Taming Force Lighting.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Wei Wu Wei would never forget his first encounter with Force Lightning. During the Clone Wars, Wei was leading missions Master Vos called "Bantha Chases." These sorties were executed whenever Dooku's suspicions rose too high. They were open assaults on targets Dooku suspected were of major importance to the "spies." Wei would attack it in a straightforward manner, do some moderate but costly damage to the installation, and then retreat before the swarm of battle droids with his squad. Afterwards, Wei and his squad would join one of the other Jedi Masters for a few months until Dooku once again felt confident in his own security. Then Wei would go back to sneaking into locations and blowing them up.

Anyway, on this particular Bantha Chase, the Clones of Bantha Squad were pinned down between a rock face and several Super Battle Droids, Destroyers, and Tank support. Leading from the front, Dooku's own apprentice, Asaj Ventress was keeping Wei's hands full when he was supposed to be shielding his Commander and regular troops.

"Ram! I need Shell to put a rocket in that tank before it crests the hill! Once it's oriented, we're going to get hammered!"

"With respect, General Wei, it is also out of our range until it crests that same hill."

"Then he needs to aim high, or hunker down and wait! Our tanks won't be here for a few minutes more. Make it look like we got more than we do! The stupid droids won't know what to do."

Ventress saw the Trooper kneel. As Shell reached for the launcher, she stretched out her hand. Wei could feel the Dark Side gather around the Sith Apprentice. The lightning lanced from her fingertips. Wei lunged, stretching out with his lightsaber. He reached far--too far--but managed to catch the lightning on the tip of his lightsaber. The Jedi Padawan knew he was risking a lot; either a blasterbolt or lightsaber in the ribs. Jedi were high value targets in the droid army. Only Grievous had the dark pleasure of killing a Jedi.

Shell shrank back from the electric attack and goggled behind his helmet, but only for a moment. Clone training took hold. He picked up hsi weapon, aimed at the tank just now peeking out from the top of the hill, and squeezed the trigger. Wei pulled back, holding the entirety of Ventress' rage. Ram fired indiscriminately to give his General come cover while he collected his guard.

"JEDI!" shrieked Ventress.

It worked! Wei couldn't believe it! Thankfully, muscle memory and the Force were doing most of the fighting for the Padawan while his brain coped with what just happened.

A few minutes later, the gunships arrived with the Republic tanks, giving Wei and his forces the opportunity they needed to retreat. Wei and Dooku both looked on that battle later and both thought the same thing: it was a very near thing that they were able to succeed.

******************

All these years later, Wei still wondered how that worked. How had a simple lightsbaer thwarted one of the most powerful techniques the Dark Side had to offer?

Well, today he was going to find out. And he was going to use that knowledge to put a stop to one of the most destructive weapons the Sith had. Today, Wei was going to tame Force Lightning.

[Zereth Lancer]

A new morning dawned over the treetops of Ossus, and one man was already awake to watch the sun rise. His host, the talkative Kazahan, was asleep in his encampment. Zereth had risen in the dark before the sunrise to gather his things and find a fallen log to watch the beams of sunlight snake over the horizon. Mottled red eyes continued to watch until the sun had risen from it's prison below the horizon and his body could bask in the sunlight. It was still cool, but come the afternoon it would be quite warm. Satisfied that it was late enough now, he set off from his perch and headed into the woods at a leisurely pace.

A Jedi Master by the name of Wei Wu Wei had asked for his assistance in some matter. Zereth had never imagined that he would become such a staple of this place; a world that he did not truly belong on. If not for Eleutheria's work rescuing downtrodden and abused force sensitives, he would have never had a reason to travel to Ossus and the Jedi's bastion. It was an honor and an experience to get to see their way of life first hand, albeit from a cautionary distance. The Jedi were no fools and understandably kept him at arm's length and away from the impressionable padawans. Their distrust had lessened with the surprising outcome of Kazahan and his adventure into the wilds.

Master Wei's home was not in encampment but rather back in the woods a distance where, according to Kazahan, he had built a structure; a forge of some sort. The idea of forging weapons greatly intrigued Zereth, and he would have inevitable come investigating on his own to see just what it was that was being forged and observing the technique and process; but now he had a more pressing reason to make the trip. The structure stood out among the natural majesty of the forest, like a stony tooth rising between the trees. Making his way to the front door he caught himself looking over his shoulder, as if he should not be here. Pulling his red cloak closer around him he resisted the urge to leave and instead rapped his knuckles across the surface of the door, the repeating staccato echoing through the tree trunks.

[Wei Wu Wei]

Jedi Knight Wei Wu Wei opened the door with a Force Pull--he exaggerated the motion and he grit his teeth. The technique was hard without the aid of a deep Force-induced trance like the one that helped him create the Forge.

Wei approached extended his hand in greeting, and shook the man's hand warmly. "Welcome to the Lightsaber Forge!"

The Forge doors let in the setting sun as well as Zereth. The light shone on the altar where several pieces of a lightsaber lay in waiting. In one corner, a furnace burned hot as it was being prepared to forge a crystal. Opposite the furnace was Wei's bedroll, a small basin for washing, and a low chest where the Force Cripple kept his clothes.

"Glad you made it. I need your insight today to help me undertake this project." Wei gestured at the disassembled lightsaber. "In a nut shell, I'm trying to find out how we can use the technology in a lightsaber to control and redirect Force Lightning."

[Zereth Lancer]

The simple mention of it's name opened a floodgate of painful memories. For a moment he was transported back through time to stand before Daken Koth once again. Failure was rewarded with violence. Success was rewarded with violence. At first Koth would merely hit him. He was a better swordsman and stronger. As Zereth grew to match his master's power the punishments changed to force strikes, and often the use of lightning. An often surprising and unpredictable attack that left him twitching on the floor while every nerve in his body screamed in agony.

"A cruel and cowardly force power. I would not wish it on my worst enemies. I too am familiar with this phenomenon, but I am afraid I have no idea what the cause is. A valuable technique, to be sure, in a battle against sorcerers and witches."