AN: I'm back with a new chapter, please leave a review it really helps me people,
Disclaimer: if it isn't obvious I don't own either franchise, only the characters I created
Chapter 20 (Peace Is The Respite Between Two Wars Pt 1.)
Ozpin stared at the woman in front of him, "... I don't understand, why are you here?" he finally asked curiously.
"Please sit I have much to say." The Exile said, Ozpin did so not taking his eyes off the woman as he did.
"You're dead aren't you?" Ozpin observed.
The Exile tilted her head slightly, "What gave it away?"
"Two things, one you're glowing, and Two you said 'history remembers me as the Jedi Exile.'" Ozpin stated.
The Exile shrugged "I wasn't trying to hide it." she told him, "I died many years ago protecting the Galaxy from a wannabe god of destruction, one of my companions stabbed me in the back when we faced him."
"Is he why you came here to warn me about him?" Ozpin asked concerned, the Exile shook her head to reassure him.
"Vitiate died a long time ago, you need not worry about him." she assured him, Ozpin sighed in relief at that.
"So why then?" he asked.
"I have some information for you on the ones who killed the woman, Summer Rose."
Ozpin stood up, "You know them?"
"They are a member of a Force Using cult called the Sorcerers of Rhand."
"... I'm afraid those terms mean next to nothing, to me." Ozpin stated embarrassed.
The Exile smiled warmly, "Worry not Ozpin I will explain all I can." she told him, "First let me start with the Force, The Force is an energy field that encompassess the universe and binds it together." she told him.
Ozpin furrowed his brows in thought, "And people can use this energy field?" he asked curiously, remembering that she said 'Force User'.
"Short answer is yes, some people can tap into the force and use it, the most prominent group of Force users, as these individuals are called, is the Jedi Order."
"You were a member of this group?" Ozpin asked curiously
"I was, then I was banished." she answered.
"Why?"
She sighed in exhaustion, "The people we swore to protect were under attack by a very ruthless enemy, they were slaughtering and conquering entire worlds, and the council chose to stay out of the conflict, many of us however could not stand by, and we went to war, at the end of the war I was given command of a powerful weapon that would have destroyed the enemy's stronghold, I ordered the Mass Shadow Generator to be fired," she swallowed a bit. "killing both enemy and friends, after that I was the only Jedi to return to Coruscant and face the council's judgement for what I did."
"... I am sorry to hear that." Ozpin said sympathetically.
"I made my choices and I have to live with them… or die with them?"
Ozpin chuckled at her attempt at humor, "Can you tell me more of the Jedi?"
"Of course, The Jedi have been the guardians of peace and justice for over a thousand generations, they allied with the largest government in the Galaxy the Galactic Republic, and they use the Force to serve and protect the people of the Galaxy to the best of their ability."
"Sound very similar to the Huntsman and Huntresses." Ozpin noted, "Just on a much larger scale."
"Some differences but not all that different in terms of what you both are attempting to accomplish, that being said some Jedi broke off in the second great schism and that gave rise to our greatest enemy, the Sith, they use the Force for their own selfish desires, and to dominate those they believe unworthy."
"Were they the enemy that you went to war with?" Ozpin asked.
The Exile shook her head, "No, but the Sith had a hand in coercing them into attacking the Republic."
"I see, I feel that there is more to the Force then you have stated." he observed.
The Exile tilted her head again, "You are wise, it all really depends on which philosophy one subscribes to, there's the traditional one that most Jedi and Sith subscribe to, the light and dark side's of the force, then there is the controversial Potentium theory, which says that their is no light or dark sides there is only the force and it is Sentients that bring in the light and dark, there are many more but it would take too long to go through all of them."
Ozpin took a moment to let that sink in, "I see, but where do the Sorcerers of Rhand come in?" he asked.
"... The Sorcerers of Rhand, are a death cult, they believe in the idea that the will of the universe is destruction, this group led by Umbra discovered the Grimm and believe them to be the physical manifestations of that ideal."
Ozpin let out a shuddering breath and walked over to the window and looked out over the scenery, the pale light of the shattered moon giving enough luminosity to see quite a few things, "That explains so much." he admitted, "how long have they been here?" Ozpin asked.
"... Umbra has known of your world and visited it many times over the course of the last four centuries, even introducing the Grimm to other worlds."
Ozpin turned to face her in alarm, "What?" he asked surprised, "are the inhabitants of those worlds alright?" he asked.
The exile bowed her head, "Only the inhabitants of one world survived and destroyed the Grimm that attacked them, but at great cost, the World was called Varon and the Sages of Ahsla a splinter group of Jedi that live in the unknown regions were nearly wiped out by them." she explained.
Ozpin's grip on his cane became so tight that he almost crushed it, "Those people did not deserve that fate." he stated.
"No they didn't, there is some good news though, there are Jedi on your world doing what they can to help you, and you have help on the way."
Ozpin raised an eyebrow, "There are Jedi here?" he asked curiously, "I never heard of this."
"That's because these Jedi protect your world from the shadows, Salem knows about them and would like nothing more than to destroy them, after all because of them many of her plans had been thwarted, and they know she knows about them hence their secrecy."
Ozpin nodded in understanding, noting to himself that if he were in the same position he would do the same, "How did they get here though?" he asked curiously.
"... Many years ago a little over three centuries after I died, the Sith empire under Vitiate attacked the Republic and a long bloody conflict started, a conflict that ended with the sacking of Coruscant and the treaty that created a fragile peace, the next few years brought was a cold war between the Empire and the Republic, with both sides trying to one up the other, during this time eight promising individuals rose to prominence, on both sides of the conflict, the Hero of Tython, the Barsen'thor, the Emperor's Wrath, and Darth Imperius, and four others, at some point in the conflict the Hero of Tython fought and defeated the Emperor, and the Sith Empire started to fall apart, till the dark council took power, then a third player came in and nearly destroyed both sides."
"But what does that have to do with how the Jedi got here?"
"I'm getting to that, the Barsen'thor, Darth Imperius, and their apprentices fought against the Eternal Empire valiantly, but they couldn't defeat Valkorian, or as we know him Vitiate, the immortal emperor killed one of the dark council and encased the Hero of Tython and several others in stasis, the Barsen'thor seeing no way to win made the wise decision of retreating to fight another day, unfortunately he and Imperius would never face the Zakule again, they found themselves on your world, I'm sure you know the story of the warriors from the stars?" she asked him.
Ozpin hummed in affirmation, "So they came here and spread their teachings." he finished.
"Yes, a Jedi master and his student, and a Sith reformist and his charges couldn't leave Remnant so they decided to help your ancestors in their struggle against the Grimm, and Imperius met a woman and he now has a strong bloodline that exists to this day."
"What?" Ozpin asked.
"The Force runs strong in family lines, meaning that each of his descendants will have a naturally strong connection to the force, unfortunately only five live today, two of which are in prison, and the other three are children."
"Who are these children I can have someone watch them." Ozpin stated, the exile held up a hand to reassure him.
"They are safe, two of them are off the grid and one of them is with her family, a family you know quite well."
Ozpin stared at her for a moment, "You mean…" he didn't finish as the exile began to look tired, "Are you okay?"
"I'm sorry, it's just a bit difficult to maintain an appearance on the material plane for too long a time, I will return in a week and tell you more, if you wish to bring someone to listen go ahead, after I'm done explaining these things to you some friends of mine will appear to you and go into more depth about the force and other matters of galactic history, until then Ozpin." she started to phase out of existence.
