Skirmish [GA/SO] Determination and Distraction

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael couldn't help but smile, at the way that she'd told him to consider the attempt made. It truly did amuse him, the way that sith oftentimes were. Her stance showed him that she was skilled, very much so. He wasnt kidding that he didn't like fighting, nor did he really want to fight her, not in this way. Raph was here for the specific reason of just being a distraction.

Yet, as she spoke, as she mentioned the facts that she knew, that most likely they would've already been- Wait.

"Wait, wait wait..." he muttered, holding up a hand. "I know that this is all very important, I really do. But... Zambrano. Are you meaning Carnifex...? Is that... part of his actual name...? If so, then I do hope that you'll forgive my ignorance, I've only ever known him by Carnifex..." He held his blade up still, tilting his head. "It's fascinating the way that we dehumanize those that are enemies. But, I suppose, that's life and politics."

"But, with all of that said, what do you stand to gain from all of this?" While under normal circumstances, it might've sounded accusatory, it was completely from a place of curiosity. Raphael had learned at least a bit of the sith and knew that, quite often, aiding one another meant one stood to gain something. Really, anything that he learned wouldn't really help him, but there was something oddly satisfying in learning about others. While he kept his guard up, he wasn't making any hostile movements.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Wait, wait wait..." he muttered, holding up a hand. "I know that this is all very important, I really do. But... Zambrano. Are you meaning Carnifex...? Is that... part of his actual name...? If so, then I do hope that you'll forgive my ignorance, I've only ever known him by Carnifex..." He held his blade up still, tilting his head. "It's fascinating the way that we dehumanize those that are enemies. But, I suppose, that's life and politics."

"But, with all of that said, what do you stand to gain from all of this?"

With Alliance blood spattered across her armour and her sword, drying brown on her phrik boots, a little talk was no particular sacrifice. She'd done her job.

"Oh, Kaine Zambrano would be the first to say you're welcome to dehumanize him. He goes to a great deal of trouble to ensure it. As for what I stand to gain, many reasons brought me here. Not cruel ones, but callous, certainly."

She was, very possibly, going to regret killing this one. He seemed alright. But he'd had his chance.

She moved in, boots grating on the uneven ground, and knew she'd signalled her bad knee if he had the eyes to see it. In a simple combination, she flicked a high feint for his eyes, twisted her wrists to cut at his nearest leg, and flicked back up for the eyes again, this time with feeling.

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

He suddenly had a name to connect the "faceless" evil to: Kaine Zambrano. Most likely had he asked Valery she'd have told him, but he liked learning such things on his own... Yet, he frowned slightly as the sith explained that Zambrano would be the first to welcome dehumanization. Yet, Raphael knew that dehumanization was, in and of itself, a way tomake him more into a monster than a man. Still he hoped that he never had to meet the man.

No cruelty simply callousness, eh...? A fascinating thing, to be sure. He enjoyed pondering on such things, why someone might do something.

And yet, suddenly it began.

Without warning she moved, yet he could see something odd about her movements, an injury, perhaps? There was a shift of movement, higher swing; but as he prepared to shift himself to parry high, something screamed at him to wait and, in that last second her attack shifted low, and as he attempted to move, he felt the blade bite a fair bit through his boot and leg. The pain shot through him, and he took a sharp breath, and raised his blade at the last second, parrying her blow, and allowed it to glide to the side, just a hair's breadth from his eyes and he jumped a few feet back.

"Teach me to be more focused, I suppose," he replied, with a bit of a smile, swinging the blade, before opening himself to the Force, before taking a stance and staring at her, more prepared to defend himself this time.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

"Teach me to be more focused, I suppose,"

Teach me.

Thirty-seven years as captain of a traveling academy, and four formal apprentices before and after, and so many instructional sessions on the Spires of Hell and the sands of Korriban going back...oh, forever.

"I'm not a teacher today."

The words felt right but it was hard to say. Maybe she'd lost her edge. Why else waste time with a young Jedi at all? She could crush him, electrocute him, cast him into hyperspace.

Such doubts had no place in a duel, no matter the opponent.

How you do anything is how you do everything.

She flicked his blood off Ravening's blade and closed the new distance carefully, prioritizing stability. If he let her, she meant to jab at his eyes again and keep at it. If he backed up toward the end of the gorge, she figured she'd pull down a rock on him from the side. She spied a likely one protruding from the gorge's wall, about ten feet up. Not a bad weapon, but also not a bad foothold if he felt like seeking altitude.

 

[Lirka Ka]

Thundering, Lirka's claws slammed into rock as she slowly but surely began to climb. It was far from an easy task, Lirka Ka was capable of a great many things, and the suit enhanced those capabilities quite a bit. Climbing was absolutely not one as her metal boots tried to find footing in the rocks while metals hands simply, and perhaps foolishly, forced their way into the earth.

