Prana

[Eugen Aker]

From her office on Klatooine, Arisa had been studying some blueprints shared with from Orihime for a directed energy weapon. A type of beam weapon that used Force energy to incapacitate or immobilize targets. There had been several issues discovered with the operation of the design, so she had been called in to provide a second pair of eyes. Studying the mechanics of the weapon, they weren't unlike some of the projects she had been working on for Kiribian System Armory. Solid state beam weapons based off the lightsaber design. The setup simplified the operation of blaster weapons, removing components and reducing weight as gas canisters were no longer needed. That translated into compact weapons like carbines with a similar damage output to their full-sized equivalents.

Orihime and Sorel were already in the neighborhood testing another project with technicians from Panacea, so she had invited both of her fellow Jedi over to her office for a discussion on revising the design. As it was, she did not believe the cannon would work as intended, but she had an idea for harnessing the Force energy in a different manner. If that didn't work out, there were always ion cannons and stun blasters at the end of the day.

[member="Orihime Ike"]
[member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Orihime Ike]

[member="Arisa Yune"] [member="Sorel Crieff"]

Orihime was looking at it and some of the things that they had developed previously using the force and crystals well... Were more advanced compared. The tora'yor allowed the crystals to be inserted and literally channeled into a beam that was given power... With ore destructive properties.... yeah she could fire from her palm a blast that technically did more then the cannon she and Sorel had discovered in the ancient jedi lab along with the terraforming information. Then well there was the upscaled version of it that had been designed and tested. The crystal that was the size of a small flashlight and designed to be used on different weapon easily enough that the jedi and force users who preferred guns could have. The force light gun that the jedi had access to that could obliterate sithspawn compared to many of the others. There were some questions about how a larger one that actually did less was harder to make then the smaller more compacted and powerful versions but the jedi knight was moving around with a few of the ideas. Still she was happy to come and work with Arisa Yune for this task, there was a lot they would and should easily be able to do.

 

[Sorel Crieff]

It would not have been like Sorel not to have done her homework. On both the planet and who they were about to meet.

Klatooine was the arid homeworld of the Klatooinians. It was located within the Si'Klaata Cluster and was largely desert. But unlike many dry planets, there were savannah’s too. And it had a potted history. The Hutts were a significant aspect of the planet’s history but since the Treaty of Vontor that had all changed.

Otherwise it was an ordinary planet – with its holy places and special exports. What it lacked was water but with today’s technology that was less of an issue than it once was.

She was travelling with Orihime and had been invited to the office of Arisa Yune. She understood it was to do with their recent discoveries. Sorel was always cautious when enterprise showed an interest in weapons technology – especially something that promised to be a step-change in capability. Such progress was invariably going to lead to a general escalation and for a peace-keeper, that never spelled success.

But she was open minded and had her friend with her and so approached the meeting with a small amount of optimism. Time would tell if it was well placed. At least she knew Arisa from a previous encounter, so it was not like dealing with a faceless corporation. She was going to meet a newly found friend.

[member="Orihime Ike"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

At her desk, Arisa perked up as she felt the familiar aura of Sorel pop up among the crowds of Treema. The empath was good about recalling the signatures of individuals she had met in the past, and the woman now held special significance as a friend. Following her detection of the approaching Jedi, it wasn't long before T7 appeared to alert her of their presence. The modified YVH-1 acted as her secretary and direct link to the secure network of the Silver Jedi. To give the droid a more appealing appearance to locals, he wore robes reminiscent of the ancient temple guards of the old order.

"Mistress Yune, Mistress Ike and Mistress Crieff has arrived."

"Thank you, let's go meet them in the atrium."

She locked her computer and got up to head downstairs with T7. She couldn't take a step without coming across a different plant potted or hanging. Since her tenure as Klatooine's protector, she had tried to liven up the local Silver office with some horticulture until it was as much as a green-house as it was a site for administration. While no force nexus, all the plants together produced a positive, inviting ambiance for the building.

