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The Eternal Vigilance (The Maw)


Tarrian Skywalker

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Darkness had stained this place. Even as Aidan inhaled, knowing something was wrong with the air he breathed, the very room he was in began to shift and change, filling with voices, people, from long ago. Cries of tortured anguish, sorrow, strong emotions that refused to loose their grip on this plane of existence. These emotions washed over him, covering him, but he was a rock against the waves. The voices cried against his ears, but he was unmoved, even as the scene turned to a barren and dying field.

He was often too late. He couldn't always help people, even his friends. He couldn't even help Frond, despite trying desperately. He'd only known the tree-being for hours, but he'd felt guilty at what had happened at the time. But what Sandy had told him was true, it wasn't his fault. Sometimes things happened, and despite all the trying in the world even the entire united Jedi Order wouldn't be able to fix it. It was hard to live with these things. Slowly, the waves began to slough away at the rock.

And then came his father. It was fitting that his father would show up in whatever this was, an illusion, hallucination, or something else entirely. His own issues with his father had haunted him his whole life. Those problems were not his, though, they were his father's. He had let them go several days ago on Nar Shaddaa, finally coming to terms with what his childhood had become. He knew which choices were his own responsibility and which consequences weren't. His father demanded to know what he was playing at? Fine.

"Bold words from someone who played at being a family man. Your legacy was thrust upon me, it wasn't something I chose. Now we both live with the aftermath."

The words held no enmity, no spite, no bitterness, though they rang true as if they had every right to be. It was simply the truth, just like the truth his father had confronted him with. Aidan simply sat down, not ignoring the man, but accepting what was happening. If this wasn't real, then there was no use fighting against it physically or emotionally. He would find the chink in the armor, the way out of the labyrinth, but it would take him time. Time was also all it took for water to erode stone.

"You know, I've wanted to talk to you for a long time. One final time. For a long time I wanted to yell at you, scream, curse you out, fill you with every bad experience I've had to deal with over the years because of your utter lack of effort at being a competent parent. Now...I just want to tell you I forgave you. I wish you could hear it, actually hear it, not simply just be some figment of nothingness I'm probably talking to like a crazy person."

Aidan managed a faint smile. The mental image of that was pretty funny to think about, much less if he were to get caught by someone. Even if they had thought he was crazy, the absurdity of it was still amusing. The whole galaxy could be falling apart around them, but the little absurd amusing moments would still ring true. What were they if not random dancing patterns of particles in a sea of nothingness? Nothing really made sense, but in that chaos there was peace: nothing had to make sense. Happiness derived from simplicity, from little moments of calm and pleasure amidst the chaos, not from some grand scheme or overarching consciousness that had higher plans. That was how he saw the Force, and he took comfort in that simplicity. It was a lot easier than coming to terms with a sentient entity that would allow so many to go through so much pain and loss.

"I don't really care anymore whether or not you're proud of me, or whether or not I'm living up to your name. I don't measure myself based on you anymore. Frankly, I'm not sure what I measure myself on, but every waking moment I can choose to do good. No, I don't always succeed, and I might never again succeed. I might die today. But that's okay...I will have lived, and to some my actions will have mattered, even if they eventually get forgotten and lost in the great forward march of history. I can be, for a short while, a source of comfort and happiness. And it doesn't matter what anyone else thinks about that, because I'm okay with it."

 

He could now feel something inside him, the toxin giving him heart palpitations, burning in his veins as it flowed with every beat. So that's what it was, he thought to himself. Sandy had taught him the fundamentals of Force healing, but he'd never tried to heal himself. There was no time like the present to learn though, and he felt the illusion begin to take a much stronger grip on him. He might not have been in control of it, but he was in control of himself. Waves crashed on the shore, eating at what was, but life often provided the roots to prevent the water from taking its due. 

 

"I miss you. And I love you. I really do. No matter what happens, you were my father, and what little I knew of you was spent in joy. I'll never forget that."

Aidan closed his eyes, delving deep into the flow of the Force, focusing inwards on himself. This would take time. 

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As gas and acid filled the room, Master Sandy used the force to create a shield protecting us from their effects. Knowing that this would have a toll on her, Kel deactivated his saber and began meditating so that he could supplement her with his own force energy. Once the trap's dispersion had ceased, Kel looked back at Yava who had collapsed possibly due to drug overdose. His hand briefly drifted to his first aid kit which contained medicine he had received from Trushaun on Ossus. If he acted now there was a chance he could save her, but with the drugs already in her system, her body could have an adverse reaction. 'Druk. why do people smoke these kriffing death sticks? for maker's sakes it's in the kriffing name!'

 

Before Kel could examine her further however, his blood ran cold as what sounded like a beastial cry was let loose through the hangar bay. turning his attention to the source, he saw wreckage and debris being held aloft through the force by a masked figure clad in armor. Kel sensed the darkness from figure was feeding a fiery rage inside him. There was no room for doubt; the being before them was a Sith. Before Kel could ignite his saber once more, the figure psychokinetically threw the debris at us. Kel tried to throw up a shield similar to what his master had done, but his energy was drained from supporting master Sandy through the poisonous trap. an armature connected with Kel's torso and he was flung into a shipping container. His body collided with the wall and he fell to the cold metal bottom with his consciousness fading as the container door sealed itself.

 

As he slowly began to awaken, Kel felt excruciating pain throughout his body. He attempted to sit up from his prone position, but immediately laid back down as pain flared in his chest and midsection. Thankfully his dominant arm maintained motor function so he would be able treat himself after assessing his injuries. Kel calmed his mind and through the force began to examine his body. His left shoulder had been dislocated, his sternum was cracked, a few cracked ribs, and there was inflammation around his tail bone. Reaching into his medical kit, Kel retrieved the vials given to him by Trushaun. remembering her instructions, he injected himself with the purple vial to numb the pain. The effect was nearly immediate. With his pain minimized, Kel was able to raise himself into a sitting position against the wall. Once that was done he began the process of relocating his left shoulder. he raised his left arm to the point where  his left hand could almost reach his right shoulder, shifted his arm back as far as it could go, and began rotating his arm while in that position until he heard the pop of his shoulder sliding back into the socket. Once that was done, Kel injected himself with one of the clear vials and began to meditate and focus on healing his body.     

 

 

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“Whoever you are, you must have never met Grandmaster Adenna.” 

 

What was the aim here? She could kill this thing of course but was that the correct course of action? Her mind raced as he finally revealed himself, a thickly marked being of malice. Glowing red eyes, a cape of crimson and an attitude that coursed with derision and superiority. Or what could be considered a classic Sith Lord or Dark Jedi. She could feel a glimmer of hate in her own heart spike up when she saw his eyes and looming form but with another protected breath she let the anger slide away to cold sadness. Would she really have to kill this thing? But the decision was made for her and any hopes of a negotiated peace flew away in a blast of the force. She could feel Kel’s pain but not his death and she set her jaw. 

 

She had not killed Lucifer and what a galaxy that had left. Were such beings beyond redemption? Having sold their souls so thoroughly that no light could touch them? But her apprentice was wounded and Aidan was in danger. There was no time to talk, there was not time to grieve. It was time to act. Another breath and she steadied her nerves. Another long breath and she brought the force to bear, stepping forward towards his throne of shattered boxes and durasteel. A king of shadows, a king of night. Her voice did not tremble, and her conviction was brought to bear with the authority of a Jedi Knight. He had given up any discussion with his first blows against his crew and her apprentice.

 

"The discussion ends here." 

 

And she struck, tapping into the force and forming a wave of energy that hurled the neat piles of metal he had laid out before them like a thousand needles towards his sitting and vulnerable form. The path was clear and she followed the wave of destruction a split second later, her sabre held before her like a beacon of grey-silver light.

 

((1))

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Calix Meus Inebrians

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"Damn… you were holding that in for a while ‘eh son? I never-" The form of his father seemed oddly pleased with his son, a but before he could respond his form was split in two by a red lightsaber in the hands of a Sith wearing an odd mask and appearing from the smoke of the fighting.

