Private Astral Express

[Jacen Nimdok]

Was there a better way? Had Nimdok been in possession of a physical body, he would have rubbed his chin thoughtfully. <Apart from the fact that I think you’re confusing neurons and neutrons…>

Perhaps it was foolhardy to attempt to visualize neurons regardless. After all, their galaxy was full of many diverse alien species, and not every one of them was going to have a nervous system that worked the same way. Hell, there were probably plenty that didn’t even have a nervous system to begin with… So, what was a better way to teach Stun?

<Perhaps it is the Will to Power,> he said. <The Force is a powerful ally, and it works via intent. One doesn’t need to know every single detail of an object in order to be able to move it with the Force, and so you don’t need to know what their nervous system looks like to be able to stun someone. You simply need a strong will and a clear goal.>

Lief​

 

[Lief]

So I am overthinking it the boy muttered more to himself than to the Professor, as the man further considered the question and gave his response. Intent, will, purpose. All things Eliphas had drawn upon before to make something happen with the Force. In this case he'd let simple science block him from realizing that, phrases and terms that he had little understanding of.

But the intent was to stun. To keep her from action... Eliphas inhaled a slow and steady breath.

And then reached out to Miri.

Well it wasn't great, but it was at least a start. The girl would start to feel tingly, as though overcome by a serious bout of pins and needles, but she wasn't numbed much less stunned. Once the boy realized as much, he tried again; this time more of a tickle. And again. Numbness... Closer...

Poor Miri, he thought, not only was this taking forever but she was being subjected to silly little attempts.

Okay he whispered, This time... I got it...

Eliphas cleared his mind, focused on the girl, and drew upon the Force in order to stun her. Actually stun her, not just faff around fearful that he'd hurt her in the process...

Jacen Nimdok

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

The next few minutes were filled with Miri alternately squirming in discomfort, or trying to hold back her laughter. “Dad, is he supposed to—stun me, or—or tickle me to death?”

<Eliphas, I hope you aren’t just playing around,> Nimdok said. Sure enough, though, the cacophony of sensations Miri was experiencing came to an end as Eliphas left the girl in a stupor.

The professor was quick to check on his daughter’s status. <She’s safe… and quite out of it. Good work, Eliphas.>

Now the only thing left to teach was how to actually attack another. He had no intention of using Miri as a guinea pig for that. Rather, Nimdok planned to offer himself as an opponent. That was not the source of his reluctance to continue the lessons, however. For all his skill, Nimdok knew it was for the best if he let Tammuz's holocron teach him the ethics of psychic warfare—a subject which the professor had struggled with. It was just too easy, too temptingly simple, to sweep one's enemies aside like so much chaff...

<I think,> he began, smoothing over his trepidation. <We had better take that break now, wait for her to come out of it. You don’t want to spend too much time on the astral plane anyway. It will become more difficult to return to your own body the longer you stay here…> He probably should’ve mentioned that earlier, but oh well. <You'll probably want to have something to eat as well. Projecting does strange things to the body's metabolism.>

Lief​

 

[Lief]

The Professor thought he was messing around?

Well that certainly helped to light a fire under his butt, didn't it? Sure enough soon after the fact he managed it for real, not that he hadn't been trying to do it prior to that. And once she was out cold, he returned his attention to Nimdok.

Sorry, I really was trying he finally replied, having previously been much too focused to do so. Then came the suggestion of a break, and the warning which should have come sooner. Yep, that sounds good... Don't want to get stuck in this weird state. He couldn't deny how cool it was, of course, but then he'd miss out on so many things.

Such as the aforementioned food.

Even thinking about it made him feel hungry.

You said to ease back into it, right? he said, as he approached where his own body lay in wait. With the Professor's confirmation, or alteration, he began the process of reuniting himself with his body... Not so rushed or hasty as the last time.

Jacen Nimdok

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

Nimdok stayed long enough to ensure that Eliphas did return safely to his body. The Padawan might feel a strange, lingering feeling of disappointment upon re-entry—the world of crude matter couldn’t compare to being a luminous being, even if only halfway.