Downstairs, she brightened as she saw Sorel, reaching out for a quick friendly embrace. Sorel and Orihime may have technically outranked her, but all the formality got thrown out in the field. They were comrades before anything else.

"Glad to have you back, and welcome to Treema, Orihime."

This may have been her third or fourth Ike she had encountered since crossing into Silver Space. At this point, the closest thing she had to a family was Suravi, but duty now separated them both. At times, she felt envious seeing entire families serving within the Silver Order.

"If you two want to relax a bit before we get to work, then that's fine. The office has a common area and a small kitchen. Just stocked it with some goodies the other day. Actually, I'd be interested to hear about how you came to acquire this technology if you're willing to share."

[member="Sorel Crieff"] [member="Orihime Ike"]

 

[Orihime Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

Orihime was looking at them and looking at a number of things around them. Compared to when she had been here before well things had changed in a number of good ways that they would be able to a couple fo things. She looked over with more of her attention to Sorel when they were providing them with a few more things. There was all of the data that they had they would and should be able to work with on a few of the things. "This is a very beautiful and welcoming place now. Last time I was here the locals were more then happy to work with us in some of the endeavors." She looked over more of it before she was moving with information on the tactical pad she had showing some details.

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel had known Orihime longer than any other Jedi – except for her Master. The fact one was the other’s daughter was rarely mentioned or even acknowledged. Sorel tended to compartmentalise her relationships and saw Matsu as her Master and friend and Orihime as a fellow Jedi and friend and rarely – if ever – referenced the connection between the two. She referred to Matsu as her Master when talking to Orihime and rarely had a need to mention Orihime to Matsu. But if she did, she would have referred to her by name as opposed to her relationship.

So travelling with Orihime was a common occurrence. It was in part social – she was a Jedi she had a connection with and enjoyed her company. Plus, they had a similar view of the role of a Jedi. This, above all else, was what drew her to – or away from – others.

Sorel bowed and then embraced Arisa. “Thank you for having us here. And as for any of the technicalities, Orihime is most definitely in charge.” She smiled in a good-natured way. She had no vanities and would readily accept that her fellow Knight was far more experienced and competent to discuss what they were here to do.

[member="Orihime Ike"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

"What's mine is yours."

She pulled away from Sorel, heading for the common area down the main hall. Inside, it was a simple affair, a few recliners and a couch organized in a semi-circle around a holoprojector. Along the far side of the room was a kitchenette and a small table. She reached into one of the cabinets for a pot and tin of tea leaves.

"I'm fixing a pot of spiced tea, but feel free to help yourselves to anything in here. Lots of cold drinks and snacks, though no alcohol I'm afraid."

The water in the pot quickly came to boil from the built-in infrared heater at the base. She tapped in a few of the nysillim leaves into the pot, and soon the room would be filled with their sweet scent.

"So, I was looking at the schematics of this weapon, but I really can't wrap my head around its design. If there's one thing I know, it's guns, but this isn't like anything I've ever seen before. How did you find it, exactly?"

[member="Sorel Crieff"] [member="Orihime Ike"]

 

[Orihime Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

Orihime looked at them and was walking to the seats when she provided herself a small area scenting the tea. She thought about how to answer the question when she was workig on it. In her mind the weapon was well simple enough compared to many things, ancient weapons had used the large crystals they had discovered so they would be able to work with it. "We followed an old jedi holocron to a research facility they had created to from the looks of it work on experimental force based technology. From the time period we are going with for now a theory it was to try and halt the Pius Dea crusades with non lethal weapons. Stop crusaders from going after different worlds and alien species." But she was guessing on all of it, the research facility had given them a lot of different things they had been developing incuding but not limited to the terraforming torpedo's, star charts and maps, a large collection of huge kyber crystals and a supply of stygium crystal that few other places could use. "The cannons use kyber crystals that were harvested and some of the designs we changed using the latest technologies developed by my mother that on a smaller scale i used to fire force light."

