Dagobah: Year 2

My first lessons of the Sith were in basic light saber skills, Force abilities and martial arts. Dagobah was my first real test of these skills in an unpredictable environment. Master Klo'ek wanted to test my abilities against the wild and undocumented creatures on this forest planet.
He didn't believe in slow learning. "Learn by jumping into the fire", as he always said. Skip the pot altogether.
He taught me to use a light saber by handing me one and tossing me into a cave full of aggressive vampire bats in Australia.
Talk about 'tough love'.
I was 10 years old by this time, and I had tasted my first blood. My first victory; with only minor abrasions.

Our camp on Dagobah was several yards away from a bog that constantly bubbled and smelled like stale popcorn.
That was the first time I had actually stepped foot on an alien planet since leaving Earth with my master.
After my mother died we spent my first year of training traveling all over Earth, then I had lived on our space ship, Archangel V, a large cargo ship, which we later sold to a wayward gambler. We did all of our trading with other lifeforms aboard different space stations.
With the credits we got from our old ship we bought Elocon, a small two-seat verticle flyer, along with some gear and rations.
The smaller ship was necessary to land on Dagobah. Also, constantly changing ships keeps any authority figures off your tracks.
That was one of the many valuable tips I learned from my master.

My first day away from camp was uneventful. I ran into several small animals that couldn't harm me,
even if they wanted to. Most of them ran away as I approached. My light saber was used as a fly swatter, more than anything.
That night, however, had a little more excitement.

My senses woke me from a deep sleep. Sitting up, I could hear the distant whirring of a light saber.
My master had been alerted before me and ventured out into the dark to check on a noise.
The noise turned out to be a large, hairy creature that Master Klo'ek later explained had wandered into
camp and rummaged through our food rations during the night.
With our food pillaged, we only had a few days left on Dagobah instead of the weeks we had planned.
There was no way we were going to carve up and eat that foul creature that was decomposing in our camp.
We spent the rest of that day moving camp further down the bank to escape the smell. We also wanted to keep from getting caught in a battle from other creatures that did want to feast on the corpse.

My second day in the wild led me to meet a giant, grey spider-like creature that was climbing down the trunk of a huge Gnarl tree.
I jumped up on a large rock to get a better look at him. As I approached the spider he jumped at me. Surprised, I fell off the rock and dropped my light saber, cracking the end of the casing.
I used the Force to fetch my saber, did a test ignite, and quickly cut through his front legs as he hovered over me, all while laying on my back.
Before I could regain my fighting stance on the slippery, mossy ground and advance on him he had buried the remainder of his arms into the ground and sprouted what appeared to be a leaf.
At this point, I realized that he was actually the seed of a Gnarl tree.
Walking around and studying my surroundings, I figured out that all Gnarl trees were, at one time, one of these spider creatures.
I slashed one of the trees' roots out from under it, just out of spite. I could sense it's pain, it felt good.

On the third day my master wanted me to bring back the head of one of these spider seeds that I had
told him about. He was curious about them, more so than he wanted me to learn any skills, I think.
I figured I would be the good student and bring one back for him.

When I ventured into the wild, again, I learned my most valuable light saber lesson.
Never, ever, ignite your light saber in water if the casing it cracked!

As I jumped over some logs to cross a river, one of the logs moved. I was plunged into waist deep bog water, soaking me to the bone.
The log rose out the water, revealing its face, and teeth. It reminded me of an alligator back on Earth, only covered in bark.
It advanced, ready to have me for a snack, as I pulled my saber and hit the 'ON' switch.

Big mistake.

An electric shock surged through the entire bank, instantly knocking me back and throwing the light saber into the river. I screamed from the pain before I went unconscious. My last memory of that event was the creature, standing there.

I don't know how long I was out before my master found me. I was still soaking wet and
freshly dragged to the bank.
"What the hell were you doing in the river!", he demanded.
I opened my mouth to answer, but my voice was gone. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't even make a peep. My voice box had been fried.

Master Klo'ek told me that he went out to forage for extra food when he found me floating in the water.
The corpse of the alligator creature lodged in the real logs and kept me from floating down the river any further. Luckily the electric bolt killed him before he got to me. Another problem was, my light saber was still at the bottom of the river.

"Call your saber out of that muck." he scolded, but I didn't know how. At that time I could only use the Force to fetch something if I could see it. The water was too murky and covered in algea to see the bottom, even though it was only 3 feet deep.
Without a voice, I could only look at my master and shake my head.

Master Klo'ek made me sit on the edge of the river and think about what my light saber looked like. Every corner, every curve, every knob; even the crack. When I could finally picture it, perfectly, he had me 'call' it.

I didn't understand, at the time, but did as I was told. When I thought about my saber, and thought about holding it, the water in the middle of the river started to bubble.
It took only a few seconds before my light saber, covered in muck, was laying by my crossed feet on the muddy bank.

I picked it up, cleaned it off and hooked it to my belt. I turned to my master for some sort of approval, but he wasn't even looking at me.
My senses kicked in at that very second and I drew my saber, still soaked, just as my master did.
By this time in my training I was very instinctual with my blade. I could find the 'ON' switch in vertigo with the lights turned off, but before my thumb could reach the switch Master Klo'ek wrapped his hand around my handle, preventing me from lighting it – his other hand had his blade ignited and at the ready.
"I don't need you to demonstrate how you ended up face down in the river." , he whispered.
I had to stand by as I watched my master take on a larger Gnarl tree spider and remove it's head by himself.

With my light saber out of commission we were down to one. My master didn't feel comfortable with that situation. I couldn't take his out on my daily ventures, leaving him defensless at camp, and he wouldn't allow me to go without one, either. We left Dagobah the following morning.

The Elocon was docked at some random space port for a week as we got more food rations, clothing and spare parts for the ship.
Medical droids replaced my voice box with a prototype synthesizer, forcing me to learn how to talk all over again.
I also learned how to build my first light saber there. All the ones I had used before had been handed to me. Now I was to learn all the intricate workings of the weapon and, hopefully, not break any more of them, as I was earning a reputation for doing.