Collan: A Meditation in Blades

[Collan]

Collan stood at the ready in the aft hold. Last night had been a little harrowing with the vision that the Dark Side had given him. How much was real? How much was the Dark Side trying to manipulate him with lies? Or worse...manipulating with truths shaded just enough to create real impact? Ultimately, he'd been able to break through the hold of the Dark Side and free himself through the Force.

Was he a Jedi now? Or just someone with the ability to use the Force unlocked within him? He felt his back. Slave. Warrior. Medic. A warrior again. And now...(and Collan smiled) a space wizard...of sorts.

So Collan sat...his clothes were still those of a Bladesea freerider rather than a KDF soldier or detached service. He missed them; the KDF and Resistance was the first time he'd belonged...been welcomed or been a part of something greater than himself. Dwelling on the lights in the northern desert, Collan felt the pit of stomach just drop again. He would face that situation again and again. Soldier or Jedi (in-training, he added). Both faced losses in battle and would see friends die.

Collan breathed deeply. His sandy brown hair practically reached his shoulders now. He kept it tied back for battle purposes. It would no good to have it whipping in his face. His shoulders heaved with the sense of finalty one got upon recognizing a death...or deaths. It was hard to let go of the pain of knowing that there would no more...newness...Collan realized. Jex. Demaia. Tibbero. Now part of the Force. As one day he would be.

Collan began to order his mind. These thoughts were a distraction and it was useful to let them out. To get a feel for them. To give them their due...acknowledge and move on. Such things were necessary to achieve peace.

There was a detachment that came too. The newly-minted Jedi Apprentice felt it. Identity mattered less in the peace and calm of the Force. He let that wash over him as well...the release of the self in order to become one with the Force a little more than before. A small death Collan would later reflect on.

The yellow-bladed saber was in his lap before he knew it. The purpose of today meditation was to practice with it. To lose himself in the Force and learn how to achieve the calm needed more and more quickly. For obvious reasons, this day was a little slower than others. But Collan felt at peace with that...and frustrated at the same time as well...and that was okay as well. Acknowledge agitation and move on.

Releasing himself to The Force, Collan stood and ignited the blade. It came to life slowly, the sound of the barrier field and hot plasma creating a slow ripping noise as it split the air. The hum was ominous yet soothing at the same time. He took a stance and concentrated, renewing himself in the Force moment by moment. Collan moved from one stance to another over and over. Practicing what he could remember from Ch'lana's fight.

After some time, he stopped. Ch'lana voice sounded behind him.

"You've learned control, Collan, and are practicing. But you move badly...unconnected. You try forms that lack knowledge of their purpose and reason."


[ooc: space wizards!!! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agcRwGDKulw  More to come...]

[Collan]

Collan gave a Ch'lana a bow. He knew he didn't know what he was doing, mostly trying to get a feel for the weapon. He said so.

"It's hard to control it properly, so I've been practicing with it to see what I can do and learn how it works. It feels like it's fighting me...like it wants to twist out of my hands or it pushes back. Niil mentioned something about how the plasma field flows...but it seems more random than that."

Without a word, Ch'lana drew forth his lightsaber and held it out, horizontal against his chin. Ch'lana's right hand over the top but near to the base, his left closer to the emitter coming from the bottom. With his eyes, the old Knight appeared to gesture that Collan should do the same. Right hand at base; left near the emitter.

"Reverse your grip," the old man said, "Dominant hand on top, the other below. This is your center." Ch'lana closed his eyes and ignited the blade, it's gentle hum warming the room with its blue light.

Collan did as instructed and followed Ch'lana's example. The yellow blade snapped into existence, a lower slightly more ominous hum, but warm nonetheless. Collan realized that his blade sounded raw to him while Ch'lana's was more refined. Was that a function of the training blade? It's lack of finesse and attunement?

Center, Collan, center was the thought that raced across his mind. So he let go of the thought and observation and focused on his inner being, finding the Force within himself and bonding with its flows, leaving behind concerns. As he did, Collan felt a small pressure or need (hard to describe was that feeling) to open his eyes. Ch'lana's eyes were already open, watching Collan.

The Jedi's right foot went back as his left went forward, the blue blade angled around to the right, going from horizontal to vertical. Getting a feeling that he was to copy his Master, Collan mirrored the movement, right foot back, left forward, saber to the right and vertical.

"This is ready," Ch'lana intoned laconically, "From here you are committed to the fight. You are not yet ready to do that, but I can feel you using the Force to help you. Good. I will teach you some of the basics, called Shii-Cho. Stand still and do not move."

