Might As Well [Need a Master]

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance felt a surge of pain in his face as he fell to the floor. There was no time to wonder it was, as soon as he fell, Lance spun himself kicking Valen's feet from underneath him. Using the momentum of this, he literally spun himself to a crouched stance. The training saber in his right hand flashed back to a regular grip as Lance thrust it forward towards Valen whether he be standing still, crouched, or laying on the floor. The strike was quick like Valen's but was unaided by any force. Lance was at a disadvantage because of his lack of training, but he planned to fight like a dog despite it.

 

[Mars]

Well, Lance definetly had no quit in him, a most admirable trait. *He spun and sought to kick Valen's legs from beneth him. To stop this, Valen merely planted his feet and allowed Lance to strike his shins that'd been hardened by years of contact with either those of a training partner or another hard object. Another thrust, another parry by the Jedi swordsman, again sending the former special forces soldier off balance, in the same right-left direction as before, leaving Lance open. As soon as his opponents blade was battered aside, he again invoked the force to speed his movements as he stabbed forward, striking towards Lance's midsection, just beneth his solar-plex. If the strike landed, which it likely would, it would drive the wind from Lance's lungs as it connected and leave more then a bit of soreness for a few days.****

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Due to Lance being a crouched position, his center of gravity was lower and thus the parry did not send him off balance. Instead he was able to retract his blade back to him just in time. Valen struck with a stab which Lance brushed to the side. All he did was move his training saber to the inside of Valen's saber. It deflected the blade enough to go off to the side but keep it's forward movement. Having that out of the way, Lance sprung up with speed only a soldier could possess. Lance's left hand, curled into a fist, would find a new home in the side of Valen's face. Following through was a rule Lance lived by, so he stepped off to the left not only creating distance but as he did so he brought the hilt of the training saber across Valen's face as well. Once the space was created Lance spun the training saber a couple times and dropped into the stance he had at the beginning of the spar.

 

[Mars]

As Lance's slight deflection of Valens blade was enough to cause a miss but not so much to leave the Jedi Master off balance, especially with a little aid from the Force. Valen ducked beneth the left hook as it whistled inches above his hair and weaved right to avoid the lightsaber hilt, absorbing the blow on his shoulder. From there the soldier created distance and assumed his backhanded grip.*

The grin on Valen's face had grown into a full smile as his training saber was extinguished, marking the end of the match for the time being.*

"Most impressive, especially for a first timer. We'll have to let you go against some other padawans to show them how it's done. I'd like to think I'm a good teacher as well, but you've shown solid potential." Valen said, pausing a moment.*

"I can say that you'll be capable of covering my ass out there after we do one or two more drills later, some blaster redirection, but you'll need a bit of aid from the Force for that. Tell me Lance, what's your opinion so far?"*

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance saw Valen's blade fall back into the hilt and did the same with his own. His actions were quick as he didn't want to black out and become uncontrollable. As Valen spoke Lance produced his pack of Coruscanti Lucks, pulling two cigarettes out of the pack and returning the pack to his pocket. He lit both of them at the same time, using his left hand to put the lighter back in his pocket and his right hand which still held the training saber to pass one cigarette off to Valen. His thoughts were lost in a long slow drag. He spoke as he exhaled the smoke.

"Pretty awesome so far. Looking forward to kicking some ass."

 

[Mars]

Valen took the lit cigarette from Lance and took a drag. He laughed as he noticed the confusion plain on the faces of the other Jedi present, smoking was not a common habit amongst them at all.*

"I'm glad you're enjoying it so far, thanks for the cig by the way. I have a pack of my own in my room, strong bastards they are, one of those keeps ya from wanting another for a few hours." Valen said, pausing to take a drag. "I've had much worse, but these don't pack much a punch. Let's head to my room, we'll work on meditation and see if we can get you moving things about with the Force, hold onto that training saber for now too." He said before turning and gesturing for Lance to follow.*

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance looked around the room to see most of the Jedi staring at them. He shrugged and got back to the conversation. "Yeah, I would have stronger cigs but I can't afford them. I'd probably still smoke just as much though. Keeps me awake" At Valen's next words Lance clipped the training saber to one of his belt loops on his jeans. Taking another hit of his cigarette, he nodded and began following Valen back into the corridor. Just before they entered the door, Lance threw his cigarette butt and adjusted the white hat sitting reversed on his head.

