be done with it," the driver grumbled. "He may be compromised."

"Or he may know there's a third party involved," the other man replied. "I want to see him tip his hand before we make a move."

"That's your prerogative," the driver said, in a sour tone of voice that made his opinion on the matter clear. But the other man ignored him. Xanatos Etaniel was young and untested, but by all reports a conscientious and promising agent. Baastian Cain preferred to see the good in every man, and he meant to give Xanatos every opportunity to prove himself a loyal citizen of the Empire.

"There it is again," the driver said, and Baastian snapped his attention onto the passing garbage loader, his muscles coiling up like springs. But the moment he raised his finger to his earpiece to call it in, an old man crawled out onto the roof of the cab, then cleared the gap between the road and the house's tiled roof in a single leap.

"Cain to Command. Things just got interesting."

[Zem Vymes]

Zem slipped inside the house, noting the disarray of askew drawers and haphazardly-tossed items. The Marr's had packed hurriedly, no-doubt waiting for the pickup. So what was wrong? Still feeling tension, Zem descended down the stairs, hearing voices towards the back of the house. He recognized Dargus, and what could be discerned to be his wife and children. But he then heard another voice.

"Let's be off then...shall we?"

A voice Zem did not recognize. Moving now more urgently, the Jedi Master rounded a corner and emerged in sight of the family, being herded towards the exit by a stranger.

"Mr. Marr."

[Xanatos Etanial]

At the sound of the voice Etanial spun, positioning himself between the voice and the retreating family as his hand instinctively reached for his sidearm,and action he stopped as his vision caught Marr's reaction. Recognition dawned on his face, the man knew this individual, or at least his voice. Xanatos began to tick through possible scenarios, an agent of the Empire that Marr had previously encountered? No. There wasn't fear upon the man's pudgy face, but then...

"... Master Jedi?" Marr said with a touch of confusion. Etanial felt a lump form in his throat. "We did not expect to hear from you... your associate..." Marr's words were cut off as he glanced a bit longer at Xanatos. Really looking the man over now, his stance, how he had moved for his weapon. There was something familiar about it to the man, something... formal. Dargus Marr tensed. Etanial felt it, even if weak there was that little 'nudge' at the back of his mind that told him the situation had just gone completely south. He had to get on top of it before it became even more dire.

"I am grateful to encounter you, Master Jedi." Xanatos said with a level of urgency, locking eyes with the man as he brought his hands up slowly - away from his weapon to demonstrate he had no hostile intent. "There is no time to argue the point I am about to make. The Empire is aware of Dargus Marr's location. We have precious little time to see this family to safety." His vision caught on Allani and Tameana and he offered the two his most reassuring smile, even as suspicion began to darken their faces - and he returned to lock eyes with the Jedi Master, earnestness in his expression. "Please help them."

[Baastian Cain]

"Suspect has entered the house. Aurek squad, move to intercept the garbage hauler on Blartree Lane. Besh and Cresh, cover Fifth and Tarkin. If you see our targets, monitor but do not engage."

Baastian Cain popped the passenger-side door and climbed out onto the duracrete driveway facing the target's house, rising like a monument in his blue and silver uniform as his driver piled out the other side, dressed more inconspicuously in Imp Intel grays. "You're getting awfully involved for an observer," he growled.

Cain reached down to feel for the electrum-and-ebony hilt clipped to his thigh as he stared across the street at the open window. "Standing orders for Imperial Knights. Neutralize Force-sensitive insurgents on sight. Etaniel can't finish his assignment with a Jedi on his back."

"Unless he's following a different assignment," the other man said. "We need to pull the plug. Move in before they can rabbit."

"Mr. Dahlgren, until we know otherwise, we must assume that Agent Etaniel has already engaged the target. We will monitor him. We will step in if we need to. But I fully intend to give him the chance to do the right thing."

Baastian sank to one knee on the pavement and planted his hand flat against the duracrete, feeling its warmth through his glove. Even in this sleepy suburb, Zeltros was a beating heart full of twining energy and passions, and the Force stormed through it like a live wire. He'd always felt Palara was better than him at chasing out its intricate web, but from here he could clearly sense Mr. Dahlgren's barely-concealed contempt for the mystic display he was putting on, the heightened passions of a couple in the house next door, and, across the street, a quivering knot of nerves and survival instinct. He couldn't resolve the emotions into individual figures, but he knew that while the situation was compounding, it hadn't yet turned violent.

He rose to his feet again, leaned forward into a sprinter's stance, and with a snapping of wind dashed to the Marr's front door in the space of a breath. There he halted silently and pressed himself against the wall to listen.

[Zem Vymes]

Something had changed. The energies of the force were changeable, in rich tapestry with the living beings that inhabited it. Zem's eyes diverted slightly, looking at nothing in particular. There was a truth in what this man said. Some degree of earnest intent, obfuscated by something else. And beyond, even less was clear. Potential energy of the sort only those attuned to sense it could feel. Tremendous potential.

"I sense a trap."

Surely this man did as well. Whoever he was, he was not a part of the plan to deliver Marr to safety. He could, in fact, be part of the unseen peril that Vymes could certainly feel. Yet, he couldn't risk wasting momentum on a conflict. Not here.

"We have to move. The plan has changed."

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos let out a breath at the Jedi's reaction. The man knew his priorities, he'd give that much to the Jedi - or at least this one. The atmosphere of tension didn't leave precisely, but shifted. The Jedi not showing hostility to the man who's presence had been suddenly and sharply thrown into question removed the immediate tension that the family had directed toward Etanial, but the words of a potential trap kept the edge in the air.

Etanial considered that possibility. The Empire weren't ones to leave things to chance, or to not have layers to any operation. Xanatos had been "Plan A" and he'd hope to buy some time to remove the family before any potential "Plan B" arrived. The Jedi's words hung like a noose at his neck though, had he taken too long? Had he further endangered more innocents...? He pushed down the doubts and lingering concerns that were attempting to rise in him, focused on the goal at hand and calmed himself.

"I will follow your lead, Master Jedi. Out the back, or do you have a more creative solution?"

[Baastian Cain]

Where his preternatural senses failed him, Baastian's natural senses, enhanced by the Force, were more than adequate. With his ear cupped against the door he could hear the voices inside as if they were speaking from the far end of a pipe, and he had no difficulty making out what Agent Etaniel was saying. Every treasonous word of it

It could still be an act. The Jedi may have surprised him before he could carry out his objective. Perhaps Xanatos was working his way into the Jedi's confidence so he could betray the lot of them...

To the backup that he didn't know he had. Damn.

Baastian reached up to his collar to key in his comm and whispered, "Situation is compromised. Adept insurgent in contact with targets. I'm going in."

He closed his eyes and breathed deep, drawing in the Force and letting it fill every nerve, every muscle, every fiber of his being. And then he turned around, grasped the elegantly curved, colonial-style door handle, and with a splintering crash, he tore the front door right out of its frame and flung it back into the street.

Before him lay a pleasantly appointed entryway with a curving staircase and a hallway that shot straight back to the kitchen, where he could hear panicking voices - Marr and his wife and daughter. Baastian freed his saber from its holster and ignited the shimmering, snow-white blade as he charged down the hall, intent on cutting down the first person he saw.

Because he knew which one it would be.

[Zem Vymes]

It was happening quickly now. No time to debate a plan with questionable allies and probable foes. A pivot step brought danger firmly into Zem's line of sight, an Imperial Knight bearing down on them with only the sort of certainty the force could lend to movement. His blade was lit, his intentions as sharp as it's keen edge. Zem drew on instinct's innate touch, the force making certain paths clear to the eye.

Two movements. Hands drawn in. The rug the Knight charged down ripped forward sharply beneath the full weight of his lead boot, displacing his center of gravity. As the rug cleared the floor and headed towards Zem and the others - the second movement. The rug flew back against Baastian, carrying even more force.

"Go!"

[Xanatos Etanial]

The sound of splintering wood almost made him jump out of his boots, that had happened far quicker than he'd expected - had they been watching him the entire time? It was possible, likely even when he considered it. He'd expected to push himself to stand between the family and the incoming imperial officer, wanted to buy them some time so the Jedi could get them safely away. Instead it was the Jedi that had jumped to put himself in the path of danger to protect the others. It caught him off guard momentarily. His training always painted the Jedi as selfish, manipulative.

