Star Wars/Ranma Crossover
I don't own Star Wars - Kylo Ren…most emo villain ever (and is it just me, or is that name from one of the villains in the Star Wars Droids cartoon?), and not enough Kasumi.
Oh, a brief warning for this first section - Yoda speak is horrible.
This has now been betaed by ultimaflare0. Apologies, I completely forgot about changing this chapter out with the betaed version.
Chapter 4 Old Memories, New Ways of Thinking
As Knight Rosen showed Ranma to his room for the evening, Yoda and Yaddle walked slowly through the temple towards the Jedi library, waiting until they were alone in the corridors before speaking. It was Yaddle who spoke up first; among their species it was always the younger that began any discussion. The older you were the less you spoke but the more weight your words carried.
"Checked the holocrons I have, searched through it with Jocasta. Sphere of Light Force power Master Twoseas reported, hints there are, but no clue how to create such. Projection of pure Light-based Force, a technique like that if it ever existed, lost it has been." Yaddle shook her head. "Ranma's version, astonishing it is different than any equivalent, possibly longer ranged."
Yoda grumbled deep in his throat, tapping his stick on the ground as they walked. "Equivalent?"
"Sith Lightning, Ionize, Electric Judgement, Force Wave, Dark Side powers there are too, but none explained in the holocrons of course. Looked at them I have, mastered more than a few Light bases ones as you know." Yaddle was a master of Ionize, a droid disabling technique that held a superficial resemblance to Force Lightning, a skill designed to disable droids, and several other ancient skills. "Ranma's technique In terms of destructive power is better. Target multiple enemies it cannot as far as we know, yet could even be better depending on its cost to the user."
Finding out about old techniques and attempting to recreate them was one of Yaddle's favorite pastimes. Hence why she had volunteered to go through holocrons in search of anything like Ranma's skills.
"Report did I on the odd trick Ranma used on the money. Thoughts you have?" Yoda asked.
"Reports or stories of such there are not." Yaddle's voice was excited, as excited as she ever let it become anyway. "Fascinating concept that is, strange it is, no idea how it could be accomplished. Would have to study it in depth, discover how Ranma did it first. At first thought did I think that you were speaking of a limited but powerful Force Stealth, but fool you it would not."
Yaddle's older companion harrumphed, nodding his head. "Examined my memories I did, saw a hint of whatever it was I did, but not enough."
The two continued to walk for a time before Yaddle spoke up once more. "Physical abilities, they at least can be re-created master Dooku thinks. After the celebratory party with the Senate, sparred he did with Master Windu this evening. Much better than they were a few weeks ago already are master Dooku's physical abilities."
"Knew this I did, Ranma's physical abilities the least of my concerns they are. Ranma's way of thinking, troubling it is, emotional he is, willful he is. Ability to use the Living Force within his body, without his emotions affecting it, surprising, unprecedented that is." Yoda mused, fighting himself.
"Indeed studied that must be." Yaddle said, excitedly now
Yoda snorted at his younger companion's enthusiasm. 600 years old she is, still possessed of knowledge fever Yaddle is. Yet Yoda was concerned about something else that Ranma had said, somewhat anyway. "True, but cautious we must be, on two fronts. One, ideas of Ranma, dangerous they might be if left to spread without control. Going back to the Old Oath, Old Oath much closer to what Ranma seems to think wise, repudiating some of the Russaan Reformation hopefully, but slowly, very slowly, hope that will be enough. Must talk to Masters Koon and Giiett who have questioned these things, truth there might be in their concerns, know this now I do."
Having the future if the Order did not begin to grow so coldly laid out before him had been humbling to Yoda, though he was still struggling to figure out how to change it. He knew the Force had told him that now that he'd arrived here Ranma's teachings would be necessary to fight the tide, but even so, going against nearly a thousand years of his ingrained thought process was very tough. Especially since the oath as it was worked perfectly for him and many other species like him. And yet..
His companion said nothing, having remained steadfastly neutral in those discussions, it was far outside her own realm of experience or interest. And if Master Giiett had been correct all along that for humans and others like them that kind of training forced an unhealthy mentality, then it was a good idea to change it. It was that simple to her. "And the second?"
"Learning, Ranma must from us. Or lose interest in the Order he will while he still need to be learning from him."
Turning to glance at the Grand Master of the Order Yaddle frowned. "Need?"
"Need." Yoda replied, his face and stance firming as if he was trying to throw off his concerns by sheer force of will. "Changing things Ranma arrival has already done. Told you I did the Dark Side is rising, clear source there does not seem to be, but learn and grow our adversaries will in some fashion, unforeseen changes there will be. Learning from Ranma as well can we, only way to match them it is."
Yaddle nodded her head slowly, not giving voice to the thought that she had come to believe much like Dooku had, that the Senate had become too corrupt of late. Bureaucracies became corrupt over time, it was the way of things. But the factionalism and the open corruption was a very bad sign, a sign that the Republic was beginning to be too big to administer itself fairly. However when she spoke, she voiced something else entirely. "Changes he might have made already, but Ranma source of Light he is?"
"Yes, chaotic source he is, but of the Light for certain." Yoda said simply. "Yet interesting it will be, if he begins to learn Jedi techniques, how much like us he will become, or vice versa. But for that, keep his attention on us we need until alliance, secure it is."
"Then choose a master we must, one able to both grab that attention and teach him in the old way the way of the Jedi of old times." Yaddle replied.
Yoda nodded, and halted perforce stopping Yaddle as well. "Look through the library you will, pick one master you will, speak only to me with your decision. Aid you will have after this, a new project you will be set. Old techniques must be revived, Master Nu and yours this task will be, yet slow and secretive for now. Change we must, but controlled it must be, else we push to far."
Yaddle nodded her head, and Yoda turned away moving towards his quarters.
OOOOOOO
Shaak Ti was surprised to be summoned to the high Council early the next morning, but she was even more surprised when Master Windu and Master Ranicisis told her about her newest assignment. "I am simply to stay with and learn from Ranma? I understand the interest Masters, I've seen some of what he can do, but surely simply letting him stay here and teach others here would be a better idea."
"Not to Ranma." Dooku said shaking his head from where he was standing by the council's windows. "Ranma wants to travel the universe almost as much as he wants to learn from our own techniques. And frankly the boy has a classic case of wanderlust, trying to keep him in one place would be an exercise in futility."
Shaak Ti nodded slowly, remembering how Ranma had transformed her little outburst into an opportunity to go gambling and rake in enough money to buy a starship. "He's certainly an odd mix of adaptable and focused isn't he?"
"Essentially you're going to be learning from him as a sort of trial. We want to know if his Force techniques can be used by Jedi, and frankly the young man needs a minder." Mace said while Dooku simply nodded.
Since his arrival in this universe, Ranma had stopped a slaver attack which resulted in a major governmental shakeup, took part in a war, and toppled a minor gangster, all in less than a month without even looking for trouble. And judging by the stories he'd shared, that was simply par for the course. Dooku liked the youth, and was thankful the Force had sent Ranma to him, for many reasons. But the idea of letting Ranma out into an unsuspecting universe was enough to give him the shivers. Or laugh aloud, it was a tossup really.
"Frankly, I think he is more of a Chaos magnet than a locus as master Yoda calls him," the tall sword master said aloud. "He will find trouble no matter where he goes or what he does. Perhaps if a Jedi is always by his side, you will at least be able to keep the collateral damage to a minimum."
That caused Shaak Ti to wince slightly, having heard some of the same stories that Dooku had over dinner last night and the walk before it. "I'll try my best," she said, somewhat lamely even she had to admit.
"Do or do not there is no try." Ranicisis said, smiling faintly. He too had felt the odd charisma Ranma seemed to have, and was interested to see what the effect of the locus would be on the galaxy. But as old as he was, he wished to observe said effect from a safe distance. "And look on the bright side young Shaak Ti, you'll be learning something new in every sense of the word. Moreover, that will not be your only mission. Wherever Ranma goes, you will be assigned missions in the same solar system just like this time around. You see we have learned that there is a problem on Dac involving…"
OOOOOOO
With the promise of a ship and the offer of training in the Jedi's techniques, Ranma was lead off to a room for the night. Looking around it the next morning he cracked his neck explosively, massaging his lower back. "Damn Chi-mad monks, would it kill them to have comfortable beds?" Ranma could sleep practically anywhere, but when he had a bedroom, he sort of expected to have a comfy bed to go with it. I miss my futon from the Tendo place… funny thing to think of right now, but meh. Time to feed the beast. With that Ranma exited his room, heading down to where he'd seen what looked like a cafeteria the day before.
The food the Jedi served in the cafeteria was simple fair, but there was no end of it, which served Ranma just fine, despite the lack of meat. The bread was amazing, some of the best he'd ever tasted, with a hint of something like rosemary or something, but not quite, with a kick to it like a pepper. The soup was thick but rather bland in comparison, yet Ranma ate as much in one sitting as most Jedi would in a day.
The sight of Ranma eating was not one to be missed, and more than one group of younglings or knights stopped their own repast to stare as food disappeared from his tray. Ranma's previous balancing act with that tray, stacked so haphazardly with food it should have collapsed hadn't evinced any reaction. These were Jedi and balance like that was something many of them could do, even if they felt it wasteful to do with food. But the speed Ranma showed in something so blasé as eating was astonishing.
As was the fact only the most observant could even make out Ranma's mouth opening and closing between bites. It was like watching a vacuum eat, accompanied by 'nom, nom' sounds.
"Do you eat like this all the time?" said a female voice, causing Ranma to look up at Shaak Ti, standing beside his chair. She smiled slightly at him, purple lips quirking. "I didn't believe you last night when you said that eating could be training. Now I do."
"Heh, my old man had a hell of a lot of weird training ideas, but some of 'em worked." Ranma put down his utensils, smirking as he wiped his mouth with a napkin, his tray now empty. Despite his speed, his manners had been impeccable throughout, much like during their dinner the evening before. "I take it you heard you were kind of assigned to me, to see if I'd take you on as a student? What do you think about that? If ya don't want it, I can talk them out of…"
"I'm fine with the idea Ranma, trust me." Shaak Ti interrupted him, rather amused at how Ranma went from confident to nervous there for some reason. She sat down, looking at him even as she brought up a piece of bread to her mouth, smiling at the taste hit her. Despite their incredibly different evolutionary history, human and Togrutan taste buds were very similar. "I am uncertain about what you are looking for in a full time student to learn your, what did you call them, ki techniques? But you will find me an eager student."