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel smiled. Some Jedi were just that, fellow peace-keepers. She invariably had nothing against them, but that did not mean they were friends either. Acquaintances at best, colleagues more often than not.

But when someone showed genuine warmth, Sorel was always inclined to reciprocate. “I appreciate your hospitality,” she said as they headed for a common area down what appeared to be a main hall. Once inside she saw the trappings of a home, albeit sparse. Very Jedi-like she immediately concluded.

“Spiced tea sounds good,” Sorel said. She’d tried a few varieties and had yet to find one she didn’t like – plus it was always politer to accept the first thing offered. And the scent that soon reached her nose suggested she’d made the right decision. “Aromatic,” she offered, “And I hope it tastes as good as it smells.”

Once the subject changed to the weapon, Sorel allowed Orihime to take the lead. She nodded in all of the right places to show agreement but was definitely better off letting her friend answer the technical questions.

[member="Orihime Ike"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

Her ears perked up at the mention of crusades. It was an interesting story, but she was quite tired of hearing about any group crusading, terrorizing the galaxy under whatever mantle they invoked to rationalize their crimes. If she ever launched a crusade, it would be one to have the whole galaxy chill the feth out.

"If I recall from my history lessons, the Pius Dea was originally some radical humanist movement from the time of the Old Republic. What's their status now?"

When the tea was ready, she brought the pot over to the table with a set of mugs and some honey and milk for flavoring. In the tradition of ethnic Atrisians, she drank her's plain, to better enjoy the taste of tea. It was quite flavorful of its own, sweet and spicy. The first time she had drank tea with Suravi, she had been quite alarmed to discover how the older woman just dumped tons of sparkbee honey into her own tea, essentially turning it into an alcoholic beverage. Suravi sure liked her sparkbee honey at obscene volumes that would have left Arisa punch drunk - and combustible. Being an augmented human sure did have its benefits.

"Here you are. I pride myself in picking out the best specimens."

[member="Sorel Crieff"] [member="Orihime Ike"]

 

[Orihime Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

She was thinking about it and getting the tea plain with a small amount of sugar. She liked te taste of it but a little sweetness was never bad. She had seen some of the teas with excessive amounts of sugar and sweet tea was delicious. "The Pius Dea are gone and quiet as far as I know. There was a small handful of their ships found when the jedi were exploring. My mother found one that had landed on a planet and been turned into the central area of a major city but it wasn't human's controlling it when her and Vulpesen found it. Another one was found on the edge of the galaxy and had become a nexus of the darkside of the force that was destroyed." She shrugged and sipped the tea with a smile on her face. "We though only found a jedi base from that era working on things all over. There were a couple other pieces we found, a whole warehouse of thins they had started but because of the time period and funding, limitations of the technology or just the side effects it was shelved until later."

 

[Eugen Aker]

"That's good to know. The last thing we need in this galaxy is more nutters wrecking havoc."

Thinking about the Pius Dea more, she remembered how they had their own splinter group of Jedi. She had always wondered what had compelled such Jedi to stray so far from the path in favor of entertaining prejudice. The Jedi were supposed to be the bridge between groups, not their wedge.

"So what about this beam weapon? What makes it a better solution to using say, a stun blaster or an ion weapon?"

[member="Orihime Ike"] [member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Orihime Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

"Well." She was looking at it and bringing up what she knew of the cannon. "The blast is force energy developed and designed to be fired from ancient kyber crystals instead of just a reactors power supply." She said it with a look on her face while offering a small grin. "It was also designed to be both a mass stunner and ion cannon. Disabling but leaving the people alive. Though I suppose if they used like a pacemaker then they might be at risk but why would you be in a riot or battle if your heart can give out from strain with intense activity." she was losing her train of thought about it before looking at more of the things they had discovered and developed. "My mother has made the same technology stronger and on a smaller scale. Force light guns designed to counter and target sithspawn or darksiders for the jedi who use more then just a lightsaber."

