Saga I, Exile~ Nejaa Halcyon survives the Clone Wars ! Completed 26/05/10

This is based on asking a what if question that came up as I recently started reading I,Jedi again: What if Corran's real grandfather had survived the Clone Wars and Order 66? This is my take on what might have happened from ROTS onward. A big thanks goes out to my beta, NYCitygurl for looking over my work.

Title: I, Exile
Timeframe: ROTS onward, AU
Genre: Drama, Action
Characters: Halcyons/Horns, canon characters as needed
Summary: After barely surviving a duel against Sith-inspired force users on Susevif in the closing months of the Clone Wars, Nejaa Halcyon quickly finds his life rapidly changing before him. Tasked by the Jedi Council to return to Corellia to track down the smuggler Booster Terrik with the aid of a new Padawan, Scout, they soon find themselves fighting for their lives rather than their mission with the onset of Order 66. With Jedi hunters honing in on his secret family and family friend, Rostek Horn, they must flee Corellia to a planet on the Outer Rim in order to survive. Exile would seem to mean giving up everything that it means to be a Jedi, but the Force and fate would seem to have other plans.....

Notes: I intend to post at least once a week, probably Saturday. PM lists will also be done for this work.

Disclaimer: I do not in any way, shape or form own Star Wars.

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[i]Prologue[/i]
By all rights, I should be long dead. The moment Tyris? lightsaber moved past my defences and pierced by chest, I certainly thought I was. Without thinking, I acted, all in the name in ending the fight before someone else could die, as I assumed I was going to. I absorbed the blade?s energy and channelled it through the Force, pushing the Dark Jedi into the shack they had constructed with a massive telekinetic blast that would otherwise have been impossible for me. The structure collapsed quickly on top of them, killing them instantly and I felt myself growing weaker at the same time. Blackness soon followed and the voices of my two fellow Jedi quieted to a whisper. I thought that that I was dead, gone on to become one with the Force. Think of my surprise when I found out that I hadn?t.

To this day, I?m still not quite sure how it was that I didn?t die that day at Susevif. I do however, have a theory on that one, one that seems so ridiculous that it must be true. The Jedi General, unable to let go of one of his friends to death, somehow managed to heal me through the Force and stabilised me long enough for him and Ylenic to place me into a bacta tank. I will likely always be grateful to those men for what they did for me: they saved my life and allowed me to live on; when so many others had died. I spent months in recovery and rapid changes made life more interesting as the war finally started to wind down with the gradual end of the Outer Rim Sieges. Then, it all went downhill with the beginning of the Purge.

I fled Coruscant with a newly appointed Padawan, when I already had one, my secret son, and managed to get back to Corellia with her. From there, the surprises kept coming and the Jedi hunters started to hone in on us. My family, Ros and my Padawan were forced to flee to the rim if we wanted any chance at survival and avoid detection by the Empire. Not exactly the way I envisioned spending my years after the war but it was certainly better than the alternative. Despite the odds, we all survived without notice for nearly twenty years.

All of this may sound like a tall tale, but it is all true. I, Jedi Master Nejaa Halcyon, should be by all rights dead. And yes, I lived anyways through means I do not understand. This is only a brief summary of my life since that fateful duel that changed everything all those years ago. It is a rather long story, so bear with me. I?ve got the time to tell it if you have the time to listen.

****
Well, what do you think? [face_whistling]

 

That was really great. I love the POV.

 

This looks like it has a lot of potential. One suggestion, break those paragraphs up with a space in between. When all the text is together like it is now, it can be difficult to read.

 

What a fantastic idea, I always love to see a story featuring Nejaa Halcyon and the Halcyon/Horns during the saga as you see so few of them, it definately has caught my attention and I'd love to be on the PM list if you're having one.

 

Great start! I look forward to seeing the rest

 

Interesting. I do have one question though. I was under the impression that corellian jedi were not bound by coruscant jedi law. Meaning, they did what they wanted,when they wanted, including getting married. I guess my question is,did I get it wrong? Did they still keep these marriages a secret?

Anyway, I'm intrigued, please add me to your pm list. Thanks.

 

That's something I've been confused over myself for sometime Sometimes they say yes, other times they head more toward the coruscant jedi law. In this case, I'm sort of trying to muddle through it in that they will know of Nejaa's son's existence as 'Hal Horn', his informal apprentice but not that of Valin Halcyon, his son. For all I know, I could be completely wrong on this but for the purposes of this story I'm tacking this track.

As for your request, consider it done.

 

Consider it done.

