Kashyyyk Tournament Round 1 (Katya vs Ultimatum)

[Asaraa Vaashe]

The wind whistling through the trees carried the scent of the forests through the arena, leaves swirling across the floor as the referee paced between the two competitors, glancing down at his clipboard. “Well, now you’re both here we can start. The nurses are here for and bumps and bruises, but I expect you to fight with honour. It’s training only so you shouldn’t end up hurt but we don’t want to take any chances. It’s combat till one of you gives up, or till the time runs out then I’ll pick a winner. If you’re both ready,” she smiled, dropping his hand down in the air, “begin!”

[member="Katya Shorn"] | [member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Sal Katarn]

The light breeze felt cool against her skin. She'd picked plain black pants and a dark gray tank top. No armor allowed, but she'd never been into armor. No mobility.

They stood in a clearing, near the beach, where the trees were massive, but nothing near the height of the behemoths further inland.

Kate glanced at her opponent, which looked like some sort of droid.

"Ready or not, Brobot," she pulled at the light and sound waves around her, bending them with photokinesis until she faded from view, leaving nothing but a shimmer in the air.

"Here I come."

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

The robot stood inside his suit, making him taller than he actually was. While it could be defined as armor, it offered the droid little protection from damage. Its primary purpose was to allow to connect his mind with a Shard in the suit. Through this mental connection, Ultimatum was capable of utilizing the Force though he had only recently begun to test and strengthen this skill.

Upari, the Shard that resided in the suit and was currently linked with Ultimatum's mind, thought, "She's strong. Let's be careful."

"We are here to learn, not to win."

"Winning would be preferable."

"Statistically, our chances are quite low for achieving victory on the first attempt."

As the battle began, Ultimatum observed his enemy. He started by quantifying the physical aspects, while Upari attempted to sense the opponent's Force inclinations. When she disappeared Ultimatum was momentarily shocked, it was as if the opponent had stealth technology, but Upari suggested otherwise.

"What form does stealth take?"

"Light, visual light manipulated to make a person invisible. Can you feel the location through the Force?"

"I'll try, just keep safe."

Ultimatum backed away, while Upari attempted to focus on locating a disturbance through the Force. "Fancy trick you have there. What is it? Bending visible light around yourself?"

The droid watched warily, processing a calculation that may come in handy if they were lucky. Then again, if the power [member="Katya Shorn"] used only affected visible light, Ultimatum wouldn't need any special calculations to counter it.

 

[Sal Katarn]

Kate smirked. Clever robot, but she'd bent the ultraviolet and infrared spectrums too.

Her lightfoil snapped to life in her left hand, not that [member="Ultimatum"] would be able to see or hear it with her cloak of shadows in effect, but the cloak wouldn't last forever. Already, the strain of keeping up the invisibility caused sweat to bead her forehead. In combat she could keep it up for maybe a minute or two.

Moving with soft footfalls, careful not to disturb the ground and give away her position, she sought to maneuver to the droid's right - her left. She then struck out low with a quick cut of her lightfoil.

The thin laser sword darted toward the back of the droid's right leg as Kate fully extended her arm. If it was made of normal metal and servos, the lightfoil's quick tap, if it landed, might be enough to hobble the droid. Hamstringing him, if a droid such as he could be hamstringed. But she didn't know what material the droid's exoskeleton was made from. It could be anything, even cortosis, and she couldn't just recognize metals on sight. So the cut, while it had the potential of hobbling the robot, was more of a probing strike than anything else.

 

[Ultimatum]

The droid switched through multiple spectrums in milliseconds. The assumption that he was limited to the rather small range of electromagnetism that surrounded visible light could have been devastating. That is if he could use those frequencies beyond it more effectively. As it was, his photoreceptors could barely escape that limitation and did not give Ultimatum a clear enough view to be able to locate anything. With that concept exhausted, the robot moved into other methods of triangulation. His aural detection systems could not hear any noises, when tuned to what could have heard a pin drop on the sand, above the din of the forest. Ultimatum thought for a singular moment and realized a potential fallacy of the Force abilities, for less than a second his mind contemplated the question.

"If she bends all forms of visible light, and some beside, around her. How does she see? Transparency would remove the ability for light to reflect off the eye and thereby blind the person, not to mention fully bending the light around herself."

