Jedi training - A record of progress

[Fiach Dubh]

“I sense something, a presence I've not felt since…”
― Darth Vader

SOMEWHERE IN THE JUNGLE ON AJAN KLOSS


Fiach sat alone – at least in the traditional sense. She was in a small clearing in the jungle, about a kilometre from the Jedi Temple, and was sitting cross-legged, with her eyes closed. She had been in that position for some time now. In many ways she found it taxing, to remain calm and serene and not to fall into a meditative state.

For she was here not to simply connect with the Force, but to continue her training.

As ever, she understood the theory. Those sensitive to the Force invariably relied on their ability to sense the world around them. A sense beyond the regular senses of sight, taste, hearing, touch, and smell. It was an ability that Fiach had been using for most of her life, but in an innate way. Now, she was learning how to use it proactively at worst and to understand when it was relevant at best.

Until now, she’d either acted instinctively to avoid danger, or sensed something was wrong, without appreciating the what. Which had proven somewhat frustrating.

And given her inability to understand, let alone register most emotion, she was hoping the Force could help her develop a form of empathy – to detect changes in a someone’s intentions, to determine lies from truths.

 

[Fiach Dubh]

Fiach was fully aware of the art of the possible for Jedi using Force Sense. Some could see visions of the future and could even manipulate their own presence to hide in plain sight or from other Force users.

Right now, Fiach was using the Force to sense life around her. Not to be aware of it, she could already do that – but to somehow connect with it. To sense its feelings and intentions.

Given her Padawan status, she was therefore not practicing with anything dangerous, but the small creatures around her. As she sat and focused she sensed many things that she was able to at least understand – and some she could not. Hunger was one feeling she felt loud and clear. Fear was another and…maybe anger. Maybe her own limited range of emotions was causing a problem. So, instead of looking to bring the emotion into her mind, to decipher it, she followed the sensation to its source. Carefully. Gently. And suddenly a whole new world opened up.

She sensed hunger as before. And another strand took her to a different creature and she felt hunger again, then a sense of excitement, then triumph and then the hunger was sated. At the same time, she sensed a tiny life extinguished.

She opened her eyes. Is this what emotions were like? If so, they were overwhelming and she wondered how people coped with them.

 

[Fiach Dubh]

Given it was an early lesson in a Padawan’s training, Fiach had been struggling with it – which was why she was here, now, looking to catch-up. She accepted that not all Force sensitives were equally as adept at accessing the Force any many had different strengths. But this was an ability she felt was worth the extra time invested in it. She knew it was innate and could be accessed unconsciously – she’d used it unknowingly back on Klatooine many times to effectively predict impending danger.

Maybe – just maybe – she mused, she was overthinking it. On a conceptual level, she wonder about the overlap with Force Sight and Precognition and was here, now, to focus on what she’d been taught about the ability and what she should focus on.

 

[Fiach Dubh]

So, she once more closed her eyes and gave herself to the Force. It was a form of Meditation but rather than seek peace, she sought to heighten her senses to feel how the Force bound all living things together, and learn to recognise these bonds and how they interact.

As she did so, she was able to feel her environment. She did not feel in control of what she connected with, but was sure that – with greater practice – she could at least have greater sway on what she could sense.

 

[Fiach Dubh]

“Hand weapons aren’t needed, Cay. A gentle tug of the Force can short-circuit their internal mechanisms.”
―Arca Jeth

Ionize was another name for Disable Droid which was – as Fiach was learning – a Force ability. It also went by the name of mechu macture and , quite simply, allowed a Jedi to overload and damage electronic systems, such as droids.

Fiach also learned that, as with many of the Force abilities, control and finesse came with experience and practice. So initially, it was possible to disrupt or destroy circuitry, but with little control over which happened. But over time, a Jedi could learn to obliterate a droid, or simply incapacitate a door locking system for a matter of moments, allowing it to return to normal thereafter.

When employed, a stream of ionic energy generated by the Force would be unleashed upon the targeted mechanism and bore some similarity in appearance to Force Lightning. However, the stream of energy was purple, in contrast to the blue-white appearance of Force lightning, a nod to its stream of ions.

While Ionize could affect and short-circuit droids and other electronic systems, it was utterly ineffective against organics. In this sense, Fiach surmised it was the counterpart to Force Stun, which could incapacitate an organic being but not a droid, as they obviously lacked the biology of living beings.

Ionize was divided into three separate levels of power that, as she had already learned, could be utilised by the trained. Stun caused only minimum damage to circuits and was focused more on stunning the machine for a short period of time, often no more than six seconds. It was somewhat less effective against more complicated droids, such as combat models. Disable was much more effective in deactivating a droid or other machinery and caused damage to the wiring and circuitry of the machine. Moreover, the energy released from this power was also capable of ‘hopping’ from one machine to another within a certain area of the originally targeted mechanism.

Destroy was the most destructive of all three levels and was aimed at the total annihilation of the droid or device. The energy emitted from the user could potentially destroy many droids at once, especially if they were standing near the single droid target.

 

[Fiach Dubh]

“You’re resisting. He can sense it.”
“He can sense it? What is he, like a Padawan cat? Oh!”
“You don’t seem to be getting this.”
“I get that this furball’s trying to kill me. Give me your lightsaber and I’ll make the connection.”
“Excuse me?”
― Kanan Jarrus and Ezra Bridger, as Ezra tries to tame a loth-cat


Some Force abilities came easier than others for Fiach. The one known as Taming Beasts, Animal Kinship or Beast Control was not one of these.

Calling it Animal Bond did not help and she wondered if her lack of emotions was actually a challenge in this regard. But, being Fiach, she persevered. She could sense creatures and was beginning to understand their thoughts and basic emotions – and she found this was helping with this particular ability as she learned to connect mentally with a wild animal.