A New Jedi in an Old Republic

Baron's Head

"Bye Jan!" Kyle waved as the Raven's Claw lifted off from the spaceport. "See you when you get back!"

The two of them had talked it over, and they decided that it would be easier to deal with their personal trips without the other person hanging around making things worse. Kyle had asked to get dropped off first, as he may have to travel out to his family's homestead and he didn't want to hold up Jan.

The real reason was because he wasn't sure how he was going to act around his father. Morgan Katarn was a great man to him, and the thought of approaching him was more frightening than any Dark Jedi.

Still, Baron's Head was a good place to start as any. He didn't know where his father was at this time, but he did know the usual watering holes. Klye patted himself down, hiding the lightsaber while keeping the pistol at his hip and the repeater over his back. Jan had accused him of being excessive, while Kyle knew better. Baron's Head could get real violent, real fast. He didn't want to seem offencive, but not defenceless either. And that meant carrying guns.

Once the Claw was gone, he started to walk further into the city. The last time he had been here properly, Jerec had levelled the central quarter in order to build his castle, and Kyle was not planning on coming back any time soon given that his family was dead, and WeeGee was safe.

But here he was, for his own sake of mind.

Thankfully, he didn't need the force to know where he was going. The bar his dad visited on occasion was near the edge of the city, with easy access to the rural areas of the moon.

Walking in, he unslung his repeater and laid it with the other weapons by the door. Policy at the place meant you left a weapon behind as a peace bond, even if you had more than one. "Hey barkeep," it was a new (old?) person, whom he didn't recognize. "What's on tap?"

"For you? Nothing much." Kyle laid out some old republic credits on the table to pay for a drink in advance. Even after the formation of the New Republic, there was still enough of the old currency around to justify having a small stock of it on the Claw in case they needed to buy something with it on one of their missions.

"Hit me with something strong then." He looked around for familiar faces, but saw nothing. Memory and time betraying him all at once. "Quick question for you?"

"Sure, ask away."

"My name is Kyle Katarn. Do you know when Morgan'll be around?"

"Morgan? What you want with him, boy?" An eavesdropper said from one of the nearby tables.

"Well," he said, "I heard that he's got a shiny little boy that he named after me. So I was planning on either heading up to the Homestead or waiting for him here to ask him why he thought I needed a namesake." He finished with a knowing grin.

"Does look like 'im." One of the men around the table muttered. "You know where to go if he ain't coming by?"

Kyle gave directions from Baron's Head to his family home, completely confident in them given the number of times he had made the trip in his youth.

The men nodded. "Legit. I'm Chaf, these are my buddies, Falco and Maje." Now Kyle recognized them, placing names to older and more worked faces. "He ain't ever mentioned a brother."

"Cousin, actually." Kyle took a seat at the table. "We talk on occasion."

"Neat. Nice gun you got there. Morgan's got something like that."

"I know," Kyle said, pulling out the Bryar pistol. "Mine's just a bit more used though." He set it down on the table as another piece of proof that he was who he said he was. "I won't be here for too long though. My pilot had to run to Alderaan for a quick thing, then she'll be back in a day or two. "Any of you guys know if Morgan will be in or not?"

"Eh, who knows. Little Kyle – not you – but the son and Patty are still taking up a lot of time. Word is, he could use a good hand on the farm." He looked at Kyle expectantly.

"Oh, not me!" Kyle raised his hands in surrender. "I wouldn't know the first thing about that" he lied. "Besides, two Kyles would be hard to keep track of."

The others laughed. "True enough! Poor Morgan is out of his mind with one. Two would just..!" Kyle joined in the laughter. "So, what do you do, Kyle?"

Putting his weapon away, Kyle already had an answer. "Right now, I'm just running a messenger business between the Rim and the Core. My pilot is finishing a job right now, that's why I'm here."

"A self-made man, eh?"

"Almost." Kyle hadn't really been concerned about finances for a while. Between the Temple and his work for the NRI, he could have retired at pretty much any time. Except him and Jan would have been bored to tears before the day was out. "I work because I love it."

"Got some heavy hardware for that job," Falco commented, leaning back to look at the Imperial Repeater. "You really need that?"

