Hey Gang! Many of the truths we cling to depend greatly on our own point of view. For instance, I believe that "in-universe" lightsabers are elegant weapons, devoid of circuitry and powercells, and that buttons and knobs are simply mechanical barriers that influence the flow of the Force through a lightsaber. In realitly, I have to incorporate circuitry and powercells into my lightsaber designs because lightsabers aren't real (yet, where are the Thermians when we need them?!), and I cannot imbue and focus the Force through an Adegan Crystal and form a blade with it (yet, never give up, never surrender hope right?!
).
Some authors have taken an approach to lightsaber construction that is both "in-universe" and "in reality". It may be a bit Trekkie, and I may not agree with a lightsaber needing to be recharged via a cable, but overall, I like this excerpt...
Corran Horn's account of creating his lightsaber in 'I, Jedi' by Michael A. Stackpole written in 1998 (Chapter 42, pages 478-484) (11 years ABY)...
Only one last thing needed to be accomplished before I could begin.
I needed a lightsaber.
Elegos uncovered my grandfather's instructions on how to create a lightsaber fairly early on, and my heart almost sank. The datafile was rather specific about the various supplies that would be needed to create the weapon, so I had a shopping list. Beyond that, however, the file detailed the
steps needed to put the weapon together and included the various mediations and exercises a Jedi apprentice should go through with each step along the way. The process Nejaa laid out, if followed precisely, would take almost a month, and I didn't have a month. I knew impatience and haste were part of the dark side, but really hoped things could be truncated so I could actually succeed in my task.
I took the first step by collecting the various parts. The lightsaber, while an elegant and deadly weapon, actually was not that complex. Getting the parts to put one together was not difficult at all. To serve as the hilt, for example, I salvaged the throttle assembly and handlebar tube from a junked
speeder bike. I took it from where the wreck hung in the Crash cantina and no one so much as noticed me make off with it. I got the dimetris circuitry for the activation loop from an old capital-ship-grade ion cannon fire initiation controller -- won that piece of junk from Shala betting on another tuskette fight. The recharger port and wiring came from a comlink. A milled down Tri-fighter laser flashback suppressor became the parabolic, high-energy flux aperture to stabilize the blade and I pulled the dynoric laser feed line from the same broken laser cannon to act as the superconductor for energy transference from the power cell to the blade. Buttons and switches were easy to find, and dear old Admiral Tavira, with her gift of the brandy decanter and snifters, provided me all the jewels I needed to make a half dozen lightsabers. The most difficult part of creating a lightsaber was producing the power cell that stored and discharged the amount of energy necessary to energize a Iightsaber blade. That said, the parts list called for a pretty basic power cell -- in fact, because of the age of the instructions, I had a hard time locating one that ancient. Newer power cells were more efficient than the one my grandfather had specified, but I didn't think that would present a problem. After all, as I read the instructions I came to realize that the nature of the battery was not as important as how it was integrated with the rest of the components.
The core of the Jedi ritual for creating a lightsaber came down to charging the power cell that first time. My grandfather ridiculed the popular superstition stating a Jedi channeled the Force through his lightsaber. He suggested that this was a misunderstanding of what it took to charge it initially and tie it to the rest of the weapon. The Jedi, carefully maipulating the Force, bound the components toether -- linking them on something more than a mechanical or material level, so they worked with unimagined efficiency. Without this careful seasoning and conditioning of the lightsaber, the blade would be flawed and would fail the Jedi.
Before I could figure out how to put Tavira off for another month, Elegos decoded an annotation to the instructions for constructing lightsabers. It turned out that during the Clone Wars, Jedi Masters developed a way to create a lightsaber in two days. Nejaa included this method, noting it was to be used only in times of pressing need, but not in haste. I read it over and felt a certain peace settle upon me. I knew the words had not been written for me, but they sank deep into my core. "Urgency without panic, action without thoughtlessness."
I began by calming myself and simplifying my lifestyle. I drank only water and ate noodles that were all but unflavored. I cleared Tavira's gifts from my bedroom, or hid them away in closets. I sat in the middle of the floor, with the parts for the blade laid out in a semicircle around me. I studied each one and used the Force to enfold it and take a sense of it into myself. My hands would fit the pieces toegther, but I wanted the parts to mesh as if they had been grown together. The lightsaber would be more than just a jumble of hardware, and to make it I had to see the parts as belonging together.
