Chapter Five

Ahsoka was glad when they finally left Felucia.

One consequence of her plan that she hadn't fully thought through was the hunt for their party the Separatists would embark on after they'd figured out what had happened. In her defense, though, this ultimately wasn't that inconvenient, as the vast amount of dense jungle their pursuers had to search made it very unlikely that any patrol would stumble across them.

Still, Ghes insisted that they take a highly circuitous and roundabout path back to their landing zone after the first time they heard a vulture droid buzzing the canopy overhead.

While Ahsoka had to admit that this was probably the right call, it added an extra day and a half onto their travel time. That extra forty hours spent trudging through the heat and mud of the Felucian jungle had somehow seemed the longest and most unpleasant. It was son bad that she'd practically cheered when she recognized the hulking shape of the camouflage-net covered Nu-class among the trees.

Back aboard Retaliation, Ahsoka recognized a shift in the ARF's attitude towards her. It was something she'd first noticed shortly after their return, when she'd heard Niner regaling a group of his comrades with a surprisingly detailed description of her destroying thirty battle droids in less than then a minute outside the computer core.

Ahsoka had gathered from Ghes's treatment of the man that Niner hadn't been with the battalion for very long. She suspected that the other troopers had been similarly distant towards him when he'd first been assigned here, and that him "talking her up" to his comrades was his way of helping her out. She'd admit, though, that this probably wouldn't have occurred to her if not for the suspicious absence of Ghes accomplishing something similar with a well placed detonator in Niner's version of events.

Whatever the trooper's intentions may have been, the result was the same. Knowledge of Ahsoka's performance during the raid spread quickly through the ranks, and she started to be treated differently because of it.

Before Felucia, Ghes's men had paid little mind to her outside her official capacity as battalion executive officer. Off duty, they almost never spoke to her, preferring either to keep to themselves unless Ghes was present. Even on-duty, they used Ghes as an intermediary unless they absolutely had to address Ahsoka directedly. The change from this to the open comradery she'd become used to with the rest of the 501st was actually quite jarring, and she'd almost choked on her lunch the first time Vor tried to tell her a joke during chow.

Ahsoka became curious enough about the sudden shift in the troopers' attitude that she asked Ghes about it.

"It's because you didn't die." He said, as if it were the answer to her question was obvious.

"What?" She said, confused and a little annoyed by his response.

"Most of our casualties are replacements or transfers on their first time out." Ghes clarified. "So, the boys don't make a habit of getting to close to anyone until after they've survived at least one fire fight."

"Oh." She said beginning to understand. That sort of sentiment was common among soldiers during war time, she knew, but she'd always thought it was only directed at green troops. "They do know I've been in combat before, right?"

"So have a lot of the troopers who end up here." Ghes countered. "Niner was the first replacement in a long while to come directly from Kamino. But the boys still want to see every one of them get through one scrap alive. They're just cynical like that."

"I guess that makes sense." Ahsoka said, though it still seemed odd to her.

"That's just the reality of our line of work." Ghes said, suddenly appearing very melancholy. "Most of the replacements we get aren't trained for what we do, hell, I was never really trained for any of this. But we push on and make do because we have to."

Ahsoka wasn't sure what she was supposed to say to that, and she was kind of sorry she'd asked him about any of this in the first place. So she just nodded while Ghes sat across from her, looking reflective for another few moments before finally regaining his focus and straightening up.

"But now you're getting me all depressed." He said, forcing a smile she knew wasn't genuine and standing up. "Why don't you meet me down in the gym in fifteen? We can do something to get my mind off all this heavy osik."

The Retaliation's "gym" was more of an empty cargo bay that Ghes's and his men had filled with a variety of exercise equipment, much of it improvised, arranged around an open area of matted floor.

"Commander!" Ghes called out when he saw Ahsoka enter the space. "So glad you could join us!"

He was standing in the middle of the matted are, which Ahsoka assumed was a ring, apparently having changed into his armor. Around him, clones stopped what they were doing and also turned to look at her.

