Glory Is Of No Use To The Dead

[Spaceman]

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The loud thud of flesh hitting metal filled the room for a moment; and it was gone. Following it, a pained and terrified shriek, accompanied once more with whimpers and ragged breaths. A human arm severed from its user lay on the ground, clutching the hilt of a red bladed lightsaber. Even amputation would not halt his determination. Yet his bravado left him, evident from the terrified whimpers he whispered from corrupted lips. The smell of burnt flesh pervaded the room as a second party took a step closer to the whimpering mess, who had fell on the floor along with his arm.

"I tried to be merciful with you. You wouldn't listen." The attacker explained.

"I would rather die with my honor than submit to the Jedi." The whimpering man said with sudden confidence, peeling the last word away like it was a disgusting thing he despised even mentioning.

A silence followed, and finally the attacker lowered his lightsaber, turning it off and reaching behind him to place it on his belt, along with the other. "If your honor is to lose terribly and cry like a baby, then you can keep it in death."

His hand rose once more and pointed at the defeated Sith, and sparks traveled the length of his fingers until his entire hand burst with bright blue electricity, rushing to the defeated man in an instant, killing him.

A sense of relief crept into the living man, just as the scent of even more burning flesh crept still into the room. Finally, he could return to Kashyyk. His hand lowered finally, and the red lightsaber belonging to his deceased foe spun out of the severed hand and into his.

He inspected it loosely and placed it on his belt with the others as he turned his attention to the corpse in front of him again. "Glory is of no use to the dead." He said softly, and turned completely away from the body, moving to the large pane windows the room held. He stared out of them briefly as he watched the prisoners he freed exit the building, looking around in confusion. He averted his gaze slightly upwards and kept focus on the transport that he had called to pick them up.

On the planet of Tammar, a distress signal was sent out approximately 20 hours ago. Corban went to the planet to investigate, and discovered that civilians were being kidnapped and taken to be primed for slavery in a large private compound, that had once been a factory for weapons parts. Slavers who ran the operation managed to convince a Sith Acolyte to over see and protect them. But now that Sith Acolyte was dead, and all attempts to begin a slave trade on the surface of the planet were thwarted. The desert of the planet's surface blew dust all around the relatively small transport ship.
With no one else to oppose him, he could rest easy. All that was left was for the transport to take off and leave, and he could finally put this mind at ease.





[member="Darth Aegis"]

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[Darth Aegis]

Location: Tammar, Slaving Compound
Company: The Resolute Guard - 6 Guards

[member="Spaceman"]


It was funny to Aegis how Jedi still thought that Sith would allow Acolytes to oversee operations alone. There was almost always a knight or lord behind the scenes. His distress beacon would have gone off after the Sith Acolyte he stationed at the Tammar slaving compound activated it. Already being in the area of the planet, Aegis landed his small ship somewhat outside of the compound out of sight. He would hear the Acolyte's screech after his amputation and then death.

The transport ship with the Jedi in it would turn on its engines, preparing to take off as dust covered the front windshield. For one moment, there would be no dust. For the next ten seconds, heavy dust appeared on the front windshield. After the dust cleared, Darth Aegis would be standing outside of the ship.

"A SITH! HURRY, TAKE OFF!" The co-pilot would yell.

The ship would take off and get roughly 20 feet in the air. Darth Aegis would raise his hand towards the ship, and use the force to hold it stuck in the air. As the ship was unable to move, sitting in the air, his guard's would throw their ignited pikes into the ship downing it. As the ship was falling to the ground, every slave around the Jedi on the ship would have their necks snapped. The ship would crash to the ground.

 

[Corban Voss]

When Corban descended the tower and entered the transport, his being would be surrounded by thankful civilians, each of them praising him for his rescue. Hands, both young and old reached out to touch him, as if they could be healed from making physical contact. Corban hated it. Not because he despised them, or their mood, but because he never knew what to say in situations like this. He simply smiled and held the shoulders of those he passed.


Getting through the crowd of freed prisoners, he stepped into the cockpit, a rather large one that held two wide individual seats for the pilot and co-pilot respectively. He stepped behind them and tapped the pilot on the shoulder gently. "Kashyyk. They will be safe there." He said calmly. The helmeted man nodded, and turned his attention to the controls of the ship, glancing to and communicating with his co-pilot for brief moments.


