Birthright. (Atretes Rhoujen)

[Salem Norongachi]

"What's in a name?" Salem shrugged and took the drink gratefully before giving a barking HA at Atretes description. "I can tell you knock all the girls dead with charm like that." Was his rye response as whiskey found lips again.

"Drink up. Thats the last you're allowed. Go get some rest. Practise what I showed you." He waved his hand in a shooing motion as his lips touched glass again. "Wasn't a request. Don't argue."

 

[EmKay]

Atretes shrugged as well at Salem's remark about his interpersonal skills. He knew they were poor, but he didn't mind too much. He gulped down the last shot and gave a little nod and stood slowly. He wasn't inclined to argue anyway, and he was getting rather tired.

"Right, I'll see what I can do to try practising in my sleep or... something" he responded, already a bit bleary from the alcohol. He stepped his way to his room quietly, and when he reached it he kicked off his boots, pulled off his socks, and flopped on the bunk. His muscles ached from some unknown stress he'd put them through. Oh right. He was punched. He sat up, and rearranged the pillow and heavy blanket to rest against the wall to prop him up, and slid his way under the sheet. He didn't mind the cool temperatures aboard the ship.

As he closed his eyes, he drew together the different aspects of sensing the Force he'd learned that day, and eased the imagery in as he slipped out of consciousness. He wasn't very able to focus, but he could still sense the Force quite readily, and his dreams took to the ebbs and flows. They played on the vines of the Force and allowed his perceptions to dance through the currents without worry. It was a bit of fun to counter the seriousness of his waking hours, and a good relief of stress.

His conscious mind thought for a moment, that perhaps the solace he'd sought all of his years was merely waiting for him in the Force.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

The nights had never been kind to Salem Norongachi. He'd always been a restless soul, his mind filled with thoughts and schemes for the future; Regrets of the past. Now that he was a lifetime away from everything he had known, with the festering sickness that was his dearly departed sons memories corrupting his once black heart, it was all the worse. Sleep, sleep was a dream. A dream that could only be bribed by alcohol and its price was growing steeper by the day.

Gone were the Kal Strifes, Jay Mertaals and Rani Churs. Those were his enemies, his acquaintances and on more than an occasion his friends. They were the targets that he had to overcome in his old life and so he had trained accordingly, arming himself with the skill set that would topple them. Now, he had no idea who might be out there; What new foes might await him.

Atretes had gone to bed and for half an hour he had lingered at the table before he stood and made his way back down to the training room. The turrets had been repaired and re-affixed to their rails; they lay dormant against the walls ahead and behind him. Norongachi stepped into the marked area for this training scenario and let out a breath as his own saber and another with a blade of blue rose into the air in front of him.

"Initiate training scenario 07-X3-Delta." Both blades ignited and he slipped into a combat stance, his hands empty and held ready for the onslaught. Emah didn't disappoint. It took a second for the turrets to come on-line but when they did they began to fire instantaneously. Immediately he put his defenders to work, the blades snapping and hissing around his body while he moved in evasions. This time he had decided to focus entirely upon the two, letting his connection with them be as strong as possible.

It seemed to be paying off, the energy swords danced in arcing somersaults all around him to snatch bolts from the air. All the while Omega was moving, his feet blurs of motion, his body dipping and twisting, leaping into spins and tumbles that would have left a lesser man dizzy. The Force was his guide, his leader, the font with which it were all possible. It guided his body in its motions, it allowed his mind to direct and control each blade with a fluidity material hands could only imagine.

"Initiate Sequence 01-X2-Echo!" He yelled, the twin blades twirling so quickly around his body that it was hard to tell where green trail began and blue ended. The fire fight was as intense as it had been before but now he felt more in control, drawing heavily upon his expertise with Telekinesis and his bodes muscle memory of countless battles to hold his own against his maniacal A.I.

"Initiating." Emah responded and at the edge of the hangar a hulking lightsaber training droid came to life. Its blazing red photoreceptors only matched by the shaft of pale light that sprung from the end of its forearm. Its heavy foot falls were barely audible amidst the constant discharges of energy and if it were not for the grace of the Force its initial thrust would have tore a hole clean through Salems abdomen. Thankfully he had sensed its approach and had twisted his body aside at the last second, flicked his green blade into an upward telekinetic arc at its metallic neck while his cerulean defender kept the turrets at bay.

"There's no more time for complacency." Omega thought as a whirling dervish of green pinwheeled against the droids defences.

