The White Blade of Glyss

[Jessica Med-Beq]

OOC: Geonosian speech is assumed when in <brackets>, while Basic is bracket-less speech.

IC: The latest trail to get a white mephite or pontite crystal led the duet halfway through Geonosis, where she was to meet with a Geonosian aristocrat apparently possessing a white pontite crystal for sale. The news of the planet all seemed to talk about how the Confederate population was upset at Werah, Geonosians and non-Geonosians, so undoubtedly being part of the Confederate leadership would raise questions on the part of the Geonosian aristocrat, even though most of the Geonosian-specific griefs were not filed against Jessica specifically. They flew on broomsticks, with light clothing, across the dunes of this inhospitable planet. But very few Geonosians have ever seen Jedi in their lifetimes, and those who did, could count them on their hands. Hopefully this aristocrat would understand what purpose would this crystal have for the end user, that is, Summer. Jessica's bag contained brand-new lightsaber components that she would give to Summer once the lightsaber is built.

"We have arrived at the place the Geonosian aristocrat indicated the crystal would be sold"

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"OK master." She says smiling her master had gone to a lot of trouble to find this white crystal for her and it meant a lot to her. She would smile her signature bright white single dimpled smile "I owe you thanks babe. I know it was a lot of work to find this crystal and all of that work for me." She said thinking about how Jessica had trained her in some of the ways of the force

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"You know what we would do for each other: anything" she told Summer before entering the gates of the hive.

"<State your business, Jedi>" the security guard asked Jessica.

"<I am here regarding the purchase of a white pontite crystal from your master>"

"<What will you do with the pontite crystal?>"

"<Build a lightsaber with it>"

"<Request denied>"

The Geonosian guard was caught in a standoff with Jessica, but, knowing that the pontite crystal is for Summer's lightsaber, she will let Summer use the mind tricks on the Geonosian sentry. She might be strong enough but there are times where she'd rather let her padawan do it. The large woman remembers pretty clearly the very first time Summer tried to use the mind trick: it was during the board meeting that ultimately led to the Madeen-class bulk freighter. Hopefully Summer will be able to use it better now.

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer would not miss a beat. She would channel the force and speak <You will let us through> She would say using the force. The guard's face would go a bit slack and say <I will let you through.> He would then open the gates allowing them in

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

Once Summer's mind trick worked, the reluctant guard, who seemed to treat even Jedi as part of the scum of the galaxy, accepted to guide the duet of Jedi through the hive, seeing a number of Geonosian drones and a few of the security guards, who all seem to be curious, having never seen such tall Jedi women in their lives. And terrified, too, since they have seen Summer's mind trick in action, even though it was otherwise just another skill to them. But the hive was rather typical by Geonosian architectural standards. Upon arriving in the aristocrat's main chamber...

"<Ah, majordomo, my guests have arrived>" the owner of the white pontite crystal told the reluctant guard, while turning to Jessica and her apprentice. "<You are here regarding the white pontite crystal?>"

"<Yes>"

"<You claim that it is in the Confederacy's interest to sell over the white pontite crystal to you?>" the aristocrat asked, doubtful that the Confederacy would have greater use for the crystal than he would.

"<Yes>"

"<Can you please tell me how using the crystal in a lightsaber advance Confederate interests?>"

"<The Iron Empire is reluctant to let us Confederates go to Ilum for and synth-crystals just aren't good for anything more than training lightsabers. A Jedi without a lightsaber is a vulnerable Jedi. We have very few Jedi to go around, we are going to need every Jedi to be operational on a very short notice>"

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer would listen as Jessica made negotiations if she needed to jump in she would

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"<Who is this Jedi you want to make operational?>"

"Summer" Jessica told the aristocrat, while pointing at Summer.

"<Because this is a treasure from my collection I will have to charge you extra for it to be sold to non-Geonosians>"

"<How much you ask for it then?>"

"<1,000,000 credits>"

"<Sold. I'll get you a squadron of MTT-Xs delivered here in a few days>"

To Geonosians, she knew that them naming a price really meant said price or its equivalent in items. But to think that this Geonosian aristocrat would swallow his pride for a pair, that is, a squadron of brand-new MTT-Xs? That was pretty difficult to swallow, pontite crystals could be rare and expensive, much more expensive than similarly-sized nova crystals. A similarly-sized nova crystal was worth about 100 credits, maybe even less. And he reluctantly parts with the white crystal, hoping that Summer ends up not killing innocents. Now that the crystal was in Summer's hand...