 

Sounds good. Looking forward to this.

 

Just a bit of shameless upping before I update again within the next few days. Cheers!

 

Okay, tomorrow I'm going to be posting whatever I already have read by my beta as the second half of what I intended to be the first post is a little rougher than I'd like at this point. So here's a bit of a teaser to give you an idea of what to expect from this:

?So, how do you feel today?? he asked as he came up behind me in such a way that I wouldn?t have known he was there until he spoke.

?Well, it?s a bit of a tossup. The nearest I can figure, this is must be what it feels like to be run over by a landspeeder and trampled by a herd of raging banthas. Other than that, all systems are go.?

?I see that your sense of humour is intact, as is your dislike of medcentres.? He chuckled as we began to walk through the gardens and I forgot about the meditation that I had tried to start just moments earlier.

Not much I know, but how interesting would it be if I gave everything away?

Also, I've gotten a fair ways into sketching out the next few posts but have one issue that I'd like to hear from readers about to fully settle everything: where in the Outer Rim should I have them go into exile? I've so far been torn between either Tatooine or Sulon, but there are probably other possibilities that could work just as well too.

Let me know your opinions, please. This part is driving me a little batty.

 

I would personally go with Tatooine simply because it would be much easier to tie your story in with the OT if the characters were on Tatooine. Also, Nejaa and Anakin were friends and served together during the war, so Nejaa would probably have some knowledge of Tatooine due to his acquaintance with Anakin.

 

Okay, here is the beginning of the First Part: Into the Frying Pan, 19-18 BBY

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Aiel
Cypher18

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[i]Coruscant, 19 BBY~ 1 month before Order 66
[/i]
Even after all the months I had spent recuperating from the wounds I had suffered at Susevif, I still felt pretty terrible. I spent many hours debating with myself exactly how bad I felt and eventually seemed to make a game of it. I even debated it with various well wishers, friends, and even the occasional Council member who came to see me. Being stuck in a med centre for months on end is truly depressing: trust me, I needed to find something to cheer me up and this ?debate? seemed as good a way as any to stop myself from going stir-crazy.

It was in the midst of one of these debates that the Council sought to spring a surprise on me that they felt warranted due to the decreasing ranks of knights and masters in the ranks of the Order because of the war. It wasn?t what I expected or wanted at that moment in time, but you could say that it was the will of the Force. If it hadn?t happened, it?s quite possible my grandchildren?s beloved ?Aunt Talli? wouldn?t have survived the initial stages of the Purge.
In fact, it started out with one of these debates about a month before what most term the end of the war, when I had finally got up the strength to wander into the Room of a Thousand Fountains rather than spend another second cooped up in the care of the Healers. I had decided to try to meditate for the first time in what seemed like eons. It didn?t work out that way as I soon came upon Obi-Wan Kenobi. Or rather, my old friend came upon me.

?So, how do you feel today?? he asked as he came up behind me in such a way that I wouldn?t have known he was there until he spoke.

?Well, it?s a bit of a tossup. The nearest I can figure, this is must be what it feels like to be run over by a landspeeder and trampled by a herd of raging banthas. Other than that, all systems are go.?

?I see that your sense of humour is intact, as is your dislike of medcentres.? He chuckled as we began to walk through the gardens and I forgot about the meditation that I had tried to start just moments earlier.

I simply shrugged and grinned. ?I bet I?ve been driving that healer friend of yours crazy with my incessant pestering of when I?ll finally be able to leave. Come to deliver a cease-and-desist order on her behalf??

?While Bant is clearly annoyed by you and did ask me to tell you that you will leave when she deems you ready, that isn?t why I came to find you. Council business, I?m afraid.?

?Yeah, I kind of figured that was more likely.?

Moving to sit down, Obi-Wan could get the look on his face that always graced it whenever he got thoughtful and stocked his neatly trimmed beard. I sat down next to him with crossed arms, leaning back casually against a ferrocrete planter filled with ferns and other plants.

?And how, might I ask, did you figure that??

?Something working with CorSec taught me. You know, reading body language without the Force helping things along. It speaks volumes with you. That, and I doubt that you would be quite as grave if you were just looking to pass along Bant?s request if that?s all you wanted.?

He looked at me again and finally sighed. ?There are two things that we need to have done and are looking to you, our Corellian Jedi in residence at the moment to take care of. I can guarantee you, though, that one of them you likely will not like very much.?

?What you want me to take a Padawan? Help hunt down that mystery Sith Lord? Arrest some smugglers trafficking in record amounts of spice??

