Boot Camp Blues

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Boot Camp Blues

Post by Pryde »

Beruss Military Academy
Corellia, 8 ABY


"Shh, be quiet," Isis hissed back at her two companions. She stuck her head out into the corridor again, checking in both directions then turned back to the others. "Okay, you go take care of the bathroom stalls, make sure they're sealed shut. And you, go distract the drill instructor while I deliver the payload."

The two boys nodded at her and scurried off down the corridor. Isis followed behind them at a discreet distance as she made her way to Sergeant Ohara's office. It was about 0600, right around the time the drill instructor gets up to prepare his morning caff. She waited a moment for Brady to go inside and talk to him before she snuck in behind him.

Staying low and out of sight she crept over to the pot of caff steaming on a nearby counter.

"What are you doing up, boy," she heard the Drill Instructor say.

"I'm sorry to bother you, sir, but I needed to talk to you."

Good, she could hear Brady giving him the story they had prepared for him the night before and when the Drill Instructor was suitably distracted she reached over the counter and poured some laxative into his caff. Once the payload was delivered she quietly made her escape and quickly retreated back to the barracks.

Brady joined her soon after followed by the other boy who gave them a thumbs up signalling that his work on the bathroom stalls was complete. They each returned to their bunks and not long after they heard the wake-up call and scrambled out of their beds.

The Drill Instructor entered the room with his usual bravado, although Isis did notice a slight swagger to his step. "Alright, you maggots," he started to shout, "I expect you out of bed and ready to march in..."

He stopped suddenly when his gut lurched dangerously. "Ready to march in..."

His face contorted and he tried desperately to get the words out untill finally he spun on his heels and raced out of the room. Isis and several of the other cadets raced after him down the hall towards the 'fresher. They could hear the Drill Instructor thrashing around inside, trying desperately to pull open the bathroom stalls with no success. Finally, out of desperation he dropped his trousers and sat on the edge of one of the wall urinals. When he looked up there were about six or seven cadets watching him and Isis standing there with a big smile on her face and a camera in her hands. She snapped a holograph of the scene and blew him a kiss before retreating from the room.

Later that day in the Dean's office Isis, Brady and the other boy that had helped them all stood at attention in front of Kommandant Volkmar's desk. He looked up at them and gave them each a stern look.

"I suppose you think that little stunt you pulled was funny," he said with no amount of humor in his voice.

"That's a matter of opinion, sir," Isis shot back at him.

Volkmar's face darkened considerably and he got out of his chair, stalked around the desk and planted himself directly in front of her. "Don't think for one second, Cadet, that just because your daddy is a respected man that you can get away with anything you want. There will be consequences for this starting today. You and your two cohorts here are on latrine duty for rest of the month. I want you to scrub every toilet on this campus until I can see my face in them, do I make myself clear?"

"Sir, yes, sir!" They each shouted in unison.

"And when you're done with that report to the mess for lunch duty. Now get out of my sight!"

The three of them retreated out of the office and headed back towards the barracks. Brady had a sullen look on his face. "Latrine duty for a month? I'm sure the guys will get a kick out of that."

"Oh, don't be such a baby," Isis said sharply, "We could have been expelled for that, but he knows my dad wouldn't let him get away with it."

"You sure it was worth it?"

Isis held up the holograph of Ohara sitting on the urinal and smiled. "Oh yeah, it was worth it."
Last edited by Pryde on Thu Oct 09, 2008 10:48 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Halomek »

“Tell me something, beautiful…”

Clara Molariou shut her green eyes in disgust as she set down her fork to brace herself for whatever remark Karl Dalan was going to make next. “I swear to the Force, Karl, if this is another stupid crack about my breasts, I’m going to give you something more than the mess rations to chew on.”

Karl smirked. “No, no, no… how could you think that? I was just wondering something…”

“Here it comes,” Clara thought bitterly as she heard Karl and his buddies trying to suppress their snickering.

“I was wondering…” the amusement clear in his voice as he dragged it out, “…in the event of a water landing, could I use your chest as a flotation device?” He and his buddies immediately started to crack up as if Karl had made the most humorous and clever observation in the history of the galaxy.

Clara played along and chuckled, although there was no humor in her response. “Are you done?” she finally asked. “Did you get a good laugh at how big I am? You certainly haven’t let a day go by without reminding me about them.”

Karl nodded. “Get real, Clara. Who are you trying to kid with those things? You’re not built to be a soldier. You should leave the real fighting for the real soldiers. You’d be much happier as a housewife.”

