Jungle Rumble

[Vexillar]

Viole and his latest students traveled off to Kashyyyk. It was there that they would do Viole the Archanist a service and acquire his latest...need. He recently became rather interested in animals, a part of him seeking to dominate them, and another seeking to learn from them. Such interesting things, creatures were. They had no limitations of a thirst of knowledge, they didn't seek to elevate their powers, and so their own powers were...well near perfection. It was a marvel really at how such a thing worked. How in being non-sentient, they held powers that rivaled a sentient. Viole chuckled softly at this revelation as he looked at the Acolytes before him. A small smile touched his lips at the thought of their challenge. He had told them nothing of what they were doing here, merely that they were all tasked with...something. As they dropped out of hyperspace, he stopped curling his locks. His lips fell into their usual solid line, and he crossed right leg over left. His entire demeanor had changed in but a moment of time. It was time to begin to lesson, before sending the Acolytes off to either their death or their future of success. He had gotten a reputation for being a very, very, effective teacher, albeit his methods were...questionable. While most were content to remain at a temple and merely practice the ability, Viole would see his students flourish by performing the ability in a real world application...a life or death situation. It was in this regard that they would truly be able to experience the power, to know it's limitations and see their own grow. Some called him psychotic, he called himself a realist.

"You are all here today to either learn, or hone, your...natural talent. He uses the word natural because that is what it is. One cannot be taught Force Sense, it is like teaching someone how to see, to breath even. It is an innate skill that all life, even those who are not like us, are born with. You simply must be open to it, and even if you are not...it will still whisper to you anyway. However, being open greets you with more time, quicker reflexes, a larger radius with which one may look for another. So always be open, always be waiting for that call of the Force. He will show you how to do so, how to do so properly, before sending you off to what will either be your final hour or your first steps to mastery of the Force." He stood up slowly and directed them all to look out the window at the approaching planet.

The Archanist breathed deeply, he could almost smell the Force, taste it, hear it's beating heart and feel the warm embrace of Ashla and Bogan's arms wrapped tightly around him. Such was his connection to the Force...to the Spirits. Tilting his head to the Acolytes he continued. "Feel it, Acolytes, you all can. The gentle hum of the universe. Tune your senses, disregard the creaking of the hull, the cold touch of metals, the smell of this ship. Push it all out. Feel only the beating heart of the galaxy, feel only the Force. The strings of life are many, and they bind all things. You to him, him to you, the pilot to every beating heart and every bending tree on that planet below. Feel it now. Reach out with unseen hands and call to the power that dwells within...and without."

He would continue to stand there, looking out of the window at the green planet below. It's radiance in the Force was brilliant, all planets were. So maybe it was his own glee that was making this beating heart of rock and life shine so much brighter than most. His anticipation rising, his desire for new knowledge.

 

[Slamdingo]

Kara wasn't a woman who often felt uncomfortable. It just wasn't in her nature to feel very awkward or uncomfortable most of the time. Yet something about riding in this shuttle, watching the Arcanist in front of her, made the woman - uncomfortable. It left a tingling sensation at the base of her spine and made her incredible conscious of anything that might have been moving in her peripherals. It was by virtue of specialties alone that Kara felt this way. Arcanists were, on the whole, unnerving to her. A fighter relied on their weapons and their body and their mind as one unit: honed and well-trained for their purpose but wholly understandable and she knew exactly what to expect if she found herself at odds with a fellow warrior.

The other castes of the Sith hierarchy were foreign to her. Assassins being bad enough in how they dealt in shadows, double-talk, and illusion but at least in a manner that could still be met and potentially beaten with a saber. But Arcanists? They were something else. Kara wasn't uneducated about the Force by any means, but compared to them she was just a child who could barely tie her laces - and she didn't much like that sort of feeling.

An assassin? A warrior? They could be killed with a saber easily enough. But the masters of the arcane? It seemed that every one of note had developed their own bundle of tricks and foul play that would make cutting them down with a saber or blaster just that much harder.

Though Kara had to give this prospective teacher one note in his favor. Where most of her previous teachers had taught the lesson from the relative safety of a Sith temple, they were at this very moment on a shuttle bound for a wild and untamed place where they would practice it in that moment. There would be very little in the way of fail-safes and Kara could see how it would force she and her fellow students to either pass with flying covers or risk anything from mauling to potential death. That part of everything would have brought a real smile to Kara's face, had she been the sort to smile.

When he spoke, he drew Kara's attention. She listened silently and followed a motion of the hand to look out the window of the shuttle, where she could look out at the surface of the planet below with their shuttle pulling ever closer. What he said was nothing new compared to what she'd heard other teachers give before starting a class. "Learn this or die painfully" as if literally every last thing you were trained in might get you killed. It wasn't until he gave them real instruction that Kara listened intently. Speeches about death and danger were one thing, but actual instruction on how to strengthen her connection to the Force for future training was something actually worth her attention. She listened and took his words to heart. She'd been given her mission. Now she need only focus.

Focus on the Force? That she could do.

Kara closed her eyes as she sat still slightly turned to the window. At first the very first sensation she noticed was - scent. The oil and grease in the shuttle, that kept its hydraulic parts moving smoothly so as to help them stay in the air. It was hardly so strong as to be pungent and was rather easily pushed out. She could hear her other classmates and their instructor, breathing, shallow and relaxed at present. While certainly far more present than smaller sensations, with enough effort and focus she slowly willed herself to tune them out like one would any consistent background noise.