Ch'lana swung his saber slowly overhead, holding it guardedly. Coming within a good six inches of Collan's head; he could feel the crackle and sizzle of the ionizing air.

"Zone 1. The head," Ch'lana noted, "High guard position. Strike overhand, center line. Vertical. The counter is horizontal, head-high, angle across the body."  Ch'lana withdrew his blade a foot or so and nodded his head. Collan brought his own up in the prescribed position.

"Further out. Avoid contact," the older man instructed as Collan did so, Ch'lana brought his saber down lightly striking the yellow blade, creating a small point of green light and the distinctive saber-to-saber crackle Collan heard on the prison ship.

Ch'lana withdrew back to ready so Collan did the same. Ch'lana gracefully arced his saber around to Collan's right, contacting the younger man's readied saber.

"Zone 2. Your right; my left. This can be done from most guard positions. Counter with a vertical high parry from ready."

Ch'lana shifted, "Zone 3. The reverse," and he began a slow sweep counter-clockwise. Collan moved his saber to block in the opposite of his ready position. Ch'lana seemed almost to bounce off the parry as he spun counter-clockwise again...still slowly, but it forced Collan to twist his head around to watch.

"Zone 4. The back. A successful strike here is always fatal. Never let an enemy behind you. The parry is saber over the nearest shoulder, vertical," Collan followed the instruction and felt the blades contact and heard their sizzle.

The younger man started to speak, but Ch'lana cut him off, "You will learn the footwork later."

Ch'lana removed the contact and walked back around front, point to his right lower body and left in turn, saying to each respectively, "Zone 5. Zone 6. Counter is a drop parry like so," Ch'lana lowered his arms and hyperextended his wrists, Collan copied the movements.

For the next hour, Ch'lana put Collan through his paces with slow motions attacks to test the Jedi-in-training's basic defenses and then made Collan commit to attacks against the zones. Several times, Ch'lana called a halt, where he extinguished his blade, and came over to Collan to adjust wordlessly his stance, arms, or blade position. As Ch'lana was teaching him, Collan found the blade slightly easier to control, even more so as the older man made him shift his body around or change grips. After that hour though, Ch'lana called a halt.

"Return here tomorrow. 23 hours from now. We will continue," Ch'lana said as he departed, "You can continue your practice with the dummy over there."

Collan looked over to where Ch'lana pointed. There was a human-sized dummy (and human-shaped) that bore several burn marks in slashes. When he looked around to talk to Ch'lana again, the Knight was already gone.

[Collan]

Collan had found it hard to sleep. The Dark Side had been a thorn in his mind all night. An itch trying to get noticed...irritating enough that it broke his concentration a little. He hadn't noticed it till he was trying to fall asleep.

Now Collan was weary. He could feel his body dragging itself along, sustained primarily by his own willpower to keep moving. But, as duly instructed, Collan returned the aft hold the next day, less one hour. He found Ch'lana there with two sets of three progressively smaller circles inset each other. Collan cocked his head questioningly to one side.

What are those circles for? he thought to himself. Obviously for training, but to what purpose.

Ch'lana took an appraising look at Collan; he seemed to sense the young man's exhaustion and lack of sleep, but said nothing. He indicated to Collan to come stand in one of the circles. He took the center of one circle and waited for Collan, who stepped into another.

"These are the rings of attack and defense," Ch'lana said upon Collan's entry in the circle, "Outer. Middle. Inner. Each has its purpose and forms for use. The outer ring reflects the use of strength. Attacks and defenses require the use of power. The blade is held diagonally for guard positions in the upper and lower right; upper and lower left. Contact should be made on the last third of the saber," his finger shifted, "The middle ring is the ring of quickness. The Jedi relies on his speed and accuracy. It is the preferred mode of combat from where you also deflect blaster fire. There are four guard positions as well," he demonstrated with his forearm, "upper and lower with the blade horizontal. Left and right with the blade vertical. Contact can be made anywhere from the middle third to the outer, but middle is preferred," his hand rested over the final circle, closest to his body, "The inner ring. The last resort and the ring of desperation. This is not a place to attack or defend from. Your inner ring is typically your enemy's outer ring. Here you don't block, you parry. There is a single guard position," Ch'lana demonstrated it, "Hilt over navel. Blade up or down. Parries need to made with the inner third of the blade, where you have leverage. You parry up and away."

That had been a dissertation for Ch'lana, but he added one final bit.

"There is one thing you need to remember. Once you ignite your saber in battle, you must be prepared to use it. It has but one purpose: to cut. In battle, there is only the cut."