"Wait, what is your name?" Ozpin asked.
"My name is Meetra Surik." she answered and faded away, leaving the headmaster a lot to think about.
(Planet Varon: Location Sages fortress.)
Auron looked at the artifact he had in sadness, he sighed and turned to the group, "The ritual failed, I can't resurrect Benjamin." he told them.
The group who knew of the captain all deflated in disappointment, "At least he's at peace." Vega murmured.
Daniel nodded, "Yeah, at peace." he agreed.
Rarok stayed silent out of respect for the famed warrior they told him about, "... So?" he began finally getting their attention, "Where do we go from here?"
Auron stood tall, "I'm going to train the force users of the group so we are prepared for our next battle."
"Oh god no." Vega pleaded remembering the torture that he and Daniel went through on the way to this world, that and he still ached from the throw into the wall.
"Starting tomorrow."
"And I'm going to find Remnant." Micah stated.
Rarok and the other new comers were confused by that, "What?" Nuru asked curiously.
Daniel turned to face them, "Did we not tell you?" he asked.
"Tell us what?" Uriah asked, "We've been in a battle since we met you couldn't possibly have told us anything."
"... Fair point." Daniel admitted, "We may have found a place to set up a base of operations and allies." he explained, he then told them of Remnant and what they knew of their plight.
"... Is it a good idea to ask these people to help us against the Empire?" Nuru asked, "they already seem to have enough going on."
Daniel just shrugged, "I'm not going to force them to do anything if they want to help I am not going to complain."
"That Aura thing, if it is true, could be very beneficial to us." one of the clones said.
"Indeed." Uriah agreed.
"What if they don't want us there?" Rarok asked.
"If they tell us to 'bugger off' then we will." Aaron answered, "Where well… what is our backup plan?" he asked.
"We'll figure something out." Micah assured him, "In the meantime I suggest we train we have less than a month to prepare for Nave."
"Who?" Nuru asked.
"I'll explain." Daniel assured him, with that the group split up to do their own things, Daniel and Vega took Nuru and Uriah and showed them the ship, breakout squad went with the other clones to go target practice, Aaron and Caleb went elsewhere deep inside the fortress, Rohkea joined the clones, while Micah went to go prepare the probes to find their destination, Auron went back to the medallion that he forged for the captain's spirit.
"Did I do something wrong?" he asked, he was extremely disappointed that he failed to get the desired effect.
"You did everything you could." a voice said causing Auron to turn and find Rarok standing behind him.
"I thought everyone left?" Auron said surprised, the Mandoa stood their for a moment, Auron gave him a sidelong glance, "Can I help you with something Rarok?" he asked.
Rarok looked off in the direction, Uriah and Nuru went in, "... Recently I discovered that I am force sensitive, and well I wish to explore that." he told him bluntly.
Auron raised an eyebrow, "And you want me to train you?" he asked.
"You object?" Rarok asked somehow expecting it.
"I didn't say that, it's just that I didn't expect this." Auron said, "I am perfectly willing to train you, when would you like to start?" he asked.
"Now… if you don't mind." Rarok answered, somewhat hopefully.
Auron nodded, "Then let us begin, first I must know do you have any cybernetics?" he asked.
"My fingers on my left hand, I lost them during the war, why do you ask?"
"If you are going to use abilities like Force lightning don't cast it with your left hand… you may blow up your prosthetics."
"... Good to know."
"Now with that out of the way, let's get started, Follow me." Auron beckoned and began walking to the shuttle, "We're going up to my master's ship." Rarok nodded in understanding and stepped into the shuttle and sat down beside him.
"So how long will my training go for?" Rarok asked.
Auron turned to him after setting the autopilot, "Let's get something out of the way right now, You will never stop learning about the Force and what it has to offer, even if you become master you are never done, that being said it will take some time before you become a viable threat with your force abilities, time we don't have, so I'll teach you the basics, and we'll focus on lightsaber combat first after that we'll move on, and considering that you most likely were trained in the use of swords it shouldn't be too difficult."
Rarok nodded in understanding, "I see."
"However don't think that just because you know how to use a sword that you can use a lightsaber, the two weapons are very different, and it really depends on what style of sword combat you used."
"I think that you'll be surprised."
Auron studied the mandalorian's armor, "Is your armor made out of Beskar?" he asked him.
Rarok shook his head, "Not entirely, my baskagem is made out of Duraplast with Beskar outlining."
Auron thought about it "So it is light and durable." he observed.
"Precisely."
Auron nodded, "Good on you that will give you an extra margin of error."
"What do you mean? I have used lightsabers before."
"Oh you have, have you, tell me what was the situation?"
"... It was during the second battle of Hypori we were sent into grab Jedi Master K'Kruhk after we learned that he survived the first battle and was left behind and another Jedi survivor, I encountered the Cyborg General of the Confederacy, Grievous for the first time, and had to use a lightsaber to fight him off along with K'Kruhk."
"... Well than, this should be easy for you." Auron commented his tone showing that he was impressed, he had heard of the General's reputation and his skill from the others, he was not someone to take lightly.
Rarok looked at the course that was set and frowned, "You chose very elaborate route… Why?" he asked suspiciously.
Auron looked at him with a deadpanned expression "We need to awaken your powers before we start, this course will take about four hours, we can work on awakening you to the force during that time."
"Alright then."
"Then let's get started." with that Auron knelt down in the center of the shuttle with Rarok kneeling down across from him, and thus began their master apprentice relationship.
(Location Varon the Fortress of the Sages)
Caleb was walking through the corridors of the Fortress, with Aaron following him, "What are we doing?" Aaron asked.
Caleb didn't turn to face him he stopped and turned to the wall on their right, "I am going to find the 'Tomb of the Sages'" Caleb answered.
Aaron looked at him strangely, "It's not what you think," Caleb said having expected that reaction, "You see back when the Grimm and the Urku nearly wiped out the Sages they sealed themselves in stasis, the only problem was that no body woke them up, they've been stuck in this sleep unable to awaken."
"What happened?" Aaron asked curiously.
Caleb shrugged, "Lapsi believes that the Sages that stayed awake to continue the fighting, killed the Grimm at the cost of their own life so nobody could wake them." he said and stretched out with the force and the wall began to open.
"I see, how many sages are there?"
Caleb looked at him, "At least four dozen, most of which are young children with only a handful being warriors like Lapsi." Caleb said and began to walk through the catacombs, Aaron following.
"How many is a 'handful'?" Aaron asked suspiciously.
"... Seven, including Lapsi." Caleb answered.
"So we need to find six warrior sages?" Aaron asked.
"Yeah they are the keys to the others and are the only ones who can open the doors going deeper into the catacombs, it was designed like that on purpose."
"To keep intruders out, like Blacksun."
"Yes and because he killed Lapsi before awakening him, he couldn't proceed onto the others."
"But how are we going to proceed?"
"Lapsi and I are one, I can get us past the first lock." Caleb answered as they came to a large chamber with drops to large abysses and narrow pathways.
"... Wow they made this as difficult as possible." Aaron said in astonishment.
"Only force sensitives, or people with certain types of technology are capable of navigating this death trap, and even then Force users have the best chance."
"... What about coming out?" Aaron asked.
"There is a safer path out of here on the other side that can only be open from the inside." Caleb said pointing their left, Aaron looked over and saw the pathway leading up to them.
"Ah, do you think you can do this?" he asked him.
