A Teacher, I Can Be.

[The Spark]

Massassi Temple​

​

Jedi Academy Training Grounds​

​

18:37 P.M Local Standard Time​

A Padawan?

Really?

Had to be some sort’ve joke.

Mira had never taught anything to anyone in her life. Well that wasn’t true, she showed [member="Liam Quez"] the proper way to kiss a girl but that was nothing like this. This was responsibility, this was a huge ordeal. The fate of someone was directly under her control and once they touched the force, they became susceptible to the dark side. She knew nothing about this mysterious Padawan, save for a holonote she got on her datapad from one of the Masters. For the most part, she did as she was told - so here she was, trying to find them. Her lightsabers rested upon her lower back, right and left respectively. It was more enjoyable to carry them in a non-traditional place, provided a unique style when drawing them out in combat. Maybe she’d find out the way this Padawan liked to draw his? Or hers? Or Its? She knew nothing about the Padawan.

She had come back to full circle on that note, did they even have a lightsaber? Her face was flushed a bit red as she walked towards the open training ground, black boots clicking against the crackled stone. Her hands were before her, fidgeting with each other as she looked about the open area at the Jedi present – somewhere in the mixture of people, was her Padawan. Should she reach out and search for a nervous feeling? Or maybe even eagerness? Her hands would stop fidgeting and adjust her satchel across her chest, moving the black tunic a bit as she did. Eyes would scan across the courtyard once more.

‘Might be a good start…’ She thought to herself, feeling for them would probably be best.

And so, she would reach. Her garnet colored eyes would close and her left hand would fall to her side while her right reached out before her. It was a subtle gesture - for the most part. She would dip into the wells of the Force, absorbing the Light that surrounded this place, letting it flow through her as she took deep, calm breaths. She could feel the presence of each individual before her, their echo through the Force. There was a variety of emotions present, between the Masters, Knights and Padawans alike. That made it more difficult to find the one she was looking for – they were here somewhere amongst these people.

It was just a matter of touching their mind…

[member="Harmon Taldan"]

 

[Harmon Taldan]

Location: Massassi Temple, Jedi Academy Training Grounds

Harm ducked under the swing of a training droid and pivoted on his right foot until his back was facing the droid. He lashed out with his left leg, slamming the droid where a typical humanoid would have an abdomen. The droid flew back several feet, but his attention was on the other droid. The second droid came in with a low strike towards the knee just after Harm's foot connected with the first droid. Harm was terribly off balance, his left leg still retracting, though he tried to evade the blow. He attempted to forward roll over the training saber, but it still caught his foot. The droid jerked the blade up as it caught Harm's foot, causing his forward roll to over balance, spilling Harm onto his back. The droids blade tapped his forehead as his communit chimed the alarm he had set. He was to meet his teacher in a few minutes, or so he'd been told. He mentally kicked himself as he pulled himself to his feet, waving off the droids as they automatically reset. He was fairly sweaty, and he knew nothing about his new teacher. He didn't know if he or she or it would approve of him taking the initiative in his training or if they'd be a stickler for decorum and prefer that he be freshly showered on their first meeting.

That thought sparked a mixture of emotions within him. Trepidation at not knowing how to approach the situation, elation at finally being able to train in the force without relying on the schedule of tutors or the enigmatic timing of force ghosts. He stood up and cracked his back as he reached for the towel on a bench next to his shirt. He quickly toweled off and donned the simple, white shirt, tucking it in to his pants by reflex. He oriented himself, then found the statue of an old Jedi battlemaster that was situated in the middle of the training ground. He'd been told that it was often used as a meeting point, as the training grounds were large and often quite busy, no matter the hour. He made his way through the crowd, swaying and pivoting so he didn't bump into anyone. Along the way he deposited the towel in one of several bins that waited for just such things. He reached the base of the statue and looked around. His trepidation grew as he searched, he wished he'd have received some information about the teacher before meeting them.

From the corner of his eye he saw [member="Mira Rekali"], he'd met her at the initial meeting of their clandestine watchdog group, but had since not seen her. He smiled and offered a nod of greeting before returning to looking for a teacher he knew nothing about. He didn't know if it would be appropriate to talk to her so openly as at the training grounds, but he couldn't think of anything he'd done to give his status as a watchdog away. It'd probably be alright to converse with her, though she looked to be searching for someone as well. He mentally shrugged and began to hum a nervous tune, waiting for his teacher to appear.

