A New Player in the Force

3.04 Training and Interruptions

… …

I kept my eyes narrowed as I climbed my way up the pillar of rock to the summit. This was the same thing I’d been doing for nearly two months, and as the dust and sand whipped up by the storm raging around me, I was reminded once again why I fucking hated sand. Yet, for all I hated the environment, and was developing a loathing for the man who insisted I head up here each day, I couldn’t deny that the training was helping me recover and strengthen my Force connection.

Ever since taking Natural Selection, I’d been slowly opening my thoughts to the Force; letting more and more of the senses and energy that coursed through it into my mind. While I was far from ready to open myself fully to the Force, still fearing I’d suffer another overload like I’d endured when I’d awoken after the Interface had stopped filtering the Force, I knew I was getting better, getting stronger. I could sense the shifts and eddies in the Force as it flowed around me, with that connection feeling stronger during each day’s exercises.

The reason I was climbing this Force-forsaken pillar of rock today, as I’d done so for nearly two months, was because of the Matukai Instructor that we’d eventually located on Karvoss II. It had taken us just shy of a month to locate a Matukai Instructor, and then almost a week of discussion with Instructor Mash Kafe, to convince him to train me, Anakin, and Simvyl.

Our first week of training had focused on – for Anakin and me – narrowing our connection to little more than a trickle. While the Matukai were as Light Side aligned by the Jedi, the focus Instructor Kafe placed on how to interact with the Force had more in common with a warrior’s ideology; though, thankfully, they lacked the desire to use their training to do anything more than enhance themselves. That, along with the fact few if any who learnt Matukai techniques had even decent Force Potential was perhaps why the Jedi saw no need to monitor their actions as they did for groups like the Witches of Dathomir.

Since I was already narrowing my connection to the Force – though not for the reasons Kafe realised – and I had almost a decade of prior instruction in using the Force, Instructor Kafe had brought me out into this shabyr desert, pointed out this pillar of rock, and ordered me to head here each morning, climb to the top and remain there until either I could no longer endure the elements, or the sun dropped below the horizon.

Once I reached the top, I’d do as I always did, and adopt a basic meditation stance. Then, with the wind, dust, sand, and sun assaulting me, I’d draw on as small an amount of the Force as I could manage to reinforce and refresh my body. After a month of that, Kafe had then told me to begin carrying out simple activities that I knew instinctively as moving meditation. So far I was keeping to Beskar’pel, letting my knowledge of the Form guide my body while the Force eased its way through every fibre of my being.

The training was far from enjoyable, bordering on tedious and irritating on the best of days, but I couldn’t deny that, after less than two months, I was already feeling the change. While my connection was still muted by choice, I could draw upon the Force to enhance myself impressively. I wasn’t yet at the levels I’d been before, but I knew it wouldn’t take long – perhaps not beyond the end of the year, which was three months away – before I was close to my old limits, if not readying myself to pass them.

Even when not carrying out the training, I could feel the Force flowing through every cell in my body; ready to enhance me if I so needed. Understanding, even fractionally, what the Force could do on a microscopic level was incredible, especially for those like Anakin and myself who had strong and/or deep connections to the Force. The way Instructor Kefe had explained the reactions and changes we’d experienced didn’t come close to preparing me for what I was undergoing.

When I drew on the Force to empower myself, to push beyond my limits and strain my body in ways it would never be able to do otherwise, it was incredible. As if I was drawing on a limitless source of power that with the right training, I could bend to my desires with the slightest of thoughts.

While all this had similarities to my former Enhance powers, the difference was night and day. With the old Force Powers, I grew stronger when they were active, pushing myself to the limits of what a seasoned Jedi was capable of. Yet, experiencing what I was now, and knowing that while I wasn’t at that level yet but would one day surpass it with ease as the Force did as I desired, was incredible. As if a blindfold had been lifted from my eyes and I could finally see what the Force offered if I so wished to use it.

The wind picked up, howling as it slammed into the pillar, and I was forced to tighten my grip; not wanting to fall and injure myself. The winds blasted into me, sending pinpricks of pain through my body as my robes and hair were tossed every which way by the force of nature and the sand and dust it carried. As with every morning or evening when I climbed or descended this pillar, I cursed out Kafe in my head. Shouting the words into the wind would only result in me getting a mouthful of sand, something I was growing to hate with a fiery passion.