The general hum of the ship became deeper as the engines started, and Corban stepped away from the pilots and began to leave the cockpit, when the co-pilot's scream cut through the ship. The ship suddenly launched up into the air quickly, showing the desperation of the pilots to leave the planet.


"What?" Corban managed to say before the motion of the ship suddenly stopped, and he turned back to the cockpit to try to garner what was going on, a yellow line sped for the cockpit's glass, and broke through it with a resounding crash.. Straight through the head of the pilot. Blood splattered along the floor and the co-pilot screamed as more pikes hit crucial points on the ship, and he looked to his controls and then around the room repeatedly, frantically trying to decide whether to leave or salvage the situation.


Deciding the latter was impossible, he spun out of his chair and ran towards Corban, and ultimately past him as he attempted to leave quickly. The moment he opened the door to the transport area, the ship began to fall, and he was flung backwards. Alarms blared and sparks flew as the co-pilot sprawled through the air and crashed head first into the controls of the ship, causing a small explosion. His melted and disfigured helmet melted into the flesh of his face, and his corpse rolled out of the ship's broken cockpit glass, neck bent awkwardly due to the impact.


Corban on the other hand held the doorway to keep himself from being flung as the now dead pilot did, and he struggled to that just barely. He used his left arm to shield his face while the right held the door, and as he looked into the transport area, he would see the corpses of everyone he had saved being tossed around the room, each of their necks bent to the side in a disturbing angle. His eyes widened and he closed them quickly as the ship reached the end of its nose dive and crashed nose first into the sand, finally flinging Corban back.

He opened his eyes again, and fresh blood leaked down his face. A deadly grimace forming on his face as he got up from the floor of the destroyed cockpit. After the ship hit on its nose, it teetered and fell once more onto its base. It was how Corban didn't have a face full of sand. He looked to the now glass-less cockpit and stepped to it weakly, before jumping through it, landing on his feet outside. He stumbled and got to one knee, and looked up at Darth Aegis. His grimace filled with murderous intent, and he removed himself from his knee and stood up fully. "YOU!" He yelled, pulling both of his lightsabers from his back and activating them at his sides with a familiar and loud snap-hiss. Cobalt beams of light erupted from their hilts, and hummed calmly.

[member="Darth Aegis"]

 

[Darth Aegis]

Typically, a Sith can tell the mastery rank/level of a Jedi through the sense of their Force energy. It was different this time. Aegis could tell this was not a master due to the emotion that the Jedi displayed, something not encouraged by their code. Aegis remained calm and unaffected by the Jedi's rage. He ignited his red, blazing saber.

Behind Corban would be 6 Resolute Guards (see first post link), ready to attack him. In front of Corban would be Darth Aegis.

"Look around you. I have decimated everything you worked for here. You have nothing left here to fight for. Is this how you wish to die?" Aegis would speak in a calm manner, yet somehow his voice would be so loud, and stone cold.

[member="Corban Voss"]

 

[Corban Voss]

Corban was breathing heavily. He knew he was surrounded, he could sense the guards behind him. Hope seemed definitely lost for his fate. "I have no wishes of dying today." He said, and realized he was overly furious. He looked behind him, and watched the Resolute Guard for a second. He'd need to find a way to eliminate them, but he was guessing that they were highly trained.

He doubted how he would get out of this.

Taking a deep breath, he straightened himself, and lowered his lightsabers to his sides as he continued his deep breaths. Lifting both of his lightsabers up to under his chin,he held them there as he centered himself to defend from any attacks.

The Sith was right. He did have nothing left to fight for. But perhaps he could salvage the situation somehow that didn't involve being turned into mincemeat, or worse, a Sith.

 

[Darth Aegis]

Darth Aegis recognized this "move". He'd seen it be used by many Jedi before, especially in such dire situations. While Aegis does enjoy a good Jedi kill, he finds it a waste of potential resources to simply slay a Jedi who could easily be used under these circumstances. He knew that while the Jedi was using this technique, an attack would mostly be useless. He began using mind games, something he specialized in.

"Kneel to me. You do not have to die today, as long as you give me your cooperation. Bow down." Aegis would say in a calm, persuasive manner.

[member="Corban Voss"]

 

[Corban Voss]

".....Fine....Only because I do not see a way out of this, and I wish not to die...." He said quietly.

Moving slowly, he dropped his lightsabers to the ground, their blades still activated. Looking at the Sith with mixed emotions, he began to lower himself to the ground, bending over forwards and bringing his knees ever closer to the dust.

