[b]In the life of two Sith and their Minions.[/b]

Gra'tua was once again suffering another humiliation in order to become a better warrior, his blaster pistol had been traded in for a rifle and he was lying on his stomach looking down the sight and the barrel at the distant targets while his taskmaster, Goran, was standing behind him, with the controls that gave him the means to change the distances between the targets or have target drones fly up from hidden niches and open fire at him. The scion of clan Silas seemed to take a sadistic delight in using those controls to make this training bout a living hell for him.

He let out a curse and quickly rolled to the side as three such practice target drones opened fire on him, nearly hitting him and he looked up and back, glaring at Goran. "You enjoy this far too much."

"And you are not enjoying it enough, it will be five of them next time if you miss the target." Goran replied dryly, his finger hovering over the button.

Muttering under his breath he once again lined up the shot, aimed and fired. The blastershot was aimed true and flew forth to the holographic target easily and just before it would have hit it the target flickered and vanished. Gra'tua blinked, staring open-mouthed at where the target was and then glanced back, observing a smirking Goran Silas. "You son of a-" He managed to say right before the target drones appeared and opened fire, making him shudder and trash as the surges of electricity coursed through him.

*

"Is that normal?" Lena asked, gesturing vaguely in the direction of her fellow sith who was thrashing on the training ground floor.

Andrieke let out a snort, "It is since Goran Silas came to instruct him to use a blaster." She replied and twirled the blade in her hand before stabbing it down in the checkered board. "Your move."

Frowning she picked up a blade, still looking at Gra'tua. "Is that really a proper way to instruct someone in the use of a blaster? Perhaps i should have warned Gra'tua when that Goran expressed a great deal of interest in the way my training facilities are set up. But then I admit I wouldn't know, I prefer to stay away from firearms both in my hands and the ones held by my enemies." She then turned to look at the blade in her hand and frowned. "What was this game called again?"

"Cu'bikad, and it is still your move." Andrieke replied, tapping the board which already had several blades stabbed into the board by them both. "Must I go over the rules again? I warned you that a game such as this is better not played by non-mandalorians."

"Well the matter is, I asked you to instruct me in some methods of strategy, I was not expecting a game that involved stabbing a checkered square." She looked at the blade again, shrugged and stabbed it down in a position she deemed it would benefit her.

"But it is, the blades." Andrieke raised her next blade and gestured over the board. "The blades represent your troops and borders, the initial phase is us marking our territory, the second phase to find opening in the others defenses... and third and final phase." She stabbed the blade down to stress the point of her words, "To find the exposed weakness of your foe and stab it right in the heart."

"I see." Lena said calmly. "I think I would have preferred Dejarik however, or just some regular strategy games or instructions." She tapped the pommel of her next blade on the board, "This seems a bit too stabby, stabby for me."

"That or you prefer to do things your way in the shadows?" Andrieke asked, not judgmental, simply curious.

Lena paused, glancing at the general in the service of her fellow sith. "I won't deny that my preferred ways of doing things... leave less of a mess to clean up. A assassination here, a sabotage attempt there... a focused and calculated strike elsewhere, it could make armies, planets, systems, governments fall with only a few number of specialists and hidden strikes to eliminate key components. Grand battles might have a certain romance and glory to it, but the destruction it brings are difficult to repair and recover from. Not to mention the bodycount." She stabbed the blade down finally, "Besides I believe even the Mandalorian people know this, you do wage your battles, for honour, for glory, for your clan. Grand battles, sure but the Mandalorians also have a certain... code of honour involving personal duels between champions or clan leaders to settle matters I gathered. Those battles only end with, well usually from what I understand, one casualty but it would settle the most grievous of injustices, insults or feuds."

Andrieke hardly seemed to consider her next move and stabbed her blade down. "We have those, but we do not kill in secret, yes we have clans who... specialize using cloaking technology, they are our scouts, our high risk commandos infiltrating enemy lines. But our foes will always know it was a Mando'ade blaster or blade that ends their lives. You prefer to not have people find out that you were behind the strike, correct?"

"Correct." Lena stabbed down and looked at the board. "Hmm... it seems I have created a wedge within your defenses, which I can capitalize upon with my next moves."

Blinking Andrieke looked down at the board and let out a curse.

Chuckling Lena leaned back, this game wasn't so hard after all.

