Another chapter I'm debating doing a little shifting of certain events for more grandiose events to happen but we'll see. Tell me what y'all think I should include or move around.

"Grrrrr" Jake heaved himself up the last hold and pulled himself into the cave mouth and collapsed next to a pair of legs dangling over the side.

Heaving with exhaustion Jake looked at Rasha "you know what I'm getting pretty sick of you" the woman's helmet tilted and he could swear he could see a condescending look through the helmet " I've seen youngling climb that height faster than you" she got up and dusted herself off "get up the elders are expecting you."

She walked off with him just getting to his knees and following after. 'This is insane if I hadn't been so conditioned I would have fallen off the cliff for sure' his thoughts rang through his head.

A long winding tunnel was their path passing many cavern-like opening with assorted people doing a random assortment of things. They continued their walk for several minutes till they came to the end of the tunnel that led to a wide open chamber that could only be described as an audience chamber.

Two guards were standing at the entrance to the room "halt outsider only Clan may carry weapons in the prescience of the elders" he complied with the request handing his weapon over.

At the entrance of this chamber was a great pit of sand that reminded Jake of the fighting arenas from ancient stories of Spartans. Slightly ahead of that was a long elevated platform with a table with six of older looking warriors seated. The man in the center with the most ornate looking armor stood and spread his arms "ah Rasha you've returned I've seen the list of supplies procured it should hold us over for many cycles" with that he brought his hands together in front of him then to his side.

Rasha took a knee in the sand "my lords we have accomplished our objective but we have lost several warriors regretfully." The elder took a Solemn nod "such is the way of things in current times ever since the lost of mandalore life itself is a struggle but you know this. Who is the stranger you have brought into our house?"

Rasha gestures for me to come forward "this man is Jake Masters I do not know who he is where he is from or what he wants." The Eder turned his helmet to the side in confusion "I've known you for quite some time, young one so I won't doubt your judgment Rasha. I assume there is more to this story?"

I'd reached her side by this time and I raised my hand in creating " hi my name I……" I was yanked down to my knees in the sand and was treated with an angry look from Resha "do not speak to the elders so casually you are no one here".

She looked back to the elders and stood " I know nothing about this one. I was escaping the imperials after the grab and I was suddenly blinded by a flash of light and ran into him where once there was nothing ahead of me but air. Following this we were ambushed and captured temporarily till we could organized a counter ambush"

Walking slowly forward " I am not inclined to believe In superstition and magic without his appearance I know I would have died today. For no reason I can see he saved my life and I now owe him a life debt and request that he be allowed to join our clan."

Jake was taken aback and stunned at the proclamation of the woman. "Wait a second I don't even know what's going on here. I was in the middle of Afghanistan with my unit and now I'm in the middle of a forest cave getting shot at by laser beams!" He heard a hiss of reprimand from Rasha but the elder he'd his hand to stop Rasha. "You are a warrior I can assume? Yes I see that at the very least." The man walked around the table and started down the stairs towards him.

Confused Jake turned his head "warrior? No I'm a Marine." The elder waved this distinction off "a soldier follows orders and is a number in the grand scheme of the meat grinder that is war. A warrior thinks and is passionate about his art of war I sense that in you."

The elder stopped in front of him " You are on Concordia, a moon of the ruined word of Mandalore in the outer rim of the Andromeda galaxy. We are the mandalorians of clan vizlsla and you have been sponsored to join our clan what is your answer."

Jake was taken aback andormida galaxy..? Outer rim ? What the hell had he gotten himself into this was crazy! "What nonsense are you talking about andromeda galaxy?" Starting to get agitated his body language was following his confusion arms splayed wide.

The elders seemed to harden and were entirely focused on Jake "child what is your answer?" Uncertainty skyrocketed in his mind he was in a different galaxy as unbelievable as it seems it would explain the lasers though….. His mind started to drift on the oddities before it snapped back to the decision at hand. He was a stranger lost in a galaxy he knew nothing about and he was being offered to join some kind of militia…clan they called it.

