Kay'li Raganella
The Jedi Order
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Post by Kay'li Raganella on Jun 9, 2024 19:42:29 GMT -8
Research Terminal Area=Raja=Arriving from his dormitory room and entering the Corellian Jedi Archives, Raja made his way past the first section of holobook shelves, and settled down at a terminal, sliding into the well-worn leather seat and setting his datapad down on the wooden countertop near his right elbow. He loved the academy’s library. For one thing, it just smelled and felt old, in a way that he couldn’t quite explain. You didn’t need Jedi powers to recognize the history, or feel a sense of awe and wonder. But, that same sense could be felt in the Force signature of the Archives. To Raja, it had become a soothing place, both physically, and for his connection to the Force.There were many topics he wanted to research, but while he was alone, he started with his secret project. Pulling up archived blueprints of the residence wing of the academy, he sorted through the records, looking for the most recent version. Idly, his left hand rose to touch his blond padawan braid and nervously smoothed it against the side of his neck as he scrolled through pages of results. Eventually, he found blueprints not only for the third floor, but also for the structural of the space between the second and third floors, in the ceiling above his own room.He had been worried the files would be restricted, but thank the Force, they were not. It would have been hard to explain why he needed them without lying outright to a librarian. What could he say? That he was tracing the source of a strange noise that was keeping him awake at night? Even that would only invite more involvement from the maintenance droids, and might not have gotten him the necessary clearance to keep a copy of the files.Copying the two files to his datapad, the young padawan caught sight of a librarian moving in his direction. Disconnecting his datapad as casually as he could, he started a new search on lightsaber emitter design. The options and technical details were both far more complex that he had realized, and he only understood maybe half of what he was reading, but after skimming the first page of each of the first three articles, one fact became clear: He needed to select his crystal first, so that he could properly tune his emitter to the reflective and refractive properties of his type of crystal, as well as the exact the cut lines and any impurities of his specific crystal.Slightly taken by surprise, Raja leaned back in his seat, a look of shock on his face as he digested the information. Lightsaber hilts had been simple compared to this.
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Mike Frantz
Member
That Guy
Posts: 721 
Affiliation: The Jedi Order
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Post by Mike Frantz on Jun 25, 2024 13:38:29 GMT -8
I can't help but be curious about my apprentice's sudden interest in architecture and key fobs. I mean I had designed the current incarnations of both the security and archives computer systems, so my apprentice wasn't exactly as subtle and circumspect as he might have thought, though I wasn't about to attempt to reprimand him on either count. I doubted that any apprentice of mine would be successful without at least some penchant for mischief. Though I kept my own observation out of the way of preying eyes at first, working off of a terminal in one of the archive's many private research rooms, until Raja had stopped logging searches and began to digest the information, which was the perfect moment for interruption. Pulling my own force presence into myself, I walked silently across the polished floors of the archives, my soft soled boots making no sound as I glided through the racks until I was standing directly behind the boy. "How's it going kid?"
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Kay'li Raganella
The Jedi Order
Posts: 191
Affiliation: All living things
Traffic Light: Orange
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Post by Kay'li Raganella on Jul 3, 2024 18:49:31 GMT -8
Research Terminal Area
=Raja=
*Raja hadn't sensed Mike elsewhere in the library, but once his master separated himself from the myriad of background presences, Raja didn't need to hear a noise to sense his approach. A less familiar being might have surprised him, but his mind was attuned to Mike's presence after all this time.* *His attention didn't waiver from his intent study of his datapad, but he gave no outward indication of surprise.* "Well." *The padawan replied dryly. "I've learned I'm not ready to design an emitter yet."
He paused for a moment, then sighed and tapped a few buttons on his datapad, pulling up several images of all-black lightsaber hilts, before setting it down on the table. There were a few other things he could show Master Frantz. Looking over his shoulder at his blue-robed master, he fumbled around in his pockets, then pulled out a diatium power cell and a matte black pommel. The pommel had a decorative, spherical end, with a belt ring that collapsed neatly into a cut line in the sphere. "So I'm going to focus on the hilt for the moment ..."