Ch'lana then took out his saber, centered himself and ignited it. Collan followed his lead. As he closed his eyes for the centering, the Dark Side waited there to irritate him. It impinging on his senses and kept waving its arms like a small child bugging his or her father for a treat. It took active effort to shut it out...if that was a thing. It made it harder for him to focus, but Collan was able to get through it but he just could only barely feel the Force at all, but he was finally able to focus and concentrate.

When he opened his eyes, Ch'lana's hard gaze was upon him. The Jedi probably knew what Collan was going through; that he was fighting the Dark Side. Collan moved into the ready position.

Then it started. At first, the movements were slow and deliberate, training Collan's muscles to respond to the needed motions...to go immediately into them. Outer. Middle. Inner. It was somewhat discomfiting to have Ch'lana's saber so close during the Inner Ring training. Ch'lana saw it and the worry it created. He reminded Collan that like in martial arts, a Jedi has to learn how to handle being so close to a dangerous weapon in combat. It didn't no good to freeze when in the last resort.

Collan had fits and starts as he went through the exercises. Sometimes the irritation of the Dark Side got to him, frustrating him and pinging a little bit of anger, forcing Collan to work to bring his mind back to order. Ch'lana seemed to sense these episodes and would back off, allowing Collan to focus more.

They spent significantly more than an hour this time. Ch'lana taught Collan much more than the basic zones but rather specific blocks and parries to Shii-Cho. Collan was fairly sure that what Ch'lana had used was more fluid and graceful compared to the raw forms he was learning. Which made sense given this was the beginner's form.

Ch'lana finally signaled a halt. Where Collan was drenched in sweat, Ch'lana seemed to still be fresh.

"Same time tomorrow," the old man said in parting.

[Collan]

Night was different this time. Collan's exhaustion easily overwhelmed the Dark Side's call to him. Sleep came like death...complete and black...where the Dark Side replayed images of its vision of his father for Collan. But he woke and did his share of the shipboard chores before joining Ch'lana in the aft hold.

Collan trudged in, sore from the exercises of the prior day. He'd used his muscles in ways that were beyond prior experience. And he was tired. The exercises were partly to blame, but the Dark Side had made his sleep into a nightmare. It preyed on the subconscious where he had little control over the images...or rather he lacked the control to end. It'd taken a long stint in the 'fresher and some meditations to remove negative emotions that lingered from the experience. Yet, the Dark Side was still there...picking picking picking at him.

In the aft hold, the circles were still there and Ch'lana waited in the center of one. He stood tall, his bearing showing signs of...something. Weariness? Irritation? Collan couldn't read the Jedi. Worry or concern about training Collan and Niil? In any case, the Knight grasped his saber and went to center while Collan wordlessly did the same.

It was taking some time and effort now to push the Dark Side away. Thankfully though, not more than yesterday. When not pressed for time, Collan found it relatively easy to push it away, but he wondered how much effort it'd take in a fight or when truly pressed. The Dark Side buzzed again the calm center...buzz buzz buzz. And Collan focused his mind. As time slowed and the strength of the Force lifted him along its flow, he concentrated on his saber and ignited it, shifting into ready.

Ch'lana motioned for Collan to turn left 90 degrees as he did so.

"This will be the last lesson until you have stronger control," the Knight informed the young man, "Shii-Cho is a form that encourages too much emotion, even in practice. You will learn Shii-Cho footwork today and then practice on your own. Observe."

Ch'lana made a graceful (almost ballet-like) 180 degree turn, holding his saber in both hands. Jung he called it. A full circle was a Jung Ma. A one-handed full circle was a Shun.

"Jung handles when an enemy or enemies try to flank you. Execute Jung to keep them in front. Jung Ma is to build for a stronger strike. Shun is for balance and assessment in battle. After today, you will execute the Dulons I will show you. The first is the Sun Djem, the disarming. A Jedi first tries to take an enemy's weapon without harming them."

Ch'lana had Collan help him set up a dummy with fake weapons. This one was mechanized and moved about somewhat. Ch'lana tersely explained he had set it up to run Collan through a series of lightsaber sequences, or dulon training. He walked Collan through them and then observed as Collan worked himself through them. The training saber lower power would only cause scorching on the metallic rod the dummy held, but the Sun Djem dulon was practiced with a softer substance that gave under the training saber. Collan had to stop after every sequence and realign himself with the Force. It was a little frustrating but he was working on it. Finally, Ch'lana called a halt.

"You must practice these sequences till they are second nature," he said in parting, "Continue the dulons I showed. For anything more, you must know how to connect with lightsaber through the Force."

And thus Ch'lana left, leaving Collan to practice.

[ooc: Fin Adding a pip to Lightsaber]

[GM Craig]

[OOC: +1 CP]