Eyes coming to focus his mind made up " I guess I'll accept so I can at least figure out what the hells going on." The elder raised a eye brow before nodding in acceptance " very well Jake Master my name is Sal Vizsla and I am the leader of this sect of clan Vizsla." Sal walked off and snapped his fingers "bring in the prisoners!"

With that 3 men in black body suits of the soldiers that attacked them were led out and brought to the sand hands bound and naked of their white armor clad only in their black bodysuit. Sal now returned to his table and spoke loudly to the prisoners "Greetings imperial filth I have an important decision for you to make, fight or die?"

A man in the middle gnashed his teeth at the elder "we will not fight like you barbarians! Release us at once if you don't, the whole garrison will be here to burn down everything you love!" Quicks as the sentence was finished the elder whipped out a pistol and shot the man in the center of the chest killing him instantly. "Does anyone else want to choose death?"

Jake was shocked with his mouth hanging open in surprise 'just what the fuck have I gotten myself into'. The Elder took a moment to take in the silence and nodded " As I thought! Now to the matter of fighting for your lives. You will enter the sands of the fighting pit and whoever comes out standing may live."

The men looked at each other and started at one another before a sound halted them " oh! No you will not be fighting each other you will be fighting him." The elder pointed at Jake. With that their guards cut their bindings and stepped back.

The silence was deafening "wait wha—" before he could get his words off the two men were rushing him attempting to kill him. Acting on instinct he threw a strong punch at the lead man knocking him back but not before being knocked down by the next.

What followed felt like an eternity of grunts and crunch's as Jake defended himself with punch's kicks and elbows. This continued till the last trooper fell to the ground and Jake quickly kicked him in the face knocking him finally unconscious.

" you definitely don't look mandoa...but you sure fight like one" The older man said, looking down and jakes tired body. "Where did you learn to fight like this..." he trailed off looking at the several other unconscious bodies around him.

Falling to the ground on his knees, his face bloody, he spat the blood from his mouth. Jake looked up with defiance "wouldn't you like to know."

The old man smiled "one with spirit I see. We might just make you mando'a yet"he looked at the armored soldiers beside him. " take him to the healer and kill the imperial scum".

The men moved in sync one picking him off the ground the other moving to shoot the unconscious imperial storm troopers that he'd just fought.

Exhausted and beaten Jake finally could take no more and slipped unconscious as he was carried off.

—————-

Waking up with a start he found himself in a Infirmary on a soft bed. Sal Vizsla stared at him harshly. Seriously freaked out he tried to draw away from the old man.

"I see you are some sort of soldier but I wonder from where" he pointed at his kit that was staged at the far side of the room. "

I see tribal marking of some sort on you but I do not recognize them." He pointed at his forearm that held his Marine raider tattoo. "So who are you I wonder hmmmm."

Oddly unnerved he responded " I'm a 0372 Marine raider."

His eyebrow raised as he turned around and slowly walked to his gear " I assume this is your weapon" he held up his m4 " show me how you use it" and with that he walked off saying nothing more.

Jake was at a loss for words and so he decided to just go with it. Following the old man in silence 'it seems like these people aren't real chatty'.

The old man stopped at a room and turned when Jake turned the corner he was opened to the sight of what looked like a medium distance shooting range where several armored soldiers practiced marksmanship in armor.

The old man stood in an empty lane and beckoned him forward rifle still in hand. "Here is your weapon: the targets will pop up at random Intervals try to hit as many as you can." Handing the rifle to Jake the man stepped off the lane.

"This has to be the most normal thing he'd done here so far." Squaring himself to the lane he checked his magazine to find it full. Replacing the magazine he readied himself and waited until he heard a beep and the first target popped up.