 

[EmKay]

Even in his sleep, Atretes perked. The sensory flares of the Force spiked as he sensed great releases, retentions, and manipulations in its nature. His dreams shifted, and through his hybrid Force sight he was able to almost watch what [member="Salem Norongachi"] was doing. It was a spectacle to behold, and in this state he was able to sponge up small flecks of memory. The way the currents of the Force shifted, and the way his control of the two unseen objects flicked and danced like a careful puppeteer. It was, from this perspective, a lethal beauty to behold. A thing teeming with danger and laced with wonder, that made chills rise on the apprentice's skin as his body reacted to what he saw in a vivid Force-fueled dream. It was marvelous.

As it went on, his muscles would twitch and his own, less controlled presence in the Force shifted and moved, as though he were subconsciously trying to imitate the movements of his mentor. This went on for hours, until Atretes jumped awake with a start, broken out of his rest after his manifestations took too strong a hold and one of his boots landed square in his chest. After a moment to recover from the shock and slight pain, he sat up and tapped his datapad, which rested on the nearby desk, to check the time. It had been about five hours, and outside of his active meditation he was unsure if Salem was still up to his endeavours. With curiosity in mind and sleep stripped from him, he slipped on his socks and boots and made his way to the training room to see if anything was happening. He planned to watch from outside if there was any activity, or make his way to the bridge if it turned out that the session had ended.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

The training room was a battleground. Its floor scorched, its walls carbon scored. Turrets broken and slagged by Omegas fury. A saber had been lost at some point, the blue blade lying shattered amongst the ruins. What Atretes would see when he entered was fire, a roaring vortex of flame broiling, curling, snapping and twisting under Norongachis control.

The ethereal fire had taken its place as his means of assault against three advancing droids while his green blade dealt with the meagre offensive the remaining three turrets could mount. Wounds decorated his body, burned skin could be seen upon his torso and arms where blaster bolts had found their marks. How Salem was even standing right now, Emah had no idea. Four times she had asked him to stop, four times he had denied her with iron resolve. She had known what the former Dark Lord of the Sith was capable of, she had read the files dating all the way back to the Worldcraft Talta but she had never truly seen Salem Norongachi in full flow, unleashing everything he had. It was her assessment that even if she doubled the amount of turrets and tripled the amount of droids, the chances of success were very nearly too close to call.

A droid made its move. Darting forward, feinting to the right and then slashing from the right but Salem was gone. He was airborne, flipping backwards a dozen feet above the battlefield. A hand flicked forward and the fire punched into the assailant, engulfing its metal bulk in flashes of reds, yellows and oranges. A superheated weapon that easily burned away carapace and electronics before splitting into a forked tongue that scored the other two as his feet hit the ground.

Sweat glistened across his battered body, his limbs were beginning to shake, his mouth try and foul with the metallic taste of blood. Only his eyes still held the fire, the cold malicious determination that had seen him through the dark places of the universe. A hand snatched the hilt of his blade from the air and spun in a circle of viridian to send a bolt of laser fire back to its source which exploded and fell silent. He released the flames from his service, a woomph their only parting word before they vanished like they had never been, and called upon the last of his strength. The Force surged into his mind, to the deep recesses of his soul. He let out a roar that set the remaining guns to shiver, their metal to creak, crack and dent before collapsing in upon themselves as they died.

Norongachi fell. He didn't collapse, so much as crumple as he let his dominion over the Force recede. It had been the only thing keeping his body moving and without it his legs buckled. He lay upon his back, his chest falling and rising rapidly as his body sought more oxygen than he could provide "I need...a....drink..." Omega spoke between gulps of air.

"I need new auto-turrets..." The A.I muttered, viewing the devastation from the hangars surveillance equipment. "Even the maintenance droids won't be able to fix those after that..."

"Shut....up....you...karking...blue....queen..." He wheezed in response, while a hand rose from the floor a few inches and gave a half-wave to [member="Atretes Rhoujen"] .

 

[EmKay]

The sight was, arguably, more amazing to witness physically than through the Force. The two objects that Atretes now assumed were lightsabers were replaced by the inferno. The fluid motion of the flames orchestrated by [member="Salem Norongachi"] still creating a spectacle that threatened of wild damnation. The Force shifted even more wildly now, as though by nature reflecting the manifestation it took. He watched as the most complex maneouvres that the droids and turrets could execute got lost in the combined fury of fire and blade. The simple way that Salem moved still boasted power, and before Atretes had long to watch, the flames extinguished and his mentor flopped in exhaustion. Rhoujen was bemused by the parts of the commentary he'd heard and returned the wave.

