Might As Well [Need a Master]

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance walked down the streets of Coruscant in his white hoodie, jeans, and his jungle boots. A white, fitted hat sat atop his head backwards so that the bill was behind him. He had just lit up a cigarette. His mind wandered to his half drunken stupour the night before at the cantina. So much had gone on and it ended almost as quickly as it had begun. It was because of that incident that Lance now carried his spring assisted knife with him.

It took him about an hour to walk from his apartment complex to the Jedi Temple. He stepped into the lobby and looked around. It was almost completely empty. Lance hadn't been around force users much, so he found himself a chair at the edge of the room and sat down. As he sat, he continued to look around the lobby, his bright blue eyes searching every crevice and every shadow. All he could do was wait- he didn't want to intrude by exploring the temple so he sat in the chair at the edge of the room with his back against the wall and waited for someone to come to him.

 

[Mars]

Jedi Master Valen Cross sat in a borrowed room meditating after the night before had seen him in a cantina filled with pointless fights and unneccesary fighting. His armour hung on a stand a few feet from him. Valen currently wore a loose fitting brown shirt on top of black cargo pants with a pair of basic boots on his feet and his lightsaber was clipped to his leather belt. He blinked once, his eyes switching from ice blue to their greenish-brown as the Force's presence relaxed in him upon the end of his meditative trance. Valen decided a walk would be a good idea, standing in a single motion and grabbing a leather coat before heading out.*

Upon reaching the lobbey he saw a man that was vaguely famaliar from the night before.*

"Hello." Valen began, his voice breaking the silence of the empy lobbey. "How may I help you?" He asked. Perhaps the man had come for healing of some sort or maybe he was waiting for a relative. Or hell, maybe someone actually had an appointment for once.*

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Seeing the man walk out into the lobby, Lance nodded a silent greeting to him. He stood up and walked to the man, taking account of the man's size and visible weapons. Lance wasn't expecting a fight with this man, but it was a habit he had developed in his days as a Republic soldier. Once close enough, Lance held out his right hand to initiate shaking hands, keeping his bright blue eyes on the man's eyes.

"Honestly I'm looking for something to do. I don't have a job anymore and I figure it's time to step up my life. Got anything around here that can take care of that?"

 

[Mars]

Valen noticed he was being sized up on approach, the man was cautious but didn't seem to expect any conflict or appear hostile. His ice blue eyes met with Cross' own hazel ones as Valen shook his hand. The man was Force sensitive and didn't seem trained, but in a time when the Hutts has recently blasted the entire senatorial district, Valen had to be a little more careful then usual. A smile played on the face of the Jedi Master before he spoke.*

"Depends on your former line of work my friend, we have a few...less then pacifistic.. needs these days." He said, a light chuckle escaping him after. Valen himself was one of the war-hawks of the Jedi, fully supportive of the war and incredibly loyal to the Republic.*

"Come, walk with me., tell me about your last job. I'm not exactly your standard Jedi." Valen said, motioning towards a lengthy corridor that lead to an expansive garden. **

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance smiled at the man's obvious inside jokes. As the man started walking and requested that Lance walk with him, Lance kept his stride at the man's pace and started his story. "Well, I was Republic Army Special Forces. I don't know how much news made it back to the galaxy, but I took part in Operation Stalemate. Ever hear of it? So I suppose that puts me in line for some these 'less than pacifist' needs."

As the two got to the end of the corridor and entered the garden, Lance immediately produced a cigarette from his pocket and lit it, taking his first drag nice and slow. "Before I get asked, yes I did kill people and yes I did things that I'm not proud of. I lost a few buddies including my best friend in combat. Wasting my life away in bars wouldn't repay their sacrifice so I figure I might as well join something that does some good for the galaxy."

