It's About Time (Owyn Deak's Training)

[Void]

Shingen was placing the last couple of supplyes in the ship hull when Owyn arrived. "Greetings I know Nuka's last known location and it does not look too great... It was Bothawui and now the Hutts have that... Are you still sure you want to go?" His mood has shifted dramatically since they had split.

 

[Raif]

Owyn made a dismissive gesture with his hand as he answered Shingen's question.

"Pssh, they're just Hutts. Nothing you worry about, right? If worse comes to worse we can just outrun 'em, they're not exactly the most athletic beings in the galaxy."

Owyn grinned as he said this, but then turned serious.

"In all seriousness, Master, I will go where you lead. I think it's important we find out anything we can about Master Nuka."

 

[Void]

"Ok then if you heat up to the the front of the ship and get your self strapped in I will finish putting these items in and we can be off as soon as possible." The items in Owyn's arms floated up and joined the last of the supplies drifting onto the ship, Shingen then left the ground crew to finish up and joined Owyn in the cockpit.

It was when Shingen entered the cockpit that he noticed Owyn's small companion was not with them. He decided not to bring it up but soon he wished he had because throughout the take off and for a long time into the journey he could not think f a single thing to say and just sat in complete silence, hoping Owyn would spark up a conversation.

 

[Raif]

Owyn sat in silence for the first portion of their flight...because, though he would never admit it, he was a bit terrified. He had only ever flown twice in his life, and one of those had ended in the crash that had left him deserted for six years.

In an attempt to distract himself he focused as intently as possible on what Shingen was doing to pilot their craft. After a while, he knew where the controls for the repulsors and main thrusters were, as well as the piloting yoke and vertical/horizontal stabilizer controls. He was beginning to feel confident that if the need arose, he would at least be able to keep from crashing if he were thrust into the pilots seat.

With his mind on the subject of learning a new skill, a question formed in his mind. He turned to address Shingen, finally breaking the silence between the two of them.

"Master, is there room on this vessel for training of any kind? Before we get fully into the thick of the danger, I was hoping to brush up on my lightsaber skills some more- - just in case things get a little hairy."

He left unspoken the fact that their previous attempt at lightsaber training had not exactly gone according to plan.

 

[Void]

Owyn's words were the much needed break in the science Shingen had hoped for. He finished plotting the coordinates as so the ship would end up coming to a stop a good distance from Hutt space and turned to Owyn.

"I am not too sure, I have not flown a ship with this exact floor plan before. Let's go and have a look around."He got to his feet and walked towards the main living area in the ship.

Shingen had chosen the ship because it was not to large so would be less detectable than most but still looked like it could still be livable after quite some time in case they were gone for a while.

The ship felt far larger inside than he had expected and the room count was extremely high albeit they were mainly tiny sleeping rooms. Disappointingly however there was no designated sparing or training room. "That is a pain. What do you think we could do." Shingen left the situation wide open to see how Owyn would work out a solution.

 

[Raif]

Owyn looked around the area they were in with a thoughtful look on his face before responding.

"Hmm...well, Master, I suppose we could always spar and train here in the living area. After all, I doubt most real conflict occur in a wide open, spacious room. It could be good practice getting used to obstacles like chairs and tables. Just as long as we don't pierce the hull with an errant blade swipe and vent all the atmosphere. I imagine that could be painful.

 

[Void]

"How do you think you would go about detecting these walls, looking around they all look the same to me and there will also be oxygen recycling pipes and various other things of vital importance to your little ship plummeting through nothingness?"

Just before Shingen finished his saber shot down his sleeve and the beam passed through several pipes running along the wall. Killing the lights in the room.

 

[Raif]

Owyn instinctively rolled to his side when Shingen's lightsaber sprang to life. He came to his fit with the training saber he had been given lit, giving off a bit of light, but otherwise he was surrounded by darkness.

Stupid, stupid, stupid. What sort of idiot falls for a trap that he himself helps set up? I could have at least memorized the layout of the room before giving Shingen such an obvious opening.

Owyn berated himself mentally, all the while holding his saber up in a vertical defensive stance. He began to slowlly calm himself, though, and began to reach out with the Force. He could feel the walls around him faintly, mostly because of their lack of presence in the Force. After all, there was nothing living in the cold durasteel.

Speaking of living, Owyn focused on his control of the Force to reach out and find Master Shingen. The older Jedi would more than likely be dimming his own Force presence, so Owyn decided on a less obvious route. Using Force hearing, he tuned out the noises of the ship and his own sounds, and instead tried to focus on the noises being created by his Master. In a chamber as small as this, Owyn hoped he could hear a heartbeat, or an intake of breath, or something that would give him a clue.

THERE! Owyn's body sprang into motion when he detected a disturbance, coming down in a strong overhand strike toward what he hoped would be Master Shingen's right neck/shoulder.

 

[Void]

The blade reactivated and Shingen was only just able to catch Owyn's on its strike. He was surprised Owyn had found him so fast, until he thought back to one of Nuka's reports where she had said she had found someone by listening for signs every living being has. Shingen would have to try and disorientate his padawan next time.

