Vader had been probing his thoughts. Kaj knew this for certain. He had sensed the dark presence trying to sneak a glimpse into his mind. That had been enough reason to rebuild his mental shields that had fallen temporarily. He had learned the trick from Jax: Keep your enemies out, and your location—and presence—hidden.
He had no clue what they had drugged Jax with to make him not appear in the Force. Jax had taught him that the Force was like a river, with currents: Jax was one of those currents, and the current was not there. Where it had been was murky, muddy.... Like it was being washed away, slowly but surely.
And Kaj needed Jax more than ever. He may not have known the Jedi very long, but he knew there was a bond between them—a very strong bond. And he didn't want it to be shattered or washed away.
The Padawan couldn't help it. He grinned in spite of his situation.
It was time for an escape.
He glanced down at the restraints currently keeping him hostage. He shut his eyes and focused on harnessing the Force. He reached out for it....
And grasped it. He felt the familiar current surround him. He held onto the rope the Force provided and focused his attention on the metal bands around his wrists and ankles. He had never broken durasteel with the Force before, but if he wanted out of here, which he did, he needed them to break.
The Force is all around me. It is with me. He told himself.
Kaj felt the metal start to bend and pull. He pushed himself harder. The resistants were almost completely broken when he felt the Force start to slip from his grip.
No! Come on now, just a little further! He urged. Just a little more!
He grimaced, holding the Force tightly and using all of his remaining strength to try to break his bonds.
Do or do not, there is not try. Do it for the Whiplash. Do it for Laranth. Do it for Jax.
Those words gave him fresh strength and he pushed forward, almost completely opening himself to the Force. Any further would make him vulnerable to the dark side. Memories of the last time he was awake flooded his head, but he pushed them away, determined to break free.
But he didn't know how much more of this he could take....
Then Kaj heard the loud snap and his eyes shot open. He looked down and found himself free. He sighed in relief—and exhaustion.
He eased himself slowly off of the bed he had been placed on. He stood, feeling partly shaky. He looked around and saw only grey. He rolled his eyes. Would a little color kill anyone? Classic Imperial style. He chuckled at this thought.
Kaj used the Force to sense for activity outside his grey prison. Two Inquisitors on guard. The same two from earlier. Great.
He reached out quickly with the Force and threw an invisible punch at one of the guards. He felt the life signs drop, but not completely fall. Unconsciousness.
He took out the other Inquisitor the same way, barely a second later. That takes care of them. Now to unlock this cell....
The Force told him that the door was passcode guarded. He knew he was taking a huge risk by doing this, but he took a deep breath and dove into one of the unconscious Inquisitors minds.
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.