I Spend, Therefore I Am

[Jessica Med-Beq]

After a trip to Jaminere and Eredenn Prime, where she helped with refugees from Mirial and the Tion Cluster, she was to return to Kashyyyk. To where, after the Silver Jedi losing the Cluster, it was forced to evacuate. On Mirial, the Sith Empire used several of their most advanced ground equipment, even though their aircraft are still flawed. Still, they needed reinforcements to get to the planet, both ground and space, should it come to an attack. Last the Sith Empire's forces were spotted, they were on Malachor V. Here the garrison of Kashyyyk was re-composed with several types of attack craft preparing to take off and assume garrison duties on Balamak, such as the craft codenamed A-10 (both varieties), F-111 and B-2, in ascending order of size, with some of the older craft being decommissioned. I repeatedly heard rumors that the Sith were having difficulties with aircraft or anti-aircraft; however, Mirial proved that their aircraft just weren't up to snuff, and their anti-aircraft even worse, she thought, while several squadrons were landing near Kachirho. And the corresponding ground troops, complete with artillery, anti-aircraft, heavy weapons infantry and other vehicles. Among the relief forces, a padawan could be found, by the name of [member="Asaraa Vaashe"]. She turned towards Asaraa:

"Welcome to Kashyyyk, young padawan. You probably came here to learn more about the Force and its history, so I would like to know where you want to start"

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

Since she'd arrived at Kashyyk it had been one thing after another, training and missions all rolling into one never-ending rush of action and moments of quiet that had swept the young Togruta away. Just when she thought everything would calm down enough for her to relax and spend some time meditating in the temple this new mission had come up and off she went. Not that she could complain, in the last little bit since arriving at the temple on Kashyyk she'd discovered more of the galaxy than she'd ever seen before.

So caught up in her own reflections was she that she didn't notice the footsteps behind her, failed to respond to the approaching Jedi until she had spoken, the padawan spinning around in shock. "Umm, well yeah a little bit. I guess, senses are always good places to start. I love hunting and tracking so I've always found that easier to get into."

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"One of the more useful Force-powers to someone that engages in that sort of activities is psychometry. It allows you to read an object's history in the Force; the Force-history of the object will be accessed by touch, with the most recent memories coming out first"

She intuitively knew that [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] wanted to learn a few powers, starting with the less taxing of those powers. For that purpose, she had to make sure that there was no compromising data on her test object. To be frank, there was just so much that she could teach her, but she also knew that not everybody would have the mental speed to get the experience of subconsciously learning additional powers. Not that I suspect Asaraa to be subconsciously learning anything, but my last two padawans are not only brilliant, their brains are so fast that they can learn some powers subconsciously. I have no idea how smart is Asaraa, but I would be bewildered if it happened to her, in which case I may as well be leaking knowledge in the Force, she thought, while realizing that, while the knowledge so leaked thus far was pretty benign, if she didn't address those leaks, she may end up leaking much more dangerous information that way. From her experience, subconscious learning was more likely to occur if the learner's mental speed was high, perhaps due to the additional cost in terms of information processing of learning multiple things at once.

"Important events in an object's life, as well as who used it for what during said events, will be more easily recorded in the object's Force-history"

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

“So, kinda like how everyone wants the lightsaber of an ancient hero because of the memory they leave behind lets you almost sense them.” The Padawan fell silent for a moment in consideration, “and you’re saying that you can read the memories of the objects too. That would,” the young woman gave the master a curious look. “Is there some kind limit to that? Being able to read any object even…” She glanced around, her gaze settling down on a nearby barrel, one of most average most common objects you could find in any hanger.

“So a barrel like that, what kind of event would it take, what could push it to the point where it would make such an imprint. I’m guessing not just refuelling a ship, but if it was used as a projectile in a fight between two Jedi, would that do it?”

