Star Wars - The Gray Jedi - Chapter 2 - Escape from Bracca 01.

[Chapter Size: 2000 Words.]
Third Person POV
Bracca.
...

...

Cal opened his eyes while feeling a strong headache come on, yet he didn't react with a pained expression; he simply kept a serene face amidst the migraine brought on by all those memories flooding his mind. He had acquired knowledge of Star Wars as fiction, along with many related works that were not canonical to the main story, information about the worlds and secrets of the galaxy, and more importantly, about the future and even his own history, which would end in death a few years in the future, unsuccessfully trying to fight the Empire, with all his efforts in vain. Only years later would Anakin Skywalker's son, now known as Darth Vader, find a way to destroy the Empire with his allies, but the Jedi order would never be restored after that.

He felt strange because he also received memories from a man who never existed in this universe where he is now. He could feel his body changing, the Force was creating a miracle there as it manipulated his genetics, increasing the midi-chlorians in his blood, surpassing by far, the 20,000, the highest record in all history in a single living being. The Force flowed through him like never before.

‘The memories of Starkiller... they are giving me his powers... I can feel the Force flowing through me...’ He couldn't help but murmur, feeling all that power so close and yet so distant at the same time, because he had never trained anything from those memories. He would need to learn to control these powers, but he also felt hesitant about it, after all, he had not only the luminous power of the Force within him.

He ran his hand over his face this time, with the pain increasing, feeling memories of the dark side powers coming to the surface, trying to alleviate a bit of the pain, while Prauf, who had been by his side all along, noticed the strange behavior.

"Cal, are you okay?" he asked, looking concerned.

"I'm... I mean, not really. Just need some time," Cal replied, trying to make an excuse. But returning to Prauf, he had knowledge about the future and what would happen soon. "Prauf." He called him again.

Prauf looked back at Cal, surprised by his look; he seemed different from before he slept... which was strange. "Yes...?" Prauf asked cautiously.

"You need to get out of here," Cal said suddenly.

"What do you mean, Cal?" Prauf asked.

"The Empire is coming... they're looking for me and will be here soon." Cal spoke with a serious tone, but without fear in his voice. This happened when Stormtroopers would invade the wagon looking for a fugitive Jedi. He knew that Prauf would die soon, defending him and offending the Empire, and he didn't want that, since this man didn't deserve it.

Prauf was scared by this, and looked at Cal as if he had two heads at this moment. "Prauf, do you trust me?" he asked, looking at his friend.

Prauf wondered where the scared and cautious look from before in Cal was, now he saw a confident and fierce look, a contrast from before.

"I trust, but are you okay? You seem different," he couldn't help but comment, looking at Cal.

"You're right, I am different," Cal admitted. "But I need you to get out of here. You're in danger and I don't want you to die because of me," Cal said sincerely.

He might now have more than one personality inside him at this moment, but he certainly didn't want someone to sacrifice themselves for him, after all, no one likes to owe their life to someone.

"You can't be serious..." He spoke cautiously, not believing his friend.

"I am. You need to leave now," Cal insisted with a tone of command, and Prauf, seeing that look that said Cal was no longer discussing, swallowed hard. "Alright." He said still a bit reluctant as he began to get up.

"Wait, one more thing." Cal stopped him. "Try to blend in or hide in a safe place." He advised as Prauf nodded, starting to walk to the door and onto the next wagon.

Cal watched him leave and sighed, trying to avoid the future death of him while he sat there, with some people or alien beings minding their own lives, coming back after a day's work.

He took this time to meditate and try to feel his new memories and abilities within him, closing his eyes, he sought answers to what had happened to him, with the Force. He felt the Force within him, the knowledge of the dark side and the light side now residing within him—it was strange, after all, he had never heard of someone who could have both poles at the same time, he even wondered how this was possible.

Cal wouldn't be lying if he said he was hesitant about the memories of the dark arts being used, since he was a Jedi and still remembered his master teaching and even advising him to avoid at all costs entering the dark side.

'Cal, my young padawan, do not let the anger of failure take over you, it is an opening to the dark side. Learn from your mistakes, but envision future success.' His master always said, on this particular occasion, he tried to lift a ball with the Force, but had been failing for the last few days with it.

Cal was someone who never saw himself using the dark side, but now with all this knowledge and experience... he might even access it and use a part of those powers, but could he use this power without being affected or seduced by it? Starkiller had mastered both sides and used them skillfully... being able to control the dark side, that he had learned to use this side first.

