- Joined
- Aug 27, 2020
- Messages
- 29
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“So where are we going, Master?” Salek asked. He hoped it sounded deferential rather than strained, but the sensation of being out in space was not kind to his nerves. Every time before this, had had simply been blind. But now he could feel around their small ship, and it was all…empty. The Force sat completely still around them, not a single ripple to be felt. It was like being in the very center of a deep ocean, endless water above and below and on all sides, no light anywhere. His fingers drummed on the chair arm.
“An old haunt of mine,” Lentus said. “Gambling. Drinks. Jobs. Information. The perfect place to find out what’s going on where the holovids aren’t pointing.”
“Ah. What planet is it? Are we close?”
The comm crackled to life.
“Shuttle seven-two-alpha-niner-five, this is Errant Venture parking services. Please line up in queue and await the go-ahead to land in Hangar Two.”
“Understood, Errant,” Lentus replied on the comm. Salek felt the soft, steady pull of dampened G-forces as they changed direction.
“Errant Venture?” Salek asked with an eyebrow raised. “What’s that?”
“Can you sense it yet?” Lentus asked.
“I’m not sure, it’s not in my normal sensory bubble. Nothing is except us.”
“Don’t try to sense everything around you. Reach out along the Force. See if you can find a current, some kind of disturbance. It’s in front of us, a little to our left.”
Salek obediently let his awareness of the Force drop away, leaving him in the comforting darkness he was accustomed to. That darkness had been something he craved when the senses first started coming, a feeling of normality. But more and more, it had felt…wrong. Sinister somehow. He was beginning to understand the fear of not being able to see what’s coming.
No time for that, though. The young Jedi stretched his mind out through the Force, searching along its serene stillness for any sort of change. He looked out further and further, but there was nothing. He drew his mind back.
And the force of the sensation nearly knocked him over. He gasped and clutched his head as the world around him swayed. But there was no world around him, and he didn’t know if he was swaying or the ship was. Panic crept in, but he shoved it down. Control. The vertigo passed, and he blinked his way back to reality.
“I said, are you okay?” Lentus asked.
“Fine,” Salek replied in a slightly slurred tone. “Umm…I think I just came back too quickly. How to describe it…in a normal place, I can see to a certain distance, but after that it gets hard to make out details. There’s too much information, so everything blurs together if I stretch too far. But out here, it’s so clear. Outside of the shuttle, I feel like I could just keep going. I didn’t realize how far my mind had strayed from me, and when I pulled it back, there was some sort of snap-back. Like pulling a rubber band tight away from your leg and then letting go, but in my brain.”
“Ouch,” Lentus said without a great deal of sympathy in his voice. “Try again, but do it carefully. I don’t want you lobotomizing yourself when we’re just getting started.”
“Yes sir, Master sir, no lobotomies.”
He tried again. This time, he had a little more confidence in the first part, and he quested out far past the first place he had stopped. Slowly he swept his awareness around, feeling through the inky nothing around him. It felt so strange, not like sweeping his hand through water or air but somehow both at the same time, and yet different. He slowed down and paid more attention, and after a couple of minutes, he began to feel a slight…bend to the Force. Like it sloped downward towards something, but there was no down out here.
He followed that curvature to its source, and the surprise of what he found made him almost snap his awareness back again. Right. No lobotomies. Control. He held his mind steady and began feeling around the shape of what he sensed. It was a huge structure, full of life forms that pulled on the Force and made it glow on his sight. It was roughly the shape of – he searched through the memories Lentus had gifted to him to match the shape to the name – an enormous wedge. There were other structures rising up from both of its broad sides, tall towers and interconnected tube paths. At its heart was an enormous energy signature, not large but far denser than anything he had ever experienced, even a lightsaber’s beam. It was magnificent.
Lentus looked over at Salek’s expression and nodded.
“Good,” the Master said. “If we’re to get anything worthwhile done, we’ll need you to see better. We’re here to practice.”
The shuttle swept closer to the huge, recommissioned Star Destroyer, and a new world awaited Salek inside.
“An old haunt of mine,” Lentus said. “Gambling. Drinks. Jobs. Information. The perfect place to find out what’s going on where the holovids aren’t pointing.”
“Ah. What planet is it? Are we close?”
The comm crackled to life.
“Shuttle seven-two-alpha-niner-five, this is Errant Venture parking services. Please line up in queue and await the go-ahead to land in Hangar Two.”
“Understood, Errant,” Lentus replied on the comm. Salek felt the soft, steady pull of dampened G-forces as they changed direction.
“Errant Venture?” Salek asked with an eyebrow raised. “What’s that?”
“Can you sense it yet?” Lentus asked.
“I’m not sure, it’s not in my normal sensory bubble. Nothing is except us.”
“Don’t try to sense everything around you. Reach out along the Force. See if you can find a current, some kind of disturbance. It’s in front of us, a little to our left.”
Salek obediently let his awareness of the Force drop away, leaving him in the comforting darkness he was accustomed to. That darkness had been something he craved when the senses first started coming, a feeling of normality. But more and more, it had felt…wrong. Sinister somehow. He was beginning to understand the fear of not being able to see what’s coming.
No time for that, though. The young Jedi stretched his mind out through the Force, searching along its serene stillness for any sort of change. He looked out further and further, but there was nothing. He drew his mind back.
And the force of the sensation nearly knocked him over. He gasped and clutched his head as the world around him swayed. But there was no world around him, and he didn’t know if he was swaying or the ship was. Panic crept in, but he shoved it down. Control. The vertigo passed, and he blinked his way back to reality.
“I said, are you okay?” Lentus asked.
“Fine,” Salek replied in a slightly slurred tone. “Umm…I think I just came back too quickly. How to describe it…in a normal place, I can see to a certain distance, but after that it gets hard to make out details. There’s too much information, so everything blurs together if I stretch too far. But out here, it’s so clear. Outside of the shuttle, I feel like I could just keep going. I didn’t realize how far my mind had strayed from me, and when I pulled it back, there was some sort of snap-back. Like pulling a rubber band tight away from your leg and then letting go, but in my brain.”
“Ouch,” Lentus said without a great deal of sympathy in his voice. “Try again, but do it carefully. I don’t want you lobotomizing yourself when we’re just getting started.”
“Yes sir, Master sir, no lobotomies.”
He tried again. This time, he had a little more confidence in the first part, and he quested out far past the first place he had stopped. Slowly he swept his awareness around, feeling through the inky nothing around him. It felt so strange, not like sweeping his hand through water or air but somehow both at the same time, and yet different. He slowed down and paid more attention, and after a couple of minutes, he began to feel a slight…bend to the Force. Like it sloped downward towards something, but there was no down out here.
He followed that curvature to its source, and the surprise of what he found made him almost snap his awareness back again. Right. No lobotomies. Control. He held his mind steady and began feeling around the shape of what he sensed. It was a huge structure, full of life forms that pulled on the Force and made it glow on his sight. It was roughly the shape of – he searched through the memories Lentus had gifted to him to match the shape to the name – an enormous wedge. There were other structures rising up from both of its broad sides, tall towers and interconnected tube paths. At its heart was an enormous energy signature, not large but far denser than anything he had ever experienced, even a lightsaber’s beam. It was magnificent.
Lentus looked over at Salek’s expression and nodded.
“Good,” the Master said. “If we’re to get anything worthwhile done, we’ll need you to see better. We’re here to practice.”
The shuttle swept closer to the huge, recommissioned Star Destroyer, and a new world awaited Salek inside.