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer would take the crystal in her hand and smile at it. <Thank you> She said to both Jessica and the aristocrat. "Are we ready?" She asked smiling

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"<Oh and we would like to see you two spar using these training lightsabers once your customer's real lightsaber is completed>"

"<I always imagined Geonosians preferring to see their own kind in the arena. Two humanoid Force-users fighting, lightly dressed, in a mock lightsaber fight, in the gladiatorial games?>"

"<You have about four hours. You will be the centerpiece of today's gladiatorial games>"

She hands Summer a bag of lightsaber components, containing everything she needs, beyond the crystal that she just purchased and is usually the single most expensive component of a lightsaber. But to picture Geonosians to host a lightsaber demonstration as part of the gladiatorial games was just... unreal to Jessica. She thought it would be more of a Hutt thing to make fighters of her kind fight in such a gladiatorial arena. To have a member of the Executive Council risked in the arena for the entertainment of the populace was risking another riot. Yet, as she watches Summer examine the lightsaber components and how they fitted inside the lightsaber...

"Love, I'm a little worried. The Geonosians are wanting us to spar in the sand in front of a crowd"

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"Dont worry about it I will handle this so the plan I see is we fight but not full out" She said looking at the saber parts. She would then begin to assemble them she could see the design coming together in her head and it worked out. In a few hours she would have her saber assembled and she would smile "What do you think"

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"I understand if it takes two hours to build a lightsaber. I will warn you: I am not that great with a lightsaber, and prefer to use the Force in combat, or to otherwise fight at range. Plus there are many, many Jedi for flashing lightsabers: in fact, most Jedi see Jedi-hood as a ticket to fame, but said ticket to fame involves a lightsaber. Also, often people expect Force-using geniuses of my kind to have spells for everything, even though most of their knowledge about Force-using geniuses come from media like the Sith Inquisitor"

The Sith Inquisitor, while headquartered on Ziost, is surprisingly Force-balanced for a media run by dark-siders. If one read the SI, people would think that Force-using geniuses would be more heavy in the Force one way or another, with Force-scholars being part of those that have more brains than Force-power to act based on their knowledge or smarts, while at the same time seeking to further the knowledge of the Force. Cathul and Jessica, alongside a few others, are light-sided regulars of the magazine, both of which are portrayed in there as having larger spellbooks than normal Jedi at their position. But upon looking at the white blade of the resulting lightsaber...

"And I can only use djem-so. This white-bladed lightsaber you have is a lightsaber for live uses, suitable for use once you got a basic training. For the training, though, we are going to use the training lightsabers: they will not cut you to pieces if you get hit, but they will leave you with some pain if you get hit by one" Jessica said, upon handing Summer the training lightsaber. "The best way to start is with defense. Let's start with the zones. Offense and defense in lightsaber combat are described by the body zones they target. Most styles of lightsaber combat have you attack with horizontally-positioned blades, and defense with vertically-positioned blades for blocking meant to push the point of the blade away. Zone 1 is the head, 2 and 3 upper left and right, 4 the center, 5 and 6 lower left and right"

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer would take the training saber putting her own blade away and she would hold it horizontal then flip it to vertical showing she knew what her master meant

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"That is just the beginning. Now, let's practice a little bit, I'll cycle through all six zones in order. A little slowly, I know, but one has to start somewhere"

Not the best way to start, of course, but as Jessica said, there's a beginning for everything. They began to get some practice at this whole game of attack-and-defense with a lightsaber: what began by slowly cycling in order gradually increased in speed as each iteration of the drill was conducted. Having only one eye would mean that Summer's depth perception WILL be impaired, and Jessica has been asked regularly to stand on Summer's right when the two are together. Sure, they feel whole when they are with each other, but they have to use the remaining two hours to get Summer a basic grasp of lightsaber combat. She is not one to fight with a lightsaber, and she isn't expected to fight that often. But little does the Geonosian aristocrat from whom they bought a white pontite crystal know, is that there is growing unrest on Geonosis (and now-undefended Hypori) that the two of them are going to exploit.

