Public Fate: Showdown

[Tamsin Graves]

Showdown on Bestine, Under the Twin Suns!

Don't call him a Jedi but what ever he is now Spek Zhio is about to have have a showdown with Darth Nexion with Zombie on lookers or participants who knows the mayhem is ensuing. City guards are entering the Bestine slave market and the slave guards are also approaching the dueling combatants there are threats all around. Laphisto is caught in the middle of the fight will he join or flee to find the escapees?​

 

[Laphisto]

"I just asked the same-!"

Laphisto blinked, his gaze trailing after the girl as she leapt after Tella Voland and Tamsin Graves . Her words drifted back to him, half-remembered like a fading echo. Had she really said that? Maybe that was why his mind repeated it unbidden. Or perhaps he had meant to respond, but the words slipped through the cracks of his focus, lost on the breeze. Then again, his bad ear had been facing her the entire time. He silently cursed himself—face your good ear toward people, old man. A habit he needed to remind himself of in the midst of battle.

Shaking his head softly, Laphisto turned his attention to Darth Nexion and Spek Zhio . The sight before him—a Sith manipulating corpses in some grotesque resurrection—struck him. He had never seen anything like it. It was a grotesque and twisted use of the Force, yet undeniably fascinating.

"Fascinating. Disgusting, but... fascinating," he muttered, more to himself than anyone around him, his thoughts swirling as he briefly slipped into his own mind. But a voice pulled him back to the present.

"Jedi, me? No, no no... It's just that... whenever someone tries to use others as their puppets, it rubs me the wrong way!"

Laphisto's teal-blue eyes flickered as he unconsciously reached out with the Force, probing the alignments of Spek and Nexion. It was second nature by now, something he did without thinking, like a reflex. His attention flicked to the corpses once more as Spek, with alarming efficiency, dispatched them, disposing of the lifeless bodies as if they were nothing more than garbage. drawing a bit of admiration from the warrior at how effeciently and quickly he disposed of them

He didn't know what to make of this Spek fella but if they were not a jedi then that meant he wouldn't be apposed to his way of dealing with certain individuals when spek called out to him again calling him dragon dude in green armor. it brougth a chuckle to his throat and a shake of his head " my apologies where are my manners. Laphisto Gix. High commander of the Lilaste order." he gave a small bow towards the pink skinned man as they made the statement that they had the Sith Necromancer covered.

While now, he truly was in a bind. Give chase, maybe scold the girl who had caused this mess by collapsing the water tower, or stay and fight the sith with the rather overzealous force user. While he would have taken every opportunity to try and get a new soul into the order. This wasn't the time for that. the girl was safe. Or well, as safe as she could be anyway, all things considered.

what happened to the girl after she was freed wasnt of his concern any more. she was free and thats what mattered most. Admiring the man's audacity, Laphisto strode forward, wings unfurling ever so slightly, a faint metallic shimmer catching the light as they spread. He came to a stop beside Spek, his body moving with a practiced fluidity as he fell into a modified Shii-Cho stance. One leg slid back, grounding him, while the other extended forward, aimed directly at Nexion.

"and leave all the fun to you? not a chance kid" laphisto chuckled lightly igniting his Broad Saber letting the blade hum to life as he took in a deep breath. a frown rolling over his face as the bodies brought themselves back to life under the siths control . " it seems it might take more then that to take these things down."

Reaching out with the force laphisto took a deep breath pulling at the splinters of wood. Rising them up off the desert sand before flicking a hand forwards and hurling the pieces of wood, launching towards the sith. His other hand reached out towards a sandstone building, pushing against it firmly with the force and shattering the first couple layers of the rock. And then flinging the sharpened shards towards Nexion. Attacking him from the front and from the side.

" its been a while since iv been able to combat a dark Jedi properly" laphisto gave a small sly grin, almost as if trying to get a rise out of the sith before him. curious just how much he could push their buttons

 

[Spek Zhio]

The Sith had voiced his intention of getting to the girl or, at least, to those trying to free her. Zhio, in turn, had declared that he would stand in his way. Therefore, what the once Padawan expected was a sudden outburst from his opponent. Made more likely by the ignition of his crimson blade of light. While Spek, on the other hand, had yet to ignite his own lightsabers. What he did not expect, however, was for the other man to assume a moderate Niman stance, as he simply stood there, immobile.

