On the Hyper-Brain-Waves

[Janick Beauchamp]

After taking the point in Dagobah's space and a grueling practice on Sullust, she was most happy to be back on Utapau, with Alyssa being hard at work alchemizing beer and mead, well, as hard at work as she could be with her dozing off in the brewery. Also, with the CIS entering the Great Galactic War on the Alliance Bloc, and the ORC being a fringe belligerent, she realizes perhaps that the ocasion is ripe for somebody among the Confederacy to learn something from her, and not simply buy futures from battle droid manufacturers or other Confederate defense contractors for the ORC Navy's investment funds, or even the Verdict's investment fund. Hopefully somebody among the Confederacy, a veteran of Dagobah perhaps, will have more brains than the hare-brained Imperial Grand Moff, whose air-headed move caused them to lose space superiority, she thought, while reflecting on her sortie on Dagobah. Maybe one of those Dagobah veterans on the Confederate side would have an idea of what to use alchemy for. She sends the message from her datapad:

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ATTN: @Er'in Tenel

As a gift for your participation on Dagobah, and in accordance to the accord our two factions have, I hereby invite you to the Utapau Alchemy Castle on the Fourth Moon of Utapau. After fighting on the harsh swamp terrain of the planet, the fresh air around the castle will be beneficial to you. Having fought in Dagobah's orbit from a cockpit as the commander of the ORC's starfighter force deployed on Dagobah, I know that we must use whatever time we have away from the front lines to relax as appropriate. Bring any item you want alchemized, on the house.

Janick Beauchamp

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[Er'in Tenel]

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TO: Beauchamp, J (Janick)
FROM: Tenel, E (Er'in)

Madame Beauchamp, it is an honour to make your acquaintance and to recieve such an invitation, as it happens, I have some spare time before I must place my services back in the hands of the Vicelord. Please expect me in reasonable transit time.

Yours faithfully,
Pelin’a Er'in Tenel

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Some time later (approximately the duration of a Class 4 hyperdrive transit from Ryloth to Utapau, a slim black-hulled ship with a glittering green Hapan-style dragon (the animal, not the warship) painted down the side will land as directed at the appropriate landing pad and Er'in will disembark, a long slim wooden case that can only contain a sword or a small rifle with her and accompanied by a single IG-100 Magnaguard droid. She moves with the natural grace of the rich and the self-possessed, but also with a hint of steel and an odd sense of instability that is hard to place. She seems curious and a touch wary.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

Janick might be wary of launching offers of that nature for the workshop, but once again, she wore her black strapless dress and her black bracers with red trim, wearing black jackboots made from the finest nerf leather. So she went herself to the Kessil spaceport to go greet her, driving her speeder. In the Force, she sensed that the new arrival was still a little raw in the Force, a little undeveloped, but the Hapan's brain glowed strongly enough in the Force to stand out to her. And... the implications of such could only mean one thing to Janick: the visitor was mentally active and was intellectually on a very similar level to her as a composite. However, Erin's brain glowing in the Force did not tell her much, if anything, about what she used her brain for, only how active and how powerful it is. Probably another girl whose brain can be stimulated very, very easily, just as easily as mine is: she might be attractive but beauty is actually more common than people usually think it is; intellect, not as much, she thought, in hopes . Yes, the MagnaGuard meant that she was probably important enough to the Confederacy to warrant some security while on the go, but even Janick's station as a CAG commander with 11 squadrons under her command somehow did not warrant a security detail. She introduced herself to @Er'in Tenel, without reference to any combat role she played on Dagobah, not expecting the Hapan to recognize her, especially given that they fought on different theaters:

"I'm Janick. Perhaps you would like, down the road, to be able to alchemize other pieces of equipment for yourself, or even to create alchemized equipment for your fellow Confederates: this is the endgame objective for today. But first, there is another power I would like you to learn that could be useful in certain situations, especially if you are more interested in the intelligence side of warfare. Please, come to the castle with me, alongside your MagnaGuard"

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Er'in raised one elegant eyebrow, she had enough training under her belt to recognise trained power when she felt it. Which was more often than she thought she ever might in the past. Er'in's senses percieved the dark side as heat or fire, and where Darth Metus was a burning black flame, this woman was... the hot coals of a dark forge, capable of terrible or brilliant purpose.