 

“Father figures always find a way to disappoint, even after death-", said the figure, as it slowly retreated from him.

 

His fathers’ torso slid forward, his life leaving him. His face contorted into brutal agony, but instead of organs and burnt viscera, the man’s body quickly turned to ash as an errant turbo laser sliced down from on high to extinguish ground troops. The explosion obscured everything, splattering Aidan with dirt and the ashes of his father.

 

The scene suddenly grew more intense, the battle field around him was filled with soldiers and combat, but it was difficult to see emblems and uniforms, the weaponry was uniform, as if the fight was between the same side, a civil conflict with no end in sight. All that pierced the smoke was the sound of death and violence. The Sith was gone, replaced now by a monumental struggle. The sky grew darker, and everything around Aidan seemed menacing and dangerous. Brutal firefights turned into struggles of life and death.

 

The field surrounding Aidan was filled with other figures, slowly approaching him. They were recognizable, Jedi of renown and honor, some alive others long dead or vanished. All of them surrounded him. Yet this was no comforting presence, this was something else.

 

"The counsel will come to order... we must discuss the sad matter of Sandy Sarna." Said a stern voice. Armenia Draygo took her place in front of him, directing the others to sit.

The figures all joined in a circle, about Aidan, but he was no longer alone, Sandy was there, but she was different. He recognized some of the old masters, past and present, but all of them were different... younger, stronger, more imposing. It was like a vision from fifteen years prior brought into the present.

 

Even Sandy… Sandy who stood in center of the circle next to him seemed younger, almost childlike. But she didn’t flinch as her fate was discussed.

"What say you Master Kirlocca?" asked his mother who looked on Sandy disapprovingly.

 

The darkside I feel in her...a true shame, but she must be destroyed. the tall Jedi suddenly morphed into a somehow hairier form. “She carries a seed of the darkside deep within, when it takes root… it will mean death and horror for many.”

 

"We must end her connection with the force, by any means necessary." Said a solemn Darex Trevalian.

 

Adenna spoke up finally. “Then it is agreed, she must be made one with the force.” His mother grabbed her own special saber, and approached.

 

Slowly, they all raised there sabers activating them at once...forming a long line of powerful masters all with one goal in mind... ending Sandy. The rush was on, and in short order they all attacked.

 

Sandy readied herself activated her small saber, and in a flurry of strikes began to defend herself in earnest.

 

“Aidan!-“ her cries for help were undeniable.

 

---

 

Kern sat patiently as Sandy clenched her jaw. Her response was jarring at first, he'd expected her to do what most Jedi would do given her situation, parlay, discuss terms, offer a pitiful argument as to why he should surrender. But instead she went straight into action, hurling herself and with force towards him at a speed that no ordinary being could anticipate... but Kern was no ordinary being. On the contrary his instinct of primal defense had not diminished with the passing of time, and given her slight warning, he already sensed from experience that she was would follow her initial wave with a fiery attack. He was delighted to see how quickly she resorted to such a beautiful display of violence. Sister indeed... 

 

~PEACE IS A LIE~ 

 

Perhaps She had hoped to catch him off his guard, to put an end to a conflict before it truly began. Sandy was ignorant however, Kern had positioned his place at the precise spot where the darkside was strongest. He had learned from long years of hard fought battles, and his failure to defeat his old master to always place himself where he had the superior position. Her lack of vision and knowledge of the darkside would be her true undoing. While her opening salvo was impressive it was also foolhardy... and deeply disrespectful. He loved it. He thirsted for the thrill of violence, growing stronger each passing instant as it grew tantalizingly near. 

 

Kern did nothing at first, seemingly awaiting the arrival of the many projectiles placidly, as if resigned to his fate. He thought of his complete and lingering hatred for everything the woman assaulting him represented, a deep and uncontrollable rage that seethed through every pore of his being for those that had so chained his power, and had for so long poisoned his mind with lies. The immense power at his disposal crackled beneath his skin, as he drew that power into a colossal schism of darkside energy, then at the precise moment of her apex... he released it with simple raise of a clenched fist. The energy needed to stop her and the fragments was considerable, but the expenditure was a easily purchased by his careful planning. Yava was spared as well, the attack missing her position beneath Kern's feet. Still, the metal fragments parted mere inches from his face, and as the larger pieces clattered harmlessly off his armor and mask, several smaller pieces struck harder, but his armor would prevent most from doing any real damage other then superficial scratches. Kern had already turned his attention to the true threat, the form of the Jedi crashing in upon him. A clever rouse, yet Kern had known something like it was coming from the moment she clenched her sharp jaw.

 

“..L'yukstiwr!”

 

The ancient Sith curse emanated from Kern as he finally acted.

 

All at once Sandy's forward momentum was slowed by a complete shift in the force, as the very light she garnered for her attack evaporated as it grew closer to the enormity of the power she was challenging. With incredible speed, faster then She had charged at him in point of fact, a bright crimson blade snapped to life, catching Sandy's blade as He rose and halted Her attempted mortal strike. The darkness about Kern swallowed whole any hope She had of ending the fight quickly then and there. The blades crashed together with a horrible violence that jolted Kern and the vibrant red blade issued a slicing squall as He glowered at his would be slayer. He could sense the deep passion within her, a deep need to defeat him, anger seething at her Jedi friends hurt, fear over losing the other. Deep within there was an unsatisfied animal, just beyond her willingness to look. She would deny it of course, but Kern knew those feelings all to well and her true strength lay beyond. How easily they could be used...how quickly they could be harnessed. 

 

Kern held her blade back with his own saber in both hands. As he stood undaunted, he noticed a small shard of metal had found it's way to an protected spot near his shoulder. The wound was slight, but the injury was still a blow nonetheless. He would need to rely on the deep and unyielding darkness that was his true anchor to overcome this agile opponent. The sabers' screamed as they were caught in between the two forces, the only object between them and a quick and painful end. Fragments of light and dark danced in the darkened hangar, and sparks flew in all directions.

 

"Clever, but against my power? Useless." Kern informed as he towered over Sandy and shoved her back with a quick riposte of his saber. He shook his head and neck at once, like a dangerous beast preparing for the vicious fight to come.

 

"You have heart, but no passion. You have conviction... but no vision...you see only what I allow." He said seductively as he approached her.

 

"Let me show YOU!" Kern said as he engaged her fully using an advanced technique of a makashi form that had touches of intrinsic brutality. Then as he came forward, he was suddenly everywhere, his power seemingly attacking from every point in the room Sandy wasn't looking towards, He wasn't of course, but with the confused mess of the maw, Kern could reflect his energy into a half dozen attack vectors, using his experience to make her see shadows that weren't him, but carried his malice, another his anger and rage, and into another a deep sense of dread and hunger, then when at last he could feel her attempt to refocus, he advanced, with measured but powerful strikes that targeted her methodically, from her head, to her shoulders, to her midsection, then with a flourish Kern attempted a stabbing blow at her unprotected side. Now within range He pivoted, slamming a hardened knee directly at her midsection, followed by a gauntlet-ed fist to her chest, with enough force power behind it to crush a dozen sentient beings lungs in. Kern had tried thirteen once, but for some reason thirteen crushed rib cages was one too many. 

 

Such wonderful impudence.... She would not be rewarded kindly, but still Kern was intrigued, even delighted to have a true opponent to test himself against. If she wished to die, then Kern could oblige, as there was no glory without victory, and no victory without a sufficient challenge. Sandy did not know what she had awoken, and Kern was all to pleased to show her. Her death would be a triumph, a crescendo to an auspicious day.

 

(1)

Edited by Fynn Relmis

"Some things... are worse then death, being forgotten for example..."

