A New Jedi in an Old Republic

Republic Cruiser "Astute"

"I wish it was, Mister Katarn," Chief Saew said in the silence that echoed after the announcement. There were no cheers at it, for war meant death. And they were going to be on the firing line. 

"Boys! Diagnostics on that engine!" he pointed at the one Jan said a moment ago. "It'll be good practise because there's no way to know what ships we'll have to service in the future. Now get to it!"

Having a job at hand distracted his crew from the news, but in giving the order, he missed Kyle hopping down off the wing of the Raven's Claw. "I'm sorry," he said as he did see the large man come up to him and Jan, "But I have to run back to my office to see if there is anything for me yet."

"Go," Kyle commanded, and the deck chief saluted before he left. Once he was out of earshot, Kyle leaned over to whisper in Jan's ear. "Something's really weird. The Force is... I don't know... off somehow. But these people, there's no lying going on."

"They announced the start of the Clone Wars!" Jan whispered back. "Why would anyone do that?"

"I don't know. Stay with the ship," Kyle warned. "If we get the hint something's wrong, I'll open the outer doors and we'll get out of here. So make sure that the Hyperspace engine is fixed."

"On it." Jan agreed with Kyle's caution and quickly climbed up the side of the ship to access the damaged components. Kyle took a walk around the ship, ostensibly to check the hull for damage on the outside, but also to get a feel for the people around him.

They were tense, some eager, some fearful. It was a familiar mix, one that he had seen a few times before when a ship was going into combat, but the crew didn't know when. But most tellingly was the lack of any sense of duplicity from the crew. If this was some bad joke, they weren't in on it. And he knew all too well how hard it was to keep a secret the more people who knew about it.

He was doing a close inspection of the nose of the ship, where the twin laser cannons were installed behind a hidden panel when he felt the Crew Chief approach him. He was a ball of emotion, mostly worry for his people. That made him a good man in Kyle's books. "Yes?" He said once Chief Saew got close enough to have casual conversation with, rather than calling out at a longer distance.

"Mister Katarn, Captain Corvell would like to speak with you for a minute." The Chief passed along the message as he kept an eye on his people at the same time. "It's about where we can drop you off."

Kyle considered this. If it was a trap of some sort, best to spring it while prepared for it, and if it wasn't he couldn't be impolite to the man who lent his ship to help out Jan and the Claw. "Let me grab something from my ship, then where would the Captain like to meet me?"

"He's sent a couple men to take you to the Wardroom," Chief Saew explained. "Shall I let him know you're on the way?"

"Please," Kyle said, concerned but no warnings from the Force just yet. He quickly ran under the hull of the ship to the loading ramp, and up to where he locked his guns when not in use. Punching in a code, the small cabinet slid open and Kyle grabbed his pistol and saber, tucking both under his jacket so they wouldn't be quite as visible.

When he got back, he would have to begrudgingly thank Luke for giving him the saber. It would do him a lot of good in a close quarters fight on this ship if it came down to it. Not that he was expecting to have to fight through the ship's compliment. From distant memories of his time at the Academy, he expected this ship to have a compliment of about a thousand. Not great odds, but most of them wouldn't be fighting anyways.

Out on the flight deck, he returned to Chief Saew. "Sorry about that. Shall we?"

"Of course." The chief pointed to a door about halfway down the length of the deck. "Your escort is waiting for you there."

"Thanks," Kyle said as he adjusted himself to cover his weapons. "Jan! Captain's calling, so I'm gonna talk to him. Be right back."

"Alright!" Jan raised one had to signal that she understood. "Don't be too long!"

"I won't!" He called back, then strode for the indicated door at a brisk pace. As he got closer, he could sense three people on the other side. One had the bearing of an officer, the others were guards. Well, he was a stranger on the ship, so he could expect an armed escort. There was no need to worry about that. He opened the door, and the officer stepped up. "Hello Captain Katarn. I am Ensign Friosha." The near-human had orange skin and blank black eyes, but Kyle wasn't worried about that.