But this one had leaped to protect others just as quickly as he himself would have. Just how big was the lie he'd been fed? Worse yet the figure that burst into the room, caught up on the rug that the Jedi had just lashed out with was unmistakable. Baastian Cain. Poster boy for the Imperial Knights, hero of so many news feeds, and a man that Etanial had wanted to be just like. He wanted to think this was a misunderstanding, a mistake. Baastian Cain was a hero, he couldn't be involved in this, or he simply wasn't aware of the order that he'd been given. That had to be it. There wasn't time to explain what had happened though, his intent was clearly to stop the Jedi, and likely Xanatos himself for his perceived treason. He'd have to hope he could contact the man at another point, explain the error that had happened.... please let it be an error.

He wrapped the girl up in his arms, shouldering past Dargus and his wife and throwing his weight into the backdoor, it splintered and cracked, Etanial instinctively using just enough of the force, despite his limited understanding of it and forcing iit open without stopping, the Marr's at his heels as he rushed out the back, eyes darting up and down the alley for threats, before turning toward the city and rushing in that direction - hoping to lose any pursuers in the crowds.

[Baastian Cain]

Baastian had expected the parry to come from a lightsaber, not a hallway rug. As his feet slipped out from under him, his perception expanded, and time slowed enough for him to prepare for the landing. He released his humming white blade for a moment, just long enough to move the Force against the floor beneath him with both hands to speed up his angular momentum and tuck himself into a backwards roll.

In his state of heightened awareness, he could hear the heavy carpet fluttering through the air as it doubled back toward him. He could also see Xanatos gathering the Marr child up in his arms and turning for the back door. Very well. There were Intel operatives who could intercept them out there. If the boy had any sense at all, he'd make good on his mission while Baastian had the Jedi occupied.

As he flipped heels-over-head and back toward horizontal, he seized his lightsaber out of the air and swung it toward the incoming rug. The dense fabric sparked and split on either side of his blade into two long ribbons. Then he brought his feet back underneath him. The soles of his boots shrieked against the floor, and several kitchen tiles cracked with the sheer force of his landing, but he was upright again, and facing the Jedi, as Xanatos and the family crashed through the back door.

He looked into Zem's eyes without an ounce of malice, or fear, or sympathy. "We have you surrounded. This will all go a lot easier for everyone if you surrender peacefully."

[Zem Vymes]

Zem took a few measured steps back towards the exit. His saber was in his hand, but not lit. The Marrs and their unlikely rescuer were covering ground, and he didn't aim to make this little encounter with the Knight anything more than parting words.

"Son, I know a thing or two about being surrounded by the Empire."

In the living room, the large leather couch began to shake slightly.

"I think I'll be alright."

Zem turned his back, and the couch screeched across the floor, flipping, and wedging firmly at the threshold of the hallway, providing at least a few seconds of ponderous obstacle as the Jedi disappeared with unnatural speed.

[Xanatos Etanial]

He could hear the crash behind him, but didn't risk slowing down to see what had happened. He simply clutched Tameena a bit tighter, eyes focusing around every corner as they passed behind house after house, and toward an open road. That was his biggest concern ahead - slipping between houses was one thing, but trying to cross a street with who knew how many eyes watching and waiting was dangerous. He needed an option, and he needed it fast enough to not slow down and allow Knight Cain to catch up, assuming he made it past the Jedi.

"Mrs. Marr... when I give the signal run, as fast as you can, straight across." He slowed long enough to hand Tameena back to them, and turned, tucking low into a sprinter's stance and rushing the street. He could only hope to draw the attention of whomever the Empire had sent to acquire them. Perhaps distract them long enough to confuse them. He drew his blaster and swallowed, taking a step forward to rush the street. "I'll draw their fire and try and meet back up on the other side of the street."

[Baastian Cain]

Baastian planted his boot under the edge of the couch and lifted, flipping it back toward the living room and out of his way. The old man moved fast, but so did he. With his saber extinguished, the Imperial Knight dashed across the kitchen and through the remains of the back door into the garden. Instinct drove him toward the front of the residential neighborhood, where the winding road spilled out through a set of ornamental gates onto a busy, four-lane avenue. He bolted through narrow spaces between townhomes fast enough to rattle the windows. As he reached the entrance to the development, he passed by the garbage hauler, pitted in the middle of three black speeders, whose Aqualish driver had just been seized from the cab and thrown to the pavement.

He skidded to a halt on the sidewalk and looked up and down the street. The far side was lined with brightly colored trees planted at even intervals, with a broad park beyond. Farther to the West was an elementary school; a word from him could send it into lockdown, but contrary to the propaganda he regularly appeared in, Baastian knew that threatening children wasn't the Jedi way. He'd have relished an encounter with the old man on equal footing, to test his mettle against a member of the old Order and discover what sorts of techniques they still practiced. But Etaniel had to be the priority. You didn't leave a man behind, not even when the man was a traitor to the cause.

"Cresh squad is in position on Fifth."

"This is Besh. We've established a perimeter on Tarkin Street. Standing by."

In his mind's eye, Baastian could see the squads fanning out, a van and two pursuit vehicles each, some twenty men mustered at each chokepoint and releasing probe remotes to scour up and down the streets and over the rolling parkland. Etaniel and his Jedi friend would be spotted eventually, unless they tried to double back through the development, where Aurek squadron was already deployed. If they attempted to commandeer one of the civilian speeders gliding up and down the thoroughfare, the theft alarms would alert every law enforcement officer in the district. The Imperial noose was tightening.

"Come on, Etanial," he muttered to himself. "Don't do anything stupid."

[Zem Vymes]

A hand rested on Xanatos's blaster muzzle, easing it down. Zem rested against the wall adjacent to the defector, shaking his head quietly. He glanced ahead, seeing there-and-gone movement between houses signaling some element of the Imperial response. One trooper lingered, covering the very point that Xanatos had considered using to draw fire.

"I think I see them over there." Zem mumbled.

"I think I see them...over there!" The trooper's vox was faintly audible at this distance, but he pointed clearly at a point three houses down. What had been seven confirmed troopers setting up positions were now two posted at the original vantage. Vymes turned back to Etaniel.

"Sit tight. You'll know when to cross."

The Jedi master took a leap to the roof of the house they crowded under for cover. Slowly crawling along the ascent, he paused just shy of breaking line of sight, sliding his feet to a better purchase.

"No time to start complaining about aching knees." Zem sighed, and jumped in an incredible surge clear across the street.

[Xanatos Etanial]

That was a second time the Jedi had stepped into the path he'd intend to make - he could have been irritated, but rather he found himself... confused. The media all painted the Jedi as cruel, heartless, selfish. This Jedi Master had worked not only to protect the Marrs, but now to seemingly protect Xanatos as well. He could have easily used Etanial's actions as a distraction, allowing the man to rush in an entirely different direction while he spirited the Dargus Marr and his family away.

He pursed his lips, trying to see what the Jedi had to gain from this action, what his angle in this was - and wasn't finding one. It was a complete opposite from how they were portrayed in the news feeds. News feeds, he realized, that featured Baastian Cain prominently. Cain who had himself rushed into the home when Xanatos had failed to obey an order.

Cold realization hit him then, a wave of nausea almost causing him to double over. This wasn't a mistake or an error. A commission to the Imperial Knights had been promised to him if he were effective and successful in his mission, and the Knight's public face had been on hand to observe. Xanatos Etaial suddenly felt quite a bit smaller in the universe.

[Baastian Cain]

Aurek squad had been largely diverted by Zem's misdirection, which also kept their sightlines on the street and not on the rooftops. While the bulk of the squadron chased phantoms down side alleys, only two remained watching the street where Xanatos and the Marrs waited to cross, oblivious to the Jedi crouching on the roof overhead, or the blaster-armed agent lurking just across the street.

[Zem Vymes]

Zem dropped onto the roof across, clearing the street between and bringing himself to just behind the two stormtroopers. His footfalls were made under stress from the great distance, and audible enough to the two troopers covering the gap between houses. Their attention broke in unison, turning to the roof to follow the sound, but by then Vymes had dropped to the grass behind them.