"Seems like it, nowadays." Kyle grumbled as he drank what the bartender had served. It seemed being accepted by the regulars meant that he actually got the good stuff. "Damned war."

That brought conversation down to a sullen level. "Think they'll come here?"

Kyle was too young to remember, so he didn't say. "I couldn't tell you, but who would you rather deal with – people who use droids to do their fighting for them, or clones?"

"Eh, Droids, I think. Easy to wipe their memory, and put'em in storage when all's said and done." Falco made his opinion known.

"Gotta go with the Clones," Maje said. "Yea, they're weird, all looking the same, but still, they're human, you know? Smarter than any droid, and will last longer too."

Chaf shook his head. "If you two ever agree on something, I'll eat my hat."

"How about 'Friends with Chaf'?" Kyle snarked. "That's gotta be worth at least the brim."

Chaf laughed. "You got me there, Kyle!"

Katarn Homestead

Kyle hopped off the transport, waving to Maje that he was clear as the old friend pulled away and down the road to his old farm. All that left him was the early evening walk within sight of his old home.

Sitting down on a ridge that overlooked the small depression that the Homestead fronted out on to, he just drank in the sights. Every last corner and angle was just as he remembered it. Just cleaner, sharper in a way. Less worn down. The front hall. The living room. The garage for all the farming equipment and the speeders. In his mind, he could still see them all, he could trace out the hidden segments of the Homestead still, all the underground rooms, all the way back to the aqueduct, the reservoir, the workshops, all the little rooms and hallways....

"Well, are you gonna sit there all day, or am I gonna have to call my friends and tell them they've been duped?" Morgan Katar said from behind Kyle, the Jedi snapping back to reality. Slowly raising his hands away from his weapons, Kyle stood up. Feeling the aim of Morgan's rifle at the back of his head, he kept his voice calm and steady. "The only thing I lied about was being your cousin."

"Turn around. Let me see your face." Morgan didn't like shooting people in the back, so Kyle slowly twisted around, keeping his hands well away from his own guns.

The two Katarns looked each other in the face. Kyle felt his heart drop out from under him as he realized another truth. His father was young! Almost as young as he is! The lines of age were no where to be seen, and there was colour in his hair that he couldn't even remember. "Hey."

Morgan looked down the barrel of his rifle, and try as he might, he couldn't take his gaze away from the man's eyes. They were Patricia's eyes, and Kyle's too. "Who are you? Really?" He demanded, finger putting pressure on the trigger.

"Kyle." the man said. "Kyle Katarn."

"No. You ain't." The rifle didn't move.

"Yes, I am." Kyle repeated. "Look, I'm sorry about lying to your friends. I really am. But I didn't have much to work on in the way of other options to try and find you. To see if you were here or somewhere else?"

"And what, exactly, do you want with me, Kyle?" Morgan almost spat out the name.

Kyle relaxed. Just a little bit. "To say hello, mostly."

"Well you've said it! Now go!" Morgan waved the rifle as a command away from his house. "I don't know you, and I don't appreciate you using my son's name!"

Kyle started to back away, his expression one that Morgan didn't immediately place. And even then, there was this little tickling at the back of his mind that said that said he should know who this man is. A sense of familiarity that went deeper than any name. Then it hit him. Sadness. Rejection.

This Kyle didn't mean his family any harm. On the contrary, it looked to him like he was willing to kill and die for it.

"No," he said, changing his mind. "You came all the way out here, and you weren't sneaking around like a raider." He dropped his rifle. "Least I can do is offer you some caf before I send you back." He started down the hill to his home. "Come on then."

Not objecting you his young father's change of heart, Kyle followed Morgan down to the house, and up to the front door. Morgan fiddled with the lock for a moment, then the doors slid open. The two stepped inside, and Morgan hung up his rifle and jacket, causing Kyle to do the same with his repeater. He kept his saber and pistol on him, though tucked away.

"You're a strange man, you know that?" Morgan asked of 'Kyle'. "More I look at you, the more familiar you are. You from Patricia's side of the family?"

"I've been told that on occasion," Kyle replied to the first. "And I'm a Katarn," he said to the second. He looked around the foreign, yet familiar surroundings. Old furniture was new again. Worn walls restored to better condition. It was uncanny, really. "Look, I am sorry for coming to you like this, but the guys back at the Head said you wouldn't be back there for a while, and I only have a little bit of time to work with.