"Interesting." She said, giving voice to her thoughts. "I am Er'in, a pleasure to meet you."

She glanced over at the MagnaGuard next to her. "D4 relaxed protocol." Somehow the stress on relaxed protocol made it clear that the combat droid didn't actually have a relaxed protocol mode, so much as a 'less aggressive' mode.

"I am sorry about D4's presence, but you can't be too careful in this galaxy at the moment. Please, lead on."

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

Er'in must have realized by now just what made Janick different from the run-of-the-mill dark-siders. It's not just about intellect, or even how she used hers. There were more dark-siders, especially those who were on frontline duty, that were burning black flames (of varying intensities depending on their power or skill) than hot coals, and she was an oddball among that sea of dark-siders: most dark-siders that actually were on frontline duty preferred to be fighting enemies head-on, on the ground or in boarding actions, and yet Vader showed that the Force-tools of piloting were alignment-independent. So now that D4 and @Er'in Tenel were onboard the speeder that brought them to the castle, alongside that case, Janick could be made to wonder how she was going to approach the teaching of Drain Knowledge and also, how the moon's fresh air (at least compared to Dagobah's or even a snubfighter cockpit's) was going to make their respective brains run faster. Once they arrived at the castle's garage, they could get off and enter the storefront, which was located inside the castle's turret, on ground floor.

"I'm sure that you have an idea of when Drain Knowledge could be useful in the Vicelord's service"

 

[Er'in Tenel]

"I am familiar with the theory behind the process, yes. All our enemies have secrets they would rather not reveal."

Er'in kept her silence on which particular enemies those might be, it was reasonably obvious to any informed sentient. Instead she took the time to study her host and her home - or at least what she presented as her home. It was certainly interesting that someone might be willing to part with such knowledge so freely, and that someone should choose to make this their vocation. Quite what that said she wasn't prepared to draw assumptions on yet, but there were always two sides to every exchange.

"I presume from your words that you are conversant in such a technique then?"

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Yes. There is one reason why I'm offering to teach you Drain Knowledge now: your brain is very, very fast and hence your effectiveness per unit of Force-energy is better. Usually people with, please excuse the wording, less brainpower will use more Force-energy to perform that power"

You bet! Perhaps our minds resonate with each other: I feel different around Er'in than I would Alyssa or Griet, which are pretty smart, too, but that's perhaps a novelty effect. Then again I'm not entirely sure about her memory; there is such as thing as too good when it comes to memory, where it can no longer supplement the person, she thought, with the understanding that Drain Knowledge is a highly cognition-intensive Force-power. The necessity of mental intrusion makes the power dark-sided, and sometimes memories are downloaded into the practitioner rather violently. But @Er'in Tenel will soon learn that there are various approaches to achieve that effect. She knew a few other names she could readily associate with genius-level intellect: Jessica Med-Beq, a name many associated with the Silver Jedi, being one of the first that sprung to her mind regarding the topic. Memory in itself is but a component of intellect, but they both knew that memory without the ability to make sense of its contents is of limited use at best. So Janick could feel Er'in's brain getting stimulated... and hopefully Er'in will get a feel for hers before actually attempting it.

"So I may be wondering how familiar you are with slicing. Drain Knowledge is tantamount to slicing a person's mind, and, in that context, one's mental defenses are akin to mental firewalls, two-factor authentication, encryption, socketguards and other measures of that nature. You understand perhaps that the throughput of the power depends on how fast your brain can process the flow of information from the target's brain to yours. Also, there is the risk of accidentally removing a memory from another person, but usually its likelihood has an inverse relationship with the quality of one's memory, and even if no memories were removed in that fashion, it's possible that it can leave scars in one's mind. Nevertheless, having a feel for one's brain is important to minimize that sort of hazards, although it's by no means a guarantee. As a first step, try to get a feel for my brain, and my memory, in the Force"

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Er'in nodded in response to the question, not bothering to waste time asking questions which she suspected she knew the answers to. She disagreed with some of what Janick had to say, while she couldn't speak for this application of the Force - and it stood to reason it did require more intellect - she knew very well that much of her personal drive and power came not from intelligence but from emotion, as did her speed and command of the force, at least according to what she had been taught and what she felt.