Caleb gave him a determined look, "Yes I can, and I will."
"Alright then, I'll wait here and greet the Sages."
"Very well then." Caleb nodded, and began to start the treacherous trials, the stone steps he walked down were all cut out at different heights making it a little difficult to walk down, but that was easy compared to other things he had to deal with, there were some bridges that had collapsed, so he leapt across the chasm using the force to aide him in those endeavors, he came to sheer vertical wall with two walls either side of him, "... Uh what?" he couldn't jump that high even with the aide of the force and he didn't have a jetpack to help him either.
"You're going to have to jump from one wall the the next until you get to the top." Lapsi told him as if it were obvious.
"... You want me to 'wall jump'?" Caleb asked incredulously.
"Is that so hard to believe?"
Caleb looked up the walls, "... not really no, but I've never done that before." he said.
"You've never had the Force before."
"True." Caleb conceded, he then bent his knees and prepared to leap into the air, "Here we go." he pushed off from the ground he touched on the wall on his left and pushed off to the right, then pushed off to the left he repeated this action till he got to the top, when he pulled himself up, he gasped for air and wiped the sweat from his brow, and he chuckled in exhilaration, "Wow."
"Indeed the force truly is a marvelous gift."
"Funny thing is I actually wished I was force sensitive at one point… the way I became one, I'm not a fan of." Caleb chuckled.
"Twas not the most ideal way of gaining that power." Lapsi agreed.
"Well it happened and there's nothing I can do to change it, so I might as well make the most of it." Caleb stated.
"A good choice." Lapsi commented as they approached the first stasis chamber, Caleb opened the door and saw the Stasis tank in the center of the room, with a puncture mark in the glass and a decayed corpse inside.
Caleb swallowed a bit as he felt Lapsi's anger rise up with in his stomach, "Let's move on Lapsi." he suggested, as he moved past the remains of his bond mate, "We'll come back for your remains later and give you a proper send off, like you deserve."
"... Alright." Lapsi agreed, as Caleb walked to the door and began to focus the energy necessary to open the door.
The lock began to react and unlock, after a moment the door began to open and Caleb sighed with relief, "Good thing that it didn't reject me." he breathed, as he walked through the threshold.
"Indeed, one down only six more to go."
Caleb saw another chamber full of more obstacles and groaned, "This is going to be a long day." it took him nearly a half hour to complete the course and get to the next stasis chamber, he walked in and saw a woman in the pod, and he felt Lapsi's love for her spring up, "She's your wife?" Caleb stated more than asked.
Lapsi materialized next to him and nodded, "Yes she is, her name is Trenia, and she is the guardian of the second lock."
Caleb nodded, and walked over to the controls, and typed in the command to awaken the occupant, only hesitating a fraction of a second before finishing the command, the pod hissed as it began the 'thaw' process.
The pod stopped hissing and color began to return to the woman's face, she had long red hair and she wore a form fitting bodysuit for the stasis pod, the suit left nothing to the imagination, and Caleb struggled to keep his eyes on the woman's face, both out of respect for her, and Lapsi, Caleb looked over and saw the locker that held her possessions, Lapsi's moved back to the armory after he was killed.
The woman opened her eyes revealing her blue eyes with green specks in them, she saw Caleb standing a few feet in front of her, and looked around, upon not seeing something, she lept out at incredible speed and pinned the ranger to the wall, holding her forearm into his neck.
"Whoa lady calm down!" Caleb exclaimed.
The woman only glared at him, Caleb stared back not understanding at all before a memory from Lapsi sprang up, Caleb sighed in exasperation, "You can't speak, wonderful." he stated sarcastically, "Lapsi… a little help."
Lapsi materialized next to them and placed his hand on her shoulder or tried to anyway, "Hello beloved." he greeted sadly, her eyes widened in disbelief, and she looked back at the ranger, then back at the spirit, "He is my host now, I-I d-ied." he managed.
Trenia shook her head in denial, as tears began to fall down her cheeks, and backed off, she tried to speak but nothing would come out, Caleb could only watch helplessly as the mute broke down.
After a few minutes of fighting to compose herself she turned to Caleb and did a series of hand gestures, the Ranger drew on the knowledge of Lapsi and translated the sign language, 'what happened?'
"Your husband was killed many years ago by an intruder, a Sorcerer of Rhand who goes by the name Blacksun… I am so sorry that I couldn't be the bearer of better news." Caleb told her, she only stared ahead not looking at anything in particular, she finally let out a shuddering breath and made to stand up, Caleb helped her up, she walked over to her locker, got her belongings, and got dressed, after she was done she turned to the ranger and beckoned him to follow her, she then walked over to the lock and summoned the energy to open it.
Caleb was impressed by her determination to keep moving forward, despite the crushing news that she just received, he watched as the door swung open and she ducked inside, Caleb followed her and the duo made their way to the next chamber.
(Back with Auron and Rarok.)
Three hours had passed since teacher and student started their meditation, Rarok breath hitched and he gasped, "Congratulations Rarok, you're taking the first steps into a much larger and grand new world."
Rarok let out a breathless chuckle, "Wow, so this is what it feels like?" he asked as he looked at his hands.
"Exhilarating isn't it?"
"I… Can't really describe it." he admitted with a laugh.
"Then don't, just become acquainted with the Force."
Rarok nodded absently, "So now what?"
"Now I'm going to put you through a course to help you familiarize yourself with your core force abilities."
"What?"
"They are abilities most force users possess, basic TK, Sense abilities, and Force Valor, as we continue to train more abilities will be open to you, both from the light and dark side." Auron explained as he head up to the cockpit, to take over the shuttle.
"I see." Rarok nodded.
"Are you ready to go or do you wish to continue with this exercise?"
Rarok thought for a moment, "The sooner we get started the better, let's get to the ship."
"Very well then." Auron nodded and took control of the shuttle, "If you wish to strengthen your connection to the Force just keep doing that exercise I showed you, it will help you develop your practical abilities." Auron explained.
"I see, but I would like to practice those abilities first."
Auron nodded and docked in the hangar bay, then beckoned his protege to follow him, Auron lead him through the ship, going through the corridors and even into a turbolift, after a few minutes Auron came to a stop in front of a large door, he then turned to face Rarok, "This is the training room." Auron said he then walked over to the console in an alcove across from the room, "My master had it designed like this after he was given this ship." he explained, as he typed in a few commands, "Go on in, I'll watch your progress from the observation deck" Auron told him and walked over to a small utility lift.
Rarok let out a breath, he could feel himself shiver in excitement, his blood ran hot at the idea of a challenge, and he walked into the training room, the door hissed open and on the other side he saw a large room which reminded the young man of the courses in Kamino, he looked behind him and saw Auron standing in a window watching him, he saw Auron reach over to a console and pressed a switch, abruptly a tile from the floor rose up and in the center was a training saber, Rarok reached in and grabbed the weapon by the hilt and waited for further instructions.
"The first area will be an exercise to test your saber skills, and we'll see if you were telling the truth." Auron stated.
Rarok shrugged, he didn't care that Auron didn't believe him, that didn't mean he wouldn't take satisfaction in shutting him up, the door in front of him slid down, and on the other side he saw two training droids armed with training sabers, the one on his right lunged forward, Rarok side stepped the lunge, he pulled on its arm, and stabbed the droid in its back as it passed.
