Too smart to be true?

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Bimmisaari. By that point, the whole project commissionned by Pizza Hutt within the Glastro city limits seemed to be endless, due to ever-changing project scopes. A grocery store on ground floor, with an orphanage on top of it? It's the orphanage part that keeps expanding, even though she can readily understand why such was the case: the Sith did a number all across the Tingel Arm. But today, due to the state of war in which the Silver Jedi found itself, training Jedi in an array of Force-powers that can be useful in combat or as a support skill in combat is more critical than ever. Luckily Jessica's knowledge of the Force would be able to serve most people well, with today's student being a little different from the past students she had. Even with her past students operating at different intellectual levels, it seemed that [member="Taygeta Lightkeeper"] was different: she could feel Taygeta's brain glowing in the Force, much like her own does, so it was possible that, in Jessica's mind, the brain of today's student would glow more intensively the more she can get her to use her computational power, just that she knew that not everybody used their computational power the same. She came face-to-face with that student:

"Welcome, young one. I'm Jessica, and today's agenda will comprise pyrokinesis, cryokinesis, Electric Judgment and, circumstances permitting, Force-healing. And additional stuff about the Jedi Code between each practical Force-lesson"

 

[Taygeta Lightkeeper]

Taygeta had volunteered to go to Bimmisari to help with relief efforts as well as advance her growing collection of genetic specimens. For a curious little scientist like herself, this was more like a field trip, really. In her lab coat, she carried a small case large enough to carry about fifty small vials for specimens, the full ones being labeled with a number via a fine-tip permanent marker, which corresponded to a list with labels on her datapad.

The bespectacled girl was young, somewhere in her mid--20s. She wore a white labcoat, left unbuttoned, a loose blue tunic, darker blue capris, and a simple pair of white Birkenstock-style padded sandals... well worn-in complete with small footprints in them. her blonde hair was done up in a simple ponytail and tied with a rainbow-coloured scrunchie. She looked... somewhat out of place as a Jedi Academy student; she was a quiet, nerdy, and studious type of person who seemed somewhat shy around others.

Then, she was approached by whom she assumed was the mentor she would be assigned to. [member="Jessica Med-Beq"] was a gorgeous, older lady who easily exuded the airs of someone experienced in the subject matter she spoke of, but the woman's presence had a feeling familiar to Taygeta: the feeling was somewhat like her own presence. of course, the terms used were mostly unfamiliar to her only because they were concepts she was not yet exposed to. However, she was aware of what the Force was and that techniques had interesting names to them, much akin to the names of magical spells in the roleplaying games that she used to play on late weekend nights with her few college friends.

Taygeta look up slightly, as she was shorter than the woman by a few centimetres. "I see.... You're Master Jessica Med-Beq?" she asked, less out of blind assumption and hoping she was right and more intuitive confidence she had the correct identity. This must be the Jedi Master she was advised about that she was going to be working with... and learning from. "I am ready to learn. What do you need to know about me?"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Before we begin the actual Force-lessons, I think a warning or two is in order. I understand you're eager to learn what you can from me, just be mindful of any headaches or any other sign that you may be using too much brainpower. Because then your ability to use the Force will be impaired if you use too much of your brainpower too quickly, not that I would expect as much from you at this stage. You will find later in your learning process that there are some Force-powers complex enough that will give you headaches even though you didn't use your Force-energy that much"

Jessica realized that, as much as geniuses were, regardless of what they used their intellect for, people whose high intellect were an asset, they were not always easy to teach to: several Jedi trainers found that it was harder than they first assumed it to be - Sorel Crieff learned it the hard way with her. It's not going to be easy to teach her; then again there is a reason why I was given Taygeta in the first place. I have to keep an eye out for her computational power: she might have a lot of it, but then again, if she uses too much of it too quickly, her ability to use the Force will be impaired, she thought. But the same holds true in reverse, too: it was not easy for a genius to teach non-geniuses, or otherwise teach people with knowledge gaps that might hide such things. Granted, Jairdain was educated within a regimen that was akin to Clone Wars-era Jedi, where more mundane topics were often eschewed, it's just the reality of the matter. Even then, to the extent [member="Taygeta Lightkeeper"]'s brain was glowing in the Force, there was a contribution of one's intellect and one's strength in the Force in that. She also scanned the younger girl for what she knew about the Force, and it returned Force-sense, telekinesis, the works for beginners that she was not going to teach again, because frustration is one of the paths leading to the dark side. But, for now anyway, they were at the upper levels of the orphanage, sponsored by Pizza Hutt, still being built in Glastro to house the refugees, with the rivets already in place but not yet welded:

"Now that the warning has been given, the good stuff begins. I'm going to assume you know about thermodynamics. With pyrokinesis, you can use the Force to cook, weld, cauterize or any other thing you might need to do that involves heating stuff up. One more thing about pyrokinesis, and that which also applies to cryokinesis, is that sometimes you may need to feed more energy before it can heat up, or cool down, any further: the reason for that is the latent energy, stored in inter-molecular bonds. So you may as well try to use the Force to make the rivet's molecular vibration frequencies increase"

 

[Taygeta Lightkeeper]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

Taygeta would nod as the Master spoke. "Thermodynamics.... The law of conservation of energy and the law of entropy. So, I guess, then, the Force can be used to manipulate energy itself directly or evoke thermodynamic transitions by using the Force on the molecular level?" she asked curiously, apparently, understanding the premise of what she was going to be taught. "I could make the atoms in a given object's structure vibrate at a faster rate to transition energy into heat or draw heat away, slow down the atomic resonance, and effectively cool it, in contrast." she added in understanding.

She'd adjust her glasses and then said, "I can move objects with my mind already, but I have only practised on objects that I know I can lift with one hand. I was unaware that i could reach down that far, although coming to the understanding of the possibility doesn't surprise me." She would pat the curved lightsabre hilt at her hip, concealed under her lab coat. She only recently built it from diagrams and practice of telekinesis, as well as Jedi Meditation techniques... and of course, requisitioned specialty parts that make it unique.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Ah yes. And you have understood the relationship between pyrokinesis and cryokinesis, too. There's also another power related to these two in terms of effects, if you want to keep yourself cool or warm, where you would be playing with your own metabolism instead: tapas"

Now that's a lady with a fast brain, she thought to herself, upon seeing just how fast [member="Taygeta Lightkeeper"] can learn the inner workings of these two things. But she still needed to actually practice with it once in each direction. From experience, she knew that not all Jedi could understand the subtleties of thermodynamics, no more than they could see the relationships between pyro/cryokinesis (and also how tapas was related to those things). Already Jessica knew just what kind of girl she was dealing with. That said, one of the pitfalls instructors faced with teaching geniuses in Taygeta's kind or her own (in her mind they mostly differed in what they used their respective brains for) is to just keep piling the material: they might have had a better-than-normal ability to learn, but they knew it was finite. Yes, it was important to challenge them, but burning out a genius can be dangerous for the genius itself, as it could be for the instructor. But she observed patiently as the student was going to be trying to do pyrokinesis for the first time.

"It's obvious that you understand but try heating the rivet up until is welded into the durasteel beam. I just want you to actually do it once and then you can try the reverse process on another object"

 

[Taygeta Lightkeeper]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

Taygeta would nod. Nervously, she looked at the rivet in the durasteel beam. She knew what needed to be done and generally what needed to occur. The molecular bonds of the beam and those of the rivet at the point of contact needed to bond together by way of the rivet material and the beam material forming an amalgam at that point of contact, which required direct application of force and enough heat to weaken the molecular bonds temporarily. Taygeta would use what she knew of the Force already to attempt to reach out to the rivet.

It took her a few minutes, but eventually her mind was locked onto the rivet itself first, then to the beam segment at the point where they met. She would gradually reach in deeper.... deeper.... deeper still..... and soon imagined the atoms themselves arranged in a crystalline lattice. After a few minutes more, she even began to feel the different sizes and masses of the atoms. it was very slight, but there was a distinction she could determine between each atom in the alloys she was focused on.