The question quickly fell into a circuit for future questioning when this was over. For now, Ultimatum began to back away. He was not invincible to his opponent. The foil was a more immediate threat, with his body being made of barely resistant Duranium. He could take a tap from such a weapon, but little more, and the area would probably be open for future attacks. Ultimatum realized a particular weakness of his artificial body; it was decidedly unable to regenerate of its own accord. An organic might be able to heal from a wound, though scarring may occur, but any damage to his body would require a full reconstructing of the damaged parts. Its advantages though outweighed that minor weakness, in particular, he could build a frame with faster reflexes, stronger musculature, and higher sensitivity to the environment. This was not helpful in his current situation. He was only marginally physically superior to his opponent, while in the field of the Force he had no doubt he was the inferior. Her first move alone proved that much.

"Ninety-seven Degrees!"

Upari sensed something for a moment; it may have been [member="Katya Shorn"] moving to flank them on the right. The Shard's thought filled Ultimatum's mind, and the droid reacted with great severity. Ultimatum activated his trainingsaber and swung it with all his might down on the spot where the foil would have been. It was a move to knock the lightfoil out of his opponent's grip, towards the ground and with a slight twist to try to send the weapon rolling away to the left if it did leave the hand. He was not quite fast enough in his response, as the foil touched his leg and the droid logged the location as a weak spot for safeguarding and future repair. He followed this with a step away from that position, raising his saber to hold it in a defensive stance. His experience with a blade was almost non-existent, having preferred the tactical superiority of ranged weapons to the questionable effectiveness of melee weapons.

 

[Sal Katarn]

The downward chop caught the lightfoil and knocked it from her hand. The blade winked out and the hilt flew away, bouncing twice across the ground before rolling to a stop near some fallen wood toward the edge of the clearing.

Kate raised thin eyebrows, surprise coloring her features. She took two steps back. How did the droid know? Unless he was not a droid at all.

She had assumed he was just a robot with a fancy processing unit, but maybe there was more going on here. Reaching out in the Force, Kate could feel a presence within the droid.

Oh.

What else in the galaxy swung lightsabers, wore a droid body, and could use the Force?

Shard knight, duh.

Well, that made a lot more sense as to why the shard was in a Silver Jedi hosted tournament. Narrowing icy blue eyes, Kate let her cloak of shadow drop and walked slowly to her right with a prowling gait.

"So you're a walking stalactite, huh. Nice alloy."

Her lightfoil hadn't been as effective as it should have against whatever sort of metal the body frame was constructed of, otherwise he would probably be limping.

Bad news: he would be a lot harder to beat.

Good news: ripping the body to pieces wouldn't hurt him.

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

"Only half stalactite. I'm a droid as well." Within the confines of the battle, Ultimatum felt that explaining the intricacies of his existence with Upari would be impossible. Perhaps after the fight was concluded, assuming that [member="Katya Shorn"] had any interest in such things, he could tell her more.

As she became visible, Ultimatum continued to step away, keeping opposite and always facing her. Just because the opponent was unarmed, Ultimatum did not immediately assume that she was powerless. Indeed, Ultimatum guessed that his position might become more perilous. He wished to avoid destruction. Upari might survive in his protective shell, but Ultimatum himself would be far less likely to.

The robot raised his hand tried and felt out with the Force to raise dirt into the air. He hoped to create a more difficult environment for combat, but more importantly he wanted to see how his opponent responded. This was a learning experience for him, not an actual contest. If he could discover more about the Force from these competitions, then even losing helped the droid.

 

[Sal Katarn]

"Sounds complicated . . ."

The droid kept stepping and moving so that he always faced her, which allowed her to dictate his positioning with her circling prowl. Meaning, his back now faced a particularly cylindrical something that lay on the ground, presumably forgotten.

"Let me-"

Kate made a slapping gesture with her hand and with a burst of telekinetic energy sought to smack the dirt [member="Ultimatum"] had raised into the air back toward his photoreceptors, then stuck out both hands.

"Take a -" she grit her teeth.

Kate only ever learned two powers in the Force: photokinesis and telekinesis. She sucked at everything else. Except.

This.

The fingers of her right hand curled into a claw and she sought to pin the droid's left foot to the ground with the Force so that he would be unable to move it. At the same time, she made a pulling gesture with her left hand.

