-Chapter 58: When in Doubt, Sweat it Out-

Location: The Dominance

"Appreciate that which makes you sweat."

Sitting at a table with a towel around his shoulders and a protein drink in his hand, Wraith gradually recovered his senses as Sereva lent a hand and dried off his hair with another towel. Before him, Scipio was scanning through a data pad, going over a few pieces of data now that Wraith had finished his Bacta bath.

"Good news, my boy! All harmful chemicals have been successfully removed from your system with no ill-effects. That and every wound you sustained on Takodana has now been fully healed." He announced.

"Guess that's a good thing. Still no shortage of scars, though." He murmured, taking another swig of his drink. "Kinda hoped the bacta would get rid of some of those."

"I used a slightly weaker concoction for the exclusive purpose of maintaining your vitals while you were under." Scipio explained, tucking the datapad under his arm. Wraith nodded and took another sip.

"Thank you Admiral. Never took you as one to play nursemaid." He remarked to Sereva as she finished drying his hair.

"I'm a woman of many talents." She informed him.

"How are you feeling, Wraith?" The Pau'an inquired, approaching him. Wraith shrugged.

"Tired. Maybe even sluggish. Felt like I slept for a week." He replied. Scipio noted his very close estimation. "How long have I been under for?" Wraith asked.

"Approximately four weeks." Scipio stated, dropping the bomb. Wraith's jaw immediately went slack and his eyes shot open, aghast and surprised by the revelation.

"FOUR?! Four w-... that's a whole kriffing month!" He shouted, setting his drink down and standing. "What the actual hell, Doc?! I thought I was supposed to be under long enough to purge these chemicals!" He demanded, infuriated by the fact he'd been out of commission for so long.

"Calm down, Wraith! I did what was necessary in order to ensure the preservation of your body." Scipio calmly explained, backing away just a little as the hulking super-soldier loomed over him. "Both the RGE-Seven compound and the Protocol Four chemical were deeply ingrained in your bodily systems. It took a good long while in order for them to be purged correctly, any earlier and there could've been disasterous results for you!"

"Then you should've told me that before I went in the tank!" Wraith growled. "What have I missed?" He asked, shrugging the towel off from around his shoulders.

"I'll be sure to bring you up to speed, Wraith." Sereva assured him. "Right now, I think you should do as Doctor Scipio says." She added, encouraging him.

"No. What I need right now is a workout. I need to get back into fighting form," Wraith stated, making to leave the lab. "I've been in there so long my muscles have started to atrophy." He remarked, muttering under his breath.

"I highly doubt that!" Scipio called after him. They watched Wraith leave when Scipio suddenly had an idea. "Admiral, you should go with him!" She suggested, turning to the Twi'lek.

"And do what? Watch him?" She replied, not seeing what he was suggesting. "Doc, I appreciate your willingness to help but-"

"No no, not to watch, to join him! To have a workout yourself!" Scipio clarified. Sereva stared at him wide-eyed.

"I-... You're serious?"

"Yes! Go on, get yourself ready and then go join him." Scipio quickly encouraged her, ready to hustle her out the door. After a moment of debate, Sereva decided to go along with it. Maybe she could turn Wraith's eyes towards her if she expressed an interest in one of his pasttimes.

"Okay." She agreed.


It didn't take long for Wraith to throw on a shirt and a pair of shorts and make his way to the training room on his level of the Dominance. It was equipped with a ton of workout equipment, just about anything and everything you would need to perform a variety of workouts. But Wraith was just here to do the basics, just a little something to get the blood flowing after four weeks of nothing.

But he had no idea that some else wanted to get his blood flowing.

He was busy doing a set of curls, lifting a pair of sixty-five pound dumbbells, his biceps pumping in time with his motions. As he neared the end of his set, the door to the gym slid open. With his back to it, Wraith had no idea who had just arrived.

"Doc, you really don't need to be following me around." Wraith stated, convinced it was Scipio chasing after him. He finished his set just in time for a response.

"Who said I'm following you around?" A very female voice, one that was certainly not his doctor, replied. Wraiths whirled about to see Sereva standing in the doorway. Gone was the uniform of an admiral, in its place was a super tight, super curve-hugging set of tights and a crop top, which displayed some of her flawless red skin rather generously. Wraith did a double-take as he took in the sudden change in Sereva's appearace, having never seen her in anything other than a navy uniform. "And I'm no doctor." She added.

"Admiral?" Wraith wondered, standing up and setting his weights aside. "What're you doing here?"

"You mentioned needing a workout and I figured I could use one too." The Twi'lek replied, tossing her towel onto a nearby bench. Wraith raised an eyebrow. He was unaware that Sereva had her own workout routine.

