Jack in the Box - An episodic story

[Karmack]

Greetings, and thanks for stopping by to check out my offering.  I wanted to say up-front that while I am enthusiastic about the SW universe and I love my sabers, my actual knowledge of the greater SW universe is limited to the movies, a very limited exposure to the novels, and whatever I have researched on Wookipedia.  If I make continuity errors or violate canon I humbly apologize in advance.

My aim is to tell a good story, and generate a back-story for my alter-ego on the forums, a Jedi Knight named Karmack.

I hope you enjoy.  The story will come out in fits and starts, one episode at a time.  Please feel free to leave comments and feed-back along the way.

[Karmack]

Prologue:  The Celeste

Karmack sat, cross-legged, eyes closed.  To all outward appearance he was utterly calm and still, a man at rest, but his mind was busy.  His rest cycle was nearing an end, but he was well rested.  His duties aboard the Celeste were complex but routine, his training had been thorough.  At twenty, Karmack was the freighter's lead engineer and primary environmental tech, second in rank and position only to the Chief Engineer in the engineering department and actually fifth in line of command.  The ChEng position was held by Amanda MacDougal, his older sister and wife to the ship's captain, Raymond MacDougal.

Karmack let his mind expand, and felt the sparks of life on board the Celeste.  Mentally he wandered down her halls, explored the hidden places, the nooks and crannies no one remembered or had ever found in the generations the ship had plunged through space.  Wandered ... and was as always astonished at the wandering.  Karmack's mother, Dana Mack, had told him when he was very young that she could feel everyone aboard.  She had guided him as a child to reach out, but even then he could sense that while she was able to sense the sparks of life inside the ship's jury-rigged hull she couldn't reach out and touch them the way he could.  See the details ... or physically touch and trace them the way he had soon discovered he was able to do.

She had known, when she saw him working with one of the astromech droids down for repair.  She's seen him close his eyes and look inside, find the fault, and then go to work fixing it.  She'd said nothing about it, but that night his mother had given him the Box.  It had been shortly before his fourteenth birthday.  She'd set the box down between them and looked into his eyes.  "This, Karm, is very old.  It has been in our family for generations, since the Beginning, when the Celeste was damaged and nearly destroyed.  It was left with my grandfather by his father, Simon Mack,  Simon was the warrior who saved our ship from the pirates and helped the crew to build our extended life support and ion engines so they could survive and set course for home."

"He was one of the Founders?"  Karmack remembered asking his mother.  She had smiled and traced the box with her fingertip.  "Yes.  Perhaps THE founder."

Karmack had felt excitement well up within him.  The Founders were what the Celeste's crew called the original surviving crew.  This ship was a freighter, loaded with organics and live domestic animals, items that were inexpensive on lush worlds but which fetched a huge price in remote colonies and places where such things could not be raised on-planet.  The ship had been running light, half the cargo sold and replaced by high-end ores and gems, when it had dropped out of hyper unexpectedly in the middle of nowhere.  The surviving crew had determined that a pirate had sliced into the navicomputer and reporgrammed the ship to emerge where they had their own ship waiting and ready to capture them.

The capture had gone as planned, with the frieghter surrendering and being boarded.  One of the passengers, a mysterious man who had kept to himself during the journey, had simply vanished, only to re-appear and systematically wipe out the pirates.  Unfortunately in the battle the Celeste was badly damaged, the pirate cruiser completely destroyed, and many of the crew were injured or killed.  Simon had organized the surviving crew and helped them create a propulsion system and environment that would last long enough for them to reach the closest habitable planet.  They had set off, knowing that none of them would make the incredibly long journey but hoping that their grand-children would.

Karmack traced his finger over the box.  "How do you open it?  What's inside?"

His Mother's smile had broadened.  "I don't know.  No one has been able to open it since Simon himself closed it.  He left no real instructions, just that the one for whom it was intended would be able to open it.  After watching you today, I think you may be that one."

Karmack remembered spending hours probing the box with his senses.  He'd barely noticed when his parents had left the following morning for duty in Engineering.  He'd had no way of knowing what was coming.  No way to know that he would never see them again...

For years, after the accident took them, Karmack had ignored the box.  It had sat, idle, in the corner of his quarters, ignored and eventually forgotten.  Until last night.  Last night he'd pulled it out of the corner, remembering.  Remembering his mother and his father.  Remembering six years alone.  Remembering...  and wondering.

What was in the box?  Could he open it?