That said, what difference was there in practice between intellect, spirit and the Force? It bound all things together and was within everything. She closed her eyes, letting her attention fall down to the centre of her being, to the heat that burned there. She felt the muscles in her jaw tighten, her breath came quicker, her thoughts wanted to race as the fire suffused her soul. It was a balance, that was what her Master taught. To let the dark side use you was to become corrupt, it must be commanded and your passions were the command. But no command could be given without structure. Your intellect was that structure, at least according to some of the fragmentary writings of Darth Sideous she had been allowed to read. She suspected the structure could be what you chose to make it, but for her and for now, that would suffice.

She opened herself to the Force, feeling the heat as her passions opened the gap for the dark side to flow through, reaching out with her senses to [member="Janick Beauchamp"] - it was difficult, she wouldn't deny that for a moment. Her jaw clenched and sweat began to pour down her brow.

"A lady should never sweat."​

​

"Shut up mother." She growled through her teeth, banishing the imaginary voice, the rage it brought was unbalancing. It let in darker, destructive thoughts.

Then she felt it, the mind - the intellect and the emotions, the myriad of constructs that made up thought and memory in a sentient being. She was right - at least in relation to herself - the other woman did use her intellect as one with the Force, it must be painful, Er'in mused. A talent she did not believe she possessed - at least not naturally. Her memory was crystal, fractal and perfect. A curse, in Er'in's opinion. To remember everything you have done, never to lose it to the mists of time? No slight forgotten, no mistake ever lost. They were alike in many ways - Er'in was a logical, strategic thinker, she'd enjoyed games of strategy since she was young. She had an adaptive mind - just being here proved that. But they were also very different, the Force flowed through them in different ways, Janick it seemed had been born blessed with a mind and memory that were close to the force. Er'in? Well, she knew some of her talents lay in very different, more overt directions.

[member="Janick Beauchamp"]​

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Usually despair is used by less intellectually gifted people than you for the next step"

Janick, using more intellect-oriented methods? Maybe how she went around explaining Drain Knowledge might have led @Er'in Tenel to think as much, but that didn't mean she couldn't use her emotions to use the Force from time to time, especially Force-cloak, Force-fear and Force-lightning, using anxiety, fear and anger respectively. That one person known as Jessica among the Silver Jedi was not simply different from her as a genius because Jessica was a light-sider and Janick was a dark-sider, but clearly Er'in now had an idea of what goes on in the mind of a genius. Now that she has a feel for my mind, I can also get a feel for hers. Her brain is wired a little differently from mine, she may think my memory is perfect, but I still have a threshold of significance for me to remember something. I might be leaning towards the point where it can actually start becoming a curse, but I can still forget about the very mundane things in my life just fine. A dark-sider with an actual perfect memory would find it ridiculously easy to use despair, anguish, and other emotions that depend on events in that dark-sider's life, regardless of how smart or not that person is. And yet, all that juicy brainpower I have... how does she feel about it? she thought, while also realizing that the Hapan's brain is well-trained, too. With that said, they're both confident that Er'in can learn alchemy using Drain Knowledge without affecting Janick's ability to do alchemy.

"Now, you may as well attempt to download what you can about alchemy from my memory, starting by what you feel is appropriate for a beginner alchemist; don't forget to place your hands near my head"

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Er'in nods, skin contact - or near skin contact - would be immensely helpful.

Why was that? What difference did it make to the Force that she was here, or half a galaxy away? Or that her hands were inches or feet away? Not a question to answer now, but a question for later. It shouldn't matter at all - a sun should be the same as a person, which was the same as an atom. But... intellectually, she knew it wasn't.

Maybe that was a barrier? A chain?

Enough.

"Despair and torture are the last resort of the weak." She commented softly to Janick. "Strength, comes from within..."

There is no Peace. There is only Passion.​

​

Reach inside, hold the image of the mind. Touch the passions of your heart. You don't hate this woman, but you do envy her knowledge. You desire it, you want it, you're greedy for it. Greed is anger. Not getting what you want makes you angry. Anger...

Through Passion I gain Strength.​

​

Anger is strength, an upwelling of power, the resonance of the Force from soul to soul. Janick wasn't resisting, but her mind was a lattice of crystal none the less - hard to shape, hard to move. Er'in was convinced against another this would not only be easier, but... considerably more detrimental.

