-Sadie-

"Nice to meet you, Darin Darin Kravhenn."

He smiled slightly. "Great. Someone like me."

He looked at the guy sitting against the wall. "I was expecting to be paired with him."

"Well, you got an upgrade."

"I hope so."

We walked to a table and sat opposite each other. We each placed our masks on the table.

I'm slightly hesitant of him. His color scheme seems to be black on black on black, which is not a very appealing combination. It's so dark. It gives him a kind of "lone wolf" vibe, which isn't a good thing. We need to work together to survive.

His armor gave the only pop of color. And by pop of color I mean they were a really dark grey. I studied his mask. It was the same color as his armor. The design was Mandalorian, which was odd because he most definitely was not Mandalorian. His whole thing seemed to be intimidation. That's a problem. If he relies on intimidation, then how good is he really?

"Where'd you get the armor?"

He smiled. "Kinda figured you'd recognize it's style. Its not Beskar though."

Damn politician. "You didn't answer my question."

"It was here on my first day. Guy in the armor got caught in a defoliator blast. Armor was fine. He wasn't. I took it."

I nodded. Kinda dark, but made sense.

He suddenly leaned down all serious like. "Which events have you done?"

"Tank Takedown, Clanker Cleanup, Mist Monster, the general 1v1, you know. You?"

He ignored my question. I was liking this guy less and less. "Why? You seem worried."

"Bebo gave us the Gauntlet."

"WHAT?! NONONONONONONO."

"He's paying triple."

"I DON'T CARE! THAT'S SUICIDE!"

"People survive it."

"The elite warriors survive it. WE AREN'T ELITE!" HOW THE HELL IS HE SO CALM ABOUT THIS?

"If we don't do it, we'll be banned and possibly hunted down."

"You're not hearing me. It's suicide!"

"There are patterns."

I laughed. Patterns. That was the most stupid thing I've ever heard. "It's random! The spectators get to choose what we do. How can there possibly be a pattern?!"

"They vote between options. Options Bebo chooses. This allows us to maximize the probability."

"It's your funeral."

I grabbed my helmet and got out of the chair.

"It's not the Mandalorian way to quit."

I stopped and turned around. "I'm sorry?"

"Mandalorian code of honor. You lose your honor and disgrace your family name if they learn of this."

I slammed my hands on the table. "You know nothing of Mandalorian custom. And you don't know me. I don't care if I lose my place. I left them years ago."

He seemed unfazed by the anger in my voice. "Yet you lived in that society for a long time, did you not? I can tell from the slight accent. It is part of you. Whether you want to admit it or not."

I hated him. I hated his face. I hated the tone of his voice. But most of all I hated that he was right. And he knew it. I wanted to punch him so badly.

"If we work together, we can study the patterns and trends. The Gauntlet runs last. We have time to prepare."

I stared angrily at him.

"We can survive this."

I tried so hard to say no, but I caved. "Fine. I'll do it."

The next few hours went by painfully slowly. PAINFULLY slowly. It wasn't really Darin's fault. I have fire in my blood.

After what seemed like eons, it was time for the Gauntlet. We both stood outside the doors of the arena.

Suddenly I thought of something. I reached into a pocket and grabbed a chip.

"Here. Gimme your helmet."

Darin looked at me with confusion, but gave it to me. I placed it in the helmet and gave it back. "Now we can communicate through the helmet."

He nodded. "Good thinking."

We stood there and waited. Finally, I heard the announcer.

