A Bout Between Buddies (Tournament of Sabers)

[Jaxton Ravos]

Truth be told, as much as Jaxton loved the Silent Conclave and it's lack of participation in the wars and conquests of the major powers of the galaxy, Jaxton was a man of action. As an athlete, as a Jedi, and as . . . whatever meaningless title held now, he enjoyed doing more than talking. It was one of the reasons why, even as a Jedi and now a member of the Conclave, he had never quit working out. In truth he knew physical pursuits held little in comparison to pursuit of the Force, but something about running around, stretching your muscles, and testing your limits held an almost therapeutic affect on Jaxton. So, to pass the time, and in hopes of learning a bit about his fellow Conclavian Jaxton had asked Qae Shena to a friendly duel, he had worked security at Saleucami after all.

When the Nautolan said yes, Jax was admittedly a bit delighted. It'd be so nice to be in a fight with someone who wasn't trying to kill him, thousands of other people, and list off their achievements and when they should be crowned as gods while they fought. It was a nice change of pace, it was a beautiful day, and the scenery was beautiful. Jaxton found he was liking Teth more and more as he stayed. It was a nice little place to call home. Tossing his saber upwards and then catching it in his hand he ignited it and took a high-guard, a classic Djem So stance.

"Let's see what you got Qae." He said with a smile, and invited @[member="Qae Shena"] to begin.

 

[Qae Shena]

@[member="Jaxton Ravos"]

Oh, Djem So. Qae wanted to grin just a little at Jaxton's choice, though he thought it slightly strange that a speed demon was using one of the slower forms and not capitalising on his obvious advantage. Qae had the innate ability to identify Forms and how they applied to people, a side-effect of being a rather qualified lightsaber instructor and a master of Echani in equal measure. However, it was Jax's choice, and the Nautolan would likely understand soon the ability of Jaxton Ravos to fight this battle. He had every faith that the professional grav-ball player was perfect at the skills that he had learned, honing them in perfect harmony with his bladework. It was typical of those who followed the Core path, after all.

As Qae stepped forward atop the cliff, there was something obvious about it: Qae was wearing a black blindfold, tucked neatly behind his tresses and tied strong. Part of it was the fact that he knew that he wasn't going to be looking at Jaxton, but the other part of it was the fact that he wanted to push himself in battle in a way he rarely did.

It was a handicap.

"Shall we?" was Qae's opening remark, left only at that; instead of seeing, he dived straight into the Force, using his senses to push outwards and delve into the Force - and apply the power of Force Valor to himself. The way it worked was simple - with his power he could buff many people a little, or himself a lot. He chose the latter, delving into the goodness of the Force and absorbing its power for his own.

Slowly, he sank into a fighting stance, back to the cliff, one hand forward with palm facing the Zeltron.

His move.

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

"Good luck then Qae." He said, lowering his saber a bit to where it reached diagonally across his face, upwards from his right to his left. With a quick step forward he brought himself from rest to a considerable speed, Jaxton was an athlete and naturally quick as a result, but Force Speed was his bread and butter. It was his most trained skill, something he could do unconsciously, and he hung in coming towards Qae at a speed a bit faster than the average Master would use, but about a pace and half away from the Nautolan he used a technique once taught to him by Ember Rekali, hiding one's Force Signature.

He wasn't perfect at it, so chances were some of his Force signature would bleed out and Qae would feel it, but that was okay. The intent was to shield the Nautolan's vision. As he was blindfolded the amphibian's primary sense would be the Force, and hopefully he wouldn't fell as Jaxton lowered his blade to lie horizontally across his body, as he kicked his Force speed up another notch, in attempt to arrive at Qae a second earlier than he would have if he had kept pace. Slashing horizontally from right to left, and slightly upwards he attacked the nautolan before dropping his little veil, it wasn't a trick he could constantly maintain, not at this speed. At the end of his slashing motion he let go with with left hand, well, left prosthesis and motioned forward to push the nautolan. As Jaxton was no telekinetic it wouldn't throw him back or cause any real damage, but hopefully just push him back a half meter or so, maybe less, and put the man a little off balance, before the Zeltron took his hand back to his saber and pulled it from left to right, a complimentary swing.

