Open Chandrila The Best Stories Start With Explosions

[Maxims Tionson]

It wasn't an application of the Force that people tended to use all that often, Max would freely admit, but he rather liked using it personally. Alex was good to go along with it however and he was grateful; despite being a Jedi Master, Max was under no illusions about his ability to use the technique on a larger group of people. If there were three or four guards he could get all of them if they were the only living beings in a room... but they weren't.

That would require precision and power at speed, which he was not capable of.

"The benefit of using this technique is that it, ultimately, doesn't matter if we catch some of the hostages in the technique as well." he admitted his reasoning aloud, "But we should be able to pick them out, generally, from any anger that peaks when we begin."

Hostages weren't going to get angry if other hostages were knocked out immediately with no warning but the guards would, which would help them locate them. Feeling the way Alex was immersing herself into the Force, Max smiled a little bit and began to do the same, sinking into it as though it were a lake of warm water.

The Force opened to him and the Light breathed warmth into him as he slowly closed his eye. Connecting with Alex would be a little bit... different to begin with since they shared no bond such as the bond between a Master and Padawan. Instead he felt her connection to the Force 'brush' up against his own. It felt like a hand slipping into his own when he wasn't looking; at once both surprising and welcome.

She felt soft but unyielding - like a velvet glove over a work-worn hand.

But it wasn't enough for their connections to the Force merely to touch - they needed to merge and work in complete tandem. That was less like a hand touching a hand and more like running hands over skin. He could feel how she connected to the Force and she could feel his own, likely even feeling the warm lake water as he did whenever he reached into the Force. It had been some time since Max had done something like this but, well, some things were never forgotten.

Like taking her hand to guide her in a walk, he coached her connection to the Force outward along with his own, guiding their combined strength and skill with the Force into the room beyond the large door. Mind by mind they reached out with their joined 'hand' and touched them - sending them into a dreamless sleep. Emotions heightened beyond the door and they moved on, latching onto the minds of the ones most prone to violence.

Four times they reached out and touched minds of anger and frustrated hate; and four times they soothed them with unexpected slumber. Until there were only the minds of frightened and confused people remaining beyond the door. Then he slowly disengaged, the hand of his own connection to the Force slowly slipping from Alex's own until they were, once again, separate.

Max opened his eye slowly, feeling slightly unsteady from the exertion of the technique through a wall to multiple people. Still, he readied himself to assist Alex should she find the decoupling more jarring.

"I think we got them... but we would be wise to assume there are still hostiles."

He was confident in their work but he had learned never to assume success in anything.

@Marx Agar

 

[Alexandria Voran]

The Force felt differently to them all. It was hard, no impossible, to explain how the Force weaved through their lives. Your connection to the Force was deeply personal. This was why the bond between Master and Student was so important. That connection in the Force could not be faked. It could not be haphazardly put together. There was a reason some great feats of the Force could only be accomplished by those who knew each other best. There was reason the philosophy of the Order changed over the years. There was a reason Alex had not sought these connections out in decades.

When her Master had become one with the Light, she had felt so alone. She felt another would never truly know her again. Her Master had saved her from a life of utter failure, and despite Alex’s best efforts she still felt the outsider. It was extremely strange when she felt Max’s presence meld with her own. She physically fought the urge to pull away. Relax. This was extremely unusual for her, but the norm for most Jedi. Focus…Alex…focus.

Her mind rode the waves of the Light with the Jedi Master. She watched nearly in awe as they worked the Force in tandem. Alex made very few of the moves, only lending her strength, but it was incredible. The Jedi worked the Force in unison. Touching the mind of the beings beyond the blast doors. Alex could barely contain the awe. This was what she had been missing all these years. A true connection with her fellow Jedi. When it was over, she felt a brief moment of emptiness, as if she had just left a warm hearth. Her legs betrayed her as she slumped slightly against the wall. That was exhausting.

