To The Victor Goes The Spoils

Coruscant Downtime Pt. 3

They both move into the circle which had been constructed for the General's brutal takedown of Skywalker, and begin fiddling with their lightsabers. Soon enough, the Commander is finished and hesitantly asserts, "so I assume we're going until one of us yields?"

Skywalker then says, "until you yield," while sharing a significant glance with Ahsoka. Who did this nerf herder think he was? Commander Noss was going to beat Commander Tano, and the 501st would be forced to wallow in shame. "Too small to be worth considering" my heavily armored butt.

I fixed Captain Rex with a stare and smirked as deeply as my face would allow. Commander Noss would be taking the victory, and his boys would be scrubbing my ship. Commander Tano flourishes her twinned sabers, and Commander Noss gives a salute.

Then they sink to ready stances, and I wait with bated breath. Then, Commander Tano attacks. Commander Noss parries in a way that looks effortless to me, and she begins to slowly give ground. I find her defensive fighting worrisome.

Did she misjudge Commander Tano's skills? Did she overestimate her own abilities? Did she do this specifically so that the 2532nd had to clean the 501st's hangar bay? No, I look carefully and I can see that, slowly, Commander Tano is losing steam.

Meanwhile Commander Noss remains unfatigued. The Commander does something which surprises me, all of the clones, and I'm sure many of the Jedi present. She kicks Commander Tano squarely in the chest, sending her sprawling across the hangar floor.

Commander Tano regains her feet quickly and the fight resumes. Commander Tano is leaping all over the field, seemingly in an attempt to get the angle on Commander Noss. Commander Noss, seems to be perfectly content to let Commander Tano exhaust herself this way, and to continue defending against the onslaught.

The commander brings her saber down, hard, once, twice, right on Commander Tano's hands. She drops her lightsabers and General Drayhu calls out, "[Surrender]". Commander Noss deactivates her lightsaber and lowers it. There's a stiffness or tension to her shoulders which I'm certain indicates some sort of stress.

I can rule out basic fatigue as she's barely breathing hard. Something is bothering her, and I suspect that every Jedi in the room knows it if I managed to pick up on it. Commander Noss addresses Commander Tano, but I cannot hear what is being said over the mournful wails of the 501st and the even louder Raucous cheers of the 2532nd.

I see General Skywalker enter the ring and I vault my way in as well. Partially, I was trying to escape the partying my boys were throwing, partially because I wanted to congratulate the Commander, but also, I wanted to know what was going on. I arrive in time to hear him say, "...five months, I think."

Commander Noss repeats it, "five months," then continues, "Master Skywalker, are you aware that I have sparred Padawan Tano before?" General Skywalker shrugs and says, "I could guess." Commander Noss nods her head.

"Then you know I speak from a position of authority when I tell you that, far from improving, Padawan Tano's sparring capabilities have gotten worse since I last saw her." Oh, that was what was going on. I started to regret my decision to enter the ring.

There was a tightness gripping everybody, a stiffness in every motion that betrayed a discomfort. The only one who didn't seem too badly affected were my brothers from the 2532nd, and that was mostly because they were too busy rubbing the victory in the collective face of the 501st.

Commander Noss gives no hint of slowing down, "a year and a half ago, I warned Ahsoka that she was consistently dropping her guard and leaving herself open to attacks, particularly on her left side. I know she worked on it, because I know my sister. But as I said, it has been a year and a half. And the problem has, somehow, gotten worse, not better."