Behind the droid, the hilt of the lightfoil rose from the ground, spun so its projector faced Ultimatum, then snapped to life in a thin red beam of energy as Kate sent it like a spear directly for the back of his left leg.

"Poke."

 

[Ultimatum]

Blinded for a moment by the dirt, Ultimatum might have smiled. It was a predictable move, what followed was more unexpected. The droid had kept tabs on the environment after all the Force allowed a person to attack with anything from just about anywhere. The lightfoil behind him was not forgotten, merely strategically placed. He had not expected her to pull it into him and was surprised when it struck that she had not aimed for something more vital. Now he was hobbled in one leg, though, unlike organics, he could still use it to support his weight. He could even move the foot a small amount thanks to small parts of his circuitry that had not been entirely destroyed by the blow. Nonetheless, he was now slowed considerably.

The droid's tactic had to evolve. Of course, it helped that he had no intention of winning. It was a statistical improbability that he could defeat his opponent. He decided that avoiding further damage should be a top priority, classifying considerable damage to two limbs beyond this would require surrender. Loss and victory were inconsequential as long as the experience was gained.

In a fluid motion, the droid reached down and pulled the light foil from his leg. He began to move forward towards his opponent, with the apparent intention of engaging at close range. His mind thought to Upari, "She will try something again. Let us prepare for it."

There was no response from Upari, but Ultimatum assumed that the Shard had heard and was pooling his Force. Perhaps looking for an opportunity as well, something to help in the fight. A stone, a root, even a loose article of clothing on his opponent. He knew he could not win in a straight fight, his opponent was stronger in the Force and had proven to be cunning enough. He had to take an element of surprise.

[member="Katya Shorn"]

 

[Sal Katarn]

Kate smirked and stepped backward, trying to stay out of the droid's reach. Sure, his leg might be dead weight he had to drag around, but that didn't mean he couldn't still poke her with one of those lightsabers if he got in range.

Sweat dripped from her forehead and along her back from her use of the Force, but she could push it farther. And then after she tossed this hunk of metal around she could take a nap or something.

"You even know how to use that thing, Half-Stack?"

If he broke her lightfoil he would be in big trouble.

She held out a hand and three pebbles floated up to spin above her palm.

Now you see it. She waved her other hand over the pebbles and one suddenly disappeared, cloaked by the Force. Now you don't.

Then she accelerated the small, invisible rock toward the droid's right photoreceptor with enough oomph in the Force to shatter the receptor if it struck.

[member="Ultimatum"]

 

[Ultimatum]

"Never used one before, I'll try not to break it." Ultimatum continued advancing, then she lifted small stones and began rotating them above her hand.

It was the opportunity he had been waiting for. Even as [member="Katya Shorn"] made one disappear and threw it at the droid, Upari struck out with the Force. With precise calculations, the Shard changed the trajectory of one of the stones, inevitably not the one that was invisible. Enacting small pushes on the rock, its circle became an arc. It was not particularly fast or strong, but it would sting if it struck. The pebble would move towards her face, except Ultimatum only aimed for the cheek.

To enact this Force adjustment, the droid stopped moving and stretched his hand slightly out, as if he were preparing to strike. This change in stance unknowingly defended Ultimatum from the invisible projectile. Instead of destroying his eye, the pebble smashed hard into the metal plating within a centimeter of the eye. It left a visible dent, and the photoreceptor was warped slightly from the impact. It was not enough to blind the droid in that eye, but it distorted his vision sufficiently to become more reliant on his left eye.

With no small amount of indignity, Ultimatum questioned, "Would you be so callous with your strikes if I were an organic?"

Ultimatum had a feeling that his opponent was not particularly careful because he was a droid, perhaps she still believed that he was merely a shell for the Shard. That thought was not new to the droid, having been treated as such many times before, but that did not change the small injury it did to his mental status. Upari's thought entered Ultimatum, and a short conversation followed, taking a microsecond before turning back to the fight.

"Keep in mind; it is not your personal body being damaged here."

"Yes, it was. That foil caught my leg as well as the suit's."

"We'll pull through. This is hardly the worst you have faced."

"True, but this is the hardest opponent I've faced with the current circumstances and equipment. If took a blaster I could have her down in minutes."

"Except we don't use blasters anymore. For good reason."

"Correct, perhaps I should make a safer one. Nothing lethal of course."

A design was forming in the droid's head. It, like everything else, was saved to be viewed later.