Nothing Personal, I Just Got Bills To Pay (Veles)

[Enyo Typhos]

Korriban.

Here it had all begun. She'd been burnt and scarred by hellfire when Korriban City was bombarded. Her body had been broken, she'd almost perished. Archangel had remade her in their image and brainwashed her, so that they could control her. Later, shortly after her rebirth, she'd come here to face the place where she'd been broken, and to seek the guidance of [member="Matsu Xiangu"]. She'd been awkward and still under the creators' thumb.


Now she'd cut the strings and escaped their iron embrace. Her chains had been broken. In a way, she'd been reborn on Korriban. Before, she'd been blind, deluded and weak. Now she was stronger - and followed no whims and no agendas other than her own. One day, she'd destroy her former masters.


She'd left Korriban City behind her. Some of the city's denizens remembered her, for it was an act of compassion that put her in the firing line of the Silver Jedi's turbolasers. Few had dared to approach the grim cyborg who was now more machine than woman. Then again, she was not here to socialise or reminisce.


No, she had come here to hunt. It had not been easy to track down [member="Darth Veles"], for the Sith Assassin and infiltrator was an elusive one. She'd finally hit the jackpot by getting her paws on one of the HRDs her creators had sold him so long ago. Mechu-deru and knowledge of certain backdoors yielded the required information for her.


So she had tracked him to the valley of valleys of the tomb world, which fit the pattern of the Mon Cal being obsessed with acquiring ancient artefacts of the Sith to enhance his power. It was nothing personal. She felt some resentment, but that was less directed against him personally and more against the fact that she'd made his acquaintance during a time when she'd been Archangel's slave and worked with him under those conditions.


Enyo hated being reminded of those days. But in the end, it was business. [member="Taeli Raaf"] had offered her a large stack of credits if she brought the alien to her alive so that she could do very unpleasant things to him. Besides, on a certain level, Enyo loved a good fight.


The Valley of Tombs was a hot, dry scar in the mountains around what was left of Dreshdae. Here, the ancient Jen'ari had been entombed in long bygone aeons. To the ancient Sith, these titans had been like gods among men and they'd laboured hard to build these colossal monuments. By now, most had been thoroughly raided again and again.


Sand crunched beneath Enyo's boots and her heavy armour gleamed in the bright sunlight. The clone was loaded with guns and grenades. More to the point, she was a living weapon herself. Amidst the howl of the wind, the screeches and hisses of wild beasts could be heard. A few skeletons were sprawled across the ground, half-buried beneath the dunes.

 

[Darth Veles]

Endlessly thirsting for knowledge and power, Darth Veles roamed Korriban’s barren planes once more. Despite the sun and dust seeking to exploit the amphibious man’s natural distaste for hot, dry places, the Sith lord walked on foot, having abandoned his ship several dunes ago. Unseen and unheard, bending his own signature and presence to vanish in the Void and grant him an undisturbed passage, he remained hidden, preferring solitude when it came to the arcane. One could never be too careful when it came to his beloved order. Picking regions drenched in the dark side, the Sith lord sought after anomalies and evil perversions of the Force, twisted and corrupt just as those who followed the Sith teachings.

The Valley of the Dark Lords naturally dominated his list of places to visit, thus it came as no surprise when he entered, letting the atmosphere of old and desolate breathe on him. Satisfied with the presence of the Force in this ancient place, the Sith lord inhaled the location’s purity and got to work. Tapping into the dark side’s infinite currents through Sith magic, he painted strange symbols into the sand, using his walking stick as a brush while Korriban’s blood red ground became his canvas.

Another presence stepped into his plans before he could fully immerse in the dark side and connect with the ancient graveyard. Surprisingly enough, he recognized the new arrival’s signature. Staying calm, the Sith lord continued to draw some circles, seemingly oblivious to the newcomer. Only after her presence grew even closer, Darth Veles stopped in his endeavours and listened to the unmistakable sound of sand crunching beneath armoured boots.

“Enyo.”

The presence was most definitely hers, even if the armour refused to give away her features. Given how unpleasant trudging through the desert in heavy armour had to be, he had a pretty good idea of the woman’s purpose and intentions.

”What is it you seek on the Sith homeworld, old friend?” The Sith lord asked slyly, sweet smile gracing his features as he carved one last symbol into the dust.

He already knew. She wanted to battle. Leaning against the cane and using it as a mean to rise from his drawings, the cloaked Mon Calamari turned around, regarding Enyo with those big orange eyes of his. The unnerving glare seemed to dig into the woman’s thoughts, thus violating all sense of privacy. Both webbed hands vanished beneath the black robe covering most of his form as the Sith lord summoned the planet’s ancient heritage and the dark side answered his call, rushing into his body. Korriban was his home, after all – it would never let its son down. He had survived its trials and tests as an acolyte, earning the right to tread upon its sands freely and reap its long lost secrets.