She smiled sweetly as she brushed back a strand of red hair from her face. “Oh really? Like yours?”

“I do know how to treat a woman right,” he bragged as he held out his hands for his buddies to slap him some skin.

Clara stood up and put her hands on her hips. “Gamorrean prostitutes don’t count, Karl.”

The superior look on Karl’s face quickly turned angry. “You’re lucky we’re in the mess hall, bitch! Try saying that to me off academy grounds!”

“What’s the matter, big man?” she asked him mockingly. “Afraid of the MP droids? I sure as hell won’t let them stop me!” Clara then lunged and smashed one her fists into Karl’s face, breaking his noise with a satisfying crunch and dropping him to the ground with a stunned look on his face.

Karl’s friends weren’t about to let the insult stand and made to grab her, but Clara was ready and turned on them next. The ruckus lasted for a few minutes as Karl and his cronies learned very quickly just how difficult it was going to be to teach the girl who was attacking them a lesson. Although one or two of them managed to get in some good hits, Clara took them like a pro and wasted no time returning the favor.

By the time the MP droids had arrived, three of the boys were on the ground, groaning in pain. The droids had to forcefully grab Clara to get her to stop pummeling Karl. They dragged her way, but even as they did so she yelled triumphantly at her victims. “I warned you idiots! Who’s the better soldier now? Huh? I don’t care what punishment I get, it was so worth it!”

She laughed, this time with real mirth. “Have fun in the infirmary, boys!
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Post by Balsa »

Kommandant Volkmar von Ramklov looked up from his morning caff and glanced at the cadet standing before him. There were some bruises on her young face, but the look of determination and triumph were unmarred. The Kommandant, a man past his military prime but still quite capable of command, returned his attention to his datapad. When he spoke, his voice was calm, devoid of any fury that the cadet surely expected. "Cadet Dalan, commented on your breasts, which you found offensive, and you then assaulted him. Is this correct?"

Carla answered crisply, her eyes staring unblinkingly forward. "Yes, sir."

"I see," Volkmar said as he took another sip from his mug. He reached the end of the document and set the datapad down. "Explain the reasoning behind your choice of action."

This time the cadet's eyes shifted to meet the Kommandant's, though confusion surfaced within them. "Sir?"

"Why did you choose the tactics you did?" Volkmar's voice was patient. "A simple question, really." He waited for the cadet's reply.
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Post by Pryde »

Isis had heard about the fight in the mess hall and immediately regretted having missed it. Oh well, after Clara had been carted off to Volkmar's office Isis paid a visit to the infirmary to see how Karl was doing and to rub it in, of course.

"Hey, Karl, how's the face?" She asked him in as sweet a voice as she could muster.

"Oh god, Isis, go away."

She feigned being hurt and sat down right next to his bed. "Oh, come on now. Is that anyway to talk to a friend?"

"I ain't your friend, Sinclair, so just leave me alone. Seriously, don't you have some toilets to scrub?"

Isis' face hardened but she passed it off. "I'll let that slide, Karl, because you've already got your ass beat once today, but here I came to give you this."

She handed him a copy of the holograph she made and Karl looked at it. "What's this," he asked.

"Just a picture of our friend the sergeant," Isis said candidly, "I'm passing them out to the entire squad. I'm even trying to get a big one made so I can post it up in the officer's lounge."

Karl shook his head and threw the picture back at her. "No, no way! I don't want any of your trouble! After what you did this morning you're lucky you didn't get expelled."

"Pfft, they can't touch me," Isis said with a wave of her hand, "Just let them try to expell me."

"Yeah, well the rest of us aren't spoiled rich kids like you who can hide behind our daddies," he said it with such disdain that for a moment Isis felt an overwhelming compulsion to hit him, but instead she picked up the photo and stood.

"Fine, forget I said anything. See you at drills later," she said as she started to leave then she pretended to think about it and turned back to him with wry grin, "Oh wait, I guess you won't be going to drills will you? Tough luck, getting beat up by a girl and all. Oh well, see you around!"

Then she left the infirmary with a contented smile on her face.
Last edited by Pryde on Thu Oct 09, 2008 3:32 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Post by Halomek »

Clara wasn’t quite sure what to make of the kommandant’s question, so she answered it as best she could. “I’ve been warning Karl… err, Cadet Dalan to lay off for weeks, but he persisted in making remarks about the size of my chest. I decided today that words weren’t going to be enough, so I let him have it.”

“What were your tactics in the fight?” Ramklov asked again, patiently.

