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: I've been asked if there will be a love interest for Galen, taking into account that Juno is most likely dead after all. The answer is that, yes, Galen will have some romance in his life. Many of his female allies will be attracted to him, to varying degrees, so soon you will have the chance to vote on who he ends up with. I hope this appeases you all ^^
A Destiny Altered – Lost Souls of the Jedi Order
Galen was getting annoyed now and he knew that Jedi were not supposed to get annoyed and that was annoying him even more. To be honest, right now Galen was considering going full Sith and striking down both of his so-called Masters. As soon as the projection of Revan had accepted him as his apprentice, Kota had been arguing with the ancient Jedi about philosophy of the Force. It was just going around in circles if he was honest and the frustrating thing was that he could tell that both men held a certain amount of respect for each other.
They were both men of war and they respected each other for their accomplishments in battle, to the point where there had been times when Galen had classed the whole thing as a 'pissing match' like bounty hunters indulged in. It was just incredibly undignified for a grown Jedi and a Jedi who had once been both a Jedi Knight and a Sith Lord. To be honest it was also rather enlightening. If these two men were this childish Galen had no idea what kind of secret personality quirks other powerful figures had.
Did Vader play with toy starships when no one was watching?
Did the Emperor read trashy romance data-pads?
That last thought made him shudder, almost retch too, when he remembered that most trashy data-pads had sex scenes in explicit detail. Galen didn't want to know what either of the Sith Lords spent their private time doing because he was damned sure the images alone would cause him to seek out a way to end his own life. As the three of them made their way out into the ruined entrance hall of the Jedi Temple, Galen sighed in relief. Both from being away from the creepy sub-levels and at knowing that the Rogue Shadow wasn't too far away. With any luck his two Masters would separate when they were on the ship.
What Galen also noticed was that the strange feeling of being watched, a feeling he had grown accustomed to in the sub-levels, had disappeared. This was more than a little bit strange but perhaps it made a certain sort of sense. If it had been something the Jedi Order had set up to monitor the sublevels then the feeling wouldn't continue once they were free from the restricted section of the Temple. He turned to tell his Masters his thoughts when he heard it.
The sound of lightsaber striking against lightsaber.
Instantly both Kota and Revan ceased their talking and adopted serious expressions, Kota's lightsaber moving into his hand quickly through the use of the Force. Although he didn't have a lightsaber, Revan seemed to be ready for battle. His stance had sunken down subtly and his eyes were moving cautiously around the room. Galen's own lightsaber leapt to his hand. He resolved to have Revan pick out a lightsaber or two from his collection when they were back on the Rogue Shadow. Even though he was just a projection of memories and personality, Galen was sure that Revan would still be skilled with the weapon.
As one the three moved further into the ruined entrance hall, hugging close to a downed pillar when it became apparent by the increased volume that the fighters were on the other side of the rubble. Galen listened intently and his eyes rose a little bit when he realised from the grunts of exertion that there were only two combatants, and that they were both female. He moved himself slowly to the corner of the pillar but before he could glance around the corner Kota's hand on his shoulder stopped him,
"Wait boy." He urged in a whisper, seemingly concentrating very hard, "I sense that both of them are familiar to me. One should not be here but is light… the other is dark but… but more by confusion and circumstances than choice. Boy… support the togruta woman!"
Galen was more than a little bit confused but if working with Vader had taught him anything over the years it was that he had to obey his Master. He glanced around the corner of the pillar and blinked once. A togruta woman, who appeared to be in her mid-twenties, was wielding a green lightsaber in a reverse grip as she defended against the ferocious attacks of a dark skinned human woman of about the same age. Since the human woman was attacking viciously with a red lightsaber and Kota had been right about the light being in the togruta, Galen decided that now was a good time to intervene.
As the red blade of the human woman came slashing down towards the togruta's hasty over-head defence, Galen made his move. The Force slammed into the side of the human, picking her up and sending her crashing into another nearby pillar. Almost instantly the togruta was on guard, unsure about his intentions he was sure. He ignited his lightsaber, the bright blue colour calming her slightly,
"Relax; I'm here to help you." He tried to tell her before he swore, "Pay attention to your surroundings damn it!"
