Hide and Run!

[Darth Veles]

Being contacted by an old friend who wished to be taught a new Force power and practice some of the basics, the Mon Calamari Sith Knight accepted and immediately deemed the interior of a building from the last time to be unfit for this kind of training. Force jump, Force speed, what better location could one choose to practice and train than the outside of the academy? Rocks of various shapes and sizes laid scattered over the plains, giving the young Sith many ideas of a training course that was about to take place there... Just like the last time the two trained together, Avreet did not wear his prized cloak made out of the Terentatek's hide, which posed some resistance to the Force based attacks. Same with the armor; a good teacher shouldn't wear armor unless they expected to be attacked. This lesson would touch lightsaber combat only slightly if at all, not to mention the armor served only as a protection against stray blaster bolts and shrapnels.

The amphibious Sith sat on a light grey rock, his legs carelessly hanging in the air. Both of his large amber eyes focused on a book held by both of his hands; an ancient and obsolete way of preserving information, yet still used in many places of the galaxy. Just as his hand turned the page and his eyes read the first words of a new chapter, a familiar presence could be felt through the Force. It made him smile; if the training goes smoothly, his student will learn how to mask or alter that very presence. Speaking of the "student", Avreet realized she no longer was what she used to be. The Acolyte survived her training and became a Sith, now known as [member="Darth Banshee"]. A very recent addition to the family, hopefully a valuable one. As a teacher, Avreet hoped she would use the power known as Force stealth well.

As the nature has already prepared the training grounds for them, Avreet set the book on the stone and looked up, his eyes glaring at the female Sith Knight with the infamous stare the Mon Calamari posessed. He did not speak; instead, Darth Veles waited for the student to start the conversation.

 

[Darth Banshee]

Darth Banshee arrived, she nearly bowed before [member="Darth Veles"], but had to stop herself. As know they where equals, in rank anyway though she still a lot to learn, and liked him teaching her. She instead gave him a formal nod her head, to show she still respected him and appreciated his teachings.
Nice to see you again darth veles I believe our time in the shadows is almost over. The one sith where ready to usurp some planets near the republic, form their they could lead into the republic itself. That was why she was here, she need to become a better assassin, and for that she need to learn how cloak herself. Also how to move with the force, these things he could teacher her.

 

[Darth Veles]

"Indeed," the amphibious Sith nodded, "It is a pleasure to teach you again, Knight." He chose not to comment the matter with the Republic. Only time would tell if the decision was a wise one. The faction that completely annihilated the Sith Empire and destroyed so much as it established its fascist version of "democracy" across the galaxy, yet it was not enough to break the Sith. That had to be a sign the Sith Order could never be broken, its destiny to liberate the galaxy from the Jedi and all their puppets. Sliding from the rock he sat on, the Mon Cal landed on his feet as he touched the ground, immediately pacing towards the Sith Knight without breaking his gaze. She wanted to learn many advanced powers and practice the basics so Veles decided to start with Force speed and Force jump. A bit of theory first before putting [member="Darth Banshee"]'s abilities to practical use.

"Knight. As you surely know, Force speed and Force jump belong among the most basic and most useful abilities. Both of those powers might save your life one day... Force jump, for example, is commonly associated with overcoming great heights. Mass the Force in your legs, crouch a little bit and jump. That is very basic, trivial even, but it also rapidly shoots you from one place to another, which can be very useful when you need to close the distance between you and your target. Keep in mind; when in the air, you are extremely vulnerable to attacks, as you cannot rapidly change your direction. Put simply, you cannot dodge. Do not use this in combat unless you want to retreat and never Force jump towards an enemy who knows about you. While you're in the air, they can prepare and use the fact you cannot suddenly change the direction of your jump to cut you down. And never, ever, jump over your opponents!" Avreet may have already said that during their training duel, but he felt the need to repeat it. "When you fly over your opponent, you have to land and turn around, while they only have to turn around. If you turn around in the air, you will show them your back when you're most vulnerable, with no chance to deflect the Force or any other attack."

