Fresh off the Farm (Jac Dagger's Training-Zialan Society)

[Niner]

The heavy beam caught Jac across the chest and sent him slamming back into another pillar. The beam itself bent around Jac's armored chest, pushing back into the pillar enough to snap it in half.

His chest felt like it was on fire but the young man was built like a tank. He reached up and pushed the beam off of his chest and slowly stood up. The armor on his chest was essentially gone and he pretended to stagger towards Vashni. He raised his pistol in his right hand and fired off a single shot before he fell forward onto his face....

Now, it was time to wait and see if Vashni would take the bait and come closer.....

 

[Gambler]

Fragments of shattered steel clanged against the floor, littering the ground with the color of scratching rust and the dull grey of the railing. Vashni whistled in his suit, a sound too high pitched for his respirator to pick up and display to the rest of the factory. The rail that hit Jac must have caused some pretty bad damage considering the angle and how it hit. There was the possibility that some of his ribs had broken from the impact. Had the armor been undamaged and not ravaged by Vashni's attacks, it would have absorbed all of the force from the beam, negating any effect besides being knocked off of his feet. Vashni paused momentarily, wondering if he should check if the man was alright. It would be easy to simply check his vital signs, but there was still that feeling in his gut that something was off. He didn't know how much it would take to incapacitate Jac with the damage the man had taken thus far, but that still wasn't sufficient reason to walk over and check him. Shrugging, Vashni made his way over to the man, ready to help him up or even give him another bacta injection.

 

[Niner]

Jac could hear Vashni approaching, one down side to a heavy metal suit was that it wasn't very quiet, and feel his footsteps through the reverberations in the ground.

He waited for his trainer to get close enough and, using his last reserves of energy shot his left arm out, planning to grab his trainer's ankle and send a arch of force lightning through the connection....

 

[Gambler]

The purest form of ionized energy --electricity-- arced through the air, cackling against the ground. Super charged atoms rubbed against each other as the friction created powerful static enough to conduct through the non-conductive environment around them. This combination of ionized plasma shot into Vashni's leg, frying the last bits of his gel and sending hundreds of volts of electricity through his skin. His leg spasmed once, his heartbeat accelerating rapidly. Adrenaline pumped from his heart as the bolt flew through him, invigorating him. He clamped down on his lip with his teeth, breaking through the fleshy cartilage and causing blood to dribble onto his tongue. Licking the blood clean he sighed in a way that denoted a type of pleasure. There were three kinds of high. The athlete's high, the purest and safest form, that sent endorphins throughout the body and empowering the mind to a drunken yet hyper aware state. The druggie's high, the most dangerous form that tried to simulate the athlete's high in a cheaper and easy manner. And then there was the battle high where one became drunk from blood. That last category was what overcame Vashni for a moment. He laughed a hoarse chuckle, throwing his head back. "I love the feel of pain! Hit me again if you can, puny man!" He shouted, sucking the blood from his swollen lip, static cackling echoing in the background. He kicked out, aiming to catch Jac in the ribs. Even as he withdrew his foot from his kick he rapidly leaned over, slamming his dagger towards the prone man's leg.

 

[Niner]

the kick shattered what remained of Jac's rib cage, actually causing a shard of bone to pierce through the skin where the shattered remains of armor no longer covered. The dagger broke through the weakend armor and drove through his leg.

Jac roared in pain, even he had his limits, and he couldn't take anymore. His head fell backwards onto the pavement, the helmet clunking onto the cement floor. Blackness starting closing in around his eyes, even then though he couldn't just leave this. He managed to gather enough strength to hold up one hand and give Vashni an extremely rude hand gesture and cough out, "You win, jackass" before his hand dropped back to his side and the blackness overcame him....

 

[Gambler]

Vashni's breath came in heavy gasps. He wanted more oxygen and the only thing he could hear was the pounding of his own heart. It took him every ounce of his willpower not to slide his power sword across and decapitate Jac while he was unconscious. So tempting, but he held himself back. Only the knowledge that the man wouldn't survive any further abuse kept him from finishing him off. But it was tempting. Taking one last hyperventilated breath, Vashni extinguished his power sword and stood up straight, his armor creaking slightly as he removed his foot from Jac's chest. He couldn't have the man die on him yet. There was still more for him to teach him. But at least he got him to submit. "Conform to the Sodality. We are your brothers and sisters. Conform and listen to us and your goals become ours," he said in a tone that reeked of sarcasm. The first step to making one a good soldier was to make them obedient, but to make them obedient their wills had to be broken. It was how Vashni treated Jac.

Jac was a tool to be used and tossed aside, just like the rest of humanity.

It was much like breaking in a horse.