He knew she was smart, very smart. But maybe she was more than just a pretty face too.

"Think you can spot me?" Sereva inquired as she approached the benchpress. She paused to stretch, working her body in such a way that would've been quite provocative if Wraith had been looking in her direction.

But he wasn't.

"How much?" He asked, walking over to the rack of weights.

"Oh... give me twenty-five." Sereva responded after a moment of consideration. Wraith did as asked and loaded a twenty-pound disc onto each side of the bar followed by two five-pound discs. He knew that the bar itself weighed close to thirty pounds, the extra discs putting it over fifty. It was an indication that Sereva knew what she was doing. Securing them, Wraith maneuvered behind the bar as Sereva got underneath it. Lifting it off it's support with a concentrated look on her face, Sereva slowly started executing a series of presses, taking them slow and steady. Wraith stood by, watching for any signs of struggle from Sereva in case he might have to take the bar from her.

But, as he had supposed, the Admiral knew what she was doing and executed a series of ten presses before easing the bar back into its original position. "Feel the burn..." She commented, sitting up. "Tell me, Wraith, what do you normally lift?"

"Anywhere from ninety to one hundred." The super soldier answered. "How many reps do you normally do?"

"Just two." Sereva answered. "I have more exciting things to work on." With that, she leaned back down and took up the bar again, firing off another ten presses. "I do have to get something physical in. Have to keep up my girlish figure somehow." She remarked as she stood, giving her hips a side to side sway as she looked herself over.

"Right..." Wraith absentmindedly muttered as he left the bench press in favour of the pull-up bar. "So what does an 'exciting' workout look like for a fleet admiral?" He wondered.

"Training droids." Sereva replied as she walked over to a nearby ring. "The hologram-projecting kind." Within the ring were a series of specially designed Marksman-H drones. Instead of having a single training laser, these were equipped with modified hardlight generators taken from TC-SC infiltration droids that cast a body roughly the size of the average human. Perfect for combat training.

"So you practice close quarters combat." Wraith noted as a he strapped a weight belt on. "Didn't realize you were up to that kind of thing."

"I like to be able to handle myself." Sereva told him, strapping on a pair of fingerless gloves hanging outside the ring. "Took a course on the basics at the academy." She added, the drones humming as they came to life, thanks to Sereva adjusting a panel outside of the ring.

"So now you're looking to expand your horizons." Wraith surmised as he tied two tend-pound weights to the belt.

"Wouldn't mind some instruction from one of the best." Sereva replied, simultaneously complimenting Wraith while buttering him up. Wraith grunted in response as he hoisted himself up on the chin-up bar. He said nothing further as he began executing some pull-ups while Sereva entered the ring, three hardlight bodies appearing in the ring with her. Raising her fists in a ready position, the first construct rushed her, coming in low and fast. As soon as the form was close enough to touch, Sereva executed a rising knee that caught it on the chin before dropped her elbow down on its head. That felled the construct for a moment, but the other two were ready to strike as well. They closed in on her very quickly, but the Lethan Twi'lek went unphased, intently focused on them and plotting her counterattack.

The first construct came from her right and Sereva quickly parried its punch and struck back with a quick pair of jabs to the chin, followed by a hard right cross. That's when she grabbed the construct by the arm and threw it over her shoulder. Sereva wasn't quite finished yet and turned to face her third opponent. This construct launched a few punches and jabs that she expertly ducked and sidestepped, countering with a quick burst of rapid-fire punches before she grabbed the construct, drove her knee into its gut and then threw it across the floor of the ring.

The whole time, Wraith executed a steady series of pull-ups, his arms alone enough to heft his entire body weight plus the extra twenty pounds attached to him. But his gaze was on Sereva, watching her as she performed in the ring. Her movement was solid, her form excellent, Wraith couldn't spot a single flaw with her technique. It was basic stuff, for sure, nowhere near as advanced as his skills. But what she knew and practiced, she did well.

Executing a high-kick that knocked a construct onto its back, Sereva launched a roundhouse punch that took out another before she stopped for a moment, her gaze landing on the exercising Wraith. Her green eyes roamed his body, his tight-fitting shirt offering a hint of his well-formed abs, chest and biceps. His thick arms pumped in time with his up and down movements, sending a slight shiver through Sereva's body the longer she watched. She examined his angular face, scarred features, piercing amber eyes and thick auburn hair, all of it culminating into something that Sereva could only watch with a rather... hungry gaze.

Yes, there was no doubt about it, Wraith was a very handsome man.