"What the..." a trooper started. Zem winked as they pointed their weapons at him, drawing his two index fingers together. The stormtroopers' helmeted heads collided with intense force, knocking each of them out and sending them down in a heap at his feet.

"Sorry to butt in, boys."

Looking back across the street at Xanatos, he simply pointed to his left as a sign for Xanatos to keep following behind the houses on his side. Hopefully it would allow Zem to move on the other side of the street and better deal with any elements that moved to contest them from that end. The Jedi Master glanced back at the two bodies, and with a gesture, slid them out of view and beneath a hedgerow.

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos gave an acknowledging nod to the Jedi across the street, turning back to the Marrs to wave them on, Allani clutching her daughter all the closer to her as the 4 traveled slowly, Xanatos scanning the opening between each house as they continued. There was still the threat of Imperial forces that they couldn't see, and Baastian Cain was still somewhere in this housing grid searching for them. He was concerned they'd only be able to out maneuver the Imperial Knight for so long. The Jedi's actions had presented an opening for them to slip through, but time was short before it would close and the Empire would return to slowly tightening the search parameters to locate them.

He knew from experience precisely how thorough the Imperial Forces would be. Especially with the situation that now presented itself. A defector and his family - all marked for execution, a Jedi and a turn-coat agent? Careers had ended on smaller mistakes than the one allowing such a group to escape would be. He glanced back at Zem as they reached a clearing, waiting for the next signal.

[Baastian Cain]

"DV-119, why aren't you at your post?"

The dispatcher's voice snapped Baastian out of his meditations, and the Knight raised a finger to touch his earpiece to listen. "DV-119, respond?"

He keyed in his own comm. "Cain to Aurek Squad. Where is DV-119?"

"On the perimeter choke point with KN-698," came the squad commander's vocoded monotone. "Suspects spotted on Wroshyr and Gantry, Aurek is in pursuit."

It was a breach of protocol to say the least - the current doctrine was contain, constrict, and capture. But that didn't fully explain the visceral sense of wrongness creeping through Baastian's gut. He sensed a disturbance at work in the Force.

"Aurek, repeat, you've spotted the suspects? Besh and Cresh, mobilize to--"

"Belay that, Command!" Baastian interrupted. "Aurek, return to your perimeter. The suspects have just passed through your choke point."

"Sir, I'm positive we saw--"

"You saw what the Jedi wanted you to see," Baastian said. "Return to perimeter, and seek trooper DV and KN's transponders. Besh and Cresh, redeploy to..." The Knight raised a holo-map on his utility gauntlet and scanned the development plan. "sector twelve. And get your probes airborne and use their telemetry to check your visuals. Droids can't be mind-tricked. If you see the suspects, monitor, but do not engage.

"I want you to funnel them to me."

[Zem Vymes]

From Zem's position, he could see no further troopers posting to cover their movement. That didn't mean they wouldn't fill in the gap in short order, however. He needed to move the Marrs' and their protector into a consolidated position. An opportunity for that presented itself as Zem heard the burbling of water underfoot. A short distance away, he could see the grating of a storm drain. Dropping to all fours, he listened to the direction of the moving water - headed his way from under the street. A flick of his lightsaber threw open the grating, and Zem descended beneath. There wasn't enough room to stand upright, and the water threatened to overtop his ankles. Still, it gave them some manner of option to work with.

Zem hurried across the distance, kicking away some built-up detritus that blocked his path, until he'd made it to the other side. A faint glow of light above signaled where the sun indirectly found it's way in. Using the force, Zem made a faint knocking sound at the grate near Etanial's last position.

[Xanatos Etanial]

The Jedi had vanished from sight, and he was growing increasingly concerned their opening would collapse before... a sound, not far from where they were, his hand went to his blaster holder, though he exercised discipline in not drawing it immediately. He held a hand out, motioning for the Marrs to remain where they were while he investigated the sound, he walked toward where he had thought he had heard it from and stopped, listening for it a second time. Then another sound caught his attention, soft, in the background, barely noticable.

He closed his eyes for a moment, trying to focus on it, and only it, was it... water? His eyes reopened and looked a few feet to his left at a storm drain and he approached slowly, suspicious. It could be Imperial forces or... he leaned over top of the grate to peer inside.

"Master Jedi... is that you?"

[Zem Vymes]

"We haven't much time, they'll close ranks quickly."

Vymes raised two extended fingers, wrenching free the grating for his charges and their handler to pass.

"This drain system gives us limited options. We shouldn't dawdle long in here, or they'll know every choice we have available. Hurry."

The Jedi Master stood aside, allowing the Marrs to be lowered down one by one, He eased each of them down and tapped their shoulder to make them mindful of the low clearance.

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos saw each of his charges into the grate first, handing Tameena down last careful of the young girl's head as he lowered her down, and then followed into the grate himself, closing it up as he did. He nodded at the Jedi, this... this was actually a rather good plan. They may be able to get the Marr's off of this planet after all.

"After you, Master Jedi." Etanial said, taking a position to guard their rear.

[Zem Vymes]

Zem led the way reluctantly, the thrum of his blue saber illuminating the closed dank passages. For the sake of the Marrs, he did not get too inquisitive of his new-found ally within their earshot, but the look as he passed Etaniel was one that certainly conveyed we need to talk, sooner rather than later.

"Hang a left here."

Keeping low and making sure to maximize economy of movement, Zem continued to lead on. Every illumination from the storm drains beyond heralded a possible point of danger, and the Jedi attuned himself to be wary to the extreme.

[Xanatos Etanial]

The tunnels wound on for far longer than Etanial had hoped, finally opening up into a junction point from which the various sewage lines, waterways and maintenance passages connected and dispersed. The echo the cavernous room offered would make anyone attempting to approach from the many directions all too obvious by footfall or splashing water. He took a moment to stretch, glad to be out of such cramped confines and caught the eye of first the Marrs, then the Jedi. He still had a rather serious 'discussion' face directed toward the former Imperial.

"Perhaps this would be an opportune moment to allow the Marrs to rest, who knows if we'll have another chance to recover." Dargus seemed relieve to be able to lean against a wall for even a moment, not bothering to wait for an affirmative from the Jedi to relax for a moment, the man's frame was thick, and his brow heavy with sweat as a result.

"Master Jedi, perhaps we should speak?" Xanatos motioned toward a corner away from listening ears.

[Zem Vymes]

Not a moment too soon. Zem moved carefully in the pump hub, careful to not cause too much noise himself as he joined Xanatos at the far wall. Out of earshot from the civilians, he levied a stern expression on his unlikely companion.

"Alright. Who are you?"

If his motives were true, they couldn't proceed and act as good faith protectors any further without total honesty.

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos considered that. He could lie to the man, paint some fantastic tale to make himself look good. But he was a Jedi, wasn't he? Why lie to a mind-reader. He spoke low, not wanting to potentially upset the Marrs with the truth.

"My name is Xanatos Etanial, sir. Agent Class I Imperial Intelligence, though I rather doubt those credentials are still valid after this." He locked eyes with the Jedi, intent on letting him know that what he was saying was the divine's honest truth. "And I was ordered to kill this family, an order that I am rather adamant in refusing. There are lines that no one should be willing to cross."

He pointed at Tameena and her mother. "And I will not," His voice wavered, restraining the emotion he felt, the memory that mother and daughter brought up of his own family. "I will not cross that line."

[Zem Vymes]

There was considerable reluctance roiling in the former Imperial Agent's demeanor, but Vymes sensed no deception manifesting itself. Of course, there were other ways to deceive more passively, such as by omission, but the Jedi Master trusted his senses where he perhaps couldn't fully trust the man's words just yet.

Zem glanced back uneasily to the Marrs before turning to face Xanatos once more.

"You've picked a complicated time to betray your handlers, my friend."

The unsaid meaning being that his very presence had upset the assets in play for the family's extraction. There were backups still in play, but none were drawn up with the possibility of spiriting an extra person to safety in mind.

"I'll do what I can to get you out, but I need to know everything you know."

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos nodded slowly, listening. "I'll tell you what I can, Master Jedi - though I fear it's not going to be of much use. As far as I had been made aware I didn't have backup - so the current situation has caught me off guard as well."

