A Draining Experience

[Darth Timoris]

Melori wanted to start by learning about Maul but decided it would be better to get the ‘old guy’ out of the way with first. But the more she read, the more she became fascinated with him and also his story of Jedi to Sith.

He was considered one of the strongest students in the history of the Jedi Order – and of course, their greatest failure.

Dooku was a Jedi Master who fell to the dark side of the Force and became a Dark Lord of the Sith, known as Darth Tyranus and was one of the most renowned swordsmen in the galaxy, on par only with Masters Yoda and Mace Windu.

Dooku spent nearly seventy years as a Jedi, but a disastrous battle on Galidraan shook his faith in the Order and the Galactic Republic and he fell under the influence of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine of Naboo, and left the Jedi Order. After learning that Palpatine was secretly the Sith Lord Darth Sidious, Dooku turned to the Dark-side and became a Dark Lord of the Sith himself, replacing Darth Maul as Sidious's second apprentice. His new master bestowed upon him the Sith title of Darth Tyranus.

And she read everything she could about his use of the saber. Even the Jedi quotes. “Leverage, position, advantage…” these words were imprinted on her mind.

He was the Jedi Temple's most agile swordmaster and instructor and was the only Jedi besides Yoda who was known to have bested Mace Windu at sparring. It seemed Dooku's competitive spirit drove him toward the second form of lightsaber combat, Makashi. He exclusively utilized Makashi in combat, believing that duellists who devoted themselves to the study of multiple combat forms would never attain the same level of mastery as ones who devoted themselves to a single style.

In addition, he appreciated the lack of acrobatics that the style possessed, and was fairly disdainful of combat styles that utilized extensive acrobatics like Ataru. Despite his specialization, he maintained a working knowledge of all the other forms, and was competent enough with them to instruct the infamous General Grievous in their use.

In combat, he used his bladework to redirect and deflect, rather than attempting to meet his opponent head on. He fended off enemies with a minimal expenditure of energy before unleashing rapid and devastating counters, and was known to attack with a fencing-style thrust. As per Makashi training regimens, Dooku relied heavily on his footwork to outmanoeuvre his enemy, basing himself on balance, back-and-forth charges, and sudden retreats. His skill in Form II was such that he could hold his own against up to four opponents with little difficulty, despite the fact that Makashi was supposedly not suited for combat against multiple opponents.

However, like virtually all Makashi practitioners, she read that Dooku had a great deal of difficulty producing any kinetic energy in his attacks.

As a Jedi, Dooku was a renowned student of the Force and learned many of the Jedi arts. He was recognized as a skilled master of telekinesis, and lectured on the subject as a Jedi Master. He often used his mastery of telekinesis to augment his duelling prowess, and was quite skilled at directly attacking other Force adepts with telekinetic strikes. As a Sith Lord, he sometimes combined telekinesis with the use of Force Lightning or Force Choke during combat. These two she needed to learn as soon as she could in her opinion.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Melori Raaf"]

Taeli smiled, walking back to her personal quarters, as her datapad showed her what Melori was accessing right now. She hadn't told her sister that she was actually able to follow along what she was reading, but then the datapads were linked and she wasn't going to tell Melori that. She was more curious about what exactly she would research, and while she had said she would know what she would be looking at in the archives, it had been a bit more of a test for her sister than anything else.

Taeli wanted her to be cunning in her pursuit of knowledge and the answer was there to get around the small limitation Taeli had given her about accessing restricted materials. As long as her sister was clever, Taeli was perfectly okay with her reading things most acolytes could only aspire to access. She would just be reading what her sister researched and would know where her sister was looking to model herself as a Sith off of, and also what she would need to teach her.

"I hope you find Dooku an interesting read, my dear sister," she mumbled to herself. "But, I suspect Maul will be more enjoyable for you."

 

[Darth Timoris]

If Dooku was an evening’s read, Maul promised to be a lifetime’s study.

She skipped his biography initially and started with his personality and traits. It seemed he was little more than a being of pure hatred and evil, thanks to his harsh, severe training. Melori could relate to the hatred but for entirely different circumstances.

Yet he was not completely heartless, granting those he felt worthy of his respect quick and painless deaths. But was obsessed with achieving absolute victory in anything and at any cost. Sidious regarded Maul as a terrifying being capable of withstanding pain in order to succeed against all odds. Melori found herself nodding at this, her recent saber training perhaps testament to this aspect they shared.

