Chapter 1

Time, it is.

With three simple words, a Knight became a Master, and a vagabond travelled home.

-! #$%^&*()

In a field of tall grass, children played. Nobody quite knew what they played, but they played nonetheless. One would pass a ball to another, who would jump over the ball, who would be pulled down by yet another. Others would run in circles around those playing with the ball chasing each other, only to reach their prey, and become preyed upon. Sometimes one would switch to chasing from throwing the ball, and others would join in completely different games. While the hundred children all played within a quarter of a square kilometre, none got hurt, all had fun, and all trained in the Force.

Jedi Master Jaina Solo watched the children playing, and her two Jedi Apprentices, Nelani Dinn and Karth Grans, offered their services as referees. Jaina wondered a great many things in moments like these. Ever since the end of the Yuuzhan Vong War, she had tried to regain her humanity by becoming more involved with the Jedi Order, and less a crack X-wing pilot. While aiding in the initial recovery efforts the galaxy was going through, Jaina found herself lacking in focus and concentration because of the horrors she had yet to recover from. A short break at the Jedi Academy on Ossus, helping the Jedi younglings through teaching them, had helped her realize how much of herself she had lost during the war. Sometimes, in moments like these, she continued to ponder her humanity, often wondering how she had survived with such disconnect to the Force, and how far she had really come from the war-hardened hero she was five years ago.

Whatever her own concerns about herself were, Grand Master Luke Skywalker and the other Jedi of the Council were satisfied enough with her progress to ask her to shed her status as a Jedi Knight, and join their ranks of the Jedi Masters one week ago. She became a full time instructor at the Jedi Academy here on Ossus, teaching advanced starfighter tactics and whatever she could with the youngest of the children when her duties permitted. She had grown to enjoy teaching, and through giving she had come to heal her long-open wounds.

However, none of this was on her mind today. Today she was trying to unravel the truth about the training exercise Tionne had ordered: Was it for the children, or for the supervising apprentices? Both seemed to be exhausting each other at a remarkable pace.

Jaina's thoughts were interrupted at the sudden appearance of large raindrops, which signalled the end of the lesson. She whistled loudly to stop the activity, causing a collective groan of disappointment to erupt from the Jedi younglings and create an equally emotional sigh of relief from the Jedi Apprentices. Both reactions brought a smile to Jaina's face.

Wow. Five years ago, I don't think I even knew how to smile. I must be growing up.

"All right all you younglings," Jaina called out with a grin as the raindrops multiplied exponentially. "Everyone back to the dorms! And do not let anyone stay behind this time! You know how the trees like to eat little Jedi around here."

Jaina winked to some of the older students, who began to shepherd the younger students together and towards the Jedi Academy a distant kilometre away. Jaina had no fear of the children coming under any harm on Ossus as virtually all the Jedi's enemies had been wiped out during the Vong war, and none were powerful – or stupid – enough to try attacking the Jedi on one of their stronghold planets. If the mystery and strength of the Jedi powers and the full Jedi Council who had yet to be relocated to Coruscant were not enough of a deterrent, the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances fleet in orbit generally did the trick.

Nelani and Karth approached Jaina with big smiles on their faces as the rain began to pour. Jaina was still adjusting to life as a Master within the Jedi Order, and having advanced students depending solely on her for her education was somewhat troubling.

Karth, a short Deveronian, was seventeen. He had spent the majority of the Vong war in hiding on the Errant Venture with the rest of the Jedi Academy after it was rescued from Yavin IV. Far too young to fight, he had spent the war learning the Jedi ways from Tionne, a Jedi Master with far more knowledge in the Force than potential, but as true a Jedi as any. In the years since the war, he completed his term as a student, and was ready to become an apprentice at the same time Jaina was ready to take one on. They quickly started working well together, and had learned much from each other.

Nelani, a tall human female, was the complete opposite of Karth in almost every respect. A tall willowy twenty year old, her history was as unknown to Jaina as how she had arrived on Ossus. Normally a Jedi would be, at the latest, preparing for the trials of Knighthood by this age, but she was relatively new to the Force. Jaina suspected Master Skywalker knew more of her past, but that did not mean she needed to know. Nelani took to her training as seriously as anyone, almost to keep too busy to discuss her past. Whatever her reasons, her progress was unmistakable. Jaina also sensed Nelani was hiding something from her on more of a personal level, but chose to ignore it. Jedi Masters knew better.

"Well?" Jaina asked. "Any of them have to be sent to the farms?"

Before either of the Apprentices could respond, the distinctive humming sound of a lightsaber caused her to whirl around. None of the younglings should have a lightsaber…and none did. A caped figure with a hood pulled low over its face against the increasing rain storm held a humming violet lightsaber in its right hand, blade held backwards pointing up behind his head. He stalked through the children as if they were not even worth acknowledging, directly towards Jaina and her apprentices. The children parted ways for the ominous character, almost as if his aura had pushed them aside. Jaina reached out with the Force, but only her eyes and ears told her this person was there. She drew her lightsaber and held it in a ready stance, igniting her own violet blade. A similar sound behind her told her one of her Apprentices had drawn their blade, but what happened next could not have shocked her more.

"Darth Harla!" Nelani called out, rushing towards the figure, with her arms outstretched. The caped figure, now five metres from Jaina and Karth, embraced Nelani with the lightsaber still on. In the process, the hood fell to reveal the Sith Lord who had disrupted Jaina's students – Jacen Solo.

-! #$%^&*()

At one of the highest points of the Jedi Academy on Ossus, Luke Skywalker gazed out of his office window using his vantage point to look over the Jedi Order. His Jedi Order. The one he built over the last twenty-five years out of the ashes of two failed governments. The one he led through what seemed like a couple galaxies worth of efforts to stop him.