Etanial's eyes seemed to shift in thought, as if a concept had just hit him. "That makes a strange sort of sense though, with the presence of the Imperial Knights, I guess that offer of a commission was legitimate." His OC hadn't been blowing smoke, it seemed this very much had been a mission that would have seen him recommended to the Knights, a fact that was a cold comfort in light of what 'orders' they were apparently fine with. He snapped back to the situation at hand, "My concern, much like yours, sir, is with getting the Marrs to safety. My own place in all of this is a secondary interest."

Xanatos Etanial had never planned on the contingency that he'd be leaving this planet. He still didn't.

[Zem Vymes]

Vymes searched his feelings, reading between the lines of what this man was telling him. Xanatos was apparently close to a commission in the Imperial Knights, by all accounts a prestigious posting within the Empire and the only sort for those of force sensitivity. So then, what caused the change of heart?

"I'm not prepared to be so cavalier about your place in all of this. You seem to be in search of some better answers. Work with me, and we'll look for those together."

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos stifled a laugh, shaking his head sadly. "It's a kind thought, Jedi. In fact I've been rather shocked by the kindness you've shown." He pursed his lips in a slight frown, "Just another lie I bought into, I suppose. You're nothing like the news films claim Jedi are like. You could have lost me any number of times, I'm sure it'd be far easier to finish your task without worrying about me."

He let out a soft, resigned sigh. "But I'm not a good person, Jedi. This? This is finally having one moment where I can be certain that I'm doing the right thing."

He half whispered to himself, "Divines know I've made a mess of every other attempt... "

He brought his face back up to a forced on, false smile. "But I do thank you for the thought. Truly."

[Zem Vymes]

Zem considered the meaning behind Xanatos' words. Behind the self deprecation there was more than modesty. He knew from many years what happened when men strove to be decent and occasionally strayed. He knew the feeling of hopelessness when you saw just how off that path you'd gone.

"Sometimes the time to prove your worth comes in one small moment. Don't waste it wondering if you add up on the scales of things, son. You're not the only stray out there. Don't turn away from a hope."

Zem offered Xanatos his hand.

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos looked at the man incredulously. Other strays? Hope? Nonsense. Pleasant nonsense, but nonsense. The measure of his worth had been taken a long time ago - and he had been found wanting.

Still, it would be impolite to leave the man hanging with his hand outstretched.

"You are not even aware of my actions, sir. I doubt you would be nearly as kind if you knew my history."

He took the man's hand to shake it, transfixed momentarily with his own memories, the events of the day had brought them so far up to the surface of his mind.

"Must we have this ridiculous conversation every day, Xanatos?" The woman with an appearance in her 40s sighed, exasperated, luxurious clothes rustling as she crossed her arms in front of a younger Etanial, fury building on his face. Another woman stood to one side, Etanial's age, with a hair color that matched his owns, a pleading sorrow deepening on her expression.

"Then answer me, mother!" He hissed through clenched teeth, "Why Orianna is permitted to travel to Coruscant and once again you insist I remain here?! When will I be allowed an opportunity to leave?"

"Xanatos, you are never…" the woman began to speak, and the memory degraded, flashing forward as it morphed to a vision of fear and anger. Xanatos stood over broken bodies, his face a mask of hatred before catching his reflection in the hallway mirror, and seeing the monster that stared back. His heart broke, face softening as his anger fled from him and he was left to stand in disgust and regret of his actions.

He broke the handshake, eyes wide at the vividness of his memory, and turned from the man. He hadn't experienced a vision that intense in many years. The days events were wearing on him.

"Some of us don't have hope remaining, sir." He finally managed to whisper.

[Zem Vymes]

He'd caught a glimpse behind the man's eyes. Silhouettes and whispers, but the feelings raw and electric like pulsing lightning held within rain-pregnant summer stormclouds.

"Tam..."

Zem's hand embraced tighter, remembering the razor's edge. That moment that cut right and wrong clean apart from each other so gently. Zem looked disoriented but for a moment, then fixed upon Xanatos.

"Some of us have just enough to share."

He wouldn't see one more good man burned up walking so close to the fire. Not one more. Zem looked back to the Marrs'.

"After all, you did that much for them."

A dull sound began to pick up in the distance. Zem paused in buoying Xanatos' spirits, pressing his ear close to the tunnel wall. Concern filled his expression.

"That's not troopers coming, that's..."

[Baastian Cain]

From somewhere behind the slick duracrete surface of the tunnel came a scraping, scratching, scrabbling sound, difficult to localize, but suffusing the whole passageway, and growing steadily louder and more distinct. Then, with the suddenness of a hatching egg, a patch of duracrete in the ceiling overhead cracked open and dropped into the sewage channel, revealing the tip of a spinning drill bit as thick as a man's arm, belching mud and water as it breached into the tunnel.

Another drill burst through the wall near Xanatos's ear a moment later, and both machines deployed a halo of spidery legs that dug into the duracrete and pulled themselves free of their stony burrows. They skittered nimbly along the tunnel walls like roaches, and, with blood-red, cyclopean oculars fixed on the fugitives --

The machines began to scream.

It was a throbbing, piercing, siren sound, as relentless and penetrating as the drills themselves, harmonizing with its own echos until the air itself vibrated, loud enough to induce nausea, vertigo, visual auras. Further up the tunnel, the Marrs' choking cries were nearly drowned out in the flood - two more mole droids had crawled from their holes and joined the hellish cacophony. Tameena shrieked in terror, both hands clamped over her ears, while blood seeped between her fingers.

[Xanatos Etanial]

The man was kind, and Etanial felt his heart nearly break again remembering his days on Mithos, remembering when he had once known the Jedi to be holy men of legend before he was indoctrinated by the Empire. It seemed the old stories were much closer to truth than he had been led to believe - and he was left wondering how many lies he had been fed in his career.

And then the walls erupted with spidery drones - like insects emerging from a hive. Xanatos hissed, teeth gritting as he stumbled away from the sound and nightmarish scene, his own ears trickling with thick blood, he reached for his blaster, vision nearly blurring from the pain and fired, the lead drone's red oculars exploded as the others began to skitter and move to prevent themselves from being so easily picked off.

"We have to silence them!" He tried to scream out over the noise, certain the Jedi was already aware of that fact, he put a hand on Zem's shoulder. "I'll protect the Marrs!" He turned to rush to their aide, trusting the Jedi to handle the droids.

[Zem Vymes]

"WHAT?"

Zem nearly doubled over, hands to his ears as he could feel the sonic oscillation in his bones. The confining space of the tunnels only served to amplify the noise as he steeled himself against the barrage. His saber was out of his hands in an instant, driving deep into one of the droids behind it's ocular point and the locus of the sound. It died in a flurry of sparks, leaving Zem to drive himself up to his shaky feet. He reached out to another droid. It's spidery appendages buckled inward, collapsing against it's frame as Zem continued unabated, his teeth gritting against the sonic hell unleashed. The droid's chassis began to crumple, drawn in on itself in a tremendous force that imploded upon it. The noise warbled and sputtered, finally dying as smoke billowed from it's crushed remnants.

Zem dropped to his hands and knees, the world humming in the white noise of tinnitis.

"WHAT??"

[Baastian Cain]

Dargus Marr had scooped up his screaming daughter in his arms and was urgently shepherding his wife further down the tunnel, but the droids easily kept pace with the fleeing family, howling their electronic wrath. One of them, sensing Xanatos splashing toward them through the muck, reversed course and leapt at the Imperial agent, grappling his leg with its spidery limbs and planting its hooks in his flesh.

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos screamed, the sound distant and muddied in his ears drowned out by the screeching imperial droids as his footing left him and he collapsed, pulled down by the droid. Anger flashed deep in his face, rage that called to him to wrap himself in it like an old familiar friend that promised bloody retribution on this mechanical thing. How dare it attack him, he was the Nobility of Mithos, he was of the bloodline of kings, he was... he was...

He saw his sister's face again, and then the Marr girl's. He steadied his breathing even as the droid dug in deeper, this was no time for such reactionary emotion. He brought his blaster to bare again as the droid clambered itself up him, straddling his chest, a blaster bolt echoed out in the tunnel, silencing the electronic howl of the droid, and Etanial pushed it's sparking frame off of him, a dark stain soaking through his pant leg where he bled.

