Merry Christmas and Happy New Year all. I decided to get this one out before 2020.

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The ensign in charge of relaying messages aboard the destroyer Doomgiver was making his way towards the personal quarters of the ship's commander. He had recieved a transmission with a large amount of data that needed to be downloaded to a datapad for easy access. While he normally had no problem with his job as the ship's communication handler, dealing with the head of the Imperial Knights was always a terrifying experience.

Stopping at the door to Lord Jerec's quarters, the ensign took a deep breath before hitting the control panel on the wall. The door automatically slid open and he walked inside. The room itself was extremely dark, hardly any lights at all. Despite this, the ensign knew Lord Jerec had no problems. How this was the case the ensign didn't know, but he had recently learned that questioning such things could be fatal. One of his commrades was strangled to death by Lord Jerec a few weeks ago upon asking the Imperial Knight how he managed to navigate his room, or anywhere, due to his species lack of eyes. Lord Jerec never gave the officer an answer, he simply choked the man to death after saying "everyone seems to fancy themselves a comedian."

"Yes ensign?" A voice rang out from the darkness. The ensign could barely make out the form of the empress' top enforcer as he turned in his meditation chair and stood up.

"Umm... we recently recieved a transmission from some of our military police on Euphrates, my Lord. They said they had information that I was to deliver to you immediately."

The ensign held up the datapad as the figure drew closer. Finally, Jerec stepped into the light that was shinning from the hallway and took the datapad.

"Most appreciated. If there is nothing else, you are dismissed."

The ensign bowed and, in a fast walk, left the room.

Jerec returned to his chair and sat down to review what his agents had gathered. His kind didn't need eyes to see anything; they saw through the Force. He could see the entirety of his surroundings in much more detail than anyone could with mere sight. Indeed, relying on physical sight was like trying to look at the galaxy through a tiny keyhole.

After the debacle of trying to capture the young man from Euphrates, Jerec had, under the empress' orders, called for local security forces to gather any intel on this person. An unfortunate surprise was that it took more than a week to even find any details about him. Apparently the companies that ran the food production didn't have that much information on their now former scout. All they could give them was the man's name (which he and his empress already knew thanks to their Imperial Knight), and that he moved to Euphrates from Onderon.

The headache only continued when local security forces on Onderon couldn't find much information on this Jacen also. Apparently his family name was erased from public and official government records shortly before his ancestor arrived. They could trace his lineage back to his grandmother, but that was it. The young man's parents had died when he was really young, so his grandmother had raised him. When Jacen reached nineteen, his last relative passed away and he left Onderon. Aside from that, it seemed like no one in the entire galaxy knew anything about this young man.

Jerec switched to the information gathered on one of this Jacen's companions: a woman with brown hair (just like Jacen's) that flowed to her shoulders named Jan Ors. Jerec was slightly intrigued with what he saw. Born into a family of Alderannian descended refugees, she apparently had spent the first few years of her life with a small fleet whose occupants were constatly looking for a new home. Finally they settled on an outer rim world that had been completely uninhabited by sentient life. The world was named New Alderann, after the world the original empire had destroyed in an effort to make an example of. Jan was a mercenary who apparently had a sense of honor. She didn't take jobs that she considered morally wrong, so she and her partner made their reputation mostly striking at criminal syndicate operations at the request of those who suffered from the criminal activities. Interesting.

Jerec chose to save the rest of the gathered information for another time so he could switch to this Ors' partner. He had the information brought up... and saw an eirly familiar face appear on the screen of the datapad. Jerec felt like he should know this man, even though he knew this person had never crossed paths with him before. Kyle Katarn. The young man was once a student at the imperial academy, but had dropped out shortly before officially choosing a career in the military. His instructors were apparently devestated, as this young man had been the top student in the class and many branches of the service were trying to persuade him to join them. The story only got more interesting from there. Apparently he had left the academy shortly after the leak about prison experiments had happened.

Jerec remembered that incident well, as he had been the one who hunted the leaker. The imperial military had wanted to beguin experimenting with methods of recruitment and physical enhancement that the greater galaxy would surely have considered immoral. To do so without attracting poor publicity from the galactic media, it was decided that the subjects of these experiments would be inmates in prisons who were serving life sentences. These prisoners were transfered to 'secret prisons' where the military would begin their experiments. These went on for quite some time and, in Jerec's mind, produced promising results.

However, a disgruntled officer in the project leaked the information to students at the academy on Corulag. This caused quite a scandal among the students and even attracted the media's attention. Fortunately the empress sent Jerec and several other knights to ensure the prisons that were housing the experiments were shut down before anyone could trace them, so many in the media played the incident off as a lie. Jerec personally dealt with the leaker, and he assumed that despite the stir that the damage control had worked. But it would seem that this Katarn was among the students who had taken issue with these experiments, for he stated them as the primary reason for resigning from his potential career in the military.