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"You're asking an interesting set of questions. Let's start with the limitations of psychometry. Be mindful of keeping your emotions in check if you're using psychometry on dead people or other items whose users experienced strong emotions in using an item during a key event in the item's life. Initially you will be able to comb the most recent significant events, but as you gain in skill, you will be able to discern the more mundane, as well as the older events"

She did learn psychometry subconsciously, after all, much like Taygeta learned shatterpoint or Paige learned battle precognition that way. While not quite the best at using psychometry, she would have to do, perhaps because she could explain it well enough to satisfy most Jedi who wanted to learn it. But practice items are time-sensitive, so re-using the same items captured from Dromund Kaas' battlefields as she did last time she had an opportunity to do so personally, would not work here. Even though she knew, in her heart of hearts, that the burned remains of Velok the Younger's robe or the lightsabers of his acolytes that died onboard the Tenchu, would reveal a few things about how the battle on Dromund Kaas was fought, the imprints may have faded. [member="Asaraa Vaashe"]'s second question about what constitutes a significant event in an item's life was actually quite amusing to her, and a classic of questions psychometry beginners often ask their instructors. She took her sweet time to come up with an answer to the second question:

"As for your second question, a significant event that would leave a larger Force-imprint would include using items for ends that they were not originally designed for, or for emotionally-charged events of their users, like a barrel used as a projectile in a fight between a Jedi and a Sith. Do you have any other questions before the practical exercise starts?"

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

Asaraa couldn’t help but be drawn into the woman’s explanation as she let a curious eye fall towards the barrel as a smile touched her face. “You know, everyone keeps telling me that, to be careful of my emotions,” she confided. “Wait…you can use psychometry on dead people? I bet police departments absolutely love that. Could you use it to help out, track down a murderer to help the police when they need it?”

The Padawan knew that she was asking a host of questions, her nervousness allowing her curiosity to bubble up and get the better of her. The young woman had to take a deep breath, clenching and unclenching her fists as she let the air out of her lungs, falling in behind the master. “I can’t think of any questions that I have, I’ve always learned best by doing, seeing how things work rather than sitting around and trying to learn the theory. So…where do we start? How do we start?”

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"The last people who learned psychometry from me wanted to use it for policing, but yes, you know where psychometry fits in policing"

Kaden was the more policing-inclined of the last kit of students; Yuroic and his lover Jairdain were not as involved in the policing aspect of the SJ. She was also reminded of how the very individuals that made Jedi earn reputations as Force-using bounty hunters actually contributed to catch criminals of all stripes, including but not limited to, Sith or murderers, and often both: the very sort of monsters the public counted on the Jedi to catch. For the time being, [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] wanted nothing more than a shot at practicing the power; it had to arrive at some point. That the Togruta will get soon enough. For that purpose, she handed over the datapad that she had to take out of the evidence locker of the police station for training purposes; of course it would not be a datapad containing sensitive information, while being mindful of not accidentally imparting a Force-imprint that would leave an event in its Force-history. But it was nevertheless a datapad used for something, well, criminal; she'd rather not tell who used that datapad for what at this point. Now that the datapad was in the Togruta's hands:

"Now is the time for the practical lesson. Computer equipment is great to use for learning psychometry, since it's easier to track one's progress. Now, take a tactile feel for the datapad and use it to read its history"

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

The datapad didn’t feel like anything special, it’s surface like so many other’s she’d handled before, a simple piece of electronics that one could find anywhere. Asaraa let her mind reach out towards it with the force, pushing the tendrils of sense out to it, threading her sense through and around the object. She could feel the threads of force running through the object, could sense where to hit it to break it into pieces, where it was strong and where it was weak. But that wasn’t the target shed been given, she had to see past the physical onto the meta-physical.

The Togruta Padawan closed her eyes, letter her mind travel further, the tendrils of her senses spread throughout the object she held in her hands. “It feels…it almost feels dark heavy like it I don’t know like it…hmm it’s been around a crime for sure. But it wasn’t used in it, so someone was holding it when it happened, and to leave an impression like this, the property of someone who ended up being killed?”

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Good, but that's only the basic information on the crime. But usually using psychometry for policing will often ask you to look for clues more precise than simply determining that it is the property of a crime victim; an item belonging to a crime victim is a tenuous lead on its own. Then again, you're a beginner on your first try so I can't exactly fault you"

Judging by how [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] handled the datapad, she may already know shatterpoint, too. So the last known owner of the datapad was killed in a crime, while not perpetrating it. Not much to go on, but the real reason why it was recommended to keep one's emotions in check when using psychometry on policing duty was that violent crimes often came with strong negative emotions on either the perpetrator or the victim, which could draw psychometry practitioners to the dark side. It happens, but she could sense that memories of the perpetrator's taste for buying and collecting luxury goods were lingering around the datapad. It was then entirely possible that the criminal may have wanted to fence what the victim had on its body, as it was equally possible that the criminal wanted the item for itself, but few criminals would actually kill someone for a luxury object unless that object held a special meaning or the owner was otherwise of more value dead than alive to the killer. But exactly what was that item to kill for and how did it fit with the crime that led to the death of the datapad's holder?

