This chapter was edited after publication to insert page breaks.

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Jacen wasn't sure what to do in that moment. Imperial security forces were heading towards his house, he and his friends were standing outside heavily armed with an imperial knight he had just shot lying dead at their feet. They would almost certainly be arrested, and the instant the imperial knights found out about their fallen colleague they'd swarm him while he was in custody. Glancing towards Jan, he saw she had what he could only assume was the exact same look he had on his face. That was not a good sign: she was more level-headed than him and Kyle. If she thought they were karked, they probably were.

The speeders came to a stop right next to Kyle and Jan's, and several imperial soldiers dismounted while a larger hover craft slowed to a stop nearby. Jacen recognized that as a transport craft often used for groups of soldiers. The imperials, dressed in military uniforms rather than battle armor, stalled when they noticed Sariss' body. They drew their blasters and pointed at Jacen and his friends.

"Officer" Kyle said. "This isn't what it looks like."

"We were only after you for speeding in heavy traffic" the lead officer said, his weapon pointed right at Kyle's head. "But now you're going down for murder."

"Put your hands on your heads now" another officer said. As he said this, the transport opened a huge door and at least thirty more security personnel came out. These people weren't dressed in uniform, but the dark blue Mandalorian style blast armor that was used on active military duty. Arcina's empire had done away with the fear inducing stormtrooper armor of the old empire and the first order in exchange for a design that was much easier for armed troops to integrate with galactic society.

Kyle and Jan were slowly doing as they said. Jacen, however, was not. He knew that if he allowed himself to be arrested, he'd be a sitting naboo duck. There had to be a way they could get out of this.

"You! Hands up now or we'll stun you!"

In that moment, Jacen made a split second decision that he would no doubt look back on with amazement at his own idiocy.

"I'm sorry officer" he said. "But I know exactly what the empire will do to me if I allow you to take me in."

The entire line of officers raised their blasters at him, expecting him to do the same with his shotgun. Instead, Jacen confused them by lowering himself and placing his weapon on the ground. Stunned at his apparent surrender after saying he wouldn't, the entire line was caught off guard when Jacen threw his arms out towards them. Suddenly, the blaster pistols were torn out of their hands as Jacen used the force. The weapons hovered in mid air as they were turned on their owners.

The approaching group of officers from the transport stopped momentarily at the sight before them. Jacen turned his head slightly to face them. "I'd back off if I were you. I remotely switched the settings on these, and if any of you try anything all your comrades will get a shot in the head."

"Jacen" Jan shouted. "What in the name of the force are you doing?!"

"Trying to get us out of this mess" he responded.

"Jacen" Kyle said. "You realize you're digging us deeper into this hole, right? Now you're guilty of assault on security."

"Well did you have any ideas?!"

Suddenly, a noise from the garage drew the attention of all those present at the scene. Jacen knew it was his speeder, but he couldn't see who was in the pilot seat. The speeder suddenly shot out of the garage, causing Jacen, his friends, and the group of security officers to throw themselves to the ground. Jacen looked up and, to his astonishment, saw a droid controlling the craft.

"R2?!"

R2 let out a long whistle like noise in response as his dome like head spun on his body. Suddenly the speeder started to spin as it hovered above the imperials. One of the officers was getting back on their feet and was hit right in the chest, sending them flying back several feet before landing flat on their back. The rest of the officers hugged the ground tighter after seeing their comrade get knocked down.

Jacen recovered from his shock first and turned to Kyle and Jan. "Let's go! Now's our chance!"

Picking up their weapons, the three of them ran towards Jan's speeder. One of the security officers trapped under the joy-riding R2 noticed that Jacen had dropped all the weapons he took from them and managed to reach their personal blaster. The officers who weren't trapped under R2 started to fire at the fleeing trio as they all jumped into their speeder. As the trapped officer rolled on their back, they noticed Jacen had yet to get in as he was covering his friends. Aiming at his assailant's back, he prepared to fire.

Jacen got the warning from the force at the perfect moment. Turning, he saw one of the officers he disarmed was about to shoot him. Calling on the force once again, Jacen spun one of the blasters still on the ground and remotely pulled the trigger. A stun blast (Jacen having bluffed about switching the settings earlier) came from the barrel and hit the officer, causing them to slump down, temporarily paralyzed.

Jan and Kyle had their speeder started by the time Jacen jumped in. "Alright, floor it!"

Jan gunned the engine and they took off, followed shortly after by R2 in Jacen's speeder. The majority of the imperials all stood up and collected their weapons while a few tended to their comrade who had been knocked back.

