Hidden Light In the Darkness

OOC:

This thread is Corran's flash-back training thread. It'll cover several topics...

IC:

The Year 990 AR

Jedi Master Corran Horn stood in the complex that was the Corellian Jedi Academy and the most recent headquarters of the Order. It was abandoned now, all his fellow Jedi having fled or been killed as the CIS swept down on the city. In moments he too would disappear, leaving just the abandoned buildings and the bodies of the Confederate forces who'd tried to take them from the Order. He didn't look up as more soldiers charged into the room, forming a ring around the edges of the main hall.

A moment later several soldiers parted, allowing a robed figure to pass between them. finally Corran looked up, facing the new person directly, "Kal. Seems you've won. I hope the galaxy benefits more than it suffers."

Kilo Banner replied, "Grand Master Horn. It doesn't have to be this way. Join us in policing the galaxy. Together you and I could resurrect the Order."

"It's just Corran now. There is no Order left to be Grand Master of. No, my old friend...I can't join you. I can't and won't put the resources of the head of the Order in the hands of he who destroyed it. That must live or die with me now." Corran sighed and shook his head.

"I don't want to kill you, Corran. I never wanted to hurt Anden either, you know. But I had to make you see."

"Too late for that, my friend. Good bye." Corran whipped his right arm up, activating his lightsaber as he brought the hilt before his nose in a Makashi salute. The theatric garnered the reaction he wanted...the Confederate troops fired as one, their bolts convergin on him. The center of the room exploded in a ball of fire and light, a loud bang resonating from within the convergence of fire. When it disappeared all that was to be seen was Corran's cloak, shot to rags, lying on the floor.

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Horn stood in a subbasement of the academy as he sensed Kilo leaving. Now the real wait would begin. The Jedi were not gone...they'd be back eventually and he would be there.

OOC: more to come...

The first thing Horn did when he knew he was safe was to make his way to the hidden hangar in the Academy where he kept his X-wing and a small freighter. Other important ships had been stored there too, but now his were the only crafts in the hangar. Mirax, his wife, would need to know he was alright. More than that, it was now, ironically enough, safe for him to rejoin her and for them to live together in the open. When you had as many enemies as he'd earned, your family was never safe.

The corellian kept the freighter low, merging smoothly into the normal traffic of Coronet City. After some fifteen minutes of flying he approached a warehouse area and, entering through a roof hatch, landed in a smugglers' den. He stepped out of the craft and was met by half a dozen beings in garish security uniforms. They were members of his father in law, Booster Terrick's, personal security force. Booster was with the group and he eyed Corran with his usual unfriendly scowl, "So the high and mighty Jedi runs home when he gets beat. Your father would be ashamed."

"My father, Booster, is the one who taught me that its better to live to carry on what you believe in than to die for its sake...and to live on for your family. Would you have me make Mirax a widow?"

The big man's face reddened and it was obvious he would have started yelling if it weren't for somene pushing him to the side and approaching Corran. Mirax embraced her husband and examined him for wounds, "Didn't think those Confederate nerf herders could get you, but it didn't stop me worrying."

Grinning ruefully, Corran shrugged, "Well, they did get my favorite cloak. I'd say they fairly killed it...anyway, things are somewhat different now that Jedi Master Corran Horn is thought to be dead." He winked. "First things first though. Keiran Halcyon, his lovely wife, and their beautiful children need to go house hunting."

Several weeks later the family was settled in in a new apartment set not too far from the Academy, which had been declared off limits and sealed up...to anyone who didn't know its secrets anyway. Corran finished packing a satchel full of his Jedi robes, put a blaster in his shoulder holster, and hid his lightsaber away in a secret compartment he'd installed beside the bed. As he walked to the door of the apartment his three year old son, Valin, ran up and threw himself on his dad's leg, "Daddy! Come watch, come watch!"

"Smiling, Horn disentangled himself, "In a while, son. Daddy's gotta go out for a bit, then I'll be back." Mollified, the child ran back to his mother. Corran stepped out and made his way to the Academy.

As ordered, the Academy was completely sealed up. High fences with heavy automatic security ringed the complex...no living guards on location at all. The setup wasn't going to be very effective if anyone trying to enter had a slicer. Then again, it would be very well equipped to stop a non-slicer Jedi who could not use Force Telekinesis but who was extremely talented at Force Illusion. Still, Horn didn't believe Kal thought it would actually stop him. And Kal did know he was alive. To the soldiers ths showdown might have ended with the bang of colliding blaster bolts in human flesh, but Kal would register the Force echo of Corran's Teleportation. Hopefully he would be as astute in realizing Corran would not serve the Confederacy.