In fact, Enyo came just in time. His ritual would be all the more potent if fresh blood mixed with the heretical symbols.



[member="Enyo Typhos"]

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Darth Veles"]

Gear: Eisenmesch armour, Czerka Headbanger, Mark One Bolter, lightsabre, grenades and sonic blaster pistol.


Enyo held no attachment to the Sith or their mystical ways. Her affiliation with the Sith Order had been brief and she'd only been there as Archangel's representative. She'd marched on Korriban during the Jihad not because she believed the Sith homeworld needed to be saved from 'desecration' by the Silver Jedi.


However, the planet still held a special place in her black soul. Upon this desolate wasteland, she had been reborn. Pain and suffering had been her teacher. Before that day, she'd been but the learner. Young, naive and controlled by the whims of others.


In that regard, [member="Matsu Xiangu"] had been correct: Pain empowered you. If the Silver Jedi commander had not torched Korriban City with hellfire, she would not be the woman she was today - free of Archangel's strings. Her mechanical shell was not a cage anymore. Instead, it empowered her.


Here they were now, for she had found her quarry, who seemed to have been occupied painting arcane symbols into the sand. Enyo was reminded of rites she'd observed in Gehenna amongst the shattered remnants of the Bando Gora. Either way, the initiative went to her.


When the Mon Cal tried to look inside her mind, she did not waver. Beneath her helmet, her expression was cold. Veles would find walls as thick as the metal that had replaced most of her limbs. By no means impregnable, for no mental shield was, but difficult to penetrate. Her mind was not a pleasant place to be.


Instead of making snarky quips, Enyo acted. She was not the type to fiddle around and so she sprang into action. The dark energies of Korriban surged through her body and she reached out with the Force, attempting to wrap her telekinetic willpower around Veles' legs with an iron grip that her template would have been proud of.


She would not be able to hold him forever, or even for a long time, but that was not her intention. Rather, the Czerka Headbanger she held in her physical, metallic hands, roared, belching out powerful stun blasts. It was an oldie but a goodie, still considered the ultimate in crowd control, for it could stun beings of any size, including Wookiees. Even a glancing hit could render a human unconscious for up to four days.

 

[Darth Veles]

She didn’t want to chat and lower her guard. While marking her a devoted opponent who would not allow distraction ruin her performance, it certainly was a reason for concern. Then again, he could do the same – the Sith lord wasn’t one to talk about friendship and redemption when fighting for his life. Cybernetic orb swivelled around, observing the armour for glaring issues while weaving various strategies in his mind. Readied, the man’s focus immediately shifted to the impending attack that, while invisible, made no attempt at hiding its intentions through the Force. Sending a powerful surge of will against her attack, he placed enough cracks into the rope destined to ensnare his legs to render the strike useless. Without his mobility stolen from him, Darth Veles’s body remained fully operational as he was about to prove.

Instead of going for his curved lightsaber hilts and raising them in defence, he dashed to the side when the gun’s barrel pointed his way. Black armourweave cloak furiously billowed in the air, struggling to match the body’s pace. For a crippled man, the Sith lord moved with unnatural ease and speed, far beyond natural capabilities of his race. The defensive dodge was immediately followed by the Sith lord’s kick into the sand, sending a dusty cloud Enyo’s way before finally releasing a counter-attack, empowered by Korriban’s endless seas of blood that have painted the sand red. Both hands left the blaster resistant confines of his cloak, only one held a weapon. Sleek, elegant, masterfully crafted, the lightsaber faithfully rested in its owner’s webbed hand. Finally, the traditional Sith red flared to life, humming softly after the initial sharp snap-hiss.

But attacking the heavily armoured figure with superheated plasma would undoubtedly prove futile. Darth Veles knew better than to test his lightsaber’s capabilities against those of his opponent’s armour. A subtle movement of his fingers and the dark side rushed to coil around Enyo’s neck, displaying complete ignorance of the armour as it bypassed the metal plates and all defences underneath, striking at the woman’s windpipe through a crushing grip. Generally considered an incapacitating strike unless maintained for long, it was a mere distraction supposed to mask the power-hungry Sith lord’s free hand. It did not remain idle – fingertips pointed directly at his old ally and unleashed a powerful incarnation of Force drain, streams of red lightning-like energy that also cared little about armour, destined to tap directly into the woman’s inner reserves and brutally rob her of energy and life alike.



