The Ghost of Jedi Past (Dev Thread; PM to join.)

[Raien Keth]

You would have to understand the sheer Sith Arrogance, though not without cause, that the Betrayer stood within when the Jedi’s gatekeeper accepted the challenge to save Dust’s soul, even one as powerful and another man might have said noble as this. All Jedi were fuel for the fire, merely traction for the Sith advance.

So be it. Darth Surtr was engaged, and the rest of the area, the desert even the entire planet of Tatooine, might as well have evaporated, so single minded and dominant was his focus on that one object.

“Tell me of the Jedi code, how you would interpret it?” Darth Surtr probed, he already knew his tact, and he already knew what he wanted.

“The code is the code.” Ploo Koon stated, his unwavering gaze not flinching. “You will not sway me so easily into playing your games.”

“The code then.” Surtr stated bluntly in response. Everyone was in his game or plan, the galaxy was his chessboard, some knew it, some had yet to learn.

“
There is no death, there is only the Force. ​

There is no emotion, there is peace.​

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.​

There is no passion, there is serenity.​

There is no chaos, there is harmony.​

There is no death, there is the Force.​

“​

The gatekeeper replied, word for word what the council tenants word, unswayed by Raien’s previous offer of interpretation, that was acceptable, because Darth Surtr was hitting this from two sides.

“A fine set of absolutes Master Jedi, surely you have more wisdom than mere words? Do you have no acts or deeds?” Darth Surtr, was once a silver tongued speaker in his Dark Jedi days, able to manipulate political opponents and nobility, the rasping rebuilt voice, gritty by its nature was far from flowery now, and rarely did he have need of drawing on the qualities of his old life, but here they were. Because inside this relic, lay what he needed, and he would have it, pretence or method be damned.

~Seek your answers again my apprentice, do not give up, do not stop.~ Raien's mind demanded of Dust.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]​

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Dust was uninterested by the talk of the two. Surtr would play his games and Dust would follow along, but he sought the knowledge of Plo Koon. He wanted to understand what the Jedi knew and believed. This could not be accomplished by mere talk, and Dust knew that. He needed something actionable, something to learn, or to do.*

Dust: "I see the Sith and Jedi as two sides of one coin, each trying to be separate but still together. The Sith speak in absolutes, yet they are willing to bend their absolutes. The Jedi shy away from such terms yet their views on the dark side are unbending and absolute. Many Jedi are turned away from the order for questioning the Jedi values, Jedi who could have brought about great change for the better. Perhaps it is not that the two are entirely different, it is that each wants to show that it is different. I seek the knowledge within to better understand the force and the truths known by it. To understand what is Jedi and what is Sith. I have power, that much is clear, but I lack knowledge. Knowledge that you can give me, and regardless of whether I wish to combat Jedi ideals with those of the Sith the knowledge you give me can only serve to help someone with one goal: to gain the power to protect those he cares for. I am Sith now to gain that power to a positive end, is that not a worthy cause for your knowledge?"

*Plo Koon pondered for a moment. The Gatekeeper saw the light within the other, and saw that he was prepared to receive the knowledge contained within the Holocron. The boys heart was in the right place even though his actions led down a dark path. With the right push, somewhere down the line even if not immediately, his course could be corrected.*

Plo Koon: "As I have said, I will teach what you are ready to learn." *Turning to speak to Raien* "On the other hand, so long as you are here I will not divulge the knowledge I have gained. This is not because you are Sith so much as the knowledge I have gained will be impossible to teach with your... taint... It requires a student with an open mind and necessity of knowledge. It requires more of a light side mind set which would be broken by your very presence." *Plo Koon stared down the Echani with knowing eyes* "After all, if you are a powerful Sith like you seem to believe, is your influence alone not enough to keep this one within your power? For the pursuit of strength, are you willing to risk losing this one?"

*He was nothing but a copy of a Jedi, but the great Jedi understood the arrogance of the Sith. Were this one a true Sith, his own brash nature would mean he would allow this. Any knowledge he may want from Plo Koon would, after all, be available merely by asking the young one after he was properly trained.*

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

The façade the Echani had erected to test the Master would not hold. In its place Sith certainty returned, breathing it across himself. The Jedi had taken his son, dark Jedi cultists had taken his daughter, both his first and second wives had betrayed him, the third freezing him in crystal to protect Jedi. His views on the absolutes of Jedi ideals were as black and white as it came, not completely unlike ploo koon’s certainty in his Jedi teachings.

