The Force Wills - Chapter 139

The Crucible was underway on the return journey to the Utegetu Nebula.

The hyperspace navigation in the other direction was just as tricky, but now having actual experience under my belt made me feel much better about my ability to guide us back to common hyperspace lanes.

Satisfied that all was well, I left the small bridge and met the adepts in what was the central domain of Professor Huyang’s existence aboard the ship - the lightsaber workshop.

It was localized in what would’ve been the ordnance storage bay for this class of ship; therefore it had plenty space, integral storage for enough components and materials to make hundreds of lightsabers. All of it had been fabricated and machined by the ancient droid, who would take out the Crucible every few decades to gather interesting and rare materials. Many times Jedi would also donate materials they happen to encounter on their missions and travels throughout the galaxy.

The door to the workshop opened and I was met with the sight of Petro using a dull orange training saber to absorb blaster bolts against a single remote, whilst the other adepts just watched with varying degrees of either boredom, grudging respect or interest. He was even wearing the training helmet to keep him from relying on the crutch of his normal vision.

It was both so cute and endearing to watch, along with a heavy dose of nostalgia that it left me feeling annoyed with myself.

Petro was twirling the blade around his body, light on his feet and blocking each rapid stun shot with ease. It all looked impressive for his age and experience level, however, the training saber did not have deflection capabilities. If that had been the case, he’d already have half the room on the floor and unconscious.

He advanced on the remote with a rapid left and right block, before smoothly transitioning into a sideways round-the-body slash that caught the remote on the side.

It registered the hit and deactivated itself, falling to the floor.

“I call that move, the Whirlwind of Destiny,” he declared, deactivating his training saber, picking up the inactive remote and only then lifting up the helmet.

“Show off,” muttered Zatt, rolling his eyes, even if he couldn’t help but respect the skill Petro showed.

“A Level 5 remote at your age and skill is quite good, Petro,” I acknowledged. “However, please put that away as we’re about to begin your first lightsaber construction lesson with Professor Huyang.”

The room burst with energy and excitement as the architect droid walked silently into view from behind a solid shelf on the far side of the workshop.

“He was there the entire time,” muttered Petro sheepishly.

“Correct, Adept Petro, you can be thankful you had the responsibility to set your remote properly. This workshop is my domain and I’ll not have it wrecked. A fact you all will do well to remember when you begin building your lightsabers. Understand that a lightsaber power cell contains a large amount of energy in a very small package, any mistake in construction and we will be scraping your ashes off the floor.”

He stepped behind the main counter that separated the shelving from the open workshop space.

“Now, please place your crystals on the counter.”

All six complied with slight reluctance, given what they had to go through to get them.

“Hmmmm,” Huyang muttered as he bent down, his monocle eye sensor activating and staring at each tiny kyber crystal in turn.

“Can you actually tell anything about them from a scan?” Ganodi asked skeptically.

“Oh yes, I’ve been doing this for long enough, young one that I can tell you a great deal. However, each crystal is as unique as the Jedi who found them and I’ll not infringe on your privacy. I have knowledge and records of almost every lightsaber ever made and the Jedi who fashioned them. I have inferred much and learned from it.” He tapped a button behind his desk and a vast holo sprang to life showing dozens of lightsabers in many styles and configurations.

“Whoah,” said Zatt with an awed excitement as he regarded the large holo, a sentiment echoed by the rest.

“So which will you choose, a simple grip, a curved approach, one inlaid with the bone of a cartusion whale, bastillion ore or black och? Well?”

He stared at each adept expectantly, but their bewildered expressions showed they were coming up completely blank now that the moment was actually here. Sure they had seen or read about many lightsabers from history, but what would actually be uniquely theirs?

“From the Battles of Rashfond, to the Peacekeeping of Parliock, to our very own Clone Wars, the lightsaber is the Jedi’s ally. But how do they work? Yes, you have brought me kyber crystals,” he gestured grandly to the small things laid on the table. “But they’re all useless unless you give them life and purpose. Do you know how to awaken the Force within the crystal?”

Ganodi was rather startled by being put on the spot, quickly shaking her head.

“No? Well, then you better listen and learn carefully, young ones. Let’s begin with Gungi. Come forward young wookiee, hold out your dominant hand.”

Gungi grinned eagerly and held out his hairy left hand.

Huyang cradled the hand in his mechanical palms. “Rare your kind is to the Jedi, you are unique and your lightsaber will reflect that. Think carefully and describe what you see your saber to be.”

“A great blade that-”

“No, not what you imagine, but what you feel in your hand, concentrate.” Gungi closed his eyes, embracing the Force. “What would make you feel strong in battle and humble in retreat? What connects with your Force?”

