A/N 1: Another chapter, and I'm pleased to say that the next one is well under way, so expect a quick update. Last month was hectic with work, so I had barely any leeway.

As always, PLEASE review, I love em. PM me with any doubts/queries/suggestions.

May the Force guide and watch over you.

P.S. Beta creds to the very same git as always.

Also, I sadly do not own Star Wars, how much ever I would've loved to have my own lightsaber.

Chapter 10

(Anakin Skywalker's Chambers, Jedi Temple, Tython)

The events of the previous day had left Anakin Skywalker summarily exhausted, and he had barely managed to change from his Jedi robes into more comfortable nightwear and snuggle into bed, pulling a fully-asleep Padme into a cuddle that brought a subconscious smile on the latter's face. He figured, as the Council meeting was scheduled for later in the morning owing to the Councilors mothering over his health, he had a good few hours of peaceful bliss ahead of him, and drifted off into a comfortable sleep.

It had barely felt like he was asleep for more than a few minutes when his tranquility was rudely bludgeoned into non-existence.

*Smack!*

"Wha-?"

*Smack!*

"Ouch!"

Apparently his tormenter didn't believe in reprieves or fair chances.

Anakin blearily opened his eyes, hands shielding his face from further damage, when he realized he was still in his bed and sunlight was pouring in from the windows. Shaking his head in confusion, he made to sit up, but came to realize of a weight in his mid-section, one that was emitting gurgling laughter now.

"…Luke? What are-"

*Smack!*

"Damn it!"

"Language, Anakin!" came the voice from the depths of the bathroom attached to his chamber.

He winced, grabbing the foreign object that seemed to the cause of his rude awakening and saw it was a toy model of the AT-TE tank that the Clones used. He was still blinking in confusion when he felt a tug out of nowhere on the toy, and looked up to see Luke staring at it in consternation.

His eyes widened, and a stupid grin plastered his face at his realization. Padme walked out of the bath ten minutes later to find him still grinning at the toy as if he were a five year old, making the former smother her laughter.

"You do realize your son should be the one playing with the toys? And why were you yelling?"

"Huh?" he said eloquently, looking up, before he came to understand what she meant. "Oh no, that's not what I'm smiling about. It's Luke. He been hitting me with this for the past few minutes.", he said, holding up the model AT-TE.

"….And that's got you this happy why, exactly?" she queried, fearing her child had done what no saber-toting Sith could do: brain damage.

"Oh, right, that's because he didn't use his hands to do it! Padme, he was using the Force!" he exclaimed happily, that ridiculous grin reappearing on his face.

Padme could only stare wondrously at the revelation, tears of happiness welling up in her eyes. She made her way over to the bed, after finding Leia to be still fast asleep, and hugged the little boy lightly to her chest.

"Our son…" she said, unable to contain her happiness as she gazed into Anakin's eyes.

"He will be a Jedi, and a powerful one at that. I will train him myself." Anakin replied, pulling both of them into an embrace. Padme lightly placed one hand of hers on his cheek and kissed him, feeling extremely comfortable and safe in his arms.

They stayed that way for a while, till Luke's gurgling broke the silence. Slowly pulling away from Anakin she picked up Luke to take him back to his cradle, while she spoke to her husband.

"The Council meeting is in an hour. I was planning to wake you up once I was done showering, but Luke seems to have done that in my stead, and much more spectacularly." She said, smiling at her child.

Anakin seemed miffed.

"What's the point of waking me up after you shower?" he sighed with mock exasperation.

"Anakin!" came the immediate scandalized exclamation.

"What? It's not like they can understand that!"

She just shook her head at him, still smiling. "Well, you need to get ready for your meeting, at any rate."

"Ugh, I'd rather not get out of bed. I was way too comfortable snuggling with you."

"Should've thought of that before you decided to want to become a member of the Jedi Council" she said, amusement playing on her lips.