"LADIES AND GENTLEMEN! WE'VE ALL SEEN SOME FANTASTIC BATTLES TONIGHT, BUT IT IS TIME FOR A REAL TREAT. IT IS TIME FOR THE GAUNTLET!" Cheering erupted through the stadium. "AS YOU ALL KNOW, THE GAUNTLET IS CHOSEN BY YOU, FOR YOU. AND TONIGHT IS NO EXCEPTION. FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE UNFAMILIAR WITH THIS, THE GAUNTLET IS FOUR ROUNDS. EACH ROUND IS RANDOM. THE SELECTION IS BASED ON WHAT WE HAVE IN STOCK, SO EVERY DAY CAN BE SOMETHING NEW. EACH ROUND IS EXTREMELY DANGEROUS. THIS IS NOT SOMETHING YOU WANT TO TRY AT HOME." A slight chuckle could be heard rumbling through the audience. "THOSE WHO ARE CHOSEN FOR THE GAUNTLET ARE SOME OF OUR MOST ELITE. THIS IS THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE FOR THEM. THEY WILL GAIN GLORY AND FAME… OR DIE. ON THAT HAPPY NOTE, IT IS TIME TO PRESENT THE DUO WHO IS TAKING ON THE GAUNTLET TONIGHT. THE FIRST IS A RATHER NEW FIGHTER WHO HAS PROVEN HERSELF AS BEING MORE THAN CAPABLE IN A FIREFIGHT. SHE'S A FEISTY MANDALORIAN FIGHTER WHO MAKES DEADLY USE OF EVERYTHING IN HER ARSENAL.. I PRESENT TO YOU, SADIE WREN!" The doors opened and I stepped into the arena. Thunderous applause rang through the stands.

"AND FOR HER PARTNER, WE HAVE A LEGEND IN THE ARENA. ONE OF THE GREATEST TO STEP FOOT. IN HIS LAST ATTEMPT ON THE GAUNTLET, HE LOST HIS PARTNER IN THE THIRD ROUND. IN THE FOURTH ROUND, HE SINGLE HANDEDLY TOOK DOWN 50 GAMORREAN GUARDS AND A RANCOR!"

No way. HE was the one who soloed the Rancor?

"HIS APPEARANCES IN THE ARENA ARE RARE, BUT ALWAYS EXHILARATING. I PRESENT TO YOU, DARIN KRAVHENN!"

He calmly stepped out and stared at the wall, seemingly oblivious to the hoards of screaming people.

I spoke through the helmet. "Testing testing."

"I read ya."

"Why didn't you tell me you're the Rancor guy?"

"If I did, you wouldn't listen during the probability stuff."

He had a point. "You know, I really didn't listen anyways."

He laughed. "I figured. You fell asleep a few times."

"Why do you rarely battle? You could make a lot more credits if you participated more often."

"I hate fighting in the arena. There's no cause. I only do it out of necessity."

"I know what you mean."

"FOR THE FIRST ROUND, YOU GUYS VOTED, AND THEY WILL BE GETTING A BOX OF RANDOM WEAPONS!"

A box dropped into the middle of the arena. Darin sighed. "Could be worse."

"Could be better."

"THEY'LL NEED TO MAKE EVERY WEAPON COUNT IN THIS ROUND. TO START OFF THE CHALLENGE, OUR TWO FIGHTERS WILL BE TAKING ON A DRAGON SLUG!"

"You faced these before?"

"No never. But we went over these. Remember what I said!"

I didn't remember. I had no idea.

"No. I don't remember."

"NATIVE TO HOTH AND CORULAG, THESE SLUGS CAN GROW TO BE ABOUT 20 METERS ON AVERAGE. THEY HAVE ARMORED SKIN AND CAN BREATHE FIRE!"

I heard a disgusting squelchy screech coming from the other side. The slug was being brought to the doors. We ran to the middle to check out the weapons. Darin grabbed a circular shield. I grabbed for a large repeater cannon, but he stopped me.

"Those shots won't pierce it's skin. And it's not very mobile." He reached for a bowcaster and tossed it to me. "This baby packs a punch. Don't try to blind it. It's eyes are vestigial."

"What the hell does that mean?"

"It means they're useless."

I nodded as if I understood. Why it would have eyes that were useless is beyond me. "What about you?"

He lifted the shield. "This is all I get. I'm counting on you to do the damage. I'm distracting it."

"You're suicidal."

"Suicidal, strategic, same difference."

I heard the door open and got my first real look at the slug. It was a horrid green thing with an opening on one end that I assumed was a mouth. Over the mouth hole were two beady dots that I assumed were its eyes. The rest was just a big squishy mess. It squealed at the top of its lungs. The high pitched noise will probably haunt me in my worst nightmares. It wriggled into the arena, and the door was closed. It then began to snake its disgusting body toward us.

"FLY!"

He didn't need to tell me twice. I kicked my jetpack into gear and soared far above the action. I watched as Darin calmly unsheathed his sword and watched as the beast came at him.

