On the way out of the third hall, the young jedi saw the bust of Dooku. Shuu had watched some Star Wars movies and that cartoon about the Clone Wars in his previous life, therefore he recognized the Count instantly.
The man came closer. The bust was made of bronzium (solid durable material) and stood on the stone pedestal.
The initiate Tu got curious, thus he read about the deeds of Count Dooku from the plaque that rested on the pedestal.
It turned out that he was a lightsaber instructor, whose combat techniques had been even recorded on the Great Holocron for the future jedi generations.
He was a peacekeeper and excellent diplomat. The resolved Sevarcos Dispute in 52 BBY was mentioned as a fine example of his sound diplomatic skills.
Shuu wasn't surprised when he was reading the text. He knew that Dooku was respected in the Jedi Order before the war.
There were other busts of the famous jedi masters in the third hall. Old Shuu knew that such busts were in each hall of the library.
The human resumed his walking, and soon he left the library. The man headed towards the accommodation sector where he was given a temporary room for living. This sector occupied the floors right under the library. The accommodation sector was made up of nurseries, younglings' and padawans' dormitories, knights' billets, private rooms (only for senior knights and masters), temporary rooms (used by jedi in between assignments), and visitors' quarters (reserved for guests, diplomats, and politicians).
While walking Shuu remembered that time when old Shuu lived here with his clan. In old Shuu's memory it looked like a merry time. Their clan shared the same dormitory and spent a lot of time together. The human remembered the faces of “his” friends. All became padawans but him and Sanya.
The vision of Sanya materialized in his head. The human knew that old Shuu loved her. The devaronian girl had red skin, black lips, black hair, purple eyes, and a pair of vestigial horns.
Of course, this girl is pretty. The human thought. But that's all. I see nothing special in her.
New Shuu didn't love Sanya. Moreover, he didn't even want to feel anything like that to anyone, because for a jedi an attachment, especially a strong one, is a path to disaster.
Light side was aligned with the positive feelings but such feelings could be used against a jedi easily.
For example, historically it was proven that love was an effective instrument of manipulation. Love had brought many jedi to the dark side or even to their own demise in the past. That's why the Jedi Order propagated the teachings of no attachment, because if you have nothing treasured, then you are free from any worries. As a result, nothing can disturb your calmness in your daily life or disturb your concentration on the battlefield. It was the simple and effective solution to the problems that had plagued the jedi in the past.
At that moment the human realized that his predecessor not only wished to prove himself by capturing those smugglers on Ukio, he also wanted to impress one particular devaronian girl.
The initiate Tu shook his head in disapproval. That was foolish. It serves as another proof that having a strong attachment is dangerous for a jedi.
Soon the human entered his room. It was tidy, thanks to the temple employees and the cleaning droids. They maintained the entire temple.
There was a bed, a sofa, a workbench, and a table with chairs in his room. Shuu knew that the closet was hidden behind the slide away panel.
The yawning man moved to the bed.
+
Next day. Early morning
Shuu meditated for a half hour. He was taught to do it regularly in the jedi academy. It helped to clear his mind from any feelings.
The young jedi left his room and headed to the nearest refectory. In the corridor he encountered the familiar-looking woman in jedi apparel who led a group of extremely young children towards the same destination.
Ah, this is master Du Mahn! Shuu recognized the middle-aged woman.
When old Shuu was a child, she was one of the instructors in the temple.
“Master Du Mahn.” Shuu greeted her and then greeted the children. “Younglings.”
“Young jedi.” The woman answered politely.
The children said nothing, thus the female jedi turned to them. “Younglings, how shall we greet the fellow jedi?”
The children stared at the initiate Tu, looking puzzled, and only in a few seconds did they realize what they should say. “Good morning, master!”
“Well done, younglings!” The woman praised them.
Then she looked at Shuu's face attentively for a couple of seconds before the woman asked. “Jedi Shuu, if I'm not wrong?”
The man nodded. “That's me, master.”
The fact that the master Du Mahn recognized him didn't surprise the man. The predecessor attended her lectures when he was a child.
Together they continued to walk towards the refectory, having a conversation. Shuu retold the woman about his last mission. It turned out that the “accident on Ukio”, as many jedi began to call it, was one of the hot topics in the temple nowadays.
