#and she's frustrated because revan is the bigger threat so she defects to the republic

[vultures-and-scavengers]

Training

Normally, training Padawans is something Aliya enjoys: she gets to swing her lightsaber without intent to maim or kill. But the Force has been roiling ever since Yavin, and even her weakened and scarred connection to the Force is enough to feel the ever present chanting of danger in the background.

Maira stumbles backwards after Aliya lands a solid kick to her midsection, and the Togruta padawan is out of the fight. Aliya helps her up, and in louder voice explains the dangers of telegraphing your moves not only in the Force but in your footwork, your eyes, and your body language.

She wonders if it’ll be enough.

Revan knows where Tython is, and wiping out the Jedi is one of Revan’s driving motivations. Eventually, the Jedi homeworld will be her target, if it isn’t already.

“You’re training them to fight Jedi,” a new voice announces as a dark figure slips into the room. The Padawans edge away from the newcomer, fear and mistrust in their eyes, but Darth Calumnia... no, Caliga, is only amused.

Caliga stands at parade rest, looking more soldier than assassin, but even with the loss of her authority and titles, she wields a commanding presence. “Revan trained as a Sith Assassin: those are the teachings she’s passing down to her own order.”

Aliya shuts off her training saber, and then after a heartbeat, tosses it to Caliga, who catches it, and flicks it on before stepping into the ring. The former Sith tests the balance, swings it a few times, and then settles into a Juyo stance. “Who’s up first?”

The answer is utter silence from the gathered Padawans.

Caliga rolls her eyes, before pointing at one at random. “You, what’s your name?”

Fear twists and coils in the Force, but the Zeltron Padawan pushes past to answer, “Padawan Vekhta Orion, um, my Lord.”

Caliga scowls. “None of that ‘my Lord’ banthashit. I lost all my titles when I defected. Furthermore, you’re afraid of me.”

Aliya could intervene, but she’s curious. She’s aware the Dark Lord was considered an easy-going and lenient Lord to work for, and Caliga favors pragmatism and rationality over passion, but she wants to see how Caliga responds.

Caliga moves in a circle around the ring as she begins to pace. “Good. It means you’re not stupid. But that fear: you need to use it. Not to draw on the Force, I know that’s not how Jedi train or act. But, you need to accept you’re afraid, understand why, and then let yourself be afraid. It cannot control you, and you cannot let it control you, but fear is a natural reaction to danger. If you never felt fear, you would be a fool. And fools get themselves killed.”

The Padawans look at Aliya for confirmation, but she only nods. “You must find a way to be at peace with fear. You can’t meditate it away in the middle of a fight. You have to feel it, acknowledge you feel it, and then find your center anyways.”

Caliga smiles at her from across the ring, and then refocuses on Padawan Vekhta. “Begin.”

Caliga doesn’t go easy on the Padawan, but Aliya sits back as she tears through Padawan after Padawan, exhibiting Assassin skills, explaining the best ways to counter each move after defeating each Padawan. How to counter Force stealth with Force waves, how to spot where a Death Field is being summoned, how to determine what sort of training an assassin has and exploit their weaknesses: she’s thorough.

She’s a harsh taskmaster, but she circles back around the list of Padawans, and when Vekhta steps into the ring again, she lasts half a minute longer than she did before. Caliga doesn’t help the Padawan up when she hits the mat, thrown back by a burst of lightning, she was a hair too slow to dodge, but she studies the Padawan before giving an approving nod.

Vekhta glows, and Aliya makes a mental note to have Caliga at more of her combat training sessions from now on.

#swtor #jedi consular #sith inquisitor #oc: darth calumnia #oc: aliya vydari #yeah calumnia's gonna defect; i decided #the empire fractures into civil war #and she's frustrated because revan is the bigger threat so she defects to the republic #in order to keep fighting revan #nd brings half of sith intelligence with her