“Yes…wise.” Alex tightened the grip on her saber. She didn’t dare use the Force to open the doors. Her mind and body were tiring. She placed a hand on the doors and pushed. The door grated open with a terrible sound. The Jedi Knight stepped through. Her mind rung with alarm. She saw the blaster raised in her mind. On instinct she spun. The rebel was seated on the floor, the fog of their work on his mind, but not completed. Reflexively she reached out. Slamming the rebels mind further into the ocean she had created with max. The rebel’s eyes rolled back into his head as he slumped to the floor. Alex’s kneed wavered and she fell to the floor. Unconsciousness swam at the edges of her vision.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Doing something like that with the Force was tiring to him and it was tiring to Alex as well but in his case it was the pleasant, full-body, ache of using all of his muscles at once. Of having a long swim in a warm lake that accepted his presence within it as though he had always belonged there. The Force, the Light, could never hurt him when he opened himself up to it's will and allowed it to guide him.

Still, the breaking of the link to Alex left him feeling as though he was missing something. He felt as though he wanted to... to hold her hand, to emulate the closest sensation he had conjured up when feeling their connection. Shaking his head banished the idle thought from his mind for the moment and he nodded to her quietly before unlocking the door with the key-card the last rebel had given to them.

Max allowed Alex to go first into the room, drawing himself back from the connection to the Force to focus on the present. His hand fell to his lightsaber and he drew it from his belt but before he could ignite it, Alex was already dealing with the threat. Dropping his saber to the ground, Max slid forward to catch Alex as she fell. Sitting up, he held the back of her head in one hand and held the other over her as he reached out with the Force.

There was nothing to Heal however, fatigue was all she was suffering from. He smiled down at her softly from above, cradling her but ready to help her up if she wanted to stand.

"Next time I go first, alright?" he gently chided her in good humor, "The hostages are alright - we did good, Alex. You can rest now if you want, I can hold the room and wait for the local forces to arrive."

@Marx Agar

 

[Alexandria Voran]

She felt Max move before his hands reached to stop her fall. Embarrassment flushed through the Force before Alex could quickly regain control of her emotions. “I….thank you.” She bit off whatever sharp retort bubbled up. The Jedi Knight leaned forward, managing to get her legs beneath her. She stood…slowly…wobbly. Alex kept her voice low as she spoke. No reason to spook the hostages. “This is new territory for me.” One deep breath to keep standing. “I have spent a very long time away from the Order.” Her face scrunched slightly. “That was likely a mistake.”

Alex’s eyes swept over the room. There work here was likely mostly done. Already she could feel the local forces begin to creep closer to the building. They were beginning to realize the fight inside had ended. “I know we are stronger together but none of this is particularly easy for me.” A painful moment of vulnerability for the Morellian Jedi. She kept her mental walls sealed tight. No need for anyone to know her true thoughts. Those were for her alone. “Thank you for understanding and for showing me the way.” A very small smile crept across her face. “Now that sounded very Jedi like.” Alex sighed. Yes it certainly was time for her to rest, she far past her usual limits.

@Nefieslab

 

[Maxims Tionson]

Max could tell that she was tired but she was strong enough to keep herself from needing to rely too heavily on him. That was alright; so long as she knew that he was here should she need him then it was fine by him. He sat back on his heels a little bit and cast his gaze around the room with a deep, rumbling, sigh of contentment.

"Maybe it was - but I tend to find that time gives perspective and that is never to be undervalued." he argued with a smile, "Besides; you handled yourself well today Alexandria. Far too many of our own Order rush to violence... few have the skill and the temperament to avoid it at cost to themselves."

Cost in this case being exhaustion but still - the sacrifice had been made to do things the right way and not the easy way. He felt the urge to place a reassuring hand on her shoulder... but he didn't. She was actually older than he was unless he had missed his read on her and, besides, she knew her own worth. It was not his place to try and be the one who assured her of it, unless she needed it.

"We did what was right, not what was easy." he spoke his earlier thoughts with a brighter smile, "That's about as Jedi a thing as we can hope to do with ourselves."

But they were Jedi and they were human - and it was time for them to rest and let others complete the good of the day.

/End Thread

@Valen Pelora