Friendly Rematch

[Darth Veles]

Veles had borrowed one of the many training rooms in the Sith Temple, intending to go there in his free time and meet an old friend, [member="Darth Banshee"]. Not to teach her, even though he would not mind sharing some wisdom with the female Sith Master who could offer him much knowledge in return. From what he had witnessed in the last battles against the Republic and their loyal dogs, the woman was vastly more powerful than the Acolyte he had dueled a few years ago, one of many marks the Acolyte was a Master now. Veles felt proud, despite not being Banshee's official Master, as it always made him happy to see one of his students, his work, successfully rise through the ranks of the Sith.

This time, the two would not chat as much as when Veles attempted to teach Sabrina how to fight; the Sith Masters wished to test their abilities against each other again, finally as equals. This might be a friendly duel, but by no means Veles takes any chances, and as such treats this as a real fight. Wearing his full armor with expensive cloak made out of Terentatek's hide covering his left arm, the amphibian stepped into the room. It was completely void of all objects except for two small desks, giving the combatants an opportunity to use telekinesis against their opponent.

Veles immediately concealed his presence in the Force and started bending light around himself to disappear. Crimson light illuminated his form as a beam of superheated plasma rose from the lightsaber hilt in his right hand, making no sound due to the Mon Calamari Sith bending all sounds in his closest vicinity. His left hand remained empty for now as raised it from under the cloak covering it up until now. A brief glance on the floor revealed it to be clean; giving him an advantage, as his armored boots would not leave footprints.

The red light coming from the young Sith Master's lightsaber soon disappeared without a trace, seemingly leaving the other combatant alone...

 

[Darth Banshee]

Darth Banshee came into room, her friend who challenged her to duel, was not to be seen. She new better than trust her senses, especially around him. After all he was the one who taught her how to hide in the force, though she never mastered it to same extent as he did, she had made enough progress for know in this area.

She was in full battle dress, as last time they had friendly duel. She was in bacta tank for a week, she wonder if his new apprentice [member="Silara Vantai"] was watching, their where a few place she could watch in safety. After all they skilled enough not to get on lookers by accident. She turned her lightsaber on, she was expecting him to try strike her down. To minimize his chances, she moved towards the corner of the room. This way a back strike would not be possible, and she was ready with her light saber. To get him when he was ready to reveal himself.

[member="Darth Veles"]

 

[Darth Veles]

Veles found himself unable to not twist his lips into a wide smile as his former student quickly started backing into a corner. She remembered his lesson well and unlike a surprisingly high number of combatants, she knew that getting into a corner drastically reduced Veles' chances of surprising her from behind or from sides.

The Mon Calamari calmly followed her, slowly closing their distance. While a proper backstab was impossible now, he could still strike from all kinds of weird angles. Of course, the amphibian also fully realized her armor possessed that incredibly annoying ability to resist lightsabers, which meant attacking any part of her body covered by the armor was destined to fail. As evidenced by the injuries Lady Banshee had suffered in the last few conflicts, her legs presented her weak spot. Veles still remembered patching her leg up in the battle of Teta and carrying the Sith Lady over his shoulder during the skirmish on Ossus so she did not have to run since her injured leg slowed her down.

Large amber eyes observed the female Sith before their owner finally acted. It appeared [member="Darth Banshee"] wished to defend herself for now, at least until her opponent revealed himself... but what if he tricked her? While she had witnessed his mastery of bending light on several occasions, would she realize it now?

Blinding light erupted out of nowhere and revealed the armored figure of Veles charging at Banshee, his lightsaber pointing at her, very quickly closing the distance between the two and ducking and rolling in the last few meters before stabbing out, the blade going for the female Sith Master's right leg.

The real Sith Master, not the projection he had created, moved to the Sith Lady as well, though his form remained hidden and silenced. His right hand also made a stabbing motion, going for something he believed he could damage; the tip of Banshee's lightsaber hilt.

 

[Darth Banshee]

She saw [member="Darth Veles"] rush at her, as he did he moved faster than she could as she wore heavy armour. She barely blocked the blade. She then side stepped him, and rolled out corner. She turned to face him and took of her mask, and scream at him. FFFFFFFAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIII This was force bellows what struck at all corners of the room and him.........

 

[Darth Veles]

That lucky Sith Lady!

