The Lightsaber

Posted on Tue Jul 31st, 2018 @ 1:03am by Thane & Amare

4,425 words; about a 22 minute read

Chapter: Chapter V: Unbound
Location: Training Room, Red Raptor
Timeline: After the events on Vaa; before Korriban

The makeshift training room of the Red Raptor was largely devoid of any serviceable light, the ship's antiquated yellowish lighting set to its lowest level and aided only marginally by the carefully placed candles that were dotted about the room.

A few choice tapestries that had been hung about the dojo by its owners flickered slightly, despite the lack of wind in the artificial environment. The flames of the mismatched candles, waving inconsistently as they were, caused the various objects and equipment pushed to the edges of the room to cast eerie, jumping shadows across the walls, ceiling and floor.

Leaning in silence against the wall beside the dojo's doorway was Thane, his arms crossed as he intently watched the spectacle at the centre of the room - the cause of the unnatural gusts and movement claiming the former smuggler's cargo hold and its contents.

His eyes, glinting brightly in the candlelight in a manner an onlooker could be forgiven for considering a form of delighted menace, did not waver from the object of his quiet admiration. For there, floating three feet above an ageing training mat, her eyes closed and mind enveloped deeply within the currents of the Force, was his Nautolan apprentice.

This was the first time Thane had watched Coda indulge in this ability without her knowing, having found the young woman brilliant, but still somewhat reticent and shy in exhibiting some of her talents. On this occasion, keen to indulge and witness Coda's monumental progress, he had called upon the Force, whilst taking advantage of her own Force-led distractions, to muffle himself and enter the training room consciously unnoticed.

His apprentice had opted to suspend herself in the air not in a typical lotus position, but rather curled up tight in a fetal position. Cupped in her hands was her father's yellow lightsaber crystal. Since learning of the truth of having been the one that killed her father five years earlier, she sought to push her mind back as far as she could and put herself back to the beginning...back to the egg. She let her subconscious mind take over and immersed herself in the dream of being reborn as something greater than she already was. She selfishly desired the feeling of having the power to do anything she wanted...and kill anyone that tried to stop her, or harm her master.

Not wanting to disturb her meditation, Thane had taken to withdrawing himself within the Force as much as he was content to currently do, opting to avoid detection by Coda and to observe the tableau before him unadulterated. It was of course not the first time he had seen wielders of the Force in such a state, having seen numerous Jedi at the Coruscant Temple doing much the same at all ages, along with Bomoor on a very regular basis. However, seeing one he had elected to train as his own apprentice - his own student, thus far unpolluted by any other's teachings and devoted to his own burgeoning philosophies, mantras and to rebuilding the Sith legacy in their own image - was-

Unique.

It was a feeling he had touched upon weakly and fleetingly with Bería, but never to this extent, and as he gazed over the levitating blue form of the lithe Nautolan, he wondered if this is how his own master had ever felt towards him.

Or Loren.

"Most impressive," Thane said, interrupting his own thoughts and allowing his presence to once again flood into the Force without limitation. "You are doing well, Zaracoda."

The present reality all came rushing back in an instant. Coda's eyes snapped open, and her concentration was shattered like so much glass. She went from the feeling of being a tadpole in the egg to becoming an adult all over again in the same split second she dropped like a stone to the floor.

"Oww..." she groaned as she lay flat on her back and let her sore limbs stretch out. The impact was a harsh, painful wake-up call to her spine, one she would surely feel for the rest of the day.

"That," Thane then commented, "was less impressive." Rather than deride her, he elected to let her own failure and embarrassment be the teacher on this particular occasion. Stepping further into the training room, it was evident he had in his hands a roughly-crafted metal box, held together with old handmade hinges but a surprisingly elegant clasp.

Settling himself down in front of Coda, who was patting herself down as a feline would following a misjudged failed jump in an attempt to look cool and collected, he crossed his legs and let the box rest in his lap. The metal of his artificial fingers made an oddly pleasant resonant sound as they passed over the grooved lid of the container. On that same lid, Coda could see, were initials etched in the rarely-used and noble lettering of High Galactic, and a peculiar coat of arms had been roughly scratched into the metal next to the glyphs.

