Forceful Stoicism 6 - (Star Wars, SI)

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It's been four years since I had gotten my hand on the holocron, and I was able to learn much from it.

Master Dooku, despite appearing wary about it (mostly due from whom it came from), decided to let me keep it and... I learned much from it.

The arts of Elemental Force was indeed a different step from those offered by the mainstream knowledge of the Order. Where the current way embraced a more spiritual approach, Elemental Force was tied to nature itself- or rather, how the Force manipulated nature in its own mysterious ways.

Learning took a while to get going, but I would say that fire and wind manipulation were the best options to start with as I wasn't sure on how to handle water and... I didn't want to thread with electricity just yet. Too 'Sithy' for my tastes, and I didn't want to get kicked out of the order for playing with the 'Dark Side'.

Komari had actually tapped into this, favoring Wind as her main element due to the efficient way she could use it with her new lightsaber situation.

Two years ago, I asked her if the reason why her strikes were soo unbalanced was a matter of weapons - what if she wasn't meant to just use a single saber?

Took a while to convince her, even involving Master Dooku to have the girl try and... Mari was 'sadly so' the proud wielder of two sabers rather than one.

Both were blue, while I had actually switched my original one with a green crystal.

I didn't decide because I wanted to mess with someone. Rather, I wanted to do so out of a need for 'change'. My style in combat had slightly altered as I introduced elemental powers to it. It wasn't anything too extreme (yet), but I was hardly a padawan-level fighter anymore.

And the best opportunity to prove this came during the 'Stark Combine Crisis' of 44 BBY.

It was a most unusual circumstance as there wasn't really a 'warning' to this, only that there were pirates (which is common) and that something occurred which made Bacta's prices skyrocket.

While this may not sound much like a piratey issue, the 'problem' came in the form of the Stark Combine swooping in, stealing a whole lot of Bacta and selling it to a slightly cheaper price - it was still higher than it used to be when the only Bacta factory just 'blew up out of nowhere'.

The Trade Federation bitched to the Senate and, between various factions, a skirmish ensued in the political stage. Senator Finis Valorum pushed for a peaceful resolution, while Senator Ranulph Tarkin wanted to go to war.

One wanted to just not deal with this shit, the other was outrageously into getting a new army and fleet going.

Senate-wise, no one wanted to stir shit with a proper army. Too pricey, too excessively pricey.

So, Valorum got the ball to play with and Tarkin was left to play support if things went bad.

The issue is, as Komari and I got involved as 'diplomatic attachee' Dooku sent together with the team led by Master Tyvokka, I knew we were going to see a whole lot of escalations. Most of which was done so dumbly that it was going to send Dooku into another pissy fit.

Couldn't blame him about it considering how badly-planned this whole resolution was. Valorum had all the right ideas, but he had clearly underestimated how much of a military bone Tarkin and Co. had for this situation.

Still, I cooled my nerves and allowed myself to let things happen.

I was aware this meant seeing a lot of human lives being lost due to Tarkin playing commander and ship-master without any real experience but... Oh well, I couldn't do much.

The Jedi Taskforce mobilized for this diplomatic envoy was huge. It isn't just about the numbers, but the 'quality' of the members selected.

The Council picked Jedi Knight Tholme and Padawan Quinlan Vos to go to Thyferra and investigate the Bacta Situation there, while Tyvokka had wanted his former padawan Plo Koon plus Qui-Gon Jinn and Obi-Wan Kenobi, Valorum asked for Adi Gallia, and Dooku slipped Mari and I in the team to go to Troiken for the meeting.

This was definitely not going to scare a pirate leader into panicking. Absolutely not.

The flight was tense. Everyone tried to keep a good mood... minus Master Tyvokka. If there is something that can scare any sane man, is a very nervous force-using Wookie. And one with many years of experience as Tyvokka.

As we arrived to the meeting, I spared a look to the Trade Federation's leading figure, Nute Gunray. The guy was fidgety, regarding us curtly as he scurried away with the rest of the 'baby ducklings' he carried with him.

He already had some droids and... yeah, time to get a new PTSD I guess.

As we were escorted to the meeting hall, we all took our seat right in front of Iaco Stark and his Combine Leaders, and we-

Oh, Master Tyvokka demanded to rush it to the main point. How diplomatic. And how counter-productive.

After all, Gunray made his move to send the coordinates of the meeting room to Tarkin and his illegal fleet of War Ships currently Light-Speeding to us. While this sounded problematic, Stark was very amused by this, his men mustering their blasters at us and saying that 'the game was up'.

The Evil Monologue confirmed my memories. Stark had used a virus to scramble the coordinates and send Tarkin's ships to collide onto dangerous spots. Everything went down the shitter from there onward as Mari and I were active in our force-thoughts.

Wind, get the blasters on his left. I take those on his right.

Using the normal force wasn't that simple to pull that, but using mere wind manipulation was feasible. It took us just scratching some wind onto the blasters' batteries to get them all to explode at the same time.

Definitely surprised Stark as he was suddenly force pulled by Komari and slammed onto the table.

His minions tried to put up a fight, but they were numerically inferior to the Jedi force. Gunray itched to use his droids, but I was on the move.

"Minister Gunray, the situation is fine. No need to unleash your droid onto surrendering pirates," I smoothly called, and the rest of the Jedi tensed up as the hall shook.

A large blast- no multiple of those unfolding all at once. Not within the planet, but above it.

Various ships, most of which were Stark's pirates were easily wrecking the Tarkin's fleet. Most of the ships had been 'spawned' in the wrong spot, easily picked apart by the veteran fighters of the Combine.

The situation was far from good, but we had Stark and we could leverage this to fasten the end of this 'war'.

Komari slammed the groaning pirate onto the table again, this time rendering him unconscious.

"We need to leave," Master Jinn warned, his saber still active like the rest of us - we were all aware we were far from well and fine. "We may have won this clash, but there will be more pirates to face to leave this planet."

"W-We could use the shuttles-"

"Not if they have air dominance, Senator," Plo Koon cut into Valorum's suggestion. "I am afraid we will need to retreat and find a surface hideout for the time being. A place where we can send a message and ask for reinforcements to the Republic."

The man nodded, being the political figure in charge of things was tough. But it could have been worse. Master Tyvokka was alive but...

It was clear Komari and I had just changed fate once more, this time, however, many more lives were going to be changed due to this.

AN

Too easy...~!