"I don't have anything to say to you."
"That's a little harsh toward an old friend."
"We're not friends, Dax." Calen said. "You helped me and my friends stop a genocidal madman to save your own skin."
"And you did exemplary in that task. The galaxy owes you a debt, so on and so forth. All of that." Dax waved a hand dismissively. "None of that, however, is why I'm here."
"Why are you here?" Calen asked. "Since I'm assuming you're not looking to drag me back to Coruscant for a trial."
"You assume incorrectly." Dax said.
"That's what I... come again?"
"I am not here to arrest you and bring you back to Coruscant, Calen. No." Dax replied calmly.
"Then what are you here for?"
"I've come to bring you back home, Calen. Back to the Empire."
"Yeah, your old boss already tried this sales pitch. No thank you." Calen said.
"Ayro was a mad little man whose reach exceeded his grasp, I am not so foolish or short-sided." Dax said.
"Yeah, you're still serving the Empire. If Critus hadn't gotten a hold of the Heart of Derriphan, they would have and I don't need to tell you how that would have turned out." Calen said.
"It would have been used to ensure the stability of the Empire and its defense against the enemies that would seek to ruin that stability." Dax said.
"Nice reciting of the company line." Calen replied dryly.
"It's the truth, Calen." Dax said. "Your little Rebellion disrupts otherwise peaceful lives."
"Lives in servitude, slavery, oppression."
"Lives that they have full bellies, fear nothing from outside attack, and can go about their business largely unsupervised."
"Except for those the Empire decides to turn a turbolaser onto." Calen said. "Remember Alderaan? And I've heard a few stories about Jedha and Scarif that-"
"Enough!" Dax snapped, his veneer of calm being cracked just for a moment before it resumed. "I am not here to have a debate on morality with you. I am here to give you an offer-"
"I said already, I'm not interest-"
"-from your father." At Dax's words, Calen felt his blood immediately run cold. His father... he hadn't thought of Thaddeus Darkhaven since he had run from Coruscant. The Fleet Admiral had been quite a terror in his youth, Calen remembering tales of his father (as well as the holovids that told them) that detailed his rise in the ranks of the Republic Navy during the Clone Wars and how he had affixed himself to the Galactic Empire with gusto as soon as Chancellor Palpatine had declared it. Darkhavens had always been fixtures of public service, after all, or so Calen had heard the man tell it all through his childhood.
A hero... at a time, someone that Calen had looked up to, despite Thaddeus being about as warm as a night on Hoth toward his son.
"Yes. Admiral Darkhaven has requested me to find you. He wants to bring you home."
"Why? Does he want to shoot me himself?" Calen snorted, getting a measure of his bravado back.
"He wants you to come home." Dax said. "You will not be harmed. He isn't looking for your head on a platter or anything."
"I don't buy it." Calen said. "My old man doesn't have a forgiving bone in his body."
"Don't be a stubborn fool!" Dax hissed. "I have spoken with the Hutt, he has agreed to release you into my custody if you do this. You won't be left to die in that arena!"
"Rather do that than go all the way back home and die there... double for if you're lying and you just shoot me right after." Calen replied.
"I'm not lying, Calen." Dax said. "This is the truth."
"I don't want any part in it." Calen said. "And we can sit here for all eternity and I will never choose to go with you. Not back to him, not to anywhere." The two men stared at each other for a long moment. At last, Dax sighed.
"Disappointing."
With that, the door opened again and the Gamorreans took Calen back to his cell. As he left, he did not look back, but he could feel Dax's eyes boring into him.
 |
| image credit to OleanderSky |
"You... you came back?!"
"You sound disappointed." Calen said to the redhead in the cell across from his as he was shoved back into it, the bars rising once more to seal him within its cage.
"You had a chance to leave!" Mona hissed at him, ducking away from a swiping Gamorrean guard's fist. Once it had moved along, she moved up to the bars once more, looking at him with a glance that Calen could only see as confusion. Not something he expected to see on the Mandalorian warrior. "Why didn't you leave?"
"I didn't want to." Calen replied curtly, turning his attention to the Neimoidian in his cell and leaving Mona looking confused. "Any luck?"
"Getting a cipher randomizer? No." Ziv looked at Calen as though he'd grown a second head. "Are you intoxicated?"
"After that conversation, I wish." Calen said, slumping down against the wall and running a hand down his face. "I could use a drink."
"Zobek doesn't allow it." Ziv commented, shaking his head. "Interferes with fighting ability."
"Figures." Calen said, rolling his eyes. "Slug Supreme's a lush, too. I've seen him eat." That particular dinner hadn't been his favorite by any means... not just because of the hideous dining habits of their host, either. The conspicuous consumption of alcohol had been the least of the Hutt's issues. He glanced over, seeing Ziv was fiddling with what looked like some scrap machinery. "What are you doing with that?"
"Keep your voice down!" Ziv hissed, holding a spanner up as though he meant to strike Calen in the shoulder if he continued. When no guards seemed to swoop down on them or even care, Ziv elaborated softly. "I'm trying to make a randomizer."
"Make-?"
"Yes. Make." The Neimoidian said. "Or, at least, I'm trying to. I'm not thinking the odds are good with this!"
"He'll make a pretty effective blender with that..."
"Yeah, it looks like it." Calen said out of habit.
"It isn't for lack of trying, you know!" Ziv replied indignantly.
"What?" Calen asked.
"Yeah, he's not like us. Also, I'm not sending a message to him."
"Niyasa?" Calen asked.
"What?!" Ziv's reddish eyes looked at the human in confusion.
"I'm here. On Rorak 4. I'm sneaking among the staff."
"Where are you?" Calen asked aloud.
"I'm right here!" Ziv said, his confusion growing by the syllable. "Did you take a blow to the head?"
"I can't meet with you now. Just know I'm working on getting you out of there. Be patient. Also, don't respond out loud." Calen was confused as the Mrlssi's voice came through his head. Then, he attempted to calm himself, reaching out with the Force as he had on Gesaril.
"Why can't I see you? We need to get out of here."
"I know. I'm trying to get you out. Be patient."
"Niyasa, there's a Jedi Knight here. He's Zobek's Champion."
"...what?!"
"We need to get to him. He can help us."
"Alright. Tell your friend to reconfigure those scraps just as I tell you to. Quickly."
"Got it." Calen said aloud.
"Got what? What is going on?" Ziv remained as confused as ever.
"Ziv, I need you to listen to me..." Calen said. "Alright?"
"It is to be expected."
"Admiral, I swear to you that-"
"It is irrelevant in the long run." Thaddeus Darkhaven spoke, his arms crossed as he looked at the holo-image of his subordinate. In truth, he hadn't expected Dax to be successful in his endeavor. Calen was far too willful of a boy to be so easily taken in. "Calen will be with us one way or another."
"What is it that we should do?"
"We will begin an operation to extract my son from the Hutt's custody." Darkhaven said.
"Are we going to risk an open confrontation?"
"Remember your place, Captain."
"...I apologize, sir. I ask simply for understanding."
"Noted." Darkhaven said. "You will understand when you need to understand. For now, you follow orders."
"Understood, sir." The holo-image of Dax winked out of existence. The admiral turned away from the projector, gazing out through the viewport that went from the ceiling to the floor of his ready room, gazing out into the boundless void of space.
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