Part 10 – New Friend – Part 3
"Shall we," Obi-Wan asked as he gestured toward the elevator.
"Not yet," Bruce said as he walked onto the bridge, "I don't want to miss this."
"Can't blame him," Vekkif said as he followed Bruce, shrugging his shoulders.
"Coordinates for the system are locked," the helmsman said, "Prepare for lightspeed."
A few more commands, and the sound of the hyperdrive whirring to life made the hairs on the back of Bruce's neck stand upright.
There was that ever so slight high-pitched squeal, and the stars seemed to stretch out behind the ship before the blue hyperspace tunnel opened, and the ship lurched into hyperspace.
"I will let you know when we are approaching the system, General," Admiral Block said as he turned to look at Obi-Wan.
"Thank you, Admiral," Obi-Wan said, "Now, may we?"
"I'll follow you," Bruce said.
The elevator from the bridge down to the officer's level took a few minutes, there wasn't really anything to advance when it came to elevators. While the non-officer clones shared the lower levels of the Venator, the officers had higher quarters, and being as Obi-Wan was technically a General, he shared the quarters with the ship's command crew.
"First time on a Venator," Obi-Wan asked.
"Yes, sir," Bruce said, "I've been on lightspeed jumps before."
"So, I've heard," Obi-Wan said as the elevator opened on the level as his quarters, "First lightsaber made at the Forge on Tython in thousands of years."
"A little over three thousand I believe," Bruce said as they walked down the hall toward Obi-Wan's quarters.
"At least," Anakin said as Obi-Wan opened the door to his quarters.
When they entered, Obi-Wan raised the question, "So the two of you met after the Chancellor was assassinated?"
"Yes, sir," Bruce said.
Obi-Wan raised his hand, and summoned his chair to him, "And this force power that Anakin mentioned has me intrigued," he said as he took a seat.
"How'd I know he'd tell you about that," Bruce asked.
"Because he's your master," Obi-Wan said, "And despite being a master, I'm still his master."
"Indeed," Bruce said.
"You told Anakin you had a vision of the Tribunal," Obi-Wan said, "Such a gift has become exceedingly rare among Jedi, and coming from someone as young as yourself I think is extraordinary."
"Thank you, master," Bruce said.
"How did this vision come to you," Obi-Wan asked.
"It started when we went into the infirmary," Bruce said as he gestured between himself and Vekkif, "My headache slowly got worse and worse, when the medical bot was examining me, the headache broke, and the vision came to me."
"After halfway destroying the medical lab, and throwing me over a medical bed," Vekkif said.
"I'm very sorry about that," Bruce said.
"Interesting," Obi-Wan said, "I don't think I've heard of visions like that."
"We could explore it later," Anakin said, "We should start preparing the two of you for what happens," he then looked very worryingly at Bruce, "If you're right, then we might be in for a longer war."
"Where do we begin," Bruce asked.
"Why don't we head down to the training area, and assess your combat skills," Obi-Wan asked, "You were trained by the best duelist in the order."
The training area was in the center of the ship, away from the hanger which was full of clone pilots that were preparing the LAATs for a possibly horrific battle.
"Here we go," Obi-Wan said as the four of them walked into the room, and he approached the console near the observation port, "I say we just start with the basic course."
"You two will go down here," Anakin said as he pointed to the area below them, "We'll stay up here."
"Ok," Bruce said.
"Can we extend the climbing wall," Vekkif asked.
"I'll take care of it," Obi-Wan said as he punched in a few commands.
"You prefer to climb," Bruce asked.
"Yea," Vekkif said, not convincing Bruce for one second.
"Hold it," Anakin said as he held out his hands, "I don't want any injuries on our hands," he waved his hands towards him, "Let's have them."
Bruce and Vekkif handed over their lightsabers, Bruce noticed Vekkif's saber was also leather-wrapped, but with black leather rather than the worn, sun-bleached brown leather of his own, the metal was gold in color, and while his emitter was mushroom shaped, Vekkif's emitter had a small hood that came to a small point in the back, and there was a small claw that came out of the emitter's hood, almost touching where the blade would be.
Anakin stored them on his belt, walked over to a nearby locker where he retrieved two wooden training sabers, and tossed them to the two padawans.
"Can't be helped I guess," Vekkif said.
"Who would want to look for better padawans," Bruce asked.
"As if they could do better," Vekkif said.
"Can't do any worse," Bruce said.
As Bruce jumped, the force slowed him down enough to land safely without snapping his knees, he landed, and looked over to see Vekkif climbing down the ladder.
When he dropped onto the floor, Bruce looked up at his master, "So where are we supposed to stand?"
"Anywhere you want," Obi-Wan said.
Vekkif pointed at the center, Bruce nodded and the two of them walked up to face each other.
