A time for pause

[Tellos]

The young padawan was still awaiting a master for now but she was in the mean time sent to one of the colony worlds to help settlers there while they fixed things up. Recently they had been short staffed and approached the jedi for help with technical personnel if they had any. The jedi were known for the knowledge they had and Catherine was sent off there. She had mostly been working on vapor farming equipment. Everything else was the old computers they used which had some worn out parts she kept having to replace.Small jobs but simple enough and she got free food and board while there so she could not complain too much. heading to the one cantina they had which doubled as the main hang out place she found herself a seat with a favorite drink. The young woman finding the place generally not so bad if the only issue being life here felt dull at times. She knew she wasint supposed to want excitement or adventure but she did. Oh well maybe if she was lucky somebody interesting would come in and tell some old story. One she could giggle about in her head.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Tellos"]

Yeah, that'll happen.

The prison transport Pray for Absalom touched down on the Republic colony world out of necessity. Low on fuel, with a handful of serious malfunctions, the Pray for Absalom was a glorified but neutered bounty-hunting ship, the kind used by a hunters' partnership to transport cargo they'd acquired with better rigs. Or the kind of ship that moved slaves, but only the high-demand low-supply kind. The whole place smelled like twi'lek and fear.

The hunters' plan was to go into town and see about fuel and replacement parts, but no plan survives contact with the enemy. See, the cargo had always prized patience -- restraint. You could either bide your time or break, in his way of thinking. Maybe that meant he passed up an opportunity or two, but when the right moment came, the opportunity you wanted instead of a lesser chance you thought you needed...

He didn't believe in desperate.

The hatch descended; it dripped. Broken shackles hit the deck, followed by the key. A newly acquired pack over his shoulder, the cargo headed into town.

 

[Catherine Soja]

She had just finished eating when she heard something, people were moving off toward one of the landing zones. Standing up she went to exit However before long she saw a ship usually a kind slavers tended to use. Fearing a raid she ran towards it until the chains landed and the man came out. She could feel the dark side in him now and she looked in shock almost. There were no known sith operating here. She clutched her light saber but made sure not to activate it as she moved to the front. She made sure to look ready her eyes darting about just in case.[member="Seren Ordavo"] now likely could see the young jedi padawan shorter than he was and wearing her robes and light combat armor.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Catherine Soja"] was unmistakable. Seren might be a little behind the times, but Jedi robes hadn't changed much in thirty-five millennia. He adjusted the pack over his shoulder and drew to a halt just inside extreme lightsabre range. He didn't have one. Just trying to see if she'd back up or take a swing.

"That's the Jedi for you," he said as if they were having a conversation. "Sending children off to kill things. You killed anyone yet, kid?" He was referencing her combat armor, but didn't bother to clarify. His eys did that. Slowly, he unshouldered the pack; it hung from his hand. "They made you find out yet whether you've got it in you?"

 

[Catherine Soja]

[member="Seren Ordavo"] had moved swiftly and she backed up, not yet drawing her saber she regained her footing and eyes moved to watch his own movements now. "No a jedi does not count her kills for pride nor is our duty to kill people. My job here is to help others and protect." He did not have a light saber clearly on his person but that did not mean it was not hidden. Also she knew experienced people could infuse nay object with the force and use it for a time to compensate. She also knew that took stamina however. Her saber held in hand not yet activated she had moved to place herself maybe 4 feet from him. Compared to him she was shorter and maybe 60% of his size? She wasint gonna out strength him clearly. No if this got bad she had to find another weakness.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Catherine Soja"]

"Sun djem, shiim, cho mai, cho sun, cho mok, shiak, sai cha, sai tok, mou kei." He listed the classic Marks of Contact without inflection. "The basic strike targets that every Jedi learns in Lightsabre Combat 101. Pop quiz, kid. How many of those Jedi techniques will cause a long, agonizing death? Know how long you stay conscious after getting decapitated or cut in half? Know how long it takes you to die from having your arms and legs chopped off with ten-thousand-degree plasma? Know how many civilians Jedi have killed? Nah, kid, sooner or later they'll have you kill. Then you'll figure it out."