“I feel… wood…” 

“Ah yes, of course. Wood. So silly of me not to make that connection immediately, given your people’s relationship with the woods of Kashyyyk and the wroshyr tree. Not a common material in a lightsaber. Unfortunately, wroshyr wood, despite being something I’ve seen you wookiees make starships out of, becomes quite unworkable when you reduce it to something as small as a lightsaber hilt. No, only the brylark tree will do, strong as durasteel and won’t be brittle when fashioned into a cylinder.”

Huyang ventured into the rows of shelving, pulling out cabinets and even used the extra two arms attached to his back to increase his efficiency, all the while muttering and putting on a rather good show for the adepts. He certainly knew how to keep the easily bored minds of young sentients busy after millenia of practice.

“Let me see, yes, yes, oh no, that won’t do. Ah, I wondered where I put that. No, that’s not mine. Ah ha, yes, this will do.”

He pulled out a large rack and walked forward with it. Inside, perfectly organized and separate in custom foam slots were a dizzying variety of components; from belt rings, handgrip attachments, power insulators, a variety of molded diatum energy cells, crystal mounts, energy chambers, energy channels, field energizers, modulation circuitry, emitter shrouds, magnetic stabilizers and crucially for Gungi, a cylindrical length of brylark wood half a meter long.

“Wow,” Zatt gazed in awe at the collection.

Huyang's four arms blurred with machine speed and precision as he put together the basic structure of a lightsaber from the components.

The adepts watched with amazement as a lightsaber was built within less than eight seconds and was held up before them.

“It is my job, that before you leave this ship, you will have everything you need to build your lightsabers, the knowledge and skill of how to do it. You don’t know the future. You might need to build another from scratch or repair your own and you can’t expect to be able to always call on my help.”

He tapped his console again and a basic holo diagram of a lightsaber floated in the air.

“Now, make use of your memory training from the Academy and commit this holo to the deepest parts of your mind.”

The adepts nodded and I saw a half-dozen faces narrowing their eyes and gaze into the schematic. Zatt especially drank it in, his hand lifting and pointing to each part, going through some mnemonic ritual for himself.

“Right, now it will remain up for further reference, find yourself a spot in the workshop and just like I did with young Gungi, feel in the Force for the blade that will be in your hand.”

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It was a little known fact that this was also the moment when adepts were given what could be considered the first lesson in Mechu-deru.

As they didn’t build a lightsaber using their hands, but with the Force itself through manipulation of telekinesis on each component, marrying the parts together into a cohesive whole that achieved an individualized expression - a blending of Force and technology. On some occasions this even occurred subconsciously on a molecular level through the will of the Force.

It took a few hours, with me having to help Petro the most to get a proper instinct for his lightsaber that wasn’t rooted in dreams of glorious imagination, but soon enough all six were seated with the twenty basic components of a lightsaber in front of them.

“All right, now this is important, don’t hesitate to call on me if you feel a part is not working for you, at which point we'll swap it out for a part that does call to you,” Huyang instructed.    

Katooni was the first to actually begin, her parts hovering in front of her face under the sole direction of her will and the Force.

I walked carefully around each adept, open to their luminescent spirits and how the Force was flowing around them. “Remember, to keep the diagram in mind as well, the Force will not do all the work for you.”

It took hours but by the time we broke for lunch, all of them had managed to begin assembly attempts through the Force.

With the subject on everyone’s minds, it was Katooni who managed the courage to ask the obvious question as we ate together in the small mess area.

“Padawan, how did you manage building your lightsabers? You have three, so how does that work?”

“Well, the third is not exactly a secret, but it is a cultural artifact that came to me during the time I became a Mandalorian.” Telling them it was in a fight to the death for the soul and future of the Mandalorian people was not exactly something for their age. “More relevant to your question, dual blades generally come to those who find a twin or entangled kyber crystal during their Gathering. Imagine a larger crystal than yours, but which has two distinct masses and can be pulled apart or put together again at will.”

“That seems to be rare in the Order,” Petro commented, quickly taking a long gulp of water afterward.

“Those who are destined for such crystals, will generally already know by the time of their Gathering.”

“Because of their experience in the lightsaber arts classes?” Ganodi asked.

“Precisely,” I nodded. “You naturally begin with a single blade, but through practice, the development of your personal forms and through the Force, you will quickly feel something is missing or incomplete. It didn’t take me more than a month of lightsaber classes in the academy before Master Drallig stuffed a shoto training blade in my left hand as well.”

Every adept shuddered at the table.

So Battlemaster Cin Drallig continued his march of terror through the young generations of Jedi, I thought with personal amusement.   

“Can- Can we see the blade, Padawan?” Petro asked nervously, his voice cracking.

