Knight-Errantly Chapter Seven
Armitage Hux wakes up with only about five hours of sleep under his nonexistent belt to the relaxed gaze of Dead-Star. His serpentine golden eyes are glazed over like he's not completely conscious. So Armitage does the natural thing and blows his dragon breath into the dragon-prince's face.
"BAH!" Dead-Star scrambles from the bed and falls gracelessly, but he quickly gets up with a furiously red face. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT!?"
Armitage puts a finger to his thin lips, which causes Dead-Star to growl like he's going to bite him.
"Human, I have to pee now." Dead-Star stomps to the 'fresher, and Armitage rolls his eyes.
"Alright, I'll get changed."
Dead-Star halts in his tracks.
"Wear the Umbaran silk tunic with the cotton pants." He hears the Prince suggest in Dead-Star's growl.
"Um, which were those again?"
"I'll get them for you." The Prince turns on his heel and his brown eyes train on a box with a gray bow. He lifts the lid and pulls out a tunic with a collar shaped like a rhombus and crimson pants.
"Oh, the pink shirt and red pants!"
"Pink? Red?"
"Yeah, I know it's stretching since both are mostly greys, but I can see some colors. Don't you?"
"No." He shakes his head. "Umbarans design their clothes with ultraviolet since they can see ultraviolent rays."
"Huh, maybe I have a mutation that allows me to kind of see ultraviolet."
"Or you have an Umbaran ancestor."
Brendol loosely grips the training saber, light as a Swiftcut foil, while his opponent, a Chadra-Fan, holds hers far too tightly. She's a child, maybe six or seven, and has probably never faced another adult other than Luke in a training match. It also doesn't help that she's visibly frightened of him, and he cannot fault her for that. He does look quite monstrous compared to fair Luke. All four of her nostrils flare, and Brendol knows that he stinks.
I haven't bathed yet. I was going to after therapy, but Luke needed help. And who can resist those baby blues? He sees pink creep into Luke's cheeks.
The initiate finally strikes, and he parries naturally and a bit too strongly. She nearly loses her grip on her training saber at the block and barely manages to regain her grip. She focuses on quick jabs, while he continues to parry and block.
I know Form I is the Determination Form and it's the only form that initiates are taught, or at least that's what Desolous told me. Does that hold true for the New Jedi Order? She's using Form I, but she's moving constantly like one would when using Form IV. She hasn't done any flips yet, so maybe she just started learning it? It's a good form for someone of her stature to learn when facing off a taller foe, but it does consume a lot of energy. She'll wear herself out at this rate.
And she does ten minutes in. He finally disarms her with a simple twist of the sabers and hers clatters to the training mat.
"You've got the basics of Form I down, but you'll need to practice Form IV more if you want to really utilize it. Also, you'll need to build up your endurance for it since flips take a lot of energy." He advises her like he would with Armitage or Cardinal: succinctly and honestly.
"T-Thank you for your assessment!" The bat-faced humanoid picks up her saber and then bows before him like he's a Jedi Master. She then scurries back to her seat right next to the Barabel.
"I can do another round or two, so who's next?" A girl with pearly white eyes and silver hair shoots up her hand. He waves his saber at the other end of the training mat. She activates her training saber and grips it like the Chadra-Fan, but she lacks the nervousness that contributed to her fellow padawan's downfall.
Does she really want to fight that badly? No, she keeps looking back at Luke. She wants to show him what she's learned. But which form will she use?
Like the Chadra-Fan, she makes the first move. She runs like she's going to leap into the air, but then she halts and moves one foot in front of the other. She aims the saber at his heart, but he easily parries it.
She started off with Ataru and then switched to Makashi. It could be just a trick, but I believe she's using Niman. It's a versatile form that can borrow moves from all the forms. However, that doesn't mean all the forms work easily together.
It only takes five minutes for him to see an ill-suited combo. She runs and leaps but then brings her saber down like she was going to shatter his defense. He could've just blocked and push her back, but he decides on a less energy-demanding move. He moves to the side, and she falls to the ground. He kneels down and offers his free hand. She takes it and he pulls her up.
"Using Niman is clever, but it requires knowing the strengths and weaknesses of each form. You need to do more studying on all the forms." He concludes. She nods and bows before returning to her seat right next to the blond girl with blue eyes.
"Who's next?"
Tahiri Veila, the girl who watched one of his cartoons with him nights ago, raises her hand. He gestures her to the other side of the mat. She readies herself by holding up her training saber and points it downward like she's going to block an attack on her head.
That's the opening stance of Soresu. Unlike the other two, she's not going to attack me first because that's not how Soresu works. It's the Resilience Form, so she'll block until I'm exhausted and then strike me down. That could work since I'm already tired, but there's only so many moves she can block, especially if I use my full strength.
He brings his saber down like a mighty hammer. She quickly puts both hands on the hilt and maintains her block. He goes for her right side, but she moves as fast as lightning to defend it. He plays each side for the next few minutes, but the blonde refuses to give in.
She must be drawing on the Force to keep up her blocks. Or, perhaps, I'm simply getting old.
It takes a barrage of fast jabs before her blocks weaken. He keeps up the barrage for another minute before her saber is knocked to the ground. He breathes heavily.
"….You wore me out!" She grins. "But no defense is truly perfect. If you want to continue with Soresu, I suggest learning some counterattacks and possibly learn how to use a blaster since most wouldn't ever expect a Jedi to use such a lowly weapon."
