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Author Topic: We are Gray...  (Read 23200 times)
Karmack
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Light side points please.


« Reply #30 on: September 01, 2017, 08:39:26 PM »

The cockpit of the freighter was crowded.  Arnor and Illian remained in the after crew area but with four of us in the space it was tight.  But then, the space around Naboo was crowded as well...

"We've already been hailed and queried.  Its a good thing we picked up a legit consignment on our way in.  Good call on that one, Master Jothan."

I met Jothan's eyes and nodded in agreement.  It had cost us a day, but we had all agreed that it was prudent and fit with our path.  The Song was still muted, but as we closed on Naboo I could begin to pick out its tendrils, even buried in the murk.  But Captain Lars wasn't done yet, so I decided to prompt him.  "Captain, I hear the "but" in your voice."

"But," he said, clearly uncomfortable, "the authorities made it explicitly clear that we are to stick to the assigned flight profile, land, unload, and leave.  There is no room for variance, and they have all of that..." he swept his arm to the orbital space before us, dominated by a Star Destroyer and several light cruiser escorts and TIE fighters, "...to make sure we don't do anything they don't want us to do."  Lars turned and looked up at Jothan.  "I can get you in OK, but you'll be well away from where you wanted to be and there is no way I can get you back out.  You'll be on your own."

Jothan nodded, but his eyes were troubled.  I poked at my own blindness of what was to come, the way I might have probed the space of a missing tooth with my tongue.  But the thread was there.  The fugue remained strong in the here-and-now.  Our path was before us, and it still led to this place.  Jothan's eyes again met mine and I nodded slightly.  "This is the place, whatever may come."

"Agreed."  Jothan rumbled back.  "Jotu, go ahead and land, unload, and head back out.  Carry a report back to Jedda.  If nothing else, the Council must know that we landed successfully."

Lars looked as if he would refuse for a moment, then exhaled and nodded.  "Very well, but you take care of yourself!"

Jothan smiled.  "No, my friend.  The Force takes care of us.  We simply do its bidding."  He cast me another glance, this one full of irony.

I smiled back at him.  "Never fear, Captain.  I will look after him for you.  As the Maker decrees, so it will be, but we will do what we must to defeat the Darkness."

Lars smiled a wane smile and turned back to his controls.  Jotham and I stood behind them, silent, watching the planet grow as we followed the proscribed flight corridor down to the main spaceport. 

The Darkness swallowed us....
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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

TheDutchman
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Force Alignment: 1106
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« Reply #31 on: September 02, 2017, 01:51:30 AM »

Yes, to all this. Especially the "Technical Note". Very well put. I too liked that, how it is a dark, hammering beat, rather than a beautiful flowing song. It reminds me of the difference between a Violin and a Drum. One is specifically to make something sound amazing, the other to add a depth and wildness to the song. Great job on this one Karmack.
Oh I LIKE that TR!  I never even considered that comparison; awesome perspective  Wink

And I make "3".  Marvel fan(s), that is  Grin

And so, the veritable "calm before the storm"

Until next installment, friends  Smiley
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Cataphract Triarch of the Vhal'Dan

My sabers:Zearic's Aldrnari, Archon v3 (modded w/ activation box) w/Obsidian, AS; Zearic's shoto, Apprentice v4 w/Obsidian, AS; Graflex SE w/Obsidian, GB; Archon v3 (modded w/ activation box) w/Obsidian, CG; Dark Sentinel v4 w/Obsidian, BR; Sentinel LE v4 w/Obsidian, GB; Initiate v5 w/Obsidian, AS; Sentinel LE v4 stunt, EG; Aeon LE v4 stunt, FO; Dominix v4 stunt, BR; Aeon v3 stunt, SY

Karmack
Forumverse Loremaster
Master of Ceremonies
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Posts: 5602


Light side points please.


« Reply #32 on: September 02, 2017, 03:21:06 PM »

Yes, they are in it now.  I couldn't resist the contrast of the beautiful Naboo with the dark and malevolent forces brewing around and on it... 