@[member="Qae Shena"]

 

[Qae Shena]

There was no luck in a battle like this. Yes, Jaxton was faster. Yes, Jaxton had Qae on the back foot in that he could not be sensed. However, there was skill inherent in what Qae did; There was no luck - but there was sharpened hearing, at the cost of his sight. He could hear the lightsaber, which would be Jaxton's downfall. He could still sense the flickers of the Force.

There was one thing Jaxton didn't know about Qae. In fact, there was something nobody knew about Qae, because he literally did not tell people this fact: there were Yuuzhan Vong amphistaff power glands Shaped into his arms. These allowed him to, in essence, act like he had Mandalorian crushgaunts on; he could block lightsabers on his hands without using the Force. However, with the Force swelling through his body and improving his reflexes, he could certainly appear to be using tutaminis to block blades. it wasn't perfect. In fact, it was a shoddy defence, but it was something. Maybe enough to throw off someone, when Qae kept so many secrets about his knowledge.

However, it was one thing or the other. Defend the saber, or defend the telekinesis. Qae chose the former. The power glands flicked to life, coating his hands in the invisible force field. Given that Qae was relying on sound, not sight, to defend, he'd hear the swing as it came regardless of when it did. His left forearm parried vertically, but then he had to take the telekinetic strike. Stumbling backwards slightly, Qae stepped back - then used his momentum to take another few steps back to evade the lightsaber strike that followed, perilously close to the edge.

It became a simple game of 'I can stop you with my bare hands', that Qae would strike; his palms became foci for the repeated telekinetic strikes. Unlike a normal Force Push, a telekinetic strike was essentially a punch in compacted form, focused on a smaller zone than a Push, to break bones - typically. Qae threw two palm strikes using his front hand as he stepped forward, right hand to the head then left hand following to the solar plexus, aiming to at least force Jax to defend or struggle to keep up. Force Speed was only physical running speed - not necessarily reflex and defence time. Force Valor had that one advantage over Speed. Sometimes it helped to know your opponent's strengths and weaknesses.

@[member="Jaxton Ravos"]

 

[Jaxton Ravos]

Jaxton's efforts were in vain however, as not only did the nautolan detect his strikes, but also had some sort of magic hands that allowed him to block lightsabers. He had heard of and seen Jedi use the Force to absorb and redirect energy, but an entire lightsaber strike? Sure it was possible, but the ease in which Qae was doing it seemed . . . unnatural. He had to have another angle that he was using to stop his attacks. Something that would likely make further strikes through a lightsaber difficult, if not altogether useless, at least through his hands.

Time went quick, and Jaxton could feel the nautolan's attack coming, his focusing energy through the force. First a blow to the head, which resulted in Jaxton quickly ducking, Force enhancing his already professionally athletic speed. The second blow however, he didn't have time to block, so instead he focused the Force to reinforce his left arm as he brought it around to shield his solar plexus. There was an audible crunch as the durasteel prosthesis absorbed the mitigated but still heavy blow. While still functional, his arm was heavily damaged, and wouldn't take another blow like that and still be usable.

What to do to counter though? He needed to get around the mans hands somehow. Jaxton pulled his foot back a step, a disguised medium for channelling a telekinetic pull towards him as he slashed leftwards with his lightsaber pushing with his strength in a way that would challenge a temporary one-handed block, while he punched forward with his left durasteel hand, in an angle a bit higher than where his saber was going. Both strikes enhanced in speed by the Force, and followed a split second afterwards by a third speed-enhanced strike, a headbutt forwards and downwards to a target that would hopefully have to pick between three points of attack.

@[member="Qae Shena"]