5
Lerina Deeharc. Bleeding Skulls Compound, Gree. 0300 hours GST. 14 ABY.
Lerina awoke many hours before dawn and proceeded to prepare herself for the day. She gave a long sigh. Being in an unfamiliar room on an unfamiliar planet by herself in the dark early morning unnerved her. Her emotions began to run high every time and unfamiliar noise presented itself. Each time she ended up laughing for being so silly. All night it had been difficult to get any sleep so starting now seemed pointless. Instead, Lerina decided to wait until dawn to exit her room.
Lerina followed the officers to the mess hall for breakfast. The men shot her quizzical looks, but she didn't mind. What she did mind was the possibility that it was her that moved that blaster when she arrived. It was difficult for her to wrap her head around the very idea.
After about an hour, Lerina found her way back to her room. The incident with the blaster played over and over in her head. Was it her? Did she move it without touching it? She sat on her and pondered when she looked over at the lamp next to the bed.
A smile crossed her lips. "Don't you just love bad ideas?" Lerina whispered to herself as all her her thoughts focused on the small lamp. All she wanted to do was push it, just a little, if that was even possible. If she did pull that rifle, maybe pushing this lamp will be the catalyst in unlocking and controlling her possible power. If not, then she would just look like a moron staring at a lamp. She concentrated on the lamp until she couldn't see straight, but she was determined to accomplish the task.
The door whooshed open, causing Lerina to jump. She never expected more visitors. Before the door could finish opening, the lamp crashed into the wall. Lerina could feel her heart pounding in her chest. Nothing touched the lamp. It had to have been her. There was no other explanation, she concluded.
She looked at the man standing in her door. "That was not my intention," said Lerina as she gave an embarrassed smile. At least now she knew it was her that threw that blaster.
Lerina studied the man at the door. Only a few days she had been at the compound and she already had many visitors. The young man standing at her door looked about her age and unlike most of the people she had come across on the base, his helmet was off.
"Of course, that's why you weren't staring at the lamp." He retorted.
"Well if I wanted to break the lamp I wouldn't stare at it, I'd throw it." Lerina shot back. "But lamps are not why you're here. Is there something I can help you with or did you just visit for my charm?"
He seemed taken aback but quickly regained his composure. "Actually I was ordered to check in on you and make sure you're not dead or anything seeing as how you haven't come out your room since this morning."
"Well I'm alive. Is there anything else you need?" She shot a questioned look at him.
"You're not hungry?" The young man seemed surprised.
Lerina was silent for a moment then gave a quick chuckle. "Nope I guess not."
"Well if there is nothing you need I'll be taking my leave." He turned to the door.
She studied him. His black hair was kind of attractive she had to admit. "Wait."
"Yes?" He turned back toward her.
"What's your name?" She questioned.
He looked confused. She was confused herself as to why she wanted his name. "I go by Kote," He replied. "Why?
"Just curious," Lerina said as she got up from the bed and hopped over the glass with her bare feet. "One more quick question. Where am I exactly?"
"You can't be serious. You don't know where you are?" Kote laughed.
Lerina shot Kote an annoyed glare. "Well, I didn't exactly ask the Captain ' Hey I'm stowing away on your ship, and I was just wondering where is this convoy headed?' So where am I?"
"Okay, okay I get your point. You're at a Mandalorian compound. I don't know how much I'm allowed to tell you."
Lerina shrugged. "Well some information's better than none. Now if you excuse me I should probably pick up my mess before I step on it."
"Okay then. Have fun with that, Jedi." He chuckled as he walked out the door.
"How many times do I have to tell you people I'm not a Jedi." A slight growl crept into her voice for a moment. The door shut and Kote gone. Lerina looked out the window. "Mandalorian compound, huh?" she said under her breath. "Well, Lerina, don't you just love bad ideas." A coy smile crossed her lips.