When the young woman took off her mask, Veles already knew what was going to happen and jumped at her, using the momentum to slightly counter her own attack meant to toss him across the room. The powerful bellow of [member="Darth Banshee"] did send Veles flying against a wall, breaking his focus and forcing him to decloak himself. He suffered no injury though, thanks to his earlier jump. The projection vanished just as the real Mon Calamari appeared out of nowhere, his left arm no longer hidden under the cloak, six webbed claws pointing at Lady Banshee. Since she presumably held her mask in one hand and the weapon in another, currently focused on empowering her voice and hurling it at him, she might be more vulnerable to ranged attacks.

Veles' own Force power soon showed itself as a red stream of lightning-like bolts poured out of his left hand, even before his back hit the wall and he slid down on his feet. What he did almost appeared like the legendary Force lightning, but as his opponent surely realized, it was in fact Force drain meant to steal some of her stamina and rob her of most of her Force energy in her body.

The amphibian's right hand also became more active. Grasping the hilt between two webbed fingers, the Mon Cal tried to telekinetically pull Banshee's legs from under her, knowing those were her weakness in the last battles. Would she choose to defend herself by blocking the Force drain? Or attempt to counter his Force pull? Whatever the case, once his telekinetic pull either succeeded or failed, the amphibious Sith Master released another Force flash from his right palm to temporarily blind the Sith Lady.

 

[Darth Banshee]

She saw him appear, as she bellowed at his illusion. Well played my old master, she thought to herself. He turned and pointed his webbed hand at her, red light came out of it. She initially thought he was going to bolt her, she went to block it with her lightsaber. Then it hit her, she could feel it leaching energy from her. As she gasped she dropped her mask, and then he throw a force flash at her. It blinded her, she then regrouped herself as he leached more of energy of her.

She concentrated and used force sight to see him, he was expecting her to use the force. He had forgot, the mandalorians had taught her to fight as well. She leveled her hand up as she was crouching, looking like she was trying to protect herself. Then she shot at him using her wrist blaster, it would hear it fire as it was silenced, for when she had to do assassination work. She was poised ready to charge him down, with what was left of her.

[member="Darth Veles"]

 

[Darth Veles]

His attack appeared to be more effective than he had originally anticipated. [member="Darth Banshee"]'s energy soon flowed into Veles' body, recharging the energy he had used on Force cloak and Force projection. Force flash only gave him even more time to steal her energy and prevent the young woman from using costly Force powers for a minute or two.

Veles frowned as he noticed his former student on her knees, was he stealing her life force as well? He did not want to do that. It almost seemed this marked the end of the duel until the female Sith Master fired a shot at him. It was a good move, one that forced him to break his constant flow of draining her energy and lower his left hand as the weapon arm swiftly moved to intercept the blaster bolt. Tightly gripping the curved lightsaber hilt in all of his fingers, the Mon Calamari swiftly flicked his right wrist to the left and his crimson plasma blade met Lady Banshee'd blaster bolt, sending it into a wall and scorching it.

Knowing that this might have given his opponent enough time to muster up some energy and use it against him, the Mon Cal Sith darted off, launching his body from the wall behind him and moving towards Sabrina with lightning speed consisting of his augmented muscles and Force speed, tossing his blade from one hand to another as he did so. This time, he went for another glaring weak spot; her uncovered face. Veles realized his blade could not effectively penetrate her phrik armor, thus he had to pick another target. Not her face, naturally; he did not want to kill his good friend, after all!

No, the Mon Calamari had intentionally moved the weapon from his right hand to his left. The reason for it was that his cybernetic hand could deliver quite a punch into the woman's unprotected face. His other hand, the one holding the lightsaber, pointed at the woman and the blade slashed down with a simple flick of his wrist, aiming at Banshee's lightsaber hilt again. If nothing else, he'd force her to block this blow to avoid her lightsaber being damaged. The cybernetic hand shot toward Sabrina's head once Veles deemed himself to be close enough. If successful, it might even knock her out.

 

[Darth Banshee]

As [member="Darth Veles"] ran towards her she him swap hand`s with his lightsaber, he was bright figure in the force. He went to punch her with cybernetic hand, it hit her though not in face like he intend, it her in arm as she blocked it. It hurt as he hit, though know she could take this type of injury. She could feel her strength returning a little know the force drain was not on her.