I debated with myself for a moment, then decided to acquiesce to the request. The unknown was fearful and it was conquered with knowledge.

My hand emerged from behind my back with the Darksaber.

A quick casual levitation had it floating in the air above the lunch table.

“Whoah,” said Zatt and Petro in awe. 

With a twitch of will, the hilt pointed up and the black and mostly white blade burst into life with its unique chirping energetic sound and rhythmic high hum.

“It’s quite thin? Almost like an actual physical blade. Why?” Byph asked.

“It was created during a tumultuous age, just after the Ruusan Reformation. The original owner needed a blade that could easily slip through the thin gaps and joints in Mandalorian beskar armor, which is one of a few materials that can resist the lightsaber blade. The other material is cortosis, which can actually cause a lightsaber to short circuit when it comes into contact with it.”

“I didn’t think there was anything that could stop a lightsaber, besides an actual shield,” Petro mumbled unhappily.

“Now you learn differently,” I grabbed the Darksaber and promptly let the blade bounce off the solid vambrace of my beskar’gam. It only sparked and left a mild glow behind. “This is why the Mandalorians were so particularly effective in actually fighting against the Jedi in the past. We were old and ancient enemies. Tarre Vizsla, the creator of this blade, was the first to bring a bridge of understanding between us. I continue in that tradition so that peace can continue in the present and into the future. Now, finish up your food, we have a long afternoon session ahead of us.”

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I had to take a break later that day due to a hyperspace course correction and returned to the workshop.

The adepts were beginning to make some headway now, managing to assemble partial sections of their blade hilts. Huyang would always swoop down as it happened, scan and pronounce whether it was good or if they needed to start over.

“What’s the rush, Petro?” Zatt asked with annoyance, as his own concentration was interrupted, resulting in a small rainfall of parts clattering onto the desk.

Petro with a mild grin held out a fully assembled lightsaber hilt. He flipped it over and held it in a standard Shii-Cho two handed grip. Then promptly went into the advanced Soresu ‘finger point’ stance that was one of Obi-Wan’s preferred openers. Naturally, it didn’t even come close to the perfection and mastery that the Jedi Master had.

“With this lightsaber, I’m going to challenge Obi-Wan Kenobi to a duel and kill Durge.”

I’d give Petro this, at least he hadn’t foolishly lit the blade yet, even if his head was in the clouds. Ganodi and Katooni giggled at the young human’s ridiculous antics.

Huyang was right there a moment later, almost invading Petro’s personal space and held out his hand expectantly.

Petro winced and gave up his newly constructed lightsaber hilt for scrutiny.

The architect droid scanned it, before partially pulling aside the hilt shroud to reveal the crystal energy chamber inside.

“The only person you are going to kill with that, my young friend, is yourself. You have inverted the emitter, which will cause the power to be channeled right back into the diatum cell. Light this and all that will be left of you and your lightsaber, will be your crystal. Start again and please follow the diagram.”

Petro stubbornly made a few pretend swings before putting the hilt down and making a clawing gesture to begin disassembly through TK.

My attention was drawn to Ganodi, whose components began hovering closer and closer together, then began interlacing, connecting but abruptly spilled out of control and fell to the table she was working on.

“Urgh,” she lightly slammed her fists and rested her head on the surface in mild despair and frustration.

“Easy Ganodi,” I patted her on the shoulder encouragingly. “Focus, concentration, the design you feel and know must be your touchstone, the only thing you see in the eye of your mind.”

She nodded and began again, just as Katooni also made another attempt.

A few seconds later both girls had completed hilts hovering in front of them.

“Yes! I did it,” Ganodi cheered.

“Let’s see then,” Huyang walked over and did his inspection. A few scans and partial exposure of the hilt shroud later and both adepts waited with baited breath. “Hmmm, both will light a blade but it's one thing to do so, it's another for it to be reliable. Ganodi, the wires of your power adjuster are too close to the field energizers here. If your blade stays lit for more than a minute the ambient heat will melt them. Katooni, you’ve included a blade length adjuster in your design, and the modulation circuits are in contact with the base of the main emitter. Similar problem. Luckily, both are simple fixes that don’t require you to start from scratch. Correct both to my satisfaction and we can light your blades for the first time.”

It didn’t take long and soon enough both adepts were standing in an open space in the room, well away from anyone.

They were staring at their hilts, in personalized Shii-Cho forms and seemingly very hesitant.

“Well, we don’t have all day, light the blades,” Huyang ordered impatiently.

Two snap-hisses filled the room and with no surprise really, both were the green blades of those destined to be consular Jedi.

Gungi roared and thumped his chest, happy for his friends, whilst Petro and Zatt were slightly grumpy at not being the first. Byph chittered from both his mouths with ithorian approval.