As Bruce raised his wooden sword, Vekkif slid the sleeve on his robe back to reveal an intricately detailed device on his arm, a simply slap, and a round disk-like shield about two feet across appeared on his arm.
"Where'd you get that," Bruce asked.
"Developed it," Vekkif said as he held his blade over his head, the tip pointing straight at him.
Bruce spun the training sword, before holding it above his head, in a very similar way to how his master held the saber he was given in the Petranaki Arena on Geonosis, before bringing it down in front of him.
"Whenever you're ready," Anakin said over the intercom.
The two of them began to circle the Jedi crest on the floor before Bruce stepped forward, swinging the saber around, and going for an overhead chop which was blocked by Vekkif's shield.
Vekkif in turn swung low, trying to get Bruce's side, but Bruce stepped back, and it narrowly missed him.
The next strike came from Vekkif who came in high, the blow being parried by Bruce who came in off the right, Vekkif caught it with the edge of his shield.
Vekkif pushed Bruce backwards, and came in with an overhand chop, Bruce deflected the swing, and as he tried to push into the swing to knock Vekkif backward, Vekkif pushed the shield into his arm, and blocked Bruce from pushing in.
The two of them pushed apart, before charging again, Bruce came in high, but faked a chop, instead coming in low, and used the force to push him across the room.
Bruce leapt over with a downward chop, Vekkif blocked the blow with his training saber, and used his shield as a stop to keep Bruce from pushing the saber into him.
"Not too bad," Bruce said.
"Not so bad yourself," Vekkif said as he pushed Bruce back, "Fought any droids yet?"
"That'd be a no," Bruce said as he blocked a side swing from Vekkif, "How about you?"
"No for me as well," Vekkif said as he blocked a blow that Bruce faked as a high chop before coming in low.
Vekkif then used the shield to force the training saber onto the ground, but before he could chop, Bruce pushed his shoulder into Vekkif's shield, and gathered a handful of force, pushing into the ground. The force that went into the ground redirected upward into Vekkif's shield, freeing his blade.
Vekkif jabbed at Bruce with the tip, Bruce blocked the swing, and attempted to swing the blade around to try and disarm his opponent, Vekkif simply pushed his shoulder into Bruce's chest, and pushed him backwards.
The new blow came as Bruce swung his training saber like he was trying to hit a baseball into outfield, Vekkif rolled underneath the swing, and swung his blade trying to get Bruce's leg.
Bruce stepped over the blade and swung again, Vekkif parried the blow, and bashed his shield into Bruce's chest, which deactivated, but the blow was enough to send Bruce stumbling backwards.
"Nice move," Bruce said as he reached up to wipe a bead of sweat off his forehead, "Haven't had a workout like this since my last sparing session with Master Skywalker."
"Same here," Vekkif said before pointing at Bruce, "I have to admit, chaining force and saber attacks is a good tactic."
"Thanks," Bruce said, "Ever use yours?"
"I'll show you," Vekkif said as he suddenly threw his cloak over his head, and his cloak suddenly floated the ground as if he had never been there in the first place.
Bruce walked up, and prodded the cloak, "That's a nice trick."
"Thank you," Vekkif said from behind Bruce who turned around to swing, only to hit nothing but air.
"Stealth arts," Bruce said.
"More of a mirage," Vekkif said as he suddenly appeared behind Bruce along with two others.
"Now that's useful," Bruce said as he pointed his training saber at him.
"Indeed," Vekkif said as he and his three clones charged.
Bruce blocked the first incoming strike from the first, he then saw the second stab at him with his saber and quickly side-stepped, but as he did, the third smashed the side of his reactivated shield into Bruce's head.
He stumbled backwards, but managed to parry one more attack before one of Vekkif's mirages kicked him in the chest and knocked him to the ground.
The landing was quite audible, especially when the wooden training saber slipped from his grasp and clattered across the floor.
The three mirages of Vekkif approached Bruce who reached back, and summoned the training saber to his hand, holding it directly in front of Vekkif's chest as Vekkif held his in a very similar fashion.
"Useful," Bruce said.
"Thanks," Vekkif said as he put his training saber away and deactivated his shield before extending his hand to Bruce who accepted.
"My turn to say thanks," Bruce said as Vekkif pulled him to his feet.
"I think that's enough for today," Obi-Wan said from the entrance to the training room.
He and Anakin jumped down into the area, "I can see why Obi-Wan choose you," Anakin said as he walked up to Vekkif.
"And I can see why Anakin has faith in you," Obi-Wan said as he grabbed Bruce's shoulder, "You're not ask reckless as his previous padawan. But you've got your own style, and I like that."
"Thanks," Bruce said before pointing at Anakin, "Hopefully we can find your previous padawan."
"So do I," Anakin said, "We find her, we also find the 501st."
To be Continued…