Jon Kaloris was a Jedi Knight during the time of the New Republic. His brother, Cade Kaloris, was a bounty hunter who worked for the New Republic on occasion. He was also the Commander of Pirate Squadron and led them against Grand Admiral Thrawn and later in the Yuuzhan Vong War.
Biography[]
Birth and early life[]
Born to Aidan and Karyn Kaloris on Dantooine 15 years before the battle of Yavin and brother to Cade Kaloris, who was born 10 years before the Battle of Yavin. Jon's father was a former Jedi and his mother was the daughter of a wealthy businessman from Coruscant. Jon entered the galaxy during the darkest point of the Jedi Purge and so therefore saw many horrors in his time as a young boy. Almost every person he knew and cared about was killed.
The Battle of Yavin[]
At the battle of Yavin, his parents were responsible for transporting injured pilots and soldiers from the Yavin base to awaiting starships. Jon who had already shown his affinity for piloting flew copilot to his father, while his mother saw to the injuries. They escaped the battle aboard their escort freighter Jewel of Dantooine.
Training as a pilot[]
While the Rebel Alliance destroyed the dreaded Death Star, Aidan Kaloris was training his son how to be a starfighter pilot. Jon's natural affinity for spaceflight was augmented with his father's knowledge and experience as a combat flier. During this time, his father also told him of his abilities regarding the Force. Jon did not want these powers, however, and refused to be trained as a Jedi.
The bond of brotherhood[]
Jon always knew he was his father's favorite son, due mostly to his mentality and view of the universe. His brother Cade, however, was always in the background watching as he was more his mother's child. Cade preferred tinkering with machines over flying, and he embraced his limited abilities in the Force, hoping to gain favor with his father. Jon and Cade had many heated arguments, mostly centering on matters of little importance such as the best way to cook the stale rations aboard the ship, or the best sabaac player in the Galaxy. However, other more intense arguments would develop over the best way to use the Force, Cade advocating using it for personal gain, Jon holding to the tenets of the Jedi, arguing one should use the Force to aid others and better the Galaxy. Even through all this, however, the Kaloris brothers had deep care for one another, with Jon acting as a guardian and friend to his younger sibling.
The Battle of Hoth[]
When Jon was eighteen years of age, the Empire had tracked down the Rebellion to it's Echo Base on the ice planet Hoth. Jon was placed on the ground during the battle, tasked with escorting evacuees to the awaiting transports. His brother Cade stuck with their parents in the command center. When the Empire overran the Rebellion forces and breached Echo Base Jon became separated from his family. The last he saw was his brother and parents running down a corridor before it collapsed behind them.
A time of sorrow[]
Thinking that his family had been killed at Hoth, Jon fled to Tatooine where he began working for a local cantina owner. He was little more than a bus boy and waiter, but it allowed him to heal his wounds and forget about the Civil war. But this was to change. While Jon was working at the cantina he became friends with a Ithorian by the name of Kri Nu. The Ithorian and he even began their own taxi business. However, on one particularly slow day Kri Nu picked up a couple known to be Imperial defectors. His taxi was stopped by a stormtrooper blockade and when he refused to reveal the identity of his last passengers, he was shot and killed. When Jon heard this news he vowed to avenge both his family's supposed death and the death of his friend.
Joining the fight[]
After his time on Tatooine, Jon looked up a Rebellion sympathizer, who introduced him to a Rebel commander. Jon then joined the Rebel Alliance as a pilot. Jon was assigned as an X-Wing pilot guarding supply shipments. Ever since the battle of Hoth, Jon had been trying to hide his Force-sensitivity, but it became harder and harder to pass off his ability to predict events and avoid disaster as just luck. One mission from Mon Calamari to a Rebellion battle group orbiting Kashyyk gave him a particularly bad feeling. En route, the group was pulled from hyperspace by an Interdictor-cruiser, and set upon by a patrol group of Imperial Star Destroyers. The supply ships were destroyed, and Jon was captured. The Imperial captain recognized that the young man's luck was exceptional and felt that he was more than he seemed. Seeking a quick promotion to Rear Admiral, the captain turned the pilot over to Darth Vader. Vader saw the power of the Force in the boy, and brought him before the Emperor.
Feeling the power of the dark side[]
The Emperor quickly turned Jon Kaloris to the Dark side of the Force, by telling him his family's death as well as the death of Kri Nu were the fault of the Rebellion. Showing him that if they had embraced the Empire, they would have lived. Palpatine guided the young man to feel his hate and anger and use them to fuel his Force powers, causing Jon to fall to the Dark side. Once he had fallen and was a slave to the Dark side the Emperor began using him as a means to keep an eye on the Moffs and Admirals throughout the Empire. However, his favorite use for his new toy was to use him as a training drone for Mara Jade.