“Well done,” I lightly clapped in appreciation.

“Hold your blades in place,” Huyang carefully stepped closer, scanning each active hilt. “Hmmm, adequate so far. Now test your blade length, Katooni.”

The adept kept her stance and used her thumb to work the small knob.

The green blade bloomed up to the equivalent of what I would call a Zweihander length of 1.4 meters.

“Any particular reason you feel you need this?”

“I just feel and know, with the amount of enemy droids we could face in the future…” she trailed off uncomfortably.

“Just make sure there’s no friendlies close by when you do that,” I said pointedly.

“Of course, Padawan.”

“I can also begin teaching you the beginnings of the lightsaber form that goes with such a long blade.” It wasn’t my cup of tea as it was very limiting in close quarters on board a ship, restricting you to lunges, thrusts and making blaster deflection a pain in the ass.

“Wizard, thank you,” she said brightly.

“You can switch off your blades,” Huyang pronounced with a prim nod. “Congratulations, you have both built your lightsabers. May they serve you well.”

“Yes!” the girls chorused with clenched fists as the blades hissed off.

“Now you both will make sure they are set to training mode and show me,” I said sternly. Ganodi and Katooni nervously stepped closer and held out the hilts for me. “Good, you can clip them to your belts. You are dismissed to the mess for a small break and afterwards can go to the classroom to resume your history studies. I will sense if you play around with your sabers, don’t. Understood?”

“Yes, Padawan.”

“Off you go and let me help your classmates.”

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An hour later, Zatt would be the next to get a properly functional saber constructed, producing the blue blade of the Guardian and close on his heels was Byph with another blue lightsaber.

Petro and Gungi ended up being the last ones to manage.

Though the reason the young wookiee took long was simply because of the difficulty in machining the brylark wood, which meant he also had to learn using Huyang’s fabricator and use the Force to guide his hands for the finer details.

It was a big hilt that could’ve easily fit a second emitter for the double bladed saber staff, but this was simply Gungi’s hand size. The wood also had rather impressively done reliefs of what looked like a line of wookiees holding bowcasters in defiance against an enemy that was only represented as an ugly looking star.

“What gave you inspiration for this? If you don’t mind me asking Gungi,” I carefully levitated the big hilt in front of me.

“It was strange, as I was using the fabricator, I just… saw this, and knew it had to be on my blade,” he looked quite baffled and his beady eyes showed a slight fear.

“Well, another reason for your blade to be the green of consular, you’ve just had your first vision in the Force of a possible future.”

“What? You mean Gungi can tell the future now?” Petro asked in amazement, with a slight hint of envy.

I gave a level gaze to everyone in our cargo hold classroom. “All Jedi have the ability to varying degrees, Petro. What Gungi experienced is what I call a ‘snapshot’ of the future. It has no context and merely posits what may happen. Any attempt to take action in averting it, may result in only hastening exactly what was seen. Gungi, if you experience any more visions to that extent, you may come to me at any time or place to talk about it, unless you feel that the Force is compelling you to act immediately on the Vision or you can’t contact me. That can also happen. Find the closest master of the Council of First Knowledge, and they should be able to guide you as well.”

He was slightly overwhelmed but gave an affirmative rumble in Shyrriwook.

“Good, now that you have your lightsabers, I’m going to teach you the next primary technique associated with it. You are going to learn to Bond with the kyber crystal itself. We do this so we will always know where our lightsabers are and even what is happening around them. Who can tell me why we learn this?”

Everyone looked nervously at each other for a moment before Byph raised his hand, “So we will never lose it.”

“Basically correct. No one is perfect and circumstances in battle or on missions may cause you to drop it, it could be damaged, it may be stolen whilst you are in a dense crowded street. I can go on and on. With this technique and mastery of it, you will never face a situation where you have to completely rebuild a lightsaber unless it was utterly pulverized. Even then, the kyber crystal, which is practically indestructible unless you drop it into the heart of a fusion reactor, will still be there and you can retrieve it. Distance will not matter either - the blade could be across the galaxy from you and you’ll still be able to sense it.”

“Wow!” “Wizard!” “That is so-” “I know!”

“Silence please. To begin with, I want you to hold the blades in both your hands and open yourself fully to the Force, then begin narrowing your focus until you can sense the energy of your kyber crystal…”

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I sat at the helm station of the Crucible staring into the ever shifting tunnel of hyperspace and sat with a dilemma.

Reversion to normal space was minutes away and the pirate ambush I had known and foreseen was about to catch up with us.

They were waiting for us right at the nebula’s only hyperpoint which would reconnect us back to the common hyperlanes of the galaxy. There would be no going through them without a fight. 