He was brave, yet prideful as well. Though still an apprentice, Maul was convinced that he could defeat the entire Jedi Order—including the Jedi High Council—in their own Temple. This made Melori pause for thought. Sidious had cautioned him he was not a ‘one-being army’ and there was probably a lesson for her in there somewhere.

But when it reached the part about his performance in battle she became even more focused. He was a ruthless and implacable enemy, possessed of an arrogant urge for self-improvement, to be the best. She nodded vociferously, that made perfect sense. Ultimately, Maul failed to heed his Master's warnings against the distraction of overconfidence. Once more she paused for thought at this point.

The final aspect mentioned was that years of living in agony and exile caused Maul to develop a new-found sense of patience. Her mother always said she took after her father in being the two most impatient people on Corellia. She grinned and wondered if Taeli had picked up on this yet.

Next she considered his work with a saber. He was a fierce warrior and a highly skilled lightsaber duelist, trained by Darth Sidious in Juyo, which drew heavily on volatile emotions and the dark side. However, Maul only devoted himself to Form VII's physical focus, desiring a purely physical victory over his opponents, rather than using the "higher" Sith tradition of the Dun Möch tactic.

However, after being rehabilitated on Dathomir, he employed Dun Möch during his rematch with Obi-Wan Kenobi – so she was aware that he did overcome his weaknesses in time. Maul also demonstrated a great deal of skill in combining his swordsmanship with hand-to-hand combat attacks. Whenever he encountered a foe he could not best through his martial prowess, he would fall back on his tactical know-how, outmanoeuvring such enemies.

Maul displayed a reasonable amount of competence in Telekinesis, utilizing Force Grip and Force Choke and Force Push and Force Speed. He also used Battlemind and Force Rage to increase his fighting form.

Deciding the break of dawn was a good time to stop her studies, Melori looked forward to today's lesson with her Master.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Melori Raaf"]

Taeli rubbed her eyes a little as she waited for Melori to arrive for their next lesson. She had been up late reading up on Zannah and Bane, going over some of the training methods employed in that master-apprentice relationship. The whole thing with neeks and Ambria was certainly catching her attention. It might actually teach Melori a little patience, get rid some of that stubborn impatience her sister possessed. She wondered where it came from, and whether or not it was genetic or just a cultural thing from being Corellian.

Today was probably going to be yet another painful day for Melori if she was still determined to learn Force Lightning. Why oh why was the best way to teach it to subject a person to it? It just seemed silly, but she knew it worked all too well from showing other acolytes and apprentices the technique and them picking up on it.

While she waited for her sister to arrive, Taeli perused her datapad for other things and sent some messages to her engineers.

 

[Darth Timoris]

Taeli looked like Melori felt and she waited patiently whilst her sister finished checking something on her datapad before speaking.

“Good morning, Master. I found the research fascinating. I did wonder if my interest in Maul was teaching me lessons before I’d started – as he seemed to have changed after Kenobi cut him in half. But maybe I’m reading too much into it. So, is Lightning still on the agenda for today?” She stifled a yawn and looked as alert as she could. If it was anything like yesterday, she’d soon be wide awake!

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Melori Raaf"]

"There might be a few cautionary tales and lessons in those readings, yes," Taeli said, smiling and stifling a yawn. "My apologies, I was up late doing some reading myself. In the middle of a rather interesting subject of research, and one I hope proves fruitful."

Putting her datapad away, she blinked away the sleepiness and was fully alert as she allowed the dark side to give her a little boost. Her sister seemed tired as well, but she suspected Melori was going to be wide awake very soon.

"Yes, Force Lightning is still on the agenda, if that is what you want to learn today," Taeli replied to her sister's question. "Just a reminder on the best way to learn the technique, you're going to have to be subjected to it, just like with Force Drain. It's going to be painful, possibly on the same level as Drain was, but in a different way. Are you ready?"

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori stifled a smile, little did her sister know what time she’d been working to! And she nodded, almost too eagerly. Her thirst for knowledge she could use was driving her on and she had such a long list of needs, she was desperate to progress through it.