Member Since '05 - The Old Ones | Character Sheet

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He almost managed to ignore it. He heard the voices, clear as day as if they were real and right next to him. Kirlocca's voice stung the deepest, as Aidan had a special connection to the Wookiee who practically raised him and the young Imperial Knight missed him deeply. But when Sandy cried out, he could take it no longer, the emotions welled up inside him to the point of bursting as he leapt forward from where he sat, silver blades meeting Sandy's own as he began defending her.

The onslaught was relentless to say the least, blow after blow, parry after parry, never counterattacking to strike true but merely to drive back. The four Jedi were more than a match for the two, and very quickly Aidan felt his strength drain from him. The thought flew through his mind questioning if the toxin he'd inhaled was the culprit behind his loss of strength, but he had no way of telling.

"Stop! All of you!" They didn't. "Mother, please! You wouldn't do this!" She continued. "Master Kirlocca, you of all people told me to trust in the Force above all else, does it really tell you to do this?" The Wookiee fought on. "Masters, stop this insanity!" His words fell on deaf ears.

At a glance in desperation, Aidan looked to Sandy, worrying for her, but that was when he caught it. He was tethered to her, a very faint tie, translucent and ethereal, binding them together. He had feelings for her, feelings he hadn't resolved. This wasn't trusting in the Force like he had quoted Kirlocca seconds before, this was him attempting to fight fate, to assert his will. 

He was the seed of the Dark Side inside of Sandy Sarna. He had caused this. Maybe not in totality, but in part. Enough to make him guilty in the scene that played out before him. Finally he remembered: this was an illusion, he was dancing on strings like a puppet. Summoning the strength of the Force to himself, he let out a strong shove that sent all of them back several steps, before extinguishing his blade, and kneeling down.

"If this must be done, then you must hold me accountable as well. I submit myself for judgment."

One by one, they came forward, readying their blades. Trust in the Force above all else. He remained motionless, allowing them to continue. Trust in the Force above all else. If this was going to happen, he needed to allow it to happen, to accept it and move on instead of fighting it. Trust in the Force above all else.

 

Their blades burned as they cut into him, but it was Sandy's blade that hurt the most.

 

Trust in the Force above all else.

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Sandy let out a gasp as she was hurled back by his initial countering blow, the blow threw her meter until her booted feet found purchase at last and she fell back into the fighting stance of her apprenticeship. Makashi in its essence, mimicking the fluid style of her opponent, her legs firmly beneath her, muscles coiled like springs to launch her into action. The darkside was very strong in the being she fought, but she was not bowed. She couldn’t be, there was so much left to do and if she perished, then surely Aidan and Kel would come next under the blade of the dark jedi. She breathed deeply and drew upon the force, the darkness emanating from the Dark Jedi was smothering and she almost choked on its effect before she forced herself to center. She took another halting breath as he bounded off his throne. But she did not leave those metal shards where they lay. 

 

What could she draw on? The answer was right there, even in the shadows of the Maw, she could draw upon love and happiness. Thats what defined the lightside to her. She concentrated on the few smiles that Adenna had given her, and her mind fell upon Aidan. That awkward childhood crush, now a dozen meters away and suffering, but he was there. He was calm, and he was a rock in the force that she could tie herself to. Her memories of him, that awkward blushing time on the beaches of Kashyyyk, the armoury of the Misericordia. When she had finally grown up from a girlish crush to a solid friendship. Her mind touched his for a wistful moment and she saw him overcome the fear and doubt in his heart and she was glad. Her freckled face broke into a deep smile as the Dark Jedi rushed forward.

 

There was no darkness in this galaxy that could snuff out the light

 

No Sith, no Dark Jedi, No Krathian sorcerer, could take that light away. 

 

Whoever this monster was, for he was surely revealing himself to be one, would not prevail against the light. It would be his curse. The force filled her, breaking the hold of the shadows that the Dark Jedi was projecting. Everywhere she looked there was malice, anger, despair. And with those came a hundred lightsaber strikes, But only a few brought with them Intent. Her lightsaber moved with stunning grace as it blocked, reposted, and she moved like a blademaster, avoiding blows and diverting them with little effort as his shadows wasted their malice on air. But he was quick, and a single blow slipped through a millisecond ahead of her blocking blade. Her reflexes saved her from a wicked goring, and her blade batted his aside just as quick, but the red blade had smashed along the light armour that she wore and burned through her tunic and undertunic. Searing a patch of skin with a burn. Not fatal, not something that would hampen her ability to fight, and entirely superficial, but its pain sharpened her mind and she let out a hiss through her clenched teeth and lept back. Saving herself from his wicked unarmed trikes. She countered with two quick slashes at his exposed arms and legs before she pressed her own attack. Reaching out to the room and into herself. 

 

The force moved in the room, as Sandy drew upon it, touching the many small needle like shards that the dark Jedi thought discarded from her first attack and brought them like a guided lance towards his unprotected flank. Matching it with a pressed attack with her blade. Five, six, seven, strong attacks with her lightsabre, which flashed and danced in her hands as she fell into the rhythm of the force. The cuts arced and spun for his midsection, sabre arm, neck, legs and finished with a solid plunge towards his exposed chest. Sweat dripped down her hairline as she concentrated. She had long favoured forms of mass telekinesis and sabres. Their harmony reflecting an inner monologue, as her mind touched the weapons at her beltline and she drew in another breath. This one tasted of ozone and fire as the light inside her began to grow, her grin nearly shining with it. She didn't need to retort, her actions would speak for her. 

 

There was joy to be found in the battle, for it was for her friends that she fought, not power, not greed. She fought for love and joy. And nothing could bury that light.  

 

((2))

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Calix Meus Inebrians

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Patience... singular focus... deception... and finally ruthless aggression applied without mercy. These were the skills that had turned Kern from a neophyte in the darkside, into a Sith acolyte and if he prevailed far more. He was so much more then what this humble knight struggling to win this contest could imagine. A lesson had to be taught, a marker laid down as he had done so often before. The impudent and ignorant would be shown the truth, that true strength belonged to those who saw the galaxy for what it was, a gaping maw in which the only true divide was predator and prey. The Sith were supreme, Sandy would learn this... and so much more.

 

"Your Kel Dor friend will be a nice addition to my laurels... the Sith have need of good slaves. And young Aidan? I sense the blood of mastery in him, he will have his pick of the finest Sith Lord's for his lessons. Imagine the bidding war when I bring the son of Jedi masters to market If he survives? Of course these are fates that only you can save them from." Kern said twisting the knife with his words, with a condescending frown.

 

He felt the object she constructed coming, and while stopping it would have been child's play, a trap was set in motion in his mind. As it came towards him, Kern turned at the last moment possible, just enough to guide it's path with the force. The jagged tip of the small spear she had constructed seemed to strike home, plunging into the side of the mask, through skin and flesh, ripping blood vessels in Kern's cheek. He cried in mimicked agony, a cry of mortal terror and pain that reverberated through the entire ship. "AAGGH!" The mask itself flew clean off, clattering to the ground next to Sandy as He clutched his face in what seemed to be agonizing pain. His own blood splattered forward into Sandy's forehead and eyes. She could see his full visage now... something more then she expected.

 

Midwanjontû châtsatul nu asha!

 

Pain filled Kern's mind and body, it permeated deep within, animating him and filling him with a deeper connection to the darkside. He had learned through his long exile on Kesh, that his pain was no impediment. He had lost a limb, suffered unimaginable tortures, pain to him now was secondary to his will. It fueled his thoughts, his need for revenge; and objects of his wildest imaginations were possible with application of pain and anguish. Suffering, applied with ample cruelty, that made one strong. The darkside, the power to control life itself, all of it was available to him. Red blood now streamed down the side of Kern's neck, his graying hair and exposed flesh that had grown increasingly pale with passing of time, was highlighted by the heavy red glow of his saber still clutched in the Makashi's principle defensive stance. The affect was that one side of his face was nearly pristine and only weathered by time and age, the other was an ugly mass of flesh and protruding bone. He allowed her to feel his life force ebb, as if she had struck a triumphant blow, he allowed a moment of light to pass by, a ray of hope that he knew would animate her, give her just enough rope. It was then he strangle her nascent hope with impunity. 

