Private Beneath the Twin Moonlights

[Kalt Bruq]

The clash of crimson lightsabers lit up two fighters wielding them. The clashes gently illuminating both of them before dimming again. The two figures, barely seen in the twin moonlights of Dromund Kaas, circled and dueled on the outdoor training area. One such figure, Rax, struggled against his teacher, Darth Sanguis, hoping to learn something new, or even get the upper hand over her.

Kalt watched the duel from afar, his legs crossed as he sat on a bench to the side of the spacious training arena. His robes thoroughly soaked in sweat from the day's training. Rax and Kalt, having taken a short break for other adventures, had been through the ringer for most of the day. Sanguis reminding them of the little imperfections they had yet to fix or the ones they had forgotten the fixes for. New habits being soundly squashed or reaffirmed where appropriate.

As much as Kalt considered messing around with the pair by creating some distractions, he was much too tired to do so. He needed to save his strength for the next round of training, lest he be exhausted by the time he was called. Not that he could even interfere anyway, Sanguis had projected a bubble of her force-nullifying affect around the pair. As far as the force was concerned, the two were isolated and cut from it. No matter how many times he was exposed to such an effect, Kalt could not get used to it. He still felt the sudden void of where his connection used to be, like losing a loved one or a precious drug. Likely Rax felt something similar, Kalt thought.

He continued to study the two. Studying their moves and strategies, and how they countered each other...

[ Alina Tremiru Rax Tremira ]​

 

[Rax Tremira]

Indeed he struggled, but it was a farcry from the struggling he would have put up four years ago; Rax's striked carried mass, and wasn't shy of playing dirty to find victory. Alina would be subject to anything he could use to press his advantage. His upper section was completely bare, as his clothes had practically caught fire at this point, sweat pouring from what seemed like very pore on his person; Even though they had been going for a while, he was intent on matching her until the end of her training. Her latest strike however had sent him reeling, and completely off balance. Twisting on a heel, he would turn his head, and effectively lose sight of her, only for a moment; however he wondered if she would capitalize. So instead of looking around like an idiot, he would search out within the Force.

FETH!

He bit the bullet, and tried to spin towards her, having completely forgotten she had cut him off, he was so used to relying on the Force, that not having it to be used was in a way a hinderance... Was that the true training? Not becoming helpless when cut off? If he could, he would try to match her, but he knew she had an open strike from whereever her position was.

Alina Tremiru Kalt Bruq

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Back and forth. Again and again. The endurance of the Sith Lord seemed almost impossible. Where the two acolytes needed to take a break she kept them pushed. Refusing to give them an inch. This training was two fold. First, to strip them of what they relied upon most. The Force was an essential tool for any Sith. But some took it too far. Thinking themselves invincible.

That wasn't the case. Not when she could strip them of it.

And yet, the second part was to teach them to overcome it. Not necessarily a known trial, but it was there none the less. The oppressive aura she put out to mute them from the Force wasn't at it's fullest. Not yet. Rax Tremira however had yet to overcome it. She watched his attempt before chuckling. He'd left himself open, foolishly so. So she punished him.

A quick swipe of her blade. It was no training saber either. A light burn across his exposed arm before she stepped back.

"Don't put all your faith into the Force. You'll leave yourself exposed, as you just did. Tend to the wound. Kalt, step up."

Kalt Bruq

 

[Kalt Bruq]

Kalt could tell that Rax was struggling. In a bid to strike at Sanguis it seemed he had lost sight of her. She turned up again and slashed him across the arm. No light setting this time. She burned him in the arm, Rax was probably lucky he didn't lose it. She lectured him on his mistake, and then Kalt was called up. He approached, passing Rax as he came up to meet Alina in the field. He gave Rax a nod, a sign of respect for giving it a try. As much Kalt wanted to use the force as his weapon, he could respect having the ability to make due without it. Dependency was a weakness. He needed to balance his mastery, not only around using the force, but having options without it. It was the elimination of weakness, something he greatly respected, even if he might have wanted to complain.