"Are you alright?" one of them asked the officer on the ground as they applied bacta patches to their comrade's chest.

The downed officer groaned as he lifted his head slightly. "I just got the crud knocked out of me by a joy riding astromech droid. What do you think?"

"So where are we going?" Jacen asked his friends as they fled the scene at his house.

"The spaceport seems like a good idea to me Jan." Kyle said to his girlfriend.

"That's exactly what I was thinking." Jan responded. "We gotta get off Euphrates."

Jacen turned his head slightly to look at his loyal friend R2. It was actually quite hilarious to see what many considered an outdated droid model driving a speeder. It wasn't uncommon to see droids acting as chauffers, though an astromech was not a typical pilot.

"So Jacen" Kyle said. "I think an explanation..."

Kyle was cut off by a shot that ricocheted off the front of the speeder. All three turned and saw a line of imperial officers at a makeshift roadblock. That had clearly been a warning shot. The officers were all aiming at them from behind a shield powered by several pole-like generators that spanned across the road their speeder was hovering on.

"Keep going Jan."

"Jacen, are you mad" Jan asked.

"Just trust me."

Jacen raised his hands and made a sweeping motion from the center of his body to both sides. Suddenly, the entire roadblock flew to both sides, the barriers disappearing as the generators lost their connections to the others. The officers, acting on instinct when they saw their one defense against a head on collision getting tossed aside, either threw themselves to the ground or jumped out of the road.

The speeder piloted by Jan sped right past them, followed by the one piloted by R2. One of the officers happened to see R2, and after being momentarily stunned, he got on his units' comm frequency.

"Captain, is there any chance I can start that furlough early?"

"What" the response came. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, either the stress of this job has me cracking up, or I just saw a droid hijack a speeder."

After half an hour of dodging imperial patrols, Jacen and his friends finally got to the spaceport near the center of Tigris. After flying right through the check point, they came to a stop right at the base of Kyle's ship; a Suwanatek prototype fighter-freighter that Kyle named the Raven's Claw. The ship had a long body with two sets of wings arranged in a fashion that gave it the appearance of a giant X-Wing.

Unexpectedly, Jacen jumped out of the speeder as Jan tried to bring it into their ship.

"Jacen, what are you doing?"

"I'm not leaving without R2 Jan."

Seconds after he said this, they all heard a strange sound coming from the circular opening of the hangar above them. They all turned to see Jacen's speeder come flying into the hangar, a long whistle sound coming from R2 as the craft plummeted to the ground. R2, however, activated his own hover pads placed on the bottom of his mechanical legs, allowing him to float in the air while the speeder hit the ground, breaking apart the second it came in contact. The little droid floated towards Jacen, who embraced his mechanical companion when he reached the ground.

"Glad you got here too, buddy. You owe me a new speeder."

A quick jolt from the Force alerted Jacen to approaching danger. Looking up, he saw port security and imperial troopers rushing in. This time, there wasn't any warning from them. They merely opened fire.

Jacen threw himself behind the loading ramp of the Raven's Claw, R2 wealing up into the ship. Although he grabbed his shotgun, Jacen quickly chose not to use it. These officers were just trying to do their job. Instead he once more reached out with the Force. The troopers heard the ceiling above them start to shake. Realizing what was happening, they fled into the port as fast as they could. Jacen then ran up the ramp into Kyle's ship.

"I'm in" he shouted.

"Finally" Jan's voice came from the cockpit. A moment later, the ramp was raised and the ship was rising into the air.

Jacen ran to the front of the ship and sat behind Kyle as he and Jan flew their craft higher and higher until they finally left Euphrates' atmosphere. The stars came into view almost immediately, the only obstruction to them was the multiple moons orbiting Euphrates and the Imperial station that served as a checkpoint for space traffic.

A warning siren from Jan's left coupled with a flash of red; the alarm that they were being pursued.

"Raven's Claw" came the voice of the station commander. "You are to alter flight and dock on the station. If you do not, you will be disabled or destroyed."

Ignoring the order, Kyle looked at the craft's radar. "Looks like we got three TIE Pursuits on our tail."

The TIE Pursuits were the Empire's latest starfighter. Modeled after the design of Grand Admiral Thrawn's TIE Defender, it had four sets of wings instead of three giving it the appearance of a cross between the archaic X-Wing and Tie fighter designs. Extremely maneuverable, equipped with laser and ion cannons as well as concussion missiles, and adequate shielding, it was essentially the terror of space as far as fighters were concerned.

"Listen guys" Jacen said. "You two need to plot our hyperspace route. I'll handle the TIEs."