She recalled in the back of her mind a lesson she read about, but had not yet attempted: one where a Jedi Padawan was to use the Force to seal the neck of a bottle. Through this Force-seal, the Padawan was then to pull out all of the atoms in the air inside the bottle, leaving only oxygen, until the bottle was filled only with pure oxygen. The Force-seal was only released when a stopper was placed to physically seal it. The lesson was very intriguing and it was how and why she was not surprised Jedi could make practical use of the force at the atomic level. This trial would be a lesson similar to this and it was now her turn to attempt it.

As she focused her attention on the molecules themselves, she would reach out to them and attempt to make them vibrate. Of course, they already were vibrating at a rate determined by the ambient temperature around them, but the idea was to artificially make them vibrate faster in only that localised area. The two different sets of alloys, that of the beam and that of the rivet, would both begin to heat up. With her eyes closed, she was fully immersed in her task at this point. The Force was flowing steadily through her.

It would soon become evident that the metals were heating gradually and the temperature was continuing to rise.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Yes, the temperature in the rivet's interface with the beam was rising, and, because the specific heat of durasteel is much lower than water, it was rather easy for [member="Taygeta Lightkeeper"] to get the temperature to increase. Sure, at the very beginning it would be normal to take a while, but when Jessica tried pyrokinesis for the first time, it was much faster and she began to - just that her case was a bit of a fluke. Then she summoned a bowl of powdered ice cream to her position, knowing that some ice cream should allow their respective brains to cool down somewhat and then keep operating at high levels of intensity. She knew just how energy-hungry it was for a person to have its brain operating at a high intensity level, then again Taygeta could also know the physiological and metabolical cost. But before she could have Taygeta freeze the powdered ice cream using cryokinesis, she had but one question to ask her, knowing that she is a little hesitant to allow her to do so at this point.

"Do you feel you have enough Force-energy to try freezing the powdered ice cream? If not, I have a few more words of wisdom for you that are not specific to any Force-power"

 

[Taygeta Lightkeeper]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

Taygeta would finish her demonstration, successfully fusing the two alloys together at the seam between them. The rivet was now in place. However, during the process, Taygeta found the many imperfections in the crystal lattice intriguing. She could literally sense that a direct application of force within these imperfections would effectively shatter the lattice. This sense technique that she had stumbled upon, she figured, would work well for testing the stability and soundness of a structure, such as armour. She gradually let go and came back to overt lucidity when her new Master began speaking.... with comfort food?

"Ah... time to do the opposite... but, I discovered something interesting while i was heating the rivet." she said. "I found that, looking at the metallic crystalline lattice of the beam's internal structure, there are many little imperfections in the lattice. Theoretically, a Jedi pushing in on those imperfections could cause a cascade failure of the structural integrity of the entire lattice and the super structure that lattice composes."

She would then look down to the powdered sweet treat. Her brain was stimulated, rather than truly tired... but, she knew this feeling all too well from one too many all-nighters back at school. If she attempted this, she would be mentally drained by the time her attempt was completed. But, try, she did.

Taygeta reached out again through the force toward the powdered comfort food and would again dive down to the molecular level. This time, it came faster and easier, having just done it a minute before. But, instead of speeding up the vibration rate of the atoms in each molecule, she would attempt to slow them down. Doing this would start an endothermic response in the powder's substrate itself. This, she found, was actually a bit less draining than she expected; heating things took marginally more effort.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"What you're describing is related to shear stress and other mechanical stresses that will ultimately lead to the loss of structural integrity of virtually any object over time. So, while you learned shatterpoint while not explicitly being on the agenda, I can feel your brain lighting up in the Force because you're mentally very, very active. I often call one's brainpower the computational power in a Force-using context, and while most Force-users don't feel the need to distinguish between one's Force-batteries and one's ability to use their mind, people who use cognition-intensive Force-powers regularly will probably have to"

She could feel that [member="Taygeta Lightkeeper"]'s brain is more intensely stimulated than is normally the case for somebody using pyrokinesis or cryokinesis, mainly because she was using some of her computational power to subconsciously learn shatterpoint as well. Just like how Jessica's brain lighted up when she used any Force-power (except for Force-cloak) that was, as she put it, cognition-intensive. Plus she could also feel that short/long-term memory enhancement, or Force-comprehension, would no more work on Taygeta than it would work on her. And also she could feel that her new apprentice had the feel of thermokinesis, which was an umbrella term that allowed to manipulate temperature in either direction. With the ice cream now frozen, it has the consistency of soft ice cream as served in Pizza Hutt joints, such as the one on the ground floor of the orphanage being built. There was enough for the two of them to eat soft ice cream, so she began to eat...

