Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Initiate of Light

Chapter 7

1 BBY – The morning after the assault on the Krant base

Galen's eyes flickered open as he saw the distant horizon of Krant begin to lighten up and knew that the sun would be rising soon. Knowing that he wouldn't fall back asleep again Galen looked down upon the smaller figure in his arms. Setra had been troubled by more visions of the Vor'Na'Tu during the night and so Galen had brought Setra into his and Juno's quarters for the night and she has slept with him in their bunk as Juno had spent the night helping the few Rebel technicians that had accompanied them to Krant and fine tune the transport shuttles before their departure later that day. After their skirmish with the Empire in the previous day Galen knew that they couldn't remain on Krant for much longer at the risk of getting found and Alderaan was currently receiving a visit from one of the Imperial ambassadors, much to the dismay of Senator Organa who had contacted Leia and warned her not to return to Alderaan straight away. Over the next few months before they made their assault on Geddes the Rebels would recuperate at the Rebel base on Dantooine. Though Galen didn't like to wait for too long he knew it would be a good opportunity to spend the time he had training with Echuu as well as Setra. According to Echuu the Rebel base was stationed near the ruins of an ancient Jedi Enclave that was said to have been destroyed by the Sith some 4000 years ago but said that the area would still have a strong force presence and help them while training.

Galen felt Setra stir in his arms and looked down lovingly upon his daughter. Setra was moaning in her sleep again and Galen knew that she was still seeing more visions about the Vor'Na'Tu. Galen then did something he normally did with Setra when she was troubled in her sleep or ill, it had worked quite effectively when Setra had still been under the hibernation sickness a year ago. Galen removed his right hand from around Setra's torso and placed it on her forehead. He used the Force to look inside Setra's mind and saw the images and flashed of the artefact that clouded the child's mind. Galen sent invisible force waves through Setra's mind which helped to make the flashes and images disappear and as if on cue Setra seemed to settle down in Galen's arms and once he finished Setra was aware of where she was again and subconsciously snuggled closer into Galen's chest and fell back into a calm sleep. Galen smiled gently at Setra and wrapped his arm around Setra's torso again and watched her as she continued to sleep. A few minutes later Juno entered the sleeping quarters quietly and gave a small smile to Galen when she noticed Setra sleeping in his arms. Juno knelt down before the bunk and lightly began stroking Setra's cheek.

"Has she been seeing visions again" said Juno

"Yeah, I've just been calming her down again. She seems to be okay now" replied Galen "Juno I know now may seem like an awkward time but there's something I need to ask of you"

"And what's that my love" replied Juno smiling gently back at Galen.

"Ever since the day that I met you something changed in me. I started to see a light again that I never thought existed and the more time I spent with you it just kept getting brighter and brighter" said Galen

Juno smiled back at him and remembered what Kota had told them about the light that he had seen within Galen as he had only just begun to abandon the Dark side and find a new life in his love for Juno and Setra, it had been the hope he had held onto even in the last moments of his life when he had sacrificed himself in order to allow them to have escaped from the Death Star.

"I love you Juno and I want to be with you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?" said Galen

Juno's eyes widened as if she had been slapped in the face and then suddenly realised what Galen has asked her. Galen looked at her in anticipation and was met by Juno's laugh and smiling face.

"Yes, yes I will" replied Juno softly as tears began to roll down her cheeks in happiness.

Galen gently leaned over Setra and deeply kissed Juno before resting his forehead on hers and taking in the moment.

"Does that mean we'll be a real family now?" said a small voice between Galen and Juno.

The couple looked down surprised to see Setra's eyes staring back up at them with a big smile on her face. Both Galen and Juno smiled at Setra and embraced her warmly and then Galen picked up a small object out from under a shirt on the dressing table. It was a silver chain with a small green glowing crystal as a pendant. He strung it around Juno's neck and Juno kissed Galen quickly before marvelling at the ominously glowing emerald crystal.

"It's a shard of a pontite crystal, one of the rarest lightsaber crystals in the galaxy; I found it when I was younger. It has a force aura that helps the user to concentrate and remain calm" said Galen.

"It's beautiful, thankyou my love" replied Juno as she kissed Galen softly again.

