The Dark Planet.
Death was in full swing of Galen's training, learning the ropes and the Force through a rigorous process.
Months passed and that stretched into years, Death grew. He grew strong, and strong in the Force.
Their supplies may have run out long ago, but Galen was able to heal the planet of its Dark Side wounds here and there. He made some of the food edible. But it took so much energy out of him. So he taught Death how to do it, but Death never got the hang of it.
They concentrated mainly on Combat skills and lightsaber fighting style.
The Dark side blanketed the area, and thus made it harder for Galen to train Death into the lighter elements of the Force, and thus certain Force powers.
Thus Galen decided to put that off til later, and work on Lightsaber combat first. Passing on words of wisdom, and teaching survival skills without relying on the Force.
Death proved to be ruthless in Form Five, in spite of his diminutive size due to his poor diet, he showed a ruthless passion with the blade.
But Galen was also training himself. Meditating on the Force, learning how to use Form III for himself and get better with that, and get more physical for Form V and for his lightsaber combat and dueling ability.
Death and Galen took turns trading off with lightsaber combat and rolls. First Galen was the aggressor, and then Death was. First Galen worked on Form V and pressed his attack, and then he worked on Form III, the same was true of Death. Learning the two forms to great proficiency.
Galen wanted Death to be exposed to the other forms but he was not the best teacher in those areas.
The constant Mantra of the Soresu ran through Death's head.
"To use Soresu you have to be the center of the Storm, the calm of the storm, whether you are dealing with one enemy or multiple enemies. When on the defensive you have to expect your opponent to strike from any direction, whether you are dealing with a Unit, or a singular opponent. They will have the initiative. You have to hold out until you can counterattack, or until you can go on the offensive with another Form. Soresu is all about defense, keep your blade to your body and do not overextend yourself, if you do you will expose yourself. Keep your area of control close around you, knowing at all times when the battle is going, and where all your opponents are, and where they are striking from. But since Form III is all about Defense, then you must keep your calm, do not ride your emotions."
This last part was the most difficult for Death. Even though in battle he was able to keep himself calm, there was always the boiling undercurrent of emotion, and intensity. Waiting to come out at the slightest provocation.
Death grunted and barked in emotion when he was in trouble, and had a tendency to switch forms. This elicited a sharp rebuke from Galen who insisted he had to be balanced in all things.
And while Form V had an element of defense to it, it was principally offensive.
"To overwhelm your opponent, use your emotion and your strength to, while keeping in mind defense and parrying."
To Death this philosophy was so much more simplistic.
But to Galen the philosophy was that the easy way was not always the best way. Something else that he hammered into Death's head until he was sick, but when he thought about it, it made sense to him.
Galen was not the most fatherly figure in the world, but he was important to Death, and Death loved him in his own way.
And above all, Galen preached the "calm warrior patience to win," philosophy.
Death just nodded at that. And Galen also had a healthy questioning, asking Death to form his own opinions on the Light side and the Dark side of the Force.
Corellia
John Zaun had grown fast. If there was one thing that the Order of Mercy had was lots of food to feed the orphans and displaced souls that traveled through their halls.
As a result John had grown physically fast, and physically well, though a bit over weight.
He was popular around the mission and around the ladies who ran it, though they watched him as he watched the stars at night. Dreaming of a big grand future, wanting to be more. This worried the humble nuns.
But John knew that he was destined for bigger things, he could feel it, and he watched the sky at the end of each night, wishing he were out there.
But school kept him busy, as he spent many years learning and growing. Hanging out and learning from friends.
He absorbed history like a sponge, being fascinated by all the tales and the epic history of the Republic.
His two favorite figures were Reven and Obi-Wan Kenobi.
He went home each night and tried to do his homework, but was distracted by his own wanderings, imagining the epic battles between Reven and Malek, the Clone Wars, and the pivotal events of the Vong Conflict.
He spent hours thinking about it and day dreaming on it, writing his random musings down in an old journal.
Then at the end of the night he could have sworn that he felt a buzz of energy shooting through his skin and extremities, making him feel so alive, as if he could sense perceptions around him.
He was not too popular at school being picked on and abused, but he always found a way to hide, and to keep on his studies.
He was not the best student due to his dreaming of a bigger future, and he only had a core group of friends.
One of them was a girl, she was skinny and small of frame, dark black hair and piercing eyes. They followed each other around everywhere.
And he had a crush, the girl was about five inches taller then him and had streaming blond hair.
She did not know quite what to make of him, but at least she tried to be nice. And that endeared her to Zaun's psyche quite a bit.
But, the orphanage did not allow any visitors which made Zaun's nights lonely, but he almost preferred it that way, as it was perfectly quiet late at night and left him with his thoughts of fantasy and great dreams.
Tapping his pencil on the table he struggled with math and was entranced by history.
Another one of his favorite places was the library, as he was able to get his hands on a wide variety of information that he could not have gotten any other way.
Over the summers he enjoyed his time off, having time to play, and to 'run' down the sloping hills. Then he collapsed in the grass, the sun shining brightly on his face, the breeze that rolled over the mountains licked his cheeks and tickled him.
Though, perhaps his thirst for knowledge was the lack of it he had about his own life. He felt sad, puzzled, lonely, and embittered that he did not know of his past.
He was left all alone, he did not know who his mother was, who his father was, and felt so alone that he was abandoned by them, for whatever their reasons.
The ladies were nice, but there were more orphans and lost souls here other than him. And he saw the people being taken home by parents, by siblings, and by relatives. No matter how amazing the nuns were, they could not replace the empty black hole at the center of his heart as he watched his fellow classmates go home.
This occasionally caused him to pout and mope around.
Though the nuns were invaluable to him, trying to teach him to be humble, to be calm, and with the highest values of self sacrifice, and the service of others.
He took these lessons to heart, and was always willing to help out others when they came by the orphanage. Always doing what little he could given his busy schooling.
But, he was so alone.
He felt that acutely with each passing day, cursing his luck and his fate in the Force. Thrashing about and crying himself to sleep every now and then.
He spent all of his time wondering, about who he was, and what his origins were.
He also thought about his greater destiny, looking up at the stars.
The Dark Planet
Galen was sleeping on the cot inside the crew compartment of the shuttle, at least he was trying to. He could not find a way to get comfortable and was staring up at the ceiling of the ship.
His beard had grown thick, and his hair had grown long and baggy.
He was up thinking about the blast in the Force that he felt, now that was years ago, but he could not help it. Because he felt as though he knew what it was, though he could not bring himself to believe it, but only one thing could have caused that kind of shockwave.
As for Death, he was proving to be a great student, but hard to control. He had a fiery and aggressive personality, and indomitable and uncontrollable sense of freedom and independence.
This both gave Galen cause for concern, and something to be happy about his new apprentice. It was exhilarating truth be told.
He just wondered constantly how John was growing up, and if his feeling was wrong, then how Arkadi was coping without him. He was sure that John was going to grow up and be a great Jedi Knight, or some other protector.
And he felt so guilty that he was not there for the two of them, that he could not have at least watched him grow.
But for the moment that was impossible, till he could find a way home.