[member="Enyo Typhos"]

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Darth Veles"]


Force Choke and Drain Life. Two of the most common techniques in the Sith playbook. Both required prolonged focus in order to be used efficiently. This was very difficult to do if you tried to use both at the same time or rapidly switched. Enyo's eyes remained on the Mon Cal as he dodged out of the way to avoid the stun blast and blew up a dusty cloud of sand. Dropping the headbanger, she called her lightsabre into her grasp. The burning violet beam sprang to life with the trademark snap-hiss.


The clone felt the energies of the Dark Side roll from the alien as he assaulted her with a dual attack. Strong pressure wrapped around her neck, bypassing her armour as her opponent sought to crush her windpipe...except the tube no longer had any real effect since her breathing was mechanical. Ever since that fateful day on Korriban where hellfire had rained down from the sky, she could only breathe via an iron lung.


Ergo, Enyo did not even bother to draw upon her own formidable telekinetic strength to break the intangible grip that tried to enclose around her trachea. Instead, her attention was focused on the storm of scarlet lightning that suddenly erupted from the Sith's hand. Volatile and corrupt energies born out of the darkest abyss permeated the air as the crimson bolts shot towards her.


They cared not for physical armour. Luckily, she could draw upon the power of the ethereal realm. The clone grit her teeth and focused intently as the bolts struck her and she shook a bit. With them came pain, but she stood her ground despite the pressure. A translucent shield of the Force wrapped itself around her, blocking the leeching energies like a dam would a flood of water.


She could not keep it up for long, but that was not her intent. Rather it was meant to shield her against the initial rush, then she went on the offensive. For when she looked upon Veles with her cold eyes, her mechu-deru senses tingled. Having taken note of his agility, she saw beyond his physical body and perceived the workings of machinery inside him. He, too, had been modified, though not to the same extent as her. The Force sang to her and she heeded its call. The power of the Dark Side filled her, as if it were water and she a glass.


Mechu-deru was not just her weapon, it was her birthright. For she had been created and enhanced by machines. With calculated, brutal precision, she lashed out with her power and began to exert her will upon his artificial implants. It was a surgical strike, for she employed her gift in the manner a surgeon would use a scalpel. Her efforts were concentrated on one augmentation in particular: the Cardio Muscular Package. She would attempt to malfunction, tamper with, disable, short-circuit, explode or otherwise disrupt the implants that made up the package. Coincidentally, it included an artificial heart.

 

[Darth Veles]

There was no subtlety about her attack. Enyo’s power seeped into his body, seeking to dominate the Sith lord’s cybernetic enhancements and encase each under a thin crust of energy cold as ice. Feeling her inside of him, an alien organism to leech on his strengths and take them for herself, Darth Veles devoted a large portion of his mind to combat the new threat before it took him down. Raising his impenetrable shields of will and wrapping the dark side around himself as a pitch black sheet of eternal night, he slowed the process down, even if malicious tendrils sought to play with his artificial heart.

If she shut the organ down, it would undoubtedly prove detrimental to his performance. But for all the cybernetic wonders, the Sith lord was still a man more than machine. Potent blood of a Sith flowed through his veins, mixing with the dark side’s faithless power. Combined with his intimate knowledge of Sith magic, be it through several holocrons he had drained or his beloved teacher, Darth Veles speared through Enyo’s intent and burned her influence from his body in a fiery maelstrom of intense hatred.

Scarlet beam of pure energy hummed through the air as the elegantly shaped lightsaber changed hands and the Sith lord lunged forth to introduce his blade to Enyo’s and have the two locked into a hissing kiss. Darth Veles’ entire body continued to move towards the enemy, and even though the woman’s armoured figure looked imposing, he did not think twice about crashing against her, cybernetic hand would launch a forceful push further empowered by the Force against her upper torso to tackle her down into the sandy dunes. Lips muttered an ancient incantation, one meant for nothing else than to unleash an indestructible dark side web to ensnare her form and render the armoured menace a harmless lamb, robbed of her connection to the Force and slowly sapped of strength.



[member="Enyo Typhos"]

 

[Enyo Typhos]

[member="Darth Veles"]


Veles thought himself an invicible demigod, an untouchable colossus who bestrode the stars. That was, unfortunately for him, not the case. The power of the Dark Side was considerable, yes, but not limitless, as Darth Zash, whose holocron he'd acquired after using the Ren as his tools, had discovered when her possession ritual went so horribly wrong. The Dark Jedi Siobhan Kerrigan, Enyo's mirror, had beaten the Mon Cal on Contruum.


