1.1 An Inauspicious Beginning P2

<div id="i4c-draggable-container" style="position: fixed; z-index: 1499; width: 0px; height: 0px;"><div data-reactroot="" class="resolved" style="all: initial;"></div></div>Coruscant.

48 by 32, sublevel B, Southside.

The speeder bike humms to a halt on the roof of the gymnasium. It's simple to tell the time down here, the single solar ray from the upper city acts like an enormous sundial but in the end the time of day doesn't actually mean anything, all light is artificial as is most of the atmosphere.

That said it's early evening when I get off my bike with my gear for the lesson.

Professionally I'm a scavanger, I might cheat like a motherfucker to get all the choice loot but it doesn't mean that I don't kit myself out appropriately. A gun belt and a pack of emergency supplies being the bare minimum for a Scav' in even the more reputable of Coruscant's junkyards. I've also got a collection of old (but still functional) grenades, a real nice vintage grappling hook and a truly ancient Energy shield which is somehow still functional. I also have my magic but I'm apprentice grade at best so I need a fallback option. That incidentally is why I'm here, I really need to learn how to fight properly and Errai Abermiaci is someone who can help.

The air inside the Gym is loud and full of the sounds of the children's class exerting themselves as Djingo takes the multicoloured moppets through a drill with practice blades. The most popular blade in the empire, outside of a Jedi Lightsaber of course, is a slightly curved single handed backsword based on the older republic vibroblade patterns. Practice blades are simple polymer affairs, perhaps wooden if the school has the money or prestige but the expensive ones aren't used here until the higher grades of instruction.

"Alex." Errai greets me with a grin. "I see you've decided to return." She's standing at a high desk, long dark arms moving paperwork around and her long torso leaning over the too low surface.

"Yes… Yes I have." I remark attempting (and failing) to pry my attention from her astounding physique.

"Heh." She chuckles, "Will you be paying now or at the end of class?"

"Now I guess. Say, Djingo told me you collect old weapons." I remark casually.

"Hmm?" She raises an eyebrow at me.

"Well, I might have found something you might, kinda, appreciate." I place my bundle on the bench and unwrap it carefully. "This little number is not quite a thousand years old, Mandalorian make with repulsor assist." I unwrap the blade from the towel I was storing it in and lift it carefully. "It's got discharge capacitors in the hilt and is fully functional. The battery isn't original, but the rest..." I hand it into her waiting hands carefully.

Errai wraps her hand around the hilt and hefts the ancient weapon carefully.

"Where in the world." She mutters reverentially, a slightly visible electric crackle shoots down the blade.

"There was this old shipwreck I discovered in the undercity there were the remains of more than a few troopers aboard from the war before last. That was the captain's sidearm. This is his pistol." I pat the blaster on my belt. The weapons had been remarkably well kept in the stale, stagnant air of the old ship, only really needed new power cells and a polish to return to full functionality.

She clicks the switch and electricity humms down the length of the blade "There were more?"

"None halfway as good as that one."

"Pity." she remarks with a smile, deactivating the blade and placing it down oh so carefully on the desk.

"This will be... Acceptable."

"Great. You don't want to look at the book though?"

"There's a book?"

"There is a book you ask? Of course there's a book. I actually know the provenance of this one. The Ragarda, a human subspecies from the planet Nirn in the Mundus system live by the sword and the song. It is said that some could run on falling raindrops and the blade that and that the sword of their soul can split the atom." I unfold the wrapping to reveal the old leather cover of the text in question.

"Really?" She asks playfully.

"I have seen conclusive evidence they their stories are not half as full of shit as they sound. Anecdotally of course."

"Jedi anecdotally or Imperial News Network anecdotally" She asks cheekily I only give a small smile as I unwrap the package with care.

