Ya wanna wrassle?

[Julius Sedaire]

Ijaat was currently taking a slight vacation on Yavin IV... His mind after the events with Gabriel on Sullust had taken a turn for the worse, the maddened AI locked in his brain chattering inanely. Keeping it mostly together, Ijaat had fled for what he hoped was a brief stint trying to stave off the madness that breached his psyche. Mostly, it was held back. The less technology there was to interact with, the less chatter Geoff seemed to bring up, and truly the Mandalorian wished he had some way of analyzing the A.I. to figure out what was fractured within it. But his mind and Geoff's program had become so enmeshed it was hard to tell the two apart, and so most brain scans showed one massive, disjointed presence.

But he had smiled and leapt at the chance to meet [member="Karen Roberts"] here for more training. There was a woman who was a rare sort, and it was a distinct pleasure to show the 'glowstick jockeys' a thing or two about fighting. Indeed, Ijaat sat outside his humble home in the jungle this time, legs folded under him on a rock, taking a moment to soak in the sunrise, knowing Karen should make her arrival any moment now.

A thermos of Concordian stimcaff sat next to him, one cup poured and still steaming, which he sipped from on occasion. He was lightly armed, for him, his poncho hanging on a nearby tree branch with his gunbelt and twin DE-10's slung over it, and his hat draped next to it as well. He himself had stripped from his shirt, hanging it over another branch, and sat with his palms up, back resting against the graven and inlaid surface of his ancient blade, quietly seeking harmony within as he waited for his student.

Soon...

 

[Jsc]

Roberts landed her Dynamic II Class Freighter at the old Yavin Temple and took a Jetbike out to [member="Ijaat Akun"] 's place. Saddlebags and all. She pulled up to the homely retreat and killed the engine. Garbed in her pale armor she was feeling mighty Mandalorian today. Though, she only sensed one other being in the immediate area. Strange. This planet was far cry from the metropolitan lifestyle she was so accustomed to. Live in the city, fight in the desert. That was the motto. But this place? Mm. It still felt very very remote to her. Very far away.

She dismounted and slowly approached the vacationing male nearby. Leaving her rifle on the bike for the time being.

"Either that rock has a Whiskey Bar, or you've had a change of scenery since we talked last."

She smirked and pulled of her helmet. Her once radiant blue hair now a muted brown. A change that most people seemed to notice before all else.

"Got to say Iron Man. Of all the places in the galaxy you can pick to drag a girl? You sure know how to pick the jungles with one hundred percent humidity."

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Ijaat looked up, a brief smile faltering quickly as he stood, the sword burying into the rock rather easily as he used it as a prop. Odd that he didn't even notice a sword had pierced into solid rock, but, maybe it was common? Either way, his hand left the blade for a moment and he dusted off his pants, tugging the blade free from the rock with a frustrated glance at it before he hopped adroitly down to the jungle floor. His face was covered in a smile, trying to forget the crisis that brought him here and welcome his friend.

"Ahhh, come on now dear... This is just a vacation home. I'll have to show you my ship sometime, the master suite on board it is positively divine. And besides, humid jungle or no, your hair is still perfect as always."

Walking over to her, he smirked a bit and bowed, extending his hand to grasp hers and kiss the back of the gauntlet and rose smoothly, whatever momentary demon was plaguing him dispelled for the moment by a dear friends' presence.

"Now, what is this I hear about you needing training from a lowly Mandalorian?"

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

She smirked when he said lowly. Since when did the Mandos consider themselves anything but the top of the food chain? Pfft. She didn't buy it.

"I run a PMC these days and we're working on rethinking our CQC techniques. So I'm... branching out, you see? Trying to take in more these days than just Echani Slats and Navy Judo. My people aren't like most space wizards. We train and gear for war. Not lightsaber fencing in your girlfriend's panties. I'm talking armor. Duraplast. Phrik. Beskar. Something I believe you Clansmen seem to know something about. Something I believe you, Mister Akun, know a little something about too. Respecting the helmet."

She nodded with a shrug. Even now she felt the firm resistance of her own armor against her shoulders. Felt how it rubbed, how it bent, and how it made her sweating increase two-fold. Roberts was a warfighter who could live for weeks in any heavy EVA. Now she just needed to learn how to fight in one.

"So. Think you can teach this old dog a few new tricks?"

