Trials...

[Romi Jade]

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B H E R I Z S E C T O R ​

E A D U S Y S T E M​

E A D U ​

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Turbulence.

She sat in the co-pilots chair, her apprentice was the stellar pilot and she was slowly picking things up from him. She leaned forward, her hair flew forward and ran down the sides of her face. She flicked a few switches and pushed a few button before running her hands along the pilots panel to brace herself.

There was a large flicker; a bolt of lightning struck just near the ship as the rain pounded against the hull of the ship.

"Do you see them?!" her voice barely cutting through the echo of the thunder, and hum of the engine; They were chasing pirates.

The pirates had led them on a lengthy and useless pursuit from the Aduba System, thinking they'd lose them somewhere in the atmosphere on Eadu; they were right. After they descended, it was becoming more and more harder to control as a massive storm broke out.

Turbulence.

She looked over to her Padawan, concerned for his well being in piloting through the chaos, but holding back some of that doubt as she knew he was capable. She'd always be concerned about him...especially after...

Another flash of bright light, followed by the crackle of thunder. This time entirely too close to the ship.

[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

Cassius’s knuckles were stark-white as he gripped the controls, since his life, and the life of his master, very well depended on it. The turbulence shook the ship so badly that Cassius jolted around in his seat what seemed like every other microsecond. He tried to modulate the shields so that they could ride the air like waves, but it was to no avail.

He was such an idiot. He knew Eadu was in a perpetual state of tempest – it was close enough to his homeworld that he heard horror stories of pilots who had been stupid enough to fly into it. Now, he felt he was going to join their numbers.

The visibility was terrible – Cassius found that he was flying mostly via the Force right now. Turning the controls hard to port, he rolled the ship to narrowly avoid a bolt of lightning flashing across their hull. The thunder was almost deafening, but Cassius stayed focused. He’d started to consider the option of trying to get out of there when his master asked him if he could see them through the torrential rains.

At first, he shook his head, squinting, but then he saw a glimmer. Engine trails. “There!” he yelled as he slammed the thrust forward, the engines roaring through the howling winds. The pirate ship came into view, looking as if it was having just as much trouble as they were. His readout beeped rapidly as it told him he had a lock. Pushing in the triggers, the laser cannons ripped through the pirate ship as if it had been made of tissue paper.

They flew through the fireball and debris, their deflector shield luckily protecting them from that. However, now they had a bigger problem. As if the hand of a god-like deity was smiting them from the sky, the ship began a deadly downwards dive.

“Downdraft!” Cassius yelled out – it was lethal to pilots, and something he had been warned against during training. The young Jedi pulled on the controls as hard as he could, a strained groan passing through gritted teeth. Cassius had to turn the ship nearly on its side to avoid one of the many buttes jutting up from the surface. He just got this ship – he was not about to crash it on its first venture.

Then, suddenly, almost as soon as it had started, they were out of the downdraft and into relatively calmer weather. It wasn’t perfect – thick rain still pelted them and winds shook the craft about, but at least Cassius had control, now.

“We need to put her down,” Cassius breathed out. It wasn’t safe to fly in this kind of weather – at least, until he could figure out the weather patterns. He very quickly spotted the perfect spot: a butte that had a chunk taken out of it. There was a spot to land, and also some overhang so they wouldn’t be constantly bombarded with rain.

Exhaust shooting out, the Corellian vessel quietly touched down on the slippery, rocky floor of Eadu. Sighing, Cassius unbuckled his crash webbing and looked over to Romi.

“You alright?”

[member="Romi Jade"]

 

[Romi Jade]

She took a breath and released it just as she fell back into the seat. Cradling her head within her hands, she'd take her time responding before her hands fell to her lap.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

A beat.

"You?" She was acknowledging all the stress that had been brought on, noticing it releasing through her pores as she could relax in the cushion of the chair. Cassius was on of the best pilots she knew, "You doing alright?" but he was also still her Padawan, and his safety meant much to her.

She glanced over at him while unbuckling herself, she smirked because as she thought about it, there had never been a dull moment for them. Her ear twitched as the downpour became more and more audible to her, another flash of lightning had caught her attention; her head whipped around.

It was far off, but she'd stare through the glass looking past the rain until it was much to blurry for her to make out.

In her daze, "We probably shouldn't have pursued them this far..."