Once the professor had returned to reality, he sat up from his spot on the floor. Nimdok was a terrible cook, and with Miri stunned they couldn't leave the ship. “Hm, should I order food—” He broke off, finding his voice a little scratchy, and coughed. “Or would you be content with rations?”

Lief​

 

[Lief]

A slow and steady transition, back first to his sleepy body and then to a more wakeful state. At first he didn't really notice the difference, but then all at once it hit him like his senses were all flared. The boy opened one eye, then the other, and let out a wistful sigh. Somehow reality felt all the more dull than it had seemed within the astral plane.

Nimdok didn't leave him pondering that for long though. Talks of food were made, and he shifted himself into an upright position. Before answering though his eyes fell across to Miri, and a concerned frown played into the creases of his forehead. "She's okay though, right?" he inquired. The Professor had likened it to a stun round... He'd used one of those before to keep Latergh from murdering Mathieu Brion .

The Gamorrean had been more or less fine when she awoke, and anything that wasn't fine was largely due to the lizards and not the round.

Okay, back to the question at hand.

"I'm good with rations, Professor. They don't bother me much since The Atale." While they had properly cooked meals, there was also plenty of times when they came upon a world that he relied upon such. Not to mention the time spent getting back home to Teta, with naught but rations to chow down on onboard Void-Drifter. Yep, even for a nobleboy he wasn't really all that fussy.

Eliphas reached up and rubbed at his eyes. By the Empress was he still feeling sleepy...

Jacen Nimdok

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

“Alright, rations it is. Kitchen’s that way.” Nimdok pointed, then turned his attention to Miri. “Wake up, buttercup.”

Miri grumbled and rolled over.

“We’re having rations.”

She made a face, then peeked open one eye. “If he takes the nuna one I’ll fight him for it.”

“Be my guest. He probably doesn’t stand a chance against you.”

“Heh.” She slowly rose to her feet, a little woozy. “Unless he stuns me again…”

Thus did they settle down to eat at the kitchen table. It was a relatively quiet meal, right up until Nimdok suddenly said, "Oh, Eliphas—since you don't enjoy meditation, perhaps you'd like to hear a funny story about a Jedi who meditated too much?"

"It's not a funny story if the guy killed people," Miri remarked, having already heard the story before.

"It's hilarious, in fact," continued Nimdok, who enjoyed a bit of gallows humor. "There once was a Jedi named Tel Angor. He was considered the best Jedi in the Order at the time, but he wanted to be better—he wanted to be the living embodiment of the Light Side of the Force. He determined that he would do this through meditation, fasting, and other ascetic practices meant to purify him. He sealed himself away for weeks and weeks of meditation. Yet when he emerged, something had happened to him. Rather than being purified, he had fallen to the Dark Side and become a sort of Force Vampire."

"The Force Vampire, according to him," Miri said between bites.

"The guy was pretty self-righteous and full of himself to begin with—I mean, what kind of schmuck believes he will become 'a living symbol of the Light Side, a glowing beacon of righteousness and justice' simply by fasting and meditating for a little while?" Nimdok chuckled. "Granted, the moral of the story isn't that meditation is bad. Tel Angor, in trying to become the perfect Jedi, was faced with his own imperfection when he meditated. Confronted by his flaws and the impossibility of living up to the ideal he was setting for himself, he despaired and wound up falling to the Dark Side. Instead of becoming a conduit of the Force, he feeds on it, like a parasite."

A contemplative silence fell, broken only by the sound of Miri slurping the bottom of her juice packet.

"I learned that story from a holocron, like the one I gave you," Nimdok said after some time. "Er, not the same one, a different holocron. I don't have it anymore, my wife has it stowed away somewhere, I think..." And off he went on another tangent, this one not half as interesting. Please interrupt him, for all our sakes.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

At the Professor's urging, Eliphas moved to the back of the ship in search of ration packs housed within the kitchen. It took him a little bit of rummaging before he found them, and after selecting three that sounded pretty decent he carried them back into the common space wherein he saw a recently roused Miri. The boy offered her a sheepish and apologetic smile.

