Call to Aid - Jedi Apprentice - Chapter 6

—-

"Get up, you're stronger than this. You're my equal you know."

"How quaint. You think you are the one the child should be aspiring to be?"

"Shut up! It's not as though you're better off! Besides, we can't exactly hear his response right now."

…

"Quite right. Wake up child, they awake your return."

…

The world burned. Among all of the things that burned in his view, that was what had hold of his attention. Not the remains of the ships that had accompanied him into battle, not the shattered hulls of the enemies crushed. Not the cries of those still in combat, nor the cries of those fleeing. Only the burned remains of the world before him held his view. A ship passed by, energy charged. The feeling of danger passed, as the energy blasted past him towards the planet. From where the blast landed, the planet began to splinter. His sense of helplessness rising, he could only stand by and watch as the planet shattered.

—

Feeling slowly returned to him as his consciousness awoke, the dull ache of laborious effort along with just forming bruising eating away at his limbs. Confusion plastered onto Acker's mind before he remembered the spar. Groaning to himself, he attempted to go back to sleep, only for the sound of a door opening to keep him awake. Forcing himself to open his eyes, he found he had a few unexpected visitors.

Acker had expected three visitors consisting of Ban, HK, and Yoda. However he got four very different visitors.

One was the one he had sparred with earlier, Obi-Wan Kenobi if memory serves right. The two next to him were the same two that had sat next to him during the spar. There was a fourth child in the back, whose head appeared wrinkled.

Obi-Wan was the first to speak. "Are you ok?"

Acker's made an attempt to reply only for a surge of pain to cause him to cry out. In response to the noise, a healer entered the room and attempted to have the children leave. Before he could do so, Acker managed to get out a shaky "Cure." As a green light shone and faded over him, the pain that Acker felt stopped, only to be replaced by an even greater feeling of lethargy than before.

"I'm, I'm fine. There's no reason to make them leave." Acker explained.

The healer, who had been intrigued by the disappearance of Acker's wounds, paused before replying. "Fine, but if you get worse I'm kicking them out and shoving you into a healing trance." With that the healer left the room and it was just the five of them again.

Obi-Wan broke the silence first. "My friends are Garen Muln," gesturing to the other human male, "Reeft," gesturing to the last boy, "and Bant Erin," gesturing to the fish girl.

The girl-with-a-fish-head's eyes shone after seeing the effects of the cure. "How did you do that?" Wonder filled her voice. Acker was initially confused by the question before Bant continued on. "They say you aren't a Jedi, and I don't know of any methods other than what the healers do." Her earnest question and face threatened to loosen a response from Acker, so he turned his head only to find three other expectant faces awaiting an answer.

He paused for a moment before replying, "Magic," and returning to silence. At their downcast faces, Acker gave a long sigh before deciding he would give a more detailed response.

"Ok children, do the Jedi have something similar?"

Without giving the others a chance to, Bant responded. "Healers are able to help the body regenerate and repair itself, though the speed and quality of it are also able to diagnose other people and treat them as well."

Nodding his understanding, Acker smiled at their eagerness. "I see. What I am doing sounds like it should be pretty similar in effect. Now, I am no Jedi," he held his hand up to hold of questions, "but I do have access to a different source of energy separate from that of the force. That's what allowed me to heal myself and use those shockwaves in the duel earlier."

Now so Obi-Wan spoke, "How'd you make the two people appear?"

Acker's face did an immediate 180 as he contemplated how to explain that. Before he continued, his eyes narrowed as he remembered the words spoken. "Obi-Wan, where are they?"

In his confusion, he remembered that he never got rid of them. While before the droids that he had summoned disappeared a short while after being destroyed, the ones that weren't continued to exist. Not knowing how to dismiss them he ended up going and destroying each one before they made their way to the council chambers. Now, there were two unconscious sentient beings out there who he was in charge of.

"Right over there." At Obi-Wan's words, Acker looked to the other direction, where the two laid on additional of all of their armor, they looked no different than a random person one might pass on the street. Both human and perfectly average looking, the guy with beige hair and the woman with crimson hair, neither stirred as Acker sat up. He stared at them for merely seconds before the air around him began glowing.

"Oh sprites of yonder years, grace those that stand before you, Fairy Circle." At his words, a glowing circle appeared, encompassing the room and its inhabitants. As the glow faded, both soldiers began to wake up. The first to awaken was the Sith trooper, her cerulean eyes peering out from where she laid. The Republic soldier, soon followed, light amber shooting open as he grasped at his side, reaching for weapons that were no longer there.

Idly, Acker noted his weapons were no longer on him either. He looked around the room quickly to see that there were three bins on a table filled with the three's equipment.

Now properly awake, the man jumped out of bed to try and go for the weapons, only to stop at a glare from Acker. The woman soon followed suit, though she moved her glare back and forth between the two.