It was no secret that Mandalorians don't just fight in their armor. They live in it too. It was a part of the culture. The name. Your color. It was like a Jedi's lightsaber. An expression of self. A second skin and helpful friend. And during war it was worn with instinct and polished in blood and fire. Karen had been a Navy woman long enough to know the merits of wearing an EVA at all times. It was this experience she aimed to pass on to her men.

Ditch the robes. Dominate in armor.

[member="Ijaat Akun"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

"Jedi waging war in armor, eh? Suppose it has happened before. Never saw why you folk didn't do it more often, to be honest. It's a tricky thing, to be honest. It comes with the foundation, first off. You don't just start by fighting in it. You have to learn how to move in it. How to run, how to jump, how to roll, take a knee... When our ad'ike are given their first beskar'gam we don't send them out in it... My father had me run laps... Haul water... Chop wood. Work the forge even. Anything and everything you can do without armor, you need to be able to do in armor, really."

Here he smiled, shaking his head a bit as he gazed about the forest. This particular spot had some odd trees in it, but they were why he put his little shop and... Cabin, one would call it he supposed, right here. They seemed to provide just the right shade, really. He was no mystic, but given the Rekali's lived here, and given this was Yavin IV, he suspected maybe the Force had something to do with it... But, he was force-dead, so he hardly could guess what effect it was. He really just liked the light.

"But, You hardly have a decade or more to train as my peoples' children do. There is a reason we go everywhere in our armor usually... Because we, in a very real way, wear it so much it is our iron skin, literally and not just linguistically. If you'll note, I actually move less confidently and gracefully out of my armor than in it, as well. Now for you? You need the dummies edition, no offense. So we will start easy.... How long, without stopping, can you run in that? Do you even know?"

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

"With the Force as my guardian I can move unencumbered for great distances. Even in full pack. Surpassing the limits of even the healthiest modern human clones. However, this is still costly upon the body as ever. Even Jedi Knights prefer to move and track in as little equipment as possible. To note. I never go into combat with taking Navy blood stims, pain killers, or gel nutrient packs either. Trying to plan ahead at least four hours in advance. War is something of a Marathon for me. Not a mere sprint. ...And Jedi training is no slouch either."

Roberts certainly didn't look it at times but she was a pro-athlete in training and style. Her heart beat stronger and her lungs processed faster. Her muscle had a long memory and her mind could think between the lines. There was something ethereal about the Force that did that to a Jedi. Something that turned mere men into elves. Giving even the old men a quick spring to their step. Indeed, Karen's doctor assumed that she'd live all the way into her nineties without suffering from bone loss at all. Though her hair pigments and natural brown colors were sure to run out by then. It didn't help either that Roberts had eaten the raw fruit of Tython and bathed in the fonts of Zeltros. So while she might have born naturally to two human parents and possessed all the natural vulnerabilities of her species. She certainly had been blessed by the Gods never to have suffered permanently from them at all.

And while the Master Chief might still be able to crush her head like a grapefruit in one hand? The Olympics would still welcome her aboard. Anytime.

[member="Ijaat Akun"]

 

[Julius Sedaire]

Ijaat nodded as he listened to her detail her habits and her training regimen. Really, it was quite impressive and in depth, especially for what he was perhaps unfairly expecting a Jedi to do. To him, in his perhaps uneducated and ill formed opinion, whilst he respected the ability of the Jedi, he assumed their 'training' consisted mostly of gymnastic drills and.. Well, who knew, classes on how to tie the sash around their tunic? He idly wondered just what held that thing up, pressure from the belt, or was it some sort of rite of passage where a Jedi learned to levitate it with the Force or something.. Apparently, at least in this particular case, that set of preconceived notions was terribly misguided and off base. However, it still wasn't what he was looking for, and he smiled as he addressed the flaw in the things put down.

"That is, actually.. Well, I hate to sound discriminatory and dismissive but that is much more solid of a plan and conditioning regimen than I suspected you would have. Perhaps that is a natural Mandalorian prejudice with the jetti... I suppose I had just assumed and operated under the understanding that you lot spent a lot of time floating in the air thinking and learning to do those rather fun looking flips and twirls. To hear all this from you almost makes me think there is hope for you Space Wizards yet..."

Here, he grinned good natured like, the smile lighting up his eyes as he chuckled just a bit to show the joke was meant with barely an overtone of seriousness.