Taking a breath, the amphibious Knight continued, "Always let the Force guide your instincts when measuring the distance you want to jump. Focus on the place where you want to land, mass the appropriate ammount of energy in your legs and jump. Try it with those boulders around, jump from one to another..." Avreet ordered and watched the new Darth, studying her movement to see her mistakes if she did any.

 

[Darth Banshee]

Darth banshee listened to [member="Darth Veles"] carefully, she then closed her eyes. She concentrated and let herself feel the force flow through her, and then bent her legs and lepted.....

 

[Darth Veles]

Stroking single long barbel under his chin, Avreet intently watched [member="Darth Banshee"]'s posture as she prepared herself. Right eye watching how she held her body while the left stared at her legs, Veles extended his senses throught the Force to feel the energy inside her. It massed in her legs like it should, giving them much power. Whether she did good or not had yet to be revealed; Avreet's expression betrayed nothing, the typical Mon Calamari emotionless face following the young woman's movement as she jumped... The task was to practice it for a bit though, immediately jump to another large rock that decorated the otherwise empty plain.

 

[Darth Banshee]

Darth Banshee saw the next rock, she looked at distance and planed her jump. She bent her legs and concentrated, and lepted towards it. She landed well, though a little short. This would improve with practice, and time

 

[Darth Veles]

The Mon Cal followed [member="Darth Banshee"], walking up to the rock she had jumped on. Looking up at the woman, he blinked and nodded. "Not bad... if you were an Acolyte. Since you're a Knight now, you have to practice more often to match the standards. Your landing in particular needs a bit of work. Do not worry though, we will practice it more in a minute..." Jumping and letting the Force carry him up, he took a step forward and walked on the rock Sabrina was on. This would make it easier for him to teach, give her some insight into Force speed, another commonly used power that had its particular use in lightsaber duels.

"Force speed. When you allow the Force to fill your body, enhance it... your reflexes, movements, reactions are faster than that of a normal being. From your point of view, you move at normal speed... it is the world around you that seems so much slower, giving you more time to act. Your speed is equal to your control of Force speed. The greater control you have over the power, the more skilled you are, the faster you move and the slower your surroundings seem. It is a fairly easy skill to learn, but not many master it despite its usefulness. I also chose not to follow the path of mastering this particular skill... unlike the two I will teach you later." His right eye suddenly swiveled around as if searching for something, then returned to continue staring at the female Knight. "I am fairly sure you have witnessed someone in your life utilizing Force speed and I am certain you will meet many more. If you do not use the power, your opponents using it will seem unnaturally fast, the most skilled of them nothing but a blur. When you let the energy enhance your body, their movements will become more... natural, the ones of the same skill level as you will appear to be normal. My advice is to use the power whenever you're in a duel. If nothing else, it gives you an edge over your opponent unless they are better at it than you. It drains your power fairly quickly, but it is nowhere near as drastic as Force cloak... the power usage also depends on how well you control the skill. The faster you are, the more energy you use." Avreet gave her some explanation, hoping the Knight's thirst for knowledge would be quenched a bit. Looking around again, it became apparent he searched for a suitable place for the young woman to practice her abilities.

Raising his right hand, Avreet pointed towards the opposite rock with his webbed claw, then at the rock next to it that lied further away, another boulder that was closer and then his hand rested down. "Use Force speed and run by these rocks as fast as possible. Always try to be faster than your last round. 10 rounds. Use it to warm up and practice Force speed for the task ahead..."

 

[Darth Banshee]

Darth Banshee listened to [member="Darth Veles"] as he set up her next task, to run ten laps around the track and improve with each round she did. She closed her eyes, and started to try to infused her body with the force. Then she set off round the course, as fast as she possibly could.

Her speed did improve on every lap, as she started to feel the force flow through her. With each lap she could feel the force, becoming stronger in her muscle's. The feeling was quite intoxicating, so much so she lost track of how many laps she did. When she did finally stop, she had no idea how many she had done.