More soon.  Thanks for the encouragement guys! 
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signature picture by DarthScrub

Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Karmack
Forumverse Loremaster
Master of Ceremonies
SaberForum.Com Moderator
Knight Commander
************

Force Alignment: 1152
Posts: 5602


Light side points please.


« Reply #33 on: September 05, 2017, 03:53:16 PM »

We moved through the streets, away from the spaceport, and I was still amazed and slightly dazed by the hammering of the Darkness all around me.  Despite the pain, however, I was keeping my senses fully open, straining to follow the thread of the melody and the harmonies that I could still sense.  It was like listening to a concert of fine music in one ear while acid rock blared in the other: Jarring and discordant, but I had to keep one ear on the Song, or we would all be blind.

Arnor, by our agreement, had shielded herself from listening to the deep threads.  Instead, her attention was focused on the hear-and-now and our immediate surroundings.  From what I could see, Jothan and Illian were in a similar arrangement.  Jothan's eyes were slightly opaque as he followed his own threads in the force while Illian's eyes darted here and there, his hand never far from where his lightsaber was concealed.

The contrast with Naboo itself was also hard to reconcile.  Naboo was a beautiful world with epic-scale stone architecture, open piazzas and squared with fountains and flowing water everywhere.  Arches and columns adorned every building and virtually every street was faced by a broad colonnade with cafe's and vendors everywhere.  The people were also open and friendly, even the (still rare) Gungans who intermingled with the predominantly human population.  They were happy and secure since the defeat of the droid army so many years ago, and utterly unaware of the darkness that overshadowed them.

Jothan reached an intersection and stopped, turning toward a recessed doorway.  "This way...." he said, waving toward it.

I was already moving, taking a turn now on point, letting the Jedi master rest a bit as I tightened my own focus.  The door was locked, but the simple electronics were nothing to defeat in the force.  I brushed the mechanism, reading the pathways and mentally shifting a bit of alloy, and the door lock went green and whooshed open for us.  The transition was ... forboding.

We continued on with little change, following the thread of the force down into the bowels of the city.  Where the facades of Naboo were stone and tile with a decidedly low-tech feel, the lower levels were almost exactly opposite.  The corridors we walked now were steel and composite, filled with power conduits, data busses, water and waste management systems, and the myriad of other things needed to make a modern city run.  Jothan and I continued to switch off on point periodically, allowing the other to dial back and rest a bit while the other took over the primary tracking duty.

"I have a bad feeling about this...." I heard Arnor mumble under her breath behind me.  "Karm, Jothan, watch yourselves.  Something isn't right here."

I had to agree.  The tension in the Song was high, the melody stagnant, the harmony dark and forboding.  We were near our goal, I could sense that, but there was something else.  Something...

"Jothan, its a trap!" I barked then.  I wasn't sure what it was that triggered the realization, but I knew it was true.  My saber was in my hand and the blade ignited even as I spoke.  Arnor's blade formed a split-second later, as did Jothan's and Illian's.  I was still moving instinctively, the Song of Battle now rising within me, merging with the Song of the Force, and I grabbed Jothan by the back of his robe, physically pulling him back, and sent a powerful pulse forward through the force, a heavy push against.... 

I had no idea.  I just knew to push and I did, as if my life depended on it.

Three seconds later the two concussion grenades that had been travelling toward us exploded among the troops that had launched them.  The explosions disoriented the squad of Storm Troopers and distracted them for two precious seconds.  When they bounced back up from cover to fire we were already among them.

Yellow and blue flashed in sweeping arcs as we deflected blaster bolts.  In seconds, the troopers went down, several to the ricochets before Jothan and I dispatched the shooters directly before us.  Illian took out one trooper who had emerged late and was drawing a beed on our backs.  Arnor covered Illian and kept her focus further out, which was why she noticed the main threat first.

"Inquisitorius!"

