Location: Ahto City, Kolto Facility
Allies: [member="Kian Karr"] - [member="James Mathison"] - [member="Qae Shena"] - [member="Corvus Raaf"] - The Republic
Enemies: [member="Xilo Gale"] - [member="Viktor Romanov"] - One Sith
Objective 2: Hold the Kolto Facility
Varus had trained himself hard since he was a child, and harder still after joining the Jedi, in both strength and fitness exercises. He had incredible resolve, and he'd more than once tried to run the full length of a day, though he hadn't yet been able to complete a sun up to sun down run. These facts, however, did ensure that Varus wasn't going to be losing out to fatigue any time soon at all, though there were other strains beginning to tax on him in his shared experience with these two Sith.
One was a physical strain not of fatigue, but injury. He had already been cut in a few places by Kolto tank glass, though he was sure Xilo had been cut here and there as well. He had also taken a deep bruise from a Thud bug that would have likely broken a few ribs had he not taken it in the middle of his gut. Even then, his stomach was in knots, and he wasn't entirely certain that he hadn't ruptured some useless internal organ that was beginning to let him know that he should be laying on a hospital bed right about now. None of this, however, compared to the injury that befell Xilo as Varus watched what his work in deflecting Viktor's beam had done.
With wide eyed astonishment, Varus beheld a horrific sight as the beam burned across the floor of the facility and crossed Xilo's arm. The very next second, the man's limb literally came loose and fell to the floor, a now dead hand's fingers curling up as nerves continued to fire. It was so gruesome and surprising to Varus that he didn't acknowledge the warning from the force that burned through his spine, and because of it, Varus was lacerated across the cheek by a passing Razor bug, which caused him to gasp in surprise as he reached up to try and grab his cheek. Before his finger tips were able to touch hot blood, however, Varus felt a second Razor bug, which cut much deeper across his left arm. It cut so deep, in fact, that he could feel the grinding of metal against bone as it passed, and then a moment of shock set in.
Blood ran wildly down his left arm, and though the wound was wide, it was only of the flesh. It still put Varus on his knees, however, his left arm hanging limp at his side as he held his saber across his body, his eyes looking around frantically as he wondered if there were more things lurking in the dark to cut him, but there were not. At least, not immediately. He had a moment to take a breath as Xilo rushed at him, one arm brandishing his saber as he intended to continue this fight, something that Varus couldn't understand.
What rage must have driven this man that he would literally prefer to die for such a savage attack on a planet that was innocent in the grand scheme of things? Varus would die for the better of another. For an innocent. He could not, however, see himself willing to throw his life away for the purposes of death and destruction. It was frightening to behold such hatred, and he wondered if, when he had killed out of hatred and despair in his past, had those who's lives he'd taken been as beside themselves as he was in that moment? It was a profound experience, but the very next moment, the force let out a blood curdling scream the reverberated in every part of him. In the deepest corners of his conscience, the force let him hear the cries of pain and loss that were spreading through the cities at the surface, and a single tear streaked down his cheek. That's when he knew, he would not die that day. He couldn't afford to. They couldn't afford for him to. He had to survive, no matter what it took.
The force centered in him, calming him in the fraction of a second, and the light began to burn in his heart. It was the Center of Being. The force took hold, and it would take control as his eyes closed and he allowed fate to guide his hand. As it did, Varus pushed up from the ground, dashing forwards towards Xilo, though he kept low and tucked into a role as they closed the distance between one another. As they did, Varus could actually feel the wind rush across his back as a spear passed him and skipped across the metal floor. It would have been a sobering thing to realize that he had come so close to death again if he'd been conscious, but the force was in control now, and he would do it's bidding not because he chose to, but because he had to. It was, perhaps, the last card in his hand to play. The trump card.
When he rolled to a stop on his right Knee, Xilo was upon him. He knew the man would bring down a crushing blow filled with hate and anger, but that wasn't his concern. What was his concern was making sure to stay right in front of Xilo, and now that he was directly in front of him, he wasn't about to let him out of his sight for a moment. He knew that as long as he was close to Xilo, Viktor would b hard pressed to hurt him without also hurting Xilo. That's why, when he raised his violet colored blade to catch Xilo's strike, Varus raised his left hand and propped it across his left thigh. Though it wasn't rendered useless, it had been made numb from the attack, and some of the muscle that had been cut through weren't reacting as he desired for them to. He could still open and close his hand, however, to which he called the force, reaching out and drawing one of the passing spears towards he and Xilo, which would hopefully strike him right in the middle of his back.