Still, as interesting as this story was, Jerec was bothered by the familiarity of the young man. Again, he was sure he had never crossed paths with this person before, but he KNEW there was something that he was missing. Where had he heard that name before? Katarn... Katarn... MORGAN KATARN! Jerec's mind flew back to a small agricultural moon called Sulon, where he had tracked a strong presence in the Force to a small family farm, only for that presence to disappear shortly before he arrived in person. All he found was an elderly man who was marginally Force sensitive (too weak to be of use to the Imperial Knights). Despite his use of... persuation... the only resident of the farm refused to say anything about the powerful presence Jerec felt. Now, after all these years, he finally knew what the answer to this mystery was.

"A son" Jerec said, sadistic amusement laced in his voice. He started to laugh, a cruel laugh that would fill any who could hear it with great dread.

"Ok, remember to keep your guard up."

Kyle and Jacen resumed their fighting stances for yet another practice fight, training swords in their hands. After a few weeks, Jacen was truly starting to get the hang of melee combat, or at least the basics of it. He was struggling to learn how to actually fight in a lightsaber form. Right now, Jacen was trying to learn Form III: Soresu. This was the most defensive of any form of combat, as it focused on deflecting laser shots and melee strikes. Therefore, Kyle was using a more aggressive form, Djem So.
Jacen readied himself for the latest barrage of strikes from his training partner, holding the blade above his head in one hand while pointing his other hand at his opponent. Kyle readied himself as well, positioning his body in the typical Form V posture.

"Begin."

Kyle lunged forward a split second after speaking. Jacen swung his blade to intercept the strike, placing both hands on the hilt to give his counter more strength. The blades met with a metallic clang and flew apart as the two combatants moved to strike and parry once more. The large cargo bay echoed with more clangs as Jacen and Kyle continued their training. Jacen was actually keeping up with Kyle's strikes, constantly deflecting the constant attacks. This is what Form III was meant for, keeping yourself alive while your opponent wore down.

Suddenly, Jacen felt a serious jolt of pain as one of Kyle's strikes got past his defenses and hit him on the right arm. Letting out a cry of pain, he dropped his weapon and clutched his injury. Off to the side, he heard someone chuckle. Looking over, he saw Jan and R2 watching them.

"Hey R2" Jan said as she moved to leave the room, laughing slightly. "Tell me when it's over." R2 whistled and beeped in response.

"Well" Kyle said, amusement in his voice as well. "You ARE getting better. You're able to actually last a while against me."

"Ok" Jacen replied. "Now it's my turn." Jacen threw his hand out and Kyle fell flat on his back as a result of a Force push. "Now, my young apprentice, it's time for you to resume your training."

Kyle's attitude lost all amusement as he picked himself up. His own Force training under Jacen was going as well as Jacen's melee training was. He could make objects hover barely a centimeter off the ground, and his own Force pushes could only make Jacen feel like a breeze was hitting him.

Placing the blades on a table, Jacen and Kyle approached a set of crates they were using for telekinetic practice. They were empty because Kyle was still a beginner.
"Ok, stretch out with the Force and picture the crate."

Kyle did as he was told. He felt the Force flowing into him, helping him summon the energy needed to perform his task. Finally, he stretched out at the crate and willed it to lift. The crate rattled slightly, and lifted off the ground. Unlike previous attempts, Kyle didn't let his excitement interrupt his focus. Willing the crate to rise higher, the crate suddenly flew up and slammed against the ceiling. The shock caused Kyle to fall back a few steps, resulting in the crate crashing back down on the floor. In the corner, R2 let out an amused whistle.

"Not bad" Jacen said as he faced his friend. "Up until now you could barely get the crates off the floor. Of course, had you tried to levitate a living being, you most likely would have crippled them with what you just did."

Hours later, Kyle exited the ship's refresher and headed to his and Jan's room. Jan and Jacen were already asleep, and Kyle had been the one responsible for ensuring the auto navigation was still functioning before turning in. In space, technically there was no day and night. So they told time by setting the ship's chronos to the time of a planet's cycle (in this case, Coruscant). After checking on the cockpit and seeing that all was running smoothly, he decided to get a quick rinse before turning in.
Entering the quarters he occupied with his girlfriend, Kyle was careful not to wake the beautiful woman who was already in bed. Lifting the covers slightly, he climbed under them and slipped his arms around Jan. He was asleep within seconds, so tired he was from all the training he and Jacen were doing.

"Kyle."

Kyle saw his father standing next to him. The image around them was that of a giant white expanse, nothing and no one else with them.

"Hello father. I think its time you told me what my story is."

"I think so as well. Well, you already know we lived on Sulon. Our family were farmers going back as far as we could trace them, and none of them were Force sensitive as far as I know."

"So how is it we're connected to the Force?"

"ALL life is connected to the Force, Kyle. We just happen to have a stronger one than most people. I have no idea why the Force grants some people stronger connections than others. All I know is that I was the first person in our family to have a connection to it."

"However" Morgan continued. "My connection in life was nowhere near as strong as your's is. I could perform a few rudimentary tricks and one advanced trick, but that was it."

"What was the advanced trick?"

