Disclaimer: I own nothing within this story. If you recognise something it belongs to George Lucas. Or is it Disney now? I forget to be honest. Either way, the important thing is that it's not owned by me.

Note: Yes I am aware that it's been… a very long time, since I updated my Potter Fic or my Bleach fic. Not even mentioning my others… but I am a man with huge mood swings in fandoms I'm afraid. And right now my fandom is Star Wars. Luckily for all you Star Wars fans out there, I always have time for Star Wars.

A Destiny Altered – A New Path Revealed

Galen Marek.

That was his name. He had remembered it all of a sudden as he was thrown through the window of the spaceship and into the cold vacuum of space by his master, Lord Vader. This had been unexpected to say the least. He had responded to his Master's summons after he had defeated the Jedi Master Shaak Ti. He had expected the same words he had received when he had killed his other two major targets.

Good enough, but not yet ready to face the Emperor.

Instead his Master had told him that he would fight the Emperor with Vader and that together they would win. And then the betrayal had come to light. Emperor Palpatine had known of his Master's plans and had commanded Vader to kill him.

So here he was.

Floating into the dark abyss of space, a hole through his gut, broken bones from being thrown around the room and feeling like his lungs were about to implode as the oxygen was forcefully removed from him by the vacuum.

This had been unexpected.

He had often thought that the common belief that your life flashed before your eyes when you died was a load of rubbish. After all, he had killed enough people to know that none of them had seen anything. Or if they had they hadn't reacted to it, only reacting to the pain of their deaths instead. But right now he was beginning to believe there was some merit to the idea. A long time ago he had remembered his life before becoming Vader's apprentice and it had hurt his progress, leading the Sith Lord to hurt him in turn. Deciding that he would be better without such memories, for his own health and well-being, he willed them away, locking them deep inside of him.

And yet now here they were again, swimming before his eyes as the stars began to blur. No, the stars weren't blurring. His eyes were blurring. To be expected he supposed. He was completely unprotected in the void of space after all. But even as he closed his eyes the memories were there, flashing before him. Some of them were just voices, just thoughts he had held as a child. Like his name, a name he had forsaken for the title; Starkiller.

Galen, for he had resolved to refer to himself as the name his parents had given him, saw more in his memories though. He saw, surprisingly, a lot of Wookies. It seemed he had grown up in a Wookie community with his father for some reason. This memory didn't make an awful lot of sense to him until his mind processed a memory he had tried even harder to repress.

The duel between Darth Vader and his father.

Even though the man was heavily hooded and robed, Galen knew him to be his father as he had memories of seeing his father in such robes before. What startled Galen the most was that when Vader and his father duelled they fought with lightsabers and the Force. His father even gave a good showing against a clearly much stronger opponent, he was glad to note. But this led Galen to the revelation that cut him almost as deeply as Vader's lightsaber had done not moments ago. With such a level of skill there could be no doubt.

Galen's father had been a Jedi.

Oh how it stung, deep in his gut, to learn that his sole purpose since being taken in by Vader was to hunt down people like his father. He wondered… were they his friends? Certainly they had been allies during the Clone Wars if nothing else. But what had they been to his father? Was Kota once his best friend? Had Shaak Ti been someone he had admired or, Force forbid, his Jedi Master? What had he done to the people, to the remains of the Order, which his father had fought for? He shed his blood for?

Was his father ashamed of the path he had taken?

Galen supposed, rather solemnly, that he would be. His father had been a Jedi, a Knight at the least if not a Master. It must hurt his father's spirit to know that his only son had become that which the Jedi were sworn to fight against.

I never wanted any of this for you…

Galen was tempted to open his eyes when he heard the whisper echoing throughout his mind but knew that he was in space. No one was going to be there to speak to him in space. It was impossible for sound to travel in a vacuum anyway. That left only a few options. And all of them were based around the idea that he was hearing the voice in his head. It took him only a second but Galen suddenly knew that the voice that whispered softly in his mind was his father's. He didn't know how he knew, he just did. Tentatively, very aware that his life was close to ending, Galen whispered back with his mind, into the Force.

Father?

There was a pause for a second and Galen was almost convinced that he had imagined the voice. But then it whispered into his mind again.

