Unrequited **04/01/03**

Wheew! It's not Zekk! <sigh of releif>

No, Di, you are very hard to bribe.

Umm....feedback.............Umm....Fix Jaina's atittude? No...that's no good. Lesse....oh well, no feedback this time.

 

Whoohoo-- new post! Ahh, all my guesses were wrong... but that's nothing new. *g* Sounds like the next post is gonna be interesting... I can't wait! *Opens another bottle of Whyren's and pours a glass for Herman*

 

Good post.

 

Uppity.

 

I doubt if Jaina will lay the smackdown on this guy. In fact I think it'll be a draw...

 

Well, Jaina's just a tad bit snoooty eh? Malko's got to be a pretty patient guy! Great post Hermie!

 

No hits in over half a day?

*Places a keg of Herman's favorite beer on the table*

Here ya go.

 

Gosh. Herman's posted maybe four posts in his story so far. He's already up to five pages. Parting is nearly done, and I'm amazed I made it to five! Refuge didn't get past four. What's your secret, Hermie?

 

He's VIP. We brown-nose,
Ah I see you finished Womp_rat's offering. Allow me to top you up...

*Drags in an esky full of chilled cans of beer*

True...

 

Now Jaina is just as stuck up as her mother isn't she? Must run in the family or something...

 

My secret us longevity. My first story back in the UBB days was only two pages long, and that was at forty posts per page.

But no doubt you people want more story. Well I'll let you have more tonight rather than make you wait until tomorrow.

BTW, so you know, unless I get my arse in gear and do some writing, pretty soon I'm going to catch up to what I've already completed.

The good news is that the other day I figured out how to tie all the pieces of this story together into something fairly coherent. Now all I have to do is turn my notes into actual writing

**************


As Jaina shrugged off her robe, she noticed that all activity in the room had come to a stop. Since her entrance, it seemed that everyone had noticed Luke Skywalker was among them and had come over for a closer look. When they saw one of their peers was about to face off against a Jedi, the crowd pressed in even more closely.

At two meters, the staff was nearly as long as Malko was tall. For Jaina, even standing on her tiptoes left her half a head shy of matching the length of the staff. As Jaina approached the center of the circle to meet Malko, he shifted his grasp on the staff so that he was holding it casually, almost negligently, at his side. Jaina gripped her staff tightly with both hands to hold it low and parallel with the floor. When she was ready, Jaina signaled for Malko to begin.

Malko?s first attack was lightning quick. With a deceptively easy flick of the wrist, he whirled the weapon in motion and directed his attack horizontally against Jaina?s torso. Against a lesser opponent that blinding strike would have had a better than even chance of succeeding, but against a Jedi the move was blocked before it even began.

Taking a step back, Malko shifted from a single handed to a two handed grip. Seeing the ease with which Jaina had blocked his initial assault, Malko circled his opponent, waiting for any opening to strike. Jaina however maintained her solid defensive position. When Malko realized that Jaina was too astute to weaken her stance, he shifted tactics again and tried to force the issue.

What followed was a flashing combination of attacks and counters. For every maneuver that Malko attempted, Jaina seemed to have the perfect defense, and in response to one particularly aggressive strike, answered with a swing that Malko barely managed to duck.

For her part, Jaina was considering just how much longer she was going to toy with her opponent before ending this masquerade of a fight. As she saw it, she had already allowed Malko to salvage whatever pride he may have had by allowing him to last this long. When Malko withdrew a few steps to refocus his efforts, Jaina decided that she had had enough of defense and stepped forward to initiate an attack of her own. That was when she noticed something was wrong.

It wasn?t a feeling, but the lack of a feeling that caught Jaina off guard. Up until that point she had been using the Force to thwart Malko?s rapid strikes, but as Jaina moved to finish the mock battle, she could suddenly no longer read anything from Malko. To her, it was almost as if her eyes had been covered. In her momentary confusion, Jaina halted in mid-stride. Malko, seeing his opponent was off balance, took advantage by unleashing another advance.

Backpedaling furiously, Jaina once again returned to the defensive. This time however, each succeeding strike came closer and closer to penetrating her hastily constructed defenses. Without the ability to predict her opponent?s attacks, Jaina?s blindingly fast reaction time was the only thing that let her stay in the fight. What Jaina needed at that moment was an opportunity to collect herself, but it quickly became obvious that Malko wasn?t going to give her that opportunity.

Several times in the course of his advance, Malko switched from lateral attacks and thrusts to an overhead swing that bore down directly towards Jaina?s skull. Each and every time Jaina was able to block this lethal blow, but what she didn?t know was that she was bein

 

Oh Herman, you are truly the king of evil cliffhangers!! I even know what's coming, and still I find myself on the edge of my seat!