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Mike Frantz
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That Guy
Posts: 721
Affiliation: The Jedi Order
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Post by Mike Frantz on Jul 9, 2024 14:30:43 GMT -8
*I'm happy to see my apprentice take to the task with such intent study, but there was more to the construction of a lightsaber than just the technical specifications of the weapon itself. Reaching for my belt with almost unconscious intent and pull the worn simplistic silver hilt of my original saber. The basic structure had been one of the original power converters off of Daystar that I'd replaced when I'd acquired the ship as a project at 13. The grip had then been forged into the metallic casing to fit my hand perfectly. The emitter had been laser cut as a part of the overall converter so that though it could be disassembled while it was complete it appeared to be just one solid piece. With the force I begin to telekinetically disassemble the weapon in the air in front of me. The various pieces, including two different crystals of it's dual-phase design. My voice shifted slightly, taking on a more serious tone than my normal cadence, my "teacher voice" swinging fully into place.* "I think you're probably more ready than you think." *I gesture idly to the manuals in front of the boy.*While those can teach you a lot, there is more to a lighsaber than just it's simple structure. Lightsabers are ALIVE. *I gesture dramatically at that last word.* Of course all machines are alive, even if most jedi can't seem to sense them, but Lightsabers are so intricately connected to the Jedi Order that it's the first thing most people think of when they hear the word Jedi. At the end of the day the force will have to guide your hand to build that connection, you just have to be open enough to hear what it's telling you."
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Kay'li Raganella
The Jedi Order
Posts: 191
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Post by Kay'li Raganella on Sept 4, 2024 16:47:42 GMT -8
Research Terminal Area
=Raja=
“... and the Force is an energy field created by all LIVING things ….” Raja whispered as his master concluded. His eyes lit up momentarily as he realized he’d been ignoring the living element of his lightsaber-to-be. Master Frantz’s words were not new concepts to the boy, but in his eagerness to “solve the problem,” he had become too focused on the physical elements of lightsaber construction. It was an easy trap for a young boy to fall into, especially one who had grown up mostly aboard various starships, traveling about the less civilized parts of the Outer Rim - and beyond. Fixing mechanical problems had been a daily activity for most of his life.
Raja shifted his pile of parts into his left hand, which he extended palm up. Then, he reached out his right hand, palm down, hovering above Mike’s lightsaber, his eyes slowly closing to slits as he reached out through the Force, trying to listen for his Master’s lightsaber. Obviously, he would not have the same connection as the Jedi master had with his own saber, but with Mike touching it and acting almost as a speaker, he stretched out for any echo of that connection.
For a few moments, he strained, sensing nothing, and clenched his eyes shut as he tried to blot out the busy and complicated presence of the library around him. It was almost deafening. But finally, he sensed something in the saber, not exactly a life force or presence in the traditional sense, but a tiny spark in the Force. It felt like a smaller Mike, but at the same time, it wasn't Mike.
Telekinetically, Mike’s disassembled lightsaber rose above the teacher’s hand and hovered between master and apprentice. Simultaneously, Raja manipulated and disassembled his own lightsaber parts in his left hand until they matched the same alignment as his master’s saber. He was missing a lot of pieces, but maybe there was still something here? He listened for a similar spark, and felt nothing. But of course, he was trying to find a saber that matches himself, not build a clone of Mike’s saber. Adjusting, he moved the pieces to match his own design, then began to shift them slightly, all the while trying to visualize the missing pieces and what they would add.
And then, he felt IT, for the briefest instant.
The boy’s eyes snapped open. “That’s it!” He exclaimed, almost jumping from his seat. Mike’s saber sank neatly toward his hand, while Raja’s own saber parts splashed not so neatly all over the thickly-carpeted floor.