My view snapped up to see no less than six figures in black and gray armor, double-bladed sabers glaring red.  Inquisitorius?  Here?  That would explain the darkness, but no one had seen an inquisitor or heard of one since before the battle of Yavin.  There was no time for speculation, however.  The Song of Battle was rising and the fugue was strong.  Karmack threw himself into the attack, vaulting over the line of Inquisitorius, blocking a strike aimed at him as he passed over head, and landing behind them.  Arnor went left, rolling instead of vaulting, and slashed low as she passed.  Her blade tip connected with an ankle, severing a foot and dropping one of their foes immediately.  The inquisitor shrieked as his own movement brought the severed stump into direct contact with the floor and he immediately toppled over and into a live power conduit.  The surge of power ended his suffering - and killed the lights.

The room went from one of light to a dark abyss lit by the flashing red, blue and yellow blades of our sabers.  With a quick snap I ignited both hilts and joined them, facing staff with staff and was immediately engaged by two of the inquisitorius as the the other three squared off with an opponent.  I settled into a modified Soresu, falling back and drawing my two opponents away from the other three.  These two were closely linked, perhaps a Master and Apprentice or simply mentor and newbie.  Whatever the connection, there was a strong fugue between them, but nothing like the flow of song I sensed in the Sith.  Only the dark rhythm of evil flowed between them, a drumbeat that threatened to overwhelm the Song...

...for a moment.  As I fell back slowly, dodging and parrying their cuts and thrusts, I could feel the mounting frustration.  Despite their training and charter, these Inquisitorius had obviously never faced true Jedi before.  The pair before me had expected to engage opponents jarred and perhaps already injured by their Storm Trooper ambush.  Instead they had run into four well trained and focused Jedi unshaken by injury and ready for battle.  All that remained was to find and exploit an opening...

... and there it was.  In an effort to get through my guard one of the inquisitorius over-extended in his bid to strike my saber hilt.  With a flashing spin I brought my blades around and performed Sun Djem and Cho Mai, severing both his saber hilt ... and his saber hand at the wrist.  A force push threw the disarmed inquisitorius aside and I stepped into his place, using the opening to flower and bring my blades through the second opponent at an unexpected angle.  The cuts passed through his right arm, which had been raised overhead, removing it at the upper arm, but that was incidental as the blade tip of the second pass also took off his head.

Unfortunately the cuts came a split-second to late, and I felt the seering burn of a glancing blow on my left arm from his last up-stroke.  I collapsed with my targets, my world reduced for long seconds to the blinding flood of pain, the red hammer overloading everything and severing me from the Song.  My chest heaved and I collapsed my blades, dropping to the deck and rolling over on my back, struggling to clear my head...

The Inquisitorius that appeared over me grinned a deaths-head grin, his eyes filled with hate as he raised his saber to strike.  I mashed my thumb down on the activation button and my blade sprang back to life, the Shiak strike driving up through his torso and out his back right behind his head.  I watched his eyes go from hate to shock to fear before they simply went ... blank.  He fell backwards off of my blade, his saber falling harmlessly to the floor behind him.

"Karm!" Arnor was there, lifting my head into her lap.  "Are you ok?"

I closed my eyes and initiated a song of healing, feeling the pain ease and my connection to the Song surge back as I suppressed the effects of the injury.  "I'm fine...  Or I will be.  Help me up."

Arnor stood and lifted me up.  Around us was carnage.  Four of the five inquisitorius were dead.  The fifth was unconcious, blood oozing from his wrist despite the cauterizing effects of the saber.  Arnor was undamaged, her opponent missing his head.  Illian was also up....

Jothan.  Jothan was down.  Illian was sitting, cradling his Master's head in his lap, unshed tears in his eyes.  Jothan's eyes were blank, his chest still.  Karmack could see where a saber had cut his thigh and arm in glancing blows, with a killing blow to the chest.  He'd then turned to me...

I suddenly felt far less regret at killing him.  Far less.

I felt the anger surge within me, and for a second I could feel it joining with the darkness, attempting to overwhelm me from within...  Humming, I turned my back on it.  I drew Arnor, now dressing my arm wound with an analgesic and antiseptic soaked bandage, into a fierce hug and sang a quick song of thanksgiving to the Maker, and the darkness receded.  I gave my wife another quick hug and broke away, stepping toward the padawan.

