What is known about the Force? Die-hard old-school Star Wars fans cite the definition Obi-Wan Kenobi gave at the beginning of the fourth episode. It's an energy field created by all living things. It surrounds us and penetrates us. It binds the universe together. Nonsense, in my opinion. Why? Because according to that definition, ANY LIVING BEING IN A GALAXY FAR, FAR AWAY could learn the Force and become a Jedi, a Sith, or something else entirely. So why don't they help Imperial stormtroopers by letting them study the Force? Is the Emperor afraid of competition? Not funny. Whoever says they'd need to be trained to Sith level—fine, at least fix their aim. And plenty of others could practice self-discipline and become Force-users.
Compared to that, the explanation about midi-chlorians, which determine Force potential, is far more logical. It immediately explains why some are Jedi, others are Sith, still others are some other Force-user sect, and a fourth group doesn't wield the Force at all, even though they could be warriors, mercenaries, and soldiers—whom the God of Winds himself (that Tustra upbringing showing again) commands to become stronger by any means. But no, that's not how it is. A certain number of the Gifted, no more, no less. Although it's a bit unfair, since no one knows how these midi-chlorians get into our cells. Every inhabitant of the GFFA has at least a minimum, well, almost everyone. But why do some have more and others less?
Many study both the midi-chlorians and the Force itself. Midi-chlorians... They only affect potential, and in terms of potential and development speed, I'm ahead of many. But theoretically, both Draillig, Gol, and Feemor could match me in the future. The important thing is to have the right training. Not running all over the Temple like Draillig does, but actually training. Honestly, training has its downside. You can simply burn out. I could have died long ago, considering my insane pace. Why am I still alive and haven't died from training? Simple. What does everyone understand by the word "training"? Specific actions aimed at a concrete result, to achieve certain skills.
But I don't just swing a sword and train the Force techniques available to me—I also meditate. In meditation, both body and mind rest while I release myself into the ocean of the Force that surrounds and permeates the Temple. After all, the Temple is built exactly on a Force Nexus, a specific place that emits the Force. Meditating in the Temple is a pleasure. Unless, of course, Draillig shows up nearby, demanding I come down to the training hall with him because he's thought up some super-duper technique that turns out to be another Shii-Cho move he saw the older students using. Alas... Inventing something new in already established combat forms is a completely non-trivial task.
Anyway, this time I was pulled out of my meditation—in which I'd been immersed while the others were fencing—by a signal from my datapad. It signaled the start of a Force class. Force comprehension classes were the most multifaceted. We did everything. From meditations and telekinesis to deflecting laser shots with lightsabers and body acceleration. These classes for all clans were led by a consul. Preferably a Jedi Master. In most cases, including ours, that was Master Yoda himself. He was incredibly powerful in the Force, distinguished by his deep understanding of it, and could actively pour "Jedi brainwashing" into young minds with the most potent fertilizer.
Yes, I like the Jedi, I like them for their calmness and "kindness," though that's not the case with the current Jedi. They've declined. As has the Republic. Overall, I was for the Republic, but with reservations. I understood the Republic's flaws, as well as the Empire's strengths. A monarchical state, under a reasonable monarch, could achieve an unprecedented flourishing. Peter I, Suleiman the Magnificent, and a number of other great Tsars, Emperors, and Kings... But just as there are jewels, there are also ordinary stones. And there are far more of the latter. The heirs of great Emperors, often, amount to almost nothing. The price of having great parents. More is expected of such children because of who their parents were, but their children rarely live up to their lineage, simply breaking under the weight of expectation.
Only in various alternate history stories, novels by various authors writing about people thrown into the Russian Empire, about revanchists, is Tsarevich Alexei, son of Peter I—not an idiot who did everything to spite his father. Nicholas II is a worthy replacement for Alexander III, and so on. I've thought a lot about the twists and turns of power transition and legacy. No one lives forever, and states can easily collapse, especially if they are the state of a single man. What happened after Palpatine and his Empire? The Imperial Remnants—the surviving Grand Admirals, Grand Moffs, Ysanne Isard, Sate Pestage... Each one pulled in his own direction; Palpatine had no heirs. Naive. Palpatine hoped to live forever, not without reason. Clones were maturing on Byss, though defective ones. But that's foolish. Anyone can die. What to do? It's simple. Prepare a worthy heir. Palpatine actually had a son, nicknamed Trioculus for a rare mutation—a third eye on the back of his head. Trioculus's story is sad, because Palpatine wanted to make him a worthy heir, but Trioculus's Force potential was no less than Palpatine's. The poor guy got scared and decided to send his son to the Kessel mines, where Trioculus conceived a child. The newly-minted grandson of Palpatine fled far away, while Trioculus, in his time, joined the New Republic and personally participated in finishing off the Imperial Remnants.