Hearing the voice of Tel Ahren cast downwards, Lirka's head shot to look up at him. Her helmet may have been expressionless, but there was hatred behind those lenses. A frustrated hatred that bubbled over in a monster's tantrum. Words strummed out of her voice modulator, oozing malice.

"But what will be slower, my climbing, or how long it takes me to rip your arms from their sockets?"

Her pace quickened at the prospect, a lumbering approach that got louder and louder the higher she rose. Yet even louder, was Lirka's murderous fantasizing about what she might do once she finally went back up and onto solid ground, with hopefully a Jedi to maim.

"Or perhaps I will crush each of the digits of your finger? Or grab you by the throat and see how many times I have to spin you till your brain turns to mush!"

Lirka rarely knew when to shut up, and in a situation like this. Sometimes you really just have to talk about your feelings to get over them.

 

[Caelan Valoren]

Caelan couldn't help but laugh a bit.

"Oh? And yet you display your cowardice readily for all to say by being incapable of resolving conflict with anything but your fist. That is the way of the Sith. You are all, deep down, cowards that are hiding behind an insatiable desire for more power. Ask yourself this: if you lost the ability to utilize the Force, what would you be?"

He knew what he would be without it: a king and husband. Even if he weren't a king, he'd still be a husband, and there was purpose enough in taking care of his wife, and eventually they would have children. Soon, actually, they would have their first. That was enough for him. He didn't need anything beyond that. His role as King was because of his ancestry, and he didn't give it up because he feared that those who would take over would not have the best interest of the people of Lazerian at heart, but if they did, he would do so. He'd probably step down as soon as his own child felt ready to fulfill the position so he could focus on being a Jedi as it was.

As for the culling being the will of the Force, well, he didn't respond to that. He did believe that to be the case, though. The Force was not some dead thing that just did whatever was demanded of it. The Force was a balance of light and dark by its very nature. Imbalance created disorder, as could be seen on Tython throughout history. As could be seen by the numbers of Jedi being culled countless times throughout the years even by lesser numbers of Sith or other darkside groups. History showed the patterns.

And sure enough, the Sith walked closer to where Caelan was, giving him opportunity to draw upon the strength he'd been slowly feeding on from those around him. It was subtle, just taking trickles from everywhere in order to avoid detection, but it was enough that the proximity of the man allowed him opportunity to strike. He wished he didn't have to, but survival of himself, and the rescue of Azurine took precedence over the Sith remaining uninjured.

Fingers deftly flicked a switch on his lightsaber that would change the blade emitted. Instead of the normal shape and length, it would be longer and thinner. He was hoping the length would catch the man off guard, and that the thinness could pierce him without causing permanent injury or death.

Then, he blasted the stone atop of him directly at the man, intending on using that as a distraction while he drew his feet back towards his buttocks, lept to his feet, activated his saber, and lunged forward towards the man, intending on stabbing him through the thigh, specifically aiming for the major grouping of muscle and tendon.

---

ATTIRE: Link | WEAPON: Lightsaber | OTHER: Sigil Bead (Necklace)

TAGS: Darth Apophion ​

 

[Darth Apophion]

The Jedi laughed. The Sith was unmoved.

"I already told you what I would be, Jedi. It is the same as what I am now. What the Ashlan Crusade left behind, the Sentinel of Ashen Faith."

There would be no more words. He merely stood there, crimson blade humming softly at his side, a dull whisper in the wind. He knew the Jedi attack was coming. Apophion's eyes narrowed, and he reached out with his senses.

The blade.

The split second the Jedi lunged, saber extended in a longer and thinner blade than usual, Apophion pivoted, shifting his stance with the precision of one who had practiced the forbidden forms of the ancient Sith. The blade passed ever so close, dangerously close, grazing his armor with a hiss of superheated air. But the blade did not land on its target.

Apophion pushed back and summoned a protection bubble almost out of instinct. So when the stones came flying towards him, he was ready. The stone projectiles shattered against the bubble he raised, with fragments shattering against the force bubble. The Jedi got his feet under himself and lunged with his lightsaber for the thigh. He pivoted at the last moment. Then the Sith swung downward with his vermillion blade. The sabers clashed in a flash of color and sound, red and white screaming together in a lock. Apophion drew the force around him, let the dark rush throughout his body, feeding into his muscles, into the press of his hands.

Then, slowly and inevitably, Apophion began to force the Jedi's saber downward.

Inch by inch, he drove it toward the dirt, into the stones beneath them. Not with rage. With gravity. He only would need to break the Jedi's blade within a few moments, and it would be over.