I never wanted any of this for you son…

With renewed hope and belief that this whisper was his father's spirit reaching out to him, Galen 'spoke' back as best he could even as he felt his body beginning to shut down.

Father… I'm sorry…

I know son.

Galen awoke with a gasp, unaware that he had fallen asleep. Or, much more likely, lost consciousness. He looked around himself hastily and almost wished that he hadn't as the bright light stung his eyes, forcing him to close his eyes tightly. With his eyes recovering he decided to try and figure out where he was through his other senses. The absence of pain and freezing cold suggested that he was no longer in the void of space, as did the light if he was honest. It also appeared that he was sat down. That struck him as odd because the only time he'd ever really had the luxury of being allowed to sit down was when he was meditating and he had only ever been able to do that safely aboard his ship, The Rouge Shadow. But it was also clear that he was not currently on the Shadow, the hum of the engines, the sound of Juno singing under her breath to pass the time at the controls and the clattering of PROXY's feet on the metal floor… all of these sounds were missing.

So he was somewhere else. Somewhere bright, somewhere reasonably warm and apparently he was sat in a rather comfortable chair.

Deciding that it was now or never, Galen opened his eyes slowly. They adjusted to the bright light streaming in through the windows a lot better this time. He glanced around. He was in a large, circular room, with many comfortable low chairs arranged in a large semi-circle. They were of different shapes and sizes, no doubt meant for different races. Standing from his own chair slowly, Galen immediately thought to check something. His hand pressed against his stomach, where he knew Vader had run him through his with lightsaber. Only he found no evidence of any such wound.

Galen was about to announce to him that this was proof of his death before he glanced at the nearest window again. He blinked a little bit. No… it couldn't be.

Moving to the window quickly, he pressed his hands against the cold glass as he took in the sights spread out before him. Now he was sure that he was not dead because he was sure that there was no way that the afterlife looked exactly like Coruscant. There was no way the Force had such a twisted sense of humour. Especially since, from what he could gather from the view, he was in the Temple District. So named because at its centre were the ruins of the once great Jedi Temple. Pausing for a moment he considered the room he was in once again.

The chairs for different races.

The view of Coruscant through tall windows.

The lack of any kind of artistic flair, all just Spartan design.

This was the Jedi Temple.

Somehow, for some reason, Galen was in the Jedi Temple. He was sure of it. Nothing else would have provided a view over this area of the giant city planet. But the questions remained. Why was he here? More importantly, how did he get here after being left for dead light-years away from the planet, let alone the Temple? Feeling a disturbance in the Force, Galen spun around, his hand instantly pulling his lightsaber up into his right hand. He held it slightly behind him; his arm arced above his head as the blade burst forth in a vibrant display of energy.

Two things surprised Galen in this second alone.

First was that his lightsaber was different. Of course the handle, the grip, everything about it seemed exactly the same. The difference was the colour of his blade. In the place of the deep red that he had once found connected him better to the Dark Side, the blade was a stunning blue. It was the same shade of blue as the ice in the deepest caves of the ice moon Hoth, a blade that would have made any Jedi proud to own it. That fact alone made Galen falter slightly. His blade had changed from that of a Sith to that of a Jedi. The weapon felt heavier in his hands for a moment, as if it knew that he was not worthy of wielding it. After all, to a Sith a lightsaber was a weapon. To a Jedi it was a defensive tool.

But he dragged his mind away from the strange event surround his lightsaber to face the second thing that had surprised him. Less of a 'thing' and more of a 'person' actually. A man wearing hooded brown Jedi robes was stood in the centre of the room. The doors to the room had not opened and Galen knew that the man had not been there before. It was as if the Jedi had simply appeared from thin air. For he could decide what to do the figure looked at him directly for the first time.

Even with half of the face covered in shadows Galen recognised the face of the father he had so recently remembered for the first time,

"Father?" he asked tentatively, deactivating his blade and letting his arm fall loosely back by his side. Instinctively he clipped his lightsaber to his belt, not even looking at what he was doing, he was too transfixed by the sight of his father, "Is it truly you father?"