"This is the Book of Circles, the holy book of a religion built around how to use a blade. Despite the tales which you may or may not believe it is still a very good sword manual. I've already got a couple of other copies but I figure it might be worth a couple of lessons." The book itself is a small leather bound affair, one of the hundreds which adorn my apartment, examination with basic magic tells me that this particular copy is ancient, from the time of the Ansei. How time works between when the books came from and the here and now I have no idea. But it's old and well loved, looking for an owner whose knowledge of swordplay is a bit more detailed than "pointy end at enemy".

Errai lifts it experimentally and leafs through the first few pages carefully before laying it down on the desk carefully.

"It might." She says with a warm smile and I can't help but reply with a cheerful grin.

"Alex what are you doing with my sister?" Djingo asks as he stomps up beside me.

"He got me a sword." Errai offers waving over the weapon in question.

"You got her a sword?"

"Girls like swords."

"I like swords."

"See." I give Djingo a sly grin and he scowls at me.

"You aren't going to go easy on him are you sister?" He asks.

"I like to think I've earned it." I quip but Errai just laughs. It's a pure, clear laugh the kind you get when someone says something so unimaginably wrong that it's hard to comprehend. She's still laughing when she grabs the blade and book and leaves us two men to our own devices.

"This is going to hurt isn't it?"

"Oh Yes." Djingo grins.

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The practice blade belts me around the head and I land square on my arse.

"Ouch. I'm alright, just give me a second." I wheeze to no one in particular as I blink the stars out of my eyes, after a moment manage to drag myself to my feet, bow to Errai and stagger over to the bench at the side of the ring.

"Feeling alright friend." Djingo asks when I take a seat on the benches.

"Yeah man, just getting my arse kicked is all." I admit begrudgingly rubbing the bruise forming above my eye. After the formal classes Errai spars with anyone who's still hanging around. Pretty much all of the regulars usually skive off after a while, the woman is terrifyingly skilled and for these practice bouts we're using the much more solid sparring blades rather than the softer and safer student blades but it isn't uncommon for the newbies like me to have a go at least. For the official end of class she has a round against Djingo. A few spectators normally hang around for the laughs of watching mugs like me get our rears handed to us but it's pretty much empty tonight.

"You did well Alex. In particular I liked the bit where you tripped over your own feet." An aged voice remarks from behind me.

"It's a talent old cat." There's a wry chuckling from behind me. "Fukkin bosses they turn up everywhere." I complain to the air itself. Ryan keeps chuckling as he eases his rotund from onto the bench next to us.

"Let us see how Chanim fares." He remarks. The tiny teen steps up to the mat proudly, the old wooden practice blade looks giant in her hands and she holds it more akin to a greatsword than a single hander. The three of us on the sidelines cheer her on partly because it's tradition and partly because the Abermiaci siblings are enormous and some encouragement is in order.

We fall silent as the pair salute and take guard against each other.

I watch the fight start as the muscles under Errai's dark skin flex and move, the woman lunging like greased lightning, then twisting and withdrawing to parry the counter attack. Her body moves like water, parrying and counterattacking and her legs flex as she advances quickly. When she flexes to follow the tiny form of her opponent I realise that the fight isn't over.

Wat.

Chanim dodges the counter attack carelessly and strikes out at the teacher who easily uses her greater reach to parry and riposte. The counter attack barely brushes the teen who leaps inside the Errais reach and almost effortlessly dodges the boot thrown at her guts.

"That's bullshit." I mutter.

"Hmmm. See something you recognise." The old cat besides me, asks.

"Is Chanim?"

"The force is strong with her. Yes." He remarks quietly.

"Fuck." The word hangs in the air for a moment as I consider the gravity of the situation. "How long have you known?"

"Many years." The old cat admits. As we watch his granddaughter go flying from a hit she couldn't dodge. The small Feline rolls easily to her feet and approaches Errai with more respect this time.

"Okey. That is, Suboptimal." I admit. What the fuck is he letting a force sensitive teenager do on Coruscant of all places, the Emperor lives here, nominally at least. The Empire has been pulling the old Black Ships routine with force sensitives, if they're human of course. Non-humans get two to the back of the head and quick trip to the incinerator.

