Rogue Shadow, Almas

The dark-hued craft reverted from hyperspace amidst an escort of Piranha Drones, which protectively swarmed around the Mon Calamari-built freighter like Cularin Redback Bees around their hive queen. At the controls, Kitty Hawk deftly maneuvered the freighter towards the luminescent ball that Almas. As they neared, she tapped a button on the console, which used a tightbeam transmitter to signal the planet to briefly lower a small section of the planetary shield to admit the Confederate vessels entrance. Hawk lazily flew the craft in, mumbling incoherently to herself as she for most of the journey.

In the freighter’s hold, Adrian sat alongside d’Foose. For most of the voyage, the two had spent time immersed in the deep meditation and trances from which most of the Jensaarai skills were learned in. As the Rogue Shadow entered the atmosphere, Ravenna opened his eyes for the first time. After hours in lifeless space, the descent to the garden world was a boon to the Force. For not only was Almas filled with the teeming plant life, but the planet itself, especially the Academy grounds, was a Nexus of the Lightside. He gently tapped the Colonial on the shoulder, drawing her out of her trance.

“We’re here,” announced the Jensaarai Warrior, “here on Almas. And from the feelings emanating throughout the Force, we’re nearly at the Academy itself. This is probably a better place for your instruction, for not only will I be able to teach you, but the holocron of the Saarai-kaar, my own teacher, will be able to guide you as well.”

The freighter hovered to halt, and a jolt reverberated throughout the craft as the magnetic docking clamps locked the freighter into position with one of the Academy’s outermost towers. Adrian slightly grinned. He still hasn’t fixed those yet. Swenson, I am going to berate you for that. Of course, while Kitty and I have been galvinating around, you have been dealing with the newcomers to our tradition. I suppose I can’t blame you that much. The Colonial was giving him an odd stare. He blushed.

“Sorry; was just reminded about an old friend and some memories.”

Kitty’s voice echoed throughout the ship.

“If you hadn’t noticed, we’re here. I’m getting off the ship and taking some R&R. Is that all right, sir, or will you be needing my help with…well…you know.”

Adrian didn’t know for sure what she meant, but he had a pretty good guess.

“Yes to the first, no to the latter. We’re going to be dropping our stuff of at her new quarters, and then we’ll be in the lightsaber training arena.”

“Should I kick out Swenson if he’s there already?”

“Yes,” replied Ravenna, “there’s always the gardens for most of the exercises anyways.”

Nearly a half hour later, the two were in the lightsaber combat arena; a miniature colleseum which had saw hundreds of Jedi and several Jensaarai fight and spar in their arcane arts. Adrian dragged his feet over the sand to stand opposite of the woman, and drew his elaborate, burnished hilt. He tapped a button, and the cobalt blade sprang to life with its distinctive hum. The Susevfian deliberated for a second.

“The Force is many things, and the Force can guide you, but it cannot do everything for you; you know this, I think. And those that the Force cannot inherently grant you are things that must be learned carefully. Lightsaber combat is one of those things. You may be able to learn, no, know some of the moves and maneuvers by instinct, but to achieve true mastery of the art, you must learn by practice and experience. And even then, some aspects and the ideas that some saberists can do, and have done, will not work for you. On the other hand, some styles will fit you perfectly. What we’re going to do today is to begin the basic maneuvers inherent to all styles and forms of lightsaber combat. We’re going to move slowly, and together…”

The colonial commander turned Jensaarai apprentice studied her rival and teacher, Adrian Ravenna, across the sand covered floor of the training arena.

Their arrival on Almas only a half hour earlier had heralded a new chapter in her continued development in the force. They had not wasted a moment, however; after depositing her possessions, all contained in a single duffle, in one of the former students rooms they had proceeded directly to the lightsaber training arena. The walk had fortunately given her a chance, albeit a brief one, to get an idea of the shape and form of the academy.

She had not gleaned anything of its shape during their descent from space as she had been sequestered in the ships hold with Ravenna in deep meditation for the duration of their voyage. From the inside though she was able to get a feel for the place.