"Please, I don't really hold the rank of Captain. You can call me Kyle." He smiled to set the young Ensign at ease, though it didn't seem to work as well as he hoped. Ignoring the two guards, he did note that they were dressed like old Republic marines, which either meant that someone was spending a lot of good credits on a reenactment, or was so poor they couldn't afford anything newer.

"If you'll follow me Captain... Mister Katarn?" The Ensign turned and started to walk down the hall toward the front of the ship. Kyle could feel the unease from everyone around him, but there was still nothing that told him what was really going on. And that set him to being at unease.

Going through blast doors, Kyle tried to converse with the Ensign, knowing that talking to the marines was a lost cause. "You expected this to happen?" He left the 'this' vague, but it should have been obvious what he was asking about.

"I don't pay attention to politics, sir." The Ensign replied. "I'm just Navy."

Kyle frowned on the inside, but kept his peace. Not everyone could pay attention to everything. Heck, he couldn't! "You should. Politics dictate what the Navy does."

"That may be true, sir. But not something I look forward too." It was almost like he was holding his head down and waiting for the storm to blow over, so Kyle didn't press the issue. There was too much going on here that he didn't know.

The rest of the walk was in silence. They stopped in front of a nondescript door that had the word 'Wardroom #1' written above it. "Here you go, Sir. I'll wait here to escort you back."

"Thank you, Ensign." Kyle knocked on the door, and it opened for him. Not usual, but not impossible either. "Captain Corvell? I'm Kyle."

"Ah, Mister Katarn, come in." Kyle's first look at Corvell wasn't a bad impression. The man hadn't seen real sunlight in years by his complexion, but he moved with a sureness that belied his age. "I apologize, but it seems you had the worst timing. If I may, what was your final destination?"

Not seeing a point in lying, Kyle said "Coruscant."

"Ah, then I don't feel guilty." Corvell relaxed as he picked up a datapad, one of many strewn about the table. "The onset of war has caused quite a bit of chaos, I'm afraid. We will be jumping shortly to the Sector rally point at Khar Duma where we will join the fleet. Once we arrive, you can be on your way. It shouldn't take more than a couple days to reach the Core from there."

"Thank you, Captain." Kyle felt out with the force and found nothing suspicious. He really believed in the announcement he had made. So Kyle decided to poke at it, seeing how he responded. "I never thought we'd see war."

Corvell sighed. "Neither did I, Kyle. Forgive me, Captain Katarn."

"Kyle's fine."

"Kyle, then. No, I would be lying if I said I didn't expect it. Rather, I was hoping it would not come to a full war. Yes, there has been armed conflicts over the past decade, but I was hoping for a peaceful settlement." Corvell looked around, only the two of them in the room. "I'm going to need armed guards wherever I go in the future, don't I? Being the captain and all."

Kyle nodded, his senses telling him that this man was being completely honest with him. Which meant that he honestly thought that the Clone Wars had just started. Which was impossible. "Yea. Attacking leadership is one of the things one should do early in a war. Helps throw the enemy off balance."

"You have experience?" Corvell didn't show it, but he was wary of Kyle now.

"Former mercenary," Kyle explained. "I got too old." His hair was only slightly turning grey, and he wasn't that bad off.

"Ah," Corvell relaxed a little. "I think that people like you may be hired by the Republic to help bolster our forces while we build a proper army." He looked at Kyle, eyes curious, then back to the datapad. "Not that I'm authorized to do so."

Kyle smirked. "And I'm too old to take on new jobs. You want some.. .friendly advice?" If this man thought he was going to war, then there were some things that really needed to be passed along.

"I can listen. I can't promise I'll follow what you say."

"Can't ask for more than that." Kyle said as he took a seat. "First, yes, you're going to need guards. Even on your ship. Spies can and will take advantage of any perceived weaknesses they find. But don't let your guards keep you isolated from your crew either. If you're the kind of guy who talks to his men a lot, don't stop. A loyal crew is worth a lot."

Corvell seemed to accept that tidbit.