“I went straight for the leader; Cadet Dalan,” she replied, doing her best to keep a smirk off of her face. “He’s the one who deserved it the most and he was their leader. If his boys saw their leader go down, then I figured they would run off, but I guess that brain they share is more than a stem, because they tried to grab me without any prompting from Cadet Dalan.”

Ramklov nodded. “Go on.”

“I didn’t think much about it during the fight, sir,” Clara admitted. “I acted more on instinct. I went for the immediate threat and I tried for debilitating blows so I could take them out quickly and move on to the next opponent. After Cadet Dalan’s help was out of my way, I focused on him again because…” At this, she trailed off, not sure if she should continue.

“Finish your explanation, Cadet Molariou,” Ramklov prompted. “I want to hear everything.”

“Oh, to hell with it!” Clara thought to herself. “I’m already in trouble, admitting it all isn’t going to get me in any worse.” She sighed as she came clean. “I went after Cadet Dalan again because I wasn’t satisfied with just breaking his nose. I wanted to make it clear what would happen if he ever insinuated I wasn’t soldier material again, sir!”
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Post by Balsa »

"Your choices were right, to go after the direct offender and to apply force to intimidate the others. Shock and awe as we might call it." The kommandant pulled up the incident report on his computer. "That being said, assaulting a fellow cadet is grounds for expulsion. However, I have reviewed your case, and I have deemed that the situation warranted your actions. Then again, I cannot let this incident go unpunished. You will have a ten thousand word report on the application and effectiveness of 'shock and awe' on the modern battlefield delivered to me in 72 hours.

"You are dismissed, Cadet Molariou."
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Post by Halomek »

Upon leaving Kommandant Ramklov’s office, Clara knew she should have been happy. After putting Karl and a few of his boys in the infirmary, she was getting off with a figurative slap on the wrist. Most cadets would have been gratified to be punished for the offense by having to write an essay instead of some physical endurance punishment or KP duty, but not Clara. At least the other two options could be seen as a form of training; writing an essay, on the other hand, didn’t fall within her preferred skill set.

What rankled her even more was that the fight, and the subsequent visit with Ramklov, caused her to miss out on her favorite class, military history, but she ended up being right on time for mathematics, the class she dreaded the most. All throughout the oh so dry and boring instruction, Clara found herself wishing darkly that she had inflicted more bodily harm upon Karl before the MP’s had gotten to her.

Fortunately, weapons, and then hand-to-hand training, was right after lunch, which put her in a better mood as she was grabbing her food. She also took more pleasure than she probably should have at seeing a lot of the guys give her a wide berth after this morning’s incident. It probably didn’t help that a lot of the girls were giving her signs of approval.

Clara tired not to look too pleased as she sat down and started eating. She also tried not to think about having to write her pending essay…
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Post by Pryde »

"So, if I made a comment about your breasts would you kick my ass too," Isis asked sarcastically as she sat down next to her friend.

Clara didn't even bother to look up from her plate and said, "Aren't you supposed to be on lunch duty?"

Isis smiled, "Yeah, I um--'convinced' someone to take my place. Volky's probably going to be mad about it, but I can handle him."
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Post by Halomek »

Clara gave her a teasing grin. “You know, if you weren’t my friend, I’d probably smack you.” She sighed as she looked down at her food and stirred it. “And ol’ Ramrod would probably give me another essay to write.”

Clara rested her head on the table, but made sure she could still see Isis. “Push-ups I can take, forced marches I can take, peeling vegetables I can take, but a ten thousand word essay? That’s cruel and unusual.”
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Post by Pryde »

A ten-thousand word essay? Isis was glad she didn't get nailed with that punishment after what she did to Sergeant Ohara. Though, now that she thought about it what exactly would that essay be about? Proper bathroom etiquette?

"Well," she said, trying to sound scholarly, "we could always get Scanner to write it for you. I bet I could persuade him to do it easy... Are you going to eat that?"

Clara gave her a look that quite clearly said yes and Isis held up her hands in resignation. "Okay, forget I asked. Anyway, want me to talk to Scanner for you?"
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Post by Halomek »

“It’s tempting,” Clara admitted, “but no. As much as I complain about Ramrod, he’s always been square with me, which is more than I can say for some of the others. I threw the first punch and put a fellow cadet in the infirmary; even if it was Karl; I should take the punishment.” She smirked with self-depreciating humor. “Besides, Ramrod would probably spot the differences between Scanner’s writing and mine in a heartbeat. I don’t think an egghead like Scanner could ever lower himself to my level of booksmarts.”

“You might have a point there,” Isis admitted.