He moved to walk past her, well within sabre range.

 

[Catherine Soja]

[member="Seren Ordavo"]

She stepped back to keep up moving to block his path. "Why are you here? If you intend to do harm to anybody I won't let you." She had to hide the fact she was nervous she was alone best she knew and she'd never had a real fight with another force user. She ignored the taunt best she could she knew she shouldn't be the one to strike first.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Catherine Soja"]

When she moved in front of him, he stopped, just inside lightsabre range. The pack settled over his shoulder; he gripped the strap near his collarbone to let his arm hang comfortably. "You've got spine, kid, but if we're talking intention to harm, one of us has armor and a weapon, and the other one doesn't."

Which was true enough, if it mattered. Behind him, blood had formed rivulets on the slaver ship's boarding ramp. Long parallel streaks of red ran down to soak the earth. A faint drip-drip punctuated the brief silence.

"I'm here because a ship's no good without gas in the tank and a functioning pyloric inverter. Think of me like any other man passing through, just with a little red on my boots."

 

[Catherine Soja]

[member="Seren Ordavo"]

She looked to the blood that already was a bad sign. As a Guardian Padawan or not this now warranted her attention more than even his ties to the Dark side. people had died and she had yet to confirm who it was either way no matter what this man had to stay put. "I'm afraid until local authorities have investigated things I can't let you leave. You can cooperator and things will go real smooth otherwise I will have to detain you by force."

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Catherine Soja"]

"I used to be an investigator. I was even good at it." He glanced back at the blood on the ramp and shrugged. "But kid, if you're going to draw a line in the sand every time some slavers get what's coming to them, there's going to be problems. Problem number one, I'm going to walk past you now, and you're going to have to figure out whether you can actually take a swing at someone in cold blood. You ever taken a saber burn? You know what kind of pain you're talking about dishing out?

"About eight thousand years back, in the Pius Dea era, the Jedi started thinking that way. They used to burn their Padawans with blasters to test them. Get them in tune with themselves. Make them understand their place in things. Maybe those slavers back there are a little closer to enlightenment. Maybe you'll get a little more enlightened if you cut me, or maybe you'll be doing me a favour."

He set out to walk past her again; if she moved into his path, he'd probably just keep walking, try to shove her aside without breaking stride. Unless she took a swing at him with the sabre, that is.

 

[Catherine Soja]

[member="Seren Ordavo"]

She could not let him go but lethal force was not her only option she focused and moved to try and pull him down with the force. "I said STOP!" She shouted. The force level was good but what defenses he had she had no idea.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Catherine Soja"]

He'd expected a sabre strike, or maybe a Force-push. But being pulled downward -- a nice move, and not one he'd seen too often. He recognized this coldly and without affection, but he could appreciate spine. His right knee hit the ground, and her will bore down on him like an overloaded weight bar. She stood to his left, quite close. Options cascaded through his mind -- maybe some fire, maybe a lunge to break her legs -- but in the end, there could be only one response.

Slowly, against the weight of her pull, he stood up.

"You know what I aim to do, I know what you aim to do. No need to yell about it."

He continued walking.

 

[Catherine Soja]

[member="Seren Ordavo"]

As he fought against her pull she focused harder straining with the force to increase the pulling gale against him. people began to back off they realized what was happening. Helping her focus to strengthen it further she recited the old Jedi code.

"There is no emotion, there is peace.
There is no ignorance, there is knowledge.
There is no passion, there is serenity.
There is no death, there is the Force."

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Catherine Soja"]

Seren spoke as he walked against her dragging Force-pull, like striding into a gale. "There is no silence, there is pretension. There is no freedom, there is condescension. There is no mercy, there is enforcement. There is no love..." At last he stopped and turned to Catherine. "...there is peace. Right? Isn't that how it goes?"

He still held the pack strap over his right shoulder; his off hand rose, clenched into a fist in front of him. He didn't have to dig very deep at all to find rage, and with it the Dark Side of the Force. The air seemed to vibrate gently, more a shifting than a sound.

"You've got til the count of one to let go of me, kid. Spine'll only get you so far. One."