"Perhaps on the second try you can get more information on how the owner was killed, who or where it was killed"

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

Asaraa took a deep breath as she reached even deeper into the force, letting [member="Jessica Med-Beq"] 's word reverberate around her brain the questions guiding her thoughts, funnelling them as her fingers tightened around the datapad as she fell deeper into the trance. She could feel the hard surface of the pad beneath her fingers as she turned the pad round and round in her fingers. The young woman felt her eyes darting back and forth beneath her eyelids as she sucked in a deep breath. The touch of her mind on the force diffused, not seeking out the tendrils, the structure now but more of a diffuse mist drifting down to cover the pad.

“Shock…fear…anger but…” the woman’s brow furrowed, “disdain, and amusement…” She sucked in a deep breath as her eye flicked open to stare at Jessica. “He knew his killer, looked down on them, it was like they didn’t think they had it in them, that they were all talk. Right up until the moment when they got stabbed. Then it all came crashing down but…I don’t think it was a crime of passion, he was being held at knifepoint but he was taunting his opponent. Do we know what was taken? I think we might be looking at a previous owner who wanted it back, but when he wouldn’t give it back he lost his temper, stabbed him again and again in anger before taking it. If we know what was taken we can find out who must have been the killer.”

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"I have some good news. Fortunately, the stolen item seems to be an item with a distinctive Force-signature, some sort of alchemized jewelry, with a dark-sided signature, so I suspect the killer to either be or know a dark-sider. That ought to narrow down our list of suspects"

Yes, it is a well-known fact that, while motives often allow to narrow down suspects, they are of limited interest in court. But, while everyone and their dogs were aware of the dangers posed by dark-siders, including [member="Asaraa Vaashe"], she knew that actually knowing one in person was not as common. The Togruta may also realize that it might embroil the two in a criminal turf war; then again, it's possible Trandoshans might be meddling into the affairs of the Wookiee underworld. And yet, the Force-information as revealed in the victim's datapad indicates that the victim is decidedly non-Wookiee. After everything she knew about the Trandoshan underworld, she had to tread lightly. Trandoshan gangsters liked to taunt rival gangs, lowering their guard that way if at all feasible, but also realizing that, if the Trandoshan gangster wanted to steal alchemized jewelry, it's likely for the purposes of fencing (i.e. resale of stolen goods). Now we are on to something, she thought, while she returned to the nearest police station and return the datapad to the evidence locker inside the station alongside the Togruta padawan.

"Perhaps we ought to know more about the victim's family and ask them whether they know information about the victim's personal network, and if anybody among the personal network might have been enemies. I sense that a Trandoshan crime ring may well be involved: that description sounds like how Trandos operate"

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

“So basically, what you’re telling me is that either we’re dealing with a darksider who managed to get into the apartment and out without leaving any major traces, which is bad enough. Or we’re dealing with a group of Trandoshan criminals who happen to run a major crime ring. Great, just what exactly did you manage to get me into?”

The Padawan shook her head, her lekku swaying over her shoulders as she let her eyes settle on the blonde haired Jedi Master. It wasn’t like the Padawan had a lot of experience with the criminal underworld, mostly when she’d been on missions it had been going out into the cities to help people, engaging with pirates and mercenaries. Yet, that didn’t mean that she hadn’t heard stories, the tales of terror spread about the criminal gangs. She didn’t think the wookies would just let them run riot, but the way that these gangs worked they didn’t come at them in public it was everything from the shadows. The young woman glanced around at the police station as her blue eyes took in the police station as she fell in behind the Master.

“So what happens now? Do the police take it over...or should we stick around to help? I have to admit, I’m kinda curious to see what happened...where this goes from here.”


[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"<Master Med-Beq, we need backup: we have located the hideout of a Trandoshan gang>" the Wookiee police dispatcher told the two of them in Shyriwook.