"Here you go, whichever you'd prefer," he said, giving her first choice in the meals for all of her guinea pig efforts, "Sorry about all of that... Hope it wasn't too much of a bother, miss."

Eliphas naturally let Nimdok pick next, and then he took whatever remained. He wasn't much of a fussy boy, after all, and simpler foods were something he'd come to appreciate during his time without much of anything at all on hand to chow down on.

As they ate a story was offered, and the boy found himself listening intently to each word. A Jedi turned into a Force Vampire? His eyes widened here and there, and he looked both in awe and dumbfounded by the whole tale.

When Nimdok switched to another matter, he shook his head and furrowed his brows.

"Wait, wait, wait... Was that a real story? Force Vampire... That's a thing?"

If nothing else, it served to switch the topic.

Jacen Nimdok

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

"Wait, wait, wait... Was that a real story? Force Vampire... That's a thing?"

His tangent interrupted, Nimdok rerouted, pleased that Eliphas was interested. "Well, yes and no. Most consider the Force Vampire to be a legend, but then a sizable chunk of what was once considered true history has since been called in question in more recent years, as conflicting accounts have been discovered. Besides, I found a holocron created by someone claiming to be him. Granted, it was a heavily damaged holocron, but it was very potent with the Dark Side."

"Dad's a professor of history," Miri remarked, nibbling on her nuna. "I mean, in case that wasn't obvious." He had been calling Nimdok Professor, but that didn't mean he knew what he was a professor of.

"More specifically, I taught Jedi and Sith history." Nimdok smiled almost to himself. "Wrote a few books, if you're interested. But I came into it when things were changing. Where once there was a large gap created by lost records from before and during the Gulag Era, suddenly there were too many records giving different accounts of the same events. It created a divergence in what was considered the acceptable 'canon' version of history. No one can prove one account is more truthful than the other, either because there's not enough evidence, or because there's too much evidence, though they can't all be true. Because of these discoveries, history has become a very confusing field."

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Eliphas wasn't particularly sure what all of that meant in regards to the existence of Force Vampires, even after the explanation was given, but he supposed that was sort of the point wasn't it? Nobody knew for sure.

"But he claims that's what he was? Or was it more what you inferred from what he left behind?"

Professor of History - yep, that made sense. He gave Miri a smile of thanks, before focusing back on her dad. "I'm always down for a little light reading" he replied, with the tiniest slither of a smirk on his lips. If he'd come to know anything about the Professor, it was that he likely did not make books meant for light reading, but regardless if he could get a copy the boy would read it.

He had a lot of empty time on his hands when it came to journeys after all. And it seemed like Starlin liked to keep in motion, which probably meant he'd be seeing the inside of a starship a fair amount.

Jacen Nimdok

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

"But he claims that's what he was? Or was it more what you inferred from what he left behind?"

"The same way that the holocron I gave you carries an imprint of Tammuz Hoole, the Holocron of the Force Vampire carried an imprint of Tel Angor," Nimdok replied. "In other words, yes, that's what the Gatekeeper claimed. But these things can be faked."

As soon as Eliphas mentioned it, Nimdok was out of his chair, vanishing into his mobile office. He returned a couple minutes later with bound flimsiplast copies of The Alliance That Never Was, War is Hell, and Son of Solo. He attempted to hand the hefty volumes over to Eliphas directly. "This is some of my best work, I'd say. I'll even autograph them for you, if you like."

Miri rolled her eyes and shook her head, stifling a giggle.

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Wait, so now the holocrons could lie?

"Well then how do we know all holocrons aren't lying?" he asked, seriously perplexed by the whole thing. No sooner had he mentioned light reading though than the Professor ran off in search of something. During the interim he glanced at Miri and offered her a loose shrug. He didn't mind the rambling lectures or flights of fancy the Professor held, if anything he found the whole thing endearing. You know, in sort of like a ... Grandpa way? Yeah.