For some reason Ranma's treacherous mind supplied the image of Shaak Ti dressed in a sailor fuku, and he controlled his blush with difficulty. "Er, I'm glad you understand that but…" He paused, frowning and looking around, glad that there weren't any other Jedi sitting nearby. "I don't know how much you heard, but I don't exactly like the Jedi Code, or the mindset it imposes on you. I don't like this whole no relationships, no possessions, no emotions, only peace thing. It ain't healthy."
"I had gathered that yes. I have been trained as a Jedi however, and that Oath, the mindset you so derided, is an important part of what we are. It lets us keep our objectivity and lets us use the Force without fear of falling to the Dark Side. I am willing to hear your thoughts about it, but I will make my own judgement." Shaak Ti replied levelly. While a part of her was eager to learn Ranma's techniques, particularly that Force shield he'd used to stop her lightsaber in their spar, she wasn't going to blithely turn her back on everything she'd been taught as a Jedi.
"Good. In that case, once we leave we'll continue sparring, the more fit you are the more ki you have. But we'll also need to talk about that kind of thing, not really certain how to go about doing that if I'm honest. Philosophy's never been a big part of my life, and my debates with Dooku are about the only things I have to call upon about it."
Shaak Ti nodded then raised a hand, gesturing to someone behind Ranma. "The council told you that another knight would be going with us I believe? This is Knight Kit Fisto."
Ranma turned as another knight made his way over to them, shaking his head in renewed surprise. His first impression of this new alien was that Kit Fisto was like a green, very green, cross between a Twi'lek and an octopus. He had green glossy-seeming skin, wide eyes, and something like a dozen tentacles cascading like hair down from the back of his head, with two larger ones dropping down the front like lekku. He was tall, and wore the normal Jedi robe with a lightsaber belted to one side. He also had a small mouth for the size of his face, but it was quirked into a faint smile.
"You have got to be from a water world." Ranma said, shaking his head. "You look like an octopus monster."
"I have no idea what an octopus is but I feel like I've just been insulted." Kit mused, his smile widening slightly. "Still, you're right that my species evolved on a water world, Glee Anselm. You might say I'm uniquely suited to any job that might take me into the water like the one on Dac."
Kit paused, looking between the young human and Shaak Ti. He hadn't ever met her before save in passing, but had heard nothing but good things about her from others who had worked beside the Togrutan female. "I realize that you have some, interesting skills the council wishes to see passed on, but realize that I and Knight Ti will have a job to do when we get to Dac. Any training takes second place to that. I haven't been assigned to learn from you, but I also hope to take part in any physical exercises at the very least."
"Heard about that from the council, not a problem, I'll even help if ya need me to once we arrive." Ranma said with a shrug. "I ain't exactly new to dealing with kidnappers, and I'm a decent tracker, though I don't know how that'll work on a water world like Dac's supposed to be."
"We'll be able to handle the investigation part don't worry." Shaak replied then smirked. "On the other hand, you would take some beating in the realm of brute muscle. Just leave the thinking to us and you'll do just fine."
"Ouch." Ranma laughed, watching as Fisto smiled at Shaak's joke. Maybe not all the orders bought blindly into that whole no emotions all is peace crap.
Kit Fisto broke in then. "I was told our ship will be ready to go late this afternoon, so we have time until then. Normally I would take the time to meditate before a mission, but I wondered if you would be up to a spar? I'd like to see what all the fuss is about to be honest."
About an hour later, Kit Fisto learned that he should always be careful what he asked for. Sparring against Ranma was a learning experience. Sparing against Shaak Ti as Ranma shouted out suggestions reminded Kit all too easily of his time as a youngling. Worst was Shaak Ti beat him rather easily. Kit wasn't egotistical about it, but he knew he was one of the better duelists among the knights. Being defeated by a recently elevated knight was rather humbling.
It was her Force Precognition, he decided, watching as Ranma and Shaak Ti sparred in a battle that could barely be called a spar, despite their faint smiles. Her Force Precognition is beyond anything a newly minted knight should be capable of. Still, it's obvious that keeping up with Ranma's sheer speed and skill would push you to new heights even after a single spar. That, and her use of punches and that blow to my wrist…
Kit rubbed his wrist, which still stung slightly from the strength of that punch. I'll have to hasten my training my off hand, I might have kept the spar going after that with my skill in Force Pushes and Pulls, but once Shaak Ti had my lightsaber in her hand, the battle was as good as over.
Watching the two now Kit also made a note to himself to look into unarmed skills as well. The way Ranma seamlessly blended his staff skills with kicks and punches was something to see, a style of combat that was like, yet utterly unlike any of the lightsaber forms. Shaak Ti might have overcome Kit with her mastery of Ataru and her new skillset, but her personal style was still barely half-formed, while Ranma was clearly a master at his. If anything, it was his use of a staff that was new to him.
"Interesting." Said a voice, causing Kit to turn and bow politely to Master Sora Bulq, a respected duelist himself. He had helped Master Windu develop Vaapad, the seventh lightsaber form several years ago, and was currently here in the temple as a teacher for the more advanced learners. Many of whom had entered the training area behind him, along with knight Vos, for some reason. "Very interesting. However I have to ask if my class and I will be able to use this room now? We did have it scheduled for advanced dueling."
Ranma looked at Shaak Ti and shrugged. "Sorry about that, guess we got carried away." Shaak Ti apologized as well, bowing respectfully to the master before moving over to retrieve her robe, which she had gotten rid of during the duel as part of a feint.
It hadn't worked as well as she hoped, but had allowed her to 'chop off' Ranma's right arm, forcing him to act for the rest of the duel as if he had lost the limb. That she had paid for it by a blow that had nearly thrown her out of the sparring ring and bruised her chest was immaterial.
"Still, I do apologize. That was an excellent example of true combat rather than the rarefied dueling too many of our number are so enamored of." Sora Bulq replied, smiling at them both. He was a tallish alien with thick, gray skin, and something that looked like hair but might not, Ranma wasn't certain, pulled into a series of tight pigtails down the back of his head and neck. He was also clearly a veteran combatant to Ranma's eyes, the way he was measuring both Ranma and Shaak Ti, his body still, his eyes searching, told Ranma that.
"I would like to observe from the beginning the next time you spar with anyone young Ranma. Master Windu spoke of your skill in the battle against the Yinchorri when we ate together this morning, and I can see he was not exaggerating."
Ranma nodded, then followed Shaak Ti over to where Kit and another young man, whose age was somewhere between the two were talking. None present noticed how Master Bulq's eyes remained on Ranma's back for a moment before he turned to his students. "We will begin with stretches, and then move on immediately to group sparring. I expect you all to take into account what you have just seen, that your entire body is a weapon, that the Force is as much a weapon in a fight as your lightsaber, and one you need to learn to use offensively as much as you rely on it to guide your actions."
As the students responded, quickly moving forward, Ranma came within hearing range of the three knights. "So I've been cleared by the healers, but they still won't tell me where they sent Aayla!" The new knight, a human with black hair done into dreadlocks and a weird tattoo on his face, a bar of yellow running across his nose, was saying his face twisted in a rictus of anger.
Watching the man's face and how he clenched his fists Ranma frowned, but before he could say anything Master Bulq spoke up from behind him. "Knight Vos, please come over here. I wish you to take half of these students and show them the difference between Ataru's Leaping over the Waterfall and Makashi's Jumping for the Stars."
The new, as yet unintroduced knight nodded his head sharply and made his way over, his irritation fading as he did while Kit chuckled under his breath, turning to leave the room with the other two. "I see Master Bulq still has a tendency to use the more flowery terms for the various stances when he's making a point."
"I agree Quinlan needs more self-control, but his irritation is somewhat justified. Aayla is far too young to be sent out on a mission alone." Shaak Ti replied, her face twisted into a frown as she thought of her friend once more.
"I think I'd come down on Kit's side of this debate. That guy, Quinlan? He looked close to lashing out." Wish I had activated my ki sense, I wonder what I'd have felt just then. Ranma knew the Force seemed to have some kind of reverb effect when someone interacted with it without controlling his emotions, but didn't know enough about the effect to be happy.
"Really?" Shaak Ti asked.
"Yeah, you Jedi need to learn how to control your emotions, let 'em out in a controlled way. He didn't look like he was able to do that."
"I am afraid you would find many among the Masters to agree with you on that. My friend Quinlan has severe control issues coming from his life before he was found and brought to the Jedi. And his bond to his apprentice is too personal for many Masters to like." Shaak replied, sighing.
Ranma had heard about the apprentice bond from Dooku, that instant moment of recognition between a Jedi and a youngling. This was the first time however he had heard that such a thing could be seen as being too close. "That makes no sense, how can someone have a 'too close' an apprentice bond?" he asked, shaking his head.
"They feel as if the bond is coming dangerously close to being too possessive. And from such can rise other emotions." Kit replied, smiling slightly. "I'm not certain I agree with that, but I think they are going about trying to wean the two off each other the wrong way. Sending Aayla out on a mission alone makes sense, but it makes even me uneasy given how young she is."
"How young are we talking about here?" Ranma said stopping suddenly and turning to them, his blue eyes suddenly dark.
Shaak Ti laid a hand on his shoulder, trying to subtly calm Ranma down without resorting to a Force compulsion, knowing how Ranma would react to that. Then she began to push Ranma along moving them down the corridor rather than block traffic, which at this time of day was heavy in this part of the temple, dominated as it was by the training areas and the classrooms for younglings. "She is 18 and has been a padawan for two years now. Her combat skills are impressive for her age, and she has already determined that she will be a Guardian, which in one aspect puts her rather above me."
She laughed quietly, waving off Ranma's questioning look at that, before going on more seriously. "She was chosen for this mission because she was quote uniquely suited for it, end quote. I'm not certain what that means, but none of the Masters I've talked to were willing to inform me of what her mission entailed."
Ranma paused again, staring at her then at Fisto then back towards the training area they had just left. I can think of one kind of mission a Twi'lek'd be uniquely suited for, but that's, that's stupid! No one would be that stupid would they? Surely the Jedi now what happens to slaves, especially female ones!?
