Numbly, he secured a connection to Prakith, using the minutes available to him before either Vax caught up, or Imperials arrived to put him down.
"Inquisitor Sturn?" said a deep, hoarse voice, as a hologram shimmered into focus before the array of controls before him.
"Yes, Grand Inquisitor" he confirmed. As always, the Grand Inquisitor shielded his face from view by means of a hooded robe, albeit of a much more grand design than the simple trappings chosen by Sith such as Emperor Palpatine.
"Your droid dutifully reported your fall from grace to the High Inquisitors. Am I to take it that the strategem we discussed is being put into effect?"
"It is, Grand Inquisitor" Caden replied, his voice seeming to come from afar. He sounded small, weak, before the Grand Inquisitor. And he only ever offered direct answers, no elaboration unless called for.
"You will be hunted, Inquisitor Sturn. If you are caught, you will be shown little mercy" the Grand Inquisitor stated, reminding Caden of the situation he'd agreed to put himself in. "If you succeed in your mission... you will be welcomed back to Citadel Inquisitorius as a hero of the Empire".
"I understand, Grand Inquisitor".
"And yet, I sense concern, doubt..." the robed figure leered, almost revelling in his own insight.

"Lord... forgive my doubts, but this has happened quite suddenly. I do not, however, doubt my abilities to complete the task, only the ability of the other Inquisitors to leave their noses out while I set everything in motion" Caden swallowed. The silence that followed made him fear for his life.
"Caden... I cannot stop others from coming after you. It is imperative you be perceived, on every level, as a traitor to the Empire, to further enable you to reach your goal. Only I, the Emperor, and yourself are aware of this operation".
"Of course, Grand Inquisitor" Caden said solemnly. "I won't fail".
"See to it that you don't" the Grand Inquisitor warned. "Send me regular updates on your progress. I won't contact you... it wouldn't do for your Jedi allies to discover our connection".
The transmission ended, and Caden breathed deeply. It was done; he'd made his choice, and now he had to continue with this deception, even if it meant his life.
No... I won't die with the Jedi brand smearing my name, he silently vowed to himself. He'd have to keep his thoughts and intentions well guarded, even more so as he eventually accrued more and more allies. It wasn't going to be easy on him. But that was why he'd been chosen.

"Castor, are you within range?" he said into an open-frequency comm. He had no visual on the Jedi's ship, nor did he even know what make or model he was looking out for; somehow, he knew he'd recognise it when he saw it.
He cast his mind back to El-Tee, who lay unceremoniously dumped in the hold. He'd set about repairing his central processor once he was away from this place, and fill the droid in on the details and the role he'd have to play.
Once you start down the dark path, forever does it dominate your destiny....
Caden screwed his eyes shut, and chose to forget that sermon of an age long past.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

"Indeed, Caden. I am more than ready if you have chosen a destination for us."

He glanced back at El-Tee again, and sighed audibly.
"Also, if we run into trouble before I get El-Tee back online, I'm gonna need you to keep your weapons hot. I can't pilot the ship and fire my cannons, usually El-Tee is patched directly into the weapons systems, but without a few gunners... I'm having to rely on my shields to keep me alive" he said. He hated admitting such a flaw.
He began preparing for a jump to Nar Shaddaa, his skin prickling with the feeling that any moment now, the Inquisitorius was going to appear before his viewport with lethal intent.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

"See you on the other side." The snubfighter jumped to hyperspace.

Safely en-route to the Smugglers Moon, Caden unstrapped himself from the pilots chair, and studied El-Tee. After popping his chest coverings, he looked at the blackened mess that had once been a fully-functioning processor, and sighed with relief. Fixing that would be as simple as replacing it, and hoping none of the droids memory had been damaged. He had been a little over-come with rage at the time, and hadn't meant to make such a mess of El-Tee's innards.
"Oh boy, you're gonna chew my ear off til I give you an oil bath..." he groaned, looking at the inactive droid. He looked eerie, splayed out on the passenger bench with his limbs contorted and his innards on display. Rather than fly with such a travesty present to plain view, he dug out a blanket from an overhead locker, and covered the droid as one would a corpse.

With that morbid task taken care of, he stripped out of his smelly, fungus-stained clothes, and put on a simple tunic with black pants and a holster-style belt for his lightsabers. Then, crashing onto his bunk in the tiny section of ship devoted to his personal space, he closed his eyes, and fell easily into a deep sleep. For the first time in days, he slept dreamlessly, tranquility overtaking his exhaustion. Even had he intended to sleep less than the entirety of the journey to Nar Shaddaa, his tired body wouldn't have allowed it.

Then...

The Smugglers Moon. Claustrophobia ensued, brought on by the crush of the crowd, so many anonymous faces of so many different species, any one of them a threat, every one of them potential death.
A lightsaber ignited, far off, too far for Caden to see. Jedi, or Inquisitor?
A figure appeared before him, its hand clasped on his shoulder, comforting and assuaging his fears. But the grip grew stronger, shattered his bones, and he fell beneath the stampede of life in the bristling streets.
A black chasm opened beneath him, and as he fell, hands surrounded him. Some pulled at him, tearing at his clothes and his very flesh as they tried to save him from the void that threatened to swallow him. Others pushed and kicked, forcing him down, violently throwing him to the depths. Neither side cared to let him choose for himself.

A shrill alarm woke him, its steady call telling him that he was about to come out of Hyperspace. Rubbing sleep out of his eyes, and pushing the last vestiges of his haunting dream to the back of his mind, he took his seat at the helm and pulled the ship back into real-space...

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

Before he departed Felucia, Deschain ran a brief scan of the planet, attempting to discern anything out of place, but it was as it had always been: a jungle, teeming with life and full of Force potential. Perhaps a half hour behind the pair he sought, he jumped for Nar Shaddaa.