 

[Mars]

Operation Stalemate. The name was vaguely famaliar to Valen, something about pirates and a crapton of IEDs. Valen's grin grew when the man mentioned being part of a special forces unit and seeing combat. That same smile faded upon the mention of his buddies death, Valen had lost more then a handful of friends to warfare, but he was glad the former soldier decided to turn his life around.*

"I served on the frontlines with the Republic for two decades after I was Knighted, it was....good. That Special Forces training will do ya good, the frontlines experience means I can take you with me if I go somewhere dangerous." Valen smiled before looking at him and opening his hand, gesturing towards the cig. "Lemme get a drag, habbit I picked up in the battlefields of the Mid Rim." He paused a second, waiting to see if he would. "Now, I''m looking for someone to train, and you seem to want a teacher. I can promise you'll learn, but we may be taking a trip to a battlefield or two towards the end. Any objections?" Valen said, the seriousness in his voice leaving on his next sentance. "Either way, a name would be helpful."

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance nodded and passed the cigarette over, flipping it around in his fingers so the man wouldn't burn himself on the cherry. He smiled and nodded his head in agreement with going to battlefields. It had been a while since he had the rush of combat, almost too long of a while. Lance could trust the man more because of the bond they shared. Both knew what combat was and what it was about, and thus, both shared a sacred brotherhood that few knew existed.

"My name is Lance Argos. As long as you're there in the shit with me, I have no problem with walking into hell. I'm gonna need your name though too." Lance cocked an eye brow and displayed a playful grin.

 

[Mars]

Valen took a drag off the cigarette and handed it back, a smile on his face. The bond between soldiers was unlike that of any other. He was happy Lance would take his training, he would no doubt be a good student. *

"Lance. That's a good name." He said, taking in a breath before lightly exhaling. "My name's Valen Cross. I'll be right there with ya in the shit, if you can keep up with me that is." Valen said before laughing.*

"Let's hit the training room. Gimmie a rundown on what you're good at as of now and lemme know if you've ever intentionally used the Force."*

 

[Tunnel Rat]

"I'm pretty young compared to you, old man." Lance chuckled. He followed Valen towards the training room. On their way Lance started a spoken resume. "I'm expert with a rifle, pistol, and I'm sharpshooter with heavy weapons. I never got much hand-to-hand and melee training, but I've been in situations where I've had to use them." He pasued and thought about the next part.

"I've never actually used the force. I've just always had a thing for telling when something was about to happen."

 

[Mars]

Valen listened intently as Lance spoke, keeping a mental checklist of his strengths and weaknesses. Lance was a standard soldier, but also possessed heavy weapons training, a rare trait. A lack of melée weapon and unarmed training meant there were no bad habbits for Valen to clean up, same for Force usage. The training room doors hissed open as the two stepped inside.*

The room was very large, being the main training compound of the Coruscant Temple. Training 'sabers were more then plentiful and the sounds of Jedi at work preparing for conflict filled the room. Valen turned to Lance and spoke.*

"You have a good set of skills. You'll get enough melée and unarmed training that by the time we finish you'll be begging for a firearm." Valen paused. "I'll give ya the option of where we go first, unarmed or melée. Keep in mind that the lightsaber work is a lot more involved, and potentially much more painful on your end." **

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance stood with Valen. He stroked the hair that was growing out on his chin. Thinking for a moment, he looked around the room. Finally he came to a conclusion and spoke. "I say **** it, let's go with hardest first. Lightsaber training it is." He dropped his hand from his chin and clapped both of his hands together, rubbing them as if cooking something up. He was ready to get some in the Jedi Temple. Never thought of himself able to think that.

 

[Mars]

Valen grinned. Lance had some balls, he appreciated that this padawan wouldn't be the typical pansy-ass that came through. Pulling a pair of training sabers into his hands from across the room, he took one for himself and floated one steadily in front of his apprentice.*

"This is a training lightsaber. There's a switch that turns it on and off, think of it as your saftey, but still try to keep it pointed away from anything you value when off. It's not gonna turn itself on but hey, shit happens." Valen said, pausing to drive home the point.*

"Now, here, read this and pick one. It's a rundown of the lightsaber forms, I have the second and fifth down better then most can claim, and those two are most fit fit for battle, the fifth faring much better in the modern battlefields." He said, tossing Lance a small datapad with the aforementioned list of pros and cons of each form. "Once you pick one, we can run through some basics and then get to the fun part, sparring." **

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance took the lightsaber and the datapad. He quickly read through the datapad, taking in all it's contents. He held up the lightsaber and looked at it, almost as if studying and then flipped it around with his fingers so that he held it in a reverse grip. He lowered his hand and switched the saber to the on position, letting the blue blade hiss out. He waved it around slightly, to get a feel for it and to hear the different sounds it made. Satisfied, he kept the training saber on as he spoke.