He tried to picture Mace or Dooku or Yoda condoning such a mission, and then sighed faintly in relief, knowing they wouldn't be that stupid. The only one that might be was the Zabrak whose name Ranma couldn't care to remember, and he didn't have enough pull on the council, or at least Ranma didn't think so, to send anyone out on missions. Thank God for that. "All right, I can understand where he's coming from, but I still think he does need to work on his anger issues."
"Do not worry," said Fisto. "Master Bulq is well known for being able to train out any such Dark tendencies."
Ranma frowned at the wording, but had to nod not having enough knowledge about Bulq or Quinlan to make a comment. Kit stretched his hands above his head, cracking his neck and shoulders explosively sending his lekku to shake. "Well, I have to say it was very interesting sparring with you Ranma, and I think I understand now why the Masters are so intrigued by you. Still, I have other things that need to do today. I will meet you by the lending pad at around four o'clock this afternoon."
As Kit walked away Ranma cocked an eyebrow at Shaak Ti. "You supposed to keep an eye on me while we're here?"
"Pretty much yes," Shaak Ti said with a faint smile. "I'd prefer to meditate before a mission, especially one where we'll be on a ship for several days in hyperspace. But if you do not wish to do so, I am at your disposal."
"Well I've got one, maybe two errands I'd like to do before we go." Ranma said pulling at his pigtail for a moment. He explained what happened with the weird spider alien, then explained what he wanted to do, which made Shaak Ti frown and smile in turn. The idea of communicating with words with an astromech droid was an interesting one, but arming them was a bit strange. They tended to be more independent and abrasive than most service droids, and she said so.
"Good!" Ranma laughed. "Then Tune and I'll get along just fine!"
Shaak Ti rolled her eyes in exasperation, but nodded and followed Ranma as he made his way out of the Temple. She paused then, staring up into the sky away from the skyscrapers, the light glinting off the jewel of the small tiara that she wore between her montrals. Turning back she smiled, enjoying the faint breeze that was moving across the Senatorial Sector at present from the weather control satellites. "What was that other errand you said you might want to do?"
"Well that's a question, because I loved the bread this morning, but that kind of gruel or whatever it was, was really bland. You guys eat that all the time?"
"Sometimes on board ships its worse. The older masters say that it's simple the most efficient use of food, the smallest amount of ingredients to give you the maximum amount of protein and other dietary needs. We young ones think it's simply another way of teaching us to abstain all physical things, affectations or feelings of entitlement."
"Well I'm not a Jedi, I don't have to ignore my stomach, it'd revolt if I tried." Ranma laughed. "So another errand is stocking up on some supplies for this trip. I looked it up last night, and it'll take us at least two weeks to get to Dac from here."
"Yes, the Mon Calamari homeworld is rather off the beaten trail for much of the Republic, even with the use of hyperspace trade routes." Shaak Ti nodded then smiled, her teeth glinting in the light, showing that her species were indeed still more carnivore than omnivore. "I'm presuming that steak will be included in that?"
Ranma laughed. "Just let me go get Tune first."
OOOOOOO
At the same time that Ranma and Shaak Ti were heading down into the bowels of Coruscant the various Jedi Masters assigned to the Senate were working with Dooku conversing with various senators, getting a feel for the emotions in the Senate towards the Arming Rights revisions that they had promised to make into law. This was done in an informal setting rather than a formal one, as most of the business of the Senate was done these days. By the time anything got to point where it was finally brought up in the actual Senate Hall, the actual debate about it, whatever it was, was well over.
Despite his Guardian status Dooku was a past master at this kind of work a smooth diplomat with a natural charisma having been trained in the ways of the nobility of Sirenno before he was found to have Force talent. He moved from office to office, or small gathering to small gathering taking place in this or that council room, taking the temperature of the Senate just as easily as master Gallia or any of the others assigned to this work normally would've been able to.
He stopped at one room in particular, where his friend Sheev was holding forth with a number of other senators from the mid rim Territories. The senator of Naboo Sheev Palpatine looked up as he entered smiling and waving his hand grandly. "And here we have one of the heroes of the Yinchorri Uprising! Gentlemen, I'm certain you will all join with me in welcoming Jedi Master Dooku."
Several of them did so, while a few simply nodded their heads. "Thank you for your gracious welcome Senators," Dooku said, smiling politely, if distantly. With that he moved towards them, shaking hands here and there as the murmurs of conversation rose once again.
Many of these senators were from planets that the Trade Federation did business with. Of course given the reach the Trade Federation had that didn't say much, but these planets were from the Mid Rim or Outer Rim territories where the Trade Federation was strongest. Others were from the Techno Union, while one was a representative of the Banking Clan, though Dooku had not met this one before. He took some time speaking to them all, these movers and shakers behind the scene, feeling them out.
Afterwards, he moved over to his friend nodding his head politely. "And how are you doing my friend?"
"I am as well as I can be, but you did not come here to exchange pleasantries Master Dooku. I know well how much you secretly dislike political maneuverings." Sheev actually smiled slightly, waving his hand as the two moved slightly away from the others, not so far as to be conspicuous, but enough so that their conversation could not be overheard above the general hubbub. "You are here to sound me out on something to do with the Arming Rights? Is that what you promised the Sluisi and Mon Calamari?"
"I am not surprised that you have already heard about that Sheev, but I have to say I am not pleased by what I am sensing."
"No more should you. I do not know how, but the Trade Federation has apparently gotten wind of your idea, and has already begun to work against you. They fear their monopoly on trade in the Outer Rim will be broken if other trade conglomerates are able to move into that sector."
"The Mon Calamari and the Sluisi are scarcely trading guilds," Dooku replied mildly.
"Yes but that is how they are seen by other people who don't have regular contact with them. Arming their merchant ships or providing escorts outside their territory isn't seen as something that they desire to defend their interests, but to expand those interests. It's all about appearance. Every senator sees any law we pass through the, the tinted glasses of his or her personal thoughts and feelings. I could wish most of those thoughts and feelings matched up to the good of their constituents, but then I would be lying."
Dooku smiled, raising his glass of water towards the senator who smiled in turn. Then Sheev frowned, looking at his friend sideways before glancing out across the rest of the room. "Is there any truth to the rumor that you also wish to add the Corellians to these revisions in the Arming Rights?"
"Yes there is," Dooku replied. "There is a strategic reason for it of course, those three-star systems the named after them, and the Corellian and Sluisi sectors in particular are known to be home to several bandit and pirate groups."
"And the fact that the three of those races could provide a counterweight to the Trade Federation has nothing to do with it?" Sheev Palpatine replied tartly, shaking his head. "The Trade Federation is too powerful in the Senate my friend, its allies will have nothing to do with this idea. You will have one hell of a fight getting this through against their bought and paid for senators, and that's not even mentioning some of the other… odd… undertones I've noticed of late."
Waving Dooku's questioning look off Sheev shook his head. "I'm not going to share those thoughts until I have proof to back up my feelings. But there is one part of it I can tell you. I've spoken to several dozen species senators and putting aside those who come from pacifistic planets like my own who will refuse to back such a revision as a matter of course, some will possibly be willing to back up the idea of revising the arming rights to include the Mon-Calamari or the Sluisi. But none of them are willing to do so for the Corellians."
Dooku's eyebrows rose, and Palpatine went on. "The general idea is that they haven't proven themselves. They weren't involved in your recent activities after all, and there is a certain amount of resentment towards them for other issues, most notably the fact that despite being full members in the Republic unlike the Mon Calamari they have their own homegrown defense fleet and they like to throw their weight around far more often. I realize their sector is much more lawless than the Mon Cal sector, but it still bothers various senators."
"And of course there it the ongoing issues between the Corellians and the Techno Union and the Commerce Guild." Sheev rolled his eyes, looking tired. "That particular morass isn't going to go away anytime soon."
The Corellians didn't let the Commerce Guild open any business in their system, and put pressure on them anywhere else in their sector, not liking the way the Commerce Guild ran itself like a separate government rather than a corporation. And the Techno Union was angry at the Corellians not allowing any research to be done on Shatterpoint Station.
"Interesting," Dooku said thoughtfully. "Still, I'll have to talk this over with the rest of the Masters assigned to this project, and of course to the Chancellor. In fact, I think I'm due at the Chancellor's office in a few moments. It was good to talk to Sheev, your insights are always valuable to me, and I hope we'll have time to talk in the future."
"Of course my friend of course," Palpatine said nodding his head. Then he smirked. "And then you can tell me about these odd rumors about you having taken on a new padawan, a young redheaded human girl?"
"I really must find out how these rumors get about." Dooku said smiling blandly, sharing a laugh with his friend. If there was one thing that moved fast enough to make Hypercom communication seem slow, it was rumors in Coruscant, and Dooku was not surprised at all to find that Ranma's presence was already becoming known if in a very strange and limited fashion.
Dooku left then not noticing his friend staring after him for a moment before going back to his fellow delegates. For just a moment there was something in Palpatine's that, had anyone noticed, they would have said looked rather sinister.
Moments later Dooku met with the other Masters assigned to this duty and the Chancellor in his office discussing what they had learned. There Dooku found that his friend had been largely correct.
"Pushing to revise the Arming Rights law is going to be difficult and lengthy, even more so than I had feared." Gallia said, rubbing her forehead in thought. "I realize the council agreed to do so, but I this going to incur a lot of antipathy from several senators, not including those of the Trade Federation, who already feel disdain towards us. I'm not happy about how belligerent the pacifistic senators are about this. Nor the fact the Banking Clan and Techno Union are both set against it already, I see no reason for that stance, and that worries me."
Valorum had sat silent throughout sharing a few words here and there, but mainly letting the Jedi talk it out between them. Now he spoke up, shaking his head slightly. "There is also an odd feeling the Senate. Racism is becoming an issue, particularly between humans and other races. The rumors that you are pushing for the Corellians to be included in this new revision is helping in some quarters, particularly with human senators, but it's causing a backlash from other races senators, and of course the opposite is also true."
"Strange, I can understand why someone would believe that the Corellians haven't proven themselves and the Trade Federation's stance is logical, no matter how much I dislike them. But this racist issue, that is something new, and very troubling." Dooku, Gallia and Master Poof, the other High Council member assigned to this task, all shared a glance, knowing they would have to report this to the rest of the council at the earliest opportunity.