Captain MacDougal said they were only a few weeks away from coming into comm range of a place called Lynx, and a possible end to their long journey.  Weeks ... and here was this box.

What was in the box? 

Karmack focused his concentration.  The outside of the box was as he remembered it: no latches, no switches, no key holes, no scanners.  Nothing but a sealed seam, a handle on one side and hinges on the other.
Slowly he probed the box.  Brushed it.  Reached out...

...and recoiled.  That had never happened before!  He'd touched the box and something had touched back.

Karmack gathered himself and reached again...  There!  There it was...  With a growing sense of awe he gingerly 'pushed' at the energy he touched.  It reminded him vaguely of the energy glow he detected from the living people, plants and animals on the ship, but with a strange under-current reminicent of a computer program or automated system...

Slowly the energy shifted, and he felt it drawing him in.  He pushed and prodded, molding his pressure to the guidance until...

*snick*

Karmack opened his eyes, then felt them widen in surprise.  There, before him, the mysterious box was open just a crack.  Karmack reached out and slowly tipped the box top back.  Inside was a small, unremarkable looking cube nestled in a foam cut-out.  There were other small items, a trio of small spheres, and a very sleek looking silver tubular device.  Karmack let his fingers trace along it, noting its obvious grip area, intentations, choke points, and the slight scuffs and scratches of hard use.  It was obviously a lightsaber hilt.  Simon Mack's lightsaber... 

His lightsaber?

Karmack's hand recoiled from the smooth skin of the 'saber.  His mother had said the box was to go to the one who could open it.  He was the one who had opened it, therefore...

Opened it...  Karmack looked back down at the box, then closed his eyes and looked inside.  The energy that he had touched, that had guided him to the ... force ... pressure points that had opened the box was still there, waiting.  Karmack opened his eyes and reached out, touching with his fingers as well as the force, just so...

Light erupted and a minature man appeared, standing next to the box.  "Greetings!  Its about time someone figured out how to find me in here."  The hologram, dressed in classic Jedi robes, bowed to Karmack, who just sat and stared, dumb-struck. 

"Not very talkative, eh?"  The mini-Jedi leaned forward and looked Karmack in the eye.  Karmack, still in his lotus position, realized the hologram was exactly the same height as himself.  Maybe if he stood up, the hologram would grow?

"Ok, its a shock.  I get it, but this is going to be a very loooooong day if we can't at least establish some form of verbal communication?  What's your name, son?"

Karmack shook himself mentally.  "Karm Mack, or most folks just call me Karmack, sir."

"Sir?  Cut the sirs, I'm not even corporeal.  Karmack, eh?  Nice ring to it.  Greetings, Karmack.  You can call me Jack."

And the hologram bowed again.

[gebhac]

Excellent beginning!  I'm definitely intrigued and can't wait for more   If you need any advice or have questions about continuity or anything else, feel free to PM me.  And again, excellent beginning.

[Karmack]

Thanks I will.  :-)  Yours is off to a good start as well. 

[Dauntless Seven]

Karmack you had me at hello err snick!  I am both entertained and engaged with the development of Karm Mack and his journeys.  I can already hear this as an audio book and visualize a comic styled magazine (I draw amazing stick people).  Jack in the box...  ha ha.  Great start and an imagination creator point for you.   

[Karmack]

Episode 2

Eighty eight ....
Eighty nine ...
Ninty...

The holograph of Jack flickered in the dim room.  "Good, good, keep it up.  Concentrate on the force.  Feel it flow.  Follow the connections ... from the hull, the chair, the table, the plants in hydroponics, the ... er, well, the organics in the waste disposal system.  Feel the energy and harness it to augment the action of your own muscles.  Support your weight.  Improve your balance."

"One-twenty-three..."
"One-twenty-four..."

"Reach out in the force.  Touch the table..."

Karmack, upside down and continuing to pump out the inverted push-ups, looked over at the table in his quarters and lifted it.  Lifted it precisely one foot - and held it steady.  He then lifted the four stools the exact same height, glanced over at his holographic tutor, and with a smirk picked up the holocron and held it hovering dead-still in the air a single millimeter over the table's surface.

"One-eighty-eight..."
"One-eighty-nine..."

Jack, from his now lofty purch on the floating table, squinted down at his charge.  "Are you even sweating yet?"

Karmack grinned wider, lifted himself up on his finger-tips, then onto a single finger and continued to do the push-ups using a single-extended digit.