The small family took in the moment together and such moments would keep them together through the struggles and battles to come.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Within only a matter of hours the news of Galen and Juno's engagement had seemed to spread around the group of Rebels like wildfire. The Rebel soldiers slapped Galen on the back and congratulated him and those who were already married gave him different pieces of advice. Leia was very excited now as Juno had asked her to be a bridesmaid if she could possibly find the time and Leia had agreed straight away. As the day progressed the Rebels made their final preparations to leave Krant and head for Dantooine and while Galen and Echuu did more training together within the large holo-chamber aboard the Eclipse, Juno made the final repairing touches on one of the rebel transports with Setra helping her and getting a small lesson in mechanics. While fixing one of the loose conduits Juno's attention was caught by a woman, oriental in appearance and was wearing a pilot's uniform with a pair of flight goggles on her head, her black hair, which was straight was tied up in a loose ponytail and her dark eyes seemed to be searching for someone and seemed to find what she was looking for when she spotted Setra and Juno. Jan gave a small smile and came towards Juno who stood up from her job with Setra standing beside her. Jan smiled warmly towards Juno.

"Hi, are you Captain Eclipse?" said the pilot.

"Yes I am. Who might you be?" replied Juno.

"My name's Jan Ors, it's a pleasure to meet you, I've heard so much about you from Leia" said Jan "and I'm guessing this young one here is Setra am I right"

"Yeah, how did you know?" replied Setra.

"Oh, word about your group has travelled fast around the rebellion; Galen has become an inspiration to us all. He acted when none of us that had the guts to do it and now we actually have a fighting chance at destroying the Empire" said Jan.

"I'm guessing among other things you have heard about our engagement" replied Juno.

"Yes, congratulations to you both, I have to say after that artefact was taken the news really raised everyone's morale again. We don't mean to be nosy, its just that good things like this don't seem to happen so much these days" said Jan.

"I can understand that. How did you end up with the Rebellion?" replied Juno.

"Well to start off with my mother was the head of a famous dance academy and my father was an aerospace engineer so I guess you could say I grew up among the middle class of Alderaan. Senator Organa's wife Lady Breha always came to my mother's performances and through my mother I met Leia and we both seemed to despise the Empire. When Leia told me about the possibility of Rebellion I couldn't resist to I joined up as soon as I could and I've been flying our guys around ever since" said Jan.

"That's certainly a good story now tell me why did you need to tell me that was so urgent" replied Juno.

"Galen sent me to tell you that the Imperial officer that you captured yesterday regained conciousness and they're trying to get him to talk. Galen thought that seeing as you know the guy you might be able to get more information out of him" said Jan.

"I don't know about that. If Kyle Katarn is anything I know he is loyal to the side that he serves and it wont' be easy to get that information from him" replied Juno.

Jan suddenly looked at Juno in disbelief "Wait, did you say Kyle Katarn?"

"Yes, why what's wrong Jan" replied Juno.

"I knew him briefly when I was an intelligence officer in the Empire before Leia convinced me to leave and then on a mission that we took on an asteroid base called AX-456 and he found our infiltration team on the base and even though he could have called his security team to kill us or arrest he just nodded to me and let us go" said Jan.

"Well I'm not so sure about that now, he referred to Galen as Rebel scum when he found him and Echuu in the main hall of the Imperial base" replied Juno.

Jan then looked at Juno solemnly "I think I may know why, just give me a minute and I'll go with you"

Juno looked questioningly as Jan as she quickly disappeared into one of the Rebel transport shuttles and came out with what looked like a holo recorder. Jan came back to Setra and Juno.

"I think I have something her that might convince him to co-operate. Let's go" said Jan.

Setra took Juno's hand and the two followed Jan back to the Eclipse where Kyle had been taken to for questioning. Following Jan, Juno and Setra made their way into the holo-chamber and received a small smile from Galen, Juno took her place beside him and held his hand while Setra stood next to Echuu and looked at the tired Kyle in the middle who so far had seemed not to have said a word to either Echuu or Galen. Jan then quickly whispered something into Echuu's ear and he allowed her to step forward towards Kyle. Kyle looked up at Jan, seemingly recognising her but again remaining silent. Jan looked sadly at Kyle and began to question him.

"Listen Katarn, that day on AX-456 you let us go, you spared us, why all of a sudden the change of heart" said Jan.