No wonder he was a hit. He was nuts.

The slug lifted itself off the ground like a cobra and squealed directly at Darin in an attempt to intimidate him. Darin calmly pointed his sword at it. The slug drew it's head back and unleashed a torrent of flames. A devastating wave of fire consumed the arena.

"Shoot. Now!"

I had no idea if he was still alive. I couldn't imagine how he could have managed that. Maybe I was hearing voices. Whatever it was, it sounded like a pretty good idea. I aimed for a spot between it's tiny little eyes on top of its head and fired.

The bowcaster kicked like no gun I'd ever used before. The shot hit the giant booger right where it was supposed to. It aimed its head towards me and started blowing its white hot flames in my direction. I could feel it licking on my heels as I barely dodged the inferno. I glanced down and noticed that the stupid bastard was not just alive, but running at the slug. His sword and shield were glowing bright red. He looked kind of like the Sith in those silly propaganda movies the Order makes. As I kept dodging more fire, I watched as he ran up the side of the slug, who felt this and turned its attention towards him. It began bucking wildly in an attempt to get Darin off. With the elegance of a tightrope walker, he maneuvered up the slug until he reached the little hole in its armor that I created. He plunged the sword in the soft spot, quickly pulled it out, and jumped off.

It let out a deafening scream. After a few seconds of writhing on the floor and screaming, it started quivering and, finally stopped. A crew of people came out of the doors and started dragging the body away.

I dropped to the ground next to Darin. "How'd you know that you'd survive the fire?"

He shrugged. "I didn't."

"You're insane."

"Good. Nice shot."

"Thanks."

"WHAT A SPECTACULAR PERFORMANCE! THE DRAGON SLUG WAS NO MATCH FOR OUR TWO HEROES!"

"We're heroes now?"

"He wants to make us look better so our deaths are more glorious."

"Ah."

"THE SECOND ROUND WILL BE MUCH MORE CHALLENGING. FOR THE EXTRA, YOU VOTED, AND THE HEROES WILL BE FACING 50 GAMORREAN GUARDS ALONG WITH THE MAIN EVENT. SPEAKING OF WHICH OUR HEROES WILL BE FACING TWO RATHTARS!"

Darin suddenly started laughing.

"What's so funny?"

"The Gamorreans are usually a negative. But here they will help. This is one of the dumbest groupings I've ever seen."

Why this is so funny, I don't know. Smokey Joe must have some screws loose.

"FOR THOSE WHO LIVE UNDER A BRIDGE, THE RATHTAR IS A CARNIVOROUS CEPHALOPOD THAT IS WIDELY REGARDED AS ONE OF THE MOST DANGEROUS BEASTS IN THE GALAXY. THESE PACK HUNTERS ARE SINGLE HANDEDLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TRILLIA MASSACRE. THEY HAVE MULTIPLE POINTED TENTACLES WITH STICKY PADS THAT THEY USE TO GRAB PREY AND STUFF IT INTO ITS RAVENOUS MOUTH, WHICH IS LINED WITH ROWS OF RAZOR SHARP TEETH. POSSESSING INCREDIBLE STRENGTH AND SPEED, THESE MONSTERS ARE HEAVILY RESISTANT TO BLASTER FIRE AND MOST OTHER WEAPONRY. OUR BRAVE WARRIORS WILL NEED TO COME UP WITH ALTERNATE METHODS OF DAMAGING THE BEASTS."

"You ever faced one?"

"No."

"Well do you have a plan?"

Darin looked at me. "Do YOU have a plan?"

"You're the master."

"No. I've managed not to die yet."

"Same thing, really."

The doors on the other side opened, and 50 Gamorrean guards ran out.

"That's… a lot more than I thought."

He snickered. "That's what I thought too."

I watched as the Gamorreans charged towards us. I started running at them, but a hand shot out and stopped me.

"Don't. Wait."

I knocked his hand away angrily, but stayed put. "Don't do that again."

A deep rumbling could be felt through the arena. A horrid shrieking came from the other side. The Gamorreans faltered, then started running our way again, this time with terror in their ugly pig faces.

"We use the Gamorreans. Blasters are ineffective. Grab an axe when you can. I'll try to get you one as well."

