Fight Like a Mando

[Laira Darkhold]

Five hundred recruits, selected from several thousand applicants from ArmaTech Security, stood on the surface of Mandalore, out in the hot Sundari desert waiting for their instructor to arrive. I had request a Rally Master to come to whip them into shape for my special forces unit. I waited, having already made them run a five kay to get to this point and they were now, standing around, stretching getting ready for the real training to begin. No prissy physical training. They were here because they were the top applicants and they knew that only one out of five of them would graduate. The rest would go on a short list assuming the completed whatever the Mandalorian had in store for them. The goal was for them to be very competitive during the training, but maintain a level of teamwork and commaraderie throughout. They didn’t know it, but whole teams of five would be selected assuming none of them quit. If the team worked well together, then there was no point separating them.

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

These soldiers wouldn't be given training that were similar and the likes of the Republic, the One Sith, the Omega Protecorate, or any bureaucratic government that relied on a military to defend them against any threat and expand their borders to systems beyond of their territory. No, these individuals of all different types of species, races, cultures, and genders would not become soldiers; they would become Warriors of extreme knowledge and skills that were unparalleled, and difficult to conquer. Anyone would look up to the direction of Mandalore. Here where the Mandalorians first emerged as Conquerors and Warriors. And up to this day they remained as fighting elites of the galaxy. Common folks would be afraid to talk to a son or daughter of Mandalore, and most wouldn't have the thought of asking them for help. While there were several arrogant Mando'ade with mighty pride on their shoulders there were few who had an intelligent mind and socialized with outsiders.

It was much more easier if a young child began his training with his vode, but difficult if it were a mature adult due to the fact of how much time and effort would be used to have him adapt. Difficult, but not impossible. Several Mandalorians had trained adults in their ways of war and combat. A mighty example and role model would be the one and only Boba Fett. Having trained a Jedi under the name of Jaina Solo to kill her brother who was consumed by the Dark Side of the Force, Darth Caedus. Fett was a hard mentor towards Jaina and harsh, yet it was worth it as Jaina defeated her brother in combat. These recruits would receive harsh training by the supervision of Vilaz.

Like Fett, he would be harsh but harsher. He would put these men and women through a path of hell and sorrow; he would have each of them bypass their limits; he would put them in life and death scenarios; he would have those who sought to succeed to reach their full potential; he would teach them the Arts of War.

He nodded towards Draco, a recent initiate who was adopted and persuaded by the Slayer of Dromud Kaas. The Rally Master saw the trainees stretching and performing stationary exercise maneuvers. He smiled under his buy'ce whonhe brought along with his beskar'gam. Good, they were preparing themselves for their journey. “Damn listen, you mags!" the Warrior announced loud and clear through his helmet and the exercising rhythm was stopped as they all stood attention, “Y'all will not be trained by some Republic manual! You will be effective under my lil' eyes! Like Boba trained Jaina, you will all be trained in so many damn ways that you will cry and hate me! Few will will be overwhelm and fall down before me, but those who have strength will stand like me!" He finished and was satisfied with his speech. Now the fun was coming.

“Five hundred pushups! And if I see anyone slackin', double time!"

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

With the arrival of [member="Vilaz Munin"] the recruits were thrown to work immediately. I didn’t know whether he knew they had ran from the space port to here, if he didn’t care, or if he knew and wanted to break the weakest from the pack right off the bat. Probably not the worst idea, either. Then he wouldn’t have to waste his time working on them. Quiters go home. No breaks, no red cards, and no pay. He had them doing five hundred pushups to start with. I sat for a second, before dropping to the ground myself and joining them. This strategy was twofold. First it established me as a fellow, a brother, rather than an employer. Second I could always benefit from the training of a Rally Master of Mandalore. There was a reason he had been escalated to that position, and I was going to benefit from that experience.

I made sure that my cybernetic was not being externally powered and burned through five hundred pushups as fast as I could, seeing out of the corner of my eye the recruits doing their best. Few were slacking, they had already been carefully selected from the cream of the crop I had at my disposal, so I expected them to do well early on. Vilaz had spoken about training the group like Boba had trained Jaina, and I couldn’t exactly remember how she had been trained, I knew that if he intended to put us through the ringer, Boba Fett wasn’t a bad comparison to make.