The first target popped up and was a cutout of the white soldiers he faced before mental ques went off in his brain 'target 10 meters left' BANG the round went between the eyes before going down. The next target went off ' 20 meter center' he thought BANG center mass target going down. He repeated this process a dozen more times hitting every target like clockwork until it finally stopped.

Once the final target went down he flicked his weapon to safety, dropped it to its sling and turned around to see everyone in the range staring at him. Confused "…what is everyone looking at?" The elder came up" you used a slug thrower, no one has used such a primitive thing in thousands of years but I can hardly say you aren't a proficient user of this device."

With that the elder motioned for him to hand over his rifle " now Jake Master you will have no more use of this thing." Begrudgingly he handed over the rifle he was sore to let it go but acknowledged that he probably wouldn't find any more ammunition for it anytime soon.

"Have no worries you will be given adequate replacement when you are found deserving now let's proceed to something else" proceeding down yet another hallway in the cave system 'this is getting old' Jake thought to himself quietly.

They traveled silently for quite some time passing other warriors on their way, all of them rendering their respect to the elder as they walked by. This continued till he saw a door which opened up to reveal the forest once again. Jake scrunched his teeth in annoyance 'that bitch had made him climb a mountain when there was a staircase!'

Venturing out the elder stopped in front of an open area where he could see other warriors getting ready for whatever mission was assigned to them. " Jake Masters you have been accepted as an initiate of our clan. There are many things you need to learn to become one of the clan."

Gesturing to the warriors departing "Each of these warriors is worth ten of any other soldier in the galaxy and I will not have anyone in my clan being useless so you will need to learn well."

Patting him on the shoulder "take this time to familiarize yourself with the covert it wouldn't due to get lost like a child on an errand." Mouth scrunched Jake nodded and started to make his way back to the cave "oh! And Jake Masters your mentor will introduce themselves to you tomorrow."

Nodding in agreement Jake decided to explore and found the mess, the repair facilities,bathrooms and finally a small room for himself, more of a closet really enough room to walk in store his gear and sleep. 'Beggars can't be choosers' he shrugged it off, then hr decided to do a sacred art of the infantry….take a nap.

——-

Jake came awake with a start as someone kicked the bed he was laying on. Coming to his senses and focusing he was confronted with the cold but admittedly beautiful helmetless face of Rasha.

"Let's go Jake Masters you've slept the night it's time for training." With a huff he rubbed his eyes and followed groggily.

They walked in silence till they came to a training room off the main path. "Sit" she motioned him to sit at two stools facing each other. He did as instructed and sat across from her. " Jake Master you have been accepted as an initiate of clan vizsla you are the lowest social ranking possible which is usually reserved for younglings."

Jake chewed his cheek 'starting at the bottom again we'll so be it.' Jakes time in the Marine Corps had taught him about social hierarchies well and he'd just gone from a leader to a Pvt once again. "I understand and you can just call me Jake you don't need to say my full name."

Rasha raised her brow "very well Jake." She set her helmet to the side "I have been assigned as your mentor since I vouched for you. Your actions will reflect upon me directly ensure you don't make me regret my actions." Jake nodded once again used to this mentality the leader was always responsible for his subordinates.

She pulled out a sack from behind her stool "We will be learning many things for you to move onto your next social position as a member of the clan. You will learn how fight as one of us as well as use our gear and finally you will learn what it means to be a mandalorian."

Laying the sack at his feet "this is what we give to all initiates to learn. In the bag you will find the clothes you are expected to wear as well as a training blaster and a training knife." Jake investigated the bay and found the aforementioned clothes and what looked to be a child's toy and a knife. Slightly insulted " listen lady giving me these toys I've fought in more—"

Raising her hand "stop! You will be trained as all are trained. Once you have demonstrated your skill you will revive the weapons of a warrior until then you are a child in the eyes of everyone."

Jake huffed quietly "ok then we're do we start." Rasha nodded and started with a decidedly friendly voice " the first thing to do when taking an initiat is to talk from here we will fill in in what you are required to learn."