Anakin merely sighed and made to get out of bed, slower than a Hutt crawling on a near-vertical slope.

"Well, you finish your meeting quick and we'll see about that shower when you're back."

She was pretty sure she saw him enter hyperspace as he leapt off the bed and into the bathroom, inciting laughter from her.

Forty minutes later, the doorbell rang to admit Obi-Wan Kenobi, who had apparently decided to accompany Anakin to the Council chambers.

"I brought the datapad along. What was all that about? As far as I could gather, most of them are coordinates to certain planets, with no particular correlation between all of them. What are they actually?"

"Exactly as you said, coordinates." Anakin said in a deadpan manner, pulling on his Jedi vest. "Come on, I'll explain at the meeting. I'd rather not repeat everything."

As they were walking to the Council, Anakin was pondering as to whether or not she should reveal all that had transpired in the Talisman mindspace to the Council, because frankly he didn't see any good in telling them about Vader. He could confide in Obi-Wan later, but for now, he was not going to mention anything about his final trial to them.

The Council chamber doors hissed open to reveal that all the other Masters had already arrived, not having had to sleep for so long. Anakin asked for Obi-Wan's datapad and requested him to shut off the lights in the room, and proceeded to connect the datapad to the holoterminal on the table that lay at the centre of the room.

The other Masters took their seats around the same table, waiting for him to begin.

Anakin pulled up a map of the Galaxy from the Jedi Archives and displayed it on the holo, followed by syncing the coordinates from the datapad on to the map.

Once done, he drew a breath and began.

"My fellow Councilors, as you no doubt know by now, I, along with assistance from Master Koon, was able to figure out the mystery behind the Talisman embedded in the Flesh Raider, and I am pretty sure when I say this, that you are going to have your minds blown."

Some mild frowning aside, the Councilors were in rapt attention.

"The first thing, of highest importance, is that that was no ordinary talisman. It housed a Force signature of a person, almost like a part of his soul. This was what was responsible for the mutations in the Flesh Raider, along with granting him the ability to wield the Force. I'm also guessing it was partly responsible for driving the beast crazy. It is not in the nature of the Flesh Raiders to usually be so vehemently upfront about their assault."

There was hushed murmuring, but no one interrupted him.

"Also, this is not the only such trinket in existence" he said, gesturing towards the map.

"There are multiple other such talismans spread throughout the Galaxy, and these are the locations, more or less."

Master Yoda spoke up at this point. "Come to know of this, how did you, Master Skywalker?"

"The Force told me."

There was a collective gasp followed by a ringing silence, a silent gesture for him to elucidate further.

"The entire tirade yesterday was about trying to find out more about the Talisman, and to do so, I had to enter its mindspace. To this end, I required Master Koon's assistance."

Anakin proceeded to outline the details of his "Quest", relaying all of what the Force itself had told him. When he got to the final part however, he replaced Vader with a Rancor with the same explosive nature as the other Force illusions, defeating which had earned him the talisman.

Obi-Wan's brow furrowed as he realized there was more to it.

"That's it? One tap and you got the talisman?"

"Well, it was more of a slash, really. You should give credit to effort."

Obi-Wan merely raised an eyebrow at that, but decided against pursuing it further, as he figured there was a reason Anakin was being particularly evasive. He would just ask him later on.

"I was able to make the other talismans across the galaxy resonate using the Force signature of this one, and that's how I found the coordinates. It's a rough calculation, but I'm guessing it's accurate for the most part."

"Hang on, you said it was like a soul fragment, this Talisman."

Anakin nodded, and recounted his encounter with the vast presence at the end of his quest that had forcibly ejected him from the mind-space.

"I did nothing to actually destroy the soul within, so it seems that was done by this other Presence, probably to prevent me from gleaning any information, which I have to say, turned out to be rather ineffective. Also, I'm not sure, but I have a nagging feeling that this has to do with our own Sith problem. I'm not sure, but the Presence I encountered yesterday felt familiar."