 

Shâsotjontû châtsatul nu tyûk.
 

 

With a quick slice, Kern cut the remainder of the spear free, and spat out the business end, just as Sandy came forward to press her attack. Kern kept himself moving backward carefully keeping his steps in line with the strategy, as Sandy continued to launch her onslaught, he remained content to allow her to expend her considerable speed and power into attacks that one by one proved fruitless. As each of her strikes bore down upon him, his experience with form two allowed him to defend each attempt at injury with a minimum of movement, her blows were struck away with methodical elegance, but he made sure to give her a good show, occasionally her strikes would glance against his armor, the sparks and penetration leaving superficial burns and nicks. The strike at his chest missed his heart by inches, remained the closest she'd come to ending him had it not been for his precision footwork  in a deft dodge. Still He reserved his power, keeping her busy as he studied her pattern.

 

"Your love will fail. Your pain, your anger, your hidden self... that is the path to power. Embrace them... use them. Only that strength can defeat me." He beckoned cryptically in a voice unburdened by the mask's vocalizer.

 

Finally, as she smiled, smug in her seeming victory he struck. A counter attack came forward with a vicious brutality and certainty as he released a small portion of his stored power. Each sweeping move he made was combined with a series of feints, ripostes, and carefully planned retreats and lunges. He made her pay for every moment of defense, exerting himself only when she tried to take a moment to recover. His true strength had only begun to reveal itself, as the pain he was enduring animated his every sinew. She would be made to pay for the sins of her for-bearers, and a heavy price in blood would be extracted from Sandy for her misguided devotion to the dying creed of Jedi. Finally as she tried to defend against a sweeping feint to her right, he reached out with the force, using just a small portion of the darkside energies he'd gathered to overwhelm her otherwise immaculate defense. He laid a clean and precise upwards slice toward her wrist, in a move meant to disarm her. He followed this by a downward move and caught her jaw with his elbow, and without giving a her a chance to brace herself he followed it by a violent and brutal kick to her midsection that was meant send her form from him with great momentum towards a pile of heavy containers. 

 

Ashajonkotswinot itsu nuyak!

 

Kern laughed now. Feeling Aidan's life begin to leave, his death becoming more certain with each passing moment. He knew Sandy would sense it as well, perhaps this was the push she needed.

 

"Get up Sandy! I have so much more to show you." Kern beckoned playfully, his voice only slightly altered by the facial gash her attack had left. She was a stubborn one, but Kern was determined the lesson be taught. As the last light of a dying sun heralded it's end, so Sandy's burning embers would seem triumphant just as he snuffed her from the mortal plain. 

 

(2)

Edited by Fynn Relmis

"Some things... are worse then death, being forgotten for example..."

Member Since '05 - The Old Ones | Character Sheet

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The pain was still fresh when next Aidan opened his eyes, but before him there was no longer the visage of a council chamber or murderous Jedi. He was back on the ship. His muscles ached, his head spun, but here he was, back on the Vigilance, in the room he'd been lured to. In the corner was the youngling's mangled corpse, and a curious device that had to have been the device that was used as the toxin-dispensing trap sat on a nearby table.

Slowly he stood, moving out of the room as best he was able, it took significant effort to lift the door up again. Now the hallways were dimmer, power to the section having been cut. Was it the Sith? Everything that had happened pointed to there being a saboteur on board who was obviously versed in the arts of the dark side. As he walked along, questions sprang into his mind. Where was Sandy and Kel? Or even for that matter, the astromech droid Kel had sent with him? How long had he been incapacitated? Somewhere on this ship there were answers, and the Imperial Knight was dead set on finding them.

As he wound another corner though, he realized the opposite had come true: the answer had found him. A dark figure wearing a half-cloak and a mask stood before him at the far end of the hallway, a lightsaber hilt in each hand. Aidan stiffened, reaching for his own hilt as the other began to take several steps towards him. Two red blades ripped into existence with a vicious snap-thrumm, almost all but verifying this was the Sith that had caused them so much trouble. Aidan activated his own silver blades, but as his left shoulder was still injured he only could hold it and defend himself with his right arm. Hastily he called out, hoping to stop the advance of the masked figure.

"Stop! What have you done with Sandy? I don't want to fight you, you don't have to do this!"

The figure took several more steps at a brisk pace, finally reaching striking distance before lashing out, both blades caught on an overhead block by Aidan's staff saber. A cold, mechanical voice echoed from the mask, the reply chilling Aidan to the bone. 

 

"You don't have a choice."

 

Aidan summoned all the strength he could muster, leaning heavily on the Force to deflect and block the flurry of blows the Sith next rained down upon him, but with every strike and block he felt himself being slowly driven back. There was no error, no room to counterattack, the Sith's form was perfect. The Force gave no hints like it normally had, no guidance to his weary body, only allowing him enough strength to lift his saber to meet the foreboding red blades again and again. The Sith advanced with fury unmatched, silent as the grave but fighting with deadly efficiency.

 

As the seconds bled into minutes, the only answer Aidan could come up with became glaringly clear: retreat. Aidan called upon the Force once more to blast the Sith back, but the Sith endured, shrugging off the blast. It didn't create as large a window as Aidan had hoped, but he took the opportunity, turning on his heel and fleeing down the corridors he'd come from. At a brisk walk, the Sith followed, blades still lighting the hallways, coming for their quarry.

 

Panic began to fill Aidan's mind. He couldn't hide, not from another Force user. He could run, leading the Sith on a merry chase around the ship, but the Sith had seen far more of the ship than he, and even if he could keep moving, chances are he would only die tired. He needed an ambush, to create his own opportunity. Aidan was the only one who could solve this, and as much as he relied upon and trusted in the Force, he knew the Force wouldn't automatically solve every problem he had. The person channeling the Force was as much a part of the puzzle as the Force itself, a critical lens that directed and focused its flow.

The Sith caught up to him in a T-junction hallway as Aidan was catching his breath. The floor was damp, and a cable hung from the ceiling near the door the Sith had been led into.

"Do not flee. This is inevitable."

Aidan knew it was anything but. Reaching out, Aidan pulled at the cable, causing it to jam into the Sith's back and send high voltage through him to the grounded deckplates, causing a large enough opening for Aidan to whirl around with his own saber and catch the Sith in the mask. He'd intended to end it there, but his own blade was deflected enough that it cut deeply into the mask and a bit of the Sith's face, revealing much of what was behind the mask and leaving a nasty wound. What was revealed caused Aidan to rapidly backpedal, the Sith's face comprised of withered white skin, thinning black hair, and corrupted yellow eyes. The Sith finally managed to free themselves, catching a moment of respite on one knee before removing the rest of the mask, more a hindrance than a help at this point. 

As he looked up, it was like looking in a mirror. This was no Sith, Aidan was fighting himself. Sith-Aidan cocked an all too familiar grin as he choked out a taunt, the words raspy and strained as they were no longer assisted by the vocalizer in the mask.

"I...told you. Inevitable."

 

Now it was Aidan's turn to surge forward, filled with emotion and disbelief. This was an impossibility, and yet it was happening. He had struggled with the dark side in the past, but was he really destined for this? Anger welled up inside him, and through it his strikes rained down on the Sith-Aidan who now defended himself on the retreat, not managing to find an opening to push back the assault against Aidan. Anger at the future, at the Force, at fate. This was cruelty shoved before him, ugliness and viciousness, and he hated it. 

Sith-Aidan managed to find a single hole in Aidan's defense, but Aidan simply used the opportunity to have the strike cut his staff saber neatly in the middle, leaving him with one working hilt but an easy opening to cut through his opponent's right wrist, from which he used the Force to rip the remaining red lightsaber blade from and draw it to his own hand as he dropped the other dead hilt. This wasn't a fight on equal footing anymore, Aidan was focused, precise, and filled with the Force's strength. Red and silver spun in a storm that Sith-Aidan could not possibly hope to weather.

