I'm not sure how much longer I'll end up making this story. I don't know if I'll cut off at twenty-three chapters, which I'm pretty sure is how long the first story I ever wrote was. Maybe It'll surpass that number, but I still don't know yet. Regardless, here's the twelfth.
Strategizing
It was a lot for Geralt and Triss to take in, but right before Ciri stated that she was going to lie down, and sleep, they agreed to stay here, and help Reid. Under orders from his master, HK-60 cleared space in the cargo hold, to allow Reid to have room to give whatever training Geralt needed. Early in the morning, the containers were tucked into the sides of the walls, and a desk at the end of the opposite side of the hold, with a specially constructed lightsaber, a stun blaster, and three training remotes.
"Good, hard work as usual, HK." He complimented the droid, gaining it's attention.
"Confession: Master I must express my curiosity regarding as to whether or not you believe in your theory that this white-haired male meatbag may be capable of wielding a lightsaber. My assessment of his combat prowess against the Dragonsnake showed that he is capable, but as are many other non-Force sensitive meatbags."
"I don't believe any theory until it is proven HK. Not even my own. But Geralt has been given some form of mutations. Not ones that make him exactly Force sensitive, but they may very well be enough for him to wield one of my weapons."
"And if I may ask master, how do you intend to find the truth?"
"By testing him with the same training Master Yoda would provide younglings of the last generations."
"Concern: Master correct me if I am in error with saying this, but is it not true that Master Yoda did not train Jedi initiates in combat against another foe wielding a lightsaber?"
"It is true, but if Geralt can handle a lightsaber, his high regard as a legendary member of the Witcher's guild implies that he has seen combat against foes wielding blades themselves. If Geralt surpasses my expectations, I might even consider him an expert on Djem so. With a little bit of training, he could be a master of it."
"Confirmation: As you say, Master. Analysis: Meatbag approaching."
As Geralt walks into the room, he can't help but glare at HK, for the "meatbag" comment. "Is there anyone that he doesn't call that, other than you?"
"Some alien species, but other than that, even if he's known you for a while, he still calls you meatbag. It's his programming." Reid looks over at HK. "Thanks for your help HK. You're free to go."
"Confirmation: Understood Master, I shall leave you to your training." The droid clanks away, walking out of the cargo hold, to leave the two men to train. As the droid leaves the room, Reid Forces the door shut.
"Lightsabers are noisy." He says. "Let's not wake anyone up."
"Yennefer in your bed?" Geralt bluntly asks.
"You know, for a guy who hunts monsters, you're not very subtle."
Geralt couldn't help but chuckle. It wasn't the first time he had heard someone say that, but it never got old. "You didn't answer my question."
"What makes you think she would be?" Reid asks, trying to come off as innocent.
"I've known her long enough to recognize her body language. And that look on her face told me that she'd have her tongue down you're throat, if you two had the room to yourselves."
"Like I said, not very subtle Geralt. I will give you this, she is in my bed right now, but we only slept."
"Bullshit."
"Geralt," Reid pauses, and looks the witcher in the eyes. "I've been sleeping alone, in a king-sized bed, for the past 200 years. I don't do one night stands, don't believe in them. To be frank, I was perfectly happy just sharing a bed with someone, for the first time in a long time. Didn't matter to me whether any sexual activity was involved."
Geralt nods his head. "Fair enough."
"Good. Now, you ready to learn a couple things?"
"Why bother doing this? Why not just call in some Jedi backup?"
"You saw half of my Jedi backup. Yoda's lightsaber stopped working a couple years back. There's old Obi-Wan Kenobi on Tatooine, but he's not leaving that world, because he's watching over Anakin Skywalker's son. There's potentially something on Hoth, but I haven't confirmed that, and even if I had, it's a very risky, very time consuming call for help, with potentially no reward."
Geralt was highly confused. "What the hell are you talking about?"
"There's a ship there. Hoth is an ice world, entirely comprised of snow, and frozen tundra and mountain ranges. There's also a massive graveyard of ships, with one personal vessel in particular, I recognize as being constructed possibly before even I was born. Either that, or around the time that I was born. Now, there is no heat signature coming from inside the vessel, but there's also no heat signature on the entire planet. The ship could be completely empty, filled with long-dead bodies, or filled with long-sleeping bodies. And because of the way it's frozen, and lodged into a mountain, that last option is very possible. But like I said, the risk of avalanche getting the ship out, and the time it would take to do so, it just isn't worth it to take the risk, especially if there's no reward involved in that risk."
"Got it. So what are you going to have me do?"
"We'll start with this." Reid hands Geralt the training saber.
"Just gonna start with a lightsaber right out of the gate, huh?" Geralt asks, as he switches the weapon on.
