Continued from Ke barjurir gar'ade,jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade kotla'shya.

At Ijaa taab'echaaj'la

To Honor the Departed

Written in Collaboration with: Steffan Karrde

Author's Note: Star Wars and associated material contained within works produced or published by LucasFilm Ltd., or its subsidiaries remains the sole property, copyright, and trademark of said entities. No profit is being made from this work. All characters contained within this work are original (with the exception of appearances by some canon characters); and remain the intellectual property of their originating writers.

This story occurs shortly after Ke barjurir gar'ade, jagyc'ade kot'la a dalyc'ade. It is incomplete.

The Cataani people and all related information is the brainchild of Steffan Karrde. All characters used are used with permission of their originating writer.

Mando'a language © Karen Traviss and LFL.

Star Wars © LFL.

"We're going to try something else this morning," Andrea said as she and Marin were out in the grove that she normally used for her training. "At this point, I'd been focusing your training in Ataru...the fourth lightsaber form. Now we're going to start blending part of another form into your fighting style."

Marin was dressed this morning in loose brown trousers. Her tunic was one of the many that she'd found in her closet; this one a sky blue wrap style. She'd belted it with a sash of the same fabric of her trousers. Her face creased slightly in a frown, as she hadn't learned too much about the various forms. She tucked her braid behind her right ear. "What form will I be learning now?" she asked with a smile as she ran through a few Teras Kasi forms to loosen up.

"The name of this is Shien," her master said as she started to explain it. "Its one of two parts to the fifth form. It is centered around defense, like Soresu..the third form, but with more of the tactics and philosophy of Makashi...the second form...in a way that you use defensive moves, but more easily shift to the offense. It is a more aggressive and requires more physical strength than the form I've been teaching you, so keep that in mind. "

Marin nodded, chewing her lower lip for a moment as she pondered that. 'More aggressive...' That brought forth memories of what had happened when she'd learned of Jarius' death. She'd barely kept control. She had in fact lost control for a time as she allowed her grief to take hold. Marin swallowed, pulling her attention back to the present. "I'll keep that in mind..." she said firmly."

"Good," Andrea told her. "We decided on Shien because it was designed against multiple opponents with blaster fire...something you will probably run into more. Later, we'll see about Djem So, the second part of the fifth form, that is mean more for an opponent with a lightsaber."

Marin nodded. "That makes sense. Especially if I take it as my duty to rid the galaxy of Kyr'tsad. I know it's something I can't do alone. But I feel its something that needs to be done... not only due to the threat they pose to everyone else, but to honor my father."

"Aye. Shien will work well with multiple opponents, as I said, but it might prove weaker against a single opponent, so you can shift to Djem So quickly. Combine them with the moves I've been showing you with Ataru, it should give you more flexibility in open ground while improving your defenses in enclosed areas."

Marin responded with a smile. Now there was something that she could use. She thought a moment, and looked to Andrea before she unclipped her saber and held it in her left hand unlit as she began to slowly run through the first few forms of Ataru. "I was thinking... would there be a way to combine say, my Teras Kasi with the lightsaber form?"

"I have heard it possible," Andrea answered her. "There are cases where you can use hand combat maneuvers during a duel. Your opponent during the challenge showed you that to a small extent. In extreme close quarters, Father, Dilan and even myself have resorted to hand combat attacks in the middle of using the lightsaber. There are other examples of this too."

Marin raised an eyebrow and gestured for Andrea to continue. "I ask because I don't like feeling limited to only one weapon of type of defense."

"Not many others have either. Masters Myk Ron and Arie Dinn both still employ blasters, Arie also uses a tikki blade," Andrea said as they discussed it. "Father has employed different blades and thrown weapons in his fights."

She nodded, turning Souvrin's lightsaber over in her fingers as she pondered. "It just makes sense to use every skill you have. When we were on Galan... I didn't even pull my training saber until I had no other choice. I kept to blasters."

"Wise decision," her master admitted to her. "The training sabers aren't designed to withstand multiple blocks of full power blasters. Speaking of which," she added as she motioned around them. "Since Shien focuses on blaster defense, there's a special aspect of it that may take you some time to learn. Its probably one that we need to focus on first."

"What's that...?" Marin asked, looking around.

"There are several blaster remotes hidden and waiting for my command. One will activate and start a routine when I say so. As you have probably seen for yourself, a bolt from a blaster is reflected off the lightsaber's blade. To keep the reflected shot from hitting non-combatants, an important technique to learn is to be able to willfully redirect that shot to a location of your choosing...either at the one who fired to to an object that might give you the advantage if hit."

"To do this requires minute control of the blade, knowing the angle that it needs to be at to effectively send the shot where you want it. It takes time to learn, and much focus through the Force. I'll demonstrate for you at first."

"Ok..." Marin backed up a few steps, but stayed close enough so that she could see how Andrea moved.

Andrea pulled a small control and activated the voice control for the remotes. "4 remotes...level 5 difficulty, random pattern...activate."

There was a low hum and four remotes from different locations appear around the two of them. Andrea stood there calm with her hands to her sides as she lowered herself into the Force and began to focus on the exercise at hand.