 

In a similar move, Aidan caught Sith-Aidan's blade by feigning a block with his silver saber but deactivating the blade, causing his opponent to swing through into his trap. With a quick maneuver, the other arm was severed, and Aidan now held both red blades as Sith-Aidan fell to his knees. Crossing beams of red energy met the space just before Sith-Aidan's throat, and the fight was over. But instead of shock, instead of fear or frustrated rage, Sith-Aidan still wore a half-cocked smile. One strained word escaped his lips as ochre stained eyes taunted Aidan to get it over with.

"Inevitable."

And Aidan almost did, had he not caught his reflection on a nearby panel behind the kneeling Sith. His own face now matched his doppelganger's, and he realized he was the one with the red lightsabers, the tortured kyber crystals within screaming in the Force like beacons of pain.

This was not the answer.

This ran contrary to everything he'd ever been taught, be it from Kirlocca, Sandy, or even Kyrie. He was raised by the Jedi, he knew their principles, he had been indoctrinated into the Imperial Knights in the holy order of Exorcists. He had fallen down the path of darkness before, and here he was doing it again. There was only one way to break this cycle, the endless chain that tied him to his own darkness, and it lied in the purging fires of exorcism. He knew what he needed to do, but he wasn't sure if he had the strength. Aidan deactivated the red sabers, throwing them to his sides as he called for his still working hilt, reigniting its silver blade. 

"What...are you..."

Sith-Aidan called out in confusion, Aidan's own former emotions echoing through the voice that was his but also wasn't. The saber he held in his hand represented everything he idealized, everything he strove for, but he'd never come to terms with the fact that by definition it was meant to be double-edged. A lightsaber blade had an omnidirectional cutting surface, but the metaphor meant that what could harm one's enemies could just as easily harm oneself. Exorcists were forged in the righteous fires of the light side, but fire burned. Aidan had felt Kyrie's fire, but had never fully come into his own with it. This was the moment that would be tested: it was now all or nothing. He was either ready, or he would die.

"NO!-"

 

The Sith tried to lunge forward, to stop him, but it was too late. Aidan reversed the hilt, driving his own silver blade deep into his own chest, and immediately he felt immense pain rip through his entire body. The Sith, the ship, his surroundings, everything seemed to shift as if collapsing, but it wasn't something Aidan really noticed over the painful torrent of the Force tearing through him, cleansing him and burning away his lingering darkness. By the light's fire he was burned, by the light's fire he was pure. This was the only way. It took every ounce of strength and mental fortitude to stop it from killing him, but eventually the blaze subsided.

Aidan's eyes slowly opened as he gave a bit of a cough, feeling like he'd just had the worst hangover in the galaxy. He was back in the room with the youngling, on the ship, though this time he felt Sandy and another a short distance away, struggling. Kel was there too, but... Aidan tried to stand, but he was still incredibly weak from his ordeal. Weakly he reached out, trying to touch Sandy's mind. He could offer her no aid but peace of mind, but a small gift sometimes blossomed into something greater than the sum of its parts.

The Force was their ally, but none could know its will. Only time would tell if their group would leave this ship alive, or if it would become their tomb.

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So he was human after all, as many monsters seemed to be when stripped of garments of rank and the filaments of power. Or so Sandy considered as she watched her metallic blow land its horrifying display upon the Dark Jedi’s face. He seemed so weak in that moment, but it quickly passed and she narrowed her emerald green eyes. Mostly to avoid the streams of sweat and blood that were busily threading their way into her eyebrows. Luckily it was not her own blood, at least not yet. She could feel a pang from her muscles, but she kept her blade up, strong and steady. She breathed in through her nose, expelling the pain and fatigue with the exhale, filling herself instead with the thrumming fire of the lightside that had been building within her. 

 

He spoke another taunt that left her unfazed. Love was enough for her, that love for Aidan, happiness from the last few years of life that filled her completely. There was no need to give into passion. No need to surrender to lust, to power. She was satisfied. Even if she never got to taste the fruit of that love. It was enough to feel it now and it filled her with joy in spite of his reckless taunts. 

 

That joy could not be extinguished, even when he recovered himself and began a ferocious counterattack. That fire stirred within her, fed by joy, love and happiness. It guided each and every movement of her blade and her stance. Her movements were light and willowy, deflecting the furious blows by adjusting her weight, letting the blade glide along her own. Never once taking the full ferocity of his anger. She didn’t need to waste her own strength to defeat his, her eyes watched his moves with determination. Detecting the intent all the while preparing her own counter, her mind never wandering from the weapons that lay on their clasps at her beltline. 

 

She could feel the singe of the hair on her wrist, the hem of her sleeve left smoking from a quick attack that nearly took her hand off. She brought the silver blade around to counter attack under his defense and she caught a strong elbow on her chin. She could feel more than hear a crack from her jaw coming out of its alignment and a flash of pain from her mouth. But it was not debilitating. She breathed out, letting the pain slide away and her grin, though now lopsided, remained as began to strike with a kick. It was time. It was now that she had to use that fire that she had built for so long. Despite the pain from her jaw, she knew she was in imminent danger if she kept within striking distance of this dark Jedi. So she counter attacked at his exposed limb with a flick of her blad towards his legs and leapt into a backflip away from the striking Dark Jedi. Letting him waste his energy on the strong attack. 

 

Though not as graceful as she may have hoped, or even imagined, the weapons on her beltline shot from their places towards the monstrous Sith. Dropping like missiles from a starfighter's wings as she leapt  back. Three vibroblades of highly polished durasteel came first, propelled with all the force that mass telekinesis could muster. Ripping towards the Sith's centre of mass, where her lightsabre blade had left a multitude of entry points for them to potentially exploit. Then alongside, hidden in the darkness left from her leap came the parang. A leftover from the defeated Massassi Sith she had dispatched on Nal Hutta, it ripped forth from her belt, a glass wedge coming for his undefended neck. Into all these strikes she poured her fire. That unquenchable power of the lightside that flowed from herself to her deadly missiles. 

 

She landed lightly on her feet two meters away, near the crates the Sith had intended to hurl her into, bringing her blade up into a defensive makashi. She spat out a mouthful of blood and saliva and took another breath through her nose. She was ready for anything the Dark Jedi could hurl next. Her mind reached out for her friends as a line of blood dribbled down her chin to drip onto her polished armour and to redden her green tunic.

 

But Aidan had defeated his enemy, he had defeated the fear, the pain, and the chaos. She could feel his mind on hers and she was glad. She could feel his victory and it stirred that love, joy, and happiness and so the fire rose again, and with it her blood dripping grin. 

 

((3))

 

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Calix Meus Inebrians

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Kern watched wordlessly as his opponent unfurled a salvo of deadly missiles, each deadlier and more menacing. Once again, she had used a technique of surprise and deceit. As the various viroblades came forth, Kern could sense their purpose, to finally end the fight, a desperate ploy to end the battle. With a note of finality a larger weapon was dispatched, one that had a tinge of the darkside in it's ferocity. This was no Jedi blade, it was something made for a far darker master. Indeed, she was a clever a Jedi, but she had made a fatal error, one so glaring that he had to stifle his surprise. She was exactly where he wanted her to be.

 

This was the curse of the Jedi. Always they sought to end conflict, but they never embraced the full scope of the force, a force that was always in motion from light to dark. Never did they glimpse the full truth of the universe. The Sith new better, they had learned the reality of what truly mattered. The force did not seek to be neatly ordered into perfection, it always dissolved into chaos, a chaos that needed to be harnessed by the strong, the worthy, the dominant. True victory was determined by pain and sacrifice, suffering and ruthlessness. Her simpering sentimentality had no place in reality, it was all destined to be brought to nothing. The light would always be an enteral lie, darkness was the existential state of all things, because even that which burned brightly, did so for a time, only to be brought to nothing by the inexorable march of time. Any who opposed that truth, were only delayers of the inevitable.