Rarok then turned his attention to the other droid and held his saber in a high guard, the droid stepped forward and got their swords in a bind, Rarok grabbed the droid by the neck and squeezed, the metal creaked and groaned as he crushed the droid's joint, and causing it to deactivate.
"Huh, not bad." Auron commented through the speakers, "So your using the mandalorian crushguantlents?"
"That's right." Rarok answered looking back up into the observation room.
"Brutal weapons if I say so myself, but effective." Auron winced.
"I take it you've seen such things in your time?" Rarok asked.
"Yeah… kind of similar to what you did to the droid… only on a live soldier… not pretty." Auron explained.
Rarok nodded in agreement, "What now?" he asked wanting to change the subject and get moving forward.
"Now proceed to the next area." Auron ordered and pressed a switch to reveal the next path, "You're going to need the force to help you jump this 'ravine'." Auron explained, "If you fail, just jump back up and try again, also no jetpack or else..." he left that threat hanging.
"Or else what?" Rarok asked.
"Don't use your jetpack and you won't have to find out." Auron told him.
"Very well." Rarok shrugged, he wasn't about to cheat anyway, he called upon the force, breathed in and out, he ran to the edge of the makeshift bridge and lept he reached for the other side only to miss and fall into the water below, Rarok groaned in annoyance and pulled himself out of the water, he could hear Auron laughing over the speakers, "You're enjoying this aren't you?!" Rarok shouted.
"Hahahahha Oh, you have no idea." Auron chuckled, "Now I know how my master felt whenever he saw me fail at something… that being said I did shorten the bridge so you couldn't make that Jump." he then broke into another fit of laughter.
Rarok only stared at the observation deck with his face plate hiding his expression, "You're a KRIFFING SHEB!"
Auron only laughed it off, "Okay no more practical jokes, I promise, you should be able to jump the gap."
Rarok grumbled under his breath already thinking up of ways to get back at the trickster, he climbed back up and repeated the exercise this time successfully jumping the gap, "Good now head to the next area," Rarok ran and came to an archway blocked by several loose bricks, "Use the Force to push over the blocks, if you use your muscles… well let's just say I will not be happy."
"Alright." Rarok sighed to tell the truth he wasn't intimidated, that being said he knew better than to underestimate someone, Rarok spent a moment calling upon the force and lashed his hand out causing the bricks to crumble.
"Remember objects are one thing people are a different beast altogether especially enemy force wielders, it's not easy to push them." Auron told him seriously.
"Understood." Rarok nodded, then proceeded to the next area, a door was blocking his path and it was locked.
"To proceed you need to pull the lever, but you can't reach it with your hands, use the force to pull the lever."
Rarok looked around and saw a grate with the lever behind it, he reached out with his hand called upon the force, the lever jiggled a bit but still remained upright, Rarok strained a bit but the lever wouldn't budge, Rarok sighed and stopped for a moment and took a moment to gather himself, before attempting the exercise again, he got the same result, he groaned in frustration and put his hands on the back of his head and exhaled, "It's not as easy as it looks." he admitted.
"Of course not." Auron chimed in, "All of us had many years to develop our powers, I had the benefit of learning from my mother, and the sith academy before I became an apprentice to Darth Aartsengel, and when I was at the academy I worked myself to death in order to improve."
Rarok listened to his story, "I take it that it was not the most friendly of environments." he stated more than asked.
Auron just chuckled bitterly, "That's an understatement, the sith empire was very humanocentric, and I was not 'pure', so I spent a lot of my childhood as a slave, I must have been four years old when they came in and took me and my brother from our mother, as the war progressed more sith fell in battle and so in the sheer drive for numbers they recruited force sensitive slaves, even still former slaves at the academy were not treated well, so I pushed myself to become the best sith I could be, to be strong so I could crush those that tried to crush me, unfortunately in the process I buried all memory of my family before my life as a slave, before I met my master, I was being trained as an inquisitor and one of the jobs of the inquisitors was to find knowledge and extract information from less than willing people."
"Torture." Rarok stated in understanding.
"... Yeah." Auron confirmed his voice barely audible through the speakers, "I have done some horrible things." he admitted shakily, "And I have to live with them."
Rarok sat their for a moment before speaking up, "You don't have to tell me those things, and well as far as I'm concerned they are in the past, there is a saying among my people, Cin Vhetin it means a clean slate, a fresh start."
"... That is awfully forgiving, is their something you don't forgive?" Auron asked curiously.
"Yes there are." Rarok answered, "But I'd rather not get into it at the moment."
"Fair enough, sorry if I got off topic, but the point of the story was to explain that you won't become a battlefield dervesh in a few minutes, it will take some years before that happens." Auron explained.
"... Well I'm not interested in becoming a dervesh at the moment, I'm interested in getting through this door."
"Then do it." Auron stated, "Don't think, just do it, don't try just do it."
Rarok nodded, he got up to his feet and called upon the force and outstretched his hand to the lever he then did a pull motion and the lever clicked into place causing to door to open.
"Good work, but like I said inanimate objects are easy, enemy force wielders not so much." Auron reminded him.
"Got it." Rarok answered and walked into the next room, he looked around and saw that there was another level that he couldn't reach he looked around more and saw no way to get up there.
"The answer may not always be obvious, stretch out with your senses to find the solution." Auron encouraged, Rarok nodded and called upon the force asking it where to go, abruptly the entire world seemed to brighten up.
"Woah." the mandalorian said in astonishment.
"What is it what's wrong?" Auron asked.
"Nothing, it's just I can see things in a peculiar way, it's amazing." he chuckled breathlessly, "for example I can see you, you appear to be grey."
"... Wow you seem to be describing force sight similar to the Miraluka, are any of your ancestors Miraluka?"
Rarok shrugged, "I wouldn't know." he said, then he saw it, "Ah here it is," he said and called upon the force to pull the brick out far enough to be able to stand on it he jumped up to it and jumped onto the second level.
"Good you're almost done follow the course to the end." Auron ordered and walked to the utility lift, "Also your going to need to use the force to speed up in the last segment, remember you can use the force to speed up, not just physically but mentally as well to make decisions faster."
Rarok nodded and did as told and ran through the last section he called upon the force, everything seemed to be slowing down he dived through a door that was closing on him and got through just in time, he then ran for the exit where Auron was waiting for him.
"Not bad." Auron said, "you'll be quite the force adept if what I saw here was any indication."
"Thanks." Rarok said, "So now what?"
"Keep practicing your abilities, I will instruct more tomorrow and you will be working with the others." Auron answered, "I am going to go to the laboratory if you need me."
Rarok nodded, "Alright then, see you tomorrow."
"You'll have to wait and find out." With that, Auron left Rarok to his own devises and made his way to the ship's laboratory, upon entering the lab a wave of nostalgia washed over him, he remembered the countless hours his master and him had spent in here, he looked over at the secured case on the far wall, "Good, no body messed with that thing." he sighed with relief, he walked over to a console and saw a file written in sith, "Strange that wasn't here before." Auron muttered and read the file, after he finished reading it he looked over at another casing, he walked over to it and opened it, Auron let out a laugh when he saw the contents, he turned his head skyward, "Thank you master."
(Location: The salvage ship, the map room.)
Micah and Katie had spent the last few hours sifting through the data that the probes had been sending them, trying to find the world, Remnant.
"How do you think the natives will react to us?" Katie asked the chiss, seeing as they were waiting for the probes to move onto their next star systems, and thus had nothing to do.
