The crack of his helmet against the concrete called the attention of everyone in the rooms. Everyone stood still trying to get a look at what happened. The whole room was silent. The captain, who was usually at least relatively nice, had just thrown the new recruit off the mat. Everyone was stunned into speechlessness.

"Holy shit dude, you flew!" Ah, there was the loudmouth, good job Waxer. Everyone relaxed slightly and there were a few nervous chuckles, but they were still on edge.

Rex was hurrying over to help Dagger up when she sprung to her feet straight into an offensive stance, "again!"

The Captain stopped in his tracks and everyone took a breath at the same time. That had never happened before. Once the captain laid them down they stayed down, tucked their tails and learned their lesson. Not this crackhead. He wanted more, and no one was going to miss this. They all cleared the mat and made a wide circle around them.

Fives ran to the hallway and yelled, "new meat just challenged the Captain to a fight!"

Dagger only saw the clones streaming into the hangar for a moment before focusing again on her opponent. He was just standing there, as if he hadn't just thrown her across the floor. Effectively ruining the nonexistent reputation she had and showing that she was incompetent. She had to prove him wrong. She had to show him that she could fight. She didn't need her captain sending her to have extra training with an outsider just because she accidentally let him get the better of her.

Oh boy, Rex knew that stance. The stance of a brother with something to prove, "listen Dagger I didn't mean to throw you like that. We ain't gotta fight like this."

"Well it happened so now we do. I'll show you that I can fight just as well as you can Captain. I will," she responded. Determination was laced in every word, he could only nod his head and lift his fists. Damn these rookies, always had something to prove.

They circled each other, while other subunits from the ship filed into the room to watch. Anyone who had heard and didn't have an immediate job to attend to came to see what was going on. Echo leaned into Fives whispering that he bet Dagger would win. Fives just laughed and pushed him off, no way in hell.

Dagger was analyzing her sparring partner as she had been for the better part of the past hour. Rex, who had more experience in literally everything, Was just trying to figure out what he was going to do with this new brother. Dagger was going to have to do a lot of learning to figure out where he stands within the unit. From the looks of it the unit would have some adjusting to do as well. Dagger's attitude and mentality, from what Rex could tell, was different from everyone else in the unit.

Rex allowed himself a small smile from under his helmet. It was about time someone came along and shook up the unit. If they became complacent they would become predictable. As long as he didn't cause a lot of problems he would do just fine. However, Rex had to focus on the fight that he had silently accepted. If he had said no there would have been an unresolved hostility from Dagger. He knew that the clone wasn't being disrespectful, he was just trying to show that he wasn't weak.

After a minute of circling, Dagger made the first move. She made a calculated jab at the Captain's helmet. As he dodged she aimed another hit towards his new spot. He spun away, unscathed. Rex's leg came up suddenly and knocked Dagger in the shoulder sending her back a few steps. She huffed and came at him again, he kept dodging and only rarely made a hit towards Dagger.

She could barely make a hit while she kept on taking them. Clones were cheering every time something happened. Dagger tripped on her foot and stumbled slightly. Rex took the opportunity while she was off balance to deliver a hard blow to the front of her helmet.

"Ah!" came the noise involuntarily as her teeth came down hard on her lip. If she had been off balance before she was really off now. She fell hard on her ass and let out an oof. Before she had time to even think about getting up again the Captain came at her again. Planting his knee in her chest and slammed her into the ground. He was ready to finish the fight now.

With his knee pinning her down to the mat, he kneeled over her, "give up?"

"Never," she wheezed. She shot her leg up and wrapped it around his neck pulling him backwards. He hadn't expected the clone to be so flexible so the move caught him off guard. Falling backwards he found himself being choked by Dagger's legs. With a blow to the thigh he twisted out of the hold and sprung back to his feet, Dagger quickly followed.

The brothers watching were going crazy, Captain was getting serious and the newbie wasn't quitting. Usually fresh meat tapped out the first time the captain put 'em down, not Dagger. Instead, she was fighting harder, hits going faster and, when they connected, were harder.

She was doing really good too, until her arm shot out a bit too far on a missed hit. Rex quickly took advantage of her unprotected side. Stepping into the weakened outside defense he sent a hard blow to her ribs that knocked the air out of her. He spun around to dodge the arcing hit she had aimed in blind defense. He stayed behind her and no matter how fast she turned she couldn't get face to face again. Rex grabbed her neck in a headlock and wouldn't let go. He was pressed up against her back, one foot wrapped in front of hers so she couldn't step forward without tripping.

Dagger brought her elbow back repeatedly into his ribs to try to get him to let go. But he was too close, she couldn't get any power behind the blows to make any impact under his armor. If anything it was causing her more pain because her arm plate had slipped and she was slamming her arm into his hard armor.

Gasping for breath she struggled. He hissed in her ear, "tap out kid."

Her vision was starting to swim and in a last ditch effort to get free she slammed her helmet back into his. The angle snapped his chin up suddenly causing him to fall back, but it wasn't enough for him to let go of her. So she fell with him.

As she landed on top of him the air was knocked out of the Captain. His grip lightened slightly and she took in a gasp of air lurching forward. She didn't make it all the way out of his grip. He recovered too quickly and wrapped his arms under her arms up and around the back of her neck effectively trapping her. He kneeled behind her, she squirmed, but there was nowhere she could go, nothing she could do.

"I said, tap out kid," he said again, patience growing thin. The newbie was putting up a good fight but there were other things that needed to be done.

"No," she almost whined. She may be losing terribly, but she was having fun. She wasn't allowed to fight like this back on Kamino. It was fun to be able to use the skills that she had learned and apply them. Her nerves were tingling, muscles alive with excitement and adrenaline.

She heard the huff of air that he let out and she felt the tightness of his arms increase, her body was being lifted. Rex planted his feet and stood to his full height, bringing Dagger along with him and pulling her off the ground. She cried out as all of her weight was suspended painfully on her shoulders. Her feet dangled above the ground and she was helpless to do anything. The crowd that had been cheering a moment earlier went quiet.

It went silent for two reasons, the first being the display of power that the Captain was showing by incapacitating any fight Dagger had left. The second was due to the train of blood that leaked out of the front of Dagger's helmet, right out of the mouth vent. Gasps could be heard in the vacuum of noise that was the training room.

"Captain stop!" came the yell from the doorway.