"Illian." 

He looked up at me, eyes bright with unshed tears.  "I know.  We have to go on..."

I nodded.  "The time of sorrow will come, but we must finish the mission."

"What...  What can we do for him here?" the padawan asked.  His eyes were pleading.  "We can't just leave him here for them to find..."

I thought for a moment, then turned back to where the Storm Troopers lay.  Reaching out, I found what I was looking for ... there.  A quick pull in the force and the object was in my hand.

I turned and handed the incendiary grenade to Illian.  "Say your peace and lay this on his chest.  Its the best we can do."

Illian took the grenade.  "Thank you."

Arnor and I turned away.  I felt the song altered, a powerful strand of the fugue that continued to dominate our path now missing, leaving our song weaker and more fragile.  But we were close to the goal.  It was before us now.  We would move ahead, the darkness opening, letting in a ray of light, of hope.

We moved down the corridor as behind us Jothan's Pyre burned, the Jedi Master lighting our way one last time.



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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

TheDutchman
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Force Alignment: 1106
Posts: 4131


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« Reply #34 on: September 06, 2017, 02:21:35 AM »

EX
CEL
LENT
!!!!!!!!!!!

I began to read (as I do with all installments) with anticipation, each sentence flowing faster, faster, with more urgency, finding myself deliberately slowing to savor the story, only to continue reading at a breakneck pace again...to an abrupt stop.  Lol, "dammit!"

Testament to excellent storytelling, Karm  Wink.  I really would like to thank you for sharing^^

Until next installment, friends  Smiley
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Cataphract Triarch of the Vhal'Dan

My sabers:Zearic's Aldrnari, Archon v3 (modded w/ activation box) w/Obsidian, AS; Zearic's shoto, Apprentice v4 w/Obsidian, AS; Graflex SE w/Obsidian, GB; Archon v3 (modded w/ activation box) w/Obsidian, CG; Dark Sentinel v4 w/Obsidian, BR; Sentinel LE v4 w/Obsidian, GB; Initiate v5 w/Obsidian, AS; Sentinel LE v4 stunt, EG; Aeon LE v4 stunt, FO; Dominix v4 stunt, BR; Aeon v3 stunt, SY

Taegin Roan
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« Reply #35 on: September 06, 2017, 03:03:05 AM »

EX
CEL
LENT
!!!!!!!!!!!

I began to read (as I do with all installments) with anticipation, each sentence flowing faster, faster, with more urgency, finding myself deliberately slowing to savor the story, only to continue reading at a breakneck pace again...to an abrupt stop.  Lol, "dammit!"

Testament to excellent storytelling, Karm  Wink.  I really would like to thank you for sharing^^

Until next installment, friends  Smiley

I guess I don't need to say anything now. TD said it all right here. ^^^
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"I am the Outcast's Shadow" - Taegin Roan
"Confronting fear is the Destiny of a Jedi" - Luke Skywalker
"So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause." - Padmé Amidala

TheDutchman
Knight Commander
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Force Alignment: 1106
Posts: 4131


Avatar courtesy of For Tyeth


« Reply #36 on: September 06, 2017, 11:51:53 AM »

I guess I don't need to say anything now. TD said it all right here. ^^^
Lol thanks TR  Cheesy
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Sig courtesy of DarthScrub

Cataphract Triarch of the Vhal'Dan

My sabers:Zearic's Aldrnari, Archon v3 (modded w/ activation box) w/Obsidian, AS; Zearic's shoto, Apprentice v4 w/Obsidian, AS; Graflex SE w/Obsidian, GB; Archon v3 (modded w/ activation box) w/Obsidian, CG; Dark Sentinel v4 w/Obsidian, BR; Sentinel LE v4 w/Obsidian, GB; Initiate v5 w/Obsidian, AS; Sentinel LE v4 stunt, EG; Aeon LE v4 stunt, FO; Dominix v4 stunt, BR; Aeon v3 stunt, SY

Karmack
Forumverse Loremaster
Master of Ceremonies
SaberForum.Com Moderator
Knight Commander
************

Force Alignment: 1152
Posts: 5602


Light side points please.