"I'll get to that soon. So, I was only marginally Force sensitive, so the empire was never interested in me. Had I been stronger in the Force, the Imperial Knights would certainly have forced me to join them. Your mother and I lived together in peace for many years, and than you came along and it was just perfect. But when you were three, your connection to the Force manifested itself. It was much stronger than my own, and I knew that eventually this would attract the attention of the empire."
"My worst fear quickly came true" his father continued. "Shortly after we realized the strength of your Force potential, I felt a powerful presence on the moon, and I knew it was one of the Imperial Knights. Your mother and I knew exactly what was going to happen, so I did what I had to do. I supressed your own connection to the Force and told your mother to take you and flee. Hours after you both left, the Imperial Knight arrived at our farm. He wanted to know who was the person that had the powerful connection to the Force, but I refused to tell him. He... he tortured me relentlessly. Force lightning, choking and mental torturing me all the while demanding the identity and location of who he felt. I never gave him anything, and eventually his methods resulted in my death."

Kyle was speechless. He grew up with his mother never talking about why his father had died. "I... Father, I'm so sorry."

"It's not your fault Kyle. I would gladly do it all again if I had to. I was protecting you."

"Wait. You said you supressed my connection to the Force?"

"Yes Kyle. It was the only way to keep you hidden. Recently however, my action has started to ware off. Your connection is slowly returning to you. Soon, it will do so in its entirety."

"Why has it taken so long? Why did it not ware off after... you died?"

"I... don't know Kyle. Maybe the Force willed it to remain so."

"Why would the Force will that?"

"Maybe to ensure you remain hidden? I don't know son. The Force works in mysterious ways."

Kyle was silent for a moment as he processed all this information. His father was silent, waiting for his son to speak. Finally, Morgan got tired of waiting and decided to bring up another topic. "Kyle, there is something else I must tell you."

"What is it father?"

"It concerns your friend Jacen. I warned you about the attempt to capture him so you could save him, but it would also be wise if you were careful around him."
Kyle was stunned. "What?! Jacen is one of my best friends!"

"He also walks close to the dark side. I watched over you as he told you and Jan his story. You know full well why he feels the way he does about his grandfather. However, his hatred, and I don't use that term lightly, skirts him close to the ways of the Imperial Knights. He is a good person and tries his best to stay that way, but he is capable of actions that would make one draw on the dark side. You must be careful around him."

"Father, I've never seen him say or do anything that would make me een consider Jacen was in danger of falling to the dark side."

"Perhaps you should see these then."

Just as Morgan stopped speaking, the area around them started to change. Suddenly they were in Jacen's house, seeing him walk through his garage door.

"What are we..." Morgan interrupted his son's question.

"We are currently seeing a vision of something that happened in the past."

Kyle and his father stood and watched as Jacen, who initially appeared happy, became angry as a spectral form came into view. Kyle recognized the newcomer as Luke Skywalker. Jacen and his ancestor argued about the family legacy and Jacen's refusal to take up the way of the Jedi.

"Failing at your own life wasn't good enough for you? You need to drag your own GRANDSON into the same hole you wound up in?!"

Jacen's words weren't a surprise, but his tone was. Kyle had never seen or heard his friend speak with such hatred before. The scene continued to play out until Jacen finally drove his grandfather off by threatening to cut his connection to the Force.

Than the scene changed. Kyle and Morgan were looking at three figures standing in the same expanse they had been in before the vision. Luke was one of them, as was an elderly human male and a small, green alien.

"Despite your best efforts Luke" the old man said. "It seems your grandson is determined to ensure the Jedi stay extinct."

"He just had to inherit my family's stubbornness. Well Obi-Wan, we can't just give up. I already tried that and it only helped the first order."

The little alien made a strange 'harumph' sound. "Too late, I fear it is, young Skywalker. Only further away have our attempts pushed Jacen. And if a Jedi he will not be, than no hope there is."

Luke stared at the alien. "Master Yoda... we can't just abandon the galaxy."

Yoda appeared to be in a depressed state. "The only hope, your grandson is. But rejected the Jedi, he has. With no Jedi left, triumphed the dark side has. Watch the suffering, I no longer can. Farewell, my fellow Jedi." Yoda faded, leaving Luke and Obi-Wan alone.

Kyle and Morgan were suddenly alone once again, the visions ending.

"Kyle, what you just saw were scenes that played out either in Jacen's life or happened because of Jacen. I'm not trying to turn you against your friend. What I am trying to do is put you on your guard. While Jacen doesn't want to join the dark side, he occasionally does skirt the edge of it. Be careful my son, for I couldn't bare to see you fall yourself."

Kyle was going to retort, but Morgan was starting to vanish. "FATHER! WAIT, I STILL..."

"I'm sorry Kyle. I can't stay any longer. Know I will still watch over you and will appear to you if you ever need me. I love you, my son."

Kyle opened his eyes and shot up in bed, momentairly not sure where he was. A quick yelp to his side reminded him of Jan's presence. His girlfriend was staring up at him.
"Is something wrong, Kyle?"

Kyle was silent for a moment before he responded. "No Jan. Just an... odd dream.