Later that day, Lerina had explored most of the compound and memorized the maze of halls. However there was only one room that interested her the most, what looked like a combat training room. As she stepped inside a smile made its way across her face. She felt the excitement growing within her. To her, the equipment looked state-of-the-art but in reality it was old and very used. All the soldiers turned away from their tasks to eye her as she walked in. Most shot confused and amused glares.
Shrugging them off, she stepped toward the mat in the center of the room where she saw a man sitting in wait of a challenger.
The man smirked at her. "What's a little Sheila like you doing here?"
Lerina rolled her eyes and laughed. "I'm sure I could ask the same of you." She paused to observe the man. "I know why you're sitting in the middle of the ring. Now, why do you think I'm here?"
Whispers and laughs started to erupt around the room.
The bulky man scoffed, "I'm not going to fight a little immature punk. That would be too easy."
Lerina was silent for a moment and pretended to inspect her nails. Insults on Nar Shaddaa were far more effective. These were more like child's play. "Immature punk, huh?" She looked up at him and matched the man's earlier smirk with one of her own. "Well, I'm sorry, for you at any rate, if you view me as little of a challenge. I do think you are overestimating your capabilities."
"Is that so?" The man questioned. She seemed to peek his interest as well as damaging his pride.
"Well, yes. You sit here and wait for a challenge instead of going and finding a challenge of your own." Lerina laughed, "And when a challenge finally presents itself to you, you refuse. Are you afraid of me? A little, what was it you called me? Sheila?"
Laughs erupted from around the room. There seemed to be a small crowd, some from other parts of the base. Word traveled fast it seemed. Everyone wanted to see what the outsider was capable of, and she was eager to show them.
The man rose, looking to the crowd for support from his brothers-in-arms, but all they did was laugh. "Alright, little missy, you win. You'll have your fight. But I'm warning you though," he looked her in the eyes trying to intimidate her, "this will be over quickly."
Lerina cackled, "Why yes. It will." He may have been stronger, but he was overconfident in his ability, and Lerina was sure to exploit his weakness. Guessing by his large size, she saw that he needed more room to maneuver. She would exploit this as well.
He came at her throwing his strongest punches, none of them hitting as Lerina continued to ease her way back. As she let him wear himself out she looked for an opening. She circled the ring, coaxing him to follow.
Finally, she found it. She dove underneath his punches, took his center of gravity, and knocked him to the ground. Knowing she would not be able to keep her advantage of the mount for very long, she took ahold of his right arm and forced it into an armbar. However her hold was not strong enough, and he pulled his arm out.
Lerina was forced to roll back to get away from an attempt on his part to pin her to the ground. She was sure to make her foot hit him in the jaw in the process. Back to her feet and her opponent on his knees, she smiled. He looked exhausted from throwing those punches. Although her last opening was lost, she was sure not to lose this one. Using the man's leg as leverage, the young warrior rotated her hip and drove her leg across his face. He staggered back and almost fell all the way back to the mat.
The crowd cheered. She seemed to entertain them. Lerina moved to her opponent's back to put him in an unexpected choke hold. He fell to his back in an attempt to crush her small body. As it did hurt, the man actually gave her an advantage. With the stunt he pulled, her choke only went deeper. Slowly she cut off blood circulation to his head; she could see in his eyes that she was putting him to sleep.
Over the roar of the crowd, Lerina heard what she least expected to here from a Mandalorian. He tapped out. She realized her hold on him and shoved him off of her. Lerina faced the crowd and smiled. She had just managed to embarrass another Mandalorian in front of his brothers. By now the room was almost full of cheering men and women. She had to admit, she was having more fun than she ever did in the fights on Nar Shaddaa, let alone the last two days she spent locked up in her room.
Lerina grinned at the man she embarrassed. "Still think I'm not a challenge?"
The exhausted man said nothing as he limped off the mat.
To her surprise a challenger arose from the crowd. It was Kote. He pulled a blade from the wall.
To her amusement, Lerina was happy she had a bit of experience with swords.