The figure did not move for the longest time and Galen was beginning to think that he was wrong, that this man may look like his father but was actually not. But after a few moments the man nodded slowly,

"Yes son…" he whispered, instantly reminding Galen of the voice that had whispered in his mind when he had been in space, "I am your father Galen. And before you ask… I did not bring you here. The Force brought you here."

Galen's eyes widened. Sure he was adept at using the Force, calling upon it for aid and strength, but never had he ever thought that the Force would actively move towards him in anyway. This kind of shift in the Force was virtually unheard of. Of course it might happen often but he had just never been taught about it. After all Vader had only taught him the basics of the Jedi and Sith histories, probably so that it would be easier to control him he reasoned.

An odd, stray, thought struck him and caused him to pause for a moment in his thought process. He was referring to his Master as Vader more often than not. Did he still see the man as his Master? To be honest the answer was no. No Vader was no longer his Master, the student/mentor bond had been severed by Vader and Galen was not going to rush to rebuild it. The cyborg Sith had done nothing to warrant such loyalty.

Getting his thoughts back on track, Galen was uncertain what to say. After all, how did you ask a spirit what it was that the unseen power behind everything in existence wanted with you? He swallowed a little bit, his throat suddenly feeling very dry as the consequences of his next words began to dawn on him. His connection to the Force could be destroyed if he offended the Force. Could the Force even be offended? He didn't know but he was in absolutely no hurry to find out. Taking a deep breath to calm his nerves, he spoke,

"Father… why has the Force brought me here?" he asked quietly, gesturing around the two of them, "I mean… why has it seen fit to bring me here of all places? I am a Sith, I was trained to be a Sith weapon. To bring me to the Jedi Temple… it's…"

His father held up a hand to stop him and Galen followed the unspoken instruction. He got the feeling that he had been rambling a little bit there. There was a moment of silence, as if his father was listening to something only he could hear, before he turned to his son again,

"It is right." He told his son with just the beginnings of a smile tugging at his world-weary and weather face, "The Force knows you better than you know yourself Galen. It knows that within you is the soul of a Jedi… not a Sith. As for why it has brought you here to the temple… that answer is simple and yet complex. You see Galen; you are not in the Temple. This is all within you mind – a vision granted to you by the will of the Force."

It made sense to Galen when he thought about it. After all there were certain things, like his wounds and practicality of travelling such a huge distance without him waking, that just didn't add up. They were illogical in the real world but in a dream, in a vision, they were real. The revelation that the Force saw him as a Jedi was something that he was having trouble wrapping his head round though. He had done terrible things in the name of the Dark Side of the Force… how could he have the soul of a Jedi? Galen glanced down at the lightsaber attached to his waist. Was that why the Force had seen fit to give him a blue blade? Perhaps it was even supplied by his own mind, his own self, and that the Force insisted was that of a Jedi. If so then his subconscious knew something he didn't about himself that made him worthy of being a Jedi.

Reaching down, he unclipped his lightsaber from his belt and held it in the palm of his hand, simply observing it. His father was watching his inspect the weapon and seemed to find it pleasing for the same small smile had not left his face yet. Holding the weapon in his hand he came to a decision. His father was watching over him and he had the chance to make him proud. He had a chance to make up for the wrongs he had wrought. Swallowing down any fear or doubts that he had, he glanced at his father and promised himself. He would do right by his father; he would become a Jedi like the Force believed he could be. Bowing slightly to his father, he spoke to the floor rather than to the man,

"Father… I bow to the will of the Force." He whispered, "I shall endeavour to become a Jedi like you were before me. I will honour your memory and attempt to heal the damage I have done to the galaxy as Vader's apprentice."

Light blossomed around his father, making the hooded man glow brightly. Galen blinked as he stepped back from the sudden brightness. Usually such a display of light was a sure sign of some kind of energy weapon or shield. But all he felt from the light was warmth and, dare he say it, serenity that he had never felt before. As a Sith he followed his emotions, using his anger and hatred to command the Force to do as he willed. But right now all he felt was warmth, harmonious warmth that told him that the Force approved of his decision. As the light faded back into the recesses of his hooded robes, Galen's father smiled at his son,

"You will make me proud Galen, I have no doubt." He told is son with a firm conviction, the kind only known to parents, "You were always meant to be a great Jedi Galen – I have always known it, the Force knew it and now, so do you."