The sensation of touch vexed her for longer. It seemed that the harder she tried to forget the feeling of her saber hilt resting on her lap beneath her hands, the more aware she became of the sensation. Of the weight of her own gauntlets and their protective plates that rested against the back of her hands. Even the brush of her coat on her arms and how it pressed down consistently on her shoulders. Her brow furrowed and the corner of her lips tugged down into a frown as she focused harder. Curse whatever power there was she had never been more aware of her hair in her life! While from the outside the "struggle" in her mind may have lasted for perhaps a few moments longer than some of her fellow Acolytes, to her it seemed as if it dragged on.

It wasn't until she could feel, ironically enough, those sensations slipping into the background that she began to reach out. To feel the Force around her. Feel her fellow students beside her in the shuttle. Their teacher standing close by. If she focused she could - she could feel the pilot, so calmly focused as they guided the shuttle down. And as they went down, closer to the surface, she began to feel the planet. Feel the life. The kind she admired: the constant and wild ways of nature. A balance maintained through force. Even if she couldn't sense it all at her level, she could only imagine that sort of euphoria. Feeling the thrill of distant hunts and racing hearts. She could even feel that to a degree as creatures of pray darted and ran or laid low in shadows hoping to escape the watchful eyes and hungry mouths of their predators.

The only sign of this that Kara would give outwardly was a relaxed expression and a slow exhale of breath. And perhaps it looked as if one corner of her mouth tugged up into a smile.

 

[Shadowcat]

Venin felt the ship shudded as it exited hyperspace. The small jerk was enough to loosen his closed eyelids, and he woke up with a yawn. He glanced down at the datapad that rested on his lap. It was still on. He had been studying the process of inverting the polarity energy of a magnetic field in a temporal region before drifting into sleep. He quickly finished the paragraph he had left off on before tucking his datapad into his belt, right beside where is lightsaber ought to be.

Few Sith carried a datapad in place of a lightsaber, but Venin had no choice. He had been brought into the Sith less than a week ago, and had been given little time to actually begin training with a lightsaber, let alone construct one. In fact, this was Venin's first class save for a quick session in which he was forced to memorize the Qotsisajak. Venin was well aware that the Sith training process was both tough and competitive, and even though he lacked the depth of training of some of his fellow acolytes, he was confident enough in his own abilities to outshine each and every one of his peers. Of course if worse came to worse, Venin had a blaster pistol concealed up his metaphorical sleeve and he suspected that most of the other acolytes were still novices when it came to deflecting fast-moving blasts of super-heated plasma.

Not that Venin was planning on making enemies during his first training mission. He would rather be making allies, beings he who would be loyal to him during his career as a Sith. Cocking his head to the side, Venin flashed the female acolyte beside him an arrogant smirk.

Venin detected the sudden change in his master's demeanor. Looking away from the acolyte beside him, Venin leaned in toward the Archanist, hanging on to every word. Not only was Venin fascinated by the mysterious properties of the Force, but he knew he would need all of the information he could get before being sent out into the field.

As instructed, Venin closed his eyes and took in a deep breath. As he exhaled slowly through his nose, he became very aware of the beating of his own heart. Feeling confident, Venin reached out into the Force, or at least he attwmpted to. He strained his ears and opened his mind, but all he could hear was the hum of the ship's engines, and all he could feel was the beating of his own heart. Anger sparked within Venin. He hated the idea of a failure.

Then it hit him like a wave.

It was like he had transcended into a whole new world. The ebbs and tides of the Force flowed through Venin, and he continued to track them as they flowed out into the world, crashing against various obstacles on the way. He felt the acolytes beside him, and his master in front of him, hearing their hearts beat alongside the rhythm of his own. Hunger surged through Venin, and he expanded his senses. He felt the life beating down on the beautiful planet down below. It was very serene and peaceful. Venin wanted to know more. He wanted to feel each individual lifeform and its imprint on the Force. He tried to expand further, but the strain was too much.

Venin's eyes shot open. This was only the second time he had ever reached out into the Force, and now he was paying the price for it. Beads of sweat dripped off of his forehead, and a dull headache began pounding in his skull. He rubbed his eyes. After being subject to the true reach and depth of the Force, even for a few brief seconds, experiencing the world through his normal five senses felt like being trapped in a prison. Venin wanted to be free.

He looked up at the Archanist, eager for further instruction.

 

[Alora]

Tar'ja stood on the bridge of a starship, looking at the planet below. It seems the instructor chose to teach them how to sense through the Force. He still kept speaking when Tar'ja opened up and let the Force flow through her. She saw the waves of the Force and the sight almost got her by surprize. The planet below was VERY alive. The waves and currents of the Force flowed over the planet's surface like a gigantic and not peaceful ocean. The splashes and waves reached out far beyond the planet's atmosphere, enveloping the ship and the planet's moons. Even the small asteroids and comets, which hit the planet's atmosphere every few minutes and burned out in its higher layers were enveloped and connected to the land below by the thick waves of the Force. It looked like gravity fields, but much more complex and much less stable. The colors of the Force waves changed every instant, from light green to dark red. Although in Tar'ja's mind it weren't colors, it were emotions. The color was just a way in which her brain interpreted them. She saw pain and anger, malice, but she also saw happiness, calmness, love and bliss. Life on this planet was thriving.
Tar'ja turned her head around, watching other students. She saw Force auras concentrating around them as they grabbed at the Force, bending it to their will. She saw it as a pathetic attempts to imitate the gift with which she was born. They pulled the strings if the Force waves to themselves, probing and tasting them, while she just opened up and looked upon the ocean of the Force.
Tar'ja knew her power over the Force was limited, and that many of the present students were gifted in the areas she wasn't even familiar with. Yet. But she knew her strengths and her weaknesses.
And as she remembered the writing work of one of the ancient Sith Lords, Darth Zanna: "Know thyself. If you know your weakness as you know your strength, you will be able to turn the former into the latter." Tar'ja knew hers. And she had every intention to become stronger. Maybe stronger then everyone here.
She turned back to the viewport. In the back of her head a slight sting began to pulse, but she ignored it. It will grow stronger and more painful the longer she concentrated, but she had to work on it sooner or later. Seeing the mass of the competition among the Sith acolytes, she decided it better be sooner.
She turned to the Archanist, waiting for the lesson to continue.

