The armory was a no-nonsense affair. Two armored guards stood outside a portal leading to a long, straight passageway. Josh recognized elements of defensive construction as well as an elite Clansman standing in front of an active forcefield at the end of the passage. He was manning an enormous, turret-mounted energy weapon pointed directly at them. There were also small covers on the ceiling and sidewalls that could be slid back from behind...

Murder holes? Damn! The Kaizuko take security here seriously!

Sen’s nod was one of knowing. ~You have it right, brother. No surprise. They do have a very colorful past of void-faring combat and onboard infighting.~

Josh blinked. ~Ya... Pirates. Go figure.~

To their enhanced sight, the guard at the end of the passageway tensed as Josh and Sen drew near. Staska continued to fearlessly lead the way and called ahead of them.

"Gunarru, I'm ordered by the lead helmsman to protect our new Lords from all threats. Kindly take your itchy finger off that trigger, or I'll stab you!"

A warm smile crossed the man's broad and stubbled face. He leaned back comfortably. "Just keep'n ya on your toes, Stas." He tapped his headpiece and spoke under his breath. "No'toko. The Lords have arrived."

Another armored elite stepped through an open portal Josh hadn't seen behind the transparent shield. He was holding a pair of three-foot-long, dark metal boxes. Each side of the containers bore an etched kite shield with crossed longswords.

"Good day, m'lords. I'm boatswain No'toko. How can I help you?"

Josh nodded, but sent a mental question over to his brother. ~Military or Political?~

Sen blinked back. ~This is an armory, so military, for now.~

Sen stepped up to the man. “Greetings, boatswain No’toko. We require melee weapons for close-quarters combat. We hope you can help arm us.”

“Of course, sirs. Lady Alysa had me set these aside for you two days ago when she requisitioned her short spear—and, I don’t mind saying... they’re beauties even though they’re from his disgraced Eminence’s private collection. He was a heartless dog, but he didn’t shrink back from providing h’self the finer things. You can tell by the emblems that these pieces come from Buredose, our best foundry.”

The boatswain tapped several keys on his wrist comp unit, and a force shield appeared behind him as the one between them disappeared. A small, waist-height force counter snapped up between them, and he placed the boxes on it. “She did say that neither of you would be interested in sidearms of any variety.”

Josh opened his mouth to correct the man. “Actually I—”

The back of Sen’s hand slapped against Josh’s abdomen, not quite knocking the breath out of him, but easily interrupting his objection. Sen’s eyebrows inched up at Alysa’s consideration, completely ignoring Josh. “She was correct, boatswain.”

“Very good.” No’toko tapped the side of both dark metal containers, and the tops retracted. Nested in black silk were two identical sheathed weapons in each box with a gap where a third of each had lain and was now gone.

In the first container were shorter, wider blades with flanged triangular tips that made Josh think of stories about Arabian simitars. In the second were weapons as long as his bastard sword…at least until Kyon Shi had bent it into a piece of contemporary art. But the blade was thinner. Both were single-edged with one-hand pommels wrapped in corded black silk. Heavy silver disks served as cross guards, and the base of the weapons’ protective hand cages were also made of glistening silver-metal.

In a business-like tone, No'toko gave them the specifics of the weapons. "Both are forged from a star-iron/mythroi alloy and trimmed with Essence saturated materials. They auto-absorb Essence from your palm Meridians and were on the edge of what that blighter Desain could handle—even being a doubly Attuned Cultivator... As ordered, the two remaining weapons were originally intended for ex-battle leaders Yabana and Tojaku. Though, given the weapons Cultivatory strength requirements, I suspect Desain just wanted all three for himself...

Sen nodded in appreciation and picked one of each up. He tilted his head, examining them.

~They are both excellent weapons.~

Sen looked up at No'toko from his examination of the swords. "Is it acceptable if we take both of them?"

No'toko smiled minutely and spread his hands. "This is your Brigantine m'lord. More importantly, as you defeated the three battle leaders—by our laws, the blades are already yours."

Josh blinked. ~Dual wielding?! Cool!~

Sen’s knowing smile quenched Josh’s enthusiasm. ~You say that now. But welcome back to square one!~

Josh narrowed his eyes.

~…~

* * * * *

The practice floor was two levels below the armory and was a new facility for the Brigantine. With shielding from the more advanced Essence-based Kaizuko technology and targeting, practice tech, and various arena training modules from the Hegemon-4, it was a true hybrid of the two martial traditions. This was reflected by the fact that before their assumption of the city ship, there were no common areas for the ship's forces to train in. Sure, there were weapons masters and instruction available for the elite soldiers and any others who desired to spend their currency on such activities. But practice space was limited to whatever one could create on their own with little safety features and few standardized approaches based on skill level or duty roles. The Kaizuko method of schooling their fighters tended to lean heavily toward live field training during actual combat situations. Again, pirates... go figure.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

Alysa had known all of this weeks before they had come aboard. Outfitting the Brigantine with proper training facilities was one of the areas she had Naron and the Hegemon's engineers spend a significant amount of their efforts to create. Hand in hand with that, she had worked with Sen to develop and implement several top-down training programs for all Brigantine personnel. It was now a mandatory requirement to perform several hour-long training sessions weekly. The Hegemon-4 fighters were without question head and shoulders above the Brigantine forces regarding combat knowledge, coordination of teams, and implementation of technology. Sen had seemed sure that Alysa would get the Kaizuko Elite forces to a standard level of competence promptly.