The human woman was back again, this time trying to cut the togruta down the centre with a malicious leaping strike. But the togruta wasn't going to react in time to stop the attack. Gritting his teeth, Galen used the Force and leapt up to meet the woman's attack, surprising her greatly if the way her eyes seemed to bulge was any indication. His blue lightsaber smashed into her red blade, sending the two of them spinning to the ground. Galen was able to land it, skidding backwards slightly, but on his feet. The human woman wasn't so lucky and she bounced once or twice before she righted herself.
Of course by the time she had righted herself both Galen and the togruta were rushing at her from different angles. She seemed to deem that Galen was more of a threat because she spun around to slam her blade down against his, surprising him with the force behind the blow. Before the togruta could capitalise though, the human woman kicked out, slamming her heel into the orange woman's gut, driving the air from it. The red blade sailed through the air towards the reeling orange woman, lifting from Galen's blue blade in a fraction of a second.
Green and red locked together as Kota decided to make his presence known, blocking the attack meant for the orange alien woman. Before the dark skinned human could counter, Galen lashed out with the Force, once again sending the woman flying backwards. Through impressive control of the Force the human woman managed to regain control and come to a gentle stop before her back could hit another piece of rubble. All four combatants seemed to decide that now was a good time to get their bearings.
Galen moved into his ready position, his saber held out wide to his right with his left hand at the ready for any Force attacks he would have to perform. To his surprise the human woman mirrored his stance. There weren't many who learnt the violent seventh form of lightsaber combat but it seemed that both Galen and the woman were proficient in it; her control of the form before was much better than a novice after all. Without warning Galen sprinted forwards, using the Force to aid his movements. The woman did likewise and rushed at him, her lightsaber held high where his was almost trailing on the ground.
With a colossal spray of sparks their lightsabers clashed as his upwards slash met her downward swing. Both had put a tremendous amount of force behind the blows but Galen had more strength in his body than the woman so she was the one who was forced backwards. Not willing to give up any kind of ground to a woman this skilled in lightsaber combat, Galen pursued her relentlessly. He slashed down at her hasty guard, sending her stumbling backwards from the vicious force of the attack. Again and again he hacked and slashed at her, his form looking random and overly powerful to an outsider but to a master of lightsaber combat his form was excellent.
The seventh form of lightsaber combat was about attack, constant and ferocious attack. It wasn't for defence, as the woman was obviously feeling; it was about inflicting as much damage as possible without caring if you killed your opponent. But once of the dangers of the form was that you focused your entire body and perception on attacking with your lightsaber. Hence why Galen didn't sense it when the woman called a piece of rubble to her with the Force, blindsiding him with it as it smashed against his side, sending him skidding across the ground as it had gotten him right in the ribs.
Before she could capitalise on his weakness however, both Kota and the togruta were upon her. What surprised Galen was that they seemed to be fighting in sync, albeit in a slightly sloppy way, as if they had fought together before but a long time ago. Trying to pull himself up to his feet, Galen swore as pain flared all along the right side of his rib cage. He must have broken at least one or two ribs with that mistake. Feeling a hand pulling him up to his feet, Galen turned to see that Revan was helping him up,
"Get up apprentice." He commanded, causing Galen to immediately move to do as he said. Revan nodded once to Galen, "You did well. The seventh form is difficult to use and you were fighting a master of its usage. She has more experience than you, especially in fighting another seventh form user, if my estimations are correct."
Galen was confused by the way that Revan was talking to him. His confusion must have shown on his face because his second Master explained,
"You should not be ashamed in your performance." He reasoned, "You fought an opponent, with more experience, at her own game and survived. With more experience you can be a magnificent lightsaber duellist."
Shaken up a little bit by Revan's words, Galen blinked a little bit and looked down at his now extinguished lightsaber. He had always thought that his skill with a lightsaber was good but to have Revan, a man he understood to have been a prodigy in almost every form of the Jedi arts, compliment his skills made him glow proudly. After a moment he pushed the pride down. Pride came before the fall after all and Jedi were encouraged to push down any strong feelings of personal pride for just such a reason. Galen grimaced slightly as he watched the fight now going on without him. But with his ribs broken like this he would be more of a hindrance than a help to Kota and the togruta.