Clara sat back up. “Okay, enough about my day. You’re holding out. I want to see the holograph of Ohara. I know you have one.”
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Post by Pryde »

Isis' smile broadened even more and she fished through her pockets for the holograph before handing it to Clara. "Ol' fish face was pretty furious when I snapped that photo," she explained, "He's probably going to take it out on me at drills today. No biggie, though, I asked Scanner to use his holo imaging suite to make it bigger. If Ohara tries to be a jerk I'll just post it up in the Officer's Lounge."
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Post by Halomek »

“Oh, this is good, this is very good,” Clara complimented with a giggle as she looked at the picture. “Old Hardass has never looked better.” She tucked the image into one of her pockets for safe keeping. “It’s definitely one of your finer pieces of work. I wish I could get away with half the stuff you pull around here.”
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"Yeah, well if it wasn't for my father's funding they would have kicked me out a long time ago," Isis said, idly stirring her potatoes with her spoon. Clara couldn't help but notice that Isis became oddly withdrawn at the mention of her father. "Of course, he isn't too happy with some of the things I've done. The last time I saw him he really let me have it. Stupid old man..."

She never could forgive him after her mother left. That was thirteen years ago yet she still blamed him for it. "But what can I say, he's my father I guess. Bit of a control freak, but he's hardcore military through and through. Him and Ramrod would probably make good friends if they weren't at each other's throats over what to do with me."
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“Say what you will about him, at least your father gets respect here. Thanks to my relation to Uncle Habas, I swear it seems like half the instructors expect me to shoot them in the back!” Clara crossed her arms in front of her in a pout. “I mean, I know he’s technically an assassin, but he’s a good man. He doesn’t go after anyone who doesn’t already have it coming.”

“Hey, Sis…” Clara began suggestively, her joviality returning as she used her own special nickname for Isis. Although it was just a slightly shortened version of the other girl’s name, it didn’t hurt that the two were practically like sisters. “What would you say to trading families for a bit? That way I can at least skip this stupid essay and you can find an excuse to travel around with my uncle… oops, I mean your uncle.”

“That…” she added with a chuckle, “…is the kind of miracle I’d like to see Scanner pull off.”
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Post by Pryde »

"That, I think, would take a lot of intimidating," Isis said absently as she was shoving a spoonful of food in her mouth.

Just then two boys stepped up behind her and angrily crossed their arms. "Hey," one of them said, "I think you got somethin' of mine."

"Hi, Jake, how's it going," Isis asked, not even bothering to look at them.

"Stop playing dumb, Isis, I know you have it."

She finally did turn around, but the look she gave him was one of feigned ignorance. "Have what, Jake? What are you talking about?"

Jake's expression became more serious. "I mean it, Sinclair, give it back or there'll be trouble."

Isis did her best not to laugh but ultimately failed. "What are a couple of boneheads like you going to do to me," she asked, standing up to confront the two.

"This," the second boy said and he raised his fist to attack. Isis saw the punch coming but managed to grab his wrist. Then with a sharp twist she spun the boy around and stuck her butterknife against his throat.

"That was round one, care to try again?" She asked him sweetly.

"Look, we just want the camera, alright," Jake said, unable to hide his surprise.

Isis looked at him then let his friend go. She fished around in her pockets for the holocam and gave it to them. "There," she said, depositing it in Jake's hands, "now get out of my face and don't you ever come at me like that again."

The boys nodded and hurried away. Isis retook her seat with a contented smile and shoveled another spoonful of food into her mouth. "Well that was fun," she said, speaking even while she was chewing.
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Post by Halomek »

Clara watched the confrontation quietly and took the opportunity to eat some of her food. She knew Isis could handle herself and she had no intention of getting sent to Ramklov’s office twice in one day.

When it was over, Clara just shook her head before looking at her friend. “Let me revise what I said earlier, Sis: if you weren’t my friend, I would definitely smack you. I like you a lot, but there are some things you do that I just don’t understand. I know you can afford your own holocamera. Granted, Jake’s no Jedi Knight in shining armor, but he’s decent enough. You didn’t have to take his. Hell, I bet Scanner had a much nicer one you could have used.”
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Post by Pryde »

"Yeah, but I already harassed Scanner the week before," Isis explained, cleaning off the rest of her plate, "And to be honest I didn't need to steal a camera at all. It was just something fun to do."

