The Negotiator and the Fire Fang

Raiders of the Sand: Drills

"So what exactly do you plan on teaching the Sandpeople? They already know how to use a blaster quite effectively, as we well know." Shan asked the next morning as she sipped on Blue Kelry Tea. She was sitting cross legged in her bunk, staring at him over her cup. "My shoulder remembers it quite vividly."

Kenobi looked over at her from his standing position in the center of their tent. His damp, freshly scrubbed hair sticking to his brow. He took a spoonful of his oatmeal before answering.

"Well, for one, they need to be taught how to shoot more effectively at moving targets." he began. "I saw them aiming for the pirates on speeders and they weren't even coming anywhere close." Shan took a sip of her tea.

"That'll be your department." she said once she had swallowed. "I am terrible with a blaster." Kenobi gave her a smirk before continuing.

"Secondly, they need to learn how to fend the pirates off at close range. The Sandpeople are deadly when they have the high ground, but when they're in melee with gaffi sticks against blasters, that's where they seem to run into trouble." Shan dropped her tea on the nightstand.

"So how is this going to work?" she asked, pulling back her unbound hair to tie it up. "Are we going to set up a training camp for our boys in tan?" He gave a smile at her jest.

"I was thinking we take twelve of their best warriors. Once they are proficient enough, they can take over training the rest of their protectors. We can hang around for a few more days to help out, but hopefully we're successful and they won't need our help." he said as she dropped her arms.

"I was thinking," Shan started, "training the whole force to deal with both pirates and the Empire would be a lot to do in the short time span we have. The Empire could retaliate any day. In fact, I'm a little surprised they haven't yet." Kenobi cocked his head at her.

"What do you propose?" he asked. Sahrea dropped her feet to the floor and stood up. "We split it into two forces. One to deal with the Empire and one to deal with pirates." she explained, her face cast in a warm light of the lantern.

"You know as well as I do that the Empire and pirates have very different attack patterns." This was true. The Empire was more strategized. They had formations and followed orders. The pirates had a mix of a blitzkrieg and guerrilla like style; attacking quickly and suddenly, without any real rhyme or reason to their pattern. That ultimately made the two close to being opposites.

"Good thought." he mused. He gave a sigh. "Well I wasn't expecting this when we woke up that morning." he said with a smirk. "I'm back to my general days."

---

"Again." Shan commanded, crossing her arms. She watched as Kenobi took a step back, staff directly out in front of him. It had been a grueling few hours. The Sandpeople had set up a tent on the exterior of the camp for them to use for their training sessions. It was merely a wide tarp over sect of sand.

Most of the raiders were able to pick up the techniques quite easily. They were proving themselves to be great warriors. Over the last week, they had gone through blaster, melee weapon, and hand to hand combat training. Most had picked up their teachings quickly, but a few had stumbled on them, including the one Kenobi was currently working with. Shan's fingers were tapping against her forearms.

The former Jedi slashed out at the raider's side. The Tusken dodged and stabbed towards his chest. Kenobi blocked it, shoving the raider's staff upwards. It connected with his foe's, sending a wooden clack throughout the area. The two backed off at a raised hand from Sahrea.

"Excellent." she praised. "Pair up." Shan flung up a hand, gesturing for them to move. "This'll be our last exercise of the day." Her hands tightened on her forearms as Kenobi fell in beside her, watching over their trainees. They both stood in silence as the raiders practiced their new knowledge.