Yes Galen has made his appearance, now I know what you're thinking ( I don't but humor me on this), "YARN, if he had Galen under his thumb, why has Vader used him to catch the Mantis crew yet?"

Wonderful question, allow me to reply:

Starkiller is simply not ready in terms of skill. Yes he is strong, but he wouldn't be able to subdue Merrin, Cere, and Cal all at once to kidnap Cal. He hasn't reached the level of his training where he was enough to take on Shaak Ti. Vader isn't foolish enough to gamble Galen on Cal and him potentially becoming a casualty or turn (as he had seen happen with the second sister) until Galen has served his purpose.

He is a SECRET apprentice equalling 'not to be seen'. That means he is not to have help even if that would make kidnapping Cal possible. If he reveals his apprentice and Cal lives and escapes? He could talk and Vader will not risk it.

Vader still believes that he doesn't need to use Starkiller to kidnap Cal. The Nur breakout was still relatively recent and Vader is willing to wait for a better opportunity. Cal was just another jedi and plenty fell to the dark side, and Vader is a remarkably patient person.

Those are the main reasons, ask me for more and I'll see what I can scrounge up, but the one thing I really like about Galen is what his victory over Vader does to the relationship between Emperor and Vader. This was the first time Vader was given actual confirmation that he wasn't indispensable to Palpatine as he was told. The Emperor was more than willing to cast him aside for a stronger apprentice, which caused a rift to grow between The Emperor and Vader, even if they both didn't acknowledge it. It also caused Vader to seriously consider finding an apprentice to kill Palpatine with (Galen would've been that if Vader was serious about being his master and what actually kickstarted the cloning process).

All credit to respective owners! Reviews (constructive please) and ideas are appreciated!

Special Thanks to wolfblood123, jojobinks01, and Guest13.

-YARN

Merrin — eyes narrowed and sweat beading on her forehead — backpedaled, giving ground as Cal surged forwards, lightsaber a streak of cyan lightning. Cere watched with her arms crossed as she watched her former student (though she really didn't teach him much) and newest student clash. She hadn't initially been too keen on letting Merrin face Cal after only a month of training under her belt, but Cal had promised that she could handle it and he wouldn't go all out. Cere had relented and finally allowed it which led to the current situation. Cal deflected several strikes before he brought down his saber in a heavy overhand strike that forced Merrin down onto one knee. Merrin pushed as hard as she could to force Cal off before she rolled away. Once Merrin managed to gains some distance, she lashed out with a hand, a sphere of green fire erupting towards Cal who swung his lightsaber to parry the blast of magick.

"Enough." Cere called and both Cal and Merrin relaxed while deactivating their lightsabers.

Merrin panted heavily, running an arm over her forehead to wipe away the sweat as well as push some her hair out of her face. Cal clipped his lightsaber back to his belt and exhaled a slow breath as he straightened. BD-1 raced from where it had been standing to compliment both Cal and Merrin with a series of beeps. Cal grinned at the little droid — which proceeded to climb onto his back — before walking towards Merrin. Cere offered a hand to the night-sister which Merrin accepted as she was hauled to her feet.

"Well done Merrin." Cere complimented as she laid a hand her shoulder, "You've picked up the basics of Niman rather quickly."

"It's not that different from what bladed stances the night-sisters are taught from a young age." Merrin panted, "We are taught the basics of swordplay and move immediately from that into magic. Mixing the two is to come with time and experience..."

She trailed off as they all recalled the fate of the night-sisters of Dathomir.

"Still," Cal said trying to push away the uncomfortable subject, "That was amazing Merrin! You really made me stay on my guard to block your magic. You keep this up and soon I won't be able to hold a candle to you."

Merrin couldn't help the pride in her bubble up at her friends' compliments; for a month of training she didn't believe she was going far, but they both assured her she was growing and all she needed was time. Niman suited Merrin just fine as a skill as she was far more comfortable using her magic in a fight. With how it was initially made to have a jedi incorporate force techniques as well as saber skills into a middle-ground form, Merrin could pick it up without much difficulty. Night-sister magic wasn't exactly the force as Cal knew it when it came to abilities, he couldn't form balls of green flame and teleport (or at least not as far as he knew), but the feel he got from it definitely held traces of the force, even if altered. Either way, Merrin may have had a long way to go, but she definitely gotten a good start and had nowhere to go but up. As for Cal, he himself was nothing if not honest but he was still growing as well, despite his recent training was focusing on his defensive force powers, he still far preferred lightsaber combat and practice almost daily either alone or with Cere when she could provide the time.