That suited Zhio just fine. He was not intent on striking down the Sith, unless he had to. The Zeltron's intention was merely to prevent him from getting to those behind. If the Sith elected to bide his time instead, that would serve the smuggler, seeing as it would buy time for the others to rescue the girl.

Spek Zhio was perfectly content with staring down his opponent until sundown, if need be. He would not move. Not even making one of his habitual quips, due to an unwavering focus, on the off chance that the Sith's apparent composure was all merely a ruse.

Did the man, who had just introduced himself as Laphisto, called him a kid? Spek wondered, just as the High Commander literally jumped into the fray, hurling debris at their adversary.

"Well... That's one way of ruining someone else's plans..." One quip would do no harm.

Not wanting to get hit but deciding on joining the offensive as well, Spek threw both of his lightsabers at his opponent, controlling their flight path with the Force. Still unignited, the hilts described wide arcs behind the Sith, aiming to strike him from the back and the flank. Covering the opposite directions that Laphisto did.

Spek would ignite the blades, if needed, at the last possible moment.

---

Darth Nexion

 

[Darth Nexion]

Now, this would be fun. Recently, Nexion had recently survived an encounter with the Jedi Grandmaster herself. It was a duel he had no shame in admitting, he was outclassed in. But here, now, he could tell that of the three of them, no-one was inherently above the others. Great. While he said he'd love to play with one of them, he seemed to find dealing with two to be more troublesome that worrisome. As he was about to prepare for his first move, the man (who introduced himself as Laphisto) launched a volley of splintered wood and shards of sandstone in his direction. If that wasn't enough, the younger one threw both his sabers towards him, but hadn't activated. He'd have to be careful on this one.

First, the volley of wood and stone. Nexion glanced to his side, noting two small boulders only a short distance from him. Perfect, an offence and defence. Keeping his blade drawn, he raised his left hand (lifting the boulders with it) and hurled them into the path of the shards. He didn't need it to hit his opponents, but it provided a defence against the shards, and a way to create a blind spot in their view of him.

Next, the thrown lightsabers. He couldn't be sure if the younger man could control the blades without his sight, so he's have to take care with them as if he could. It was a simple move, an evasion to the left where the blades moved past him, but seemed to still be under control. In retaliation, he threw his own blade behind the boulders. If they defend against those, they'll have to be faster to react against that as well.

Laphisto
Spek Zhio

 

[Laphisto]

Laphisto kept his force sight active as he pushed forwards hearing the disappointment in Spek Zhio 's voice at him interrupting his plan causing a small chuckle to roll from his throat " oh tell me about it lad, nother ever seems to go according to plan it seems"

His eyes darted to the stone boulders, one launching towards the sand stone shards and aimed towards one of the local buildings. The other aimed for him and spek. Flicking his lone ear laphisto watched the unignighted lightsabers go flying towards Darth Nexion with a small rumble pushing from his throat "y'know lad helps to turn your saber on when you throw it at your opponent ." He spoke towards his temporary ally in the scuffle before then jumping to his left and rolling out of the boulders way. Before springing back to his feet, wings spread to give him some balance . His tail flicking around. Behind him similar to that of an agitated cat.


Smart play by the sith, he half expected them to give ground or try and take the blunt of the force. Or show off Thier power at least a little bit. Knowledge was the key in duels like this don't show off what you can do but do what you can to see the full extent of your enemy to better understand and defeat them. It seemed he would have to push the sith a little further in order to see what they are made of.

Reaching out towards another building Laphisto cracked the first few layers of the sand stone and then launched another volley before then pushing out with the force to try and force them back down what, as well as dueling as a purpose to lauche sand into the air

 

[Spek Zhio]

When do things ever go according to plan? the Force user thought. Now, that would be a nice change of pace!

Instead of moving out of the way of the incoming boulder, Spek let go of his control over the Shien hilt, causing it to continue to spiral away on its previous path and, with his left hand, caused a Force barrier to spring forth in front of him. The stone shattered into pebbles when it came into contact with the barrier. A cloud of dust and debris forming in front of him, that would provide visual cover to and from everyone in front, that was not able to use Force sense to detect another Force user's position. All in all, given its negligible usefulness, it was a mere side-effect of destroying the boulder rather than a purposeful intent.

But it was thanks to that Force sense, that Spek knew that Nexion was not advancing towards him. What the Zeltron was not expecting - but was, nevertheless, prepared for - was the lightsaber aimed at him. As the Sith's red saber struck the barrier and went spiraling backwards, Zhio controlled the guard hilt - the one he had not relinquished his telekinesis of - and made it take a sharp turn backwards, flying again towards the Sith. With that same telekinesis, he activated the lightsaber from that distance - due to its locking activator, needing only a single push for the beam to stay ignited indefinitely.

The Ghostfire crystal within, produced a dull and translucent beam. Nearly imperceptible to those not paying close attention to it. In addition, and unlike most other lightsabers, the ghostfire crystal's beam made no sound at all, not even during the act of being ignited. Zhio was counting on the Sith not realizing it had been.

Hopefully, Spek's previous faint would now produce some results.

Regardless, he was already summoning the Shien grip towards his left hand, and replied in jest to Laphisto, "Thanks for the advice."

---

Darth Nexion

 

[Darth Nexion]

Odd. Why would the younger one control his blades to once again target him if he wasn't going to activate it? Another feint? A simple distraction? Him only activating it as it was right on top of him? He couldn't be sure, but he didn't feel like risking it. As it got closer, he moved to the right, but his eyes widened as he felt a burn on his side. It wasn't deep, or that serious, but it hurt. When did he get- the lightsaber. So, that was how it was: a ghostfire crystal.

"A ghostfire crystal, huh? Rare, and valuable both in credit and use. Smart choice, I must admit."

If the cut on his side wasn't enough to deal with, he had another volley of sandstone shards firing at him, and his lightsaber was on the ground after being deflected. Great, he thought. He ran towards the oncoming shards, while simultaneously calling his blade to his hand. As he met the shards head on, did the surprising move of running straight through them. Now, he didn't do so in the literal sense, but he ran into them, with some piercing into him, and others he deflected with the force. After they had passed, Nexion stood with a cut side, three shards in his right leg, one in his left arm, and a gash from one on his right. But, surprisingly, Nexion's eyes gave away the fact he was smiling- smirking more like.

"My turn."

He brought his arms behind him, catching the sandstone shards, and he hurled them back where they came. However, he sent them towards his younger opponent. For Laphisto, he released a streak of lightning from his fingertips straight towards him.

Laphisto
Spek Zhio

 

[Laphisto]

Standing himself upright and dusting himself off he went to call out to Spek Zhio about the oncoming Boulder and the oncoming saber which he hadn't seen till now. His heart dropped lightly at the thoughts of what could be. Though he was pleasantly surprised when speak erected a barrier that send the boulder fragmenting and subsequently sending the lightsaber bouncing back

Hearing Darth Nexion speak about a ghost fire crystal laphisto raised a brow haven never heard of such a thing before though he saw the burn in the siths robes and even saw the wince in pain. Causing a small chuckle to roll from his throat " so you did have it on? I guess my eye sights worse than I first thought" laphisto chuckled at his own quip rolling his shoulders lightly.

Laphistos eyes watched as the sith ran through the shards the action was a little surprising at first, before he remembered most sith even back in his time used pain to fuel Thier power. Funny how that worked how most dark siders couldn't truly use the force unless they were angry, in pain or suffering to some degree.or least that's how he saw things

Laphisto stood his ground shaking his head of his thoughts lightly before watching the sith stand tall grabbing the shards he had thrown. And laphisto held a hand out ready to reflect the shards though he was caught off guard seeing them fly towards spek. By the time he turned back to face the sith the lightning was already coming his way.

Reaching out with the hand already facing the sith he moved to use tutaminis to catch the blunt of the lightning, causing him to wince as strands of electricity danced over his armor. Had it not been for the beskar and Siegerium he would have felt that alot more though a few stray strands struck him in the face causing him to wince in pain. Though he hissed pulling the energy of the lightning into himself. Which allowed him to heal the lightning burns as they formed though as a result it caused him to shudder on occasion. He wouldn't be able to keep this up long.