"How 'bout it little missy?" He challenged her.
"Let's go," she accepted as she chose her own blade from the collection. The crowd's cheers grew.
Both contenders charged and clashed their blades. They looked into each other's eyes. Kote smiled. "You really think you can win?"
"Are you sure you can take me down?" Lerina countered.
Kote laughed and pushed Lerina off his blade. He swung and missed. They stood there and looked at each other, waiting for the other to strike first. Lerina gave a small smile. Her impatience got the better of her . She raised her blade to strike, and Kote raised his to block her first attack. Kote placed one hand behind his back.
What did he hope to accomplish by giving her a handicap. Lerina advanced her attacks and Kote blocked every one of them. Kote switched to offense. He swung his sword, trying to land a blow on Lerina but to no avail. As Kote swung his sword up, Lerina leaned back to dodge. The clashing continued. Kote started to aim for her back, and as she blocked, he move his sword with such speed he cut her thigh and kicked her away.
The crowd cheered at Kote's brilliant move. However, Lerina wasn't going to let him win over the crowd. She found her balance on her hurt leg. She was nowhere near out of this fight. Kote raised his sword to her. Lerina brought her sword to her side holding it with both hands. She gave Kote a determined look. Kote slowly advanced and swung his sword. Lerina hopped back, dodging his blow, then proceeded to jump towards him to bring her sword down upon him. Kote blocked and knocked her attack away. He swung for her head. Lerina ducked. Then he aimed for her legs. She jumped over his attack. They momentarily locked blades until Lerina pushed him off. They both switched their grip on their weapons. Kote finally deciding to use both hands, locked blades with her once more.
They clashed a few more times. Kote decided to do something daring. He tripped Lerina causing her to fall on her back, however it wasn't long before Lerina pulled him to the ground with her.
Both rose from the ground, blades raised. Lerina stepped in to close the gap but Kote stepped back. Then they charged. Kote gave three quick swings at Lerina, but he missed each time. Lerina switched her style. Instead of trying to face him head on like before, she was now quick and dodged almost every attack he could throw at her. She was letting him wear himself out. She charged at him again. He swung high, so Lerina ducked and aimed for his legs. He jumped back causing her to miss. Lerina stood back up. He swung and missed again.
Lerina saw an opening. Raising her blade above her head, she gave a battle cry. Kote shrunk back in preparation for a blow. As she charged, she put her face near his and smiled. He fell for her trick. Before he realized what had happened, Lerina used the momentum she acquired during her charge to deliver a massive kick to his side. She succeeded in knocking the wind out of him. Kote collapsed to the ground.
The cheer of the crowd had filled her ears once more. She had forgotten that there where even people watching. Kote looked so winded and sweaty Lerina guessed he was about done with the fight. Lerina started to walk toward the crowd to find her next challenger when she heard Kote's voice behind her.
"Where ya' going? I'm not done yet." Kote said with exhaustion.
Lerina had to admit these men, unlike some of those she fought on Nar Shadda, were not push overs, and were just as likely to give her a run for her money just as she was doing to them.
"Fine, but how about we use fists instead of swords."
"Fine by me," Kote grinned.
Kote threw a punch, but Lerina kicked it out of her way. He was making mistakes, leaving his arms out for too long. Lerina blocked his next two punches and decided to go on the offensive. She took advantage of his fatigued state. It was time to strike hard and fast. Her series of strikes aimed for his stomach, and his eyes. Lerina ended the fight with a quick kick to the head. Kote limped off the mat and sat next to Lerina's first challenger.
Lerina looked to the crowd, by now it looked as if the entire base was in the room. It sure did sound like it. The training room was packed. Almost everyone in the compound were surrounding the main skirmish floor. Another challenger rose from the crowd. The crowd seemed to be enjoying their show enough to keep sending new challengers. This man look strong like the first one she fought.