The Empire are charming folks.

"Hmm." The old cat remarks.

"Fuck. Alright. Shit. And you're telling me this because?"

"She needs a teacher, before she falls to the dark. I remember a few things, from my wife, my daughter, but I cannot teach her." He admits sadly.

"You do know I'm not force sensitive right? I've checked. I have about the force sensitivity of a particularly dense meatloaf, and that's on a good day."

"How do you know this?" he asks quietly, a raised eyebrow.

Fuck, I've been played.

"Reasons."

"Sorry, I didn't quite hear that young man."

"I found a thingy in an old ship in the underundercity. A force tester, I tried it and I compare unfavourably to a brick." I like like a rug.

The old cat gives a small smile. "That is a truly convincing excuse."

"Damn straight it's a good excuse it's what happened." We watch as Errai belts the teen on the shoulder with her practice blade, driving Chanim to the ground.

"Hmmm, and flying helmets are likewise things which just... happen." He says quietly.

"Fuck."

The old man doesn't chuckle at my outburst instead making a grim noise of displeasure.

"If chanim doesn't get a teacher it's only a matter of time before the empire gets her." Djingo says sombrely beside me.

"If chanim doesn't get a teacher it's only a matter of time before the empire gets her." I repeat, the truth of it rings in my skull.

"Fuck." The others sit in silence as I continue to swear under my breath.

The girls bow to each other and amble to the bench bruised and sweaty.

"Okey, I'll Do it. Don't know how much help I'll be." I mutter under my breath.

"Good News Everybody, Alex has agreed to teach Chanim." Djingo happily announces to the pair, both of their faces split into wide smiles.

"Fuck you too buddy." I mutter.

"Anytime." He responds with a shit eating grin.

Fucker.

"So apparently you need to learn the ways of the force." I don't ask, as soon as I start saying the words I can feel the truth of them, it's a mystic thing not a force thing.

"Mum was a Jedi, I want to be one too." She murmurs quietly.

"Okey. That's cool and you probably have a lot of potential but I can't do that and I'm not going to pretend I can. What I can do is teach you something else which kind of, sort of, maybe, like the force if you look at it in the right light."

"But you can do stuff, you find things, things no one else can find and you know all of this stuff."

"Not a Jedi. Not force, something different. I'll give you a week after that if you still think I've got what you're looking for you can stay on and we will see where we can go. Okey?"

"Okey."

"Okey."I glare at each of the others in the room but the lot of them have big shining smiles on their faces.

Bastards.

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Theres a quiet humm above the alley where my apartment is as chanim touches down. The Speeder bike, with Old Tom Shuttles emblazoned on the side comes to a halt and the small feline jumps off.

Chanim is fuzzy, being a feline and all, with tortoiseshell fur. She stands at about eleven~twelve hundred millimeters tall and has a build which is more stocky than slim. Apparently that's just a part of the way her species is built.

"You got the stuff?" I ask.

"Yeah, what do we need it for?"

"Purposes. Now get in quickly." I hold the door open and the young feline scrambles into my tiny apartment with her bag of groceries.

I close the door behind her and, pressing my hand to where the lock should be remind it that it is in fact locked. There's a surge of purple light and and the door is locked.

I turn to find Chanim frozen looking around the small living room.

"Put those down on the kitchen bench and I'll brew us something up."

"Okey." She says meekly, unsure of herself suddenly in the poorly lit apartment which just screams Messy Academic.

I reach the kitchen bench and fill the kettle with hot water from the tap. I place it down on a small patch of the bench and force magika into the pattern carved into the stone.

It glows red as the kettle begins to boil.

I fish out a couple of cups from the cupboard and measure out specific measures of dried leaves into each of them while chanim keeps looking around the room sheepishly,

The kettle begins whistling and I dispel the Fire Rune and pour us both a cup of tea.