 

[Vexillar]

Many of his status didn't teach classes as much as they did one on one lessons. Viole loved the thrill of teaching new students, however. Mostly because he loved the feelings they experienced. Anxiety, determination, envy, jealousy, rage, pride, all of it circled around students at some point or another. In particular, however, he felt a sense of...ego-centrism coming from the Miraluka female. He chuckled mentally at this, it wasn't uncommon to see. She was, after all, born with a heightened connection to the Force than most beings. She did have certain talents that others didn't, and she was right to take pleasure in them. However, what he felt from her as she looked to the other Acolytes was almost demanding...more. The other two, however, experienced what was appropriate for those who had never actually tried reaching out to the Force. This skill, this power, was like a muscle. You had to work it out, and the more you did that the stronger it would become. Even if it was always 'on', so to speak, that didn't mean that it wasn't without limits. The goal was to push those limits as far out as possible.

"Acolyte Tar'ja. Pair off with Eezeo here. Let Sight give way to Sense, and feel the Force's warnings. Open your mind to the whispers..." Eezeo let out ten tentacles and wasted no time launching them at Tar'ja rapidly. Each one going for different parts of her body, and at a speed that was difficult to keep up with. Eezeo was a droid designed, originally, with one thing in mind; killing Jedi. For the droid, hunting and disabling an Acolyte, after having the capabilities to hunt Knights and Masters albeit with a slight handicap, was hardly a challenge for the little guy. Mistaking it's small frame as a weakness would be an error that people didn't make twice. "The rest of you, calm yourselves. find your center and let go of your bodies. Frustration will hold you back, and anger will only cloud your mind. Set your mind free of worry and concern, and see your thoughts filled with knowledge of immediate future." He shifted his attention back to the female Miraluka. They would all have their chance to try this ability out when they reached the ground. Viole looked beyond the hull of the ship, and see their destination taking shape. They had breached the atmosphere an were getting ever closer to their drop zone.

 

[Alora]

At the words of the instructor Tar'ja attempted to "close her eyes", shut her Sight down giving in to sensing her surroundings. In that same instant she felt a slight sting in her mind, like a warning. Somehow her body reacted without her intentions, jumping back. Only then she sensed something swoosh before her face. That little droid attacked her!
Tar'ja wasn't trained in acrobatics other Sith acolytes seemed to enjoy, so she couldn’t dodge all of them. She felt a straight hit into her chest, belly and left shoulder, all at once. The last tentacle sweeped low, knocking her off her feet. Tar'ja fell to the floor hard. The little droid retracted it's tentacles and seemed to be advancing at her. Tar'ja concentrated on it, expecting further attacks. And they came. The droid launched it's tentacles again. Tar'ja rolled out of their way and got on her feet. Without knowing she cocooned herself in the Force barrier, that created some sort of slow field. The tentacles hit it with blinding speed, but few of them "stuck" in the field, moving through it like through sand or thick jell. Tar'ja swang at them, her lightsaber hilt somehow in her hand, blade igniting by itself, answering to her need of protection. The tentacle heads fell off with bright sparks. But she managed to disable only three out of ten. The rest hit her with full force, knocking her to the ground again. The droid retracted the damaged tentacles, the rest lingering in the air around it. The killer machine seemed to be waiting for something. Tar'ja was lying on the floor, panting, her head splitting with headache. At last she managed to get up from the floor, standing a few paces away from the tentacle droid. Her hand gripped her lightsaber hilt so hard, that her fingers ached. Her breath was coming out in rasps.
She knew that the rest of the acolytes were watching her, probably laughing at her lack of fighting skill and her defeat at the "hands" of a dumb machine. That brought anger, that swirled inside her mind like a thunderstorm. She will not be beaten by a simple droid, she will not be left behind while all the other students went on to learn the powers of the Force. She will not be discarded as a failure!
With silent fury she launched at the droid. The mechanic opponent seemed to be waiting for just this, launching his tentacles at her again. While the droid waited for her to get up Tar'ja calculated, that droids intentions would be to attack her when she rose to her feet. So when she jumped at it, the tentacles shot at her. But this time she expected it. She managed to bash away one or two, not in the expense of having been hit with others. But her anger and fury drove her forward, allowing her to ignore the pain of the hits. She intended to cut the freaking droid in two with her lightsaber, but having no training in handling the lightsaber, she seemed to be less skilled with it then the droid was. One of the tentacles swooped up, hitting the hilt of her weapon from below and knocking it out of her hand. When Tar'ja landed right in front of the droid, she was disarmed, blood streaming out of the corner of her mouth down her chin. But the anger blinded her to the pain and damage. It drove her on. She felt it pulsing inside her head, like a raging torrent. "Kill it! Kill it! Rip it apart! Tear it in two! Use your teeth or your claws!" The pain of the Dark Side of the Force overcame all the physical pain she suffered. And she punched the droid with her fist.
She didn’t hear the impact, nor did she feel any pain in her knuckles from hitting a metal armor with bare hand. But the droid staggered and flew backwards almost ten paces where it fell on its back.
Tar'ja looked at her hand in surprise.

 

[Vexillar]

((Pardon the early post, her post required immediate response))

V relaxed a bit in his seat. He watched the combat with a twinge of...annoyance. He had given no permission to attack, but it mattered very little. The droid's tentacles could easily be fixed, something he could do while the students were out doing other things. He held out his hand and pulled her lightsaber to him as the fight concluded, and called a hydrospanner over to him as well while Ezeeo grabbed it's severed parts and walked to his master.