 

[The Spark]

Mira sighed and dropped her hand, breaking her connection with the Force.

There were just too many emotions flowing through the courtyard to really pinpoint which one belonged to the person she was searching for. As @Harmon Taldon passed, she nodded in return – offering a polite smile as well. He was a familiar sight; she hadn’t seen him since their meeting on Woostri. Mira took another look at Harmon and narrowed her eyes. “There is something about him…” She could feel it through the Force as he went back to, well, whatever he was doing. She never caught what he was doing before he passed by her. Mira took a moment to say something before he got out of range but failed to do so. She let off a soft grunt and followed him to the statue in the center of the courtyard. Her hands would slowly come to rest in her back pockets as she tilted her head to the side.

“Am I interrupting anything?” What a dumb question! Of course she wasn’t. He had such a nervous aura about him, like he was waiting for someone. Her eyes narrowed again and her facial expression shifted a bit. “You aren’t waiting on someone are you?” There was no way that he could be waiting for a teacher. He did have all the tell signs, he had a nervous aura through the Force and he appeared a bit out of place. If this guy was going to be her Padawan - well, she just wouldn't know what to do. There was a way to identify who the Padawan was - through an identification number that he or she was assigned. She would wait to see what Harmon said first of course. Her heart was racing, a sense of nervousness began to settle upon her.

[member="Harmon Taldan"]

 

[Harmon Taldan]

Harm saw out of the corner of his eye as Mira followed him to the statue and face him. The smile he gave her was genuine, and a bit of his nerves went away, replaced by different nerves.

“Am I interrupting anything?”

The question took him off guard. People came here to train, or as a convenient point to meet before going elsewhere in the Temple complex. At present he had nothing to do until his teacher, whoever it was, showed up. He couldn't help but notice that she was a good deal stronger in the force than he, she could be his teacher. Much as that would be both ironic and good, he doubted very much.

“You aren’t waiting on someone are you?”

"Yeah, I'm waiting on..." He trailed off and thought about the way she had asked the question, the narrowed eyes that told him that she was being more than just inquisitive. His smile turned into a grin as he nodded. "I'm waiting on a teacher that I've been assigned to...who are you waiting on?" He took the chance and assumed that she was waiting for someone as well. The possibility of her being the teacher he was waiting for increased, but he wasn't going to bet it all on that. The chances were still fairly small that she was. He thought of the identification number he had been given. If she was his teacher, she would know it. "I was given the identification number One-Seven-Three-Aurek. It was the only piece of identification I was given on who my teacher would be."

[member="Mira Rekali"]

 

[The Spark]

Mira frowned slightly and looked down at the datapad and then to Harmon.

“Has to be a mistake…” She muttered softly before turning away from him. “This can’t be…” She groaned loudly and looked up at the sky. “I can’t train him!” She whined and stomped her feet a few times before sighing heavily and looking to the ground. Slowly, she turned and looked to Harmon. “Ok, sorry, apparently – you are my new Padawan learner and I’m your Master.” Such an odd way of saying things but it was the truth none the less. How would he react? Yeah, she had a momentary outburst of anguish but not in a bad way. She just wasn’t used to being around a guy like that – the last time she tried to teach a guy anything it didn’t end well. She tried to offer a hopeful face to him, hoping he wouldn’t be overly disappointed in the fact she was his teacher.

Maybe he’d be happy or maybe he’d be like ‘Oh wow, her? Man, Can I get a redraw?’

[member="Harmon Taldan"]

 

[Harmon Taldan]

Harm couldn't help but smile as Mira had her tantrum. That display, rather than offending him, made him feel better about this whole training business. He'd been afraid that he'd be paired with a stuffy librarian type that'd demand he spend countless hours studying up on things 'He ought to know.' Instead, it was not only a person within the watchdog group he was part of, but someone young, vivacious, and not likely to want to spend time holed up teaching him the history of being a Jedi. Something he didn't even truly classify himself as, he still thought of himself as a soldier.

When she turned back toward him, she'd find him standing there, smiling.

“Ok, sorry, apparently – you are my new Padawan learner and I’m your Master.”