[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

The young Jedi nodded. “Yeah… yeah, I’m good,” he breathed out. Whether it was a question regarding his physical or emotional state, the answer was still the same. Cassius operated well under pressure, and was fast-acting. The adrenaline would need to wear off, and when it did, Cassius would probably crash hard. As it stood though, there were things to be done.

Reaching over, he ran a ship-wide diagnostic. While that was going, he tapped into another terminal to put the sensors towards the surrounding area, as well as the weather patterns above. His master expressed regret at chasing the pirates to this length, to which Cassius said, “Well… not much we can do about it now. They won’t be smuggling spice through this sector any time soon…” mostly because their ship was in smoldering chunks embedded into the buttes.

The ship diagnostic came back positive. Nothing had been damaged, miraculously. The sensor sweep started to send back information as well. “Surrounding area looks clear,” Cassius said, squinting as he skimmed over the read-out. “The weather though…” his voice trailed off as he pulled up a map representation of the sensor read-out just to be sure.

“Storm isn’t so bad here, but above, in the upper-atmosphere, it’s too turbulent to fly. We were lucky to get down here in one piece,” Cassius knew that using words like ‘lucky’ weren’t becoming of a Jedi, but he’d used the phrase for so long that he didn’t think of another way to put it. “And it’s getting worse. If we try to fly out now, we’ll crash. Guaranteed.”

“We’ll need to inventory our supplies,” Cassius said. He knew that they didn’t have much in terms of foodstuffs onboard… but the autochef should be loaded enough to last for a week or so. “We might be here awhile.”

[member="Romi Jade"]

 

[Romi Jade]

"We'll have to wait till it passes over..." she said as her face lit up; lightning. She stared into the fury of the storm and could still hear the the low boom resonating in her ears. She sat back, and just then her head whipped to her Padawan as he expressed they should take inventory. She nodded before gathering herself and ascending from her seat.

Beginning her trek down the corridor, she'd soon find herself in the main corridor; it was much more spacious with its circular design. She preferred this area in comparison to the cockpit. She clung close to the wall, walking a few steps before suddenly stopping. She looked over to Cassius who was behind her but would now probably be somewhere next to her as she pressed her fingers against a certain section in the wall. She triggered one of the compartments and retrieved a few miscellaneous items before walking with him to check their storage.

"How long do you think the storm will last?" She mentioned while approaching one of the doors which slid open after sensing their presence. "I know this place is known for its storms...."

She stood next to him, resting her hands on her hips she swayed in her stance.

[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

“No telling,” Cassius said as they stepped into the starboard cargo bay. There was an assortment of durasteel containers and footlockers in a very organized and proper manner – Cassius was one for neat lines and squared angles. It was at this point that Cassius quietly chided himself for changing the port cargo bay into a medical bay. If they were here for very long, their supplies were going to run out fast. Then again, he was sure that in the future, he would be very grateful that he’d had the medical suite installed.

As he brought out his datapad to look over the inventory list he’d kept in there, he kept talking. “I’ve run a program on the sensors to monitor the weather data and make predictions – hopefully we’ll be able to spot some calmer winds and high-tail it out of here before it gets too dicey.” The young pilot knelt down, looking at each box to make sure nothing was damaged. He was also starting to calculate in his head just how much food they had to survive.

Typically, YT-model freighters such as the one they were on had enough stored consumables to last two months. With a good chunk of their cargo space taken up by medical equipment, one would think that would reduce the amount of consumables. However, since Cassius knew that he wouldn’t be hauling much – if any – cargo, he’d loaded extra consumables onboard. So, they had enough food and water to last them maybe… four months. Six if they properly rationed. Luckily, Cassius only foresaw them staying on Eadu for, at most, a few weeks.

He had no idea how wrong he was.

“We have plenty of food, so that’s a plus,” he said, standing back up to full height. He put his datapad back on his belt. “And we have purification systems on board to clean any water we catch, which is thankfully in abundance,” Cassius said, his voice trailing off as he headed back out of the cargo bay and towards the lounge. “So… is there any Jedi training we can do in the rain?” Might as well fill their time while the sensors did their work.

[member="Romi Jade"]

 

[Romi Jade]

She nodded and place a hand on his shoulder after he stood back up to his full height, "Good work..." she wouldn't be too far behind as they both proceeded back towards the lounge, with her stopping a bit short after he asked about training. She turned to him, folding her arms and presenting a smirk, "Of course...lets brush up on some saber training huh?"