Micah just shrugged, "I do not know, for all I know they might tell us to 'take a hike' as the Sobecs would say." he answered, "Or try and kill us." he turned to his colleague, "But I doubt that, how about you."
"I believe that they might appreciate the help." She answered, "I know I certainly would if I lived in those conditions."
Micah smiled "Indeed, but I believe their reaction to us will be mixed, after all they might not want us to build on their world."
Katie shrugged, "If that is the case then we won't, we can build a station, or an outpost on one of the other planets."
Micah smirked, "Great minds think alike." the console pinged signifying that a probe had entered into another star system.
"Probe three has entered into a g-type star system 9 planets one habitable." Katie reported.
The chiss nodded in thought, "Send it to the habitable planet, see if it matches our profile."
Katie nodded and did so after a few minutes she sighed in disappointment, "I am reading two lunar bodies over the planet both are intact." she reported.
Micah sighed tiredly, "Alright then, leave a orbital scanner and see what minerals are on the planet and send Probe three on to the next star system."
"Will do." she typed in a few commands, "Done, the probe is on its way to its next target."
"Good," Micah sighed, he knew for a fact that this could take days or even months to get done, but still he had kind of developed a knack for impatience.
"Micah?" Katie asked getting the chiss's attention "what do you think of Nuru?" she asked.
Micah rose an eyebrow, "Why do you ask?"
"Well he's the only other chiss in our group."
"Well, he's a good kid, but he wouldn't really fit in with Chiss society." he answered
"How so?" she asked curiously.
"He's a bit of an oddity when it comes to my people, of course he was raised in the Jedi so it only makes sense, then again I was also a bit of an oddity in my youth as well, Chiss pride themselves on their discipline and pragmatism, Nuru has surpluses of both don't get me wrong but he would basically insult any chiss he met."
"Oh?"
"We don't like it when someone mispronounces our names hence why we shorten it when we deal with other people." he explained.
"I see."
"Have you met any of my people back in your days with the sith empire? After all my people did help the imperial army occupy Hoth."
"I saw some from a distance but never met anyone face to face, my post kept me away from everything for the most part."
"I know the feeling." Micah said.
Before the conversation could continue another ping from the console sounded, "Probe 2 has entered a G-type star system, thirteen planets three of which are habitable."
"You know the drill." Micah sighed, the probe spent the next thirty minutes proving that the planets were indeed not what they were looking for, "Next." Micah ordered, it was going to be a long day.
(Back with Caleb)
Caleb and Trenia had successfully awakened the rest of the seven, some of whom demanded an explanation from the ranger, after explaining to the best of his ability all that was left to do was wake the rest of the sages, "So your saying that all of us have to use the force in those consoles over their to wake the sages and to open the exit." Caleb stated pointing at the seven terminals.
"That is what I said." one of the sages said in annoyance, "why our brothers would ever employ someone as annoying as you I'll never understand."
'Kriff you too.' Caleb thought to himself, "And the fact that your people made a security system with such a tremendous flaw in it is something I'll never understand." he retorted, the third 'key' as Caleb had come to refer to him as, had been incredibly antagonistic towards the ranger ever since he found out about his merge with Lapsi, apparently he was a traditionalist who was up there with the dark woman, if Caleb had to compare with someone.
"We can continue to throw insults at each other, or we can wake up our people and start the long process of rebuilding our civilization." Lapsi interjected before an argument could ensue.
The third glared at Caleb for a moment, before subtly nodding his head, "Very well."
With that each of the Sages and Caleb walked to their respective terminal and channeled the force into it causing the room to light up, revealing just how large it was, it seemed to go on for miles, it made him question his earlier estimate of a few dozen, if anything it looked like there was at least three hundred pods down here, and soon enough they began to open, and soon all the occupants began to wake up, some came out as soon as they could and stumbled a bit but managed to stay on their feet while others took a moment to gather their bearings, Caleb watched as the drowsy individuals recovered, he saw Trenia move to a group of pods each housing four children ranging from the ages of twelve to eighteen, two boys and two girls, Caleb absently noticed some of the other keys going to reunite with their friends and families, but his attention was mostly on Lapsi's family, 'I'm so sorry Lapsi.' Caleb said.
Lapsi shuddered, 'I think Kei and Ian will take it the hardest.'
Caleb turned his attention to the youngest of the four, Kei twelve and Ian fifteen, Kei looked like a smaller version of her mother, Ian was well built with broad shoulders and lean muscle on his arms, Caleb then notice the eldest boy at eighteen, 'What about Nathaniel?' Caleb asked, 'weren't you his teacher?'
'I was indeed, he'll have a hard time as well.'
'I think all of your children will.' Caleb stated.
'I don't know, Melody and I… never got along well.'
'I highly doubt she's going to be happy with your death.' Caleb stated.
'I never meant to imply that.'
'Well we can deal with that later, after these people find their feet we're heading to the surface.' after that, the sages all turned to Caleb seeing as he was not familiar, one of the eldest came up to him.
"I am the grand master of the order." he greeted himself, "And you are."
Caleb brought his hand to his chest and bowed slightly, "I am Caleb Sobec, of the Antarian Rangers, we serve your distant family, the Jedi." he explained, this caused many of the crowd to mumer among themselves.
"How did you get through the trials?" the master asked curiously.
Caleb rubbed the back of his head nervously, "That's a bit complicated to explain,"
"It's quite simple Master," the Third butted in, "Lapsiona committed heresy and merged with this man." this caused the leader of the sages to look at Caled with intensity.
"Is this true?" he asked tonelessly.
Caleb just sighed, "Yes it is, He died nearly forty years ago when a Sorcerer of Rhand gained entrance and attempted to kill all of you, the idiot only killed him and thus could not continue on to the others, as a result if you had any hope of waking up, Lapsi needed to merge with someone, my crew arrived and I was abducted by the Dark Master's Guls and altered to be force sensitive, they stabbed me in the heart and before I died Lapsi intervened and saved my life."
After a few moments the grand master sighed, "I see, in our society doing what he did is punishable by exile." he explained.
"He knows, and he's prepared for that consequence." Caleb said.
"... However seeing as he was the first key and as such was needed in order for us to be awakened, I will not punish him." Caleb sighed in relief, while The Third appeared visibly outraged along several others in the crowd.
"But master.." The Third began.
"I have made my decision, is that clear?", The Grand Master asked in a tone that left no room for argument.
The Third gritted his teeth, "Yes sir." he grounded out
"... Well then if your people are ready I suggest we make our way to the surface." Caleb said, killing the awkward silence.
"So it shall be." with that the entire crowd prepared to leave, Caleb commd Aaron to let him know he was on his way out along with the others, and Aaron let everyone else know of their escapades, after an hour the Grand Sage met with the rest of the crew, and they told him their story.
The old man leaned back into his seat with a depressed sigh, "I'm so sorry to hear about the fate of our brethren."
Daniel just sat there offering no words, he didn't want sympathy anymore it didn't do them any good.
"Thank you sir." Micah answered for the group, "But right now we have some more pressing issues to deal with."
"Yes, this Sith Lord, Nave." the Grand Sage mused, "an adversary like that will be difficult to face indeed."
'Never would have guessed.' Daniel thought to himself sarcastically, but kept his mouth shut, "So… will you help us?" he asked hopefully instead.
"Of course we will, he comes here with the hope of taking this world and killing family, I will not stand for that."
"He will show up less than a month from now… something just occured to me." Micah then turned to Daniel, "Does he have any apprentices or followers?"