"Should I call you master or mistress then?" He said with the smile still in place. He didn't look the least bit offended, nor like he wanted a redraw. "I'm sure you know a great deal more about the Force than I do, so you can train me. I've got the necessary discipline, so all you need to bring is the knowledge and we can work this out together."

[member="Mira Rekali"]

 

[The Spark]

Mira shook her head softly.

"Master is fine, or Mira or Master Rekali." She waved a hand roughly infront of her. "Whatever you feel comfortable with." Mira wasn't exactly one for tradition when it came down to the finer details, well, sort've. Maybe she should stick to the way her mother taught her - and that way when he had his own student, he could do the same. She nodded to herself and then gestured to him. "Master Rekali or Master is fine."

She took a moment to look around the courtyard at the other students and masters alike before looking to Harmon. "We're going to have to see where you are, on knowledge and then go from there." She motioned for him to follow her. "Come with me, I'll take you to the same basic Padawan course I ran when I was first starting out." Indeed, it was a difficult course for someone just starting out but she would be able to gauge where he was on the Force from there. Granted, he might not make it through every single area with flying colors but he would get the understanding of what it was about and take it again down the road. Then they would advance to more difficult courses.

Mira left the courtyard and headed towards the rear of the Training Grounds - there awaited a rather long course, 25 different areas that were similar to a maze. It all started with a stone door that had an intricate design on the front. The object was to test his ability to push, pull, speed through obstacles, focus on the tasks at hand and use basic powers. It was open through the ceiling, with a catwalk between each area for Masters to look down upon their students and observe and guide them. Mira turned towards Harmon and gestured. "Comlink and weapons, you won't need them - only the Force is what you will take with you."

[member="Harmon Taldan"]

 

[Harmon Taldan]

Harm nodded and silently followed Mira through the training ground. He was definitely feeling good about this pairing, as she was going straight into the training, albeit after a small tantrum. He just hoped that he proved himself to be a good student to her. He'd made the decision some time ago to master as much of the force as possible, as such could only help him help the Alliance in it's goals. As the days continued onward, Harm had found himself thinking of the Alliance as his home more than he had ever thought of his home planet, or the corps. Working for money, as he had done in the corps, was all well and good, but having a dedicated purpose like he did with the Alliance was far more rewarding.

"Comlink and weapons, you won't need them - only the Force is what you will take with you."

Harm couldn't help but grin at what was going to come next, as it would be humorously like what happened in some holovids he'd seen. Harm removed the wrist-borne commlink and chronometer that he wore and placed it on the ground. Then he undid his weapons belt, which held his blaster revolvers and a small knife, and laid it down beside his commlink. Then he reached up under his shirt in the back and unclipped the sheath for another knife, this one a bit bigger, and laid it on the ground as well. Finally, he removed the pair of fighting knives from his boots, and they went with the rest of his possessions. He stood back up and nodded at Mira.

"That'd be all the ones I brought with me." He said, he knew he was fairly safe here, but a soldier was at his best when he was prepared, and what he had with him was the lowest amount of weapons he'd be comfortable leaving home with. He absently pulled each arm across his chest in slow stretches. He didn't know what was going to be coming next, but he'd be ready for it. The only things he'd trained in with the force were sensing, which had come fairly easy to him, body modification (stronger/faster), and a very small amount of healing. He'd only had the one lesson, which had ended in a raid on Sullust. He looked over to the stone door and took a deep, centering breath. "Ready...Master Rekali." His tongue slipped a little as he said the title, not having really ever used it before.

[member="mira rekali"]

 

[The Spark]

Mira raised an eyebrow as he began placing all the items between the two of them.

“When the time comes, you’ll find that you won’t need half of what you carry with you.” She tapped her own head with a single index finger. “Most of the time, only this is what you will end up needing.” She lowered her hand, turning around before catching her error. Her finger rose up as she stopped. “And your lightsabers, blasters can be handy in a pinch but yeah.” She nodded and moved on towards the dais above.

With minimal effort, she jumped up and landed in a gentle crouch on the catwalk above him. She turned to look down below at him, hands coming to clasp behind her back as she nodded at the door below. “That door took me several hours to open as it isn’t merely touching with a hand and pushing – you must focus, and free yourself from the physical bonds.” She nodded softly. “The Force is all around you, the Light surrounds us. Let it guide you.”