He was showing initiative, she could appreciate that. Much of their lessons had been in the field, with Romi preferring that route as apposed to lectures and sheltered sessions. However, they had nothing but time to spare and she'd yet to touch base with him in lightsaber combat.

She walked to the center of the room, "We'll have to start with the basics as you know...come on over" she motioned for him. "The first form is referred to as Shii-Cho, it has similarities to traditional sword fighting which is why it's a good base and something all Jedi should be somewhat knowledgable in. It's simple...remember that." She pulled her hilt from her belt.

Her finger hovered over the ignition button, then with a quick jab of her finger the blade sprung to life; it produced a scarlet blade.

"Follow me..." and then she turned and bent slightly at the knees. In a two-handed grip she'd twist her wrists to the right, bringing the trajectory of the weapon with them; her lightsaber was held in an horizontal position. Soon she quickly follow that by swiftly bringing her feet together, as she twisted her wrist she brought the blade into a parallel position with her body. Then she followed that by twisting her wrists to the left, swinging the blade in an arc that led it to lay down horizontally with the tip pointing towards the left.

"All moves and maneuvers should be executed in perfect horizontal and vertical angles...doesn't matter how you do it, just let your body flow. I want you to get a feel for the motions first and we'll take it to the next level..." she said looking over to her apprentice.

[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

He nodded as she motioned for him, standing off to her left, and back a little bit so he could see her movements easily. Reaching for his own lightsaber, he shook it slightly, finding that the power converters did better if they were activated a little bit before the blade itself was ignited. Pressing the button, Cassius was pleased to see that the ancient blade came to life in full force, humming with a consistency that almost made the young Jedi forget that it had malfunctioned on him too many times to count.

“Shii-Cho…” his voice trailed off as he began to slowly and methodically mimic her movements. “I remember some of it. The training holograms down at the cavern on Rinn had a few exercises with it. Pretty degraded… but it’s the foundation of what I’ve been using the past few months.” He noticed that Master Jade’s techniques were a little more refined, and her form was less rigid. Perhaps that was because the form had probably been adapting over time. Cassius had been learning from holograms that were probably hundreds, if not thousands of years old. There were bound to have been some changes.

“I remember the target areas and the angles of attack… as well as the basic blocks…” Cassius kept mimicking his master’s moves. In his mind, the echoes of his holographic masters rang inside his head: Vertical strike to zone one – horizontal strike to zone two – reverse horizontal strike to zone three – wrap around strike for zone four – downwards strike to zone five – reverse downwards strike to zone six.

His mind went back to when he’d used his lightsaber previously: on Nar Shaddaa, while fighting a bar full of miscreants, when he’d been captured by Bastin Arenais, on board the doomed starliner, and of course, during the battle over Hoylin. Each time, he’d defaulted to those same basic moves, and they’d saved his life more than once. Of course, he’d felt that the Force was with him most of the time, guiding him, helping him deflect those blaster bolts and perform the right moves. As it stood, however, he certainly needed more instruction when it came to lightsaber combat.

[member="Romi Jade"]

 

[Romi Jade]

She watched, he seemed more comfortable with it as conpared to other students she'd seen introduced; he has had previous instruction. "Good you seem comfortable...one thing I want you to do is to not be so technical and get use to it. Make it yours..." she lowered her guard, soon to smoothly maneuver her body around him so that she was in front of him.

She reached out with her free hand, and through the Force she called for a sphere like structure; it would sway under her command, soon to cling to the palm of her hand. In a swift motion she called the weapon back into its slumber and clipped the hilt to her belt. Pressing a few buttons the training remote was given life and hovered from the safety of her hands.

"Lets touch up on deflection. You've already got down the basics, so I'm turning the levels up a notch. They're going to come quicker and will be less sporadic. Always remember adversity will be constant in the field...this remote won't necessarily aim for your target zones. You're going to have to adapt the form a bit. Whenever you're ready it will start..."

She stepped back, folded her arms and was ready to observe her apprentice. He didn't have to get it perfect...but with how he handled himself on numerous engagements with her she was certain he could skip ahead a bit.