She went reach his cybernetic arm, if she caught she planned to crush it.............

 

[Darth Veles]

The kneeling Sith Master was not going down easily, but that had to be expected when fighting someone of [member="Darth Banshee"]'s level. For a split second, Veles regretted not putting more strength into his punch; as he could have easily shattered her arm if he did. On the other hand, had she not blocked it in time, the devastating combination of augmented muscles and cybernetic fist might have cracked her skull and turned her brain into a fine paste. Veles definitely did not want that.

Instead of retracting his hand and attempting to punch her again, the amphibious Sith allowed the woman to catch it and placed his weight on the left foot and kicked out with his right, the kick aimed at the young woman's face again. There was no way he would allow her to rest and prepare a more advanced Force power to attack him with. Overwhelming her with attacks was a valid tactic and he certainly had no intention to stop...

The kick was immediately followed by another wave of Force drain, this time coming from his right hand. The one she wished to catch, making it extremely easy for him to hit her and drain some of her energy. Unless the kick of his armored boot sent her backwards, though it would still be very easy for the amphibian to steal a bit of her Force energy before she recovered.

 

[Darth Banshee]

She had no choice but to do this, she liked but this was a fight. Like she done so many times before. She could feel the force being drained from her, from [member="Darth Veles"] again. This was making her tired. He was kicking at her. and try hit her his cybernetic in enhancements. She had some unhand combat training.

As last ditch attempt to through him of balance, she did what woman have done every where. She went for straight kick between his legs..........

 

[Darth Veles]

A lady such as [member="Darth Banshee"] should not do this to a man... Such a desperate attempt as kicking a male into their genitals had a great chance of making the male very angry. If it hit him, that is.

The Mon Calamari did not stop draining energy from the Sith Lady, even as her attack came. Veles intentionally allowed her leg to get in between his legs, trusting his armor to protect his manhood. When her boot impacted him in the targeted area, the amphibious Sith did not hesitate and imprisoned her leg between his strong thighs. With one of her hands holding a lightsaber that was locked with his own, her other hand holding his arm draining the Force and stamina out of her, and now one of her legs trapped between his thighs, the Mon Cal started to believe this fight would be over soon. He made no additional move, as he was almost as immobile as her right now, only continued to steal her energy...

 

[Darth Banshee]

Darth Banshee never manged to turn the initiative of battle, with out trying force crush him, she could beat her friend. The force drain was being to take it toll, she smiled at [member="Darth Veles"]. Then said Okay you win again, but I was a lot better than last time. Her eyes where beginning to close, as her life force was being drained from her. She had lost again to one her former master.

 

[Darth Veles]

Stopping his Force drain from stealing more of her energy and releasing her leg, the amphibious Sith Master took a step back and bowed to his opponent after she admitted her defeat, withdrawing his blade from the saberlock and harmlessly pointing at the floor with its tip. "There is no doubt about your skill, Lady Banshee, just as there is no shame in losing to your teacher, as it only means you continue to learn more from me. And that is how it should be, a Sith should not waste any opportunity to learn more. You are a beautiful, intelligent and powerful Sith, a deadly combination that will undoubtedly defeat the majority of your enemies. It was an honor fighting against you." Darth Veles praised his former student's abilities with a polite smile, proud of having the honor of dueling someone as her, and also joyful of beating the woman in fair combat and testing their abilities.

Extinguishing his lightsaber and placing the hilt back on the belt, the Mon Calamari removed his helmet, his large eyes studying the younger Sith Master for injuries. "Except for the energy loss, you are unharmed. That is good, there is no need for you to visit the medical bay. A few hours of rest will be enough for your energy to replenish. That leaves me no choice...," his hand that was not holding the helmet disappeared under the cloak. His face no longer showed any sign of smile or amusement, instead it hardened and the look in his eyes indicated no emotion in particular. What did he have in store for [member="Darth Banshee"]?

"I have to invite you for a cup of tea."

 

[Darth Banshee]

I would love a brew, She said to [member="Darth Veles"], though she new he wanted some thing from her. Though what she had no idea, as she had already offered to help with his companion. Though what ever it was she would help in anyway she could. She wished she more time to train as well, the war was preventing it. As she was always on a front line some where. She hated the war, but the jedi had to pay. The republic stood between as they always had.