Yes, the Sith cannot have heirs... It's only in fanfics that Palpatine has a son or a grandson appear. And Palpatine reacts calmly to this circumstance, later handing power over to him. In reality, the Sith do not share power, almost never with anyone. In fact, the Baneites are no different from the classical Sith. There were only two of them, and there were two in the old Sith Order. It's just that a Master travels with an Apprentice, teaching him everything. And there are several such pairs of Master and Apprentice. The Master, who embodies the power of the Dark Side for his apprentice, and the Apprentice himself, learning all the Master's knowledge. The title of Dark Lord in the classical Order was achieved in most cases almost the same way as among the Baneites. Murder. The Empire created by the Sith adopted their very ideology and worldview. That's why it's the "evil Empire." Yes, there were positive aspects, but the negative ones outweighed them. And the Rebels had many charismatic and intelligent leaders who, with the right emphasis, could properly motivate the others. Therefore, despite total control over bureaucrats, the elimination of pirates, bribe-takers, and criminal elements, the Empire has its downsides. Nothing is perfect, neither the Empire nor the Republic. But if you put the question point-blank, I lean toward the Republic.
What's its advantage? The succession of power... Yes, because one leader, if his policy begins to take on an unpleasant hue, can be legitimately replaced by another leader without war. The downside is that over hundreds of years, the Republic has rotted to its core. Factionalism. How many Valorums, for example, have been Chancellors over the last few centuries? Right now, the Republic is led by Finis Valorum. Thus, every decision has its drawbacks... Another problem of the modern Republic is the permissiveness of the Senators, as well as the powers of my Jedi Order. We are weak, precisely weak. And the root of this weakness, as I see it, is the Ruusan Reformation...
The Jedi are not now the guardians of peace; it's an honorary title at this point. Right now, we are merely the guardians of the Senate and the peace that the Senators see. Many issues are decided by the Senators. And among them, there are reasonable individuals who are smart and generally worthy people. But over a thousand years, this has become a minority. There is no oversight over the Senators. Rarely can a Senator be arrested; for that, you have to be a truly egregiously corrupt official. And even then, it's not certain that a worthy punishment will follow the arrest. The Supreme Chancellor merely lobbies for the interests of certain groups, mostly not interested in the lives of ordinary Sentients. These groups are interested only in their own profit.
In my opinion, what's needed for this? A shake-up... It should start small, with my Order. If I can take the bit between my teeth, reform the Order without violating the Ruusan Accords, and strengthen it as much as possible, I can try to start putting pressure on the Senate. The Senators are weak; there are those who fully trust the Jedi, and there are those who want justice. If successful, the Republic could reform into a stronger entity. And there won't be any need for the Sith. And Palpatine and Plagueis can be quietly cut down. But not now, no... It's too early to cut them down yet. Neither the Republic nor the Jedi Order is ready for a confrontation with them right now. To defeat the Sith, I must reform the Order. To reform the Republic, I must reform the Order. I have two whole reasons to become strong enough to enter the Jedi High Council and start pushing my vision there.
Many on the High Council, given enough facts, will listen. Yoda, for instance, is certainly capable of hearing the voice of reason. Yes, he lost to Palpatine. But if he's sufficiently prepared. Mentally... That's the position I've chosen. Why? Because in this plan, my participation is maximally indirect. I will only push, but not participate myself. I won't sacrifice or risk anything.
The corridors of the Temple are incredibly large. And they're bright, because huge windows let in the golden rays of the Coruscant sun. Younglings move together with their clan only for the first couple of months. After that, they're free to choose where to walk in the Temple. If you get lost, either use the map, which is conveniently loaded onto your datapad, or approach any Jedi. Regardless of their role, they will always show you the way to the location you need. Even now, despite my confident stride toward the training halls, the Temple Guards in their masks were watching me, clearly ready, if necessary, to come and help the Jedi larva. But I don't need their help. My skills completely exclude topographic cretinism as a phenomenon. I only need to close my eyes for a couple of seconds, enter a semi-meditative state, feel the echo of the Force, and I know exactly my path.
Though it's better not to overuse the feeling of the Will of the Force and not to rely on such things. I cannot allow the Force to prevail over reason. After all, the Force is a collective, unconscious mind striving for balance. And if balance wills my death, then I will die. So—I should take the Will of the Force into account, but I should accept only my own mind as the final authority. It guides my hands, my body, and the Force. Not the Force...