There was no way that Kefe knew of my dislike – evolving into hatred – of sand, and while I disliked the reminder of my first encounter with Trandoshans right after my verd’goten resting at the edges of my thoughts, I couldn’t deny how successful the training was. Yet I had to be mindful of my emotions since I was unable to release them into the Force as a Jedi should, not unless I wanted to then experience them as new, intense sensations the next day.

Each evening after my training I spent over an hour in the sonic shower, trying to remove every grain of sand that had somehow snuck into places where there was no logical way it could’ve reached. My robes were placed over Raven’s exhausts, and I let her blast them in the hopes that it’d remove all the sand. It never did, and I knew that once we left this planet those robes, along with the ones worn by Anakin and Simvyl’s clothing if they had to do the same training, though they currently weren’t, were getting burnt. I’d then be spending the next few months in my armour, enjoying the hermetically sealed environment.

Anakin’s training was coming along slower than mine, but that made sense. While he’d had some instruction from me and Dooku in the time leading up to Naboo, it hadn’t been formal Initiate training. Still, when Instructor Kefe had displayed that he, someone with a Force Potential similar to Simvyl’s, could punch his way through a decent sheet of durasteel, it left its mark. Yes, I knew I could - at least before Natural Selection - do the same, to learn that someone with such limited Force potential could do so was eye-opening.

For Anakin, who’d not seen such displays of power from me or Dooku before he’d become my Padawan, it had been an eye-opener and made him excited to begin his training. However, he was a long way from being able to do that; though that didn’t stop him from asking me if he could try.

The first month of his training had been spent alongside Simvyl, focusing on the basics of how to draw minute quantities of the Force into themselves and then holding it there, and doing something else. Kefe had sensed Anakin’s potential and had created a separate training regime for him than what Simvyl – and any normal new Trainee – was facing.

Since the boy lacked the combat experience I did, Instructor Kefe had shown him some simple combat techniques and styles to help him find a battle-orientated form of moving meditation. Anakin, even though he didn’t realise it, could already use Alchaka when he was repairing and tinkering with machinery. So much so that I’d had to tap or even shake his shoulder to get his attention.

After that first month, Anakin had begun similar training to me, though he wasn’t being sent deep into the desert before the crack of fucking dawn. Instead, he was standing on the roof of a building not far from the settlement where we’d found Kefe. Anakin also didn’t need to spend days enduring the wind and sand, having to do so only for a few hours at a time. However, given the length of those sessions was increasing, I knew it wouldn’t be long until he had to go the full day without leaving his location, and I smirked, wondering if enduring that would develop the hatred of sand he’d had in the other timeline.

To further Anakin’s training, at least in ways I felt would help, I had him spend evenings sparring with Fenrir and Simvyl. That helped all three as for Anakin it was showing him how to fight a beast bred to defeat Force users or battle someone larger, stronger, and better skilled. For Fenrir, it began his training toward engaging opponents I expected him to face, both those who could draw heavily on the Force and those who couldn’t. Instructor Kefe had also agreed to spar with Fenrir, and while there’d been a few early instances where the tuk’ata had almost lost control, disliking the Togruta being able to beat him so easily, things were going better now though there was still the odd evening where the tuk’ata didn’t interact with any of us, suggesting he’d disliked his training that day and wanted to sulk.

As for Simvyl, the sparring with Anakin and Fenrir would help prepare him for the future and worked well with his training with Kefe. The Matukai Instructor had dedicated the most amount of time to the Cathar, which made sense as he was more akin to the sentients that sought out the Matukai for training. That was good as of the various Force sects I hoped to visit and train with this was the only one I felt he could learn from, and I wanted him to have the training there to help him have ways to pass the time while Anakin and I were busy with other training.

Since a trained Matukai practitioner was capable of battling, and in the right conditions, defeating a Jedi in melee combat, getting Simvyl to that level would be a major boost to his combat potential. I had plans to find a Teräs Käsi master in the future, and combining the Matukai techniques with a martial art designed to battle Force users would make Simvyl lethal to any who dismissed him because of his low Force presence.