"Patricia and Kyle are still out," Morgan said as he led 'Kyle' back to the kitchen where he poured the two of them a steaming cuf of drink each. "So you can drop the act. I'll know when you're lying."

Kyle knew that too. He could sense the Force in his father. How he escaped the notice of the Jedi was beyond him, but he was thankful for his existence for it none the less. He pulled out his light saber and set it on the counter. Morgan drew a sharp breath. "Are you here for my boy?" There was honest fear there.

"No," Kyle said, remembering that the old Order used to take kids away when they were young to train them in the ways of the Force. It was seen as necessary to prevent the rise of people who had power, but couldn't control themselves in the process. And now the Jedi were more desperate to recruit. So many would die that they would need replacements. "I don't really believe my own story yet. It's just so weird that it hasn't settled in."

Morgan warred with himself before the voice in the back of his head settled it. "Take a seat, and tell me what brings you to my house." Morgan's voice was intolerant of avoidance. "It will have to be one amazing story to explain yourself, and why you're using my boy's name."

Kyle drank the caf, bitter and black. "You sure? I'm fine with just being a stranger with the same name." He ignored the warning, instead giving his father a chance to back out, and himself an excuse not to go through with this whole plan.

"Tell me," Mrgan said after a moments contemplation.

Kyle tried to avoid it, but his father asked. No. He couldn't do anything against him. Not now. Not when the man he loved deserved to know. He looked Morgan in the eye and spoke the truth.

Time passed as the two men moved from the kitchen to doing actual work around the Homestead while Kyle talked. He started with growing up on Sulon, how his mother had died thanks to a broken guard droid. He avoided talking about the Empire directly, except to mention that his father had made friends with a Jedi named Qu Rahn, who entrusted him to keep secret the location of the Valley of the Jedi and his lightsaber.

Morgan listened as Kyle spoke about his death, and his quitting the Army to join those who opposed who killed him with a sternness that could only come from not wanting to break down and cry. He showed Morgan his Bryar pistol, who then compared it to his own, further prooved his story.

Kyle lifted a damaged section of the aquefer into place with the Force as Morgan repaired it. He spoke about hunting down the Dark Jedi who killed Morgan, and the culmination of the Poem of Ages. Then about his fall to the Dark Side, his giving up on the Force to return to being a Mercenary, working with Jan and finally how he reconnected to the Force to battle Desaan before taking up a position as a teacher at the Jedi Temple.

It was late evening when they got back, Patricia and little Kyle already home. "Who is this?" she asked, eyeing Kyle warily. "I'm Jedi Master Katarn," Kyle introduced himself given that the lightsaber was obvious. "I was talking with Morgan about some things, and aiding him in repairs to your water system at the same time."

"Katarn?" She asked, looking at Morgan. "You never said anything about being related to a Jedi!"

Kyle stepped in before things could get worse. "I'm kinda the lone side of this. Parts of the family, well, they think that because I went to Coruscant that I'm not really a Katarn any more." He shrugged. "They're wrong."

Patricia eyed Kyle. "I thought you Jedi weren't supposed to have families?"

"Ehhh, a common misconception." Kyle said, shrugging. "I don't have any problems with it."

"My cousin came by because of the war. He wanted to check in with me, and make sure that we were all right," Morgan said.

That was enough to mollify the Katarn matriarch. "You've been helping out?"

Kyle grinned. "Of course! I'm not one of those Jedi who spends all day sitting an meditating before speaking in riddles." He flexed one of his arms to prove the point. "I work for a living!"

Patricia handed the young Kyle off to Morgan in order to get supper prepared. She may have accepted the older Kyle's presence, but the extra mouth to feed meant more preparation. Back in the living room, the two men sat down beside each other. "Why tell me these things?" he asked as he looked between the two Kyles. The eyes were the same. No matter how much he thought about it, it all came down to that. Even more than what the Force – Kyle was going to grow up to be a Jedi! - told him.

"Because I can't lie to you. And given the chance to avoid you or mom..." Kyle let his voice drop off. "Look, I'm going to deal with the Valley once Jan comes back. That'll keep Jerec and his goons off you, I hope."

