Tranquility

[Spartan]

The room was dark, and had the faint smell of metal about it; the only sound in the substantially large space was an insignificant whir or hum that was occasionally heard.

Heard by a lone figure, gracefully situated in a meditative posture at the center of the room.

The muffled sound had become completely silent, giving no evidence of presence on any spectrum of the sense, save one: The Force.

To rely on the average sense when you had access to the Force was folly; but to rely on the Force instead of the average sense was also folly.

In the Jedi Knight's case, he had to become more aware of his Force abilities; to strike a line between what could and couldn't be sensed through the Force.

Concentration was key to training a Force ability, and it was no different for Rokien.

He started to pick up indistinct beeps, and clicks emanating from somewhere in the room.

"What is this strange noise?" The young Jedi contemplated to himself. "It's almost as if I can feel it's thoughts through the Force, if you can call them thoughts ... Probably better described as processing information."

"No!" Rokien suddenly realized what it was. "It's what the droid has been through since it's construction. Dim traces of information about the artificial object; this is Force Empathy."

The Jedi Knight smiled to himself, motioning with the Force toward the light switch in the room.

[Spartan]

There was a large circle formed in the center of the dueling room, surrounded by hulking, metal automatons; each of them had a cortosis-weaved vibroblade clutched in their metallic hands.

The room was full of droids, droids that Rokien had constructed to assist in his continued lightsaber training.

He had chosen Makashi for the simple reason of admiration of the form; the precise strikes, and fluidity were to be marveled at; it was the perfect lightsaber dueling form, well, almost perfect. It had it's advantages and disadvantages, and Rokien was training to make the former more astute and the latter more discernible.

Though he had been planning on constructing a new, single-hilted lightsaber that would be better suited to the form's practice, he would train with his double-bladed lightsaber in this session.

He activated a button on the wall with the Force, and two droids began to awake from their artificial slumber.

The Jedi ignited one end of his double-bladed weapon, and was rewarded by the low hum of the deadly green light that echoed forth.

He held the lightsaber with one hand, lowering his stance so the blade was angled toward the ground; he waited for the droids to make the first move.

[Spartan]

The duo of droids circled Rokien, their programming searching for any weakness in the Jedi Knight's defense that could be exploited.

Rokien closed his eyes, for the briefest of moments, to concentrate on the guidance of the Force.

The first of the two droids analyzed the information on Rokien's stance and acted when it saw the opportunity, leaping at the Zabrak with its blade seeking to split him in two.

The droids hadn't been programmed to kill but they weren't restricted to wounding their opponents.

The Jedi brought his saber in close to his head, easily parrying the strike away from him; he counter-attacked by making a precise cut on the droids abdomen, it was distracted but still far from losing the fight.

He had kept a Force-assisted eye on the second droid that had skillfully made it's way behind the Jedi Knight, but his latest counter-attack had given the droid the chance it needed to strike.

"Ahhhrghh!!" Rokien winced as the droid's vibroblade slashed his back, leaving a small, but painful wound.

The pain was quickly suppressed utilizing the Force, but the sting of his arrogance still remained.

"How could I have let that happen? Jedi are not attached to their emotions. I guess it's a lesson learned now isn't it?" Rokien thought to himself.

He would not make the same mistake twice; once again he awaited the advancing droids.

[Spartan]

The pair of droids continued to stalk the Jedi, sizing him up for any attack they could possibly unleash upon him.

Rokien lay in wait, his Makashi stance aiding in the confusion of the droid's programming; he purposefully left holes open in his defense in order to lure the droids into a disadvantage.

One of the keys to perfecting the Makashi form was patience, and Rokien had learned this lesson well.

He could easily tell the droids apart now: one of them had the mark left by Rokien's saber on it's abdomen, the other had no marks to show beside the small trace of blood on it's blade.

Once again he released himself to the Force, this time concentrating more deeply.

The droid that had struck him advanced on it's quarry, raising it's blade to strike one of Rokien's feinted weakspots.

The Jedi Knight welcomed the droid's strike with his own weapon, parrying it to his far left.

He sensed the "wounded" droid closing in to mimmick the second droid's assault; assisted by the Force, he kicked the assaulting automaton away from him.

The Jedi had singled them out, as was a tactic of the Makashi form, now he could defend and counter against one opponent without the worry of a coordinated attack by both droids.

The "wounded" droid swung it's blade horizontally at Rokien's head, around the ear area; the strike met with no success however as it collided with the Jedi's saber inches from his ear.

Rokien saw his chance and wasted no time, he knocked the vibroblade out of the droid's hands with the hilt of his saber; with the droid distracted analyzing what to do next, he utilized the Force to propel his hand into the droids control circuits, and ripped them out.

The Jedi revitalized himself with the Force and turned his attention to the droid that was picking itself up off the floor.

"One down, one to go." He noted, out loud.

[Spartan]

Rokien patiently awaited the droid's encroachment, his stance low, and his saber ever at the ready.

The artificial being was evaluating it's options; it would strike, about that there was no doubt, but the question was when, and where.

The answer came just as fast as the question had; the droid advanced on the Jedi, striking fiercely at holes in Rokien's defense, forcing him to retreat backward as he parried each strike with his lightsaber.

He shifted his weight to his left foot as he was continually pushed farther back, nearing the circle of the surrounding droids.

With help from the Force, Rokien began to anticipate the strikes and used the leverage from his weight shift to press the defense, forcing the droid to retreat along the same line he had drove the Jedi Knight back upon.

The Zabrak saw an opening in the droid's offense and countered with a thrust from his saber, driving the deadly green light through its chest, melting the circuitry on contact.

The final droid joined it's predescessor by falling to the floor with a metallic clank.