 

[Eugen Aker]

She sipped her tea as she nodded along to Orihime's words. It was an interesting concept from a purely technological standpoint, but as a non-lethal solution, she didn't like it in its current form.

"Alright, so I thought about this a lot. I don't believe the platform currently offers any advantage over non-lethal options. Like I said before, there's already so many systems out there, like microwave cannons or glop grenades. They have the benefit of being able to be constructed from common components, versus the need for each crystal to become attuned to the point that it can act as its own power source. That doesn't even take into account the rarity of Kyber crystals. The largest known sources are on planets currently controlled by the Mandalorians and the Galactic Alliance, and neither are too welcoming of the Silver Jedi as it concerns the creation of Force-weapons."

The Mandalorians had made it clear about how they felt about Jedi at the massacre of Illum, which had once served as the primary location for all Jedi to gather crystals for lightsaber construction. As for the Galactic Alliance, the current Grandmaster of the New Jedi Order had made no secret of his distaste of the Silver Jedi and the Ike clans. Truth be told, she secretly resented all Jedi who had fled the Republic and abandoned its people, including Ryan Korr, but she had the sense to stomach her grudges for the greater good.

"For your platform to work as intended on a mass scale, I do believe some compromises are necessary. For a while now, I've been working with Kiribian Systems Armory to improve their line of particle rifles. They were using a gas-based system like most blaster weapons, but I worked with them on developing a series of prototypes that utilized crystals. It still requires a power source, but the overall platform has been greatly miniaturized and streamlined."

"Here's what I'm thinking. The cannon takes on a more conventional setup based off a lightsaber design, but a revolver system is used to cycle different crystals for various effects. For instance, a beam generated from a Luxum crystal is effective against both synthetic and biological targets for a non-lethal takedown. I wouldn't recommend using a real Luxum crystal, but I think a synthetic variant could be produced to mirror the effects."

[member="Orihime Ike"] [member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Orihime Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

She listened to her and she knew a few of the things but why go across the galaxy. There were crystals on Rhen Var, Voss, The entire asobi system had them on their worlds, a number of the other planets had crystals and they knew how to make synthetic crystals that could mirror the results they needed. Plus the addition of the large cache they discovered that was being used to make and power some fo the other things. "There are more locations that have crystals then others would like people to think. They just lack imagination and knowledge of the systems throughout. I know my mother has worked with larger groups and planets across the galaxy to get larger crystals. The ones we found when we found the facility along with the large amount of stygium are also something that can be provided. With the right materials we know how to charge and empower the crystals to continue to function."

 

[Eugen Aker]

"I understand that the reach of Sasori is vast, but supply is only one issue. For such a complex design, the performance is fairly lackluster. A low fire rate and short range makes this weapon less attractive than using an ion battery in ship-to-ship combat. Thinking about the future, enemies would be quick to adapt and render it useless with specific countermeasures. All a crew has to shield their CIC, and harden their tech as they would against ion weapons or EMPs."

She set down her tea and stood up to start manipulating the room's holoprojector with hand gestures. She accessed her personal computer remotely, then pulled up some 3D schematics of the new particle rifle she had referenced for viewing.

"So here's the Famos Mk 2, a successor to the original model. No fancy force blasts, but it does use synthetic tuned crystals to create different beams depending on the configuration. Plasma can be fired as individual bolts or continuous beams. Very accurate, with an effective range and output superior to most weapons in its class. This technology could be upscaled for vehicle or ship use to create a new series of composite beam weapons that can be shifted between lethal or non-lethal modes. It's not exactly what you want, but I feel this will do the same job more effectively."