Then she turned to look at her friend. "What about you? Haven't you ever done something just because you could?"
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Post by Halomek »

Clara sighed with a mixture of amusement and resignation. “Life doesn’t work that way for me, Sis. My actions have consequences. I knew I was going to get punished when I let Karl have it.” He lips curled in a subtle smirk. “You might even say that’s part of what made it so satisfying; the unknown danger I was putting myself in by doing something that could get me expelled. I’ve got no safety net. If I wasn’t so good on the field, Ramrod probably would have sent me packing long ago for all the trouble I tend to cause around here.”

She glanced at her chrono before looking back at Isis. “Well, I think that’s enough introspection for one day, I don’t want to burn myself out before I get to my essay. Besides, if we don’t move it, we’re going to be late for weapons training. The scuttlebutt is that we’ll be training with assault rifles today.” She grinned. “I can’t wait to get my hands on one of those babies.”
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Post by Pryde »

Isis nodded and followed her friend out of the mess hall after they each put their trays away in a collection bin. By now the rest of the squad was finishing their meal and following them out as well. They gathered out at the shooting range, standing at perfect attention as Sergeant Ohara gave his spiel about the use of assault rifles. He continually shot menacing glances in Isis' direction but the young girl pretended not to notice. In fact it took an awful lot of restraint for her not to smile.

After the Sergeant was done giving his instructions the recruits were allowed to try the weapons out for themselves. Isis and Clara had found two positions right next to each other and were busily firing at their respective targets. After a short while Isis sighed heavily.

"Why can't they ever move the targets back further? I would hardly call this a challenge," she grumbled to Clara.
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Post by Halomek »

Clara, whose shots, while respectable, weren’t nearly as accurate as her friend’s, grumbled a little herself. “Not all of us have magic eyes,” she said sarcastically as the instructor blew into his whistle to cease fire while new targets were brought out. “I bet all of your blasted accuracy would go straight down the toilet in a real combat situation. More often than not, speed decides things in the real galaxy.” Clara grinned challengingly. “And, Sis, you know you can’t beat me when it comes to speed.”
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Post by Pryde »

"Okay, so I might be bleeding but you'll be dead," Isis replied with a smirk. As soon as the new targets were in place a whistle was blown and the recruits commenced firing again. After a moment Isis sighed heavily, "This is so boring. When does hand to hand start?"

Clara was about to check her chrono when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye. "Hey, Sis," she said, drawing Isis' attention away from the firing range.

Several men, including her father, approached Sergeant Ohara and briefly spoke to him for a moment. Ohara answered a few questions, occasionally casting a glance in Isis' direction. After awhile her father nodded then gestured for the two men to follow him. As they left Ohara turned back to supervise his recruits.

"I'm really going to get it now," Isis grumbled under her breath.
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Post by Halomek »

“Wellll,” Clara teased, drawing out the word. “I think the untouchable Isis Sinclair might finally have something to worry about.” She leaned a little closer to her friend and whispered: “Even if it turns out that your prank on Old Hardass was the straw that broke the bantha’s back, you’ve got nothing to be sorry for. I still say it was totally worth it.”
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Post by Pryde »

"We'll see," Isis replied absently, squeezing off several more shots before old "Hardass" as Clara had called him blew the whistle to stop. The recruits all stopped their firing then stood at attention before their stations.

"Alright, that's enough target practice for today," he announced, "Report to your next class for hand-to-hand training and don't be late. Dismissed!"

The students all began to file out of the shooting range one by one and as they were leaving Isis could hear Ohara's voice shouting over the commotion. "Private Sinclair, you're to report to the Dean's office pronto."

With an exasperated sigh she followed behind her friend and quietly grumbled under her breath. "Here it comes."
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Post by Halomek »

“Give ‘em hell,” Clara whispered back before Isis left the group to head for the dean’s office.

Although military history was Clara’s favorite class, hand-to-hand combat was a close second; weapons training coming in just behind that. As much as she enjoyed firing blasters, or learning about the famous battles of the galaxy’s past, there was no question that hand-to-hand combat was where she really shined. She was a natural at it, like a fish to water.

Few students other than Isis could hold their own against her these days and not even Isis was quite up to her level here. Her friend always proved to be challenge because of how unpredictable she could be, but she lacked the discipline to truly master the martial arts.

Once the instructor had finished explaining the moves they would be working on today, the class divided up into pairs to practice. Clara just grinned and cracked her knuckles with anticipation now that she actually had permission to hit someone…
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Post by Pryde »

Isis entered the Dean's office, surprised to find not the Dean but her father sitting in the Dean's chair. He apparently wanted to speak with her alone. "Hi, daddy," she greeted him in a mockingly sweet tone that only made her father scowl even more.