"Don't act like you don't know Ors. You of all people should know exactly why" replied Kyle bitterly as he glared up at Jan.

"Please listen to me Katarn, there's more to what happened then you know" said Jan.

"More! HOW WAN THERE BE MORE! AFTER I SPARED YOU AND YOUR ALLIANCE WHAT DID YOU DO! YOU WENT TO MY HOME AND KILLED MY FATHER AFTER WHAT I DID FOR YOU! TELL ME HOW COULD THERE BE MOR ETO THIS!" shouted Kyle angrily.

Galen suddenly felt sympathy for the Imperial officer. He completely understood what he had gone through and knew how much pain comes afterward.

"Listen to me Katarn. It was the Empire who killed your father on Sulon; they painted Rebel insignias on some captured ships and staged it to look like it had been us. They did it in order to gain the support of the Sulon population against the Alliance" said Jan.

"What makes you think that I believe any words that are coming out of your mouth" replied Katarn.

"Fine then, if you won't believe me then you'll believe this" said Jan as she pressed a button on the holo-recorder and set it in front of Kyle.

The small group inside the chamber watched in silence at the footage of the assault on Sulon. Kyle at first looked angry again when he saw the Rebel insignias on the ships still believing that Jan was lying to him but when he analysed the footage more his face fell and tears began to fall from his eyes. In his research in becoming an Imperial naval officer Kyle had extensively researched flight formation, tactics and strategy and even though the ships themselves bore Rebel markings and the way the assault had been executed was far too familiar to him for it not to have been the Empire. Kyle sunk to the ground sobbing, the loyalty he had given to his superiors, the hours he had spent trying to please them, his high success rate in performing missions and even after giving his life to the Empire, this was how they repaid him, by killing his father as a mere propaganda fear campaign to the people of Sulon.

"Please, just leave me for a while" said Kyle as he continued to sob.

Echuu looking down at the broken man empathetically and nodded to the others to leave Kyle alone for a time to recollect himself but Galen mentally sent Echuu a message.

"I'm gonna try and talk to him. I understand what he's been through; the Empire killed my father as well. I want to maybe try and convince him to join us or at the very least not give away our position, I don't think we need to worry about his allegiance to the Empire anymore" said Galen.

"It seems like a good idea Galen. When you lose so much it doesn't mean you won't find someone who helps and understands you, let him know that he is among people who will listen to him, let him know that he isn't alone" replied Echuu and he, Juno, Setra and Jan went back out to the central compartment of the Eclipse.

Galen shut the door behind him and looked back to Kyle who looked back up at Galen.

"Please, I don't need your sympathy right now. I just need to be left alone" said Kyle.

"I know but I need to tell you something first, may I call you Kyle" replied Galen.

"Fine" said Kyle.

"Over the past 7 years or so did you ever here of a mysterious assassin, who seemed to turn up at important Imperial missions, killing the enemy that the Empire had sought but not leaving behind any stormtroopers either" replied Galen.

"Of course I heard of him, on a mission once he was responsible for killing nearly my entire regiment but we thought he might have been some kind of mercenary or bounty hunter seeing her didn't seem to have an allegiance to either side that fought, why are you asking me this, do you know him or something" said Kyle.

"I am him Kyle" replied Galen.

Kyle looked at him dumbfounded and then realised he was telling the truth, when he had passed the bodies of the other stormtroopers before he had found Galen and Echuu accessing the database in the Imperial records had been dispatched in a similar way that his previous regiment had been. Kyle then recomposed himself and knelt up again to face Galen.

"So what now, you going to kill me too" said Kyle.

"No I'm not. I'm above such things now, I no longer follow the teachings of the Sith. I'm a different man now" replied Galen.

"Yeah, how so" said Kyle.

"Let me tell you if you're willing to listen" replied Galen.

Galen recounted his past to Kyle and told him how like Kyle's father on Sulon had been murdered by the Empire in cold blood like his own father at the hands of Darth Vader all those years before. He told him of the journey that he had made and how he had found Setra as a small toddler, how he had met Juno, how all of them had been responsible for the deaths of some of the last remaining great Jedi masters, how he had organised the Rebellion against Vader and finally how he had been able to spare the master who had tortured and made him suffer for so long and was able to walk away with the Light inside of him. Kyle looked at Galen respectfully.