OOC/ Gotta crash for the night. I'll post tomorrow. Cheers.

 

[Catherine Soja]

[member="Seren Ordavo"]

As he spoke she looked to his hand she felt something change but what she could not yet identify she pulled at him with one hand then with the one with her saber in it she pushed at his knee trying to send an alternating current of pushing to sweep him off his feet. However as she did she had to release the pull instantly which meant this had to work or she had no way to hold him immediately and would likely have to give chase.

OOC: Alright see ya then.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Catherine Soja"]

He went with her gestures -- a push to his right knee, a pull to the rest of him -- and tumbled forward, enhancing the rotation inherent in her attack. His closed left fist, still vibrating with power, he pulled close to his chest. His right arm detached from the pack and rose, his upper body twisted, his legs bent in a crouch, and his palm hit the ground. The earth drew a line of contact from palm to elbow to right shoulder to slim pack to left hip as he rolled diagonal to Catherine, propelled by her push and her pull. That momentum transitioned into a loose stance as he stood, again just within sabre range.

His rising moved his shoulders and chest from a closed stance to an open one, and with that his arms moved. His left fist opened, slapped down and out, and a targeted Force-pull aimed to bend her lightsabre away from him and pull the handle from her grip to his. The motion was not unlike a standard inside-outside forearm block, common to three thousand martial arts, with an open hand. His right arm mirrored the motion with a small Force-pull, aiming to yank her head to the left by her long dark hair. Projected fighting, this was called -- being able to apply telekinesis to the motions and visualizations of hand-to-hand combat. He wasn't in range to hit her with his hands, and he kept them fairly close anyway.

 

[Catherine Soja]

[member="Seren Ordavo"]

She felt her saber being yanked as he moved up toward her, she began to go to the form Ataru she was not yet extremely skilled in it but knew just enough of the basics she could use it. Leaping upward twirling to move behind him she applied a force push back at his face to try and break his focus and keep her saber though this did give him more options it also kept him from taking her weapon if it worked. Once there she'd try to ignight her light saber and land on her feet behind him.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Catherine Soja"]

For her to Ataru-twirl out of getting her wrist bent back like that, she needed to scythe her legs above his head, which -- from his perspective -- was pretty much what she was doing in her effort to evade the disarm and get behind him. As she moved like that, he stopped the pulls, which weren't doing much of anything anyway, and just rose up on his tiptoes, bracing himself against the quick Force-push that rocked his head back. His right arm snapped up with the express intention of grabbing her left ankle or shin as she twirled over him.

At which point his intent was to spin and turn her twirl into a whirl that terminated with a face-first introduction to the ground. She'd have a chance to ignite her sabre as she intended, but whether she could get it on target while he was trying to turn her into a morning star -- that was something else entirely.

 

[Catherine Soja]

[member="Seren Ordavo"]

She was grabbed suffice to say she'd practiced other forms more than the Ataru yet and as she was grabbed she was sung around until she was smashed into the dirt grunting loudly as her body flops some on the ground. Using the force to enhance herself she got up fast with her saber activating taking one swing at him but it was wild meant more to back him up than actually strike. once up she'd wipe her face before moving towards him using a more Makashi style of strike type which she was far better at.

 

[Velok the Younger]

[member="Catherine Soja"] got the distance she wanted; as Seren released her leg, he hopped back, the balls of his feet digging into the earth, and sucked in his gut. The sabre hissed past his belly, too close for comfort, and he smelled burning cloth as her sabre sliced neatly through the backpack's single strap. But he regained his stability as she regained hers, and he snagged the bottom half of the cut strap. The slim pack arced down and up again, scything in toward his midline, and slammed into the side of her lightsabre's blade emitter. The Makashi thrust went wide; if she was right-handed, that opened her midline as a target.

He let go of the backpack and accelerated it, point-blank, right at her chest. It had nothing of consequence inside -- some food, some rope, a hammer, basic survival gear he'd gleaned from the slavers. As compared to a standard Force-push, it made for an effect that was far less wide, but far more sustained, aiming to drive her back and keep driving her back.