She took a deep breath. “You will know what to do once you focus hard enough. Take your time, this isn’t about rushing or getting it done faster than anyone prior to you.”

Mira nodded. “This is about learning and understanding.”

[member="Harmon Taldan"]

 

[Harmon Taldan]

Mira raised an eyebrow as he began placing all the items between the two of them.

“When the time comes, you’ll find that you won’t need half of what you carry with you.” She tapped her own head with a single index finger. “Most of the time, only this is what you will end up needing.” She lowered her hand, turning around before catching her error. Her finger rose up as she stopped. “And your lightsabers, blasters can be handy in a pinch but yeah.” She nodded and moved on towards the dais above.

With minimal effort, she jumped up and landed in a gentle crouch on the catwalk above him. She turned to look down below at him, hands coming to clasp behind her back as she nodded at the door below. “That door took me several hours to open as it isn’t merely touching with a hand and pushing – you must focus, and free yourself from the physical bonds.” She nodded softly. “The Force is all around you, the Light surrounds us. Let it guide you.”

She took a deep breath. “You will know what to do once you focus hard enough. Take your time, this isn’t about rushing or getting it done faster than anyone prior to you.”

Mira nodded. “This is about learning and understanding.”

"Focus...focus...focus..." He spoke the words to himself as he faced the door. He turned his face up to Mira for a second and offered a solemn nod, all trace of his jovial nature replaced by the mask of his concentration. Being a soldier for so long, it was as if a switch existed in his mind that allowed him to go from his normal way of being into 'soldier mode.' Looking at the door through the eyes of a soldier, however, was not going to help in this. It took a few minutes for him to come to terms with this. His focus was all wrong, his mind set was in how to breach the doors, how to get past this obstacle to complete the mission.

The mission...there is no mission. This is training, but not like other obstacle courses I've done. He thought to himself. He found that he was in a combat crouch, hands inching towards where his pistols usually hung on his hips. He could feel a small amount of adrenaline coursing in his veins after he had slid into 'soldier mode,' but neither the mode of thought, nor the adrenaline was letting him even touch the force. He took a deep breath and a step back, rising from the crouch through a determined effort of will to dispel the thought-processes of his soldiers mind.

The deep breaths helped to push some of the adrenaline away as he lapsed back into his normal, relaxed stance and a wry, thoughtful grin spread across his face. Alright, I changed how I thought when I did basic training, I need to do so again. This is a force exercise, that means it's not going to take a soldiers mindset to get through it...though some explosives there and... Harm thought to himself, almost letting himself slip back into the soldiers mindset. He mentally gripped himself and physically shook his head as he took a few more deep breaths. I need to come at this problem like a Jedi. How would Jedi approach this door? How would a Jedi approach training? How would a Jedi approach life? Harm let these thoughts occupy his mind as he strode forward to the doors. He didn't know how many Jedi and other force-users had come to these doors for training. He knew Mira...Master Rekali, had done it at least once. He pondered what he knew of the Jedi and the Force, mostly recently gained knowledge as he reached the door and brushed his fingers lightly against the stone. Some deep part of him felt...something. It started as a small surge of peace at the center of his chest and a light pressure behind his eyes. Not painful, but present.

Harm paced from the edge of one door to the opposite edge of the other, letting his fingers trace along the stone as he thought about the code the Jedi lived by. His life had been about making money off of fighting others' wars. He had lived a life that would seem antithetical to the Jedi way of life, but he knew he didn't want to approach this, or anything, from the perspective of a Sith. He'd seen and felt them, he'd fought them, nearly died at their hands. He needed to fully join the ranks of force-users, for that was the field of play he now found himself on.

After reaching the end of the doors he slowly moved back to where he had been standing and turned once more to face the door. The Jedi fought, but in everything they sought peace. To the Jedi, wisdom was the primary tool needed to face the trials and joys of life. He might not consider himself a Jedi, though his path seemed to be traveling alongside theirs at the moment, but they were the predominate experts on using the Force for the side of light.

There is no emotion, there is peace.