The refectory looked exactly as in the predecessor's memory. The large dining hall was filled with long tables which were occupied by the jedi of different ranks who were having their meals. The cleaning droids hovered in the air, ready to clear any spills or bring any forgotten food trays to the refuse stations.
Here Shuu and master Du Mahn went their separate ways. The man moved to one of the tables while the younglings were led to one of the separated breakfast rooms, specially designated for the children.
Due to the good weather outside the transparisteel windows were raised today, allowing everyone in the refectory to experience a cool breeze. Also, every present jedi could breathe the filtered air of Coruscant.
The human sat at the table and chose his breakfast from the scrolling hologram menu.
Waiting his food, the initiate Tu looked at the large holodisplays that hung along the pillared walls. At the moment they were displaying the news (with subtitles) about the ongoing civil war in the Virgillia system where the rebels fought against the local aristocracy.
It was a fresh conflict that had broken out a few months ago.
I have never heard about this war back on Earth.
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The situation looked hopeless for the rebels. The nobility controlled all production of blaster weapons, while the insurgents were forced to use primitive slugthrowers (weapons that use an explosion as a force that pushes a solid projectile out of the barrel). Plus, the aristocracy had military forces on their side.
All activity of the rebel movement was happening in the colonies. The metropolis of the entire system wasn't under any threat.
Finally a service droid brought the breakfast to Shuu which consisted of ranat's cheese soup, a small number of croutons, a pair of boiled hawk-bat eggs, and some juice from almakian apples.
The jedi was hungry and ate his food with gusto. Then the human returned the tray to the closest refuse station and left the refectory.
I still have an hour before work, The man thought when he looked at his chrono.
He decided to visit the library.
+
In the third hall, studying the starmap, Shuu realized that the idea of seizing Spice Terminus was the most promising. Thus, the human studied and then copied the blueprint of the huge space station from the Jedi database.
The space station had some heavy turbolasers and laser cannons, many medium and light laser turrets, not a small number of missile launchers, and some other stationary weapons. It also had two shield generators: primary and secondary ones.
Additionally, such a formidable station must have some starfighters. Perhaps, not the best ones but they must be.
If the blueprint was correct, then it was a tough nut. A direct attack was a suicide.
I need to make up a trick to capture it in the future. Plus, I need to gather all available information about the space station.
The initiate Tu closed the starmap and sighed. My plans are grandiose but they are nothing if I will not gather some personal force at first.
Okay, how am I going to seize Black Sun, for example? The young jedi questioned himself.
In the cartoon Maul came with his brother, Savage Opress, and a small army of Death Watch to the leaders of Black Sun for a negotiation. It turned out that the negotiation was a trick to kill the leaders. As a result, the criminal organization was intimidated by Maul and his men.
But I'm not Maul. I'm not a trained assassin. I haven't an intimidating brother and a small army behind my back. I am alone. If I try to approach Black Sun right now, then they will dispose of me. And I doubt that my lightsaber will change anything.
Shuu looked at his chrono. It was time to go to the herb garden. The young jedi stood up and walked towards the exit.
Black Sun will submit to me only if I intimidate them as it did Maul, but I will not be able to do it alone. Thus, I need a small army behind me (as Maul had) or at least a crowd of expendable criminals and mercenaries. Yes, if then I kill Black Sun's leaders, then the organization shall submit to me without fuss. But again... We've returned to where we started. I need my personal force, for a start.
+
The man worked in the herb garden the whole day. The evening the initiate Tu spent in the library. He began to study engineering, slicing, and read some information about the existing models of droids and spaceships. This knowledge should be useful in the future.
+
Next day. Morning
Shuu meditated in the temple arboretum. It was a quiet place with a small number of visitors.
The young man was surrounded by the beauty of nature. Trees, flowers, and ferns were gathered in the arboretum from all around the galaxy. It helped the human to keep his thoughts clear and focused.
Today was a day off for Shuu's shift in the herb garden.
At that moment the man tried to remember all that he knew about the Star Wars universe. This knowledge was valuable.
Gradually all Shuu's thoughts and the remembered information was forming into a plan in the human head.
+
Afternoon
The roof of the temple's ziggurat was a large outdoor place where a few hundred jedi could train at the same time. The gnarled Force-sensitive uneti tree grew here for a very long time. Some jedi liked to meditate beside it.
The man headed to the unoccupied area where he was going to test his combat skills.