"Agreed." Finis Valorum was an adept politician who had seen the Senate through many different crises over his tenure as Chancellor. He sighed faintly. "I think the Banking Clan and Techno Union are both simply being belligerent to force concessions out of us or at best to cost us political capital, neither of them are seriously against the Arming Rights Law being revised, they don't have anything but small scale trade agreements with the TF."
"However," he sighed again. "The various unaligned senators who are from pacifist planets and the human senators who are feeling worried about two more 'alien' species being allowed to either arm their merchant ships or protect them with their own fleets outside their borders, those will need much more work. I think Master Dooku, that if you, a human Jedi Master from a planet as important as Sirenno takes the lead, we will be better served if a non-human Jedi was to do the same, no offense."
"I do not like it, but I agree." Dooku said with a nod after Poof and Gallia both nodded agreement. That this basically nailed his feet down here on Coruscant was not lost on him, and a slight feeling of frustration filled him as he imagined Ranma being able to roam solar systems at will.
If only all of us had such freedom. Perhaps eventually the Order will change to what I hope, going where the Force wills. But for now, I gave my word, and I will see this through before anything else. Damn it.
OOOOOOO
It took Ranma and Shaak Ti around two hours to get down to the level where the spider alien's shop was located, then another 40 minutes to find the place. This time however Ranma wasn't attacked simply because Shaak Ti was both dressed as a Jedi and had the lightsaber of one. Even the most recalcitrant ganger knew not to mess with a Jedi.
The shop was a large one filling some kind of ancient looking hangar bay. It had several dozen gantries, walkways and chains crisscrossing here and there in the upper works of the warehouse, boxes and crates of robotic parts and other items stacked haphazardly here and there, creating a three-dimensional maze effect.
At the center of the warehouse was a small raised dais in a clear area. On top of that a wraparound desk was situated with several dozen heavy cables connected to it leading up into the dark of the warehouse ceiling for some reason.
Ranma realized why this was a second after he came within sight of the desk. The alien he had met the previous evening scuttled down one of those chains like the spider he so recognized, settling into position and squawking into a machine of some sort set on the desk. A moment later a silver and white droid came out from among the boxes and crates, nodding his head creakily towards the newcomers. "Greetings, I am protocoldroid DT, I will be translating for my master."
"That's fine," Ranma said with a nod. "Unless he was drunk when he was gamblin' yer boss should recognize me right?" The droid relayed this and the alien's eyestalks bobbed. Ranma figured that meant the alien remembered. "I'm here to look through your stock, see if I can find enough to offset my balance o' your shop. Specifically parts to customize astromech droids and better communicate with one."
The alien chittered something at him motioning Ranma down one section of the warehouse then back and to several others. "My master agrees that you are welcome to find enough merchandise to equal up to half the shop's monetary worth. Though he says that what you might wish to confine your perusal to those two sections, they are the only ones organized at present which would hold anything for astromech use." The droid actually sniffed, as if the idea of astromechs offended it.
"For a given value of organized." Shaak Ti murmured, staring around her in a rather sort of sick fascination. She wasn't exactly a over organized individual like many Jedi, she much preferred the random growth of life to the sort of enforced order that came from too much organization. But this was a little too much.
Ranma nodded, patting Tune on the head. "Why don't you go search down that way, while I'll just browse around?" Having no interest in anything this shop could sell Shaak Ti followed Tune down the first aisle the alien had indicated. Besides, the little droid would need her hands.
Tune moved steadily down the aisle, running its scanner over each box or label in turn, and moving on quickly, stopping occasionally to whistle at Shaak Ti to open one box or another, before moving on, very methodical in its search. Ranma on the other hand simply wondered, moving from one area to another, sometimes leaping up onto the boxes, before moving on quickly, never staying in one place simply observing and looking for anything that stood out to him.
He found several weapons designed for regular droids but Ranma figured that they deserved a second look. One in particular was something he grabbed eagerly, a heavy gun originally designed to be used on a skimmer. It was so heavy few sentients could lift it, but Ranma did so in one hand, sighting down the massive barrel. "Yes… I like this. Just in case I need a ranged weapon."
Coming back he showed it to DT and his master, who had brought up a screen with a number of some kind on it. Right, gotta remember I need ta start learning how to read the local language. Well, at least I know that's a number of some kind. When he showed the gun to the duo, the alien input something, and another line of numbers appeared while the first got a tiny bit smaller.
After that Ranma slipped the cannon into his ki space and went back to scavenging. He soon found what looked like small repulsors, though he had to call Tune to make sure of that. The droid, while understanding they would allow him a greater range of movement, blatted out a negative, but Ranma still decided to grab them.
Tune meanwhile had found a high-end communication device, which would translate his beeps and whistles into words on the small screen, as well as, astonishingly, an actual vo-corder designed to allow a astromech droid to speak through a ship's speakers. Once Tune was connected to a ship, he would be able to communicate with this device as easily as a human would be able to, though the process was going to be too much for anyone to do short of a machine shop. The astromech unit reflected however that considering his master's lack of experience as a pilot speaking could well be necessary, specifically the ability to shriek at him when he got something wrong.
At the other end of the shop, Ranma had entered a section of the store devoted to electronics and robotics that were either old, damaged, simply out of style, or all of the above. Some of it looked kind of interesting, a pair of arm-wings that made it look as if the droid had been meant to fly, and another that looked like a chassis off something large enough to give that white-furred beastie from last night pause.
Then there was a section devoted to droid heads set out on a series of tables, a rather macabre display if you were at all squeamish. Most of these heads simply looked old, not damaged but as if they had been used for decades before being sold eventually coming to rest here after who knows what adventures, bodiless and lifeless. Those that did have any real damage were missing eyes or pieces of the rest of the head.
But there was one that looked as if someone had really, really wanted to make damn sure it was dead. It was covered with blaster burns, dents and its eyes had been put out at some point, and it's head had been opened by some kind of slashing weapon right above one eye. "Damn, who the hell did you piss off?" Ranma muttered, reaching forward to lift the head up to peer at it closely, turning the head this way and that.
The design of the head, what could be seen under the damage, was one Ranma hadn't seen yet. About 2/3's of the head was supposedly round, with a divider, a kind of protrusion, running up from a grill mouth like the designer had designed it to look like both mouth and nose in one. The grill was shattered, the ridge/nose bent, the sides and bottom of the head battered out of shape. The wires however seemed to end as if the head had been simply removed rather than hacked off the droids body, an odd counterpoint to the violence the rest of the head showed.
Turning it this way and that, Ranma wondered what this droid had seen, how old it was, and, more importantly, what the hell it had seen or done to wear the scars of so much violence. Interest stirring within him, Ranma moved over to the spider alien and the translation droid, holding up the battered head. "Hey, can you tell me how old this thing is?"
The alien turned punching up something on his computer, then spoke in its language for a time. DT turned, staring at the head. "My master doesn't know, he says it came with the shop, and was old before the current computer network was installed, which the previous owner's predecessor installed early in his tenure. Very old, possibly very rare. It is from an unknown model, for certain a one off design."
"Huh," Ranma mused, then with a shrug put it on the table. It looked interesting, certainly a droid with a history.
A moment later Tune and Shaak Ti made their way back over to the store owner, and Shaak Ti stared at the head in surprise. "Ranma, I didn't think you'd be interested in junk. Why in the universe are you buying that?"
"Normally I'm not, but, I don't know, something about this thing interests me." Ranma shrugged. "Besides, I want to teach myself some engineering skills, and this might be an interesting piece to experiment on."
That caused Shaak Ti to frown thoughtfully as she stared at the head. If Ranma was a Jedi, he might have been describing being guided by the Force in such a manner, and she wondered... "Well, I suppose you can see if you can repair it, but I wouldn't get your hopes up."
Once everything was rung up, the alien attempted to mark up his wares, but Tune wouldn't let him, having looked up the normal prices for most of their parts on the hyper-net. The astromech tootled angrily every time the number that came up was off, and DT was able to understand it as easily as it could it's master. The only exception was the droid's head, which Tune let go without comment.
When they finished, Ranma saw they had paid about 1/5 of his stake. Most of the parts were hard to come by but not very expensive, and this shop, the sheer space it represented on over-crowded Coruscant, was worth a surprising amount even down here.
He stared at the number left then shook his head. "Look, I don't have anything else I need to buy here right now. How about this, I'll keep the rest of my half of the stake in this shop for now. Next time I'm on Coruscant I'll look you up, see if I need anything more or have any other idea how ya can earn it back. I won't interfere with your running the shop, but don't go gamblin' it off again!"
The alien's eyestalks stared at him, then at the numbers on the screen, seeming to vibrate in place for a moment. The body language of chagrin and irritation, it seemed, were visible despite being different species. After a moment however the eye-stalks nodded, and DT stated rather superfluously, "My master agrees."
After that they stopped on the way back to the temple to pick up provisions for the trip, where Shaak Ti did talk Ranma into grabbing several steaks, frozen ones of course but they would be good all the same. This galaxy's ability to freeze things without losing any of the flavor was leaps and bounds ahead of anything Ranma had known about on Earth, it had to be given the distance the food had to travel.
They returned to the Jedi Temple with about an hour to spare. While Ranma made his way to the landing pad and Shaak Ti went off to have a shower. On ship, actual water showers were nearly nonexistent after all. There Ranma found out which ship was theirs and began to load up the Consular class they had been assigned, with the provisions, sending the provisions already prepared back save for dietary supplements Kit Fisto needed. Each race after all did have slightly different dietary needs.
Later as Shaak Ti made their way towards the ship she saw Ranma standing outside it, speaking quietly to Dooku as several of the other Council members moved towards him. She paused, bowing formally towards them then took her place beside Ranma and Kit Fisto, who had just walked around the other side of the ship, talking to a member of the ground crew.
"Other half of our agreement, this will fulfill." Yoda said as he came up, Dooku and Ranma having stopped their conversation respectfully as he joined them. Or at least Dooku stopped respectfully. Ranma had simply stopped, smirking down at the little alien. He stared however at what the alien held up in his small hand. It was a device of some kind shaped like a cube about the size of a human hand. The edges were of black metal, the rest was blue tinted circuitry or something, Ranma wasn't certain what.