"Now, time to eat the ice cream: there's nothing like ice cream to recharge one's mental batteries"

 

[Taygeta Lightkeeper]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

Taygeta took a thoughtful, ponderous look when she was advised she learned a completely unrelated Force technique quite by accident. It would seem this girl's perception was out of the ordinary. True, she could sometimes tell, if only fleetingly at times, what could turn an event or a person down one path or another. She always could. In fact, she was originally going to enter medical school until she met a certain biology professor. He was that fracture in her timeline, or perhaps, her destiny. Further, at the time, she knew it and chose the path of a molecular biologist, knowing that it meant sacrificing following in her parents footsteps as a medical doctor. But, she DID become a doctor, albeit a Ph.D, rather than an M.D.

She would reach for the spare spoon and tasted the comfort food. "Shatterpoint.... So, there is a Jedi term for the ability to see weaknesses in an object's structural integrity?"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Shatterpoint is more than just seeing weaknesses in an object's structural integrity. Sometimes it can be a weak spot in a chain of events, sometimes it can be a weak spot in an individual's personality, too, and that's how I used it, too. But shatterpoint is most commonly associated with structural integrity"

For what Jessica knew she might have used it implicitly or subconsciously, too, albeit in a more chain-of-events manner. Like the battle she fought in the Chiloon Rift campaign, where she hatched a plan involving a poodoo-load of grenades detonating in the sewers underneath the artillery column around which the main Primeval army was formed. Like the one time where she compelled one Cadan Tazi to get the Hutt Cartel to withdraw from Geonosis. Mace Windu once said that, for those who used shatterpoint in a chain-of-events manner, the weaknesses can be temporary in nature. And, yet, when [member="Taygeta Lightkeeper"] began eating the resulting ice cream, Jessica could also sense that her student's mental activity has diminished somewhat, but still somewhat intense. It's only now that Jessica understood what good teaching means in the context of a gifted person - and it was quite different from teaching one's everyday padawan.

"I'll have to confess to something. It might be something for you to keep in mind should you end up training other padawans later down the road. I know that people will often conflate intellect with the magnitude of some vector based on the components that best translate to a wide range of activities. But intellect is really a vector space in several dimensions, and not just one or two pieces. So several people who, at a layman's first glance, are people with very similar intelligence may have different intellectual compositions. Training padawans to their strengths is one step that can be taken to avoid them falling to the dark side. Also the reason why I picked you was because I know exactly how we fit each other, in ways few other Jedi could have been good fits for you"

 

[Taygeta Lightkeeper]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

Taygeta listened as she helped consume the frozen treat. She was mulling over everything Jessica was saying to her; the Jedi master even got her to consider what sort of mentor she might be to another generation of Jedi. Of course, she knew she was no where near ready for that and she was content to see where this path would lead her.

"So, you are saying that you are training on my strengths. What of my weaknesses?" she asked. "I have a lightsabre built but I barely have basic Form I down. I've mostly been practising Force techniques, which has me considering what sort of Jedi path I should take."

Naturally, the path of the Jedi Consular was attractive to her, although the balance and intrigue of the Sentinel also made sense to her as well. With the principals of thermokinesis and the unexpected discovery of shatterpoints, Taygeta now pondered what other mysteries lay in wait for her to discover. What fun! She was learning new things. To her, the thrill was always in discovery, rather than simply knowing things.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"I got ahead of myself somewhat, it's just that it's a distinctly plausible possibility. Yes, knowing one's weaknesses is important, and, since you seem somewhat hesitant to choose between the litany of sub-branches of the Consular and Sentinel paths, I realize it might be a little premature to get you to choose now. Sometimes there are tradeoffs that need to be made. Yes, sometimes it's worth doing some work to address weaknesses, especially if you came across them on the field. You mention lightsaber forms: which form is best for you depends on factors such as your agility, whether you use armor or not, or how often you intend to fight. For instance, Ataru relies on one's agility while Soresu is much more defensive and Djem-so is a favorite of people who would prefer to use heavy armor, or for more aggressive fighters. Shii-cho and Niman are for occasional fighters. However, to get training in other forms of lightsaber, I would probably not know that well who does what"