He took a moment and trotted to the bridge. He snagged whichever bottle was open and returned to the hangar, and made his way into the room this time. Whether Salem was lying down still or sitting up now, the bottle was unceremoniously tossed at him, and should have landed in his lap without hitting anything sensitive.

"Auto-turrets again?" Atretes asked with a grin.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"Auto...fraking...turrets..." He moaned, attempting to sit up and failing before the second attempt yielded results. The bottle came down in a smooth arc and he managed to catch it, then fumble, then catch it again. He cracked the seal and took a few seconds reprieve in its company before motioning for Sigma to come over.

"I thought I told you to sleep?" He asked, knowing that it was probably his fault that his student was awake at this hour. Once you opened your mind to the Force it took awhile to quieten those new senses.

 

[EmKay]

The Apprentice gave his Master the time necessary to recover. He slid to the side and sat cross-legged, though the unbroken state of his boots made the position awkward. He hummed in thought after [member="Salem Norongachi"] presented his question, then after a moment responded truthfully.

"I was awakened by being stomped on the chest." he said simply. Then, realising that would likely elicit a strange look and smack on the head, he explained.

"While I slept I dreamed of what you were doing here, and could feel the Force being moved to your will as you... performed, as it were," he said quietly as he tried to convey his inner thoughts into outward expression, then he spoke slightly louder when he finished his small dialogue, "My best guess is that I was subconsciously attempting to mimic you and hit myself with the boot. I couldn't go back to sleep, so I came to see what was going on."

 

[Salem Norongachi]

The liquid anaesthetic rushed down his throat while Atretes Rhoujen spoke and when the bottle came away from his lips he ran the back of his hand over his mouth. Green eyes looked down at his body, watching with mild interest as the blaster wounds began to heal right before his eyes. It would never be a perfect reconstruction of his flesh, that he knew, there would be scars and many more would surely follow.

"Its a likely assumption, the bond between Master and Student is strong but we.." He said turning his head to Sigma. "Are almost kin, connected before we even knew it. Whether that will be a gift or a curse in the future, we shall have to see." Norongachis arms came up in a stretch, his muscles unwinding and easing back into a more natural state.

"Emah, do we have any of those wee training droids?" He asked the ever present A.I. A hiss of air could he heard then as a small ball like droid no bigger than a fist darted across the hangar and fired a shot at Norongachi. His hand rose automatically and the weak dart of energy simply vanished when it hit his palm. "You are hilarious.." Norongachi growled

"Thats what they tell me, sir." Responded the A.I while the droid zipped around them.

"This little guy will help us with our next lesson, it has nothing to do with the fact that I'm utterly shattered, I assure you." Omega said with an overly serious tone. "What I just did with that blaster bolt is one of the more handy powers. You take incoming energy and deflect, absorb, or dissipate it. Like everything I'll be teaching you it will save your life Mr Rhoujen. The fire power on this chap is dialed down, it will only sting a bit if you get hit. What I want you to do is form a barrier between the blasts and yourself, redirect the energy away from you. After that we'll move on to nullifying it all together and then finally absorbing it to bolster your own powers."

 

[EmKay]

Atretes watched the little orb droid and its circular movement. It did a few little loops and such and Atretes wondered if the AI had a notion of what 'fun' was. He listened to his instructions and nodded, and rose to stand away from his mentor a bit. The spherical droid followed him, and about as soon as he stopped walking the voice of Emah, as she was apparently called, came over the loudspeakers.

"Begin."

The bolt hit the back of his neck and made him wince in pain. He glared at the remote but all it did was shoot him in the knee. Apparently this AI had a sense of humour after all. He had to focus faster or he'd continue to be zapped with little energy insects. He thought hard on what [member="Salem Norongachi"] had instructed, about forming a barrier. He had to think on his toes. He sidestepped a blaster shot, and ducked under another, while shakily focusing on erecting a barrier. It was a pain the rear to focus on two things at once, but he pushed himself to succeed. He would not fail. This was similar to what he would have to do in an actual fight, after all, and being so easily overwhelmed by himself and a training remote would do no good. He struggled to focus. To keep some semblance of calm. The imagery he could picture, the displacement of the energy bolt to sail into the distance or back at it. The problem was focusing the thought to manifest, to appear in the Force. He kept faltering. Right as he thought the manifestation would occur he would lose focus from evading another sting.

