- Location
- The Netherlands
Ahsoka doesn't have the frame of reference to place the comments about Alice in Wonderland, so those things had to come from Shade.
I have a very strange Master (Star Wars/SI) EPI-EPII
- Thread starter shadenight123
- Start date
LastStandZiggy
Last To Fall
- Location
- Kingman, Az
Shade was doing the same thing that Yoda did to Luke on Dagobah, he was showing her what could happen... Plus a little snippet about himself it seems as a child in the Council Chambers.
I hope an interlude or two regarding the opinions that other Jedi have for Shade!
Also, I LOVE how Jedi Master Shade is primarily a Force User, rather than just a sword wielding brute!
Since the Dark Side has several weird and rather extraordinary disciplines such as Sith-Sorcery or Sith-Alchemy, I have no doubt that Shade has developed or will develop their Jedi Equivalents!
SHADE: DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC, MOTHER-@#$%&¥?! I DO!
Also, I LOVE how Jedi Master Shade is primarily a Force User, rather than just a sword wielding brute!
Since the Dark Side has several weird and rather extraordinary disciplines such as Sith-Sorcery or Sith-Alchemy, I have no doubt that Shade has developed or will develop their Jedi Equivalents!
SHADE: DO YOU BELIEVE IN MAGIC, MOTHER-@#$%&¥?! I DO!
It's now confirmed that he's been trained since he was a kid (in body at least). Since he's hit mid-twenties at the start of the story it's likely that he's been trained by Yoda for nearly two decades.
*looks suspiciously at the name "Hiveshade"*
Is there some kind of Hiver-Shadenight mutant hybrid?
I choose to take this as a compliment.
Chapter Five
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Five
Ahsoka felt as if a snake had decided to nestle on her head, and begun to constrict her skull. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the night sky, and when they did, she shot up as fast as she could. The sudden change of posture made her wobble, her breathing coming less for a split second as her vision doubled. A hand firmly settled on her shoulder, and she found herself lying back down as a clone commando checked her pupils' response with a penlight.
"You're awake, Padawan," her Master said calmly from the side. She frowned as she saw a streak of red light sail in the night sky. Was it a firework? But it didn't explode. Slowly, her ears began to pick up the sound of blaster shots. Wincing, Ahsoka carefully craned her neck to the side, and what she saw made her balk.
There was a Separatist army advancing on the field below them, and they were fighting through the clones' formation and Master Mace Windu. Meanwhile, her Master was standing atop the hill, a foot on a nearby rock and both hands dancing in the air as he hummed a strange tune.
"No! Disse il Piave, No! dissero i fanti~" her Master sang with joy in his heart as a hand swatted away the air in front of him as if it were a fly, and in doing so, the ground rose and trembled as if a sword had struck and shattered through it, "mai più il nemico faccia un passo avanti~" another swaying of the hand, and the shrapnel of rock turned against the nearing droids, making them crash and fall back. Those who didn't were harmlessly pelted with sharp rocks, at least until a blaster shot struck them and made them fizzle to a stop.
"I have to-" Ahsoka stammered, trying to stand up.
"You lost your lightsaber, Padawan, and your strength isn't back yet," her Master remarked humming. "Leave this battle to us. I'm sure Mace could solve this alone, so really, we're here just to make it easier...but remember, over-confidence is a sin!"
As he barked that, he quickly lifted a wall of steel from a broken Separatist Droid-Dropper and used it to tank the blast of a missile launcher from the droid army. The metal dented, but otherwise held.
"There is no emotion, there is peace," her master hissed through clenched teeth. "Padawan, don't worry. You'll have your moment to shine later. Right now, try to stay low or you'll get a laser blast to the face, and nobody likes laser blasts to the face."
Her Master was very chipper. He even felt drunk-chipper. "Is he drunk?" she managed to hoarsely whisper to Rufous, who gingerly looked sideways. Ahsoka's eyes widened. They were on a hill, with an army of Separatist droids that greatly outnumbered them, she had lost her lightsaber and wasn't even capable of striking out on her own feet, and...and her Master was drunk.
"Mandalorian ale," Rufous said with a slight 'I'm sorry' tone beneath it. "He asked for a sip during dinner. Nobody thought-"
"There's got to be something against getting drunk in the Jedi code," Ahsoka muttered through her teeth. "There has got to be."
"This is spear that splits the heavens," her Master bellowed with his right hand clenched into a fist, as he split the metallic shield into sharp, brimming with electricity -wait, what- and pulsing heat. "This is the judgement of Odin!" her Master giggled. No, really, she had been knocked out for a couple of hours tops. "This is...electric judgment!" And with that, the spear departed with the strength of a missile being launched from a rocket launcher, rushing through the air like a falling star and striking deeply into the side of a large, brownish monstrosity that seemed to be coming down from the skies.
Then, a giant Yoda began to bob his head up and down to the rhythmic rapping sound coming from somewhere far away, having appeared out of thin air. "Do or do not! Tsk-Tsk! Ba-Da-Bum! Do-Or-Do-Not! Not-Do-Do-Or!"
Ahsoka gasped, and opened her eyes for real this time, her breathing quick as she looked hurriedly around. She winced, slightly, at the pain. However, there was no army around them, and everyone still seemed in high spirits. "No!" Ahsoka exclaimed, a hand rushing up as a quick push of the force sent the bottle of Mandalorian ale out of Eagle's hand before it could be offered to Master Shade. "He doesn't drink."
Master Shade blinked from his spot, and with two fingers used the Force to keep the bottle afloat, preventing it from spilling. "I wasn't going to, Padawan," he remarked dryly, putting the bottle back in his hand and then handing it to Hawk, who was by his other side. "Glad to see you're fully awake now," he added.
"I-" Ahsoka carefully stood from her bed, and walked to sit down at the free spot in front of her master. They were standing by the fire, far off in the middle of a depression of hills. "Where are we?"
"Away from the caves," her Master replied. "The Force there was too strong for you," he added, taking a bite out of some canned food -strange, canned food. No, not canned food. Canned Slob. Her canned Slob. "Oh, right," he added. "I ate your Slob. Sorry Padawan, Master's privileges and whatnot. You'll have to eat the MRE now."
Ahsoka no longer cared about the headache, or the strange dream she had had. Her smile could have blinded a blind man from how intensely radiant it was at the thought of finally eating something that tasted like meat, even if a poor substitute of it.
As she finished eating religiously -and even going as far as sticking her tongue into the can to get the last scraps- she realized only afterwards that her Master was chuckling at her antics, shaking his head at the same time.
Heat managed to reach the very tip of her montrals, as she hastily tried to resume a serious appearance. "A-ahem," she coughed with a hand in front of her mouth. "What now, Master?"
"Well, while you were sleeping, we received notification that there has been movement towards this planet from the edges of the system," her Master said. "It appears the Separatist are coming here to put up a base of operation, and aren't expecting any clone presence on this planet. After all, do you see a clone presence nearby?"
The Commandos looked at one another, and then Rufous made a 'Hoot-Hoot' sound. "I'm a bird, sir. Clearly not a clone."
"Yes, my dear hallucination that is clearly a bird and not a clone commando," Master Shade replied with a nod, "You are a bird. If you believe in yourself, you'll even fly."
Ahsoka blinked. "Master?"
"Pardon me, Padawan," here Master Shade coughed. "As I was saying, this planet will soon become dangerous. Yet, not dangerous enough as to warrant you leaving. We will be doing our first training exercise with live enemies tomorrow, in fact. The droids are bound to land their crafts with the obvious escort, and once they do, we'll take them out."
"Won't they realize there are clones on this planet?" Ahsoka hazarded.
"Why would they? Our starship has long gone back to the edges of the system, and will return just in time to strike at our enemy from behind. Until then, we'll hide and strike their forces with the less fuss possible, and tripping no alarms," as he said the last part, he gazed at Ahsoka long, his eyes narrow as if he was accusing her of having already done something like that.
Ahsoka looked down at the empty can of MRE, and then back up at her Master. "My lightsaber-"
"I managed to salvage its components," her master replied, lifting them up in his right hand for her to see. Ahsoka winced. That...that didn't look good, it didn't look good at all. "I don't know how you managed to break it, but the crystal inside shattered while the rest of the handle is still serviceable. I think it takes a degree in 'applied accidents' to make something like this work...then again, the Force works in mysterious physics-defying ways, so..."
Ignoring her Master's rant of absolute madness, Ahsoka grabbed the pieces of her lightsaber and then turned around, looking for the blue crystal. She found it near her makeshift cot, a chunk of dirt and rock that was still shining with the soft glow of a night lamp. It reassured her, to see it there. Carefully using her fingers to pick the dirt off the cracks, she took a deep breath. Master Yoda had trained the young of the temple on how to actually build a lightsaber -even if she hadn't needed to actually purify the crystal herself. She knew, in theory, what she had to do with it.
Her eyes closed and carefully, a sense at the time, Ahsoka shut off all distractions. The crackling of the flame and the breathing of the clones and of her Master, the sensation of the cold wind, the smell of food, the taste of meat lingering on her tongue, her drumming heart, and anything that might have distracted her disappeared from her senses. She remained in the darkness, together with the crystal and the Force.
Her Master's presence was clearly visible in front of her, and his presence hung as an impenetrable bastion of cold, jagged ice. It was as if trying to touch it would make her fingers bleed, and so, she didn't try. Beneath the ice, she could hear the thrumming of something vicious and powerful, but she had no clue what it was about -she'd ask him later.
As it was, Ahsoka carefully molded the crystal with the Force, removing the impurities and slowly folding upon itself the Force-Sensitive piece of rock until it finally became a crystal worthy of being inserted into a lightsaber.
Once she was done, a light coughing from her Master distracted her, forcing her to stop the procedure of mounting her lightsaber.
"You'll need to do better than that to attune it, Padawan." Ahsoka's eyes opened on reflex, she was sure she had quieted down all her senses, yet her Master's voice had come all the same through her ears. Then again, he had said he was strong in the Force.
Her Master's right hand was open, palm up. Hesitantly, Ahsoka handed the crystal over. She had done a good job for it being the first time, hadn't she?
"You see," he remarked quite calmly, "this is a very special crystal. There is a history of the Dantooine caves. They say that each padawan who steps into them is called to their specific crystal, a crystal that grows together with the Padawan, a crystal that becomes an extension of the Jedi's soul. Unfortunately, you need quite the skill in the Force to properly attune such a crystal to the thousand of tiny edges a soul has, but worry not, one day you'll get there, hopefully." As her Master spoke, the crystal began to fluctuate up and down between his two open palms, folding further and further as the Force manipulated it, until it became a shining bright crystal with tiny nudges on the otherwise perfectly smooth surface.
Then, he handed her the crystal back. "Now you may mount it on your lightsaber, Padawan."
Ahsoka felt the thrumming power in the lightsaber's crystal call out to her, the quirkiness of the cold stone suddenly heating and freezing, as if made of opposites. She couldn't help but think that the crystal was hers, because it so naturally called out through the Force to what she truly meant when she spoke and to what she did.
It was so perfect in her hand that her voice caught herself in her throat and did not budge as she finished mounting her blade. Once she was done, she turned her lightsaber on.
It was...it was like lighting up a sun. The power that came from the blade itself, attuned to the Force like it was, was nothing short than bringing to life a brilliant sun that shook and quaked throughout the Force, sending ripples that made her skin shiver in delight. It felt right. The blade of plasma wasn't just 'a blade of plasma'. It was 'her lightsaber'. It was important. It was hers, an extension of her will, of her actions, of her soul. And it was also kind-of hypnotic to watch move back and forth.
"Once you're done acting like a moth to a flame, Padawan," her Master's voice caught her red-handed, and she quickly deactivated the blade and clipped it to her belt, "We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow, so you'd do better to sleep now."
"Y-Yes Master," she replied. What else could she say? She knew there was something else she had to say. "M-Master?"
"Yes?" her Master replied, an eyebrow raised as he looked at her from beyond the crackling fire.
"Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome, Padawan."