 

[Darth Veles]

Kneeling down on the rock, Darth Veles watched the Knight do as he asked. Her speed improved with each completed round, the Sith Knight running faster than any non-Force sensitive human ever could. Quite an impressive sight, really, hopefully [member="Darth Banshee"] remembered to use this power in the future, be it in a duel or any other task. The fresh Knight did not stop after finishing the tenth round though, to which Avreet responded by raising his webbed hand and telekinetically stopping the woman as she ran past him, her body slowly stopping until she stood still. Wasting her stamina wouldn't do the young Sith any good, she needed it for the next task to show the Mon Cal if she grasped the concept of Force speed and Force jump well enough. For a Knight of her qualities, it wouldn't be hard to run and jump through it with ease, but it still offered the Mon Calamari more insight into her level of those two Force powers.

"Good. I have one more task for you before you learn new powers. You may have noticed my book," Avreet motioned towards one of the boulders with a nod of his head, the book still rested there after he put it down, "I have imbued it, as well as three other books with the Force, so you can feel them in the Force if you focus. I want you to jump on the boulder and pick up my book; then you'll have three minutes to find the rest of the book around and bring them all to me. There's a catch though; you cannot touch the ground while searching for the books, so it will be necessary for you to utilize Force jump to get from one rock to another. When you get the final book however, you are required to touch the ground and spring to me among the rocks. Force speed will help you... now go."

 

[Darth Banshee]

Darth Banshee listened to [member="Darth Veles"], as he explained what he did to her to make her. That made her stop using force speed, and then explained what he wanted her to do. She then jumped on to the first bolder, and used the force to grab the first book. She reached out using the force, to try and feel for next one. It was farther away, she jumped to another rock, then and then force ran and lepted to another bolder. Then reached out an got the second book, their was only one more to go. She looked for it though the force again, and as the force flowed through her she sensed it. It was quite far away, and would take a lot of effort to get to it. She planned her route before setting off, she then looked up and realised their was a better route. She lepted up on to a over hang on rock face. Then lepted across to another ledge, then used the force to control her decent to another bolder. Then used the force to grab the last book. She then turned to [member="Darth Veles"], and gave him a bow.

 

[Darth Veles]

The large eyes closed, hiding the orange orbs as Veles watched [member="Darth Banshee"] through the Force. Despite his personal expectations, she did good. Very good, in fact. Her promotion was well deserved, perhaps this whole training served only as a display of her abilities, to show him how much her abilities grew since their last meeting? As the human finished, Avreet let a smirk play on his face, only for it to turn into a pleasant smile he offered to Darth Banshee. "You did well," he stated and opened his large eyes, taking the books from her hands and placing them beside him, "I am pleased." Veles knelt down in his typical meditating position and turned his head to look at his female "student". "Please, meditate with me for a while. You need to regain your energy and let your body rest." Calm and peaceful, the Mon Calamari took a few deep breaths and embraced the Force, watching the Knight's signature next to him. Unknown to her, another soul thirsting for knowledge would join them soon... [member="Darth Naomi"]. Another young Acolyte Avreet's had the pleasure to work with. After saving his life a few times during the battle for the sleeping army, he became quite fond of her. The Miraluka lacked sight, like the rest of her race, leaving her with Force sight to gaze upon the galaxy for her.

When the Miraluka Sith appeared, the amphibian could tell her presence almost immediately. That made him wonder how her power worked. Did she see the things around her through the Force, or felt the signatures? Whatever the case, he felt he needed to share something with her... "Welcome, Knight," Avreet greeted her with a smile as she approached, "Please, join us in our meditation, though listen to my voice as you draw more energy into your body." Rising from his kneeling position, the Mon Cal added a few more words in a whisper, just for her. "You should get cybernetic eyes. If I hide from the Force, you're effectively just a blind human."

 

[Darth Banshee]

Darth Banshee meditated with [member="Darth Veles"], she felt [member="Darth Naomi"] enter the training area. It was a comfortable feeling, she helped her at battle of sleeping army. She also taught her a force power, it was the way that Darth naomi people see.