« Reply #37 on: September 06, 2017, 03:59:48 PM »

LOL  thanks guys.

I feel this one might be coming to a close.  Not sure of that, though.  There are two paths open. 
More soon.
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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Karmack
Forumverse Loremaster
Master of Ceremonies
SaberForum.Com Moderator
Knight Commander
************

Force Alignment: 1152
Posts: 5602


Light side points please.


« Reply #38 on: September 07, 2017, 03:11:57 PM »

I was having trouble concentrating, the thread of the melody shrouded in a red mist of pain.  The wounds on my left arm were minor overall and would heal with proper treatment, but the slash had left a charred gouge in my bicep that went almost to the bone.  Arnor had wrapped it and applied topical medications for pain and infection, but further medicine would hamper my mental acuity, which would be deadly now.  For a brief moment I stewed about the choice: blinded by pain, or blinded by medication for the pain.  Either one potentially deadly....

I shook the wool-gathering thoughts away and concentrated.  Arnor was on point, her saber in her hand.  Illian was behind, watching our rear.  We had cleared the ambush quickly, leaving behind an inferno that consumed Master Jothan as well as our enemies.  I hoped the fire would give us a breathing space while the enemy sorted out what happened and who, if anyone, survived.  The song drew me forward, deeper into the complex, and the pulse was quickening again.  There would be another confrontation. 

I brushed over Illian in the force as he followed.  His melody had flexed and bent briefly as darkness entered his heart.  Anger had flooded him at the death of his Master.  Then his melody had burst forth with song, echoes of the line I had heard from Jothan merging with Illian's own unique melody to strengthen it and add depth, and I had felt his line in the fugue surge and tighten with that of Arnor and myself.  The cord was now three strands, a trio that danced through the dark together instead of two duets that complemented each other but were ultimately separate.

I mentally touched the trio, marveling at it for a brief moment.  It was ... beautiful.

And then I felt it.  The pulse of the trio surged, the harmony and rhythm shifting into the fast-paced mode of combat, intensifying at the sudden burst of hate-driven hammering war drums.  It was like a pleasant chamber orchestra suddenly being put together with a bag-pipe and drum band in full martial glory.

Arnor felt it as well, and her saber ignited just in time to block the falling red hammer-strike.  She somersaulted away in time to avoid the follow-up but had to shift to a blindingly fast Soresu as blaster bolts tracked her from multiple sources.

I waved Illian forward to help her and ignited my own saber.  The song of battle filled me and I grabbed onto it more strongly than I had ever done before.  Pain rippled through my arm and shoulder as I freed my left arm from the sling we'd fashioned and my grip on the Song faltered for a brief instance, then the pain was subsumed and the battle song filled my mind and my heart. 

Our blades clashed and locked in the High Guard/High Parry and I was face-to-face with the Inquisitor.   Here was the source.  The one who darkened this place of light.  "So, we meet at last."

The hate-filled eyes were yellow with the dark side.  He laughed.  "So we do ... Jedi.  You defeated the ambush.  Lord Vader said that even a Jedi Master would be unable to overcome my best Inquisitorius.  Yet here you stand."

I felt his probing with the force, but long years of sparring and practice made the force-blocks and parries as effortless as the blade work.  I augmented my strength and threw him back.   So, this one was monologing.  I needed to keep him talking.  "It was a nice try, though inept.  About what I would expect from an idolator."  I grinned at his slight confusion and used the moment to hit him with a powerful force push, sent without a physical queue, something Master Chillum had spent years teaching me to do.  Most Jedi and Sith used body movement to focus their attention as they used the force.  It gave them a mystical air and I always suspected that the practice continued because at some deep level the human ego just liked it.  Master Chillum had pushed us to eschew it.  Why give someone a visual queue?  The force was invisible.  Keep it that way.