Jack folded his arms and scowled.  "Ok, ok.  You win.  You can stop now, and put everything back, eh?"

"Ok."  Karmack smiled openly, did a spin on his finger, and folded himself down into a lotus facing his earstwile tutor.  The table and stools were gently put back in their place and the holocron settled gently back into its recess in the storage box.  "So, Jack, did I pass?"

"Yes.  Now, where exactly did you learn to do that?"  The hologram made an expansive gesture including the entire ship.  "There are no Jedi here, after all, or THEY'D be training you instead of your current poor substitute teacher."

Karmack shrugged.  "My mom and dad were both sensitive to the force, but neither could do much more than get a sense of it's presence.  Mom knew just enough to push me in the right direction, though, and she started me reaching out and feeling the ... threads, she called them.  The threads of the force.  I used to practice by navigating the ship's corridors with my eyes closed, "feeling" my way.  It was a game, but like all kid's games it exercised my talents and skills.  Later, after they were gone and I took up duties in engineering, it became a way to complete work more quickly and safely.  I mean, why go into an irradiated compartment if I could flip the switches and pull the levers I needed to from the safety of the lock?"  Karmack felt the grin drain from his face.  "Comes in handy when you're tracking down an air leak, too.  Very handy..."

Karmack fell silent, a dark memory haunting his eyes.  Jack waited for a few heart-beats before clearing his throat.  "Well, you've obviously made good practice.  Well done.  That will accellerate things..."

Karmack blinked his eyes, pulling himself clear of the memory.  "So, what's next?"

"Well..."  Jack looked back at the box.  "I think its time to begin your instruction with the lightsaber."

Karmack nodded.  The saber was nestled where it had been for the last week, untouched.  Somehow Karmack had known that he shouldn't touch the weapon until invited, so he'd left it alone.  Now, though...  He grasped it with the force and pulled it into his hand with a solid smack.  The weapon was multi-toned, mainly silver and bronze with some dark gray and black finishes adding highlights.  It was just over a foot long, the blunt emitter punctuated by small windows to allow cooling air to flow into the interior, drawn in by the plasma stream.  There were a pair of gentle choke points with a bulb between them which housed the control crystal and the surrounding electronics, while the main power cell and busses were in the lower hilt.  Karmack hefted the hilt, appreciating its balance and weight with his hands while his eyes and other senses scanned the length of the saber's body.  Out of habit he also scanned through the electronics, tracing circuits and power busses...  "Wait..."

"Something wrong?" Jack asked innocently.

Karmack shot the hologram a piercing look.  "Yes.  There's a disconnect in the power bus inside the hilt.  It looks like..."  Karmack leaned forward.  "Yes.  This was done deliberately.  The power was disconnected.  Disconnected by a force user."  Karmack concentrated and started to move the connector back into place ... and stopped.   His first assumption was that this was a security measure, to keep just anyone from picking the saber up and lighting it.  But if that were the entire story, why do it where it could be easily found?  Sure, he'd found it with the force, but the coupler was right behind a small access panel.  Anyone trying to run diagonistics or wanting to use the hilt would easily find it and reconnect it, force user or not.  So why disconnect it at all?  Or, if it was for security reasons, why not a similar coupler on the other side of the hilt, which was just as easy for a force user to manipulate...  Karmack slowly 'scanned' the rest of the saber, looking each part over until... "Uh oh."

Karmack looked over at Jack, who was nodded vigorously.  "You knew about this, didn't you?"

"Yes.  Simon's saber was damaged in his final fight.  It saved him, but the crystal bore the brunt of the Sith's final attack.  It would not have done more than delivered a slight shock and mild burn, had you tried to activate it, but finding that damage was the real test.  Congratulations: You pass."

Karmack stared at the hologram, then down at the saber in his hands.  With a few quick movements he had the crystal chamber open and held the small activation crystal in his hands.  He could feel the force flowing through it as well as how it was ... bent was the best word.  Physically there was nothing wrong with the crystal itself, but the force energies coiled at its core were somehow out of tune and lacked the harmony they should have with the flow of the force.  The result was a skewed output which ruined the otherwise flawless conduction of the crystal in his hand.

"Well. I guess we'll have to start from scratch, then."  Karmack slipped the crystal into a small pouch on his belt before re-assembling the saber and returning it to its nest.  "And I think I know right where to start.  First I'll need..."  A small chime sounded, and Karmack made a face, deactivating the small alarm clock.  "First, I'll need to work my shift in engineering.  Then gather a few things.  I'll see you later?"