It radiated force energy.

Clearly the academy was something of a nexus of lightside power. In short Ravenna had enlightened her as to the history of the academy and the planet upon which it was situated but nothing has surprised her so much as the effect it had on her lightsaber.

From the moment she set foot in the temple it had seemed to glow a bright white in the force such that she could feel it warming her hip where it was slung. It had been given to her by Ravenna whom had informed her that he had acquired it from the academy but she had never guessed it would be so intimately tied to the place.

Gripping it now, squared off against Ravenna, she felt its warmth moving through her fingers, coursing along her palm and up her arm.

Initially she wanted nothing more then to have a few moments to herself, to explore the academy and perhaps rest for a short time but Ravenna had other plans in mind. Much as her training had progressed on Kashan it would likely be similar here though with more opportunity for self discovery.

The academy represented a chance to take her training in a new direction however the norms would still have to apply for she knew that she had a long way to go before she could hope to branch out on her own. Just as well, she knew, as she quite enjoyed the company of her instructor. All the same, after their time in the woods she was somewhat eager to rejoin society proper. That could wait, for now she would make the best of her time.

Ravenna was speaking and too late she realized she had been daydreaming. Snapping back to attention she moved just in time to catch the tail end of his commentary as his saber blade came in, slowly and predictably. His attack was intended to be a clear one such that she could counter in kind.

Slowly and with a practiced cohesion they had developed previous they moved in unison allowing the force to dictate their motions at first before moving towards more precise methods of attack and defense.

Lightsaber technique was a highly refined art and one that d’Foose aimed to refine in herself over time. With the help of the likes of Adrian Ravenna she hoped to become a strong swordswoman. He was easily her superior in this and many other regards pertaining to the force and as such she had done and would continue to do her best to absorb his lessons thoroughly. The change of environment and atmosphere caught her off guard though and she would not allow that to continue.

For the next hour they moved through a practiced routine that forced d’Foose to adapt quickly, to learn moves shown to her with considerable acuity. While they moved she repeated.

“The force cannot inherently grant me things which must be learned carefully,” she parried a low thrust rounding her own sallow blade in a disarming tactic which Ravenna countered slowly so that she might see the method behind his motions. “Lightsaber combat requires experience and practice to master.”

“I must learn what form suits me,” she continued speaking; an exercise in splitting her attention between the combat before her and abstract concepts. “I will learn by moving slowly and together with my instructor.”

And so it went until the silky fabric of her top began to stain with sweat. They had practiced the basics of lightsaber combat numerous times now yet certain ideas, certain moves continued to elude her. After a straining session Ravenna broke off and deactivated his weapon, d’Foose doing likewise.

“Good,” stated Ravenna with a nod and a bow. “For now.”

With that Ravenna dismissed her allowing her some amount of free time to spend as she wished. He did inform her however that the next days lessons would begin to incorporate hand-to-hand combat as a form of meditation alongside her continued saber training. She agreed, as though it were a matter of debate, and thanked Ravenna before heading off towards what would, for the foreseeable future, be her room.

Walking the halls, saber slung on her hip, d’Foose found herself mentally recalling the foundations of teras kasi. She was versed in the fundamentals of hand to hand combat, it had been an integral part of her training as a soldier and an officer though she had not taken to it with the same vigor as some of her peers. In truth she identified herself as more of a talker then a fighter; a diplomat.

Speaking of which, diplomatically, she had not really thanked Ravenna for his time, for the wisdom he was sharing with her and made a mental note to make that a high priority though she doubted finding an appropriate gift here, at the academy. Just the same, she would do her best.

Eventually, after a number of wrong turns and false starts, she found her room. The door was malfunctioning and she found she had to manually force it open. Supposing it was on the list to be mended by whatever maintenance crew managed the academy, she entered…

… and nearly screamed when, entering without thought, saw what she took to be the shape of a man standing in her room, looming beside her cot.