---
[b]Sometime later Shadow's Regret,
Conference Room.[/b]

Lena placed the cup of tea in front of Gra'tua and grabbed her own as she sat down opposite him and took a sip. "Are you alive still? Your training instructor seemed to like pushing you to your limits."

Gra'tua let out a snort and looked at the cup of tea, "I don't suppose you have dark beer?" He lifted the cup, sniffed it and decided to take a sip, grimacing at the taste. "To answer your question, I am alive still and Goran... while his sadistic tendency to push me to my limits and test my patience might need to be questioned at times. He is doing his job, instructing me to use a blaster and so far he has proven to be... adequate... in teaching me, I can... apparently hit a target the size of a barn, but that is about it, according to him at least." He let out a grumble and frowned, "You seem to spend time with my general however, how did that happen I wonder?"

Lena smiled, "I deemed I needed to learn more about strategy and tactics, asking lessons from a Mandalorian general, a warleader, in your service, seemed like the right person to ask. Besides with our little agreement I figured we could use each other's resources freely, especially since we are travelling towards Korriban on my ship. Remind me again why we are not contacting them ahead of our imminent arrival?"

"Because the only thing we know there is some supposed invasion planned for Korriban, if we contact them we could potentially endanger them by letting this enemy know reinforcements are on their way. Intercepting our transmissions is unlikely but it is still a possibility." Gra'tua paused and shrugged, "I prefer to have the element of surprise on our side if we are entering a combat situation... I just wish I had my ship and most of my troops with me. If something happens to her..." He growled.

She leaned back, looking at Gra'tua with raised eyebrows, "With 'her' I assume you mean Azazel, I think she will be fine. She is fairly powerful in her own right, she has her people with her, not to mention Korriban is Andrea's seat of power. I think whatever happens, those that invade that region of space have a rather fierce battle on their hands, which they will have great difficulty to come out alive." She smiled, "I think you should be more worried about whoever is thinking they can kill not one sith... but a alliance of sith."

"Hmpf, you are smarter and more collected than you make yourself appear to be." Gra'tua, grudgingly admitted.

"I thank you for the compliment." She seemed to think for a moment, "It is interesting however, these kind of situations will reveal... if we are indeed a alliance of sith, able to work together, or are nothing more than a sham. Actors playing a role, hiding ourselves as wolves wearing nerf-clothing who are about to turn on each other and attempt to rip each other's throats out." She paused and then chuckled. "I prefer to not see that particular scenario happen, compared to you, Azazel, Andrea and Jacoiba, I am small fish in a sea of sharks." She still chuckled once she said that.

"You do that often." He said after a moment once she was done talking and chuckling. "Make yourself appear as if you are lesser, weaker. I may not know all your assets or abilities Lena, but you have a rather devious mind and a cunning intellect which you use to advance your goals. Not that I complain, this partnership we have agreed upon, certainly has it's advantages to me, I managed to obtain several living, actual living and breathing Taung, the first Mando'ade, the creator race of my culture and heritage." He paused, "But... I need to inform Azazel about our little arrangement. She is my partner... and the mother of my children to be, she should know everything that involves me and her."

"I disagree, this arrangement is between you and me, I am not threatening her, or your relationship with her. I am also not asking you to spy on her for me... or try to pry you away from her to pursue something with you myself." She smiled and shrugged, "No offense but you are not my type." She turned her chair, facing Gra'tua. "This arrangement I made with you is because I was impressed with your growth, you have come far from the... well, originally mindless warrior persona you have. So in my opinion she has nothing to do with what is purely a business agreement between two individuals."

"Sounds to me you just want to keep this secret from Azazel, or just all of the other sith." He said as a observation.

"Perhaps, or perhaps I just want to make sure this sith alliance stays in one piece and my arrangement with you is my method of achieving that and it's secrecy is what keeps our arrangement, and possibly the alliance, intact." She shrugged, "But that is my opinion, I can't tell you what to do or say to Azazel and I won't stop you. I only say I would prefer to keep this arrangement we have between the two of us."

Letting out a snort he closed his eyes, why were women in his life so confusing and frustrating, he let out a sigh and grumbled again. "Hmpf, fine, I will see what I will tell her once I see her right before me in the flesh and are certain she is fine."

"That is all I ask, but it is late and I will retire to my chambers, a good night to you Gra'tua." With that she stood up, bowed her head and left the conference room to retire for the night.

"I'll remain here for a moment, I seem to have a lot of my mind." He bid goodnight to Lena and remained alone, lost in thought.