Darth Banshee was a little shocked, when he said hemail recommend cybernetics implants to replace her eyes. She decided not to comment, as she new she could defend herself if she wanted to.

 

[Darth Naomi]

Naomi entered the room. And did everything as was expected. Honestly, she was just out of a physical training in another room, so rather tired and could use a meditation, so why the hell not, especially when she was to join such find company. Both [member="Darth Banshee"] [member="Darth Veles"] she had encountered at least once before, she knew she had fought alongside them once for sure. She respected them as independent, knowledgeable and strong knights.

Once seated she would take a few deep breaths and fall silent, at least until Veles spoke to her, suggesting a cybernetic replacement for her dis-functional eyes. It was a reasonable suggestion, but she would smile before her reply. Of course the thought had crossed her mind countless times. "If you hide from the force, I would see you as you would influence the physical world still, just as I would hear you, Darth Veles. And if you manage to hide from the physical world as well, then I would be just as blind with or without implants." She wouldn't say this, but if that were to happen, she imagined she would launch an omnidirectional attack, attempting to hit her target without knowing their exact position. All kinds of opponents had ways to be fought.

 

[Darth Veles]

"Nooooo...," the amphibious Knight replied with a soft chuckle, realizing the young Sith did not know of all advantages cybernetic eyes offered. Just like Veles, several years ago when he went only by his real name and suffered a devastating damage to his right eye. The pain still lived in his memories as the searing green plasma blade briefly made contact with his right eye... the incredible pain. Veles cringed every time he thought about it, but the loss of his real eye ultimately made him stronger. Not that he needed it that much; the eyesight of a Mon Calamari was already excellent and granted the amphibian the ability to see cloaked beings. Everything would be explained though. Each of his large amber eyes looked at one woman, staring at them in his usual fashion.

"I expect both of you to perform well... mistakes are not tolerated within the stealth art." The Mon Cal said and shut his eyes, deciding to give the two a little taste of the power they were about to learn. Both of the students would be able to feel Veles' presence in the Force suddenly disappearing, just as [member="Darth Banshee"] could see the same happening to his body. Their teacher simply vanished with no trace. "Not many realize the full potential of Force cloak," came from behind the two students, Avreet's voice unmistakable. Soon, the Mon Calamari emerged as well, approaching Sabrina. The projection gave off the amphibious Sith Knight's presence, a perfect trick to fool anyone who had not expected something like that. One projection was not impressive though. Another one appeared; completely with Force signature and Avreet's voice! This one walked to [member="Darth Naomi"].

"As you can see," said the one closer to Banshee, "The arts of stealth can be a deadly weapon." The other finished. "Trick your opponents into surrendering, sneak right through them unnoticed, infiltrate a large group of Force sensitives, make an army of million men appear out of nowhere... You can have it all, but every knowledge has a prize. When you learn these powers, you will be able to completely disappear... for about half a minute. It is very draining. Practice it wherever you can to get better..." Said yet another voice coming from above the two Sith Knights. Both Veles's disappeared, making the one kneeling in front of them visible again, theoretically the real one... right?

"We will start with Force stealth. By the end of this class, both of you will be able to hide your presence and disappear from the Force. It is arguably the most useful power for those who do not want the peacekeeping dogs to know about them. One of the most notable users was Darth Sidious himself, who hid his sensitivity for years in front of the most powerful of Jedi. Of course, completely voiding your presence is just one of the options. You can have the signature of the Jedi Grandmaster, change it to neutral, then have a signature of a Padawan..." To show the two, Veles' presence slowly shifted towards the darkness and his darkness shrouded the signatures of the two students, only to move to the blinding light where one could easily mistake him for a Jedi. Then it vanished again.