"Don't you 'hi daddy' me, missy," he replied sternly, the look in his eyes probably would have melted any other person besides Isis who stubbornly defied it. "I paid good money to get you into this school and this is how you repay me?"

"I never asked to be here," Isis started to say, but her father cut her off.

"But you are and you're going to have to deal with that. You're the daughter of a Senator, people are going to be watching you. What do you think they'll say when they see you behaving like this?"

Her father obviously expected an answer, but Isis wisely kept her mouth shut. Anything she could have said would only have made matters worse.

"You are going to apologize to Sergeant Ohara and destroy that picture you took and that's final."

"But..."

"No 'buts', Isis, I don't want to hear another word out of your mouth and I definitely don't want to have to come down here again. Now where is it?"

Isis hesitated a moment then finally reached into her pocket and withdrew the holograph she took of Ohara then dropped it onto the table. Her father didn't even look at it, he simply nodded his head then stood and came around from the other side of the desk. He rested a hand on her shoulder, but his expression remained unchanged.

"Good," he said, "now get back to your studies. We'll talk again later."

Isis silently nodded and left the room, heading down the hallway towards the gymnasium for her hand to hand class. As she walked a smile formed on her lips. Her father may have though he'd won, but the fact of the matter was that Isis had long ago made copies of the holograph and one of those copies just happened to be saved onto Scanner's computer. Oh no, her father hadn't won Isis still had plenty of fight left in her.
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By the time Isis returned to the class, they had moved beyond the new moves and were now sparring. As usual, Clara was in the center of a loose ring of students. Her latest victim was pinned facedown in the ground, his arm twisted behind his back in a classic hold maneuver. Clara was sitting, almost casually, on his back, as she held him down.

“Say it!” she demanded. “Say you give up and I’ll let you go!”

The man under her struggled in vain once more before he seemed to finally give up. He mumbled something to that effect.

It wasn’t good enough for Clara. “I’m sorry, I didn’t quite make that out. Say it loud enough for everyone to hear.”

Her opponent looked up and spit out some dirt. “I give up, okay? You win!”

With a smile, Clara released him but didn’t get up before mussing his hair a little. “Those are the magic words. Better luck next time, Jerrin.”

Jerrin rubbed his arm as he left the ring. “Yeah, right,” he muttered. “That’s easy for you to say.”

Clara smirked as she looked around. “Come on, who’s got the guts to step into the ring with me? I’m just getting started. Jerrin wasn’t much of challenge, but at least he wasn’t a coward.”
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Isis sat back and watched the assembled students through all of Clara's boasting. There wasn't a single one that stepped forward to accept her challenge, at least not immediately. There was one boy who stepped out of line and boldly faced her.

"I'll fight you," he said, lowering himself into a fighting stance.

Isis just laughed out loud and came into the circle. "You wouldn't last two seconds," she said, purposefully placing herself between Clara and the boy. "Why don't you sit this one out?"

"Shut up, Isis, I can take her."

"And Jawas will fly, it's a nice dream and all but seriously you should really sit down," Isis cautioned him and as she spoke she twisted her body somewhat.

The boy, however, missed the warning sign. "Then why don't you fight me if you think you're so tough?"

Isis just stared at him a moment then shook her head. "Fine, you get the first hit then."

The boy was quick to respond, leaping forward with his arm extended for a punch that would have landed on Isis' temple. Isis, however, didn't wait around long enough for it to arrive, moving instead to intercept the blow with her left hand then roughly twisting the boy's arm down and behind his back. With a kick she sent him sprawling outside of the ring where he landed face first in a pile of mats. Then she turned her attention to Clara.

"I'm ready whenever you are," she said with a smirk.
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Clara managed to crack her knuckles just by making her hands into fists before she shifted her body into a combat stance. She grinned at her friend. “You came at the perfect time, Sis. Ever since Tolaris transferred out to a different academy, you’ve been my only real competition in the ring.”

“So,” she added teasingly, “do you want the first hit?”
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"Of course," Isis replied, darting forward. She knew that Clara had superior speed on her side so if there was ever any way for her to win it would be to get within her reach and grapple her. A task that was easier said then done, Clara was also an expert grappler.

As soon as she closed the distance Isis cocked her arm back and punched for her face, but Clara easily side-stepped the blow causing Isis to overreach herself. Seeming to have made the same mistake the boy did Clara nearly missed Isis' next attack. Spinning on her heel she brought her left hand around for a backhand, aiming again for Clara's head, but missing as the more agile girl ducked under it and landed a double palm strike on Isis' midsection.