"Or I could just stay away from Ruusan," Morgan said.

"Honestly, I hope it never even comes to that," Kyle looked at his younger self. "Take more pictures, will you?"

"Serious advice, or just a request?"

"Request," Kyle said. "Although I wasn't in much of a position to collect, once things happened."

"You want to hold him?" Morgan offered, lifting the one year old up. "Could be good for you."

Kyle was stunned. Looking at the little child curled up in Morgan's arms, it was too easy to forget that it was him down there. He wanted to reach out with the Force, to see what he would be without the Valley. But something stayed his hand there. Would he harm himself in the action?

"Don't worry," Morgan said. "Just relax your arms."

"I know how to be careful, I've looked after kids before." Kyle had done so for the Solo kids on occasion when the two of them needed a break. It usually led to them latching onto their 'Unca Kyle'. And Jan teasing him about the kids. And others teasing him about Jan. And then him and Jan teasing Luke and Mara Jade right back. It was all in the family, so to speak.

Morgan put the babe into Kyle's arms, and for a moment, Kyle was lost in the impossibility. He was going to change things now, he had to, looking at the sleeping child. "Hey," he mock-whispered. "So you're Kyle too, huh? Look, listen to your father. And your mother too. They both know what they're doing, and if I do my job right, everything will be all right."

"That's enough," Patricia said from the entrance to the kitchen. "You look like you could stay that way forever, Master Jedi." She looked at Morgan, who nodded. "Will you stay the night?"

"Really?" Kyle looked out the window at the coming night. "Yea, I think I better. If you don't mind. I can sleep on the couch." He offered, not wanting to put his mother out any more than he had to.

"No, we have a spare room. Morgan can help you set it up." She glared at her husband, who only nodded in agreement. "Come on then. Time for supper."

After the meal, Kyle helped clean up. He may have earned a roof over his head for helping repair the infrastructure of the Homestead, but that meant nothing to the woman before him. "Are you going to war?" she asked as they cleaned the dishes.

"Probably," Kyle replied. "If you're worried about Morgan or little Kyle, don't be."

"You think it will be over soon?"

Kyle could sense her worry. Three years, the Clone Wars lasted. "I don't know. Hopefully. But this has been a long time coming." He didn't know what else to say. "But I can assure you that I'll keep your side of the family safe."

"Thank you, Master Jedi." She bowed, and Kyle mimicked the motion.

That evening, Kyle slid into bed, but couldn't sleep. And he wasn't the only one either, judging by the Force. The two of them, Morgan and Kyle met on the front porch of the home. "Can't sleep?" Kyle asked, even though he knew the reason why."

"No, I can't." Morgan admitted his weakness. "To hear your tale, and know it to be true, I can't help but worry."

"For me? Or for you?"

"Yes. Both. Patricia." The knowledge of how his wife died hit harder than anything else. "You told me this, to expect me to change it?"

"I don't see why we shouldn't try." Kyle said, looking up at the stars. "To not try would be the worst choice we could make."

"Will I see you again?"

"Not for a long time," Kyle said. "I have to fight in this war, to see things through to a better end."

"You still won't tell me a lot of things."

"If I succeed, father, then none of it will matter." Kyle considered making a recording of what he knew of history. Jan as well, to give to Morgan to help should they fail and Palpatine formed the Empire again. But that was something that could wait. "Come on, let's get some sleep."

Baron's Head

Morgan drove Kyle back to the spaceport once Jan signaled she was back in the system. She sounded rough around the edges, like she had been crying, but the two Katarn's ignored it for now.

Once the Raven's Claw landed, Kyle stepped up to the loading ramp, Morgan a half-step behind. "Don't stop there, son."

"Father?"

"Kyle? Is something the matter?" Jan called out from the cockpit.

"No Jan!" Kyle called back. "Just saying goodby to Morgan!"

"Kyle," Morgan said. For what it's worth..." He stumbled over the words he wanted to say, feeling that for Kyle, they had already been said.

"Kyle? What's taking so... long...." Jan said as she came to the ramp, seeing the two men there. "Oh, hello sir."

Kyle was glad for the distraction. "Morgan, Jan. Jan. Morgan."