Chanim reaches for the cup.

"No don't touch."

I grab a spoon from beneath the counter and stir the tea in each cup, two turns clockwise and three counterclockwise while muttering the correct incantation and feeding magika into the liquid.

With a twitch of my hand and a slight blue glow the boiling water cools to just above freezing and sits still.

"The first thing you need to know is I don't know much about the force." I say. "This is magic, actual magic like in a shitty fantasy novel." I let the words sink in for a moment.

"Drink up or the potion effects will decay."

"What does it do?" She asks fearfully.

"It's just a thinking potion, it helps me clear my head and think about things properly. We can cover it later, using potions like this makes magic easier, also it doesn't taste half bad."

"I want to be a Jedi, it's all I've ever wanted. But you aren't." She says accusingly, knowingly.

"Nope, not even slightly. I told you that. I actually have figured how to detect force potential and I know in minute detail precisely how little I've got. But about the Jedi know a bit. The histories of the force, the upside and the downside, how and why they fell. It's the kind of thing which is pretty hard to avoid in my business."

"But all the Jedi are dead aren't they? They aren't coming back." She says sadly. I chuckle madly.

"Hey, this isn't funny."

I can't stop myself.

She gives me a kick under the bench and I manage to pull myself together.

"Sorry, sorry. It's just… Wow Sheev really did a number on the education system didn't he? Do you have any idea how many times the republic has fallen? How many times an Implacable Empire with stormtroopers in shiny white armour and a funny hexagon emblem has arisen in it's place?"

"No, uhh twice? In school we're told that the republic stretched back thousands of years before the empire…" I cut her off.

"Yeah. Noooooo. I've personally seen evidence of no less than seven different cycles just looking for shuttle parts. This city, the entire city is the history of Galactic civilisation, if you go about three hundred meters down the architecture changes, it starts looking Imperial instead of republic. About a hundred meters further down it changes again, and again, and again."

"But how?"

"Civilization isn't like they're teaching you in school and certainly not like that horseshit on the public information bulletins. The history of the galaxy pretty much is the history of the force and force sensitives like you have always, always been the ones in power."

"But the Jedi are dead."

"And the Sith live. Ol Palpatine, is a stupidly powerful dark Jedi, that's how he started the clone wars, that's how he became Emperor. Sheev used one of the most undersold Jedi abilities to get where he wanted. The ability to know how and what to do, do you remember how you stood up to Errai?"

"Yes… No. Sort of."

"Yeah well Sheev does. He uses that trick all the time, knowing what to do to get what he wants. Except by knowing what to do I mean start a civil war and by what he wanted I mean become Emperor of all he surveys. Honestly, of everything I know about the force that trick, knowing what to do to get what you want is the difference between a jedi and some mook with a laser sword."

"I… Grandad said that the Jedi Live to protect the universe that they make the world a better place."

"Yeah, that's about right." I say nodding.

"But in school they tell us that the Jedi tried to take over in a coup. That they tried to take over the republic."

"Chanim, the Jedi were already in control of the republic. You don't need to take something over if you already control it. They didn't need any extra power because they already had everything they needed. They were the republic's eyes, ears and mouth, they were the ones who negotiated all the treaties and enforced a great deal of the higher laws for all intents and purposes the Jedi were the defacto leaders of the republic even if they didn't sit in fancy palaces and write the laws with their own hands."

"But…" Her eyes crinkle as she thinks it over.

"Alright First thing first." I interrupt. "Let's learn Mystic meditation and then we can figure out some lesson plans."

"Mystic Meditation? I think I've seen ads like that from those cultists on eastside."

"Believe it or not this isn't new age crystal bullshit." She gives me a sceptical look.

"It's old age crystal bullshit." The teenager rolls her eyes and punches me in the arm.

"Okey serious time. What the fuck is Mystic Meditation?"

"Here. I'll show you."

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