Sahrah Grummet's A-wing descended towards the dingy Nar Shaddaa. Her shields lit up as brightly colored flame pulsed around it, biting and licking at them as if to curse her entry into the atmosphere. Probably fumes from all the garbage they process down there. she smiled at her little joke and eased her fighter into a more level bearing. Towers and bridges raked at her as she sped low through smaller passages in the innards of the city. Sluggish haulers tottled around corners, their weight threatening to drag them to the planet's floor. Sahrah throttled back on her engine power and brought up a small reticle on her HUD. A red blip of an arrow blinked to life and acted as a pointer to navigate her to the discreet location where her contact now waited. The black A-wing slowly wove in and out of structures as the distance towards its destination counted down. Finally, in a dark corner of what could best be described as an alley, the arrow flickered out of existence on her display and she set down next to a neon orange sign buzzing a message in an indecipherable alien text. The bubbled canopy hissed and flipped up, and the orange light flashed off her helmet as she brought up its visor and unfastened it. She tossed it into her seat as the canopy sealed shut again. She leapt off the side of her A-wing and landed in a crouch. Sahrah sensed someone though. She knew her contact was to meet her here, but the quiet? Why the quiet?

<span style="color:yellow;">Flash.</span>

Sudden pain. Sahrah's arm had already been twisted behind her back and the assailant had its arm around her neck. A furry tail flicked from side to side at her ankles before at last wrapping around her calf. A voice hissed in her ear, "Lesson one, always be on your gua-ack!"

Sahrah had brought her elbow around to strike at the side of their ribs, distracting them, but the attacker recovered and held strong. After a short while of struggling and her being cut off from the air, Sahrah was finally released. She hit the metal ground hard and coughed violently. "You should have followed through, I was caught off guard - that left an opening for you to get out of my grip," the alien's copper eyes glowed cat-like in the dim light...

(OOC: prepare for overhaulish edits)

"Leh're'n au Fi'nst I presume."

Some of the color returned to Sahrah's face and her eyes sparkled.

"Leh're if you please," the Trianii's sharp teeth glimmered into a smile.

"So what's lesson two?" Sahrah stood up, the blue hair streaks that framed her face stuck to the sweat on her cheeks.

"Always pay attention," Leh're smoothed the fur on her arm down with a flinch of her hide. "Observation is probably your most powerful tool in any situation. It helps you navigate your way out of huge and complex structures or gets you information on interesting characters you may meet in your travels. Lesson three---don't get caught."

"Simple enough, I think," Sahrah eyed the now visible silhouette of the Trianii, its cat form enviable by gymnasts and military ground troops both.

"You will be a force to contend with when I am through with you, blondie," Leh're sneered - her black fur rippled, pupils dilated to slits. "Come with me."

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The Trianii waved Sahrah into the dimly lit building. Darkness is a trend here, she rolled her eyes.

"You only learn from experience. There is an operative in the other room. Another pupil of mine. I told him to wait there with no other instruction. Your job is to sneak up on him and either capture or knock him out. Either way, don't get caught. You may enter the room any way you wish, don't alert him," Leh're narrowed her eyes at Sahrah.

"No special equipment?" Sahrah asked hopefully as Leh're shook her head and pointed towards the gloomy door.

Sahrah sighed and tied her hair back. She quickly assessed the situation. There was a grate above the door. Probably some sort of ventilation shaft that leads in.

"Time is your enemy - do not spend too long on this. If an assassin was about to shoot you and you had a blaster---the last thing you want to do is pause," Leh're's tail whipped Sahrah in the back to speed her along.

Then she heard it - the quiet hum of a generator. Sahrah looked up and noticed a pipe that protruded from the ceiling. Heating...I bet for the whole building... She was already climbing on some nearby shelves and removed the cover to it, pulling it shut behind her. Leh're smiled approvingly.

Thud. She landed softly at the back of the room. The operative stood at the other side, shafts of light illuminating his form. Hope he hasn't heard me...

She crouched low and kept her back to the wall. She was only a meter from him now. A quick jump and she'd have him...Blink. He was gone. Oh no...

The lights flipped on. He was on the other side of the room where she had landed, his hand on the switch. "Gotcha," he grinned.

Sahrah muttered colorful language under her breath. The operative was already snapping binders onto her hands...

"So I'm humiliated for failing?" Sahrah asked sulkily, her blue eyes lowering to the floor.

"That's about the size of it," he smiled and patted her forearm as if his doing so secured the restraints better.

"Great. And the restraints are for...?" she waited for him to finish the sentence.

"Your next lesson. Because Foust here heard you - you've just lost an advantage for your next task. THough at your rate, I doubt I could call it an 'advantage.' You'd probably fare no better," Leh're glided in through the doorway.

Sahrah's face burned with shame and the sting of failure. "Hand-to-ummm...foot combat," Foust made a gesture as if he was tipping an imaginary hat to her.

"To the center, you may start when ready," Leh're nodded and slipped into a dark corner, her feline gaze the only hint of her presence.

"Give me a challenge," Foust pointed a demanding finger at Sahrah - her eyes narrowed at him.

"So...how long have you been training here?" Sahrah winded Foust with a lightning fast roundhouse kick before he could answer. "Oooh...did I distract you? So sorry about that..." she shook her head and snapkicked him in the knee cap.

Maybe I'll lose this fight but at least I feel better, she smiled to herself while Foust gasped for air in a now-sloppy fighting stance. She kicked again, but he blocked it in time - less than a handspan from his groin. "You fight dirty," Foust sighed with relief.

Leh're folded her arms across her chest. Sahrah wasn't terrible, she was actually more advanced in her ways then Foust had been when he started. But she was headstron and spent too much time analyzing situations. Her conversation tactic during the fight was, at best, amusing and seemed to work for now. But all pleasantries aside, in a real fight, her tactic would be useless. She didn't do it like she meant it. Some work needed to be done.

The routine was similar - infiltration, fighting, toning, sometimes hacking, sometimes researching, sometimes puzzles to speed up her thought process. Sahrah's brain and body were fried.

"Do not anticipate, but stay one step ahead - do not react until it happens, but make sure to react at all"

Leh're's words and teachings pounded in Sahrah's head like a heartbeat. "You are ready - a force to contend with," the Trianii circled around Grummet like an inspector does a new ship. "You are nearly fit enough to rival even me..."

"Missing a useful appendage," Sahrah jerked her head in the direction of the black Trianii's prehensile tail.

Leh're flashed a face of amusement, but quickly recovered to her scrutinizing gaze. "The old Sahrah is dead - you are no longer just a pilot."

"And you're even more of a hot-head now," Foust smiled, "I dub thee 'Kali.'"

"What's that supposed to mean?" Sahrah eyed him questioningly.

"Well she's some sort of ancient religion's goddess of the underworld...but in Trianii...if you break it up into the proper syllables...K'a'li...it means, very roughly, 'she who plays with fire,'" Foust nodded.

"I think I like that," Sahrah grinned, "I come out with a new callsign instead of a medal...it works..."