19 The Ancestor

10 years later

Tay Bartel now sat by himself at the bench outside a cafe in the Lothal town. Now at 17 years old, he was able to find one time jobs throughout the town, helping people where he could, and learned a considerable number of trades in the process, including mechanic work. He also found and befriended a small BB unit droid named BB-5, who currently was next to him as he sat, relaxing after finishing the last job of the day and now enjoying a cold cup of blue milk while eating a small meal he bought with the money he had earned. Once he was done, he stood up, throwing his trash away in the can before one of the café workers could come and take it.

"Woah," the worker said, "No one's ever done that for us."

"Well, they should start." Tay replied.

"Thank you."

Tay nodded back with a smile, then turned to leave.

"Come on, BB-5." He said, and the droid rolled along after him, happily beeping. The two walked to the edge of the city, climbing up a few girders and making their way to the roof of one of the abandoned buildings, dropping inside through a hole in the roof. Tay had made this building his home as it was secretive enough for him to continue training on his own as well as hide from Imperials. He had discarded his Jedi outfit a long time ago, replacing it with a dark green jungle exploration outfit and black boots he had found in one of the stores. It didn't match anything the Lothal people wore, but he didn't mind.

"Alright," he said, walking over to one of the broken down walls. Reaching through one of the holes, he brought out an object wrapped in cloth, then unwrapped the cloth to reveal the lightsaber he was given all those years ago.

"Alright," he said, "Let's run it again."

BB-5 projected a hologram of an opponent with a lightsaber as well; a training program Tay found in a scrap pile. Once the hologram projected, Tay went through the moves against it in a sort of training fight exercise. Tay had been doing this for a long time now, running the different programs for the different sword combat techniques. Once he finished that, he spent some time in meditation, but that usually didn't last very long as the nightmares that haunted him as a kid still haunted him today.

After being startled out of his meditation yet again, Tay growled in frustration and hit the ground in anger. BB-5 rolled over, sounding worried when he beeped at Tay.

"It's nothing," Tay replied, "It's just…"

"They still won't go away?" said a girl's voice. Tay and BB whipped around to see the shimmering figure of a young woman with her brown hair in a ponytail and wearing some sort of Jedi outfit and had a lightsaber strapped to her belt. Tay recognized her immediately.

"You're her," he said, "The Jedi who saved me when I was young."

The spirit nodded: "I never got to introduce myself last time. My name is Skye Bartel. Your ancestor."

Tay looked in amazement as he tried to fit the pieces together: "I was just saved…and now I'm being visited…by my Jedi ancestor."

"Pretty much," Skye replied, "You're a very special kid, Tay. More so than you may realize."

Tay scoffed: "Considering what I've been through, I find that hard to believe."

"I don't blame you. But it's the truth. And right now, you've been hiding from your destiny for too long."

"You mean a destiny of being hunted across the stars until I'm killed? Is that it?" Tay snapped, "Where were you when the clones turned on us? Where were you when my parents were killed?"

Skye held her hands up and pleaded: "Please, there are only so many things I can do. Besides, my goal is to protect you most of all. I tried to protect your mother too but…"

"Protect me from what?" Tay demanded, his anger already flaring.

Skye sighed: "I think it's best I show you."

Reaching out, she placed her hand on Tay's forehead, and suddenly, the scene around Tay was changed as he found himself in a forest; one that was smoking and the scene of a fierce battle. As he watched troopers in white and orange with unusually shaped helmets were holding the line against a coming army of troopers in black and silver on the other side. Instinctively, he ducked behind a fallen tree, but kept watching the fight unfold.

Suddenly, Skye's voice echoed in his head: "When I was alive it was during a time when the Old Republic was at war with an evil force known as the Sith Empire. Both Jedi and Sith were numerous, and there were many harsh rivalries between them. But this one you will need to know most of all."

As soon as she said this, Tay get the first glimpse of a Sith warrior, clad in a black robe and a hideous mask and wielding two crimson lightsabers. Raising his hand, the Sith choked two of the troopers, while throwing one of his lightsabers and cutting down a few more. Then, a second Sith walked up behind him. The first one turned to the second.

"We've finally begun to push them back, Lord Marr." He said.

Marr's voice echoed through his helmet: "As expected. No one is a true match for the dark side."