I entered a rather cozy room. My footsteps echoed in the hall. Training with droids, and Yoda himself is leading it.
"You're late, Flyingstar[Author's note: Did everyone notice "Flyingstar" instead of "Starfly"? Sorry, to the person who suggested the correction—I corrected the protagonist's surname faster than I noticed your username. Honestly, this is even better. Yes, "Starfly" also translates to "Flight of a Star," but "Flyingstar.".. Turns out it's better. So now they're all Flyingstars)))]," Cin Draillig snorted, pointedly looking down at me.
"He is not late, young youngling," Yoda slipped out of meditation, sitting on something resembling a chair in the High Council Chamber. I remember he showed us that Chamber. "Learn humility you should. Patient a Jedi must be. Impatience leads to anger, and anger is a direct path to the Dark Side of the Force, the Jedi path this is not."
Yoda's drawback is that he can turn any conversation to "this leads to the Dark Side of the Force, and this, and this..." The first hundred and twenty times, I found it partly funny. But then not so much... My clan looked composed, except for Draillig, who heard about a comb for the first time only after joining the Order. I already know who Draillig will eventually hate—us. Because we saw him in childhood and will be able to have a good laugh at him. But I have to live long enough for that.
"Put on the helmets," Yoda ordered, levitating helmets into our hands that would cover our eyes and prevent us from seeing the droids' positions. "Ready your blades."
From Cin's direction came an indignant snort. The Force was Draillig's and a huge number of younglings' and padawans' least favorite subject. Why? Because only those who are calm, or who properly manage their emotions like the Sith, can control the Force well. Those who cannot control their passions or channel them in the right direction are doomed to fail. As one character well-known in certain circles once said: "When I am calm, I am invincible." That was Charlotte Katakuri, from the One Piece world. Using his Observation Haki—a special ability related to sensory perception—a calm Katakuri could see into the future and predict his opponent's attacks. The principle here is similar.
And for me, this was a good gift. According to tests back on Earth, I'm a melancholic-phlegmatic. Such people are quiet, calm, always within themselves. The Force—sensory perception, to be more precise—I was mastering by leaps and bounds. Maybe I can't sense Yoda—not my level—but some Knights, even those clearly hiding, I can sense. Even with my eyes completely closed, I could easily feel the droid. I felt every shot, every movement. Putting on the helmet, I adjusted my clothes to move more freely... My perception changed. Instead of the familiar world, I began to sense auras around me... The girls—their aura emitted anxiety. Droids aren't feminists; they don't care whom they shoot laser bolts into. Draillig, as usual in such training, generated impatience and tension. Fool, on the contrary, he should calm down. Gol was lost. The Wookiee was afraid of the dark for some reason. Though the Force was helping him. Well, and Feemor was desperately trying to imitate me.
"Calm yourselves you must," Yoda activated the droids. "Worry you should not, Gol, Cin. Calm yourselves. Do."
My droid shifted to the right. My body reacted instantly. How can I see the droid if it doesn't have an aura? Simple—it's my special feature. I knew from the very beginning that there's no Force in droids. They're invisible to ordinary sensory perception. Like the Yuuzhan Vong. So what to do? It's simple. The thing is, we're training in sensory perception and the "Force Sight" technique. When the usual senses fail—you should rely on the Force technique. Droids are visible through it as voids. Just a black dot, in the case of a round training droid. Because the Force doesn't pass through droids. And I suspect that the Vong, if the Force wills it, I end up in the True Canon, will be visible exactly the same way. I've mastered basic Force Sight so well that for me, suspicious things are not only the presence of a hostile entity nearby, which I can detect with my sight, but also black voids in the Force, which form around droids generally insensible to the Force and, I suspect, the Vong.
To test it, I could try to find one of them, like Nom Anor, who was in the GFFA for quite a while, I think. Though no. I wouldn't be ready, even as a Knight, to confront him. Finding him is the least of it. Nom Anor is a rather skilled spy and assassin, who once nearly sent Mara Jade Skywalker—one of the strongest Masters of her time—to merge with the Force.
The Force kind of flows around Force-insensible objects; if the object is large, it pushes away and returns to the one emitting the Force. That is, I am, essentially, a locator. The droid fired... With a practiced movement, I caught the shot on my blade. A sharp shift down, then left. Another shot, and the blade moved to a new position, catching it.
"Ay!" came Rela's cry.
From what I managed to catch—she got hit right in the shoulder. Droids usually shoot at limbs or the stomach.