"That's not a lightsaber." Reid responds.
"It looks like one."
"Yes it does. But the focusing crystal in the hilt is not as intense as the ones in my hilts, for example. what you have in your hand is a training saber. It's used specifically to teach initiates how to deflect blaster bolts. That's where these come in." Reid reaches over to the remotes on the table, and switches them on. They spring to life, and immediately float around Geralt. "I've been told you're capable of blocking a crossbow bolt, using only your sword. You'll be needing that skill, should we come across elite Imperial military forces. And I'm not talking about your standard stormtroopers, because the majority of them can't shoot for shit. I'm talking about Shock troops, ARC troops, Snipers, the most deadly members of the Imperial military, with truly elite combat training. I'm going to use these training remotes, to test both your deflection skill, and your witcher senses.
Meanwhile, aboard an Imperial Frigate...
The Emperor wasn't being stingy with the resources he was providing Garrus. A redesigned Imperial customs Frigate, fully stocked crew, dedicating entirely toward tracking a target. Not only that, but the vast majority of her crew were members of Imperial intelligence. Everything that Garrus needed to track his fathers new white-haired beauty. And his favorite part: They were already producing results. A member of Dantooine's ancient planetary police for, the Khoonda Militia had witnessed his fathers return to the galaxy.
"As requested, Anslemo." An Imperial officer casually said to hm. That was something Garrus would address sooner, rather than later.
"Thank you, officer. Militiaman, tell me what you witnessed."
"It was like nothing I'd ever seen before. One minute I'm taking in the plains, and the next minute, in the distance I can see this... portal open up, and out pop two men, and three women. One of the women, her white hair shined bright enough in the sun, that it could've been blinding, if I wasn't wearing my sunglasses at the time."
"How close of a look did you manage to get of her?"
"Close enough to see the scar from the description. Whatever that woman's name is, she's definitely the woman I saw in the plains. She's definitely you're target."
"Where did they head to?"
"They were going in the direction of the Jedi Enclave."
"Very good. Thank you, militiaman." Garrus could no longer put up with the thoughts he was hearing from his new crewman's heads. "Everyone's attention please." He said whilst simultaneously using the Force to start a ship-wide broadcast, and Force Choke the militiaman. "The record is being set straight immediately! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Garrus Anselmo. And I am in charge of this operation. The Emperor has stated that I may do as I please on this mission, and that includes to all of you. From this moment on, if any of you so much as thinks disrespectful thoughts about me, rest assured, they shall be your last. Rest assured," He snapped the militiaman's neck. "You shall share this man's fate. I am not an Imperial officer. I am Sith. You all shall address me as 'My Lord'. Anything else, and you shall be immediately executed. This is your only warning." He then cuts the broadcast.
Back on the Vigilante...
"Very impressive." Reid says, not being able to keep from clapping. Geralt was a natural. He deflected all of the blaster bolts, using both his reflexes, and his senses to avoid taking even one hit. He still had his Quen shield completely intact by the time the drill was over. "You exceeded my expectations, my friend."
"Curious, how high were your expectations?" Geralt asks.
"Not that high, honestly." Griffin then chuckles a bit, and then enthusiastically states "So you did really good!"
"Thanks, I think. So what next?"
"Now," Reid walks backward, towards the table, as the remotes follow up, and land back on the table, powering down. He signals for Geralt to toss him the training saber, puts it back on the table, and reaches for an elegantly crafted gold and black hilt, adjusting it to it's lowest setting. "We see how you handle a real one." He tosses the hilt to Geralt.
"Who built this one?"
"A friend. Mace Windu, a member of the Jedi Council. The Empire had recovered it, after he died, but I stole it from them, because I felt like pissing of the Emperor."
Geralt smiled, and shook his head. He found the activation switched, and the purple blade erupted from the emitter. "Gorgerous." He commented on the blade's color.
"I agree. Purple lightsaber have always been a beautiful sight. My father's last lightsaber was purple."
"Stupid question, but who went through more, you, or your father."
"It's not a stupid question actually. My father did. I had red lightsabers at one point, because I was a Sith for a while. But even then, it's thethe same hilts I had when I was younger, just replaced the parts every hundred years or so, to make sure they're functioning at maximum efficiency. Same color I started out with to."
"Impressive."
"Well, show me a kata." Reid says, taking a seat. "Don't worry about hurting yourself either. It feels like any other lightsaber, but I've got it set on practice setting, meaning that it won't cut through anything." Geralt performed some basic strikes first. "How does it feel when you're handling it?"
"More or less like one of my swords." Geralt answers.