All the same, the dark Jedi seemed to be getting the upper hand in the duel despite the fact that she was outnumbered. Her form was perfect, Galen realised with a little bit of annoyance. Not a single movement was wasted and each and every movement was designed to cause damage to her opponents. Now that he had time to examine her fighting style, Galen found that the togruta had a lot of holes in her fighting style. He frowned a little bit,
"The togruta… her form isn't that great." He commented quietly as he watched the battle going on in front of him, "She's relying almost exclusively on her reactions… she hasn't got anywhere near the same amount of experience as either Kota or the Sith woman. She's not even as experienced as me… why is that?"
Revan had been stoically watching the battle from the beginning and Galen had no doubt that the projection had picked that up a lot sooner than Galen himself had. He glanced down at Galen before nodding a little bit,
"I've managed to use my droid framework to gain access to the Temple archives. A lot of them are destroyed but not personal records." He revealed to his apprentice, "She is Ahsoka Tano, former Jedi padawan learner to Anakin Skywalker. Seems she was expelled from the order on charges that were then revealed to be false. The reason why her style is not as polished as yours and Kota's is that she was never fully trained. The opponent… all I have is her name. Depa Billaba."
As the fight progressed it became clear that Kota and the togruta, Ahsoka, were outclassed. It seemed that this fighter, this Depa Billaba, was strong enough to be classed as a Jedi Master in both Force power usage and lightsaber combat. When she disarmed Ahsoka and sent her flying, Galen caught the orange female with the Force before she could hit the nearby pillar. However there was enough energy behind the attack that he was unable to stop all of it and Ahsoka was still hurt by the attack. Levitating her over to him and Revan, Galen set her down on the ground. She groaned a little bit,
"Damn… you would have thought that being in a coma would have slowed her down. Maybe it did though. Maybe I've gotten rusty…" she muttered, not really noticing Galen until she had spoken, "Oh, thanks for the save back there. Still hurt but I have a feeling I'd be dead if you hadn't caught me like that."
Galen smiled a little bit at the praise for doing something good. He had never received praised from anywhere for showing compassion and he found that it was an action that he quite liked. Looking down into her green eyes he smiled comfortingly, causing the slightly older Ahsoka to turn away slightly,
"It's not a problem for a fellow Jedi." He told her before he glanced up at the battle, "Oh no… Kota!"
As both Galen and Ahsoka turned back to the battle it had reached yet another decisive moment. Kota jumped back to avoid receiving a strong slash across his stomach that would have opened his guts completely. But at the last second Depa revealed that the attack had been a feint, the real attack was a piece of rubble smashing against the side of Kota's head. It wasn't sharp and the damage wasn't that great but it succeeded in allowing Depa to land a light slash across Kota's chest, causing him to drop his lightsaber as he fell to the ground.
Depa prepared to deliver a final blow to the downed Kota when she suddenly had to roll to the side, avoiding the kick sent by a very calm-looking Revan. What surprised everyone, including Depa, was that Revan had managed to escape all of their notice and attack before he was even detected. Even more surprising was that Revan was unarmed, only slipping into a loose ready stance for what Galen recognised as being an echani ready position. Using the Force, Galen pulled the wounded Kota over to where he and Ahsoka were recovering. Leaving Ahsoka to care for the general, a task she took to with enthusiasm, Galen focused on the battle that was now between Revan and Depa.
Angered by the emergence of another challenger, Depa charged at Revan with the intent to cut him from head to toe with her lightsaber. With careless ease, Revan side stepped the furious downward slash. When Depa's momentum carried her slightly past him, Revan spun around her and simply pushed her forwards with one hand. As Depa recovered and snarled at Revan, Galen was busy being surprised. Apparently Revan had been a prodigy in more than just the Jedi arts. Was it possible that he was actually a prodigy in all arts concerning war? It made sense considering his reputation.
Once again Depa attacked, just as furiously but with caution that had not been there before. Stepping back from the slash sent at his face, Revan barely moved to the left and right to avoid the rapid stabs and thrusts she made in an attempt to run him through on her blade. Depa was getting angrier and angrier and her form was getting stronger as the seventh form was designed to work well with anger. Seemingly sensing that she was only going to get more dangerous, Revan stepped the fight up a notch and actually began to attack.