Through Strength I gain Power.​

​

From the resonance came a flush of power, slipping into the lattice wasn't easy - it fought and resisted by it's natural structure. Janick's mind refused to give up its secrets, even if she wanted to pass them on. But greed solved that - this woman had something Er'in wanted and she would give it up, forcing her way into neurons and through synapses, regardless of the cost to the other person. Hacking isn't exactly a gentle process at the best of times, and Er'in... is not a subtle user of the Force. Not for her is slipping a thought out without it being known. She can see formula and teaching in the lattice, so she reaches in and pulls with all her strength, were Janick another person, memories might be lost entirely.

Through Power I gain Victory.​

​

Knowledge. Raw. Pure. Not her own. Alien memories that integrate into her own through the application of power - but that power must be leashed, or she will destroy her own mind. Her intellect channels the power, limits it, focuses down to the core essence - first the basics, then the intermediate... then even the advanced knowledge. For alchemy is something that comes naturally to Er'in, being offered up the secrets of a Witch Spellweaver is like offering a carnivore meat. The sensation of triumph is complete, total, suffusing her soul.

Through Victory my chains are Broken.​

​

What was unknown is now the known. A shackle to the past, an inhibition has vanished. No one can hide knowledge from her - this woman has one of the strongest, most resilient intellects in the galaxy. Others might be damaged by the force exerted - for Er'in is to young and to new to the Force and the Dark Side to understand what 'acceptable power' is - she puts her all into every attempt, which often leads to failure. But when it meets one of her talents... leads to victory.

The Force shall set me free.​

​

And for one second, one blissful second she is free of the world. Selfish. Alone. Er'in is not a good person - nor is she an evil person - but she is a self-centred person. She matters, no others do. Power - be it knowledge, physical training or any other form of power permit her to cast off the shackles of petty human morality and transcend what it means to be near-human, to be Hapan. And for just one moment, that freedom seems palpable.

Then her hands relax and fall back to her sides, sweat drenching her face, her breath coming in pants, muscles knotted into tight balls that will take days or weeks to undo, a throbbing headache pounding through her skull like the very thunder of some alien god.

"I know alchemy." She says, almost in distant awe.

#howcanitbecompletewithoutamatrixreference

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"The main reason why the less intellectually gifted dark-siders tended to resort to despair to use Drain Knowledge was that the power was a desperation move to obtain knowledge unavailable by other channels" she told @Er'in Tenel in a pretty soft voice. "As you get more skilled in Drain Knowledge, you may no longer need to step your hands close to the target's head, and drain knowledge from people over greater distances"

There were some species whose intellects seemed more developed or at least more specialized. It was true that, on average, Columi or even Omwati were smarter than Hapans or Acherins, or what other near-Human race one could think of. And that Givins excelled in the more mathematical areas. Sure, it was useless to hide her brilliance, just that it was a stretch in Janick's mind to believe that she had one of the most resilient intellects in the galaxy: she knew there were easily a few others like her in this sector alone, even if she was one-in-a-thousand, or even one-in-a-million in that respect, regardless of what each of those geniuses used their minds for. Probably closer to one-in-a-million than to one-in-a-thousand given how anti-intellectual some planets or cultures may have been. It was obvious that Er'in held Janick in a high regard, since she was likely the smartest dark-sider the Hapan acolyte knew in her lifetime. And then... those visions that flashed in her mind, which she knew that, when she was being used Drain Knowledge on, were the sign that it worked. The visions were that of spraying blood over the object to be alchemized; in the case of a liquid, it was more about mixing the blood to the base liquid. And also once that is done, in either case, the process of infusing the dark side energy into the object was flashing into Er'in's mind, and then the vision was cut. They both knew that the stars were aligned and it took someone like Janick for anybody to get the result Er'in had on her first try. One thing's for sure now: she will have a lasting memory of what goes on inside a genius' brain and how a genius' mind operates, more than simply a lasting memory of alchemy, she thought.

"Before you actually start getting to work alchemizing whatever is in that case, two things: first, I have to say that you're one of those people that appreciates me for what I actually am on the inside, and second, perhaps a venipuncture of blood from yourself is in order; after all, the lesson is to create an alchemized object for your own use, I don't want you to become sick from using your own alchemized object"

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Blood.

Er'in was less of a stranger to blood than she had been say, a few months ago - was it that little time? She had shed blood even before then, but in - ironically - a term for killing that was relatively bloodless. Since then she had shed considerably more blood in her own defence and the defence of others.