"So, you were in the same boat that I was then huh? It explains why Juno was called away from my service so quickly after she completed the Battle of Corulag and why I didn't see her again since until just now" said Kyle.

"So what will it be Kyle. Will you help us or at the very least will you not tell the Empire about us" replied Galen.

"What do you think? After what they have done, but I don't' know if I want to be caught up in any more conflict, it's already damaged me enough as it is" said Kyle.

"That's fine; we don't expect anything from you Kyle. We are gonna have to take you with us to Dantooine as we are leaving tonight but after we arrive we'll help you as much as we can, if you want to go to another planet we can have one of our shuttles take you there" replied Galen.

"Thanks, I appreciate the offer, can you at least remove these" said Kyle raising his cuffed hands.

Galen smirked and raised his hand. Kyle looked in amazement as the cuffs simply opened up and fell to the floor.

"Damn. You really are a Jedi aren't you" said Kyle.

"I'm getting there, which brings me to another question, if I may" replied Galen.

"I'm all ears" said Kyle.

"How was it that I couldn't sense your presence when you entered the room in the base earlier" replied Galen.

Kyle smirked "Well Galen, you, your child and that Master of yours aren't the only ones with magical powers"

Galen looked wide-eyed at Kyle "You're force sensitive"

"Pretty sure I am. I first found out I had it when I was leading a mission on some asteroid base somewhere in the Outer Rim, we were outnumbered by our enemies but I kept having things like premonitions about what was going to happen before it actually happened, I was able to save most of my strike team on that mission and we won it as well, its been the reason why I was a successful officer in the Imperial navy but Juno was an exception" said Kyle.

"Kyle have you ever thought of becoming a Jedi" replied Galen.

"Oh no, don't start that with me. A blaster rifle is more useful to me then those laser swords of yours there but I will take up that offer of yours for the help, oh and by the way, congratulations on the engagement" said Kyle.

Galen suddenly looked at him questioningly "You mean even you know, after you were knocked unconscious and you only woke up a few hours ago"

"Like I said Galen, force sensitive" said Kyle.

Galen chuckled at Kyle and stood up and shook his hand. The two men came out of the chamber quite happily to the surprise of the small group waiting for them in the central compartment. Kyle told everyone his decision and so he was warmly welcomed among the Alliance, Kyle then nodded at Juno who nodded back to him.

"Did you fly with him mama, when you were still with the Empire" said Setra.

Kyle laughed "Now I've heard you called cadet, captain and even traitor but there's a name I never expected"

Juno chuckled "You certainly haven't changed Kyle"

"I must say you look better out of the Imperial uniform, it made you look too formalised" Kyle replied.

"Believe me you're not the only one who thinks that" said Galen.

Juno lightly punched Galen's arm who in return wrapped him arms around her shoulders. PROXY then appeared from the cockpit.

"Master, it would appear that it is time to depart Krant and her highness, princess Leia has asked if we could possibly carry some Rebels on board the Eclipse seeing that it will be impossible to repair the Cretacian, she also suggested that your other guests remain behind and she especially inquired about miss Jan because she has spent many hours flying and may require some rest" said PROXY.

"Man, I told Leia that I would be fine to fly" replied Jan.

"From analysing your current state Miss Jan I would have to agree with the princess, your energy levels are quite low and your muscles appear to have been somewhat exhausted" replied PROXY.

"Okay might as well, can't argue with a droid no matter what you say" replied Jan "Kyle, could I talk with you for a minute"

"Sure" replied Kyle as he followed Jan to one of the spare sleeping quarter's further back in the ship.

Echuu meanwhile had gone to talk with Setra.

"Setra, your father tells me you have been having more visions about the Vor'Na'Tu" said Echuu.

"Yeah, I have Master Echuu" replied Setra.

"Tell me child, what have you been seeing" said Echuu.

"Nothing much more then what I saw before, only now someone is using its power a lot at the moment, it's the reason why I have been getting visions randomly during the day as well because of how powerful it is" replied Setra.

"Well then, do you want me to teach you how to control the influx of visions and make them become clearer" said Echuu.

"Yes please, Master Echuu, at least if it means papa won't have to keep using the Force on me to help me sleep anymore" replied Setra.

