"So, first question. What is The Force?" I asked the holocron from across the Black Pearl's Captain's Quarters while eating a Ma'gu fruit and enjoying its blueberry like the taste.
It had been days since I first activated it and I have decided to at the very least, hear what it had to say and then make up my mind.
The rest of the time was spent assisting the chief engineer and the rest of the crew that stayed behind, making repairs on the outside of the ship. They handled the much more cramped insides but at least, we should be able to finish closing the hull breach in engineering by tomorrow. As it was a warship, it had plenty of spare hull plating in storage so that wasn't a problem.
Nerok's holocron looked at me. "Well, you certainly start with the small questions, don't you?"
He then shook his head. "There are many theories, sides and views but when you get down to it...we don't know. You know of the light and dark side of the Force, but that's not all there is. There is also the Unifying Force and the Living force... but in the end, they are all philosophies. What the force itself is, we don't know."
I frowned slightly. "The Jedi have existed as long as the republic, thirty thousand years, and the Sith have existed just as long and you have NO idea what the force actually IS!?"
I stared at him as he shrugged. "Not with any certainty, no. We know it's everywhere and it can be affected by some beings as well as events that can cause it to change. There are theories like it being a god or even simply a field of physics nobody has been able to figure out yet, but in the end... we simply don't know."
He shrugged again, "Well, at the very least, we didn't in my time and it's been what? Five thousand or so years since my creator made this thing? Maybe they've figured it out by now."
Reaching over to my desk, I picked up the Sith saber to show it to him. "Ok, second question... By the black bones of my fathers, why are you using these things!? They are useless! Look at it!"
I turned it on, waving the red blade in front of the hologram. "It has no range, is as dangerous to the user as to the enemy and it's effectively bringing a knife to a blaster fight!"
The hologram frowned. "That's a Sith lightsaber. Where did you get that?"
I rolled my eyes. "Looted it from the same Sith corpse that I looted your ass from."
I turned it off and placed it back on my desk.
He slowly nodded and cross his arms. "The Lightsaber is the traditional weapon of both the Jedi and the Sith and have been since they were invented. However, we're pretty sure the Sith were the ones that started using them because of their sheer power so the Jedi were forced to match them. As for the drawbacks you point out, the Force greatly compensates for those. They are also a symbol of the Jedi as much as a weapon. A rounded blade that had no edge but at the same time cuts as it was nothing BUT edge. The Jedi are an order dedicated to peace and understanding, but if attacked, we will and can defend ourselves."
Laying down, I looked at the holocron as I slowly nodded, "I understand, I think. But it's not a weapon for me."
He shrugged, "With your body layout, I can't really blame you. You would need to create a lightsaber style from scratch to even start making it an effective defensive tool."
Picking up some fried meat, I ripped a piece off it and swallowed. "Question three: What's the difference between the light and dark side of the Force and do you have to pick?"
Nerok hummed softly and uncrossed his arms. "Depends on what you mean. If you mean what they can do, both ways to use the Force are just as powerful. Using the Dark Side is simply using your emotions to amplify and give energy to your power and control. Using the Light Side is to learn to do the same things without using your emotions as a booster... However, while the Dark Side looks attractive, it also causes corruption."
Tilting my head, I frowned slightly. "Corruption, how?"
He shook his head, putting his arms behind his back. "Using your emotions to help access The Force is addictive. The stronger the emotion, the more power and control you get. But the more you use the emotion to consort with the Force, the stronger the emotions also get. It's a kind of feedback loop."
I blinked at him. "That does not match the general view of the Jedi of this time..."
He shrugged, "It doesn't in my time either. It's my own personal view."
Eating another fruit, I frowned slightly. "So, what you are saying is that Dark Side users are basically Force Addicts?"
He hummed slightly. "I guess you could see it like that, yes. It does highlight the viewpoint of the Jedi pretty well though. Using your emotions to help with the Force is addictive and it doesn't take long before the addiction to dark emotions controls you. It is the faster way to learn the Force, but it is in the end self-defeating."
He looked at me and asked, "You know the Sith Code?"
I nodded, "I've read it."
Before he continued with a nod, "Tell me."
I nodded and ate another fruit. "If I remember it right, it's:
Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall free me. "
Nerok nodded. "That's pretty much the same version I know as well. Now, did you notice the inaccurate elements in it?"
I burred up my feathers as I thought it through.
"'Peace is a lie, there is only Passion...' That one is at least partly true. Without passion, nobody would ever get anything major done.
'Through Passion, I gain Strength...' This one is also true. Passion drives you to do things that make you strong. Without passion, you don't get anything major done and as such don't get any strength.
'Through Strength, I gain Power...' I'm not sure about this one. There any many ways to get the power that doesn't require strength, personal, or even military power.
'Through Power, I gain Victory...' Also not quite true. You can get victory without power, in many ways in fact. It also depends on what kind of victory you are after.
'Through Victory, my chains are broken...' I'm not sure about this one. While it makes some sense taken on its own, but... I don't know. It ties into the next line in the code.
'The Force shall set me free...' But that makes very little sense, especially considering your explanation of the Dark Side. Following the Sith Code wouldn't set you free, it would chain you down with your mind just as surely as any bonds in the real world would."
He gave me a nod. "And the Jedi code?"
I ate another piece of meat before continuing, "Yoda, one of the oldest Jedi, told it to me when I lived in their temple after they saved my life. If I remember it right, it's:
There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no chaos, there is harmony.
There is no death, there is the Force."
Nerok raised his hand, "That's different from the one I was taught, but continue."
I flattened my feathers, flicking my wings slightly before I do so.
"'There is no emotion, there is peace...' This one I don't like. Emotions are part of you, no matter what you do. You can have peace despite emotions, and peace is also an emotion, isn't it?
'There is no ignorance, there is knowledge...' This one doesn't make sense. To get any kind of knowledge, you need to realize you are ignorant.
'There is no passion, there is serenity...' Well, at least this one is consistent.
'There is no chaos, there is harmony...' This is just plain false. There is chaos everywhere and the universe moves towards entropy. You just need to look at a single person of any species and there is chaos in both mind and action, let alone a city or nature itself.
'There is no Death, there is The Force...' Also false. There is death. Trillions of beings die every day, even force using beings."
He slowly nodded. "The Jedi code has changed since I was created. Here is the one I was taught:
Emotion, yet peace.
Ignorance, yet knowledge.
Passion, yet serenity.
Chaos, yet harmony.
Death, yet the Force."
I blinked at him. "Well... that makes a ton more sense. Why in the world did they change it?"
He shrugged, "How in the Force would I know? I was created before the change and spent the next thousand years in a fake Sith tomb until somebody moved me and then I spent four thousand years in a ship. If you really want to know, ask Master Yoda."
Snorting, I finished my meal. "Either way, I need to think of this."
He nodded before shutting down.
I watched the holocron for a moment before putting it back into my bag and heading over to my pillows for some sleep.
It had been a long day and more of those were coming.