Now I wonder what happened to Jaina's Jedi senses...

 

Hail to the king, baby!

 

Oh my, I've gone & stoked his ego and made a monster out of him!

Oh well, you deserve the praise.

Hail almighty Herman!!
//humbly bows her head while offering Guinness

 

Oh man, that's just evil. Stopping in the middle of the fight. Ooooohhhh.

But it was an excellent post up until the premature ending. Nice and fast paced.

 

Oh my! That was great! Untill you left us at that awful clifhanger!

Quick! Post agian! Quick!

<hyperventilates>

 

Hey, I just found this! Love it so far. Herman, you are so evil. Darn cliffhangers.

 

Good post.

 

Cliffhangers are evil ! (I love employing cliffhangers, but I hate facing them !)

Please, pretty please, pretty pretty please, pretty pretty please with sugar, cream, chocolate and a cherry on, could you post more ?

 

Dum Dum duuuuuummmmm!!

 

Jaina is just having a bad day! Leia's LOOK, Luke's surprise assignment, fight, losing Force senses, and now a blow coming right to her head!

What ever will she do?

 

luney: Yeah Jaina is a bit snooty, but we can see that she's about to have that nose rearranged.

jade_angel: like mother like daughter

Di-Lee: I wonder what happened to Jaina's Jedi senses too.

womprat: Thanks for noticing my evil-ness.

JKTRAINING: You'll find I'm full of cliffhangers.

RebelPrincess: Welcome aboard. Hope you like where this is headed.

starwarsfan1000: You know, you are allowed (and encouraged) to say more than just "good post"

Lordban: Relax, I'm not so evil that I'd quit posting. Patience.

Jedi Master Nejaa Halcyon: Yes, cue the ominous music.

Jaded Skywalker: Jaina is indeed having a bad day, and it looks about to get worse.


More story coming either Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

 

Hehehehhehe he beat Jaina! I love it! I hope that puts her nose down YOu'd better post soon Hermie! Or I'll take the guiness away...

 

I'm bored so I'm posting early.

Anybody got a problem with that?

****************


Jaina realized her inevitable defeat when the overhead strike never came. Instead she found her weapon almost ripped from her grasp as Malko leveraged it up and over before pinning one end of her staff against the floor. Jaina had managed to hang on to the staff, but as a result she found herself standing sideways to Malko, and rather than being safely behind her weapon she was now trapped between it and her opponent. She had an excellent view of the end of Malko?s weapon as it sped unimpeded towards her, seemingly sure to strike her squarely between the eyes. Realizing her danger, Jaina reacted instantaneously.

Malko never knew what hit him. One moment he was certain of victory, and the next he found himself flying backwards and landing roughly amidst a tangle of his fellow students who had been watching the mock battle. When he finally came to a crashing halt, Malko looked up to see Jaina somehow standing nearly five meters away. She gave Malko an unfathomable look before dropping the unneeded staff and wheeling to cast an accusing gaze at her uncle. The two of them seemed to share a silent communication before Jaina threw another look at Malko and then turned her back on him and stormed off. The crowd that had gathered melted away before her, yet every eye watched her go. Jaina even used the Force to open the door so that she wouldn?t have to slow her withdrawal.

?Congratulations, you did quite well,? Luke Skywalker said as he extended a hand to help Malko to his feet. With only a slight tremble, Malko took the proffered hand and soon found himself standing eye to eye with a living legend.

?Not well enough it would appear,? Malko said as he rubbed the elbow that had absorbed much of the impact of his unplanned flight. ?The purpose of combat is to be the last one standing. In that regard, I most definitely failed.?

?Perhaps,? Luke conceded, ?but we both know this wasn?t about real combat. I think you made your point quite effectively.?

?I wouldn?t have hit her,? Malko avowed.

?I know,? Luke answered with a knowing smile, a smile that caused Malko to suspect that Master Skywalker had been more than just an observer in this exercise.

?You interfered didn?t you?? Malko asked. ?When we began I tested her defenses. She was countering my blows before I could even make them. The all of a sudden she appeared confused and hesitant. After that she could barely react in time.?

?I leveled the playing field, nothing more,? Luke declared so as not to detract from Malko?s accomplishment. ?I probably made your life for the next few days much more difficult though. You and Jaina aren?t off to the best of beginnings.?

?No, I don?t suppose we are. She certainly is spirited.?

?Spirited?? Luke laughed. ?Young man, that?s probably the most accurate description of Jaina I?ve ever heard.?

 

tsk tsk, Jania. You gotta watch that temper. She sure gave Malko quite a first impression.

Leave it to Luke to make sure things are played fair. Still, I bet those family get-togethers are going to be quite cold for some time to come.

So does posting early mean you've written more??