"There is no correct way to do this; I shift my presence by being aware of it and imagining it as a river, then I can manipulate it. A great river of the Force flowing through our bodies... This is where you draw your power from, probably using the Dark Side to get it quickly and easily, and it drains the water out. When you meditate, the water is refilled. Imagine shifting your signature as polluting the river with emotions and feelings associated with dark or light side of the Force. Hate, anger, pleasure, love, pain, death... those darken the waters, your presence also darkens. Peace, mercy, tolerance clean it and you shine with light. As with all rivers, it takes time to change their waters... please be patient as you attempt to change your signature a bit. Try it now."

 

[sabrina]

Darth Banshee listened to [member="Darth Veles"], as he explained how to change his force signature. She tried to meditate on this, and thought on how she became to hate the jedi. How they tried to persuade her parents to give her up, how in doing so they attracted the attention of their bounty hunters. This drove her family on the run again, and eventually forcing her to leave them. As it was only a matter of time, before they came back for her

 

[Darth Naomi]

Naomi's eyes remained deceptively closed throughout the next couple minutes while [member="Darth Veles"] introduced them to the stealth arts and showed his tricks. It was impressive and he also managed to hide from her pretty well. The ability to change his attunement that he demonstrated was highly interesting. With this Naomi would be able to infiltrate any force sensitive group, regardless of their alignment or her power.

Going the opposite of what her friend [member="Darth Banshee"] chose, Naomi decided to try and change her normally natural flow to light. It was slightly different with her, as she did not actually believe in the sides of the force the same way, her philosophy of Potentium being a bit different. She did acknowledge that these "sides" were conjured by the aforementioned emotions, which made sense to dye her "flow" if she were to add them. In this case she would feel the tolerance towards her Sith brothers and sisters who did not share her beliefs as well as peace and security in these walls. Slowly but steady her river would turn white, like the water was replaced by glowing milk.

 

[Darth Veles]

Opening his senses, but keeping his signature hidden from them, Darth Veles studied the signatures of his students while they attempted to do as told. Both of them reminded him of himself when he studied the very same power. The sun started going down, turning the sky into a beautiful shade of orange. Such a shame [member="Darth Naomi"] could not enjoy the sight. Luckily, the amphibian had one sound argument that might persuade her into getting cybernetic replacements. Blankly staring into the sky, he thought of his beloved Master and his first and last apprentice. A single tear ran down his cheek from his left eye until he wiped it into his sleeve and turned his attention back to his fellow Sith.

[member="Darth Banshee"] attempted to shift her signature towards the Dark Side. The Mon Cal could feel how she tried, slowly making her presence slightly darker. If she practiced it often, she'd be able to do it more easily without the need to focus so much. It'd become almost natural, just as breathing. Her valiant attempt earned her a nod from the amphibious teacher, along with a warm encouraging smile before his eyes darted towards the other Sith. She probably would not be able to know about it, as he still hid his presence and appeared invisible in the Force.

The Miraluka seemed almost natural at it. Fluently shifting her signature from its normal, darker appearance to the one of a Light-sided being. Quite impressive for someone who just learned the power, but then again, given her lack of eyes and the resulting reliance on the Force, it made sense for her to be slightly more used to feeling the Force than those who did have eyes. "You did good, Lady Naomi," The amphibian said, "Just as you, Lady Banshee. Please, remember to practice often. It is something different when you do this during a meditation and when you're surrounded by Force sensitives. Do not doubt your ability; that will only give your opponents reason to focus on your presence. Before attempting to infiltrate any Force sensitive organisations though, do make sure you can maintain the power without the need to focus on it and try to stay away from powerful Force sensitives, those might see through your disguise."

The fishy Sith paused for a moment, letting his words sink in before continuing the lesson. "Now try to hide in the Force... it is harder than twisting your signature, but also much more useful when you don't want others to feel you... But again, keep in mind, if your enemies cannot feel you in the Force but they can see you... It is as if you told them you are trying to sneak past them" A soft and gentle chuckle escaped his lips, but his expression soon became calm again and he watched the two through the Force.