She also had her share of experiences about subconscious learning. Psychometry, Electronic Manipulation, mechu-deru for instance. In fact, her own wife, whom she seldom saw in the past years because of the insistence of Summer to be the one rearing the child, first suspected her of knowing too much about the Force, subconsciously or otherwise, not to be able to use it. It occurred in several people in many ways: tales about subconscious learning included a number of things. But post-Kashyyyk, it became clear just how poorly-suited the life of a run-of-the-mill lightsaber jockey was to her. [member="Taygeta Lightkeeper"], on the other hand, had a different experience of the field. But the master could feel her own brain seemed to click pretty well with that of the student in the Force. Yet, in her own mind, sentinels were mostly used for policing, and was even what people would usually think of sentinels as; she could sense Taygeta being unsure of which path to go down.

"If you want to go down the sentinel, or should I say, the investigator/shadow path, you may wish to consider learning psychometry, mind trick and Force-cloak at a later date"

 

[Taygeta Lightkeeper]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

Taygeta listened and cocked her head in thought.

"And of the Consular path?" she asked. "they seemed to be the more diplomatic and scholarly type and use the Force more than their sabres, from that I can tell. I also find Form II rather... elegant, really."

She looked at her lightsabre and how she built it with the gentle, precise curve... and how it took her the better part of a day to construct it. If there was any test of her brain's fortitude, it was this device iconic to the Jedi. The damn thing literally was a headache in an of itself.

"I built my lightsabre like this for that form. I just need someone who can teach me." She added. "Which one do you use?"

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"There are several sub-branches to the Consular path. Healers, due to the very nature of their duties, will use Force-healing and Detoxify Poison on a regular basis. Meanwhile, ambassadors or diplomats seem to be using more of Force-empathy, and those Lorekeepers who often go on the field will find Force-stun useful to fend off pests and predators. In fact I highly recommend Force-stun and Force-shield if you're of the more adventurous variety, regardless of whether you go for a Consular sub-branch or a Sentinel one"

She was reminded of exactly why the Recruiter sub-branch of the Sentinel specialization was dying out: often secular authorities will go to much greater lengths to screen people for Force-sensitivity than they used to at earlier stages in history, and today's Force-sensitivity detection grid is tighter than even during the Sith Wars. With Taygeta changing topics to lightsaber forms, the woman with the Wookiee morphology was also reminded that Makashi was predicated on speed, lunges from what she knew about it, where the tip was important on the offense over the edge. To the extent that she perceived [member="Taygeta Lightkeeper"] to be another person that wasn't any more of a lightsaber jockey than she herself was, Jessica would be wondering who could train her in that form. She might have been one of the Grand Generals of the Silver Jedi, most of the Jedi proper were outside of the chain of command and she trusted enough those few Jedi within the chain of command not to mind their lightsaber forms. She may not know that well about which lightsaber form matches better against other forms either, other than Form V seems to be a little weak to Form II, and Forms I and III seem to be more suited for fighting against blasters.

"I'm not familiar with the other Silvers' use of lightsabers, so I cannot tell off-hand who could help you with training in Makashi. As for which lightsaber form I use, I'm primarily a Form V user, but I never used my lightsaber much" She sensed that a refugee got hurt downstairs, in those sections deemed habitable... "I think a refugee got hurt downstairs: we should go help the refugee out"

 

[Taygeta Lightkeeper]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

Taygeta would look in the same direction Jessica did, also feeling the injury of a being somewhere.

"I sense it, too." she said, turning to follow the sensation.

