Cold White Sand

[Viggy]

Nodding as his Master instructed him, the little spots of red light disappeared from the darkness of the Jawa’s hooded face as he closed his eyes. He tried to clear his mind. It wasn’t easy, as almost always had a lot of thought swirling in his head. When the floating droids invaded his aura, Okokeeza’s eyes flashed open on instinct to see them physically. He knew he shouldn’t have done that, as he was able to see them through the Force, but instinct had overpowered him. With a softly hissing sigh, the Jawa closed his eyes again and reached out with the Force.

At first he was only able to grab one of the droids at a time, leading the other one to give him a slightly painful blast. But Oko didn’t particularly mind the pain, in fact he enjoyed it. And besides, he was starting to get the hang of this. It only took a couple more tries before he had grabbed both droids with the Force. Eager to impress, he tried to disable them as well, but only ended up releasing them. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he quickly grabbed them both again before they could shoot.

“I’ve done it,” he said simply.

 

[Phil]

Durtrak noticed that this creature enjoyed pain, even when it was inflicted onto himself. That was good, because only more pain soon to follow in his future, as well as many others. He then reached out through the Force and grabbed one of the remotes, breaking Okokeeza's grip on it as he explained further.

"Now, holding the one you have, dissmantle it through the Force, then you will do sso with the other I have in my grip. You have ten ssecondsss to do sso before I releasse the other from my grip."

 

[Viggy]

Closing his eyes once more, the Jawa gripped the floating droid Durtrak had left for him and focused on all the parts that he could ‘see’ inside the floating of it, trying to dismantle it through the Force. Nothing happened for about five seconds, but then suddenly every piece separated itself from the others in the droid, the various parts rotating in the air the shower of sparks that had been created were suspended along with them by Okokeeza’s Force power. He managed to keep his eyes closed this time despite the disturbance, partly because he hadn’t been startled and partly because we was finding he kind of ‘see’ what was going on without eyes.

He quickly moved his focus to the other droid that was in Durtrak’s grip, which caused the parts and sparks of the already dismantled one to clatter to the floor. He took a bit longer then he had with the first droid, because the presence of his Master’s gripping power was a distraction. But the ten second limit had only just barely ended, when Okokeeza managed to dismantle that droid as well. He bit his lip to stifle a whoop of pride, knowing that would hardly be appropriate and that his accomplishment was insignificant anyway.

 

[Phil]

"You have passed, you now seem capable of telekinessisss through the Force. Now you musst consstruct your lightssaber; Usse what I have taught you, ssee through the Force how you dissmantled the droidsss and do the exact oppossite with your lightssaber partss."

Durtrak instructed, somewhat pleased that Okokeeza had passed this test of telekinesis. He felt he had great potential in him and would make a favorable apprentice... should he survive the training.

 

[Viggy]

“Yes, Master… I will begin immediately.”

With a bow to Durtrak, Okokeeza turned away and moved to the table where the schematics for his lightsaber were spread out and the required parts were piled. He looked over the schematics carefully, going over how he would duplicate the energy directors on both sides of the hilt so as to have the double-bladed lightsaber he desired. As he looked over the schematics and planned the weapon’s construction, he organized the parts according to what would be used first using the Force, so they would be readily available as he did his work. He was still a bit clumsy using the Force and a few parts were thrown off the table as he organized them, but he was able to grab them and bring them back again.

Once he had everything in order, the Jawa got down to work. It wasn’t easy, even with the Force, and it was almost three hours later when he had finally completed the lightsaber. But it was all worth it when he lifted it up and ignited the twin crimson blades. His red eyes that almost seemed to match the beams of deadly energy widening in awe as he looked at the tool he had created.

“It is complete, Master.”

 

[Phil]

Durtrak was quite surprised, to see an acolyte making a double sided lightsaber on their first try was quite a feat. If he could learn to use it without destroying himself would be impressive, and so Durtrak gave his nod of approval.

"Well done. That isss now your primary weapon, it will be far more ssuperior to any ssword or any blaster you will come acrosss. You have taken a rissk however, as double bladesss can become quite difficult to masster without caussing injury to oness sself. Now we will begin the training with Lightssabersss, for it isss the way of the Dark Maraudersss to usse them in combat."

With that, Durtrak ignited his one lightsaber and held it in a defensive stance, looking towards Okokeeza, right into his crimson eyes as if he was waiting for the little Jawa to make the first strike.