"Don't over think it...flow"

[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

Make it his own… Cassius wondered just what that meant, for him. There were so many styles of lightsaber combat, and he’d read up on a few to try and see which one was right for him. Then again, perhaps a Jedi’s prowess in lightsaber combat should reflect them as a person, rather than follow a rigid set of moves and forms.

Cassius nodded as she said they needed to work on blaster bolt deflection. He seriously had no idea how he hadn’t been shot yet. All he’d had to go on was what the training holograms had told him. The training remote in the cavern had a busted power cell, so it wasn’t able to actually shoot him, just dash around for a few minutes before clunking back to the floor.

He backed up and loosened his shoulders. Holding his lightsaber in a typical, vertical-forward guard, he fixed his eyes on the remote as it swooshed around. Green eyes tried to look for any sort of pattern, any indication of when it would fire. Suddenly, a small blaster bolt shot out at him. Before the small spat of energy even left the remote, however, he could almost feel his body trying to move on its own.

Apparently, though, he needed to still perform some type of movement himself, as the bolt still hit him in the shoulder. Cassius winced and grunted at the sharp pain. It wasn’t much – less than a stun bolt, really, but still, it was enough to make him learn. He thought back to the times he’d blocked blaster bolts before… he’d always been moving, keeping his lightsaber in wide arcs to maximize his chance of blocking bolts. Staring straight ahead though, having to focus on it… it was a little different. He didn’t have the benefit of adrenaline to guide his actions.

It was just the Force.

The remote fired again, and Cassius moved his saber into a horizontal line. The blue saber absorbed the bolt.

[member="Romi Jade"]

 

[Romi Jade]

"Trust your instincts...you'll know when to go for it." she commented on the initial stages of the encounter with the remote. Not faltering in her stance as she knew it was a few levels higher than normal; she had faith that he could handle it. She'd be proven correct when he was able to catch the next one. Her fingers tightened and dug into her waist as she winced at the reaction, being completely satisfied when it collided with his blade.

"Now let it flow [member="Cassius Droma"] ...from one and into the other. You'll know where to go...trust it." she coached from the sidelines. Enslavement to form can start early, especially when you're teaching technique. She wanted to prevent that with him as early as possible and so her approach was different. As comfortable as he got wielding his weapon within the confines of the Form then it would be much less predictable in live combat.

"Don't be afraid to engage. Step into it...throw the remote off its trajectory." she motioned as she paced back and forth.

 

[Cassius Droma]

‘Let it flow’ the words echoed in his mind as he moved his saber back into position. While flying for the Rinn Starfighter Corps, he’d also been taught to trust his instincts, not knowing at the time they were being bolstered by the Force. It went against how he was brought up as a child. His parents were engineers, so everything had to be double and triple checked before making a decision. In the heat of the moment, though, action needed to be taken, and the best course of action couldn’t be mulled over.

He snapped his arms up, absorbing a bolt that would have gone straight for his cheek. The remote began to move around, shooting at random intervals, and Cassius started to mirror its movements, spinning his saber in arcs so as to keep it in motion. He kept focused on the small, gray and black ball, trying to let the Force flow through him. It was as if the maneuvers were coming to him, but he still had to make the conscious decision to move to it.

The remote was maybe two meters away. After he deflected another bolt, Cassius stepped forward, closing the distance and making a tight horizontal slash at the remote. He stopped just short, however, knowing that he didn’t want to damage the device. The remote paused, floating in the air, and then beeped in affirmation. He did the right thing, apparently.

“I think that would have been a clean cut,” Cassius said, slightly proud of his actions. This seemed like the first time he’d been able to actually feel himself channel the Force and use it to deflect blaster bolts, instead of just using his primal instincts.

[member="Romi Jade"]

 

[Romi Jade]

"You took the initiative...good" she nodded while stepping forward, noting the progress. Some principals of Shii-Cho centered around cutting you opponents off, and she noted that he may have a talent for Shien further down the line; his comfortability with deflection was growing if he was able to counter an act.

"A note...remember to always be the one acting." It was general lesson in combat. "I want you to regularly practice with this remote from this point onward. I don't want you to get comfortable. But for now...Lets touch on actual live combat. We'll spar..."

She unclipped her lightsaber from her belt just as she turned and walked a few feet away. "I really want you to work on taking the initiative...drive me to where you want me." She mentioned before she ignited the scarlet blade and held it in a two-handed grip just in front of her.