"Enough." he grumbled under his breath. He stood taller against the droid and brought forth the thoughts that coalesced to form the barrier. They merged and he could see the blaster bolt leaving its firearm. He waved his hand against the bolt as though to swat it away and away it went. The metaphysical barrier formed around Rhoujen's hand and allowed him to fling the blaster bolt down the hangar. He looked to his hand, and focused hard. The field of barrier crept up his arm, which he used to deflect the next bolt, and slowly encased his body in energy-repellant field. He had to concentrate intensively to maintain this field, and after a few more zaps his heel dropped back and the barrier dissipated back down to his hand. He used that to continue to deflect blaster bolts while his mind felt slightly strained.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"Good!" Norongachi yelled, reclining back onto one hand, his knee bent slightly and his other arm resting atop it. "Keep moving! Watch the footwork! This skill won't make you invincible so its better to use it only when you can't effectively evade." A deflected dart of laser fire sizzled toward him and he casually tilted his head to the right to let it pass but he never missed a beat and continued. "Don't just use your eyes, FEEL where the bolts are coming from. Use this skill in conjunction with what I taught you earlier. Like all things the energy discharges have a presence within the Force. Find that presence, attune yourself to it and you'll be able to predict where the next one will come from." As he spoke the words he was also performing the action, feeling the movement of the droid as it danced with Sigma.

"Hit the lights." He said quietly and the A.I heard him. They were plunged into darkness, total blackness enveloping the hangar. Only the noise of the droid and [member="Atretes Rhoujen"] moving could be heard.

 

[EmKay]

He listened as he worked, his focus stretched more than it had been previously. Then the darkness was introduced. He allowed himself a grin when he immediately caught on to what [member="Salem Norongachi"] was doing. Forced to use his senses, Atretes removed his shirt and wrapped it around his head in a blindfold. A trickery of the mind to make him panic less in the dark. He honed in on his senses and the ghostly aspects of his Force sight came into focus. It was blurred and not very well-attuned, but it allowed him to have a precognitive grasp on the droid's fire, and also seemed to heighten his attunement to the Force. He ducked and spun out of the way of blaster fire, concentrating first on grasping this way of sensing. He was taking his first steps into the realm of Force user reflexes. Able to sense things precious moments before they happened, and act accordingly. He was soon merely sidestepping blaster bolts, and nodded to himself. Now came the hard part.

He focused hard, which caused him to lose his second sight and forced him to rely on instinct and base senses. He warped the flow of the Force around him, each time he spun to avoid a bolt was coiling more of the Force around him like a web of energy. With every sidestep it latticed and formed something akin to hexagons, and when he finally nodded to himself to put the deflective field to work, it blocked one bolt and shattered. He didn't feel as drained now, however. He was using the flowing currents of the Force to fuel his endeavour rather than the Force within himself. Again he constructed the barrier, and again it fell wen shot more than twice. He was able to form the barrier like an invisible shield before him before it dissipated. Each time took less time, but each time it was still as flimsy as the last. He nodded to himself and tried for a different tactic. This time instead of projecting the finished web outward, he kept it tight to his body like an ethereal bodysuit. When he allowed it to manifest as a barrier it kept with his movements and when he was shot it dissipated. He nodded again to himself as he took a focusing deep breath. He'd discovered how to make a barrier and a body shield, now he wanted to be inventive.

He focused the energy first around himself as a medium, then he projected it out to the remote and constructed the barrier. The blaster bolt sheared away and half of it hit Atretes square in the forehead. The other half went back up the tube of the remote's blaster and fried the firing mechanism. Of course, Atretes didn't know that, so when the droid stopped firing he wondered what had happened.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Eyes unseen watched the development of the student. The force awash with his movements that called it forth to do his bidding. A smile crept across Norongachis lips and then he turned his attention to his task; To train the best and brightest Force user her had even come across.

"More." He said to the darkness. "More droids." Somewhere in the impenetrable blackness three more spherical training droids joined their brother in the assault.