A moment of silence hung in the air. It was as if I had caught Master Kenobi off-guard, leaving him to ponder what to say to me next or how to phrase the Council?s order into something that sounded like a request instead. Years later, when we encountered each other in exile in the Outer Rim, he would admit as much. He was quite thankful that he had managed to do so in such a way as to gain my reluctant acceptance of the first

 

Very interesting. Scout is another character you don't hear about a lot in fanfiction, looking very much towards how this develops! Thanks for the PM!

 

Very good. Looking forward to more.

As to what Outer-Rim planet, I think it would all depend on whether or not you intend to tie in the OT characters or not. If they were on Tatooine, you would think that with him, and Obi, and Luke, and Valin, possibly Corran, that would be to many force users and Vader would feel them. Then again, it might be out of the way enough that it wouldn't matter.

 

Nice story and with my beloved characters the Halcyon's. I love Horn, Halcyon stories and any with Corellian Jedi in them.

 

Great update!

 

Not a problem at all and quite glad you liked it. I have fairly big plans for Scout, taken that I always planned on sending whatever Padawan I put Nejaa in as getting would be going into exile with the Halcyons and Rostek. So yeah, we'll be hearing lots more about her in her guise as 'Aunt Talli'.

 

While it seems lately that I've found myself leaning toward the Tatooine option, you're right in that being a potential problem. The concentration of that many Force users in one place might be a bit of a problem but we have to remember too that Vader avoided the planet pretty much like the plague once he left. Maybe that would make it easier to hide, but we'll have to see where I decide to go with that. I have about two more posts to write out before I have to make a concrete decision on that. Glad you liked it and thanks for the suggestion!

 

Aside from those on my PM list, thanks for the comments and points. They're definitely appreciated and welcomed. Just let me know if you want to be added to the list. Anyways, the second part of the first post is finally fixed and ready. Should note that this is the last post before Order 66 takes place. Also, more Scout below:

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Aiel
Cypher18

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Meeting Scout was certainly an experience in and of itself, one of those instances that you tend to recall crystal clear even decades later. Obi-Wan escorted me to a training room located off a little -used hallway in the Temple as he finished giving me something of a vague mission briefing on the smuggler Booster Terrick, who Scout and I were being tasked with arresting. When we entered, I saw a young teenage girl with red hair and green eyes drilling recklessly with a training remote under the watchful eye of another orphaned but more senior Padawan. The girl was Force -sensitive, but only weakly, and half the moves she was using were so reckless that they would likely get her killed in a real fight. Despite that, I was immediately struck by her boundless enthusiasm for her training and showing off what skills she did have. Training her would certainly make life interesting.

?Padawan Esterhazy, would you come here please?? Obi-Wan called out. Promptly, the girl stopped her training and walked over to us.

?Yes, Master Kenobi? How can I help you today?? She was grinning, her enthusiasm shining through the Force.

?Scout, we have found a new master for you. Master Nejaa Halcyon here is willing to take you on as his Padawan and complete your training. You and your new master have been tasked by the Council as well with a mission to Corellia that he will brief you on within the next few weeks. Do you have any questions?? he asked.

The girl seemed confused for a moment, as if considering how to respond to the question. ?I?m not sure where to begin, Master. I thought the Council would have given up on me for awhile after seeing me orphaned twice already.?

Despite the veil of enthusiasm and her status as Yoda?s ?special project?, a treatment that in the past had been given to myself then Obi-Wan as younglings, Scout was entirely lacking in self-confidence. Mind you, some of that might have had something to do with the fact that the girl had lost two mentors over the course of the war. Or the fact her friends perhaps had managed to master new skills in the Force with little effort while she had to work so hard to achieve what she had. Given my own lack of skills in telekinesis, a relatively common skill among Jedi, I could at least sympathise with her to some degree.

No wonder I?ve been asked to take her on I thought to myself. I know what it?s like being young and blaming myself for something that I can?t control but I?ve learnt how to overcome that. Maybe that?s why I?m being asked to do this.
It was at this point that I finally spoke up. I knew that I needed to reassure the girl because the Force was pushing me to, for once, follow the Council?s dictum to the letter. The irony was hardly lost on me in that moment either.

?Scout, if I may call you that, no one has given up on you. I was asked to take you on not as a means of pity but because I think it was the will of the Force. We?re needed for a special mission in the Corellian system that will test our collective skills to the limits and serve as a challenge too. Are you willing to accept this challenge?? Gods, I must sound like I was giving a speech.