"Do you know why you lost?" Violes tone was distant as he set to work repairing Eezeo. It didn't take very much, but this was field repair work. He'd need his station to make proper adjustments. His mental barriers prevented anyone from picking up on his emotions as usual. He continued to speak, not waiting for a response. "Because you do not place trust in the Force. You take actions into your own hands driven by needs of a personal nature. When you do this, you insult the Force, you spit it's gift in the face. You are simply reacting, as opposed to acting. If you want to win, if you wish to be someone of note, never react. Savages, barbarians, and beasts react. Those with a desire to live, to win, they act. They listen to the Force, they don't shut it out."

The Arcanist spoke very flatly, in a solid matter-of-fact tone that was not intending to be insulting at all. While other Sith may be content to see students pulling on the Dark Side, V found no joy in that. It wasn't hard to call on the Dark Side. It was hard to remain calm in a fight, to accept the clarity the Force could bring by not blocking it's whispers. "When performing today's task you will find yourself challenged, pushed, and indeed hunted. Lose your temper like that and you will only be useful in pulling attention away from the others and on to you." A small chuckle escaped his lips as he finished the third tentacle. "Now then. Take a seat and join the others in opening your senses to the Force. You will all need to freely hear the whispers and feel the guidance to succeed here today. Directing her to sit and meditate, to feel the Force around her as opposed to just seeing it, he tossed her saber back at her. Viole's attention was drawn then to the others to see how they were fairing.

 

[Shadowcat]

Heeding the Archanist's advice, Venin once again closed his eyes and entered the world of whispers. The Force came to him easier this time, like a hard leather glove that softened with use. The Force could be soft and subtle indeed, when one ignored its more flashy and barbaric uses. Feeling the Force run through him, Venin set aside his doubts, fears, and anger. He promised himself to be more careful this time, and focus more on the intricate details woven into the Force, rather than the obvious every acolyte must have sensed by now. It was difficult, however, for Venin to suppress his deep-rooted desire for expansion. Even in the effort to cease his inner struggles and concentrate, Venin found struggle. Perhaps struggle was unavoidable in the Force, or at least in the usage of it. It was an interesting concept, and Venin would need to ponder it in the future

Feeling his fcous slipping, Venin let out a long, deep, breath, emptying every inch of his lungs before filling them up again. He slipped into a deeper meditation. He felt the presence of his travelling companions, the pilot, and of the ship itself. Easing himself deeper into the Force's calm waters, Venin felt each individual piece and part of the ship work in unison, grinding together to propel the ship closer to the planet's surface. A ship's engine was a thing of beauty, but never before had Venin experienced it like this.

He concentrated on the violent struggle between the droid and the acolyte. Venin did not need the Force to get a sense of the blind woman's arrogance, and it pleased him to see her humbled. From his perspective, Venin was able to sense the several projectiles as they streaked through the air towards the acolyte, but he wondered if he would have been able to properly dodge them. The other acolyte soon gave into her anger, and lashed out against the poor droid. Watching the display through the Force, Venin witnessed that pure, raw, anger, when mixed with a lightsaber, was not able solve every problem. Venin himself would have backed away from the droid, if only to give himself a fraction of a second longer to act.

Venin opened his ears and listened closely to what the Archanist told the failed acolyte. He would need to remember the Archanist's words if he wanted to achive his goals, and even when there was a whole world to discover down below, Venin knew that focusing his attention on the ship and the lessons to be learned within ot were key to his immediate success.

As the other acolyte sat down, Venin decided that it was time to have some fun. "And with that performance, you have fallen out of our master's good graces, and left room for another", Venin whispered, gesturing towards the not-blind female Sith. He spoke softly, so that only the Miraluka would hear, but in a Force Senses class, few things could be kept secret. Of course Venin had no knowledge of what the Archanist thought, but if he could drive some tension between his two rivals, while appearing as an ally to both of them, then he stood a fair chance of besting them in the end.

 

[Slamdingo]

Kara had never been good with words at any point in her life, so to describe her current state to others would have been - difficult. It wasn't uncomfortable, but it wasn't the most familiar. It wasn't painful but it wasn't pleasant. It wasn't many things. It simply - was. To open yourself up to the Force was an interesting experience. Intangible and impossible to truly put into words, Kara was learning. Especially to those who weren't as sensitive to it as a Jedi or Sith, or lucky enough to be born into a species naturally more sensitive to it. The Force was an - interesting thing. Bent and twisted to the plans of those of the dark side that used it, yet never truly submitting. Kara had learned more and more over the years that even she did not make the energies of this universe do anything for her, they merely allowed her to use them as she needed. It was a careful balance maintained between a Sith and something that even the most dedicated scholars did not seem to fully understand. With the Arcanist's instructions Kara did not demand the Force to come to her will so much as she simply opened herself to let it flow through her.

It was a chilling wave and a shocking experience to have one's senses so opened and extended. The co-pilot of the shuttle was new and hesitant, unsure of himself, and - and fearful. This was one of his first flights beyond training and he was constantly aware of the number of Sith in the back of his vessel. She could sense it in the speed of his heartbeat and the way his breath caught for a moment with a glance back to the cabin door while doing an instrument check. Next to him was the pilot: calm and collected with a steady pulse and a focused mind as she went about her task to shuttle them safely down to the planet. Everything around them was almost absurdly calm, save for the third student. A font of anger and arrogance. Kara was on the fence about that one: she was confident because she knew of her own power and talent for brutality, but the Miraluka had yet to show Kara anything worth respecting. But the anger? The anger she could respect. The universe was a brutal and cruel place that did not deal politely with those that met it with a happy smile. That being something the Jedi obviously failed to understand.