Struggling, he forced himself to his feet and limped on, deeper into the tunnels after the family and the droids that had given chase, he came to a fork in the road and frowned, he had lost so much time how would he know which way to... a sound, distant, pleading from the right path. Xanatos pushed himself forward, the tunnel opening up into an underground transport system.

[Zem Vymes]

The world hummed in a dull din, and Zem called his still-lit saber from the smoldering frame of one of the dead droids to his hand as he picked up his pace. Xanatos was already making headway, following the hellish din as the last remaining droid skittered after the Marr family. Zem rounded a corner with authority of purpose given by the Force, following crystal clear instincts as a hand reached out, wrenching the last droid across duracrete as it tried to scratch forward. The Jedi Master sank his blade into it's carapace, wrenching a zig-zag wound until the oscillator was destroyed, and with it, the droid's motivator.

He paused but a moment, the world still a confusing hum to him.

[Baastian Cain]

The Marr family stumbled on after Xanatos, nearly drunk with terror, when a metallic shrieking noise from ahead made Mrs. Marr recoil. "Not more of those things!" she cried.

But with the shrieking rose the sound of rushing wind and a thunder that shook the ground beneath their feet. Up ahead, the drainage channel fell away beneath a metal grating that now covered the floor, and the tunnel intersected with a greater passageway with square walls and acrid yellow lights in the ceiling that flickered with the quaking earth. And then an enormous metro train roared past, a blur of plasteel panels and lighted windows and the silhouettes of ordinary citizens going about their mundane commutes.

The lights guttered again, throwing the tunnel into darkness. When they returned the train was gone, and Baastian Cain stood on the walkway on the far side of the tracks.

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos felt his heart leap into his throat at the appearance of the Imperial Knight. Fear threatening to overtake him, he glanced toward the Marrs, stopped terrified in their own tracks and steadied himself, driving dread away; he couldn't waste time on emotions that would distract him - too many lives were at stake. He kept his blaster level to his side, just in case, careful to exercise the trigger discipline he had been trained to observe.

"Knight Cain." He yelled across the empty space, eyes scanning the tracks for any further potential trains. "I really hope you're here to tell me this has all been a tremendous misunderstanding."

[Baastian Cain]

Baastian stared back across the gulf of the metro tracks, his face set like an idol in flint. "I was hoping you would say the same thing," he replied. The Knight looked past Xanatos, where Dargus, Allani, and Tameena huddled together in wide-eyed fear.

"Look at them, Xanatos," he said, extending a black-gloved hand. "Bleeding. Terrified. You know there's no escape, for you or for them. It's not too late for you to do the right thing."

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos followed the outstretched hand, looking at the Marrs, terrified and wide eyed at both men now - his own position as an Imperial being made clear to Dargus at the very least. Etanial was legitimately taken aback by what was being said to him though - so there had been no mistake, no miscommunication from his superiors at all. He turned his attention back to Cain.

"Even if I agreed with the order against Dargus Marr, what about his wife and child?" Xanatos shook his head sadly. "They've done nothing wrong." He raised his blaster toward the man, before letting a heavy sigh fall from his lips and tossing it out onto the rails. "And I'm done taking innocent lives." He stepped in front of the Marrs, intent on putting himself between the Knight and the family.

[Baastian Cain]

Baastian sighed and let his gaze slide away from his quarries. He appeared troubled.

"If you don't understand the burden of loyalty now," the Knight said, "I don't think there's any way I can explain it to you. A shame. You would have made a good Knight."

An idle sweep of his hand sent Xanatos tumbling into the rails, and then Baastian vaulted across them directly at Dargus Marr, igniting his diamond-white blade in midair.

[Zem Vymes]

SKRAAAAA

Baastian's white blade met blue in a thunderous torrent of screaming energy. Zem Vymes closed the distance in a rush, diving into a low guard as he applied a wellspring of leverage against the Knight's attempt to end the civilian and his family.

"Loyalty don't mean a lick without a higher cause tying that bind."

The Jedi Master rose, pressing steadfast against Cain's blade.

"Now you turn these people loose and walk away while you still can."

[Xanatos Etanial]

The air rushed from his lungs as he hit the rails, cold metal stinging his already battered and bleeding form as Cain pulled Xanatos out of the way through the Force and leaped toward the Marrs. He started to yell no, to scramble for his blaster when the Jedi arrived, his own saber catching the Imperial's in time to prevent needless slaughter. The man caught himself smiling at the fact, adrenaline pumping through his frame at the Jedi's last minute save of the family. He was of no use down here, though he wasn't sure how much use he could be at all in a fight between a Jedi and an Imperial Knight, his eyes wandered the rails until he found the blaster he had tossed away, and he considered picking it back up. But hadn't he thrown it away for a reason, didn't there have to be a better way to all of this? He had no desire to take the life of the Marrs or of Knight Cain.

He reconsidered the idea, before finally scrambling over to grab hold of the blaster once more. It may still prove useful.

[Baastian Cain]

Baastian's eyes widened in shock as his killing blow was met with a force equal to his own. And then, as his blade levered against Zem's, who stood before him dauntless and resolute like a guardian angel, Baastian glowed with admiration.

"I've always wanted to cross blades with a Jedi," he said cheerfully.

The Imperial Knight shoved against the blade lock with preternatural strength, enough to open a stride's length of space between them, and then he unleashed a staggering flurry of Djem So, meaning to Zem backwards and out of the fight with a barrage of short, savage strokes. Would brute force would be enough to break the Jedi's root? Inwardly, he hoped not. He would prefer if this duel did not end so quickly.

[Zem Vymes]

The strength of youth met the patience of sage. The Jedi Master's blue blade washed over Baastian's aggressive front in classic Soresu, bending yet unbreaking, allowing his cascading power strikes to fall just off their mark in a diversion of momentum. He gave the ground he could afford to give, not a tense muscle in his expression as he weighed the Knight's worthiness. A winding cleave from Baastian's blade was at last not reciprocated with a leveraged parry, and Zem stepped into the absence of Cain's weapon, his own lightsaber now drawing small precise attacks deriving an economy of motion against the Knight, who now suddenly found himself an aggressor on the defensive.

[Baastian Cain]

With one deft move Zem had changed the axis of the battle - now instead of Baastian driving him back into the drainage tunnel, the Jedi was driving him back up the metro line while the Marrs fled down it. The Imperial Knight conceded ground rather than waste energy while Zem had the leverage. His hilt centered on his navel, protecting his center and forcing Zem to either keep his distance or widen his swings in an attempt to open up his defense.

The lights flickered again as a train came hurtling up the opposite track. Baastian sent a Force push into Zem's center of gravity, likely not enough to bowl him over, but enough to make him check his balance, and dove like a manka cat back across the tracks a hairsbreadth in front of the oncoming train.

While the juddering cars formed a barrier between them, Baastian sprinted up the walkway on the far side of the tracks, quickly eating up the lead gained by the fleeing family.

[Xanatos Etanial]

He'd felt the train before he'd heard or seen it, the rails rumbling under him as a light grew in the distance moving quickly toward where he was. He'd been forced to choose a side and pulled himself across from where the Marrs and the Jedi were, pulling himself out of the rail pit just as Cain dove back to the same side he was on, maneuvering to give himself the advantage as soon as the train passed. A shock of concern wrecked Etanial, Cain would only need a split second of action once he had his eyes back on the family again, and there was no telling with the train between them of the Jedi's condition. He had to do something.

Etanial was too far away to physically stop him, and any motion of his blaster would be met with a quick deflection by the Knight's skills, he was certain. His lips pursed. It had been years since he'd actively interacted with the Force, but here something deeper told him it was his only choice, like a whisper in his ear. But what could he do, caught in the middle of two great powers? A Jedi Master and an Imperial Knight, and he was nothing but a leaf thrown about as their thunderheads crashed against each other. What could a small thing like him do, with what little - if any skill he could muster. He was terribly out of practice for what he had learned, without formal training at that, but he had to try something.

