Chapter Eight: A Lesson and Some New Information
When she woke up it was mid day and she got up, ate lunch, and got dressed. She didn't put any of the paint on because she only wore it when she was in battle. When she left her room she followed out Grievous' orders and sought out a droid and had it go find him, then she made her way to the observitory room.
When she was half way there she ran into Count Dooku. Just to be on the safe side she bowed.
"You know you don't have to do that."
"Well I haven't been given proper instruction as to how I'm supposed to greet my leaders but I'm sure that I will soon learn."
"I don't doubt that."
There was a unnerving pause. "I have a question about General Grievous' past and I was wondering if you could answer it for me."
"It depends on what they are and I'll answer to the best of my ability."
"Well to make it easy could you tell me everything you know about his past?"
"Well before the crash he was a Kaleesh warrior, and after the crash he was half dead and when an acquaintance of mine brought him to the Geonosians he was unconsiece and he told them to give him a new body and he had some flaws such as honor, pride, and the most difficult one love."
"What are so bad about those? Every living thing that I know has those and even the hardest most aggressive warrior loved something whether it is the love of battle or the love of another being. By the way what did he love?"
"I was hoping you were going to ask, he loved a female back on Kalee, from the picture I saw she was stunning but I don't remember her features clearly. She was a warrior just like him, second best and him being the first and most deadly warrior. He was the general and she was his second in command if he wasn't on the field. The part every woman warrior played was that depending on their appearance and skill, they would dress as a slave and would go into the enemies camp and hopefully gain the favor of the strongest most feared men in the camp, many women would go at once and the goal was to kill them and get out before being discovered." he paused
"And after a mission she didn't return. When he found this out he went into a state that he is still in hating if male and not being extremely fond of females but he still has that one flaw because that is part of what makes him so extremely good at what he does. Does that answer a good portion of your question?" he asked as they walked into the observatory room.
"Yes it does, thank you for your time I look forward to being able to talk to you again."
"And I you." and he left her.
She walked up to the window and sat down were she normally did, as she sat there she stared into the vast depths of space and pondered what Count Dooku had told her. She considered her past, could that mission she went on before G. had died been the mission that Count Dooku was talking about.
She had went on this mission and she was found out and badly beaten and left for dead, she had fed off of her pain and she had made a mixture of herbs she had in her pouch and recovered slowly she hadn't had enough strength to make it back to her clan so she had been missing for a month at least and the day she finally made it back it was that morning that G. had died.
She stopped her train of thoughts and stared out the window, she loved staring into space it made her feel small and trusting she knew that if she didn't harm it, it wouldn't harm her.
When she finally heard the familiar clinking sound she stood at attention, when the sound stopped outside the door she waited... and waited for him to come in. When he finally came in he looked as if he would throw something into the wall if it dared to question him so she decided to agree with everything he said and lay low.
"That stupid droid, why can't they be a little more intelligent?" he said as he stormed into the room.
"I don't know sir perhaps if I did some tinkering on one of them then I might be able to make them more efficient."
He looked at her as if he had just realized that she was there. "You can do that?" he asked skeptically.
"Yeah but it depends on if it can be fixed, but first you have to know how the thing works then you make the adjustments."
"As soon as you and I are done I want you to get to work on that notion."
"Yes sir." "
"Did you bring your lightsabers?"
What a stupid question.
"Yes." she answered not saying what she was thinking.
"Hand them here." he held out his hand and waited for her to obey.
She got all four out and handed them to him. He inspected them by rotating them in his hands and turning them on so he could see what she had as far as weaponry, then he handed them back to her and told her to leave out two sabers, and seeming to be somewhat pleased and in a better mood. She obeyed without hesitation and waited for further instruction.
He ignited two of his lightsabers and announced: "Defend yourself." and he lunged.
She knew that she was going to have to duel him agian eventually, and most likely when he thought she least expected it, but she was an ex-warrior returning to her former life and had experienced with such forms of attacks, exactly like Grievous was doing now and for some reason it seemed extremely familiar to her, in fact too familiar.
So when he lunged himself at her, she just dodged him and ignited her own lightsabers and lunged back at him, blocking his every attack and watching his every move. While she was fighting her wounds from the previous night opened up and great shooting pains came from her leg and waist, instead of falling down she gave a burst of energy and fought harder and stronger. She decided to use one saber so she switched one off and put it back in her cloak and concentrated on the one.
She became one with it, feeling the vibration of the blade and the strength that it was faced with. She closed her eyes and fought on, she could feel what was coming from Grievous when his sabers hit hers and she knew how to either to attack or to block.
She never tired, the longer they fought the stronger and more energized she was. She wished she never had to stop, she loved the rhythm of the sabers and the speed and strength, it felt like a dance, she felt like it was all she knew and she never wanted to leave the sanctuary she was in when she was like this.
She knew she wasn't perfect with a lightsaber, she could tell that when she had blocked that she could have attacked and she knew that she would never be as skilled as him but she wanted to be close to it someday, she was not in a hurry to learn she wanted to learn at a pace that was comfortable that way she could get familiar with what it was she was learning.
When the duel finally ended she wished that she could have done better, but this was her first lesson as his apprentice and he had a different technique than her previous master had.
"What did Soreka teach you concerning lighsabers?" he asked.
"The really basic stuff, it had just started to be a challenge when she died."
"When you fought on Kalee what techniques did you use when you were fighting a tough opponent?"
"Mostly stealth."
"And did you ever have feelings for any male back on Kalee?"
"Yes I di-" she stopped he had tricked her with a line of questions and worked his way into her past she had to be more careful and listen better.
"Who was he? What was his name?"
Well she had just better answer his questions it wasn't like it was going to do her any harm in him knowing some things about her past and she sat down on the window ledge because it was going to take awhile.
"He was the chief I told you about when we first met. I didn't know his name and he had me call him G. I knew him ever since my first day of training, we had started out as close friends and from that it progressed and before I knew it I was just down the hall from him in his house. For five years we fought side-by-side and then one day he assigned me on a mission that was extremely dangerous but I had experience and I was the best candidate for the job. The mission was to go into the Huk's camp and kill the leader without being found out. And after about two day's into it I was found out and was beaten and dumped and left for dead. I had some herbs in my pouch and made some healing lotion and I slowly recovered in safety and this lasted a month, well from what I was told G. thought that I was dead and he had gone into a state of a mad person. He went on every little thing that could break into a battle and killed, I was told that, that was the way he handle his grief. When I made my way back to camp it was night by the time I got back and as I soon found out that morning he had gotten on a shuttle and it crashed and he died." As she finished telling him this she put her hand on her forehead and looked at the floor
He remand silent, for he was absorbing what she had just told him.
"Go to the Geonosians and tell them that you need all the information on the droids, and if they question you tell them that you're my apprentice and if they don't cooperate they'll have to deal with me."
She stared blankly for a moment and it struck her what he was talking about.
"Yes sir."
He turned around to leave and looked over his shoulder and said
"And stop saying yes sir just say my name it gets to be annoying, understood?"
"Crystal!"
He rolled his eyes and left. She got up and followed him out the door and they went separate directions, he to the right and she to the left