A thought struck Galen that made his eyes widen a little bit. He blinked a few times. He couldn't believe he hadn't thought of it before! Galen had a major obstacle to overcome if he wanted to become this great Jedi,

"But father… I have no Master to teach me the ways of the Jedi." He told his father the problem as he perceived it, "All I know… is how to be a Sith! I need someone to teach me how to control my dark side. I need someone who can help make me into a Jedi."

Once again his father angled his head slightly, as if listening to some invisible advisor. Galen had to admit that if that happened to him a lot now that he was going to become a Jedi he was going to have to start wearing ear plugs. What seemed strange to Galen though was that his father didn't seem at all bothered by his outburst. Instead he smiled reassuringly, a smile that Galen had not seen directed at him since he had been very young,

"Son, the Force will provide you with your Masters." He announced before smiling faintly again, "You will find one Master on Bespin, in Cloud City. He will begin your instruction in being a Jedi."

Galen nodded in understanding, trying to figure out how he was going to manage to get to Bespin from where he remembered he was currently in space. Without a ship. That would be problematic, he just hoped that the Force would be able to help with that. Thinking over what had been said he paused when he caught something he had dismissed only a few seconds ago,

"Masters? Plural?" he questioned his father with a puzzled expression, "I am to have more than one Master? I did not realise that this was encouraged by the Jedi… I have always been told that they taught with the classical one mentor and one student approach."

His father nodded in agreement but the smile let Galen know that his father was humouring him. Apparently he believed that the Force had come up with another way of teaching him. There was a further stretch of silence before it was broken once again by his father,

"Once you have secured you first Master… journey to the Jedi Temple." He instructed his son, "Make your way to the sublevels of the great building and head towards the storage area. There will be an undamaged room marked 'Mandalorian'. There you shall find many things… but what you are looking for will be at the very back. You are looking for a prototype holo-bot and the holocron which you will find in a box beside it. When you are back aboard your ship you will install the holocron into the holo-bot and you will learn the path of redemption from a Jedi who once walked your path. Now… it is time for you to leave my son."

Galen was very intrigued by the sounds of his second Master. If a holo-bot could indeed be called a Master since it was just a druid. But perhaps it was the holocron which made it special? He would have to figure it out when he fired the druid up he decided. What he then focused on was the fact that his father, and the Force, seemed to agree that it was time for him to leave. But Galen didn't want to leave. He had too many questions, both for his father and for the Force itself,

"Wait! Father… how will I know that I am making the right choices? What is my mission? What am I to do when I am a Jedi?" he asked his father, wanting as many answers as possible before he disappeared, "Will this be the last time I see you father? I only just got you back into my life again… I don't want you to be out of my life again…"

A hand on his shoulder pulled Galen out of his thoughts. His father stood before him, a reassuring hand resting on his shoulder,

"The Force and I shall be in contact with you Galen. As for your mission… it is simple. You are to become a Jedi, save as many fellow Jedi as you can… and to help the universe shrug off the yolk of Imperial control." He instructed his son formally before his expression softened, "I will always be watching over you Galen… and just by accepting this difficult mission you are making me proud of you."

Galen would dispute that he had tears in his eyes at this point if anyone had been around to ask him but the fact was that he did have tears in his eyes. He nodded to his father even as the surroundings began to blur,

"Goodbye father…" he whispered, "I will make you prouder still. May the force be with you."

"And with you also my son."

With another jolt Galen was awake, panting for breath as the vision ended. He knew the vision had ended because now there was pain again. That and he wasn't in the Jedi Temple anymore, he was floating in a liquid of some kind with a tube down his throat. Naturally he pulled the tube out of his throat as quickly as possible, gagging the entire time. This didn't solve much though as the liquid began to rush down his throat through his open mouth. Lashing out with the force, the container that he had not noticed he was in shattered and he rushed forwards with the liquid, being washed out of the broken shell.

Coughing and spluttering in his attempts to regain his breath, Galen looked around himself quickly to try and determine whether or not he was in danger. He was in a dark room but it was very clearly a medical bay, leading him to believe that the liquid he had awoken in had been bacta solution. That explained the terrible taste it had left in his mouth as well. Groaning a little bit, he staggered almost drunkenly to his feet. His mind felt sluggish from the sedation but the Force was working quickly to purge it from his system.