Not saying anything more, he allowed Coda to finish righting herself before passing the box over to her.

She shifted her gaze from the formal looking box to Thane and back to the box again. "For me?" she asked with nervous wonder.

Thane raised an unimpressed eyebrow, as if saying, Why would I be handing it to you otherwise? He pushed it a little closer for good measure before she took the box.

Coda gingerly placed the pads of her fingertips on the locking latch and was about to try and open it manually, but she came to learn that every moment under Thane's supervision was a constant aptitude test. He was judging her as a Sith, and was expecting Sith solutions to even the simplest of tasks. She lifted her hand off the latch, and instead clenched it into a fist, extended her index and middle fingers, turned her palm up and pushed up a couple of inches with her fingers towards the ceiling. The latch gave up a satisfying snap under the gentle manipulation of the Force, and she further pushed the lid back on its hinges to reveal the prize within.

Her oily black eyes widened and her jaw hung loose with amazement. "Is this...?"

"My first lightsaber," Thane answered softly, a plethora of emotions striking at him as he regarded his old burnished hilt, of the adventures it had accompanied him on, of his time as Sotah's padawan - and of its brief tenure as Bería's much-scorned own companion. "The weapon of a Jedi Knight." And that last sentence, Thane knew, carried more weighted meaning than he initially anticipated as he said it.

The lightsaber, which rested neatly and securely on a fine black velvet cushion was a duality of utilitarianism and art. The polished silvery sheen of the tubular hilt, the rounded bump of the bottom supporting pommel, and the crested emitter with the elegant stemmed neck said nothing of a man aspiring to become a Dark Lord of the Sith; it was the instrument of a luminous hero born in the light. Just as she thought she was beginning to understand Thane, seeing the beautiful weapon raised even more questions in her mind.

Nevertheless, she felt drawn to the saber. Its shine in the ambient light reflected a sparkle in her eyes that made her reach carefully for the grip of the greatest symbol of a Jedi Knight. Her silent call through the Force made the saber twitch and vibrate, and then as if it suddenly became weightless, buoyantly floated up to her hand. At the moment of contact, a strange girly voice...

Wooooooow!! I knew you guys were cool...

...I'd rather make something funny or do something fun than use a 'light stick'...

Coda nearly dropped the lightsaber right there as a static discharge zapped her palm and fingers upon touching it; only the gravity-defying inertia of her Force-pull kept it aloft. She tightened her grip on it feeling a disturbing presence on the metal of the weapon. It was tainted with capriciousness, gaiety, and...the Light. It almost made Coda recoil and reject Thane's wondrous gift outright. It physically felt amazing in her hand, but its joyous and unfocused signature in the Force arrested the grateful smile that would have otherwise appeared on her face.

"I thank you, my lord," Coda said in her confusion, "but...something is very wrong with this. It..." she shook her head as she looked down on its crisp metal sheen in front of her, beholding it in her hands with a frown, "...makes me feel...frustrated? I don't understand. This couldn't have been yours. There's no way. You are too strong to let this happen."

In some ways, her master considered, her sensitivity to such things was a blessing, and again, an impressive intuitive feat. It also made clear her growing affinity for the dark side.

"It was mine," Thane confirmed, "from my earlier years as a Jedi apprentice. Like most padawans, I ventured beyond the confines of the Jedi Temple to seek out a lightsaber crystal which resonated with me within the fabled caves in which they originate, far from the Core Worlds. This weapon was my constant companion during my formative years, when I was considered a servant of the light and a Knight of the Reborn Order."

The Human summoned the weapon to his hand, feeling its weight in his hand both familiar and alien at once, like a much-loved article of old clothing that no longer fit. As he ignited its brilliant blue blade horizontal to both him and Coda and gave it a couple of slim swings, he noticed how it also did not seem to cut with the same deftness or sharpness that he recalled it did, and certainly not as his current weapon did.