Immediately the fight swung in Revan's favour, with each punch and kick landing at damaging areas that were sending the woman reeling. Revan finished the fight rather anti-climactically with what looked like a palm thrust to the woman's heart. Almost instantly Depa collapsed to the ground and the Temple entrance hall was silent. Revan turned to Galen and the others,
"We should leave now." He suggested, "Any enemy forces worth their salt will have heard or sensed the commotion by now."
Galen couldn't help but agree, the Empire probably already had entire divisions of stormtroopers inbound to the Temple. It was safe to say that they probably shouldn't be anywhere near the Temple when they arrived. Kota was in no condition to be fighting stormtroopers and while he was sure he, Revan and Ahsoka could handle the regular troopers without a problem it would be the tanks and the special units that did them in in the end. Nodding a little bit, he turned to Ahsoka,
"Ahsoka right?" he asked, continuing at her nod, "Do you think you can carry Kota with the Force to our ship on the landing pad?"
She looked a little bit surprised that he had taken command before she seemed to grow a little bit annoyed at him for doing so,
"Why is it that you're in charge?" she demanded, "And why are you acting like I'm going to go with you?"
Galen gave her an annoyed glance,
"Look there's no time for you to get snippy with me." He cut her off, not noticing the way she flinched at the use of the term 'snippy'. Turning to Revan, he paused when he noticed that the ancient Jedi had picked up Depa and had her slung over his shoulder, "Revan… is she dead?"
There was a moment's pause, during which Revan pressed his fingers to the woman's neck. It looked like he was checking for a pulse but his body was that of a droid. He was probably using the touch to make it seem less creepy that he just knew it. Or, Galen reflected as he glanced sideways at Ahsoka, he was guarding his secrets from people he was unsure about. After a moment he shrugged a little bit,
"I was a bit rusty with the attack but it worked." He told them with a small smirk, "She's in a coma that I induced with the pressure point attack. Don't worry, I can easily reverse it. But before then I suggest we take a look inside her mind and see what her intentions are. She might become an asset instead of a liability."
It was a gamble but Galen was happy to see that it actually wasn't that big of a gamble. She was in a coma and would stay in one until Revan undid the damage her had done. This gave them plenty of time to probe her mind. And, if it turned out she wasn't going to help them against the Empire, she could remain that way indefinitely. After a moment's consideration he nodded to the idea and pulled up a com link,
"PROXY, prep the Shadow." He commanded the droid before smirking faintly, "And try to behave yourself, we're going to be having company."
"Who is your Jedi Master?"
That was the question that got fired at Galen as soon as he entered the general room of the Rogue Shadow, almost an hour after their escape from the Jedi Temple. It had been a tight thing but his ship was impressive to say the least and they had managed to evade the Imperial fighters that had been sent after them. Right now they were in hyperspace, hence why he felt secure enough to visit Ahsoka in the middle of the ship,
"Hello to you too." He muttered as he sat down opposite her at the rounded table. Setting his lightsaber down on the table he took out the care-kit that he had originally been given by Vader. Disassembling his lightsaber with the Force, he glanced at Ahsoka, "I suppose at the moment I have two Masters. Kota, who you've met before apparently, and Revan. Why the sudden interest?"
Ahsoka seemed to mull this answer around in his head, idly playing with a little necklace she was wearing. Paying her no mind, Galen began to clean his lightsaber. He was polishing the colour crystal, his favourite part of his new lightsaber, when she spoke again,
"How is it that I never met you before at the Temple?" she asked him quietly, "You know… before the purge. Before my expulsion from the Order too I guess."
Looking up from his work, Galen thought about how to answer the question as he looked directly into her green eyes. She met his gaze squarely, something he found mildly impressive. Most people found staring into his light grey eyes to be rather unnerving. There was a silence between the two as their gazes locked before Galen returned to his work,
"I never attended the Temple. I'm only seventeen standard years old after all." He told her quietly. She opened her mouth to ask another question but he sensed that she would do so and had a hand already held up for her to stop. Slotting his polished crystal back into his lightsaber he glanced up at her, "In answer to your next most likely question… I was instructed in lightsaber combat and Force techniques by my former master since… well since I was young. Can I ask you who your master was?"