Staska diligently led them to the entry portal of the practice floor, which slid to opposite sides as Clansmen and Hegemon crew came and went. She assured them she would be waiting when they finished. It was obviously a point of honor for her, so Sen and Josh had no objections.

Upon entering, dozens of training spaces enclosed in activated energy shields could be seen. They stepped onto the black training floor and found an empty circular ring among the various available training spaces. Sen tapped the floor circuit, and a blue/gray force shield popped up around them instead of the familiar semi-opaque green energy walls from the Hegemon-4 gyms. Josh tapped it with his finger and heard a gentle crackling as he came into contact with the solidified EM field .

"An upgrade?"

"Yes. The Kaizuko shield technology is significantly more efficient than the Hegemon-4's shielding. I suspect Naron will be upgrading the entire Ark with it."

~Glad to hear they'll be safer.~

"We will be starting our training today with instruction." Sen kneeled. He wasn't surprised to see Josh dropping down immediately either. Josh no longer questioned the need for formality in their training sessions.

Sen laid out the four swords between them.

"As your instructor, it is my duty to recognize that you have come far from your starting skills with the sword. Know that I am honored to stand with you in combat."

Josh smiled and lowered his eyes. Unable to help turning red at the compliment. Sen was well aware Josh had been shamed by his lack of knowledge and skill in combat. His determination to overcome this while training with the Sundai had resulted in almost supernatural improvement.

Sen nodded, reinforcing his assessment. "We are lucky that Desain was a greedy peacock of a man. The matching cutlass and saber set are adequate weapons for us until we can return to Jorng'a's smithy. As you are no longer a beginner, I ask you to choose which two of these four you would think best suit you to wield in combination?"

As usual, Josh took a moment to consider his response to a question he wasn't sure of the answer. "I have only ever seen you dual-wield differing blades. One longer, one shorter. So, I would do that."

Sen narrowed his eyes. "Fair answer... But why do I do that?"

Josh screwed his face up with uncertainty, "... Variety?"

"Partly. Blades of differing lengths and configurations allow for increased combat opportunities when confronted with differing styles and environments. Remember, you do not need to wield both simultaneously."

Sen extended both blades in front of Josh. "Which would you rather be using in a close-quarters fight? Or in the tight confines of an undersized passageway?"

Josh smiled boyishly as he nodded at the obvious answer for each. Sen continued. "In fact, the concept of dual-wielding weapons in combat itself is for variety. Extra protection is only a lesser, secondary objective. If you are solely interested in increased defense, use a shield. Not a weapon primarily designed for offense. But, while my question was not a trick, there is no wrong answer. Most warriors who chose to dual-wield do so with the same weapons. They do this because it is easier to master two similar weapons and turn them into an objective combat benefit than using differing weapons. For this reason, you will start dual training with the scimitar-cutlass pair.

Sen handed both of the wide triangular-tipped weapons to Josh. Their razor-edged tips twinkled in the overhead light. Sen gratefully blew an internal sigh of relief when Josh didn't slash them about like a drunken Force-Berserker and instead stood with both in low guard.

Josh's eyes started to lose focus as he went to check his status with the new weapon.

Sen held his hand up. ~Hold off on checking your status. For now, we are just two warriors with new weapons to learn.~

Josh nodded simply. ~Ok... ~

Sen grabbed the twin sabers and advanced his right foot. "The on-guard for two weapons is basically the same as for a single sword. I place my main hand in the position of the ox, aiming the point at my opponent's face. My off hand in the plow, tip aimed toward his midsection.”

Josh adjusted his main hand to the overhead ox position with its tip pointing to Sen's face and his off hand with the tip pointed at Sen's belly.

Sen pursed his lips and nodded in approval.

"Good instincts. This avant-garde stance will not only be where we start training, you will likely use it in combat as well... But only after you have achieved sufficient skill with the two blades. Do not—I repeat— do not attempt to dual wield in combat until you have mastered using both weapons to your current Advanced level.”

Sen stared straight into Joshua's eyes. "I mean it, Joshua. The foolhardy pride-wielding of weapons you are unskilled with is a quick way to die to a lesser-skilled opponent.

Josh glanced down, slightly ashamed. He had pictured himself becoming the next Darth Maul, performing amazing acrobatics and flashy moves with his dual blades. But as usual, Sen’s reality kicked his combat fantasies to the curb. ~...Message received, brother.~

"Good! For now, this stance serves very well for starting coordination drills... "

Sen went through several slow repetitions showing Josh the windmill rotation of the guard. Then enhanced his upper body to speed up his movements. Soon, his blades whirled so fast they could only be seen as a pinwheeling glimmer of reflected light. He punctuated his attack patterns with several foot strikes, defensive pivots, twists, flips, and parries.

As he finished, Sen saw Josh smile and lean forward, clearly hungry to begin.

Excellent! Sen knew Josh functioned best when challenged beyond his current abilities. Showing him what was possible would spur him on as the road grew steeper.

Sen came to a halt and raised his main-hand saber in a warning. "Ok. You have seen what can be achieved. But... Perhaps you should apply a full earthen shield and hold off on enhancing your limbs.

"C'mon, Sen... You know this isn't my first rodeo.”

~Yes, brother…~ Sen squinted, slightly irritated. ~But unless you want to frequently regrow your ears and large portions of your face and cranium... It would be for the best.~

Josh scowled. ~Ok... but... Blah...~

As simple as that, their training began in earnest.