"Jan!" Morgan pushed past Kyle to take Jan's hands. "So good to finally meet you! Kyle has nothing but kind words for you." He offered his words warmly, causing Jan to blush slightly. "You kids take care now!" He hopped off the ramp, careful not to hit himself on the ship in the process.

Kyle and Jan shared a look. "You told him." She accused.

"Well, yea. I mean, I couldn't lie to him." Kyle tried to defend himself as Jan advanced on him.

"Kyle." Jan said again, stones in her voice. "What did you tell him?"

Ruusan Orbit

"Jan, are you ever going to tell me what happened on Alderaan?"

"No, Kyle." Jan's voice was frosty the entire trip, and Kyle knew he was going to be in trouble for a long time.

"Jan?"

"Kyle."

"Please?"

"No."

"Jan?"

"Kyle."

"Are we going to stay in orbit, or can we go down to the Valley?"

The descent of the Raven's Claw was sharper than it needed to be.

The Valley of the Jedi

Kyle and Jan walked into the amphitheatre that was the capstone of the Valley tomb itself. Surrounding them were the rows of statues commemorating the Jedi who died in that last battle, arranged on the tiers. The stone statues of Morgan Katarn and Qu Rahn were naturally missing.

Jan stayed at the edge of this place, even her inability to feel the Force wasn't enough to not get a feel for this place. "Kyle? Be careful."

"I will Jan." Kyle activated his lightsaber and started to carefully crack the capstone to the Valley. He needed to get down into the Force Nexus to free the spirits before anything else could happen.

He worked carefully, knowing he would need to restore the capstone once he was done. The first time he was here, Boc and Jerec had simply ripped it open before resealing it behind the blind Jedi. The second time, the cracks were already there, allowing him to access the Valley without any extra effort.

Today, he wasn't going to be so rude. Kyle could feel the spirits in this place confused by his presence, but they did not hamper his work. They knew he would set them free.

Eventually, he had loosened the capstone enough that he could lift it with the Force out of the way. Gently setting it down, he took one last look at Jan, her face full of worry, then he jumped into the Nexus.

The Valley

He was surrounded by light. So many voices echoed around him, for now that he was directly connected to the results of the Mind Bomb detonated so many years ago, they could inspect him freely.

"Who are you? Why are you here?" the voices said in their own way. "Have you come to free us?"

Kyle focused on the one dead Jedi that he knew more than all the others. Slowly, the blue image of Tal formed before him. "I," he said, "Not Hoth. Not Kaan. But I, you summon."

"Sorry," Kyle said as he worked in the Force to undo the last bindings that held these people in place, to return them to the Force after so long. "But you're familiar to me."

"Yes, so I see." The ghost spoke up, "You are from the future, which is why you know what you must do."

"Pretty much," Kyle said as the Nexus moved around him. To think he had done most of this while still barely capable of using the Force the first time!

"Others wish to speak to you now."

"Can it wait?"

"It can, but in this place, time does not matter." Tal saw the world through Kyle's senses. Saw his memories. "I cannot say how or why I spoke to you then, but I am glad to see my teachings have served you well."

"Thanks," Kyle said. "You really helped against Sariss."

"I did." The ghost accepted the compliment. "Lords Hoth and Kaan wish to speak to you."

"The Jedi and the Sith?"

"Yes, they know they did not, the first, the last time you did this."

"Fine, I'll hear them out." Kyle meditated on what he had to do in the world of the living as Tal's Force Ghost slowly floated behind him to make room for the tow heads of the forces that battled to destruction so long ago.

"Greetings." Two more ghosts coalesced before Kyle. "I am Lord Kaan. This person is Hoth." The dead Sith Lord spoke, disdain for the Jedi beside him in his voice. "You have my thanks, Knight."

"I too greet you, Katarn." Lord Hoth spoke. You have done us a great service in coming here in this moment."

"So, you guys just gonna thank me?" Kyle knotted his brow. "Because that could be done, you know, after I'm done."

Hoth laughed. "Jedi of a distant time, no, such things are best done now."

"What my foolish opponent wishes to say, but cannot," Kaan spoke, in a calm voice, smooth as silk – even more so – is that we wish to reward you. For your work, you see."