The Inquisitor grunted and managed to deflect the bulk of the push but it startled him.  "I must tell Lord Vader he was wrong.  The Jedi Master did not die..."

I smiled, the song rising in my heart, the strength of it washing the last theads of red pain away.  "Oh, your ambush killed Master Jothan.  But Lord Vader is not all-knowing.  He could not have seen me."  I shifted my blade to my left hand alone, testing the arm one last time with a blade flourish.  The pain was there, but it was blanketed by the force.  I was going to pay later, but for now...   I laughed, humming the Song, and my second blade ignited in my good right hand.  "I am Maenowan Karmack of the Gray.  I am a Child of the Maker.  I sing the Song.  I am the Death of Evil."

He anticipated my attack, but not its power.  I rained blows on the Inquisitor and drove him back, singing the Song.  For a moment it looked as if I were going to finish him.  But not yet.   I still needed him to talk, and the Song was not complete.  Not yet.  The Inquisitor, fear showing, was pushed back, fully defensive, and I took my chance.  I attempted a Shiiak against his shoulder with my left-hand saber.  Not to extended ... just enough ....

The red blade flashed around in last-ditch defensive sweep, neatly cutting my hilt in half and missing my hand by less than a centimeter.  I felt a tug as the saber was destroyed, the blade shattering the crystal that had started this quest.  Later...  I spun away, feigning further injury, tucking my hand into my tunic and folding around it as if to cradle it.  I was careful to roll away from the Inquisitor, give myself room.  I wanted to invite him to boast, not perform a quick killing blow...

"So ... 'Death to Evil' was it?"  I turned and came back to my knees and slowly to my feet.  I adopted a posture of pain and defeat, putting my surviving blade into a middle guard while continuing to cradle my injured left arm and hide my hand from his view.  The Inquisitor laughed.  "Now you will die.  Then your friends.  And I and my apprentices will finish conditioning these smart kyber crystals and ship them to Endor, where they will be used to assemble the new Death Star.  Nothing you can do will stop it.  The Emperor has forseen it.  Vader has forseen it."

A new Death Star?!?!  In Endor?   I felt shock roll through me, the Song faltering for a moment.  I looked past the Inquisitor at the room beyond.  It was full of crates like the one we had intercepted.  Full of kyber crystals.  Enough for even a super-laser like the one that had scarred Jedda and destroyed Alderaan... 

I felt the darkness suddenly lift and the Song was revealed.  Yes.  They staged here, Palpatine's home, and prepped the crystals.  Then shipped the prepped crystals to the construction site, keeping the force-users out of the public eye.  This is where the Inquisitorius had gone, and why they had disappeared.  Palpatine had new job for them, one he felt was more important even than hunting down the remaining Jedi.  "You won't get away with it."

"Oh?  Who will stop us?" The Inquistor said, his blade rising to strike.  He was focused on the killing blow, sure I was crippled and cut off from the force by the pain of my fresh injury.  And in that instance his guard was down, all his energy and attention on the attack and not on defense.

I pulled. 

The Inquisitor's second cervical vertebrae shifted forward nearly 4 centimeters.  It was completely dislocated from the spinal column.  Other than to the ligaments and local musculature, there was little real damage to the neck, but the spinal chord was cut as neatly as if with a knife.

The Inquisitor collapsed, his body suddenly cut off from his brain.  His snarling fury was replaced by surprise, then the light faded from his eyes.

I felt the Song surge.  There was no time to reflect.  I threw myself into the remaining battle.  Illian and Arnor were in full defensive mode, deflecting bolts and picking off the occasional trooper with a ricochet.  I followed the surge of the melody, clear now as the black veil lifted, and attacked the storm troopers directly.  I danced through the arc of their deployment, mowing them down, and felt the Battle Song swell to a crescendo and cadence.

The firing stopped as the last trooper fell to my blade, head rolling away from the lifeless body.

I looked at the vast warehouse again.  People...  "Illian..."