Isis stumbled backwards a few steps then lunged forward again. As was her typical fashion she continued to press the attack, refusing to let up. Her strikes came quick and fast but not nearly fast enough. Clara easily dodged each blow while waiting for an opening. Isis would present her one purposefully to lure her to attack and when she did the girl went low and wrapped her arms around Clara's waist.

She took her to the ground and as the two of them grappled for control of the other Isis whispered into her ear. "It's too bad Karl isn't here, huh? He loves watching us roll around on the ground like this... Especially you," she added that last part in with a wry grin.
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“You must be getting desperate if you’re resorting to taunts already, Sis,” Clara retorted as they struggled back and forth. “They’re not even good ones. I happen to know that you have a few slobbering admirers yourself.”

With a sudden blur of motion, Clara swung one of her elbows upward and caught the other girl with a blow to the chin. To her credit, Isis didn’t let go, but it did stun her enough for Clara to get a foot under her friend and push her off. She immediately made to pin Isis to the ground, but as Clara rushed forward she ended up getting a handful of dirt thrown into her face instead.

Even temporarily blinded, Clara kept a cool head. She backed off in a defensive posture and kept her ears open for the sound of Isis’ footsteps. Despite the situation, she smiled. One thing about fighting Isis: Clara never knew what her friend would try, which always made the bouts interesting. She didn’t even begrudge Isis for something as underhanded as dirt in the face because every new tactic Isis tried gave Clara a fresh learning experience to take into the future.

“That’s the very definition of playing dirty,” Clara told her opponent, “but you’ve got another thing coming if you think you’ve got me.”
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"I'm far from finished," Isis replied, having worked her way behind Clara after blinding her. She swung at the unprotected back of Clara's head with both hands clasped together and was surprised when Clara tilted her head just a bit and caught both of her arms in a tight grasp. She allowed her body to go limp, pulling Isis forward and off balance and flipped her over onto her back.

Clara wrapped her arms and legs around Isis, pinning her entire body and seeming to have finally brought an impromptu end to the match. Isis, however, was far from finished and brought into play the only weapon she had left, her teeth. She bit Clara's arm and continued to bite her until the girl finally let her go. Then Isis quickly scrambled away from her, keeping her at a distance with a backwards mule kick.

When she was clear she spun around and faced Clara, bringing her hands up into a guard position but restraining from moving in to attack. She needed some time to catch her breath and to devise a plan.

"You haven't showered recently, have you?" Isis said, spitting onto the ground, "What's the matter? Don't want to damage your manly smell?"
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Clara laughed again as she wiped the dirt from her eyes. Her vision was a little blurry still, but getting better fast. She could just make out Ohara watching the match. If it was anyone other that Isis in ring, and any other opponent other than herself, she was sure Old Hardass would have broken up the bout by now due to how far outside of the guidelines it was getting.

But Clara was sure he was letting it continue because of Isis’ little prank. He wanted to see Isis get taken down a peg or two without having to worry about repercussions from Isis’ father. If it was any other student in the ring with Isis, the prospect would have been slim to iffy, but Ohara knew Clara had the skills to make it happen.

As much as Clara hated to give Ohara any amount of satisfaction, she wasn’t going to lose on purpose just to deny him. She wasn’t that vindictive, or at least not when it would cause her reputation to suffer.

“I’ve been trying to play nice with you, but it seems like you’re out for blood this time.” She grinned as she adopted a new combat stance. “That’s just fine. If you want to get rough, I’m game.”

She suddenly rushed forward but rather than making an attack at Isis’ upper-body as it appeared, Clara dropped down low and made a sweeping kick with her leg to topple her opponent. Isis was a little too agile for that maneuver to work and used a backwards somersault to dodge it, unfortunately for her, it was just what Clara was expecting Isis to do. As the flip put Isis on her hands, her face had a rather abrupt and harsh meeting with Clara’s combat-booted foot.

The kick sent Isis sprawling to the ground, but her momentum stopped just before she crossed the perimeter of the ring. Despite what Clara had said, she had held back on the kick, giving it just enough power to make it painful, but not cause anything more serious than a bruise later. She didn’t want to harm her friend… but Isis did deserve a little payback for biting her arm.

Clara didn’t move to pin Isis even though she’d had an opening. She didn’t want to end this match just yet - not anymore. She could tell that something was bothering her friend, and it was a good bet that the little trip to the office was the cause for it. Perhaps this match would be a good way for her to vent her frustrations…

Afterwards she’d ask Isis what happened, for now though, she was starting to have some real fun.