“Force Lightning, yes – and I am indeed ready to endure whatever it takes in order to learn this ability.” Her jaw was defiant and her lips thin. She was expecting this to hurt a lot.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Melori Raaf"]

"Very well then, my apprentice," Taeli ssaid, bringing her hand up. Channeling the dark side, a torrent of Force Lightning left her fingers and arced towards her sister. She was cringing internally as the lightning neared her, but at least it was nowhere near her full strength. It shouldn't do too much damage to her apprentice, but it was still going to hurt immensely.

She wondered what else her sister was going to ask to learn once this lesson was done, she was probably forming quite a list of abilities she wanted to learn, on top of learning more of the lightsaber.

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori braced herself. Maybe the experience of yesterday took the edge off it, for as painful as it was it was just pain whereas Drain had additional layers of discomfort.

But the pain was none the less significant. She'd received an electric shock before and it was like that but she felt it all over her body and it was as if her body was going into spasms. But as with yesterday she felt she needed to embrace the pain, not shun it. She needed feel the overall sensation so she could repeat it. And as even her Makashi training had given her excruciating pain, she was building up a stronger immunity to the physical nature of the training.

She sighed deeply - as tough as she was getting it was still debilitating and she felt slightly light-headed before putting a hand on a nearby desk to help her balance. But she was stoic and nodded to her sister, "I'm fine, and at least I know how it feels now."

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Melori Raaf"]

"And that's the most important part," Taeli replied, not showing the concern she was feeling for Melori on her features. Her sister was definitely tough, and developing an immunity to pain it seemed. Still, her sister did seem to be feeling the effects of the lightning still.

"You're just lucky I didn't unleash anything near as powerful as I can," Taeli said, winking a little at Melori. "Anywho, Force Lightning, now that you experienced, it's time to test to see if you can conjure some. Now, remember what it felt like, both the pain and the energy flowing through you. Capture that moment in your head, and draw the dark side into yourself. Release the energy along your arm, through your fingers, and out towards whatever is your target. Fair warning, using this technique improperly will scorch and char your hands while you unleash the lightning. It has to be a constant flow of power, like a river along a bed."

Pulling out some targets, Taeli set them on the table and backed up a bit.

"You'll start on those targets, then we will progress to something a bit more . . . interesting to practice against," she said.

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori nodded at her Master’s words and was a combination of pleased and excited at the news that she’d received a low-power version.

Pleased because it meant she didn’t have to endure any more pain than was necessary. Excited as it gave her a glimpse of just how much suffering she could unleash on any Jedi that stood in her way.

She eyed the targets and listened intently to her sister. The pain was easy to remember, its effects were still lingering. And she remembered the experience, the electric shocks. And they weren’t random; they flowed through her like power along a cable.

So she set herself and raised her left hand. She drew the Dark-side and imagined that same energy flow – but this time going in the opposite direction. She visioned the power flowing within her, along her arm and out through her hand. All of her fingers were touching and pointing at the target, her palm facing the ground. A small spark leaped from her hand and hit the first target. It left a small charred burn where it hit. Melori pulled on the Force more and her eyes morphed yellow as she built up the volume of the Force she was using, slowly feeding it into the flow of energy until there was a single but steady arc of blue lightning hitting the target.

And then she pulled even more power and a stream of lightning erupted from her fingertips and she saw the target burst into flames. She immediately shut off the flow of the Force and felt a burning sensation in her fingers. Looking down, they appeared red. She knew immediately she’d not controlled her release of the Lightning and like most lessons at the moment it was a painful one – but similarly one she’d not forget in a hurry.

She repeated the process on the next target, learning to control the flow – especially when she wanted to stop. And for the third target, she used her right hand to ensure that, if sparring, she could use either set of fingers.

“Tell me Master, can you block Lightning or Force Drain?”

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Melori Raaf"]

"Lightning can be blocked a few ways," Taelie explained with a smile. "One way is simply catching it on your lightsaber blade, grounds and absorbs the energy into the blade itself. Tricky because it requires precise placement, but it's one way. Another is to create a Force Lightning shield around yourself, absorbing the lightning into the shield and strengthening it for you. One other technique, a bit rarer though, is tutaminis. You take an energy attack, like a blaster, lightning, or even a lightsaber, and draw its energy it yourself then dissipate it into the air and ground around you."

Thinking for a moment, she wasn't sure she had read a case where Force Drain had actually been countered.