He was not human, though close. Long head tails hung down from the back of his skull, one draped over his shoulder. What really caught her attention however were the ubiquitous brown and gray robes he was draped in. An aura of ambience surrounded his figure illuminating the room and casting oddly shaped shadows.

She gasped, choking on her words she asked, “Who are you?”

The figure seemed to notice her, though she could have sworn it looked right though her. Its piercing gaze fell to her hip, to the lightsaber hanging there in clear sight and lingered there for a moment.

Then, just as quickly as the shape had appeared, however; it vanished.

Stunned d’Foose slunk on to her cot as the room sunk in to darkness. She had not activated the lights. Shaking visibly she tried to calm herself with a breathing exercise but found it to be of little help.

“Calm down,” she told herself. “You’re tired and you’ve been through a lot. It was probably nothing. You’re exhausted and you need to sleep, you’re hallucinating again.”

She pressed her eyes closed, “You’re talking to yourself.”

And then she started to laugh. She continued to laugh until tears welled up in her eyes and her lungs burned. She laughed until she fell asleep.

Slumbering soundly though she could have no idea that in the hall of the Jedi, the main chamber of the grand academy, sat a bust carved of stone… the bust of an ancient and long dead Jedi Master, a Twi’Lek whose name, barely visibly etched in to the base of the bust, read Nerra Ziveri.

The door hissed open like a threatened Hssiss, and Adrian ambled into his quarters, stirring up dust in his wake. He tossed his duffel bag near the foot of his utilitarian, metal bed, and tapped a button on his comlink. On the wall opposite of the door, a set of panels slid open, to reveal the setting sun shedding its last vestiges of light on the garden world before night began its reign. The Jensaarai shuffled over to the transparisteel windows and stared up at the glistening sky. Ravenna stared at one icy pinprick, and let a tired smile bubble up onto his face, relishing in its celestial beauty. Still smiling, the Jensaarai tottered over to his bed, and half-collapsed onto his mattress. Stretching out his arm, he let out a sigh.

“It’s been a long day, and tomorrow promises to be longer…” mused Ravenna, “so d’Foose, where do I start with you? Simple hand-to-hand combat is clearly useful in so many cases, especially as one seeks to follow the Light, or at least not fall into the dark. For it is much easier to kill someone with the flick of a wrist; a saber slash. But hand-to-hand makes it harder to simply outright kill someone, and risk falling into the dark side, and moreover, it forces one to be somewhat personable to the person. And that is something that I shall have to emphasize to her; for even those we fight have friends, family, lovers, maybe even children. There is so much that could bind us together with them, that we are forced to realize that they are as much of, and to, the Force as we are.”

Adrian contemplated the other woman briefly engendering a visage of the lithe Gestalt officer, and focused on her build. Well, I’m not sure of how much use I can be to her…we aren’t quite the same. Broken Gate is ideal for people of my build, but her… something that relies less on physical strength…something more tactical perhaps…He lay down, sprawling his body across the bed. There must be hundreds of martial arts in this Academy, given the Saarai-kaar’s knowledge, what the Academy has held over the years, and what has been gathered from Confederate worlds and fighters. I’ll have to talk to her over breakfast in the cafeteria tomorrow about what she knows, what she could possibly want. But enough. Now is time for bed; I’ll be needing my rest. Ravenna clapped his hands, and artificial light fled from his room, leaving him in darkness and starlight. Several minutes later, he surrendered to a deep slumber.

Tumbling to the floor, air driven from her lungs, d’Foose exhaled heavily and fought to regain her composure. How many times had he driven her to the floor? She had lost count. Laying prone, her back against the cold stone surface, she found herself taking in the details engraved in the marble ceiling.

After a moment the serene face of her instructor slipped in to view smiling, though not smugly. She tried to match his expression but failed still trying to draw the air back in to her lungs.

Here she had long considered herself an able and competent hand-to-hand combatant. She was learning however that for everything she thought she knew he knew more and when she had expressed as much, only a round earlier, Adrian had reminded her that it was not his martial skills that enabled him to out maneuver her but rather his alliance with the force.