 

Sandy would learn this lesson today, a reminder to all who sought to fight the Sith.

 

As the weapons closed in, it took Kern but a moment to use the force to gather his second unused light saber, the smaller sickly pale yellow blade activated, lifted upwards, and spun, unaided by physical force. Propelled only by the inertia of the force, and the connection to the darkside that Kern had gathered all through the fight. The spinning saber caught each of the projectiles mid flight, blunting each blades deadly inertia, slicing them in turn and sending them in various directions, only one of the blades reached it's target, embedding in his shoulder, but doing little but causing momentary pain. 

 

The deadliest missile was seemingly missed however as the light saber proceeded to arc away, leaving it unimpeded. Had he missed, had her rouse worked? Was Kern about to be struck dead center by this perfectly crafted blade?

 

The parang sped towards Kern, and as it closed on it's target, for a brief moment he let Sandy's see the light of victory, let her be distracted by the dazzling thought that her powerful attack would end the conflict. Perhaps soon she and her merry band could celebrate in triumphant style, and regale themselves with stories of her cunning. Perhaps there would even be clever quip of revelry as they basked joy and love and friendship. 

 

How quickly the taste of victory would turn to ash in her broken jaw. 

 

Kern reached out with his arm, an arm that was a symbol of his past failure. The arm that was made of nothing more then hardened Keshiri steel and mixed metal droid like workings. The metal was not as durable as cortisis weave, nor was it blaster proof, But it was more then enough to stop the Parang. The sharpened weapon slammed into his gauntlet-ed outstretched palm, and sliced deep into the fake prosthesis. He judged that the weapons momentum would end in a dull metallic screech, that would leave it wedged down to his elbow, possibly bisecting his hand and forearm. His arm would be ruined once more, but it would be worth it, as his efforts had been focused covertly elsewhere. While Sandy's attack had been straightforward and erstwhile, Kern's had been secretive, and inscrutable, the final outworking of a strategy that she did not see. In the same moment the Parang struck... his own attack did the same.

 

Through Victory my chains are Broken.
 

Kern's weapon, the second light-saber, had flung towards it's true target unimpeded. But any jedi would be forgiven for ignoring it's arcing along a seemingly innocuous course. For years he had practiced using the force to guide his weapon alone. Aided by his power, and his hate, the weapon increased speed continuously, a missile not aimed at Sandy, but rather at one last locking bolt of an emergency release hatch on the large cargo bay door a few short meters from where she now stood... Kern had meant to force her towards the end of the room with the large containers for precisely this reason. In her haste to show her control of her landing, she had placed herself precisely where he wanted her. This was a docking area after all, a place where all matter of all sorts was transported too and fro.  Now Sandy would joint the floatsom and abide among the waste as if expelled by the ship which would soon become the abide of the Sith forever more. 

 

The weapon struck it's intended target, slicing open the door mechanism, with a shower of sparks releasing the powerful solenoid that controlled it. A large screaming klaxon sounded, powered by an eternal battery to warn of the explosive decompression just as it occurred. The howling sound of the wind turned into a hellishly powerful vortex. The sound that the Jedi had heard before the combat had begun was of the outer seals being opened, a task Kern had accomplished while his puppet Yava had distracted them. Had they engaged him in parley, perhaps they would have discovered his covert act, but Sandy had attacked before she had learned what truly fragile ground she stood upon. Overconfident, she had engaged before examining just how precarious she and her friends position was. Now the trap was sprung, and the large door slammed open, instantly the vacuum of space pulled at the contents of the bay. The door beyond revealed the glowing colors of the fiery Maw in all it's glory. She and her friends would pay the full price for her foolhardy moves, her inflexibility, and her uncompromising nature, things that experience had taught Kern to avoid. In a moment, Sandy would be pulled into the very heart of that nothingness, her light extinguished by it as it had done to so many stars for countless eons. 

 

The Force shall free Me!

 

Kern watched while Yava was pulled away and into the screaming hole that now threatened Sandy. With his still functioning hand he stabbed through the nearby plasteel flooring with his saber, giving himself an anchor point, as the world of the cargo bay descended into chaos, objects of all sizes flew towards Sandy's position closest to the large docking bay door. Now He aided the vacuum, adding his own power to expel her, a terrific shove of titanic darkside energies, meant to end any resistance that yet remained, and shove her fragile form into the nothingness that was her destiny. 

 

Crates and wreckage of all sorts of equipment and supplies crashed down towards her, along with jagged pieces of metal and plasteel, along with the tonnage of an entire deck as the failure of the door had upended the gravitational fields as well and within a moment her body would be pummeled, battered and then exposed to the complete and utter vacuum of space, and with Her energies so used up for her mass telekinetic attacks, Kern doubted she remained strong enough to stop them all. Then there was the fragile life of her Kel Dor friend whose container slipped from it's wedged position and now tumbled towards the large opening as well. There was no anchor for her to avoid her fate, no fleeing from the crushing weight of her error.

 

In an instant he was sure her physical form would be exposed to the cold and dead honesty of the void. In that darkness her body would spend all eternity, a punishment for her impudence, a marker for all those who would dare oppose the rule of the Sith. An example to the arrogant and unwise, that their challenge was doomed before it started. 

 

One far day, from this, her body would be consumed by the ultimate and singular darkness of Maw. Kern's vengeance would mean that the ages would pass, empires and kingdoms and republics would wax and wane, but her folly would endure.

 

Be free Sarna of the Jedi...

(3)

Edited by Fynn Relmis

"Some things... are worse then death, being forgotten for example..."

Member Since '05 - The Old Ones | Character Sheet

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DUEL VERDICT




 

Sarna vs. Relmis


 

Spoiler

 

The most pleasant part of this process was that the two participants worked with one another throughout this entire endeavor, and not a whisper was heard from it. I personally did not hear a single complaint, and even though no situation is without their issues, it seems to me that the two of you have handled this situation better than any other I’ve seen. Hats off to the maturity between you two.

 

Now, the two of you will have to excuse me for the time that this took, but I really did my research on this and broke down every post, the situations before, and the situations that may come after, before digging into the duel itself. (Next time, request a judge before you get to the final round, they can trace the duel better. Lol)

 

Let’s dig in. First post was mostly uneventful, but did lead with Sarna evaluating her course of action, definitely justified in skipping the parlay due to the dire circumstances. She engages her target with a mixture of telekinetic force and readying her lightsaber for action. Kern immediately raises the ante in his first post, but in this, I found a few things that raised my eyebrows. Claims of immense power are highly questionable, while Kern may naturally be above his rank in wild power (for his time invested in this character and in the dark side), he had never surpassed his rank or absorbed training as a Lord level character (to my knowledge). Still, it is feasible that his powers are slightly augmented by the setting of both the Maw and the Necromantic auras exhibited by the Archivist on the EV (something that all parties have alluded to in the setting around the duel). I’ll return to this point.

 

The assault by Sarna is mostly halted by Kern exhibiting his own telekinetic ability (using considerable energy). With this he would attempt to slow Sarna’s momentum, and meet her blade with his own in a heavy riposte.Considerations here is that Kern is a foot taller than Sandy, and double her weight, so the narration is believable. Then, as momentum favored Kern, he employs what I assume to be an illusionary trick to attack his opponent from all angles. Back to the prior point, access to such a power is usually limited behind the training and instruction found in higher ranks, privileges and powers that this character hasn’t achieved unfortunately (especially with the amount of time you’ve had him here, which may be to no fault of your own. Find Exodus, he’ll get you there). This is a bit of an over-step, power usage unwarranted, in my opinion.