Daniel thought for a moment, "... Not that I know of, if he does he kept them hidden."
Micah hummed in thought, "That isn't good." if the sith did have an apprentice, then that could spell trouble.
"We'll deal with it when the time comes, for now we should prepare for every contingency." the Grand Sage butted in.
"Agreed." Micah said, "In the meantime." he stood and outstretched his hand to the old man, "It's a pleasure to meet you sir." he smiled.
The sage looked at the hand for a moment not sure what to do before he took his hand and grasped the chiss's hand for a handshake.
(Day 2)
Auron had stayed up on the ship all through out the last two days, even after being invited to the meeting with the Grand Sage he had declined, he wasn't interested in meeting them in the first place he told himself, though even he admitted that was bogus, but that wasn't important now, he looked at the group of Jedi, dark Jedi, and Mandalorian in front of him silently gaging them.
Uriah growled impatiently, "Why did you call us here sith?" he hissed.
Auron did not answer with words instead he reached over to the wall and tapped a panel, causing the wall to open to reveal an assortment of jewels, gauntlets, and talismans, "This is my master's gift to us." he stated, much to the group's confusion.
"What?" Daniel asked confused before it clicked, "You mean…" he trailed off.
Auron smirked "Yes, these are artifacts used to augment a force wielders connection to the force and offer use of some abilities one would not be able to perform under normal circumstances."
Rarok rose an eyebrow, "Like?"
"For example the Sith lord Naga sadow could not actually caste force lightning without the aid of his gauntlets." Auron provided.
Rarok hummed in thought, "I did not know that." he admitted.
"Well now you do," Auron retorted, "Anyway some of these do have an offensive purpose while some have a defensive purpose." he reached for a gauntlet made of gold decorated with four green jewels on the knuckles and a large sapphire on the back of where the hand would be, "This gauntlet for example will augment your ability to use energy based powers… and something else, allow me to show you." with that Auron put the gauntlet on, and held is hand up above his head, after two minutes he gave a war cry he threw something, they all felt like something whizzed past their heads and looked behind them to see a hole punched through the metal wall.
Silence flooded the room for a moment, "Woah." Vega said amazed.
"Under normal circumstances I wouldn't have been able to do that." Auron stated, "Also I claim this one."
"Alright then, wait I think I get it these come in sets don't they." Daniel said.
Auron nodded and grabbed a necklace with an emerald on it, "This is the gauntlet's mate, it strengthens my defencive powers, in fact half of these ones will do it."
"... What is their weakness?" Rarok asked.
"That depends entirely upon you, think of them as weapons, weapons are only as good as those who wield them." Auron explained.
Rarok nodded and reached out for a brace with several inscriptions on it, "How durable are these things?" Rarok asked.
Auron looked at the artifacts for a moment, "If my Master made them right, nothing should be able to destroy them save for a Jedi or Sith with Shatterpoint." he answered after a moment of thought.
Rarok smiled slightly and took the brace and put it on his forearm, after a moment he pursed his lips and sent the force into the artifact, abruptly he heard Vega gasp in shock, "He disappeared!"
"Well I know what my artifact does now." Rarok answered as he reappeared to the others.
"They do come with the side bonus that you'll be able to speak and understand the sith language… so I guess if we find our self trapped in a sith tomb we can get out thanks to these." Auron said dryly.
Uriah stepped forward much to Auron's surprise and took a set for himself, "I thought you hated sith?" Auron said.
"I do, but a weapon is a weapon." the Cathar said, "No matter who crafted it."
Auron shrugged, "Fair enough, another thing." he stated then reached over and opened another container, "In here are some training tools that I think we should use this entire month for our encounter with Nave." he explained.
Asajj rose an eyebrow, "What are they."
Auron spent a moment trying to think of a way to explain, "In all honesty I have no idea how to explain it, Imagine wearing weights as a training exercise right, these artifacts do the same thing but make it more difficult to call upon the force."
All the force users their furrowed their brows in confusion, "... I don't understand." Nuru said.
Auron clicked his tongue a few time, "What is the best way to explain it?" he asked out loud, "Okay, imagine it like this, these things make it harder to utilize our abilities the same way weights make it harder to utilize our muscles."
"And as such the resistance causes our muscle to break down then rebuild stronger than ever, are you saying that these things will do the same for our force abilities?" Rarok asked.
"That's exactly what I'm saying." Auron said resisting the urge to clap.
"Amazing." Daniel said astonished.
Auron sighed, a sense of nostalgia washed over him, "My master was a genius when it came to alchemy and the arcane arts."
"I'll bet." Nuru commented.
"First things first I think it is time to teach you -that is those that want to learn- force lightning."
Nuru rose an eyebrow, "Why?" he asked
Auron directed his attention to something else for a moment before looking back at the group, "I was looking at the tactical reports of the far outsiders on at least three occasions the aliens boarded a chiss ship to sabotaged the vital systems, the first time they succeeded though the crew survived the encounter thanks to the arrival of a fleet, the second time the crew held off the attackers and the third time they were repelled almost immediately, the Chiss discovered that the aliens are susceptible to electrical discharges during their second encounter when one of the borders was hit by a charged power conduite."
"Any species that receives an electric shock severe enough will die, I fail to see the point." Uriah stated.
"They ran an autopsy on the aliens, the armor they wear holds the same weakness to electric discharges that Orbalisks do."
"You kill the armor you kill the warrior." Assaj stated with a nod.
"Indeed." Auron nodded, "If it's no trouble I say we should begin immediately."
Daniel nodded, "I have no problems with that."
"Count me in." Vega raised his hand
Asajj nodded in agreement, "I'm in."
"You really need to ask." Rarok stepped forward.
Uriah stepped forward, much to their surprise, "What?" he asked.
"... Nothing." Auron shrugged, then he saw Nuru nod in agreement, "Well then, let's get started." he smiled sinisterly
"Oh no." Daniel bemoaned.
Auron brought them to the training room and began to teach them "Now I'm sure you're all familiar with force lightning right?"
Daniel and Vega only glared at him, while he grinned, "Yes." everyone answered.
"Do you know how it is cast?" he asked.
Most of them shook their heads while Uriah did a so so motion with his hands, "You used it before?" Auron asked the Cathar.
"... Yes." he admitted.
"Mind showing us?" Auron asked.
Uriah took a deep breath, the others backed away to give him some room, his arms began to crackle with energy, he threw his arms forward and several bolts lashed out, at Auron.
Auron's eyes widened his lightsaber seemingly teleported to his hand and activated, to deflect the bolts, his arms shook and he nearly lost his grip on the weapon, he closed his eyes to protect them from the brightness, "OKAY, OKAY YOU CAN STOP NOW!" he shouted over the storm, after a few moments the lightning subsided and Auron realized he had skidded across the floor about 4 meters, "WHAT THE HELL WAS THAT!" Auron shouted at Uriah, "YOU COULD HAVE KILLED ME!"
Uriah glared at Auron, "I'm not apologizing."
Auron continued to glare at the Cathar before a wide smile broke out across his face, "I think that you have a good grasp of this power, much more potent than I thought, I thought I was facing a dark council master."
Uriah grunted and looked away, "I have very little control over the damn ability."
"Think of it as a manifestation of yourself, powerful, deadly, an extremely short fuse, and uncontrollable," Auron stated, "a little help from me and you'll be able to control it."
"And what makes you think that I want your help?" Uriah snarled.