Several of the Jedi Masters stiffened, but the older Masters and Mace Windu did not. They simply looked on as Ranma held up the crystal, turning to Shaak Ti and Kit. "It's a holocron," Kit said, staring at it seriously then over at the Masters. "I presume Masters, that myself and knight Shaak Ti will also be able to learn from this holocron?"
"Yes, be open to learning you always should," Yaddle said, nodding her head slightly. "Learned many lessons, much history you will from the individual upon it. Learn almost as much you will from it, as from Ranma."
"I presume one of you'd know how to activate this thing?" Ranma said, smiling as he stared at it. For some reason the small device weighed a hell of a lot more than something that size should. Ranma could also almost physically feel the age of this thing.
"Oh yes, that won't be an issue." Shaak Ti said dryly, still staring at it. These days, holocrons were rarely taken outside the temple. This was a rare show of, not approval, but support for Ranma, and put into perspective once again how serious Yoda at the very least took the idea of aligning with him.
"In that case, I suggest you be on your way. The trip there takes long enough, that any further delay could prove disastrous forFormer Ranger Degral, his wife and child." Mace said in a tone designed to chivy them along.
Ranma nodded as did the other two, bowing formally before turning and boarding the ship. Ranma however turned to Dooku and simply held out his hand. The nobly-born Jedi Master smiled, and shook hands with the younger man wordlessly. What needed to be said had already been said, so after releasing Dooku's hand Ranma turned and walked up the ramp without another word.
As the ship took off, Master Poof could not contain himself any longer. "You gave him a holocron?! Master Yoda, I do not mean to sound as if I question your judgment, but surely that decision should have been made by the Council of First Knowledge. I know that Master Nu could never have signed off on that in so short a time." The Quermian Jedi master shivered, his small head and extremely long neck shaking as one. "I certainly have no wish to be present when she discovers one of her charges has been, been loaned out to a non-Jedi!"
Yoda turned to him, and then to the others, feeling all of his years once more. Yet his will to save the Order from that dark future was stronger than his desire for stability, and he rose to the challenge, remonstrating Poof and those who agreed with him in no uncertain terms. "Forget have you already what I stated of my vision? Future the Dark Side rising is, important to combat it Ranma is, learn from him we must! Keep his attention and alliance with us we need to."
"A small sign of that commitment this is," he said waving his hand airily towards the ship, which was now pushing off the landing pad.
Poof, Gallia, Piell and Koth all looked around at the other Masters, seeing ambivalence, slight concern, or agreement. Moreover the ones agreeing were the more senior Masters, along with Master Windu, who was technically the de-facto leader of the High Council on a day to day basis and the only one who could really question Yoda on it. There was a clear majority there backing this decision. Eventually all of them simply nodded their heads.
Gallia however could not stop herself from asking. "Yet master Yoda, whose holocron did you send with him? Which Jedi Master would be willing to work with someone so… obdurate and different and combative as Ranma has proven to be?"
Yoda merely chuckled, leaving the way back into the temple. "Someone, represent the past and possibly the way the Order should be, he does. Come, much work we have to do this day."
OOOOOOO
That first day out from Coruscant Ranma spent his time on multiple small projects, the first of which was uploading songs into Tune from his CD player. This was difficult given the formatting issue, and that CDs hadn't been used in this galaxy for thousands of years, but Tune and he had planned for this since Ranma had shared a few songs from Earth with the little droid, and many of the parts he'd bought that day went to creating a device that could transfer the songs off the CD into digital.
After that Ranma installed some weapons on the astromech droid. One was a sound-based assault system that upgraded Tune's audio equipment, a directional megaphone which could allow the droid to emit a sound that could attack the auditory range of any sentient in the vicinity, causing effects ranging from unconsciousness to vertigo and simple pain.
The next was an upgraded welder to replace the one all astromech droids had to help them repair things. The new version could fire off a plasma arc for several yards without losing any of the heat. A small blaster was also added to the last free partition in the astromech's body, replacing an open storage slot on the side of its trashcan-like body.
The mini-repulsors however Ranma couldn't install just yet. They couldn't simply be slapped in place, instead Tune would need entire new control runs to use them,. That was well beyond Ranma's current skill in electronics, even when simply following directions, something the droid had known before Ranma bought them. Tune refused to even let him try until he could correctly repair the, as Tune put it 'ancient curiosity', the droid head Ranma had taken from the shop.
The wireless translator and communicator however worked remarkably well, once Tune had inputted its electronic signature into it. Ranma installed the translator on a vambrace on his off arm, the small screen set into the interior of the arm. The device's range was still in question, it was rated for several kilometers, but they couldn't test that onboard the ship.
That first night, Ranma also activated the holocron for the first time, with Kit and Shaak Ti in attendance, Tune being more than capable of watching the bridge in hyperspace. Following Shaak Ti's direction, Ranma put the holocron on top of the table in the ship's multi-use area, then warily sent a brief tendril of ki into the device.
The holocron began to glow, lines of circuitry lighting up all along its sides in blue and white, then from the top a small aperture opened, and above the device appeared a hologram, though it was more misty and ephemeral than that which a normal communicator would have shown. Ranma wondered idly why that was, but that was a distant thought as he studied the man in the image.
He was human, late to middle-aged, with brown hair that had gone gray around the temples and in streaks. His face was tanned, weathered, marked by a scar along one chin and up his face, with faint smile or frown marks showing here and there. What could be seen of his body seemed to be in shape. There was an undeniable air of tough competence about him, much like Ranma had felt around Dooku at first meeting him.
When the man spoke, his voice was surprisingly young seeming for such a man. "Greetings Jedi! It has been many centuries since my so-called wisdom was deemed needed, yet your Grandmaster told me I'd be needed now. I am Jedi Master Kieran Halcyon, may I have the names of those who have called upon me?"
Shaak Ti and Kit Fisto both blinked in shock, recognizing the name from their lessons on the history of the order. A master from before the Russaan Reformation!? I've never heard of any such being called upon by any but the Council of First Knowledge. What did master Yoda see that made him decide to release such a holocron to us? Shaak Ti thought, her thoughts tinged by worry and excitement.
Of course Ranma didn't know enough about the history of the order to realize how big an issue this was, so replied simply. "I'm Ranma, I'd bet the little green guy mentioned me?" As the image of the ancient Jedi nodded, his lips twitching at Ranma's tone, the marital artist went on. "And this is Jedi Knight Shaak Ti and Kit Fisto. The big green guy is Kit, he's on a mission the same place as I want to travel to, and the red-skinned lady is Shaak Ti. She's sort of an experiment, we're supposed to see if a Jedi can learn some of my ki techniques. Though I suppose you'd call them Living Force techniques."
"You have techniques that call upon the Living Force within you? Then I believe I understand why your Grandmaster chose me. My family was, possibly still is, known for our ability in using the energy of the Force. Our Telekinesis is rather abysmal, but our dueling skills and energy manipulation are second to none." Kieran mused, noticing how Ranma's eyes lit up at the mention of dueling skills. "Yet you seem to be ambivalent about a Jedi learning your techniques. Why is that?"
In his life Kieran was known to see to the heart of things even better than most other Jedi, and had also been known to be blunt to the point of rudeness when trying to address them. He watched Ranma and Shaak Ti exchanged a glance, wondering what young Ranma would say.
Holocrons were ancient technology which employed patterns of organic crystals and hologram technology to capture the appearance and thoughts of the holocron's original owner, and then project a three-dimensional hologram of that owner which acted as a guardian for the information stored on the holocron. The guardian, the original owner, would act as a guide as well, helping users to find information or relaying stories. Some holocrons had the memories of more than one Jedi imbued on them, and many were so advanced the guardians could sense the ability and level of a Jedi. They were not quite to the level of Force Ghosts, but they were next best thing.
Eventually Ranma sighed, realizing this was going to be a philosophical talk rather than a training session. Sitting down Ranma sighed and began to explain his problems with the Order. "To put it simply I'm not from around here, I was trained in a very different manner than the Jedi. A lot about the Jedi, about how they are trained more mentally and emotionally than physically do not make me happy. Worse in some ways is the way they are tied into the Senate, how they are used as its police force and My techniques, they are very dangerous, and I don't want to share them with the entire order."
The image of Kieran frowned. "Truly the Order has changed since my time. The Order was not a part of the Republic's government in my time, nor was the Republic Senate so powerful as your tone seems to indicate. It was simply a body designed to peacefully discuss issues between various sector governments. I do not feel as if I can judge that portion of your concerns young man, so perhaps we should move on? Tell me about the other issues you have with the Jedi."
"Damn philosophy, so much easier to just hit things." Ranma muttered, thinking how to start. He then decided to take the parts of the Oath and start there. "I was told the Jedi swear an oath when they become knights. 'There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.'"
The hologram's eyebrows rose in surprise, but he didn't speak, letting Ranma go on. He did so slowly, clearly choosing his words carefully, far more carefully than he normally would. "Emotions, passion, chaos, all are part of being alive, trying to ignore them. To push emotions aside and not acknowledge them is not 'peace' it is the start of becoming a sociopath, someone removed from the ability to connect with other people, to truly care about them. I refuse to teach my ability to anyone like that, because without empathy comes callousness and a disdain for the lives of others."
Ranma looked over at Shaak Ti, smiling for a moment. "I didn't object to Shaak becoming my first possible student 'cause you understood not to take that concept to an extreme. In a single conversation you showed that you understood the weight of a life. But I've met other Jedi who are about as empathic and understanding as a spoon, insular to the point of stupidity!" He scowled angrily, remembering Koth and how little reaction he had gotten from the female Jedi Masters when he attempted to share one of his worst fears with them.
"The Jedi, in my opinion, don't have enough connection to the common people, to the lives of those they are supposed to protect and defend. They are not allowed, by the laws of the order, to form attachments, no family, few friends, no connection to their species save in rare, allowed circumstances!"
Ranma sighed, pulling at his pigtail. "You take kids, young babies or toddlers away from their families, cutting them off from their history, and train them to have no attachment to anything but the order. That, I've got experience with that kind of thing, my old man did the same, he tried to keep me from being influenced by anyone else's ideas of how the world works, and it messed me up in a lot of ways. But when I started to interact with the rest of the world that indoctrination began to fail."
He shook his head. "The part about knowledge also bothers me, because I know from talking to Dooku that a lot of knowledge has been locked away by the Jedi, deemed too dangerous. Even worse, the Jedi have stopped searching, stopped learning about the Force. The order's been around for thousands of years, but my skills are new to them, that's just wrong."
