Vax sighed contentedly as he finished the bowl of stew, setting it aside before glancing at the ripper. "Goolah, go and play in the mushroom grove." The ripper gave a questioning sort of hoot, but Vax shooed it away with one hand. "Go play, go play. I will be here when you get back." Almost as if seeming uncertain, the ripper took to the air and circled the pair of men once before flying off to the south.

"Jedi brainwashing, eh? Aye, I've often wondered if our methods had been too extreme in some ways. It's why I never sat on the Council, you know. I suppose in the end that happened to be a good thing, eh?" Vax chuckled for a moment, though it sounded bitter. He glanced back at Sturn, cocking his head to the side. "But it's almost a shame we can't, isn't it? So then, let me guess, if I might? You will either disable or incapacitate me and return me to whichever Imperial planet interrogates Jedi. Or you will kill me on the spot. It's a rather bleak set of options you put before me, my friend. Hardly what an old warrior wants to face, especially one who had put his lightsaber away for good."

"You will be taken to Citadel Inquisitorius, or killed, yes" Caden said solemnly, unable to look the Jedi in the eyes. His hatred for the Jedi, his absolute refusal to accept any of them as anything but terrorists to the Imperial regime, were slipping away before him, ruined by the encounter with this strangely peaceful Jedi. He hated it; he felt somehow immasculated, unable to perform in his duty when it should have been simple. It had been simple, every other time. He wished the Jedi had simply attacked him the moment he'd sprang from the fungus field. It would have made things so much more simpler.
"Master?" said a mechanical voice from his comm-link. "Master, your lifesigns are reading oddly calm. You've been gone a long time, are you experiencing trouble?"
"No, El-Tee, everything's fine. Just a minor complication, that's all" he replied, then stuffed the comm into one of his belt pouches.

Sparing another glance at Vax, he slid his lightsabers from his holsters, but left them deactivated.
"The third option is to come along quietly. I could speak to the High Inquisitor, maybe... maybe plead a case for your ongoing survival, considering the life you lead here. I see no threat from you against the Empire" he said, hardly believing the words were coming out of his own mouth. If the Jedi refused, or offered no reasonable alternative, then Caden could see no other option but to fight.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

"You know, Caden Sturn, it may sound odd... but I believe you actually would plead my case. I believe you would do everything you could to see that I survived. You have a good heart, regardless of which side you choose. Dark, light. The Force is all the same, though there would be many who would have called me down for saying such. But it is the minds of evil men that would spell my doom. Even if I swore to live in exile, I could not be allowed to live. Do not lie to yourself, at least. Never be blind to the truth.

"I represent an old and fallen way. My very life is a threat because of what I once was. I would not fight you, Caden Sturn. Though the Emperor you serve, you are still a good man, and there are far too few in the galaxy in these days to waste them frivolously. Let me go. I will leave this place. Go beyond the Outer Rim where no man cares if another is a Jedi or Sith. There are always options."

That still left one problem.

"If I let you go... my own life is forfeit" he said, slowly and quietly, as though mulling over the way the words sounded in his own ears.
His head exploded again, visions pouring in, some making sense, some of them complete mysteries to him.
A blade protruded from his chest, yellow and hissing, the wildlife of Felucia the only witness to his death.
Emperor Palpatine stared him down, leering and torturing him with bolts of purple lightning.
He was on a battlefield, surrounded by Jedi and rebels who fought with him, fought for him.
He was on a battlefield, surrounded by Stormtroopers and Inquisitors, killing Jedi and rebels left and right.

"GO!" he yelled, coming back to himself. His blades were ignited, one of them pointed at Vax, the tip inches from the sitting Jedi's throat. He must have ignited them the moment he'd shaken off the confusing visions, but he knew that if the Jedi didn't move fast, his anger would take over and Castor Vax would become just another of Caden's many Jedi victims.
"Leave your lightsaber and go. Go anywhere, but don't get caught. I'll report you as dead and... and..." his voice faltered, broke, betrayed his lack of control. The Inquisitorius had manufactured him this way, nurtured his instabilities to turn him into an uncompromising weapon; they'd known about the compassion drilled into him by the Jedi, and so they'd encouraged his random outbursts of undirected and unwarranted power. Even if he wanted to let Vax live, his conscience wouldn't allow it for long.