Eyes squinting in confusion at the sudden shift "alright then go ahead what would you like to know about me I'm an open book."

" Why are you calling yourself a book " she asked, confused.

Taken back "oh it's just a saying it mean I'm willing to tell you what you want to know."

Looking at him like he had a dildo stuck to his forehead she shook her head "you are a weird one Jake."shrugging she pointed at his clothes still his dirty Marine combat gear. " you obviously have spent time as a warrior what did you specialize in?"

"We'll I was a Marine raider" he started and rubbed the back of his head and looked up. " I was a staff sergeant so I was a squad leader for my special forces squad. Before that though I specialized as a sniper, sapper and a reconnaissance marine."

Her face took an unpleasant look "unfit roles for a Mandalorian warrior we will fix you of this. Mandalorians belong in the thick of a fight face to face with their enemy. What was this special forces you were talking of."

Pursed lips he begain " We were primarily a highly specialized raiding force that gathers intelligence, eliminates high value targets, direct action and route clearance in hostile environments."

"So you are a spy?" She stated bluntly with a disgusted face.

Suddenly uncomfortable "ah no I am or …was I guess special forces. I do jobs too specialized for regular forces."

Looking at him like she didn't believe him "I see then let us continue this later before I find more upsetting news."

"Ahh ok what are we gonna start with?" Rashas face shifted from cold to evil glee "jet packs." Jake started to squirm "now don't you think that's a lit…" his hand was grabbed and he was dragged forcefully "jet packs…..this is gonna be fun" her smile was absolutely evil.

—————

"AHHHHHHHHH" Jake screamed loudly as he once again hurtled through the air and flipped around and crashed into the ground in a heap.

"Haha!" Rasha bursted out in laughter a "I knew this would be fun, you flail around like an infant."

Shooting her a murderous look. "Listen here now dammit! You've done nothing but laugh at me. I haven't heard a single word teaching me how to do this." Jake felt like he wanted to stomp his foot but restrained himself. They'd been at this for two hours and all he had done was shoot off into the air and crash back down when he lost his balance in the air.

Shaking her head she stood up off the tree stump she'd been sitting on. "I guess it is time to show you how to do this." She walked around him and took his jet pack off and turned a dial and put it back on. "That should make it easier."

Giving her a dead look " what'd you just do?" She flashed him a smile "oh I turned down the fuel flow so the lift is much less. It's how you're supposed to learn."

He felt ready to explode "I've been crashing into the ground for the last 2 hours and you didn't mention this!"

Still smiling she shrugged "you never asked as soon as it was on your back you just kept taking off. Let this be your first lesson ask questions if you have them. We are stronger together than separate."

Jake let out a big sigh "alright how do I do this" he pointed at his back. "Every time I go in the air I have a second where I'm stable then I loose it."

Rash started moving her shoulders left and right " your points of control are your shoulders and hips. Shift them to take you in your desired direction also when you land make sure to have your legs bent or you'll break your legs." She gave him a pat on the shoulder "no pressure, let's try going straight up around 10 meters and shifting left and right."

"Fuck…fuck..fuck!" He chanted as he hit the activation and floated up much slower than before. Seeing that he was at the desired height he bit hit the float and levels out……and he just floated there. "I think I've got it" Jake shouted loudly.

Nodding Rasha "now left and right."

Jake did as instructed and shifted his hips and shoulders left and floated gently left he repeated it right. "I'm doing it!" He kept alternating left and right " I've totally got th——woah!" His jet pack cut off and started sputtering leaving him to crash to the ground bending his knees at the last second he rolled and landed on his back hard.

"Whaaaa happened" he grounded. Looking up he saw Rasha walk up and look down at him. "Second rule always pay attention to your fuel levels. Nice landing if you hadn't rolled you'd have broken your legs" Offering him a hand she pulled him up " well then that's enough of that for today let's go work on somthing else".