The fight between the droid and Kara's fellow student was disappointing. From the out-set it was clear that she wasn't used to the art of fighting or the saber that she eventually came to draw. Her form was reckless and ballistic. Kara was brutal and chaotic in her own right, she was a smart enough warrior to realize this, but even she knew that the mightiest swing of a saber amounted to a load of bantha dung if you didn't aim it well. Kara didn't even need to open her real eyes or turn around and face the fight to feel its outcome - the rage, the violence. Perhaps embarrassment.

"What a show. Laaaaaaaaame~"

"Disappointing, at best."

Kara nearly sputtered on a draw of breath, almost shocked out of her meditative state. It seemed even deep in the ocean of the Force, there were some things that a person could not escape. The chaos of battle. The pulse of the universe living around them. Or their own mind. Kara and Dirge might some day prove the death of her.

It was then that she realized one of the other two students was speaking.

"And with that performance, you have fallen out of our master's good graces, and left room for another"

Ah. So that was the kind of man he was?

"A silver tongue."

"Awesome."

 

[Alora]

Tar'ja ignored the comments of other students. She didn't care for them or their opinions, she was here for herself and only herself.
Even the instructor, he wasn't a person in her mind, he was a way of developing her abilities on her way to power.
Sitting in line with other students, she couldn't help but mull over the instructor's words.
"Trust the Force", "listen to the Force", "let it guide you"… All these were the teachings of the Jedi, not Sith. Sith do not bend to the will of the Force, they bend the Force to their will.
Suddenly Tar'ja felt something very wrong here. Either the instructor was giving them the wrong wizdom, perhaps to stall them in their progress. Or there was something else, something she will need to understand before it could be too late.
Tar'ja shut out the buzzing of other students around her and spread her Sense further, along the ship's corridors and walkways, storage compartments and cabins. She couldn't sense anything unusual or threatening on the ship. But the restlessness never left, it lingered somewhere in the back of her skull, like an annoying insect, scratching against her minds outer walls.
Tar'ja spread her Sense further to feel the planet below, to understand it's nature, to feel the worlds beating heart. She felt a vast life beneath the ship, an endless ocean of life. And that living and pulsing canvas crawled over something dark, something unknown but definitely dangerous.
- Kashyyk, - she whispered under her breath. - The Shadowlands.

 

[Vexillar]

"Venin...do not mistake his actions. The only one within his 'good grace' is his Apprentice." He had caught the Acolyte's words, and while he took no offense to them he didn't exactly praise such thoughts either. It was scheming and plotting like this that got Sith killed, and that saw their empire crumble. He wouldn't encourage such things in his class, but he wouldn't stifle their...creativity either. If they wanted to spark infighting and claw at each other's throats. That was fine. They could do so on their own time.

He smiled slightly as the other Miraluka seemed to pick up what the others missed.

"Ah...and so the rebel finally understands." He stood and walked over to the ramp, though it did not move...yet. "He has trained Assassins, Warriors, and Sorcerers. He has survived the horrors of planets long since forgotten, and learned from cults once thought dead. Believe in his teachings, and you may live long enough to call yourselves Sith..." He could sense the other Miraluka's distrust of his words. His job was to teach, and that's what he would do. If she wished to learn, that was on her. He knew there were some abilities that required a clear mind, a symbiotic relation with the Force in order to use. Most of the core abilities required little bending of anything, unlike the darker arts that lurked in the back of the Arcanist's mind...those ones required a better understanding of the Living Force and it's parts.

Direction to the door, and thus truly gesturing to the outside of their confines, he continued to speak. "He has set up a little test to pit your senses against a stronger foe. You will all leave your weapons here, and take training sabers with you. You will, for all intents and purposes, be defenseless as soon as you step off this ship. You will be either hunters or prey, and quite frankly, if you die then that is simply the will of the Force and he shall not save you. All of you must work together to survive, or die alone." They were swiftly approaching the landing zone, as Eezeo pointed out in Binary. The Miraluka bowed his head slightly in thanks.

"Can anyone correctly answer this...which is stronger? Ashla, the Light Side, or Bogan, the Dark?" It was a simple question, that held more opinionated answers than any true answer. That didn't mean, however, that the Arcanist wouldn't pick at their answer. To be truthful, he didn't really like the thought of the Living Force. He was a student of the Unifying Force, and it's teachings. He didn't see two parts, he saw one whole. But such a topic was best reserved for students who could clearly grasp the basics of the Force. So for now, he would play the Living Force Adept.

 

[Alora]

Tar'ja looked up at hearing the ancient names. Ashla and Bogan, that’s what the sides of the Force were called when there were no Jedi or Sith. The force-users were called something different then. And they used both of the powers.
There was no difference then, no-one cared about what side of the Force do you use. They cared only how you used it, to what purposes. And they believed in balance between them. Today the Jedi believe that it was wrong to dive too deep into the Dark Side of the Force, but the ancients believed that turning away from Bogan and immerse yourself in Ashla was just as wrong. Balance should be maintained for the Force is One.
- Only together. They're two sides of one and the same coin. And the coin is worthless if one of it's sides is blank. The Force is one. It's just the way you use it that defines you.

 

[Shadowcat]

Venin considered the Archanist's question carefully. To be honest, Venin possessed little knowledge of either of the names the Archanist had suggested, though it pained Venin to let any question go unanswered. He briefly summarized the facts he did no in his head.

"Bogan, the Dark, is stronger", Venin finally answered, "Because I think that if Ashla were stronger, then the Sith would not rule the galaxy, and the Jedi would not be forced to hide in the shadows. Hell, not even the light of all the stars in the galaxy are enough to keep the darkness at bay".