 

[Darth Banshee]

Darth Banshee nodded at [member="Darth Veles"] as he explained how they did, [member="Darth Naomi"] appeared to do better than her. Though she planed to do better, in the next test. Which was to completely cloak one self in the force.
Darth banshee sat down and meditate again this time, she concentrated on feeling small and insignificant. This was easy, she always liked disappearing in crowd, it was best way of avoiding bounty hunters her family use to tell her.

 

[Darth Naomi]

The praise from [member="Darth Veles"] comforted the blind Sith, but she would not take it to heart. Being a Sith meant controlling your emotions, discarding them when they were of no use and letting them thrive to fuel your power with them when needed. In this case she had to keep her focus.

The next task was more difficult, or at least sounded so. Darth Naomi took her time thinking and figuring out how she would approach this. When [member="Darth Banshee"]'s signature started to fade, the Miraluka only began. In her mind, she imagined the force as a flow of river, the same flow she had just dyed with emotions. As she focused on this flow, she would feel that all things around her had a similar river, all living things and all non-living, the whole world and maybe the whole galaxy. Compared to that global river, she was small. And she would imagine submerging herself into it, hiding and disappearing into the giant stream. The emotions, the features that made her own little river distinguished would disappear as it would blend with the universe.

 

[Darth Veles]

Both Sith Ladies once again proved their skill of bending their own presence and ability to comprehend his teachings. This pleased him. Briefly shutting his eyes and focusing on their presence, searching for them in the Force, the Mon Calamari Sith noticed neither of them was so noticable. [member="Darth Banshee"] seemed to perform a bit better this time, her signature vanishing sooner than that of [member="Darth Naomi"]. Probing deeper, Veles could still feel both of them though; their usage of Force stealth had to be practiced a bit, though it was not bad for the first time, not bad at all. Smiling, the amphibious Knight opened his eyes and nodded. "Good. You can slip past Force sensitives without them noticing you with Force sense. If they know of your presence and search for it in the Force, they will still find you though. It will take some time before you can vanish at will and disappear completely. Once you're better at it, you'll find it quite natural. Force stealth is not hard to maintain and it does not drain much power, at least compared to Force cloak." The Mon Cal stopped hiding his presence, revealing it to the two as he wanted the Miraluka to "see" as much as possible, and more importantly, feel how he did it.

"Force cloak, also known as Cloak of shadows or Force concealment, is the ability to bend light and manipulate sound waves to render one virtually invisible and inaudible. It is indeed a very powerful ability to possess, which could mean the difference between life or death. Also, it is an alternative to fighting when secrecy is the best course of action. In the beginning you will manage to do this in short bursts, but over time, you will be able to hold this form for longer periods. As I have said, it is exhausting to your body, mind, and the Force that resonates inside you. Until you are completley in tune with this ability, I suggest not using on missions unless your life is in danger and there is no other way to escape for the exception of fighting. Also, with this ability you can sneak past rivals, guards, or others without alerting your presence to them. Keep in mind that when you bend sounds so others could not hear you, you also won’t be able to hear the outside world."

The Mon Cal Crusader knelt down in his typical meditative stance and bent light around himself, doing it slowly so the students could see and feel how he did it. First, he became slightly transparent, looking like a ghost, before disappearing completely. He remained like that for a while before slowly becoming visible again. Then it was time for the presentation of bending sound, so he soundlessly turned on his lightsaber, waving it around without it producing it’s signature humming sound. The Mon Calamari ultimately demonstrated the full potential of this ability by bending light covering his body, becoming both visibleless and soundless. Unfortunately, bending sounds also meant he could not talk to his students, so he stopped the technique, materializing in front of their very eyes. "As before, I’ll use the metaphor of water to teach you this technique. Imagine yourself underwater. The water all around you is the light and sound. To disappear, think of not allowing the water touch you, push it away. It is hard, but there is no need to rush. You have as much time as you need. Bend the water so it would not touch you. Once you get a hang on it, it will become slightly easier. Do not stress yourself if you fail, just try again until you get it right." Veles said and fell silent. This power required focus and concentration upon being learned, and talking would disturb those. The Sith watched the students as they attempted to perform the technique, excited to see their potential.