The challenger immediately charged, giving her no time to rest from her previous battles. If she wanted to keep going she would have to end this fight quick and stay light on her toes. Lerina flipped towards him and brought a kick down upon the top of his head. They separated for a moment. Lerina dodged the first punch and countered with a kick to the pocket of his arm. He threw a kick of his own but she stepped left and kicked the inside of his thigh. When he bent over due to poor balance in his now dead leg, Lerina delivered a quick blow to the face. She ducked under his next punch and maneuvered to his back. When he turned she used his own body as leverage so she could reach his face with her leg. He tripped but got to his feet quickly.
She had to give it to him, he wasn't going to give up easy. Using a lot of her energy, Lerina jumped high and kicked him in the face once more. With him stunned, he was pretty defenseless. She stuck key pressure points causing him to collapse.
The Warden from the jails walked up and dragged him off the mat then stepped onto the mat himself. He already had his weapon drawn. The crowd shouted Ty'din.
An'kin Cassus. Bleeding Skulls Compound, Gree. 1500 hours GST. 14 ABY.
An'kin strode into the guest quarters. Still shaken from his grief, he tried his best to keep a calm and asserting demeanor as he walked in. The breath taking remembrance of his daughters death still swelled in his mind, but he did all that he could to shake it out of his head. Instead he wanted to focus on the stowaway. The little Force sensitive, Lerina. There were many unresolved things about her that he needed to make right. As he started to think about her, his thoughts quickly turned to how his approach would be. How he could tell her without unleashing haran. He wasn't sure but he had to speak to her anyway.
An'kin finally made his way to the private chambers he had reserved for her. With a nervous gulp, he opened the door ready to face her and wipe away the ghosts of his past. An'kin looked up as the door slid open to find the room empty. Curious he walked in looking around to make sure she wasn't trying to pull something on him. The vital sign reader on his helmet's HUD didn't show any life signs in the room.
"Huh…" He wondered. "Where could she have gone off to?"
Walking back towards his chambers, An'kin was almost knocked down as a group of officers rushed past him.
"Hey where's the explosion!?" He called out to them sarcastically but assertive.
One of the officers trailing behind the group turned around with an astonished look on his face.
"There is a scuffle in the training room on the east side of the compound! Didn't you hear? The whole base is going to watch!"
"What!?" An'kin said surprised. He had been in his chambers grieving since this morning, and hadn't been up to date on the happenings of the compound. Maybe this distraction was just what he needed.
"Let's go!" he told the mercenary, and the both of them ran for the training room.
Kli'nah Cassus. Bleeding Skulls Compound, Gree. 1500 hours GST. 14 ABY.
The heat of the plasma torch waved over Kli'nah's face as she helped a worker weld a piece of steel rebar. With the work finished she quickly flipped up her visor and inspected the work.
"Good job Meylonie, I think it's done. Now do the same thing on those other two over there."
Construction had been slow today, but they were making progress. It was almost quitting time for today, and she wanted to get the rest of the trusses finished on the first factory. If she could get that out of the way then all the framing and support would be done, and they could start on the walls, and actually being able to make this skeleton look like a building.
As she walked over to another part of the site to help another worker, she noticed several officers and soldiers rush from their posts over to the east wing of the compound.
"That's odd…" She thought to herself, but she brushed it off and continued on. She stooped down to help a worker lift a large durasteel beam when a shout from the compound was heard from the construction site. All work simultaneously halted, and Kli'nah whipped her head around towards the frantic shriek. She couldn't make out details, but she could hear the men talking to each other frantically, and she could see soldiers still running from their posts towards the east wing. One man shouted something and all she heard from it was the word "brawl". Then, she saw An'kin running in the midst of the other soldiers as well. That peaked her interest. If it was something that could pull An'kin out of his room today, than it must be important.
"Wait here, I'm going to go see what's going on!" she yelled at the workers, but it was too late. Who wasn't already running off toward the compound was following Kli'nah at her heels. She wouldn't admit it, but, for a slow day, she was glad to have some excitement.