"Always, padawan.  Always."  Jack replied, waving as he disappeared from sight.

[Karmack]

*Writers Note*  The saber described was a modified Aeon V3 LE.  Just for visualization.  Carry on.  :-)

[gebhac]

Another well-written episode:)  Point to you!

[Karmack]

Episode 3

Karmack had started the process before his normal "weekend" rotation, immediately after coming off-shift.  This had freed up almost three whole standard days for the exercise.  In the end it had been just enough time - he'd managed to sleep for a few hours, shower and shave before going back into his normal duty rotation.  All the while, the set of brand-new crystals sat on his desk and mocked him in his imagination.  He's returned as quickly as possible and spent three hours quickly doing the final assembly on the saber body he had created.

Like every part of his saber, the body was patterned on the hilt Simon had left behind.  For whatever reason, however, he was loathe to take up his great-grandfather's weapon.  Perhaps it was the damaged crystal, or just the odd feeling of ... alieness ... about the hilt.  He greatly admired it and especially liked the feel of it, and so had built his own version.  It was slighty wider in width and had a multi-tone finish due to the various materials he'd had to scavenge, but the machine shop had churned out everything in good order and he'd even managed to augment the power storage capacity by about thirty percent and added a universal power charging port that would allow him to recharge it from almost any power receptical including a droid's power port or data port.  He's also added an enhanced cooling vent system in the emitter array, which would keep the emitter within optimum operating temperatures even if the plasma stream were to become super-heated.  The only thing it lacked was a crystal.

Karmack laid the completed saber body down and opened the small box where he's stored the crystals he'd formed.  The ship had a small geo-furnace which was generally used to build (or rebuild, as they were generally recycling spent crystals or damaged material) compressed power crystals for the engine and environmental systems.  Karmack had spent many hours guiding the process and working to build the force attributes he'd sensed in Simon's damaged crystal in the five crystals growing in the high-tech furnace. 

He picked up one of the crystals now and brushed over it with his mind.  Of the five, this one alone had adopted a strange burnt-orange color and was oddly mishappen as well.  For whatever reason, this one had not formed like the others and his initial reaction to it had been to discard it - then he'd brushed it with the force and sensed...

...power.  Focused, tuned strength.  The jewel literally glittered in its depths.  The other four were perfect physically, formed exactly as he'd wanted, and pale yellow in color.  They were perfectly acceptable.  Somehow, he knew that if he installed any of them they would work just fine and he had plans for them to build a double-bladed staff, something he'd read about in one of the many volumes Jack had recommended to him from the holocron's extensive research database.  But this one...

Karmack closed his eyes and concentrated, moving within the force to 'look' at the crystalline structure of the crystal lying in his palm.  He quickly realized that the crystal was actually two; there was an inner crystal within the outer husk.  He watched the force twist through the internal lattice, concentrated, and with a single burst of energy pushed as hard as he had ever pushed on a specific point..

Karmack felt the crystal shards fall into his hand.  His eyes flew open and there was a single, bright crystal with just a tinge of yellow at its heart, lying in the flakes of the dark orange husk that had formed around it.  "Awesome..."

Karmack carefully extracted the crystal and dumped the shards.  They'd been little more than a skin around the main crystal.  Karmack could feel the force, feel its focus and power augmented by the crystal in his hand.  He quickly mounted it to the emitter unit and slid it into place, sealing the hilt shut and dogging the fasteners from the inside with the force.  Another thought connected the last power relay, and the tell-tails lit, showing green circuits and full power.

Karmack gripped the hilt and pressed the activation key.  With a snap and swoosh the blade activated, springing to life and extending to full length before settling into a soft buzzing hum that was both subtle and full of the promise of harnessed destruction.  The blade was stable and focused, a silver-yellow color with a deeper core color of bright yellow.  There was almost no flicker to the blade, just the focused energy of the plasma under perfect control.  Karmack swung the blade, listening to the hum and swoosh of the blade and emitter as they cut the air.  Karmack stepped the power back to a training setting that kept the leathal plasma fully contained within the magnetic field.  Contact with the blade in this mode would result in a burn and painful shock but nothing that would cause permanent damage.  It would also prevent the deadly blade from slicing through furniture and the hull as he trained.  A few more swings and the blade felt like an extension of his own hand and arm.  Karmack found he could do complicated finger rolls and spins, flips and flowers with the hilt without touching himself or the furniture.