Ahsoka had been listening intently to his answer, still playing with the necklace around her neck throughout it. When he asked who her Master was though she stopped playing with the necklace, clutching it tightly instead and gritting her teeth. Galen frowned a little bit, concerned, when he saw that she was so upset at the mere mention of her Master. Of course there was a chance that her Master hadn't made it through the Great Jedi Purge that had accompanied Order 66. But she seemed more angry than upset so perhaps not. His musings were cut short when she nodded once,
"I suppose that's fair… my Master was Anakin Skywalker." She revealed to him, taking a steady breath before closing her eyes, "Before my expulsion from the Order and… before he became Darth Vader."
Galen's heart seemed to stop beating for a moment. This was beyond a coincidence here. He had gone to the Jedi Temple to try and find an ally against Vader and the Empire and he just happened to wander across Vader's old padawan learner? Something told him that the Force had a hand in this, more so than it usually did in things at least. He was conflicted for a moment as to what to do with this information. If he didn't tell her the truth then he could count on her anger at Vader to keep her loyal to his cause. But such dishonesty… it stank of Sith workings. And he was a Jedi now. He would not stoop to using deceit on his allies like they did,
"Since you have told me something that was hard for you to speak of I suppose I should do the same… and tell you that we shared a Master." He told her quietly, watching her eyes widen in surprise, "My former Master was Darth Vader. My goal, my dream, was to be the perfect weapon for my Master and I was very good at what I did."
He sighed a little bit when he saw Ahsoka's expression. It was a mixture of understanding and disgust. Deciding that she needed to hear the rest he gestured to the ship,
"He betrayed me and I received a vision from the Force itself." He told her before his eyes steeled with determination, "My father's spirit spoke to me. Told me to become the Jedi he always knew that I could be. Told me that I was to build up a rebellion to the Empire… that my new goal, my new dream, was to overthrow the Empire that has taken and taken from the people of the Galaxy!"
There was silence for a moment as Galen calmed down a little bit, lowering his gaze back down to Ahsoka as he had ended up looking at the ceiling for some reason. Ahsoka still looked a little bit conflicted but the fact that he wanted to overthrow the Empire and Vader seemed to be what swayed her. After a few moments she smirked a little bit playfully,
"Revan or Kota?" she teased him, "Come on, fess up, which one?"
Galen was lost for a moment before he caught what she was getting at. His cheeks reddened in embarrassment a little bit. She had seen it already? Well damn, looked like he needed to get used to it to make it seem natural,
"How'd you guess?" he asked sheepishly as he scratched the back of his head, "But yeah… yeah Kota has been trying to help me give inspiration speeches. He says I rely too much on the truth at the moment… in some cases the truth will just discourage people. Personally I like giving everyone the full story."
Ahsoka raised an eyebrow as she appraised him for a few moments. Galen's eyebrow twitched in annoyance when she began to click her tongue as she thought. After a few moments of her continuing the annoying tick he was about to tell her to stop it when she spoke up,
"Alright then little boy…" she teased him, smirking when he fumed, "I guess I'll give you and Master Kota a hand with this rebellion."
The 'little boy' comment had Galen more than a little bit angry but also embarrassed which was a bit out of place. Unless… oh Force no. He did not think of her as an attractive woman. He couldn't! She was not going to be causing him embarrassment throughout their time together just because of his Force-damned hormones! But even though he knew the cause he couldn't help but shoot out the reply,
"I am NOT a little boy!" he announced, crossing his arms and unintentionally giving the impression of a little boy pouting. When she giggled he scowled a little bit, "Well you're not much older than me! How old are you then?"
Adopting a mock-offended face, Ahsoka placed a hand on her chest. Annoyingly enough Galen had to control his thoughts to keep his eyes from following her hand to where it was resting. She smirked playfully at him as she stood up, tossing her tails over her shoulder like human women did with their hair,
"Such a rude question to ask of a woman!" she declared with mock indignation before moving towards the cockpit. Pausing in the doorway she looked over her shoulder at him and tossed him a wink, "Either way, I'm out of your league Star-guy."
