40 ABY Selen The Citadel Training Hall
Nestled in the Citadel’s lower levels to complement its many facilities is a fully equipped training hall. The large room was vaulted fifteen meters, with duracrete pillars lining the four corners to provide support for the structure. The high ceiling allowed for a secondary level which found its use as an observation deck and a glass made out of transparisteel to protect the ones viewing. On the main level of the arena-like gym, training dummies were lining the walls adjacent to the entrance, its wall encompassing the length of twenty meters, about ten on either side. Between the dummies was a large black mat made out of canvas plastic and impact-absorbing foam. On the wall opposite the entrance, there was a weapons rack holding non-lethal staffs, swords, and stun guns. Though meant non-lethal weaponry, there was always the option to bring lethal weaponry to a controlled fight and more rigorous training.
Such was the case of one Avery Erinos Watson. The man was confronted by a disgruntled Rrogon Skar to put his new skills to the test. Not just a test, Avery was determined to become a better fight and ultimately, a better man. Based on the little he knew of the Kaleesh, this was a fight that was not for the faint of heart and would probably leave both wounded. As a precaution, Avery was fully dressed in his navy blue-colored Mandalorian armor, adorned by his many tools and gadgets and of course, his guns. There were grueling tests that he was subjected to by Jax that were ultimately meant to break him down and build him into a refined soldier. Between his first training and knowledge, he had successfully laid waste to several enemies and, much to his dismay, committed a murder. One he was not proud of, yet the deed was done.
Standing on the mat, he peered through his helmet at the mostly cybernetic Kaleesh who was wearing a matte black Iron Legion armor set. The Kaleesh was prepared for a battle… To Avery, he looked like he was in the battle. They agreed that the Human would be a better warrior and the Kaleesh, of few words, simply shook his hand and nodded. That left the Mandalorian to guess what kind of strikes and provocations his opponent would use.
Unbeknownst to Avery, there were spectators behind the shielded double-sided glass. Because of the digital ions, they were a sheet of obsidian to the performers. Only Rrogon knowledge of the present onlookers.
From behind his helmet the Kaleesh gave a cursory glance to the double-sided glass that overlooked the traning floor, he knew who would be watching and lightly moderating the fight. Some were there as a precaution in case the Sith down below got to out of hand. Others were there for medical reasons to look after the two once the training had been completed. One however was there for his own curiosity to see how the aftermath of the fight would play out.
His cold gaze moved from the obsidian like glass and down where it finaly settled on Avery, the Kaleesh’s battle worn eyes moved over the mans posture, his amour how it fitted him. The dimly glowing eyes of the Sith took in the measure of the Human before him.
He found him lacking in his own opinion. While the amour fit and suited him well, there was a air about the Major that the Kaleesh disproved of. The Battlemaster knee he has been in combat before, he had read the reports, along with the other information he had gathered or been given, yes Avery had killed many times even most recently in cold blood. But dispite this there was no readiness to him no tension in his stance.
In the breif assessment the Sith had Avery Waston was not a warrior to the Kaleesh. He was still inexperienced and undisciplined, but these things would come with time Skar knew this. He had been in the Humans shoes at one point he remembered it well. But for the Major to be leading Qel-droma inexperienced as he was, it gave the Sith pause. He was unsure if war came again which the Sith knew it would, it always did, if the Arcona Adlie standing before him would have what it takes to achieve victory.
In this revlialtion the Kaleesh decided on a test, the days traning had already been planed in the Sith mind but how to start was the last piece in the grand sceam of things. Taking a tighter grip of the beskar spear in his hand he slung it over his shoulder where it clipped magnetically to the amour he wore. Striding forward the Kaleesh spoke as he walked.
“Come here I want to inspect your equipment before we begin in ernest today.” He said his voice modulator causing his voice to be more robotic and harsh then it normally was ment to be.
“Ooo he’s inspecting his equipment,” Socorra leaned over and nearly giggled to Eevie as they watched from behind the glass. “Who dressed Ave anyway, he missing codpiece. I thought he wanted kids?”