Sounded solid. "What do we slice?"

"Haven't thought that far yet."

I saw the two ugly balls roll into the arena and… unravel. Their tentacles flew out and their screaming filled the arena as they began grabbing the Gamorreans and stuffing them into their mouths.

"THINK FASTER!"

"The tentacles. Cut the tentacles. That should immobilize them." He sprinted in the direction of the rathtars.

"Should?!" Great. I wanted to stay as far away from these things as possible.

I sprinted after him. Probably a bad idea. Dude wanted to die.

"Hold back. Shoot anything that tries to kill me. And try not to shoot me."

"No promises."

I slowed down and watched as he ran right at the closest rathtar. They'd managed to loosely corner the Gamorreans and were picking them off one by one. I finally noticed what he was trying to get. About 2 meters away from one of the rathtars lay a couple axes the Gamorreans had dropped. Quickly darting through the tentacles, he slid on the ground, grabbed an axe, and sprinted back to me. One of the rathtars noticed him and began trying to catch him. I aimed the bowcaster and fired a few times. Each shot hit a tentacle. They recoiled just enough for him to slip through and run back to me. A brave Gamorrean tried to attack the rathtar, which pulled its attention off of Darin. That brave piggy died heroically. He reached me and dropped the axe.

"Took you long enough."

He ignored me and tried to catch his breath. I picked up the axe. Thing was heavier than I imagined. There was no way that I could wield the damn thing.

"Uhmm, Darin?"

He glanced at me and shook his head.

"I already figured that out. I'll use that." He pulled out his sword and gave it to me. "You'll use this."

I took the sword. It was made with Beskar and was very well balanced. I swung it around a few times to test it out. It was really light and easy to use. "I don't know how to use a sword."

"You know how to aim for something?"

"Yea."

"You know how to swing your arm up and down?"

"Yes."

"That's all you need to know. You don't have to be a Jedi."

Makes sense.

"I think I'll keep it."

"Like hell you are."

He grabbed the axe and started walking towards the rathtars. Our time was up. The last Gamorreans squealed as they were stuffed into the rathtars gaping mouths. They turned to us. I noticed that a few of the tentacles were partly gone. I guess the Gamorreans had the same idea Darin did. Hopefully we would fare better.

The rathtars came at us with surprising speed.

"Get ready!"

I grabbed the sword and ran at them.

"What are you doing?!"

"I learn from the best." Hopefully he would follow along.

The rathtars stopped and shot out their tentacles at me. I dodged them and started chopping the tentacles off. I was doing really well. Maybe there was a method to Darin's madness.

I heard something whizz behind me, followed by liquid spilling all over my back and a horrific shriek. Then a shield flew in front of me and smacked the rathtar in the head.

"Get out of there!"

I flew up and surveyed the arena. A rathtar had managed to sneak up behind me. All of its tentacles were lopped off. An axe was on the wall, glistening with rathtar blood. The other rathtar was chasing Darin, who was running towards the corner where the Great Gamorrean Massacre took place.

"It's time for a plunging attack."

"A what?"

"Drop on the rathtar coming at me and bury the sword in the head."

"But it's moving. How do I…"

I saw him get grabbed by the rathtar. Why. Why does he do this.

Here goes nothing. I flew directly at the rathtar, cut the jetpack, and stabbed it. The sword went hilt deep into its head. Its tentacles went limp and Darin scrambled out and ran to the axes. He picked one up, spun around twice, and let go. It went clean through the second rathtar, killing it instantly. I pulled the sword out of the head and gave it to Darin, blood and all.

"I'm starting to think you enjoy almost dying."

"I'm an adrenaline junkie." He wiped the sword on his pant leg, smearing the blood all over his leg. Gross.

"FANTASTIC DISPLAY! I DARE SAY THESE TWO MAY BE INVINCIBLE! BUT MAYBE THE THIRD ROUND WILL PROVE TO BE MORE CHALLENGING. FOR THE EXTRA, YOU HAVE DECIDED THAT THE ARENA WILL BE COVERED IN A DENSE FOG! A PERFECT PLACE TO HIDE FOR THE HUNTER… AND THE PREY. AND WHO WILL THEIR HUNTERS BE? WELL, WE HAVE A PACK OF VORNSKR!"