When he returned it was with three hefty flimsiplast books. Eliphas took them one at a time and stacked them on the table beside the remnants of his ration pack.

"War is hell? I'll drink to that" the boy stated, going so far as to raise up his juice box with a grin. "Sure that'd be cool, knock yourself out" he said, shifting one of the books toward him with a kindly smile. "Uh, not literally though... Wait, can you stun yourself? Not that I think anyone would want to but..."

Okay he was getting off topic. Stupidly off topic, even.

"Thank you, by the way. For having me over today." Force knows it would have been boring on the ship by himself, and the local areas didn't seem particularly safe for him to be roaming. Company was always appreciated.

Jacen Nimdok

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

"Well then how do we know all holocrons aren't lying?"

"We don't," Nimdok replied cheerfully. "But since I knew Tammuz personally, I can at least confirm that his holocron is not lying. Unless my memories have been replaced. Which, I mean, technically they have..."

"Oh, brother," Miri muttered.

"War is hell? I'll drink to that."

"It is one of my finest essays," Nimdok agreed. "The whole business was awful, though." And probably best not to talk about, given that Eliphas was now part of the NJO. Instead, the professor busied himself with signing the books. "Well, you can induce sleep, such as in a hibernation trance. That's done to speed up healing, though it still takes several hours or even days..." He glanced up at Eliphas with a smile. "You want to learn how to do that, too?"

"Thank you, by the way. For having me over today."

"You're welcome. I enjoy having a student again." Nimdok finished signing the final book with a flourish. "Now, what was I going to teach you next..."

Lief​

 

[Lief]

"Huh..."

A thoughtful frown overcame his expression. They couldn't ever know for sure. But then wasn't that the case with most historical things? Especially primary sources. They were taken at face value, but so many things factored into it and everyone has their own prejudices and biases. Holocrons seemed to be something akin to vessels of knowledge that just happened to also have a personality, and the ability to answer questions. That meant they had those same biases.

At the very least, knowing the creator of the holocron he was borrowing meant that Nimdok could speak to the validity of what lay upon it. Ultimately, that was enough for the boy. He nodded once.

Talks changed rather rapidly then, to books and then to stunning oneself. A hibernation trance was what the Professor suggested as something of an equivalent, not something the boy was all that familiar with but being able to heal a little more rapidly did seem like a useful skill. Especially for someone who was deathly allergic to bacta.

"Maybe one day" he replied, with a soft smile, "I feel like my brain's going to explode if I learn anything else today." As if right on cue, Eliphas raised a hand to stifle a fatigue-laced yawn. "Do you know how long Starlin plans to be on Erakhis? Maybe we could try for another session before we leave?"

Jacen Nimdok

 

[Jacen Nimdok]

"I believe he said he would be leaving tomorrow," Nimdok replied. "Of course, you are welcome to contact me on your own and arrange for another meeting. Since I retired, I've had nothing but time on my hands."

"And way too much extra cash," Miri muttered, apparently alluding to something between them. Nimdok chuckled.

"You also have the holocron I gave you to work with, which you can do on your own time. I think you'll find it very informative."

Lief​

 

[Lief]

Tomorrow?

Well that didn't leave any chance for them to meet up again did it? There was still plenty that the man had eluded to him learning, some of it might have been covered in the holocron but the rest? Well he was left with a little bit of FOMO in the wake of that knowledge. Even so, it didn't make sense to dawdle where they weren't needed.

So he smiled, and nodded his head eagerly. "Well you have my com-details" he said, before tilting his head to one side, "At least, I presume you do. Since you reached out..." A soft chuckle, before he glanced over at the smattering of books and the holocron which lay on the table beside him. Plenty to read and do in the meantime.

"Thank you again" he said, before finishing up what remained of his meal. He helped with clean up after that, and lingered until Starlin was back around - provided the Professor didn't mind of course. It had been a long day, and he knew he'd probably have to dedicate quite a lot of time to unpicking all that he had learned and properly figuring it all out in his own time.

Fin​