Silence settled once more around the campfire. The Aquila commandos took turns with guarding, but her Master rather than sleep entered a meditative stance, and remained a visible presence in the darkness even long after Ahsoka closed her eyes to rest. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but it was because his presence was visible in the Force that she actually managed to fall asleep in such a strange place.
Even far away from the temple, and from her cot, her Master's presence in the Force was an all too familiar sensation to her senses, and that alone sufficed to calm her fears of sleeping in such an unknown place.
When morning came, Ahsoka was gently roused from her sleep by her Master's presence. He didn't seem perturbed, but merely eager. That eagerness was something that made Ahsoka eager too, and as she opened her eyes, she realized her Master was eagerly watching a metallic pot with water inside boiling over the fire. He was drumming his right foot on the ground, like an overexcited rabbit. The image of a Mad Rabbit jumping in a hole with a blond girl following him soon etched itself in the back of Ahsoka's mind, but she blinked, and the image disappeared. It probably was just a reminiscence of a silly dream.
"Good morning, everyone," Ahsoka said as she nimbly got on her feet. The Aquila commandos were without their helmets, all huddled around the boiling pot. She neared with curiosity, and Eagle shot her a glance -his face was the split image of the other three, but again, what did she expect since they were all clones?
"Good morning princess," Hawk said with a chuckle. "Slept well?"
Ahsoka stretched, warming up her limbs. "It was great. What are the sleeping bags made of? The Jedi temple definitely needs to order them in bulk."
"There's nothing special about them," Rufous said with a shrug. "They do their job." The sound of bubbling soon perked Ahsoka's ears up. The Togruta's nose picked up a strange smell in the air, and as everyone else seemed eager, she began to grow eager too for whatever was coming out of the pot.
"What are you cooking?" she asked.
"The brew of the gods," her Master replied with the utmost seriousness. Ahsoka raised both eyebrows at her Master's proclamation. He was so visibly excited, she wondered if this was something similar to Mandalorian Ale. Her Master wouldn't get drunk so early in the morning, would he?
"Is it alcohol?" she asked.
Five heads swiveled to stare at her in shock. "Padawan," her Master said, "you...you never had coffee?"
Ahsoka wrinkled her nose at being caught in the crossfire of all of those pity-filled gazes. "Bread and water is the temple's breakfast."
"I must inform myself on Togruta physiology concerning coffee, but once I'm done, and if I get the all-clear, I'll make you taste some of it," her Master said. Then, as if by an unspoken word, five cups were drawn and the contents of the pot equally divided between them all.
"For the Republic," Eagle said, his cup raised.
"For coffee," her Master added.
"Glory to coffee!" Hawk nodded excitedly.
"May coffee be blessed," Rufous said.
"To coffee," Wedge said with a nod.
Ahsoka nervously smiled. So...her master's strangeness was contagious too?
She had to keep an eye out then. Her master was great, all things considered, but she didn't want to catch whatever it was that he seemed to be carrying.
Then again, if whatever he had kept him so calm even in front of the Separatist threat, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad to get a little dose of that strangeness. Her stomach was churning into knots at the thought of the battle ahead of them, after all.
But her Master seemed perfectly at ease, as if they had already won.
Wonderland awaits, Alice.
She shuddered.
Fear led to the Dark Side.
She shouldn't be scared. It was just the first time she saw a battle, and participated into one, but she shouldn't be scared. Her Master was with her. He'd shield her from the worst, so he had said.
Something warm bubbled in her chest. It was contentment. Her Master seemed happy, utterly happy, as something warm slowly sloshed its way through Ahsoka's stomach. Was this what it felt like to drink 'coffee'? Ahsoka closed her eyes and sighed in relief, before sharply opening them as she realized she was feeling what her Master was feeling.
"Force Bonds are a thing, Padawan," her Master said offhandedly, as she was just about to ask for an explanation. "The stronger the Force, the easier it is for such bonds to form," he added with a light chuckle. "Now have no fear," he said, "your master's here."
So not only was her master strange, he was also psychic.
Great.
Really great.
The day couldn't get any worst, could it?
Author's Notes
I don't particularly like the idea of Force Bonds -kind of like the Soul Bonds of many a fanfiction. Unfortunately, canon is canon and D20 Star Wars is D20 Star Wars and everyone seems to think Bonds in Star Wars are a Thing with the 'T' capped. So...le sigh.
Edit: since I'm writing the next chapter already, I'll answer here. I'm using these lines taken from the wiki:
"Furthermore, connections were known to occur when one was made to open to the Force, or imbued by a powerful wielder of the Force."
"The degree to which that was possible varied depending on the Force-sensitivity of the people involved, meaning that the stronger they were in the Force, the stronger the connection would be."
-And I'm drawing parallels with Meetra Surik, if it hasn't yet been realized. But that will be explained further ahead.
Ahsoka felt as if a snake had decided to nestle on her head, and begun to constrict her skull. It took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the night sky, and when they did, she shot up as fast as she could. The sudden change of posture made her wobble, her breathing coming less for a split second as her vision doubled. A hand firmly settled on her shoulder, and she found herself lying back down as a clone commando checked her pupils' response with a penlight.
"You're awake, Padawan," her Master said calmly from the side. She frowned as she saw a streak of red light sail in the night sky. Was it a firework? But it didn't explode. Slowly, her ears began to pick up the sound of blaster shots. Wincing, Ahsoka carefully craned her neck to the side, and what she saw made her balk.
There was a Separatist army advancing on the field below them, and they were fighting through the clones' formation and Master Mace Windu. Meanwhile, her Master was standing atop the hill, a foot on a nearby rock and both hands dancing in the air as he hummed a strange tune.
"No! Disse il Piave, No! dissero i fanti~" her Master sang with joy in his heart as a hand swatted away the air in front of him as if it were a fly, and in doing so, the ground rose and trembled as if a sword had struck and shattered through it, "mai più il nemico faccia un passo avanti~" another swaying of the hand, and the shrapnel of rock turned against the nearing droids, making them crash and fall back. Those who didn't were harmlessly pelted with sharp rocks, at least until a blaster shot struck them and made them fizzle to a stop.
"I have to-" Ahsoka stammered, trying to stand up.
"You lost your lightsaber, Padawan, and your strength isn't back yet," her Master remarked humming. "Leave this battle to us. I'm sure Mace could solve this alone, so really, we're here just to make it easier...but remember, over-confidence is a sin!"
As he barked that, he quickly lifted a wall of steel from a broken Separatist Droid-Dropper and used it to tank the blast of a missile launcher from the droid army. The metal dented, but otherwise held.
"There is no emotion, there is peace," her master hissed through clenched teeth. "Padawan, don't worry. You'll have your moment to shine later. Right now, try to stay low or you'll get a laser blast to the face, and nobody likes laser blasts to the face."
Her Master was very chipper. He even felt drunk-chipper. "Is he drunk?" she managed to hoarsely whisper to Rufous, who gingerly looked sideways. Ahsoka's eyes widened. They were on a hill, with an army of Separatist droids that greatly outnumbered them, she had lost her lightsaber and wasn't even capable of striking out on her own feet, and...and her Master was drunk.
"Mandalorian ale," Rufous said with a slight 'I'm sorry' tone beneath it. "He asked for a sip during dinner. Nobody thought-"
"There's got to be something against getting drunk in the Jedi code," Ahsoka muttered through her teeth. "There has got to be."
"This is spear that splits the heavens," her Master bellowed with his right hand clenched into a fist, as he split the metallic shield into sharp, brimming with electricity -wait, what- and pulsing heat. "This is the judgement of Odin!" her Master giggled. No, really, she had been knocked out for a couple of hours tops. "This is...electric judgment!" And with that, the spear departed with the strength of a missile being launched from a rocket launcher, rushing through the air like a falling star and striking deeply into the side of a large, brownish monstrosity that seemed to be coming down from the skies.
Then, a giant Yoda began to bob his head up and down to the rhythmic rapping sound coming from somewhere far away, having appeared out of thin air. "Do or do not! Tsk-Tsk! Ba-Da-Bum! Do-Or-Do-Not! Not-Do-Do-Or!"
Ahsoka gasped, and opened her eyes for real this time, her breathing quick as she looked hurriedly around. She winced, slightly, at the pain. However, there was no army around them, and everyone still seemed in high spirits. "No!" Ahsoka exclaimed, a hand rushing up as a quick push of the force sent the bottle of Mandalorian ale out of Eagle's hand before it could be offered to Master Shade. "He doesn't drink."
Master Shade blinked from his spot, and with two fingers used the Force to keep the bottle afloat, preventing it from spilling. "I wasn't going to, Padawan," he remarked dryly, putting the bottle back in his hand and then handing it to Hawk, who was by his other side. "Glad to see you're fully awake now," he added.
"I-" Ahsoka carefully stood from her bed, and walked to sit down at the free spot in front of her master. They were standing by the fire, far off in the middle of a depression of hills. "Where are we?"
"Away from the caves," her Master replied. "The Force there was too strong for you," he added, taking a bite out of some canned food -strange, canned food. No, not canned food. Canned Slob. Her canned Slob. "Oh, right," he added. "I ate your Slob. Sorry Padawan, Master's privileges and whatnot. You'll have to eat the MRE now."
Ahsoka no longer cared about the headache, or the strange dream she had had. Her smile could have blinded a blind man from how intensely radiant it was at the thought of finally eating something that tasted like meat, even if a poor substitute of it.
As she finished eating religiously -and even going as far as sticking her tongue into the can to get the last scraps- she realized only afterwards that her Master was chuckling at her antics, shaking his head at the same time.
Heat managed to reach the very tip of her montrals, as she hastily tried to resume a serious appearance. "A-ahem," she coughed with a hand in front of her mouth. "What now, Master?"
"Well, while you were sleeping, we received notification that there has been movement towards this planet from the edges of the system," her Master said. "It appears the Separatist are coming here to put up a base of operation, and aren't expecting any clone presence on this planet. After all, do you see a clone presence nearby?"
The Commandos looked at one another, and then Rufous made a 'Hoot-Hoot' sound. "I'm a bird, sir. Clearly not a clone."
"Yes, my dear hallucination that is clearly a bird and not a clone commando," Master Shade replied with a nod, "You are a bird. If you believe in yourself, you'll even fly."
Ahsoka blinked. "Master?"
"Pardon me, Padawan," here Master Shade coughed. "As I was saying, this planet will soon become dangerous. Yet, not dangerous enough as to warrant you leaving. We will be doing our first training exercise with live enemies tomorrow, in fact. The droids are bound to land their crafts with the obvious escort, and once they do, we'll take them out."
"Won't they realize there are clones on this planet?" Ahsoka hazarded.
"Why would they? Our starship has long gone back to the edges of the system, and will return just in time to strike at our enemy from behind. Until then, we'll hide and strike their forces with the less fuss possible, and tripping no alarms," as he said the last part, he gazed at Ahsoka long, his eyes narrow as if he was accusing her of having already done something like that.
Ahsoka looked down at the empty can of MRE, and then back up at her Master. "My lightsaber-"
"I managed to salvage its components," her master replied, lifting them up in his right hand for her to see. Ahsoka winced. That...that didn't look good, it didn't look good at all. "I don't know how you managed to break it, but the crystal inside shattered while the rest of the handle is still serviceable. I think it takes a degree in 'applied accidents' to make something like this work...then again, the Force works in mysterious physics-defying ways, so..."
Ignoring her Master's rant of absolute madness, Ahsoka grabbed the pieces of her lightsaber and then turned around, looking for the blue crystal. She found it near her makeshift cot, a chunk of dirt and rock that was still shining with the soft glow of a night lamp. It reassured her, to see it there. Carefully using her fingers to pick the dirt off the cracks, she took a deep breath. Master Yoda had trained the young of the temple on how to actually build a lightsaber -even if she hadn't needed to actually purify the crystal herself. She knew, in theory, what she had to do with it.