"The ship doesn't have any rear guns" Kyle said.

"You'll just have to trust me."

"Jacen" Jan said.

"Trust me!"

"Why won't you tell us what you're planning?"

"Because I don't trust you" Jacen sarcastically said.

Closing his eyes, Jacen once more reached out with the Force.

"Squad leader to command, the craft has not complied. Permission to engage?"

"Granted."

The lead pilot of the squadron prepared to fire, charging his craft's lasers. Suddenly, he was lurched in his seat as his fighter came to a stop, followed by his wingmen.

"What the... how did my ship..."

Looking at the power readings, the squad leader was astounded to see all the power in his engines had just…. failed.

Looking back up at his target, the leader of the squadron stared impotently as his target escaped into hyperspace.

"What just happened? Those TIEs just came to a halt."

"I disabled their engines" Jacen replied to Kyle, as if it was the norm for people to do so.

Jan turned around in her seat after hitting the hyperdrive. "OK Jacen, it's time for answers."

"I agree."

After gathering in the quarters of the ship, Jacen sat down next to R2 while Jan and Kyle sat on the couch opposite to his seat.

"Alright. What do you want to know?"

"How about the whole force sensitive issue" Kyle said. "How did you get so good at using the force? What are you, a former imperial knight?"

"No, I was just very well trained by my grandmother."

"Your grandmother" Jan asked.

"Yes. Ok, before you ask anything else, there is something you both should know…"

Jacen stalled a moment before he continued. "I once told you that I didn't know my family name, that I was orphaned and had no memory of my parents."

"Yeeaaahhh" Kyle said, uncertain of where Jacen was going with this.

"None of that was true. I do know my last name; I just couldn't tell you."

"Why" Jan asked.

"My last name would draw too much attention."

"And that would be" Jan asked.

"…. Skywalker. My name is Jacen Skywalker."

His two closest friends just sat there in stunned silence, their mouths agape. Finally, Kyle spoke. "Sky…."

"Yes" Jacen interrupted. "Those Skywalkers. The great jedi family, the one that saw the rise of Anakin and Luke. The great heroes of the galaxy, all that."

"Ooooookay" Jan said. "I see why you wouldn't want that known to the galaxy when the empire is in control."

"It actually had little to do with the empire."

Kyle looked at Jacen like he had just grown a second head. "You're kidding, right Jacen?"

"No. I did want to keep a low profile with the imperial knight 'recruitment' methods in full force, but the real reason I didn't want anyone to know is because I'm actually ashamed of my heritage."

"Ashamed?! What could you have to be ashamed of?"

"Plenty. When I was little, I hero worshipped my ancestors, my grandfather Luke in particular."

R2 let out a mournful sound at the mention of his long-gone friend. Jacen patted him on the head before continuing. Or at least, he was going to continue until Jan spoke up.

"Wait. You're Luke Skywalker's grandson? I wasn't aware he had any children."

"Not many in the galaxy knew. Actually, I'm not sure even he knew he had a son, my father."

"How could he not know he had a son" Kyle asked.

"Simple; he wasn't there when my grandmother had my dad."

"You're…. hold on, who was your grandmother?"

"Her name was Mara Jade. She was originally an assassin for the original empire under Palpatine."

"An assassin" Jan asked in surprise.

"Yeah. Specifically, she was the emperor's hand. Wait, that might not be right. She might have been an inquisitor. I can't remember exactly."

"Anyway" Kyle said. "How did a former imp assassin wind up with the last jedi?"

"She tried to kill him."

Once more, his friends looked at him in shock. Jacen laughed. "Yeah, I reacted the same way when she told me. After the battle of Endor, Mara was left alone in the galaxy. Her master was dead, she had no one. The majority of the empire's leadership wasn't even aware she existed. She had to strike out on her own. She finally found work with a small alliance of smugglers run by someone named Talon Karrde. It would be many years later before she met Luke."

"How did they meet" Jan asked.

"Luke was on a mission for his newly reestablished order. He had left his senior apprentices in charge of his academy while he pursued his goal alone. Mara, by coincidence, was in the system he had traveled to. When she found out about him, she went after him in a starfighter. The ensuing dogfight saw both crash on the planet. Wherever they crashed, they were forced to work together to survive.

"While they were stuck together, Mara confessed to Luke who she was and why she tried to kill him. Luke almost immediately forgave her, and helped free her from the final ties to the emperor that were still on her. They remained together for a month until they were finally rescued, and at some point during that time, they fell in love and conceived my dad. They went separate ways, intending to meet up again. Mara intended to return to Karrde and inform him she would no longer be working with him since she intended to join Luke's new jedi order."