"Think again, tough guy!" another voice cried as a fallen branch flew out of nowhere, slamming into the first Sith, but Marr simply cut part of it away with his lightsaber.

"You…" he growled, as Skye, in her physical form, appeared from behind the Republic troopers, igniting her yellow, double bladed lightsaber.

"Me." She casually replied. The two then charged at each at each other and clashed blades, engaging in a massive duel. As Tay watched the fight go on, he looked to the left to notice the other Sith stand up, his senses recovered and his saber ignited. He waited until Skye's back was turned, then slowly snuck up behind her as she stayed in a blade lock with Marr. He then raised his blade to strike, but before he could even bring it down, he was thrown backwards as an invisible force pulled him back.

The Sith tumbled on the ground, then stood up, looking around frantically to see what had pulled him back. Drawing his saber, he demanded: "Where are you? Show yourself!"

"Right here" said another voice, and the Sith turned around to see a dark, hooded figure, but Tay was too far away to see much else. The Sith, however, backed up a bit in fear.

"You…" he said, "You traitor! You will pay for your…!" but was suddenly caught off as a purple blade cut him down and the dark figure continued towards the fight between Skye and Marr.

Skye seemed to be holding her own quite well, blocking Marr's powerful strikes quickly and retaliating just as fast, but the Sith Lord seemed to shrug off every hit, at least for the time being.

"You won't stop me again," he taunted, "I've become stronger since we last fought."

"We'll see," Skye retorted, pushing him back. Marr stumbled back, but then jumped right at Skye, preparing to strike her from the air, when he was blasted away by a barrage of Force Lightning. Confused, Skye looked behind her to see the dark figure: a man in black and red robes and wearing a helmet that looked suspiciously like a Mandalorian's. He held a purple lightsaber in one hand, and a red one in the other.

"Revan." Skye gasped in shock.

"You seem surprised to see me?" Revan smoothly said.

"I thought you had disappeared for good."

"I only appear when I am needed."

Just then, Marr stood back up, growling in anger as he faced Revan.

"You dare show your traitorous face here, Revan." The Sith growled.

"I won't let you destroy a protector of the Force. Not here, not ever." Revan replied, holding both his sabers up. Marr raised his own saber, but as they faced each other, the Sith realized that, even with his power from the Dark Side, Revan was far stronger. However, he wasn't going to let his Jedi nemesis get away with another victory over him.

Deactivating his saber, he said through clenched teeth: "This is FAR from over." Then, he threw a hidden knife from his cloak that stabbed Skye in the shoulder and immediately was summoned back to him. Revan soon realized what the Sith was doing.

"Marr, stop this before it gets out of hand!" he pleaded. But Marr paid no attention as he drew a different knife, stabbed his own arm with it, the touched the two bloodstained blades together.

"Our fates are now one, Jedi." The Sith gloated, "I will have my victory over you, one way or another."

Suddenly, he gasped in surprise as a third blade hovered over, touching the other two, and Marr looked over to see the knife indeed belonged to Revan, who had stabbed himself as well.

"What are you doing?" Marr demanded.

"As long as this feud remains," Revan declared, "My presence will aid Skye until you and your line dies."

"Bastard!" Marr growled.

"Psychopath!" Skye yelled, "But seriously, I have no idea what's going on."

"I'll explain later," Revan said. Then, withdrawing the knife, he returned his attention to Marr.

"Begone!" he bellowed as he sent forth another blast of lightning that launched Marr out of sight. Revan then turned to Skye, still clutching her wounded arm.

"Are you alright?" he asked.

"I'm fine," she replied. Revan then led her away from the battlefield as the Republic soldiers pushed forward against the now retreating Sith Empire troopers.

"We have a lot to discuss," Revan told the Jedi, and then the vision cut out, leaving Tay back in the old building with Skye's spirit, along with a multitude of questions.

…

Meanwhile, an Imperial light cruiser appeared out of lightspeed above the planet. On the bridge stood the Grand Inquisitor alongside the ship's commander as they looked. Down on the planet.

"You're sure you felt something here?" the commander asked.

"I'm sure of it," the Grand Inquisitor replied, "and I know for a fact that our newest members are capable of handling it on their own."

Moments later, an Imperial shuttle exited the docking bay and flew down to the planet's surface below, it's passengers on the hunt…for the Jedi.