To break in a horse one would normally lure it in with tender words before strapping the saddle on. After the first signs of obedience came one had to constantly test the limits of that subservience. The master would always dominate the servant. There would never be a way around that simple truth. Every time the servant stepped out of line he would be taught discipline through abuse. Some might say that this brutal method of obedience would only beget hatred and violence, but it wouldn't. If the servant is too afraid of the landlord to cheat him, then he will always do his job with the fear of death on his shoes. Kindness was for the weak and Vashni despised the weak much like he despised aliens. They were all scum to him. Thus he would make Jac strong. But first he would break him mentally and physically.

Bend him into a tool before forging him into a weapon.

"First heat the metal and put it into a mold. Then strike it with a hammer, destroying its original shape as you force it to change to your desires. Allow it to cool off before using it as it is. Forge a weapon from a tool," Vashni said, kneeling over Jac's prone and unconscious body. Once more he violently ripped the helmet off of the man's head to expose his neck and face. Taking out a needle, he injected the bacta into the man's body, an instant healing substance that was far more powerful than the meager medpacks he had been using so far. "Get your sorry ass up. We still have more for you to learn. Get up, now." The first test of obedience was pushing the limits to their utmost extents. Maybe even breaking those limits. It was how one examined a blade and decided it was worth their time, effort and money.

 

[Niner]

Jac gasped as he was awoken from the blackness of his unconciousness. He could feel the healing substance at work in his body, healing rifts in muscle, enhancing his own natural healing abilities, knitting muscle and flesh back together and even resetting bones, not most of his ribs though, many of those were still in a sorry shape. He was not one to disobey however, he reached down to his leg and yanked out the blade still stuck there and tossed the bloody knife to the side. He struggled to his feet and leaned against a pillar for support, "Sir?"

 

[Gambler]

An expulsion of breath fell across Vashni's helm. Carbon dioxide drifted against the metallic plate, warming the ultrachrome. He looked across the factory towards his apprentice. The glowing red orbs covering his eyes sparkled in a different spectrum of light, consuming the environment greedily. Then he heard it. A question. Just the simplest of syllables uttered in a primitive manner. It grated on his nerves to hear another word. He asked for obedience, not questions.

Apparently such blind loyalty would be harder to come by than he had anticipated. "You are to be tested. Tested in a manner that will break your body even more so than it is now. It will teach you anger. Fear. Pain. But most of all it will teach you how to obey. To become part of the Sodality you must be willing to obey me. To obey your brothers and everyone who is of a higher rank than you," he said. His tone was unreadable, blocked out by the static of his respirator.

"You must be willing to jump when I say frog. You will bark when I say dog. And if I say kill you will slaughter." The words were harsh. His tone was brutal. Beneath his helm his eyes glowed with the light of passion. I will break you, it was a thought, primitive and feral.

The lights flickered briefly, a pillar falling onto one of the fluorescent bulbs. Many of the support beams had been destroyed by their exertion and parts of the roof loosened as proof. The entire factory might collapse before long. Vashni grinned at the concept. There would be rumors on the street about terrorists when in truth the building was destroyed by training exercises. The Sodality did not joke around. They were not mere terrorists without purpose. They were crusaders.

"Climb to the top level of the factory. All the way up to the roof. Once there you will have to get out of your armor and find a way down," it sounded simple enough. "But you can't use the lifts," a devious little twist. He shot his hand out in the direction of the elevator, focusing his mind to the point of a pin. Energy gathered in his eyes, pouring to a focal point on his palm. And then it was released into the lift. Electricity engulfed the steel elevator, sizzling as wires snapped. For a brief second everything was silent. But then it exploded, an inferno covering the entrance. Flames licked the wires as they coiled back to the top level in a manner much like a spring.

Vashni smiled. "Have fun."

 

[Niner]

[FONT=&quot]Jac stared at the burning wreck of the elevator, not too much of a loss really, he wouldn’t have been able to use it. He limped to the door of the building and walked outside, maybe that would be easier. He peered around and saw a fire escape on a nearby building, Vashni had said he couldn’t use the elevator, this was different. He limped/ran over to the base of the fire escape and started climbing it and then, when he reached the top he was still about three floors short. He took a deep breath then jumped off the fire escape and plunged his mechanically strengthened hands into the wall. The section of wall had evidently been damaged however and started to crack under the pressure. He let go and pushed off backwards, grabbing the fire escape, only about four floors up now. He sighed and went back to the bottom. He looked and noticed that where he had grabbed had put gaping gouges into the wall….perfect. He repeated the task by climbing up in the same way, essentially punching into the wall until he reached the top, once there he got out of the scraps of armor that were left, and the climb down was easy, simply using the gouges he had made as foot and hand holds, it was practically a ladder…..

Jac reached the bottom, his bare hands bloody from the jagged concrete along his descent. He leaned against the wall and slid down to to a sitting position, his formidable bulk making him look like a sleeping titan from ancient mythology. His head slumped forward and his eyes started to close, but he shook his head, swearing to himself to stay awake....there had to be more....
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