Harm looked at the doors, but his gaze was turned inward. He let the adrenaline left over from his soldier mode to dissipate from his blood, though he didn't consciously cause it to happen. He then went through his life, looking at the emotional bonds he'd made with people along the way. He looked at the guilt he felt at the lives he'd taken in his pursuit of money with the Corps. He looked at the times he'd fallen in love, the ties of brotherhood he'd formed with other soldiers, the desire to find his parents, and his desire to push evil from the galaxy. He felt strongly about each of those topics, but for the time being he needed to do with out them. As such, he partitioned them away into the back of his mind and focused on his meditation.

There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.

Harm closed his eyes and felt with a mental hand around his own mind. He may not have known much about the wider galaxy, or the ways of Jedi, Sith, or any other force users while he'd been in the Corps, but he still knew right from wrong, and such knowledge was one of the main supports of the Jedi mindset. Through his past, Harm went again. He reviewed his actions from his newly forming mindset, free for the moment from emotional context. Looking at it all, he knew that he acted from his desire to do right far more often than just to find money. His subtle self-loathing had been coloring his mind about his previous life choices, but there had been plenty of times when he could have decided to do things that would have made him far more money, at the cost of his scruples.

There is no passion, there is serenity.

Reaffirmation of the first clause of the Jedi code. A reminder that a cool, objective mindset allowed ones mind to open, not just to the force, but to the wider world in general. Harm sought out any further vestiges of emotion in his forming mindset and found a few stragglers that were deep set. He took the time to review them in his mind before putting them back in the partition with his other emotions.

There is no chaos, there is harmony.

Harm slowly lowered himself to his knees and sat back on his heels, letting his hands rest on his lap as he looked deeply within himself and sought to order his new mindset. The easiest way to do that was to put in representations to act as a translator between thoughts and his mind. To do such, he built a mental temple. This new mindset was not going to be a soldiers mindset, but the soldier was still a deep part of Harms personality, so he did not seek to exclude it. He needed mental harmony if he was going to further develop his abilities with the Force, to delve into it's mysteries. Still breathing deeply, he sets the foundations deep in the bedrock of his mind, good mental duracrete blocks reinforced with battle hull grade durasteel rebar. On top of that he set more blocks of the same make, smaller to allow for better mental flexibility in his mind. He knew that this mental temple was going to be a work in process, so for the time being he built the outer structure, complete with doors that resembled those in front of his physical self. His mental vision moved slowly into the mental temple and found a large chamber there. It was unadorned except for a raw crystal rotating in the center of the room, pulsing with a warmth that filled mind, body, and soul with a clarity of purpose.

There is no death, there is the Force.

Harmon opened his eyes. The world seemed to be in sharper focus, he could feel people all around him, from Master Rekali above him, watching him, to the people training in the room they had left not long ago.

Harm paused as he also sensed outside the training complex. It had been mid morning when he had met Master Rekali. It was now dusk and closing on the evening meal time. Normally, Harm would be upset for having already missed a meal and possibly missing a second was unheard of when not in a firefight. Now, however, the thought passed through his mind without emotional attachment. He felt the Force fueling him, and so he wasn't even hungry at the moment.

His gaze fell upon the doors, their stone facade now marked by four runes of brilliant blue. The runes were emanating a feel of ancient purpose, of meaning that still went beyond Harmon's expertise and knowledge, but he knew that he could find out their meaning, so he took them in for a few minutes, committing their every line to his memory. He surveyed every rune individually, scrutinizing the lines, angles, and curves of each in its own right, then as a whole, all together. After the passage of this time, Harm began to experiment. He knew, instinctively, that these runes held the way through the doors. Starting on the one to the far left, he probed it with his mind using the force. His touch caused it to brighten to a far richer blue. Breathing deeply, he switched to the second and probed it as well with his mind through the force. Again, the rune lit up into a richer blue. The third and fourth rune were likewise reacting to his touch.

Harm stood, then. He approached the door, the runes moved with him, shrinking in size so that all four remained within his field of vision when he looked at the door, but still remaining out of physical reach. Realizing this, he stopped his forward movement. He touched each of the runes in a sequence of left to right, then right to left. The doors remained unbudged. He attempted other combinations, to the same effect. He knew he hadn't tried all of the combinations, but he stopped. He was pushing this too far in complexity. He split his focus in half, viewing two runes each with each half of his focused mind, then split each again so he was viewing each rune with a quarter of his concentrated focus. A pressure built within him, aside from the force that had filled him when he had finished and assumed his new mindset, a pressure that was exultant and a warning all at once. He hadn't ever tried to focus this much, and he was working out new mental muscles. However, his concentration firmed as he saw movement at the doors. He was on the right path, and he needed to retain his focus, rather than lose it in a rush.