"So what happened" Jan asked.

"Kylo Ren is what happened. It was shortly after Luke returned from that mission that his nephew betrayed him. I'm sure you know what happened after that."

"Of course" Kyle said. "He went into exile and didn't come out until he made his last stand against the first order."

"Yeah, or so the galaxy thinks."

Kyle and Jan were quite confused at Jacen's latest remark. "What do you mean" Jan asked. "The whole galaxy knows about Luke's last stand."

"It's actually not true. Luke did hold off the first order, but he wasn't there in person."

"Jacen" Kyle said. "What you're saying makes no sense. How could Luke fight the first order if he wasn't there?"

"Luke's history has been romanticized. There is a lot that people say he did that he really didn't. His last stand, for example. He was casting an image of himself to the planet rather than going there himself."

"Casting an image?" Jan asked.

"Yeah, but you might understand better if I explain the whole story. Luke felt horribly guilty after the massacre of all his students by his own nephew. He went into exile until he was found by the jedi hopeful Rey. However, at that point he was in a self-defeated state. He was determined that the jedi order end with him. While he gave Rey a few lessons, he later drove her off after she angered him. The next time anyone saw him was when he made his last stand. However, he actually never left his place of exile. There is a technique in the force that allows one to create an image of himself anywhere they want. That is what Luke did: he cast an image of himself hoping his nephew would take the bait and forget the resistance."

"So… he really wasn't there at all" Kyle asked.

"Yep. Also, the technique he was using is what killed him. Using the force image technique for too long is fatal, and Luke used it so long he died from it. In other words, he was such a coward he couldn't face Kylo Ren in person."

Jan and Kyle were flabbergasted. Luke Skywalker's last stand was what inspired the galaxy to rally against the first order. Now Jacen had just told them that it wasn't actually true.

Jacen continued. "Something else is the fact that he pushed his nephew to fall in the first place. Apparently, Luke approached his nephew while Ben was asleep and sensed there was a lot of darkness in him already. Even though his nephew hadn't done anything wrong yet, Luke instinctively decided his nephew was already a threat and tried to murder him in his sleep."

"WHAT?!" Kyle leapt from his seat. "Are you saying the man who felt Darth Vader could be redeemed chose to try to kill his nephew without giving him a chance to choose his own path?"

"Yep, and that was what caused his nephew to turn. He woke up to find his uncle, the man who was more of a father to him than Han Solo was, standing over him ready to kill him. That is why he betrayed Luke."

Kyle was silent for a few moments. "Well, there goes my childhood hero."

"That is exactly what I thought when I learned the truth."

"Wait" Jan said. "How did you know the truth? I'm guessing your grandparents didn't meet again."

"Nope, my grandmother went to Onderon when she learned she was pregnant to raise her son there. As for how I know… when I was 19, the force granted me a vision of all that really happened to Luke. I spent my whole childhood wanting to be just like my grandfather, but after learning the truth, it all changed. I turned my back on all of it; my hope of being a jedi, my family name, and… the legacy of Luke Skywalker."

Sometime later, Jacen left the ship's refresher to head back to his room when he was stopped by Kyle. "Jacen, I've been thinking about something."

"Kind of scares me that you're thinking Kyle." His friend hit his arm for the joke.

"The empire is going to come after us when they hear what we did. That means more imperial knights."

"Oh, please don't remind me."

"Jacen, I'm serious. I think we should work together to train ourselves."

Jacen knew immediately what Kyle meant when he said 'train.' "You want me to teach you how to use the force?"

"Yes. I told you how my dad appeared to me. I'm not sure why the force is manifesting itself in me now, but know that it is I need to learn to control it. It'll also come in handy during any future rematch with the imperial knights."

"Kyle, I'm no jedi. I want nothing to do with that anymore."

"I'm not asking you to show me how to be a Jedi, I'm asking you to show me how to use force powers."

"I'm… Kyle, I'm no teacher."

"But you're the only one here who has mastered the way of the force. You're the only one I can learn from. Plus, I can teach you how to fight with melee weapons. The imperial knights still use lightsabers, after all."

"Well, you handled yourself pretty well there." Jacen stopped talking for a moment as he thought about what his friend had in mind. Its true that Jacen knew how to use the force, which was different from actually being a jedi, and he himself probably needed to learn to face people in melee combat. Still, the idea of teaching someone was a little intimidating. It was part of the reason he refused to be a jedi. He glanced at his friend and saw the look of anticipation on his face. Kyle was really counting on this, he could sense it.

"Alright, I guess we can give it a try."