[member="Orihime Ike"] [member="Sorel Crieff"]

 

[Orihime Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

She was looking at it and.... "That is lack luster, we aren't making this to be appealing to others outside the jedi. We aren't making this to just be another cannon. This is meant to be an alternative to the constant stream of lethal weapons out there." She was looking at it and they had kyber crystals, not different ones for altering the effects of a shot like it was a focused lightsaber. They had it powered by large crystals like older weapons and technology. THe girl looked over at Sorel when she shrugged. "As much as I would love to help make your cannon, it goes against the idea of what we wanted to do. The people this would be used against would just as easily adapt to everything. Same way they adapt with amazingly detailed intel reports despite never being in the area."

 

[Sorel Crieff]

Sorel had been sipping her tea and listening. It was not a passive role, she was a firm believer that you spoke when you had something to add, and so far she’d been learning by not joining in the conversation but instead reflecting on it, weighing up the pros and cons of each statement and hypothesis.

But now was the point where she felt her input would both be welcomed and necessary. “I have no vested interest in making weapons, either for the Jedi or the wider galaxy. I have an interest in keeping the peace, which this tool may prove to assist in – but the two things are not the same, nor are they mutually exclusive. But I am more than happy to help with the development of a device that would help Jedi in fulfilling their duties.”

She shifted in her seat. “I am an old-fashioned Jedi.” She put her hand in her pocket and withdrew a small amount of change. “I have enough credits in my pocket for my next meal. I have a ship to get me around the galaxy and I have a bed on board. And I wear what you see me in now. I want for nothing and aspire to nothing material. I have no issue with personal wealth or corporations – but nor do I have any personal interest.”

“I will gladly support any fellow Jedi develop a non-lethal means of controlling groups. But I cannot wilfully help to create a commercial weapon. Conceptually…morally it would be against what I believe in as a Jedi.”

[member="Orihime Ike"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

 

[Eugen Aker]

Arisa let out a huff of air through her nose. She had only been trying to be helpful, but the other Jedi simply snubbed her nose at Famos platform just because it had the potential for lethality. These Silver Jedi were quite different from the Jedi she was used to, who had no qualms about killing as necessary. Sometimes their job was taking out the trash for the greater good.

The worldly woman definitely wasn't old-fashioned like the monkish Sorel, and she never would be. Never again would she be a pauper begging for scraps. As hard as it was to maintain, she desired a life for herself outside of her Jedi duties.

"If I'm not mistaken, Sasori does a lot to add to that massive pool of lethal weapon options as one of the galaxy's largest arms manufacturers, owned and operated by Jedi. I said this weapon has lethal and non-lethal settings, like almost everything I develop, and it has since the first inception of the Famos particle rifle. The Famos, along with most blasters, are more humane to use than a lightsaber, which is a weapon capable of only maiming or killing. Should we drop the use of those, then?"

"You know what, though? We can sit up in this room all day getting bogged down in debates over dogma and abstract concepts, but I'd rather see this platform in action to observe how effective it really is. Fort Medina has a testing range for experimental platforms just like this. I can call the staff today and have us there working tomorrow. Would that be alright?"

She wasn't crazy about Orihime's ancient Force weapon, but she could probably figure out some helpful tweaks once she had a working example to toy with. Then she could also finish her work for KSA on the new rifle model. Taking out two birds with one stone.

[member="Sorel Crieff"] [member="Orihime Ike"]

 

[Orihime Ike]

[member="Sorel Crieff"] [member="Arisa Yune"]

"Not like this." She said it and there was a difference between a blaster and something firing the force. For one thing force energy required those using it to remain calm and focused. it was why the crystal shots that her mother had developed only functions for jedi and failed when they were tired. The strain of channeling the energy was not easy. it was much more practical to use a blaster or slugthrower then something that required your own power to do and was generally as strong as your connection. Still though she looked at Sorel and gave a nod. "we can test it but this is not a weapon made for commercial use. It is something only force users would be able to use. The smaller scale ones only function as long as the one using them as the stamina to keep using it. This just benefits from having large kyber crystals that have been harvested. Much like ancient ships and weapons that were used by older civilizations."