From what would seem like behind him, a metal stick spun from Corban to the Sith Lord immediately, at lightning fast speeds. What would first be seen as a strange metal stick would turn out to be a lightsaber as the red lightsaber he took from the Sith Acolyte activated mid-air the moment it got close to Darth Aegis, threatening to slice into the Sith.

Simultaneously, both of his blue lightsabers spun from the ground and curved in the air, threatening once more to cut the heads off of his Resolute Guard. Corban pulled his knees up moments before they could touch the ground, and a powerful Force Wave spread around him, blowing sand into the air. He had never used such power all at once, and while it drained a bit of his stamina, he ran quickly away from the scene, heading straight for the compound's doors. With luck he could get to his ship behind the compound before Darth Aegis could stop him.

 

[Darth Aegis]

Aegis would chuckle under his mask, being threatened by a lightsaber in front of him, with his guards also being threatened. Aegis would raise his hand, and his guards would collapse due to being crushed.

"You think my guards can be used against me?" Aegis would yell to the running Corban while laughing.

With Corban being distracted by running, Aegis would push the lightsaber in the air, and it would fall to the ground. The Sith Lord would use "Alter Environment" to turn the surrounding dust into thin air. He could see Corban now, running to the doors. Darth Aegis saw this as an opportunity, an opportunity to make Corban vulnerable. He'd raise his hand to Corban, and use Force Confusion on him. The Jedi Knight would begin losing his sense of direction, losing sight of where the doors were.

 

[Darth Aegis]

[member="Corban Voss"]

 

[Corban Voss]

Corban had just about reached the doors when they flipped around him, and the desert sand became the roof, and the sky was his stepping stone. His perception of everything around him was completely screwed, and he clutched onto his connection to the Force as a newborn clutched onto everything around them.

As quickly as he could he shut his eyes and tried not to think about what was happening, but then his imagination crept through and the confusion continued. The images inside his head were even more psychedelic, and he struggled to pull himself free of them. Taking a deep breath, he focused on the Force, and what was really around him, and in a matter of moments the feeling disappeared.

What he now saw was that the door had opened automatically for him, and he had stumbled inside the entire time. Remembering what was happening at the moment, he began sprinting through the facility, closing another door behind him as he ran from the Sith Lord.

 

[Darth Aegis]

Darth Aegis would begin breaching Corban's mind, as he chased behind him. Finding his memories, his information, speaking to him through his own mind.

"Corban Voss... survivor and victim of the Venal civil war. Join me, power and glory awaits you at my side." Aegis would whisper into Corban's mind.

As he was breaching the Jedi Knight's mind, Aegis would be running behind Corban. Getting sick of the chase game, Aegis decided to end this. He'd looked up to the roof of the facility, and rose both arms to the sky. The sith clenched his fists, and the structural integrity of the facility began to collapse. As he was clenching, he threw his arms down. With his arms, the entire facility collapsed in on the Sith and Jedi. This was a suicidal decision, but the Sith did not doubt his ability to survive such a collapse.

[member="Corban Voss"]

 

[Spaceman]

Corban kept running, and tried his best to ignore the Sith's temptations in his mind. He cursed himself for throwing his lightsabers, perhaps if he had kept them he might have been able to engage Darth Aegis in combat. But even then Corban still doubted himself. Surely the Sith's power in the force must rival his skill with a lightsaber. As much as he disliked running as a coward would, he knew he was making the smart decision.​

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His path took many twists and turns, but he was almost at the rear entrance of the facility when the roof caved in. Unwilling to fall like in such a manner, Corban thought fast and lifted his hands above him and expelled a wave of telekinetic energy that delayed the fall of what surely would have been his doom, and dived out of the automatically opened metal door. To his dismay, the exit halted a moment after it opened, it's functions paused by the destruction of the facility around it. As a result Corban's dive was more damaging than he was expecting. His shoulder glimpsed the edge of the door, but it was enough to dislocate his shoulder entirely, since he was running rather quickly. ​

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Flying out of a collapsing building, he crashed into the ground and rolled twice on his side, coming to a stop as he clutched his right shoulder dearly with a pained expression on his face.​

He lay there for a few seconds, groaning through the pain his shoulder brought him, and began moving back through the sand on his back as he realized the Sith might have survived the destruction of the facility. As much as he hated giving the Sith Lord the satisfaction of him being dearly worried for his life, there was no other emotion but fear he could conjure in a situation such as this.​