Such thoughts left his mind, however, as something broke behind him. Keeping his blade pointed at Vax's throat - he had, afterall, pulled a weapon on a Jedi, and couldn't expect him not to retaliate once his back was turned - he glanced down the broken trail behind him.
There stood LT-318, blasters held in two of its four manipulators. The lower-left arm held a comm-link, while the right arm gestured casually, as if the droid were merely here to offer assistance with some trivial matter.
"Master, I fear you are suffering with a serious lapse of judgement. Your superiors have been informed, and I am to take you back to the Cit..."
"You... you told my Masters?" Caden spluttered, with rage and disbelieving horror.
"It is the priority command of my secondary programming, Master" the droid reminded him.
Stabbed from behind... perhaps he'd interpreted the vision too literally to even forsee this coming...
"Put down the blasters, El-Tee..." Caden warned, throwing caution to the wind and turning his back on Castor. He readied himself for combat with the droid... then let forth a single bolt of Force lightning as El-Tee made to respond. The lightning arced and twisted through the hacked-open clearing and struck El-Tee in the chest, where his central processor lay, causing the droid's limbs to spasm and, after a random blaster shot, drop its weapons and crumple to the floor.

"Where do I go from here?" he asked; he only hoped the Jedi had a reply for him. He had nobody else to answer for him.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

"You have a myriad of choices, my friend. Some good, some bad. You could return to the Imperials and beg for mercy, though I doubt they would grant much. You could take me prisoner and attempt to barter your life with mine, but I only foresee two graves down that path. You could flee, escape this planet before the Imperials track you. Running away, though, means little. You can't spend your life looking over your shoulder forever. Even hiding is not without flaws. I assumed, foolishly, that I would be undisturbed here on Felucia, but you found me. The last choice... is that you could come with me. I know not where I will go to, or where my path will carry me, but anything is better than sitting around, waiting for the inevitable fall of a lightsaber blade upon your neck."

He made as if to leave, then faltered, perhaps weighing up the consequences of returning to his Masters.
"Come with me" he said, in barely more than a whisper. He looked back over his shoulder, then turned to face Vax yet again. "Stop hiding from the Empire. We... we could find others who are being wrongly hunted, other Jedi that have done nothing wrong. You need something to live for... otherwise you may as well come out of hiding and let the Empire take your life" he reasoned.

He turned again, and this time, he did start walking. He picked up the inanimate droid, awkwardly draped one of its arms over his shoulders, and set off in the direction of his ship.
"My ship is in the valley ahead. I won't be hanging around much longer, so make up your mind, old man" he called back. The Jedi had presented him with an option; now Caden was returning the favour, offering a chance to make something of his life, to rescue the innocent from the punishments meant for the guilty.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

"Rather enjoyed these, you know. Keepsake, I suppose. So, I am sure the galaxy has a wealth of people who would listen to the two of us. Even a small spark can light the largest of fires, boy. Even a small spark."

Approaching the clearing, he saw Bloodshine, waiting with her ramp lowered. He stopped, pausing to take into account the gravity of what he was about to embark upon.
"This is where we split. I'll get in touch once we've cleared the planet, and arrange a rendezvous. This place isn't going to be safe for much longer..." he observed. El-Tee had acted with surprisingly fast loyalty to the Inquisitorius; it had left him with little time to marshal his thoughts into a workable strategy, instead forcing him to flee the planet first.

He left the Jedi with a parting glance, and struggled up the ramp, finally sealing it after dumping El-Tee's lifeless chassis in one of the passenger benches.
Hurrying to the cockpit, he began a quick pre-flight check, to ensure none of the systems had been compromised by El-Tee as a contingency against his resisting arrest, then took off for the stars...

<<continued in 'Finding the Apostate'>>

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot