With his forefinger, he drew invisible figures in the air. It took a moment for Jaden to realize that Marr was actually plotting a function. When that registered, he thought he saw an avenue he could use to speed Marr’s training.
“Now I’ll teach you some basics of lightsaber combat. As before, feel the Force throughout. Very little about this is physical. Your strength and speed is not in muscle and tendon, but in your relationship to the Force. Let it flow through you, inform your movements. What you’re capable of will surprise you, if you let it.”
Marr inhaled deeply, then took a few more practice cuts and spins, all more graceful than before. Jaden could feel him settling into the Force.
“Excellent, Marr. As we engage, I want you to think about your movements mathematically. Consider the angles at which we hold our blades, the arc of my approach, the line of your blade intersecting mine, your feet moving degrees within a circle. Do you understand?”
Marr nodded without hesitation. “I do.”
“Good. Defend yourself,” Jaden said, and lunged at him.
For the next several hours, Jaden walked Marr through the basics of lightsaber technique. The Cerean was a quick study, his movements controlled and precise. Jaden knew it was unusual, even dangerous, to train a new apprentice with live blades, but he also knew that he, Marr, and Khedryn would be in serious danger if they found the clones. He wanted Marr as prepared as possible.
By the time they’d finished and Jaden deactivated Alpha’s red blade, sweat dripped off the cliff of Marr’s forehead and pasted the ruff of his hair to his pate.
“Tired?” Jaden asked him.
“Not physically tired, Master. But it’s mentally exhausting.”
Jaden thumped him on the shoulder. “That means you’re doing it right. There’s one more thing to learn today.”
Marr waited, eyebrows raised.
“Go to the other side of the bay and activate your weapon.”
Marr did as he was told, and while he did Jaden removed one of the cells from the power pack of his DH-44 and set the blaster to stun. It’d still pack a decent wallop, but a hit would not knock Marr unconscious.
“Don’t try to guess where I’m firing.”
“You’re going to fire?”
Jaden nodded. “You must feel it, not see it. You could do it as well with your eyes closed as open. Angles of approach, Marr. Velocities. Let yourself feel the space around you.”
Though the Cerean’s face remained placid, he could sense Marr’s apprehension.
“Close your eyes and settle your mind in the Keep, Marr.”
Marr closed his eyes, inhaled.
“Now, expand your perception outward. Don’t merely sense the objects and people around you. Sense the energy of the objects, perceive the lines of the Force that connect one thing to another thing, each thing to every other thing.”
Behind him, Jaden felt Khedryn enter the cargo bay. Khedryn said nothing and lingered near the open bay door.
“I feel it!” Marr said. “Interconnection. I see it. It is … vast.”
“Very good. Now, realize that your will and the Force are likewise interconnected. Each gives the other direction, but the causation is not linear. In fact, there is no causation. There is, instead, synchronicity.”
Jaden knew the lack of causation would be difficult for Marr, the logical mathematician, to grasp.
“I … think I understand. Synchronicity.”
“Then use that understanding to deflect this blaster shot back at me.”
Jaden activated Alpha’s lightsaber in his off hand, an awkward gesture given his wounded fingers, and fired his depowered blaster at Marr.
Marr attempted a block too late, and the shot hit him in the chest. He grunted, his breath catching, and staggered back two steps. To his credit, he did not open his eyes or mention the pain. Jaden felt Marr’s determination grow.
“I felt … something,” Marr said.
Khedryn chuckled, but Marr seemed not to hear him. Jaden held up a hand for Khedryn’s silence.
“Fall into the Force,” Jaden said, and fired again.
Again Marr missed the block, and again he grunted with pain, staggered backward.
“Again, Master,” the Cerean said, his tone even.
Five times Jaden put blaster shots into Marr, and four times Marr failed to block them. On the fifth, he interposed the purple line of his blade and sent the blaster bolt careering into the near bulkhead.
Jaden expected him to erupt in happiness, but Marr did nothing of the kind. His eyes still closed, he said, “I think I have it now. Again, Master.”
Jaden fired, more rapidly, and Marr blocked each shot in turn, sending the shots everywhere but back at Jaden.
“The angle of incidence is equal to the