He stretched out, reaching near Cain, past Cain - ahead of him as he ran down the tunnel, searching for something, anything, letting his senses guide him. There. Emotion roiling as anger and fear begged to be let in, promising the strength to help. It was so very tempting, but there was something more - something that he'd lost. the Jedi Master had told him, "Some of us have just enough to share." Hope. He still doubted he deserved any himself, but he could still hope could he not? Hope for the Marrs safety. For a way to keep Cain away from them. It was all he could offer, so he shared it. He pushed back the darker elements that howled at his rejection and focused on that hope, fingers working as his eyes narrowed, straining to keep his senses clear even as the exertion of what he attempted threatened to break his tenuous connection to the Force.

He pulled, and off ahead, just in front of Cain snapped what he had grabbed onto, a rusted bolt pinning down an overhead waterpipe in the tunnel, the weight and force causing it to shift, rending and tossing it's pressurized contents backwards right as Baastian Cain stepped in front of it. It had been such a small thing.

[Baastian Cain]

The bolt spanged out of the pipe housing like a bullet from a gun, and a halo of spray darkened the duracrete walls until, with a shriek of overburdened metal, the pipe came swinging down from the ceiling, belching torrential gouts of water like a severed artery. Baastian sensed the pipe dropping and dove for the grating beneath his feet as the pipe struck a handrail and split again, blasting the slanted walls of the tunnel with even more water.

Tumbling on the service walk and now thoroughly soaked, Baastian could see he'd lost pace on his targets. He rolled to one knee, reached out a gloved hand, and focused on the back rail of the receding train disappearing around the bend up ahead. His senses extended, and in his mind's eye he closed his hand around that rail and gripped for all he was worth.

The rail buckled but held, and Baastian hurtled forward like a comet as if he'd been attached to the train by a cable. He released his Force grip in midair above the tracks and tucked his legs in front of him to brace his landing.

He struck the other service walkway with enough force to pucker the grating beneath his feet. Now he stood on the near side of the tracks again, directly in front of the Marrs, who stumbled to a halt, Dargus in front of his wife and his daughter with his arms spread to hold them back, Zem Vymes lagging somewhere behind them.

Baastian re-ignited his blazing white saber and advanced toward them like a vornskr stalking a herd of shaak.

[Zem Vymes]

Zem at last caught sight of the Imperial Knight, now unfortunately ahead of the mark and cutting the Marr family off once more. There was too much ground to cover to guarantee their safety, and the Jedi Master dashed into a force-augmented sprint, his lightsaber extinguishing in the grip of one of his pumping hands. The distance closed at an unnatural pace as Vymes made a waving motion with his right hand. The Marr family crumpled to the ground, pushed aside roughly - though far more gentle than Baastian Cain would have afforded. The gap available between Jedi Master and Imperial Knight was soon occupied with a flurry of energy. Vymes pumped his hands ahead - left right left right left right - each action delivering in kind with a splash of kinetic force against Cain. Individually they were bothersome. As a barrage, they harried the Knight to a crawl as he negotiated each footstep.

The last thirty feet were closed in a single leap that ended with an off-balance Baastian Cain getting a kiss from the Jedi Master's boot, rather than the other way around.

[Baastian Cain]

"Unf!"

Baastian took the full force of Zem's boot in his face and went tumbling backward with the taste of blood in his mouth. Dazed, but not debilitated, the Imperial Knight clambered into a crouch facing the advancing Jedi. Then he plunged his saber blade into grating at his feet and sliced up toward the rail, cutting a molten arc that split the durasteel walkway cleanly in two.

Then he raised a fist and pounded on the walkway, sending tremors up and down its entire length. Both sides of the catwalk plunged to the floor of the tunnel, pitching Baastian and Zem alike two meters straight down to track level and cutting off the Marrs' avenue of escape.

[Zem Vymes]

Zem pitched downward in the sudden change of landscape, rolling down the mangled metalwork to the duracrete foundation below. He allowed his momentum to right himself, finding his feet the moment they cleared even ground. Drawing to his full height again, the Jedi Master briefly flicked a hand across his shoulder to clear an accumulation of dust before sparking his saber to life once more. He regarded his adversary with concerned interest. For whatever he was, there was no sense of the unquenchable horror of the dark side manifest in his actions. That made his situation truly tragic.

"Where's the right in this, son? If you haven't asked yourself that, you need to do it now before someone gets hurt."

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos almost sighed when the Knight had recovered so quickly. Like a leaf in the wind indeed, but it had cost Knight Cain a step hadn't it? He simply had to rely that it'd been enough to keep the Marrs out of harms way for a moment. The battle had restarted and Etanial watched in wide eyed shock as the Imperial, a man who would have been his superior had things gone differently, a man who he'd looked up to - honestly the way the holofeeds treated him, was almost a celebrity - cut the walkway to drop himself, the Jedi and a screaming family into the path of potentially deadly trains.

The Knight and Jedi could manage, could avoid them with relative ease, but a young girl like Tameena, or the rest of the family? This was nuts - and he was too far away to do anything immediate. Crossing meant he had to climb down, go around and climb back up. He'd lose valuable time, or have to risk diving into the rail pit himself. Or... his eyes fell on the dangling catwalk across from him. Cain had done it, hadn't he? Could Xanatos?

His connection to the Force, tenuous as it always had been felt... stronger after manipulating the bolt. Deepened. He'd always let himself be awash with his fears and doubts, but he'd had to focus and push past those negative thoughts and emotions earlier. He locked eyes with the pathway and steadied his breathing, feeling the Force, the Living Force move against his body, when he'd used it in the past it had always felt like forcing something, like grabbing hold and wrenching it into place - but when he'd acted earlier it had felt natural, like an extension of himself. He had to do it again. He got a running start, pumping his legs, feeling the Force draw in, strengthen him and leapt.

For a moment he thought he'd done the stupidest thing in the world, thrown himself off a hanging catwalk, and then his momentum kept moving forward, eyes on the railing he reached out, stretched, fingertips gripping hold just as he started to fall, body hanging from the railing as he barely made it. His heart pumping, and legs burning, but he made it. He stifled a joyous laugh and pulled himself up and over the collapsed metal, hooking a leg steady himself as he slid down it slowly, one hand careful to hold onto the handrail and not tumble down like the others. When he got to where it hung down just over the pit, he slowly lowered himself, keeping his leg hooked and reached down, motioning towards the Marrs a short distance from where he'd come down, arms outstretched to pull them up one at a time. Hopefully the Master Jedi could keep Baastian Cain busy long enough for him to pull them up.

[Baastian Cain]

Baastian only spared a glance for the agent and the family of civilians grappling for purchase on the pitched walkway. He couldn't deal with them until he had dispatched the more serious threat that stood before him.

"If you hold the rights of three citizens over three hundred trillion, that's your call."

With his free hand, he gripped the rail from the broken catwalk behind him and twisted it savagely - the metal shrieked and yielded where it had already been mangled in the fall, and Baastian swung the five-meter shank of steel like a polearm, daring Zem to parry it and take a molten spearhead to the chest.

[Zem Vymes]

Calmly, Zem watched his opponent and his new-found weapon with careful poise. He steadied his blade for the next attack, mindful of the added danger now involved. The Jedi Master carefully metered out the space he had to work with, which was dwindling. As the Imperial Knight swung his makeshift pike, Vymes moved to pivot onto the railing, mindful of his balance. A second strike came, and Zem sent the business end of the rail work plummeting on an artificial trajectory to the ground with the aid of the force. With a new rail in the form of Baastian's own weapon, Zem ran up it's length, raking his lightsaber down towards Cain.

[Baastian Cain]

To gain the advantage of height and leverage, the Jedi master had given up his footing. Baastian dropped the shank of steel and backpedaled until the Zem had reached the apex of his rail-assisted leap. Then the Imperial Knight planted his feet on the duracrete floor to make himself a fulcrum for the soaring Jedi to pivot around.

With their blades locked, Baastian's off-hand seized Zem's shoulder in a grip like a vornskr's jaws and redirected his momentum. The Imperial Knight flung his enemy headlong into the metro line, aiming for the electrified middle rail.

[Zem Vymes]

The momentum was too great for Zem to arrest it, and the Force sang deeply in alarm at the peril he was hurtling towards. The Jedi Master dipped his blade low, scraping deep into duracrete and metal alike, drawing in a wide arc to sever the third rail just as he impacted hard against the line. Vymes spilled in a heap, coming up slow with a gash at his forehead. Steeling his resolve, he sparked his blue blade once more, sailing across the divide to close the distance and prevent Baastian from making good on any danger he could bring to the Marrs'.