"Second, and this one you aren't going to like me for, but you are probably not going to stay a captain, or even on this ship." There! That was a reaction! Corvell looked at Kyle with open eyes, a little bit of fear in them. He didn't want to leave his ship. "You may get promoted. Commodore, or even Admiral."

Corvell didn't like that. "I would have to refuse."

"Maybe," Kyle said. "That's what you should know. War changes things, but it doesn't have to change you." Oh sithspit, he was starting to sound like Luke of all people. "But what do I know? I'm just a retired merc."

"Indeed you are, Kyle." Corvell responded. "Now, if you'll excuse me, we should be at the rally point in a couple hours. I need to review our plans and expectations."

"Of course, Captain." Kyle stood up and offered his hand, the Captain shaking it firmly. "Would you mind if I got a Holo Net feed? With everything that's going on, I think I want to catch up on the news."

"Gladly, Mister Katarn." Corvell walked with him to the hall. "Ensign, once Mister Katarn is back to his ship, allow him access to the public news networks, and our Navigational Computers should his ship need to update itself after their accident."

The Ensign gave a sharp salute. He, Kyle, and their two escorts headed back to the flight deck.

Raven's Claw

Kyle climbed atop the wing. "Jan?" he asked, hoping to get her attention as she was currently hip deep in the engine.

"Oh, hey Kyle!" Jan didn't bother to look up as she had a welder in hand. "How did it go?"

"Captain is taking us to Khar Duma, a military rally point. Once there, we will be free to go. Until then, he's given me access to the news, and the Claw access to the NavComps, should we need to update our system."

"Oh, that's nice!" She paused before she spoke again, more serious. "I hope you said 'thank you'."

Kyle hadn't. "I.. shook his hand."

"Kyle!"

"What? I was polite!"

"Fine. What did you find out?" She returned to her repairs.

"Nothing much. Hence the news. Pretty hard to fake that."

"Let me know what you find," Jan said, dismissing Kyle to focus on her work.

"Sure." He climbed down this time, rather than jumping off, and went into the Claw. He put away the pistol, but not the saber as it was smaller and he could play with it in one hand while he read what he could access on the local news network with the other.

"Let's see here," he muttered to himself as he flipped the saber end over end. "Declaration of War," he skimmed over the public announcement, which could have easily come from any archive. The Empire was almost proud of its origins in the Clone Wars, and made certain that no one would forget it. Kyle moved on to the next article.

"Chancellor Palpatine offers condolences to fallen Jedi. Huh, never thought the Emperor of all people would play nice. But, you know, hindsight and all that." The article described how the dead Jedi from the Battle of Genosis was an example of the sacrifice required to win the war. "Right. I'm pretty sure Luke told me how you had your hands in both sides."

Next article was a counter declaration by the Secessionists. "Blah, blah, blah, politics and threats."

Then there was market stuff, but Kyle skipped over that. He didn't really pay attention to galactic economics. Then local news. But that didn't help him at all.

"Kriff," he swore. Nothing. Reading through all this was like reading through an archive for all he could tell. Now he wanted to talk things over with Jan, but she was busy fixing the engine. And that meant he was bored.

Luke was right. Again. He pulled out the small bag with Yun's crystal in it, but instead of heading for a workbench near the back, he held it in one hand, his own saber in the other, and started to meditate.

Jan slapped him in the back of the head. "Wake up Kyle!"

Kyle snapped back to awareness. "Wha..? Jan! I was meditating!"

"No," she said as she leaned over his seat. "You were sleeping. Snoring in fact."

"Was not." Kyle objected, even as he recognized the signs of actual sleeping in his muscles. He was supposed to be meditating!

"Guess this means you found nothing?"

"Nothing you couldn't get out of an archive." Kyle handed over the datapad with the news. "Here, read for yourself."

Jan did, allowing Kyle to put away his weapon and the other crystal. "We good to go?"

"Uh huh," Jan replied, not looking up from the scrolling text. "Wow, this is detailed."

Kyle looked back to make sure no one was listening in. "So, what do you think?"

"It's a bit too complex to be a joke," she said as she put away the pad in order to climb into her seat. Once she was comfortable, she started checking the navigational computer. "What else is there?"

