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The vents were unbearably hot, and the cramped and tight nature of its size made it difficult to look behind him, let alone turn around. Cursing the impeccable heating systems of the Imperial forces, Cal continued crawling his way through the metal, trying to ignore the sweat dripping from his forehead.
“Bwoo…” It's hot.
He shook his head.
“Yeah, I know,” Pushing forward over a metal grating leaking light below him, he gingerly peered through its cracks. “But at least you’re not sweating literally everywhere .”
Letting out a humourless chuckle, the Jedi pressed a hand against his chestplate, the ache of a lightsaber wound suddenly amplified from the movement. This was supposed to be a quick job; Gerrera was offering a handsome sum of credits for some Imperial access codes, and this was a particular base he hadn’t been spotted near yet. He had to admit, the journey into the complex was less than stellar; the troopers had spotted them right away, and with the still recovering hole in his chest, they’d manage to land a couple good hits on him, but all that mattered was that he was now inside .
“Okay, this is it. Now’s your time to shine.” Cal pressed himself down, and felt BD-1 crawl over his head, watching him position himself over the grate. With a quick series of beeps, his foot transformed into a crude drill, and the low whir of the screws unwinding echoed through the vent. Crawling over and turning on his back, Cal gave a kick, and in one swift movement, the metal fell and hovered over the floor. The force slowly seeped from the grate, and it quietly dropped to the floor with a quiet clang. BD-1 hopped onto his back, and beckoned him on with a trill.
“Bwee bow!” The Jedi quickly held a finger to his mouth, glad to be almost free of the stifling heat. “Booo…”
“Alright, here we go,” BD-1 attached himself into the machinery, and before their eyes (and scopes), lines and lines of code and information flashed before them. Names and planets, tactics , everything , was suddenly on display before them. BD-1 beeped in excitement, spinning around with a jump, and inserted a new attachment into the control panel. The monitor began to flicker, the text speeding down the screen. The Jedi grinned. They were definitely getting way more than simple access codes at this rate. A sickening pit opened in his stomach though, as Cal sensed impending danger was upon them. “Let’s hurry, they’ve probably found-”
He sidestepped as a red glare flashed past him and crashed into the panel, smoking from the hot glow of a blaster rifle’s shot. Expecting to see some particularly stealthy purge trooper with the rifle, he gasped, seeing the black and red uniform of the Inquisitorious, an unfamiliar mask staring back. BD-1 disconnected himself and pressed against Cal’s back.
“Sneaky, but not clever,” the voice called, low and grating.
And oddly familiar.
“Figured you were more subtle than this.”
The droid at Cal’s back shrieked and began to beep impossibly quickly. Cere’s shouting echoed in his comms.
“Get out of there! Get out now! We’re being attacked, you need to get out-” Static cut off her words, and all he could do was listen to BD’s cries, watching the approaching inquisitor.
There was no need to hear it twice. Cal’s lightsaber ignited bright orange, and the inquisitor’s flashed red, blaster dropping to the floor. Reaching their free arm over, they pulled their helmet off, dropping it to their feet.
Rust coloured hair was released, and a face Cal had seen every morning in the mirror watched him, eyes glowing yellow instead of green. His imposter gave a sardonic smile, twirling his blade in hand.
“Bracca trash,” he seethed. “Graduated to Jedi? Thought I’d be stuck there forever.” Lunging forward, his blade crashed against Cal’s, lips cruelly curling upwards with another hard slash.
Cal’s gaze hardened, and he began a flurry of blows, each being met by his counterpart.
With an open palm, the force flowed through his fingers and he watched his doppelganger’s mouth snarl into a face he couldn’t recognize. He blurred into an unfocused mass of black and red, but Cal shook off his hesitation, and lunged past, barreling through the door, skidding onto the mini panel sparking on the wall. Another massive presence began to approach, a cacophony of boots sounding down the hall.
“BD, SLICE IT!” he screamed. Already, the inquisitor was starting to speed up again, and BD-1 skittered off of Cal’s shoulder, beeping furious expletives as the door began to close. The Jedi looked through the shrinking gap, willing it to move faster. The figure behind leapt impossibly close, and through the solid steel wall formed before him and the droid, an angry, glowing mark was left within the metal. In such a moment, Cal could not help but think of a similar mark emblazoned on the door of the Mantis. His voice spoke from across the barrier, muffled, angry, and low.
“Get this door open.”
BD-1 drawled a long beep, clasping tightly onto Cal’s harness, his antennae flat on his head.
“Yeah, yeah, let’s go.” Making sure BD had a good grip on him, he began his sprint out of the complex.
The halls at first seemed empty, until the impending sense of danger began to stab at his brain. Footsteps of hordes and hordes of men came from the ends of the halls, and he peered around his surroundings, desperately searching for something to help.
The vents clanged loud, as if practically screaming at Cal. He beckoned their call, and wasted no time getting one open, BD trilling once the metal was freed. Shoving his body in, he managed to crawl through the uncomfortably close and hot space to anywhere that was far from the approaching inquisitor and troopers.
“ Cal, are you there?” He grunted, squeezing around a tight corner. These maneuvers never got easier. “Yeah, are all of you okay?”