The image of Kieran's brows remained furrowed, but it said nothing for a time, then when he spoke addressed Shaak Ti. "Without open discussion there can be no decision. Knight Ti, as you were chosen to be his student, do you wish to rebut any of his points?"
For a moment Shaak Ti was silent, staring between the holocron image and Ranma, her hands gently moving down her montrals as Kit stood silent. He wasn't a philosopher, he left such deep thoughts to others, and indeed felt… uncomfortable with this whole conversation.
But Shaak Ti had long pondered the disparate Orders, and so was willing to take up the challenge. "I was one of those rare examples of a Jedi able to attempt to reconnect with his or her species, so I will say that in the main I agree with the idea that the Order should have more of a connection to the common people, when it is possible. But the common people are often superstitious, and fear that which they cannot understand. In some ways that could be impossible."
"The concept of no attachments, of no family specifically, is to make certain that a Jedi cannot become torn between two different yet powerful demands upon his loyalty. For a Jedi, passion is an easy path to more power in the Force, but it can become twisted, anger, jealousy, fear, passion can lead to all of these. Anger that you cannot be with a loved one as often as you wish, jealousy that other people can have their families around them while you cannot, fear that something could happen to them. We Jedi are not at least, supposed to be robotic, unfeeling monsters,but serenity is the only way to make certain we do not fall to the Dark side. You yourself Ranma have mentioned how using anger fueled Living Force can effect what you feel and do."
"I fully realize that chaos is a part of life. I have a… connection to nature, I know that chaos breeds growth and is a natural part of the cycle of life. However it is uncontrolled, uncontrolled things can lead to conflict. The universe has seen far too many examples of when Jedi become uncontrolled and the conflicts which rise from such. You are from the time of Exar Kun and his wars are you not Master Halcyon?"
Kieran nodded grimly, and Shaak Ti went on. "That leads me to my point about knowledge. Some knowledge is simply too dangerous for anyone to be trusted with, and it is better to lock such things away. Searching for knowledge outside what the Jedi know is a dangerous task, and again has led directly to the fall of many Jedi to the Dark Side."
"I can understand that, I even have felt the response in the Unifying Force to anger." Ranma replied. "But I can't believe that turning your back on emotions and learning new things is the answer!"
"Enough." Kieran's ghostly holocron memory declared. "The Jedi Order has truly changed from my time." Shaak Ti and Kit both looked at him, and Kieran went on calmly. "The Oath shows this in no uncertain terms. In my time it was, 'Emotion, yet peace, ignorance, yet knowledge, passion, yet serenity, chaos, yet harmony, death, yet the Force.' Your oath sounds more like that the Librarians of Ossus followed created by Odan-Urr."
The idea that an oath specifically designed for a species which had issues with the generally peace-seeking Jedi Order had become the norm was troubling to Kieran, or at least the part of him that remained, imprinted into his holocron. Odan-Urr had been a magnificent warrior, teacher and librarian before Exar Kun killed him, but his race, the Draethosi, were a warrior race that had problems with pacifistic philosophies. Abstaining from emotion and attachments could work for them, given their reptilian nature and the need to do so to keep their passion for aggression in control. Kieran had heard that the rest of the librarians had taken to following the same vow to show Odan-Urr respect after his death, yet that was a far cry from it becoming the norm of the Jedi Order as a whole.
"I will also say that in my time Jedi were allowed to marry and have families. Indeed, I myself was married. I'd bet there are more Jedi with families hidden away then you might think. And children found to have Force ability was encouraged to keep contact with their families, so long as those families were not abusive or bad influences."
"Emotions are meant to be expressed, they are what makes us living, breathing individuals rather than automatons. It is in controlling them, not in pushing them away never to be expressed, that we prove we are Jedi, that we have a right to defend other people to pass judgement when they are too close to a given conflict. Passion and serenity balanced, not one held aloft over the other as the sole goal."
The holocron image sighed. "I do not know what happened to change the Order after my death, but even in my time, experimenting with Force powers was very controlled and regulated, so I fully agree that sharing your skills should only be done slowly Ranma, and that the Jedi Order might be right to forbid much of its hidden knowledge. I urge you to be very careful in any kind of experimentation. A passion for knowledge can, as Shaak Ti said, all too easily get out of control."
From there Kieran told Ranma about the fall of Exar Kun, and of Ulic Kel Droma, who had fallen to the Dark side searching for ways to combat the Krath and their Dark Force powers. Hearing that from a man who had lived during that time had more of an impact to Ranma, and he realized anew there definitely was something behind this Unifying Force thing having an impact beyond the chi of his home universe. The how didn't matter really, so much as the fact it was real.
"Yet with that said, I believe that this new Order seems to hold serenity and a lack of attachments too highly. I think that however needs to be an individual choice. Any attempt to take that choice away from you sounds far too dictatorial to me to be happy with. The Jedi were never supposed to be a monolithic order. A set of codes, moral tenets yes, but nothing that intrusive or stultified."
Kieran's holocron image sighed faintly then smiled. "I will happily teach you what I know Ranma, and hope to see you teach Shaak Ti in turn. Shaak Ti, I will not dictate to you what you should think or feel, that is not the Jedi way. Make your own decision, simply make certain that it is one you can live with. Do you wish to start now?"
"I think that's enough for tonight." Ranma said, and Shaak Ti nodded, while Kit, happy to have been ignored during the debate merely bowed and made for the hallway leading down to their rooms quickly, having some thinking of his own to do. Kieran's image nodded and disappeared, leaving the two of them to look at one another for a time.
Shaak Ti sighed. "I think I will need to meditate on this Ranma, but I won't make a hasty judgement. I will see you tomorrow." Ranma nodded, watching the Togrutan Jedi walk away for a few moments before sighing and following. The two of them stopped outside their rooms for a moment, but neither spoke before entering and closing the doors. Both of them had a lot to think about.
The second day however went quite a bit differently. Deciding that there had been enough philosophical discussions for the week, Ranma decided to begin Shaak Ti's training. But realizing that the Jedi were learning the physical skills as fast as could be expected he decided to see if he could teach her something else. "We've talked about meditation and the difference between your kind and mine. So today I think we're going to see if you can learn to reach inward rather than outward. Once ya can do that, we'll go on and I'll teach you how to use ki to reinforce your body to a higher degree."
"That last I think I've already picked up somewhat, but some help in that area would be nice." Shaak Ti said alluding to her heightened ability to use the Force to reinforce her speed and strength. It wasn't up to a Master's level, at least not Guardian masters anyway, but her ability in that area was far better than it had been. She took up the lotus position across from Ranma, looking up at him with a faint smile. "How are we going to do this?"
"The first meditation I learned taught me how to clear my mind with the image of a fire. First calm your breathing, slow it down until each breath you take is aligned with your heartbeat." Ranma said, sitting down close to Shaak Ti, a long practice staff in one hand. "Then you picture a campfire or something similar, and each time you think of something different, feed that thought into the fire. Keep doing it until there is nothing in your mind but the flame, drawing you in, drawing you towards your center."
"The first concept is familiar." Shaak Ti replied, steepling her hands together as she closed her eyes, already beginning to slip into the meditation trance. "The fire imagery I might have issues with."
This was proven true a few seconds later, and she winced as a loud 'smack' sound resounded around the room. She came out of her trance, holding one hand up to her forehead, which Ranma had just smacked with some kind of wooden device, a primitive ruler perhaps? "Every time I feel you trying to reach out to the Force I'm going to smack you and force you out of your meditation." Ranma warned. "You're supposed be reaching inward, not outward."
Shaak Ti rubbed her forehead again, staring across at him in concentration. This is going to be much harder than I thought. An hour and several bruises later she shook her head. "Are you certain I even have enough Living Force in me to make this a viable idea?"
Ranma frowned then held up his hand in front of his eyes for a moment before lowering them. Shaak Ti nearly jerked backwards, in fact if she didn't have Jedi training she would have. Instead she simply stared, and bright blue eyes narrowed, glowing slightly with Living Force. "You have a little," Ranma murmured, studying Shaak Ti head to toe. "But it's so interconnected with the Unifying Force around us, I can barely tell where one ends and the other begins, not easily anyway."
He frowned, leaning backwards and closing his eyes for a moment. When he opened them they were back to the normal light blue color, but he was still frowning. "I think, I think we've either stumbled upon the first hurdle, or maybe we just started in the wrong direction."
"Are you going to explain that?" Shaak Ti asked rather tartly, rubbing her latest welt.
Ranma nodded, and held up his hand. In it he suddenly was holding a Moko Takabasha, and Shaak Ti who had been watching through her Jedi senses, gasped as she literally saw a portion of Ranma's Living Force move in his body and out, as he cupped it in his hands. The sight was possibly the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.
"I created this through use of my own ki, my own Living Forces you guys put it. Whatever ya call it, it's relatively easy to control the amount of energy you put into it once you are able to pull your ki up in the first place."
"But I think," Ranma paused, obviously thinking hard. While he was an expert at learning on the fly, trying to teach someone new to the idea of ki was beyond his experience, and he remembered Kieran's warning about experimentation from the night before. "I think if you tried to do the same thing you would almost have to start pulling at the Unifying Force around us, and I'm not certain what the outcome'd be."
"I've never used chi to power any of my ki techniques, and…" He laughed suddenly. "The evidence is pilin' up that the Unifying Force is a different kettle of fish anyway."
Shaak Ti frowned in thought, staring at the sphere of blue light for a moment. "I can understand that I suppose, but Jedi do have quite a bit of self-control Ranma." She chuckled. "I could've sworn that was one of the problems you have with the Order?"
"If that's the case, then why aren't the Jedi already able to do some of the things I can do? That was another issue remember?" Ranma smirked in reply.
That caused Shaak Ti to wince a little. "All right point made. In that case what should we do?"
"Build up your personal 'Living Force', until you're able to do at least one of my ki techniques then see if you can do it and then… experiment." He frowned. "I don't like that idea, but we'll see. Worse, I think that out I'll have to show her my ki space technique. Darn it, I wanted to keep that one a secret even from the Jedi for a while, that technique's a major power here. But it's easily the easiest one outside strengthening your body or enhancing your body's speed. And those Jedi can already do, if to a far more limited extent, and that's a mental thing.
