Rising Force: Prologue

In the untamed, Outer Rim of the galaxy, against the darkness of deep space, a temperate little planet called Chards shone with a scintillating blue light. It was one of three planets in its system, the furthest from its young yellow sun, and the only sphere capable of sustaining human life. The others were devoid of living organisms, for opposite reasons. Meeve was a vast desert, covered in wastelands, baked by solar flares. Ridel was a green gas giant, with a freezing liquid core.

Hardly any one came out this far into the galaxy, and even fewer native to it had ever left. The Chardeans had recently been thrilled to have accomplished faster-than-sound travel, nuclear power, and a manned landing on each of its small, desolate moons. Without the protection of the budding Galactic Republic, such an isolated place so far from the central core of the galaxy was often harassed by pirates, brigands, or despicable traders in the black market.

Like many planets whose societies had not yet developed their own starships equipped with hyper drives, Chards was politically obsolete, without any representation on the Senate. Of course, they fell under someone’s jurisdiction, likely some Republic general had Chards on its list of systems to routinely police, but no one had seen any kind of authority for years and the many loathsome beings capitalized on their absence.

One such being brought his fleet into orbit above the planet. His fleet loomed black against the dayside of Chards, several elongated ovals bristling with weapons; resembling a swarm of terrifying insects. Inside the slightly larger command vessel, the black-caped captain stood at the translucent viewing deck, hands behind his back, pondering his recent victory. His large, striking blue-eyes slowly closed as he raised a leather-gloved hand toward the vast continents and swirling oceans below. Through the force, Glark felt the presence of billions of life-forms: bustling civilization, warring tribes, envious lovers, lustful hunters, the fearful prey…..

Amusing, thought Glark, that of all the thousands of inhabited star systems, we should be sent here to Chards to find worthy pupils. It was certainly an unlikely place to look. Not only was the planet virtually unpopulated compared to Coruscant, it had hardly been reliably listed or even documented as existing. In fact, the only light-speed trajectories charted to this area were the ones drawn up by private merchants and pirates, and those were known to be hazardous at best. But Glark's master had commanded him to come here, despite the risks. He had insisted that there was a disturbance in the force here, and he was right, as he had always been. The locals, though savage, had proved to be rich mine of force-potential. Some of them had actually foreseen Glark’s coming, and their pilot’s skills almost made up for their hopelessly inadequate technology. Almost. With only a few casualties and some replacable lost ships, the invaluable recruits had been taken alive. Stretching out with his emotions, he could feel the captive Chardean’s anger, their commitment to resist him…

Glark mentally sneered at their misguided bravado. They had no idea what they risked missing should they die to regain their “freedom.” Too many had already been lost trying to defend false concepts of liberty. As I once did, these primitives sincerely believe that their passions will deplete them. In truth, it was the exact opposite. The Dark Side, as they would come to see, was the great liberator.

As he continued to probe in the force, he sensed that, as planned, every force-sensitive human worth bringing aboard was off-planet. No one they targeted had escaped their raids; the Chardean air ships were useless once Glark brought his marauding fleet into orbit. Fear and distress were rampant on Chards and the Chardeans on board echoed their anger. Even hatred was there. Glark allowed himself a grim smile. Hate was good. It would purify those strong enough to endure it. If not, well, then the weak deserved their fate.

There was a swish as the doors opened behind him, ruffling his cape. Shrieks of captives came in with the air and a presence followed them. In the force, Glark sensed it was fearful, but the trepidation was overwhelmed by a manic glee.

“My Lord? The time has come…the Chosen are prepared. We only await your arrival to begin.”
Glark turned gracefully to face his gaunt subordinate. The man, though standing upright and at attention, was still very short, almost hunchbacked, and visibly eager to indulge his masochistic urges. Raising his eyebrows expectantly and grinning sickly, the slaver lovingly cradled his electro-whip, and showed several missing teeth.

Glark’s round eyes betrayed nothing of his distaste for the slavers grotesque appearance; they were a cold, deep blue like the arctic oceans on the planet below. And like the predators that swam there, they were filled with a controlled menace.

“The time has come, indeed,” he responded. He adjusted his glove and flexed his fingers. The black leather creaked as he strode confidently toward the doors where the people screamed and the whips cracked. “Let us see who is worthy.”

The little man chuckled to himself and hobbled after him.

More Star Wars Trivia

So you know how in every Star Wars movie they say the phrase "I have a bad feeling about this?" They also do a few more things consistently...