Wraith himself had also taken a moment to appraise Sereva's appearance while she was stopped. She was covered in a light sheen of sweat, the skin of her exposed abdomen glistening in the light. Her full breasts, concealed behind her crop top, heaved in time with her heavy breathing. Her crimson neck and shoulders also glistened with sweat, bearing a similar shine to her toned torso. Her lekku were hanging behind her head, a simple grey headband around her forehead offering some slight color variation. Her green eyes were soft in color but also beheld a strong sense of duty and passion. Wraith couldn't help but realize why men found Twi'lek's so attractive, especially considering Sereva's beautiful red skin, perfectly formed features... even her full ruby-red lips were a tantalizing sight. Combine that with the fact she kept in shape and had a flawless, athletic, hourglass figure and Sereva was probably the walking definition of perfection.

As far as Twi'lek's went, she was a very fine catch indeed.

For a split second, their eyes locked. Amber met green, the culmination of their individual examinations of the other. It came to a sudden end when one of the constructs suddenly rose up behind the Twi'lek, not quite down.

"Admiral, behind you!" Wraith called in warning, still executing his pull-ups. Sereva understood what he meant and, whipping around, she executed a roundhouse kick with a cry, clubbing the construct across the face and sending bits of pixelating hardlight flying. The body keeled over and fell still, the construct disintegrating moments later.

"Thanks." Sereva replied, grateful she hadn't been sucker punched. The super-soldier dropped down to the ground and unstrapped the weight belt.

"You handle yourself well, but you lost your focus near the end. You assumed they were all beaten and ignored the possibility one might still be alive." He commented, walking over to her and assessing what he'd seen of her practice round.

"I still got it in the end. That has to count for something, right?" Sereva asked as she removed her gloves and left them in the ring, the three droids powering down as the simulation ended. Wraith nodded as he approached the side of the ring.

"It does." He agreed. Offering her a hand, Sereva took it as she stepped out of the ring. Looking up at Wraith, Sereva realized that his gaze was always on her face, never straying very far in any direction. Most men would've had a hard time looking at anything but her body. But with Wraith she hadn't once had to redirect his eyes. Sure he'd had to look down on her given he was so tall and she was a little on the short side, but his eyes always locked with hers whenever they spoke.

Now that was an admirable trait.

"Tell me, Admiral, do you ever work on your aim?" Wraith inquired. Sereva nodded.

"All the time." She carried a simple blaster pistol on her person as a means of self-defence but also just in case she really needed to shoot something. Being able to fire a weapon was standard issue training, she just didn't need it nearly as much as others did.

But, like with her melee skills, Sereva liked to be able to handle herself in any situation.

Gesturing to the in-house shooting range, Wraith escorted Sereva over to the rows where distant targets sat in pristine condition, waiting to be fired at. Wraith had spent a lot of time in here and at a similar one in his old base. He knew exactly what he was doing, but was curious to see if Sereva knew what she was doing.

Taking the practice pistol sitting on the counter before them, Wraith armed the weapon before offering it to Sereva. To his surprise, the Twi'lek denied it. "No. Please, after you." She said. "I'd like to see how it's done." Wraith obliged her, taking aim downrange at the first target. He pulled the trigger, a single red bolt striking the target dead in the center. Machinery started whirring as the target was quickly swapped out for another one, this one even further away. But Wraith hadn't moved a muscle and calmly shot the second one, also scoring a bullseye. As the targets switched again, Wraith tossed the pistol into the air, switched his stance and caught it in his other hand, pulling the trigger and striking yet another bullseye. Sereva watched with increasing fascination as Wraith scored perfect hits in very unorthodox ways. He fired rounds from behind his back, under his arm, and after a twist or spin. But each shot was always a bullseye, always in the same spot and perfectly centered.

"And that is 'how it's done'." Wraith remarked. Sereva nodded as she observed his flawless scores.

"Not bad. Not bad at all." She mused. Wraith flipped the blaster over and passed the handle to her.

"Let's see you do it." Wraith suggested, his first target rotating into view. Sereva took the weapon from Wraith and lined up in front of the target, squaring her hips as she gripped the blaster with both hands. Then she took aim and opened fire.

But instead of firing a single shot, Sereva quickly fired off six, all of them striking the target. The positioning of her shots around Wraith's single bullseye created a smiley face on the target, with his becoming the nose.

"Not bad. A little lighter caliber than what I'm used to, though." The Twi'lek remarked, passing the pistol back to Wraith as she turned and headed off to do another workout. Wraith eyed the pistol and then the retreating Twi'lek with a keen gaze. She had been able to fire off all those rounds, one after another, without hesitation or needing to adjust her aim.

There certainly was a lot more to her than just an authoritative presence and stunning beauty.

"Not bad indeed..." He quietly mused.