"For a brief time, before we encountered you on Nar Shaddaa, Bomoor and I took another young girl strong with the Force under our wing," he explained, retracting the blade and passing the hilt back to Coda, actually finding its heft and the uncomfortable lack of accurate familiarity displeasing. "She was... gifted, certainly, but exceptionally difficult, and exceptionally idealistic. She had a fierce, often-idiotic personality, and for a while, she was in possession of this lightsaber - not that she ever appreciated it, despite the best efforts of both of us. It's not surprising her inane idealism has infected it and/or its crystal."

"What happened to her?" Coda asked, anxious to try turning on the saber herself.

"She left," he said simply, showing little emotion but an air of annoyance. In truth, there was also a degree of self-resentment at such wasted time and effort. "In my heart and in her own, we both knew it was not to be. She has returned to her world, as far as I know, to gorge herself on food and make merry with a band of pretentious brigands, never quite grasping the gravity of her situation or the wider galaxy." Thane locked eyes with Coda. "She is a fool, Zaracoda, and happy to play the fool. You are not."

It was his apprentice's turn to raise a hairless brow back at him. "No, master," Coda remarked with a shake of her head. "On Vaa, you called me a fool for being trusting of others." She eyed the activation button on the lightsaber, stood up, and ignited it to life. She felt an inward startle of fear, but she managed to restrain from flinching as she behold the incredible glowing blue beauty humming its soft never-ending tone of destruction by her own hand. "You were right. I was a fool to believe in a pirate when he said I could save my mother by willingly shooting my father. I shot him and she still died."

She gently waved the weapon left and right with reverence, fear, and awe as she added, "I was a fool to trust Saucy Feril when she said I was free to leave the club behind and live my own life. Last night, my friend on the holonet, 'The Contrarian', sent me information proving that Saucy placed a ten-thousand credit bounty on my head. It was the same bounty that nearly got me killed that night, and led me to this ship, and you. Still, I will never forgive her for betraying me. I will make her pay someday. I swear it!"

Coda held the blade steady in front of her vertically, stared at the saber's intense blue glow, and began to visualize in her mind's eye taking her former Twi'lek mistress' head off with it. She deactivated the blade and locked eyes again with Thane. A wave of sudden embarrassment came over her as she saw those piercing eyes of his judging her dramatic outburst of tension. She turned away from him, blushing.

"My brother was right," she said with a nervous chuckle. "I am such a drama queen."

Although Thane found the expressive outburst somewhat excessive, belying Coda's age and warped upbringing, he did understand how she felt - all too well, in fact. He also found the news of Feril's bounty on Coda's hand to be of interest. Whilst a slyly amused part of him considered he should perhaps be thanking the brothel owner, another considered how best to fix that issue. There were enough people seeking the Red Raptor and its crew as things already were - a cheap bounty on his apprentice did not make matters any simpler.

"Your emotions serve you well," Thane said, placing a reassuring hand just briefly on Coda's exposed shoulder. "Use them to fuel your power and focus, but do not let them blind you. Whilst the Jedi suppress or misdirect such feelings, we must use them to drive us - but not to let them consume us, lest we fall the way of the old Sith."

He turned on his heel and started stepping towards the doorway, indicating that Coda should follow him as he picked up and passed her the box once more. "It is because of the various threats we face and things we seek to achieve that we must be vigilant and train ourselves to the best of our abilities," Thane went on, leading them to the strategy room on the other side of the Raptor. "And not only because of that, but because the construction and possession of a lightsaber is an integral rite of passage for both Jedi and Sith, do I now give you my old weapon. In time, I will expect you to construct your own, but you are still very young in your training, being mere months into discovering your abilities within the Force, as talented as you may be."

The doors to the strategy room opened, revealing the empty but well-lit room. Thane passed over to the large holoprojector he and Bomoor had had installed with all of the other pieces of equipment and pressed a thumb against one of the activation switches. A large holographic representation of the known galaxy sprung up from the projector inset within the device, rotating axially with innumerable stars suspended in the air.

"It is normal for Jedi apprentices to make use of training lightsabers or to use others whilst learning to master the fine weapon," Thane continued to explain, turning to face Coda once more. "However, you are not a Jedi apprentice. You are older... and you are Sith."