Furthermore she was learning and important lesson about disabling ones enemy without the need to inflict mortal or lasting injuries, how to defeat a foe without maiming him or her.

“Your attacks,” spoke Adrian kindly while offering a hand to her feet, “are too energetic. You must remember that the more force you express against your enemy the more energy, in this case kinetic force, he will have to use against you.”

She simply nodded while simultaneously fanning the sweat from her back by flapping her loose fitting top.

“You are a tactician, a starship commander. This is something you should well understand.”

“I do,” she conceded. “But it is different. This is one-on-one.”

Again he smiled that almost blank, imperceptibly hard to read smile of his. “What you must learn is that it is all the same.”

They squared off.

“It is easier,” he spoke, easily deflecting a clumsy over-hand blow. “To simply kill you enemy with something like a lightsaber, or a gunnery cannon. It is more difficult to overcome an enemy with diplomacy,” he added while catching her open wrist in his palm and twisting in such a fashion that she was forced to spin around him and over his exposed knee.

Again she hit the ground, hard.

“You call this diplomacy?” She mocked from her sprawled position.

“Compared to what you will be capable of when your training is complete? Yes, I do.”

Slowly, inexorably, d’Foose was beginning to understand. As she rose again, gathering her feet under herself, she asked, “And what form do you think that will take?”

He fixed her with a puzzled look as though contemplating her future, be it light or dark in its alignment with the force.

She smirked knowing full well that young Adrian had been struggling with aspects of her personality, trying to rationalize them with the path of goodness. This was something she had begun to tease him about though not openly.

“In terms of my lightsaber form,” she added. “I’ve been reading the material you gave me.”

Previously Adrian had supplied d’Foose with a datapad containing a collective of information regarding the traditionalized lightsaber combat forms. It was a considerable resource of information but, during her many years as a student of the art of warfare, she had developed a very rigorous and successful study method… one that medical students would have killed for.

“Ah,” he said evenly. “What do you think?”

“I quite like the way of the diplomat,” she answered.

“A wise choice, though perhaps not suited to your attributes…”

She was about to query him further when the sound of a gong reverberated throughout the academy. It was the dinner bell, more or less, and it signified not only the readiness of the evening meal but the late hour which could go almost totally unnoticed by the students deep in their studies often sequestered in the deeper reaches of the structure and away from the dwindling sunlight. She would have asked further but her hunger got the better of her.

They retired for sustenance. Afterwards d’Foose searched but was unable to find Adrian though one of the menials informed her that he had been required to make contact with command and she thought he would be better undisturbed. She understood only too well the demands placed upon the men and women who served in the galaxies various armed forces. For her own part she was coming to enjoy the solace being away from Gestalt provided her and had hardly even considered sending a missive their way but guessed that in the efforts of fairness she probably should and so adjourned to her quarters to pen a letter.

It was an hour later, as she was going over her letter to the Vice Commodore detailing her exploits with the Confederate man, that she was again visited by the ethereal figure. It was more subtle this time, however.

Bent over her datapad reviewing the content of her letter she hardly noticed the new presence in her room. It was not until the sound of rhythmic breathing pervaded her awareness that she caught on and, spinning round on her stool, saw the same alien shape sitting lotus style on the edge of her bed.

She almost screamed and it was only the sharp opening of his eyes that stopped her. Instead, quite transfixed, she stared only to be met by an equally transfixed stare from the ghost. A few long seconds passed and then, feeling bold, she asked, “Who are you?”

The alien, a twi’lek, fixed her with what she took to be a look of confusion before responding and when it did it was with a voice that sounded distant and broken, as if spoken over a great open plain amidst the interference of rolling thunder. It was like speaking to someone over a partially downed comm, only backwards and confused.

“I don’t understand,” she said with evidence of fear in her voice.

The apparition rose, slowly, and moved towards d’Foose who for her part remained frozen in place though not of want for though she tried to move, to distance herself from it, or even simply to scream, she could not. It closed with her and pressed its wraith-like hand against her forehead sending waves of heat pulsating through her body. To her senses it felt as though he was invading her being and it quickly overwhelmed her to the point of unconsciousness.

