68 V.1-C.68│Interlude I│

Having dealt with his business down below, Anakin felt it was time to check up on John Doe.

Walking within the Jedi's medical bay located inside the temple, Anakin spots the current head of the medical department, Rig Nema.

A female Halaisi, Rig Nema is a Consular Jedi who served as a doctor at the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. Not strong enough or talented enough to be granted the ability to become a proper or fully fledged Jedi but capable in her own right, she was apart of the medical corps.

She has what most would consider, within the Order, the most important job.

Looking after the Jedi whom had become Jedi Knights and above. Of course she does other things as well but that was seen as the most important.

"Doctor Nema." Anakin said greeting the Doctor.

Looking her over Anakin could outline some of her more striking features. Golden eyes and yellow skin, something that is standard to her species.

A bit surprised at not sensing his presence she responds. "Padawan Skywalker? You have startled me, I just about had a heart attack."

Anakin responded. "I didn't think you would be so weak."

"Weak? I will have you know that despite my failings, I think I could teach you a thing or two." Rig replied.

Anakin decides to brush off her comment and walk towards John Doe. "How is John Doe doing?"

"You came here just to check up on the subject?" She questioned with incredulity.

"Yes." Anakin had no time for hoe- he means had no time for the Doctor.

She rolls her eyes and continues. "Well, from what I could gather and analyze with the equipment here, it would seem that he had been poisoned by some unknown substance."

"I know that already." Anakin replies in jest but she takes it as an insult to her intelligence.

"Shut it smartass." She replies with snark.

"Whatever you say..." Anakin responds while looking at her weirdly for her comeback before turning back to observe John Doe.

They both become silent just going about their own tasks, well Rig was going about her own things to do as she had to do much more then sit around the subject that was brought in.

Anakin was just stewing within one of his thought processes thinking about why this could have happened. The poison in on itself was easily identified to be poisonous but his mental state was deteriorating just before.

The only thing he could link that back up too was his mental wipe.

Going into the mind of this guy and carefully removing any memory of him doing things outside of an edited truth by him was necessary, but it would seem that it was what had caused his mind to shut down further.

It may even be why he went into a comatose state not as a result of the self poisoning but because of his mental probing.

"Padawan Skywalker?" A voice was heard but was not registered as it would seem that Anakin was within another place.

"Skywalker?" Anakin was actually using his multiple thoughts to go over and reconstruct his ability to go into the minds of others because of its harm.

At basic telepathic abilities most Force-sensitives have, they gain stuff like thought and emotion sensing but what Anakin had developed was very close to a dark side Force ability created by a Sith. In the process he was trying to make it more centered.

More balanced.

He doesn't want to absolutely destroy the minds of those he tries to enter because of the power or the lack of control, and would like to keep their mental state intact.

It would be a useful ability to have in the future if he could nail this down and perfect it at its core.

Now waving her hand in front of his face, Doctor Rig Nema could clearly see that he seemed to be lost in thought. He may even be meditating.

'How the heel did he do that? The rumors going around about his supposed capabilities must be true.' Rig thought to herself.

On record he had been stated that Anakin's midi-chlorian account was undocumented. "Padawan Skywalker?" She reaches forwards to touch his face but is shocked to find that an apparent substance had manifested covering the area she was about to touch.

'What is that?' She was within her thoughts at the exposure while Anakin was brought out from his trance like state interrupting his progress.

Keeping a neutral face and suppressing his feelings of annoyance he politely asks the Doctor. "Yes Doctor?"

Not interested in whatever trance like state he was in, she was now much more interested in this mysterious protective shell that quickly acted as soon as her touch came to close. "What was that?"

"What was what?" Anakin obviously goes through the environments history using psychometry to retrace her steps and finds she had inadvertently come across his Nanosuit, but that is already public, well at least public to those in the knows knowledge.

"You know what, that substance... that material that was just surrounding your cheek there." She points it out and even goes in for another touch but is again surprised to find that there is nothing there.

No response. "I dont know what you're talking about but what I am interested in however is the scans taken from the analyzers." Anakin redirects the subject and it seems to work, for now.

Interested but not overly so, Rig says. "I can give you access but how are you going to understand all of the medical mumbo jumbo anyway?"

"I have some interesting friends." Anakin answers with some mystery, unintentionally.

"And who would they be?" Rig seems to become more and more invested in Anakin as time passes.

Anakin responds. "You're quite nosey aren't you."

"My job demands it." Rig replies with some amount of pride in her work.

Rig was drawn to the mystery of Anakin Skywalker just as many other females no doubt were drawn by. Sometimes interest comes from the very fact someone knows next to nothing about you and would only want to know you more.

If only to know your juicy secrets, even if they aren't.

Rig gets back to her work after fulfilling Anakin's request for the proper medical documents as she is a Doctor and Doctors dont get the best of sleep. In fact Doctor Rig Nema had some other patients she had to get too, considering the high injury rates one would think more come to here.

But it would seem that the Jedi really did not get into as much trouble as they have, or they were simply being protected from any danger that comes their way.

The Force does have some control over the fate of the people after all.

Like mother nature trying to better evolve and make sure a certain balance is kept in place, the Force does the same but only in response to the energies of the dark and light. Why else would it go ahead and have someone create an entire prophecy in regards to restoring the balance?

[]

"Master Shaak Ti?" Anakin questioned as he felt a presence approaching his training room, or what had become known as his training room.

Not that he didn't like having a private room for himself and friends but it was a little detrimental when he had to explain he didn't actually think he owned it and it had only become like that because of his droid storage.

Of course he had moved most of his droid into underneath the Jedi temple housed within the hidden Sith temple but he is not going to tell anyone that.