"So," Ahsoka said, feeling slightly self-conscious as she made her way over to the colonel. "what did you want to do?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Ghes said, grinning as he gestured at the ring around them. "We're going to fight."

"You want to spar?" She said, disbelievingly. "With me?"

"What's the matter, commander?" Ghes responded, smiling wickedly. "Don't think you can take me?"

"No," Ahsoka snorted derisively. "I know you can't take me."

"Probably not." Ghes said, laughing. "Not when you can toss me around like a ragdoll just by thinking about it. But without all those fancy powers…"

Ahsoka saw where he was going with this. If she refrained from using any sort of telekinetic attacks, a fight between her and Ghes would come down to their individual skill at arms. That still didn't mean it would be an even fight, she was willing to bet she was much faster than he was, but it would at least be a fair fight.

"It's your funeral." Ahsoka said with a shrug.

"All right then." Ghes said, clapping his hands together and seeming perhaps too excited for someone who was about to get their ass thoroughly whooped.

He moved over to the edge of the ring and knelt down to unlatch a long, grey case sitting just outside the boundary. Ghes rummaged around in the case for several seconds before finally pulling out two items, a small metallic cylinder and a meter and a half long dull grey metal staff.

"Here." He said, tossing the smaller object to Ahsoka. "This is for you."

Once the cylinder was in her hand, she recognized it almost immediately as the unadorned hilt of a training lightsaber. About twenty centimeters long and made of simple, machined durasteel, it was the kind the practice weapon the Jedi Order had hundreds of.

"Where'd you get this?" She asked, genuinely curious. While there were many of these "weapons" throughout the Jedi Temple in training areas and the hands of younglings, they were still incredibly difficult to come by even on the black market.

"Some Death Watch flunky came at me with it on Alderaan." Ghes said, waving dismissively. "Long story, but what matters is that it works."

Accepting Ghes's explanation of the weapons origin, or at least that that was all he knew about it, she thumbed the activation switch and saw that it did indeed work, as a pure white blade subsequently sprung to life from the emitter nozzle. Swinging it a few times to test the weight and balance, she found it, satisfactory. Different from her own blades, obviously, but she didn't expect the same level of comfort with the mass-produced hilt as she had with those she'd constructed by hand.

"I only have the one, though." Ghes continued. "I hope that's okay."

"It's fine." Ahsoka reassured him.

It had been a while since she'd fought with a single blade, but she was certain that she hadn't lost any of her old moves in that time. What worried her was Ghes's weapon, an electro-staff. She wasn't very familiar with the weapon, having only fought against the IG-100 MagnaGuard droids that typically wielded them a few times. Somehow, she knew Ghes wouldn't wield his staff in quite the same way as the acrobatic machines.

Ghes moved to the center of the ring.

"I'm setting this to low power." He said, adjusting a dial on his staff. "The shock will hurt pretty bad, but it won't cause any real harm. Probably."

"Don't worry," She said. "I'll be fine."

"Just thought I'd warn you." He said. "You ready?"

"Not really. How are we doing this? Points? Falls?"

"How about you just tell me when you've had enough?" Ghes said, smiling wickedly as he hit the button activating the electrodes at either end of his staff. Fields of yellow tinted energy crackled to life and arced around tips of the weapon, creating an ozone smell reminiscent of blasterfire.

Ahsoka shrugged and settled into her own fighting stance. A crowd had formed around them as they'd been preparing, with the troopers who'd been spread around the compartment, as well as a few who looked like they'd come from their duty stations, standing around the ring in hushed anticipation. It made her wonder if this sort of thing was a regular occurrence.

She made the first move, advancing wearily toward Ghes as he drew a figure eight in the air with his staff. Ahsoka leapt the last half meter, hoping to negate the superior reach of the electrostaff by closing the gap before he could react, and slashed downward. Ghes, having already built momentum, knocked the blow aside easily and followed through with the back end of his weapon, forcing her to jump back out of range of the staff. Surprisingly, at least to Ahsoka, Ghes didn't press his advantage.