The hot sundari sand burnt their fingers as the group powered through, struggling to reach five hundred. Sweat poured off them like a river and all of them were painfully trying to keep pace. Some of them would falter, only to be barked at by the Mandalorian and for him to demand everyone go faster. Good, it would either create resentment towards each other, or build bonds that would last a very long time.

 

[Vilaz Munin]

Like soldiers bred to follow orders from their commander they did what the Rally Master demanded them to do. A good rhythm happening simultaneously happened as all five hundred participants were pushing themselves from the ground and drop leaving inches between them and hot ground that their fingers and feet were on as support to keep the rest of their body to touch the surface of Mandalore. Did he cared they ran five kilometers from the spaceport to where they were exercising? No, he did not. He would not show any hints of pity to these applicants. There would barely be any breaks for them and he would limit the time of how much they could sleep and eat. He wasn't trying to kill them as it was not part of the deal, but he would teach them to be Warriors that could hold up a fight against a Field Marshal. They signed up for this, and this wasn't boot camp for a conscript ready to become a soldier.

The number then changed from five hundred to five hundred-one as Draco dropped down to the ground and did what these souls were doing. Very surprised to see this. The man wasn't required to do what his trainees were doing. Nonetheless, he would gain respect from his applicants as well as Vilaz's for what he had done. The Redneck would wonder if he would walk down the road these poor individuals were undergoing.

He continued to watch as the constant pace they all had were decelerating into a much slower one. All of them had different rhythms; some were slow and some were faster. But he would make sure no one would rest as they were completing the task given to them. While an average drill sergeant would bark at the men he supervised the Mandalorian would only give more pushups to those slacking. “‘Nyone who slacks will do another hundred! And I'm counten and listing 'em down!" giving them all a fair warning. He could see the sweat covering the ground below them. He began to toy around what event he would give to these trainees. This was just the beginning.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Still pushing ourselves the recruits and I powered through as many pushups as we could. Most of us were nearing completion, but some of them were falling behind, and slowing rapidly. [member="Vilaz Munin"] was making us keep count and had we been better trained to start with we would have done it as a unit, but at this point that thought had come and gone. Now everyone was just struggling to finish the first task given to them by the Mandalorian Rally Master. I knew some of the recruits would complain that he was too harsh on them, but I knew how you trained instincts, which is what you relied on in combat. In order to train that you had to push people past their limits, make them tired, exhausted, and then ask more from them. You had to drill tireless hours of training and practice into them, and then make them do it without the use of their mind, their thoughts.

I pressed on, it was hard, but finally I finished, first, but only by a little bit. Others started standing up. Some hit five hundred and collapsed, only to jump to their feet once the hot sand burned them. None of them dare go for water though without being allowed to by the Rally Master. No reason to upset him this early on and find your way to his crap list.

 

[Vilaz Munin]

From his latest announcement as he oversaw the recruits still doing their five hundred pushups he saw all of them picking up the pace and some were accelerating their work. They needed to be threaten in order to achieve their goal. Everyone needed a push. These trainees proved that they didn't want to have extra homework bestowed on them by the mouth of the Rally Master ordering them to do an extra one hundred. It'd be a shame for them to continue to do what he had ordered them to do. Which only lead to eliminating those who couldn't reach the original goal that they promised to do. Gladly he didn't see anyone slacking or relaxing for two seconds while exercising.

As time passed everyone completed their pushups in a respectively time the Warrior accepted. No one would have to do an extra one hundred pushups. They stood all of a sudden, seeing many catching their breath and the amount of sweat dripping from their very faces. No one dared to break ranks. They all wanted for orders, it only told the Mandalorian these trainees didn't want more punishment from the Redneck. “Y'all refresh yourselves. There's some water. Get a bottle and come back. Anyway that doesn't come back in three minutes will do one a marathon." He then saw a huge shift of boots running towards the refreshments and enjoy the little time they had before putting their muscles to work.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Most of the recruits basically dragged themselves to the water where some of them gulped it down, while others, smarter ones drank slowly. After that much work, you needed to pace yourself on you water intake or you would get sick, and might throw up, making you even more dehydrated. This was easily the hardest form of boot camp I had ever experienced, and I wasn’t a slacker. I had fought Sith Lords and Knights before. I had beaten Sith to a pulp with my hands, and still [member="Vilaz Munin"] was wearing me out with his training regimen, but I was grateful all the same.