"What the hell did you do to me?!" The man couldn't take any more steps towards his gear or Acker.

In his exasperation Acker moved his hand over the armband to find answers. Almost as though responding to his demands, an icon popped up on the screen showing what appeared to be a mouth. Hitting it brought forth an additional choice.

Would you like the audio able to be heard by everyone?

Yes. No.

After tapping yes, it informed him that he would have to go into settings to change it later on. Tapping it once again caused a voice to call out.

"Yes?"

Previously the sight of Acker tapping on his arm confused the rest of the onlookers, and when a voice called out of that direction they became more confused.

"State designation, classification, and purpose."

"I am a HKSAB-8194, nicknamed Eios by my creator for my user's convenience. Classification is that of an entity creation device in the form of an armband. Purpose is to allow solo operatives the ability to materialize an army or fleet in any location at any time."

Looking around, Acker sees the confused look on their faces. He supposed that he shouldn't be surprised, after all, it's only the rare occasion that something is able to create true existences such as these.

"Define entity."

"Any being or object that can be created due to current operating standards. Experiencing new events allows for more possibilities for spawning. Unfortunately due to this device's design, spawning variety initially is low. Greater spawns will require this device to become more familiar with the scanned era by being used more. That is why you only have access to basic infantry units. The limit will naturally increase as well, as the device becomes more experienced more options and such will become available."

"Explain to me why I have access to an era I have never been to before and it's factions."

"All armband variants possess the Jedi Civil War factions. As the first one to be produced had them, they were retained as a form of tradition. The units remain consistent as well; I see you already created two beings from that period."

Understanding filled the listeners' faces as the information cams out. For the man, his face collapsed into that of horror as he dropped back down onto the bed. The woman's glare stopped shifting to the soldier and remained focused on Acker.

Obi-Wan asked the next question which Acker had to repeat to the armband. "Are they real?"

"As real as any other being. That's the purpose of my series of technology, to create beings that are real and will persist in the world as real any anything else, though that all depends on their connection to this device also can produce food and weapons for no additional fee, due to food and weapons relying on a different supply not affected by available spawn points. This is just in case of supply issues with suddenly creating an army of infantry without previously established supply lines

Looking around the room Acker saw the downcrest faces of the soldiers as they heard that their life would forever be tied to that of the one controlling the armband. It just so happened that Bant had the same question as he, though he worded it differently.

"Would it be possible for them to be free?"

The Republic soldier's eyes widened as he heard this, a glimmer of something shining through. The Sith soldier had somewhat softened her glare as she sat up to further listen to what was going on.

"Higher levels are required for this device to be able to grant independence. Removing an existence from the administration of the armband while retaining the existence's form is a complex action that requires the armband be higher level to perform."

Hope both grew and faded on the soldiers' faces. While it was indeed possible to be free of his orders, it was not yet possible.

Acker's gaze lingered for a moment before asking another question.

"How does the point system work? I've spawned these two I'm assuming a few hours ago and yet the points have not returned."

"Spawn points are used to create and maintain existences. As such they can not be returned while the existences are still reliant on the armband.

It is possible to extend the amount of spawn points that are available overall, but the only way to get points back is by relieving the points of the burden."

The two soldiers looked at Acker worriedly as he asked his next question.

"Define this process."

"If an organic dies, a droid's main body destroyed, or a machine is rendered inoperable the entity is considered destroyed. In this case the body of the organic or droid will disappear after two minutes, while ships, vehicles, and buildings will disappear after ten to account for evacuation time. This can be adjusted in settings. Items can be scavenged off of them in the meantime. Anything that they spawned in with will stay if you take it before the bodies disappear, and anything they did not spawn with will remain after it disappears. Of course, you may always recall their existence. It is essentially the same thing as destruction of the entity, but takes place instantly."

Acker's gaze lingered only for a moment before sighing. "That will be all for now."

With that Eios went silent. The state was replicated across the room as everyone took everything in. Mentally sighing to himself, Acker stood up and faced his audience.

"How'd you folks feel about learning magic?"

Everyone's face showed different expressions as Acker realized he forgot one last thing.

"Oh, wait! Eios, can you spawn some herbs?"

—

HK wondered if this is how his days would pass by.

After the duel he and Ban had followed Yoda to find where their quarters would be. It was a simple quarter, having two bedrooms, a main room, a kitchen and refreshers. Afterwards, Yoda took Ban with him somewhere and left HK to figure out what to do by himself.

Before he had a chance to do so though, the door had rung and when he answered it he got dragged off. The girl was persistent, he had to give her that. As he really didn't have anything planned he allowed her to drag him through the temple to a training room. It wasn't before long that the girl drew her lightsaber and challenged him. HK left his rifle holstered and drew his pistol and turned his shielding on. He didn't even have to move as the training saber the child had was too low powered to make its way through his shields. All he had to do was fire a shot every few seconds along with grabbing and throwing her when she got too close. A few times HK was pushed around, but he had been built from a line of droids designed to hunt force wielders, so the pushing and pulling barely bothered him.