"Master?" the padawan approached, now nursing a wound of his own.   Minor, fortunately. 

"Illian, find a terminal and call up emergency evacuation procedures."  He nodded and sprinted to the side of the bay, where an empty office was located.  I turned to Arnor, felt a brief surge of relief to see her intact, her aqua blade still bright in her hand, still on guard for further attacks. 

"Arnor, reach out.  Do you see the tanks across the way?" 

She nodded, concentrated ... Then her eyes went wide.  "Is that really ... necessary?"

"Yes.  These are destined for a new Death Star.  We must ... remove that threat.  Entirely."

"Master, I have it!" Illian called.  "What is your wish?"

"Sound a general evacuation.  Fuel leak."

************

Captain Lars had just gotten the last of his cargo loaded when the explosion rocked the spaceport.  "What was that?"  His comm suddenly came alive with evacuation orders and emergency clearance to all ships.  "OK, we're out of here!"

I held Illian and Arnor back in the shadows until the ship's ramp began to actually move, and then we sprinted.  A push in the force and we landed, tangled, in the main salon as the ramp closed.

The hole of Lars' blaster was massive only 3 centimeters from my right eye.  "Um...  We're back?"

The blaster lifted a fraction of a second later.  "So you are!  Can I assume the chaos out there is your doing?"

I nodded.  "Yes." 

"OK.  Glad I'm not going to be around to explain it to anyone... "  Lars looked at the three of us.  "Where's Jothan?"

I felt his sorrow swell as he asked the question.  He knew.  Illian answered.  "He ... fell.  He gave his life to save us."

Lars nodded.  "I always figured he'd go out in a heroic blaze of glory."  Lars gathered himself as the ship lifted on emergency thrust, just one of hundreds of ships evacuating the port.  "So, where to?  Back to Jedda?"

I nodded.  "Yes.  We have to share what happened with the council.  I owe my friend that much."

Lars nodded again but said nothing, just turning and going back to the cockpit.  I felt the song cadence again and settle back into a peaceful harmony ... and braced as the pain from the abuse of my arm slammed into me.  With a whimper, I collapsed to my knees, cradling my arm.  "Owie...."

Arnor's arms eveloped me.  "Come, my love.  Lets see what kind of sickbay this bucket of bolts has."  She lifted me up and guided me aft, past Illian who was already sitting in a lotus position, his own eyes opaque ans he contemplated his own future ... and the paths before him.
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Master Singer of the Mak'Tor

Taegin Roan
Knight Commander
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Force Alignment: 2066
Posts: 6245


Lord of the Force


« Reply #39 on: September 07, 2017, 06:04:43 PM »

Wow, once again, an amazing job. My neck started hurting when you pulled on the vertebrae, never thought of using the Force that way before. Cheesy And the last thing that Karmack says sums up that whole part perfectly. "Owie...."
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"I am the Outcast's Shadow" - Taegin Roan
"Confronting fear is the Destiny of a Jedi" - Luke Skywalker
"So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause." - Padmé Amidala

Karmack
Forumverse Loremaster
Master of Ceremonies
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Force Alignment: 1152
Posts: 5602


Light side points please.


« Reply #40 on: September 07, 2017, 06:40:25 PM »

Thanks Taegin.  I'm glad that came across.  :-)

My daughter and I spent some time talking about this subject one night after re-watching episode one.  The line was from Wato(?), the flying dude who owned Anakin.  "Why do you keep waving your hand around like you're some kind of Jedi or something?"  Or something to that effect.

And I noticed that every time a Jedi or Sith uses the force they have a hand-motion.  I understand visually it is so we, the audience, KNOW what they're doing. 

But, really...  Why? 

So I started thinking: What if a force user trained to use the force WITHOUT the crutch of the hand motion?  And I built that into Karmack.  No silly hand-waving for him!

As for the neck break ... yeah.  Why not?  Its just focus...

Not that Karmack likes doing it, mind you.  He'd much rather leave someone disabled or disarmed, but sometimes...  Yeah.