An encounter with a deep chasm:
Episode One: Darth Maul's plummet
Episode Two: Speeder chase on Coruscant
Episode Three: Obi-Wan Kenobi's fall after Order 66
Episode Four: Luke and Leia's leap in the Death Star
Episode Five: Luke's fall in Cloud City
Episode Six: The Emperor's death

A "Creature Feature"
Episode One: Fish in the Planet Core on Naboo
Episode Two: Arena beasts on Geonosis
Episode Three: Lizard horse thing Obi-Wan rides to fight Grievous
Episode Four: Sand People attack!
Episode Five: Asteroid worm that ate the Millenium Falcon
Episode Six: Rancor and the Sarlaac at Jabba's palace

I'd be interested to see if they do this in the new Clone Wars animated film.....

Paralellism in the Star Wars Saga

You've all seen the original Star Wars trilogy, right? And we all have differing opinions about how the new prequels turned out. While meditating on the two, I realized that the plots, events, and even the titles of the movies themselves are strikingly similar. Let me show you what I mean by showing some examples:

Episode One: The Phantom Menace vs. Episode Four: A New Hope (implies a mysterious, approaching entity: one a ghostly evil, the other a rising star)

A force sensetive Skywalker leaves their home-planet of Tatooine with Obi-Wan Kenobi to begin their training as a Jedi Knight. (Anakin/ Luke)

A Skywalker proves their abilities as a star pilot by destroying the main reactor of a large, spherical space station. (Trade Federation Command Ship/ The Death Star)

A Skywalker feels a mysterious, but strong connection to a spunky, noble female diplomat (Padme Amidala/ Leia Organa)

Jabba the Hutt makes an appearance (Pod Race/ talking with Han Solo in Mos Eisely)

A Jedi apprentice watches helplessly as their mentor is killed by a Sith Lord (Luke and Obi-Wan/ Obi-Wan and Qui Gonn Jinn)


Episode Two: Attack of the Clones vs. Episode Five: The Empire Stikes Back (the dominant Government of the Galaxy makes a major military move)

A Skywalker is blossoming under their mentor's tutelage and are on their way to becoming great Jedi Knights (Anakin/ Luke)

A Skywalker attempts a foolhardy rescue (against their mentor's instruction) which culminates in a duel with a Sith Lord in which they lose a limb (Luke in Cloud City/ Anakin on Geonosis)

A Sith Apprentice tries to convince a Jedi to join him in order to double-team Palpatine (Vader and Luke/ Dooku and Kenobi)

A plot twisting love story begins to develop (Anakin and Padme/ Han and Leia)

A Skywalker has a brush with the Dark Side and gives in (Anakin and the Sand People/ Luke in the cave at Dagobah)

C-3PO is blown apart and re-assembled (Cloud City/ Arena and Droid Factory)

A member of the Fett family, fully armored and battle ready, is introduced (Jango on Kamino/ Boba on the Star Destroyer)


Episode Three: Revenge of the Sith vs. Episode Six: Return of the Jedi (in a major upset, the weaker force-wielding organization overcomes its nemesis)

Begin with a successful rescue mission lead by a Skywalker, in which they show how their Force powers have grown (Han in Jabba's Palace/ Palpatine on The Invisible Hand)

A new, exotic villain is introduced (and then killed) in the first half of the movie (General Grievous/ Jabba the Hutt)

Palpatine tempts a Skywalker to to the Dark Side (Anakin and Luke, obviously)

Emperor Palpatine is critically injured by his own force lightning (fight with Mace Windu/ brief scuffle with Vader)

Anakin Skywalker makes a galaxy altering personal decision (Windu or Palpatine/ Luke or the Emperor - he always seems to favor the one writhing on the ground...)

Darth Vader is masked/unmasked (freaky hospital/ about to blow up Death Star)

Local furry creatures become tide-turning reinforcements (Wookies/ Ewoks)

Is Google making us Stoopid?

I, like many, many other people, have been entranced by what the internet has to offer. I get addicted to the easy, instant access I get to any kind of information I want and to the ability I have to candidly express my opinion to people I'll never meet.
While this is positive in the sense that we can obtain interesting and useful information quickly, it does not contribute to our overall mental stamina. When we surf the internet via search engine, we're able to obtain "nuggets" of information without a great deal of supporting material or credibly cited sources. Even when the cited works are legitimate, we often resist putting forth the effort it takes to read the entire article; simply reviewing the main points, gaining the information we want without thinking too deeply about it.
I heard a quote stating that "Deep reading is indistinguishable from deep thinking." I note that this says "indistinguishable," not "simalar to." When we read deeply, we can't help but have some insight because once the information is in our brains, we make judgements about it and set it against our own world-view. I think it could also be accurately said that "Shallow reading is indistinguishable from shallow thinking." When we Surf the Internet a little too quickly, without duly processing what we recieve, we are unable to fully appreciate the idea presented.
I would advocate only that we read the entire article or news column. Rather than speed read the summary, take a moment to enjoy the richness of an author's prose or a scholors insight. I think you'll find, as I have , that you'll be satisfying a part of your soul that you didn't know was starving.