Author's note: Well, here we are, the first Mate battle, against Republic soldiers lead by Carth; I hope I've made it believeable and enjoyable. It's been seven chapters since I've made any comments, so I thought I'd throw in some. I've had a lot of fun writing this so far, and Canderous and Jennet are a hoot when they get to talking. It's getting close to the end of their story, though.
We'll have the big Mate battle next chapter (and oh my Gods, do I dread getting that one written...I enjoy the fight scenes when I've finally gotten them down, and I do like visualizing moves, trying to come up with creative but not unbelievable situations. But man, it's a chore for me, and I haven't written a battle scene that involves three hundred+ people before. If I really screw it up, please let me know, gentle readers, but be kind; the muse is deathly afraid of fire. But I do want to know, and if I do a lousy job, I promise I'll either improve, or never, never try to write a big battle scene again).
After that, (no spoilers, I promise) we have a week before the wedding, with Carth hanging around and discussing treaties. I expect Jennet and Canderous will exchange their wedding gifts, too.
Anyway, enjoy the fight, and keep the reviews coming, I truly appreciate honest feedback.
Always, LJ
Jennet
The battle started as most do, sudden and loud. Admiral Onasi's men came forward with a clash of steel and roar of blasters. I spotted Carth toward the back of his band. Captain Bard was also near the back, but some distance from Carth. This I took in with a quick look over the battle; mostly, I didn't have time for analyzing. As soon as we engaged, we were up to our eyebrows.
Zuka, Xarga, Tagren and Kelborn were blasting away, spread out so that we were not in their line of fire. Canderous and I stepped forward as one, with Jarxel, Dax, and Kex positioned nearby. All five of us were armed with swords, although I was the only one with one in each hand. I blocked the first thrust aimed my way and smacked the offending blade aside. I didn't have time to follow that with a kill; two more blades were vying for my attention and I was kept busy. I felt Canderous moving to position us back to back, and saw Dax and Kex shift to cover us. They were both busy with their own engagements, but managed to lure their opponents along.
Then I felt Canderous' battle ecstasy kick in, and my own Force abilities merge with it. There was a familiar rush of adrenaline-like energy, and I was seeing Canderous parry a blade, smack aside another, and thrust hard at the first, taking him down. I sensed him watching my own fight as two soldiers came at me at once, blades so close together it almost looked like one two-handed fighter; one must be a lefty. I slipped my own blades between theirs, with a twist of the wrists shoved them up, and took them both out with thrusts to the gut. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Dax block a blow meant for me and take out the man that had delivered it. Canderous and I began to move as one, smoothly turning to meet opponents, and mentally warning each other of danger.
How many so far? I asked.
Me, two. I think Jarxel got one, no idea the others. You?
Two; Dax got one, Kex one, not a clue about the shooters.
The two sides were now in a true holding pattern; no one was trying to kill, but they were trying to wear each other out. I felt Canderous's growl of frustration; he wanted the gauntlets off and to get down to business.
Want to make things interesting? I tossed out.
Sure, Wildcat, Canderous answered.
I gave him a mental picture, and felt his grin.
Hell of an idea. The boys and I can improvise from there. Wait for the klaxon.
We were so in tune that this exchange took almost no time. I edged a little closer to Dax and managed to shout an instruction in his ear. His eyes widened, but he was too busy staying in the fight to argue. He gave me a curt nod, which I almost didn't catch, having two burly grinning soldiers doing their level best to wear my arms to nubs in front of me. We were getting sick of the holding pattern; all of us wanted to really fight. I was wondering how the Elders could tell, anyway, when the klaxon went off. Before anyone had any time to adjust, Canderous and Dax turned toward me, grabbed a handhold on the edge of my armor, and flung me over the heads of the enemy in the general direction of Captain Bard.
It was the most exhilarating flight I'd taken so far. Both Dax and Canderous are insanely strong and had managed to give me enough propultion that combined with assistance from the Force, cannoned me a good span above and some distance over the mass of humanity below. I saw with my shared sight with Canderous both of them drop low and roll back, snagging their swords and popping up back into the fray. I concentrated on landing on my feet, twisting midair to hit ground in small clear spot in the middle of a clump of five soldiers. They were covering the Captain, blasting away. One started violently at my sudden entrance.
"Hey there," I said, grinning, and whacked his blaster clean out of his hands.
The other four started to shoot, and I jumped straight up, fast enough that two were taken out by their own comrades. Landing in the same spot, I hit ground slashing, taking one out with a strike across the face. The other two were down in quick succession, and I whirled to face Captain Bard.
He'd retreated a bit, with two men covering him, and I knew I only had seconds before backup would arrive. Blaster fire roared at me, but I danced out of the way of the energy bolts, heading straight toward the good captain. He had a blaster, and with a swift chop it was no longer a threat. His guards moved to get in front of him, still shooting. I skipped to one side, slashed the one on the right with my right blade and jumped forward to take out the other with a thrust from my left. Another quick double slash and Bard was out of the fight, his sword halfway drawn.
I turned on a heel to find six swordsmen bearing down on me. I launched myself over their heads, taking one out with a blow to the head as I passed. Landing behind, I got two more before they'd turned to track me, a third before he was halfway around. When the other three were facing me, I jumped again, swiftly dispatching them in a whirl of shining steel as I landed.