His hands experimentally made their way to his gut, feeling his bare torso for where he knew Vader had run him through with his blade. There was a faint scar, proof that this was real and not another vision. Realising that he was actually naked, Galen cast his gaze around for any clothes that he could find. Finding a bundle of fabric on a nearby console, he shook it out to find that it was what looked like a simple robe. A simple brown robe, like Jedi wore before the purge. He paused for a moment.

Now he was reasonably sure that he was still somewhere under Imperial control since he doubted even the Force itself could have transported him across space to a state of the art healing facility which he knew he would have needed. Galen suddenly felt the urge to reach for his lightsaber, the lightsaber which wasn't at his belt. Spinning around to face a disturbance in the Force, his eyes widened as he saw Vader stalking towards him at his usual, cumbersome, pace,

"You!" he growled, his anger flaring at the sight of the one who had attempted to kill him. While he might have resolved to become a Jedi, he still held a lot of anger inside of him. Most of it was directed at the Sith Lord in front of him, "You tried to kill me!"

"And I was the one who saved your life." Vader announced, his voice as automated and cold as it always had been. He pointed to Galen and the apprentice could almost feel the scowl that his (former) Master had to be wearing beneath his mask, "Do not take that tone with me boy. You are my apprentice and you will respect me as your Master."

He wasn't sure why he did but Galen laughed a little bit bitterly,

"Of course, Master!" he shot back with bitter sarcasm, "Because it's common practice to try and kill your apprentice!"

Vader did not show any reaction to Galen's outburst but then again he was unlikely to. Galen had spent enough time around Vader to know that if he had angered the Sith Lord in person he would currently be choking to death from the Force. But he wasn't. And that was because Galen knew the Sith Lord well enough to know when he was here… and when he was just having PROXY assume his form in a glorified holo-call. Again the finger was raised,

"You will do well to remember where your loyalties lie my apprentice. The Emperor had to believe that I had killed you. The time was not right for us to strike." The Sith explained, obviously believing that Galen would accept this. It stung to admit that Galen probably would have accepted this excuse if he had not spoken to his father's spirit. But because he had done, because he had promised to become a Jedi, he inspected Vader's words in his mind. They were hollow, he decided after a few moments, but he had better see where his former Master was going with this. He nodded once. Apparently that was good enough for Vader as he continued, "I would have you perform a task for me. There are dissidents within our Empire, but they hide from us. I want you to rally them together under a single alliance, a rebel alliance, so that they will occupy the Emperor's mind. Only then will we be able to strike."

For a moment Galen thought that this had to be some kind of a joke, even though he knew that Vader did not have a sense of humour. After all what were the odds that the mission Vader would give him was only a few steps away from being identical to the mission given to him by the Force itself as well as his father's spirit? Actually the odds were pretty good considering it was the Force itself involved. This meant that he would be able to fulfil his promise to his father and the Force while Vader would still think that he was a loyal follower of the Empire. Implications ran through his mind. He would be able to get insider knowledge on where to hit the Empire the hardest and it would all come from Vader. Swallowing up the bitterness that came from the action, Galen knelt on one knee before the hologram of his former Master,

"It shall be done… Master." He told Vader, almost spitting the last word out, "How will I find them? Where is my ship?"

Vader seemed to buy his act although Galen really didn't know how he had gotten away with it. Galen's acting was truly awful after all. But the mechanical Sith Lord merely nodded in acceptance of such a terrible acting performance,

"You will find a contact in Cloud City on Bespin." He revealed, startling Galen since that was the place the Force had directed him to find his first Master. Vader ignored the reaction, "Your ship is down in the hanger bay of this facility. The facility itself is on a collision course with a nearby star so you will have to be quick to escape, my apprentice."

Galen nodded in acceptance. It couldn't be a coincidence that his first Master and the person Vader knew would get him in contact with rebels were in the same place. He would be able to meet up with his first Jedi Master and begin his training as a Jedi rather than a Sith. Of course something came to his mind and his eyes immediately widened,

"Master…" he began tentatively, hating the feel of the world rolling off of his tongue, "Where is Juno Eclipse? She has been a most faithful and acceptable pilot."