He was testing her then, trying to feel her out. It was good to know Ghes recognized how dangerous she was. In a way, it was almost flattering.

Ahsoka committed more to her next attack, launching a flurry of blows from as many different angles as she could manage without overextending herself. Somehow, though, Ghes managed to block, parry, or sidestep every one of her strikes. He was much faster with that staff then she'd imagined he could be and knew how to use the extra reach and blocking surface of the weapon to great effect. She recognized now that the direct approach wasn't going to work, she had to change up her strategy.

Before she could figure out what that new approach was going to be though, Ghes decided it was his turn to go on the offensive.

He lunged forward, jabbing out toward her chest with the end of his staff. Ahsoka sidestepped, batting the energized point of the weapon aside. But Ghes turned with the parry, and to late she realized she'd played right into his hand as he let the momentum of the deflected point carry the other around to strike her in the upper calve. She cried out in surprise and pain, as the force and shock of the blow combined to collapse the struck leg, sending her onto her back.

"Dead." Ghes said flatly, bringing one end of his staff close enough that she could feel the faint heat of the energy field on the side of her face.

Silently, she cursed herself for underestimating Ghes. She'd reacted to his blows as they were happening, not before as she normally would. His stupid mental block kept her from anticipating his attacks, so fighting him was like fighting a droid. A droid with all the intelligence and creativity of an organic.

And now Ahsoka could hear quiet laughter all around her. The crowd gathered to watch the spectacle of the two sparring had grown significantly in the short time since they'd started. From the sound of it, many had gotten here just in time to see her get knocked on her ass.

She couldn't stand for that, now, could she?

Ghes had made a mistake "killing" her. It had forced his legs within arms' reach of where she lay on the mat. Not a problem if she'd actually been dead, but a big problem when she was still very much alive.

Ahsoka spun on her back, swinging out both legs to sweep Ghes's out from under him. He slammed hard into the matted floor, and she rolled on top of him. Straddling his midsection, she pinned his staff to his chest.

"Dead." Ahsoka said smugly, holding the training saber to Ghes's neck.

The laughter that drew from their audience was anything but quiet.

Ghes smirked up at her, then used the pinned staff to launch her up and off his chest. She landed on her feet less than a meter away, but still too far for her to pounce back on him before he could reach his feet.

The two combatants began to circle each other, both now far warier of the other than they had been. Ahsoka decided that her best chance was to combine her two previous strategies. She needed to get in close, then keep hammering at him until he made a mistake. Getting that close now that Ghes was on the alert was easier said than down, but she managed it by feinting an overhead blow to draw his attention high before in low. He was able to bring his staff back down quickly enough to stop a potentially painful blow to his ribs, but by then she'd succeeded in getting close enough that he couldn't effectively strike back.

Now that she had him back on the defensive, Ahsoka didn't let up, unleashing blow after blow. Ghes wasn't out yet, though, managing to block her attacks even if he couldn't retaliate. But he was slowing, she could see it.

Only a matter of time now, she thought, sooner or later he has to make a mistake.

That inevitable mistake came in the form of a block that overextended when she pulled back the strike he'd intended to stop at the last moment. Wasting no time, Ahsoka exploited the opening, ducking under Ghes's arm and aiming a powerful strike at the back of his legs…

And then Ghes's elbow struck her in the jaw.

The next thing Ahsoka knew, she was flat on her back, vision clearing to reveal the point of an electrostaff hovering an inch from her face.

"Dead."

Ahsoka blinked hard a few times, flashes of color still clearing from the edges of her vision.

"You sucker punched me!" She said, glowering angrily up at him. "That's not fair."

"That wasn't a punch." Ghes countered, deactivating his staff. "It was an elbow. Besides, war isn't fair."

He reached out his hand to help her up, but Ahsoka, still pissed, didn't take it. Instead, she grabbed Ghes by the forearm and tricep, braced her legs against his chest plate, and flipped him. He landed hard, an audible gasp escaping as the air was knocked out of him, and Ahsoka rolled through, coming to a stop on his chest.

