[Video]

[out_of_order]

[A flare of light, a glimpse of sky. A groan in pain and a perhaps familiar if panicked beeping.

There's a brief glimpse of the little bipedal droid as he dashes by while the tablet settles, still propped up at an angle, although at most they only capture the edge of a pair of boots.]

-ow, ow... Great timing as usual. Yeah BeeDee, I'm fine, I'm-

[The boots shift, accompanied by an off-screen hiss as Cal sucks in a sharp breath, and for a moment he stills, a thoughtful silence settling in. It's broken by BD-1's scrabbling about, pausing before his boxlike head dips down to peer directly into the communicator's camera. He hoots inquiringly.]

...Hm? What is it, buddy?

[Those boots drag themselves off-screen, and then the camera moves as it's picked up. Cal frowns a moment before his brow eases with a weary smile.]

Hey Temba.

Comments

[out_of_order]

Yep. Definitely not a blaster wound.

[It doesn't hurt too bad thanks to BD-1's stims, but those are only temporary fixes.]

Short answer: a lot. Long answer... ended up having to infiltrate an secret Inquisitor fortress and ran into someone a whole lot worse than an Inquisitor.

...have I told you about those guys?

[only_an_echo]

[Well, he's getting another temporary gauze bandage for his troubles. Along with a Look™ as he gives the slightly longer answer.]

No, nut you're going to have to if I'm going to try making any sense out of this.

[out_of_order]

[Cal grins ruefully.]

Yeah, sort of figured that.

Well, the Inquisitors are the Empire's solution to hunting down any remaining Jedi. They also used to be Jedi themselves...

The one who had been especially giving us a hard time used to be the padawan of the Jedi I've been traveling with. She managed to get a hold of the holocron we'd been searching for, a holocron with a list of Force-sensitive children.

[only_an_echo]

[There's no way Echo could have gone into this prepared. Effort is put into not having a face journey with each new piece of information dropped.]

That's horrible. Turning Jedi against Jedi...unthinkable.

[And yet, from a strategic perspective, it's unpredictable in the long run. The list of Force-sensitive children in the mix is just as worrying. Despite narrowing his eyes, he moves to help Cal up.]

If you feel like you're up for walking...what happened after she got the holocron?

[out_of_order]

Yeah...not the greatest thing to find out.

[Cal looks immediately regretful that he'd just dumped this on Echo. Maybe he needs more sleep.]

...let's get going. Not doing any better being here.

[He slowly gets to his feet with the clone's assistance.]

Trilla. The Second Sister. [He feels the need to make her name known at least. It hadn't been her fault, and in the end he only wishes they could have saved her.]

...Cere knew where she'd gone. She'd escaped from there when she'd lost Trilla. Of course it's deep in Imperial territory, but thanks to Merrin, we were able to slip in without being detected.

The fortress is in the middle of an ocean, so Cere and I went the underwater route and snuck in that way.

[only_an_echo]

[The names are memorized in case he needs them for future reference. The title alone for Trilla makes him wary of a person who isn't even present, but hearing more of the story levels it out to a certain degree.]

That sounds familiar...

[Like Tipoca City was, in the middle of nowhere and off the grid until Kamino was rediscovered.

With the helmet back over his head, his feet are planted firmly as Cal finds his, standing on the side less injured, resting an arm over his shoulder before gently urging him to start walking with him.]

If you were both able to sneak in, that just shows how good their security systems are.

[out_of_order]

Well...it doesn't hurt to have a Nightsister magicking your ship under the radar either.

[He sets the pace for them, slow but steady as he's able to manage. BD-1 remains on the ground, scampering back and forth when he's not distracted by the scenery.]

The Stormtroopers on guard were pretty easy to take care of, and by then I've handled more than a few Purge Troopers to be able to fend them off. I'm pretty sure the majority of security was based on the fact that it wasn't supposed to be a known site by just anyone.

[only_an_echo]

[He nods at that, recalling the greenish glowing light Merrin conjured up out of thin air. The added benefit of going slower than usual is that he doesn't run into the little bipedal droid and he's thankful for that.

Although it's been a while since Echo has last heard the term 'stormtrooper,' it still doesn't sit well with him. That all subsides when he turns his head slightly to look at Cal.]

Purge Troopers? What exactly was everyone else doing there?

[out_of_order]

Purge Troopers... they're specifically trained to deal with Jedi. [Cal makes a face.] Armed with melee weapons, electrostaffs and batons, things like that. They hit hard.

Not sure what all else was going on there. Didn't want to stick around any longer than we had to. But I just know from Cere that it's where Jedi were taken...and turned into Inquisitors.

[only_an_echo]

[The lines in Echo's face draw taut, the frown deepening underneath his helmet. He doesn't even have to voice his disdain for the Empire at this point.]

I don't blame you for not wanting to. Making your way out of an Imperial base should be just as quick as infiltrating it.

...Given your other injury, I'm assuming you saw Trilla again.

[out_of_order]

We did. The fight was inevitable.

[He winces.]

This wasn't from her.

[only_an_echo]

There was another Inquisitor still on base?

[out_of_order]

...I don't think he was an Inquisitor.

[only_an_echo]

[The clone's head tilts, casting a sideways glance Cal's way.]

What do you mean?

[It's almost a whisper - curious about the answer, yet it remains tinged with caution.]

[out_of_order]

He was much, much worse.

[And really, there's only one thing that black-clad figure could have been, now that Cal has time to think on it.]

...pretty sure it was a Sith.

[only_an_echo]

Sith? I thought there weren't any more.

[Echo feels like he should know this already, but most of his experience has been around the Jedi.]

[out_of_order]

That's what I thought, but I'm not so sure anymore.

[He shakes his head.]

Whatever he was, it was on a completely different level than the Inquisitors. It didn't look like he made any effort to bat away our attacks. He was tearing up the walkway I was running on and I'm not even sure how he managed to get to the lift even after that because I was pretty sure I left him on the other side.

[only_an_echo]

[His mouth forms a hard line to keep himself from fully grimacing at the thought.]

Having to see that kind of destruction firsthand, I wouldn't want to know either. How were you able to get away from him?

[out_of_order]

It was a pretty near thing. I thought we'd managed to get away once BeeDee activated the lift, but somehow he still caught up with us. That's about when this happened.

[He glances down at his wound.]

But Cere arrived just in time before he could do worse. ...she was struggling though, with the Dark Side. Being back in that place... Well, it was a lot. And she was using that anger to fight back against this guy. I couldn't let her lose herself, so I broke the glass, let the water come pouring in. When the Sith was distracted, I grabbed Cere and we escaped through the opening.

[only_an_echo]

[Echo visibly winces, refraining from doing anything more than a bowed head movement and drawing his free shoulder up a few degrees. Even with the helmet on, his masked expression is pretty obvious.]

It's hard to imagine what that struggle feels like. But you did what you had to do.

...It's a good thing you two got away or else this would have been a completely different story.

[out_of_order]

I know it's a lot of trying to keep your emotions balanced. It's too easy to lose yourself to that. The Dark Side...it thrives on the negative.

[Cal breathes out a laugh, not without a wince, but he nods.]

Yeah, I'll say. Merrin came to our rescue once we were back in the water. I wouldn't have managed to make it up with Cere and BeeDee, otherwise.