Panting, the Jedi pressed the igniter on his lightsaber once again, causing the focused light to dissipate.

"That was quite a training session, all for the better." Rokien smiled to himself.

He had learned a great deal more about applying Makashi in combat, though he was far from perfecting it.

[Spartan]

Once again, he sat in meditation in the training room; there was nobody to distract him, no Padawans to constantly ask him questions, but part of him longed for a Padawan of his own.

He needed to concentrate if he wanted to succeed at training his Force abilities, such thoughts were unwelcomed at the moment.

A large, metallic orb sat in front of the Jedi Knight, it weighed twice as much as a normal man.

After gathering his concentration, Rokien stood, and situated himself a short distance away from the orb.

He called upon the Force, sending tendrils of it's energy rippling and causing an echo; the orb began to rise off the ground.

"Concentrate." He thought to himself, almost causing him to lose control over the large sphere; he raised it to the height of his head and there it stayed, for the moment.

[Spartan]

The Jedi Knight altered the air currents flowing through the room and focused them on the orb, causing it to slowly begin to spin on its axis.

"I'm doing it, this is Force Whirlwind!" With that small break in concentration, the orb clattered to the floor.

"You shouldn't make these kinds of mistakes ... But mistakes are inevitable, I guess." He told himself, preparing to lift the orb again.

His palm outstretched, he concentrated on letting the Force guide, and assist him in his task.

The orb began to rise, and he adjusted the air currents once again making the sphere spin in a violent maelstrom of Force energy.

After awhile of practice he began to succeed in making the orb spin faster, and with more power.

He motioned the orb to a corner in the room, and situated himself into a meditative posture.

[Spartan]

It was time, time to construct the lightsaber that would better aid his Makashi training and give him more precision in battle.

He had the perfect design after scanning through the holocrons, one that would follow in the footsteps of Jedi Master Tyvokka's own lightsaber.

He had all the parts he needed, save for the crystals he had yet to aquire: A handgrip, an activation stud plate, a safety switch, an emitter matrix, a lens assembly, a power cell, a power conduit, and a recharge socket.

Slowly and carefully he began fitting the parts together, it would take some time but patience was a lesson he had learned well.

[Spartan]

After days of precisely placing each part, his lightsaber was finished; all it needed now was a crystal to power it. He held the green object in his clenched grasp, the light in the room causing it to shimmer like a diamond.

The Jedi placed the crysal in the hilt of his lightsaber; closing the panel he admired his handiwork, it was quite an amazing accomplishment; he had taken extra time trying to perfect the weapon by meditating on the Force.

He ignited the saber and an emerald blade crackled to life with a low drone; he took his Makashi stance and made a few precise thrusts toward an invisible opponent.

After getting used to his new weapon he disengaged it and held it to his gaze: it was an amazing example of a curve-hilted lightsaber that drew it's inspiration from Master Tyvokka's and the fallen Dooku's own.

[Spartan]

There was a calm about the Jedi Knight, one that usually always accompanied him wherever he traveled. He had been training to become more astute to the Force, and to enhance his lightsaber combat skills; though these weren't the only things he practiced: he had been studying the archives thoroughly, enhancing his diplomatic skills as well.

It was one thing for a Jedi to know how to manipulate and serve the Force, but it was another to assist the common man as well, it was alot more gratifying to use words before weapons: this is indeed why he had chosen the path of the Jedi Sentinel.

He had been practicing to utilize Force Comprehension to better assist in his endeavors of reasearch in the archives, though he was in the early stages of putting it to full use.

He knew he had to have a basic idea of the topic if he wanted to speed up his mental capacity to take in the information more quickly, and that such a power was also dangerously linked to strong emotions; he had no intention of letting his emotions get the better of him however.

[Spartan]

Rokien motioned to a holobook that was sitting on one of the great shelves with the Force, bringing it to his grasp. He pressed a button and a holographic image of book pages popped up into view.

He concentrated on the Force, allowing himself to become one with it.

A breif moment passed as he focused on his Force Comprehension ability, increasing his mental capacity and allowing him to take in the information at an alarming speed.

The Jedi Knight paused as he found himself drained of energy; Force Comprehension indeed took alot of concentration to utilize, he would practice this further.

[Spartan]

The holobook lay before him, it's synthetic pages quickly turning as if the wind were whistling through them. Rokien had been practcing his Force Comprehension and was finally getting the hang of it, it was a powerful ability, and it had its vices and virtues; the Jedi Knight was compelled to focus on the latter.

He grabbed book after book, studying them thoroughly utilizing his new-found ability, but as fast as he started he had stopped.

He was slaking his thirst for knowledge too fast, his body was drained again but his mind was focused on the way he had been eager to gain more intelligence; he had almost let his emotions get the better of him.

The Jedi Knight left the archives to meditate once again.

[Spartan]

The Jedi Knight situated himself before one of his many droids, this one was unique however, it had the ability to speak and translate many known Republic languages.

With the exception of his other Force abilities he had been practicing the Comprehend Speech skill, he was in the early stages of utilizing it however.

He had read in the archives that you could literally comprehend the dialect of unknown races by simply analyzing their neural patterns and translating them to your understanding.

Though his droid wasn't sentient, he could practice by having it speak alien languages and analyze their meaning.

He activated the droid and it immediately began speaking a language completely unknow to Rokien; he concentrated on the Force, allowing it to flow through him.

There was a breif pause in the room as Rokien attempted to understand the droid's strange dialect; he used the Force to interpret it, and he found it to be Selkath. He had encountered one of these beings before and used that memory to comprehend and translate the droid's speech.

He was starting to get the hang of it but he would have to practice on sentient life in order to put it to full use.