The crowd was considerably thinner by now, but not where I was standing. Another six were right on me now, and I tried to jump away. One lucky soldier got my foot and yanked, and I landed in an ungraceful heap on my ass, in the middle of a grinning bunch of soldiery. I quickly rolled back on my hands, gripping the hilts of my swords tightly. Thrusting hard, I kicked straight up, my feet landing solidly under the jaw of the man behind me. I deliberately locked my ankles on either side of his neck, made myself dead weight and hung on as he fell backward. I got my fists under me as we fell, blades sticking absurdly out, and shoved myself upright. I was on my feet with swords spinning as soon as the poor guy hit ground, groaning. I kicked him in the head to make sure he was down, took out two more, and jumped away again.
Behind you Wildcat I heard, and whirled smack into another group, with three coming up behind fast. I got a couple with gut thrusts before I was engulfed, and I was pretty sure I got at least another two before the world went away.
I came to only moments later. My attackers were motionless not two feet away. The battle was just about over, and I saw the remnants of the Republic soldiers being picked off by blaster fire as Canderous dealt Carth a death blow. Seeing I wasn't needed, I picked myself up and dusted my pants, looking around for my blades. Once recovered, I sheathed them and strolled up to Canderous, sending a healing blast to Carth. He sat up slowly, eyeing us both with a hairy eye.
"Well," I said conversationally to my Mate, "That didn't go as planned."
"You okay, Wildcat?" he asked touching my temple by reflex.
"Sure," I said with a smile. I looked around, and noted that we were down to the two of us, Zuka, Jarxel and Tagren. I didn't count, really, anyway. Dax was not far from where I had fallen, Kex near him, with Xarga and Kelborn right where they started, probably taken down with blasters. The fallen were starting to stir, and our Jedi friends were approaching the field to help with healing and med packs.
Canderous had offered a hand to Carth, who took it with good grace and was hauled to his feet.
"You won," he said with good humor. "But we got Jennet."
"True," I said cheerfully. "Remind me not to do that again."
"Maybe if you're on stims," Canderous said with a steely smile. "And we can throw you a good deal further."
I shuddered at the thought. "Don't even joke about it. And how did you know, anyway?" I asked Carth. "I wasn't close to you when I went down."
"The look on Canderous' face when he went after me," Carth said with a wry smile.
Jarxel eyed Canderous with some disfavor. "Interesting battle plan, Mandalore. I don't quite recall 'throw our Lady into the fray with abandon' being part of it."
It was a mark of his irritation that he seemed to have forgotten we were still in the presence of the opposing commander. Not that I cared, but I knew by now that Jarxel would normally have never discussed battle strategy in front of an enemy, even a pretend one. I saw Carth, if not quite understanding, but certainly feeling the undercurrent, tactfully stroll off to check on his fallen captain. Canderous snapped around at Jarxel's tone and glowered. Jarxel glared right back. I took a breath, and stepped forward.
"The fault was mine, Jarxel, and I apologize. I saw an opportunity to take out Captain Bard, and to confuse the enemy. There wasn't time to alert anyone but Dax." I looked him in the eye.
Jarxel stared at me a moment, then snorted. "It was creative," he acknowledged, "And you did get the captain, I assume?" At my nod, he grinned. "And then they got you. By the body grouping, you made them work for it. But they did get you. Lesson learned."
I grinned. "Absolutely. I can't promise I won't do anything stupid like that again though."
"In mock battles, I am less wary of it," Jarxel admitted. "But when we go to war, Lady, you are important. If the battle ecstasy works as well as I hope it does, you will be a very crucial part of any campaign. To take risks like that could get us all killed."
"I understand," I said with a nod, "but battle is chaos and sometimes risks turn the tide. I often do my best when I'm improvising."
"We'll find a balance, Lady," Jarxel promised.
Canderous looked between the two of us, a slight frown on his face. "I am the Mandalore, and the final fault lies with me. Jarxel is upset, Wildcat, not because of improvisation but because it was almost exactly opposite of what we had strategized. It was a good idea you had there, and I went with it. We did stick to our original plan somewhat; after all, you and I went for Onasi and Bard. Just not together. And you were killed by deviating from our plan."
"We won, though." I pointed out.
"We won a battle," Canderous agreed. "But if it had been real, it might have cost us the war. We were showing off, Wildcat, admit it."
"No," I said, as realization hit. "I was. You're right, Jarxel. It was stupid of me."
"No harm done, Lady," he said seriously. "Where better to show off, after all? And," he said, suddenly grinning, "you were incredible. By the gods, that was fun!"
The Elders signaled us over, and we approached their table. Disciple was sitting on the grass near Elder Gregor, datapad at the ready. The ten observers were standing nearby, looking blank and professional. I frowned. They couldn't possibly say we didn't pass, could they?
"It is confirmed that the condition of sharing battle ecstasy is present between the Mandalore and Jennet Jax," Elder Gregor announced in a loud voice, and the crowd went insane.
A loud cheer went up around us, and I threw myself into Canderous' arms, kissing him wildly in celebration. He kissed me enthusiastically back, swung me around in a circle, tossed me up, and caught me before kissing me soundly again. Laughing and breathless, I caught a glimpse of Disciple, a broad grin on his face, tapping away on his datapad. We were mobbed by Mandoa and Jedi, patting our backs and hugging us. Canderous even got a huge kiss on the cheek from Mira, who was whooping with Dax.
"However," Elder Gregor yelled over the chaos, and Canderous waved everyone to silence. Elder Gregor nodded his thanks, and continued. "However, there is still one test to go. Take an hour, and we'll commence with the final battle."