When the Empire was defeated Jon was on 'guard' duty to a Moff on Coruscant. He felt the rumblings through Force when the Emperor died, and then when his mentor Darth Vader fell. He vowed to make the Rebellion pay, not only for the death of his parents, Kri Nu and now for the deaths of his teachers.
A mission of death that led to rebirth[]
Working for the Imperial Remnant Jon was sent to assassinate the New Republic's chief of state Leia Organa Solo. En route to his mission, he felt a ripple in the Force, the feeling of a powerful Jedi. Jon sought out the sourced of this bright spot int he Force and eventually tracked him to a familiar system in the Outer Rim, Yavin. He traveled to Yavin 4, and found Luke Skywalker there examining the Massassi ruins. Jon immediately recognized the man as the one who had destroyed the Empire. Drawing his twin scarlet bladed lightsabers, Jon moved to attack him. Skywalker defended himself, and in the ensuing lightsaber battle caught a hold of the part of Jon's heart that still held it's grip on the Light side. Luke sensed the turmoil within the other man and guided Jon away from the Dark side. Jon then submitted himself to Luke's teachings learning all he could of the Light side.
Becoming a Jedi Knight[]
After accepting the teachings of Luke Skywalker, Jon went on a path of discovery. He traveled to visit the family of Kri Nu on Corellia where they owned a small used shipyard. After he told the Nu's of his story and what had happened to their son, they offered him the pick of any ship on the lot. Jon felt drawn to a beat up YT-2400 that bore no transponder and had no name. When Jon stepped aboard and tried starting the ship, it started on first try. Noticing how unlikely this was, he named it the Stroke of Luck. He then had the ship refitted, upgraded, and armed, then went about retracing the steps of his childhood. He first went to Dantooine, and found his family's homestead where he spent many months repairing and fixing this site, returning it to it's former glory. Next he went to Hoth and while on the frozen wastelands of the planet, he was able to experience the echoes left from the battle. His family's mark on the planet was nearly impossible to find, and he began to resign himself to the fact that he was alone. Jon then returned to Yavin 4. When he returned, Luke Skywalker could sense the marked change in the man. Although still bristling with the Darkiside, Kaloris seemed to have it well under control.
Pirate Squadron and becoming a Jedi Master[]
Following his quest to understand his past, Jon returned to his post in the military. He was promoted to Captain and given his choice of either flying a desk or commanding his own flight group. Kaloris chose the latter and thus the Pirate Squadron was born. Consisting of a group of beings chosen by Kaloris from among his associates, the squadron's specialty was fighter to fighter combat.
Jon spent some time as part of the squadron and then finally turned control over to his second in command, deciding to devote himself more fully to his Jedi training. He returned to Yavin IV and poured himself into the teachings of Masters past and present. He spent six months in isolation on Dantooine, meditating on these recently learned ideas. When he emerged, he returned to Yavin IV and displayed his newly gained knowledge and skills. Luke Skywalker could now sense the mastery Kaloris had gained over the Force, his emotions, and the use of a lightsaber. At this point, Skywalker decided (after deliberation with Kyle Katarn and other Jedi that knew the man) to bestow upon Jon the rank of Jedi Master. This decision came none to soon, as only a month later a new period of darkness descended on the Galaxy.
The Yuuzhan Vong Invasion[]
When the extragalactic invaders the Yuuzhan Vong began their diabolical conquest, Jon was again called upon to serve the Republic as commander of Pirate Squadron. He led them in battles over Ithor and Dantooine, as well as numerous other campaigns. After Dantooine was decimated, Jon again left the squadron to aid in the planet's rebuilding. After he had reestablished his family's homestead, he again returned to his duties as Jedi Master, overseeing in countless battles against the Yuuzhan Vong, but was horribly injured and forced to spend the rest of the war either in bacta or healing himself using the Force.
Aftermath[]
After the Yuuzhan Vong were finally destroyed and beaten, Jon took time off to explore the Force and heal his still tender wounds. He returned to Dantooine and rebuilt his homestead, and those of many others, using the time to lick his wounds and gain a better understanding of life. Jon never quite recovered from his wounds, and would always have trouble and pain with his left arm. Jon fought in the Imperial-Sith War, with his brother Cade, but those stories have been lost to time. The last anyone saw of Jon he was flying into the Coruscanti sunset, aboard the Stroke of Luck.
Career summary[]
During his life, Jon Kaloris held many titles and positions. While part of the Rebel Alliance, he attained the rank Lieutenant. After his fall to the Dark side, and time with the Galactic Empire, Jon held the position as one of the Imperial Inqusitors. This position carried no military rank. After his return to the Light side, and his time with the New Republic, Jon achieved a final rank of Captain. Within the Jedi Order, he started as a mere Jedi learer, but after his years of service and his deep grasp for the Force, he was made a Jedi Master and made a Jedi Trainer.