The issue regarding all our training, as was often the case as I reached the summit of the rock pillar, was how much longer we could spend here. I knew that, if nothing else changed, war wouldn’t break out for about ten years. However, I didn’t want to spend all that time training, at least not in isolation as we’d be doing for the next few. That would leave me woefully unconnected and unprepared for changes in the timeline that I’d have to adapt to and counter.

Three months on Karvoss II was beginning to push at the rough limit I’d set for this adventure. I wanted to get to the next Force sect – which I was leaning toward being the Shapers – soon and be undergoing training with them before the year ended. While Raven was insanely fast, it still took time travelling to and from places like Karvoss II and Kro Var – the world of the Shapers – as they weren’t on any major hyperspace routes.

The issue was that only being able to spend a few months, perhaps half a year, with each group, meant that we’d likely miss out on the more advanced techniques the groups used. Something that, I felt, would be of great use in the battles that sat just over the horizon.

While I’d not directly addressed the matter with anyone, Adas had accurately deduced this concern when I’d last spoken with him. The ancient Sith King had, after hearing about the current training I was undergoing – and what Kefe had hinted at would come next – hinted that he would be able to adapt them to better serve me. Since the Matukai training was focused on those with weak Force connections, I did wonder if we were missing out on ideas that would be more suitable for myself and my Padawan. Adas’ offer certainly sounded appealing, but I feared that following his advice and listening to him for training would leave both of us open to the whispers of the Dark Side. Or, in my case at least, more open as they were always there; their promises of desire and power grew stronger whenever my temper spiked.

Adas had been ready for my concerns, and without my mentioning them, attempted to ease them. He’d spoken of how, for those of weak wills, taking the fast and simple route to the power the Dark Side hinted at was appealing. Those beings were, in his eyes, fools unworthy of what the Dark Side truly offered; of the power that lay beyond the obvious that only those strong of mind, body, and potential could grasp. Learning that Adas had once had children and that several made that mistake was unexpected, and suggested that he was slowly opening up to me. Or buttering me up for the fall he wished me to endure.

Regardless of his motives, which I knew weren’t in any way altruistic, I was reluctant to accept Adas’ help, at least for this training. I was already leaning on him heavily to learn to manage my darker impulses, reject them, and hide them from anyone who viewed me through the Force. So far I’d reached the point where Anakin no longer sensed the danger in me, at least not beyond the level he’d felt it before, but I didn’t think I was able to hide it from Fenrir or Adas. Both of them were more attuned to the Dark Side and understood how to sense its presence.

The issue was that while Adas appeared to be sticking to his word about keeping the tutoring clean of any leaning, I knew the more I turned to him for help, the more his words would slowly twist me toward the Dark Side. It wouldn’t take much for his intentions to become clearer, and his ideas for what I should become, and how I should shape the galaxy, to filter into me.

I didn’t think the holocron could sense my opinions and feelings on most matters, at least when I kept my cool and did my best not to react to his words or suggestions, but so much of what he said made sense. War was coming for the galaxy, and whether I liked it or not, a new order was going to rise. I’d known of the threat of the Empire before emerging here, and that if I wanted to survive it, I either had to defeat it or join it. The latter was, and never would be an option, which left me having to defeat the Banite Sith: both of them thanks to my fuckup having seen Plagueis become co-Chancellor alongside Sidious. The challenge was how to do so when I’d lost almost all the little faith I held in the Jedi and Republic, and how to ensure that the darkness that the Banite Sith had spread, didn’t linger after I defeated them.

Such thoughts always returned me to memories of the visions I’d shared with Anakin. If one of us stood alone against the darkness, or if we turned on each other, we failed. The only path forward, the only way the Force hinted to break what was coming that the vision had offered, was to shatter the galaxy while working together.

While I hoped that wasn’t the path I had to take, I was slowly understanding that it might be my only choice. I disliked the idea that my path was set, that I had no choice in my actions, but I understood that to do as the vision – as the Force – wished, I could take my own path there. I just had to make sure that Anakin remained at my side; that I trained him well and the bonds between us became unbreakable.

The other thought that came to mind regarding that vision, was the idea that the Banite Sith weren’t the source of the darkness. The Vong were out there, preparing to invade, and Force-knew what lay in the Unknown Regions that would look to take advantage of the chaos of the coming wars. Any of those threats – known and unknown – could be the true darkness that I had to battle.

The problem was, as with any vision the force offered, nothing was ever exactly what it appeared.