This brought a lot of hands to chins along with deep consternation in general. Seeing as no one seemed to be in an inquisitive mood, he proceeded.

"Of the entire list, there is a total of eight such Talismans that seem to have an as high Force signature as the one I destroyed yesterday, which means it is going to take a Jedi to take care of it, for sure. The others, I'm not sure, but I think it should be possible for it to be destroyed by methods not involving the Force. Lobbing grenades at it should work. Without the trinket itself, the soul piece would immediately become one with the Force, rather than retain its individuality."

"Why must all of them be destroyed anyway?"

"Because I'm convinced that it's not possible to destroy the Sith without relieving him of all these anchors. Even if we do manage to destroy his current physical body, his other surviving soul pieces would be able to still keep him anchored to the living realm. Only if all of these are destroyed will it be possible for us to kill him, once and for all. Apparently he's not even recent, given what the Force told me." He was still trying to wrap his head around the idea that the Force had spoken to him, and that he was an 'Avatar' of sorts.

Plo Koon stood up, staring at the galaxy map. "I propose we make getting rid of these Talismans the Order's top priority. Any missions related to these Talismans are to be treated as top secret, and we are going have the SCARS involved with this, as we do not have enough numbers to destroy all of these anchors within a short enough time period."

"There is also the matter that the Master of these Talismans might actually notice if they start disappearing." Master Fisto said, earning a set of nods in response.

Plo Koon continued "A palpable effect might only be seen in the case of the strongest eight Talismans, as the others are too weak to produce a ripple in the Force. Still, given how many there are, anyone would notice if more than fifty of these were to start vanishing at a time. Our best course of action would be to embed SCARS troopers within active squads in planets where we have a Talisman signature and where there is still an active conflict."

There was a collective sigh at that statement. It had been months since the Clone Wars were officially over, with the death of General Grievous, the capture of Count Dooku and the total loss of the Separatists at the Battle of Coruscant. The droid armies had been shut down, but multiple Separatist planets were still engaged in open conflict by trying to form a new collective movement against the Republic. These planets made use of their own local militia and troops to continue the war effort.

"At the very least, these conflicts will help prevent suspicion. I don't believe it for one moment that the Sith was controlling everything on his own, because that would be impossible, and also, I saw him speak to someone else during my fight with him. If a large number of Clones suddenly started popping up on random planets and turning over rocks, it might lead to questions and the enemy finding out about our motives sooner than we want."

"I concur. Master Skywalker, can you see to assigning the Clones their missions? You are still their commanding officer, after all."

Anakin nodded. "We should also send Jedi to handle the main eight. I propose sending at least one Jedi Master with each team."

Master Ti stood up. "I will take a few Knights with me to Coruscant."

"Go, I will, to Dagobah, but alone. Already know I do, that which I require to locate this talisman."

"Master Yoda, are you sure?" Obi-Wan queried.

"Fear not, Master Kenobi. Lived in Dagobah previously, I have. Know the planet well, I do. Require assistance, I do not."

The other Masters followed with suggestions, picking the other planets that they were familiar with.

"Obi-Wan and I will take the one on Tatooine." Anakin said, looking at his former Master, who nodded in agreement.

At this, Master Yoda spoke up again. "A suggestion I have, Masters. To test, I would like to put, my former apprentice. Request he did, to rejoin the Order."

"Wait, Dooku? Master Yoda, you can't be serious. He was a Sith Lord, and the under the thumbs of our current adversary."

"Observed him with great care, have I, and sense none of the old darkness I do. A mere puppet, was he, quite well used as a disposable tool, by the Sith Lord. Completely under Force compulsion, he was. "

"I agree with Master Yoda on this. I have spoken to the Count and he seems to be extremely taken disgusted with his actions during the war. His emotions are quite clear through the Force, and the taint of Dark Side control has left him. I propose we use this mission as a test. It would reduce one of our headaches, at least." Plo Koon ventured.