Caelan Valoren

 

[Rath Nihro]

A W A K E N I N G

Objective: The Misty Mountains
Equipment: Shroudsaber, Shroudshoto, Outfit
Tag: QK-2510

It was rare to see someone not commit their attack even when another Sith warrior leapt into the fray. At least to Rath, but then again he had met and faced against Sith Lords who wouldn’t think twice to cleave their own men if it meant they could defeat their opponent. For it would’ve been the fool at fault for getting in their Lord’s way. The Sith warrior clad in black had been decimated along with part of the mountain. Not even a scrap of armor was spared as the dust fluttered into the mist before the land began to slide down like a river.

A sharp pain lanced through his left shoulder as Rath had taken a moment to let the pain subside, but all it did was prove that his shoulder likely had been dislocated for he couldn’t really move it that well anymore.

“Poodoo…” Rath silently cursed through gritted teeth as he slowly descended the cliff face with his lightsaber buried to the hilt into the stone. It didn’t help that it felt like the air had been robbed from his lungs either as the world itself began to spin on itself, or maybe that was him? Whatever the case might have been, Rath had looked around in his immediate vicinity to make sure he was alone. At least enough for him to locate a platform that was a small leap away, maybe five meters out from his position. With a sharp breath, Rath began to swing his body back and forth, gaining momentum as the lightsaber dragged along with his movements.

Then finally he leapt towards the platform with a flip of his body, wrenching the midnight blade from the molten earth. Where he proceeded to land on his feet, yet the sharp pain in his shoulder caused the dark haired warrior to momentarily lose his balance as he fell down to one knee. With the saber switched off, Rath clipped it back onto his belt. For what he did next was borderline insane use of telekinetic abilities, yet as he churned the pain into strength. Rath telekinetically with his good hand to pop his left shoulder back into place. His face had turned red as he fought furiously to suppress the agony from escaping his lips.

Rath kept his head on a swivel as it were, for while he recovered in his relief, he wasn’t naive to believe that was the end of their skirmish.

 

[QK-2510]

Location: Zeffo
Dialogue Legend: <<Ghoul-Speak>> │ “Galactic Basic”
Objective: Misty Mountains
Mission Objective: Flank and Destroy Alliance Defenders
Tag: Rath Nihro

QK-2510’s head throbbed, jolts of soreness reverberating through her awareness as her eyes fluttered anxiously beneath the unreadable mask of her helmet. The medical suite in her armor flooded her system with painkillers, stims, and antishock. And although the jet trooper knew that relief would come quickly, the drugs would potentially need minutes to work.

Minutes that she would endure.

Nevertheless, pain was not something that QK-2510 was wholly unfamiliar with. Nor was it unwelcome. Whether it was aches from hard training or white-hot agony from a Jedi dropping a building on top of her, no matter the source, pain was a scalpel—a sacred rite to excise weakness and sin.

Thus, gritting her teeth, QK-2510 launched herself skyward, jetpack engines propelling her in the process. Simultaneously, the jet trooper primed one of her drone explosives and sent it flying up the mountain ahead of her, set to seek out and destroy the Force-sensitive warrior.

A data link allowed the drone to transmit and receive targeting and sensor data, generating a composite sensor picture that merged QK-2510’s sensors and those of the drone. Thus, the jet trooper saw through the drone’s eyes as it zipped up the mountain, its picture manifesting in her HUD to allow her to momentarily see the Jedi as the drone streaked towards him at speeds in excess of 140 meters per second.

It was only then—only three seconds after it had been launched—that the drone would likely detonate, as soon as it came within the lethal radius of its assigned target. The blast tore through the air as a powerful, supersonic wave of explosive overpressure, carrying enough energy to tear apart durasteel barricades and to inflict devastating injury on organic targets.

And flying up the mountain in the wake of the explosion was QK-2510, her rifle primed to unleash hellfire upon the warrior.

Spoiler: Loadout

• Taral-type Sith Trooper Armor Mk. II - Pattern Besh
  
  • Gauntlets
    
    • FAE/M-02 Energized Gauntlet Vibroblade - R
  • Utility Hardpoint
    
    • FAE/P-03 “Adramelech” Winged Jetpack
      
      • Armament Hardpoint (2)
        
        • Expended
        • FAE/WH-04-S3 Universal Missile - Iadrium Warhead
• Kainate Combat Rifle Model Sixty-Two
  
  • Attachments and Modifications
    
    • 1-5x FAE/S-08 Electro-Sight
    • FAE/S-06 Reactive Targeting Matrix - Updated Version
  • Ammunition
    