Karmack turned and force-activated a stinger remote.  It floated up out of the storage box and hovered, waiting, while Karmack wrapped a cloth around his eyes.  He activated the blade and faced the remote, reaching out with the force... 

Almost of its own will the blade leaped to the right, intercepting a bolt.  The remote moved, slowly increasing its rate of fire while Karmack became more and more comfortable intercepting the stinging bolts.  He added a second, then a third, and was soon weaving a complex pattern around his body, intercepting and deflecting bolts.  He finally stopped, dropping his guard and stripping off the blindfold.  He deactivated the blade and sent the remotes back to their storage boxes to recharge, wiping a trickle of sweat from his brow.

"Well, Jack, I can't wait to show you this..."

[Karmack]

Episode 4

Karmack felt fear tighten his throat and strap iron bands around his chest.    It wasn't supposed to BE like this!... he raged mentally even as his feet pounded across the narrow stone ledge.  He spared a fraction of his concentration to slow his pulse and still the voice of fear in his head.  Even now he could hear the voice of Jack echoing in his mind.  "Do not yeild to fear or agression.  Set aside your emotions.  Think.  Reach.  See.  Touch the Force and use it to augment everything.  Sense.  But above all else, padawan, THINK."

Think.

Think.

Karmack sank down on his knees, stopped by the edge of the ledge.  Before him was a sheer drop of over 100 feet into the artifical canyon of the spaceport's main causway.  Across from him was another tower, twin to the one he was on now. 

Think.

Reach...

There.  A spark.  Power under control.  He'd been right: there was another force user nearby! 

"There he is!  Blast him!" 

Karmack didn't even hesitate as the port security troops closed in behind him and opened fire.  Reaching out with the force, he simply let himself roll forward - into the abyss.

Behind him the blaster fire continued, shreiking across the gap.  Most dissapeared into the distance.  A few slammed into the opposite tower, shattering glass and doing damage to the facade of the building.  Karmack could hear the squad's leader shouting for his team to cease fire as he fell away, accellerating toward the ground.  He did a quick sommer-sault, flipping himself over and pointing his relaxed legs towards the ground, and then gathered the force around him and pushed...  Glass shattered and rained down around him as he pushed out, creating friction and slowing himself just as if he were actually pushing with his hands.  It was a manuever he'd done countless times when the Celeste was still in space, but he'd failed to appreciate just how much harder it was going to be to pull the manuever off against gravity.  Fear rose again and he tasted the copper tones of blood in his mouth as he bit his lip to hard.  He was still falling to fast for safety: When he hit, he'd be lucky if he only broke his leg.  If he couldn't walk, there was no way he would be able to get away, and somehow he was sure that if deadly force was authorized for simply having a lightsaber if they caught him he would not survive the incarceration.  With a gasp and yell Karmack redoubled his efforts again, slowed some more, but it still wasn't enough.  Why hadn't he already hit?  It felt like he'd been pushing for hours already.  How far did he have left to fall?  How bad was it going to hurt?

And then he felt a carress as the force, under someone else's control, wrapped around him and bouyed him further.  Karmack flexed his knees and relaxed his body even as he put the last of his effort into slowing himself, and between his final push and the outside assistance he slowed just enough.  Karmack hit the ground hard, legs folding, head tucked and shoulders rounded as he let himself fall into a tight forward shoulder roll.  He rolled three times before shedding enough momentum to open himself back up and gain his feet.  His saber sprang into his hand as he came upright, the blade igniting with a snap as he dropped into a guard position.  Immediately in front of him was a slim, non-descript man of middle-age dressed in brown and gray street clothing.  He looked like any other cabbie on the causeway, with two exceptions: He wasn't hiding from the shower of falling debris, and he was standing with his hand outstretched, as if to catch or hold something thrown to him, and he was staring directly at Karmack.

"Do you know how to use that thing?" He asked abrubtly.

"Well enough." Karmack replied.

"Then get in and get ready, they'll be on us soon enough."  The gray stranger replied.  He turned and fired up the cab, a small yellow aircar with an open pilots station forward and a spacious open seating area to the rear.