Most of the recruits weren’t really treating me different from the rest of the lot, and that was good. I already noticed quite a few leaders were offering advice to those around them, such as “drink slowly” or “Next time we do pushups dig your hands into the sand, its cooler below the surface”. Those were the ones to watch. The ones that offered advice to their competition exhibited two traits. One that they cared enough about the others to risk their own chances, and two, they were confident they would make the cut. Either or both versions worked for me. They would be paid very well, those that moved through this process.

The first few weeks passed easily enough. Much of the same, mostly more physical training. Week three began our combat training, with physical training in the background. The way we were hammered was by having us do a combat exercise in the morning, then working us to death until sunset, having us repeat the exercise. It was borderline evil, but it was also the most effective way to hone their instincts. Repetition trained muscle memory, training honed skills, but only the only way to hone instincts was to batter someone down and rebuild them.

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

He saw them all dragging themselves with whatever strength they had left in them. This was just to show them how harsh he was as well as his promise to make them Warriors as if they fought like a Mandaore. But they're lust of such sweet water filled their minds making them not to think effectively of how they drank their water. There was another thing these trainees should know. The Rally Master wasn't just testing them physically, but also mentally. One who had much more wits and less stronger than one who had more muscles but a lack of wits had the potential to overcome his mighty opponent and be victorious. One thing was being strong, but another thing was be more intelligent than your opponent. What was one without a mind and having a tool of war? Simply a fool.

But what he did admired was the recruits were helping one another. Those with knowledge shared their wisdom amongst those who were drinking their water poorly or what they should do when they did pushups again. That's what he liked. It was a written rule of war to fight with your allies cooperatively and offer advice to each other. Those who thought only of themselves and played hero ball would only drive to defeat just because of not fighting as a player with his comrades. Being a hero was just wasting lives and resources for not only a squad, but for the whole military. And any signs of heroics would be punished by the Mandalorian.

The first two weeks were just physical exercises. Every day in those fourteen days became harder and harder for them. They knew that it was unwise to upset the Warrior, for it would only cause more cries of pain and sorrow on this hellish journey. Once the fourteenth day came to a fold it was time for the five hundred men and women to start their combat training. He taught them maneuvers that were similar to the ones of Republic Commandos, but he had them made think outside the box. But the one thing Republic soldiers rarely fought with was a jetpack. “Y'all fight with packs," the Redneck asked all the applicants. Many replied with a ‘Yes' but they barely used them. “It's kinda traditional for us Mandos to fight with them. Everyday we have 'em. Everyday y'all will have one in whenever practicing. Am I damn clear?" Nothing but 'Yes, sir'.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Good, carrying around packs was good. ArmaTech had spent millions making the gear a soldier was forced to carry around lighter, but training with standard gear packs would make the Dragons hearty and bold. They would be nearly tireless once everything was completed. Weeks had gone into designing everything they would wield or carry, so months would go into training them to be the best. Even after they were done here I had already lined up so much more for them to go through.

Even still, this phase I was going through it with them, lending a helping hand when necessary, not skipping out to do business as best as I could, though I did miss things. I could tell the general feeling was that the fact I was here at all shocked them, and had made them respect me as more than a paycheck. I ate with them, trained with them, and lived with them as much as I could. The actions were better than any series of speeches or words I could have given them.

Combat Training was different. Mandalorians had an interesting style of combat, but that style had allowed their armies to conquer vast reaches of space and dominate who civilizations in the past, and even still they had adapted and overcame their opposition at every turn. Instinct training was harsh and brutal, wearing at each recruit over and over. We would spend two days doing the same exercise in different ways, then pull a twenty four hour physical training exercise ending with a session of dummy fire skirmishing against practice droids.