Ruka, being Ruka, rolled his eyes.
Eevie gave Socorra a slight smirk at her statement.
“Mind yourself there Socorra. Looking is free, touching will cost ya.”
A dark brow raised and she fully turned to the Sephi. “He charging now? Eevie no! Don’t, don’t do that. I find you someone good, no worry okay? And I beat Ave’s shebs in til he pay you back.”
Socorra grumbled under her breath. “Kark everything about that. Di'kut should be paying us just for put up with him.”
Eevie turned to Socorra, an astonished look in her face. She stepped forward and embraced Socorra.
“Why can’t us ladies be this supportive of eachother more often. No more breaking the bonds of Sisterhood!”
The Human man raised a curious brow as the Kaleesh holstered his spear. Avery’s hand flinched toward his gun, resting on the holstered weapon. One of the few things he learned from his training from Jax that stuck was that he was never to let his guard down, this distinctly felt like one of those moments. There was still a marginal chance that Rrogon was being truthful and desiring to inspect his armor but that was a chance he was not willing to take.
“I have inspected it well enough, thank you.” Though his words were meant to be friendly, they too were delivered brusquely. Through his helmet, he looked at the armored battlelord, trying to detect any signs of deception. If there were any, Avery couldn’t tell. He inhaled and in a moment he assumed a battle ready postion, and drew his Striker pistol and fired a shot at the war-seasoned Kaleesh’s knee.
In a flash of speed unexpected from the Kaleesh his hand shot up to the spear on his back unslinging it and bringing it to bear. With a twirl of his hand the shaft of pure beskar flowed downward and intercepted the slugthrower round.
The two metals collided with a sharp crack as the bullet was deflected harmlessly to the side and into the traning matt on the ground. Not giving the Major a second to think the Sith lurched forward his doers spinning again bringing the leaf shaped blade forward to leave it hovering centimeters away from the unarmored throat of the Major in front of him.
“Good it is wise to be untrusting, but if you are going to shoot someone then always shoot kill not wound.” He hissed whirling the spear around again slamming the blunt hand of the shaft into the the chest piece of the Qel-droma Adile driving him back a few paces.
The Mandalorian stumbled back, nearly losing his balance, his heart rate ticked from the sudden movements of the Kaleesh. He reeled back creating some distance between himself and Skar, not taking his eyes off of him. Now bout five meters away, he began to circle Rrogon in a defensive position, surprisingly quick as he counted down the seconds left before he could fire another round.
“Shoot to kill? What for? If your enemy is incapacitated, they are no longer a threat to you… There’s no need for needless murder.” His helmet’s built-in modulator helped to prevent his voice from being muffled.
Hazel-green eyes narrowed through the darkened visor of his helmet. Avery wholeheartedly disagreed with the Battlelord. “Everyone makes mistakes. Everyone deserves a second chance.”
“No need for senseless murder you say.” Purred the Kaleesh his grip on his spear never loosening as he kept it in a defensive position.
“Bold words coming from someone who just beat another man to death, what was his name oh yes Cin Zvar’atta, a slaver who stole your new fancy and tortured her.” Spat the Sith his words dripping with venom.
“Dont try and be all high and mighty with me kid, in war and battle its kill or be killed nothing more and nothing less. Alow me to tell you what would have happened if he had lived. He would have escaped maybe not in a few weeks but in time he would get out.” The Kaleesh said continuing to turn his eyes never leaving the humans body.
“He would have gotten out and tracked you and Eevie down, he would have tortured you both slowly. He would have raped her and made you watch hapless to do anything but struggle in vain.” There was truth in the Sith voice he had witnessed it many times during his years as a slave himself.
“And when both of you are truly broken truly betten down, then he would grant you death. I’ve seen it before boy you dont know what kinda things those people will do to get there point across when crossed so what you killed a slaver, you killed him in cold blood beat him down untill he was unrecognizable.” Taunted the Sith his body tensing for his next attack
“If felt good didnt it!” He spat lurching forward again using the superior reach of his spear to sweep at the mans feet hoping to knock him down.