[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

He made a mental note to start carving time out of his day to practice with the remote. His A180 blaster, still strapped to his thigh, was something that he felt he should be relying less and less on. If he could block incoming fire, and perhaps even learn to redirect it back at his opponent, the ranged weapon would become obsolete.

His eyebrow raised as he watched her get into position. Well, this was certainly an escalation. He was going to spar? With Romi? His eyes glanced around the bulkheads. It wasn’t exactly the most spacious of areas… they’d have to be careful. He’d just gotten the ship, after all. Maybe next time, they could find a nice cave to practice in.

“So… you want me to be aggressive?” Cassius asked, adjusting his grip on his thrumming lightsaber. “Suppose I can do that.” It wasn’t exactly in his nature to just attack, but perhaps he could put his own spin on it. He got into an ox guard, with the saber held close to his face, the blade pointing at Romi, his opponent. While not a typical, simple stance, it felt natural to him, like he could keep his enemy at bay while still being able to block incoming attacks.

Feet firmly planted on the ground, he decided to start poking at her defenses to see if there was a pattern. He made an advancing step, stopping just short in order to fake her out. His blade was kept pointed directly at her, his eyes never leaving hers.

[member="Romi Jade"]

 

[Romi Jade]

She noted his blue saber held out between them; her was yet to be called to action. She planted her feet, and waited to see if he would act. However, he stepped forward but failed to follow through. She ignited her lightsaber, spinning the hilt in her hand just as she stepped forward immediately after he discontinued his. She brought up her elbow and quickly brought down her lightsaber in a downward arc. Her attack was less technical and refined, she was holding back for the sake of the session, but it held power.

She stepped forward, keeping her movements light from this point onward as she intended to press the attack since he wouldn't. He'd likely be able to handle such an attack with ease, and Romi would quickly counter such with another series of blows that were scattered and tight.

"Counter...regain control!" her gentle voice went up in pitch, yelling to cut through the battle of blades. She was intending for him to counter or find some other way of gaining the control.

[member="Cassius Droma"]

 

[Cassius Droma]

Her downwards strike would be easily parried by Cassius – all he had to do was slightly turn his wrists to catch the blow. When she started to press the attack, however, Cassius started to backpedal ever so slightly, keeping her at bay, but not necessarily striking back, however. He had to make his movements quick and concise, something he found relatively easy to do.

He’d watched holos of lightsaber battles before, and he’d found that some techniques used wide arcs to try and strike at their opponents. While this was a tenant of Shii-Cho, and something that Cassius used to battle multiple enemies with blasters, it wasn’t necessarily something he thought was practical for blade-to-blade combat.

As his master came in for another slice to his torso, Cassius sidestepped and blocked the blow. He then pushed forward, travelling down the length of the blade towards his master. Disengaging her blade for a moment, he swung around his lightsaber for a diagonal strike that would land on her neck.

[member="Romi Jade"]

 

[Romi Jade]

Uhn...

Air escaped between her lips; surprised. She followed that with a smirk; proud. She nodded to her Apprentice, as he was making steady progress. "Good...make it your own. Yo-" her words were cut off; she felt compromised. A momentary dizzy spell overtook her as she reached for her temple. Pressing her fingers into the side of her head she was overtook with a voice.

Whatever it may have been established a telepathic link with her, "Jedi..." A faint whisper echoed through her head.

She looked to [member="Cassius Droma"] , A twitch of her eye told of how perplexing the feeling was.

"If you are to truly understand, then you will need the contrast...to stand in the center..."

Whatever it was would have taken advantage of the connection she shared with her own Apprentice. Soon he would hear...

 

[Cassius Droma]

When his master clutched the side of her head in distress, Cassius turned off his lightsaber and put a hand on her shoulder. “Romi? What’s…” And that’s when it hit him too. A deep, rumbling voice, echoing within the walls of his mind.

“If you are to truly understand, then you will need the contrast… to stand in the center.”

It was an incredibly uncomfortable feeling. If Cassius had to compare it to anything, it would be the Force meld they had shared on Hoylin during the battle, but this seemed… deeper, somehow, and completely unwarranted. For the briefest of moments, Cassius felt exposed, as if whoever was inside of his head could see right through all of his layers.

“What is that?” Cassius asked, looking about the room. Of course, there was nothing. Whatever this thing was that was communicating with them, it was outside the ship.

[member="Romi Jade"]