"Force Drain is more complicated because how do you block a technique that is targeting your very life force and Force essence," she said, tapping her chin. "I haven't read a case where it could be blocked by an opponent, but the important thing to remember is your opponent can stop it easily be breaking your concentration or killing you. It's best used, in a combat form, in combination with your lightsaber and after vast amounts of training to make sure your concentration doesn't slip in the middle of combat. It could take years to reach that stage of sustained Force Drain during a fight, but quick bursts will help you in the long run."

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori nodded as she listened. “How difficult is it to learn a Force Lightning shield or Tutanimis? Would I have to wait until I progressed? I have so many abilities I want to learn – but this defensive technique might be a good start, unless you’d not recommend it in a duel. But I’m delaying us, you promised something more…interesting.”

Melori suspected the ‘more interesting’ would have a lot more life in it than the targets she’d faced already – but didn’t underestimate her Master for providing surprises, so didn’t take anything for granted.

“I know the training with the Sith Lord on Makashi had mixed success, although I learned what I needed to know, but if there are any others you’d recommend I seek for development, I’ll trust your judgement. And if you want to manage it all, I respect that too Master.”

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Melori Raaf"]

They are more advanced techniques, so once you've grown a little more, we can start that," Taeli said, answering her sister's question. "As for additional lessons, well . . . let's just say we will hold off on others helping until we find someone a bit . . . better suited to aid me in your training, my apprentice."

Smiling she gestured for her apprentice to follow her, as she did indeed have something for interesting planned for her apprentice to practice Force Lightning. It might involve living targets, but also a little twist on things. It would prove to be an interesting experience, if nothing else, for Melori and Taeli could get very valuable scientific data about the effects of Force Lightning.

"So for the something else, it's going to . . . different to say the least, but I think you'll appreciate the challenge," Taeli replied, winking at her sister.

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori listened. She was keen to progress her development as quickly as she could but would allow her Master dictate the pace - at least for now - so she nodded her acceptance.

"I am ready for the challenge Master, please test me."

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Melori Raaf"]

Entering a basement chamber, Taeli flicked the lights on to show three prisoners secured to the floor. Around them were several large coils, each them seemingly silent, but designed to absorb any electricity that might get near them.

"So, this is your test, my apprentice," she said, pointing at the three prisoners. "Those men there are criminals slated for execution after attempting to blow up the Bank of Aargau here on Coruscant. Your task is simple, use Force Lightning to kill them, but be warned. Those coils are specially designed to absorb Force lightning that gets near them, so you must be very careful with your aim. Oh, I suppose one more thing to mention. If those coils absorb any lighting, they will shoot it back at you. The more they absorb over time, the stronger the return bolt will get."

This test was a bit tough, but she had faith in Melori.

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori followed her sister into the basement and as her eyes grew accustomed to the light, she observed the three prisoners. Even with only a small connection to the Force, she could feel the fear in them and the desire to feed on that emotion was strong but she was here to learn Force Lightning and also had been warned of the addictive nature of Drain.

She circled the men and observed the coils. The gaps between each one was reasonable but she thought back to her previous efforts. She could hit a target but she had limited control – and that had to change.

She glanced around the room, it was dimly lit, the corners remaining dark and foreboding, which can only have heightened the fear in the men. They were unkempt but their muscle definition suggested they’d not long been prisoners. Their crimes? They mattered little, they were here for a purpose and that was all that mattered to Melori.

And Melori wanted to ask questions but at the same time wanted to remain silent. Fear of the unknown was always more terrifying than the truth could ever present, so keeping an air of suspense was something she was looking to incorporate into her arsenal. The Jedi were used to being trash-talked, they expected it. But a silent opponent would be new to them.

For her first attempt she stood in as perfect a position as she could. Setting herself, she raised her left hand and drew on her Dark-side energy. She felt the power flowing within her, along her arm and out through her hand. All of her fingers were touching and pointing at the target, her palm facing the ground. A small spark leaped from her hand and hit the first prisoner. It left a small burn on his chest and he called out in pain. Smiling, her eyes morphed yellow and she steadily pulled more and more power until there was a single but steady arc of blue lightning hitting the man’s chest. Finally he slumped to the floor and she moved around to her next target.