 

Kern re-engages with a flourish of lightsaber strikes and then pivots while in CQ to slam his knee into her midsection, punching her chest with enough force to crush ribs. I remember you from days of old Kern, and I’m not sure if you have been made aware, but auto-hits are now severely frowned upon and are ruled against in the form of duels;

 

- You should not post your opponent's actions in a duel AT ALL. This includes posting damage caused, movements and speech. The correct protocol is to post initiating an attack or attempting a maneuver, but refraining from posting how it affects one's opponent.- 2. Combat Rules, under Roleplaying Rules and Guidelines

 

Now with this, momentum turns, and both duelists have entered into their respective forms. Sarna centers herself, steadies herself and lashes out to engage all that has been thrown at her. Both duelists stuck to their guns and Sarna found herself crafting with telekinesis again. This assault overall must have been mis-read between the two of you, because as I saw it, she pulled for a steam of shards and fired them all at Kern. He acknowledges this in his post, but registers it differently than it seemed to be intended. He even mentions pulling the better part of the lance from his face and spitting it out. Letting the shards hit collectively like that, would be far more damaging to his face, granted the mask absorbed the initial impact. But his face would be in ruin from an attack that could have easily been avoided. (It was accepted on the pretense of allowing her to feel like she is winning, which is a hard gamble.)

 

Enjoyed that Kern really carried the emotion and momentum of the duel, and stuck to his mental assaults on the group at large. In your second post however, you’ve mismanaged the shards hitting your face and now a lightsaber strike that has punctured your body (inches from your heart). Kern is a powerful apprentice, but his power usage is scaled too high and now he is brutally battered beyond what you describe. I love his tenacity, but in ruling, he’s beating himself with auto-hits. (Which comes again at the end of the post: A slew of auto-hits and controlling the actions/reactions of the opponent. Elbow to the jaw, no chance to brace herself, brutal kick to midsection that sends her into a pile of heavy containers). 

 

Moving into the final act, Sarna acknowledges the exhaustion of battle, accepting the illegal auto-hits and writing the consequences of them into her actions. The auto-hits and controlling of her character actually plays in her favor, and you essentially make it harder on yourself each time it is done. She essentially sticks to her guns, and plays it dangerously safe, firing off more projectiles to Kern. I did not notice her igniting the vibroblades, or directing where it was intended to hit. So the one that buried itself into his shoulder could have been moved into his robotic limb. The damage there is questionable. 

 

This far, Sarna has played it smart, and Kern has played it aggressively. Momentum stayed in the hands of the apprentice, but the errors of duel decorum continued to eat at his progress. Sarna excelled at taking the illegal damage, and using it to separate herself from her foe and let him burn out with abilities and a usage perhaps beyond his control (even despite the reservoir of dark energy about the place). Sarna was careful in her executions, revealed her wear and tear, and remained centered in her focus despite the invariables sent her way. Creating distance between herself and her opponent was what stole that momentum from Kern, and isolated him in his grave injuries and continued force burn. The efforts of an experienced Knight, one such as Sandy Sarna should not be weighed lightly through narration just because the opponent believes her to be that way. Her speed and her control of usages of the force are not automatically inferior.

 

However, the final play of the duel was one that even caught me off guard, and had me digging deeper to see if it all was viable. The positioning, the planning, and getting Sarna exactly where you needed her to be, was in your cards the entire way through. This surprised me, because I thought you just pulled it out of your ass on the fly. You didn’t, and that was awesome. The second (and hidden) lightsaber, was mentioned before the duel had been close to a start, and the use of NPCs to keep all parties occupied in the landing bay (just as they came from the boarding tunnels), was commendable. 

 

Good duel to the both of you, but there can only be one.

The winner is Sandy Sarna, Jedi Knight.


 

All in all, Sarna ended her post on a note of mixed defense and offense (hoping that the barrage connected). And Kern, riddled with dire wounds, now makes a play to vacuum the landing bay. I will allow his last ditch effort to connect, SLOWLY opening the vessel up as the klaxons of the ship blare loudly. But the rest of the narration (concerning everyone else's characters, the debris, and anything else is up to how Sandy spells it out.) Sandy buried that vibroblade into your shoulder and Kern is failing physically to the grave wounds in his chest and face. Sandy Sarna has the first post, and control of what happens now. 


 

Here are now some thoughts surrounding the conclusion of this duel;

 

  • Both ships that are connected to the docking tunnels, (one is supposed to be city-size?) had to be extremely careful in their positionings because of the neighboring black holes.
  • You both have mentioned that this ship has no power, (or is acting in a low-powered state)
  • It is an abandoned Jedi vessel, run by an NPC who is using dark necromantic power to action a work-force, essentially a crew of zombies..
  • I personally don’t know how this ship has sat inside the Maw all this time, nor do I think it is justified by positioning alone when all the narration seems to imply that these black holes are extremely close and even the slightest miscalculation of ships trying to board this thing, can spell immediate danger.
  • Can we see this EV become unhinged from it’s invincible positioning, and begin to get swallowed up by these powerful black holes, triggering an immediate evacuation event? This is just a suggestion on my end.

 

Well fought you two, I apologize for this wall of text but it had to be done. There is no real loser in this, and I do hope that we take the time to review some of the rules and freshen up on how these things are run. Kern really had an edge to start the match, but I would suggest pairing up with someone to get the character the advancement he needs so that he can truly unleash, and that you keep in mind that controlling the actions of others or posting auto-hits will severely dampen your chances of victory.

 

Hit me up if you guys want to discuss. Thanks!

 

 

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A horrible storm was released with his final trap. Though it was slow at first, the icy wind picked up its speed as the doors began to open in earnest behind her. But she held her ground, placing her feet securely, pinning herself there with the force as she felt him weaken. His strength draining from him as he expended the last of it in a final futile act of hate. 

 

But he was overtaxed, and the strength left him utterly spent. The dark jedi let go of his grip on his anchoring lightsabre and slid towards her and the open gulf of the Maw, and so she did what she thought she must. She bounded forward and lowered the blade to intercept him. The glowing tip of the lightsabre caught him in the chest as she pinned him in place with a knee. 

 

But as his body slid onto her lightsabre blade she saw his smile. That momentary smile, and for a moment in her eyes that corruption passed away, that face was horribly mutilated in hate and anger was done away and replaced with the smile of a man from the distant past. 

 

That smile elicited a memory of a time on Tython, a transport, a lightsabre, hair tousled by a caring hand. The Argos. The preparation for the great raid on the slavers bay. A duel in his illusions, a kindly smile. She had been twelve, and still a bright headed little twerp, before...before that fateful mission. And that had been the last she had seen or heard from him. Though she had carried his gifted blade for seven years. That self same sabre that now impaled him. The one that he had given her so long ago. And that realization battered her more than anything that this Dark Jedi had given her. 

 

Fynn? Fynn Relmis? Fynn? “FYNN?” The cry was harsh and painful from her broken jaw and some degree of her own blood splashed onto him. Her emotions boiled over for a moment as she held him against her, tears surging forth to fall down her cheeks. 

 

She screamed the words against the howling wind, her face contorting in a scream of horror. While her sabre burned the life from him and her fingers were covered in his blood. She fumbled and the sabre extinguished, its bright light replaced by the fiery hue of the great Maw. She replaced her sabre blade with a hand to staunch the blackened blood from leaving his chest cavity but she couldn’t fix that wound. No one could. How had he fallen so far?

 

And so she was left with him. Unredeemed and dead. Surrounded by the terrifying sounds of a ship groaning in equal agony. 

 

So it had been a failure all along. She finally tore her eyes off of Fynn Relmis and stood, the force strengthening her against the assault of the slow depressurization. She looked at the hull breach and took a stuttering breath. The force flew from her to form a barrier across the massive hanger bay doors, but it was not something that could last forever.  She was exhausted and bleeding. Perhaps it was too late for Yava as well. 

 

“Aidan!” Her voice was desperate, as she wiped the tears from her eyes. “Kel! We have to go!”
 

As if to accent this, the decking beneath her knees began to buckle slightly.

