"Well, this is very interesting, but we've got a year's training to do, and two days to do it. So follow me. "
Kelso headed down to the empty hold, the only part in the ship with enough room for decent saber practice.
Jana followed Kelso into the hold. "A year's training in two days?" She shrugged. "Doable. Hard, but doable."
The girl was confident. That was good.
"All right. Show me what you can do. "
Kelos ignited his saber, and stood in a defensive position.
Jana atctivated her saber, stood still for a couple of seconds, and attacked, bringing her hazy orange blade down on his.
Kelso blocked easily, not even moving.
"Come on, kid. Give me your best."
Jana shrugged and attacked wordlessly. Her blade swept down toward his feet, but at the last second, reversed, and went toward his head. Just as his saber went up to block that, her saber was already in motion, thrust toward his waist.
Kelso now dodged in addition to blocking. He was impressed, but hid it well. He had to get her more motivated to do the best she can. And the best way to motivate someone, is to show them if they accomplish that, they'll prove you wrong.
"Come on." He growled. "What happened to all that 'I'm the best from my age group'?"
Kyle wanted to examine the supplies to make sure they had enough of them. Why would Vrook lose his mind that much? Thought Kyle, ramaging through the supplies, like he was looking for something. These two girls have more in common than I expected realised Kyle, still looking for something. Now where was that again? Ah! There it is, Kyle smiled when he pulled out a cubical shaped oject of dark granite. Archiaic material as it is, the object was far more valuable than what it seemed like. It was called a Lutian Zhar drone and it had a very strange but very important usage. For in fact, the object was a Sith artifact that Kyle hained as a gift from a Tattoinian hut that was intended for Uthar Wynn. The object had a simple function: That by focusing the Force into it, it would send Force echoes that were intended for only those that the user wanted specifically.
Kyle wanted to find the person that contacted Yery. And he knew that it could only be two people that he searched for so long: A man and a woman. The Woman... A corrupted Jedi Master. The Man... A Sith Lord who Kyle hunted for revenge since his childhood. Kyle focused and echoed with it for a little while.
Kyle started to hear voices as the wind. He then could start to hear words. But he couldn't know if it was a man or a woman.
"Who are you?" asked Kyle in those great Force winds from which he couldn't sense well.
"So you found me." said the voice "How did you know it was me?"
"I know many things... Sith." grined Kyle "And I sure as hell know who you are."
"Didn't you now?" asked the voice "Presumptions are fragile things that cause much damage and disorder."
"If you are a woman, then I wish to know what are you trying to gain by hunting me. But if you are a man... Then know that I will hunt you down like a monster you are."
The voice laughed and it spoke like there were two, but Kyle couldn't tell which was male or female and he didn't know what was either of them.
"Who are you?!" yelled Kyle "Show yourself!"
The voice disappeared and Kyle, opened his eyes. The cube was smashed by Kyle's rage, but he didn't care. Kyle threw away the dust and went to the Crew Quarters, to read the Law again to calm himself down.
"I'm holding back... not wanting to hurt you," Jana laughed. Her fighting style changed slightly, taking a more acrobatically graceful look. Instead of merely ducking when his blade came at her head, she rolled away from it. Her saber movements seemed more like a single slash prolonged into a multi-sided attack, only stopped by a collision with Kelso's saber.
Kyle heard some noices coming from a empty room on the ship. He dropped 'the Law of the Republic' book next to him. He got up and made his way to the room where the noises were coming from. Kyle had quite a show in front of him: Jana fighting against Master Kelso. Kyle watched a bit... She is better than me, that's for sure thought Kyle, who continued to watch.
Kelso blocked, he was better than Jana, bu she was giving him a challenge now.
"Better, but not good enough yet. " Kelso said, still blocking and dodging, making no effort to attack.
"You're not attacking," Jana observed, her voice barely heard over the clash of their sabers.
"The way you're fighting, I don't need to."
"I'll not get better if you don't show me what I could do better," Jana answered. "Do something."
"I will."
He continued blocking for a few more seconds, then struck high while she was in mid-swing. Not able to bring up her saber fast enough to block it, she ducked, and before she could recover, he kicked her saber out of her hand, and pulled it to his hand with the force.
"So you're ready for the lesson?"
Jana grinned. "The lesson is what I wanted."
"You take too long to recover from swings, you use the traditional feints too much, and your technique needs improvement. C'mon, let me show you."
Kelso began to train Jena. They practiced and trained for three hours, and her skills improved. They were both tired, and Kelso was aware that his scheduled meeting with Kyle was approaching
"Good. We'll take a rest now. We'll continue in four hours' time. "
Jana nodded, clipped her lightsaber to her belt and went off to find a place to rest.
Silently, Kelso sent a message to Kyle.
Is Yery asleep?