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos had helped Allani up first the woman gripping the railing to keep herself upright with one hand, steadying her foot against crossbars of the collapsed walkway to help give her purchase, as Xanatos twisted, raising up Tameena from where her father had helped her up. He curled his body upward, straining at the motion while holding the little girl and raised her up to her mother's waiting arm, Allani clutching the young girl to her chest tightly. Xanatos glanced toward the battle, concern marring his face as he saw the Jedi Master flung away from Knight Cain, there was little time to move, he couldn't risk the Imperial Knight taking his shot at the family now that he had a split second away from the Jedi.

"Give me your hand Mr. Marr!' Xanatos called down to the man, offering his hand.

[Baastian Cain]

Baastian wheeled and saw that Xanatos had already pulled the woman and child to safety, but Dargus was dangling from the catwalk by one hand and reaching for Xanatos with the other. The Imperial Knight stretched out an open hand and squeezed it into a crushing fist.

Dargus screamed as his wrist splintered, breaking his grip on the catwalk floor and pitching him backwards to the duracrete below. But Baastian didn't have the opportunity to do more damage before he had to parry Zem's blade again, and the force of the charging Jedi drove Baastian backward down the line.

White and blue blades hissed like chain lightning as the overhead lights flickered again. Another train was coming, no longer under power, but coasting under momentum despite the protest of its shrieking brakes.

[Zem Vymes]

The Jedi Master used the energies of Soresu to cast Baastian's aggression free like scattered seeds to the wind. The two fighters maneuvered together as if the world around them had fallen into the abyss. Zem measured his opponent strike by strike, neither taking nor giving as he put himself between Baastian and the injured defector. As one of Baastian's strikes returned to center, Zem drove forth with force, screaming his lightsaber against the Knights as the two men pressed down upon each other straddling the tracks.

"This doesn't have to end with wasted life, son! Yours or theirs!"

[Baastian Cain]

Baastian's face was implacable in the lightning glow of the shimmering blades. Beneath them, the floor began to rumble with the force of the oncoming train, which threw up sparks from its wheels as it careened closer.

"I believe in the righteousness of my cause, Jedi. How much do you believe in yours?"

With a sudden burst of rancor strength, he levered Zem's blade aside and shifted his off hand from his own hilt to the Jedi's wrist. The two men grappled over their weapons in a macabre waltz, until Baastian wrested his own weapon free and flung it through the air. It flew straight and true as an arrow, straight through the back of Dargus Marr. Allani screamed, burying her daughter's face in her skirts as Dargus staggered and crumpled to the duracrete floor.

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos winced, shoulders slumping as Dargus fell, a feeling over powerlessness and failure striking through him, Allani and Tameena had been forced to witness that, to see it happen - but Cain, to succeed in his primary mission had given up his weapon, it spokes volumes of the man's commitment to his cause. That he would willingly disarm himself in the face of his enemy to finish his task. Xanatos felt the pang of the jingoistic pride that had been beat into him during training, but reminded himself that Dargus had not been the sole target.

He turned an eye catching with Mrs. Marr's, her expression awash with so many emotions. He'd tried so hard to get them all out of there, and he'd failed. He wrapped his arms around her, apologetically and comfortingly. "We need to get Tameena away from Knight Cain, we can't let this have been for nothing." They needed to focus now, to keep from collapsing and making Baastian Cain's job all the easier. He worked to move them further away from the scene, away from the danger. There would be time later to mourn.

[Zem Vymes]

The moment Baastian broke loose, Zem could see the future. In the crystalline moment of action, what was otherwise ephemeral was as clear as fact. The force was a blessing in so many ways. Here it cursed Zem Vymes.

There was nothing he could do. The Jedi Master didn't even cry out. It was done. Even before Baastian's saber had left his hand. Zem watched Mr. Marr die without surprise on his face. Disappointment crushed down upon him. There wasn't a wicked bent in Baastian Cain. He was simply tragically fatally mistaken.

The lightsaber hilt shifted from the point where it had plunged into the slain man's back, and Vymes was wrenched from his reverie by Baastian's obliviousness disregard for that clarity of moment. Again, the force spoke so clear. Only now, it was Baastian who could do nothing but ride the rails of fate with his agency stolen. The Imperial Knight's hand outstretched, calling his blade back to him. The moment gripped Zem inexorably.

A flash of blue washed over Baastian's face as Zem lunged in passing. The Knight's lightsaber sailed past his expectant grasp as Baastian's severed hand fell to the floor.

[Baastian Cain]

For the first time since the pursuit had begun, Baastian wavered. He looked down at the steaming stump of his wrist and then back at his foe, curiously blank of shock or pain or anger.

Then his other hand, still gripped tightly on Zem's wrist, twisted with cruel force, pressing the blue blade perilously close to the Jedi's own face. Baastian drove his severed limb into Zem's stomach, lifting his feet from the ground, and threw him savagely down onto the tracks with enough force to pucker the duracrete beneath his back. Baastian pinned him there with his knee across Zem's abdomen. The train rumbled closer.

Baastian's face still held no malice, no fear. "How much do you believe?" he asked.

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos had managed to get Allani and Tameena back to the top of the catwalk, relatively away from the danger now transpiring in the rail pit. He turned his attention to the scene before him, Knight Cain had lost his hand to the Jedi, and now pinned both of them in the path of the oncoming train. An echo carried across his ears and for a moment a brief second Xanatos was certain he saw what was about to happen. He narrowed his expression in determination, and knew in that moment that there had been a reason for him to have been here, he raised the blaster he had thrown away earlier, and then picked up again unsure if it held any worth any longer and pulled the trigger.

The scene played out just as it had moments before in his vision and Imperial Intelligence Agent Class I, Xanatos Etanial shot an Imperial Knight in the back.

[Zem Vymes]

Baastian's face still held no malice, no fear. "How much do you believe?" he asked.

A brief struggle proved to no avail. By force alone Zem would not prevail here. Baastian's words carried finality with them, audible over the screeching approaching din. The Jedi Master did not rage into the end. He didn't lament. The rigor of exertion left his expression as he looked up at the Knight, calm at the brink.

"Enough."

Zem's eyes closed. He turned to his sanctuary in the force, casting his lot fully to it's will as he'd done so many times during the Purge. The answer was written clear a moment before it happened. He opened his eyes before the shot. A half a heartbeat later, the tension in Baastian's restraint relented but for a moment. His grip loosened. Zem inhabited that moment of respite, the force he'd sought refuge within delivering him from oblivion as he threw himself clear from the tracks to the opposite wall.

And even on the cusp of his own salvation, Zem couldn't rest. Baastian Cain the killer. Baastian Cain the enemy. What did he deserve?

Zem stretched as far as he could muster...an offered hand of help.

[Baastian Cain]

The blaster bolt staggered Baastian, and though the fibers of his uniform wicked away the worst of its destructive force, there was nothing he could to to prevent Zem's escape. Even as the Jedi Master flew from his grasp, the Knight reached out with his remaining hand.

But not toward Zem.

His ebony-and-electrum lightsaber skidded across the duracrete and took flight once more, and before it even reached his hand Baastian was spinning to bring his weapon to bear on his enemy, to strike the Jedi master down so he could resume his pursuit of the traitor and the two fugitives huddling on the catwalk. He was halfway through the maneuver when he saw the train bearing down, mere meters away, a hundred tonnes of screaming metal and glass closing on him like the hand of fate.

The Knights of the Imperial Throne did not shrink from death. As thunder filled his ears, Baastian Cain closed his eyes and committed himself to the Unifying Force.

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos had turned back to Allani and Tameena after shooting Knight Cain, and turned them away, they didn't need to see what was going to happen. Young Tameena had already seen enough death this day. Allani clutched her daughter a little tighter as Xanatos spoke. "This isn't over yet, we'll need to keep you both moving." There was no joy in what had happened, no excitement at the loss of a life. Xanatos had taken too many in his years as it was. But Knight Cain wouldn't have stopped with just Dargus, he would have kept coming after the Marrs until he'd succeeded.

Xanatos turned back to see if the Jedi had made it, though he was certain he had.

