Worth: A Star Wars Story (ON TEMP HIATUS)

//DAILY LOG 396: UNSEALING....

//DAILY LOG NUMBER: 396

//SUBJECT: HAND TO HAND COMBAT TRAINING (Shiny might actually win, someday)

Had combat training with the cadets today. They wanted us to give them hand-to-hand skills, which I figured would be great in a number of ways. One of the things we got taught in spades on Kamino was hand-to-hand combat. You needed to know how to defend yourself if the droids jammed up your weapon, and our cadets needed to know what to do if some shab stole their gear... or it jammed.

The second option was a lot more common than one would think.

Luckily for my cadets, on Kamino, our combat training was extensive, and hand-to-hand combat was one of the areas I exceled in, though I was discovering that compared to most regular soldiers, we Clones were extensively trained in and exceeded in everything by comparison.

"Now, I know that after the last lesson, some of you decided to complain about this particular lesson and seemed to not realize that the primary problem is that weapons are machines, and the problem with machines is that they break down. There will inevitably come a time," I continued what was a long-winded rant even by my standards as I walked a line in front of my cadets, "when your blaster fails you and you will need to resort to hand to hand combat to survive. That will be the purpose of today's lesson. Now that I'm done talking your ears off, pick your sparring partners."

We had an odd number of cadets after losing some in the general process, and Shiny approached me, "Can we spar, sir? I let Twitch go with Blondie instead," he glanced over his shoulder at them and I saw Twitch silently looking at him like he wished he had just stayed partners.

"Why not just train with Blondie?" I asked, raising an eyebrow at a very unamused Shiny.

"Because last time Blondie didn't win a single round and won't spar with me anymore," his answer was delivered so flatly that it actually made me laugh.

"Okay, Shiny. I'll bite. Show me what you've got"

We had training batons and training knife. I had the baton, Shiny had the knife. I never held back when I trained my cadets. I didn't beat them senseless like some instructors seemed to enjoy doing, but I never went easy on them either. they needed to be ready for whatever the world was going to throw at them, and if that meant that they got a few bruises, then so be it. Shiny came a me less aggressively than a lot of cadets usually did. There was an element of caution in how he moved. He knew that I had the experience and skill to match, and he wasn't going to come at me halfcocked. 

When he did finally seem to get his collective bearings, he came at me in quick, precise movements. He was light on his feet and faster on the backstep, dodging my swings and jabs with the skill of a kid who once did it for a living.

"Good," I had smiled at him, though it wasn't something he returned. "Think you can beat me, though?"

"Willing to try," he replied with a nod and came at me again.

He was good, but I was better. I backed away from the knife and his wide swings and took my baton to the back of his knees, forcing him to the ground. I had him on the ground, training baton pressed to his throat, "You done, Shiny?" He didn't say anything, just gestured to my torso with his eyes. When I looked, I saw why. The training knife we used with its retractable blade was pressed flat against my ribs. A clean stab if I had ever seen one. I may have slit his throat, but he punctured at least one of my vital organs with that one. I chuckled as I sat back, "Not bad, kid. Not bad at all, but staying alive is part of the assignment."

"I'll take a slit throat for a punctured kidney," he shrugged as I got off of him and held out a hand for him to take. He stared at it for half a second like he was surprised that I offered, but he quickly gave me one of those easy half-smiles and grabbed my hand, letting me help pull him to his feet.

With a little more training... Well, someday that kid is going to be a force of nature.

I can feel it.