The first thought that crossed his mind was; how? Cin’s death was only known to a few people and even if extra people knew of the evil Falleen’s death, Avery was not eager to take credit. All of that was followed by a chill down his spine. The grotesque descriptions of what might have happened to Eevie again…
Hidden behind his helmet was an angered expression, his jaw taught and all of his muscles tensed. So tensed that he failed to move his feet in time from the Kaleesh’s sweeping spear which cleanly knocked him to the floor like a loose stack of building blocks.
Thinking quickly, he rolled to one side before lunging back to his feet.
There was a shake of his head at Skar’s claim.
“No. I have no memory of how it happened either. I just know that…” His head dipped slightly as he recalled the memory of the carnage and blood but nothing before that point. “It was me.”
Pushing the horrid thought away, he began to circle Rrogon again, looking for an opening to attack. He sprang into a sprint with no clear entry, hands in a defensive position as he looked to tackle the skilled Kaleesh.
The Sith snarled as the human rolled to his feet a bit faster then the Kaleesh had expected him to. That was good it showed he had more fight in him than he gave himself credit for. But as Avery spoke the small grin that had began to form under the helmet disappeared, and then turn into a frown.
He has no memory of ot does he,well we can fix that. The Juggernaut thought to himself a light bounce to his step as he got into the grove of the battle even as the Major before him began to sprint his way. It was a move of desperation in his eyes as well trained and seasoned as he was.
Rrogon waited until the human was right on top of him to strike weaving his spear like a silent strike to slam just under the beltline where the amour was weakest. It slammed home with a resounding crack dropping the human with a groan as he crumpled to the floor in a heep.
Taking his chance he this dropped to the floor with him planting his not so inconsiderable bulk and wight onto the Majors back with his own armoured knee driving the breath from him. His free hand reached out and grabbed the back of Avery’s helmet. Removing it was a swift yank before tossing it to the side and returning once more to grab a fist full of hair.
“Dont remember do you, well I can fix that!” Snalred the Sith as he reached out with the force for the first time in this fight and clamped down on the humans mind.
Socks’ eye widened and she stiffened slightly at the sudden embrace. It made her very aware of everything in that moment; who was there, where they were, the exits, holocams, every single weapon and shadow seen and unseen.
It was a prime opportunity to be shanked.
The woman still did not know the Sephi much at all other than their very brief interaction at the social was fun and far too short. But Eevie seemed sincere; Socks could sense no hostility, although maybe a smidge of veiled territorial warning behind a double entendre.
Socorra eventually raised an arm and awkwardly hugged back. pat pat
“What is ‘Sisterhood?’ Someting while I was gone?”
Pain shot from his lower region and though this was not a foreign sensation, whenever a hit did land, the ache was always just as acute.
Cool air rushed over Avery’s face as his helmet was belligerently removed followed by the yanking of his hair—neither of which was enough to distract him from the shooting pain coming from below his belt.
That would be the next and most urgent addition to his armor set.
Before he was aware of his surroundings again something plowed into his mind like ten tons of duracrete.
In a moment, he was transfigured into a cell, a place he dreaded since the time unjustly being thrown into one. Only when the scene materialized before him did he understand— did he register the words that Skar uttered.
“…well I can fix that!”
Before him was a bloodied and beaten Cin Zvar’atta. The Falleen’s green skin and features were unmistakable. The man had inflicted horrors unimaginable on innocent souls as a herder and slaver. His misdeeds extended to someone he called a friend and so was taken personally by the new Mandalorian. Avery vehemently abhorred him and wanted to keep him locked away to rot, though… that was not how the events unfolded.
Now a passenger— no prisoner— to his own memory he watched, his gaze fixed on a version of himself he chose not to recognize or associate with. The slightly younger version of himself had hunched shoulders and an expression that even he could not recognize. It was of anger and hatred. A close look at his knuckles revealed that some blows had already been delivered to the slaver.
*Cin’s tooth came flying out of his mouth as his wild eyes inspected the Human. Even bloodied and helpless the evil man, his eyes crazed, made extra effort to bury his verbal talons beneath Avery’s skin.