Her eyes closed and carefully, a sense at the time, Ahsoka shut off all distractions. The crackling of the flame and the breathing of the clones and of her Master, the sensation of the cold wind, the smell of food, the taste of meat lingering on her tongue, her drumming heart, and anything that might have distracted her disappeared from her senses. She remained in the darkness, together with the crystal and the Force.
Her Master's presence was clearly visible in front of her, and his presence hung as an impenetrable bastion of cold, jagged ice. It was as if trying to touch it would make her fingers bleed, and so, she didn't try. Beneath the ice, she could hear the thrumming of something vicious and powerful, but she had no clue what it was about -she'd ask him later.
As it was, Ahsoka carefully molded the crystal with the Force, removing the impurities and slowly folding upon itself the Force-Sensitive piece of rock until it finally became a crystal worthy of being inserted into a lightsaber.
Once she was done, a light coughing from her Master distracted her, forcing her to stop the procedure of mounting her lightsaber.
"You'll need to do better than that to attune it, Padawan." Ahsoka's eyes opened on reflex, she was sure she had quieted down all her senses, yet her Master's voice had come all the same through her ears. Then again, he had said he was strong in the Force.
Her Master's right hand was open, palm up. Hesitantly, Ahsoka handed the crystal over. She had done a good job for it being the first time, hadn't she?
"You see," he remarked quite calmly, "this is a very special crystal. There is a history of the Dantooine caves. They say that each padawan who steps into them is called to their specific crystal, a crystal that grows together with the Padawan, a crystal that becomes an extension of the Jedi's soul. Unfortunately, you need quite the skill in the Force to properly attune such a crystal to the thousand of tiny edges a soul has, but worry not, one day you'll get there, hopefully." As her Master spoke, the crystal began to fluctuate up and down between his two open palms, folding further and further as the Force manipulated it, until it became a shining bright crystal with tiny nudges on the otherwise perfectly smooth surface.
Then, he handed her the crystal back. "Now you may mount it on your lightsaber, Padawan."
Ahsoka felt the thrumming power in the lightsaber's crystal call out to her, the quirkiness of the cold stone suddenly heating and freezing, as if made of opposites. She couldn't help but think that the crystal was hers, because it so naturally called out through the Force to what she truly meant when she spoke and to what she did.
It was so perfect in her hand that her voice caught herself in her throat and did not budge as she finished mounting her blade. Once she was done, she turned her lightsaber on.
It was...it was like lighting up a sun. The power that came from the blade itself, attuned to the Force like it was, was nothing short than bringing to life a brilliant sun that shook and quaked throughout the Force, sending ripples that made her skin shiver in delight. It felt right. The blade of plasma wasn't just 'a blade of plasma'. It was 'her lightsaber'. It was important. It was hers, an extension of her will, of her actions, of her soul. And it was also kind-of hypnotic to watch move back and forth.
"Once you're done acting like a moth to a flame, Padawan," her Master's voice caught her red-handed, and she quickly deactivated the blade and clipped it to her belt, "We've got a long day ahead of us tomorrow, so you'd do better to sleep now."
"Y-Yes Master," she replied. What else could she say? She knew there was something else she had to say. "M-Master?"
"Yes?" her Master replied, an eyebrow raised as he looked at her from beyond the crackling fire.
"Thank you," she said.
"You're welcome, Padawan."
Silence settled once more around the campfire. The Aquila commandos took turns with guarding, but her Master rather than sleep entered a meditative stance, and remained a visible presence in the darkness even long after Ahsoka closed her eyes to rest. She wouldn't admit it to anyone, but it was because his presence was visible in the Force that she actually managed to fall asleep in such a strange place.
Even far away from the temple, and from her cot, her Master's presence in the Force was an all too familiar sensation to her senses, and that alone sufficed to calm her fears of sleeping in such an unknown place.
When morning came, Ahsoka was gently roused from her sleep by her Master's presence. He didn't seem perturbed, but merely eager. That eagerness was something that made Ahsoka eager too, and as she opened her eyes, she realized her Master was eagerly watching a metallic pot with water inside boiling over the fire. He was drumming his right foot on the ground, like an overexcited rabbit. The image of a Mad Rabbit jumping in a hole with a blond girl following him soon etched itself in the back of Ahsoka's mind, but she blinked, and the image disappeared. It probably was just a reminiscence of a silly dream.
"Good morning, everyone," Ahsoka said as she nimbly got on her feet. The Aquila commandos were without their helmets, all huddled around the boiling pot. She neared with curiosity, and Eagle shot her a glance -his face was the split image of the other three, but again, what did she expect since they were all clones?
"Good morning princess," Hawk said with a chuckle. "Slept well?"
Ahsoka stretched, warming up her limbs. "It was great. What are the sleeping bags made of? The Jedi temple definitely needs to order them in bulk."
"There's nothing special about them," Rufous said with a shrug. "They do their job." The sound of bubbling soon perked Ahsoka's ears up. The Togruta's nose picked up a strange smell in the air, and as everyone else seemed eager, she began to grow eager too for whatever was coming out of the pot.
"What are you cooking?" she asked.
"The brew of the gods," her Master replied with the utmost seriousness. Ahsoka raised both eyebrows at her Master's proclamation. He was so visibly excited, she wondered if this was something similar to Mandalorian Ale. Her Master wouldn't get drunk so early in the morning, would he?
"Is it alcohol?" she asked.
Five heads swiveled to stare at her in shock. "Padawan," her Master said, "you...you never had coffee?"
Ahsoka wrinkled her nose at being caught in the crossfire of all of those pity-filled gazes. "Bread and water is the temple's breakfast."
"I must inform myself on Togruta physiology concerning coffee, but once I'm done, and if I get the all-clear, I'll make you taste some of it," her Master said. Then, as if by an unspoken word, five cups were drawn and the contents of the pot equally divided between them all.
"For the Republic," Eagle said, his cup raised.
"For coffee," her Master added.
"Glory to coffee!" Hawk nodded excitedly.
"May coffee be blessed," Rufous said.
"To coffee," Wedge said with a nod.
Ahsoka nervously smiled. So...her master's strangeness was contagious too?
She had to keep an eye out then. Her master was great, all things considered, but she didn't want to catch whatever it was that he seemed to be carrying.
Then again, if whatever he had kept him so calm even in front of the Separatist threat, then maybe it wouldn't be so bad to get a little dose of that strangeness. Her stomach was churning into knots at the thought of the battle ahead of them, after all.
But her Master seemed perfectly at ease, as if they had already won.
Wonderland awaits, Alice.
She shuddered.
Fear led to the Dark Side.
She shouldn't be scared. It was just the first time she saw a battle, and participated into one, but she shouldn't be scared. Her Master was with her. He'd shield her from the worst, so he had said.
Something warm bubbled in her chest. It was contentment. Her Master seemed happy, utterly happy, as something warm slowly sloshed its way through Ahsoka's stomach. Was this what it felt like to drink 'coffee'? Ahsoka closed her eyes and sighed in relief, before sharply opening them as she realized she was feeling what her Master was feeling.
"Force Bonds are a thing, Padawan," her Master said offhandedly, as she was just about to ask for an explanation. "The stronger the Force, the easier it is for such bonds to form," he added with a light chuckle. "Now have no fear," he said, "your master's here."
So not only was her master strange, he was also psychic.
Great.
Really great.
The day couldn't get any worst, could it?
Author's Notes
I don't particularly like the idea of Force Bonds -kind of like the Soul Bonds of many a fanfiction. Unfortunately, canon is canon and D20 Star Wars is D20 Star Wars and everyone seems to think Bonds in Star Wars are a Thing with the 'T' capped. So...le sigh.
Edit: since I'm writing the next chapter already, I'll answer here. I'm using these lines taken from the wiki:
"Furthermore, connections were known to occur when one was made to open to the Force, or imbued by a powerful wielder of the Force."
"The degree to which that was possible varied depending on the Force-sensitivity of the people involved, meaning that the stronger they were in the Force, the stronger the connection would be."
-And I'm drawing parallels with Meetra Surik, if it hasn't yet been realized. But that will be explained further ahead.
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I don't think force bonds work like that. At least not this fast. Unless Shade somehow has the same force eating bond making trait that the Exile had it takes Decades of close bonding between powerful force users to create a bond as strong as you are showing.
- Pronouns
- She / Her
Ehh, aren't force bonds supposed to be something that happens over a long period of time?
Still, absolutely fantastic and a brilliant display. I like how you didn't overstate the importance of the Dantooine caves. Although I hope that, at some point, you run into the few bits that might be left of the Jedi Enclave. That might just be my bias towards KOTOR showing though.
I wonder if Shade and Ahsoka will ever visit Tython. Birthplace of the Jedi and all that, it shouldn't have been allowed to fade from memory and left to languish in darkness in the first place.
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Yeah, excluding special circumstances, like near death experiences (Revan and Bastila), or when Kreia taught The Exile to feel the force, again. Though, Shade could be like The Exile, and form them more easily than most.
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Chapter Six
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Six
They were hiding in the tall grass, gazing at the disembarking troops of the Separatists. More and more 'grunt' droids came down, but they were different from those Ahsoka had known the Trade Federation to use. They were bulkier, and didn't seem to be wielding rifles in their arms. The Clones didn't look perturbed, and neither did her Master, so she calmed down.
The large landing craft that began to disembark the droids was one of many -all coming down from orbit- and they seemed to be mounting the stage for a larger assault. When she had seen Master Windu leave with his troops, she had thought it overkill. Now, she realized they were grossly overwhelmed by the enemy presence.
Her Master seemed calm instead, calmer than the clone commandos themselves. He simply watched with fascination as the troops disembarked and remained still, in wait of further orders.
"Keep your breathing steady, Padawan," her Master whispered. "There is nothing to fear."
"Master, there are-" Ahsoka replied, but caught her next words -she could feel the fear in her voice, and her Master could probably sense it from a mile away. "I apologize, Master, but there are so many of them."
"Calm down then," her Master said. "Let your fear go. Close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. Ease it down. Take deep breaths. You shall know no fear. There is no emotion, there is no fear. There is peace."
As he whispered gently, Ahsoka closed her eyes as a swab of warm cotton moved over her senses, calming her heart. It felt like snuggling around a warm blanket. And then the feeling slowly receded, and she carefully opened her eyes. She was calm now. Sure, there were a lot of droids, but her Master had a plan.
There was no need to fear. She had her training.
Fear wasn't needed. She could do it.
"The central weakness of droids is that they need a command signal to work," her Master remarked. "Said command signal is usually embedded in the antenna of the B1 battle droids, but in the B2, it's within their chest," he added. "Without a signal, the droids of the B1 mark outright shut down, but those of the B2 variant simply forget about an enemy if it's not in front of them. Now, the landing craft is just about to return to space to get another load of droids...guess where we fit in?"
Ahsoka blearily looked at her Master. "We'll be going aboard a Separatist ship?"
"Exactly, my Padawan," her Master replied with a small smile. "Now, Aquila squad," he added, "Do your thing and get us close to the side of that behemoth. Possibly near its feet."
"Follow me," Eagle said, "Keep radio silence."
"Affirmative," the other three Clone Commandos replied.
As a single unit, they began to slowly crawl in the tall grass towards the ship, although Hawk crawled away from the main unit, and disappeared in the tall grass somewhere else. Ahsoka lost track of him in the tall greenery, but remained down even as the rocks on the ground scratched her stomach. She was definitely getting some long robes -to hell with style and mobility, she hoped her stomach wasn't going to scar from all the rocks!
"Stop," Hawk's voice reached her ear, and probably those of everyone else. "Droid patrol nearing you at two o'clock. Stay still."
Her breathing evened out. Stay calm, Ahsoka, she thought to herself. Stay calm. Let them pass.
And pass they did.
"Proceed," Hawk's voice returned. Maybe the clone was taking point somewhere away, and guiding them through the patrols as they proceeded. Still, as he spoke, they once more began to crawl forward. It was a slow, methodical job.
"They finished unloading and are closing the main hatch," Hawk piped in. "You're twenty meters away from the ship's center. They'll reactivate the anti-grav any moment now."
And that was bad. Because if they did, and someone was beneath them, they'd get squished.