"I'm thinking some form V. After all, modern arts always beats martial arts."

 

[Mars]

Valen laughed aloud as he saw Lance flip the grip. "Easy rookie, keep it right-side-up for now. Follow me." He said as he stepped into Shien's opening stance, blade arcing down behind his head with his feet planted and slightly wider then shoulder width apart.

"You start here, this is your opening stance. Circumstance usually means you won't start here, but if you can, this is where you go. From here...."

((Mini-timeskip, half hour as Valen teaches Lance the ropes.))

Valen grinned again, Lance was a quick learner and seemed to grasp the form's basics well enough. They were simple really, block, parry, counterstrike hard, the fifth form was paticularly effective cause it was so simple and brutal.*

"Confident enough to spar? You're doing quite well, for a kid."*

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance spun the lightsaber a couple times before getting into the opening stance. He nodded to Valen, a smile appearing on his lips. "Bring it, Old Man." Without thinking, Lance dropped out of the opening stance and put himself in a stance of his own. He flipped the back to reverse grip and turned his body to the left, moving his right hand to the left so that the blade would be horizontal between him and Valen. His feet were slightly wider than shoulder width and his free hand stayed behind his body, ready for anything.

 

[Mars]

Valen smiled. Lance was a tad thicknesses but if he could use the form with a backhanded grip then more power to him. Valen'd keep a moderate amount of Force energy on him to get out of any potential trouble. Might as well make the first move.*

Valen spun the training saber in his right hand once before stepping forward smoothly switching his stance to close the gap, leaving his *left foot out front as he reached striking range. His first attack was a simple one, a diagonal two-handed slash from Valen's right to his left. The beauty of Shien was in it's simplicity, this attack bore a solid amount of power from the larger Master as he struck towards his apprentice. **

 

[Tunnel Rat]

Lance's eyes flashed as a switch was clicked within his body. It was the switch to take him from normal to combat mode. It was as if Lance was staring through Valen. Valen would see the change in his eyes no doubt, and sense the change within Lance as well. It didn't matter, any form of combat, even practice brought him into this state. The only way to bring him out of it was to end combat.

As soon as Valen moved a muscle, Lance stepped forward, closing the gap even more. Valen swung diagonally from Lance's left to his right. Due to the step that Lance took, they were face to face, looking into one another's eyes and Valen's arms would hit Lance's shoulder instead of the blade. Lance's left hand shot upwards and snatched Valen's right hand as he slid his foot between Valen's feet. He twisted to the left, as his right hand came forth with the training saber in his own diagonal slash from Lance's bottom left to his top right.

 

[Mars]

As Lance stepped forward and pivoted to strike from Valen's side, Valen stepped forward and ripped through Lance's grip as he kept his blade angled behind him to deflect his strike. He was damn good for a newer user.*

Valen had created a few feet of space between the two as he tore through his student's grip and blocked, he was curious what Lance's offense looked like. The same switch that flipped in Lance also engaged in Valen, though he was not at full capability without the Force he was still superior to the large majority of those untrained.*

 

[Tunnel Rat]

As Valen created space, Lance spun the training saber a couple times, keeping himself on his toes and ready at any moment. Lance stepped forward and swung the training saber in reverse grip from his right to his left. The step forward created power and closed distance where at the swing was the strike itself. Due to the reverse grip, Lance could keep his arms closer to his body which generated more power than if one were to simply let their arms free. As soon as Lance's blade got half way through the swing, he brought up his left hand and smacked the end of the hilt driving it forward in a stabbing motion towards Valen's chest.

 

[Mars]

Valen had switched his stance when he'd created space, keeping his saber in his right hand with his right hand up. As Lance came charging in with the stab, Valen parried from right to left, sending the new Padawan off balance and only about a half foot from Valen. And then, bang.*

As soon as Valen parried the stab, he'd used his stored Force energy to both greatly speed up and slightly cushion a left-cross that would connect with the side of Lance's face as he fell off balance from having his strike parried. Valen had remarkable hand-speed as it was, when aided by the Force one would miss the strike completely if they so much as blinked.*