Yery, in her quarters, had tried unsuccessfully to improve on the techniques
that Kyle had taught her. She wished, just for a moment, that she could cheat
and wield the high-energy blade using the Force--which she had tried to do,
and could do for a few seconds--but she knew that neither Kyle nor Master
Kelso would approve. Or, should she assume nothing about the two Masters?
She really didn't know either of them that well so far, and if she ever fully
trusted one of them, Yery promised herself she would show them her secret.
"Dvukhsotniy, dvukhsotniy, dvukshotniy," she whispered, and her
green Consular's blade floated into the air. Then it spun around quickly,
flashing above Yery's head, but then just as quickly clattered to the floor.
Yery's body stiffened, and she sucked in her breath. Had anyone heard her?
The lightsaber barely made much of a click-clacking sound, but in this ship,
even the hum of the hyperdrive could soothe weary passengers to sleep.
Sleep... thought Yery. So precious, so sweet... She rested.
(Note: I'll be gone until Saturday evening, and in the meantime, you can
control Yery. Don't have her show her little lightsaber trick yet, and don't
launch any huge plot twists without her! I'd like to know a little bit more
about Jana's mind barrier from her own perspective, by the way, and who
those mercs were, the 'Last Eagles of Taris'. Why are they after us, anyhoo? ;) )
Kyle heard the message Kelso sent him.
"Like a baby." replied Kyle with a smile, leaning againts the wall. "Meet me in the Main Hold."
Kyle went to the Main Hold and stood there, thinking for a while. While he was waiting for Master Kelso.
Kelso arrived.
"Jana's skilled, more than I thought she would be, but I don't think she's still good enough for Ilum. What about Yery?"
Out of a bad dream, Jana awoke after only an hour of sleep. She sat up and twisted so that her legs dangled over the side of the bed. When she had completely remembered where she was, she brought her hands up to her head.
"Damn dreams," she murmured. It wasn't the dream that annoyed her most; it was that she could never remember the dream. She laughed at this thought. "I know it repeats, but I can't say what it is!"
She shook her head, turning her thoughts to other matters. Kelso had told her that he felt a barrier that wasn't her own. Though she didn't like to lie about it, Jana wasn't ready to tell others just where that barrier had come from. So she lied, said she didn't know about it. But that left her with a question. Did Kelso know she was lying to him? She had left rather quickly after he mentioned that barrier.
"No," Jana finally decided. "He doesn't suspect anything." After so long of hiding the barrier and lying about its existence, she felt confident that she was good enough at it to hide the truth from everybody here.
With these thoughts pushed aside, Jana decided to try and get a little more rest.
Kyle fondeled his moustache a bit, like he was in a deap thought.
"Yery seems to be progressing well... Almost two well." said Kyle
"But the voice is... very distrubing."
"I saw how you and Jana fought." began Kyle pleased "Very impressive, from both of you. Although I would like that you don't be so hard on her."
"We've got less than two days before we face a planet's worth of sith. We have to be tough. The voice is disturbing, but for now it doesn't seem to be trying to harm us. The two girls have a connection, we should teach them to exploit it in battle."
"No, we can't do that." disagreed Kyle.
"It won't be enough and it is too dangerous. Who knows what that might lead to."
"They need an edge." Argued Kelso. "Anything to help them even the odge. That's the only possible one I see so far."
"An edge? Are you saying that we beat them to a pulp by teaching them to use their connection in battle?!" argued Kyle.
"No!" Kyle spread his arms "It's too risky at the moment. So little time and still to early. They will attack us before we even reach Illum. Not to mention that we are headed for Illum, with no possibility of coming back with this thing; where we will be like sitting ducks for Revan and his company. And then we're really done for."
Kelso frowned. "Beat them to a pulp? I'm suggesting that we teach them how to use the connection they have, not that we assault them! They've got a connection, it won't go away just because we want it to, might as well use it to our favor. Both of them have troubling things about them, Yery has the voice, and Jana has a barrier in her mind, but the odds are stacked against us. You may be eager to go to your death, but I'm fighting it. "
Kyle widened his eyes and lowered his head, looking at Kelso in great surprise.
"I'm not trying to die. I am trying to keep Yery and Jana away from..." Kyle suddenly stopped and remained silent for a few seconds. He didn't wish to tell what he knew about the Voice (It was fairly low knowledge but he had an idea on how might it work...). He knew what 'the Voice' can do to people. He studied it...
"All right." began Kyle after clearing his throat "I agree to help them develop it."
"But under one condition..." pointed out Kyle "That we also teach them to break it for a few seconds when required."
Kyle forwarded his hand.
"Agreed?"
"Agreed." Kelso shook Kyle's hand.
"Anything you want to discuss?"
"Only one thing..." said Kyle "Why did you come with us?"
"Same reason he sent you and Yery. To get rid of me."