The Utegetu Nebula itself was a dense stellar nursery that spanned nearly four hundred lightyears and we could use it to play a game of cat and mouse. In the meantime, sending out a distress call to Anakin or Obi-Wan via the Force. The problem was it would take Anakin four days to reach us and Obi-Wan even longer, given their current positions.

Would the pirates have the patience to engage in such a long game? It seemed they would and even call in reinforcements to help with the hunt. Prescience became very unreliable at that point with the chaotic nebula conditions influencing how well we could hide and in turn how well the pirates could scan for us. 

What about just going in a random direction, get outside the nebula and forge a new hyperspace route straight to the Namadii Corridor with my brand new hyperspace navigation skills?

No, too many unknowns and variables, the Crucible was not a ship that was made to forge such paths. If I made the slightest mistake and stranded us in the unknown, we would need Anakin who could use the Bond to home in on me and a dedicated Jedi Navigator to come rescue us. There was even a chance I could get us stranded behind a cyclical astro-phenomenon, which would effectively prevent even a specialist Navigator from being able to reach us.

“Frakking shabla,” I muttered in annoyance as I explored the other path.

The march of the timer on the hyperdrive ticked down inexorably.

Drop out of hyper a few seconds early?

It would surprise the pirates and leave them badly out of position, forcing them to immediately chase us into the nebula, but the Crucible had no weapons, making such a maneuver pointless. I was practically the only weapon on board that was of use in this fight. Could I Force Sleep the whole pirate ship?

If I was at least within a few thousand kilometers, but the menagerie of species that made up pirate crews meant that I could maybe get a fair percentage of them. However, the reaction of those who remained would mean, in their fear they could just decide to cut their losses and destroy the Crucible outright.

Unacceptable.

“Hard way it is then.”

I pulled back on the hyperdrive motivator and engaged the shields immediately.

Might as well make them work for it.

The Crucible burst back into real space within just forty kilometers of a waiting and very familiar looking saucer shaped, Corona-class armed frigate.

Hondo Ohnaka.

They didn’t bother with opening communications and demanding surrender, instead immediately opening fire with a barrage from the blaster cannons mounted all along the perimeter of the saucer.

The Crucible shuddered under the blow, the shields shrugging it off at considerable cost to its integrity. 

I secured the ship’s systems and controls, locking down the hyperdrive with an access code.

“This is Padawan Tano, to all adepts, we are under attack by pirates. All adepts to the starboard cargo bay and that goes double for you Petro. Professor Huyang, you know what to do.”

“Understood, Padawan, you can count on me,” replied the architect.

I switched off the comlink and left the bridge as another volley battered the shields.

By the time I had my helmet on and was standing in the short corridor to the main airlock, the lights flickered as another volley finally collapsed them.

I took a deep breath and poked Anakin along our Bond.

‘Ahsoka?’

Instead of speaking I sent a burst of memory.

‘Sithspit! We’re about to engage that Separatist Shadow fleet. I’ll send our Blades detachment along with Wraith Squadron for aerospace cover to you. Will that suffice?’

‘Yes.’

‘What about Master Yoda?’

‘Still on Ilum, in no position to render aid in time.’

The revelations I had dropped on him and the training of Master Ha, had convinced the Grandmaster to remain longer to properly internalize the techniques before he would return to Coruscant.

The lights flickered even more and struggled to stay on as the ship was hit with the single ion cannon that was housed in the belly of the Corona class.

Next came a missile that targeted the Crucible’s rear and promptly knocked out the hyperdrive and conventional engines.

I had to bend my knees to maintain balance from the shock that rang like a bell through the ancient hull.

My senses reached out encompassing the entire pirate ship.

A stock Corona could hold 64 crew, yet it seemed that Hondo didn’t pack his people to the gills in it or he didn’t have enough pirates in his employ for a full crew, as I only sensed 45 distinct sentients on board. All of them bristling with eager greed and satisfaction at the completion of a successful ambush - the prospect of a huge payday in their future.

The Separatist bounty on my head alone would merit the whole trip as extremely profitable. The  valuable components onboard, the Crucible and Huyang himself would also fetch enough from unscrupulous black market collectors to buy a nice habitable moon, if he was so inclined.

“M8, omega protocols,” I ordered.

“Are you sure, mistress?”

“Yes, we’ll restore your classified partitions from backup once we get out of this mess.”

“Omega protocols engaged.”

The pirate ship was closing and preparing to extend a docking tube.

I gestured and put the flickering lighting of the corridor out of its misery, plunging me into darkness.

The ships shuddered as they connected with each other.

A few seconds later I sensed a team of nine armed pirates advancing down it, most of them were weequay as expected from the gang of Hondo, but there was a nikto and another species I knew of, but hadn’t encountered in person before - Ansionian.    