But this... this was much more visceral, hot, wet, copper scented and overpowering - far more so than she suspected the original memory in Janick's brain might be, although she had no way to tell as the memories and processes rebounded around the inside of her skull with a sensation akin to someone dragging an electrified net through her brain, then throwing in a large metal ballbearing to add to the astounding headache she was developing.

Blood and Metal.
Water and Reagent.
Blood.

Her blood - or someone elses - she knew the lifeblood, the final breath of a sentient would be far, far more powerful than any mere venipuncture of her own. Although her own would be required to bind any alchemy to her.

Er'in didn't really hear Janick's words - but she understood the meaning of them quite intently. For her's was a talent in this sphere of the Force, a natural gift at a distinctly unnatural art. Memories - foreign knoweldge - blended perfectly into her own knowledge with far fewer gaps than a novice should manage.

She gasped loudly, shivered, then opened her eyes. She could still taste the blood in her mouth, the tang of the alchemy and the energy in the air - the subtle mixture and potent scents and feelings of the dark side energy being infused into the object. A lost art to some, but not to this woman.

And now, not to Er'in.

"Sorry." It was statement, not a question. Er'in shook her head in the manner of a horse trying to brush away a fly. "I... didn't catch all of your words. That was... quite powerful. You are very... talented. Very talented. You were saying something about the sympathetic blood bond to ensure the object does not drain me? Yes, of course. I assume you have something sterile?"

A brief pause, then a faint wince and one hand pressed to her head.

"And a strong analgesic?"

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"A venipuncture of your own blood sympathetic blood bond is used to establish a sympathetic blood bond, yes, just that uncontaminated blood is needed to ensure that the object will not poison you or otherwise make you sick. As for sterile equipment, such as venipuncture needles and vacutainers, I always keep a supply of those things for customized alchemical equipment"

Janick could still feel what was happening in @Er'in Tenel's brain, which was not operating at the same level as Jane knew it could operate, perhaps because of what was happening in the Hapan's brain after using Drain Knowledge. Forming this amount of new memories at that speed was biologically akin to dragging an electrical net through it, however seamless the process cognitively is, and then headaches would ensue for a bit, because the acolyte's brain lighted up like a Life Day tree. As if Erin's brain was entering some sort of overdrive that required a cooldown afterward. I clearly charmed her with my brain, especially since she is made to believe that I have one of the strongest, most resilient minds in the galaxy, and that being with me was pleasant enough to make the pain of Drain Knowledge bearable. But sometimes I may be wondering whether another genius of the same caliber would charm her all the same as I had or there is something more to it. My guess is that not even that juicy knowledge my brain provides her, or the pleasure said knowledge provides her, was enough to fully contain her headaches, she thought, while she was fetching the venipuncture equipment. Also, another thought traversed her mind, when the question of analgesics was being asked, while remaining mindful of the time they take to kick in, so she does not hesitate to ask the question:

"The analgesics I have will also help relax your body, and not simply relieve your pain. One last question before I proceed with the venipuncture: do you want the blade to cause people to sleep upon being hit, or to cause a hit to feel painless? If yes, the analgesics will be administered before the venipuncture, if not, they will be administered after"

 

[Er'in Tenel]

"A Sith with a painless blade, that sounds... amusing. Yes, the more I think about it the more I like it."

Er'in smiles darkly, her thoughts flicking to the past for a few moments. Then she reaches out and touches Janick on the arm.

"Thank you, for the... chance to learn this. There are not many people like us. Shall we get started?"

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Here are the analgesics you requested" she told @Er'in Tenel, while handing two tablets of the analgesics she requested.

There aren't many people like Erin or me, and not simply because we are made to look like geniuses in the dark-sided world. Often, in the dark-sided world, alchemists are often found at the upper echelons of the intellectual food chain. Before she met with me, she might have come across one or two of those fake geniuses, Force-using or not, that might claim to be geniuses but just aren't that bright, even though they may well just be smart people. She just came to the grim realization that, as I did as a then-Dark Jedi padawan, if she uses her brain too much, her ability to use the Force will be impaired, Janick thought, while she realized that she uses emotion, whenever applicable to the use of a given Force-power, if she feels it's less mentally taxing than using logic. What she knew about analgesics is that they tended to start flowing into a person's bloodstream before kicking in. She kept that in mind before putting on the sterile, throwaway latex gloves she has to put on when she needs to do venipunctures. After she saw Erin take the caplets of the analgesics, she starts with the sterile 2ml vacutainer, promptly labeled Er'in in Aurebesh, and then inserts it into the sterile needle assembly, which is later readied for a soft insertion inside the left elbow.