"Concentrate you must," came from Yoda's direction.
"I'm trying..."
"Do not try, do," Yoda said importantly. "Feel your thoughts the Force does. Think of 'trying' you do, that is why everything fails you. Of what you are doing you must think, nothing else."
And he's right. If you do everything with the thought: "This is just training, I'll do a couple more sets later"then you'll get a result that's, at best, ten percent of what's needed. But if you seriously convince yourself that "this is a serious situation, it's all or nothing"there's a good chance you'll get a decent result, even if you're doing it for the first time. But for me, an adult, it's easy to be disciplined and self-organized. They're children... They can drill manners, etiquette, rules of behavior into us as much as they want. We can communicate like adults by age four, without distorting words. But... It's hard, impossible, to root out childhood from a child. It doesn't matter if he's from the "true-born"as those taken in infancy were insultingly called, and those who went through the "Temple nursery"or from the arrivals who came to the Temple at a later age.
By the way, you can also dodge the shots. For instance, I've pulled this trick a couple of times, dodging when I felt it would be harder to move my blade to the shot's path. Rela's droid deactivated, hanging in the air and waiting for the girl to activate her blade again. She was just about to lift the visor of her helmet, but here's the problem: Yoda quickly tapped her on the hand.
"Pull your blade to you with the Force you must," Yoda informed her in a commanding tone.
"But I can't," Rela protested, while I managed to deflect another two shots.
"Cannot? Hm?" Yoda asked. "Or will not? The Force is a Jedi's ally; with its help must you all act. Cannot is not possible. Cannot know is possible. But this lack of knowing we must root out. To train you as a Jedi we agreed, but a Jedi is not just one who walks with a lightsaber. No. A Jedi is a strong and strong-willed being, who helps others. The weak. And to be such, strong you must be. Not just in the Force, no. Strong your character must be."
I concentrated, deflecting a shot. Rela's blade wasn't far, about two meters from her. Picking it up with telekinesis, I directed it right into her hands.
"Hmmm," Yoda muttered thoughtfully.
"Thanks," the girl's aura grabbed the blade and activated it.
The training continued...
* * *
"Stay behind," Yoda said when my clan-mates, sweaty from training, headed for the exit. It wasn't just sensory perception. After an hour of training with the droids, Yoda had poured a pile of sand in front of each of us, with two small pebbles mixed in, and told us to pick them out of the sand pile. "Young Flyingstar," Yoda continued. "Speak with you I must. The rest of you are free."
My clan-mates, exchanging glances, slowly trudged out of the hall. Yoda watched them go, sitting in his chair.
"Sit, youngling," Yoda indicated a pouf with a nod of his head, which he pulled over to me with the Force.
"Master Yoda?" I looked at the Grand Master.
"Hmmm..." He wrinkled his nonexistent eyebrows thoughtfully. "Why help her did you?"
"I'm sorry?" I asked, puzzled. "But what surprises you?"
"Wiser than some adults you are, yet the simple truth you could not guess," Yoda poked me with his stick. "Learning she was. Herself she should have pulled the blade with the Force. Even through pain. Learning it is, training."
"But you yourself said you must act as if it weren't..."
"Therefore exactly she should have pulled her own blade herself," Yoda countered. "But..."
"She couldn't," I shook my head. "In a real situation, she would—" I remembered Rela, the Twi'lek. All Twi'leks, with proper development, turn out quite beautiful. Aayla Secura, the recognized beauty of the GFFA, came to mind. "She would—" Dol Agid, the hapless mercenary pawn who died, appeared before my eyes. The first corpse I'd seen. Though no, before that there was the soldier from His Majesty King Alaric's palace.
"There would be no problem for her, if you had let her learn," Yoda said.
"But you yourself taught us to help and protect people," I noted. "I helped Rela. Is that not the Jedi Way?"
"Hmmm, said that I have," Yoda squinted. "Correctly you acted, as a Jedi. Well then... One more thing discuss I must. Told me it has been, with the Force you are doing well."
"True. I don't want to boast, Master," I answered Yoda's squint. "I just have a knack for it."
"Strict with yourself you are, which is correct, but also partly incorrect," Yoda sighed. "A great connection to the Force you have. Great potential you have. Teach you I will personally."
"Why?" I asked.
"I already answered you," said Yoda. "You, like me in your time, are. Enchanted by the Force, you are. A fine Jedi you will become, if Master trains you. Take you as a padawan, I will not. No time, but teach you the Force, I will. With meditation we begin, much I will explain..."
After another four hours of lessons, I literally crawled into my room. Definitely worth it, though...