"Best answer you could've given me. Now come on, show me what you can really do with a sword." Geralt stepped up the intensity of his attacks, slipping into his signature fighting style. He starts of with a simple spinning strike, following it up with the same strike, but adding a jump. He then performs a half pirouette, before launching into an unorthodox series of light blade twirling strikes. "Very impressive." Reid starts. "Very flashy. But that won't do very well against Jerec and his henchmen."
"I know. I have a different style for one-on-one fights."
Reid holds out his hand, for Windu's lightsaber. After Geralt hands it to him, he readjusts the setting back to it's lethal mode, and then pushes a button on the desk. A portion of the wall rises up to the sealing, and out comes an ancient training droid, made out of stone, with a lightsaber in its hand. Reid tosses the lightsaber back to Geralt. "Show me then. Don't worry, this droid's lightsaber is set on sparring. It can't kill you. As for the droid it self, you can cut it in two, for all I care. It's fairly easy to rebuild." Geralt switches the lightsaber back on, as Reid presses the button to begin the training match.
The droid starts by going to it's right, as Geralt raises his purple blade, in his preferred defensive stance. The droid springs at Geralt, bringing its white blade crashing down on Geralts, who uses Aard to send it back. "Great counter." Reid chimes in. Geralt performs a sweeping uppercut, which is blocked, and pushed away by the droid, which comes back with a series of strikes that Geralt continuously backs away from. The droid then goes for a heavy strike, which Geralt has to roll away from, temporarily deactivating the lightsaber as he does so. "Nice. If you can do it, why wouldn't you?"
Geralt then come up with his final strategy. He goaded the droid by dodging its strikes, until it decided to go for a heavy strike, using the split-second opportunity to off balance it with Aard, and then slash it's head off. "Very good." Reid said, standing up. "I'm surprised that you took it down so quickly though. I actually had it on a fairly difficult setting."
"Do you need to see more then?"
"No, I've got a pretty good idea of the effectiveness of your fighting style. You're adaptive, highly adaptive. If you know than opponent has an advantage over you, you look to work around it. Highly effective, and if nothing else, it'll definitely keep you and Triss alive, against Jerec and his goons."
"Do you have any way that I can carry the hilt on my back."
He hands a lightsaber holster to Geralt. "I thought you might ask me that."
Geralt wraps it around his shoulder, and puts Windu's lightsaber inside, with the very bottom of the hilt sticking out, so he could grasp it. "A lot easier to put away then my usual blades, that's for sure."
"The benefits of a retractable blade, my friend. While I'm thinking about it, take this." Reid handed a holster with a blaster pistol inside. "I noticed on your world that you were carrying a projectile weapon on your back. That's a very good advantage to be able to add some spice to the fight. I doubt you'll land a kill shot on Jerec, or his goons with that pistol, but it would a good way to maybe give you the upper hand."
"Maybe." Geralt said, as he strapped the holster to his belt. "Are you gonna train Ciri?"
"No. I talked to her about it, and she reminded me that she could teleport away, if it got heated enough. She'll be fine. My son can't incapacitate what he can't see."
"Fair enough."
HK's voice then cam in through the intercom in to the cargo hold. "Informative: Master, we shall be landing on Corellia within the next two hours."
"Good. Take us in, HK." He looks at Geralt, dressed in a Corellian Pilot suit. "Sorry about the change in attire."
"You said yourself, my armor would stick out like a sore thumb.
"Yeah it would. Those suits were made on this planet on the other hand. You'll blend in just fine."
"So what's the plan." Geralt said, as Reid turned, to walk out of the Cargo hold.
"There's a certain criminal element on this world. This one in particular happens to know a lot about the Empire's favorite Corellian, our esteemed Admiral Pellaeon."
"He's from this world?"
"Born and raised. Some members of the black market have known him since they were all children. They have their ways of getting in contact with him, and he has no idea who really using those aliases, who's really funding those ghost companies."
The two men stop at the main hold. "The plan is, I'm gonna take Yennefer with me, and we'll take a stroll down the black market."
"Sounds like a wonderful first date." Geralt jokes.
Reid scoffs, "Yeah, right. In the meantime, you and Triss are free to explore. Keep that lightsaber well hidden. Imperials are everywhere. avoid their checkpoints, and call me up on the comlink if you really need me."
"Understood. Listen, are you sure you trust the black market?"
"Well, your concern is more than understandable. Thing is though, them not knowing that I'm a Jedi makes it a lot easier to trust them. As for complete trust, in the black market? Hell no." They continue on into the cockpit, right as the Vigilante is entering the planet's atmosphere. The large, beautiful city-scape comes into view, and Geralt can't help but whisper "Wow."
"Geralt of Rivia," Reid starts. "Welcome to Corellia."