An'kin Cassus, Lerina Deeharc. Bleeding Skulls Compound, Gree. 1510 hours GST. 14 ABY.
The training room was packed. Almost everyone in the Bleeding Skullz were surrounding the main skirmish floor. An'kin could hear cheering and shouting echo through the arena. He wasn't sure over the yelling, but he thought he heard the clashing of swords, or maybe it was metal gauntlets resounding from the center of the crowd. Slowly An'kin finally was able to push and prod his way towards the center of the mass of soldiers, construction workers, and officers. Once he reached the outskirts of the training floor he couldn't believe his eyes.
"So this is what is causing all the fuss." He said to himself. He couldn't help but smile at the sight. In the middle of the skirmish arena there she was. The stowaway. Lerina had somehow started a show in the training room. Contenders from all over the inner ring of the crowd challenged her to a duel. Somehow she had managed to goad some of the mercenaries into challenging her. It was an entertaining sight, he wasn't going to lie.
From what he could tell, she had already showed three or four soldiers what for as they were sitting on a bench on the sidelines of the training floor rubbing their shoulders or necks. He looked over to the fight that was raging on in the center of the room. This particular Mandalorian she was dueling at the moment wasn't a push over. In fact, An'kin knew this one pretty well. It was Ty'din Kli, the prison Warden. He was giving her a run for her money as well. She was quick and nimble, but the burly Mando wasn't going easy on her. With a swift tackle, he had gotten her pinned on the ground laughing at her. She wasn't giving up easily either. Surprisingly, she was able to kick Ty'din's leg out from under him and shot out of his grasp. The Mando fell down with a loud thud. Lerina, quickly trying to dust herself off, found herself on the floor again. It was apparent Ty'din wasn't going to let her off easy. Lerina then did something that shocked the whole crowd, An'kin included. With a lightning fast swipe of her hand she sent Ty'din flying back against the wall of the arena. The crowd was stunned and silent for a moment. An'kin knew what she had done right from the beginning. She Force pushed Ty'din off of her with tremendous strength.
The crowd was stunned and silent for a moment. It seemed the only time her power presented itself was when she was on edge or in combat. However, she never really intended to use the power, it just happened without thinking.
After the shock wore off, half the crowd cheered. An'kin knew the other half must of had mixed emotions. Having a Jedi defeat you was not something to be taken lightly.
Ty'din, shaken but steady, got up and started to lunge at her again but was stopped before he could reach her. In surprise he turned around to see who had stopped him. He was ready to punch his lights out for being so humiliated until he saw who it was.
An'kin stepped in and shook his head at Ty'din. Ty'din's face mellowed, and he just stepped back and looked at An'kin curiously. An'kin motioned for him to go back to the crowd and turned around to face Lerina.
Lerina half expected him to scold his troops for abandoning their duties to watch skirmishes, and confine her to the guest quarters or at the worst throw her in a cell. She looked at the man curiously, wondering what he was about to do.
Instead of berating his troops and scolding her like she though he would, he stood in a stable and solid stance getting in an offensive position. He pulled out his Vibrosword and pointed it at Lerina. Discovering she had lost her sword during the fight, Lerina pulled over one of the training swords from the rack on the wall readied it as well.
"You ready to get your butt handed to you Mandalorian? It'll be a bummer to be shown up in front of all your men!" She taunted. The crowd gasped and started laughing. She didn't know why, but there was still something about this man she did not like, which only loosened her tongue.
He smiled. "You think you can waltz right into my base and start wiping out my men? Give me your best little lady, but I must warn you. Your immature shebse will be the only thing that will be handed to today."
Lerina's face turned from a playful countenance to a look of anger and apparent embarrassment. "I'll show you who's immature!" She yelled and with that she lunged full force with sword blazing straight at the man.
He was sure this would be over quickly. He had gotten her angry, and it was making her think irrationally. Maybe if she wasn't mad then she might have been more of a challenge, but he knew she was off compared to her previous encounters with the other men.
