A New Power

[Super Girl]

Kia smiles, impressed at what the Kel-dor had pulled off over night. "I should really thank him, he had to have been almost as tired as I was, and he still pulled an all nighter getting her this close to being done." the Corellian murmurs to herself as she gets into all the wiring, making all of the connections and splices. She hums an old Selonian song as she works.

After she gets the wiring as done as she can, she moves on to the diagnostic, and while the computer is working on that, she does a bit of work, on the redundant systems, working on the lighting, and just cleaning up the ship. She does her best to avoid waking Aasan up, trying to let the older Kel-Dor sleep.

 

[Angcuru]

As Jorran enters the largest hut in the village, he is greeted by a young bothan who directs him to an area at the left end of the hut. Miera is sitting on a small mound of cushions, eating...something out of a wooden bown while several large rocks float in midair to her right, continuously rearranging into difference geometric shapes.

"Ah, good morning, Jorran." Miera indicates a cushion on the floor with a small, low table next to it. On the table is a bowl of something resembling a foodstuff that on some worlds was called 'oatmeal'. "Please, take a seat and have some food."

After Jorran had been seated, Miera spoke again. "If you can, I'd like for you to recite the Jedi Code."

 

[Galethorn]

Jorran began.

"There is no emotion; there is peace. There is no ignorance; there is knowledge. There is no passion; there is serenity. There is no death; there is the Force."

He sighed after that last part, remembering his master, and everyone he had known that had been killed in the Purge.

 

[Angcuru]

"Good. Now recite the Sith Code." Miera said.

 

[Galethorn]

"Peace is a lie, there is only Passion. Through passion, I gain Strength. Through strength, I gain Power. Through power, I gain Victory. Through victory, My chains are broken. The Force shall free me.

He did not look pleased uttering the words; they obviously left a bad taste in his mouth. The look passed, though, and he resumed a more neutral expression.

"Just words, like the Jedi code. What matter is what you make of them, or so I've come to understand."

 

[Angcuru]

Miera smiled. "It is good that you understand this. While these two codes are simple words, they encompass the core values of each path. The Jedi emphasize the light, defensiveness, and peace. The Sith emphasize the dark, agressiveness, and struggle. The two are polar opposites, but they have one important thing in common. That their very code was the key to their downfall.

The Jedi would work together, becoming only as powerful as was necessary to maintain the peace of the Republic. This caused them not only to become weakened through lack of struggle, but complacent in their roles as guardians of peace.

The Sith prefer to work alone and seek out struggle, thus the individual becomes more powerful. But because of this, they turn on one another in a survival of the fittest philosophy. They will work together to increase their collective power, but individual interests always dominate.

Jedi and Sith are both formidable in battle against the mundane, but when facing each other, weaknesses become apparent. Because of the nature of their paths, a lone Jedi would always be an inferior to a lone Sith in battle. Simply put, the Jedi are many, but compared to Sith, are also weak. The Sith are few, but compared to Jedi, also powerful.

After many successive conflicts, the Sith became very few, but also, very powerful. Is it not odd that the Jedi, a conclave of peacekeepers renowned throughout the galaxy, would fear the possibility that a mere two foes would appear to challenge them?

You know as well as I do that in the rise and fall of Palpatine's Empire, both were utterly destroyed."

Miera paused for a quick drink, clearing her throat before continuing.

"As with anything, the Force cannot be anything to you that you will not allow it to be. To the Jedi, it was a divine power to be respected and used in moderation. A veritable gift to be shared amongst the many who are blessed to be able to feel its presesnce. To the Sith, the Force is no different than any other controlable thing in existance, no more sacred than physics or other laws of nature. To them, the Force was a tool, a gateway to power to be used at will.

Because of these perceptions, the Jedi became collectively weak and complacent, while the Sith became individually corrupt and arrogant. Thus did they fall."

Miera looked Jorran up and down for a moment. "My question to you is this. What do you see the Force to be?"