"These people are so far out to lunch that they missed the War completely?"

"For thirty years?" Jan didn't believe it, and neither did Kyle. "You sure they're not, you know, being..." she twirled one finger at her head, while the other one made that gesture that some Jedi did when they wanted to try and influence someone.

"Not that I could tell," Kyle replied. "What else could it be?"

They both sat in silence before Jan shook her head. "No, that's a bad idea."

"What?" Kyle asked, curious.

"No, you don't want to know. It's a bad idea, and I'm dumber for thinking of it."

"Out with it, Jan."

"Alright, but please don't laugh."

"Jan..." Kyle growled, hoping to get something out of her.

"Well, what if... no. It's really stupid."

"JAN!"

"Time travel!"

"What?"

"You've heard the stories, right? Where ships go into hyperspace, and come out years later, where only minutes or hours have passed for them?"

Kyle didn't know how to respond to that. "Jan? Are you feeling alright? Did you bump your head?" He held out one hand to check her, only for Jan to swat it away. "And you called me out on old spacers tales not a day ago. And besides, in those stories, they only go forwards in time, never back."

"I know! But what else is there?"

Kyle didn't know. "You know what, I don't think we know enough. Once we get off this ship, we'll find some answers. How long anyways until we drop out of Hyperspace?"

"According to the information the NavComp is getting, another twenty minutes or so."

"Then why don't we relax?"

"Kyle, there is no relaxation we could do in twenty minutes." Jan said with a sly grin.

"Is that a challenge?"

"No." She got up. "I'm going to check the engine those guys were looking at earlier. If there's something wrong, there may be something new there."

"You do that." Kyle picked up the data pad and picked out a random article. It was about cooking, but he read it anyways.

Bridge, Astute

"We'll be at the Rally Point in one minute Captain." Commander Grigh stated as the Captain read the latest reports from his crew readiness drills.

"Thank you, Commander. Once we're settled in, we'll let our guests take their leave of us." Corvell had set aside the comments that Katarn had made. He would trust in his superiors in the fleet they were about to arrive at. "Alert the crew."

"Aye sir." Grigh picked up a vox and set it to shipwide. "Attention all hands, Realspace reversion in twenty seconds. Mark."

Twenty seconds later, the Astute re-entered realspace in the Khar Doma system.

Right into a battle.

Raven's Claw

Kyle grabbed at his chair as the ship stopped travelling over the speed of light, then started shaking. "JAN!" He yelled out as re recognized the signs of a ship under fire. For a moment, he was glad he was on a Carrack class, as it was extremely tough for its size. He hurriedly started the ship's warmup sequence once he saw Jan clear of the engine.

"All hands!" the ship wide intercom blared to life. "All hands to battle stations! This is not a drill! The Seperatists are attacking the Rally point!"

"Aw sithspit," Kyle groaned as he looked around the cockpit. "Jan, get in here!"

"I'm here! I'm here!" She said as she jumped into her chair. "Astute Control, this is Raven's Claw! Permission to get out of here!"

"Negative Raven's Claw!" The voice came back over the communicator. "We're in a battle and we can't afford to open the blast doors or the shields to let you out!"

"Damn it!" Kyle pounded the transparent cover of the cockpit. "What do we do?"

"Can't leave," Jan said as she nursed the ship into life. "Unless you want to cut off the mag locks, open the blast doors, and lower the shields around the shuttle bay for us?"

Kyle considered it. It was a bad idea. "No. Damn."

Then the ship shuddered again, this time throwing them both back and forth in their seats. "What was that?" Jan and Kyle demanded of each other at the same time.

"All hands! Stand by to repel boarders! I repeat, we have been hit by a Droid Boarding pod on the port side, Deck D!"

"Boarding parties?" Jan was surprised. "Really? While we're in a battle? How?"

"Who cares?" Kyle said as he got out of his seat. "You stay here and keep the ship ready to leave."

"Kyle! What are you going to do?"

The Jedi Master grinned as he pulled out his lightsaber. "Why, give our uninvited guests a warm welcome."