Eagle replied with a single word. "Distract."
Suddenly, a loud blaring bolt sailed overhead, and Ahsoka heard a sizzling sound before an explosion tore something up in the distance to her right. They began to crawl faster, the grass starting to move and flatten around them as the anti-gravitation engines began to turn online. Yet, contrary to her thoughts, they didn't end up squashed like bugs.
"Move it," her Master grunted in effort. "I know how Atlantes feels now," he added with another grunt as he was literally being carried by both Eagle and Wedge, both crawling, yet both pushing him forward as he couldn't move, his hands held slightly up to defend them from the pressure.
Ahsoka quickened her pace, and suddenly the pressure dropped. "We're right below the main hangar," Eagle said. "The droids are distracted by Hawk, sir."
Her Master exhaled in relief, and with a jump unlike any other, grabbed hold of the lower side of the ship before using the force to crack the hatch open. With his other hand, he pulled the clone troopers up once by one, until in the end, Ahsoka felt her body lifted in the air and quite a few meters up, before landing on the cold metal floor of the ship's hangar. Her Master managed to roll inside last, before the hangar closed again with a soft hiss.
"They'll send someone to investigate," he muttered with his breathing uneven, "Move to hide."
"Already ahead of you, sir," Eagle whispered, grabbing hold together with Wedge of Master Shade, and carrying him behind a pair of thick crates. Ahsoka followed, shocked, and peeked from the crates as a few B1 droids came to check.
"Hangar closed," a droid said.
"Roger roger, failure in sensor," the second droid beeped. They both nodded to one another, and walked back where they came from. Somehow, Ahsoka was glad the Separatists had such stupid droids. At least, she hoped the Republic's clones wouldn't be that stupid.
Soon, they left behind the planet and reached for the stars, and Ahsoka could feel the artificial gravity sink in as her Master's breathing evened out. Eventually, he blinked and carefully knelt near the crates hiding them.
Now, they just had to wait. The carrier would reach the hangar bay of the main ship in orbit, and from there...what would they do from there? They'd...they'd probably end up facing way more enemies than before. Ahsoka bit her lower lip, and remained calm. Well, as calm as she could possibly be. She understood the battle plan -reach the main ship, deactivate the signal- but the problem was if they'd actually manage it.
She didn't doubt her skills, but she was starting to doubt her master's resilience. He had been using pretty hefty stuff since the day before, and it didn't take a genius to understand he was getting tired. Sure, lifting the entire cave system had been bad-ass, and holding his own against the gravitational pull of the ship's engines hadn't been a small feat, but he looked spent, he felt spent, and she'd rather he took five minutes of rest than risk falling unconscious while storming the main decks of the Separatist ship.
The ship rumbled as it slid into the hangar of the mother ship of the Separatist fleet -yet, she had an inkling there was only one ship hanging around the planet, rather than an entire fleet. As the hangar bay's ramp began to descend, the light filtered in as more troops of droids walked on. B2 and B1, as well as a few spider droids, made their way into the hangar in an orderly fashion. Ahsoka turned at the sound of the safeties being disengaged from their weapons. Wedge hoisted his rocket launcher, while Eagle and Rufous both clutched their laser rifles before nodding at her master, who returned the nod.
Her Master's eyes then turned to gaze at her, and the unspoken command was thus clear.
Run.
Run and don't stop for anything in the world.
As the last of the droid filtered in, her Master rushed ahead and struck at the metallic pole used to lift the ramp back up. He struck at it with a flash of sizzling light that Ahsoka couldn't even see. Was that his lightsaber? She couldn't even see the color! The ramp halted in mid-ascension, and after her Master jumped down, she quickly followed. An explosion rocked behind them before Wedge, Eagle and Rufous jumped down too. The Hangar bay of the Separatist ship was filled with droids going about their businesses, with more troops filling the transports. Yet, a lot of heads turned to stare at them, as if unsure on what had just happened.
Ahsoka didn't stop running behind her Master, and neither did the clones. Her lightsaber drawn, Ahsoka instinctively parried an incoming bolt from one of the quicker-thinking B2, who began to open fire. Rufous returned it, shooting the clunky machine down with a shot to the head. The hangar side had a small tunnel, which her master shattered open with a push of the force, allowing them access. Her master seemed to instinctively know where to head, and as the clones followed him, she closed the line with Wedge.
Master Shade turned a corridor, and then jumped back gesturing at Wedge, who threw a primed grenade at him. The Force hung it in mid-air and like a pitcher, Master Shade threw it forward. The explosion rocked the metal ground, and Ashoka bit her tongue as she held tighter to her lightsaber.
Somehow, she managed to shift herself right next to her master as they advanced. The corridors were clean, and devoid of crates -which meant there was no cover, and also no wreckage capable of slowing them down. As the doors slid open around them, and droids began to pour out, hands raised and lasers departing, Ahsoka lifted her blade and her Master instead brought up his hands. The laser bolts stopped at an invisible threshold, hovering in the air as her Master grinned with a feral smirk.
"There is no spoon."
The bolts sailed back, outright denying, defying, destroying the laws of physics as they crashed into the hard carapace-like armor of the droids. The robots blasted apart as they fell backwards. The laser bursts from the Clone Commandos soon joined the fray, striking and holding the droids behind the doorways, or well, behind the wreckage of their brethren.
Ahsoka saw a B1 droid with a rocket launcher, and threw herself forward, striking the droid down with her lightsaber cutting with ease through the thin armor. The next moment, the B2 droid behind the first brought his fist to bare, but with no fear in her heart, she charged at him just as he opened fire, deflecting the laser bolts against him with her reverse grip.
Her free hand lifted the shattered droid and pushed him through the corridor, bringing a few more droids to their demises.
She jumped back and rejoined her Master's side as they rushed past the corridor and into a T-section, but her Master, without stopping nor hesitating, took the left corridor. The clone commandos followed with their boots stamping in perfect rhythm on the metal walkway, since they were apparently ascending to the command tower of the ship, below them Ahsoka could now see the hangars they had just passed on the way inside. A spider-droid lifted its round head towards them, and with a laser shot, melted the metal of the walkway behind them.
Wedge stumbled from the shock, but her Master twisted in mid-air and with a hand lifted and steadied him up. He did it all without stopping, without sweating, without even catching a break.
Ahsoka could feel the Force thrum and ripple around her master's form, and as her master began to slow down at the start of a metallic bulk-head door, he looked at her. "Open it," he said.
Ahsoka brought her lightsaber to bear and slammed it through the door. Calmly, she began to push the blade up. Behind them, the droid army opened fire from the hangar. They had a clear shot at all of them, but even as volley after volley of laser came up, not a single bolt hit them as her master stood in front of her with both hands raised and a growl thrumming in the back of his throat. With a howl, Ahsoka pushed the blade further into the metal, enlarging the melted steel pool that dripped near her feet as she nearly finished the hole. The three clone commandos meanwhile opened fire blindly -there's no need to aim in the midst of a Zerg rush.
What the hell was a Zerg rush was beyond Ahsoka's comprehension at the moment, but she was nearly done. As the circle was done, she kicked it once, then twice, and finally Wedge neared with a 'Excuse me,' hand gesture before slamming a foot straight against it and opening the way.
One at the time, they rolled in. She went first, lightsaber ablaze and parrying blow after blow of B2 droids beyond the bulk-head. Eagle followed, and relieved much of the pressure by killing a fair share of droids. Wedge entered next, and opened fire straight on the command center's computers.
As the missile struck the console, the explosion rocked them all back, while the blast-shields came down at the windows and the lights turned crimson to signal the alert. The door they had broken through slid open, potentially to allow for a quick escape, as the B1 droids turned off abruptly.
The few remaining B2 droids erratically opened fire, but were quickly taken down by Rufous' rifle.
"You alive, Padawan?" her master asked as she looked up at him from the position she had been knocked at after the explosion. Wincing, she held the back of her head -a trickle of blood was coming from where she had hit the metal. What was it with injuries and her head?
"Yes, I'm alive," she replied as she hurriedly got back on her feet. "Did we-" a blast shook the walkway a few meters short of the command center's open door.
"Right," her Master replied, "Course the big spider droid wouldn't shut off," he snapped a finger to the Clone Commandos. "Wedge, provide support fire while I go and-" his next step didn't come forward. Woozy, he outright fell face first on the ground. Ahsoka managed to catch him just in time.
"I was starting to wonder when he was going to burn out," Eagle said. "Well sir," here Eagle turned to look at Ahsoka, who was wide-eyed at the sight of her Master unconscious in her arms, "What are your orders?"
"G-Gah! Gahhh!" Ahsoka spluttered out as another blast struck the door, making everything tremble. "Just take that thing down!"
Eagle nodded and made a military salute. "It will be done sir! Come on Aquila squad!"
With quick steps, the trio of Commandos jumped out of the door with jet-packs suddenly lighting up from their backs. The sound of blaster rifles and explosions reached Ahsoka's ears as she looked down at her sleeping master.
"Let's get out of here," she acquiesced, her heart drumming as she hoisted him back up. "And you're heavy, Master," she continued. "You could have burned out before this, like, way before this. Or after this, maybe back on planet?"
An alarm blared. Another alarm soon joined the first.
Oh right, the Republic ship they had come in would soon return and strike at the ship, wouldn't it? But, well, this ship was a Dreadnought, so if they hadn't disabled the command bridge-oh damn! DAMN. DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN!
"AND THIS IS WHAT YOU MEANT WITH EASY MISSION!?" Ahsoka shrieked out as she grabbed her master by the robes, "This!? You're insane! You're an insane Jedi! That's what!" she breathed in and out deeply, eyes buggering wide. "Utterly insane," she whispered as she looked at the hangar, where a ship still resided with her hangar door blown open. She couldn't call the Republic ship from the blown to bits command center on this ship, so there was really no other choice.
She neared the jump, and holding her Master while clipping the lightsaber back on her belt, she groaned. "Here goes nothing."
And then she jumped.
During the fall, the stray thought that she had a radio and could use it to call a clone-lift entered her brain, but thankfully the clones had half-expected that, and caught her and her master all the same.
"To the ship! Quickly!"
As fast as their jet-packs could fly, they managed to reach the troop carrier of the Separatist, and past the not-working droids riddling the floor as well as the twitching-not working ones, Ahsoka rushed her way to the pilot seat.
"Can you drive this?" Eagle asked her as she took the pilot seat, dropping her master on another one.
"No!" Ahsoka replied with a chipper voice, "Can you!?"
"No sir," Eagle replied.
Ahsoka began to click and turn the various shining lights as the ship alarm blared about the hangar door not closing, but well, the carrier's cockpit was isolated from the rest of the ship, so all she had to do was close the doors and hope nobody made her pay the fine for littering the atmosphere. The droid ship rolled out just as the first blows of turbolaser impacted against the Dreadnought, tearing at the thick armor of the spaceship.
"Shit-shit-shit-shit," Ahsoka babbled out as she pushed a lever, "Hope this is the acceleration!"
Eagle quietly looked at Wedge, who quietly looked at Rufous.
"What's with those looks!?" Ahsoka exclaimed as the ship rumbled a bit more now in the emptiness of space. "I'm doing what I can!"
"Sir," Eagle said politely. "That's the seat height regulator."
Ahsoka looked at Eagle firmly, a nervous, heart-beating furiously, look, and then hissed out. "If you can do better-"
"No sir, of course not sir," Eagle said. "Please, keep up the good work, sir."
"Gah!" Ahsoka brought both hands to her montrals and scratched the back of her head. "Can you work the radio at least!?"
Rufous neared the nearest implement, and began to touch it, hopefully giving a signal to the Republic ship.
"Sir," Rufous said, "I've managed to get through. They say we're in the clear...and that we have our hangar door open."
Ahsoka's glare would have silenced a meowing kitty.
It did nothing on Rufous, hardcore Aquila team commando.
Still, this calmed Ahsoka enough that she slumped on her seat and sighed in relief, the tension draining out of her. "What now?" she asked.