Cere couldn't help but feel proud of how they were coming along.

Xavier was also watching while leaning against the hull of the Mantis, an almost wistful pang of nostalgia in his chest. He honestly forgot how graceful Jedi were when they were fighting, even with the night-sister only having just begun there was something mesmerizing about seeing jedi combat. He hadn't honestly planned on coming back after their confrontation a month ago where he had tried to kill Merrin and talked with Cere and Cal. He had simply hoped that they weren't going to bring the empire down on their heads and left to tend to his farm. But sooner or later he found himself heading back to where the jedi had stayed almost without his own volition. Part of him was angry at himself for involving himself with jedi when all the seemed to bring was misfortune around him but another part of him found an odd sort of comfort in being around jedi and apprentices who understood his reasons for leaving and didn't condemn him for it.

The force that hummed within him seemed lighter around them, similar to some sort of emptiness he wasn't aware of in his life being filled. It reminded him of his time in the brief moments of peace where he saw jedi interacting with their younger padawans. Granted, they weren't as expressive as the three in front of him, but they always seemed to be a bond between them that gave them both strength. Sometimes he even assisted the pilot Greeze with unloading items from the Mantis after the pilot's infrequent supply runs for food and tech. Kath hound meat was edible and be cooked in a variety of ways but said hounds had the good sense to steer well away from the area after trying to kill the three jedi the first few times, they had no desire to lose anymore of their pack members. As for the farmers, Falon Grey and his death made them wary of aiding any jedi (another weight on his conscious he couldn't forget) and bartering with them usually led nowhere.

"Hey." Cal called, "You hungry?"

Xavier jerked from his musings at Cal's voice, "What?"

"Are you hungry?" Cal repeated, "Greeze is about to cook us dinner and he wanted to know if you wanted to join us."

Xavier pursed his lips, it wasn't the first time Cal had offered him food, and he usually always said he was fine. Even after the twentieth time Cal still offered to share food with the ex-stormtrooper and Xavier would decline.

Xavier normally would say he had to get back to his farm and Cal would smile and reply, "Well, maybe next time."

But...

"Sure." Xavier replied, his own voice almost a shock, "I guess I could stick around."

That bright smile that Cal flashed him was enough to make him smile — albeit a bit wanly — back at the young knight.

Xavier stumbled inside his house and made it to his bed only to fall into it and curl up into a tight ball. For the first time in a long long time he ate with people at his side and traded stories of fights and conversed with them about their pasts.

But what about that simple act had him feeling like this?

What was this resigned sadness and terrible joy he couldn't ignore?

The force he tried so hard to ignore crooned in his ear.

'Not alone anymore.' It whispered.

He stiffened

Because he was supposed to be alone.

He had resigned himself to it.

He hated it, but resigned himself to it.

But he was supposed to be alone.

Then these jedi came and he found himself hanging around them, unable to ignore them.

Within a short time they talked to him.

Within a short time they offered him connections of friendship.

A clone trooper always had a 'batch' and with them, 'batch-brothers'. But Xavier's brother had tried to kill him — would've killed him — and left him for dead. His 'father' used what was left of his life to save Xavier's and then left as well. He had no one left and wanted to forget that he didn't have any family. He wanted to make sure that he never had to feel the pain of loosing people ever again. But when the jedi came and stopped him from murdering one of their own and didn't kill him, he could only feel relieved that some people who were like him in some small way. It gave him a lost sense of security when he still had brothers to talk to, to know support was never more than an arm-length away.

He had fought against the idea, having the force like them didn't matter, he was alone and that was that! He didn't have anyone to care, he couldn't! Every single person he cared about left sooner or later and he'd only be let down if he put hope in anything!

Even as he chanted that with all the conviction he could muster, he knew what he felt and for one of the few times in his life he wept over the losses and pain in his past.

Cal shifted in his cot on the Mantis, too restless to sleep.

The same feeling of worry kept him up.

He pushed himself up and sighed before dressing himself silently in a simple pair of drawsting pants and thin shirt before stepping outside to see if being outside could give him some sort of peace. He walked a few paces away from the Mantis and stared at the star-studded sky. Ever since he was young and a jedi, he was constantly on the move while training during the clone wars except when he was sleeping or in the med bay for any various reason. Being an experienced scrapper on Bracca was much the same as took constant traversing of the junkyard to help with the disassembling of old warships and the like. With the events of the holocron and trying to find it, he'd seen so much and traveled quite far, moving from one place to the next. The year he spent after was constantly moving as they made desperately sure to stay ahead of The Empire. Now though, he was on a planet with nothing to do but get stronger, he had to wait and let force-knows-what go on because he wasn't strong enough to really make a change.