"Two Stonerays with one blaster bolt, eh? Alright. We stay wary, and I don't think he poses much of a threat even if he did try to turn on us. I'm surprised he's still so spry at his age."

"Still, let's not underestimate him. Anakin, we set out for Tatooine in a week. I'll talk to Dooku by then, and see if I can learn anything else."

"Alright then. If there's nothing else to discuss, we might as well adjourn. Master Skywalker, please brief the SCARS commanders by today. It might be prudent to send the clones out as soon as possible."

"Will do, but later in the evening. I have an urgent matter to get back to" he said, smirking to himself.

Obi-Wan guessed his meaning rightly and merely sighed at his former Padawan's lack of composure at the slightest thought of his wife. Apparently the fact that he could be open about his relationship still didn't stop exciting him.

(Dark Council Chamber, Sith Academy, Korriban; A week later)

Darth Maul strode into the Dark Council chambers to find his Emperor steeped in thought as he convened with a Force Ghost, which, funnily enough, seemed fully armored. Not wanting to intrude, Maul waited near the door, choosing to observe the proceedings, even though he couldn't perceive the Ghost's words clearly.

A few moments later, the Emperor nodded and dismissed the Ghost, motioning Maul to come forward.

"Lord Maul, what is the status of the army?"

"We have more than enough troopers, Master, and they are being trained by Sith and experienced Mandalorian soldiers alike. The order of command has been established, and you may inspect them if you chose to."

"The 'soldiers' are of no concern to me; only the Sith. You seem to have a query. What is it?"

"My Lord, even with so many troopers, the problem is that we don't have a sizeable Navy, only Starfighters of varying specifications. There are none that can match up to the Republic's capital ships."

"Indeed. Do you have any solutions to the problem, Lord Maul?"

"We could send either negotiate with Shipyards to build us a fleet, but that would require considerable funding, and needless to say, the Republic will notice if Shipyards start manufacturing capital starships en masse. We could send a force to forcibly take over shipyards, but that poses an even bigger threat of Republic retaliation, as they will find out about it immediately. I am unable to think of any method that will allow us to maintain our existence as a secret but will also provide us with the necessary armaments and ships."

"Very perceptive, Lord Maul. Perhaps you're not just the rage-bent lunkhead assassin that Sidious thought you were."

Vitiate had told Maul about his true identity a few days ago, much to the latter's awe at the claim to immortality. Still, he never once questioned Vitiate's statements as was plainly able to sense the power contained in the latter's body, something that completely dwarfed out what Sidious had possessed. Vitiate's Force aura was even palpable to non-Force sensitive, who subconsciously found themselves to be nervous and fretful when in his presence, irrespective of whether they were aware of him or not.

"Your words do me credit, my Emperor." Multiple torture sessions had taught Maul that not every problem was solved by swinging his lightsaber at it.

"Bring the Fury around. We are going to get ourselves a fleet. My last Sith Empire lost out due to my inaction and passiveness. I withdrew from the Empire's machinations to focus on increasing my own power, and that led to my downfall, alongside the Empire's- It will not be the case this time."

"At once, My Lord."

*Half an hour later*

The Fury-class imperial interceptor's ramp closed as it lifted off with its two passengers, its bow angling upwards into the atmosphere.

"What is our destination, My Lord?"

"Dromund Kaas. The coordinates will already be on this ship."

"It's not a system I am familiar with, my Lord, and I doubt it's charted in any recent star maps. How does this ship contain this?" Maul asked, punching in the coordinates, genuinely curious.

"This ship was built during the time of my last Sith Empire, even though it has been retrofitted with much more modern tech by Sidious, it still contains all the planets that were mapped back then. Dromund Kaas was the capital of the Sith Empire."

Containing his surprise, Maul set the ship's navicomputer on autopilot, as the ship blasted off into hyperspace. Yearning to learn more, Maul proceeded to follow his Master to the central lounge and voiced his curiosity.