Karmack didn't hesitate.  He leaped into the rear area, keeping his blade well clear of the car's chassis.  He started to unsling the carry-all strapped across his torso but then changed his mind.  It wasn't in the way and if he dropped it loose into the compartment it might trip him up or worse be lost.  Despite leaving literally every other thing he'd ever known behind on the Celeste it was that case, with its Jedi cargo, that was his entire world now, and he was lothe to risk it in any way.  As the cab lifted he knelt down, facing aft, and wedged his leg under the seat to give himself leverage and stability.   Nor did it take long for the spaceport troops to appear.  The first bolts came from the pursuit squad, still on the roof.  Karmack deflected those with skillful and economic movements of his blade, even managing to deflect the odd bolt back at the shooter.  As they screamed through the traffic pattern near the port, however, more blaster fire came their way from divergent sources and Karmack found his concentration challenged, his blade weaving a flashing pattern that looked impressive but was not as economical as it should have been.  Still, he managed to deflect everything coming their way as they crossed the perimeter and entered the city proper.

AS soon as they were out of range, Karmack shut down his blade and secured the saber to his belt.  He could feel the blurring effect of the other ... Jedi? ... person's efforts to blur their passage and he added his own efforts to it, using the opportunity to 'watch' how the other force user was casting the stealth field and mimicing the process.  Within a minute he was able to add considerable power and distance to the field, and the pilot slowed down and quickly lost himself in the normal traffic patterns of the city.

Karmack, drained, sat down and let himself collapse into the seat, though he was mindful to keep track of where he was going and kept a eye and "ear" as he thought of it on his rescuer.  After a bit the cab slowed further and swooped into a large parking area, settling into a covered parking spot and shutting down.  Karmack opened his eyes and met the gray eyes of the driver, now turned on him.  "That was a nice bit of bladework back there.  Well done.  I must admit, I never expected to meet a Jedi here in Lynx.  Now now.  Not after the purge and what them blockheads on Tampani have been up to currying favor with Palpatine and his Inquisitors.  Especially not one stupid enough to just walk into the middle of customs in the spaceport with a lightsaber dangling from his belt."  Quicker than Karmack could react the other man reached out and slapped him stingingly on the back of the head.  "Idiot boy, you're lucky you didn't get yourself killed."

"I know.  Jedi purge?  Palpatine?  Inquisitors?  I was just hoping to return the holocron to the Jedi Temple and maybe be given a chance to train and become a Knight like my great-grandfather.  Is that no longer possible?"

Gray eyes narrowed, and Karmack could feel the mind behind them piercing through him.  "Have you been buried under a rock somewhere boy?  How can you not know about Palpatine and the Purge?"

"Not a rock, no.  Our ship has been traving through normal space for nearly 100 years, sir.  My great-grandfater, Simon Mack, was a Jedi Knight who managed to save the crew from a pirate attack but they were stranded in space with no hyper drive and had to fly back in normal space.  We were intercepted by a patrol two days ago and brought here.  I was just going through customs when all of a sudden alarms were going off everywhere and these armored troops were pointing blasters at me...  I gathered that they were reacting to my lightsaber, but when one of them opened fire I had to defend myself.  I went defensive and got out of there, but they trapped me on the roof.  I sensed ... you I guess, and jumped off the roof, you caught me, and the rest you know."

Karmack's blue eyes met the the gray of the older man and he relaxed when they suddenly softened.  "And what a jump it was.  I've never seen a Jedi try something that blatant before.  Force-assisted jumps, yes.  Acrobatics, of course.  But just jump head-first off a building?  It was impressive."  He extended his hand.  "Logan.  Skip Logan."

Karmack gripped the extended hand with his own.  "Karm Mack, though everyone just calls me Karmack." 

"Well met, Karmack.  Now, lets get you back to the house and get some food in you.  I can tell you're tired.  We'll eat and rest and then you can fill me in while I see if I can verify who Simon Mack was.  Then we'll figure out where to go from here.  Deal?"

Karmack reached out himself and sensed the sincerity and welcome emmanating from Skip Logan.  He was at peace, in the center of the flow, and he nodded. "Agreed."

"Alright.  Lets to it then, my young padawan."  Skip winked, and in a flash they were airborne again.  Safe, Karmack gave up his effort to track his movements and surrendered to the crushing fatigue pulling at him and he slept.  It wasn't supposed to be like this ... but this is alright.