[member="Atretes Rhoujen"]

 

[EmKay]

He heard the command. How could he not? Every sense except his sight was on alert, and the moment he heard the repulsors was also the moment his senses spiked and he felt the small oscillations of energy echoing outwards from the droids, rustling the makeup of the Force and bringing the sense to him like a messenger. He took a breath and refocused the Force, quickly erecting several barriers while he took a moment to think. [member="Salem Norongachi"] had mentioned dissipating the energy to make it simply dissolve harmlessly. He decided that he'd try that soon. For now, he needed to focus. He bowed his head and reached into the air, his perceptions showing him grabbing a handful of the Force and drawing more to that point. From there, he bended it and constructed it to his will, the very essence of the local force spiraling into his control and crawling over his body. It send nearly electrostatic jolts across his skin as it was folded, bent, and bowed to his whims until he'd managed to create a second skin of raw energy around himself. He took a moment to survey his surroundings, and saw that his barriers were almost depleted. He focused now.

The energy around him nearly solidified, forming a barrier. It was nearly crystalline in structure, like a molecular structure latticed across his form. It compacted, replicated, and compacted again until he was in a tight ethereal mesh that surrounded his body like armour. He grinned, then looked to the droids. Their bolts hit the suit, and the impact distributed across the anti-energy mail, destroying a few cells in the structure but leaving the rest intact he grinned. He took a moment to consider the best way to deal with the droids given his assigned task, and decided on something interesting. He threw up the flimsy barriers he had now mastered around the remotes, in the shape of an octagonal prism. Every time a panel was struck he replaced it, and one by one the droids shorted themselves or their friends out by their own laser fire.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Now that was interesting. Not only had Sigma grasped the basic concept of the skill, he had also done something wholly imaginative with it; Projecting it beyond his body and around an assigned target. Norongachi had never even considered that approach and made a mental note to attempt it in his own personal training at a later date.

"You done good, kid." Norongachi spoke with a smirk as the hangar lights came back on. He opened his eyes, having them shut the entire time [member="Atretes Rhoujen"] had been hard at work, and looked over the helpless balls of metal wobbling on the floor. "Tired? Or shall we move onto something a little more...racey?"

 

[EmKay]

Atretes removed his shirt from around his eyes and was immediately blinded by the bright light. He shielded his eyes until they adjusted to the light, and the headache it caused made his focus dissolve and the barrier to break apart and crumble until the energy flowed back into the Force. He put his shirt back on and blinked, his eyes still straining against the sudden light, and slowly the world came back into focus. The first thing he noticed aside from the light was that everything still had ghosts of his Force sight behind it, and he could easily see the flows of the Force. After a few moments those phantasms faded, but his senses felt a little more attuned to himself.

He heard [member="Salem Norongachi"]'s question, and considered how he felt. He had a headache, his muscles were sore for some reason, and because of his early rise and sudden activity he was rather, well, tired. So he said so.

"Aye, I'm rather worn out since I didn't get that much sleep last night." he said, while his mind and head tried to stop throbbing from exertion.

 

[Salem Norongachi]

"Thank frak for that, my atoms are about to shake loose." He responded with a weary smile, tipping more whiskey down his throat. "Go get some rest, I'll see you in the morning."

"I'll clean up this mess. Again." Emah sighed, small cleaning and astromech droids appearing from recessed holes in the hangar walls to begin their assigned tasks. Some of them chirped and whooped their displeasure at the destruction they had only just fixed, one astromech droids cranial photoreceptor spinning to face Norongachi with what looked like utter loathing.

"I'll just...lie here for a bit...I guess." He flopped back onto the cool flooring and let out a long, exhausted sigh.

 

[EmKay]

Atretes shuffled his feet the first few steps toward the door, before shaking off the immediate exhaustion and walking to his room. The problem was, he wasn't sleepy. Tired? Definitely. His muscles were twitching from whatever ghostly effort his training had just inflicted upon him, but he was sure he wouldn't be able to fall back asleep. So once he reached his room he kicked off his boots, set his shirt and socks in a small pile atop the boots, picked up the manual for his new purchases and read through them.

At some point during his reading, weariness or boredom caught up with him and he passed out.

[member="Salem Norongachi"]

 

[Salem Norongachi]

Norongachi didn't remember closing his eyes but he knew he had, he knew sleep had found him when the smell of burnt flesh and the screams of a thousand of his brothers assailed him. The heat so intense from the explosions that ripped through his ship. Shrapnel cutting across his flesh as he ran, filled with the rage of a devil. He had never felt such molten fury. He'd find him, he had to find him. Every dying voice he heard through the Force would be avenged.

Betrayal.

Murder.

Salem awoke to the sound of alarms. The synthetic voice of Emah booming through the hangar bay.

"Hostile vessel detected. Nebulon-B 2 Frigate. No response to hails, fighters have been launched and are on an intercept course." Norongachi stirred himself, his guts still burning with the emotion of his nightmare. A snarl ripped from his lips, a vocal damnation to every sentient that had ever crossed him.