[Zem Vymes]

The train passed his empty hand, occupying the gulf between Zem and Xanatos with what remained of the Marr family. The Jedi Master's hand felt heavy by the burden of loss, and he lowered it with his averted eyes. He'd warned Baastian of the destruction he toyed with. He'd tried to dissuade him from casting lives away into the hurricane. There was no victory in this ugliness. A mother without a husband. A child without a father. A man without a second chance.

Zem Vymes could not despair. He'd walked that line all those years ago.

At last the train passed, revealing those still under his protection. The Jedi Master returned his saber to his belt and crossed over once more.

[Xanatos Etanial]

Xanatos nodded to the Jedi Master when he returned, and together the troupe made there way through the labyrinthine passageways. The Jedi master had an exit plan as he had said before and despite a few more roadblocks set up by the Empire they had eventually made it to a spaceport where transport had been arranged. The now former Imperial shook Mrs. Marr's hand as she got on board the shuttle, wishing her safely on her way, and offering sincere apologies for what had happened. Tameena offered a hug, and Xanatos gladly accepted it, holding the young girl tightly, reminded so deeply of his own youth and how fleeting it had been. The situation seemed almost surreal, to watch what remained of this family he had guarded disappear into the vessel. He turned his attention back to the Jedi master, offering his hand.

"Thank you." He said softly, "For all you've done to help them." He smiled, though it was empty, "I think this is where we say goodbye."

[Zem Vymes]

It had been no way to make acquaintances, but no man could determine what lay on his path, only which direction he walked. Zem watched the Marrs' leave. They'd won their freedom, but at a heavy price. For Xanatos, it was a more uncertain future. As Zem shook the man's hand, he could feel once again what had been made plain to him before.

"Come with me. To Ossus."

[Xanatos Etanial]

He blinked once, then a second time. A genuine smile cracking across his lips as he shook his head, "That's... that is truly kind of you to offer." He sighed, and let his hand wander to the back of his neck, rubbing there. Etanial had made no plan to leave this world, at least not alive. The weight of the blaster at his hip felt heavier now than it ever had, his own destiny to be met swallowing the business end in a back alley when he was certain the Marrs would not be forced to see such a sight.

"But a person like me..." He started to protest, emotion finally catching up to him from the events that had transpired as he brought a sleeve up to wipe away damp eyes, "a person like me doesn't get a happy ending." his shoulders slumped, brow furrowing. "You don't even know the sort of man I am." He straightened himself a bit, trying to compose himself, to not give away the finality of their meeting. "Besides what good could I possibly be to anyone on Ossus? I don't have any Imperial secrets to share, I'm afraid."

[Zem Vymes]

"I felt the nature of your character back there, Xanatos. If there's anything I understand, it's what it means to face inner conflict and doubt."

In Etanial, Vymes found himself looking back through time at all the others who faced that moment. Tam. Loklorien. Himself.

"You're not alone, son. The burden you carry in you might be uniquely yours, but there are others who have carried their own weight. It isn't about what you deserve. It's about what you can do to lift up the undeserving, the hopeless. If you truly gave in to despair today, more people would have died."

[Xanatos Etanial]

Zem's words of inner conflict mirrored what he was feeling in that moment. He'd been so certain before of his path, of wanting to devote himself to helping others, it's why he'd agreed to the Inquistoriate's invitation while he was being held by them. The revelation that he'd been lied to, that he'd been taken back down a path that was just as evil as any he'd taken before. Oriana, mother... was it right to have yet another chance with those crimes hanging over him as such?

His face turned dour as he considered the weight of his choices. "Sir." He attempted another protest, already feeling as though his position was one he was losing, not just to what the Jedi Master had to say, but to his own inner struggle, he leaned in quieter. "I'm a murderer. I've used up my second chances." Surely this revelation would show the Jedi the error in his desire to help Xanatos.

[Zem Vymes]

Zem listened to the confession. It was not one given or received lightly. He could feel the heaviness of the moment and knew that a casual pardon was neither helpful nor respectful to the burden placed on Xanatos' heart.

"I think you'll find that the way to pay for dark deeds is harder than suicide, if that's what you believe your choice to be. I've seen good men gripped by the despair of a moment of darkness. They destroyed themselves in an incomplete and selfish act. It's harder to carry that weight with you and walk a path that's already difficult to begin with. Perhaps this is a second chance like you say. But I can't undo what you've done, son. I don't have that power and neither do you. If you truly believe your debt is unpaid, then you've got a long lifetime ahead of you to rectify it. It's up to you to make that first step."

[Xanatos Etanial]

The Jedi's words hit him like a speeding transport. It was the same sort of thought he'd had himself, that inner part of him that knew what he needed to do, even as his own emotions and doubts struggled to push him another direction. The candor the man showed, and obvious knowledge of exactly what Etanial had planned after their discussion rather said it all. He wasn't forgiving Xanatos, or even telling him to forgive himself. Rather he was pointing out the obvious truth, Xanatos needed to live with what he'd done. He needed to, because he - much like the Jedi himself it would seem - knew the weight of his actions, and that was a knowledge he could share, wasn't it? Just as the Jedi was now sharing with Etanial.

His body language relaxed, a nearly sobbing laugh tearing through him as he shook his head with a touch of relief crossing his face. "You don't' seem the type to take no for an answer, Master Jedi." He drew in a deep breath and held it, forcing himself to steady to the thought. "I'm willing to go with you, and at least learn more. I've made far too many mistakes in my life to simply throw my lot in with you without first coming to a better understanding. There's a lot of confusion I need to work out, what I've known, what the Empire told me, and where the truth in all of this really is." He pulled the blaster from his hip, looking at it, before offering the weapon to the Jedi as a sign of trust, of putting his faith in something larger. "I'll go with you."

[Zem Vymes]

Zem considered the weapon before him. A blaster. Imperfect, impresise. A tool too frequently taken up by a hand that knows not what it does. He accepted Xanatos's weapon as a token of the hardest first step.

"You will spend a long life in search for that answer, Xanatos. Trust an old soul who's still looking. I can promise you only that the journey is fulfilling."

With that, the two men made good their intent to leave Zeltros behind. Though the mission was technically a failure, the Jedi Master knew better than to see the truth of things in such final terms.

[Baastian Cain]

Imperial Centre. Within minutes.



As the sun set over the Imperial Citadel, washing the mountainous stratoscrapers in pure golden light, something far below the surface was rising.

//INCOMING TRANSMISSION. ENCRYPTION LEVEL SHEN. ACCESSING DECRYPTION KEY. DECRYPTION ACCEPTED.//

Deep in the subbasement of the Citadel, many levels below the old Jedi Temple, in a laboratory buried under just as much secrecy and security as duracrete, a long row of upright storage tanks stood enshrouded. One of them began to glow.

//DATA DUMP RECEIVED. DECOMPRESSING MEMORY ENGRAMS. NEW BACKUP CREATED.//

Two lab technicians in sterile suits approached the glowing tank and carefully drew away the shroud. The fluid inside was cloudy with nutrients, but not opaque enough to completely conceal the shadowy form contained within. One of them studied the access monitor on the front face of the tank - pH levels, electrical activity, homeostatic measures. Satisfied, he keyed in the appropriate alphanumeric sequence, and with a whining of servos the tank began to pivot onto its back. Fluid gushed through the pipes beneath the tank as it began to drain.

//NEW ENGRAMS INTEGRATED WITH CORE MEMORY STRUCTURES. READY TO UPLOAD. UPLOAD IN PROGRESS.//

The tank was still draining as it reclined fully, until the tideline began to reveal a proud, patrician nose, a lantern jaw, a barrel chest wrapped in steely muscle, all covered in monitor leads that sank beneath the glistening pink skin, like the skin of a newborn.

//UPLOAD IN PROGRESS.//

//UPLOAD IN PROGRESS.//

//UPLOAD COMPLETE.//

With a baleful hiss a new atmosphere flooded the tank, fogging up the observation windows, and one by one the monitor leads began to withdraw. The man inside the tank drew in a sharp, gasping, choking breath.

//WELCOME BACK KNIGHT CAIN.//

The tank split open down the middle like the shell of a fabled sea creature giving birth to a new deity. And as the cold air of the laboratory hit his face, Baastian Cain opened his eyes again for the first time.