He drew the his lightsaber, igniting it and taking the Makashi starting stance. In previous attempts he had attempted to go on the offensive and failed. This time, he intended to stay back, go defensive and keep his eyes on Sanguis. He didn't think he'd be able to reverse what had just happened to Rax onto Sanguis, not with her skill, but he at least would make an effort not to make his mistake. If he could just get her into a good enough bind, he might just be able to disarm her.

He knew the exercise had started once his connection to the force was severed. He circled, keeping his blade between him and her, but low, somewhat confidently inviting a strike for him to intercept. No doubt he would be immediately overwhelmed by a barrag— Movement caught his eye in the darkness, beyond the presence of Sanguis. Was this a part of the training? It couldn't be Rax. Kalt quickly checked to find Rax where expected him to be, on the opposite of the arena from whatever he just saw. He knew his master had no such power, and as far as he was aware, they were on the only ones here. Sanguis' own house wouldn't disturb her during training unless it was important, and if it was that important, they wouldn't be skulking in the shadows.

Undoubtedly, Sanguis would have made use of Kalt's lost attention, prompting him to return it to this fight, just barely being able to deflect an attack on him. Now the stakes of this lesson of adaptability had just increased, if what he assumed was out there was actually a threat. He would need to hope that Rax would be able to detect whatever was lurking and deal with them. Kalt continued deflecting, not pressing, even when a counter-attack seemed logical. He attempted to get eye contact with Sanguis, twitching his sight briefly out of hers, once he saw that she was watching. He wanted to try to convey to Sanguis that something was wrong, and that he wasn't just being inexperienced.

After a few moments he pressed the bind after intercepting one of her attacks. He hoped that she got the message, especially given he was try to do a very basic bind. If she let it succeed she would be disarmed. If not, she could easily reverse it, disarming him. It was a gamble, and if she didn't see what Kalt saw, she would likely injure him for making such a mistake.

[ Alina Tremiru Rax Tremira ]​

 

[Aayla Shan]

(Sorry)

 

[Rax Tremira]

He wasn't hurt, more so he still grinned and was borderline laughing at he held his arm and walked past Kalt.

"All on you then brother, Avenge us!"

He joked aloud, not concerned if Alina heard him or not. After all he absolutely wanted either him or his trainee brother to land a blow against the smug Alina, a thought coming to mind causing him to crack up afterwards. In any case, he would nurse his wounds while watching the fight between Alina and Kalt. As he watched, he picked up what he could, noting that Kalt seemed... Distracted?

Rax glanced beyond the training arena, but didn't see anything. After a few moments he would just lay back, groaning aloud. He could've gone to sleep at the moment honestly, but was loosely following the combat with his head turned to the side. He noted Kalt might have been heading for the same direction he was, had he not been careful; but he was certainly trying. As for Rax, he had honestly stopped paying attention, thinking about a little lady that was just inside. Hell did she even need him in here anymore.

He sat up suddenly then, grasping at his arm.

"I'm gonna let Dr. Doom look at it.." One of the endearing monikers he had given to the little medical droid with the garbled evil voice Alina kept in her medical wing. Though he would probably be there for all of twenty minutes.

Alina Tremiru Kalt Bruq

 

[Alina Tremiru]

Now this was interesting. Alina kept up her assault on Kalt Bruq with no seeming desire to stop. Even as his attention was pulled elsewhere. Especially as his attention was pulled elsewhere. He'd never come across as the type to be easily distracted, but the lesson was still the lesson. A very faint smile formed as her lunge towards his chest was still deflected, even under his split attention.

And yet, then he became something more curious. His want for eye contact served no purpose. Without the Force, it wasn't like he could trick her. There was something wrong. Her expression hardened as she let her blade get swept away by the bind. There was a rush shortly after as her dead zone was extinguished, letting the acolyte once more feel the Force.

Just in time as a barrel flashed behind her.