Marin studied the remotes for a moment, but it was Andrea's sense in the Force that drew her attention. Slowly, Marin opened herself to the Force, taking in the clearing and everything in it as Master Karrde had taught her to. She could feel the faint ripples as the remotes moved.

The first shot came from the remote to Andrea's left, with the one in front of her firing just a short moment later. The Jedi's hand went to her lightsaber just a fraction of time before the first shot and ignited its brilliant green blade as she whirled to her right, into the first shot. She swung her blade as if it was part of the same motion as drawing it and sent the first shot back into the remote, causing it to shut down and go back to its holding station. Not pausing in moment, she had continued her spin, whirling the blade over her head and brought it down as she had finished turning to face Marin, blade angled to out and to her right to intercept the second shot and sent it into the remote that was off to Marin's right now.

The other remaining remotes, one behind Andrea and the other behind Marin, began to circle around in a random pattern before they would fire again. The one behind Marin had circled to her right side before shifting suddenly back towards her and fired. Andrea spun on her right heal and extended her blade out in front of her to intercept and reflect the shot, hitting it. The one that was now behind her fired at the same moment and she only raised her blade up and over to where it was pointed down behind her head and caught the shot to hit her target and end the squence. All four remotes were hit and had returned to their stations.

Marin stared, wide-eyed. She'd seen how fast Andrea had moved, but she'd felt the shift, too. She'd heard buir call it battle mind once - a clarity that comes in the midst of battle.

Andrea breathed in deeply as she shut down her blade and looked to Marin.

"That," she told her, "did have a little touch of Ataru in it with my spin on the last move. But you get the general idea."

Marin nodded, a faint smile touching her lips. She kept finding parallels, and it helped her make sense of things. "I... felt it, too..."

"We'll keep it simple for your first time trying this," Andrea said as she moved to sit on one of the rocks and let Marin take the center of the clearing. She lifted up the control again and spoke into it, "One remote...level 1difficulty, stationary...activate."

A single remote appeared directly in front of Marin and hovered there. "It'll hold steady till I direct it to do otherwise," Andrea told her. "And it will fire randomly. Draw yourself into the Force, get a feel for the remote. Try to act more on instinct and what you feel through the Force instead of watching for the remote to fire."

Marin nodded and closed her eyes, reaching out to the remote in the Force. She didn't so much feel it. More she felt the sort of blank spot where it was in the Force. She still held Souvrin's lightsaber in her left hand. She took a few moments to calm herself and center again as she had been taught. She felt Andrea a few feet away, and the empty spot where the remote was. Her fingers flexed briefly on the hilt as she waited, her breathing slow and even.

As during the time in the Karrde's training circle, Marin began to feel a faint ripple. Not of movement, but warning. Her grip tightened slightly around the hilt as she brought it up, thumbing the blade to life. The ripple was stronger now. Still, she kept her eyes closed as she tried to rely only on her senses. She moved one step to the left, just as she felt a pulse from the remote. Keeping Andrea's location in her mind, Marin brought the blade up to block. It was a tad sloppy, and the block went a bit wide, sending the blaster bolt off to her right. Marin sighed slightly, but took her stance again. She knew she wouldn't get it on the first try, for she was still getting used to the saber.

Andrea kept watching intently. For the first attempt, she came closer than most of the students that she had seen. It just took time.

Marin let out a breath as she settled herself again, the glowing blade held in front of her. Again, she felt the faint ripple... off to her left this time. She waited, breathing slowly. And there was the pulse again. She spun to her left, bringing the blade up even with her ear before she dropped the tip. The downward sweep of the blade caught the bolt, sending it off behind her.

"Hmmm," Andrea said as she started to rub her chin. "How are you focusing to direct your blade to intercept?"

Marin frowned. "I... feel the direction of the pulse as the shot is fired." she shrugged.

"Okay," Andrea said as she nodded and thought on it. "Try to blend in seeing where you're feeling the shot going with the thought and intent of sending it back along the same line. It may sound vague, but sometimes just having the thought and intent will help with the Force guiding your blade to where it needs to be."

Marin chewed her lip for a moment. "Alright..." She nodded and set herself again.

This time, the remote was back in front of her. She closed her eyes again, feeling for that blank spot again as she noted Andrea's breathing slowed a bit, and her fingers flexed around the hilt. And there again was the ripple, followed by the pulse. An instant later, Marin felt the hot tingle of warning. She waited a couple more seconds, then she dropped the tip of her blade. pulling her left leg back as she did so. The bolt hit the glowing blade and rebounded. It...almost got the remote.

Andrea started to smile as she saw the result of the effort.

Marin frowned slightly, but her eyes remained closed. She had to keep her focus. She set herself again, bringing the blade back to a ready position. It wasn't long before she felt another ripple. It was followed mere seconds later by another pulse. Marin spread her stance slightly, presenting a slightly narrower target to the remote as she felt the bolt speeding towards her. This time, she cranked her wrist over, the blade almost parallel to the ground. She felt the bolt impact the blade... and then the ripples were gone. Slowly, she opened her eyes.

"Well done," Andrea told her as the remote went back to its station. "A good first attempt."

Marin nodded, a smile tugging at her lips. It wasn't a simple thing to do, but she was starting to get the hang of it.