Auron shrugged, "You're here aren't you?" he asked rhetorically
Uriah only snorted and turned away from the young man.
Auron turned his attention back to the others, "What you all just witnessed was the raw power of force lightning, if that had hit me I most likely would have died, and been seriously disfigured."
"But how come his was stronger than yours when you constantly hit us with it?" Vega asked
Auron looked at Vega for a moment, "Because I wasn't trying to kill you, you see the strength of one's lightning depends upon the motives of the caster, Very few Jedi have been able to utilize lightning with the same lethality of the best practitioners mostly because you jedi are compassionate people and you don't typically desire to kill anyone, Lightning that's unabated will not only incapacitate or kill but transform the victim, some Sith will tell you that only Sith have the strength to achieve that because they accept consequence and reject compassion," he explained.
"And what do you think?" Rarok asked.
"I think that there is some truth to that statement, but I have seen Jedi cast some pretty impressive lightning, granted it was in certain situations, but it can be done, My master believed it depends on the situation they are in and how you feel about your enemy, for example if you care about your opponent you most likely won't do any permanent harm." he answered.
"Most likely?" Nuru asked.
"There are so many variables when it comes to this ability, all I know though is that if you practice it enough you'll be able to accomplish what you want with it in any situation, whether it is to incapacitate or kill." Auron explained, "Now without any further ado, try to cast it, call upon the force and channel the electricity down your arms and out your fingertips."
Over the course of the next few hours Asajj had managed to cast some lightning, Vega had only conjured a spark, Rarok the same, Daniel and Nuru hadn't achieved any display of power.
"Okay I'll give you all two days to get it down before we go into the forge."
Vega rose an eyebrow, "The Forge?" he asked.
"The Forge." Auron answered.
"... What is the forge?" Vega asked
"The Forge."
Vega sighed, "You're not going to give us a straight answer are you?"
"That's right." Auron grinned, "You'll find out in two days, during that time I want you all to train your way and perfect your skills with lightning as much as you can, I'm going to prepare the Forge for us." Auron stated as he left, "Have fun, but not too much."
Uriah snorted, "He get's on my nerves."
"He's a master at that, he's also a master at stimulating nerves in a very painful way." Daniel groaned, causing Asajj to chuckle slightly, "Shut up harpy," Daniel muttered, Asajj heard that but instead of blowing her top she just started to laugh harder.
"... Well then shall we get to training?" Rarok asked.
"Yes, and I want a rematch Cardea." Asajj growled.
Rarok turned to face her, "It's Cadera… And You're on Ventress."
Uriah walked up to Rarok and held out his saber for him, much to the Mandalorian's surprise, "Kick her ass." Uriah said as he handed him the lightsaber.
"T… thanks." Rarok took the lightsaber, and moved to the center of the room and turned to face Asajj, she drew her sabers and fell into one of the Jar'kai stances, the blade in her dominant hand held out in front across her body while the other was held over her head, Rarok activated the blue blade and held it at the ready.
Ventress charged striking with one blade, prompting Rarok to block, only for her to bind his blade and attempt to strike him with the other, causing him to raise his arm and allow the blade to glance off his armor, he then head butted her, causing her to back off.
"Not bad Mandalorian, not bad at all." Vetress said.
"You've improved yourself." he retorted, instead of angering her like he thought it would it only caused her to smirk.
"I'll show you just how much." with that she struck again, prompting him to block with one blade, then he caught the other with his hand, the crush gauntlets protecting him, she didn't seem all that concerned however, as she deactivated the blade that he was holding she then took the handle of her saber and smacked Rarok in his armored head, she then hooked it under the helmet, and pried it off his head, revealing his face to her, this prompted her to back off in shock, "Y.. you're a kid!" she screeched, her face twisted into a sneer.
Rarok looked to be in his late teens, he had dark hair, blue eyes, and a scar over his eye that stretched down to his chin.
"What's the matter Dark jedi, you upset you got beaten by a kid?" Uriah mocked.
"Stay out of this Cathar." Ventress snarled.
Uriah walked up to her "Or what?"
Ventress glared at Uriah, and Uriah glared back, before she doused her sabers and walked away, Uriah reached out with his hand and brought Rarok's helmet to his hand and brought it to him.
"Thanks." Rarok said gratefully as he took the helmet, and handed Uriah's lightsaber back to him.
"You're welcome Rarok." Uriah looked at his face for a moment, Rarok thought he saw a spark of familiarity in his eyes.
"Uh Uriah?"
Uriah just turned away, "... You look like someone I used to know."
"Who?"
"He saved my son's life at Cathar." Uriah answered, "When your people attacked… excuse me." with that he walked away from the group and sat in a corner in the far end of the room to meditate.
Nuru, Daniel and Vega came up to Rarok, "What was he talking about?" Vega asked.
"... Could the man he talked about have been a member of the E'tad?" Daniel asked, prompting a look of surprise from Rarok, and looks of confusion from Nuru and Vega.
"The who?" the Jedi asked curiously.
"How do you know about them?" Rarok asked.
Daniel winced slightly, "Katunar told me about them, they were seven neo crusaders who hated what Casuss Fett was doing on Cathar and they turned on him especially when he killed the Mandalorian Woman, they helped the civilians get away and fought against the others, two of them died on Cathar and the rest were imprisoned and brought before the Ultimate, surprisingly instead of killing them he pardoned them but he would send them on the most perilous of missions, and yet surprisingly would come out of every single one of them alive, they only lost one other because he was sent into the unknown regions to track an unknown threat…" he trailed off.
"The Far Outsiders." Rarok said surprised.
"If that's true how long have they been around?" Daniel asked.
"What do those aliens have to do with that?" Nuru asked confused.
"Before the mandalorian wars began the future Mandalore the Preserver, Canderous Ordo, discovered a ship buried inside an asteroid, the ship caused some damage to his vessel and fled and so he chased after it till it's hyper wake went beyond the galactic border where he abandoned the pursuit, the ship he found has the same dimensions and weapons as some of the ships the far outsiders use that the chiss have encountered, I thought I recognized the data." Rarok said to himself
Nuru and Vega's eyes widened at the implications, "That means that they've been here longer than we thought they have." Vega said.
"Indeed, but there's nothing we can do about that now, we should get back to training." Daniel urged.
Over the course of the next two days the group had trained with each other and helping one another with their lightning, Daniel, Vega, Rarok, and Nuru had caught up with Asajj in the lightning department by the time Auron called them down to 'The Forge', Micah and Katie still had yet to locate Remnant, while the Clones and Rangers trained in their own way.
(Day 4)
Auron had called the force users to the bottom of the ship, the group came to a dead end with Auron standing at the end of the hall with a hatch in front of him, "Welcome, through this hatch is the Forge."
"What is the Forge?" Daniel asked in annoyance.
Auron looked down at the hatch, "My master had the ship refitted with a new room, it's massive, the temperatures vary from frigid cold to scorching heat in a matter of minutes, in short it is a training room designed to break us down and build us up again." he outstretched his hand and the hatch's wheel began to turn, it opened to reveal a tube that lead somewhere else that they couldn't see, "I should tell you that if we go we won't come out for three weeks, if you want to stay I won't blame you." Auron told them.
The group looked among each other for a moment, before they formed a single file line, with Uriah jumping down first, followed by Rarok, Asajj, Nuru, Daniel, Vega, after Vega, Auron jumped down and sealed the hatch behind them.