[Karmack]

Episode 5

Karmack floated up into conciousness with a groan.  It seemed pain was his constant companion these days...
Dim light greeted his slitted eyes as Karmack peered out at the world.  With movement the pain receeded, so Karmack rose and worked through a stretching routine before donning the gray tunic and black utility pants Skip had provided for him.  He padded bare-foot out onto the small apartment's balcony and drank in the first rays of sunlight before settling into a lotus and dropping into a meditative state.  Eyes closed, he expanded his reach, exploring the connections all around him.  He'd been facinated the first morning he'd been here to find a blazing beacon of concentrated force energy right nearby.  He'd opened his eyes again, expecting a person large creature poised to strike, only to find empty space.  After a few minutes of force-guided searching he'd finally found the creature: a small mammal, much like a squirrel or chipmunk, scurrying through the very small garden.  The tiny creature was smaller than Karmack's palm but he literally blazed with energy in the force.  As far as Karmack clould tell the tiny creature used his force connection to find food, sense danger, and stay one twitch ahead of anyone trying to attack or capture it, including much larger (but far slower) force-sensitive humans.

Today the small creature was back, and with a grin Karmack extended a sliver of meat to the small creature, holding still while it stealthily advanced, sniffed, and finally accepted the gift.

"You're going to spoil him, you know." Skip said from the doorway.

Karmack felt the chipmunk scamper away and grinned.  "Maybe.  I'd like to make friends with the little guy eventually."

"A laudible goal." Skip said, folding himself onto a mat next to Karmack.  "Be mindful of the teeth, the canines are tubular and an inject a very potent neurotoxin.  The Bounty Hunter's guild harvest the VorXantha venom for their darts."

Karmack slitted his eyes and regarded his mentor with a side-ways glance.  "You're joking."

"Not at all.  Look it up, after breakfast.  Then get cracking on those motivators, we need to get the repaired units back to the Port before noon."

"Yes, master." Karmack replied, returning to his regard of the Force.  He calmed his body, stilled the pain receptors and felt the ebb of energy through his limbs as he applied force energy to speed up the healing of bruises and minor abrasions accumulated over the last few weeks of training.  "More training this afternoon?"

"Yes.  Your saber techniques are improving, but you have a long way to go padawan.  A long way."

Karmack sighed.  "Yes, I know."  Karmack let his thoughts drift to the rounds of sparring and instruction Master Logan had subjected him to over their six weeks together.  Initially the training had gone very quickly.  Karmack had already acquired the ability to deflect blasts and could even aim them with a decent amount of skill.  But for some reason when he found himself facing a live opponent with a blade in his hands his connection to the force abandoned him and he quickly found himself defeated.  In training mode, the sabers gave a good shock on contact and his falls and failed manuevers had left him with some pretty spectacular bruises to go along with the occasional minor contact burn.  Today would be no different, he was sure.  "I just don't get it..."

"Get what?"

Karmack shook himself, embarrassed that he'd spoken aloud.   "Sir, I only meant that I don't understand why the saber is so difficult for me."

Skip didn't answer immediately.  Instead he took two more long, deep, slow breathes, as if to center himself.  Karmack waited patiently, sensing that he was gathering his thoughts for yet another attempt at explaining it to his slow and unusually thick-headed apprentice. 

Finally Skip turned to face Karmack, a move which Karmack mirrored.  "Patawan, we've been over this before.  You have an amazing connection to the force, but you seek control..."

"Master, I do not..."

Skip held up a hand, his face stern.  "Do not interrupt!

Karmack met his Master's eyes definantly for a heartbeat or two, then took a deep breath of his own.  He dropped his eyes and bowed his submission.  "Yes, Master.  My humble apologies."

"Better.  Now...  You seek to control the force.  Your ability to do so can be astounding, but you're always using it.  LIft this.  Move that.  Re-arrange these molecules.  Push or pull.  This can be very useful, but you must stop seeing the force as a tool to be used and instead view it as ...  as an ally and partner."

Karmack felt his eyebrows furrow.  "Partner?"

"Yes.  I know your ... limited view of the force padawan.  You see it as a force in nature, not unlike electromagnetism or gravity or Strong and Weak forces in atoms.  I will not debate this with you now.  So, it is a force, nothing more, but consider this: You see the ley lines of the force all around you.  But those lines are inter-dimensional and even exist beyond time itself.  Unlike you, my padawan, the force can see the future, because it is already there."

Karmack blinked and then his eyes went wide.  "That makes sense!  That would explain..."