"Come with me. We are going in the squad car and head towards the Trandos"

So the Wookiee cops are inside the squad car, which was a flying catamaran; the hideout was in the next town over, Ittummi (which also meant going close to Chenachochan as well). But from the sound of the police dispatcher, the cops on duty in Ittummi were not enough to deal with the Trando gang. But Ittummi was a few kilometers away, which left them with enough time for one Force-lesson to be held in the Wookiee catamaran. For the first time in ages, she was teaching Force-cloak; here she had to be mindful of not explaining it to [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] in terms of refraction indices. I guess, maybe Paige will understand the implications of one's refraction index being -1, or having a complex-valued refraction index, while understanding that not every Jedi will understand that much. In fact, few Jedi ever would, and I feel that dark-siders have a much easier time teaching that power: they can just use their fears, their despair, while we Jedi have to resort to much less obvious methods, she thought, thinking of how she could actually explain the Force-power without reference to refraction, even though refraction was her first reflex.

"One thing that may be useful for you if you track prey, be it animals or criminals, is Force-cloak. With Force-cloak, you can approach your mark unseen by it. Use the Force to reflect the light beams around you" she told the Togruta before thinking of her refraction index changing to -1 across the visible, IR and UV bands, rendering her invisible to a visual, UV or IR sensor.

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Before she knew it Asaraa had been swept along with the Jedi Master, one moment they were in the police station then an alert come out across the radio and the rush had [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]began. And now, she found herself settled in the back of a catamaran, her blue eyes locked onto the backs of the wookie[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] as they guided it across the treetops. They were actually so close to the treetops that the Padawan imagined that she could reach out to touch the leaves, imagining them brushing through the red skin of her fingers as she twisted around to face the blonde sitting next to her. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“Is it usual for the police to ask us to tag along for help? Especially when we’re dealing with gangs, I mean I get that it’s a great way to build ties, but there aren’t exactly a lot of us to start of with.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The Padawan settled herself down, her eyes observing [/SIZE][member="Jessica Med-Beq"][SIZE=10.5pt] carefully as the woman started speaking, expanding on another force power. She’d been taught to hide her force signature, but this...this sounded much more useful in an everyday sense. If she were hunting...animals or humans she could see how it could really prove useful. If someone couldn’t see her coming it would give her a huge advantage. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“It’s that simple? I just have to use the force to bend light...is it even possible to do that?[/SIZE]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Jessica ceased using Force-cloak when Asaraa asked a question about the interactions between Wookiee police and Jedi, feeling that she had to watch out for her own brain overheating if she kept that up for too long. "The police tends to ask us for help when the going gets rough. For the more dangerous sorties, such as gangs"

The police catamaran was hovering pretty close to the treetops in the forest, while still en route to the gang hideout, especially with Ittummi's entire police force being tied up on scene to face the Trandoshan gang, realizing that asking for backup in another city for such a sortie signaled in her mind just how big the gang was. Even though Jessica approach to Force-cloak, which relied on changing her own refraction index (and a good amount of computational power), was skin-tight, maybe [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] would need to proceed differently to create the light-repulsing field, whose effect would be of making her refraction index -1 across the visible spectrum (and usually across UV and IR bands as well when Force-cloak is in use) and hence appear invisible for a short period of time. Hopefully Asaraa can get an attempt in before the gang could actually be fought and potentially even a lesson in Force-stun, which would allow to capture any Trandoshan straggler alive without killing it. But it definitely required more thought on her part than explaining the Force-pinching of nerves would require.

"As for using the Force to bend light, it's entirely possible to do, so Force-cloak is about bending light so that light beams travel some distance away from you and not towards you. That said, it takes an effort to create a light-repulsing field around you, so, in the beginning, you may wish to use the power sparingly at first"

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“Well, you learn something new [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]everyday[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] don’t you?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]Asaraa fell silent as she stared out the side of the catamaran at the treetops whizzing by, barely a hands breath away from them. The young woman held her hand out, feeling the air rushing around the limb, tugging at her flesh as she let her blue eyes fall down to stare at her arm. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“So all I need is the ability to bend the light, twist it around me, kind of like a gravity field bending the light. So kind of like when we want to protect ourselves, just instead of....wait, it’s just like blocking a blaster, only instead of blocking the blast, you just have to bend the beam around you.”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The young woman’s eyes fluttered shut as she reached out with her mind, wrapping herself in the force as she used to when she [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]fought,[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] when she had to protect herself from opponent’s attacks. That as a start, a field she could use, but it needed more power, more energy to make the effect stronger and stronger.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“Can you see me?”[/SIZE]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"No, I don't see you anymore" she answered.