'This power... it's certainly trying to seduce me...' Cal thought as images with powers of launching lightning, disintegrating enemies, and with a form of dual-bladed swords that he had never seen before, but now was in him, ready to enter his muscle memory. He also felt that his crystal in the lightsaber could turn red if he wanted, but he held back on that, after all, he still wanted to honor his master, keeping the crystal blue as the light side.

"Should I use this power?" he murmured softly, placing his hands on his chin while no one could hear him there, as he saw the future that ended in death, not just of him, but of all his future allies and acquaintances.

The future was really strange to know, despite growing and getting stronger with all the challenges put in his path, he suffered a catastrophic defeat in front of more powerful beings like Darth Vader and the Emperor himself, beings unreachable for Cal Kestis. However, for Galen Marek, despite ending in death succumbing in the end, he knew how to fight these beings, he was born more powerful mastering both poles, he had overcome all his opponents.

'With this, I might have an ending of both destinies...' Cal thought after debating a bit, after all, he saw that he needed to use both poles if he wanted to change the galaxy and his destiny.

He finally opened his eyes, sensing through the Force the change that was happening outside the train. Although he was much stronger than the old Cal Kestis now, he was nowhere near his peak, he would have to train for that, but now was not the time to think about those things, but rather to deal with the present. The train began to stop at this moment and the people around began to murmur and ask what was happening. Carl took a deep breath as the door opened and two Stormtroopers appeared with guns.

"Everyone, outside, now!" they ordered, opening one of the doors and stepping out of the train, while the people, unable to react much, obeyed following them.

Ships began to land: one huge and another imperial fighter, with the Ninth Sister and the Second Sister stepping out of the spacecraft. Cal looked through that and nodded to himself, seeing that nothing had changed. But suddenly, someone came out of another wagon with Prauf chained and with a gun pointed at his head, approaching them.

"We found this one hiding, Ninth Sister," the Stormtrooper said pushing Prauf.

Cal frowned at the situation, he didn't want Prauf to have the same fate, so he started thinking about how to get him out of there alive.

"Very well, set him aside and let's wait for orders," as the Second Sister approached and looked at Prauf, curious, but saw no Force in him and returned her attention to the other group that came from the wagon.

"We are looking for a fugitive criminal from the old Jedi Order who is among you," she began to speak to the row of people next to Cal. "If you do not hand over this fugitive, we will execute everyone," she announced, as the Stormtroopers pointed their guns, with people shrinking back in fear.

But, before she could continue, Prauf suddenly shouted, "You are the real criminals! You have destroyed the orders of the only force of good in the universe! To the empire, we are expendable!" He said courageously.

The Second Sister walked up to him. "The Jedi Order?" she drew her lightsaber and ignited it, the red laser appearing. "Is a bunch of criminals," she spoke calmly, then swung her saber at the alien as she moved to stab.

But something happened, suddenly, she stopped, feeling a force keeping her unable to continue her attack and looked quickly at the row of workers, as a red-haired boy raised his hands, using the Force and holding her attack.

"Look, it seems we've found our Jedi," she mocked, and tried to free herself from the boy's Force with some effort. "HM?!" He used the dark side, but could not free herself, staying surprised by that and tried again, but was stuck, frowning at the strength of that boy, which was uncommon.

"That," she murmured, a bit surprised by that. The Ninth Sister quickly got involved, unleashing her red lightsaber and charging at Cal.

"I have no choice now..." Seeing that he could not stop both at the same time with just one side of the Force, he decided to release the other.

Cal then raised his other hand and unleashed his dark side lightning, he was already decided to use this power if needed. Then, to the surprise of the Second and the Ninth Sister, they saw that lightning coming their way, hitting them before they could react, sending them flying back, along with some Stormtroopers.

The lightning echoed throughout the area as everyone was stunned by it, even the imperial soldiers were unsure what to do seeing their superiors falling on the other side.

Cal took advantage of this moment and before anyone could react, Cal started to run towards Prauf still chained with some imperial soldiers, as he wielded his lightsaber the blue light of it shining brightly, and advanced, cutting the first soldier before he could react, then the second and third, while grabbing his friend.

"Let's go, run with me!" He shouted, and before he could react, Prauf was pulled by Cal, cutting his bonds, going to the edge of the cliff and jumping without being able to react as the Second Sister and Ninth Sister were recovering from the attack that had stunned them.

Seeing a train below them. Cal landed first, rolling to cushion his fall effortlessly, while Prauf was still falling and began to scream. Cal quickly used his hand to hold him with the Force, stopping him before he hit the iron from that height and landing safely 50 centimeters off the ground shortly after.

Prauf stood up scared and looking at Cal, surprised by everything.

"Don't look at me like that, let's get out of here first, then we can talk." Cal said and started moving forward with the moving cargo train, hoping that Cere's ship would appear.