He knew that Juno had been more than acceptable but to show any signs of the friendship he had been developing with his pilot would tip his former Master off. And the Sith were not above using relationships, of any kind, to cause their enemies pain. Vader seemed to regard Galen carefully for a few moments and Galen met his metal gaze. It was always rather intimidating to stare upon Darth Vader's mask, but right now Galen was more concerned for the safety of his friend than for the Sith's opinion of his staring competition skills. After a long few moments Vader spoke,

"Dead." He told Galen in the same automated voice as always. Galen felt the air rush out of his lungs, like he had just been punched in the gut, but managed to quickly mask his shock. Vader waved a hand dismissively, "Go now my apprentice… complete your mission."

With that dismissive motion the connection was cut and the form of Vader flickered before disappearing to reveal the metal body work of PROXY. Now sure that his former Master was not able to see him Galen scowled as he growled in anger. PROXY seemed to ignore this and his optical receptors lit up slightly brighter,

"Ah Master!" The droid cried as happily as its vocal module would allow, "I am happy to see that you are still running at optimal efficiency! Shall we make our way to the Rogue Shadow?"

Galen didn't want to get to the ship, despite learning that the facility was soon to be destroyed. He wanted to stay here for at least a moment longer, destroy some helpless computer monitors in an attempt to burn out his anger. But he knew he shouldn't do it. He took a deep breath, held it for a few seconds, before slowly exhaling. To mindlessly destroy this room would be the action of a Sith, a student of the Dark side. But he was trying to become a Jedi, the Jedi that his father always knew that he could become. So instead he breathed deeply, breathed slowly, and slowly pushed his anger out of his mind. Instead he was filled with a sadness for having lost the first person he could honestly say he was friends with.

Without a word Galen turned and left the room, knowing that PROXY would follow him. Making his way quickly through the facility, Galen found the Rogue Shadow in the middle of the facility's docking bay. It was the only thing inside the docking bay area so it was hard to miss it. Galen kept expecting some remark from Juno about how she was going to get them a few light-years away from the facility or something. She always did try to make him lighten up a little bit. But back when he had the chance to get to know her he had been too focused on becoming a true Sith Lord, too focused on being Vader's secret assassin. He didn't know if she would approve of his decision to work towards becoming a Jedi or not but he liked to think that she would have done.

Even with the blinker of a Sith on he had seen that she was too good a person for the work she had done in the name of the Empire.

Entering the ship's cockpit he sat down in the co-pilots seat as PROXY perched in the pilot's chair, beginning the pre-flight checks with all the methodical efficiency of the droid that he was. Upon reflection, Galen had no idea why Vader had always insisted on giving him a living pilot. He could understand preferring Galen to spend his time in-flight training. But PROXY was perfectly capable of flying the ship to the best of the ship's capabilities. It took Galen a moment to realise that PROXY had been speaking to him,

"PROXY." He interrupted the droid, stopping him in mid-flow, "I zoned out for a moment, what are you talking about?"

PROXY seemed surprised to learn that Galen had zoned out. But then again, PROXY was a droid and he would probably never understand the feelings that Juno's death had stirred within him. The droid merely gestured to the small holographic star chart in front of them on the dash,

"I was merely inquiring as to our destination Master." He reiterated with the endless patience that only droids could ever have. The droid tilted his head to the side slightly, "Are you feeling unwell from your maintenance Master? If so please tell me, I am most anxious to fulfil my primary programming!"

Galen didn't know what PROXY's primary programming was exactly as it had been programmed into the droid by Vader. But judging from the context in which the droid mentioned it so often, Galen was led to believe that the droid's primary programming involved killing him. It would be just like Vader to work that into the droid who had been Galen's only friend growing up under Vader's instruction,

"I'm fine PROXY, just a lot on my mind." He told the droid before he thought about the destination. PROXY lifted off and guided the ship away from the facility as he thought about what he was going to find at their destination, "Destination is Cloud City, Bespin."

First chapter for you guys. Please be sure to review, favourite and follow me and this story for those of you who are new to my work!

For those reading my work because they're already following or have me favourited, please continue to show your support!