Ansion was a system that sat on the crossroads on the Namadii Corridor and linked to the minor route that eventually led to the Utegetu Nebula. They were slender humanoids with pale-yellow skin, protuberant red eyes that gave them a permanent surprised expression and a single brush of dense fur that sat on the crown of their ovoid heads. Their presence in Hondo’s gang meant the old pirate was definitely branching out his operations to the north-western sectors of the galaxy as well.

The outer airlock door was cut through in short order with melting charges.

The pirate boarding crew piled in eagerly and I catalogued their weapons and tools.

They were definitely prepared to face your standard robe wearing Jedi, but not me. It made me wonder about Hondo’s intel sources in springing this little trap.

The inner door also yielded to the melting charges and flopped over pathetically to the ground.

The first thing thrown in was a sonic stun grenade.

The energy washed over me to absolutely no effect, not even straining my Tutaminis.

The pirate team stormed in, their surprise at the darkness of the corridor catching them flatfooted.

“Hey, did we hit this ship too hard?” hissed one of them.

“It is a relic,” reasoned another.

That was enough of that as I embraced Battle Meditation and began pushing down hard on their spirits, weaving an illusion that the darkness was their worst nightmares come to life.

“Uh, fellas, we- we- really should go,” whimpered a pirate.

“Shut it, Misk! Or you’ll get my blaster up your backside,” snarled the team leader.

Their odd assortment of blaster rifles lit up with underslung flashlights, but they all flickered out as I induced minor bursts of Electric Judgment in all of them.

“Ah! What?!”

“Keep your trap shut!”

I ignited the bright black-white blade of the Darksaber and my green blades, hovering to either side of me.

To their eyes I appeared as an ominous armored white-green specter in the darkness.

“FIRE! FIRE!”

The order was very difficult to obey from all the fear and hopelessness they were experiencing.

The first thing fired was an electronet. I hadn’t really faced it before, but it was still a distinct physical object that obeyed the laws of physics in this universe.

I stopped it cold in mid-air and sent it straight back to wrap around the team leader, where he began twitching and promptly collapsed into unconsciousness.

The frantically shot blaster bolts followed.

Eight rifles firing as quickly as the trigger finger could pull was quite easy in the narrow confines of the darkened corridor.

I deflected the shots and walked steadily forward at an unhurried pace.

With each bolt I had to decide between life and death.

A flick of the blade and a weequay’s head turned to superheated mulch as his own bolt was returned to him. 

Another deflection from my left blade had the ansionian take his bolt straight to the left leg, leaving him to utterly pass out from the pain of having a fair portion of his leg flesh superheated.

My right blade spun forward through the air like a green buzzsaw and decapitated three pirates on the trot.

That move, combined with the Battle Meditation pressing down, saw their resolve break and the remaining four retreated frantically back into the airlock.

I blurred forward into Force Speed, the Darksaber and my blades twirling into slashes that painlessly beheaded them.

My momentum carried me down the docking tube and into the Corona frigate’s own airlock room.

There was only one weequay pirate in here, manning the docking tube controls, who was frantically reaching for his holstered blaster pistol.

I grabbed him bodily with the Force and introduced him painfully to the room’s ceiling, before smashing him down just enough to break his legs and render him unconscious.

Before I could even take a step towards the corridor leading out of the airlock room, a blast door fell from the main bulkhead, cutting off my entry route and leaving me ‘trapped’. 

“That’s far enough, my Jedi friend.”

Hondo Ohnaka’s life sized holo appeared in front of the door, hands folded behind his back, dressed in practical leggings, tunic, riding glasses and helmet, but the ostentatiously decorated red and brown overcoat gave him a suitably over-the-top ‘pirate lord’ flair.

I ignored him and made a simple upwards gesture towards the blast door.

It groaned briefly as my Alter and Control on the circuitry strained the energy flows of the motivators, but it yielded - rising right back up into the bulkhead.

“What?! No, please stop, my Jedi friend, let’s talk about this? Yes?”

I walked straight through the holo and into the bowls of the frigate, taking the first right in the outer ring corridor of the saucer.

The first turret to pop out of the ceiling to blast me didn’t even get to fire, as my thrown blade cut it to pieces.

Figures that Hondo would have anti-boarding defenses.

You don’t get to be a pirate and live to his age by being stupid, though his wisdom was another story.

Three pirates managed to overcome my Battle Meditation, charging around the corner and opened fire on me.

HK would decry the stupidity, even as he would gleefully cheer when my deflections sent the shots straight back to sender, leaving the pirates dead on the floor.

“Please Jedi, there’s no need-”

My WESTAR was drawn in my left hand and shot out the PA speaker his voice was coming from.

