The Paradox of Moatia Rhaden

Season One Episode Three

Moatia took a deep breath and raised her lightsaber.

She was standing in one of the training rooms. In front of her was a tan practice droid. It stood out against the dark gray walls of the training room. Well, the walls used to be gray. At some point, clones had come in with buckets of paint and painted lavender swirls on the walls.

The droid whirred and the small stun guns it had spun around, calling Moatia's mind back to the present. Moatia took another deep breath and reached into the Force.

Now!

Moatia dropped into a lunge, with her right hand splayed on the ground in front of her, right as the droid fired. She jumped up immediately, parring another shot from the droid. Her eyes watched it carefully as it spun around again.

She lunged to the side this time, the lightsaber parallel in front of her face. The red blast hit the saber and Moatia waited for the next one.

She sprinted towards one of the sidewalls, blocking another blast. She jumped off the wall, vaulting over the top of the droid as the next blast hit.

She successfully managed to get this one, too. She smiled proudly, her blue lightsaber dangling at her side.

She missed the next shot. It hit her shoulder, right above the top of her shirt. Moatia hissed as her hand flew to the now singed skin on her shoulder.

"You never focus on your success until the battle is over," the Captain instructed from where he was watching her with Master Lowh. With a nod from Moatia's master, he poked a button on his datapad and the droid whirred to a stop.

"Put this on,"  Her master stood up and dropped a helmet on Moatia's head. With a flick of the Jedi's hand, the panel slid over Moatia's eyes, obscuring her sight. "You rely too much on your eyes. We need to fix that. The Force will show you all you need to know."

Moatia sighed. Not this thing. She had trained with it in the Temple a lot, and always disliked it. It was designed so that the wearer couldn't see. Moatia was entirely dependent on the Force now to deflect the shots. But, she'd done it before so she could do it again.

She sighed again before settling into her ready position, her lightsaber held by both hands on her left side.

She heard the droid turn back on and its stun guns spin around. The layout of the room flashed through her mind. She focused on it and then reached out to find the moving droid.

There!

Moatia darted to the side and swung out her lightsaber. She heard the satisfying hiss of the blast hitting her saber.

Now!

Moatia parried, blocking a bolt from hitting her face. She rolled across the ground and got back up on her knees, batting another shot out of the air.

She was rolling and jumping, hitting and deflecting the shots for a good long while. Then she heard the door open and footsteps and lost her concentration. She faltered and a blast hit her helmet, jerking her head backward.

She pulled off the helmet and turned the droid off with a flick of her wrist. Moatia unceremoniously dropped the wretched helmet to the ground before walking to the small observation room the Captain was in.

"You got distracted," Conlan noted, not looking up from his datapad.

Moatia looked around the small room. Her master was gone. She must have walked out of the door.

"Where'd she go?' Moatia asked.

"Call from the Jedi Council," Conlan told her, only sparing her a quick glance.