Galen let go of Juno and decided to help Setra. He sat down with Setra and Echuu and all three adopted a meditation positions and Echuu began to talk to all of them through their minds.

"Are you having another vision yet Setra" said Echuu.

"Yeah, it's the same as before, the power coming from the artefact is constantly emanating energy and it makes it hard for me to focus properly" replied Setra.

Then do as I say now, begin to meditate as you normally would but actually focus more on the waves emanating from the Vor'Na'Tu. The force sends us visions for a reason and will not stop sending them until a Jedi is able to make a clear picture of exactly what they are seeing" said Echuu.

"Alright Mater Echuu, I'll try" replied Setra.

Just as before Juno watched as some of the objects around the central compartment began to float and Juno herself began to feel the power emanating from the three Jedi in the room. It brought her a sense of peace. Setra began to focus more on the flickering images in her head and eventually they melded together and became clear. Setra saw the rugged surface of the planet Geddes, she then saw what appeared to be a large structure that flowed with dark side energy and inside she saw the ominous glow of the Vor'Na'Tu surrounded and engulfed by the shadow of the place and then the vision vanished from her mind, as did the images that had distracted her so much before.

All the Jedi opened their eyes and Echuu was smiling at Setra and nodded in recognition. Galen smiled as well and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Good Setra, you were able to find the source of your vision and because of it we may now understand more about what to expect on our upcoming mission to Geddes" said Echuu.

"What was that force technique Master Echuu, I used something like that before just to help me concentrate on the things around me but Geddes is all the way in that asteroid belt that surrounds Krant" replied Setra.

"This more deeper form of meditation is called Battle Meditation, it allows Jedi to be able to see across even greater distances through the Force rather then just their immediate surroundings while they meditate, also in battle a Jedi can not only use this technique to determine his opponent's next move but can even go as far as to manipulate his opponent and the world around him to give him the advantage" said Echuu.

Setra felt happy with herself and looked happily at Juno and Galen and smiled back leaving Galen to wonder just what he was in for as he would continue to train Setra in the future.

. . . . . . . . . . . .

Jan sat down on a bunk in the sleeping quarters with Kyle sitting on the bunk opposite to her. Jan talked first.

"Listen Kyle, I'm truly sorry about what happened to your father, I didn't mean to bring it out like that" said Jan.

"Please don't apologize Jan, I'm glad that you did, I needed to know the truth no matter how pig-headed I was" replied Kyle.

"Listen Kyle, I know that Galen said you had already made up your mind but won't you help us against the Empire" said Jan.

"It's like I told Galen, Jan. I have spent my life fighting a war that makes no sense to me anymore, I'm done" replied Kyle.

"But Kyle, that was when you fought for the Empire, believe me I felt the same way after I left the Imperial Intelligence division but Leia showed me how much help I could be to the Alliance by just doing the best that I could" said Jan.

"Jan please" replied Kyle.

"Kyle, hear me out. If you don't want to join up straight away the Alliance is always looking to hire a mercenary to help them and they pay well which judging by your current situation you obviously are going to need some credits" said Jan.

Kyle expression changed to one of mild interest "Keep talking"

"One of our leaders Mon Mothma has no problem hiring former Imperial soldiers to help on missions, in fact she encourages it because of how much more they know then we do. I can make up a reference for you, after of course tweaking a few details but I'm sure Mon Mothma would hire you with my recommendation" said Jan.

"Huh, Jan. A little tweaking of details. I'm not exactly the type that a Senator would trust" replied Kyle.

"Okay fine so I may have to lie a little but I can guarantee that you'll get a job" said Jan.

Kyle contemplated for a minute or two before giving his answer "I'll think about it"

"Umm Kyle, that doesn't really help me" replied Jan.

"I said I'll think about it, I'll meet this Mon Mothma first and then see what happens from there" said Kyle.

"Oh fine then, and in future you might want to be a bit more respectful of her, she was the senator of Chandrila in the Old Republic and one of the people who signed the Corellian Treaty to make all of this begin" replied Jan.

"Whatever Jan, I'll just be happy if she puts money in my pocket, now if you'll excuse me I'm gonna get some sleep" said Kyle as he pulled off his field boots and turned the other way in his bunk.

"Men, typical" whispered Jan as she did the same as she felt the Eclipse begin to take off and make its way to its next destination on Dantooine.