"Just relax your left arm as much as it is possible. It shouldn't be long until the analgesics kick in" she instructed the Hapan, while inserting the sterile needle in the center of the elbow.

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Er'in laughs softly as she stretches out her arm, looking almost curiously at the medical equipment.

"I'll live." She replied as she watched the blood being taken. Her mind was still filled with a vivid set of images, but it was easy enough to push them aside and focus on the reality of pain. "Where did you learn your skills? You're not a traditional Sith, or even a Dark Jedi in the... fallen sense." Because they, she didn't say out loud, are idiots consumed by the dark side. Where as this woman was probably at least her equal, which stung more than it should, given how new she was to all this. But she was getting a little tired of meeting people who were better than her. Well then rise to the challenge, Er'in, she scolded herself.

"And I know you're a fleet commander, in addition to all of this - I looked up the battle reports from Dagobah before I left."

How much power would it take to imbue alchemical effects into something the size of a starship, she wondered? How much imbuement would it take? Darth Metus seemed to like enchanting - if you could call it that - technology, which seemed... kind of wrong to Er'in, better to focus on the force. But alchemy - and other parts of the 'dark arts' - what a stupid name - could do some magnificent things. But you'd need industrial quantities of slaughter or planetary blood donations to affect anything of a reasonable size. So much to learn, so many questions...

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Let's say that my learning was greatly enhanced by some holocrons whose access was given to me on Ancora after fighting the Qektoth there"

She smirked, upon hearing the words Dark Jedi in the... fallen sense, and @Er'in Tenel insinuating that Dark Jedi in the fallen sense were idiots. Dark Jedi were not always idiots: sometimes they fell to the dark side because of despair, because of some traumatic event whose traumatic nature is well outside their control, or just because they were lazy. But she also heard about the elusive Light Sith, who undertook the reverse process: they used to be Sith but used the light side. Witchcraft as she practiced it was quite different from run-of-the-mill uses of the dark side in some respects, but where it differed most from was in, well, alchemy. She heard about Dathomirians referring to it as spirit infusion, and perhaps, in fact, that's what it really is. Yes, even in spirit infusion, the properties of the blood being sprayed prior to the infusion proper will still affect the end result's properties. Just that she feels that Er'in's interest in her just increases at every step. Spirit infusion is perhaps the reason why I seem to be able to get by with that amount of blood, she thought, while realizing that maybe a bulb would light up in the Hapan, too.

"As for my involvement on Dagobah, I was in command of all organic-piloted ORC starfighter squadrons present. 11 squadrons because five more squadrons were droid bombers. On Dagobah I didn't actually command the whole ORC fleet, just the fighters"

It would be impractical to attempt commanding an entire fleet from a starfighter cockpit; that's why CICs existed, especially since the command of fleets was not simply a one-person affair. In fact, there are data feeds from AWACS platforms, and she knew any ship capable of serving as a flagship would usually have a sensor suite and AWACS suites for fleet coordination. And yet, now that the vacutainer is filled to capacity, it was time to put the needle into the designated biomedical waste bin, as is customary in such procedural circumstances, and the vacutainer in some sort of aerosol dispenser not unlike those used for delivering asthma medications. Upon looking at the songsteel blade, Janick realized that Stephanie's blade was made of low-quality songsteel if Stephanie didn't believe the blade could withstand a spirit infusion, and this blade was made of a much better songsteel. Of course, Stephanie being a beginner as an alchemist didn't help. But the Hapan should be getting a sword not unlike Janick's beskad, only with painless hits and songsteel at the end of the lesson.

"The main advantage of the alchemical methods I use is that they do not require nearly as much blood, probably because it's about spirit infusion. But you were having vivid images in your mind of just what made me the kind of (super-)genius I am long before the blood was being drawn. Now, just spray the blood over the blade" she instructed while handing Er'in an aerosol dispenser with the vacutainer in it.