Harm probed with each division of his focus at the runes. As he touched them simultaneously, the doors slowly swung open, silent on their hidden hinges. Unsure of what would happen if he discontinued his focus, he maintained the push on the runes through his divided focus as he walked through the doorway, then past the swing of the doors. Finally through, he sank slowly to his knees again, and slowly released his focus on the doors. Combining his focus again until it was whole, then releasing the runes entirely. There was a small area between the door and what had to be the entrance to the next trial, so Harm took a few minutes to rest and contemplate on what he had just done.

[member="mira rekali"]

 

[The Spark]

Mira clapped her hands slowly, impressed by what she had seen and felt from Harmon. He was a natural through the Force but he would take time and refinement to be able to call upon the Force in real-time situations. It was just one of those things, a fight or flight ordeal was completely different than training. She walked carefully across the dais and gestured down to him.

“Now isn’t the time to rest Padawan.” She smirked and flicked her wrist as several gun emplacements appeared from both walls. They lined the corridor that would lead towards the open arena beyond. “Move or be shot.” It was a simple task, he would have to use the Force and make it to the other end of the corridor. Luckily for him, the shots would do no more damage than a remote drone. Unfortunately, he had about three seconds before the first one started to fire upon his position.

[member="Harmon Taldan"]

 

[Harmon Taldan]

Mira clapped her hands slowly, impressed by what she had seen and felt from Harmon. He was a natural through the Force but he would take time and refinement to be able to call upon the Force in real-time situations. It was just one of those things, a fight or flight ordeal was completely different than training. She walked carefully across the dais and gestured down to him.

“Now isn’t the time to rest Padawan.” She smirked and flicked her wrist as several gun emplacements appeared from both walls. They lined the corridor that would lead towards the open arena beyond. “Move or be shot.” It was a simple task, he would have to use the Force and make it to the other end of the corridor. Luckily for him, the shots would do no more damage than a remote drone. Unfortunately, he had about three seconds before the first one started to fire upon his position.

Harm had less time to rest than he had counted on. He had heard Master Rekali's warning, but it didn't register until the Force itself also warned him. It was a lucky body void that moved him out of the way of the first bolt, then he was up and moving. From the kneeling position, he rolled forward over his shoulder, coming up into a jog. The remote blaster had tracked him though, and his right heel took a glancing shot as he leapt up and forward. He tucked into a roll, smelling the air ionize as a bolt passed just in front of his face as he came around. Then he impacted the floor, rolling along his back and back up to his feet.

Rising from his roll, he took a blaster bolt straight into his left arm as he attempted to spin between two coming at him from opposite directions. The bolt stung, and his response jerk had overbalanced his spin, toppling him over onto his back. No time to catch his breath, he pulled the force deeper into himself and threw his feet up over his head and pushed off with his hands, using a force enhanced handspring to throw himself up into the air. In the air he twisted himself, this time getting the timing barely correct, and so missing the blaster bolts that again came from opposite sides.

Completing his flipping, twisting handspring, he hit the ground with his feet, then pushed off again into a somersault, then into a forward roll as the blaster bolts began to rain down faster. He let go of his conscious mind and tenuously began to let the force guide his instincts in keeping him safe.

[member="Mira Rekali"]

 

[Harmon Taldan]

Harmon had thirty meters left of the corridor, he could see a zone beyond which the turrets seemed to stop. He didn't let his hopes get up, though, as there were still thirty meters of corridor, and while the blaster bolts didn't hurt him badly, they stung. The truest sting of them, was that he wasn't good enough to keep ahead of them.

'If I can't do this in training, how can I do it when it really matters?' he asked himself mentally. The thought caused a surge of emotion and adrenaline. His connection to the Force waned as his soldier mindset attempted to reassert itself. Three blaster bolts hit him in succession. The first was in the left shoulder, causing him to wince and throw his forward roll off, the second was in the right angle, imparting a slight spin on his roll, and the third one was in the butt. That just stung.