It wasn't long before the child grew tired from the one sided assault she had pressed on HK, and her deflections of the bolts became increasingly inaccurate. Before long, a shot to her legs then to her chest insured that she was once again sprawled out on the floor.

HK looked at her through his photoreceptors. "Inquiry: Would you like me to carry you to the healers."

The girl's face stayed taut, unwilling to change. Slowly, she moved her head in the motion of a nod.

Recognizing the concession for what it was, HK quickly walked over to her and picked her up in a bridal style carry.

"Statement: I am HK-51, former assassin droid."

The girl gave him an annoyed stare before giving out her own reply.

"Siri Tachi… Jedi Initiate."

HK nodded once, and began to carry her to the healing ward location. Though no one told him where it was, HK has downloaded a map of the temple while waiting for Acker's duel to begin. It would be a simple matter to take the child to where the healers are.

—

Ban followed Yoda back through the temple. Earlier when she had been kept behind she had been brought up to speed on current events in the galaxy, along with the various changes that have come with time. The Jedi no longer had a military force of their own, though they remained viable fighters of their own right. Even with the Sith gone many minor skirmishes and wars still ravage the galaxy from time to time, and the Jedi are still called in to mediate.

With all that was going on, Ban didn't notice that they had stopped in front of an entrance to a training room. The force signature of the boy from earlier, Bruck, emanated from the room, pulsating of anger and his longing for greatness.

Without a pause, Yoda opened the door and went inside, Ban following as to not be left behind. Inside Bruck sat, the nearby remains of droids laid out from the anger exerted on them.

"Bruck, come to continue our session, we have."

Bruck stayed facing the remains of a droid before turning to face both Yoda and Ban. Yoda stayed there for a second before gesturing Ban to step forward.

"Work with Padawan Ban, you should. Experience with facing such emotions, she has."

Ban looked back at Yoda with a confused expression. Fighting Sith isn't exactly the same thing as working with an angry child. While the Sith has much greater rage than the child, they were also in much better control of their emotions. She had no idea how to help the kid's emotions calm down.

Mistaking Yoda's statement to mean that they were going to spar, Bruck activated his saber and tried to stare down Ban. It was cute, if one compared it to the rage filled face of the Sith. In response to his challenge, Ban lowered the settings on her saber and stood opposing Bruck.

Almost immediately after she got into position Bruck went on the attack. Bruck's wild and clumsy swings were ineffective against Ban's more competent usage of the saber. After a particularly strong deflection, Ban jumped over Bruck and knocked the saber out of his hands.

In that instance, Bruck's anger spiked, angry over his loss. Yoda walked forward towards Bruck. "Feel inadequate, you should not. Comparable training and experience , you have not had."

Bruck bit back a snarl that threatened to rip out of him towards the wizened Jedi. Staring at Bruck for merely a second, Yoda turned towards Ban. "Help him release his pride, you will have to."

Ban turned, panicked, towards Yoda. "What!"

"Until improve Bruck does, or a master, does he gain, tutor him you will."

Ban looked back and forth between Bruck and Yoda, before nodding her head.

Yoda stared at her for a bit longer before softening his gaze. "Good for you and Bruck, this experience will be. Help you adjust to the current time, and help Bruck with his anger, this will." Yoda's gaze wandered over to Bruck briefly before continuing. "Help each other overcome your troubles, this will."

With that Yoda took his leave.

Ban turned back towards Bruck, brows furrowed as she contemplated how to interact with him. "First off, how about we try meditating on what your emotions are."

Bruck's glare was enough to tell Ban that she was in for an uphill battle.

"No, don't release it with the word, try feeling the energy within yourself, and then release it in the form of a fireball."

Around the room were the four Jedi kids and the two soldiers holding their hands out, small glowing armlets attached where there once was nothing.

The Republic soldier grumbled at his statement, "It's a little hard to do that when we have to use this armlet instead of having this strange energy inside us already."

The Republic soldier, who introduced his name as Caelcoli Gillhol, had a good point. Acker is trying, but he has no idea how to teach people to use the mana armlets to cast spells. He had the ability to naturally, and he never learned exactly how people use armlets to do the same.

While mulling over his inability to teach them properly, the Sith Trooper, whose name was apparently Racaria Rynlis, suddenly had a tiny fireball shoot out of her hands and fly into the corner of the room. Before the fireball could hit anything, a ball of water shot out of Acker's hand, extinguishing it before anything could happen.

All eyes turned toward Racaria. She merely shrugged and said, "Figured it out."

"How'd you do that?!"