The Smuggler's Moon would be the place to see the lad's true intent. It would be a test for both of them; blending in, survival, trust. It would, in essence, be quite an adventure.

He had that strange feeling again, as though something were crawling just beneath the surface of his skin. It made him slightly nervous, and he couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen. Maybe he'd contracted some sort of airborne virus on Felucia, and it was inducing paranoia. He doubted it.
Bringing the ship in to land, he powered down her non-essential systems, and left her on standby, incase he needed to make a quick getaway from this place. Then, pausing only to throw on a long jacket for the sole purpose of hiding his lightsaber belt, he walked down the ramp into the glaring sunlight.
The light bounced from the mirrored structures looming up over the starport, and only now that he was on the ground did he appreciate the scope - and the suffocating effect - of the place. It was like someone had taken Coruscant and crammed it onto a rock one-third the size.
Sealing the ships ramp, he headed off toward the exit of the docking bay, dropping a credit chip into a waiting attendant's hand. He'd rather have paid in untraceable cred-coins, but he wasn't carrying any.

Pulling his comm from his pocket, being careful not to expose his lightsabers in the process, he commed Castor.
"Okay old man, meet me out front of the starport. The way I figure it, the sooner we get lost in a crowd, the better. I've got a bad feeling about this".

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

"I will meet you there shortly, boy, and I agree with your statement. We may have to purchase a new ship to get us off this rock. I hope you aren't too attached to that fancy Imperial vessel of yours. There's no telling if they have tracking equipment hidden on it or not."

Vax paid his fee from his dwindling supply of credits and made his way towards the starport's entrance. It was a dingy port, but on the Smuggler's Moon, one could not expect much else. The world was bustling was life, likely all of it corrupt, or mostly corrupt. Honest men and women didn't make a living here.

It didn't really matter, in the end. The people here, on Nar Shaddaa, were likely long removed from any homely ties, making an existence and, in some cases, a reputation out here, on this crime-ridden world.
Hearing Vax's voice shook him from his silent reverie, and he brought the comm up to reply again.
"It's possible El-Tee put a tracking device on her, as a precaution, but I doubt it somehow. Still, I'm not parting from that ship until I've repaired the droid, at least" he said firmly. That ship was home to him, more-so than Citadel Inquisitorius. Then again, he'd practically kicked Castor out of the door of his own home...
"I'll see about arranging new transportation. I can always pick up Bloodshine later, when the heat dies down. But not without El-Tee" he re-iterated.

He rounded a corner into a dilapidated waiting area, bristling with consoles, only half of which were functional. Holographic 'Wanted' posters lined the walls above these, each one lingering on its chosen subject for a moment, before flickering and displaying the next image. Part of him wondered if his face had yet been displayed, but he couldn't be sure that a couple of hours was enough time for word to spread.
Finally, he spotted the old Jedi, fitting in quite nicely with the crowd. As inconspicuously as he could, he made his way over, eyes dead ahead to avoid the obvious-tourist look. He'd only been to Nar Shaddaa once in his life, but that had been into the underlevels. He'd been a Jedi back then, too.
"Where does a typical and completely unsuspicious fringer go to get an innocent drink around here?" he muttered, only just loud enough for the Jedi to hear, as he sidled up behind him. Remaining out of earshot of the rest of the crowd was nothing unusual, he'd surmised; there seemed to be a lot of hushed conversations taking place beneath the loud cacophany of voices filling the area.
He felt the need to get to business as quickly as possible. And as material as the desire seemed, finding and bartering for a new set of lightsaber crystals was at the top of his list, for he knew that the symbolic value of his currently-crimson weapons would not be lost on potential Jedi allies.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

"Now, let's be off. I have a feeling that the sooner we vanish, the better."

Unlike some of the younger, newer Inquisitors who rushed in, eager to make a name for themselves, Deschain was methodical, practical... and unstoppable. That was why he remained in his craft for a time. His first matter of business was to utilize the equipment on his vessel to slice into the docking computer that managed all of Nar Shaddaa's landing pads and docking areas. It was a timely process and, if his target was indeed on Nar Shaddaa, the man and his accomplices would have a good hour or two head start on him. Nonetheless, Deschain was looking for a specific type of craft: a VT-49 Decimator. Odds of many of them being around were few and far between.

Coming across an intersection, he glanced first left, then right; both ways were crowded with locals milling around in their everyday pursuits, and in a place full of errant individuals it would be difficult to locate a black market dealer, especially one in rarities such as lightsaber cystals.
Deliberately heading for the better looking cantina of the four in his immediate vicinity, he motioned Vax to follow him in, and needn't tell him to keep an eye out for trouble.
"Before I go any further, I need a drink, and a minute to actually form some sort of plan of action" he told the Jedi, pushing his way toward the bar.

Ordering something refreshing, yet with copious alcohol content so as not to stand out from the crowd, he headed for the nearest booth and settled into a seat, relishing the chance to take a breather from the heaving crowds. He'd been on Coruscant, so he was used to city life, but this felt different. Every passer-by felt like a potential danger, every corner he turned seemed to open up endless more possibilities of discovery. It was suffocating.
The table trembled as he dwelled on his thoughts, and an empty bottle that hadn't been removed shattered, spraying across the booth. He calmed himself; the last thing he wanted was his out-of-control power drawing attention to him.

Caden Sturn
Former Inquisitor - Fugitive
Imperial Inquisition Ace Pilot

"Get a tighter reign over your feelings. We may not be out of the frying pan yet. I suppose while you formulate your plan, you might be willing to fill an old man in on the more important events in the galaxy? It could give us an idea where to head next."