Harmon pushed the mindset away, let his mind float in the eddies of the force again. It was a delicate balance that he had to maintain, keep a strict hold on keeping the mindset, which itself was a loosening of his instincts and flowing with them. It was the rare soldier who could survive long while 'flowing with it,' but Harmon wasn't going to fail now, it was a thought he didn't even have to fight off, as it was never an option with him.

His connection to the Force redoubled. His eyes widened as he felt, rather than saw, what he should be doing. He had been stuck in a two-dimensional mindset, so used to the expectations of the Corps where everyone was limited in what they could do. He was not so limited. Rolling out of the buttshot, he pushed up and to the right with his legs, running almost headlong towards the wall. Letting the Force guide him, he set his feet on the wall and ran parallel to the ground for a few steps while the remotes recalculated based on his new tactic. As they aligned with his new direction, he pushed off the wall, using the Force to help defy gravity, he flew to the other wall, rolled along it, then let gravity reassert itself and rolled to the ground. He pushed off with his hands as he felt a bolt coming from behind. He spun in the air, then pushed off the right wall with the Force, then the left one with his feet, rolling to the ground again.

He was down to ten meters, not a bolt had hit him in the majority of the last twenty. He instinctively switched tactics, running a few steps on the ground, he then faked a dodge to the right, ran up the left wall, then pushed off and up. He did a twisting somersault in the air, then touched down on the right side wall right in front of the second to the last remote. As it fired at him, he pushed himself away from the wall and around the bolt in another twist. He touched down in the area beyond the remotes, but continued to dodge as the closest of them still sought to sting him. This time, he didn't let himself rest as he came to a bend, he rolled around it, coming up ready for the next part of the obstacle course. Sweat and dust stained his shirt, but his breathing was even, and his face was calm and serene.

[member="Mira Rekali"]

 

[The Spark]

Mira jumped down from the dais and landed in a crouch before the panting Harmon. Slowly she would rise and place her hands upon her hips, an eyebrow raising as she examined the smoking corridor behind him and then the form of the man before her. She nodded softly in approval. “Very impressive, I expected you to be stuck down there for atleast a little while – getting zapped atleast a dozen more times than you did.” She chuckled softly and turned to face three inactive droids behind her.

“These are simple combat droids, and each one of them is designed to hone your skills with a Lightsaber.” Her hand would clench down into a fist, and the sound of metal and circuitry crushing would fill the air as the droids imploded and began to break down into condensed durasteel and other components. She held her fist tightly as she turned to face Harmon, a sneer upon her facial features. The droids would make eerie noises as the weight of the Force came down upon them. Finally, she opened her hand and merely let go – allowing the remnants of the droids to fall lifelessly to the ground.

“But we’re not going to use them. You will be fighting me.” Her left hand removed a training saber from her belt while the right adjusted the settings upon the hilt. “It’s simple really, you show me what you’ve got and what you know – how good are you?” She would then toss the training saber to Harmon. “I want to see footwork, balance, and blade technique.”

[member="Harmon Taldan"]

 

[Harmon Taldan]

The Lightsaber, an iconic weapon of the Jedi and other Force cults. It's workings were fairly easy to devise, a power emitter, lens and focus cystal combined to make a beam of plasma inside a magnetic field. That was a fairly similar way that blasters were made, though a blaster shot things, while a lightsaber maintained a single 'blade' of plasma.

Weapons had been Harms life blood, he'd been using them since he could remember. All except the lightsaber. Thanks to his Miraluka blood, he had an innate gift to move with the force, but the lightsaber was another beast. It would require far more work than he'd put in today, and he'd already been working out before the current trials.

Harm reached out and lightly caught the lightsaber from the air. He looked it over a moment, noting the activation stud and the belt clip. Everything else was internal.

“I want to see footwork, balance, and blade technique.”

"I will try my best." He responded. He activated the lightsaber, then spread his legs roughly shoulder width apart, his left one was forward and pointed at Mira, while his left one was perpendicular to that line and off of center a bit. He sank into the stance a bit, letting his legs make a roughly seventy degree angle. The blade, unfamiliar in his hand, he brought up to his side. The hilt was roughly mid chest, blade pointed up, both elbows up. It was mildly reminiscent of a baseball batter stance.

[member="mira rekali"]