"They tell us to kill our engines," Rufous said. "They'll bring us inside the hangar."
"Yeah, you do that," Ahsoka mumbled. "Push buttons. One's bound to be the right one."
With that, she lost consciousness too. Too much adrenaline for such an easy mission. Really, her master wasn't just strange.
He was insane.
He was the king of insanity.
And yet she couldn't help but chuckle in the back of her mind. Insane or not, it had worked. And if something works, then it's not stupid.
They were hiding in the tall grass, gazing at the disembarking troops of the Separatists. More and more 'grunt' droids came down, but they were different from those Ahsoka had known the Trade Federation to use. They were bulkier, and didn't seem to be wielding rifles in their arms. The Clones didn't look perturbed, and neither did her Master, so she calmed down.
The large landing craft that began to disembark the droids was one of many -all coming down from orbit- and they seemed to be mounting the stage for a larger assault. When she had seen Master Windu leave with his troops, she had thought it overkill. Now, she realized they were grossly overwhelmed by the enemy presence.
Her Master seemed calm instead, calmer than the clone commandos themselves. He simply watched with fascination as the troops disembarked and remained still, in wait of further orders.
"Keep your breathing steady, Padawan," her Master whispered. "There is nothing to fear."
"Master, there are-" Ahsoka replied, but caught her next words -she could feel the fear in her voice, and her Master could probably sense it from a mile away. "I apologize, Master, but there are so many of them."
"Calm down then," her Master said. "Let your fear go. Close your eyes and concentrate on your breathing. Ease it down. Take deep breaths. You shall know no fear. There is no emotion, there is no fear. There is peace."
As he whispered gently, Ahsoka closed her eyes as a swab of warm cotton moved over her senses, calming her heart. It felt like snuggling around a warm blanket. And then the feeling slowly receded, and she carefully opened her eyes. She was calm now. Sure, there were a lot of droids, but her Master had a plan.
There was no need to fear. She had her training.
Fear wasn't needed. She could do it.
"The central weakness of droids is that they need a command signal to work," her Master remarked. "Said command signal is usually embedded in the antenna of the B1 battle droids, but in the B2, it's within their chest," he added. "Without a signal, the droids of the B1 mark outright shut down, but those of the B2 variant simply forget about an enemy if it's not in front of them. Now, the landing craft is just about to return to space to get another load of droids...guess where we fit in?"
Ahsoka blearily looked at her Master. "We'll be going aboard a Separatist ship?"
"Exactly, my Padawan," her Master replied with a small smile. "Now, Aquila squad," he added, "Do your thing and get us close to the side of that behemoth. Possibly near its feet."
"Follow me," Eagle said, "Keep radio silence."
"Affirmative," the other three Clone Commandos replied.
As a single unit, they began to slowly crawl in the tall grass towards the ship, although Hawk crawled away from the main unit, and disappeared in the tall grass somewhere else. Ahsoka lost track of him in the tall greenery, but remained down even as the rocks on the ground scratched her stomach. She was definitely getting some long robes -to hell with style and mobility, she hoped her stomach wasn't going to scar from all the rocks!
"Stop," Hawk's voice reached her ear, and probably those of everyone else. "Droid patrol nearing you at two o'clock. Stay still."
Her breathing evened out. Stay calm, Ahsoka, she thought to herself. Stay calm. Let them pass.
And pass they did.
"Proceed," Hawk's voice returned. Maybe the clone was taking point somewhere away, and guiding them through the patrols as they proceeded. Still, as he spoke, they once more began to crawl forward. It was a slow, methodical job.
"They finished unloading and are closing the main hatch," Hawk piped in. "You're twenty meters away from the ship's center. They'll reactivate the anti-grav any moment now."
And that was bad. Because if they did, and someone was beneath them, they'd get squished.
Eagle replied with a single word. "Distract."
Suddenly, a loud blaring bolt sailed overhead, and Ahsoka heard a sizzling sound before an explosion tore something up in the distance to her right. They began to crawl faster, the grass starting to move and flatten around them as the anti-gravitation engines began to turn online. Yet, contrary to her thoughts, they didn't end up squashed like bugs.
"Move it," her Master grunted in effort. "I know how Atlantes feels now," he added with another grunt as he was literally being carried by both Eagle and Wedge, both crawling, yet both pushing him forward as he couldn't move, his hands held slightly up to defend them from the pressure.
Ahsoka quickened her pace, and suddenly the pressure dropped. "We're right below the main hangar," Eagle said. "The droids are distracted by Hawk, sir."
Her Master exhaled in relief, and with a jump unlike any other, grabbed hold of the lower side of the ship before using the force to crack the hatch open. With his other hand, he pulled the clone troopers up once by one, until in the end, Ahsoka felt her body lifted in the air and quite a few meters up, before landing on the cold metal floor of the ship's hangar. Her Master managed to roll inside last, before the hangar closed again with a soft hiss.
"They'll send someone to investigate," he muttered with his breathing uneven, "Move to hide."
"Already ahead of you, sir," Eagle whispered, grabbing hold together with Wedge of Master Shade, and carrying him behind a pair of thick crates. Ahsoka followed, shocked, and peeked from the crates as a few B1 droids came to check.
"Hangar closed," a droid said.
"Roger roger, failure in sensor," the second droid beeped. They both nodded to one another, and walked back where they came from. Somehow, Ahsoka was glad the Separatists had such stupid droids. At least, she hoped the Republic's clones wouldn't be that stupid.
Soon, they left behind the planet and reached for the stars, and Ahsoka could feel the artificial gravity sink in as her Master's breathing evened out. Eventually, he blinked and carefully knelt near the crates hiding them.
Now, they just had to wait. The carrier would reach the hangar bay of the main ship in orbit, and from there...what would they do from there? They'd...they'd probably end up facing way more enemies than before. Ahsoka bit her lower lip, and remained calm. Well, as calm as she could possibly be. She understood the battle plan -reach the main ship, deactivate the signal- but the problem was if they'd actually manage it.
She didn't doubt her skills, but she was starting to doubt her master's resilience. He had been using pretty hefty stuff since the day before, and it didn't take a genius to understand he was getting tired. Sure, lifting the entire cave system had been bad-ass, and holding his own against the gravitational pull of the ship's engines hadn't been a small feat, but he looked spent, he felt spent, and she'd rather he took five minutes of rest than risk falling unconscious while storming the main decks of the Separatist ship.
The ship rumbled as it slid into the hangar of the mother ship of the Separatist fleet -yet, she had an inkling there was only one ship hanging around the planet, rather than an entire fleet. As the hangar bay's ramp began to descend, the light filtered in as more troops of droids walked on. B2 and B1, as well as a few spider droids, made their way into the hangar in an orderly fashion. Ahsoka turned at the sound of the safeties being disengaged from their weapons. Wedge hoisted his rocket launcher, while Eagle and Rufous both clutched their laser rifles before nodding at her master, who returned the nod.
Her Master's eyes then turned to gaze at her, and the unspoken command was thus clear.
Run.
Run and don't stop for anything in the world.
As the last of the droid filtered in, her Master rushed ahead and struck at the metallic pole used to lift the ramp back up. He struck at it with a flash of sizzling light that Ahsoka couldn't even see. Was that his lightsaber? She couldn't even see the color! The ramp halted in mid-ascension, and after her Master jumped down, she quickly followed. An explosion rocked behind them before Wedge, Eagle and Rufous jumped down too. The Hangar bay of the Separatist ship was filled with droids going about their businesses, with more troops filling the transports. Yet, a lot of heads turned to stare at them, as if unsure on what had just happened.
Ahsoka didn't stop running behind her Master, and neither did the clones. Her lightsaber drawn, Ahsoka instinctively parried an incoming bolt from one of the quicker-thinking B2, who began to open fire. Rufous returned it, shooting the clunky machine down with a shot to the head. The hangar side had a small tunnel, which her master shattered open with a push of the force, allowing them access. Her master seemed to instinctively know where to head, and as the clones followed him, she closed the line with Wedge.
Master Shade turned a corridor, and then jumped back gesturing at Wedge, who threw a primed grenade at him. The Force hung it in mid-air and like a pitcher, Master Shade threw it forward. The explosion rocked the metal ground, and Ashoka bit her tongue as she held tighter to her lightsaber.
Somehow, she managed to shift herself right next to her master as they advanced. The corridors were clean, and devoid of crates -which meant there was no cover, and also no wreckage capable of slowing them down. As the doors slid open around them, and droids began to pour out, hands raised and lasers departing, Ahsoka lifted her blade and her Master instead brought up his hands. The laser bolts stopped at an invisible threshold, hovering in the air as her Master grinned with a feral smirk.
"There is no spoon."
The bolts sailed back, outright denying, defying, destroying the laws of physics as they crashed into the hard carapace-like armor of the droids. The robots blasted apart as they fell backwards. The laser bursts from the Clone Commandos soon joined the fray, striking and holding the droids behind the doorways, or well, behind the wreckage of their brethren.
Ahsoka saw a B1 droid with a rocket launcher, and threw herself forward, striking the droid down with her lightsaber cutting with ease through the thin armor. The next moment, the B2 droid behind the first brought his fist to bare, but with no fear in her heart, she charged at him just as he opened fire, deflecting the laser bolts against him with her reverse grip.
Her free hand lifted the shattered droid and pushed him through the corridor, bringing a few more droids to their demises.
She jumped back and rejoined her Master's side as they rushed past the corridor and into a T-section, but her Master, without stopping nor hesitating, took the left corridor. The clone commandos followed with their boots stamping in perfect rhythm on the metal walkway, since they were apparently ascending to the command tower of the ship, below them Ahsoka could now see the hangars they had just passed on the way inside. A spider-droid lifted its round head towards them, and with a laser shot, melted the metal of the walkway behind them.
Wedge stumbled from the shock, but her Master twisted in mid-air and with a hand lifted and steadied him up. He did it all without stopping, without sweating, without even catching a break.
Ahsoka could feel the Force thrum and ripple around her master's form, and as her master began to slow down at the start of a metallic bulk-head door, he looked at her. "Open it," he said.
Ahsoka brought her lightsaber to bear and slammed it through the door. Calmly, she began to push the blade up. Behind them, the droid army opened fire from the hangar. They had a clear shot at all of them, but even as volley after volley of laser came up, not a single bolt hit them as her master stood in front of her with both hands raised and a growl thrumming in the back of his throat. With a howl, Ahsoka pushed the blade further into the metal, enlarging the melted steel pool that dripped near her feet as she nearly finished the hole. The three clone commandos meanwhile opened fire blindly -there's no need to aim in the midst of a Zerg rush.
What the hell was a Zerg rush was beyond Ahsoka's comprehension at the moment, but she was nearly done. As the circle was done, she kicked it once, then twice, and finally Wedge neared with a 'Excuse me,' hand gesture before slamming a foot straight against it and opening the way.
One at the time, they rolled in. She went first, lightsaber ablaze and parrying blow after blow of B2 droids beyond the bulk-head. Eagle followed, and relieved much of the pressure by killing a fair share of droids. Wedge entered next, and opened fire straight on the command center's computers.
As the missile struck the console, the explosion rocked them all back, while the blast-shields came down at the windows and the lights turned crimson to signal the alert. The door they had broken through slid open, potentially to allow for a quick escape, as the B1 droids turned off abruptly.
The few remaining B2 droids erratically opened fire, but were quickly taken down by Rufous' rifle.
"You alive, Padawan?" her master asked as she looked up at him from the position she had been knocked at after the explosion. Wincing, she held the back of her head -a trickle of blood was coming from where she had hit the metal. What was it with injuries and her head?
"Yes, I'm alive," she replied as she hurriedly got back on her feet. "Did we-" a blast shook the walkway a few meters short of the command center's open door.
"Right," her Master replied, "Course the big spider droid wouldn't shut off," he snapped a finger to the Clone Commandos. "Wedge, provide support fire while I go and-" his next step didn't come forward. Woozy, he outright fell face first on the ground. Ahsoka managed to catch him just in time.