The next few hours continued to be rather painful for Shaak Ti. True to his word Ranma continued to thwack her every time she tried to reach out to the Force, rather than reach into her own Living Force. And after that brief break, each successive smack became harder. It was most unpleasant, but Shaak Ti controlled herself easily, despite the irritation building up inside.
By the end of the day she had finally, finally begun to search her inward rather than outward. "Good!" Ranma exclaimed, after 20 minutes of watching Shaak Ti closely, watching to see what she was doing through his ki sight, not feeling her presence spreading out as he had felt every time she reached out for the Force. It was a very odd, but distinctive feeling to him, and the same sort of thing he had felt from Dooku that first time they met, only much less focused.
Dooku had pushed his will through the Force into that troubled woman's mind. When Jedi called on the Force itself, their will pressed out in every direction. "I think if you can keep that up you might be able to start calling upon only your Living Force rather than the Unifying Force."
Shaak Ti opened her eyes, shaking her head as if to clear it for a moment before smiling slightly. "That was a very strange experience. I don't know if I have ever been able to, to feel myself as I do now. Strange. I'm not even certain that was the correct way of describing it."
"Remember, beyond the mental the main difference between how I do things and how you Jedi do things boils down to this: You apparently all seek guidance from the Force. When I'm using my ki I'm the one in charge, I'm the one directing it. I'm not a cog in a large machine, I am the machine! Once you master it, you'll be able to call up your ki like the Force."
Ranma's smile faded, once again remembering Kieran's injunctions on being careful. "But be very, very careful with your emotions at this point. Remember, emotional control, don't try to push them away entirely, don't push them down, let them out and never use them to help you connect to your ki. That's my version of the Dark Side."
"I… have not yet decided what I feel about the idea of releasing such emotions rather than pushing them aside entirely." Shaak Ti said honestly, stroking her montrals for a moment. She had spent much of the night before meditating on that very issue, only to not come to a conclusion, the Force being silent on the subject, with no hint of her future if she chose to follow one point of view or the other. "But as to your training, I'll withhold judgment until we get to the point where we can see if I need to build up my Living Force to perform any of your techniques."
"Don't get your hopes up about not needing it, like I said I've no idea what'll happen if ya use Unifying Force to power my techniques." Ranma warned. "Still, I think that's enough meditation for one day."
Shaak Ti suddenly smiled, standing up in one quick smooth motion and suddenly her lightsaber was in her hand, the Force around her almost crackling to be used. "Excellent. I feel in the mood for a spar."
Something in her very pointy smile made Ranma gulp, but he didn't back down. Instead he stood up, grabbing up his staff.
The physical section of their training went quite a bit better than the meditation and, though Shaak Ti would have trouble admitting it, the philosophical discussion. Her Force-assisted learning techniques helped her tremendously, and as Ranma had noted the first time they had met she never make the same mistake twice.
Her hand-to-hand skills also came along at a prodigious rate, at least in terms of style and technique, not so much speed or strength. She didn't use as many kicks as she could and she had a tendency to remain stationary at times when shifting from using her lightsaber to using her unarmed hand.
Nonetheless Ranma would rate her total skill at somewhere below a black belt in normal parlance. That of course would make her small potatoes in the Nerima, but after only two days of training that was pretty damn good. Ranma still beat her handily of course, but that was to be expected.
Over the next few weeks as they traveled from Coruscant to Dac the physical portion of their training continued to go very well while the rest of their learning went in fits and starts for all concerned. Ranma simply couldn't learn many of the Jedi techniques, Force precognition and other skills based off of becoming a conduit for the Force were beyond him, and he was just as happy about it. He refused to use the Unifying Force in any way. But his ability to adapt more than evened out the playing field:
Shaak Ti bounced around the interior of the small main room of the Consular class, the area having transfigured itself to a training area as normal. Kit was much less mobile, but his defense tended to be better thanks to his preferred style of Makashi, and the two of them always attempted to catch Ranma between them at moments like this. Sometimes they even succeeded, most of the times thought one or the other was knocked out of the battle in one form or another.
Ranma ducked, dodged, using his practice staff against their practice sabers, thrusting and slashing with both ends. But it was his kicks and punches which were truly dangerous. No Jedi had ever trained against someone who was so fearless as to fight bare handed against a Jedi armed with a lightsaber, and the kicks in particular were hard to deal with. Even Force precognition could only tell them so much about someone so blindingly fast as Ranma.
Yet this time it seemed as If they had Ranma on the ropes, slowly forcing him into one of the room's corners. That was until Ranma's entire style suddenly changed from one moment to the next.
A series of kicks launched at Shaak Ti proved to be a feint, and when Kit took advantage of what seemed to be an opening Ranma's staff came up in an economical tap that sent his blow wide. Before kit could recover, Ranma had used the momentum of this counter to turn into Kit's range. The butt of the spear thrust back, crashing into his chest and sending Kit sprawling, out of the fight. As Kit nursed his chest Ranma turned to Shaak Ti, who likewise couldn't deal with the sudden change in style. Soon Shaak Ti also lost, Ranma smacking her lightly upside the head with the end of his staff.
"Wh, what was that?" Kit gasped, winded. "That move almost looked like something, something from Makashi!"
"It was." Shaak Ti said, frowning and moving away from Ranma, grabbing up a bottle of water. "Moreover, I feel as if I've seen that very counter before, except when I did, it was done by a lightsaber…"
Kit got it first. "That was a move Master Dooku came up with! You copied a move from his style of Makashi into your own? And then adjusted it for a staff?"
As a sword master, Dooku had often taught at the Jedi Temple, and had even added to Makashi, which he thought of as the best, and certainly most elegant lightsaber form. It was based around economy and precision, using the power and impetus of your opponent's blows to power your own, moving as little as possible in return for forcing your opponents into exhausting themselves. Completely unlike Ranma's normal style which somewhat resembled Ataru, but devastating against anyone not prepared for it.
"Yeah, he nearly beat me the first time we sparred weapon to weapon with that move. Heh, thanks to that and Master Kieran I'm getting a lot better at this whole glaive based combat thing." Both Jedi shook their heads, remembering that the staff Ranma always used was actually a substitute for the light glaive he wanted to build. That was going to be a scary proposition when he finished it.
"I think that will disabuse us of that last bit of ego we had as Jedi." Kit mused, wincing as he pushed himself to his feet. Ranma always hit you a bit more than you were really happy with. "Your own learning curve, even without the mental exercise we can call upon, is incredible. By the way, have you had the opportunity to show your curse form to Master Kieran? I'm interested what an ancient Jedi would think about it, and the Force's reaction to it."
Kit had seen the curse in action on the second day out, but had been warned about it when assigned to the Dac mission. He had gaped for a few moments, poured water over Ranma twice, and then, after a question and answer session decided to ignore it, unwilling to make a bore of himself about it.
"Nope, and I'm not going to." Ranma replied firmly, pointing the end of his practice staff at first one knight then the other. "I want ta stay male for as long as possible before we reach Dac. An entire planet of water, no chance I'm going to stay male for more than a few seconds, so I'm not even going to try to fight it. Besides, the holocron might short out like Tune nearly did when I showed him."
"Holocrons aren't computers, not really. I bet his response to it would surprise you." Kit said, then shrugged. "Still, I'll abide by your decision."
Training broke up soon after that, since they were coming up to where the second leg of their journey would end, coming out of one of the super-fast hyperspace links to turn toward Dac proper. Kit volunteered to do the piloting, more at home with the Consular class than Shaak Ti, while Ranma and she sat and talked for a time. Shaak Ti was continually fascinated by the tales of Ranma's adventures back in his old dimension. Ranma in turn was interested in Shaak Ti's adventures.
He was also coming to be interested in Shaak Ti as an individual. Beyond her body, the mind and character inside that alien yet alluring face called out to him. Today, he asked something he'd been wondering about for a while. "You know, I've been meaning to ask, but what do your montrals feel like?"
"It depends on where you touch. The montrals themselves, my horns, feel like bone under a cover of skin." Shaak Ti touched her horns gently, then traced her fingers down to the lekku which hung down past her shoulders. "After a certain point however the bone gives way to muscle. Unlike the Twi'lek however, that's all it is, muscle. The Twi'lek can move their far more than we Togruta can, and have actually developed a sort of sign language based around their movements."
The end of the lekku she was stroking flicked a little, and she smiled as Ranma's eyes followed the movement. Many humans seemed to be fascinated by lekku for some reason, or disgusted. Ranma in contrast simply seemed interested. She was still startled however when he asked "Can I touch one?"
Shaak Ti blushed slightly, shaking her head. "Among my people and the Twi'lek touching another individual's lekku is a, a rather intimate act. Even though we Jedi cannot have relationships, some species taboos still carry over."
Ranma's hand fell back to his lap, and he pouted slightly, causing her to laugh aloud in a way very few of her acquaintances among the order had ever seen. Ranma tended to have that effect on her, breaking down her self-control in a way that a bare lunar cycle ago would have worried her. But with her ongoing training with him, their philosophical discussion and what Kieran had said of the order in his time, that didn't bother her nearly as much anymore.
Day after day Shaak Ti improved slightly, incrementally but still a verifiable improvement. Kit also joined in of course, and he too improved under Ranma's physical training, though he did not join in any of the meditation exercises designed to allow Shaak Ti to start working with her ki. And every night aboard ship saw all three of them eagerly listening to Kieran Halcyon. The ancient Jedi master truly was an accomplished duelist, and for the two Jedi his mental abilities were just as valuable.
And learning from Ranma was an exhilarating experience. He would wait until you could match his speed or strength, then up them again until you were floundering before repeating the process. Both Jedi Knights knew that their physical prowess were extending greatly, but knew that Ranma's own strength and skills were still well above their own.
Of course even the physical side of things wasn't without their hiccups. One such hiccup happened about halfway to Dac when Ranma decided that it was time Shaak Ti began to toughen her body up.
The Togrutan female stared at Ranma. "You want to what?"
"Well we don't have any trees or giant boulders here, and I figured you wouldn't really appreciate that kind of thing anyway. But that wasn't the first way I learned how to toughen my body up. My old man trained me on a lot smaller things before that." Though he never realize how far you could take that kind of training, praise Amaterasu. "So I figure if I eeee..." he trailed off staring at Shaak Ti, whose eyes had suddenly narrowed.