Vitiate was once a man of little patience and tolerance, who would have simply given a generous dose of Force lightning to anyone daring to ask him questions, but a few thousand years of being stranded as a spirit had given him enough time to bring things into perspective. Had he not completely disregarded everyone as even remotely being capable of being a threat, he would've still been ruling over the Galaxy. Fear was a great motivator, and it kept everyone in line, yes, but extremely liberal amounts of it along with needless displays of violence only furthered mental anguish amongst his subordinates and didn't serve any purpose. He had long since resigned himself to use violence only when the other person actually made a mistake, and not for fun. As the Emperor, he was the example that his people looked up to, and he could not have the Sith under him descending into madness by torturing their underlings for fun. He had no qualms against random violence, but he realized it served no real purpose; the Sith and the people under him feared him anyway. Sidious' lunacy had seen to that, especially after the Coruscant spectacle.

Seating himself, he looked at Maul and began "Dromund Kaas was a planet that I conducted a massive Force ritual on, covering the entire planet in permanent storms. The entire planet is almost inhospitable, given the weather conditions and almost permanent rain. The only hospitable area is Kaas City, where the Imperial Citadel lies."

"Is, My Lord? You speak of the city in present tense."

"Yes, and speak out of turn again, and I will sever your tongue."

Maul simply looked like he'd been forced to swallow Bantha dung, fear mixed with embarrassment playing on his features. The other man was his Emperor, after all.

"Dromund Kaas 'disappeared' from all galaxy maps and such in a very short time, as a part of my contingency plan, leaving no one aware of its existence, once the old Empire faded from existence. The galaxy started to believe that it had been abandoned, and eventually, over the centuries, it became a myth. I even erased its location from the Jedi archives. Funny, what simple mind control can achieve. Kaas City is very much still in existence, just as I believe the Jedi Temple on Tython is still in existence and maintained by Jedi for a long time. I started reclamation and re-habitation on this planet a few years before Korriban, using Darth Plagueis as my tool. Imagine my surprise when I found the Imperial City to still be alive after so many millennia. The hyperspace route that we are currently taking, is the only route to Dromund Kaas, and it is a well-guarded secret, and apparently it was utilized by a sect of followers from the time of the Old Empire, that are staunch believers in the Immortal Sith Emperor, for travels to and from the planet. The City was very much still operational, alongside having multiple battalions of the Imperial Army still stationed there. I brought it all back under my control through Plagueis, and the Imperial Capital is now fully operational." Vitiate said.

"So, we already have an actual power base and troops? My Lord, what was the need for my Shadow Collective army then?"

"If you notice, Lord Maul, I said there were only a few battalions still there. The Republic has well over a million troopers in its Grand Army. Even so, we are not here for just the army. As a part of my contingency in case I was defeated, I had placed multiple agents loyal to only me with a directive: berth the vessel they were in charge of at the Shipyard on Kaas."

"So, we do have a Navy."

"Very much so, even if it is not very sizeable. The Republic would have noticed a sudden lack of enemy ships if too many had been berthed. Still, these ships have to be retrofitted with modern tech before we can take them into battle."

"I will make that my highest priority, My Lord."

"See to it. I am also promoting you to be the first member of the Dark Council. I have trained you well enough. Do not disappoint me."

"Thank you, My Lord, and I won't", Maul replied, gratitude showing plainly in his voice. He was seriously impressed with the amount of planning and forethought shown by his Master, given the number of contingencies he had in place. He may have had been another tyrant, but he was not headstrong to the point of idiocy like the rest, and had prepared for the worst case.

At this point, Vitiate stood up and walked into his bedroom, the door closing behind him. Realizing his audience was over, Maul proceeded to the rear of the ship. He figured lashing out at a training dummy with his lightsaber might help him pass some time. Dromund Kaas was not too far away from Korriban, but it would still take a few hours in hyperspace.