“Not bad for a smelly tomboy, huh?” Clara teased, making jest of the earlier insult. “What is daddy’s little girl going to do about it?”
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That did it, that one comment did her in. This whole time Isis had been trying to make Clara mad so she'd make a mistake, but instead her plan had backfired. Later she would admit that Clara knew her better than she thought. She knew all the right buttons to push.

Wrecklessly Isis charged forward, employing her best Teras Kasi as she launched a series of punches that were meant to drive Clara back but her blows were hasty and her accuracy even worse. Clara avoided each one simply biding her time until Isis had sufficiently tired herself out. Then, after Isis had managed to throw one final punch Clara caught her fist in mid motion.

With a sharp jerk she spun Isis around and wrapped her arm around her neck in a sleeper hold. Even as she did so she allowed herself to fall backwards, dragging Isis along with her as she wrapped her legs around Isis' body. This time there would be no escape, no limbs within reach to bite and with her legs pinned the way the were she couldn't even use those to free herself.

"Say it, Isis," Clara said, repeating the same words she had said after beating Jerrin.

Isis could feel herself beginning to pass out yet some part of her still adamantly refused to give up. Her sensible side, however, kicked in and somehow she managed to croak out a response.

"I give," she said and Clara loosened her grip. Isis rolled up onto her knees coughing, then when she had caught her breath she turned to look at her friend. "You know, one of these days I'm going to beat you."
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“Not likely,” Clara disagreed with a good-natured smile as she held out a hand to help Isis up. “And for the record, I shower every morning. Of course, thanks to you, I’m going to need another one tonight.” She shook her head to try and get rid of some of the dirt in her red locks. “It’s a good thing I keep my hair short.”

Before Isis could say anything, the whistle blew, letting all know that class was over. It was also the last class of the day, so they started walking back to the women’s barracks. “So what happened, Sis? You’re always crazy in the ring, but you were getting mean this time.”
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"I, um... It's nothing," Isis replied and Clara gave her a hard look. "Okay, it's something, but I'd rather not talk about it. It's about my father, you know--the usual stuff."

Clara nodded and the two of them continued walking for a bit in silence until Isis suddenly spoke up. "Um, sorry about, you know... Biting your arm. You really had me there and I got desperate," then she started gently rubbing her nose with one hand, "but seriously did you have to kick me in the face?"
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“Hey, I believe in eye-for-an-eye,” Clara answered her. “You bite me, I bite back. The only thing is I went more for the figurative bite. I’m really not that eager to see what you taste like either, you know.” She stuck out her tongue in an exaggerated display of disgust. “Blech!”

She saw Isis smile before slapping her on the back cheerfully. “That’s more like it! Don’t worry about your dad. He can’t run your life forever. A couple more years and we’ll be out there, serving the Republic, butting heads with what’s left of the Empire. It’ll be great!”
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"Um, yeah... It'll be great," Isis replied absently. As true as Clara's statement was, in spite of its slight exaggeration, Isis still tried not to think about it. The only thing waiting for her after graduating from the academy was years of service and discipline and the young girl could think of no worse fate than that. She hated taking orders from anyone no matter who they were. Assuming she did manage to graduate the only great accomplishment she'll make is managing not to get court-martialed. "So, what do you plan on doing for fun tonight? Besides showering, that is."
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Clara looked at her for a moment. “Did you forget already? Ramrod wants that essay of his. I could give it a day, but I’d rather get it done and over with before I really have to start worrying about it.”

Something else occurred to Clara then; maybe Isis’ idle question wasn’t so idle. Perhaps she already had something in mind. “Why? What’re you thinking?” she asked with a lopsided grin. “I might be persuaded to worry about the essay later in lieu of a little fun.”
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"Um, well--," Isis began, coughing nervously. Usually when she asked that question she did have some devious plan in mind, but she'd been too busy to think of one today. Her mind raced for an idea and she spat out the first thing that came to mind. "We could, um... Sneak into the boy's barracks and bleach all their uniforms?"

Clara thought about that a moment and shook her head. "Didn't we do that last week?"

"Oh, right," Isis replied, thinking again, "How about we fill the pool with gelatin before our training tomorrow?"

"Isis, where are we going to get enough gelatin on such short notice?"

Isis sighed heavily and held up her hands.

"Alright, you caught me. I hadn't really had anything planned for tonight," she admitted finally and the two girls walked on in silence for a bit. Then just before they entered the barracks Isis turned to her friend. "Do you, um... Need help with your essay?"
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