Kyle could see where this was going. "Really? You didn't do this last time."

"It seems, from your memories, that this Jerec's actions prevented us from directly helping you before we were freed," Tal said from behind. "Forgive my intrusion."

"What the weakling says is true," Kaan dismissed Tal with a wave of his hand. "But now, I can guide you properly. I see your utter hatred for this Palpatine!" He laughed. "Oh, it would be easy for you to displace that wretched old fool, who has to hide behind words and better Sith than he for power!"

"Kyle needs your skill not!" Hoth objected. "There is an army of Jedi that need to be built! Of what use is slaying a single Sith when the rest of the Galaxy is in turmoil!"

Kyle was getting a headache. They were so predictable. "SHUT UP! BOTH OF YOU!" He snarled at the Jedi and Sith. "I don't need power. I don't need anything. Sure, you can offer help if you want, but I know you're going to try and force me to choose one or the other. One last attempt to spit in the face of your enemy before you return to the Force!"

Few people could get away with talking to the two ancients like that. And they all needed Kyle, so they did not hinder him.

"What do you want, Kyle?" Tal asked gently. "I seem to have taught you enough already that I can not call myself your Master."

"I want to go home," Kyle said. "But I can't turn my back on so much pain and bloodshed." Hoth appeared pleased at this. "But to do that, I need to fight. And fight like nothing else." This time it was Kaan who approved of the sentiment. Kyle noticed. "Don't even think about it."

"I said nothing, Knight." The Sith Lord spoke.

"You didn't have to," the Jedi responded.

"Look, you can both stuff it. You're dead and gone. Palpatine needs to be dealt with, and whoever his apprentice is as well."

"Reach out with the Force," Kaan commanded. "Feel for the Dark Side. You will know your enemies. It would please me to see you destroy them, and I would gift you power merely for the intent."

Kyle was tempted, but was too busy working on the Valley itself.

"He doesn't need power," Hoth retorted. "He needs the wisdom of the Light to discern what needs to be done."

"If you two are going to stand there and argue against each other, using me as a pawn, could you at least do it while I'm not busy?" Kyle shot down both of them. He could feel the energy of the Valley flow into him. He tried to release it all, but no matter how much he tried, some of it stayed with him. It looked like he would be more powerful no matter what happened. "Light Side. Dark Side. It's just the Force!" He snapped at the two ghosts. "Argue all you want, I'm not going to choose one or the other. I'm past that!"

"Still, it would reflect badly on myself-" "Us." "-us to let you perform this duty without reward."

"Indeed," Kaan said again. "As much as it pains me to admit it, letting you do this because you choose too smacks too much of the Jedi way. Even though you have the Dark Side in you, I cannot let this go unanswered."

"And a Jedi cannot turn their back on another Jedi." Hoth pointed out, glad that Kyle was working with the Light, even though he refused to remove the Dark from him.

The two Lords rummaged through Kyle's mind without asking permission. While they did nothing to distract him from his task, the two had been at each other's throats for so long that they couldn't see past finding one last way to best the other.

They stopped. Kyle grimaced. "I hate you both," he groaned as he fought back the headache. "What did you do?

"We gave you gifts, equitable to each other. It will be up to you to decide whose is better."

Then they were free.

Raven's Claw

Kyle leaned back in his seat, the cold pack Jan had pulled out of the medical supplies pressed to his forehead. "I hate that place. I really do."

He had relayed what had happened in the Nexus as soon as he was able to. Jan had helped carry him back to their ship where he needed to relax. "What did they give you?" she asked in concern. As much as she didn't like some of his decisions, she still supported him.

"Don't know yet," Kyle said as he flipped the cold pack over. "I'll need to meditate to figure that out."

Behind them, unnoticed, the spirit of Tal watched and waited. Loyal as he was to Lord Hoth, there had to be a reason why he had connected to the younger Kyle Katarn in that forgotten future. There was no coincidence in the Force, and for now, he refused to return to the Force until he had his answer.

Katarn Homestead

Looking down at his sleeping child, Morgan smiled blissfully. Seeing his son all grown up, thanks to a freak of Hyperspace – or maybe the Force? "Don't worry, my son. No matter what you choose, I will be proud of who you are, and who you will become."