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Mission ruined, weapons missing, injured, all while being chased by a man whose power in the Force downright frightened him with the possibilities of his actions. He was effectively running for his dear life. As he sprinted while clutching his shoulder, he neared his ship on the right, whose bay doors lowered for him immediately upon his arrival. He stomped up the metallic ramp, turned and walked for the cockpit. He was spent, and he could only pray the Sith could not reach him before he reached the pilot's seat.​

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[member="Darth Aegis"]​

 

[Darth Aegis]

Aegis would protect himself in the collapse, but still have rubble surrounding him. He heard the doors open and close, indicating the Jedi was still alive and escaped. The Sith Lord was getting very frustrated and angry. His attempts to convert the Jedi to the dark side have failed, his attempts to kill the Jedi have failed. Aegis was done with games, and his force powers surged with readiness to be used. He'd let out a yell, so deep and loud it shook the area. As this yell occurred, the rubble surrounding the Sith Lord was pushed far away in a force energy explosion.

In the dust cloud formed by the explosion, would be Aegis kneeling. As it cleared, he stood up and turned directly to the direction of the Jedi's ship. The Sith Lord was done playing games. He began marching towards the Jedi's ship, rubble being pushed away with every step. He ignited his burning, crisp red lightsaber. As Aegis would march towards the ship, he'd begin breaching the Jedi's mind again.

"Your fear...your use of emotion...such traits of a potentially prominent Sith. Join me, Corban Voss, or you will be yet another victim..." Aegis would whisper into the Jedi's mind.

As Aegis would finish this breach of the Jedi's mind, he'd flood the Jedi with flashbacks. These flashbacks would be memories of Aegis slaughtering innocents and enemies. It'd be flashbacks of Aegis torturing and breaking people's minds. These flashbacks would flood the Jedi's mind, showing him what the Sith Lord meant by "yet another victim".

[member="Corban Voss"]

 

[Corban Voss]

The moment Corban reached the pilot seat, he started up the engines to his vessel, sand blowing all around it as Corban desperately initiated all the start up functions as quickly as he could with one hand. The moment he finished, the ground shook with Aegis' deadly scream, and Corban was shaken to the bone, not only physically, but mentally. His fear spiked once more, and he grabbed the controls frantically with his trembling left hand, pulling down on it quickly. ​

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The ship began a slow rise, and he peered out of the window to see Aegis approaching with his lightsaber prepared. He turned back to his controls and urged them to move faster as the ship continued its ascension. It was a great distance in the sky now, but Corban could feel the fleeting feeling of Aegis trying to gain entry into his mind once more.​

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He heard the man's whisper, and once the flashbacks arrived he held his head and shook it, as if he could shake the flashbacks out of his head. "NO!" Corban's voice yelled in Aegis' mind, and Corban closed his eyes and slammed his hand onto the gear, pushing it forward and sending his thrusters into full throttle. The ship blazed yellow behind it and sped away into the sky, and as the distance between them grew the flashbacks slowly went away. Corban's hand pulled the throttle back once more the moment he entered space, slowing the ship to a crawl.​

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He let go of the breath he was unknowingly holding, and let his head fall onto the control panel. His heavy, relieved breaths went on for a few minutes before he managed to pick himself up. No lightsabers, unknown and known injuries, and his mind tainted by the dark side and the horrible sight he had to witness inside the transport. He regretted answering the call in the first place at first, but perhaps it was not a terrible experience. The people who died at least had a few moments of hope before their deaths. Such would be their final thoughts, and it comforted Corban a little that he could provide them with such a grace. He shifted the ship's boosters further, and his flight computers began hyperspace calculations. In a moment, he was blasting off to Kashyyk in a trail of light that dissipated as quickly as it appeared. ​

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Corban now had someone he strived to surpass, a villain he would need to defeat before he could call himself a hero. It would take plenty of training to prepare Corban for fighting Darth Aegis, whether it was on the battlefield of the Force, or in lightsaber combat. ​

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Challenge accepted.​

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[member="Darth Aegis"]​

 

[Darth Aegis]

Aegis watched the transport take off, and reach quick speeds trying to escape. Rather than attack, he watched, knowing this battle was not over. Aegis didn't need the ability to see the future to know that he would run into this Jedi again.

[member="Corban Voss"]