Vega landed right behind Daniel and moved forward, he looked around and saw that they were, in a large room filled with massive containers forming large metal platos of varying shapes and sizes, after a few moments Auron landed right behind him, he took in a deep breath and sighed.
"I missed this place." Auron commented, he smiled at the others, "Welcome to the Forge,"
Asajj looked around a bit, "Nice place." she said sarcastically.
"Glad you like it, since it's going to be our home for the next three week." Auron grinned.
Vega looked at him wide eyed, "What?"
"Computer begin training exercise Alpha 507." Auron ordered, as soon as that happend the room had noticeably gotten colder, and Vega began to feel a bit heavier.
"W-wwww-why isssss, it-t-t-t-t-t-t so c-c-c-c-c-cold?" Vega shivered, "And did you turn up the Gravity?"
"Yep, the gravity will steadily rise at a rate so our bodies will get accustomed to it till it reach twice the strength of standard gravity, at the same time the air will progressively get thinner in here till we reach what would be a height of approximately 30,000 feet."
Uriah raised an eyebrow, "What are you trying to do?"
"Transform us into gods." Auron said poetically.
"... Not bad phrasing." Daniel admitted.
"I know right I just came up with it, any way every few days the temperature will go from extreme cold to extreme heat, to help build our mental discipline, well yours more accurately." Auron said pointing at Vega.
"W-what's ttttthat suppppposed to mmmmmean?" Vega chattered out.
Auron walked up to him, "By surviving this, your body will get used to being in such conditions, not only that but eventually your brain will also understand that your body can take more than it thinks it can."
"What?"
Auron's eyes darted upward in thought, "My master explained it best, your body is capable of doing incredible things, but your brain doesn't know those limitations, you have to "train the brain" as he would say, your brain wants to keep you in a state of comfort and security, you have to combat that desire not to get hurt if your going to be doing this line of work."
Vega looked at him for a moment, "... You think I don't know that?" he asked outraged
Auron took that in stride, "I would have been worried if you didn't." with that he backed off, a smirk on his face all the while, "unlike my training in this room before, I have something to make it even more challenging."
"And that is?" Rarok asked.
"Remember the "force weights"?" Auron asked.
Daniel, Nuru, and Asajj deflated, Vega appeared horrified while Rarok and Uriah didn't appear fazed.
"Oh force no." Vega begged.
Auron pulled out the so called weights and put one of them on his person, and handed the rest to each of the others, Uriah put his on without a second thought, Rarok, and Daniel hesitated for a moment before putting theirs on, Nuru pursed his lips and slapped his on, Asajj did not like the idea of putting something like this on but she reluctantly put it on, Vega was the last one he gave it to Daniel "You put it on me." he said and held out his arm and clenched his eyes shut.
Daniel shrugged, and did so, Vega looked at him betrayed "Why did you do that?"
Daniel appeared confused, "You asked me to do it."
"I didn't think you would actually do it!"
Daniel looked at the others, Auron just shrugged and held his hand out as if to electrocute them.
"Eep okay I'll stop complaining just don't shock us!" Vega begged.
Auron looked at him in bewilderment, "... Just work on scaling those mountains."
And thus their three week training session began.
(Micah and Katie)
Katie growled in frustration "This is taking forever!"
Micah sighed he had bags under his eyes from lack of sleep, four days with nothing concrete one would think that a planet with a shattered moon orbiting a g type star would be easy to find, turns out not so much, "Well whats next?"
"Probe three has entered a g-type star system one habitable planet, one celestial body." she said for what felt like the 100th time.
"You know the drill." Micah said waving his hand carelessly.
She sent the probe to check it out she read the data and pursed her lips she did a few more scan and her eyes widened in horror, Micah watched her and perked up a bit.
"Is this the target?" he asked hopefully.
"No, the planet's moon has lost geosynchronous orbit and is falling into the planet."
Micah's eyes widened at that, "Are there any abnormal gravitational forces acting on the moon?" he asked.
Katie nodded her head, "Do you know what's causing it?"
Micah gritted his teeth, "... The Far Outsiders."
Katie's eyes widened in disbelief, "Why, what do they have to gain?"
Micah clenched his eyes shut, "I don't know, I don't know." he said as a single tear leaked through his blue eyelid much to Katie's surprise she had never seen the chiss cry or shed tears before, "How long till the moon hits the planet?" he asked
"... Nineteen hours." she said.
"... Are there any people on the planet?"
Katie took a moment to run the scans, "Three hundred thousand."
"Send them a warning and get the probe out of their."
"Can't we send the Harrower?" she asked.
"... They wouldn't even get there in time, the warning is all we can do."
"But…" she never got to finish.
"Do as I say." Micah practically growled, cutting her off.
"... Alright."
"... Next." Micah said tonelessly, his red eyes now dimmed, involuntarily showing Katie that he was depressed.
Over the course of the next several days, the crew did their typical routines the rangers with the exception of Caleb worked with the clones, Caleb worked to hone his newly found powers with the sages, mostly with Trenia, Auron was busy torturing-I mean training- the others in the Forge.
(Location Remnant, Beacon academy, Ozpin's office, Day 10.)
Ozpin sat in his chair overlooking the grounds of the academy lost in thought, he had asked for Glynda, James, and Qrow to come visit him this evening in the hopes that they would be there to see Meetra Surik, he hadn't told them of the dead woman visiting him, the elevator dinged signaling him that someone was coming into the room, he saw the translucent reflection of Glynda in the window and turned to face her, "Thank you for coming Glynda."
"Of course Professor, I take it the General and Qrow haven't shown up yet?"
"Not yet."
"Professor if I may what did you call this meeting about?"
"I'm curious myself." a new voice slurred, the Headmaster and Dean of Beacon looked up into the clockwork of the tower to see Qrow Branwen sitting on the gears.
"How long have you been up there?" Glynda asked annoyed.
"Since before you got here, good thing to, Oz was brooding again." Qrow grinned as he dropped down into the room.
"I do not brood, I mull." Ozpin retorted
"Tomato, tomahto." Qrow said taking a swig from his flask, he let out a sigh of satisfaction, "So what is this meeting for?"
Ozpin thought about it for a moment, "I met an informant who claims to know about Umbra and his group." he revealed to them.
Qrow's eyes widened in surprise then he took another swig of his flask, "Where is this informant?" he demanded.
"She'll appear after James gets here." Ozpin assured him.
Qrow sighed, "Very well." with that he sat down in one of the chairs and rested his feet on the desk much to Glynda's chagrin, the trio waited for about thirty minutes before they saw the bull head pull in and about ten minutes later the General came through the elevator.
"James thank you for coming."
"Of course Ozpin, you had something urgent to talk to us about."
Ozpin nodded, "Tell me do you remember the story of the warriors from the sky?"
"I know about it," James answered his brows furrowed in thought, "that was the first thing I looked up when you told me about Umbra, but they were benevolent and helped our ancestors not death bringers who wished for destruction."
"Story got mixed up?" Qrow asked
Ozpin opened his mouth to answer but someone else beat him to it, "No, the two groups are different entities entirely." Meetra said as she appeared in the center of the room behind James.
James turned in alarm his gun seemingly teleporting into his hand, While Qrow sprang up, his hand on the hilt of his sword, and Glynda grabbing her crop duster.
Meetra rose an eyebrow at the group, "Charmed."
AN: Well I hoped you enjoyed if you have any questions just ask and I'll PM you in responce
special thanks to Mandalore the Freedom for beta reading this many thanks
and see you all next time