Galen Zaun sat in his private 'room' overlooking the bustling space port. Most of them were continuing with their lives hardly knowing that history had once again pivoted, that history had been made in their presence.
Though the local media had reported on it, Galen doubted that many of them would have understood the significance.
But, that did not take away from the fact that he had a decision to make, and that it could effect him, and the whole Republic, in a very real and dramatic ways.
He sighed.
He just did not know what to do about it.
On the one hand there was his duty, the duty he had to the Order, to the Republic, the duty he had chosen on himself from a young age.
And on the other was another different kind of duty. Those to his family, and the woman that he chose to love.
If he did this there was no guarantee that he would make it back in time.
"Oh what do I do?" He asked, the walls, beseeching the Force itself for an answer.
No one knew of this either. If he did this he would be on his own. He knew that the Council would never agree with it, that Master Skywalker probably would not agree with it, and they would waste months with squabbling and debating at which point the object that they were squabbling and debating about would have been long captured.
No if he did decide to do this then the Jedi Knights must never know until he decided to reveal him to the Council, at which point he would have to face the numerous consequences of his actions.
But he would rather that then the Jedi failing to do anything and the Galaxy suffering the consequences. Either of them, truth be told.
In that light his choice was obvious. But he still had a personal responsibility waiting for him.
Galen smiled to himself, he finally understood in a distant way why the Ancient Order forbade Jedi from having any attachments to people, and to women, especially to women so hot.
He smiled whimsically to himself. Losing himself in the memories of the distant past and all the time that he had spent with her.
But, he did not have the luxury of thinking about that too much.
Of course there was also lessons to learn from the duel. He was too weak, the Jedi were too weak, he just barely was able to defeat Death. He had to get into better shape, and to get a better grip on Form III.
That was an easy decision to make.
He was jokingly referred to as the Warrior Knight, because of his insistence on combat and lightsaber practice instead of meditating on the Force.
Even then he was nowhere near his best, and he nearly lost, and would have too if his opponent was better at keeping his calm.
He was good, he should be much better.
With that his decision was virtually a forgone conclusion.
He would have to go and at least attempt to rescue Death.
He had no idea what to start, no information on the whereabouts of the kid, and no idea where to look. Just a theory on how he could get to him, Galen suspected he had a Force affinity for people of Death's energy because he fought him so intimately, but it was only a shot in the dark.
But with that he got his cloak and wrapped it around himself.
Despite the many days that he had to heal he still winced from the pain arching through his shoulders. Yep, he had work to do and a cockpit to sit in for who knows how long.
Wonderful.
He made his way out into the corridor and past several soldiers. They stared at him curiously, at least they understood the significance of who he was, and what he did.
He made his way down to the fighter bay and down to his fighter. The shuttle was gone, one of the X-Wings was gone, and his droid was nowhere to be seen.
He went up to his fighter and waved his hand in it, using the Force to open up a panel in the side. He typed in a few commands and a dish appeared out of the side of it.
It turned to him and emitted a blue light which took him in, a light appeared next to it letting him know it was ready to take his message.
"Beam this in a pod bound for Corellia, send this in a local holographic courier." He said to the ship, giving it commands.
The light flashed twice letting him know it understood the instructions before it went solid again acknowledging it was still ready to take down his message.
Galen sighed sadly. "Begin." He said.
The Light changed color.
"My sweet Arkadi, the mission here is of the gravest importance, and it has been completed. However, the man I fought says he has a son. And that son could be of the gravest importance to the order, and to the future of the Galaxy itself." Here he nearly broke down, and sniffed. "I am so sorry my beloved, but I must do this. I am the only one who can. And I do not know when I shall be back. I do not know if I will survive this quest. You will be the only one to know, as you are the only one to know that you are the only being that I have ever truly loved. I will be back to see you when I can. May the Force be with You, take care of our son." He pressed the control and ended the message.
He composed himself and straightened himself out, hiding his face in his hood. No use the soldiers here seeing the great hero distraught, Galen thought wryly to himself, he went up to the stairs, wanting to take a nap, who knows when he will able to sleep next.
He got to his 'room' and crashed on the cot, falling asleep in fits.
Corellia
Arakdi was just sitting down to dinner, a silver protocol droid was laying out a tray of local delicacies. She felt alone in the over large dining hall, with no one around, at the large table that she failed to see the other end of given the dim lighting.
She got up, with a squawk of surprise and protest from the droid. She smiled wanly to shut him up.
Ever since she met Galen she always had a feeling, as though she were connected, as though they had a Force Bond, and even though she was no Jedi, she still got feelings every once in a while.
Like the one she had right now.
A sense of guilt, and loss, an oppressive feeling of despair.
She looked out the stars, out the window, and wondered where Galen was.
She wrapped herself in her own arms and gazed heavenward.
She had gotten larger in the last couple of days, finally starting to show her pregnancy, she rubbed her fingers over her stomach and smiled.
Though that made it so she could not leave the house anytime soon. She was saddened and oppressed by that, though no one knew of her pregnancy, and she did not feel like clueing anyone in on that fact.
She only trusted one man with that information, other then Galen himself. He was an aide to her father, tall, straight of back, and had a sharp intellect. He left her father's employ over the whole scandal that got her disowned. He loved her, and was jealous of Galen, and especially that she was carrying Galen's child, but he still did his duty as her best friend to her.
He delivered groceries, supplies, and was an insider of the local politics. Giving her only human contact over the last few days, and she was grateful for that, but she did miss Galen so.
"Oh Galen, where are you?" She beseeched the sky. Then when no answer came she went back over to the table and sat down, eating her meal that was now going cold.
Master Skywalker's Office.
Galen was sitting in Mikal's over plush chair facing the desk in the room, waiting.
The Sergeant informed Galen that Master Skywalker was off running errands and paying the local Planetary Council the fees for the Jedi/ Military operation running here.
A modest fee of three thousand credits.
He was drumming nervously on the side.
With a whoosh of the door Mikal entered, his cloak whooshing on the carpet, he stopped up short, pleasantly surprised to see Master Zaun.
"Galen." he said bowing his head.
"Mikal," Galen said reaching out to shake the hand of the old master.
"What brings you here?" Skywalker inquired moving behind the desk and sitting down.
"I wanted to check on my fighter, make sure that it was fully fueled and maintained, and ready for launch.
Mikal arched his eyebrows. "You know it is old friend."
"I see, well then I shall be departing this area soon."
"What? Why Galen?"
"I have to go." Galen said lamely, trying to make his voice neutral.
"Well, you did not have to come up just to tell me that." Skywalker said, referring to the maintenance.
"I know, but I just wanted to come up and see you," Galen cleared his throat. "and tell you what an honor it has been serving with you." Galen extended his hand, Mikal went up and took it.
"There is something that you are not telling me old friend." Mikal said.
"Yes," Galen said darkly.
"I see."
"Look, you are just going to have to trust my judgment on the matter."
"I do trust your judgment, friend, but you may go too far." Skywalker said narrowing his eyes and frowning.
"I know, and I thank you." Galen said.
"May the Force be with you." Skywalker said, no hard feelings, and he was genuinely worried about the health and well being of his friend.
Galen nodded, and then headed on out, right down to the docking bay, into his fighter, and off to an unknown and uncertain future.