While walking Shuu could see several groups of younglings (each had its own instructor) who were training with their training lightsabers. He recognized the first combat form easily. Shii-Cho was a basis. It was impossible to study other combat forms without knowing this one well.
Shuu stopped when he had reached the vacant place. He stood in a standard stance of the first combat form and activated his lightsaber.
The man closed his eyes. Shii-Cho requires full concentration, thus the practitioner must be calm and collected.
The young jedi breathed in and out several times, clearing his mind. It helped to ease his worry.
Next second the human opened his eyes and stepped forward to cut the air. It was a short, quick and simple movement that was immediately continued by a series of new attacks.
At that moment the initiate Tu remembered the words of one of his lightsaber instructors.
Chii-Cho favors a direct assault. A practitioner shall execute the minimum movements to achieve his or her goal in the fight. There is no need for acrobatic jumps when you are using this form, younglings.
But remember that Shii-Cho cares also about the defense. It is the balanced combat form.
Shuu stopped in a defensive stance for a moment to burst in a new series of attacks.
Next half an hour the human trained like that, executing every movement accurately and easily.
This form is simple and effective. I like it. Shuu thought and then he stood in a standard stance of Niman. Let's check this lightsaber style.
The human made a few steps back to block imaginary attacks. Then he used the Force to push his nonexistent opponent away.
It had happened on instinct. The man had felt clearly as the Force obeyed his will and materialized in the reality in the form of the happened push.
The human froze. He was astonished. This feeling was too unique to new Shuu.
The man shook his head. Calm down. I need to continue my training.
In a second the initiate Tu executed a short-lived series of attacks and stood in a defensive stance.
The words of another lightsaber instructor sounded in his mind. Niman favors defense but the secret of this combat form is active use of the Force powers in the fight. Remember this and you will be invisible, Shuu.
Next thirty minutes Shuu trained in Niman combat style, often using Force abilities. The human realized that the sixth combat form was too cautious for his liking.
Anyway, the human was satisfied. This training showed that he can use the Force abilities and his lightsaber as well as the predecessor.
The initiate Tu deactivated his weapon and left the training ground. He was going to have a rest. Then the human planned to continue to test his combat skills in one of the training rooms where he could use the training droids.
+
Shuu entered the training gallery with the roof made of transparisteel. There was a group of padawans who trained with the training droids and a small number of dueling jedi who looked like master-padawan pairs.
Two instructors stood and observed the group of padawans.
The initiate Tu recognized the training droids. They were “Marksman-H training remote” models - but everyone called them just “remotes”. These little machines had multiple power levels, including lethal, but for training they used the sting setting.
Shuu came closer to the instructors and greeted them with a nod. He also began to observe the padawans. Each padawan was blocking the blaster bolts, fully concentrated on the task.
It doesn't look easy.
As well, Shuu observed the sparring pairs. Niman was chosen by a majority of training pairs. It was the most popular lightsaber style in the Jedi Order nowadays.
Soon the human came up to the stand and started one of the presented droids – the “Marksman-H training remote” model.
“Follow me.” The initiate Tu ordered and moved to the vacant place where he stood in the standard stance of the first combat form.
The man closed his eyes to concentrate. He needed to “feel” the space around himself.
“Begin.” Shuu ordered the hovering droid and opened his eyes.
The remote was made to be quick and unpredictable. The little machine changed its position in a heartbeat and opened fire.
Immediately the man felt “this” - the feeling that “showed” him where the blaster bolts would hit his body. Thus, he blocked all of the blaster bolts with his lightsaber.
The initiate Tu trained with the remote for some time but soon he got used to its tactic. It wasn't a challenge anymore, and he decided to activate another one.
The human stood, blocking the blaster bolts that were very weak in the sting mode. Two droids moved around their victim, coordinating their fire. Unexpectedly, the training became quite difficult but still it was manageable.
When the third remote was added, Shuu barely had time to block the coming blaster bolts. The training ended quickly. Three droids had defeated their opponent.
The young jedi scowled and touched his chest. He could feel pain in the place where the sting bolt had hit.
Shuu breathed in and out to pacify his negative emotions.
As a jedi I need to be composed.
Then he raised his lightsaber and ordered the training droids. “Begin.”
+
My heart is stone,
Emotions killed,
I'm made of steel,
Deny I worry,
Because I'm jedi,
I'm warrior.
Great Magician