"But of course, even the best stims, drugs, and the strongest Force-User still falls short, in my opinion... There are worlds like Myrkr... Spaarti has begun to clone Ysalmari... You may run out of drugs on an extended insertion or, especially in covert drops and operations behind enemy lines... Well.. You may not want to use the Force, either for conservation of strength, or concealment until the right moment. The Sith Temple on Coruscant stands in a pile of rubble, a literal ruin, because I concealed the truth of my own abilities until the time was ripe, and by that point, I was so embedded past Sith defenses they didn't have the time for much of a defense... Except a rather stout Artificial Intelligence that tried to block my mind from its task...

In the end? I took their own guns and leveled the Temple.. Much like that situation, abilities like your use of the Force, for a Warrior, should in my opinion be used as accent and garnish to a core set of raw physical ability... So tell me... Without your drugs, without your Force tricks... Can you run a mile in that armor, full tilt, without stopping? Can you survive for days in it? Can you do the dishes in it? Wash laundry and not clip the machines with any part of your armor? Do an obstacle course in combat conditions with it on, taking and returning fire, and still ready to fight at the end, without the Force or Drugs? From my knowledge, the Force uses your physical reserves too, so it's all a balancing act, and to get the most for a return, your base physicality should be beyond reproach..

My first day in my first kit, I had to run five miles through a wooded mountain range on Concord Dawn, while my father tried to track me down or otherwsie harry me... By the time I was sent to Atrisia? I could routinely manage a ten mile march or more, and still fight to full ability at the end of it. I could also cradle my baby sister in my arms, rock her to sleep, and feed her without pinching her or the blanket or waking her with noise. That ease, and that grace, is the very first cornerstone to achieving combat efficiency in armor... So while I can't hammer you into mando shape, so to speak, I can show you the drills and standards we train to, that you can take and make you own extrapolations from, so that you have a stronger base to begin with."

[member="Karen Roberts"]

 

[Jsc]

Ijaat might have been Force Dead but his brain was sharp as a knife. Roberts could blame some of her best moments on divine intervention. Akun could merit all of his best moments, to himself. And there was something amazing to be said about that. Karen was by no means soft on herself. But Mandalorians seemed to understand war in a way that baffled even the strongest Jedi. It certainly baffled Karen now.

"I would welcome these drills. Openly. My intent in coming here was not just to improve upon myself as a soldier? But to be as a pioneer for my men too. It would be heresy in my mind to deny that your culture, Mandalorian culture, has nothing to offer the Jedi warrior. I believe something far far removed from my more wizardly colleges in this regard. That the Jedi way cannot continue to survive and prosper the galaxy if all they merit is tradition. We will stagnate. Become obsolete. Maybe even die out completely. Replaced by new technologies and keen new inventions. Even by the Sith."

She sighed and threw her hands up into the air. It was a pioneering stance that had seen her hoisted and thrown out of more than one Jedi Order. The dirty word she used so often. Change.

"However. I must confess. At my age and experience? I can never be like you are. Mandalorian. So thank you for saying that out loud. I aim only to improve upon my already intense career. Not become something new entirely. Ugh. No. Banish the thought. Hehe."

Karen's secret was actually a very personal experience. Her husband Grant had become Force Dead once upon a time. Not only had this experience traumatized him but it had also demonstrated that a Jedi without the Force is literally, nothing. Grant could not fight, could not hold a sword, and constantly stumbled over his own mental habits to use the Force during his gym routines. He was like a man without legs trying to run. Luckily. He had made a full recovery. Sith Poison being the cause of his severance. Nothing permanent.

So when Karen had first learned of new technologies that could strip a Jedi warrior of their connection to the Force during combat? Even temporarily? She knew she had to do something. She knew she had to change. Evolve. Survive. Indeed, Karen started wearing armor. Started training with firearms. She learned how to eat and breath anew. She pioneered being a modern soldier even as the modern soldier did. Then. When the human body had been molded. She added the Force on top. For truly devastating effects. No. She was no God nor rainbow colored unicorn. She was sweat, and pain, and suffering, and understanding. Reforged. This was who she was. A modern pioneer.

"So? Where does this young Initiate start when it comes to grappling in armor, eh? You have yourself a firm student."

[member="Ijaat Akun"]