His first years, being the only Jedi in the galaxy attempting to train others, were troublesome. The years that followed presented new difficulties that always kept him busy. As the Order grew, Luke's interaction with his Jedi diminished as his students taught new students, who then taught more students. Then the Yuuzhan Vong came, and nearly destroyed much of what Luke had built. Four years of attacks from the extra-galactic Yuuzhan Vong, traitors to the galaxy, and even former allies of the Jedi had left the Jedi Order diminished to barely a hundred members. But a strong group they were, hardened by the war that destroyed so much and had killed so many. After the war Luke started to rebuild again and implemented new philosophies into his teachings from the lessons they learned during the war. Luckily for Luke, he was not alone this time. Through the valiant efforts of the remaining Jedi, they had developed a solid team with thirty Masters, over a hundred Knights, and a couple hundred Apprentices and Trainees.

Even the full Jedi Council was reinstated, having dispensed with the half-council that had been adopted during the Yuuzhan Vong War. Through an ingenious plan of Talon Karrde's, the Jedi Order found itself financially secure, and had finally broken free of any interference from the galactic governments. As small as they were in numbers, the Jedi had still become a strong voice in the Galactic Federation of Free Alliances and had gained its independence. Finally the Jedi were able to operate as the guardians of the galaxy they were meant to be, reporting directly to each of the governing bodies that made up the Galactic Alliance with equal accountability and devotion to each member.

Thanks to the efforts of Leia Organa Solo, the Jedi gained the political support needed to gain custody of Ossus. A planet rich in Jedi history, Ossus had become the home of the Jedi nation. Both the Jedi Academy and the operations of the Order were housed in the sprawling campus that had been built during the past five years. However, that was soon to change.

As Luke's thoughts floated around his head, his vision from a week ago came back into focus. He had spent much time over the last week meditating on the disturbing images he saw, but seeing the Order fall from under him still startled him in more ways than he was willing to admit, even to himself. He had worked his hardest, and had sacrificed much. He also lost good students, friends, and even family members in building the New Jedi Order. The dark man worried Luke, for if one person could destroy the entire Order…

A loud knock startled Luke out of his thoughts, making him realize he was staring at an unfamiliar YT-2400 at one of the docking bays.

"Yes, come in." Luke said. He turned to face the door and pushed the freighter out of his mind.

Kyp Durron entered the room, projecting an aura of confidence and wearing a huge grin. "Master Skywalker, the Jedi Temple looks great! Wait until you see some of the toys they've installed in there for us!"

Luke could not help but smile at Kyp's enthusiasm. "I'm glad you had an enjoyable trip to Coruscant."

"Well, the trip wasn't so great being stuck in an X-Wing the whole way there and back." Kyp said, plopping himself onto one of the chairs in front of Luke's desk and leaning back on it. "But Coruscant looks amazing! I bet it hasn't looked this good since a hundred years before Palpatine was corrupting the galaxy. It's quite remarkable how much they've done since the planet was levelled five years ago. They've gone for a more traditional 'City of Spires' look, too, and they're implementing height restrictions of one kilometre to keep it from growing out of hand like last time. Estimates say over ninety percent of the residential, commercial, and industrial areas are rebuilt."

"And all of the government sectors, obviously." Luke said bitterly as he took his own seat. "How are the plans for the move to our new home proceeding?"

"Well, those bantha lovers haven't actually completed the temple docking bay, so if we go any time soon we'll have to land at the spaceport and trek everything over." Kyp said. "I told them it was unacceptable and that they better get it ready by the scheduled moving day. Took a bit of… persuasion, but I think they got the message. Apparently they were under the impression we would allow ourselves to be affected by the material shortages, especially when the entire planet is being recycled."

Luke did not want to know what Kyp meant by 'persuasion,' but he had a good idea. Kyp's anger had shown through quite a bit in the last five years. While the Jedi should normally control emotions, Luke's nephew, Jacen Solo, had discovered that emotions unlocked much more power for a Force user. Luke had decided five years ago that the Jedi were too few, too small to ignore a valuable insight into the Force that could help them survive, and adopted what Jacen had learned into his own program as a Master's lesson. Kyp seemed to enjoy that particular policy change. Too much at times.

"On the plus side, the dorms, training areas, and pretty much everything except the docking bay and Council chambers are ready. We should be good to go as soon as the hangers are done."

"What about transit arrangements?" Luke asked, updating some information on a datapad.

"Uhhh, transit?" Kyp dropped the chair to all four legs and sat up straight. "I thought we were taking the Falcon, the Shadow and the various support craft."

"Kyp, how many people can the Falcon hold for that long a trip?"

"Twenty or so."

"How many Jedi and how much equipment is on Ossus?"

"Oh." Kyp looked dismayed. "I…I'll…umm…"

"Contact Booster." Luke supplied.

"Yeah, gotcha." Kyp said. "Umm…on second thought, I'll get Corran to do that."

"I thought you liked Corran." Luke said with a grin.

"Not as much as I like myself!" Kyp replied with a bigger grin. He leapt out of the chair and made his way to the door. "I'll let the fleet in orbit know he's coming."

Luke laughed softly. "Don't worry; they have standing orders not to shoot anything red the size of a Star Destroyer."

"True." Kyp said, unconvinced. "But you know those military types; you can never be too sure with them. I'll let them know anyway." Kyp left the room without another word.

"I was one of those military types." Luke said nostalgically to the empty room, thinking back to the days of Rogue Squadron…