I was not feeling particularly charitable at the moment, especially because prescient probability lines showed that many of Hondo’s men would creatively interpret his orders. Enough that both Petro and Byph would be killed in certain circumstances as they ‘resisted capture’.

Another blast door was shut in my face.

By the time I opened it, I was confronted by the first pirates who were actually smart - they attacked with energized vibroblades and four of them at once.

“Haaaa!” One screamed as he slashed for my head, whilst two others lunged to stab me in the chest.

The Darksaber riposted one blade, whilst my other blades stopped the others and I taught them the lesson for why a group melee against a Jedi was not wise at all.

My blades whirled and gave way, causing the pirates to overbalance badly.

Another twirling slash and it was all over.

A mild Force Push sent the one contesting my Darksaber right into the remaining pirate still waiting his turn to stab me.

My left blade relieved both of their walking privileges. 

I turned a corner to leave the outer ring corridor, heading into the ship’s middle ring.

Only to find it sealed with bulkheads and the interior life support reduced to full vacuum.

Hondo’s holo appeared in front of me again, “Very impressive, Jedi, but this is where you stop. I admit, I was given bad information. My sources told me this would only be a Jedi training mission filled with younglings. They did not say the famous Mandalorian Jedi herself would be on board.”

“Then your sources clearly wanted to dispose of you,” I said dryly.

“Yes, I see that now. So, what about you just head back to your ship and we’ll let you go. After all, you’ve killed and injured quite a number of my crew.”

My amusement soared as I perceived through the holo connection, which was coming directly from the bridge, how the pilot was preparing to undock anyway and leave me trapped on board the ship. They were also preparing to void the rest of the ship’s air, leaving me with only my beskar’gam’s supply, then make the jump to hyper. That trip would last longer than my air supply or so they thought.

I raised my hand and made a clawing gesture.

The pilot’s arms were wrenched away from the helm station, preventing him from issuing the undock command or touching the life support.

“Arrgh! What is this?!” he screamed as I levitated him helplessly into the air.

Hondo gaped, utterly stupefied in astonishment as his pilot did his involuntary flying under my Control.

“Don’t pretend you care at all about your crew Hondo. As far as you’re concerned, I’ve just saved you thousands of credits that you’d normally have to pay to them.”

I sent the pilot to kiss the ceiling with enough force to induce immediate unconsciousness, then let him drop. The angle meant the chair unfortunately did a nasty job of injuring his back as well.

Another pirate crewman who was manning the weapon system, tried to rush to the helm.

He met the same fate as the pilot, leaving Hondo all alone on the bridge.

“As you can see, I am not going to be trapped on this ship, Hondo. Now, be a good sentient for once in your life and restore the life support to the middle ring and let me through, so we can have a civilized discussion. Any funny business, I will know and you will not be making any profit on this trip.”

That magic word broke through his stupor and he made a big smile that stood in stark contrast to the fear in his eyes. “Ah, of course, my, uh, very powerful friend. Now you are talking my language!”

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Hondo’s cabin on board the ship, which was rather appropriately called the Gilded Reaver, was everything I imagined his home away from home to be and then some.

It was located directly off from the bridge within the core of the ship and featured an anteroom-office hybrid and an adjoining room where he slept. The space reflected his greedy profit driven personality with a touch of random eccentricity; floors draped with the prepared animal leather from many hunts, walls filled with display shelving with valuable trophies taken from the ships he had pirated on in the past, all surrounding an actual wooden desk with a tilting, throne like chair behind it. In addition to this was a number of hidden turrets in the ceiling and floor that would turn the space into a kill zone for anyone who was not Hondo Ohnaka.

“Please sit, my dear,” he gestured to the slightly less comfortable guest chair in front of his desk. “What do I call you without giving offense?” he asked unctuously.

I smiled behind my helmet and casually sat down with crossed legs, using technometry to subtly disable the turrets. Then I had to suppress a shudder as I perceived that Hondo had shifted from being pants shitting terrified of me to… being turned on?

A moment further to parse his emotions let me conclude he was actually one of those who found any female who could kick and outthink his ass rather attractive, mostly because he was usually surrounded by pirates who were idiots, stupid, bloodthirsty and he generally rang rings around them. Even the female weequay pirates who he undoubtedly invited to share his bed, didn’t come close to being a threat to him.

“Padawan Tano or simply Tano will do,” I said flatly, resting my elbows on the armrests and tenting my hands.

“Padawan?! Pffft,” he laughed, reaching below his desk and pulled out a bottle of something clearly alcoholic and a glass. “I don’t know everything about the Jedi Order, but I know enough to know that you, my dear, are no mere padawan.”

“Your attempt to appeal to my ego is wasted, Ohnaka.”