Rax Tremira

 

[Rax Tremira]

He was still stepping off, intent on going to cuddle up with Xian somewhere, slowing his step on instinct as a cold flash ran across him, causing his body to shiver. His right arm felt like a limp lump of meat, but his left was pristine. He would turn back again, watching their fight as that cold flash turned into a feeling of stagnant fear. Not for himself, but for his Master. His eyes peered at them a little longer before he would steel his features, raising a left hand and releasing a solid wave of Force Stasis on the area in front of him; He couldn't see what he was trying to catch, so while the ability wouldn't be as effective on multiple targets, it would have the desired effect of slowing anything in the area. In this case, a blaster bolt fired from an assassin. He took his saber from his waist, and stepped back towards them with gusto, weapon held in the non-dominant left hand, whereas he was more comfortable with his right.


"Big mistake..." He grinned, no doubt Alina wouldn't have any reason to save this one right? And by the Force he wanted to kill someone; He would approach his allies, eyes searching behind them to observe the area just behind where the Blaster Bolt had come from. What would he see though?

 

[Kalt Bruq]

Thankfully, it seemed that Darth Sanguis had seen Kalt's attempts at silent communication, accepting the bind he made, and allowing her to be disarmed. This extent of trust was something he noted personally but it would have to be stowed later, as just as he had finished a blaster was fired. Once Sanguis released her grip on the force, Kalt could foresee it's trajectory and make a move to intercept it. He pushed her out of the way, clearing her from the trajectory but at this rate he wouldn't be able to position his lightsaber. If it wasn't for Rax's intervention, it was likely he'd have a nice blaster burn on his torso. Although in truth, with a blaster bolt like the one in front of him, it would have likely made a hole the size of his head. He side-stepped the blaster bolt's trajectory. He then used the force to telekinetically return Sanguis' lightsaber to her.

Rax had joined them as Kalt continued scanning into the darkness, reaching out with the force to feel what could not be seen, at least to an extent. He wasn't good enough to see using the force but it would have to do. Something was wrong tho. Even at this distance, he should be able to sense some kind of presence... "Rax, we should keep them alive. We need to know who hired them." Kalt said, anticipating his fellow Acolyte's bloodlust.

"Besides. I don't think they're alone." He said. Not many people can simply just hide their presence in the force. So either the assassin was force sensitive, which means someone really wanted Sanguis dead. Or they were being aided by someone, somewhere.

"If they're smart, they're already running but they might try again. What's your call?" He asked Darth Sanguis.

----------------

The Assassin...

He had missed his mark. At first he thought the Acolyte that was dueling with Darth Sanguis had simply taken the blow for her, but it seems that someone else had interfered. The other Acolyte. Bosh—There was a voice that popped into the back of the assassin's mind. "Find a new location. There will be another opportunity in the next few moments." His master had spoken to him, through their magics. He didn't know exactly where his master was but he knew they were watching. Guiding his actions as they did many times before... "Yes, milord." The assassin responded with his own thoughts, quickly but with a tone of reverence. He was speaking to his god.

The assassin did as commanded, moving back through the bushes, rushing back a few meters. There were no good spots to get elevation on land but there was a particularly tall tree he felt he could use... This time, he won't disappoint his god.

[ Rax Tremira Alina Tremiru ]​

 

[Alina Tremiru]

An assassin. In her estate no less. Her lips thinned as she turned her gaze to stare at the figure. She made no attempt to stop her acolytes from what they planned to do. In truth, it showed a loyalty she wasn't expecting. It brought a smile to her lips. Brief, but there none the less. She caught her saber as Kalt Bruq tossed it her way.

"Sniper. And they're likely still on the compound. You two." Her gaze shifted to the shadows. From them two of her personal guard stepped forth. Both looked quite angry at this turn of events. She gave them a single nod. "Work with the acolytes. Find those who don't belong in the estate. Capture them, alive. But if they put up a fight and you cannot, kill them." Whatever the assassins were, they were hiding themselves, and well at that. But even they wouldn't be able to hide the scent of their own blood.

Yellow eyes focused on Rax Tremira and Kalt, narrowed. She was still quite annoyed at the interruption of their training.

"Consider this a new lesson. Work with the guard, and try to sense those who hide. It won't be easy, but learning how will be quite useful. Listen to the Force for danger. It'll be your guide."