 

[Viggy]

Okokeeza nodded respectfully, taking Durtrak’s words to heart. He hadn’t thought about how easy it could become to injure himself with this double-bladed weapon, particularly since the blades weighed nothing. Nonetheless he was determined to learn to use it, and use it well. He didn’t know any stance to take in response to the Trandoshan’s defensive position, but he did know that he was obviously supposed to attack his Master.

As he adjusted the power level of his lightsaber to a point where it would not cut Durtrak deeply if he landed a hit, the Jawa thought of a simple approach to the battle. Without any sign or warning when he finished making adjustments, Okokeeza put a foot forward and faked a slice with one end of the lightsaber - then quickly swung the other end at the Trandoshan instead, hoping to catch him by surprise.

 

[Phil]

Durtrak saw this before in several acolytes: A bluff move. He placed his saber infront of him to block the attack as Okokeeza's blade collided with Durtraks. Durtrak then forced his blade downwards to Okokeeza's own, pinning his blade down as he looked down to the Acolyte.

"I am curiousss, mosst acolytesss make ssingle hiltsss, yet you managed to consstruct a double hilt. You will continue to sstrike at me with your blade until I ssay enough."

And so the training of Blades had commenced. Judging from what Okokeeza would throw at Durtrak, he would determine what form he should learn. He then released his saber and put it back into his defensive stance, waiting for the next move.

 

[Viggy]

The Jawa hissed loudly as his attack was blocked by the Trandoshan, and he found his blade being pushed back toward himself. He met Durtrak’s cold reptilian gaze with his own glowing red eyes. The Master was curious about Oko's choice of building a double-bladed lightsaber, and also seemed impressed that he had even been able to do it.

"I made it this way as I remembered Tatooine's twin suns, red as blood when they met the sandy horizon. I hope to have as much power as those burning stars, and more... Through the Dark Side, I will gain that."

He nodded as Durtrak told him to keep attacking. The Trandoshan had moved back into a defensive stance again, so Okokeeza tried another trick. He faked a lunging stab to the Trandoshan’s left side, adding a battle-cry in Jawaese to add to the effect.

"Utinni!"

Hoping his Master would be fooled this time and side-step to the right, the Jawa quickly pulled away from the stabbing motion and spun his body. This swung one crimson blades of his lightsaber at his Master’s right leg. As he then backpedalled, the Jawa followed it right a real poke-stab at his Master's chest, using the other blade. His foot movements and attacks were very quick, even graceful (for a Jawa), but his strikes didn't have a lot of power behind them.

 

[Phil]

Durtrak pulled himself back, blocking the blade that went for his leg while he bent his upper body back to avoid the stab. He then raised his blade up high to knock the blade that was up away, placing his own right back to his defensive stance. He would now begin to counter the moves, but he would leave Okokeeza to find out about that the hard way. It was highly doubtable that he could penetrate Durtrak's saber, but the more Okokeeza fought with his blade, the more knowledge he would gain from his new weapon.

 

[Viggy]

Okokeeza hissed again in frustration. His Master was good at this, which he really should have expected, but it was frustrating all the same. The Trandoshan was not fooled by any trick, and Okokeeza was sent sprawling backwards, holding onto his lightsaber as Durtrak knocked the blade away with his own.

Narrowing his glowing eyes, the Jawa tried a new strategy. He jabbed up at Durtrak's chest with one blade, knowing the Trandoshan would block. Immediately he struck again, and again, his twin crimson blades meeting his Master's lightsaber over and over. The small hooded Bogan-in-training danced back and forth on his light feet as he kept on hammering, slowly tiring himself out as he tried to break through his Master's defences.

 

[Phil]

With each powerful blow Durtrak blocked and repelled, he could feel the anger grow inside the Jawa, especially with each hiss released from his under his hood. It made Durtrak smile at how he was beginning to shape his apprentice, but there was one lesson he still needed to learn.

"Good! Good! The anger in your sstrikesss will make you sstronger then before, let it guide your blade!"

And that was when Durtrak went on the offense. He knocked Okokeeza's blade away from him, not enough to knock it out of the Jawa's hands, but away enough for Durtrak to attempt to land a kick into his small body to send him away. Pain. Pain and Anger were the next lessons to be learned, for only they could fully allow Okokeeza to release his true potential with the Blade and The Dark Side.