It still sounded strange to Thane to say the phrase out loud in that manner, treating the title as though it were truly his to bestow, even though he was still in the infancy of his own Sith journey, and certainly in no position to be declared any sort of Dark Lord. Regardless of that, though, he was Coda's master, and he had every intention of forging their ascendancy appropriately, especially now that had had embraced so many truths between the pair of them.

He plucked the lightsaber from Coda's hand with the Force, raising it up into the space between them. Not closing his eyes and trusting more in his familiarity with his old hilt, he began dismantling the device into its constituent parts as he had Coda's blasters on Vaa.

Clasped within the internal workings of the weapon, and now plainly exposed, was the bright blue crystal that served as its core and provided it with its trademark coloured sheen. Dislodging itself from the workings, the crystal floated its way over into Thane's left hand, whilst several of the other smaller and more exotic internal components drifted into his right, leaving a few of the other parts and the hilt's exterior metal to find their way back into the open box Coda was holding.

The apprentice silently looked up from the lightsaber fragments at Thane with incredulity. She had wondered what point there was to dismantle a perfectly good weapon.

"I am sending you to resource your own replacement components," Thane finally said, placing his old crystal into one of the pouches on his belt, finding its weight peculiar and uncomfortable in a manner he had not before. "A test, if you will, of your resourcefulness, your talents, and of how well you are able to listen to the Force. You already have a lightsaber crystal that can be used, and based on the books you have and whatever questions you wish to ask from now until you go, you should have little difficulty completing the task prior to us meeting again."

"'Meeting again'?" The apprentice asked for clarity. "You mean you'll wait here on board while I go somewhere to find some parts for this?" It didn't sound so bad...or rather that was the way her mind was defensively trying to interpret what was said. She knew she would have to venture out on her own at some point. At least the Raptor and her friends would be close by if her sojourn went sideways.

"No," Thane replied matter-of-factly. "Bomoor and I will drop you off here, the planet Lorrd." With his hand, he flicked at the interactive holo-display to zoom in on a sector of space to the galactic north, with an amber-and-cyan orb at its centre. "We will then leave in the Red Raptor, giving you two weeks to find the parts you need, reassemble the lightsaber and then find your way to the moon of Yavin IV where will be waiting. You are to do this alone, save for any alliances you may make on your path."

Coda shook her head feeling stunned. Each one of her hearts were crushed. She never would have guessed she would feel such acute rejection from the man she happily called "master" from almost since the day they met. She started to feel her blood boil for the first time towards him. How could he do this? It was outrageous. She was almost immediately on the verge of tears. "What...? H-how? Why? It doesn't make sense. You're going to leave me behind somewhere...just like that? After what we've been through together?"

Her Sith master's jaw visibly clenched at her complaint. He sometimes forgot she was only a nineteen-year-old Nautolan, although he also wondered if she forgot she had been little more than a slave for her formative years. "It is imperative you learn independence and face strife using what little resources you have, barring your connection to the Force. Conflict, my apprentice, sharpens one's skills and makes the Sith stronger."

"I saved your life from those monsters!" the Nautolan snapped at him, her shattered emotions rising up to tsunami levels as her voice wavered and choked up under her grief. "I couldn't leave you to die...I didn't know what else to do! I still don't know how I did it. And yet you do this to me? How dare you?!" In a sudden fit of rage, she threw down the box on the floor narrowly missing Thane's feet, the remaining pieces of the lightsaber scattered about.

Thane had to quell his rising ire and his instinctive desire to clamp down on his apprentice's thin, exposed throat, knowing full well she would be unable to resist the Force-ful grip that would crush her in penance for her bratty behaviour. But that was not the master he intended to be to this woman; that was not the Sith Lord he felt should exist.

"Zaracoda!" He hissed deeply, his voice adopting a supernatural edge. As he did so, the light of the room seemed to sap away, drawn into the Caanan man as he his eyes began to glint with that same golden-swirling menace they did on Vaa. The few objects sat on the room's surfaces wobbled with purpose, as did the box and lightsaber components. Behind Thane, the holographic display shuddered, sputtering in and out of existence. He also allowed an iota of his Force energy to hover around Coda, applying light pressure across her entire body in a present, but not intrusive, way.

