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Knights of the Old Republic 9: Flashpoint Interlude: Homecoming

What is it ? : Years ago at the Draay estate on Coruscant Lucien Draay's mother visits the creche, and the nanny droid tells her that Lucien will be surprised by her visit, she is disappointed at that news.
Current day, a number of the Jedi Masters recalled to Coruscant from Taris are at the gates of the Draay estate, and Lucien is told that his mother is not seeing visitors. He complains that this is his home, but the droid will not admit him. He is told to wait, but has to report before the Jedi Council so leaves.
In a flashback to years ago, we see Lucien's mother is refusing to train Jedi as they are disappointments, as her son was. But then she is introduced to a young Q'Anilia while Lucien looks on.
In the current day a hooded figure is reporting to the Jedi Council, and they respond what he saw on Dxun and Onderon was disturbing, but they ordered him to not investigate as they are still weak in numbers and cannot afford such adventurism. As the figure leaves he pauses to speak to Lucien, and they discuss his visit to Taris.
In the past Lucien wants to train with his mother, but she is only teaching Q'Anilia and others like her, he complains that she only allows a failed Padawan to train him, when the Miraluka are blind. She shouts at him that they can see more than his eyes, and she wishes he has followed her bloodline rather than the limited one of his father. His teacher speaks to him, explaining that the greatest Jedi did not foresee Exar Kun whose war led to the death of Lucien's father, and his mother has a mission to ensure that never happens again.
In the current day the Jedi Council berates Lucien for failing his Padawan's, but he tells them he killed the Padawan's. That it was his failure that led to their deaths, and he asks to be allowed to track down Zayne to redeem himself.
The Council decides that this will not happen, and questions why the group of Masters have been allowed to stay together for so long, so will assign them different postings to split the group up.
As they leave the seers discuss how the council is ignoring the visions about the Mandalorian war and are still refusing to fight, so they decide to continue hunting Zayne despite their orders.
In the past, a more adult Lucien is sparring with the other Jedi, proving himself a more competent fighter than the seers his mother has been training, his mother sees that he can be useful to her group of seers by concentrating on the more physical nature of matters, freeing them to deal with their visions so will become their protector and leader.
In the current day Lucien visits his estate once more, and meets with his teacher, who sheds his robes showing that he is more cybernetics than man any more, due to injuries received in the war against Exar Kun. The teacher refuses to let Lucien see his mother until he brings Zayne Carrick before her. As he leaves, he realises there's something they're not telling him, but he hasn't told them everything either, so that's fair . . . .

High Points : So we see the background of the group of seers and of Lucien Draay, of how his mother actually formed the group as she lost her husband to the war causes by Exar Kun, a fallen jedi, and wants to ensure it never happens again.
We get to see his background, how she treated him like a failure as he doesn't have prophetic powers, until she saw use in his physical capabilities as a protector of her group.
We also get a glimpse into the chaos within the Jedi order, Revan is pushing them into fighting the Mandalorians to protect the weak and beginning to ignore their commands, while the group of seers is also doing what they feel is best. The Jedi Council is trying to hold the order together, knowing that they shouldn't be going to war, but this makes them appear weak and indecisive, causing the order to fragment. We heard about this in the video games, but it's great to see it happening.

Low Points : I'm amused that Revan wears a hood throughout this issue, I'm sure they show his face later, but at this point they seem set to keep his appearance a mystery as it's something selected by the player in the video game.
I also found it frustrating how this issue is mainly things being alluded to rather than actually discussed. It's obvious it's Revan meeting the council, but he's not named at this point. Lucien has secrets, his mother has secrets,

So what do you really think ? : I really enjoyed this interlude, showing what the Jedi Masters from Taris are doing, even if they're not involved in the current storyline, so we keep the overall story going. Plus showing us the quite horrible upbringing of Lucien, which almost excuses the person he's turned out to be.

Final Words : So we'll be back to Zayne and his team next issue, I wonder if the Jedi Masters will end up taking any part in the Flashpoint storyline, or we'll have to wait until the next story.

Score : 8.5/10

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