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Calix Meus Inebrians

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Aidan had just managed to rise to his feet as he felt the rushing wind of the depressurization. In the distance he heard bulkheads beginning to seal off, but the damage to the ship was extensive and it was already on low reserves...they would need to move quickly.

 

The Force came to him one last time to open the door to the room he'd been trapped in, and though it drained him dry, it felt like this time it answered his call much easier. The Force was with him, always and forever. Stumbling through the hallways, he made his way back to where the group had landed with Kel's R5 unit in tow, calling out to Sandy, yelling above the rushing winds of the escaping atmosphere.

"Aggressive negotiations much?"

But now wasn't the time for joking, they needed to get out of there.

"Where's Kel?"

Edited by Aidan Darkfire

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The healing process of one Kel Koon was going smoothly. That is until the shipping container he was trapped in started spinning and he was tossed around like a load of clothes in the dryer. Needless to say, Kel was not amused. Once the container (and kel's insides) had settled, he stood up with a groan and grumbled about setting a certain sith on fire as he made his way to the door.

 

Kel ignited his light saber and began carving his way out. Eventually a slab of the door fell off and Kel shimmied through the hole. The first thing he noticed was that their mysterious enemy lay dead and unmasked on the floor. Immediately feeling relief that his master had once again triumphed over the practitioners of the dark side. However, it wasn't a complete victory. The ship's hull had been ruptured and master sandy was using the force create a barrier around the hangar doors. He also noticed that Yava was still passed out and dangerously close to the breach. Kel reached out through the force and drew her unconscious body into his arms.

 

When Yava's communicator began beeping, Kel grabbed it and answered the call.

"Yava? Yava?! Are you there? Are the Jedi gone yet? And what of lord Kern?"

 

"Your scavenger friend here has overdosed on death sticks. And your sith master is dead. Now, if you want to get out of here alive, you will do what I say."

 

"I'm listening." He said nervously.

 

"Have your ship ready to depart by the time I arrive. This place is coming apart and we have to leave NOW."

 

Kel ended the transmission and looked to Aidan. "Take R5 with you. You'll need all the help you can get."

 

Then he looked towards his master. "Get going master. Don't worry about me. I'll be right behind you."

 

And with that, Kel ran off to the scavenger's ship.

 

 

 

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Sandy watched her apprentice run off to assist the scavengers and felt a great shudder run through her, and she quickly clipped her bloody lightsabre on her belt. Her hands and arms were covered in it. That blackened, burned, congealed blood that escaped from around a lightsabre blade. Almost like the juices that ran out of a well cooked bantha steak, and her hands were sticky from it. She shuddered again, letting her grasp of the force slowly fade, and the stiff reality of the beginning to set in. Her muscles were exhausted. Pushed beyond their limits, and her jaw hurt so much. She wiped at her mouth with the hem of her sleeve and it came away bloody. 

 

She looked back down at Fynn and reached out with a trembling hand to close his listless eyes. She took his sabre and her weapons, not as a trophy, but as a rememberance. She would have said words over him, but the ship was coming apart. Pulled ever onwards towards an event horizon that was fast approaching. This would be his tomb. Where his body would never be corrupted by the touch of star or night. It would be his sepulchre in the short minutes before the Maw consumed it all.  

 

The Eternal Vigilance was a graveyard now, but it was not her graveyard. Nor was it Aidan’s or Kels. And she was glad for that, she tried to smile back at Aidan’s joke as she stumbled to her feet but her mouth hurt too much to give anything other than a crooked grin. She nodded and followed him back to Master Tobias’ Ship, offering him an arm if he needed support. He looked drained to the bone as well, and Sandy almost blushed to think that he might have felt some of her own feelings toward him during her fight with Fynn Relmis. But she ignored the embarrassment, she was too tired now to even think it. 

 

The walk up the connection shute to the starship seemed the longest walk of her life. But only a minute later, she slid into the cockpit flight chair and punched the ignition sequence. As soon as the power came to life aboard the ship, a thousand warning alarms blared to life and were silenced by an angry strike at the warning board. 

 

"Aidan if you have any energy left, can you plot is a course out of this mess?" Her voice was a slurred mess from her broken jaw but she followed it with a strong hand on his arm. Giving him a push of reassurance. She was so proud of him. Their last few weeks of time together had taught her a lot about the man he had become. Her eyes slid off his exhausted face and looked back to the viewports as she kicked the engines into overdrive. 

 

And below them, the Eternal Vigilance. That once great vessel of the Jedi Order, began to break apart in the fiery gloom of the Maw. 

 

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Calix Meus Inebrians

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Aidan might have sat in the seat, but it was Kel's R5 astromech next to him that was doing most of the work. As soon as the route was calculated, Aidan activated the engines of the autopilot, carrying them away from the Vigilance. The massive craft already had a lilt towards the nearest black hole, indicating its orbital positional stabilizers had finally given out over the strain of the fight.

 

"At least the Sith don't have it. I can't imagine what they could have done with the secrets it kept."

 

He half muttered to himself, sitting near Sandy. The mission was technically a failure, but they'd survived. And right then, that was all Aidan cared about. 

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The numbers ticked down as she accelerated the starship past its limits to pull them out of the tidal pull of the massive black holes. As the Eternal Vigilance collapsed into nothingness at the event horizon, the R5 unit blurted out a string of additional numbers and she jerked her tired arms to even out their course. When the turbulence settled into the long dark of a steady course through the minefield of  micro black holes, she finally let her grip on the steering yoke relax and she slumped into her crash webbing. Her eyes drifting from the instrument panel to look down at her blood soaked form. Not all of it hers, though there was still a steady drip from her lips that fell onto the armour on her chest. Crushed capillaries and ruptured salivary glands had made a good mass of her cheek, and the steady drip of blood was unsettling. 

 

It was several moments before she could really feel the pain in her jaw, and she released the flight controls to place both of her hands on her jaw. She squeezed her eyes shut, then pushed, snapping the jaw back into its joints with a burst of pain that caused her to hiss an exhale. She blinked several times then tested a grin. Still very painful but at least her mouth wasn't hanging open like a fool. She wiped off her bloody hands on a scrap of her tunic that was only slightly sweat soaked, then programmed the autopilot to follow the R5’s and Aidan’s indicated flight plan. But every movement was exhausting and a glance over at Aidan told her he was likely worse for wear. She smiled at him again and nodded. 

 

“It would be much worse if they had gotten the location of all our secrets, but the knowledge died with Fynn luckily.” She looked back at her hands and suddenly found herself wishing they were very far away from the Maw. Back in the barracks of the Misericordia, polishing armour with a stupid crushing grin on her face. But all the good times seemed to slip away so easily. She wiped again at her hands to get her mind off of that uncomfortable feeling. “Do you want to use the refresher first?” He looked exhausted, and the encounter had nearly taken his life, she could pull on a little longer.

 

She considered sending a comm to Kel telling him to meet them on Nar Shaddaa, but figured he would know to do so already. She was proud of him in a way, he had come so very far.

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"No...you go ahead. I could use a bit."

Aidan wasn't exactly piloting the ship, but he certainly was monitoring the R5's piloting, which given the circumstances wasn't bad. Twice he needed to override the astromech, having sensed something the droid couldn't possibly calculate for, but these were small adjustments, perfections on an already smooth course.

Aidan himself was very much worse for wear. He wasn't torn up or bruised like Sandy, but he still felt like he'd been run over with a steamroller. His entire body ached, he was lethargic and just drained, and he wasn't incredibly happy about losing the Vigilance, though that wouldn't matter much until they were back standing in front of the Queen to give their report. Still, he was proud of himself, all that he'd managed to accomplish. He wasn't necessarily following in the footsteps of his father, rather he forged his own path through the stars. And that was something for him to be satisfied about for the time being.

Eventually, they hit the far side of the gravity wells, and stars turned to starlines as they made the jump to hyperspace. Aidan's eyes closed. He needed a long nap.

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