"You are to be a powerful sorceress and Sith Lord in your own right, never balking at any task and never wilting in the face of conflict, whom the mere mundanes of this galaxy would tremble to challenge - not some mewling newborn nexu raging against the pathetic injustices of her pitiful life!"

Coda realized in that instant how close she came to ruining everything she had achieved through Thane. She wanted to look away, but felt those peerless eyes of his lock her gaze hard in place; they commanded attention, and he would not be ignored.

For the first time in years, she began to feel the old wounds again...the scars on her back aching as reminders of her past insolence in the face of a slave master armed with a shock whip and the ruthlessness to use it. She knew it wasn't Thane doing this to her; it was the overwhelming effect of her telltale hearts, beating rapidly, pushing blood to capillaries near those scars, forcing her to feel the once dormant pain through the power of her own soul-cutting guilt and shame.

The veil of darkness slowly began to lift from the room as Thane withdrew his power back within himself, intense, Force-filled eyes glaring with meaning at Coda. "Your loyalty on Vaa and beyond is appreciated," he said honestly and with more softness in his voice, "but this is not about loyalty or each other. It is about you, and your development as my apprentice. It is not a punishment and it is not me trying to harm you; I am making you stronger, as an individual and as a Sith. We are not Jedi - we are but two, and so we must be able to cope without the other, yet be as powerful and resourceful as we can be to support the other, both when together and when afar. Otherwise, there is no hope for either of us." He paused, watching the sullen woman before him. "Do you understand?"

She nodded vigorously through tears and felt herself buckle under her own weight. The pain on her back was unusually hot and intense; the scars were pushing her down with a terrible weight to her knees.

Kneel!

*lash*

I said kneel!

*slash*

The memory was still raw, and she followed the slaver's orders as if it were happening in the present.

"Forgive me, Master," she begged softly with a shaky voice as she knelt and began to quickly retrieve the lightsaber pieces manually with trembling hands and gentle pulls with the Force and placed them back in the box.

"Think before you speak or act," Thane chastised her. "A misspoken word could create more enemies than striking down a supposed foe. "Now, take the components and prepare yourself for the coming ordeal. Return to your books and learn what you can. When we drop you off, you have nothing but your wits and the Force as your allies."

He watched her carefully as she rose from her kneeling position, a hint of suspicion in his dismayed eyes following her outburst. Still, unlike the childish Bería, Zaracoda Wolph was a different sort of broken - and she was not beyond repair, at least in Thane's opinion.

"Until you leave, you can use my lightsaber as a reference point, and if you ask, I am sure Bomoor would be amenable, too." Unhooking his weapon to place it inside the box alongside the remnants of its predecessor, Thane briefly placed a vaguely reassuring hand on Coda's shoulder. "Achieve this, and you will have earned even more of my respect and confidence."

His apprentice looked up at him with an expression of shame and guilt for what she did. She may have had more work to do to earn his respect, but he already had her's. It took a man of considerable mental fortitude and strength of character to not retaliate with corporal punishment for what she did. She suspected her master knew her quite well in the short time they adventured together, and had the patience to know that breaking her--as he so easily could have done--would not help one such as she who was already broken by whips, starvation, and neglect.

Coda reminded herself that Thane, in his own subtle way, was actively stitching the scattered pieces of her life back together in a bold and powerful new direction...the way only a wise commander of the Force could. This wasn't an ordinary man that savagely lashed out and inspired only fear and malice, she realized...Thane of Caanus was a man of real ambition and purpose. To achieve his goals, he needed to build a new weapon in Coda whom he could rely on and trust when things got tough. It was about much more than simply rebuilding a lightsaber. Thane was testing her mettle and reforging her under fire and tribulation to become worthy of the title, Sith.

She nodded to him, stepped back after he released her shoulder, bowed her head to him with due deference, and quietly left the room to prepare for her personal journey.

 

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