Satisfied with his own answer, Venin tuned out to the words of his fellow acolytes. Instead he unclipped the blaster from his belt and placed it on the floor under his seat. Next was his datapad, Venin doubted any of his rivals, or teammates, would be able to crack the encryption, and it would be a shame if he somehow lost it on a planet as uncivilized as the one he was on now.

Turning his attention back to the teacher, Venin waited for the Archanist to confirm Venin's hypothesis and give the acolytes a briefing of their training mission.

 

[Slamdingo]

Kara had waited until the other two had spoken before voicing her own opinion, "Its not darkness or light, its who is using it and how. I don't care about the weakness of the Jedi philosophy, they still have capable warriors. Even if they don't possess enough to fight us off."

Kara, the brute that she was, was still at least somewhat studied in the past of the group she claimed to be part of. The names spoken were lost on her until the instructor had elaborated on each one, however. And Kara had said what she had for two particular reasons. The first was that she legitimately believed that on a certain level, at least some Jedi had to know something of fighting and strength or there'd be literally none left. The second was because she'd heard the third student, Venin, voice his opinion, and before that she'd listened to his weak attempt at a power-play.

It was always the way of those who could not fight with a saber to try fighting with words or to convince others to fight for them. The Dark Lord could command such things because he had earned his mantle and the respect of those below him through strength and ability. This was a mere Acolyte who had yet to prove himself.

Kara did not like the Miraluka's failings in combat, but that was something else. Anybody who was willing to learn could handle a saber or a blaster or a blade. With time and experience they might even become a master of the art or go on to develop a style of their own.

But a snake was a snake. And it would always be one.

Kara unclipped the great-saber from her belt and looked over the hilt one final time before setting it down. The "grinning bitch" detested the idea of leaving her weapon behind in exchange for a simple trainee's tool. But then again, that was the point of the lesson, wasn't it? It would be hard to learn how to survive through use of the Force if she was simply cutting everything that came at her to shreds with her saber. So she may have hated it, but it was just another pain on the road to some day becoming a great warrior of the Sith.

 

[Vexillar]

"Kara, Tarja, you two are correct...or at least more correct than your comrade. For you seen, Acolyte Venin, Bogan is no more powerful than Ashla at least that's not what history claims. If Bogan is the ultimate spear, then Ashla is certainly the ultimate shield. Why else would the Jedi still exist? This isn't the first time the Jedi have been pushed into hiding, and yet they always seem to find a way to come back. What will you say then, Acolyte? Will you still look at your path as the one of true power? As the one that is superior? Many Sith, far greater than you or this one, have spoken your very words...those Sith are dead now. Fallen prey to their own scheming or to the Jedi they thought to be inferior. Poetic really..." He turned his attention to the other two. "That being said, man believe as you both do. That they cannot exist without the other, and as such are equal in power. If that is true, then why do we not co-exist? If the Sith hold just as much power as the Jedi do, and yet it is only in our usage that we can truly claim superiority, then why do the Jedi still live? There are a few in this Order who have met the Jedi Grandmaster, who have tried to capture or end her...and yet all parties still live. Is that to mean that the Sith are not skilled? Or mayhaps that the Jedi are simply too elusive to pin down? Or maybe, it is a sign that we truly are on the same page and that debating who's lightsaber is bigger is a waste of time."

He shrugged slightly as they got closer to their destination.

"Think about these questions as you travel out there, Students. You will need to pick a path within the Force. Be you brute, shadow, or investigator. You will have the Force on your side, but you must open your mind and embrace it. It is everywhere, in everything and everyone. It's strands waving about waiting for someone to catch them. Your task is simple. You must go down there and hunt a Vorysk ((sorry for the spelling error, go to the wiki site and type in Force-sensitive creatures, it's the black dog. I'm at work right now so I can't look it up.))."

Now the thing about this place was that landing here was incredibly challenging...so they wouldn't. They were expected to jump. "He arranged to have some transported here for this very exercise. Though it seems they don't quite agree with the local wildlife. Everything is on high alert now that there is a new predator in the ecosystem, so tread with caution. These canines can also do as you are learning to do...sense through the Force. They will detect you probably the second you touch down, and at that point you have a choice...will you be hunter or prey? If you choose to be hunters, you will be tasked with guiding one of the aforementioned creatures to the ramp to civilization. He will handle the rest." He reached up and grabbed the bar running along the ceiling as the ramp dropped down, revealing that they were still rather high up in the air.

Your first test will be to jump. If you can't use telekinesis to lower yourself, then he recommends really, REALLY, opening yourself to the Force. It will guide you to the proper time to jump and the place to jump to." He spoke to them in their minds over the roar of the wind. The ship lowered just a bit and slowed only slightly so they could at least make out the trees and such. The chit chat and theory talk was over; it was time to see if they could truly grasp the power of Force Sense and survive the Shadowlands. Without their sabers they would be more prey than predator, but with Force Sense they would survive long enough to perform the task at hand. The training sabers would deliver a sharp sting to anything that tried to attack them...most likely pissing it off more than pushing it away, but even so. Enough of it and they could indeed tame a beast. It would require teamwork, however, to survive here, to see the task done.

Which is exactly why he did what he did. Being Sith was not about standing alone, and yet had he not exposed their thoughts and pushed them to divide themselves, or isolate themselves, to judge each other, they would simply go out and, like a robot, do what must be done. He wanted sentient beings, capable of seeing passed disagreements or petty rivalries.

Truth be told he expected them all to die before an hour had even passed...which reminded him.

You will have 48 hours to do this...have fun, don't die...oh and roll as you hit the ground.

