Star Wars: The Untold Adventures of Kajin Savaros

Chapter 9

He instantly wanted to scream. He felt darkness, and evil all around him. He felt cold, like ice. There was no light in this black mind of the Pau'uan Inquisitor. Only darkness.

Kaj shuddered. He knew he had to keep going. He needed that password, or all of his hard work would be for nothing.

He dug deeper into the Inquisitor's mind. He skirted around old memories popping out at him and managed to blast defences into oblivion. The Pau'uan was an experienced Force-user, of that there was no question. He felt it with every mental step he took.

He was exhausted by the the time he finally found the password. It may have only taken a minute to find the password in reality, but it had felt like an eternity spent in that evil mind. He had overexerted himself, that was for sure. He had had to defeat barriers and avoid traps and do his best not to accidentally send the Pau'uan into insanity. Though he deserved it, Kaj could not–and would not–make himself crush the Pau'uan's mind like that. That was evil. That was the very thing the Pau'uan was, the very thing he would not allow himself to become.

The password was a code. A very complicated one. S.K.Y.W.A.L.K.E.R.P.A.V.A.N.S.A.V.A.R.O.S.O.L.I.N. 

As soon as he had the code, Kaj, who was very relieved, escaped the black pit of the Inquisitor's mind gladly. What did the code mean? It included his and Jax's last names.... But there was no time to wonder about that. The moment Kaj used his mind to enter the passcode and the door slipped open silently, revealing the two unconscious foes on the floor, alarms began to blare, breaking the startling silence and bathing the hallway in red light.

This snapped Kaj out of his exhausted daze. He sprinted down the hallway, away from his cell. Wait. Where am I going?

While running down the seemingly never-ending hallway, never looking back, Kaj stretched out a hand and touched the Force. Jax was still invisible from the river. But without the Force showing Jax's signature, could Kaj even find him?

He mentally slapped himself. He had survived 14 years without the Force. He could survive now.

He finally turned a corner. Think, Savaros. Where would they keep Jax?

Somewhere with high-level security, obviously. Where Vader could keep an eye on him. That clip the Imperials had shown him.... Jax had been in a med bay. Right? Right?!

No doubt. No fear. Just the Force.... just instinct.

Then it occurred to him. Could Vader and his army of Inquisitors sense his use of the Force? Oh frip. They could. He had completely forgotten. And in all the chaos of trying to escape, he had lowered his mental shields again, giving the Force-sensitives here full access to his location. He cursed under his breath, rounding another corner. He instantly hit metal and his head swum upon impact as he staggered backwards slightly.

"You amuse me."

Darth Vader gripped both of his wrists in a death-grip and Kaj stared up into the black mask, horrified. "Of course I could sense your use of the Force. How naive do you think I am?"

"I was hoping for more naive than this," Kaj murmured under his breath. He tried to pull away, but Vader had an iron grip.

"You are clever, Kajin. Your skills will serve the Empire well."

"No way," Kaj attempted to twist away, but was instead pulled closer to the Sith Lord. He grimaced as the pressure on his wrists doubled.

"Yes," Vader said forcefully.

Kaj felt the Force's warning a second too late. He cried out as the sharp needle in Vader's fist stabbed his thigh with an expert twist and a flick of the Sith's wrist. Vader released him, watching as the young boy crumpled and slid to the ground in agony, wincing and writhing, desperate to get away, feeling nothing but the pierce of the needle, that, unbeknownst to the Padawan, was a Force inhibitor with knock-out drugs in it.

He had been manipulated. Kaj saw it clearly now, amid the chaos of the alarms blasting, the red lights crossing over him, the dark figure towering above him. In his desire to escape, his desire to free Jax, he had forgotten the simplest thing of all when you were trying to escape: Don't panic. And he had panicked, causing his mental shields to fall and not go back up again.

He had failed. Again.

He didn't known if he was worthy to be a Jedi anymore.

But he sure didn't want to join the Sith—or the Empire.

And as his vision blurred and the pounding of footsteps reached his ears, he swore to himself that he would not be fooled again.