(SCARS Intelligence Headquarters, Jedi Temple, Tython)

"…..And lastly, Omega Squad is assigned to Nar Shaddaa. As it lies in Hutt Space, we don't really have troops that we can embed you guys with, so this mission will be undertaken with the help of the SIS agents on the planet. Treat this as Black Ops and undercover. You may take your armor with you, but refrain from wearing it unless a confrontation is warranted. Clone Commando armor will raise a lot of questions." Rex finished, looking up from his datapad.

Omega and Delta squads were the last squads to be assigned missions, as talismans which were not on Separatist or Republic worlds needed an undercover operation to locate them. The other troops had been assigned their missions a week back, on the evening of the Council meeting, and over the week, most SCARS troopers had departed to join the troops they were to be embedded with. Delta had been assigned to Corellia, and Omega to Nar Shaddaa.

"Omega and Delta, you move out first thing tomorrow. Your SIS contact will meet you planet-side." Anakin said, getting up from his seat at the head of the briefing room. He stretched upwards and exhaled, totally regretting the long flight he had ahead of him to Tatooine in an hour. Tython was near the center of the Galaxy, while Tatooine was in the Outer-Rim, meaning he had a few days solitude with Obi-Wan Kenobi in a starship. Oh, what joy.

"Understood, Sir." Niner said, as both Commando squads stood up, picking up their gear.

"This mission is of extremely high importance, with galaxy-wide repercussions. Make sure you live up to your reputations. May the Force be with you." Anakin said, following the clones out of the briefing room.

Forty minutes later, the pair stood at the shuttle pad on the top floor of the Jedi Temple, waiting for their transport to be refueled. Given the nature of the mission, they deemed it prudent to go under disguise as a couple of outlaws, rather than Jedi, to which end they were wrapped in worn-out armor with blasters mounted on their hips, their sabers hidden in the rear compartment of their belts.

"Well, let's get on with it, then", Anakin said, moving forward to board the ship.

"Aren't you forgetting something, Anakin?"

"What?" Anakin said, frowning as he turned to face his fellow Master.

"Whom" came the reply from behind Obi-Wan, as a figure walked out of the corridor into the sunlight.

"Oh right. Greetings, My Lord." Anakin said, unable to hide his sly amusement as Count Dooku walked to a halt next to the duo, dropping his bag in front of a Loader droid.

Not rising to his rebuke, Dooku spoke amicably "Greetings, Master Kenobi, Master Skywalker. Are we ready to depart?"

"Shortly, Count Dooku, and forgive Master Skywalker's etiquette, he seems to be touched in the head", Obi-Wan said, amusement playing on his face as he sensed as opportunity.

An opportunity that Dooku effortlessly picked upon, making Anakin realize that the former's 'Count' title wasn't just for show.

"Of course, Master Kenobi, I would never expect one held at such high regard by the Council to resort to platitudes of such kind."

Anakin merely huffed, not wanting to add fuel to their current state of verbosity. He barely could handle one Obi-Wan with a sharp sarcastic tongue, and now there were two of them. Yes, this trip was definitely going to be fun. Also, apparently the Count was not even a bit miffed at his not-so-eloquent disposal aboard Grievous' destroyer during the Battle of Coruscant. Either that, or he hid his resentment very well, as he had had to shave his head after his singed hair simply refused to grow in some patches.

Still, Anakin was piloting the transport for this trip, and he knew very well of Obi-Wan's general disapproval of his flying tactics, evoking a smile on his lips as he realized that the age-old Count probably was not a huge fan of swoop racing either. He simply climbed into the cockpit, and carried out the pre-flight checks as the other two found their seats in the rear of the craft.

"Right, let's get this over with. We aren't expect to experience any turbulence, but, well, you never know when we might run into a Purrgil swarm", his gleeful voice carried over the speakers.