 

[Mars]

Valen nodded to Lance as he mentioned his reasoning for having to smoke more often. The Jedi Master punched in the code to his room and the pressurized doors hissed open. Valen's quarters were large, the size of a small apartment with a large bed, functional kitchen, and his own bathroom. His medium armour with various Jedi and Republic army markings across it and numerous blast burns and bullet scars across the matte grey exterior.*

In the center of the large middle room was a pair of padded mats, and in the center of that a line of metal balls in increasing size and weight, the largest being nearly a meter across and weighing over six hundred pounds. *Valen kneeled on the mat to the right motioning for Lance to join him on the other.*

"Have you ever meditated before Lance?"

 

[Tunnel Rat]

As Lance entered the room he looked around it, taking into account everything in the room. When Valen motioned for him to kneel on the other mat, Lance walked over to it and took a knee. He eye balled the different sized metal balls in front of him. His bright blue eyes shifted up to Valen's eyes and then back down to the balls. "I've thought about life while taking a shit if that's considered meditating." A smile was brought to Lance's lips as he looked back up at Valen. He knew that wasn't the answer Valen was looking for but it was his way of saying no.

 

[Mars]

Valen smiled to his new student at the joke. Taking a shit was often a man's most thought filled hours of his life, he could attest to that. "It's pretty close to be honest. That nice relaxed feeling, well, multiply that by three or so and you have meditation. Not only does it feel great during, unlike sex you have tons of energy after, usually more then when you started. Sometimes it helps if you have music to help tune the world out or are in an area of paticularly high Light or Dark side activity. I can also funnel energy around you if you're having difficulty." Valen said, pausing to take a breath.

"Or, you can do it the natural way. Breathe slowly, in your nose and out your mouth, and just....let go. Try it, let me know how it goes. It's the easiest way to get the Force flowing."

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance sat down the rest of the way as Valen spoke. He took a deep breath and closed his eyes. At first his mind wandered around in different areas as it normally did when he was trying to sleep but had too much energy. Another deep breath cleared his mind for a second. Then, without realizing it, his mind went blank and his body let go. Lance was completely relaxed. Suddenly, waves and ripples of blue, red, and gray hues swirled around him. He could see them, but his eyes were closed. He could see the spark of life within Valen, shining brightly.

"I'm either high on some good shit, or it's working." He kept his eyes closed, watching the swirls and ripples.

 

[Mars]

Valen allowed himself to slip into the famaliar feelings of his meditative session, the Force surronding him and flowing through his veins as if it were no more alien to his body then the very blood in his heart. To Lance, as soon as Valen slipped in, he would appear to be a shining beacon of the light side, glowing a brilliant blue color if he could see it.

"You're doing it correctly, we're not high, yet." The Jedi Master said with a slight laugh. "Now shape the energy you should be seeing around the smallest of the metallic balls. Lift it and hold it in the air as steady as you can."

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance started to focus on the swirls and ripples. After a moment he was able to collect them and group them around the smallest of the balls. He swirled the energy around the ball until he was sure that he had it. At that moment he lifted the energy higher and watched the ball lift with it. It wasn't hard to keep the energy steady once he had the ball up in the air. He kept the ball steady for a good minute before he dropped it and went to the next ball in size.

---Time Jump---

Lance had picked up the largest ball in the room and kept it steady. He had gotten used to using the energy to the point that he also lifted up the other balls and have them rotating each other as if it were a planet and it's moons. Just a moment later, Lance slowly brought the balls down and opened his eyes looking at Valen. "I'm not gonna lie. That was pretty badass."

 

[Mars]

Valen smiled as he exited his trance, his eyes returning to hazel from the almost neon blue they become whilst he meditates. Lance was a hell of a quick learner, taking to telekinesis like a bird to flight, he was impressed. "Excellent work. Now comes the boring part, unfortunately." Valen said, his grin fading as he spoke. "You need to go to the archives, look up the code and memorize it. When you get back, I'm going to have you break down the code. This is probably the first and last time you'll get stuck doing this, so just try to make the best of it for now." He said, standing and grabbing his pack of significantly stronger cigarettes, tossing them to Lance. "Here, try these out as a reward for not being a pussy Padawan."