"I was starting to wonder when he was going to burn out," Eagle said. "Well sir," here Eagle turned to look at Ahsoka, who was wide-eyed at the sight of her Master unconscious in her arms, "What are your orders?"
"G-Gah! Gahhh!" Ahsoka spluttered out as another blast struck the door, making everything tremble. "Just take that thing down!"
Eagle nodded and made a military salute. "It will be done sir! Come on Aquila squad!"
With quick steps, the trio of Commandos jumped out of the door with jet-packs suddenly lighting up from their backs. The sound of blaster rifles and explosions reached Ahsoka's ears as she looked down at her sleeping master.
"Let's get out of here," she acquiesced, her heart drumming as she hoisted him back up. "And you're heavy, Master," she continued. "You could have burned out before this, like, way before this. Or after this, maybe back on planet?"
An alarm blared. Another alarm soon joined the first.
Oh right, the Republic ship they had come in would soon return and strike at the ship, wouldn't it? But, well, this ship was a Dreadnought, so if they hadn't disabled the command bridge-oh damn! DAMN. DAMN DAMN DAMN DAMN!
"AND THIS IS WHAT YOU MEANT WITH EASY MISSION!?" Ahsoka shrieked out as she grabbed her master by the robes, "This!? You're insane! You're an insane Jedi! That's what!" she breathed in and out deeply, eyes buggering wide. "Utterly insane," she whispered as she looked at the hangar, where a ship still resided with her hangar door blown open. She couldn't call the Republic ship from the blown to bits command center on this ship, so there was really no other choice.
She neared the jump, and holding her Master while clipping the lightsaber back on her belt, she groaned. "Here goes nothing."
And then she jumped.
During the fall, the stray thought that she had a radio and could use it to call a clone-lift entered her brain, but thankfully the clones had half-expected that, and caught her and her master all the same.
"To the ship! Quickly!"
As fast as their jet-packs could fly, they managed to reach the troop carrier of the Separatist, and past the not-working droids riddling the floor as well as the twitching-not working ones, Ahsoka rushed her way to the pilot seat.
"Can you drive this?" Eagle asked her as she took the pilot seat, dropping her master on another one.
"No!" Ahsoka replied with a chipper voice, "Can you!?"
"No sir," Eagle replied.
Ahsoka began to click and turn the various shining lights as the ship alarm blared about the hangar door not closing, but well, the carrier's cockpit was isolated from the rest of the ship, so all she had to do was close the doors and hope nobody made her pay the fine for littering the atmosphere. The droid ship rolled out just as the first blows of turbolaser impacted against the Dreadnought, tearing at the thick armor of the spaceship.
"Shit-shit-shit-shit," Ahsoka babbled out as she pushed a lever, "Hope this is the acceleration!"
Eagle quietly looked at Wedge, who quietly looked at Rufous.
"What's with those looks!?" Ahsoka exclaimed as the ship rumbled a bit more now in the emptiness of space. "I'm doing what I can!"
"Sir," Eagle said politely. "That's the seat height regulator."
Ahsoka looked at Eagle firmly, a nervous, heart-beating furiously, look, and then hissed out. "If you can do better-"
"No sir, of course not sir," Eagle said. "Please, keep up the good work, sir."
"Gah!" Ahsoka brought both hands to her montrals and scratched the back of her head. "Can you work the radio at least!?"
Rufous neared the nearest implement, and began to touch it, hopefully giving a signal to the Republic ship.
"Sir," Rufous said, "I've managed to get through. They say we're in the clear...and that we have our hangar door open."
Ahsoka's glare would have silenced a meowing kitty.
It did nothing on Rufous, hardcore Aquila team commando.
Still, this calmed Ahsoka enough that she slumped on her seat and sighed in relief, the tension draining out of her. "What now?" she asked.
"They tell us to kill our engines," Rufous said. "They'll bring us inside the hangar."
"Yeah, you do that," Ahsoka mumbled. "Push buttons. One's bound to be the right one."
With that, she lost consciousness too. Too much adrenaline for such an easy mission. Really, her master wasn't just strange.
He was insane.
He was the king of insanity.
And yet she couldn't help but chuckle in the back of her mind. Insane or not, it had worked. And if something works, then it's not stupid.
Daecl
CURSED BY THE DICE
Typo here. Excellent choice in viewpoint, by the way. Makes it all the more amusing.
Chapter Seven
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Chapter Seven
Master Windu's right eyebrow twitched during dinner. Her Master had talked with him, and yet Master Windu's right eyebrow still twitched. In her modest Padawan opinion, they had done the greatest thing ever. A direct assault on a Separatist dreadnought to turn off the command signal was outright awesome -and with no losses either. Hawk had managed to get the hell away after making a distraction, and everyone was fine, if a bit singed from the spider droid battle in the hangar.
She had also taken out a few droids herself, and came back all in one piece! And her master was mad, all right, but then again he was also strong, so maybe he found a form of outlet in his madness? And Master Yoda too was kind of 'strange' anyway. So, to be strong, one had to be strange?
Ahsoka was content -not only because the 'Slob' rations were officially finished, meaning she could eat the MRE with everyone else- but also because she had done something to help the Republic fight the Separatist.
And they had won. She had helped them win a battle. Heck, her Master had practically been useless at the end.
"Master Yoda warned you," Master Windu said flatly.
"I'm the one who coined the phrase 'with great power comes great responsibility'," her Master replied with the utmost calm, a sigh escaping his lips. "Well, more than 'coined', 'taken a lease on', but the concept remains. Come on, Mace, you know everything turned out fine."
"Just because it did this time," Master Windu said, "Doesn't mean it will always."
Her Master nodded. "I know overconfidence is a problem, Mace. You do not need to worry about me."
Windu rolled his eyes, and took a bite out the spongy MRE in front of him. "I do not worry. I state the obvious."
Master Shade merely closed his eyes and sighed, the weariness in his expression coming back to the forefront of his brows, and then dissipating as he hummed. "Captain!" her Master barked, turning on his transmitter, "Prepare me a ship enabled for hyperjump!"
"Yes sir," the holographic projection of the captain nodded back with a precise salute, before flickering off.
"There's trouble on Felucia," Master Shade said crisply, locking eyes with Master Windu. "I'll be heading there."
For his part, Master Windu didn't even budge. He simply nodded. Ahsoka frowned, and looked from one Master to the other. She had always thought that, since Master Windu was in the council, he'd be higher in rank than her master. So, why was he simply nodding there?
"Take the Padawan back to the temple," her Master continued, "I alone should suffice with-"
Ahsoka blinked. Wait. What had her master just said? Before she could open her mouth to protest, her master turned his head to her, and raised an eyebrow. Ahsoka quieted down, her words dead in her throat as her master's gaze bore on her with a 'do not speak silly nonsense, padawan' look. He must have learned that look from Master Yoda. It was the only explanation.
"You need to meditate, as is customary," her master spoke gently, a small smile on his face. "Once you've done that, you'll remain in service at the temple until I'll come to call you, padawan. Is that clear?"
"But Master-"
"Padawan," her Master said with a sigh, "The most important lesson a Jedi needs to learn is to let go of his attachments and bonds. There are hundreds of Jedi at the temple who will be more than glad to aid you along your way."
None as mad as him.
"Mace here, for example, is a shining example of-"
"No," Master Windu said, shooting down the idea quicker than an illegal podracer could spontaneously explode during the Hutt cartel regional championships. "I have known you long enough to know that you are planning something, Shade. You'll be taking your padawan along."
Master Shade sighed and mumbled some words that sounded awfully like curses, if between his teeth and in a tongue she couldn't understand. What she didn't understand was why he now seemed keen on letting her go back to the temple. Hadn't she acted perfectly until then?
It kind of hurt, if she had to be honest.
Master Shade seemed to surrender to Mace's words this time around, and soon stood up from the table. "Come along then, padawan. Off we go into the vast galaxy. You do have winter robes, don't you?"
"Uhm..." Ahsoka hesitated as she followed behind him, and Master Shade grumbled an 'of course, disgusting fan service', which...admittedly meant nothing. Well, she did understand the words, of course, but she didn't understand what they meant. "Master? Have I done something wrong?"
"No," her Master replied as he walked towards the hangars. "It's not that, Padawan. One of the most important rules of the Jedi code is to form no attachments, and hold no bonds. Do you understand what it means?"
Ahsoka frowned, and then nodded. "It means a Jedi should not let passions rule him, nor let bonds like family, or friends, make him stray from his path."
Her Master chuckled. "That's a nice answer, but it only earns you half points. Truth is, having friends, talking with family...those things would be fine, if a Jedi knew where the limit was," here her master sighed. "Unfortunately, it seems the majority of would-be Jedi don't understand that. Let me be clearer, Padawan. Should I die within the next hour, I suspect you would grieve, would you not?" here he raised an eyebrow, and Ahsoka balked at the bluntness of the question.
"I...I suppose I would, Master."
"You shouldn't," her Master replied with a small shrug. "That is what it means. You should not grieve. You should not give in to the anger, or to the desire for revenge. To be a Jedi means that if I were to be your best friend, and if I were to die, you shouldn't shed tears. Notice, I am not merely saying that you should 'hide them', I am saying 'shouldn't shed'. There is no emotion, there is peace. All emotions must be rooted out, or at least deadened." Here, Master Shade looked at Ahsoka and sighed once more, shaking his head. "Yet you understand how horribly that fails in practice."
Ahsoka grimaced, but nodded. "So, if I promise I won't grief?"
"It's...kind of not enough, padawan. Still, time will tell," her master replied with a small chuckle. "It's...difficult," her master admitted after a while, a short bout of silence as they stepped into the hangar and towards a small ship, prepped for them to depart on. "To do what I speak of. It's not impossible, but difficult. You are still a Padawan. You have much to learn, and hopefully, I will get around to teaching you all that you need to know. However, try to understand," the ship's cockpit slid open to allow them entrance, as the droid -a new model of R3-D6- beeped at their arrival, "nothing I say is meant to offend you."
"Don't birth strife where there is none," Ahsoka said, reminiscing her master's words. "Is that what you mean, Master?"
"Indeed," her master chuckled as the cockpit slid to a close, and the ship floated off the hangar, and into the depths of space. "Set a course for Felucia. Once there, we'll have to move to manual piloting and I hope the Force will be happy to oblige me."
Ahsoka frowned, "Master, pardon me, but you told me to take robes apt for a cold weather to Felucia? Isn't Felucia a...stifling jungle?"
"Felucia is special, Padawan," her Master replied calmly. "You will understand when we land what I mean. Plus, don't worry. We won't be alone. We'll rendez-vous with General Obi-Wan and Knight Skywalker, together with their assigned army."
"You mean the one you 'bitch-slapped'?" Ahsoka asked, a snort in her tone.
Her Master chuckled, and shook his head. "Now, padawan! Such horrible words. Don't force me to wash your tongue with soap now."
In reply, Ahsoka merely stuck her tongue out. In reply to the reply, she felt a soft 'flick' against her forehead. "Ouch!" Ahsoka winced at the blow, admittedly nothing to worry about, since it didn't even hurt, but it still annoyed her to no end.
"Master," Ahsoka said after a few more minutes of silence, in which she had to take her thoughts and neatly order them. "Since we'll be stuck here for a few hours...I had some questions."
Master Shade closed his eyes and reclined his head against his seat. "Ask away."
Ahsoka took a deep breath, and then hesitated. 'Are you mad, or are you playing the part of the madman' seemed to be in bad form, so she needed something else.
"I never heard of you at the temple," Ahsoka blurted out. "I'd think...you being the apprentice of Master Yoda would have made the rounds."
"Dooku was the most famous one, and I did not aim to steal his spotlight," her master replied. "My apprenticeship also remained for the most part low-key. Since Master Yoda could not easily travel across the galaxy, I mostly attached myself to other Jedi Masters and learned from them."
Ahsoka looked outside at the vast confines of the hyper-jump speed tunnel they were following, and her mind wandered back to the very start. "I had...a strange vision in the caves, or a strange dream, if that's possible. I don't understand what it meant, and I admit part of what I saw scared me, Master."