Galen spluttered indignantly as his damn hormones caused his entire face to flush bright red, looking quite the sight as Ahsoka left, laughing happily.
Depa Billaba was laid out on the table in the centre of the room that Galen had affectionately named the 'meditation chamber'. In reality it was the communications room but considering only Vader ever contacted him before this it had been the quietest room by far in the ship, ironically enough. Galen glanced down at the Jedi Master as she lay there in a coma. Circling the table a few times, he sighed a little bit in frustration before sitting down at a chair by the table.
Revan was the room's only other occupant, standing in the corner across from Galen. His arms were crossed over his chest and his expression was stern. They had been trying to get into Depa's mind in order to figure out whether or not she could be a useful member of this alliance of rebels they were constructing. Right now Kota was using the communications in the cockpit to get into contact with one of his contacts in the senate and they were running out of time to figure out if Depa could be useful to them.
The problem wasn't that Galen had little to no experience in diving into the minds of other sentients, much less another Force sensitive. Hell, the problem wasn't even that Revan was technically a robot with the projection of a person's memories and personality, meaning he lacked any connection to the Force. No, the biggest problem was that Depa's mind had locked down completely and no technique that Galen had managed to learn through Revan's instruction was helping and they'd been doing this for the past two days.
Needless to say, Ahsoka had teased Galen mercilessly about not being able to get into the 'dreams' of a woman. That had resulted in an amusing little argument and another lesson for Galen about keeping his temper, and hormones, under control. Galen had spent the last two days cursing the fact that he was still only seventeen and the existence of hormones.
Sighing a little bit, Galen placed his hands on either side of Depa's head and concentrated on his connection to the Force by closing his eyes and regulating his breathing. Grabbing hold of his connection to the Force he breathed out slowly as he tried to gently nudge his connection to the Force towards Depa's connection to the same energy. But once again his connection was rebuffed from hers, causing him to swear and release his connection to the Force,
"It's not working still…" he muttered to Revan, "Her connection to the Force keeps pushing mine away. I mean I know I could overpower hers but you said that could cause problems for us so I've held off on doing that. But I need to do something different… our connections aren't merging like you said they would."
Revan nodded once but didn't respond verbally, causing Galen to sigh a little bit and rest his head against the cold metal of the table by Depa's head. He was often like this, he had discovered. Apparently Revan was the type of person to only speak when he thought it was worth it, he would rather not waste words or time. After a few moments, Revan spoke,
"Alright then. Time for drastic measures." He declared before nodding to Galen, "You say that you can overpower her connection and force yours to merge with hers? Do it."
Normally Galen would have protested, he had been told that some of the consequences for failing this method included Depa dying and he wanted to avoid adding to his conscience. But right now he was tired and frustrated, having done the same thing repeatedly for the past two days, without any obvious change. Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and placed his hands a few inches away from her temples.
This time he was much more forceful with the two connections and used his own command of the Force to press their connections together almost violently. If he had been after a response then this time was much better because he got one almost instantly. Unfortunately for both Galen and Depa, the response was one of blinding pain shooting through the Force itself into their minds. Both Galen and the comatose Depa screamed loudly in pain as the Force flowed freely and undiluted into the two of them.
After a few moments the pain was gone and Galen fell to the floor, having collapsed sideways away from the chair he was sitting in. Groaning as the pain began to subside, he rubbed his temple in an attempt to work the headache away. Something was different though, something about the room and about his connection to the Force. For some reason his connection to the Force seemed stronger.
This was a very good thing. It meant that the maximum amount of raw Force power he could channel had increased. Something that many would consider insane considering his already massive ability in that area. The other difference was that he felt his attention being tugged to somewhere else. To someone else. Groaning a little bit, he wobbled to his feet before a hand on his shoulder steadied him,
"Thanks…" he muttered before opening his eyes to find Depa Billaba staring right at him, less than an inch from his face, "Gah!"
In a very undignified display, Galen stumbled backwards in surprise. This cause Revan to laugh and Depa to look very concerned for a moment,
"Are you alright Master?"
Revan smirked, a very rare sight, as Galen simply gawped at the human Jedi in front of him,
"Oh Ahsoka is going to love this…"
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