"No." She said simply. "Just no. I am more than willing to learn this, but only after you've come up with a sane way of teaching it to me."
"That's the thing," Ranma said sheepishly looking away and pulling at his pigtail. "I think I've said it before: set aside any idea of what is impossible. This is just another part of that. It might not make sense, in fact I know it doesn't, but it works. Your body really will toughen up."
Shaak Ti frowned. She was no stranger to pain of course, she'd been hurt dozens of times in her training, and on missions often too. But to deliberately simply sit there and let someone else literally beat upon your body with a makeshift hammer? That wasn't something she could really condone.
"How about we do this slowly for now…" she said slowly holding out a hand. "And I want to see proof that your toughness actually works on blasters too, I didn't see any examples of that myself just yet."
Ranma nodded and went and fetched a blaster coming back with Kit, the alien's eyebrows, what there were of them, raised in perplexed surprise. "Are you sure you want me to do this Ranma?"
Ranma rolled his eyes, pulling off his shirt, tossing it to one side. "Trust me, a blaster like that won't do anything to me." To one side Shaak Ti stared at his chest for a moment, nodding approval at the signs of training there, a faint but noticeable heat rising in her cheeks for some reason that she couldn't put words to.
"Bye Ranma, it's been fun, I suppose…" Kit said slowly, raising the blaster and firing quickly. The blast hit Ranma in the stomach, and did… absolutely nothing. It was like it had hit a thick sheet of armored steel. Ranma coughed a little, flicking his fingers over the area hit, and shrugged. "Stings a little, like a bee sting, but that's about it."
Shaak Ti frowned, reaching out with her Force senses. "Do it again Kit," she said softly. "I want to see if I can feel anything happening."
At Ranma' nod Kit raised the blaster again firing at Ranma's shoulder this time. The bolt hit, and again did absolutely nothing.
Shaak ti and Kit's mouths both fell open. "I didn't sense a single bit of his Living Force moving at all. It really is just physical toughness! All right Ranma, you've convinced me. I think I can deal with a pain now if the payoff is that large down the line." Shaak Ti could all too easily remember the names of several Jedi Knights in the past few years being gunned down by blaster fire, up to and including Master Tyvokka. This right here could save lives! Especially if armed conflicts continue to spread as they have been.
Both knights decided they needed to concentrate on that, so cut down on their sparring for the rest of the trip, only an hour a day for the both her and Kit. Ranma of course was not happy about that, but with the time spent every evening with the holocron was well supplied with his own learning for now. But their progress in this area was far slower than in the rest of the training, since it was simply a matter of endurance, and they lacked the space and tools needed to really make it work.
The ancient Jedi Master even helped them eventually with the meditation, coming up with a different mental exercise that allowed Shaak Ti to finally get a handle on her own Living Force for more than a few minutes. Which led directly to yet another issue when Ranma decided she had enough Living Force of her own to try and create a small ki-pocket.
Shaak Ti once again was sitting in front of Ranma, her eyes, which had been closed in meditation trance, opening wide at his declaration. "Really? Already, is that normal, are you certain?"
"I know you've got enough energy to try it anyway. As for being normal, that I don't know. I haven't ever taught anyone before, and you already knew a lot of the base meditation skills, how to manipulate energy and all that. All I had to do was train ya to look inward rather than out, and build up your own 'Living Force'." Ranma ended, lifting up his fingers to make quote signs as he said the last two words.
The dimensionally displaced martial artist enjoyed twitting the two Jedi on the different nomenclature he used though after his own few experiments into reaching out to the Unifying Force, he knew that there was a truth to some of what the Jedi believed. Looking back on his experiment in the temple garden, Ranma had realized he'd felt some kind of pressure or presence when he touched the Unifying Force, not something alive per-se but something.
It felt like a wind maybe, pushing his consciousness where it wanted to? Ranma of course knew this was just his mind trying to conjure up a metaphor for what it was feeling, but it came close. Ranma didn't like that idea at all, regardless of what the Jedi seemed to think about the Force guiding their steps Ranma was unwilling to let himself believe that. He also wasn't willing to experiment further while in hyperspace like this but maybe when they reached Dac he would. Ranma wanted a lot of nature around him when he tried anything to do with the Unifying Force again.
Across from him, Shaak Ti looked down at the sleeve of her long Jedi robe, flapping it in the air for a moment in front of her face, staring at the loose area around her wrist. "I'm still having trouble believing that's even possible. I mean, I've seen you do it, but seeing was not enough to make me believe. The analytical side of me is looking for where the mirrors are."
Ranma had actually done more than just show Shaak Ti and Kit the fold-space technique. When he had decided that it would be the first one he would teach Shaak Ti, just to see if she could do it at all, he had pulled everything out of his ki space except for the heavy gun had bought on Coruscant, and then piled it all back in and invited the two Jedi one after another to stick their own hands in there.
All of their senses had insisted that it was nothing more than a pocket on his coveralls, a common suit of pants that uncounted spacers wore. But after thrusting her hand from the fingers up to her elbow into Ranma pants and not even seeing a bulge Shaak Ti was forced to believe. There truly was much more to the Force than the Jedi knew.
Yet just as much as Ranma's physical durability, Shaak Ti understood that the 'ki pocket' as Ranma insisted on calling it despite Kit and Shaak Ti trying to get him to change it, was something that could save lives in the future. And not just Jedi lives either but those who they were sworn to protect. So after staring at her Jedi robes sleep for a moment she sighed and nodded. "Very well, how do we do this?"
Ranma sat behind her, putting his arms around her waist, resting his hands on Shaak's as he pulled her back against his chest as they sat on the floor of the training area. "First, clear your mind and start to pull up your ki." Shaak Ti did so, fighting a blush. This wasn't the first time Ranma and she had been close like this, and the Togrutan part of her enjoyed the closeness, but the Jedi part of her was unused to it and leery of the emotions it caused.
"Picture a net, a net made of energy, of your ki, spreading out between your hands. Let the image fill your mind." Ranma went on, his voice falling into a sort of cadence, merging with Shak Ti's meditation, not breaking into it but changing it slightly.
After a few moments she nodded her head almost imperceptibly and Ranma went on. "Hold the image for a bit. Wait until you have the image firmly in your mind until it is nearly solid. Then attach the tethers of the net to just one hand." Shaak nodded once again, keeping the image in her mind with ease, such was her mental discipline. It was controlling her life energy which was causing her to sweat.
Behind Shaak, Ranma looked over her shoulder using his ki sight to watch as she slowly removed the strands connecting her ki net to one hand and transferred those strands to her other hand. He doubted that Shaak even realized that was happening, so deep in the trance was she Shaak might think it was all in her head, but it wasn't. It was happening in the real world, and Ranma could tell that Shaak Ti was ready for the next step.
"Alright, now here's the tricky part, you'll have to concentrate on several parts of this at once. With your free hand, start to slowly send your Living Force energy into the space. Not the energy of the net, but the space inside the net." Ranma knew this was a tricky part, and used the terms Shaak was more familiar with to as to make it a little easier to concentrate and kept his voice even and measured for the same reason. "Think of it as if the net was around a balloon, and your energy was pumping air into it. The net will expand as the balloon pushes it out."
Shaak Ti nodded very slightly sweat pouring down her face, almost as much as she would have had after several hours of sparring. This kind of mental exercise was not new to her, Jedi often had to concentrate on multiple things at once. But using the Force consciously in different ways at the same time was very different then using the same kind of power on multiple objects. Worse, the power was coming from her this time, she was not simply a conduit for it, and there was physical penalty for that.
After an unknown amount of time the 'balloon' began to push her formed energy net out. Yet it somehow didn't change the outer appearance of her sleeve at all. "Good job Shaak," Ranma said into Shaak Ti's ear very good. "That's the way, control the flow and let your construct expand slowly to match."
Shaak Ti barely afforded herself a nod as she continued, and there it was that she made her first mistake. She began to run out of energy, and instinctually reached for the Unifying Force all around them. From behind her Ranma noticed, the color of Shaak Ki shifting slightly, but decided to let the experiment continue. After all, this was one of the reasons why it was an experiment in the first place Ranma wanted to know what would happen if Shaak Ti used the Unifying Force to do a ki technique.
It happened in a bare instant, the flow of ki into the lattice became a flood. It came too fast and too quickly for either of them to respond, for Ranma to shout stop or for Shaak Ti to try to cut off the flow. Her ki construct within the sleeve, the net, expanded so much that it shattered. And the energy thus released exploded outwards.
With a shredding tearing sound and a blast of Force that sent Ranma tumbling away on his rear to slam backwards into the far wall Shaak Ti's Jedi robe exploded. Ranma looked up blearily from the wall as Kit's voice shouted through the ship's intercom, asking what had happened to see Shaak Ti collapse to one side, utterly out of it. Pushing himself to his feet Ranma raced over to her, grateful that the technique hadn't destroyed Shaak's underthings as well. "Well, that was going well I guess. Note to self, the Unifying Force tends to overpower things. Good to know."
Shaak Ti did not recover consciousness until late in the next ship-day, and even then was as weak as a babe, unable to do anything but feed herself, and with an appetite to match Ranma's. She apologized for the disaster, and agreed with Ranma to wait at least another month or more before trying again.
Even so, she was remarkably upbeat about the whole thing. "It wasn't your fault Ranma, it was mine, I couldn't fight my ingrained instincts as a Jedi for a moment there and I learned quite a bit from the experience. Accidents happen, and at least this wasn't as embarrassing as it could be."
The Togrutan Jedi was almost back to normal when the ship jumped out of hyperspace in the Dac system.
End Chapter
I had the entire adventure on Dac outlined, and more than half of it written on DNS, but I decided to get a lot of the ongoing 'getting to know you' stuff done here, figuring time on the ship would be a good place to do it. I do not want this story to falter into a series of training/philosophy discussions, but I wanted to show how Ranma and Shaak Ti's teacher/student relationship would be like, and what Ranma's major issues with the Jedi order are, and that Shaak Ti is beginning to think about them. From now on I can concentrate on their adventures and the romance side of things, as well as highlighting their changing thoughts vis-a-vi eachother's beliefs, the main plot (duh) and then the sheer havoc Ranma is going to leave in his wake for one reason or another. I will however be using time-skips from now on occasionally to show travel times. I don't want to get bogged down in such every time I turn around.