“Jedi have their uses to create stronger Sith,” Raien said deadpan, his manner returning to be as motionless, iron watching ahead. “If he falls to their teachings, he will be useful to me in other ways.” Voice demanding, hiding nothing from Dust, for there was no need, he stated facts.

If there was a sense of humor within the betrayer, it boiled outward into the blackest laugh that might be heard. Sacrifice one student? He had sacrificed a dozen, everything of himself, his family, his people and his world, millions. Nothing stopped his one purpose, to highlight it shadows and terror boiled up around the Betrayer, even the slightest doubt in Dust’s mind night be magnified, crushed pressure on his body and mind. Any fear, even mild anxiety might be heighted, boiling and blinding, if he had no fear, then the bloody screams of millions fire and flame might greet Dust's eyes. More training to endure.

Ploo Koon: “Stop. You harm your own student. Do you see what the Sith are?”

Sand whipping around them to rest the shadows, Raien turned to the Holocron, in no small part wishing to see it a burning hole in the ground like the rest of this desert, the depth of his focus increased, pressure building, he would have its secrets.

“Harm. Educate, Jedi. Endure for those he loves. What can you possibly show him, that I can not crush, what can you possible show him that I can not take, nothing. Only he can stop what is to come. There is nothing that stands against the raw might of a Sith with purpose, only another Sith. You have nothing that I cannot match, wound, loss, sacrifice, I have seen worlds burn.” Sith pride radiated outward, drawing his heavy posture to certainty, and founding a stronger future to come.

“Try if you have any care for him. If you succeed, I will leave him here with you, if you fail, he is mine till his last breath.”

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]​

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*The Gatekeeper saw the anger of the Sith as well as the pride. His attentions were distracted toward the student now. He sensed a dormant ability to apply some of the concepts which he intended to teach. He would draw on that first before further teaching this one. He would let the student teach himself to a degree. First he had to deal with Darth Surtr.*

Plo Koon: "I have no doubt that you have experienced pain. Loss, sacrifice, wounds innumerable. Things that I have not even experienced to the same degree perhaps. I sense the wounds that have dug the deepest. The betrayal you have experienced, a blade in the back from those you held closest. Your reasons for turning to the dark side are many, but your path only leads to more pain, the path of the light would help heal your wounds and stop the cycle of pain that leads to the dark side. You would become stronger for it. The downfall of the Sith is pride, it is the pride that results from covering up your wounds. The Sith Assassin, Darth Maul, fell to a Jedi Padawan because of his pride, and so it is with the Sith. Your pride will be your downfall."

*Plo Koon let his words of truth settle on the Sith's ears. His hatred and pride blinded him to the truths he dared not see, or at least that was the view of Jedi Master Plo Koon.*

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

The boiling anger drew into his form to bolster it, becoming it like he had the Sith Code, the motionless form of the Echani, had hard crushed emotions holding his body to certainty, the multitude of wounds would have surely otherwise fractured and crumbled it to the floor below.

The Jedi was the one who could never know, hiding in their temples, from their own potential. “You shy from Pain. I embrace it as a truth of the Sith Code.” The Betrayers voice cracked, rasping. He breathed deep of the wounds, each one a lesson, another victory to see conflict, potential and purpose throughout the galaxy.

“I will conquer pride like other emotions, become it, have no doubt.” Raien Keth stated with finality. He was acutely aware of his own weakness, and the rage built from the Jedi’s cunning questions, paled in comparison to the Betrayer’s loathing of any and all hint of weakness on himself.

Raien would die, he was certain of it, just as certain as he was of his effect on the galaxy before the end. “When I die, the billions who will have learned and grown from my instruction.” His actions would shape worlds, blind pride yes. Pride that was turning to Jareth, ”the lives saved, potential bred and taken,” slowly moving his head to back to the gatekeeper, “what can you say of the same, what does your teaching hope to hold by comparison, of what a Sith can achieve in his lifetime?”

One young boy who had set out to achieve something for his people, his journey had twisted that beyond all recognition of the noble goal it once had been, but there was the thread of one Raien Keth’s childhood and every year cycled thereafter. Plo Koon, had indeed given the Betrayer a question, smashed against Sith certainty, but a question all the same, to which he had to dig into the past to answer.