"Very good. Again." Shingen pushed Owyn back to increase the distance between them and then released his grip on his saber. It did not however fall to the floor, it remained at the same height as if Shingen was still holding on to it. He on the other hand walked away from it. This would test to see how Owyn would react to his senses contradiceing each other.

 

[Raif]

Owyn's happiness at successfully detecting and attacking Shingen was ended prematurely as the older Jedi pushed Owyn away from him and signalled to continue their training.

This time, though, Shingen's blade stayed lit. Interesting. The lightsaber stood out in the darkness like some sort of beacon, just begging to be attacked. Owyn crouched down in preparation for an attacking leap towards his target, then caught himself.

Why would Shingen go through the hassle of killing the lights, only to broadcast his location by leaving his blade lit? He was throwing away whatever advantage the darkness might give him...

...unless it was all a ruse. Of course, and Owyn had almost been pulled in to it. This whole time he hadn't even bothered to use the Force to check on his Master's whereabouts, instead going solely on what his eyes showed him. Well, in the darkness eyes can often be as much of a hindrance as a help.

With this thought Owyn firmly shut his eyes and reached out with the force once again. Though it took him considerably longer this time thanks to being fooled by his eyes, Owyn finally thought he detected his Master's presence off to his left thanks to the sound of a beating heart.

He again leaped towards his opponent, this time aiming a snap-kick to the midsection. Since he suspected his master did not have his blade with him, he went with an unarmed attack almost without thinking about it.

 

[Void]

Shingen was trying as best as he could to watch Owyn's every move. Looking through the force had shown up as one of his flaws during his training with Nuka and he had been training in almost all his spare time to try and impress her.

He could make out a blocky shape that was Owyn and as he approached he was able to make out what was going on easier. His hand was down by his side like he was ready to draw out a pistol his fingers were silently rippling back and forth in preparation of an attack.

As the foot left the floor Shingen's fingers raped around something and he pulled it into the foots path. It began to glow brightly as it sank into Owyn's flesh.He was however only able to soften the blow and Owyn winded him.

 

[Raif]

Owyn howled in pain and toppled to the floor, clutching his leg where Shingen stabbed him with...something.

"What in the Force was that?"

Owyn asked his Master, who seemed to have lost his wind as he was doubled over after the kick Owyn had -barely- landed on his midsection

 

[Void]

"Just a... a little something I... I have on me at all... all times."Shingen leant over slightly and began to slow his breath. "the pain should go away in a bit.

The lights in the room reactivated as his hovering saber shot back towards him and he pointed it towards Owyn, before deactivating it and putting out his hand to help him up.

 

[Raif]

Owyn gathered the Force into himself and used it to push the pain from his mind. He was foolish to have assumed the older Jedi didn't have a backup weapon. If this had been a real fight, and it had been a seemingly-unarmed Bogan that he had gone easy on with a kick instead of a lightsaber slash, he would probably lost his leg or even his life.

Ah, well, you live and you learn. Reaching out towards his Master's outstretched hand, Owyn allowed himself to be pulled back to his feet. He gingerly put weight on his injured led, and then decided the stinging pain wasn't enough to make him suffer the embarrassment of hopping around. Standing straight and tall, he grinned at Shingen.

"Thanks for the hand. So, now what? More sparring?"

 

[Void]

"Sparing would be good but first." He walked out of the room and over to a bag he had brought with him. "We have only touched on your lightsaber training and I was wondering if you would want to train the bulk with this?"

Shingen reached into the bag and pulled out the saber he had had with him back in the training room. "This saber." He began to choke a little on his words. "Was was given to me by Huka, given to her by Haar and now I think it is time to pass it on to you. I know it better than the back of my hand and it has never given me any problems." He turned and offered the blade to Owyn.

"I would like you to do the same as I have, learn from this and soon you will will feel you are able to create your own."

 

[Raif]

"Wow...Master, that's..."

Owyn's sentence trailed off as he allowed himself to think about the significance of what Shingen had just offered. The same saber given to him by his Master? The same woman that they were currently searching the galaxy for? Owyn hoped, deep down within himself, that he would one day be able to show he deserved the faith Shingen had just shown in him.

"...thank you, Master. I will learn everything I can, from the saber and from you."

The young man bowed deeply at the waist, then reached out and took the saber from Shingen. Pausing a second to memorize every detail of the hilt and penetrate the inner workings with the Force, Owyn felt as if he was hugging a long-lost friend. He lit the blade, basking in the colored light, and saluted his Master.

...

In a detached part of his brain, Owyn very slowly became aware of another significant detail: Haar was Nuka's Master? As in, Jedi Council member Haar? In the course of a few short months, Owyn had gone from a masterless jedi hopeful, close to the verge of being kicked out of the Order, to a padawan with a direct tutorial connection to a sitting member of the Jedi Council. The Force moves in mysterious ways indeed.