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

Everyday was the same when they came to phase of training. They trained to improve their skills and perfect their knowledge of maneuvers being taught by not just him, but by multiple of Mandalorian Officers teaching groups of trainees so the load would be easier for the Redneck. The subordinate drill sergeants that were to report directly to the Rally Master of how well their respective groups performed everyday. If one was to work poorly they were to be punished with tasks that was physically in order to teach them their lesson. After that, they would continue to work more effectively to not come under the wrath of Vilaz. A promise was a promise, yet his greatest promise from this program was to teach everyone with his knowledge and have everyone become a Warrior. True, there were few who were to be selected to be as a special forces commando but everyone would have bragging rights of being trained by the Rally Master.

Today would be different. He decided to mix up the schedule that he planned out for these trainees under the time he would spend with them. They wouldn't be in segregated under the supervision of Vilaz's subordinates. As a group just like they came in on the first day they were all integrated as one. The five hundred participants were not in the attire to exercise for today; instead they were in the best armor that was produced by Armatech, the Olympian Armor. And just like them the Mandalorians were dressed in their beskar'gam and equipped with just a jetpack, no weapons. They were out observing the sight of five hundred men and women exercising in a rhythm of jumping jacks. They had done several hundreds reaching no limit due to the fact that the Warrior didn't gave them a set goal until he told them to stop.

Minutes later after the Mandalorians stood watching at the art they were making they soon walked and approached the trainees and walked among them in the gaps they had in between each other. Under their traditional buy'ce the Mando'ade watched them and sometimes observed a particular individual for several seconds. After some time Vilaz randomly punched the gut of a trainee who was uncaught and fell do the momentum from the kinetic energy. They all stopped their exercising to see what the Mandalorian had done. But mere moments later the other Mandalorians found a victim and either punch or knee him or her. “Defend yourselves" were his only instructions to the confused applicants as he activated his jetpack to attack another trainee that wasn't his own.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

And they did. Taken off guard and surprised having already been through physical training, they weren't fighting as well as they might have if they had been more of a challenge, but as it stood, they were just giving up a good fight, but they weren't winning any of them. A few got in some real good hits on their opponents, but in the end the Mandalorians beat them all down. It was a good exercise. It taught them hand to hand combat, preparedness, and to always be ready for a fight.

In the future when this exercise would happen, randomly it seemed, they would do better, sometimes a few of them being able to hold there own, with an exceptional fewer still able to best or at least gain the upper hand against their Mandalorian counterpart. These were the ones I was looking at to be trained as officers. Over the next several weeks the overall skill and coordination of the group became significantly better. Their instincts, their training, becoming fine tuned, allowing them to excel in their exercises, even the spontaneous attacks and combats that the Mandalorians had adopted for training purposes. As the weeks went by, they would train in other fields such as vehicle piloting, HALO jumps, Amphibious Assaults, slicing, and various other additional skills, all why working hours every day on Close Quarters Combat, improvised Combat, hand to hand combat, and mixed martial arts.

The few groups of five I saw as having officer material were given significantly harder challenges in their private lessons, made to go further, to continue grinding away at their limits. The end of their training was approaching, and at that end they would receive very special gifts and enhancements. Their basic gear would be extraordinary to most, unobtainable to many.

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The group continued working hard, training in the Sundari desert, and in the mountains and forests of Mandalore. We even moved to Concordia to do arctic training for a month, giving them a good list of environments they would be called upon to fight in. Basically the idea was to give them some experience in just about every possible combat zone they might encounter, while focusing on their group and individual skill sets, honing them into weapons and shields against their enemies. Having been put through the ringer in groups, a close knit comradery was formed between the recruits, which had been the goal, along with small friendly rivalries between groups as a whole. Leaders within each group had emerged, and been solidified during the long training process, and as they had been challenged to a greater extent they were beginning to learn lessons that they would need in the future.

Their boot camp continued for another few weeks, each time the spontaneous attacks were more prepared and more of the recruits were winning or holding the Mandalorians off. Those that were winning were often whole groups, who fought more or less together as a unit rather than alone, but some were able to go it alone and triumph. Those were being looked at for other tasks, like being assigned as guards to myself and my adopted family, but that was still in the future. For now, I needed to focus on getting them all to the end line, so I and the Mandalorians could evaluate them and take our picks of the greatest of their number.