 

[Darth Veles]

"Very well," Veles nodded with his large domed head, "Please follow me."

Turning on his heels and swiftly leaving the room, the Sith Master swiftly left the training area and marched through the grand halls of the Temple, passing many Sith, usually Acolytes. Most of them greeted Veles upon seeing the Sith Master, though the Mon Calamari spared no time to answer or give them any acknowledgement. The only brief glance was aimed at his female companion and friend to see if she did not require his assistance and support after being drained by his ability. If [member="Darth Banshee"] needed him, then he'd obviously support her.

When the two finally reached the living quarters, those of Masters, everything went silent, no Acolytes in sight, only an occasional Sith Master here and there. Those, Veles greeted, either with a quiet word and a slight nod. After the amphibian and the human approached the right door, the Mon Calamari opened and the way to his quarters was open. There was nothing to worry about, as he always left his rooms tidy and properly cleaned. The room they entered almost appeared as an office; cold and impersonal, containing a large grey colored working desk with a set of modern shaped chairs, the only thing making it appear a little bit alive were flowers placed in the back corners of the room, small tree-like plants in pots.

"Please," the amphibian pointed at the chair and seated the guest before retreating to another room, but not before turning on music by telekinetically activating it on his table. Few minutes later, the Sith Master emerged, carrying a tea set. Setting it on the desk between an empty chair and the place occupied by Lady Banshee. "Beautiful music, isn't it?" he commented while pouring the tea of sweet scent into one of the cups, followed by opening the sugar bowl.

"How many sugar cubes would you like?"

 

[Darth Banshee]

None please, she replied to [member="Darth Veles"]. He was like a father to her, and what he need help with she would be happy to help him. She hoped he finally figured out how to get [member="Maya Whitelight"] back from the silver Jedi, a rouge order of Jedi. Who have no honour, after abandoning the republic to their fate. She did not like the Jedi, but their act was even more cowardly dishonourable than the republic Jedi they fought know.

She sipped her tea and asked him her mentor, he was like a brother she never had father she never new. How can I help you? Her voice was friendly, and polite.

 

[Darth Veles]

Nodding, the amphibious Sith closed the sugar bowl and took [member="Darth Banshee"]'s cup. "Please," he said kindly, moving it closer to the Sith Lady before taking his own cup and pouring in the dark liquid as well. He took no sugar; Veles preferred to drink tea without it. Aside from meditation, exercising or swimming, this was one of his favorite ways to relax. Listening to nice music and drinking tea.

Seating himself across Sabrina, he took a small sip of the hot tea and frowned when he heard his friend asking what she could do to help. "I do not require your assistance with anything at the moment, Lady Banshee," he muttered after taking another sip. "My intention was to simply share a cup of tea with you before your energy returns to your body. I apologize if it sounded like there was an ulterior motive." Veles smiled at the young woman.

 

[Darth Banshee]

I am sorry, just use to people asking a favours, I should know better when it`s you [member="Darth Veles"]. She then ponder, what was his real name she never new it. What was your name before you became a darth? She asked in pleasant voice, as she sipped more of tea. She was a little embarrassed, for not knowing and for presuming he was going to ask for help. It did make face go a little red.

 

[Darth Veles]

Veles could not help but chuckle, luckily he did not have any tea in his mouth at the moment. [member="Darth Banshee"], a powerful Sith Lady, being asked favours by some people? That was not something the Mon Cal could imagine very well. At least not coming from the Acolytes and maybe Knight; he could see a Sith Master in need of her help. Veles was not such Master though, the Mon Cal had always preferred to rely only on himself. Not that he did not trust Lady Banshee, but there was simply nothing she could help him with at the moment.

The next question surprised him, causing him to cast a curious glance at the Sith Master sitting opposite of him. Not many people have asked him of his real, old name he had used before joining the One Sith. The memories of receiving His Mark from Lady Isolda resurfaced, the Mon Cal remembered the times he was just a Sith Knight joining a small group of Sith united under one powerful individual. It amused him, he in fact had not wanted to join and it was his former Master who persuaded him to join the group.

"Avreet Zatarus," Veles said softly, raising the cup to his large lips and pouring more into his mouth. The music continued to play, its catchy tune making the otherwise cold room appear somewhat relaxing, calming, as if the time stopped and the two Sith could sit in there forever, drinking tea.