The Demon Forge...that was the nick name for the training center that created the Mandlorain super commandos. Anyone who ever went into the forge and manage to come out alive always came out a totally different being. So far in the last three weeks Jack and his friends had not seen or hear of anything the Mandlorains had someone do that could get them kill. That had changed from the moment they had their first training session with the trainers of the Demon Forge. Captain Zack had given the students a Beskad, a 45 centimeter curved blade with an edge sharp enough to cut gla.s.s like paper. " Practice your forms if you do them right no one should get hurt. If you do them wrong well...you will be relieved of what ever limb had gotten in the way of the blade."For two hours the students practice combat forms in a nerve racking sweat. Jack was no exception to this. Though he pretty athletic before all of this training, this was a bladed weapon they using. Even the blades in the training center they had been in before had all be dull. Sharp blades gave Jack a completely foreign feeling. One where any mistake he made could cost him an arm or a leg. slowly the students had started to come to grips with what they were doing. The two that had adapted the fast with the blades had been Keith and another student name Sam. Jack was not far behind them and soon all of the students had confidence in the actions they were performing.
Captain Zack walked the line of students and nodded his head in approval. " Good now do them at the same time and we will get some grub." Keith who had been absent-minding spinning his blade nearly fell over when he heard what had been said. If the situation had not been so serious Jack would have laugh at his friend but just based on the fact that the person who was in charge of them was a super commando it did not seem like the best idea so he like the rest of the student attempted to do combat forms in sync. After another two hours no progress had been made, and many of the kids were going more and more frustrated. In this frustration accidents started to pill up. Cuts on the arm here, cuts on the legs there, Jack some how manage to cut down his right side cheek on his face which caused him to drop the Beskad. As the blood from his face slowly dripped on to the ground something inside him clicked.
A soft drum beat..like it was being heard from far away. Boom....boom....boom.. the sound resinated in his mind he felt the need to sit, so he did. He felt the need to close his eyes, so he did. As he relaxed his mind and body he tried to reach out to the sound in his mind. Boom..boom..boom.. it was growing slowly but surely it was growing louder and louder. Other student around Jack noticed he had falling but had not yet gotten up so they turned to see if he had been badly hurt. Only to see that he had being sitting with his legs crossed Beskad in his lap. Keith was about to check on him when he was stopped by Trish. " No something is different...can you feel it...the thumping in your chest." she said. " What are you talking about Trish you mean my heart yea I can feel it..." Trish sighed.." No you idiot don"t you feel it..its like a current running thorough your bones it just makes me want to...", and with out warning Trish sat crossed legged in the gra.s.s and closed her eyes. Keith was a bit taken back but soon noticed it was not just Trish and Jack but most of the other students as well.
Not one to be left out of a party Keith also sat down and closed his eyes and hope to feel what ever his friends had felt. It did not take long before he too heard the noise... boom..boom..boom. Zack was a bit annoyed he had told these younglings to complete a task and instead they all just sat down and what took a nap. He made his way over to the first one to sit and went to strike him then planned to have the others run for the next 3 hours in combat armor, but as he went to hit Jack something in his mind warned him that it would be a very bad idea to do that. His instincts had save his life on many occasions and right now they were telling him if he touches anyone of these younglings he would more than likely die.
Jack felt as though everything around him was on crystal clear lake. He could feel every ripple when the wind blow past him, every movement Trish who was next to him was making. From the insects in the gra.s.s to the birds in the sky he could feel it all. Then as more and more of the students joined him in the meditation he could feel more and more of them. Their thoughts, their feelings, their hopes, and dreams. He was being connected to everything about them and they were connecting to everything about him. The s.p.a.ce around the students seemed to warp and change. Small pebbles started to rise from the ground around them and bits of electricity began arcing around the group.
Zack looked in awe at what was happing around him. As slow as he could he back out of the group area trying his best not disrupt what ever was happing. Hitting commands on his wrist a drone shot into the air and started recoding the scene. He know whatever was about to happen the elders would need to see this.
The wind blow into the center of the group then out...in and out ...in and out almost like the group was breathing in and out as one ent.i.ty. The ground shook in a strange rhythm ..thump thump.. like a heart beat. The arcs of electricity grew thicker and thicker as the wind began to swirl. Clouds turned dark and gather above,and as if to add to the climax Jack took his blade and pointed to the sky. Just as a bolt of lighting struck down in to the blade then into the boy. The flash was bright and sudden causing Zack to look away and shield his eyes. When he could finally look to the group he saw all the younglings where standing with their eyes closed.
Jack could feel all of the students...no not just students these people where no longer strangers to each other. They knew everything about him and he knew everything about them. He stood with his brothers and sisters and drew is blade into an arc and began form one of the combat forms. Like a mirror image all of the younglings moved with him. Faster and Faster they moved without missing one movement and no one missing a step or failing to keep in sync until the final move when they all stabbed into the ground. At the moment the connection between them had been cut and they all collapsed to the ground and pa.s.sed out.
Zack throughout the whole event was quite even after they had all collapsed he did not say a word. After a good five minutes He input commands into the drone and then sent it off to the back of the compound. He hit his coms device to call other instructors to help move the younglings in to the medical bays. After insuring that they were being carefully looked after he headed into the command center to contact the elders. Had he not seen what just happened with his own eyes he would not believe so he mental high fived himself for recording the event with the drone.
What caused this event no one at the time no one would know it would not be until a few week later that the Mandlorains would come to learn that the jedi had found what they were looking for, and would unknowingly unleash something into the world that had been sealed since the formation of the planet.
Somewhere in the middle of the Arctic a group of old men gather around an entrance to a cave. The cave is not natural it had been cut out with a mining laser at a 30 degree angle straight into the ice. At the bottom of the cavern the top of a metal structure could be seen. The rest of the structure was still coved by layers of ice and snow however if one could guess the size of the structure it would have to be one size...huge. walking to the exposed part of the building Count Dooku and his jedi marvel at the sight in front of them.
" How could the natives of this world not discover this thing it ma.s.sive." One of the jedi knight said. " They were not looking for it and besides the force had been calling out for use to be able to find this in the first place." Dooku walked up to the door and ran his hand arcoss the metal. It was warm to the touch. At the top of the door letters were in graved but they were not in galactic basic but the planets language. Out loud Dooku read the letters off , " S...T..A..R..F..O..R..G..E...we should bring images of this to that native outside and get him to p.r.o.nounce this for us." Stated Dooku not knowing that his action would change the fate of the galaxy.