Acker turned his head to see HK standing in the doorway, initiate laying slumped in his arms, the girl's eyes moving back and forth between Acker and Racaria.

Taking no note of what was going on, HK throw out his question. "Inquiry: Would any of you know where the nearest healer is? We seem to have missed them.

Acker looked at the girl, then at HK before sighing. "Another one to teach, joy." A few seconds and a Fairy Circle later, the girl was upright again with Acker handing her an armlet of her own.

Acker sighed as the girl went up to the others and asked about what was going on. "Is anyone else going to drop by?"

Almost on cue, the door opened again with Yoda in the doorway. Before Acker could ask what Yoda was doing their, Yoda shuffled out of the way as Ban came sprinting into the room, an unconscious Bruck in her arms.

"Is there a healer in here?!" Ban desperately asked Yoda. "After meditating didn't help I tried suggesting we spar off his aggression and I think I knocked him out!"

A snicker could be heard, which when traced lead back to Obi-Wan. Sighing, Yoda went over to talk to Obi-Wan while motioning for Ban to go over to Acker. Without even looking at the boy, Acker spat out a Cura and shoved a just created mana armlet onto the boys arm.

Why can't I just sleep?

A/N

First posted/finished: 9/5/2019

From now on I will be using the main characters' first names in the A/N. I think it will be easier for people to remember their names when I do eventually get to the point in the story where they are close enough with each other for their first names.

In the above area, to clarify Karl isn't annoyed at Ban or Bruck, he's just annoyed that more and more people arrive in his room and aren't letting him rest. He's had to heal himself, Caelcoli, Racaria, and Bruck. He's had to cast Water to make sure the fire spell didn't set anything on fire, as weak as it was. As Acker right now does not have main character stats, he is very tired.

HK's part was disappointingly short for me to write, but that's how I seem to have written his part right now. The only thing he has going for him is that fact that he doesn't have anyone to answer to or anything to do so he inevitably gets drawn into someone else's event. Since Siri is exceptionally competitive (or at least is in a few months), she would want to try and one up the droid that beat her before. However, as it is right now, she can't. However, she can now have the opportunity to learn magic from Karl along with everyone else.

The part that gave me the most trouble in this chapter was the first part with Yadira, Yoda, and Bruck. I have a vague idea of where I want their characters to go, but I don't know how I want to have them interact to get there. I got stuck immediately after having Yoda give Yadira the responsibility because I couldn't figure out how to have Yadira interact with Bruck on her own. Thankfully, I guess I can just leave it up to the reader's imagination as to how she tried to help Bruck.

The last part where they all gathered in the same room sort of snuck up on me. I wasn't satisfied with ending it on Yadira's part and thought I had to add more to it. Instead I went with going back to Karl, and bringing everyone back together in a way that could make sense.

Sorry about the armband exposition, needed to throw that in somewhere. I have a document where there are a bunch of stuff for the armband that I haven't even listed yet. Examples being outposts and space stations. I'll introduce more stuff as the armband gets more OP.

People learning magic, how will that upset the way that the Star Wars universe goes? Surprisingly, not far. While they can learn, it will take them a long time to progress beyond the basic level spells, such as fire, blizzard, thunder, water, aero and cure. Are those spells useful? Yep. Are they going to dedicate their time to improve beyond that? Nope. They still need to use that time to improve their own abilities with the force. While those five will have spells, it will not change much of their lives, for now. When Karl gets the ability to have time/space displaced training rooms (spoilers?) via the armband, that's when you'll see them start to improve their magic to supplement their canon skills. Maybe even their force/saber skills will also improve. That'll take about a week (maybe? -_-). Depends on how long it takes for the armband to improve. Planned to have that appear at level 5 armband, so… made it improve a bit fast, but ah well.

Why those seven and no others?:

Well, that's because Karl realizes that his good intentions for cheering up the two soldiers may not be the best for the universe since he is introducing a foriegn energy. Sixteen will inform him that those seven armlets are fine since the amount of mana they generate on their own is contained within the armlet and won't contaminate the universe, but to be safe not to generate any more.

At least, that's my justification.

So, next time, hopefully they'll get some minor improvements in Bruck's attitude (nope) and maybe someone will learn magic faster than others.

Current Level of Armband

LV: 4

Max SP: 2

SP Available: 0

Training

Weapons

Star Wars

Old Republic

Jedi Civil War (LV2)

The Chosen's Tale

The Master's Start (LV2 Max)

Next Up on Jedi Apprentice:

Duel to the not Death. Who will be Qui-Gon's Apprentice? Who is Qui-Gon. What is Qui-Gon. Why is Qui-Gon?

If you want to beta or help write, go ahead. As previously stated, if someone thinks they can do it better, please do. I would love to read some fics that I think about with better writing. Just don't copy and paste. Although I just copied and pasted my own statement

As always, read, review, critique, help me