"What else? Pissed him off. He was meeting some woman, I interrupted demanding to know what he was doing sending you on a suicide mission. He decided to use that as an excuse to get rid of me. Y'see, he's been trying to get rid of me. Vandar owes me one, so he's been covering for me. Vrook saw his opportunity, if I refuse to go on a mission, I get kicked out of the order. Either way he'd win. Which is why I want to prove him wrong now."
Who doesn't? thought Kyle.
"Well we should get some rest. We have to train these two. Good night." said Kyle.
"Good night." He began walking away, and paused. "You're right to be cautious. They both have something in their mind that shouldn't be there. I asked Jana about the barrier. She didn't seem to know anything about it, but I think she may be wrong about that. Maybe not lying, I didn't sense that.....but repressing." He sighed. "To be honest, I'm scared that I may have already failed her. "
"You have failed her only if you say that. Meaning if you give up." Kyle reassured him and patted him on the back.
"You just have endure your patience, that's all." Kyle smiled.
"Now go and get some sleep. You'll need it... I'll get up as early as I can to wake you all up. See you." Kyle turned and went to the Cockpit, where he intended to sleep to keep an eye on the ship.
Kelso decided to sleep in the lounge, where he'd be woken up by any sound from the girls' rooms.
Kyle clossed his eyes when he sat on the chair. And he downed into a pleasant sleep...
Kyle then heard wind. He opened his eyes and he saw that he was standing in the middle of the place where the gaint Force Winds were colliding. He didn't know what that was... But he knew that something was wrong. Through all those winds a gaint red wind approached him...
Omh Packhauhn Kyle heard the wind speak.
"I am not afraid of you." said Kyle confidently.
"Is that so?" asked wind. Kyle widened his eyes and realised: It is 'The Voice'.
"You are a threat. And I will stop you!" Kyle yelled drawing his white light sabre.
"Even if it would appear as... THIS?" yelled the wind and formed Yery and Jana in front of him. Kelso appeared out of nowhere beside him. Kyle couldn't believe what he was seeing. Kyle then saw Yery and Jana wear Sith robes and a grassy planet was in front of Kyle and Kelso. In the distance Yery and Jana were burining villages and slaying people along with a Red Force wind helping them. Kyle fell to the ground burying his face into his hands.
"This is you fault!" yelled Kelso. Suddenly Vrook appeared and said: "It happened again... Just like with the Padawans on Rhen Var!"
"It wasn't my fault! The Voice was too powerful! It came out!" yelled Kyle desperatley and wrecked in his defense. The Voice, Yery, Jana and many other Jedi Knights were killing everyone, while the Dark Lord Revan bombbed worlds and became the Ultimate Being.
"Only you can stop the voice from initating this slaughter that spreads through out Worlds." said Vrook, Vandar, Dorak and Kavar who were surrounding Kyle in a dark room.
"Why me?" yelled Kyle desperately.
"Because you let it out!"
Kyle turned to where the last voice was coming from and he saw Revan, Yery, Jana and the Dark Force Wind yell at him from the other side, surrounded by a red and disturbing light.
"I can't do that." said Kyle desperately. "The Voice is too powerful. There is no way to stop it when it goes in it's bloody crusade."
"But as much as the girls sound like a threat and Kelso sounds like he is useless. Ther is one last thing..."
"The key is held in many. Your companions hold that..."
Kyle heard the strange voice. He raised his head and said:
"That's it! They have the key to how to destroy it!" yelled Kyle.
Kyle suddenly woke up. He felt distrubed from the dream that had just taken place... Different from the nightmare he had since that about the Voice... Of the thing he had feared and suffered guilt every day. He got up and went into the lounge, Kelso was sleeping on a chair, legs up on the table. Kyle appraoched him and began slapping him lightly:
"Get up, Captin Navrain. It's morining and you have to discover new planets."
Captin Navrain was a early cartoon that many children liked to watch. About a lazy explorer that liked to drink. Navrain was very well recognised for the position when he sleeped: Lying in a chair and putting legs on the table. Kyle didn't watch cartoons, but he liked to make fun out of cartoons.
Kelso opened his eyes.
"You seem disturbed." He said. "What happened?"
"I'm fine, but it's morning. Get up. We've got work to do." said Kyle reassuring.
Kyle made his way to the crew quarters where the girls were sleeping. He hitted the metal case with his light sabre, making them stir a bit.
"Rise and Shine sleeping beauties. We've got a lot of work to do and very little time to do it."
Kelso stood up, and followed Kyle.
Jana awoke instantly and stood.
"Good morning, Masters," she said pleasantly.
"All right, we're going to teach and tell you two how about something that Master Kelso and I believe that you are required to know about. Follow us to the Cargo Hold." Kyle went to the Cargo Hold.
Jana glanced at Kelso before following Kyle to the cargo hold.