No knock was given as the solitary Jedi Master entered the room. "Padawan Skywalker." Shaak greeted him.

"Master Ti." He gave the standard Jedi reply waiting to see what she was doing here.

There was awkward silence as she didn't continue and just stood there. "Are you here for something? Or..."

Shaak breaks from whatever mind fog she had and continued. "Yes, yes. I am here to have a little conversation."

"About?" Anakin asks.

"It is about my new apprentice, I plan to take her away on a trip to my home planet of Shili but I have grown to understand that my solitude seems to have contributed somewhat to my first padawans death." Shaak Ti admits to Anakin while they were alone.

"I wont say about how you were in the wrong or anything about that, your mistakes are to be learnt yourself and not from me telling you about them." Anakin replied thinking she came to him for some kind of advice.

"I didn't come here for your advice padawan." Shaak puts some emphasis on the padawan word at the end.

"Of course." Anakin said then continued by questioning. "Then what are you here for? What is it you padawan needs that you have come here to me?"

"My shortcomings, whatever they may be are something I will have to deal with but I do not want another of my apprentices dying because of it." Shaak was coming clean to Anakin and he was confused as to why.

"I know that is strange for a Jedi Master to come to a padawan for some assistance, but you are the only person I have come to befriend within the Order."

"So I am your only close friend?" Anakin asks the older woman with some incredulity.

Seemingly keeping in whatever embarrassment at that statement, she said. "Yes." She admits readily.

"... Ok." Anakin doesn't hesitate to agree. "I will be your... friend."

Ti smiles for a bit giving off her signature off putting smile that would scare some people off, which was in part the reason to her not being very close to anyone. Not even her previous apprentice had she been all that close too.

"So what is it that you would like some help with?" Anakin asked for what was the third time he had said to her.

"Right, right. Sorry about that, my apprentice, as you know, has only graduated but because of my shortcomings I have come to you." Shaak Ti said then continued. "When it comes to combat, I am aware that I may not be the best teacher but I have heard that you have been helping some younglings, students and others with lightsaber combat."

Shaak continued. "I have also heard that your training consists of more then the usual lightsaber combat and form training but of other things as well."

"Yes that is true, but I dont just teach everyone and for now help my friends and those I have become well acquainted with." Anakin replied the continued. "You must have also heard I take over some lessons for younglings every now and then."

Shaak chuckles a bit before saying. "Your punishment, right?"

Anakin sighs out loud and replies. "Yes. My punishment."

Shaak Ti then continues. "Will you accept her?"

"Sure, I see no problem with helping a friend." Anakin replies.

"Thank you." She smiles.

"No problem." Anakin just nods back.

[]

After his encounter with Shaak Ti he had been dragged along by her to meet her new apprentice, yet again. He had already seen her and didn't need to be reintroduced but Shaak in her excitement had still done so.

'I guess she really doesn't want a repeat.' Anakin thought to himself.

"Ani?" Little Ahsoka said trying to get his attention while Barriss was practicing against some droids. She had taken a liking to calling him by that nickname and it seemed like everyone else liked using it as well.

Well, most females he had some sort of friendship had taken a liking to using this pet name.

"Yes Ahsoka?" Anakin replied.

"Can you help me?" Ahsoka questions him with some hints of pleading. She was growing up and starting to develop some more, her mind, her emotions and the maturity of them.

Ahsoka was still a child within Anakin's eyes but she had been putting in an effort to seem more adult like. Every child wants to be an adult while every adult wants to go back to being a child, I mean why wouldn't they?

Children basically have next to no worries and concerns but they seemed like that was the only thing in their eyes to become.

"What is it that you need help with?" Anakin asked.

Ahsoka then went on to explain that she was having some trouble meditating, just as most children do and that a few would be capable of being calm enough to do so. Anakin doesn't blame the children for their desire to get up and do more, it was within their nature.

'Wait, trying to practice meditation right now would be pretty good.' Anakin thought to himself.

Barriss was making noise but it wasn't so much that it would detract from the experience and Ahsoka needed a starting place when it came to things that could take you out of a meditative state.

Not that Anakin could complain, his mental fortitude had been trained rigorously and he multiple thought processes, basically allowing him to meditate forever with one of them. Being in a constant state of deep in-depth mental retreat while at the same time not was an interesting experience.

It did help to improve his abilities overall because being like this helps him immensely.

The basics of Jedi meditation were to focus on whatever emotions were uppermost in one's mind, to be honest with oneself about the feelings one experienced and their effects. Then, one was to let each emotion go the goal being to make oneself an empty vessel that the Force would be able to fill with peace and serenity.

On the other hand, whereas the Jedi meditated to quiet their minds and connect with the Force, Sith Lords meditated to concentrate their anger, their fear, and their hatred into a pure point of ruthless power within them.

At least that was the Jedi and Sith ways and was something trying to be taught to Ahsoka. 'I believe it would be best to help her with my own version.'

As meditation was to have a stronger and more direct connection with the Force, it could sometimes affect one's surroundings without the practitioner's conscious control, usually causing surrounding objects, or even the practitioner themselves to levitate.

Again something that Anakin didn't have to worry about because he had complete conscious control.

"Alright, I think we will start with..." Anakin then went on to practice with Ahsoka some meditation but what he was trying to teach her was not the way of the Jedi or the Sith but his own way.

Focus on whatever emotions were uppermost in one's mind, to be honest with oneself about the feelings one experienced and their effects. Do not let go and do not make yourself to be a vessel for the Force, Anakin was against leaving your entire fate and destiny to a semi-sentient energy like the Force.

Use those emotions, whatever they may be to help empower yourself in a controlled manner. Controlling the direction of these emotions and not being controlled by them.

After a while the two would finish their first meditative session together with Ahsoka actually managing to do so.