"I guess it isn't." She said, smiling smugly down at Ghes's still shocked expression.

Ghes's face recovered a moment later, and he began laughing.

"Should've seen that one coming!" He said as he tried to stand up.

Ahsoka slid off the man's chest, allowing him to stand. He gripped at his side through his armor, and Ahsoka worried that she may have reinjured his ribs. Then her jaw began to ache, and suddenly she didn't feel bad about it anymore.

"I think that's enough for today." Ghes said, wincing and still clinging at his side.

"Are you okay?" Ahsoka asked, rubbing at her jaw.

"Ribs still bruised from Felucia." He answered through gritted teeth. "How's your jaw?"

"Well, it hurts," She said, perhaps a little too accusingly. "but I'll live."

"Sorry about that." He said sheepishly. "I may have gotten a little carried away…"

"You think?" She said sarcastically.

"If it's any consolation," Ghes continued. "if I hadn't thrown that elbow, you would have had me."

"Doesn't really make me feel any better."

"…and you may have also have bruised another one of my ribs."

"Now that makes me feel better."

The troopers had dispersed for the most part, either returning to their own training or whatever post they'd come from. Ahsoka out of the ring and gym with Ghes, who still looked pained as he moved.

"So," He said, wincing. "you up for doing that on a regular basis?"

"Really?" She said, gesturing at the hand still gripping his side. "You sure you'd live through that?"

"This is nothing," Ghes responded dismissively. "A few painkillers and another shot of bacta and I'll be right as rain."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes. She'd seen Anakin pull the same tough guy routine more times than she could count, normally from a stretcher.

"Sure." She said. "We can spar again if you want."

"Don't act like you're doing me a favor." Ghes scoffed. "You need practice just as much as I do.'

"What's that supposed to mean?" She asked incredulously.

"You're slow." He answered. "Been fighting nothing but droids for too long."

"I'm faster than you!" She snapped back.

"I have almost half a meter and at least a kilo on you." Ghes said. "Of course you're faster than me. But I still got you twice, didn't I?"

"Once." She corrected. "The second time was a dirty trick."

"That was a cheap shot." Ghes said, smiling wickedly. "But don't you worry, if you want to see dirty tricks, I got plenty of those to."

That Ahsoka did believe.

Author's Notes:

Getting right into things; Hybrid301, thank you once again, I'm glad Ahsoka came across as sufficiently badass for your standards.

jensen6, I'm glad you to are enjoying my work and thank you for that small bit of criticism. By "touch ups", I'm assuming you mean the minor spelling/grammar mistakes that somehow manage to slip past my exhaustive editing process. I am aware of many of them now, but am likely to put off fixing for now why I focus on writing Part II.

As for this week's chapter, it is again a scene that has existed since the earliest conception of this story, and one I'm still very fond of.

That being said, I understand how some people could be put off by a relationship between two people where one of their primary bonding activities is beating the crap out of each other for fun.

What else can I say, though, except that it makes sense. Jedi like sparing almost as much as Mandalorians do, it's one of the surprisingly many things the two groups have in common. On top of that, Ahsoka and Ghes both live very combat focused lives, and, well, the only other thing I can think of that Ahsoka has been shown to enjoy is mechanical/electrical engineering, so it was either they bond over fighting or a particularly interesting circuit in Ghes's helmet. I think everyone other than my boring uncle can agree that this was the better option.

Other than that there's only the "fight smarter, not harder" message you should have gotten from Ghes being able to keep up with Ahsoka despite his distinct lack of being a Jedi, and the greatest lesson the US Army taught me "cheat like a motherf-r" (yes, that is literally how my drill Sgt put it). Ghes wasn't lying when he said there's no "fair fights" in war, you pull every dirty, cheap, and/or dishonest trick you can to win. Now that's something Mando'ade understand that most Jedi never will.

That's it for this week. As always, favorite/follow if you enjoyed and leave a review if you have anything to say.

Oh, and next week we get to talk about one of my favorite TCW stories. I can't wait…