"Oh no."

I glanced at Darin. This was the first time I sensed any fear in him. Rathtars, nothing. Dragon slug, nothing. But… these?

"THE VORNSKR ARE NOT VERY INTIMIDATING AT FIRST. STANDING AT ABOUT ONE METER TALL AND TWO METERS LONG, THESE PACK HUNTERS ARE KNOWN FOR BEING VICIOUS PREDATORS IN THEIR HABITATS! CAPABLE OF RUNNING AT INCREDIBLE SPEED, THEY LEAVE NO CHANCE OF ESCAPE. AND HOW DO THEY FIND THEIR PREY? WELL, WHILE THEIR SENSES OF SMELL AND SIGHT ARE MORE THAN CAPABLE, THEY ARE ALSO ABLE TO SENSE THE FORCE IN OTHER BEINGS, ALLOWING THEM TO PICK APART THEIR PREY WITH FANTASTIC EFFICIENCY!"

The arena began filling with fog.

"Sadie." He was definitely shaken. "Sadie I need you to trust me here. Do everything as I say and don't doubt me."

"What's gotten over you? Afraid of a couple little puppies?" I elbowed him playfully. "Come on, this'll be easy."

He grabbed my arm. Hard. "This isn't funny. It'll be easy for you. I'm taking the heat here. The whole pack is gonna hunt for me."

What? "Didn't you hear the guy? They'll split up. We'll both get six. Easy."

He shook his head. "No. Nonono. All will go for me."

"Why? You're not that great of a catch."

"I'll explain later. Do your gauntlets shoot flames?"

"Duh."

The door on the other side began opening. I have to admit, the silence was unnerving.

"We need to stick together. Back to back."

I sighed. "Fiiiiiiiiiine."

An orchestra of howls filled the arena.

"They've found us."

"How do you know?" I noticed shadows starting to darken in the fog. "Don't answer that." The shadows slowly got bigger. One, two, three, four, five. So there must be seven behind me.

"Flamethrower."

I pointed the flamethrower at the shadows and let loose. The shadows darted away. I turned and shot a net to slow a few of them for Darin. He quickly took them down. Two down. I turned and found three of them trying to sneak up on me. As soon as they realized I knew where they were they retreated. I managed to shoot one in the leg.

"How's it going?"

"Not well."

I turned and saw that six of them were surrounding him. Before I could do anything, one of them jumped in between us, knocking me backwards. I saw the vornskr start to attack Darin, who managed to parry them off and injure a few. Before I could help, I felt a weight slam into my back, knocking me to the ground. Two more jumped on me. I struggled to get them off, but they had me pinned down. Their claws dug into any exposed skin as they tried to rip my armor off and tear me apart.

I couldn't breathe. I couldn't move. This is it. This is where I die.

Out of nowhere, the three vornskr were thrown off of me as if they got hit by a transport ship. I struggled up and grabbed my blasters. The vornskr were disoriented. This was my chance. A few shots and the three were dead. I turned around. Darin was drowning in vornskr. They were all over him. I don't know how he was still standing. He had lost his sword and was punching the vornskr. I couldn't use my flamethrower or else I'd burn Darin. But if I used the blasters I might hit him. It was clear that he would lose if I didn't help. I raised my blaster and trusted my gut. I quickly pulled the triggers.

The shots hit their targets. Every one. The vornskr dropped like flies around him. I let him scramble out of the pile, then I finished the job.

"You look like keck." He really did. His clothes were in tatters and his armor was cracked in some areas. His helmet had a massive gash in it. I could see part of his face through the hole. He was covered in blood. His face, arms, legs.

"You don't look so great yourself."

I looked down and realized that I was also bleeding. I just didn't look nearly as bad as he did. The fog began dissipating.

"INCREDIBLE! THEY SURVIVED ANOTHER ROUND. THOUGH NOT UNSCATHED, I MUST SAY. FOR OUR FINAL ROUND, THERE IS NO EXTRA. IT IS DIFFICULT ENOUGH AS IS. BEBO HAS BEEN ABLE TO SNAG A REAL TREAT. THEY WILL BE FACING A TAC!"

"What's a TAC?"

"War weapon."