At the same time, she realized that [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] may not be able to hold on to the power for very long, no more than she could do so herself back on Castameer, where she was using Force-cloak in a slicing operation against the Rogue One Sith. Meanwhile, the catamaran was chugging along towards the site of the police alarm in Ittummi, and she realized by now that the Togruta was motivated to learn what Jessica was teaching her because of where those Force-powers fit in her skillset and her life afterward. When they arrived, the scene was already looking a little crowded, with about forty Wookiee police agents all over the place attempting to raid the hideout, where they stood ready to stake out the Trandoshan gang from their hideout, while sparing the slaves about to be freed. They couldn't simply come in guns blazing, but the police agents present on-scene would need to be present for the operation, most of them using anti-riot shields. While at one of the back corners of the bunker, she feels she was edging closer to the killer, and has one final lesson to deliver to the Togruta:

"Force-stun is about pinching the target's nerves. Apply just the right amount of pressure on the target's pressure points and they will be stunned for a while. However, if you put too much pressure, you may very well paralyze the target without wanting to, even though it will stay alive. You will see, as you increase in skill in Force-stun, that you can even find yourself able to stun multiple people at once, in which case it is called Force-stasis"

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The sound of the wookiee guard officers milling around as they slipped into position surrounding the Trashodan’s hideout. She could see the waves of the guards surging back and forth like a wave, an organic heartbeat. Without thinking about it she touched the force, feeling the emotion, the lines of power binding them together and inexorably drawing the group closer and closer to the centre of the pulse, to lodestone at the centre. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]The padawan glanced around at the wookiees before she laughed, a smile tugging at the corner of her lips. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“You know...everything you’ve been teaching me was for [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]this[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] wasn’t it? Going in invisible, the ability to knock people out, or even see where an object has been, to see our way through that base. We’re means to slip in and open the way for the Wookiees to end the peacefully right?”[/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]She glanced around before turning back to the Jedi master, her hands coming to rest on her hips. [/SIZE]

[SIZE=10.5pt]“I just have one question...how’d [/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt]you[/SIZE][SIZE=10.5pt] know how this was going to end?”[/SIZE]


[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Precognition. This is the name we give to the ability to predict the future. But by you stunning the Trando gangster, we have an opportunity to take down the rest of the gang by surprise"

Intellect alone couldn't explain the whole thing. But the weak spot in this complex begins with the Trandoshan gangster she just stunned, so I'll pick the lock of the door closest to the stunned gangster, she thought, while her skin's refraction index was turning into -1 and hence became invisible. And that [member="Asaraa Vaashe"] just stunned a Trandoshan gangster in her first attempt, so time was likely to be short for them. Wonderful: I still have enough computational power to pick the lock! she thought, while making a cautious approach towards the door guarded by the stunned Trandoshan gangster, and using what she could conjure in her mind about the mechanisms of the lock guarding the Trandoshan gang hideout. However, she knew she would be racing against the clock here, especially since stacking up her expenditure in computational power is going to make her brain overheat if it took too long to pick the door's lock. And she could feel the temperature in her head steadily rising as she edges closer to opening the door, hoping that the gangster will still be stunned once the door opens. Once it opens... the Wookiee police agent read the stunned Trando's rights as he is being handcuffed.

"<You're under arrest! You have the right to remain silent, if you do not have an attorney, the court will assign you one. Everything you might say may be held against you>"

 

[Asaraa Vaashe]

Asaraa slipped towards the now open door, the metal cylinder of her lightsaber clenched in her hand as she threw her senses forward weaving them through the hideout as she stepped past the Jedi master, disappearing from view for a moment as she stepped inside checking the hallway was clear. It was only once she was sure it was safe that she reappeared, waving the wookies forward into the base.

"Well, so far so good. There aren't as many of the Trandoshan's here as I thought there would be, I was almost convinced we'd have to deal with an army of them instead of just part of an army."

The Padawan gestured towards the side of the room, one of the doorways leading on, into the depths of the base raising a hand to catch the eye of the closet guard.

"Most of them are grouped up there, they're resting but they have their guns nearby so I wouldn't suggest you just go barrelling in. We can probably find a way to tilt the odds further in our favour, maybe float in some stun grenades through the vents, or sneak in ourselves right?"

A querying eye was turned onto [member="Jessica Med-Beq"] as the Padawan smiled. It had been an interesting afternoon and she found herself wanting to impress the master and show her she'd understood the skills she'd been taught.