“That girl,” he began, the Falleen’s voice raspy, breathy even. “She would’ve been the perfect tool. I would’ve used her to take her family’s assets. But she found this strong will to defy me. It was beautiful. I had to destroy her though. Couldn’t have my men seeing such a worthless creature go against my wishes could I? Would’ve been bad for business.”
Avery was silently pacing, his expression tense. The green-skinned man’s gaze watched each of his movements, a glint in his eyes and a crooked smirk on his battered lips.
“She used to be such a pure thing. To be honest I’m surprised I held it as long as I did. The first time I took her to my bed, she was so afraid. She fought back. I had to show her who was boss quite a few times. How did it feel when you screwed her? Happy to have my sloppy seconds?“
In an instant, Avery’s expression became more unrecognizable, the entirety of his pupil consuming his iris as he entered a rage. Hearing him speak was grating enough. Though to hear him speak of Eevie that way sent him into a murderous abyss.
One of his hands wrapped around the Falleen’s neck, and squeezed until he could feel the life draining from Cin. He stopped just shy of the Falleen passing out then dragged him by the collar of his shirt, slamming him into it with all his might. Cin, at this point, was completely unconscious, which should have given the Human pause before continuing. It did not.
His chest rose and fell rapidly before he tossed the Falleen’s body to the ground and made haste to use Zvar’atta’s face as a punching bag. Crack after crack There was a gurgle from the unconscious form as he continued until the sad excuse for a face was left. After that, Avery pushed himself off the corpse, panting. His expression resumed to something less… hostile into a pitiful gaze, a crease forming in the middle of his brow as he stared at the carnage and then his hands. Numbly, he found a place on his shirt to try to wipe away the excess blood without success. As much as he hated Cin, this was not the way he wanted to see the man die, let alone be the culprit for such an act.
Some hope lingered as he checked for the creature’s vital signs with blood-covered hands. He rose to his feet and left the cell, a distant expression on his face as he fought to maintain some semblance of composure. A scene that gruesome would have normally caused him some kind of mental discomfort and empathy toward the victim. The only thing he was sorrowful about was his self-image and how others would perceive him for committing such an act.*
Tearing away from the Kaleesh’s grasp, Avery gasped, feeling like his armor was suffocating him. His hand gripped the collar and pulled in an attempt to gain more air. Surveying his opponent, the Mandalorian shook his head.
“That’s… that’s not how I wanted it to be. He didn’t have to die.”
Eevie grinned at Socorra’s question. She loved having close ladies as friends, and she always wanted a sister, so having Clan members like this was a dream come true for the Sephi.
Letting the woman go, she watched the interaction between the two fighters. She heard the conversation and knew that it was about him…about Cin. She couldn’t help but speak out.
“I know he’s dead. I just wish I could’ve seen it. Everything he did to me. Everything he put me through. I wish I’d been there.”
As Eevie spoke Socorra grew quiet and then she listened to the males talking below, the vile words spitting from Skar’s mouth of what a slaver had done and would have done to Eevie, and all the reasons why Avery had murdered him. The Sith woman knew exactly what Skar was going to do next.
Instead of shying away as others would, she stepped in even closer, her head tilting slightly as through the Force she intruded on Skar’s mind. Socorra stayed like that during the entire recounting, probing little by little, layer by layer, finding not just Avery’s memory but so many of Skar’s. Not that she meant to go as far, but there were anomalies, traces of other intruders, and tampering, such things she had seen in others before. The memory tampered with- Socorra had known of this one. But who had messed with his head to do it- the woman gently probed to find out until…
SNAP! She hit a mental wall not of his own design and bounced out as it repelled her. Skar was complex on so many levels, that she knew from his dossier; but what she found was not on it by any means.
Socorra watched him mentally torture Avery, her face dispassionate. It would be filed for sooner, rather than later. She finally replied to Eevie, her voice gravely quiet.
“I can show you.”