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer would pick it up pretty quick but she would have trouble with striked from the left side of her body for that she would use the force and sense the blade coming she would feel pretty vulnerable when strikes came from the left it made her worry but she would rely on the force for depth perception. It worked pretty well for her

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"Don't worry. Before we start on the Form proper, the other thing to learn is the three rings of defense. I know that you're a little vulnerable on your left, and they are a staple on the outermost two rings. The outermost ring has four guard positions: upper right/left and lower right/left. It is used to defend against sweeping heavy blows, which are powerful but slow to deliver. The middle ring has four guard positions: left, right, up and down. It is used to pick up on faster blows and stop them before they could hit you. Also it is useful if you expect to be fighting mostly opponents that wield blasters. The innermost ring, which is used to parry as opposed to block, is used primarily against lunging attacks. The lightsaber is kept close to the body, and you then deflect enemy blades towards their own bellies. It is considered to both defend and attack from for this reason. Now I'll deploy a lightsaber training sphere and you will defend as appropriate"

Jessica was under no illusion that she would master Djem-so, nor would Summer. She used her lightsaber on one occasion: on that asteroid above Geonosis where she fought off the Hutt Cartel. So many Jedi expect to be fighting Sith Lords, lightsaber in hand, while many more expect instead to be fighting blaster-wielders, and concentrate on one over the other. As the training sphere was deployed, firing blaster bolts on stun for Summer to attempt deflecting...

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer would listen and instantly feel very sad for the loss of her missing eye. She would raise a hand to her eyepatch and a tear would roll down her cheek. She would try to stop but she couldnt and she would position the training blade and close her eyes. She found it very easy to block from the training sphere and would succeed

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

"I didn't realize lightsaber training made you cry. Or perhaps that's an explanation I didn't make properly. But it is better to be truthful in situations like these. While sometimes lying can be an option, you shouldn't rely on lies unless absolutely necessary"

Jessica saw her lover cry from her missing eye. That isn't good, she thought. But she always struck me as some rather uncomplicated Jedi to me. Lightsaber training is a painful reminder of her missing eye, but at least with attack craft or other piloting you have all these instruments to help you navigate so that even one-eyed pilots can be of use. Djem-so didn't rely on athleticism as much as other styles of lightsaber, unlike Ataru or Soresu, let alone Juyo. Juyo was favored by those who could manipulate a blade with speed, whereas Djem-so was a favorite of the clumsy, like Jessica.

"I think some time is needed for you to calm down. At least you got that part right. But once you have calmed down, we have to finish teaching the key moves of Djem-so and then we will be brought inside the arena"

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

"Yes master." She said trying to stop crying. She had to stop crying, how could she survive if she couldnt stop crying every time she thought about her left side she cried?

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]

 

[Jessica Med-Beq]

What Summer doesn't know is that there is also an implicit campaign for the upcoming attempt at removing any actual power from Werah, and the Executive Council will have the executive power. Summer may be more focused on Glyss and less so on Geonosian affairs, and that's understandable. But Jessica knew that ousting Werah is an operation that requires the support of the hives, despite her role being more concerned with external affairs, technology-related or not. Jessica held her practice blade above her head, at an approximately 45-degree angle. Once she has seen Summer subside in her cries, then she can pursue her explanations, knowing that she won't have much of an opportunity to practice it before she is brought into the arena, speaking of which there are several of them, and each major hive have one. Sure that arena won't have the history of Stalgasin Memorial, but here is her chance to see the denizens of the hive deliver the speech.

"The most common attack is called the Falling Avalanche" She demonstrated an overhand power blow that would undoubtedly crash onto an opponent with exceptional force, if it hits. "The second one is Fluid Riposte" This time around, it is more of a parry that transitioned into an attack.

[member="Summer Sovereign"]

 

[Eli-Mae Forrest]

Summer would watch and copy her master to the best of her abilities. She was much more limber than her master

[member="Jessica Med-Beq"]