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Er'in nodded, taking the offered aerosol dispenser and then laying out the still unfinished blade, it would have been more dfficult to work anything upon a finished article and - as Er'in had discovered - songsteel, while very potent as a material, was... tiring to work with. Better to leave it shy of completion so that the alchemy can be worked as the blade is finished.

The memories in her skull were natural, expert, and meshed smoothly with an innate - if perhaps different - skill for working the more magical force arts. She sprayed the small amount of blood on deftly, ensuring none was wasted and that the coating was even, with a little heavier coating wherever runic work might be required.

"This does bear considerable resemblance to what I understand of the arts of the Mandragora, who are descended from Dathomiran traditions." She commented as she worked. "Although they speak a great deal of spiritual elements that I... find intriguing, if perhaps at odds with my own personal philosophy. I'm studying with them, of course. Knowledge unlearned is knowledge wasted."

And knowledge, she did not say out loud, is power.

And in the end. Power sets you free. Of everything.

 

[Janick Beauchamp]

"Now that the blood is sprayed, the time has come to start infusing the dark side spirits. If you were to use the process on jewelry, or other items that have a wide variety of uses, it takes thought effort on your part to determine which spirits to infuse, but if you attempt to infuse spirits on an item with a specific function, you won't have to undergo that step. Once the spirits are infused, bound to the blood, you can then finish working on the blade"

The spirit ichor that she usually infused came in a wide variety of colors, ranging from green to black. I realized a while ago what the limits of spirit infusion really are: creating Sithspawn requires a lot more blood, the sort of quantities one gets by killing, the sort of quantities I'd rather not spill if I could help it, and a lot more power, too. Also, contaminated blood is often encouraged since the contaminants in the blood can confer poisonous properties to the end product, depending on the contaminants. Metallurgy, crystallography even, can make do with the amounts of blood that preserve the health of the source material. Also Erin did not temper the blade yet, she thought, while realizing that the mental channel between the two was still open and she'd rather not gratuitously kill; from what she knew about Sithspawn, they were mostly used as tools to inflict mindless violence, which she abhorred, and would never want to do. She patiently watched @Er'in Tenel as she was about to start infusing the spirits into the songsteel blade. And... runes? The first indication of anything runic-grade was the mead, like the one she served in Caupona Bar to slavers, which she later caught; by convention, all the seats she alchemized were runic, and also the duranium drill bits she alchemized until Griet took over that aspect of the Circle's business.

"Take all the rest you want afterward; the spirit infusion will likely be taxing on you"

 

[Er'in Tenel]

Er'in nodded to Janick, that much at least was clear from the many memories she had gained.

She closed her eyes and focused on herself, the force and her connection to it - to that sometimes seemingly bottomless well of emotion.

'Anger without intellect is passion without purpose.'​

​

She had never heard those words before, but they came unbidden to her mind as the force welled up through her and into her hands, along with... differences... changes to the memories. The clinical and spiritual memories seemed disconnected, wrong. A sensation she'd felt on Dagobah, the words of an unknown woman running through her head. All seemed... not right, there wasn't a right. But right for her. She held the form she had been shown in her mind, letting her passion leash the force as it followed unbound through her, controlling it, shaping it into the alchemical ichor.

It would come as no surprise to Er'in at least that the ichor called forth as she ran her hands over the blade was a blackish purple. Glittering faintly in the light almost as if itself were the thin layer of blood she had spread on the blade. She slowly let it sink into the blade, sweat pouring down her face from the effort of holding the power in shape - of forcing reality to change under the force - of forcing the force itself within the blade to accept the pattern she wished to give it.

Runes. There did need to be runes. Those were not from Janick's memories, or Metus' teachings. She just knew there should be runes in her working.

'The truth cuts painlessly.'​

​

She smiled despite the pain and effort, reaching over to pluck a sterile needle and pierce one finger - what came forth was not entirely blood, a blackish almost dead blood that impossibly burned the songsteel, forming runes of a language Er'in did not speak - although Janick might - Ancient Sith, the word 'Saarai' written on the side of the blade.

"Nu Vadinti j'us Saarai." Er'in whispered, it seemed right. Proper.

The blade would never need a final tempering - Er'in's instincts had been right. Her final act was to breathe out, calling deep on the anger that had driven her out of Hapes and into the galaxy. The blood and ichor flared into brilliant heat, blazing a final temper (and the runes) into the blade.

She stared for one long moment at the work, then quite sensibly staggered back and collapsed from the effort.