As I reached the summit of the pillar, I pushed all those thoughts away; letting my concerns be carried by the howling, pounding winds back to my cabin. I could return to them later once the day was over. Until then, my mind would remain calm and clear; the only thing that mattered was using as little of the Force as I could to endure what awaited me.

… …

… …

“I hate sand.”

I bit the inside of my lip, holding back laughter at Anakin’s comment as Raven ascended through Karvoss II’s atmosphere. After three months of training under Instructor Kafe, I felt we’d spent as long here as we could, and it seemed Anakin agreed as he’d spent most of that last month standing in the desert on a rock outcropping.

“Aye, but the cold’s worse,” I replied with a smirk, letting some of my amusement show. “Creeps into your bones and freezes you up if you’re not careful.”

About the same time Anakin was instructed to meditate in the desert, Kefe had decided it was time to change up my training. To do that, each morning I’d flown Raven to the planet’s southern pole and then been forced to perform my moving meditation in the biting cold winds of the pole. At first, it had been a relief to get away from the sand, dust, and heat of the desert, but by the end of the month, I’d almost found myself missing the tender mercies of a sandstorm.

On the first flight to the southern pole, Instructor Kefe had said that he wouldn’t normally change up a new Matukai Trainee’s training so quickly. However, he understood that I knew more about the Force than most Trainees and that none of my party would be able to commit to the years of training it took for one to be considered a master of their ways. He’d not been wrong about us not spending years training with him, but when we’d left, he’d been surprised at how soon after we’d met that we were departing.

While there were likely advanced techniques that I would be missing out on, nothing was stopping me from returning for a refresher course – I had the communication frequency to contact Kefe if we were in-system again – I felt that I understood enough about the basic tenets, and how they were applied, to end our training after only a few months. I’d also listened to Adas’ pitch about how to adapt the training for one with a far stronger Force connection and while I’d yet to go over his words and suggestions with a fine-toothed comb, the initial pitch had sounded reasonable. Nothing he said hinted at exposing me or Anakin to the Dark Side; at least not in the ways that would see one choose the quick and easy path to power and thus lose themselves forever in the blackest corners of the Dark Side.

The day before we’d left, Anakin had shown me how he’d improved by throwing a punch that dented durasteel. Now, he could only do that when not distracted, as I’d done so to see his reaction and he’d hurt his hand, but it was a sign the training was sinking in quickly. He was far from what Kefe had demonstrated by punching through a similar sheet of metal – or my own tests which weren’t far from breaking through a sheet – but it was an impressive improvement in three months, and the final nail in the coffin of us staying any longer.

The one thing I’d made clear, and he accepted without complaint, was that he wasn’t to practise striking through anything while on Raven, nor on other worlds unless I permitted him to do so first. I’d rather not have to compensate others because of him having the idea to test his improvement in random places.

Of course, until we reached our next Force sect, he’d be wearing his armour, it was unlikely he’d attempt such a strike. His armour was composed of durasteel, so would likely bend – or even break – if he didn’t also empower the metal of the armour. After having to reshape his gauntlets twice in the last month because of him testing his limits, I’d told him not to attempt it again until he could figure out how to push the Force into the armour granting it greater strength. I hadn’t told him how to do so, mainly as I wanted him to discover it for himself, but I felt sure he’d learn it in due course.

My armour, and my replacement limb, didn’t need that form or reinforcement due to the beskar in them. Still, I was practising pushing the Force into them. Not just to further enhance the metal, but so that I grew used to channelling the Force through the replacement limb. While I could call upon it with that hand, the connection felt colder, more distant. While that made sense, I disliked having the imbalance in what I could do and how and wished to overcome it without damaging the limb. I knew it would be some time before I understood how to empower my armour and limb, but felt certain I’d get there soon enough.

One unexpected benefit of the Matukai training I’d found was that it seemed easier to use the various martial arts that I knew. Or at least, when I used them in meditative training, Beskar’pel, Beskar’rev, and Teräs Käsi all seemed to gain levels at a faster rate, with the latter showing the greatest rate of improvement. Given that Teräs Käsi was initially designed to counter Force users, it made some sense that there’d be a decent overlap between that and Matukai training.