 

[Alora]

Tar'ja stepped up to the opening ramp and opened up to the Force. The ship was skimming low between the trees, which were considered the tallest trees in the known galaxy. Tar'ja could hear leaves and branches brushing against the hull of the ship. And the Force here hummed constantly, so alive, so wild and untamed, so beautiful.
Tar'ja listened to the Force while the instructor continued his talk. "The moment to jump" he said. Tar'ja didn't try to concentrate this time, she simply listened to the Force. And then she simply stepped out of the ship.
She expected to fall, knowing that she wasn't that attuned to the Force to guide herself by simply feeling it, she was more used to seeing it. But she didn't fall. Stepping off the lowered ramp, her foot landed on a very thick branch of a tree, more then two meters in diameter. Tar'ja "looked" at the path before her. The tree branch was leading down, to the trunk of the tree, but it was constantly crossing over the other branches, making some sort of walkways and stairs. Tar'ja imagined that this was how wookies traveled through the forests in the first place. The branches were so thick and sturdy that one could walk on them without fear or hesitation.
So that's what she did, descending to the ground by simply walking down the branches, stepping from one to another. In the end she had to jump down to the ground, but it was a jump no more then 2 meters down.
Standing on the solid ground she looked around. The forest seemed quiet and peaceful to her. But it was a deception that could get anyone killed, even a Sith. It wasn't peaceful, it was silent as a predator ready to jump on its prey. With that thought Tar'ja looked at the training saber she got from the ship. The hilt was very simple and basic, to decorations, no "personality", just a dull-grey tube with a switch on one side and a clip on the other. Tar'ja flipped the switch and a blade ignited. She couldn't of course tell the color of the blade, but the weapon felt… dead. Just as a simple pistol or a blaster. It wasn't alive like her own weapon. She imagined the cause of that would be a basic synthetic crystal inside, that wasn't attuned to the Force, weak and useless. Tar'ja swung the blade at the nearest trunk of a giant tree. The blade didn’t leave more that a thin mark on the bark. It didn't cut deeper than a millimeter, causing a weak burn on the surface. Useless.
Turning the blade off, Tar'ja looked up at the withdrawing ship, waiting for the rest of the Acolytes to descend.

 

[Shadowcat]

If there was anything Venin hated more than being wrong, it was somebody else telling him that he was wrong. His face remained neutral, giving little away when the Archanist corrected his assumption. Venin knew better thanto challenge the Archanist, without a question if a doubt the Arachnist knew more about the the Force than Venin did, for now. Venin simply reminded himself that mistakes were the quickest way of learning, and focused his mind on memorizing the wise Archanist's words.

Then a question sparked in Venin's mind, and he rarely let his questions go unanswered. "If they are equal, than why do they bother slapping each other with glowing sticks? If the Dark learned the secrets of the Light, and the Light learned the secrets of the Dark, then the entire galaxy could be theirs".

Not that Venin was ambitious enough to desire the entire galaxy. He was mainly interested in understanding the endless struggle that had managed to both define and shape the galaxy over the course of thousands upon thousands of years. He was also interested in knowing if there was a way to learn the secrets of both the Bogan and Ashla.

Venin gaped in disbelief as the loading ramp lowered, revealing the drop that the acolytes were supposed to leap out of. He needed to do a double take to ensure that the Archanist did know that the ship was in fact, still moving. Fear turned Venin's legs to lead, and his arms to feathers. At least his wits stayed with him. He hardly noticed as the arrogant Miraluka took the leap. He vaguely became aware that it was his turn.

He gripped his training saber so tight, that his knuckles turned a pale shade of white. Venin stepped out onto the ramp, and looked down towards the ground. A lump formed in his throat, and Venin took a step back. He almost felt dizzy.

A wise man had once said that one was not afraid of heights, but afraid of falling; however, the falling did not worry Venin so much as the thud that awaited him on the bottom. Venin did not want to die, but he did want to know who is father was, and the Sith just might have an answer for him.

Bracing his arms on the walls beside him, to steady himself, Venin closed his eyes, controlled his breathing, and concentrated. First he felt his own fear, then he felt the world rushing beneath him. He felt the life, and he felt certain death. Venin opened himself up, attempting to trust someone other than himself for once, even if that "someone" was an abstract entity that binded the entire universe together.

May as well land on an area filled with life, it might increase my chances of actually surviving this insanity.

Keeping his eyes closed, Venin took a step forward. "Alright, you can do this, you can do this", he murmered to himself. He took another step forward. He felt the force of the wind as it blasted through the unchecked air. Venin felt an area teeming with life coming up below him. He took third step forward.

The things I do for family.

If the Archanist wanted courage, he would not find it in Venin. The Sith acolyte screamed the entire way down.

He felt the air was it blurred by him. His eyes dried up, and his lungs cried out. The freefall did not last long. Soon Venin felt himself hit a large green leaf. Then he hit another. Then another. Eventually, a branch broke under Venin's weight, and he tumbled to the ground and landed on a sheet of nice soft ferns. It was far from the most graceful leap, but fortunately there was nobody around to witness it.

Venin stood up on his feet and glanced around. While he was highly educated in biology, outdoors survival was not one of his many specialties. A new fear sneaked into the back of his mind. The air felt cold agianst his skin.

The Archanist had told the acolytes to work together, Venin was beginning to understand the Archanist's advice. He focused once again on the ebb and flow of the Force. He felt a familiar signature appear like a blimp on a radar half a mile from his own location. Venin guessed that the familiar signature was probably the Miraluka acolyte. He was sore from his fall, but Venin forced himself to begin a steady jog in her direction, hoping that he would find her, before the beast they were hunting found him.