Sometimes.

*sigh*

One more chapter in this story, I think.  Just need to wrap it up...
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Taegin Roan
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« Reply #41 on: September 07, 2017, 06:55:26 PM »

I have often thought about that as well. Why did they need to use their hands. It is just concentration after all. Luke didn't need to in ROTJ. I think that it is mostly used as a focal point, a way to easily channel the Force rather than concentrating as hard. I also think that it may be a bit of just natural reflexes. Your brain knows that to push on something you have to use your hands or some other body part, and so when Jedi (or Sith) use the Force, it just the Force doing the pushing, but the hands doing the motions. This is something that I have thought about so much actually that I have even used it a little bit in my own character (Taegin Roan), as well as some of my superhero characters. I like that you also brought in the "visual queue" thing, because that is another major aspect of why Taegin doesn't do it. Looking forward to the final chapter.
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"I am the Outcast's Shadow" - Taegin Roan
"Confronting fear is the Destiny of a Jedi" - Luke Skywalker
"So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause." - Padmé Amidala

Karmack
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« Reply #42 on: September 07, 2017, 07:42:31 PM »

Hey Teagan, totally off topic: which if your sabers do you like the best? 

Just curious.  :-)

I seem to keep coming back to my Aeon V4...
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« Reply #43 on: September 07, 2017, 08:34:25 PM »

Precisely.  I remember wondering why Luke used gestures while Force choking the gamorean guard in RotJ when Vader hardly ever did (choking Admiral Ozzel, telekinetically pulling/throwing part of the stanchion at Luke in the bowels of Bespin City to name a few).  I always thought that the gestures were superfluous; the Force was controlled/manipulated via the mind.

TR, I would love to read about your own character^^  Perhaps afterwards  Wink

I really feel that most writers are victims of their own creative limitations when it comes to Force powers.  Take telekinesis: Jedi/With use it for Push/Pull powers?  Yet nothing like Karm utilized; EXCELLENTLY done IMO.  

Heh, sorry for that tangent; I've thought often on this subject in my basement at home.

Karm, you are an enjoyable writer; I hope this isn't your last story that you share  Wink

Until next installment, friends  Smiley
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My sabers:Zearic's Aldrnari, Archon v3 (modded w/ activation box) w/Obsidian, AS; Zearic's shoto, Apprentice v4 w/Obsidian, AS; Graflex SE w/Obsidian, GB; Archon v3 (modded w/ activation box) w/Obsidian, CG; Dark Sentinel v4 w/Obsidian, BR; Sentinel LE v4 w/Obsidian, GB; Initiate v5 w/Obsidian, AS; Sentinel LE v4 stunt, EG; Aeon LE v4 stunt, FO; Dominix v4 stunt, BR; Aeon v3 stunt, SY

Taegin Roan
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« Reply #44 on: September 07, 2017, 09:08:51 PM »

Hey Teagan, totally off topic: which if your sabers do you like the best? 

Just curious.  :-)

I seem to keep coming back to my Aeon V4...


I find that my Dark Apprentice is the most comfortable and enjoyable to use. However, I can't deny the fact that Emerald is amazing, and the Initiate and Dominix v4 are incredibly comfortable as well. But overall, I'd say my Apprentice is my favorite. I need to wield all of the sabers before I could officially chose a favorite, but right now it is the Apprentice.


TR, I would love to read about your own character^^  Perhaps afterwards  Wink



Well you might get too. Wink

I am trying to write a story about him, (taking some inspiration from Karmack, [the "song"]), but all I have so far is the Prologue. Someday I will get the rest of it done, but for now, here is some info about him.

http://www.saberforum.com/index.php?topic=24042.msg539122#msg539122

There is a lot that you don't know about him from this sheet, and that is what I am telling in the story. But this is a fairly good intro to who he is.
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"I am the Outcast's Shadow" - Taegin Roan
"Confronting fear is the Destiny of a Jedi" - Luke Skywalker
"So this is how liberty dies: with thunderous applause." - Padmé Amidala

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