I’d started training Simvyl in that combat form, seeing as the Matukai training was helping him become a more dangerous fighter, and started sparring with him daily. Now that I had a decent understanding of how to control my Force use when I drew it into myself, I felt comfortable sparring with him at speed without worrying that I’d lose control and severely injure him. While my ability with Teräs Käsi wasn’t great, resting in the lower half of the Professional tier, because of my Teaching skill, which was into the Prodigy tier, he was seeing steady improvements. The same was true of Anakin whom I was teaching Beskar’pel as that was the Mando martial art that favoured agility and movement over brute force.

Thinking on it, those martial arts, along with my Teaching skill and those linked to piloting and mechanics, were likely candidates to use my Tier Boosts on. Or at least the spare tier boost as I planned to lift Makashi to Paragon, the eighth tier. However, before that, I’d have to rebuild my lightsaber and I wanted to get the other lightsaber Forms I knew up into the Savant tier. Niman was the lowest of the other forms, sitting at Master:5 while Soresu was the highest – outside of Shii-Cho that was Maxed – at Master:96.

For the most part, I could still train the Forms even without a full-sized lightsaber or drawing on the Force. The only Form that had issues was Ataru, as it wasn’t easy to do the many acrobatic velocities of the Form without the Force’s help. Even so, many of the more advanced velocities weren’t possible to train without a full-sized lightsaber.

Over the last few months, I’d decided that I wanted to attempt to rebuild the blade with the two smaller focusing crystals I’d had before. That meant attempting to fix or heal the crack in the one that was damaged, but I wasn’t sure how to go about that. Or at least, I wasn’t sure how to do so without doing something the Jedi likely wouldn’t approve of. Using the Force to induce that sort of change leaned heavily into the Dark Side, but I had a connection with those focusing crystals which I wanted to maintain.

Whenever I rebuilt my blade, I’d be able to add the Mantle of the Force. The crystal once wielded by Revan was now fully aligned with me and my skill for Mechanics [Lightsabers] was high enough to allow a fourth crystal to be added to the hilt. However, for as much as I missed having the blade at my side, and felt as if something was missing, I understood I wasn’t at a point yet where I was ready to rebuild the blade, and not just because I didn’t know how to heal the damaged crystal.

My attention returned to the present as Raven alerted me that we were far enough away from Karvoss II to enter hyperspace. Once the jump was made, and the exotic, swirling energies of the faster-than-light travel washed over Raven’s skin, I turned my attention to the next Force sect we’d be training with.

The Shapers of Kro Var were a sect that used the Force primarily to manipulate and control what they considered the four base elements of earth, water, wind, and fire. They were, like the Matukai, open to training other Force users. They were as martially inclined as the Matukai, though were more willing to display their Force usage openly. Given the Matukai channelled the Force inward, that made sense, and because the Shapers served as the law on their world, and had engaged in wars, I wondered what I might learn from them about using the Force in combat – particularly battles involving Force users on both sides of a conflict.

Since they allowed their members to use weapons – outside of lightsabers – then I’d also be able to work on my skill with my beskad while there. Simvyl and Anakin would also take such training as while my Padawan would one day build and wield a lightsaber, it was wise to know multiple ways to fight with varying weapons. For Simvyl, I planned, once all this training was finished, to have a blade forged for him made of phrik, along with some cortosis if I could acquire enough. That would grant him some ability to engage Force users, which given what I knew was coming and my growing suspicions about who I’d fight against, would be needed.

The biggest issue with heading to the Shapers was that they despised those who used the Force for mental tricks and telekinesis. So much so that, if anyone was caught using the Force in that way on their world and wasn’t able to escape, they faced imprisonment for decades if not life at best.

I wasn’t sure if the mental barriers I’d been forging to hide my thoughts and Force presence from others would be considered an issue, but I doubted it. From the records I’d read, their distaste toward mental applications of the Force was aimed at using it to influence others. Still, I’d have to be careful about how I behaved. I’d also have to speak with Anakin so he didn’t attempt to practise or use the Force in ways that would get us into trouble.

That conversation would take place whenever we stopped for resupplies and refuelling. Kro Var lay into Wild Space and as such, I wanted to make sure we had more than we needed in every critical supply. While I doubted anything would go wrong, I wasn’t going to take the chance we might end up stranded because I’d not packed for a long voyage.

That was the mistake that got you killed.

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