 

[Viggy]

The kick knocked Okokeeza backwards and onto the floor, sending the Jawa sliding across the floor and bumping his head on the wall. He slowly rose to his feet, narrow eyes glowing with malice. He would have liked nothing better then to cut his Master’s head off and bathe in the fountain of his blood. But he was nowhere near powerful enough to do, and in the back of his mind he knew his anger was unfounded. Durtrak was helping him. Nonetheless, he could do as the Trandoshan had encouraged and let his rage guide him in the fight.


After jumping quickly to his feet and igniting the blades of his lightsaber, he waited in a defensive stance for his Master to make a move.

 

[Phil]

Durtrak could sense the anger growing in Okokeeza's little body, and it was fueling his rage and will to gifht in. Durtrak smiled, which soon turned into an angry frown as he growled, leaping into the air and across the room until h landed right infront of the Jawa. Holding his blade tightly, he made a downwards slash towards Okokeeza' still not attempting to kill him until he knew that the jawa was going easy.

 

[Viggy]

Preparing himself as he saw the Trandoshan leap into the air and fly towards him, the Jawa saw that his Master was raising his blade for a downward strike. Oko side-stepped to the right just in time, Durtrak's lightsaber cutting a little tear in the left sleeve of the Jawa's robe. The Bogan acolyte hissed angrily and responded with a spinning slash at Durtrak that used both blades of his lightsaber. It was like a whirling wheel of red death, although he had set the power of the weapon low enough that it wouldn't be actually killing anything, even if his attack was successful. Using the momentum from his spin, he jumped aside and took another defensive stance. He was beginning to feel the Force around him as he fought, and sense his own aura of growing rage - as well as Durtrak's anger and power.

 

[Phil]

Durtrak turned as the red wheel of death went towards him, leaping back as part of it hit him in his right arm, a burning pain emitted on the Trandoshan. It was a lucky hit the Jawa landed, one Durtrak would not allow again as he growled, placing his saber low and stricking upwards towards Okokeeza, actualy attempting to hurt him.

Even then, Durtrak was not fighting at his fullest. If he was, Okokeeza would have been very dead as soon as the fight started.

 

[Viggy]

A high-pitched cheer of victory escaped Okokeeza as he finally landed a hit. He was under the impression that once you landed a hit on your opponent, a sparring match was over. He had a lot to learn about the Dark Jedi of the Bogan, obviously.

He was not prepared to block when his Master made a lunging stab up at him, and the Jawa would have been skewered dead if he didn’t jump back very quickly when the blade first burned through his robe and sunk a few inches into his flesh. The smell of burnt hair and skin came from the smoking hole in his dark robe, but Oko relished the pain and did not bother looking down to see the wound. With a growl and renewed fury, he began a series of fast attacks. He had learned that it was best to force Durtrak to defend himself at all sides, so that Okokeeza was the aggressor who controlled the flow of combat. He was also trying a few erratic moves, which he hoped would catch his Master off guard and allow himself to land another hit, though the Jawa’s defences were suffering for these strategies.

 

[Phil]

Durtrak was pleased, and continued to block and counter the attacks that were thrown at him, throwing in one or two attacks every now and then. He knew what to teach him, and when they fight again, Okokeeza would have the ability to fight as a Marauder.

"Hold! You have sshown you know how to fight, and proved that you have the makingsss of a Marauder. Now we will move onto other techniquesss that will sserve you well. There are two that you will learn, onesss I think will be fitting for you. You will learn to take the life of another, sstripping their ssoul from their body and ussing it to heal and rejuvinate yoursself."

 

[Viggy]

Okokeeza nodded as he was told to stop fighting, but kept his lightsaber's dual blades ignited in case this was a trick. Perhaps a test, teaching him not to trust others? He intended to pass the test, if so.

But it turned out that probably wasn't the case, as Durtrak moved on to talk about Force Powers. Eager to learn, the Jawa finally turned off his lightsaber and put it into a pocket of his robe. The move his Master described sounded incredible, and Oko hoped it might help him understand the Force's connection to life in general.

"Teach me, Master," he said simply.

 

[Phil]

"...and sso I sshall."

Durtrak answered, reaching his hand out to his side, yanking one of his trandoshan knives off the wall through the Force and into his hand. He then looked down to Okokeeza, tossing him the blade for him to catch as he walked past him and towards the door.

"Cut yoursself, inflict pain onto yoursself, draw your own blood sso it hitsss the floor. Thisss isss the firsst part of the power of Draining."

And with that, Durtrak was gone. Where he went was unknown, but his presence was could be sensed going down the hall, down towards the basement level.