Force Training - Holocrons
Scene Mood Music:
The soft hum of the computer terminals in the Holocron room of the Jedi Archives always soothed Iskellia. Something about the hushed atmosphere was relaxing, the occasional beep and bloop of the machines a gentle reassurance that, despite whatever chaos was happening elsewhere on the planet, things here were still continuing on as intended.
Tapping in her credentials on the terminal results in a soft beep of acknowledgement, and the force field wink off in front of one of the cubbies on the wall, letting her take a Jedi Holocron out from its slot and insert it into a specialized bracket in the large terminal in the middle of the room. Arms lock the Holocron into place, and the holoprojector lights up, showing the holographic image of a Jedi looking up at her. The Arcona’s thin lips curve in a small smile as he bows. “Jedi Padawan Iskellia Sarken,” he greets her in a dry reptilian voice. "You return to me again?"
Iskellia gives a small bow back to him. “…Jedi Master Xicai…” she rasps back at him, matching his formality. "…I do return, yes…I seek your guidance on the telekinetic techniques you helped add into the Archive registries: Force Barrier , and Force Stasis ."
The Arcona purses his lips, looking up at her. “Powerful techniques,” he muses. "Difficult for many Jedi, even Jedi Knights. And you, a Padawan, seek this?"
"Yeah–I mean, I do…" Iskellia nods. "…[khHh] Like I told you before…telekinetics are my one ability in the Force I’ve always been good at. …Really good at, if I say so myself. …[hHhh]…I’ve learned and been taught a few others of course, but…I feel like if I really lean into my strengths, I can … [hHhh] really sorta carve myself out a little niche. Make it my Special Thing."
"It sounds to me like it already iIS your Special Thing," Xicai observes mildly. "It is my place to safeguard the knowledge I contain from those who are not ready…"
Iskellia slumps, but he lifts up a hand. “…Nevertheless…I am a Holocron, and it’s my place to teach. If your Master has sanctioned this, then we can begin.” He looks around the room. The Holocron glows brighter within its bracket, and suddenly Xicai’s hologram appears outside of the Holocron Chamber. "Archivist, please allow this Padawan to remove this Holocron to a more practical training location…"
A short time later, Iskellia stands in the training dojo of the Jedi Temple. Several stones, large and small, are arrayed neatly along the wall, and one of the training droids stands alert. Master Xicai’s Holocron sits on a table, and the holographic Arcona watches keenly as Iskellia stands in the middle of the dojo, her eyes closed and mask hissing evenly in meditation.
"We begin today with Force Stasis. …Stasis is not a matter of struggling against an object," Xicai instructs. "You aren’t fighting. You’re neutralizing. You freeze something in place. If you’ll forgive me a small physics lesson…When an object moves, it has kinetic energy stored up. The transfer of this energy from one object to another is what causes destruction and damage when two objects collide – say, for example, a rock hitting a piece of armor."
"Armor is usually hardened against blunt impacts from low-velocity objects: Like someone throwing a rock with their arm. But the faster an object moves, the more kinetic energy it contains, and the more kinetic energy it will impart when it collides with the armor. Thus, a gently tossed rock will bounce off, but a Force-propelled rock will crush armor, or even pierce it at high enough speeds."
"…Like a slugthrower bullet…" Iskellia rasps, nodding.
"Precisely," Xicai agrees. "With Force Stasis, it’s a simple matter of using the Force to sense an object and its movement, then summoning equal energy from the world around you to cancel and neutralize the object’s stored kinetic energy and trajectory. The excess energy may be visible as rippling waves in the air around it, as the object’s energy and your own counter-energy neutralize one another – the energy must go somewhere, and bleeds off harmlessly into the surrounding atmosphere."
Iskellia rubs her temples. "…Is this how you came upon all your discoveries, Master…? Analysis and explanation and…and…science??"
"Yes," Xicai nods. "After becoming a Jedi Knight, I was a physicist assisting the Educational Corps. My knowledge of physics gave me greater insight into both the universe and the Force. Telekinetics is merely applied physics, through the vector of the Force. Quite simple."
"Simple," Iskellia echoes dubiously. "…isn’t the same thing as Easy…"
"If being a Jedi were easy, everyone would do it," Xicai shrugs, gesturing invitingly towards her. "But the biggest failure is if one never makes the attempt at all. Thus…?"
She hisses a sigh through her respirator, closing her eyes again. “Droid…fire stun rounds at the training target over there,” she instructs. "Slow rate of fire… [hHh] one every few seconds…" The combat droid beeps in acknowledgement, then turns and begins shooting as instructed.
For the rest of the day, Master Xicai watches as Iskellia experiments, first with stun rounds, then with blaster bolts, then with thrown rocks, as she watches the projectiles traveling from one point to the other, trying again and again to halt and arrest their progress, neutralizing them according to the Holocron’s instructions. More than a simple Force Stun of a living creature, Iskellia’s attempts at Stasis are fumbling at first, but under Xicai’s patient instruction and corrections, she begins making consistent progress – First on rocks, then on low-velocity stun and blaster bolts.
The first time she’s able to arrest a bolt in the air, she stares in wonder, her astonishment disrupting her concentration and ruining the effect. The second and third times, though, she keeps herself focused enough to maintain it, staring in awe at the hovering bolt and the vibrating, rippling air currents around it.
With a grunt of mental effort, Iskellia releases her control, allowing the blaster to continue sizzling into the training dummy. She turns to the Holocron, her sunken eyes wide and dancing in excitement. "…I did it. …I did it…!! It’s not like…momentum and kinetic energy and all that, it’s just…I just sorta…sensed it and sorta…felt the amount I needed to do to affect it. …Like…like catching a ball or something."
"Very good," Master Xicai praises her, his thin Arcona lips smiling faintly. "You come to this from a more …intuitive …grasp of the principles, clearly, but it seems to work for you. ‘Catching a ball’ is an excellent example: An extremely complex action of physics and angles and anticipation when analyzed in physics, but an instinctive and intuitive action for many young children of just a few years old."
**“Now, this is something that will require extensive practice,” the Arcona continues. "Freezing a blaster bolt is quite a feat for a telekinetically-focused Jedi, particularly a Padawan – I would not have chosen such a target for your first attempt. And doing it in a quiet training dojo after meditating, with no other distractions, while the bolt isn’t even fired at you…This is a long, long way from being able to reactively use it in a chaotic battlefield when an enemy is firing on you. Still…very, very well done indeed, Padawan…!"
"Uh, thanks…" Iskellia rubs her neck, still habitually awkward around compliments and praise. "And what about the groundwork for the other technique…? Force Barrier…?"
Xicai smiles thinly. "…A lesson for another day, I think…"