"THE TAC IS A TOP OF THE LINE WEAPON THE ORDER USES IN THE WAR AGAINST THE SA. WE'RE NOT HERE FOR GALACTIC POLITICS THOUGH. WE'RE HERE FOR BATTLE! I DO NOT BELIEVE I NEED TO GIVE AN EXPLANATION HERE. I WILL LET ITS PERFORMANCE IN THE ARENA SPEAK FOR ITSELF!"

"So we get to fight a tank. Fantastic."

"It's not as overpowered as they make it out to be."

"You've faced it before?"

"No. But I've studied it. It has a weakness."

"Perfect. What is it?"

"Wasn't able to figure that out yet."

"Well that's just great."

The TAC walked into the arena, and my heart did a little tap-dance. The thing was massive. It had short thick metal legs, a huge laser on top of it, and plenty of blasters on it.

Darin pulled out his blaster and a few little attachments and gave it to me.

"It has a weak point somewhere. Use this."

I looked at the blaster. He'd turned his blaster into a rifle. That's awesome. I've gotta get me one of these.

The TAC started to slowly make its way toward us. It aimed its laser at us and fired. I flew up to dodge it and began scoping out the TAC. It started blasting at us with its anti-infantry turrets. I had to keep moving in order to not die. This made scoping out the tank a bit of a challenge. A quick glance told me that Darin wasn't faring much better. He was rolling all over the place. A blaster bolt grazed my shoulder and I dropped the gun. I tried to dive to grab it but blaster fire cut me off.

Wait a minute. "Darin, do the turrets move?"

"About 135 degrees." He paused. "Don't try it. There aren't any blind spots."

Shoot.

"I'm gonna scan it with my helmet."

"You can do that?"

"Yea. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Just scan it."

A quick scan showed what I already guessed. It had really really good armor.

Wait a second.

"The weakest points are at the joints. When they're exposed, you'll have a shot. Lemme show you."

I locked onto the areas. They'll stay scanned for a bit. I transmitted the info to Darin's helmet.

"Woah woah woah. Wait. Ok. I see it!"

I began trying to attract as much attention as possible to get blaster fire on me so Darin had a clean shot. Unfortunately, it worked a little too well. I was being swarmed. I really hope Darin doesn't take his time. I'm getting cornered. Too much longer and I would be fried.

Suddenly, the TAC erupted in a ball of fire. I dropped to the ground and tried to avoid the flaming debris that was raining down like confetti. Darin was holding his blaster. He glanced at me and smiled. "Didn't I ask you to use this?"

"I strategically dropped it knowing you would need it." I looked at the burning wreckage. "Why the enormous fireball?"

"I found the weakness. One of the exposed points gives a straight shot to the fuel tank." We jumped as a hunk of metal as big as I was dropped right in between us

"THEY DID IT! OUR VALIANT FIGHTERS HAVE TAKEN DOWN A TAC! THEY'VE SUCCEEDED WHERE THOUSANDS HAVE FAILED! THEY HAVE CONQUERED THE GAUNTLET!"

We did it. Holy keck.

"THIS HAS BEEN A TREMENDOUS PERFORMANCE! WHAT A FINALE! I HOPE EVERYBODY HAS A GOOD NIGHT AND WE WILL SEE YOU NEXT WEEK!" People began filing out of the arena.

"Oh man. We did it. We did it! We did it!"

Darin just looked at me and smiled. "Yea we did. Come on." We left through the same doors we entered through. A Twi'lek greeted us. "Congratulations on your victory!"

"Thanks. Hey. Tell Bebo that the cut changed. Make it 25-75." The Twi'lek nodded and walked to the side to talk to Bebo.

I looked at Darin in surprise. He looked at me and smiled. "Consider it a signing bonus. You've more than earned it."

I was speechless. This was the last thing I expected.

"I… I don't know what to say. Thank you. Thank you so much."

"No problem."

"Ahem." The Twi'lek was back. "Bebo has requested your presence. Please leave your weapons here."

I glanced at Darin. He looked just as confused as I did. Bebo never asked to see people.

He put his sword and blasters in his locker. I followed suit and put my blasters in my locker.

"Alright. Let's go." We followed the Twi'lek to the lift.