She giggles at that. He smiles a small one and holds back a grunt as he walks out of the room. He knows that he's going to need a soak in some bacta before the day is over.
Anakin Skywalker boldly strides in the middle of the salle where a dozen Jedi were sparring. They stop once they see him enter the fray without a saber. He recognizes none of them. Dismay colors most of the unfamiliar faces, while a few scoff at him.
"I'm looking for anyone involved in the Cold War." He didn't have to raise his voice since the Jedi are trained to hone all their senses, and he has been told by Obi-Wan on many occasions about how loud he naturally is.
"Kark off!" A light-skinned and green Iridonian Zabrak accosts him before gesturing to his sparring partner to continue on with their match. The rest of the Jedi follow the Zabrak's lead and just ignore him. But Anakin isn't one to give up as these Jedi will soon find out.
Luke decides to check up on Brendol nearly two hours after the older man left the dojo. He heads to the Healing Halls, or Han likes to call the Moldering Medbay, where Brendol currently resides. He stops just short of the entrance when he overhears a conversation between Brendol and his son.
"Your father's mother was an Umbaran, so I suspect that's where you got it from. Okay, technically, you got it from your father who did tell me he can sort of see ultraviolent rays, he but would be considered half-blind to Umbarans. I guess that means you're mostly blind." He guffaws like it was a secret joke between them that no one could hope to understand.
"I don't know Umbarese and I doubt your father knew it since I've never heard him spoke a word of it. I would see if the protocol droid is up to teaching you. It would kill some time before you get to your uncle's. Oh, did you remember to bring the sharpening stone and oil with you?" There's a pause like Armitage must be searching his things for those very objects. "Good, you'll need a sharp blade against your uncle. Hail me once you get out of hyperspace. Love you too."
"Luke, you can come in now." Luke enters the room and feels embarrassed like he stole the last dust crepe that was supposed to be for Uncle Owen.
"How'd you figure out it was me?"
"Because I know you saw me limping out of there. Unless you were checking out my arse." The ginger teases playfully, while Luke shakes a creeping blush from his face.
"Speaking of which, is your hip okay?"
"Yes, I was just very tired, so the meddroid put me in the bacta tank for an hour. I feel as spry as a tip-yip!" He exclaims and leans back on his propped-up pillow.
"Was that Armitage checking up on you?"
"Yes, he was about to go into hyperspace and wanted to make sure you didn't do anything horrible to me while he was away."
Luke nearly rolls his eyes at the child's paranoia, but he didn't want to be seen as childish by him. However, Brendol snorts at his practiced restraint.
"And to find out that he isn't 100% human." Luke points out.
"He's mostly human."
"I don't think your First Order would accept him in their ranks if they found about his Umbaran grandmother."
"Don't forget he's half mutant, so that's another mark against him." Brendol adds.
"Do they frown upon children born out of wedlock?"
"They do, but the FO needs all the children they can get. Most unwanted bastards and orphans end up in the Stormtrooper Corps., while some become technicians if they show the aptitude."
"What would happen if they found out about Armitage?" Brendol doesn't say anything for a moment. He screws his eyes shut and lets out a sigh.
"Sloane might make an exception for him. She is fond of him, though not fond enough to adopt him for herself. Ultimately, it'll be up to the Supreme Leader."
Luke feels a chill in the Force, not of the Dark Side, but of something else. Something foreboding, or perhaps something welcoming.
Author's Comments- Here are the links:
Here is an image of the tunic in question that Mee Deechi wears in Clone Wars: a href=" . /revision/latest?cb=20111224235936"Link/a
Here is an image of Tekli, the Chadra-Fan Brendol spars with: a href=" . /revision/latest/top-crop/width/360/height/450?cb=20070415165312"Link/a
Here is an image of Tionne, who later becomes Tionne Solusar after getting married to Kam Solusar, as an adult because there's no images of her as a kid: a href=" /images/I/61TP0-QkBdL._AC_SY445_.jpg"Link/a
Here is an image of Tahiri Veila; she has a very interesting history in Legends/EU and I used to hate her cause she murdered Pellaeon. However after enduring RoS and the Kylo Ren comic, I don't hate her anymore and wished that any of Ben's fellow New Canon padawans had even a fraction of her personality so they could be interesting: a href=" . /revision/latest?cb=20121206235508"Link/a
I am not 100% the forms beside the first that the girls used are the ones that they are known for because my skim through their Wookie pages don't yield the forms they like to use, so I tried to pick forms that goes with their personalities. Form IV for Tekli was a no-brainer, while with Tionne I was debating between Form III (Soresu aka Obi-Wan's form he likes to use the most) VI (Niman). I ultimately chose Form VI because it's meant for Jedi, usually Jedi Consulars, who don't want a career in combat which is why the form is also known as the diplomat's form. It's like the jack-of-all-trade of nearly all the forms but can't really best any one of them at mastery level. I figure this form will serve Tionne well since she was a Jedi Historian and a musician in Legends/EU. Tahiri was also tricky to figure out, but I think Soresu suits her the best since it would counter Ben's Djem So/Makashi when he gets older.
Will Supreme Leader Snoke be a character in this series? Since I'm not, and never will unless I state otherwise, following the "canon" that the RoS established, I can write Snoke however I want. I do like that Luke was the one who disfigured him because the comics did state he was once handsome in his youth, so I'd imagine that Snoke was also after Ben just to get revenge on Luke. The odds of Ben becoming Kylo Ren is pretty much moot because of Armitage and Dead-Star, so Snoke's going to need a back-up plan.