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Mike Frantz
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Posts: 721
Affiliation: The Jedi Order
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Post by Mike Frantz on Sept 11, 2024 15:18:20 GMT -8
*I watch my apprentice, reading both his face and his presence in the force to get a feel for the direction of his thoughts, feeling his mental rhythm, moving from connection to connection. My face remains impassive, but internally I'm willing him forward, silently hoping he's able to make the connections laid out before him. The living connection of the "spirit" of the blade, and the mere mechanical components of a lightsaber was a concept many apprentices I'd seen in the past have trouble with. Life had a more complex meaning to the force than what a biological scientist might explain and many jedi seemed to have a hard time separating the two concepts. I couldn't help but beam in pride as Raja finally made that connection with his own blade, if only briefly. The boy clearly had a natural connection to the mechanical, perhaps learned out in whatever wilds his parents had found themselves in. I clasp my hands on the boys shoulders, silently pulling the pieces of his future saber from the floor with the force and setting them on the table next to us.* "Well done kid, few apprentices I've had have learned that particular lesson as quickly as you."*My thoughts settle off in the distance for a moment, away from the here and now, to both the past and the future, contemplating in a moment before continuing.*"Clearly you've had some experience with the "soul of the mechanic", as I call it, before..."*I left it open ended, giving him the chance to add context to his history if he so chose, not pushing for information, but letting the unspoken invitation to explore his past linger there for him to take if he was ready to.*
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Kay'li Raganella
The Jedi Order
Posts: 191
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Post by Kay'li Raganella on Sept 21, 2024 16:39:57 GMT -8
Research Terminal Area
=Raja=
Raja took a deep breath as he slowly digested what had happened, then nodded at his master’s words. He was momentarily too stunned to reach down and pick up the scattered lightsaber parts, but his Master rectified that for him. He had a path forward now, it was just a matter of locating the pieces to match the template he had “seen” through the Force.
“Yes.” He said, his attention back on Mike. “I probably spent half of my life aboard a YT freighter before I came to Corellia. My Dad and I kept it flying with spare parts when we could find them, or made our own parts if we had to. I just know how machines work, somehow. I don't know if it's because of our life, or if there's something more, some kind of Force insight.” He paused, a distant look creeping into his eyes. He’d been prepared for this separation from his family for a while, and had rarely been homesick in the past few months, but thinking specifically of those special moments awoke some deeply-buried nostalgia. “We… we couldn’t come to the Core Worlds for maintenance with the—.” And then his eyes widened slightly, and he stopped.
The memory switched from happiness to a bit of worry and pain, which would no doubt be perceptible to his master. The boy looked down at his feet, then at Mike again, his mind racing. Aside from the rites of passage like building a lightsaber, he needed the Jedi Master’s help with something else, but he wasn’t sure where to start or how to ask. Was it too soon? Was now the time?
“Could we go somewhere else?” He said finally. "There's too many people here."
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Mike Frantz
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That Guy
Posts: 721
Affiliation: The Jedi Order
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Post by Mike Frantz on Oct 18, 2024 14:07:43 GMT -8
*I'm glad to hear that my apprentice has at least some connection and affinity for the mechanical aspects of life that had dominated my own for so many years. It was a connection I could make with him, a way to help draw out his potential. A few dozen possible ways to start to do that pass through my mind as his emotions shifted, nostalgia bringing on homesickness and fear. I'd known since his arrival that there was more to the story of how he'd arrived at my doorstep than he'd let on, but I hadn't pressed. Some things had to be left for their own time. It seemed like that patience was going to pay off. I couldn't help but be hopeful that some of the questions that had been bouncing around my head might finally find a few answers. With my customary half smile I move toward the entrance to the archives.* "I know Just the place".
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Kay'li Raganella
The Jedi Order
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Affiliation: All living things
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Post by Kay'li Raganella on Oct 18, 2024 16:04:09 GMT -8
=Raja=Raja nodded but did not respond verbally. Still working out in his mind what needed to be said, he gathered up his lightsaber parts and followed Mike.
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