Thus, he struck in folly when he charged the brunette cyborg. It was kind of an oddity, all around bizarre, and illogical. For a Lord, which the Archangel files had reliably informed her the alien was, he had a strange way of flaunting his prowess. It lay somewhere in the spectrum of untrained and pure rage. Were she a lesser trained individual, an unbloodied neophyte, Veles undoubtedly would have left her unsure and shaken by the manner of his aggressive onslaught. However, this was not the case. Rushing through forward through loose sand, stampeding towards her with reckless abandon, this fish out of water charged onward, as if believing he could overwhelmn the Cyborg by ramming her while at the same time conjuring dark magicks.





There was but a small span of time, but she could perceive the feeble traction of his sand through the sand. This could not be overlooked given the haste of his charge. Their blades crossed and her back leaned precariously towards the slope of the dune as his battering ram assault connected. The Force push caused a spike of pain, for her torso was still flesh, though her ribs were not. But in spite of the pressure that was being tossed her way, she neither faltered nor yielded. Nor would she give the alien the satisfaction of unleashing this storm of attacks directly into her face. She did not fall, rather her feet remained planted on the sandy ground. Thusly, she used his own momentum against him.


In a way, the fiery maelstorm of intense hatred that Veles drew upon to summon his sorcerous powers as he drank from the well of the Dark Side worked against him. For it was her opponent's own dark emotions that fuelled Enyo. Like an energy vampire, she soaked the anger, hatred and fury up like a sponge and consumed it; then directed it outward to siphon the energies that gave form to this web of evil. Her own palm grasped the brunt of his arcane Force attack into her hand, pulling it from the air and removing its danger upon her.


Their laser swords seared and cried, it was a terrible song of unyielding energy searing and seething with a great hiss. Her own blade had been held in her strong metal hand. Her strength, given her Cyborg physiology, easily matched his own, if not exceeding it when not guided by the Force. It was not only her armour that was made of phrik, but her limbs and spinal column, as well. The energies of the Force empowered her further. Siobhan would lift a tank with the power of her mind; Enyo, by contrast, would prefer to pick it up with her bare hands.


Before the Lord of the Sith could speak his words, she'd already willed her body to move and it heeded her command like a well-oiled machine. Her booted, metal feet dug and pressed her body to the right, drawing upon the strength of her arm to thrust Veles' blade away and to the side while she gracefully stepped around his right, knowing that his momentum could not surrender in time before he would lose footing down the slant of the hill.


In the course of this manoeuvre her wrist twisted masterfully and her violet blade dipped towards the ground as the clone used the weight of her body and the movement of her legs to direct the burning beam of roaring energy towards the arm that had been so brazenly pushed out upon her. Her cut would be deep upon the limb, intended to connect with the Mon Cal's elbow, but equally fine with staking a claim upon his wrist should he somehow succeed in retracting.

 

[Darth Veles]

The Force and cybernetics alike launched him aside in the nick of time, safely getting the Sith lord out of his opponent’s range as the purple saber narrowly missed his precious whiskers. That was way too close for his liking - retreat became a valid option when nothing else produced even the slightest of results, and thus Darth Veles’ warm orbs darted over to numerous tombs dotting the Valley. Perhaps one would offer him the refuge he sought, concealing him in a chaotic maze of catacombs. Madness reigned supreme among these damp walls never touched by Korriban’s sun. Coming in meant betting his life and trusting ancient Sith spirits that slumbered within each graveyard though, definitely a heavy risk he wasn’t willing to take without prior preparations. Lacking time for just that, Darth Veles opted for an alternative. As soon as his booted feet touched the crimson sand, they immediately started a brisk pace towards the mark he had drawn earlier. Stepping in the middle of heretical symbols, his lips recited more words spoken in the long dead language, followed by a sudden spike in Korriban’s dark side energies as the Sith lord vanished in a puff of smoke.



[member="Enyo Typhos"]

 

[Enyo Typhos]

Enyo blinked when Veles suddenly, bizarrely and illogically leapt away and then subsequently vanished in a cloud of smoke thanks to a convenient magical spell, fleeing from the battlefield. A lesser person might have violently lashed out in a melodramatic act of frustration, but being raised by machines, Enyo had enough self-control not to succumb to a temper tantrum. Beneath her helmet, disgust was written across her features.


Coward. You're a master in name only. Enjoy your messianic delusions. For they are just that, delusions, she thought, as contempt filled her being. Could she track him? Perhaps, perhaps not, but she did not consider it worth her time. So she turned around and made her way out of the Valley, leaving the tombs and decayed monuments behind her. Before she boarded her ship, she stopped at a store in Korriban City and bought a couple socks for her sister Amara. They had little Ewoks on them. Then she vacated the tomb world.


[member="Darth Veles"]