“ Just managed to evade them. We’re-” He heard Greez’s voice in the back, saying something he couldn’t make out. “ Okay, we’re going to try and circle back to grab you.”
Cal breathed a sigh of relief and crawled further through the vents.
“Alright, give me your position and I’ll see if I can meet you halfway.” BD trilled from his shoulder, projecting a map of the general area onto the metal wall. A red beacon lit up, and Cal grinned knowing at least something was going right. “Perfect. Greez, west of the town, there’s a ledge I can hop off of if you catch me at the bottom.” There was a moment of static that had his heart drop, until there was an answer.
“You got it, kid! Over and out.”
Without waiting, he took off, crawling faster through the vents, the pain in his chest burning. He couldn’t sense the dark presence of the inquisitor, but also knew he couldn’t assume he’d lost him. There was an uneasiness growing in his stomach the farther he crawled, but kept his eyes forward.
First, get out. Then, deal with whatever this was.
He shook his head and tried to ignore the thought.
The Inquisitor.
He’d mentioned Bracca and being there; was he a clone? How did he look identical to him? Another version of himself? He forced his mind away from the temple on Bogano, refusing to remember the vision it had shown him. That wasn’t him.
That’s right.
Cal didn’t fall to the dark side like him.
“Not me.” he muttered. BD trilled above him, his tiny light flashing across the metallic walls of the vent, guiding the two of them towards the outside access.
“Bwee!”
Not Cal.
It took a minute for his eyes to adjust to the white blanket of snow over everything, the sudden brightness almost blinding. His body shivered at the sudden change in temperature, but trudged on nonetheless. The streets and market stands were barren, and word of Jedi in their midst had civilians disappear into their homes, doors locked, and windows shuttered. With the presence of Jedi came Imperial activity, and nobody wanted to deal with that. Cal raced down the road, BD trilling directions in his ear, the droid looking behind every minute. The wind whipped through his hair, his poncho, but it wasn’t the cold that chilled him.
“Bwoo beep!” Clear behind us, Cal. The Jedi grinned, and carried on towards the cliff edge overlooking a dizzying drop. He put a hand to his comm set, struggling to hear over the snow flurry.
“Alright, I’m here, just let me-”
“I wouldn’t speak too soon.” A familiar voice caught Cal from behind, and he whirled around to face the same mask from before. “Well,” The modulation of the voice was ominous, like a mockery of his voice. “I guess I would?” Without any further warning, the heat of a lightsaber swung for his face. He was barely able to parry the attack, force pushing the other away, scrambling for stable footing. He felt BD press himself closer to his back in alarm, his little feet grasping tighter onto the harness.
“How is this even possible?” he asked, incredulous. Cal wasn’t even really looking for an answer, but the sheer absurdity of his existence was a lot to take in. The figure, drenched in black, was stark against the snow, stalking towards him like he was simply prey - and for all he knew, he probably was.
Not-Cal lunged forward, meeting the orange glow of Cal’s with such ferocity, his boots struggled to find its footing.
“Why don’t you come quietly and I’ll tell you?” he snarled. With a sudden, big upward swing, Cal managed to catch the chin of the inquisitor’s helmet, yanking it off his head, sparks cutting past the face of it. As his twin stumbled backwards, he could sense the incoming presence of reinforcements, and took his chance to make a break for the cliff.
“Greez, I really hope you’re there!” he called out, almost desperately. Almost reaching the edge, Cal prepared to make a leap until he felt a weight on his body and watched his hand blur in front of him.
He could vaguely hear the hum of a lightsaber approach from behind, barely turning in time to parry to blow that surely would have killed him. His own eyes bore into him with such fury, and after a painful second, Cal felt himself speed up again. From the direction of the cliff, the familiar engines of the Mantis blew snow against the duo, and blasters began to fire around them.
He whirled around to see Cere on one knee, her own blaster aimed behind him.
“Let’s move, Cal!” She ordered, her stance unwavering. With no need to be told twice, he made for the maddest sprint of his life, and with the help of the Force, felt his entire body lift higher at the end of his jump. Landing hard on the metal platform, he dared to spare a glance behind him as Cere hurried him further into the ship and slammed on the door controls. As the platform lifted into place, the Jedi spotted Not-Cal watch him through the cracks, golden eyes wide and furious.
Backing up and slumping on the couch, Cal sighed and slipped the comm from his ear. Merrin entered the common area, carrying a tray of steak, eyes passively looking over him.
“I see you’re having a good time.” he mumbled, absentmindedly rubbing at the ache on his side. All the running and fighting today had surely slowed down the healing process. The nightsister shrugged and sat down beside him with the meal.
“I thought you had it under control,” He groaned and spread himself over the couch, causing Merrin to inch away in annoyance. "I assume you were able to get what we needed?" Cal rolled his eyes and hummed in response. Greez’s head popped in from the cockpit, looking back at him.
“You good, kid?”
Cal held up a tired thumb, not bothering to look in his direction. Nothing could ever be simple, could it? First, the wild holocron chase, Gerrera’s ever increasingly complicated plans, and now this . He knew they'd really have to watch their back, especially now that he had to worry about his very own homicidal doppelganger.
“Just peachy.”