 

[Galethorn]

Jorran thought for quite some time.

"Hmmm...I think the Sith were on to something with their concept, but its goal is no less flawed than the Jedi concept..."

He paused for a moment, gathering his thoughts.

"I say the Force is power, for lack of a better word. It's a just another way to influence your surroundings...the universe around you. And it carries the same potential for good or evil that a blaster or rulership over a planet does. With the Force, though, that potential is far greater than with blasters or money or anything else."

 

[Angcuru]

After an hour or so of cleaning and polishing the insides of the ship, Kia hears a *ping* as she passes by the cockpit.

DIAGNOSTIC COMPLETE. A mechanical voice sounded. As Kia looks over the readout screen for the results, she sees what she has been anticipating for nearly a day.

*Diagnostic of Repulsorlift systems completed.*
*Repairs successful.*
*Systems fully operational.*
*Awaiting command.*

***​

Miera nodded at Jorran. "Thus do you see the truth behind it all. You and I both were taught that the Force is divided into the Light and Dark sides, but that is not the reality of it. There is no Light Side or Dark Side to the Force, it just is. Light and Dark, Good and Evil, they are just words. Ideas created in antiquity by frightened peoples to rationalize the unknown, to encompass it in what they were already familiar with: morality.

But the Jedi caught on to one truth. The Force it not simply a power of nature, it is something much more. The Force really is, is the soul of the universe. Everything in existance is part of it. Life is able to exist because of the Force, and whenever life ends, the tiny portion of the Force that fueled that life returns to the Force.

When a creature is born, a soul is created from the Force just as the body is created from the matter of the universe. Those we refer to as Force Sensitive are a different matter altogether. We are something more than simple life forms, in that our souls are incomplete. When we are born, we are left with a tangible connection to the Force which is unnatural and unintended. While most souls are limited to their bodies, we are directly connected to the entirity of the universe. Thus do we have the power that we do.

Although we live and die just like any other life form, we are living wounds upon the Force. Wounds that the Force is continually trying to heal. The more we concentrate on our connection to the Force, the larger the wound becomes. As a Force Sensitive grows in power, so does the temptation of the so-called Dark Side. The Dark Side is nothing more than a manifestation of the Force's attempts to destroy the Force Sensitive. The stronger one becomes in the 'Dark Side', the more dessicated and corrupt they become, as the Force attempts to cause them decay and draw them into recklessness and hate that would end their lives and end the wound.

The 'Light Side' is simply a conscious path to avoid the 'Dark Side', and has no extraordinary intrinsic value."

 

[Super Girl]

Kia lets out a whoop of delight that rivals the volume of the bird calls at the system operational report. The ship wasn't ground bound, not anymore, it might not be spaceworthy yet, but she could at least get the Dawnsprinter up, and that was a major victory all on its own. I should let Aasan sleep, at least for a while longer, I want to get there soon, but he deserces it after last night. Now that the lifts are woorking, I can call over, let them know we're coming, and then work on getting more power from the ion engines, we'll need it for space, but getting up in the air at all is good, the girl thought gratefully, maybe I can reward him somehow, for all the hard work, once we get off this rock, anywhere he wants to go, he is there, no matter where. she resloves.

She clicks on the commlink, "This is Kia over on the Dawnsprinter, we have our repulsor lifts fully operational, and our sub-lights have the power to get us to you, so light a fire and make a feast or something." she jokes, grinning to herself. "I don't know how fast we'll make it to you, but it should definitely be withing 12 hours or so, just want to get some redundant systems working first, and let my Wiz Mechanic sleep in after his all nighter."

"We did have some company last night though, a whole pack of things bigger then the Masliths, at least 50 or more of them. We burnt with an E-web, and then electrified the hull. Do these things have a name, like the red ones do?" she asks.

 

[Angcuru]

The comm buzzed just as Miera finished speaking. She frowned at the interruption, and quickly clicked the comm on. "Copy, Kia. Call me again when you're halfway here, but not before, please."