Eevie looked in Socorra’s direction. Her robitic hand clenching tightly. She didn’t realize that her breath was held, but when she finally gasped for air she nodded in agreement.
“Show me, please.”
She didn’t know what she was about to see, and she care. She just needed to see Cin’s final moments.
She looked into Eevie’s eyes to determine her seriousness and steadfastness. Socorra would not say so, but she reserved the right to revoke the memory at any time. She could, in fact, remove all of the sordid memories of the slaver, but tampering that much could change the Sephi in ways unknown. It was something not done on a whim.
The Sith woman extended her bronzed and burn-scarred hand to Eevie although not necessary, and concentrated for nary a moment before penetrating her willing mind. Eevie had not been there for Ruka’s training session so Socorra proceeded with a gentle touch before the images started playing before her eyes. She offered her hand until the memory was finished and even longer if needed.
Avery’s memories of the incident flooded Eevies mind. She just watched. She listened to every word Cin said. Every derogatory message. Every painful sound. She watched Avery turn. His deep anger overflowing.
As Avery repeatedly beat into Cin’s face, and the blood flew, Eevie wish she could’ve said she was a better person than she truly was. She enjoyed it. She enjoyed watching the monster who did so much to her die. She enjoyed the sound of life leaving his body.
She knew it was wrong, but she couldn’t help the excitement she felt, knowing it was all finally over. Seeing his demise.
Socorra looked the Sephi in the eyes, still holding onto her hands. Her voice was still quiet. “Eevie… was he part of organization? Have partners? Do you know names of anyone he bought from and sold to?”
Eevie slowly took her hands back, not in any way negatively. She looked back into Socorra’s eyes and gave a small smile.
“I only know that he ran the Cartel called Ebony Hand. I don’t remember his contacts and business associations.”
There was a deep seated anger that began to well in the Kaleesh as the human toor himself put of his iron grip, his sputtering voice falling on deaf ears as he struggled to breath.
If this was going to be the man that would lead troops into battle against the clans enemies then there was much work that needed to be done, otherwise many would die under his command.
His head turned to the viewing room knowing for a moment while he considered what to say next. But when he looked back to the Major that anger had turned into disgust.
Removing his knee from the humans back he lifted himself up before taking a hold of the Avery’s amour and lifted him up with ease.
There was a snarl in the robotic voice as he spoke one the set the Qel-dromen back on his feet.
“That is where you are so very wrong Avery, it would have been a mistake to let him live. Every time you let someone like that go, to live on another day, another hour it only will come to bite you in the end. And when it does someone will lose there life.” Spoke the Sith as he began to pace back and forth his crimson eyes never leaving the Majors.
“How can you expect to lead, to be strong for the men and women under if you are unable to make the hardest choice, in a life or death situation it falls on you and no one else.” He hissed bringing the spear up to rest the blade under the humans chin the blade pointed at his exposed neck.
“Right now I am that threat Avery so make your choice!” He barked inching the blade closer
The Kaleesh’s anger was evident. Avery was mostly unfazed by it. The nature of going out on a limb based on a perceived ‘what if’ seemed foolish to him at best.
The doctor frowned and became visibly furious at the accusation that he would be incapable handling a potential threat should a situation arise. His head jerked away from the spear slightly as it came in contact with the flesh of his throat.
“This is not something worth being dogmatic about. I will defend those who I care for, but preservation of life is my top priority,” Avery spat through grit teeth. “If loss of life happens by my hands, I lament. But I will avoid it to the best of my ability. Especially if they pose no immediate threat.”
Gloved hands choked up on the spear to drag it away from his neck, nicking his skin in the process.
.
A low growl emintated from somewhere deep in the Kaleesh’s chest as Avery began to move the spear, but his grip held firm even as the spear was slowly moved.
“You’re naive Avery, unseasoned and untested. Still believing you can spare when you should kill. There was a time I thought like you, but this brotherhood has a way of taking that mindset and distorting it.” He growled drawing the spear back out of the grip of the human before leaping back a few feet away.
“Come then, prove me wrong.” He roared flourishing his beskar spear into a ready stance