"That was my mistake," her Master replied. "I did not account for the resonance of the crystals within the walls as I levitated the cave out of the ground. While that made it easier to bring the cave up, it also turned it into a veritable pool of the Force. That, and a quirk of mine, is what brought your hallucination, and our bond, forth."
"A quirk?" her eyebrows creased together in perplexity. "What 'quirk' is that?"
"I was born with no midichlorians," her Master replied quite frankly. "Shocking, I know," no, not shocking, outright impossible.
Midchlorians were the reason life existed -such was the knowledge shared by the temple. There was not a single planet, a single living being, a single entity, that could go on and 'exist' without a midichlorian count. And someone as capable in the Force as her Master had to have an incredible high amount. Last she heard, Master Yoda counted in the ten thousand numbers of Midichlorians per cell. To have none, yet be a Master in the Force, made no sense at all.
It was impossible, yet her master really had no reason to lie about this, did he?
"You see, the plane of the Force exists beyond our capacity to connect to, at least, the normal human that is," her master remarked. "The Midichlorians simply act as the in-between. When you are told to calm your mind, quiet your thoughts, and concentrate, it is so that these symbiotic cells may communicate with the Force. The louder they speak, the easier it is to get things done."
Ahsoka nervously chuckled. "If the teacher at the temple could hear you now, Master. When I asked her 'Why' Jedi could use the Force she babbled on about affinity and predisposition and great importance in the Force, but she never answered with 'you've got alien cells in your bloodstream'."
Her Master chuckled back. "A lot of people were pissed off when this came out, I admit."
She frowned. "In the past of the order?"
"Way back in the past," her Master replied, yet now he felt uneasiness, that much Ahsoka could feel through their connection. It was strange. On one side, she could hear her master's breathing, and yet because of the connection, she knew when it was quicker than normal, and when it wasn't. -in a galaxy far, far away.
"You haven't answered me yet, master," Ahsoka said. "How does your quirk work?"
"When a cup is empty, and connects to a full cup," her Master replied, "the empty cup is half-filled. Now, the living beings are filled with midichlorians, but the Force lives off in a plane of its own creation. What happens when something pops up that can't connect to the Force? That leaves a nice 'hole' wherever it goes?"
"I...I don't know? It gets...half-filled?"
"Somehow," her Master replied with a shrug. "Think of myself as a sun, and each Force-User I know of as a planet. The more planets I have, the more majestic my mass becomes. With each bond I made, I grew in strength in the Force. In the end, and this makes it cheesy to no end," he was uneasy at speaking of this, yet he did, and Ahsoka knew and felt the utter 'crappy' and 'disgusting' reason, "the more friends I have the stronger my Force powers are."
"That's so..." Ahsoka tried to find the right word, and finally settled on 'the' word that was bound to work the best. "Strange."
"Yes," her Master acquiesced. "Utterly strange."
"What does that have to do with my hallucinations in the cave?"
"Your...what?"
Ahsoka took a deep breath, and recounted her adventure in the cave. "It just...who is 'Alice'? I don't know anything about an 'Alice'."
"Well," her Master sighed. "Alice in Wonderland is...a very, very old story, written by a man rowing on a boat together with a friend of his for his daughter," Ahsoka blinked. She hadn't expected her Master to go as far as to know the story behind it.
"And in this story, 'Alice' follows the white rabbit through a hole and into this place known as 'Wonderland' inhabited by things that defy reason and logic, and along the way meets various characters, and has a general 'adventure' that ends with her returning back home. Along the way, she meets the Caterpillar, the Chesire Cat, the Hatter, the Queen of Hearts and more...this is a story of...I'd say decades ago since I last watched it. From what you're telling me, you probably ended up gazing at your innermost fears intermingled with my knowledge. You're probably afraid of what you might become in the future if you give in to the temptation of proving your strength, and fear the sense of loss and abandonment because your race, the Togruta, is generally more used to being in groups and aiding one another in clans, rather than stick out alone and be your own individual. That's why, the general sense of abandonment and loneliness gets to you, but you strive to show off your strengths in such a way as to avoid revealing your weaknesses to others."
Her Master finished talking, and Ahsoka looked down, ears burning with shame, grimacing as the words struck each and every single one of her chords with a deadly precision the likes of which she hadn't even thought of. Yet, suddenly, a warm pressure gingerly began to pat her head. "But everything is going to be all right, Ahsoka."
Her Master's voice was calm, and sure, as if he knew outright what he was saying. "You won't turn to the dark side because you act like an individual, and you won't be any less of a Togruta simply because you're individualistic. You will not become an evil Sith to be killed just because you seek strength, and you won't turn into a cackling maniac who wields a red lightsaber just because you're reckless and impulsive."
"I won't?" Ahsoka asked.
"No, you won't," her Master sighed. "Your heart is in the right place, Ahsoka. That's...more than can be said for a lot of other people. Keep having a good heart, keep facing off injustice, keep being the lawful good paladin," again, with his strange terms, "And you'll be fine."
"If you say so, Master."
Her master didn't reply, but the patting over her montrals didn't stop for a long while. It felt homey. It was to that feeling that she fell asleep, and as she did, she reminisced of her old memories of Shili. The shrubbery and the forests, the warmth of the heat, and the nostalgia of home. There was this small leather ball she used to play with when she was barely a toddler -she used to move it with her hands, whether they were touching the ball or not.
Yeah. She remembered that, just like she remembered the gentle head-pats too.
When she woke up, it was to the rumbling of the ship coming into the hangar of a larger republic Venator-class Star Destroyer. What utterly woke her up however wasn't the rumbling, as much as a light humming march that her master seemed to be singing under his breath. It was...kind of dark, for a marching hum, and held some form of conflicted emotions rushing through it that made her wince -and not just because her master was tone-deaf, no, of course not.
"Wake up, padawan," her Master said crisply as the cockpit slid open to allow them to exit. "Welcome to the Negotiator, Master Obi-Wan's flagship." As her Master descended from the cockpit and stretched, she nimbly did the same before looking around.
"General Shade," a clone commander said as he drew near, "General Obi-Wan and Skywalker are waiting on the command bridge. They were waiting your arrival before starting the assault."
Master Shade nodded. "I'll be there shortly. Master Windu warned them of my arrival?"
"That he did," the clone commander said.
As Ahsoka followed behind her master, she couldn't help her curiosity. "Why did we come here?"
"Because they'll need a hand," her master replied. "Felucia is...well, it is not a planet so easily conquered, unless you know how. We'll make the difference-"
"He's doing this on purpose!" a voice rose high beyond a pair of doors that slid open in that moment, just in time to reveal a young Jedi and an old one locked in a heated argument.
"Anakin, enough! Master Shade is one of the most renowned seers in the order! If he troubled himself all the way here, then-"
"He wasn't much of a seer back on Geonosis, was he?! He let Dooku escape!"
"You still have your hand because of him!" Obi-Wan shot back.
"Ahem," Master Shade coughed, catching the attention of both Jedi, "If this is a bad moment, I can come back after you two have made peace."
Ahsoka had a smile on her face. It lasted until she felt the tiniest of ripples echo through the tundra of ice and chipped steel that seemed to emanate from her master's inner self. It was as if a ripple of something monstrous was churning deeply inside her Master, and whatever it was, it felt like on the cracking verge of erupting.
Yet, once more, it calmed down. The more Ahsoka felt that, the more it felt like the grumbling noise of a sleeping volcano, itching for the desire to awaken.
She should have been scared, then again, knowing her master, it might have simply been an unholy desire for singing a catchy tune. He was strange like that, she decided.
Her master was very strange, but she wouldn't swap him for anyone in the world. Her master was definitely cooler than Skywalker anyway. She'd like to see the pipsqueak knight lift up the Dantooine caves with the Force. And her Jedi Master was 'quirky' too, and understood her to such levels that it felt kind-of psychic -and he was a seer too!
Really, this was close to being a star-struck follower, but what could she say except 'She had the most awesome master ever'?
Wonderland awaits, Alice.
The cold breeze hushed her thoughts.
Master Windu's right eyebrow twitched during dinner. Her Master had talked with him, and yet Master Windu's right eyebrow still twitched. In her modest Padawan opinion, they had done the greatest thing ever. A direct assault on a Separatist dreadnought to turn off the command signal was outright awesome -and with no losses either. Hawk had managed to get the hell away after making a distraction, and everyone was fine, if a bit singed from the spider droid battle in the hangar.
She had also taken out a few droids herself, and came back all in one piece! And her master was mad, all right, but then again he was also strong, so maybe he found a form of outlet in his madness? And Master Yoda too was kind of 'strange' anyway. So, to be strong, one had to be strange?
Ahsoka was content -not only because the 'Slob' rations were officially finished, meaning she could eat the MRE with everyone else- but also because she had done something to help the Republic fight the Separatist.
And they had won. She had helped them win a battle. Heck, her Master had practically been useless at the end.
"Master Yoda warned you," Master Windu said flatly.
"I'm the one who coined the phrase 'with great power comes great responsibility'," her Master replied with the utmost calm, a sigh escaping his lips. "Well, more than 'coined', 'taken a lease on', but the concept remains. Come on, Mace, you know everything turned out fine."
"Just because it did this time," Master Windu said, "Doesn't mean it will always."
Her Master nodded. "I know overconfidence is a problem, Mace. You do not need to worry about me."
Windu rolled his eyes, and took a bite out the spongy MRE in front of him. "I do not worry. I state the obvious."
Master Shade merely closed his eyes and sighed, the weariness in his expression coming back to the forefront of his brows, and then dissipating as he hummed. "Captain!" her Master barked, turning on his transmitter, "Prepare me a ship enabled for hyperjump!"
"Yes sir," the holographic projection of the captain nodded back with a precise salute, before flickering off.
"There's trouble on Felucia," Master Shade said crisply, locking eyes with Master Windu. "I'll be heading there."
For his part, Master Windu didn't even budge. He simply nodded. Ahsoka frowned, and looked from one Master to the other. She had always thought that, since Master Windu was in the council, he'd be higher in rank than her master. So, why was he simply nodding there?
"Take the Padawan back to the temple," her Master continued, "I alone should suffice with-"
Ahsoka blinked. Wait. What had her master just said? Before she could open her mouth to protest, her master turned his head to her, and raised an eyebrow. Ahsoka quieted down, her words dead in her throat as her master's gaze bore on her with a 'do not speak silly nonsense, padawan' look. He must have learned that look from Master Yoda. It was the only explanation.
"You need to meditate, as is customary," her master spoke gently, a small smile on his face. "Once you've done that, you'll remain in service at the temple until I'll come to call you, padawan. Is that clear?"
"But Master-"
"Padawan," her Master said with a sigh, "The most important lesson a Jedi needs to learn is to let go of his attachments and bonds. There are hundreds of Jedi at the temple who will be more than glad to aid you along your way."
None as mad as him.
"Mace here, for example, is a shining example of-"
"No," Master Windu said, shooting down the idea quicker than an illegal podracer could spontaneously explode during the Hutt cartel regional championships. "I have known you long enough to know that you are planning something, Shade. You'll be taking your padawan along."
Master Shade sighed and mumbled some words that sounded awfully like curses, if between his teeth and in a tongue she couldn't understand. What she didn't understand was why he now seemed keen on letting her go back to the temple. Hadn't she acted perfectly until then?
It kind of hurt, if she had to be honest.
Master Shade seemed to surrender to Mace's words this time around, and soon stood up from the table. "Come along then, padawan. Off we go into the vast galaxy. You do have winter robes, don't you?"
"Uhm..." Ahsoka hesitated as she followed behind him, and Master Shade grumbled an 'of course, disgusting fan service', which...admittedly meant nothing. Well, she did understand the words, of course, but she didn't understand what they meant. "Master? Have I done something wrong?"
"No," her Master replied as he walked towards the hangars. "It's not that, Padawan. One of the most important rules of the Jedi code is to form no attachments, and hold no bonds. Do you understand what it means?"