It would appear she was about to get a crash course in healing next. Of course, she imagined also that healing in the Force had to be alot like the practise of medicine in the traditional sense. She would have to closely follow her master's lead.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Force-healing reminded her of a very unpleasant visit to a Jedi Healer on Voss; last she heard about the healer she met that day, she has left the Silver Jedi altogether. That healer never trained Force-healing beyond putting the Force in a patient's body, even though she knew the process was not instant. Plus the Geonosian authorities of the time, who normally were pretty trusting as far as Force-medicine was concerned, simply did not trust that particular healer and Jessica was then forced to ask someone else to get Force-sensitivity tests made. After a trip through the staircase, now that she was down to the Trianni refugee that got hurt, and was also intoxicated, Jessica could begin the lecture on Force-healing. Even though she is not a healthcare professional, she knew the importance of proper diagnosis, and [member="Taygeta Lightkeeper"] would understand as much. Now that the duet was placed in front of the Trianni occupant of the orphanage that got a laceration:

"The first step in using Force-healing is proper diagnosis. It goes without saying that, while you could be using the Force as you would medication, you have to know which Force-medication to administer the patient for the patient to be healed. There's another warning for you but it will come after the diagnosis is made"

 

[Taygeta Lightkeeper]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

Taygeta would follow, steeling herself to the rush of knowledge. So far, she showed she could handle it all, but she also knew she had ALOT to practice to master it and do good by her mentor. As she looked upon the injured Trianni, she looked to Jessica questioningly.

"What can you tell me of healing between alien species? Naturally, aliens often have different anatomy and biological processes according to their genetic templates and conditions under which they evolved... no different than Humans... Through the Force, I can see these differences and still target the ailment, morphological and biochemical differences notwithstanding, right?" she asked. At least on that last part, the biochemical one, she had an assumption that it would certainly pay to know the biochemistry of alien species, since even in conventional medicine, that would make a huge difference. "I should also study the biology of aliens. I only know a few so far, apart from Humans."

Taygeta got the idea to extend her hunt for organic specimens to sentient as well and began formulating a nice way to pitch the idea to potential donors of the desired specimens.

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"I know it's quite tricky to heal species other than the practitioner's, and how their anatomies, physiologies, biochemistries operate is the main reason, and that also seems to apply with Detoxify Poison, which is also tricky since one species' poison is another's vital nutrient, but I don't know a whole lot about xenobiology otherwise. Naturally most Force-healing practitioners will have an easier time on their own species due to the cognitive biases they present, since most practitioners will want to understand their own species' biomedical parameters before moving on to other species. Oh, and regardless of the patient's species, there are two precautions that need to be taken: first, do not expect near-instant healing every single time and second, Force-healing does not excuse the need for conventional precautions. I know of one patient whose cancer took seven hours of Force-healing to cure, and that patient had to undergo chemo for a while after that. And another patient that was seemingly treated by a beginner healer that got a cancer because the healer expected too much too quickly. With that said, you can attempt healing the patient's ailment"

That, even though chemotherapy is actually much wider than is commonly understood to be, that is, to be an umbrella term covering any treatment with chemicals-based medication, and not simply as applied to oncology. Yes, Jessica was referring to one Kami Meran, whom she knew in person. [member="Taygeta Lightkeeper"] showed what the pitfalls are with beginner and understood pretty intuitively just how they are pitfalls. She could become another Cilghal or equivalent, or even one like the one they call Vee back on Voss, that is, Valae Kitra. Taygeta is welcome to try healing the Trianni's broken bone... while preparing bandages for a cast around the patient's broken bone.

 

[Taygeta Lightkeeper]

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

Taygeta blinked and looked at the Trianii's broken limb, kneeling to get a closer look. She would begin to clear her mind, focusing on her intent and her methodology. She would inhale and slowly would reach out over the limb. She would begin first by feeling the alien's physiology, which in some ways were different from her own. The Force began to flow as Taygeta let herself go into a focused state of mind which gradually became a trance-like state.

Taygeta would calmly, if a bit flatly try to console the ailing Trianii, saying, "Just relax. Let me have a look at that bone."

She would use the same techniques she was taught to 'dive' deep into the structure of the bone, finding it quite a bit more complex than the crystalline structure of durasteel. Of course, this was expected, as hydroxylapatite and bone marrow were biological. She would spend a moment feeling around gently, causing no pressure or telekinetic effects. She was simply scanning the fracture, so to speak.

"Master, can you set the bone?"