It was maddening.

"What am I doing?" He muttered.

"That's what I would like to know too Cal." A voice said.

He turned to find Merrin in her sleeping clothing — mainly a maroon robe over simple undergarments — watching him from the ramp of the ship. He sighed and resumed watching the sky.

"If I had a good answer, I'd say it." He replied.

Merrin was silent at that but he felt her walk over to him and follow his gaze to the sky, "What are you looking at."

"The stars."

"What about them?"

He raised a hand as if to catch the light in his palm, "I see them and think of what planets they could be, what they might hold. I look at them and think how many people are suffering under the heel of The Empire. I look at all the planets I used to want to visit and remember how safe I used to feel before the purge. Even with the Clone Wars waging all throughout the galaxy I was never a part of any actual combat until Order 66 on Bracca, and I was sure Master Tapal would be there for me no matter what."

Merrin hummed an shifted closer to his side.

"I wanted to be a jedi master for so long as a kid." He continued softly, lowering his hand, "I wanted Master Tapal to one day teach someone who would be excited to learn under the same master who raised Cal Kestis, one of the most respected jedi masters. I had so many hopes and dreams to help those who needed help and save those who were crying out. All of that was ripped away with the rise of The Empire. Now, I am back to being a jedi — a jedi knight even — but all the things I wanted back then are gone and I don't know what I want except for The Empire to fall, and that was only something I dared think in my head since I was on that escape pod with Master Tapal's body."

Merrin flinched and nodded at that, she had been in a similar state after the extermination of her sisters.

Surrounded by the bodies of the most important people in her life. While Cal didn't exactly lose as many people, it was no less important that he lost who was probably the most important person in his life, a mentor and a father wrapped up in one.

"Then, when Cere dragged me off Bracca, I wanted to restore the order. I really did. But the force showed me that I would only lead the children to torture and death. I couldn't protect them if I had decided to gather them. Ever since then I've been scared of idea of teaching, of even attempting it." Cal mused, "I want to help you become a jedi Merrin, I want that more than anything because it'll help keep you safe. But... if anything happens to you because of me, I don't think I would be able to handle it."

Merrin leaned her body against his, head tilted against his shoulder.

It wasn't uncommon in a ship as small as the Mantis for the crew members to occasionally feel a bit cramped. Cal's cot was next to the kitchen while Cere took the bed and Merrin claimed the couch. Greeze liked to sleep in a small cot next to the cockpit while BD-1 charged in the kitchen. After a year of being together, Cal felt completely comfortable and would doze off after a harsh training session to lean against Merrin. Merrin occasionally did the same when she felt sleepy. Cere seemed too amused to mention anything but constantly gave him looks that implied something he wasn't sure he was ready to face.

What did he feel towards Merrin?

He obviously trusted her, that was a given after Nur.

He never really delved deep into the train of thought that she was beautiful.

He always got a kick out of her snarky yet calm demeanor.

He really liked how when she was serious about something her determination radiated off of her in everything from her stance to her voice.

And ever since that hug after Nur they always felt something more in the brief moments where things were calm and their eyes would meet or their bodies would brush against each other fleetingly.

Even so, there was the matter of their pasts that hung over their thoughts. Cal was training to be a jedi, and they were never supposed to fall in love, passion lead to the dark side. But if that was the case, why would compassion be necessary as a jedi? He didn't care for the old code, and while he wasn't going to cast it completely aside, he knew that it was flawed and shouldn't be followed to the letter. Then after the purge, was he seeing something that wasn't there since him being so alone and terrified to even think of falling for someone(it wasn't like there were no female scrappers on Bracca and with their constant active lifestyle, it wasn't like they were unattractive and Cal had tried everything he could to forget his past)? With Merrin's species genocide, he could see how she might disinclined to actually want to grow close to anyone and let their loss hurt her. They had both spent so long alone and afraid that the thought of caring for someone like that was not something they really could be sure of quite yet.

"Cal," Merrin replied, interrupting his thoughts "I promise you I won't leave you, not now, not ever."

"And I promise that I won't abandon you either Merrin." Cal responded in kind.

Cal leaned back against her slightly as they watched the night sky for a while longer, basking in each other's presence and recognizing the weight of their promises. Maybe it was something more and — in time — Cal would be happy to accept it.

But for now?

This was enough.