    • FAE/AM-01-S3 Energy Weapon Cartridge (10)
    • Portable Projectile Launcher (2)
      
      • FAE/WH-04-S2 Universal Missile - Iadrium Warhead (6)
      • FAE/WH-04-S2 Universal Missile - Iadrium Warhead (16)
    • Portable Projectile Launcher (2)
      
      • FAE/WH-04-S2 Universal Missile - Concussion Warhead (16)
      • FAE/WH-04-S2 Universal Missile - Concussion Warhead (16)
• PV-16 “Sunfury” Pulse Pistol
  
  • Attachments
    
    • 1-5x FAE/S-08 Electro-Sight
  • Ammunition
    
    • Fusion Cell (4)
• FAE/MDE-01-S2 Semiautonomous Seeker Concussion Explosive (3)

 

[Raphael Gallustrade]

Raphael blinked, as she suddenly replied. At that moment, he wasn't quite certain if she was being serious or fasicious, like he'd been. He couldn't help but chuckle, realistically as she explained that she wasn't a teacher today.

She was skilled, careful, cautious. One of the issues was, that meant that she wasconcerned about underestimating him, which he would've very much welcomed, yet she was too clever. Instead she seemed to be going for his eyes a second time. Her movements were a bit more calculated and methodical.

Her skill with shii-cho was beyond his... but he had something else, and he knew. Raphael stepped forward, towards her, in a stance and move that would seem aggressive, but for the fact that his blade wasn't raised to strike her. As she approached, he suddenly raised his, tilting a bit to the side. As the blades collided he used her forward momentum, against her, spinning once, and letting her carry past him. Once she was, he reached out to a broken down pile of rocks , that was basically in between them, and pulled them down, causing the rubble to come crashing down, between them.

The moment that it crashed, and sent debris and rubble everywhere, Raphael took off running towards his ship, limping, as best he could. It was time to cut his losses and run.

Ashin Cardé Varanin

 

[Ashin Cardé Varanin]

It was time to cut his losses and run.

That fething knee. She stumbled, he made his ploy work; she couldn't turn quite fast enough; and then rubble rolled down and the thing was done. He'd live, or at least not die at her hand, and she almost wished more of his allies had run when the opportunity permitted.

Alone in the gorge, she reclaimed her cane and rubbed her knee and set out to find someone else to kill. One or two more ought to do it.

 

[Caelan Valoren]

The Sith was quick, and poised. Perhaps it was his determination, or perhaps Caelan just hadn't been quick enough himself. Either way, the attacks he levied at the man did little but inconvenience him. He wanted it to have resulted in an end to the confrontation. He wanted a lot of things that just didn't happen. For example, he didn't want his lightsaber to be locked up with the mans, but it was. Worse, it was being forced downward towards the ground, where it would end up being the death of him.

In theory.

There was a way out of this mess, but he had to be quick about it and he had to be precise. Any slight flaw in his movement and he was a dead man.

So he used the downward momentum applied to the lightsaber to his advantage, both to keep it from being deactivated, and as the downward force on a pendulum. That force will carry an equal reaction upward towards the other side. A planted foot allowed to pivot, and the momentum of Apophion's attack could be turned against him as it was allowed to spin him about, the tip of his lightsaber narrowly avoiding striking the ground, and he brought his blade around to complete the spin, the elongated, thinned weapon aimed at exposed back.

He hated it. Didn't want to kill the man. But he'd do what he had to.

---

ATTIRE: Link | WEAPON: Lightsaber | COMPANION: BD-F8 | OTHER: Sigil Bead (Necklace)

TAGS: Darth Apophion ​

 

[Tel Ahren]

Lirka Ka

​

There was little that Tel could add in the face of such clear vitriol. Moreover, she was successfully climbing up the cliff face, and rather quickly at that—given how utterly unsuited to it she looked to be. It wouldn't behoove him much to keep watching, lest she managed to do something like vault herself up and over him and cut him in half at the waist with that giant sword of hers. "Yeah, well..."

He looked back over his shoulder, toward the ancient monument they'd come across. "You seem decent enough, and I really hate to die, so, I'm just going to keep going..." Maybe a more gentlemanly or experienced Jedi might have offered her some help up to the top before facing her in an actual duel, but he was neither, so he wouldn't do such a thing. He would, instead—

As he looked around, he saw, where the ruined bridge had finally been pulled completely down by the armoured woman's bulk, the rock it had been sunk into had been reduced to some decent chunks of rubble. He quickly jogged over, grabbing a couple of large stones, before returning to where he could see the climbing woman. "I'm really very sorry about this!" he called down at her, before dropping both of the stones, hopefully for her head.

And then he turned and ran across the unbroken bridge for the clearing in front of the monument.