A many thank yous to all that have reviewed and favorited and what not. Enjoy yet another filler type chapter!
Chapter 6:
Spare Time
"How did it go?" Juno queried as Starkiller took his seat.
"I would not have returned if I as not successful," he replied.
"Obviously, but that's not what I was asking," the pilot countered once the Rogue Shadow was safely in orbit around Raxus Prime.
"Well why didn't you ask what you really wanted to ask?" the apprentice shot back, obviously enjoying the banter.
"Fine," huffed Juno before crossing her arms. "I wanted to know if you're okay or if you're hurt." The apprentice could only smirk, place his hands behind his head, and lean back in the chair. "Apparently my concern was misplaced."
"Physically, I'm fine. They're only a few scratches, but I kept him as far away as I could. He was a fast one," Starkiller said, running a hand through his short-cropped hair.
"What happened?" Juno asked, now interested, and turned her chair to face her charge.
"Oh? You want the all the details? I knew you were the type," he said cheekily.
"I feel I must remind you that I was already on the Black Squadron!" she said indignantly. "Therefore, I was already 'the type' as you put it. And no, just the simple cut down version will suffice."
"My apologies Captain. The target, Kazdan Paratus was an Aleena. It seemed he had an affinity for creating droids. I was able to keep him away and use the very handy lightning power. Then the fun began when he created a massive version of those scrap droids. Damn thing nearly clubbed me back to the surface."
"Well it's good to see that you're okay. I'd rather not stitch you up again."
"Yes, I'm in no rush for you to stitch me up," Starkiller retorted.
"Still whining? I thought that someone who could defeat two Jedi could handle a quick fix up," Juno shot back as quick as a whip.
"You call that fixing?" he asked before laughing.
"Fine then, next time I'll let you bleed out," the pilot said, shaking her head and finally turning away. "What's our heading?"
"That is a very good question. One I don't have the answer to. The only thing I know is that we are not to return to the Executor. Vader will contact us," explained the apprentice.
"How is he going to get to us?"
"PROXY is able to serve as a long distance communicator."
"That droid is full of surprises," Juno shrugged. "Where is he anyway?"
"Attempting to establish contact. It'll be a while, so you should relax, I on the other hand will be in the training room," he finished and stood up.
Juno followed him quickly. "Relax? All I do is sit here in this ship giving you information. The few altercations I had today are not enough for someone used to being inside a TIE fighter. There must be something for me to do in your bloody training room."
Starkiller did not look back or even show any reaction and simply stepped inside the large circular room with Juno hot on his heels. He accessed the computer as Juno waited with crossed arms. A panel on one the wall pulled out to reveal several vibroswords. "Pick one," the apprentice stated simply.
"What? You expect me to duel with you? With your lightsaber and your Force powers?" Juno asked, amazed that an idea could even enter his mind.
"No Force, and I'll lower the power setting. These weapons have a cortosis alloy, which makes it stand up to a lightsaber," he assured her. "You wanted something to do, and I need to train."
Juno looked over the varied collection of blades in order to stall for time. Desperately she tried to remember the basic melee training she had received while at the Imperial Academy. The classes were quick and were more geared towards fighting other pilots should they discover you after being shot down. There was o training against a Jedi or anybody even remotely as skilled. For a moment, the pilot briefly considered declining and retreating back to the cockpit. The notion was quickly squashed. She had never retreated or backed down before, and she sure as hell was not about to start now. Juno also reasoned that she was safe, as Starkiller would never put her in any real danger. Perhaps if the opponent was Lord Vader it would be different, but she felt reasonably safe.
Grabbing a simple vibrosword, Juno walked towards the center of the room and readied herself. "I always have to wait for you," Juno shot as she waited for Starkiller to draw his weapon. The man simply shrugged, calmly ignited his lightsaber and held it behind him backhanded. The pilot only gripped her vibrosword tighter and gulped. She had no idea how to defend against the apprentice's unique style. Hell, she did not know how to handle any lightsaber style. She cursed her stubbornness. Starkiller charged with his lightsaber still behind him, and Juno only waited. As soon as she saw the red glow move forward, she moved her blade where she anticipated it would land. To her satisfaction and somewhat surprise, she found that she had indeed blocked the attack.
And so it continued in a similar manner. All the pilot could do was defend and pray for a mistake on Starkiller's part for her to exploit. If there were any missteps on his part, Juno did not see them. Sweat poured down her forehead as again and again she blocked blow after blow. Although she managed to avoid being hit so far, Juno knew that Starkiller was toying with her. Not once did he feign an attack, or try a difficult angle. "You're taking it easy on me," Juno said as their swords locked.
"Correct," he said smoothly, applying more pressure until Juno was forced to one knee.
This was it! Juno finally saw her chance. The odds were against her, but she hoped that Vader's apprentice would be too overconfident. As he pushed harder, Juno let the lightsaber slide off of her sword, and she quickly rolled to her left. As Starkiller stumbled forward, she swung her weapon at his ankles. The result was her opponent being swept onto his back before he quickly rolled backwards and away. "Don't," Juno said simply.
Starkiller only smirked and charged once more. The pilot was unsure whether she should have gained her small victory or not. Now her task became increasingly more difficult as the apprentice performed circles around her. The attacks became creative, spontaneous, and sporadic. Juno could barely keep up. Her muscles screamed in protest as she stretched them in ways that they were unaccustomed to. To her credit, the pilot still had managed to not get caught, and even Starkiller began to sweat and breathe heavy. Juno found it frustrating that she could not mount any offense, but knew better than to simply try and thrash with her melee weapon.
After being blocked yet again, Starkiller flipped backwards several times to separate himself from the pilot. "Not bad," he said. "But what happens when I take the heavy training gear off?" And Starkiller promptly removed the gauntlets and heavy material he had been wearing during his mission to Raxus Prime. Juno mentally slapped herself. Here she was, confident that she was doing as well as she could in her wildest dreams, and he was still being held back by weight. Taking the brief lapse of action to her advantage, Juno threw off her flight jacket, and now stood in only her black pants and white undershirt.
The look on Starkiller's face was priceless to Juno. The dumbfound expression on his face, told the entire story to the pilot. It was quite clear that that the young man had never seen a woman before, let alone one that took off clothing. He visibly gulped and Juno could only chuckle inside of her head. As he refocused on his task of undoing his equipment, Juno had a very sneaky thought enter her brain. With Starkiller having trouble taking off his other gauntlet, the pilot swiftly ran over with her weapon ready. Starkiller looked up just as Juno was ready to strike and swiftly lifted the pilot into the air and held her upside down with the Force.
"Cheater," he accused.
"There are no timeouts in duels," she countered, trying to put on an annoyed look. "And even if there were, you didn't call one. You cheated! You used the Force! You broke the rules!"
Starkiller walked closer, cupped the top of Juno's head and looked her straight in the eyes. "I'm a Sith." And with that he let go and promptly dropped Juno on her head.
So, yeah felucia shall be next, got classes starting up again until Christmas so it could be awhile but you should review anyway