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance rolled his eyes at the thought of actually having to read. He was more of an action taker so reading was not his forte. He reluctantly nodded his agreement at the assignment. He caught the pack of cigarettes, looking at them for a moment before turning his gaze back to Valen. "Thanks, I most certainly will.?" With that, he gave Valen a smile and walked out, swiftly making his way down the corridor. It wasn't hard to find the archives- all Lance had to do was follow the signs that lined the halls.

The door opened to the archives and Lance stepped through, his bright blue eyes searching his surroundings. They had holocrons and books on shelves everywhere one looked. There were a few consoles open, so Lance made his way to one and sat down in front of it. As it logged him in to a guest account, Lance took out one of Valen's cigarettes and lit it. His first drag felt amazing. It was strong and hit hard- Lance loved every second the smoke lingered in his lungs until he exhaled.

Finally the console was ready to use. Lance searched the Jedi Code, finding it rather easily and began reading it. Over and over he read it, burning it into his mind- at least temporarily. As soon as he took the last drag of the cigarette, he put it out and threw it into the trash and logged off of the console. He quickly made his way back to Valen's quarters, entering and looking around. Finding Valen, he looked at him and spoke.

"The cigarettes are nice. Deffinantly like them more than mine." At that he tossed the pack back to Valen as he continued. "The Code: Emotion, yet peace. Ignorance, yet knowledge. Passion, yet serenity. Chaos, yet harmony. Death, yet the force." After he was done Lance sighed. "That's pretty deep, man. Hits me right here." Lance patted his chest. Of course he was sarcastic. He hated philosophy and that's what the code was, philosophy.

 

[Mars]

Valen took the time whilst his student was away to throw on his armour, comfortably setting in as the tiny servo-motors made it feel as if he was in civilian clothing. He rolled his wrists and gave the armour it's standard check-ups, noting how comfortable the inside was, as always. Before long, he was all checked out and Lance returned. Catching the pack, Valen then listened to his padawan pound out the Code perfectly.

" 'Atta boy Lance, good one. Betcha it didn't hit as hard as these did though." Valen said, shaking the cigarettes in the air before taking on a sarcastic tone to his voice. "And now tell me, my apprentice, what does the code mean to you personally? For it is obviously the most important thing, and not protecting the galaxy or anything."

 

[Tunnel Rat]

"Well..." Lance thought a moment, making a playful thinking expression on his face while rubbing his chin as if he were a wise man. "I took it as we should protect the galaxy..." He paused, looking at Valen with a grin. "By preaching peace!" Lance threw his arms up and bowed his head as if he were praying. He reformed his composure after a moment, not being able to keep the laugh stifled. It was then that he noticed Valen's armor and looked it up and down.

"Unfortunately, my belief in peace through superior firepower overrules it." He paused again, looking the armor up and down for a second time. "Nice armor. Didn't know that old body of yours could carry some weight. I thought I was gonna have to hump all the supplies." Another smile spread across his lips.

 

[Mars]

Valen laughed at his student, he had a sense of humor similar to Valen's own and their personalitys seemed to fit together well. The comment about his body drew a paticularly hearty chuckle from the Jedi. "Thanks, it's a gift from your former employer actually. And yeah, I can hold my own thank ya, I can lift more with that power before then you'd think." Valen said, taking in a breath and smiling. "Now, on to the fun part. Lightsaber construction time. You have any questions on anything we've covered thus far?"

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance shook his head. He had no questions. Being more of a go-getter certainly made it easy for him to not need every detail about something. All they had covered is lightsaber combat, the force, and the code anyway. It was easy compared to half the things he had to learn in the Republic Army.

"Nah. Let's do this."

 

[Mars]

Valen motioned for Lance to follow him as they left the room and headed towards one full of crystals. One the way there, Valen spoke. "I've only ever crafted two lightsabers, the one you see on my hip at all times. It's not paticularly difficult, you're skilled enough with basic telekinesis that the actual putting together won't be the hard part. The parts fit together simply, you'll see it once you settle into meditation. However, the room we're heading to is full of crystals. Finding one that fits you in a massive room full of them is not usually so simple." He said, stopping as they reached the door. It lead to a warehouse sized room full of varying crystals, one of which would just...fit..for Lance. It was up to him to find that crystal.