?Yes, Master Halcyon. I?m willing to accept your challenge,? she replied, shaking my hand solemnly but with a wide grin on her face as she did so.

[hr]

The appointment of a new Padawan to my charge of course was hardly the last of my surprises that day. No, that was just the beginning of them. The biggest of course being not my upcoming introduction to one of Corellia?s most notorious smugglers but something dropped on me by my then twenty-two- year -old son, Valin. His surprise, though it has brought me more joy than I could ha

 

Nejaa's reaction to learning about his future grandson seemed fairly realistic in that he was somewhat apprehensive about it. I really like how you're going with this so far. By the way, Booster's last name is spelled Terrik, not Terrick.

 

Excellent! I can't wait to see where you picked for them to hide out. Looking forward to more!!!!

 

I have the next post back from my beta and should have the finishing touches ready for tomorrow night, when I intend to post. I'll do replies then and include them just before the post. Hope you're enjoying it...and don't worry, I've sorted out the location for their exile. But I'm not telling...there's a few more posts I have to finish before we get to that point anyways. Thanks for reading!

MJ

 

Thanks. And yeah, you'll get the surprise soon. I'm working on that next entry now, actually.

Also, thanks to Alonna Reese for her helpful tip. I'll keep that spelling in mind for the future. Booster Terrik may have only appeared in the background so far, but I think I'll be throwing him in somewhere down the line...just not quite sure where yet but you should have seen him at least once by the time the second part ends.

Anyways, here's the next post, which involves the launch of Order 66....

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[i]In transit between Corellia and Coruscant, 4 hours before Order 66[/i]

?I feel ridiculous. Do all smugglers really dress like this, Master??

I turned to regard Scout, an amused smirk on my face as I did so. The teenager was wearing clothing that was impossibly tight and grubby at the same time, leaving very little to the imagination in a way that was certainly inappropriate for a girl of her age. Her Padawan braid, of which she was so proud, was hidden in plain sight: Scout had roped it around her ponytail. She was walking beside me with an awkward gait and her eyes flashed with annoyance and discomfort. She was not impressed.

?Enough do that we?ll be well disguised this way,? I laughed, ?but don?t worry. You won?t always have to wear this stuff as my Padawan. I prefer regular civilian clothes when I work most of the time anyways.?

?That?s good, I guess. But what?s wrong with Jedi robes? They?re functional, comfortable.....? She ranted

I quickly interrupted her. If she was to work with me, working with CorSec and dealing with my own ?issues? with the Code regarding attachment, I was going to have to teach her to transfer her willingness to bend the rules in the sparring ring to other things. It was the only way that this arrangement had any hope of working. Or so I thought before necessity quickly intervened.

?There?s nothing wrong with Jedi robes per say, but for some things such as infiltrating a smuggling ring they?re rather impractical. After all, do you expect them to tell us everything we want to know if they [b]know[/b] we are Jedi? It will work better if they think that we?re one of them. Makes them more likely to talk.?

?Will I ever get to wear them again?? she pouted.

I considered for a moment and before I calmly answered. ?Definitely. When we go to arrest Booster and his buddies, you can wear them. Should be interesting to see the look on his face when he realises he?s been tricked and arrested by Jedi for a second time.?

?You?ve arrested him before, Master Halcyon?? she asked as she fiddled with her blaster holster ideally.

?Once, about three years ago. He was just starting out in the smuggling business and was on the verge of bankruptcy. Claimed both his suppliers and customers were cheating him, not paying what they owed him when I finally did arrest him. Rather surprising, that, given that the man is the size of a bull gundark. I told him he shouldn?t have a problem with getting his credits. He?s got a pretty big air of intimidation around him, not that it helped him much then,? I mused as we came to our non-descript quarters.

?He isn?t one to give up, from the sounds of it. Why do I think that this is going to be harder and more trouble than we think it is?? she said as she entered.

Little did I know that in a few short hours, that her last comment in particular was going to take on significance the likes of which that was terrifying in its intensity. And it would not come down to the intimidating presence of a savvy Corellian smuggler but to the depredations of an evil Sith Lord and his recently converted apprentice.

[hr]

[i]Zero Hour: Order 66 initiated[/i]

I awoke with a start at the moment Palpatine?s infamous order to the clone army was launched. My recently healed lightsaber wound started to ache and I felt the dying moments of thousands of my fellow Jedi through the Force. It was the first time I think that I ever f

 

Fantastic chapter! I've got a feeling Scout is about to be introduced to Nejaa's secret family, thanks for the PM.