 

[Slamdingo]

Disarmed, assigned to work with a poor fighter and a snake that thought himself a master of double-play, and now the pilot couldn't even land the shuttle. This day was just going to keep getting better. Kara could feel as much in the pulsing in her temples of a slowly growing headache. Kara watched in silence as the Miraluka was the first to step from the shuttle and disappear below the edge of the ramp. Howling winds meant that the sound of any potential poor landing was totally lost along with any view of the other Acolyte. And then her second partner went forward and he too disappeared when he stepped over the edge of the ramp.

With him gone, that left Kara standing there with her training saber in hand, and feeling the wind against her as she stepped closer and closer to the edge of the ramp. Though she didn't show it outwardly and she would never admit it to anybody, Kara felt a growing fear in the back of her mind when she looked down at the ground seemingly too far below. Something was nagging at her, picking at her confidence.

'This will not end well.'

Kara focused her mind as she closed her eyes, trying not so much to reach out to the Force, as to let it come to her this time. She let the natural life around her come to her in its own way, for once actually putting something like trust in anything other than her saber and her own two hands. Predators and prey, the very plant-life. Everything of this world was a part of the Force in some way and each of these things had their own signatures. Energy surrounded her, beginning to seep in and course through her. Kara drew closer to the edge of the ramp, eyes still shut, and a slowly tightening grip on the hilt of her training saber. One step closer to the edge. Then another. And as the toe of one boot peeked over that edge, there was only one thing left to do.

The Acolyte jumped.

Open air met her fall and she plummeted. It was only when she'd jumped free from the craft that she opened her eyes again, taking in the world that was slowly starting to spin in its rush around her before she'd oriented herself to start controlling her fall. She pulled the energies of the Force around her this time, focusing them on her, and imagining a cast net of sorts rising up to meet her as she fell. Wind pulled at her still as she fell but it was impossible to miss as she fell closer to the trees that she was - slowing. Not stopping, or even getting slow enough for her liking, but it was becoming increasingly possible that she wasn't going to splatter everywhere the moment she hit the ground. Kara might have smiled at her success as she looked down at the approaching trees - but then she saw a glimpse of the river.

The branches and leaves ahead of her as she descended into the trees gave way easily enough, some snapping away entirely as she fell. The foliage immediately blocked her vision and she lost what little she had been able to see of the river's surface. Kara did her best to channel her focus, to keep the net of the Force that she had made and envisioned beneath her as best as possible, and at the same time trying to perhaps redirect herself to a less -

Kara made impact with the water.

The cannon ball splash might have been impressive if there had been onlookers.

But the Acolyte found herself several feet below the surface, in a strong current.

What came in the next few moments was a desperate scrambled. She kicked for the surface and the light above, arms flailing for any sort of purchase as she felt the flow of the river pulling against her. She was tumbling and unable to see. Her breath was running out. It wasn't until she found, and kept, a handhold on a large rock on the shore that she was able to stop herself and pull her head above the surface for gasping breaths of precious air. And it was only after a brief rest in that position that she was finally able to pull herself out of the water and begin to take stock of herself. No injuries. Nothing missing. And the rather useless training saber still mercifully at her belt.

Kara took a deep, calming breath. This was not a good start to the exercise.

All she could do now was focus herself again. This time as she opened up to the Force she looked for something in particular: the signature of her fellow Acolytes. Both distant, though not more than a quick jog away, and mercifully in the same general direction. And thankfully on her side of the small river she'd just pulled herself from. Kara turned in that direction and started jogging into the jungle.

 

[Vexillar]

As the Acolytes fell, Eezeo beeped a few words in Binary. Mostly conveying his belief that the Acolyte's would probably meet their death down there...especially the screamer. Viole chuckles softly as he pulled the ramp up and signaled to the pilot to find a landing zone. He would monitor their progression through the Force, keeping his senses heavily trained on the three of them to feel for any potential dangers they may run into. Their prey and predator had almost certainly zeroed in on them by now. The vornskr were relentless in their hunting tactics. They moved in packs, and a single one was bad enough. As a group though, they were well beyond lethal...

And they loved anything with a heavy Force Signature, such as those formally trained in the Force.

(( OOC:: I'll make the occasional post, but from here on you guys are free to RP as normal, try to get in at least another page and a half of RPing before you finish the mission up. Good luck out there! And remember; the goal is to catch a vornskr alive. Try not to get eaten along the way ;D ))

 

[Alora]

Tar'ja felt, or "saw", both fellow Acolytes approach. Now was the time to think about how to complete the task they were given. Of course from her studies Tar'ja knew everything there was to know about vornskrs, but it was a theoretical knowledge.
When the Acolytes arrived at her location, Tar'ja was sitting on the log and doing what might seem to be meditation. In reality she was looking through the forest. The effort cost her some pain in the back of her head, but by now she got used to it and even learned to turn the pain into anger and therefore the strength.
The forest glowed with thousands of colors, every living thing adding another shade to the canvas. Tar'ja was trying to sift through them, looking for predators. They didn't glow red or brown in her eyes as some would suspect, because their aggression wasn't emotion, it was instinct. So the color would be slightly different. But she was looking for predators, attuned to the Force, and that gave quite a glow. Then she picked it up. And not one, a group of them, few miles to the east. Group will be difficult.
When she let go of her Sight she found both Acolytes in front of her. It would seem they were irritated or annoyed.
- To the east, - Tar'ja said. - Five or six beasts. Not hunting, but laying a lair.
She jumped down to the ground and looked at the Acolytes. Tar'ja herself wasn't a hunter or a good fighter so she should rely on strengths of her companions. But she found it somewhat uneasy. One was a slime, a snake, but something told her it was a façade. The other… the girl was more complex. She glowed with Dark Side like all the other Sith, but her aura sometimes "flickered" or shimmered, changing signature or form for short periods of time. Tar'ja didn't know what it meant, but it did mean something. Now was the time to determine how they are going to capture one of the vornskrs alive.