"Time!" He barked, moving to a large storage locker on the otherside of the hangar, inside was his armour. Dark and marred by conflicts past, it bore the resemblance of Beskar'gam although its make up did not include the illusive metal that made Mandalorian armour so potent.

"2 minutes and they will be on us." She responded and he felt the ship lurch to port, although they both knew that evasive manoeuvres in a ship this size were folly. Omega slipped on a black body suit and then strap himself into the durasteel skin that he'd known all his life. The pressure seals of the armour snapped shut, a hiss told of the internal oxygen supply beginning to circulate.

"Wake Sigma! I need him on the gun-deck!" His tone did little to hide the seething mass of emotion ripping through him.

"Where are you going!?" The A.I exclaimed as his dark form became a blur of super accelerated motion in the direction of the ray shields.

"To play." Was the only response the armoured Force Master gave through his helms com before a hand caught the edge of the hangar opening and he launched his body out into space. A muscled arm pulled him around and as soon as his boots hit the dark hull of his ship their magnetics activated. Green eyes looked upwards and the he was gone, all sound lost in the blackness of vacuum. Up and onto the slopping upper hull, his mind awash with a side of the Force that he was loathe to touch. Bright seas of energy became as blood in his mind, dark claw like waves snapping from its churning surface all too ready to answer his demands.

He could feel the sentient pilots of the fighters in the distance, darting and weaving obviously waiting for some kind of defensive fire from the ancient vessel. How little they knew that her weapons were lost to the A.I that resided aboard her and that there were but two living beings capable of utilizing them the old fashioned way.

"Starboard Turbolaser Battery 3, hurry Sigma!" He had no idea if his student had even awoken but his telepathic voice ripped through the Force like a shockwave and along with it a very detailed layout of the ship and the fastest way to the gun-decks. Green eyes burned hotter than any star, flickering constantly behind his visor as the dots bearing down upon them grey larger every heartbeat. The Frigate hung back, skirting behind its fighter screen, its crew likely unsure what ship they faced; The First Galactic Empire had been dead for near 700 years and likely the symbol of their might had faded into the mists of time.

 

[EmKay]

The streets were wet, his limbs were cold. He cried out for mother... mother? Did he even have a mother? His memory was so hazy... he was so cold... so hungry... hungry... Father provided food before... father... he cried. The poor boy, lost in the streets, he didn't know what to do with himself. So he cried. Then the men came. White coats, black armour, no guns but pointy sticks. They took him away, gave him food... put him to sleep... he didn't want to sleep... "SIGMA!!"

Atretes woke in a cold sweat, and his senses were running wild. It was as though he had been ripped open to the Force and had no control over it. He struggled to reel it back in, then he felt [member="Salem Norongachi"]'s strife. He looked up to a security camera, and then was flooded by the information necessary. He winced as the sudden intake of information wracked his tormented mind. He rose and threw on his boots. He didn't even bother with his shirt, he just ran. The Force wove around his feet like a million attention-seeking pets. He looked down to it, and wished it would make itself useful. In this raw form, it took to his wills immediately, and added spring to his step. He felt his muscles scream from the intervention, but then the Force itself ensnared and took hold, easing their strain as they were worked beyond capacity. He winced, but also felt the current of the Force responding to a baser form of his control. It was a strange sensation, as though Sigma were working with him rather than remaining dormant or releasing in an explosion. If Salem were paying attention, Rhoujen would be alight with the Force.

The young apprentice took a deep breath and set to dash forward. He sprinted, faster than he had ever, through the halls until he had reached the destination indicated by Salem's telepathic transmission. He skittered to a halt, nearly fell over, and then dropped into the gunner turret. His legs loathed more movement, but he forced them to work the pedals that turned the turret body. He saw the fighters, and sensed his mentor. He couldn't help but grin. Something within him felt... unlocked. Despite the confusion relating to his dream he felt lighter, and that felt good. He rotated the turret around and watched the fighters weave and sway. He closed his eyes and sensed them out with the Force. His Sight came to him faster than before, and his senses worked similarly to with the remotes. They allowed him that small degree of precognition to their evading. It was not exact, but once he zeroed in to account for his lapse in skill at least three fighters fell quickly to his efforts. He felt the energy of the engines fade, then the tiny blip of their lives followed suit. He winced as each death make its mark in the Force, yet self-preservation made him persevere.