Now the cycle had the potential to be repeated in Dust, and the darkside inside him fought to make that a reality.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]​

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

*Plo Koon heard what he needed to. It was time to direct his attentions toward this student. He would start with the basics, giving Dust the tools he needed to unlock his hidden potential.*

Plo Koon: *Clearly ignoring the presence of the other* "Dust, I sense within you an innate power to do some of what I wish to teach you first. You may have noticed when you were younger, the weather always seemed to fit your mood. You felt something... Right... About being in the wind or feeling the rain against your human skin. The force is in everything, from the most powerful Sith or Jedi, to the tiniest bit of water vapor in the air. It binds everything and penetrates it, becoming one with everything living or dead. You are attuned to the force around you in the water, in the air, even in electric currents. With your attunement you can learn to manipulate the force within these things and with a strong knowledge of how these things work and a little bit of your own force energy you can manipulate the living force around you to create desired effects. My first lesson will be in teaching you of the physics of your environment and letting you apply this to try and affect change in the environment around you. Are you prepared, Dust?"

*Dust was ready, he already knew much about physics, but learning how to apply it to what the Jedi was saying would be essential. He nodded his head showing not only the gatekeeper, but also his master that he was ready to take charge and learn.*

[member="Raien Keth"]

 

[Raien Keth]

While Ploo Koon ignored him, from behind the uncompromising iron mask of a Sith, he watched intently.

Raien was equally ready to listen to what came next, he had achieved what he wanted, even if a depth of rage had taken hold for a time, seething through him, the deed was done, the method unimportant. These were ancient Jedi teachings, to understand the counterbalance of the force, you need to know your opponent inside out. Something he had never shied from understanding, the very first steps he had taken on the Sith path had come from his discovering of certain facts inside a Jedi archive, taken there by a friend innocently enough, leading him to Thyrsus, the Sith meditation sphere and the sun guard.

But never once had he had a Jedi Master lay out their own perspective in detail, they would usually be either dead, or dying by now, good thing then this one was long past.

Dust's attitude was noted, Raien had taken nervous wrecks, old slaves, wild tribals, intellectuals all to their peak, everyone had their own unique expression of force energy, it was a Masters role to strength and make it a dominant trait to leverage. Dust’s take charge attitude was a welcome strength, when a Sith had that from the start, it made them all the more powerful, when a Jedi had that, it made them all the better at creating stronger Sith when they finally killed them.

Utterly silent, allowing every bit of knowledge to be imparted from the Jedi Master without interruption, he would have every scrap he could obtain from the relic. ~Good my Apprentice, every bit of knowledge is valuable, to harness or to exploit.~ He sent through the force, ~Allow it all, without reservation.~

This trial was putting Dust through the fire early, to survive against an ancient and powerful Jedi master, or to fall prey to their teachings as sometimes happened. Raien had meant what he had said, he would leave dust here if he fell... the condition of the young man however wasn't specified in the bargain.

[member="Jareth Johnathon Holst"]​

 

[Aster Jen'allé]

Plo Koon: "I will assume you are aware of what fog is?" *Dust nodded and the Gatekeeper continued* "There are actually multiple types of fog. I will not go into detail on what each is called; however, I will describe to you how they are formed. The most common fog comes when the surface of a planet is cooler than the moist air above it. The planets surface radiates its temperature to the air above causing the moisture in the air to condense slightly, thus becoming more dense and thickening into a layer of what we know as fog. The other common type comes when warm air rolls over a surface that is below freezing. This kind of fog is particularly difficult to see through as it is often made up of tiny ice crystals floating through the air. The latter type is more useful by a small amount but also more difficult to form. There are two ways you could create a fog with the force, either by manipulating the conditions to match those of a fog, or by directly affecting the air to create the fog directly. Each has its advantages, the first requires less energy to create but takes time while the second is much faster and consumes more of your own power to create, and understanding the advantages is essential to knowing what method is more effective for the given situation..."

*Plo Koon continued teaching the physics of various environmental effects and how to reproduce them. Dust sat taking it all in with great interest until the lecture came to an end.*

Plo Koon: "You now understand the physics necessary to affect change with this ability. It is up to you to use this power. Return when you have learned to apply this technique yourself, and I will teach you further. I also have other things to teach you when you are ready to learn them."

*With that the Holocron deactivated itself and Dust stowed it away in his pocket. There would be no miracle conversion to the Light side of the force, but the Holocron would have another chapter. For now its story was on an intermission and the knowledge of the force within it would be sealed away.*

::Complete::

[member="Raien Keth"]