This time she stood further away and as soon as she repeated the exercise. This time the prisoner stared into her eyes, whereas the previous one had cowed before her. The left of her Lightning stream was somehow sucked into the coil but as she felt no reaction she continued to pour energy into the man’s demise. Suddenly an arc of Lightning issued from the coil – more powerful than the time her sister showed her. She felt the pain and it only fuelled her anger. The man snickered – which poured gasoline on the smouldering rage – and allowed her to focus not only on the power of the Lightning stream but the width of the arcs. For she imagined now a fast flowing stream but not a wide one.

The power issued from her hands and she poured it into the insolent man, his death agonising but sadly quick as a result. And then she turned to the third and final prisoner. She could smell the fear now, it was palpable. Standing in a poor position, she slowly released lightning and imagined the flow curving slightly. It went straight ahead and she paid the painful price, but she persevered, the greater the pain, the greater her resolve. Finally she was able to bend the arc slightly to avoid the obstacle. She couldn’t use it around corners of course, but faced with a barrier, she figured she might be able to deviate the flow slightly.

This time she didn’t finish until the body was nothing more than charred remains. She turned to her Master and nodded. “A painful lesson but a useful one. Continue to have faith in me and push me as hard and as fast as you can.”

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Melori Raaf"]

"Excellent work, you're learning rather quickly that a targeted attack works best," Taeli said, smiling her approval at her sister. Melori had quickly picked up on the idea of this test, and that made Taeli rather proud of her sister. Still . . . it was still a bit too easy for her to really pass what Taeli would call her first test of Force Lightning. Time to try something else.

"Now that you've learned that, let's make the game more interesting," Taeli said, shoving the corpses away and taking their place within the center of the coils. "Try and strike me with your Lightning, Melori. Let's see how well you can do against someone who can deal with it in different ways."

As she spoke, she ignited her lightsaber and angled it in front of her, while also using the Force to adjust the capture radius of the coils to be wider. That would leave very small corridors for her sister to launch attacks from, but this was also to show her sister the meaning of patience and cunning to strike an enemy. She was tempted to activate the spinning mode, just so her sister could see what Taeli had built, but that wouldn't be fair right now.

This also would be an interesting test to see the lengths Melori was willing to go to achieve her full power, as Taeli knew the conflict might hinder her performance ever so slightly.

 

[Darth Timoris]

Melori remembered the various ways her Master had suggested blocking Lightning and the saber was one of them. This truly was a raising of the difficulty level.

And the reduction in the gaps to aim through was an added challenge in and of itself. She stood and thought for a few seconds, wondering if she could stretch her arms sufficiently to attack from two entirely different directions. Deciding this was a bad thought, due to a likely lack of control – only to be used as a last resort, a new thought occurred to her – one that perhaps should have been the immediate one.

In attacking her Master she was possibly going to inflict pain on her sister. Why had that not occurred before? In part she reasoned with herself that this was simply part of the lesson. Her sister had hurt her to teach her the Ability and now, to demonstrate her progress she was obliged to hurt her back. But this was possibly being generous. In truth it hadn’t occurred to her because she was singly focussed on the task in hand – in developing her abilities. Her sister was secondary to that. A small pang of guilt hit her but she immediately dismissed it. That was the thought of a Jedi and he was going to be a Sith. She stopped thinking of Taeli the sister when lessons began. She was facing Darth Arcanix – her Master now.

So she gently released an arc of Lightning at her Master, aiming for accuracy over power and as she fed more power to the attack, she moved it towards her Master’s head. Once there, she channelled the Force through her other hand and as before aimed first and looked for power second. This stream of Lightning she aimed at her Master’s shins.

[member="Darth Arcanix"]

 

[Taeli Raaf]

[member="Melori Raaf"]

She saw the slight hesitation in her sister's eyes, uncertain what to do, but that resolve she had seen returned to her eyes as she sent a small arc of lighting a Taeli's head. A second later, a second stream was heading for her shins. Catching the first arc on her lightsaber, she decided to make the task even harder by igniting the second blade of her lightsaber and sweeping that blade down to counter the shin attack.

"You'll have to try better than that," Taeli said, laughing a little. "If the arcs are too slow or small, they will be easy to deflect. But I should congratulate you for trying such a sneaky opening move."

Freezing some air particles around her, Taeli stepped up the game again and sent a few chunks of ice towards her sister to smack her enough to disrupt her aim so her next lightning attack would end up at a coil.