Both passengers wordlessly reached for their belts.

An hour later, the ship was eerily calm, the only noise being the hyperdrive's hum, with both the older Masters having retired to their compartments for the night relatively early. The relative silence found Anakin Skywalker in a meditative pose in the middle of his own chamber, deep in thought.

Over the last few months, Anakin had spent a lot of his extra time researching the Force itself, in a spiritual and hands-on manner. It was during one such contemplative session that he had theorized and been convinced that the Force itself comprised of two individual parts, one more abstract and based off feelings, while the other was its physical aspect. The Jedi seemed to unknowingly utilize just the abstract aspect when using powers like Force Persuasion and Mind control, while the physical attacks like Force Push and Pull comprised of the latter. Anakin's own signature Force Repulse was something he had discovered while experimenting with the physical aspect.

He also realized that each individual aspect could be used to amplify the effect of the other. Case in point: an emotion like anger. Feeding off your anger allowed you to exert a lot more power than you normally could with the same effort. Also, by varying the spiritual intensity and composition itself, each physical Force attack could be modified into another form. The Sith used a form of spiritual manipulation on Force Rend when they utilized Force Lightning, their emotions and cruelty warping the Force to an almost vehemently killing force.

This discovery brought him to yet another realization: There was no Dark or Light Side of the Force itself, just the people who were too drunk on the power that amplifying their negative emotions granted them, without any thought towards what continuous excessive feeding off such emotions could cause. Imbalance, as Anakin had once said, led to inability of the Force to flow evenly, hence reducing the power a being could channel.

Anakin also found out that overly exerting just one aspect led to a rupture in the Force itself, as its flow membrane was violently ripped apart. He had seen this in action when Mace Windu's crystal had shattered during their fight with the Sith. The Force Repulse that he used was a much more watered down version utilizing the same principle. He would have to thank Sidious for letting him in on this path, leading him to discover many a revelation, alongside powerful Force attacks.

This last week, he had put in a lot of effort in researching the spiritual aspect of the Force, by simply falling into a meditative trance and observing his surroundings and experimenting. His experience with the Talisman had taught him that there was so much potential the Force had to offer that he was unaware of, and he had set his jaw in defiance when he recollected how much more powerful the Dark Presence had seemed.

He would unravel the secrets of the Force. Hell, he was the Force-incarnate, according to the Force itself, which meant it was well within his rights and ability.

And he would destroy the Sith, once and for all. The Jedi Order was finally achieving balance after millennia of misunderstanding what they actually stood for, and the Sith were simply upsetting the scales when not required.

Focusing on his experimentation and recollection from the last week, Anakin pulled the Force into him, using the spiritual aspect to reinforce his senses, while he let the physical aspect flow through him into his surroundings, forming a sort of feedback loop as it let him perceive everything through the Force.

He opened his eyes, which now glowed white, a smile playing on his lips as he realized he had finally succeeded.

He had managed to activate his Force-Sight outside the Mind-space.

Everything seemed almost perfect in detail as his enhanced cognition took in his surroundings at a much faster rate and in higher resolution than normal. He was minutely aware of the space creature that passed by at one point, while he was just as aware of Obi-Wan stirring in his sleep.

Granted, it still required time and concentration for him to get into this so-called "Sage-Mode", a term he had coined after realizing that he had discovered an esoteric aspect of the Force no other Jedi Sage had, forget Jedi in general, and it was literally what they did for a living. Jedi Sages never specialized in any form of combat, except passive and mental, while utilizing their skills to primarily uncover the mysteries of the Force itself.

Still, it was inconceivably valuable, especially in combat. With practice, he realized, he could definitely reduce the time he took to enter said-mode, with lesser concentration on his part. If Lightsabers could be wielded more effectively by muscle memory then so could the Force be wielded better by spiritual memory.

The transport continued to blast its way through hyperspace, its other two occupants blissfully unaware of their companion's divination in their state of rest.