He poured himself a full glass and took a deep sip, “Aaaaah, that hits the spot. Can’t take a compliment, Tano? You’ve bested me and left many bodies in your wake. Not even Dooku was so ruthless.”

“Do remember you only caught Dooku because he let himself be caught, so that you could take him back to civilization to claim his bounty. If he didn’t have a use for you and was in any other mood, you and your entire pirate band would all be dead to the last and Florrum scorched to bedrock. I’m rather surprised he hasn’t yet enacted his revenge, unless… he was the one who sent you the intelligence that the Crucible would be on a training voyage. Dooku knows me quite well at this point, he knows what I do to pirates. Not to mention we Jedi are very protective of our younglings, like any good parent.”

Hondo swirled the remains of his drink in the glass, staring at it thoughtfully. “Yes, I suppose it makes sense now. I received a tip about your ship from an vetted acquaintance at the Bounty Hunter Guild. He also showed me, with timed exclusivity, a bounty for kyber crystals that had also been posted by a black market collector.”

“How much?” I asked curiously.

“Five million each, minimum price. Incidentally, I can imagine that the crystals within the lightsabers of notable Jedi such as yourself would also fetch even more; ten, maybe even fifteen.”

It was just another trick and headache to throw the Jedi’s way. It’s not enough that the CIS and by extension, Palpatine, had a standing bounty on a Jedi’s head, now they were hoping to entice the professional thieves of the galaxy to go after lightsabers. The ultimate aim of which was gathering the kyber crystals for their bloody superweapon research.

“Well, I think you can firmly cross that acquaintance off your circle of friends, Ohnaka.”

“He was never a friend, just a business partner on occasion. I will have to decide if he was truly in on it to engineer my death or he was merely another unwitting cog in Dooku’s plan.”

“That is your future business, but whether you actually get to conduct it is what we are here to discuss. Your attack on the Crucible was intended to disable its hyperdrive, however, you failed to account for the fact that it’s a flying museum ship. As it stands now, for my colleague aboard the ship to repair it, he will need a fist sized ingot of coaxium.”

The Crucible’s hyper initiator, the device in the hyperdrive that did that actual job of creating the interface that allowed a ship to accelerate itself into the dimension of hyperspace was utterly ruined by the last missile that Hondo had fired.

“Very expensive,” he tapped his chin in thought, clearly trying to weasel his way out of what he could guess was coming.

“Yes, and until we get that ingot, the Crucible will have to be towed through hyper by the Reaver. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way,” I tilted my head just enough, pushing the Force into my voice and letting the Mando helmet’s natural intimidation factor do its thing. 

“Ha ha, errr yes, I’d be happy to give your ship a tow, no problem,” Hondo said nervously. “The closest system where you’d be able to get coaxium would be Ansion.”

“Yes, where you have a base and will no doubt try to double-cross me or overwhelm me with dozens more of your pirate gang.”

“What? No, no. I wouldn’t dream of it, my dear,” he said, as if offended by the very notion that he would be so dishonorable, even as he was internally panicking that I had somehow figured it out.

A chime from the door leading to the bridge interrupted our conversation.

“Go away!” Hondo roared.

“Uh, boss! Sorry!” said the ship’s pilot, shouting through the door. “But we just received a distress call from Ansion!”

Hondo’s eyes flashed behind his goggles and he slammed a button on his desk, causing the armored door to slide open. The nikto pilot limped into the room, wincing with fear as he looked at me.

“Well?! Out with it already?! I’m in delicate negotiations for our lives!”

“Yes, boss. Uh, the distress call indicates that Ansion is under Separatist attack.”

Hondo rose out of his chair, crossed the distance to the pilot and slapped him around the head, “Idiot, why didn’t you relay it to my holo?!”

“You indicated that you were not to be disturbed, boss.”

Hondo just slapped him harder. “Get the ship ready to tow the Crucible and make the adjusted hyper calculations for Ansion.”

“Boss?” The pilot couldn’t believe his ears.

“Did the Jedi blasting you into the ceiling give you hearing problems?”

“N- n- no, boss.”

“Then do it!”

“Yes boss.”

The pilot beat a hasty retreat out the room.

“If he wasn’t such a good pilot…” Hondo trailed off, trying to contain his anger. He flung himself back into his chair and gave me his best suave expression. “Now my dear, given this new circumstance, how about we discuss a deal?”

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A/N: With Hondo's pleasant demeanor, charisma and sense of humor, he makes it hard for you to remember he's a pirate who doesn't hesitate to give a 'dead or alive' order for the younglings. Ahsoka is not going to be clever or play tricks with pirates in this timeline - she's the firm line in the sand protecting the adepts.

Enjoy the weekend and stay awesome folks!