Two blocks away from the Academy there was a small exotic pet store. Corran entered the store and, speaking for a moment with the shop's loyal owner, entered the back room. There he stopped in front of a blank section of wall. Feeling the flow of electricity through the Force, he found the button hidden on the other side of the wall. It had a hair trigger so that even his almsot nonexistant telekinesis could activate it. He did so, then ducked and entered the tunnel that appeared as a hidden door slid back.

Once Horn was inside the Academy he made his way to one of the training areas located in the basement level. It was a very large room, taking up most of the bottom level of the Academy. Objects of varying size, weight, and type were scattered around as training obstacles or tools. Corran sat on a nearby crate and began to meditate, centering himself in the Force and letting his grief and frustration over the Order's fate drain away. A moment later he glanced up, looking directly at a deep shelf midway up the far wall. It was about four feet in depth and completely clear of objects. He opened himself to the Force and willed himself to be there. Not to move, but to instantly be somewhere else. Two simultaneous bangs rang out as the air rushed into the void left by his body at his starting place and rushed away in displacement where he arrived. He repeated the technique several times, until he was satisfied that he was in practice.

Warmed up, Horn studied a training saber he'd placed on the ground some twenty meters from him. Only once had he teleported an object alone, his lightsaber, and then only in a last ditch attempt to kill a Sith Lord before the Sith in question killed him. He'd been right beside his lightsaber at the time, not to mention being quite in tune with it. He knew that sometimes mental blocks could prevent the technique from working with objects bigger, less familiar, or further away. So he concentrated on the training saber, willing the unfamiliar weapon to move instantly from the spot he'd placed it to another he'd chosen another hundred yards further out. Two more bangs, much smaller than the ones he produced, rang out and the training saber appeared in the spot he had chosen. The corellian smiled, pleased that his focus had carried through. He kept it up for two hours, making sure he was proficient in this new facet of his skill. He found he could teleport any object, no matter size or weight, but needed to work on distance. Anything beyond a hundred or so yards was an iffy prospect.

Satisfied with the day's work, Corran left for home looking forward to spending the evening with Mirax, Valin, and Jysella. As he locked the door he used he though, 'The Order may be gone...for now, but that does not mean the Jedi are. Someday I will not be the only Jedi walking these halls...just one of many Masters of the Light.'

The next day found Corran at the Academy again. Mirax made quite the nice living with her commodities trading, which meant he could concentrate on his duties as a Jedi and as a father. Such was the case today, as Mirax had left for Coruscant to broker a deal. Valin and Jysella had come with him because of this. It was the first time they'd ever been to the Academy. Being the ages they were, neither was much interested in the history of the Academy or in why it was deserted. But, since both were Force sensitive, he knew what they would like. The corellian guided them through the building into one of the second story chambers...a playground of sorts for youngsters. Though all of the activities in this room were simple enough to be fun for very small children, some of them were designed to require the Force to work. Before the CIS invasion the very youngest members of the Academy had played here and unknowingly developed their Force potential.

His children satisfied, Horn moved on to another room nearby. It was fortunate that Kal had ordered that looters would be shot. Corran doubted he'd need to worry about trespassers, especially with the invasion so fresh in people's minds. It meant that he could continue his studies in peace. Sitting down at a desk in the office he'd entered, he activated the console. Horn made his way through a couple menus and arrived at a holo-recorder program the Jedi used to create personal journals. Pulling his holocron out of a pocket, Corran set it next to the console and set both to record. Then, settling into his chair, he began,

"This is Jedi Master Corran Horn, formerly Grand Master of the Order. I make this recording in a time of great sorrow...the CIS have succeeded in taking control of the galaxy. In doing so they all but destroyed the Jedi. I know there are others left out there, Jedi who have survived just as I have. If the Force wills it some day we will gather again, somewhere, and the Jedi shall return. But for now I begin a lonely vigil. Here in the Corellian Jedi Academy I will train, study, and prepare. When the time is right, I will be ready. If I live so long that is...I plan to pass on this duty to my children when they are ready, and with any luck I or my descendants will still be here when the day arrives. If not...look well in the records of the Academy and my Holocron, my friend. I will record many lessons for anyone who finds themselves in need of learning. If you are alone, then it is up to you now. Learn, grow, and someday...resurrect the Jedi. The Galaxy needs protectors. It needs the Jedi."

OOC: More later...