Ahsoka frowned, and then nodded. "It means a Jedi should not let passions rule him, nor let bonds like family, or friends, make him stray from his path."
Her Master chuckled. "That's a nice answer, but it only earns you half points. Truth is, having friends, talking with family...those things would be fine, if a Jedi knew where the limit was," here her master sighed. "Unfortunately, it seems the majority of would-be Jedi don't understand that. Let me be clearer, Padawan. Should I die within the next hour, I suspect you would grieve, would you not?" here he raised an eyebrow, and Ahsoka balked at the bluntness of the question.
"I...I suppose I would, Master."
"You shouldn't," her Master replied with a small shrug. "That is what it means. You should not grieve. You should not give in to the anger, or to the desire for revenge. To be a Jedi means that if I were to be your best friend, and if I were to die, you shouldn't shed tears. Notice, I am not merely saying that you should 'hide them', I am saying 'shouldn't shed'. There is no emotion, there is peace. All emotions must be rooted out, or at least deadened." Here, Master Shade looked at Ahsoka and sighed once more, shaking his head. "Yet you understand how horribly that fails in practice."
Ahsoka grimaced, but nodded. "So, if I promise I won't grief?"
"It's...kind of not enough, padawan. Still, time will tell," her master replied with a small chuckle. "It's...difficult," her master admitted after a while, a short bout of silence as they stepped into the hangar and towards a small ship, prepped for them to depart on. "To do what I speak of. It's not impossible, but difficult. You are still a Padawan. You have much to learn, and hopefully, I will get around to teaching you all that you need to know. However, try to understand," the ship's cockpit slid open to allow them entrance, as the droid -a new model of R3-D6- beeped at their arrival, "nothing I say is meant to offend you."
"Don't birth strife where there is none," Ahsoka said, reminiscing her master's words. "Is that what you mean, Master?"
"Indeed," her master chuckled as the cockpit slid to a close, and the ship floated off the hangar, and into the depths of space. "Set a course for Felucia. Once there, we'll have to move to manual piloting and I hope the Force will be happy to oblige me."
Ahsoka frowned, "Master, pardon me, but you told me to take robes apt for a cold weather to Felucia? Isn't Felucia a...stifling jungle?"
"Felucia is special, Padawan," her Master replied calmly. "You will understand when we land what I mean. Plus, don't worry. We won't be alone. We'll rendez-vous with General Obi-Wan and Knight Skywalker, together with their assigned army."
"You mean the one you 'bitch-slapped'?" Ahsoka asked, a snort in her tone.
Her Master chuckled, and shook his head. "Now, padawan! Such horrible words. Don't force me to wash your tongue with soap now."
In reply, Ahsoka merely stuck her tongue out. In reply to the reply, she felt a soft 'flick' against her forehead. "Ouch!" Ahsoka winced at the blow, admittedly nothing to worry about, since it didn't even hurt, but it still annoyed her to no end.
"Master," Ahsoka said after a few more minutes of silence, in which she had to take her thoughts and neatly order them. "Since we'll be stuck here for a few hours...I had some questions."
Master Shade closed his eyes and reclined his head against his seat. "Ask away."
Ahsoka took a deep breath, and then hesitated. 'Are you mad, or are you playing the part of the madman' seemed to be in bad form, so she needed something else.
"I never heard of you at the temple," Ahsoka blurted out. "I'd think...you being the apprentice of Master Yoda would have made the rounds."
"Dooku was the most famous one, and I did not aim to steal his spotlight," her master replied. "My apprenticeship also remained for the most part low-key. Since Master Yoda could not easily travel across the galaxy, I mostly attached myself to other Jedi Masters and learned from them."
Ahsoka looked outside at the vast confines of the hyper-jump speed tunnel they were following, and her mind wandered back to the very start. "I had...a strange vision in the caves, or a strange dream, if that's possible. I don't understand what it meant, and I admit part of what I saw scared me, Master."
"That was my mistake," her Master replied. "I did not account for the resonance of the crystals within the walls as I levitated the cave out of the ground. While that made it easier to bring the cave up, it also turned it into a veritable pool of the Force. That, and a quirk of mine, is what brought your hallucination, and our bond, forth."
"A quirk?" her eyebrows creased together in perplexity. "What 'quirk' is that?"
"I was born with no midichlorians," her Master replied quite frankly. "Shocking, I know," no, not shocking, outright impossible.
Midchlorians were the reason life existed -such was the knowledge shared by the temple. There was not a single planet, a single living being, a single entity, that could go on and 'exist' without a midichlorian count. And someone as capable in the Force as her Master had to have an incredible high amount. Last she heard, Master Yoda counted in the ten thousand numbers of Midichlorians per cell. To have none, yet be a Master in the Force, made no sense at all.
It was impossible, yet her master really had no reason to lie about this, did he?
"You see, the plane of the Force exists beyond our capacity to connect to, at least, the normal human that is," her master remarked. "The Midichlorians simply act as the in-between. When you are told to calm your mind, quiet your thoughts, and concentrate, it is so that these symbiotic cells may communicate with the Force. The louder they speak, the easier it is to get things done."
Ahsoka nervously chuckled. "If the teacher at the temple could hear you now, Master. When I asked her 'Why' Jedi could use the Force she babbled on about affinity and predisposition and great importance in the Force, but she never answered with 'you've got alien cells in your bloodstream'."
Her Master chuckled back. "A lot of people were pissed off when this came out, I admit."
She frowned. "In the past of the order?"
"Way back in the past," her Master replied, yet now he felt uneasiness, that much Ahsoka could feel through their connection. It was strange. On one side, she could hear her master's breathing, and yet because of the connection, she knew when it was quicker than normal, and when it wasn't. -in a galaxy far, far away.
"You haven't answered me yet, master," Ahsoka said. "How does your quirk work?"
"When a cup is empty, and connects to a full cup," her Master replied, "the empty cup is half-filled. Now, the living beings are filled with midichlorians, but the Force lives off in a plane of its own creation. What happens when something pops up that can't connect to the Force? That leaves a nice 'hole' wherever it goes?"
"I...I don't know? It gets...half-filled?"
"Somehow," her Master replied with a shrug. "Think of myself as a sun, and each Force-User I know of as a planet. The more planets I have, the more majestic my mass becomes. With each bond I made, I grew in strength in the Force. In the end, and this makes it cheesy to no end," he was uneasy at speaking of this, yet he did, and Ahsoka knew and felt the utter 'crappy' and 'disgusting' reason, "the more friends I have the stronger my Force powers are."
"That's so..." Ahsoka tried to find the right word, and finally settled on 'the' word that was bound to work the best. "Strange."
"Yes," her Master acquiesced. "Utterly strange."
"What does that have to do with my hallucinations in the cave?"
"Your...what?"
Ahsoka took a deep breath, and recounted her adventure in the cave. "It just...who is 'Alice'? I don't know anything about an 'Alice'."
"Well," her Master sighed. "Alice in Wonderland is...a very, very old story, written by a man rowing on a boat together with a friend of his for his daughter," Ahsoka blinked. She hadn't expected her Master to go as far as to know the story behind it.
"And in this story, 'Alice' follows the white rabbit through a hole and into this place known as 'Wonderland' inhabited by things that defy reason and logic, and along the way meets various characters, and has a general 'adventure' that ends with her returning back home. Along the way, she meets the Caterpillar, the Chesire Cat, the Hatter, the Queen of Hearts and more...this is a story of...I'd say decades ago since I last watched it. From what you're telling me, you probably ended up gazing at your innermost fears intermingled with my knowledge. You're probably afraid of what you might become in the future if you give in to the temptation of proving your strength, and fear the sense of loss and abandonment because your race, the Togruta, is generally more used to being in groups and aiding one another in clans, rather than stick out alone and be your own individual. That's why, the general sense of abandonment and loneliness gets to you, but you strive to show off your strengths in such a way as to avoid revealing your weaknesses to others."
Her Master finished talking, and Ahsoka looked down, ears burning with shame, grimacing as the words struck each and every single one of her chords with a deadly precision the likes of which she hadn't even thought of. Yet, suddenly, a warm pressure gingerly began to pat her head. "But everything is going to be all right, Ahsoka."
Her Master's voice was calm, and sure, as if he knew outright what he was saying. "You won't turn to the dark side because you act like an individual, and you won't be any less of a Togruta simply because you're individualistic. You will not become an evil Sith to be killed just because you seek strength, and you won't turn into a cackling maniac who wields a red lightsaber just because you're reckless and impulsive."
"I won't?" Ahsoka asked.
"No, you won't," her Master sighed. "Your heart is in the right place, Ahsoka. That's...more than can be said for a lot of other people. Keep having a good heart, keep facing off injustice, keep being the lawful good paladin," again, with his strange terms, "And you'll be fine."
"If you say so, Master."
Her master didn't reply, but the patting over her montrals didn't stop for a long while. It felt homey. It was to that feeling that she fell asleep, and as she did, she reminisced of her old memories of Shili. The shrubbery and the forests, the warmth of the heat, and the nostalgia of home. There was this small leather ball she used to play with when she was barely a toddler -she used to move it with her hands, whether they were touching the ball or not.
Yeah. She remembered that, just like she remembered the gentle head-pats too.
When she woke up, it was to the rumbling of the ship coming into the hangar of a larger republic Venator-class Star Destroyer. What utterly woke her up however wasn't the rumbling, as much as a light humming march that her master seemed to be singing under his breath. It was...kind of dark, for a marching hum, and held some form of conflicted emotions rushing through it that made her wince -and not just because her master was tone-deaf, no, of course not.
"Wake up, padawan," her Master said crisply as the cockpit slid open to allow them to exit. "Welcome to the Negotiator, Master Obi-Wan's flagship." As her Master descended from the cockpit and stretched, she nimbly did the same before looking around.
"General Shade," a clone commander said as he drew near, "General Obi-Wan and Skywalker are waiting on the command bridge. They were waiting your arrival before starting the assault."
Master Shade nodded. "I'll be there shortly. Master Windu warned them of my arrival?"
"That he did," the clone commander said.
As Ahsoka followed behind her master, she couldn't help her curiosity. "Why did we come here?"
"Because they'll need a hand," her master replied. "Felucia is...well, it is not a planet so easily conquered, unless you know how. We'll make the difference-"
"He's doing this on purpose!" a voice rose high beyond a pair of doors that slid open in that moment, just in time to reveal a young Jedi and an old one locked in a heated argument.
"Anakin, enough! Master Shade is one of the most renowned seers in the order! If he troubled himself all the way here, then-"
"He wasn't much of a seer back on Geonosis, was he?! He let Dooku escape!"
"You still have your hand because of him!" Obi-Wan shot back.
"Ahem," Master Shade coughed, catching the attention of both Jedi, "If this is a bad moment, I can come back after you two have made peace."
Ahsoka had a smile on her face. It lasted until she felt the tiniest of ripples echo through the tundra of ice and chipped steel that seemed to emanate from her master's inner self. It was as if a ripple of something monstrous was churning deeply inside her Master, and whatever it was, it felt like on the cracking verge of erupting.
Yet, once more, it calmed down. The more Ahsoka felt that, the more it felt like the grumbling noise of a sleeping volcano, itching for the desire to awaken.
She should have been scared, then again, knowing her master, it might have simply been an unholy desire for singing a catchy tune. He was strange like that, she decided.
Her master was very strange, but she wouldn't swap him for anyone in the world. Her master was definitely cooler than Skywalker anyway. She'd like to see the pipsqueak knight lift up the Dantooine caves with the Force. And her Jedi Master was 'quirky' too, and understood her to such levels that it felt kind-of psychic -and he was a seer too!
Really, this was close to being a star-struck follower, but what could she say except 'She had the most awesome master ever'?
Wonderland awaits, Alice.
The cold breeze hushed her thoughts.
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References no one around you gets... They make me sad when that happens to me.
- Location
- https://discord.gg/z9tBvbh
Retsof
I will keep you safe.
well, that's not ominous at all.
- Location
- Australia
Even JediMaster!Shade can't let go of the inner angst and hatred.