Skip held up his hand again.  "Yes.  It will explain many things, I am sure.   But the point is this: the force has been there and done that.   It has seen the moves and the counter-moves, but the future is never set.  It is always fluid and murky with possibilities.  Nothing you see of the future in the force is EVER set.  Nothing is fixed.  It can always be changed, for good or ill.  But what you must do as a you duel is become partners with the force.  Center yourself in its flow and allow it to adjust your movements to strike and parry based on its foreknowlege of what is about to transpire."

"I think I understand.  What bothers me is why I can do this with blaster bolts and not with your blade."

"Because, young padawan, you're not fighting my blade, you're fighting me.  And I can see the future in the force as well, and unlike you I've spent literally years with a lightsaber in my hand."  Skip smiled and tosseled Karmack's hair.  "Enough.  Grab something to eat and get those motivators repaired, we have a delivery to make."

"Yes, Master." Karmack said, rising himself.  He padded softly into the kitchen to prepair the morning meal and officially start the day.

Behind him Skip smiled even broader at the retreating figure.  "Oh yes, this is going to be an interesting day, padawan.  Interesting indeed."

[Karmack]

Episode 6

Karmack sensed the intent before he spotted the tail.  Several spaces behind them in the traffic a small enclosed speeder was tracking them.  The four men inside were filled with deadly purpose.  "Master..."

"Yes, I sensed them.  Dark blue speeder about two hundred meters back."

"Yes."  Karmack was careful not to look at them, instead following them in the force ... and scanning for others.  "There..."

"Below us.  Another above." Skip replied. 

Karmack nodded, tagging each and following them all now.  "What's the plan?"

"Well, these gents want to party.  Its time to oblige them, I think, but not here.  We'll continue as normal to the training fields."

Karmack nodded, trying to look calm and relaxed as the trio of speeders paced them.  Skip made a random turn, setting down briefly and purchasing lunch and several bottles of electrolyte-laden sports drink.  This was out of character, the two generally stuck to water during their workouts, drunk from a large container in the air car which was refilled each morning from their dwelling's supply.  The two used the pause to verify that they were indeed being followed, as all three air cars orbited the area until they headed back up and away.  Once airborne, the three fell back into formation with them.

"Well, no doubt about it.  I count 12 hostiles."

"I concur.  Who are they?  Planetary militia?  These Inquisitors you've been worried about from Tapani?"

"No.  At least not likely.  These are more likely either local security finally catching up to us after the stunt at the spaceport, or a snatch team of local thug bounty-hunters.  Both dangerous and potentially deadly, but neither of them the kind of threat that an Inquisitor team would be."  Skip paused, thinking.  "I think the fields are out.  They may have heavy weapons, and I don't want to get that far away from cover.  I'm going to duck into the labyrinth and we'll confront them there."

Karmack nodded, now gripping his lightsaber openly.  He swallowed and then felt a grim humor rise as Skip Logan threw their speeder into a screaming turn and darted into the confines of the abandoned mega-factory known locally as the labyrinth.  The massive, sprawling complex had once been a cutting edge manufacturing center, building electronics and counter-gravity pallets for Swoop cycles and a wide range of personal and passenger speeders.  An industrial accident two generations previous had rendered sections of the building to dangerous for use and the company had relocated, leaving the facility to rot along with a large area of dwellings which were also abandoned when the workers followed the factory to the other side of the spaceport complex.  The building, now generally safe, had become a home for any number of illegal activities and meetings, and also housed a thriving underground dueling community, a fact that had led Skip and Karmack to use the area several times before for saber drills and practice.

Today, however, would be far different...

"Hang on..."  Skip grated, and Karmack felt his stomach lurch as the air car twisted violently through the arched halls of the main complex.  Karmack could still sense their pursuers, now all trailing behind but still able to keep track of them.   "Must be a homing beacon on the 'car..."

"Karm, this is it.  This is real.  Concentrate.  Center.  Be one with your partner."

Karmack swallowed.  "Yes, master."

And then it began...(to be continued, ran out of time!  :-) )

[gebhac]

Apologies for the late review of your latest installment.  You continue to put out quality writing.  I'm curious to know or find out what the overall plot is going to be.  There's some apparent foreshadowing going on and it leads down multiple roads and all of them are fantastic.  Point!

[Karmack]

Thanks.  Hopefully I can get this back on track soon.
My forum access has become far more limited, unfortunately, so it may take me a bit to get this plot back on the rails...

[SlenderTheEnder]

Amazing how many people think of using holocrons to save the force after order 66. I thought of it myself.