She collapsed in a heap at the edge of her cot and it was there that Adrian found her the next morning, rousing her with a look of worry on his face.

Adrian stared down at his pupil and frowned. He stretched out into the Force with his mind, felt two distinct sets of ebbs of energy. The first steadily radiated from the other Jensaarai: confusion, bewilderment. Inside himself, Adrian felt those emotions resonate within himself. Forcing those emotions to the back of his mind, Ravenna stretched out further, seeking the faint trace of the other energy. It seemed to purposely evade him, until he found a minute strand of it within the Academy. Focusing on it, he couldn’t identify its identity, but he could tell that whatever it was seemed to mean no harm. As suddenly as it had appeared, the strand vanished; leaving Adrian more perplexed. Psychometric things never were my things; I’ll have to ask Kitty to investigate that; after her current assignment, that is. Ravenna attentively gazed at d’Foose, watching for any signs of what, of how she felt after that encounter.

“I felt it too, a little,” deadpanned the warrior, “unfortunately, spirits and odd connection aren’t quite my thing. But I assure you, I’ll have a Jensaarai more talented in that area check it out, just to make sure it’s not a threat. But for now, let us focus on getting you fed for the day. There is much in store for you today, at least I hope there will be.”

After a meal in the Academy’s cafeteria, the two Jensaarai strolled over to one of the outer towers, idly chatting about current events and d’Foose’s paranormal encounters. It seemed like a normal enough day, a usual enough routine; a predictable encounter. But it was nothing more than a façade, a tool to make the Gestalt officer more comfortable as other plans were set into action, as other Jensaarai made last minute preparations. He watched her closely, looking for any sign that she knew anything was amiss. Several times during their walk, he found himself pressing back his own emotions and thoughts, less he reveal the surprise, or indicate one to the blonde-haired woman. They ascended a turbolift and ambled into a spartanly-equipped training room. With a flick of the wrist, Adrian turned the room’s holo-projector on via the Force. He turned around and stared into her eyes briefly.

“We might seem different than most people, and we are, but we also face many of the same situations and problems that the average Joe will do. You could easily find yourself dealing with some vice that’s grasped a hold of you, or the end of a relationship. But whereas Joe could drink off his problems and let them run loose, we cannot. We must be able to confront not only this problems and win, but face ourselves and who we really are. For only when we have conquered our own problems, can we effectively solve the problems that plague the galaxy. I could point out many Jedi masters as examples of this; Vader at Endor, Luke Skywalker at various times, and Master Yoda. But these are a select few of the many Jedi who have failed and fallen, and even the ones I’ve named have fallen. Do you know why they fail? They faced their worse enemy, and lost; they faced themselves. It’s not easily looking into the mirror after with a single saber stroke, you realize that you have harmed, or even killed the one you love. It is easily to let the emotion burden overwhelm and warp into something that you truly are not. And with the kind of power we wield, one mistake, and we could become the next Darth Vader.

Against ourselves, the Jensaarai only have two defence: other Jensaarai to guide them back to the right path, and our own honor. If we follow the Code of Virtues, if we allow it to become an inherent part of ourselves, we embrace and become nigh incorruptible. But to do so is a task not easily done, but today, we start this path together. I have an assignment for you, a quest if you will.

You will spend a few days and nights on the streets without any provided food, shelter, or credits. Why? Because it is a sacrifice of even the most basic rights that most peoples uphold. It is a sacrifice that forces us to step out of our lofty academy and powers to realize the situations of our most unfortunate citizens. It will allow you to see how and why they act; why some die piously from starvation, and why others live by crime. To see why poor single mothers will do anything for their children, to see why powerful figures seek to control these masses. You will not onto this city’s streets, but to those of Cularin’s capitol city. You will not, and cannot be protected by the Confederation on that neutral planet, but rest assured, you will have a guardian angel watching over you, assuming something goes terribly wrong. And lastly, I request that you try and do some good during your stay on the streets. For we must be the change we want to see in the galaxy.”