Iver sat and drank the swill provided by the tavern as he listened to his new squadmates talk about themselves and a bit about their backgrounds, attempting to at least remember their names. When everyone was finished introducing themselves, Fyn proceeded to remind them all that the people seated around them would be the reason they live or die in the battles to come. Iver set his mug back down, unfinished; he couldn’t finish the ale with the thought of battle looming over his head now. He had actually forgotten that those around him had signed their lives away to the Fifth Echelon along with him and that he was now in a contract to fight in battles for the Echelon.

Iver left the tavern with his squad and followed them back to the docks in preparation for their voyage to whatever battle awaited them. Two men carrying a large crate walked in front of Iver, and he was so lost in his thoughts again he about walked into them. With much cursing in his direction, the men walked away from the young mercenary. Shaking his head at the men, Iver caught back up with his squad in front of the undamaged ship currently docked in the pier. After a closer examination, Iver realized it was the best looking ship there; the others were heavily damaged from mage fire. A smiled spread over Iver’s face about the prospect of being placed on the newer ship until he saw the munitions crate loaded onto it by the pair of men he almost ran into earlier.

Fyn moved toward the recruiter that called their names out before and began yelling about the munitions being loaded on the [i]Raggaton[/i]. The recruiter countered by saying they were one of the candidate squads to be placed on the ship and that they were to fight the other squad without weapons, and the one that lost would be placed on the massive explosive. Iver followed his squad in undoing his weapon belt and laying it on a nearby crate. As he dropped his sword and knives on the crate, he turned to see the squad of Heavies already charging at them. Iver watched as one of the charging Heavies was taken down by a bolt of electricity from Cynric.

One of the Heavies tackled Iver, wrapping his arms around the smaller man’s torso and lifting him in the air. Iver brought his left elbow down on the neck of the larger man, but his elbow hit plate. He sucked in a breath of pain as he brought his other elbow down closer to the man’s head, hitting flesh this time. The Heavy dropped Iver and bent double slightly as he cracked his neck to try and rid himself of the pain. Iver rolled across the wooden planks into a crate. With a groan, Iver stood up as the Heavy approached, a bit more cautious this time. Iver dropped into a sloppy brawling stance with his fists raised in a more defensive form now that he had time to prepare himself for his opponent.

Iver did he best to dodge around the Heavy’s assault, taking a hit here and there. Eventually he was able to dodge around the Heavy to get behind him and lash out with a kick in the unarmored part just behind his knee; Iver led the kick with his shin instead of the toe of his boot so the man would just be knocked off balance and not too injured to fight in the real battles to come. The Heavy lost his footing and fell to the ground, but soon stood back up and continued the brawl with the Marine. Iver managed to dodge better than last time, and even managed to land a few hits this time. The tide turned against him as the Heavy caught his fist and twisted his arm behind his back. In desperation, Iver flung his back and connected with the Heavy’s nose; he heard a crack and a yelp of pain as the Heavy let go of Iver’s arm. He turned to the see the Heavy grabbing as his swollen nose beneath the river of blood that poured from it. Iver wasn’t in much better shape, as a dull pain began from the back of his head and spread out to wrap around his temples. 

Iver took advantage of the lull in action to continue his assault through his blurred vision caused by the headache he now had. He closed the small distance between him and the Heavy in a few steps and began punching and kicking at any part left exposed through the Heavy’s defense. The sloppy barrage from the Marine finally paid off when he landed a few hits in quick succession to the Heavy’s jaw. The bigger man was knocked off balance yet again and fell over a pile of crates behind him; he didn’t get back up after that. Iver turned back toward his squad and started to walk, more like stumble. in their direction, set on trying to help any of them.