I fitted the activation button into its place on the handlebar shaft and snapped the connectors into the right spots on the dimetris circuit board. I worked that into the shaft itself, then inserted a strip of shielding to protect it from even the slightest leakage from the superconductor. Next I snapped into place the gemstones I was using to focus and define the blade. At the center, to work as my continuous energy lens, I used the Durindfire. That same stone gave my grandfather's blade its distinctive silver sheen. I used a diamond and an emerald in the other two slots. I wasn't certain what I would get in the way of color tints from the emerald, and with the diamond I hoped for a coruscation effect.
Onto the end of the hilt where the blade would appear I screwed the high-energy flux aperture. It would carry a negative charge which would stabilize the positively charged blade and provide it a solid base without allowing it to eat its way back through to my hands. Controlling a lightsaber blade was difficult enough without having it nibbling away at fingers.
I clipped the discharged energy cell in place, then connected the leads to the recharging socket. I screwed the recharging socket into the bottom of the hilt but didn't fasten on the handlebar's original butt cap that would protect it because I needed to charge the power cell for the very first time. I reached over and took the charging cord from the small transformer I'd borrowed from our tech bay, and plugged the lightsaber in.
With my finger poised on the transformer button that would start the energy flowing, I drew in a deep breath and lowered myself into a trance. I knew that manipulating matter sufficiently to meld the part and forge the weapon would have been all but impossible for anyone but a Jedi Master like Yoda, but doing just that as part of the construction of a lightsaber had been studied and ritualized so even a student could manage it. It was very much a lost art, a link to a past that had been all but wiped out, and by performing it I completed my inheritance of my Jedi legacy.
I hit the button, allowing the slow trickle of energy to fill the battery. I opened myself to the Force and with the hand I had touching the lightsaber's hilt, I bathed the lightsaber with the Force. As I did so subtle transformations took place in the weapon. Elemental bonds shifted, allowing more and more energy to flow into the cell and throughout the weapon. I was not certain how the changes were being made, but I knew that at the same time as they were being made in the lightsaber, they were being made in me as well.
In becoming a conduit for the Force for this purpose, the final integration of the people I'd been occurred. The fusion became the person I would be forever after. I was still a pilot: a little bit arrogant, with a healthy ego and a willingness to tackle difficult missions. I was still Cor-Sec: an investigator and a buffer between the innocents in the galaxy and the slime that would consume them.
And I was 'Jedi'. I was heir to a tradition that extended back tens of thousands of years. Jedi had been the foundation of stability in the galaxy. They had always opposed those who reveled in evil and sought power for the sake of power. People like Exar Kun and Palpatine, Darth Vader and Thrawn, Isard and Tavira; these were the plagues on society that the Jedi cured. In the absence of the Jedi, evil thrived.
In the presence of just one Jedi, evil evaporated.
Just as with the lightsaber, the changes being made in me were not withtout cost. What the Force allowed me to do also conferred upon me great burdens. To act without forethought and due deliberation was no longer possilble. I had to be very certain of what I was doing, for a single misstep could be a disaster. While I knew I would make mistakes, I had to do everything I could to minimize their impact. It was not enough to do the greatest good for the greatest number, I had to do the best for everyone.
There was no waking away from the new responsibility I accepted. Like my grandfather I might well coose twhen and where to reveal who and what I was, but there was no forgetting, no leaving that responsibility at the office. My commitment to others had to be total and complete. I was an agent of life every day, every hour, every second; for as long as I lived, and then some.
I heard a click and looked up, blinking my eyes. "Elegos?"
Elegos stood over me, offering me a glass of water. "It's done."
I blinked, then took the water and greedily sucked it down. I lowered the glass and felt water dribbling down around my goatee. I swiped at it with my right hand and felt the stubble of beard on my cheeks. "How long?"
"Two and a half days." The Caamasi smiled and took the glass back from me. "Not as fast as your grandfather, but acceptable."
"Anyone notice I was missing?"
"Several people inquired, but I told them you were down with the brandy aque. They said they could understand your celebrating your change in fortune." He set the glass on my dresser, then walked back into the suite's parlor. "While you were engaged in here, I found something else to do, and made good use of one of Tavira's gifts to you. I estimated the pattern based on my 'memnis' of your grandfather."
He held up a green Jedi robe, with a black belt and black overrobe. "I think it sould fit you well."
I nodded and brandished the lightsaber. I punched the button under my thumb, giving birth to the silver blade 133 centimeters in length. "A lightsaber and robes. Looks like a little justice has arrived on Courkrus, and it's about time."
Speaking of time, two and a half hours of typing later, where was I going with this?.... Lightsabers are cool, can only be made by Jedi, can be used by anyone, and never need to be recharged... from my certain point of view. Speaking of views, I can no longer see straight, I'm going to bed!