[member="Vilaz Munin"]

 

[Vilaz Munin]

Weeks passed by seeing a huge improvement in their training. They passed their limits by the sheer punishment from the mind of Vilaz making them into reality. From the event when the Mandalorians attacked they pushed themselves even harder to be abused by the Mandalorians so easily in combat. They focused mostly on their close quarter skills and making other exercises secondary. It was extremely essential for them to know how to fight with their body whenever in the situation of fighting an enemy in very close distance. They were to memorize and perform maneuvers and moves taught from their instructors and demonstrate their instructors what they remembered. They were also being scored by this procedure based on their memory, solely on their memory and not the physical.

After so much progress they finally came to their last week of hell when he admitted that these trainees were capable of going head to head with their Mandalorian Officers. Their close quarter skills were excellent, their range skills were above average, everything was perfect. But their final test was on the jungle world on Myrkr. This was important for every one of these five hundred souls who had gained the Rally Master's respect who he sat with them when dinner was served, surprising every one of them to have such a rare experience with the Warrior. Of many things they talked about even got on a personal level with each other. Not one foreigner had the experience to eat with this Mandalorian.

As ordered, everyone was at one of the landing zone on Myrkr. All the Mandalorian Instructors stood in front of their students with or without their buy'ce. Instructions were about to be given out as Vilaz came out and had everyone at their attention to show respect. “Listen up, y'all cause I ain't gonna repeat nothing. This is important for everyone. If you are failing and pass chances are you'll be a special commando. If you are good, but fail you might flunk and be ashamed of yourself forever. You're going to be playing capture the flag. Teams are already made: odds and evens which is why I made y'all pick a numbuh between one and five hundred. Once someone says 'uncle' which I'll be able to hear they will be out of the game. Choose your equipment and two vessels will pick and drop y'all off. My advice? Watch out for them Vornskrs. They sure love new meat. Now, hop to it." And five hundred lives began shifting choosing their equipment wisely before heading to their designated ships to to drop them off to wherever the Rally Master had them started at.

[member="Draco Vereen"]

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Capture the flag was interesting, it threw off the pack dynamic they had been building, forced them to work alongside new people which were necessary skills for them if they expected to succeed. They needed to be able to adapt and force themselves into new situations. The pair of shuttles touched down in the fields on Myrkr and the recruits piled out of them, on opposite ends of a small battlefield covered in thick forest and filled with vonskr packs. They would get the real challenge, however would be each other.

The teams started by breaking up into smaller groups and began working through the dense jungles towards each other. When the fighting started, it was mainly small fire fights using stun blasts, but they were rapidly breaking into combat, with soldiers on both sides taking stun blasts and falling. Some of the troops were breaking off into teams and making runs on each other’s flag while the majority held full battle near the center. Small groups held the actual flag point.

In the end the fight lasted almost twelve hours, with a brutal stalemate through most of it. The most advanced teams had been split fairly evenly, and the two hundred fifty versus two hundred fifty ended up a slaughter among them with only about fifty being active at the end. It was exactly what I was looking for. To test them one last time against themselves to see how they would do, and with the numbers ending at twenty seven to twenty three I was more than satisfied with their performance.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

It was the end of a long and arduous journey for these recruits, and the selection progress was fairly difficult, but I was able to find the top twenty five for officers and leadership, the next twenty four as three bodyguard details, and seventy five others were chosen for the main body. The rest would remain on the short list as replacements for those fallen, or those that retired or left. They were trained well. Now came time to equip them. The month long installation process of the Cybernetic Body Enhancement was a painful, long term process. A process that I understood very well. I had been altered similarly not long ago, and was aware of its issues and its risks, but they were mild compared to the enhancements and the benefits. Following that process, they were given the best armor I produced and the best weapons I had at my disposal. Finally they were ready, finally they were prepared to enact my will should it be necessary and protect that which is mine, across the ocean of stars I call home.