 

[Spek Zhio]

Spek had effortlessly blocked a large boulder with his Force barrier. Reduced it to dust, actually. Doing the same with whatever amount of fragments, even if sharpened to an edge, would have been a trivial matter. The way he saw it, there were three options. He could let the barrier nullify the hit, once again. He could let go of it, and focus all of his might on redirecting the shards back at the one who sent them. And, lastly, he could simply dodge them.

Number one seemed a given to succeed, unless there was some ulterior trait to those sandstone shards. Still, the battle had barely begun and was already getting dull. Zhio was eager to take it into close quarters.

Number two was a very hazardous endeavor. At most he would be able to give his partner an opening at the expense of his own well-being.

Number three was the one he took, for more reasons than one. Namely, the fact that he did not have to dodge in a direction that would increase or retain the distance from his opponent. And, Zhio really was eager to take it into close quarters.

Letting go of the Force barrier, the Zeltron jumped into the air, swift and high enough to be clear from the mineral shards with the aid of the Force. He leapt towards his opponent, describing a crescent with his trajectory and turning his body sideways midair. With a press of the three-way activation switch from a neutral to an upwards position on the reverse grip, he also ignited the Nishalorite crystal within the lightsaber on his left hand, even before his trajectory had him straight above Laphisto's head. The hilt released a short, dark-gray, beam of light. Meanwhile, his right hand, outstretched towards the Sith, was summoning the still ignited Ghostfire saber back onto it.

His attention was divided between the Sith and his fallen blade. Had he made the motion of pulling the crimson-bladed weapon into his hand - probably traveling through Spek as it did - the Zeltron would attempt to deflect it with the Shien hilt on his left. Regardless of that, the first lunge would come while still on the air, with a downward swing of his Ghostfire centered on the top of his foe's head. A sai tok mark of contact, aiming to bisect him, head to toes.

The blade, leaving illusory afterimages on its path, would move to the right as he landed and, in case his target had countered the previous move and was still breathing, would do so along the near-horizontal slash from the Nishalorite being brought to the front, as Spek corrected his torso to face the Sith. A second sai tok, now aimed to deprive his torso of the use of his legs.

With both arms to his right, and landing on one knee, the dual wielder would then take advantage of the momentum to spin near the ground, his back almost parallel to it. And, uniting both hilts by their interlocking pommel caps into a double-bladed lightsaber, he would have the weapon spin on top of him like a fan. Multiple rotations of the blade for the single one of his body, intent on producing multiple marks of contact with the adversary's legs while deflecting from incoming blows. A Cho mok to fell him.

The three moves in an interrupted flow. From Ataru, to Shien, to Juyo. Like a stream of water on that arid planet.

Finally, pointing his Nishalorite short blade towards the ground and shifting the three-way into a Kimber beam, he used it to rapidly prop himself up - the Kimber crystal producing a light-gray, very long, non-lethal beam, that would not cut through matter. As it extended from the lightsaber, it acted like a cane to assist the Force user in quickly getting up.

The spinning Kimber chasing the afterimages of the spinning Ghostfire in a mesmerizing circular pattern, before the man broke it and assumed a more subdued variant of Form VII, a Vaapad stance. Body slightly sideways, right foot and hand forward, holding the saber diagonally in front of him. Left hand behind, palm towards his foe.

Like the Sith, with that final fanning of the spinning double-blades, the Padawan dropout was also smiling.

---

Darth Nexion

 

[Tamsin Graves]

Guards began to rush into the square from all corners. Weapons were drawn on the three combatants near to the stage but not fired immediately, as there were still slave auction attendees fleeing or drawing weapons themselves. On the other side the three combatants engaging each other had given the slave pen guards time to split into two groups and organize a plan of action.

Half the slave guard drew their weapons though most were melee weapons or stun weapons. The other group of slave guards return to the pens and start moving the slaves still in the cages so not to lose more product. The half that stayed to fight were relieved to see the city guard after the display of the force they had all seen so far they weren't sure if they could take the combatants now they had had five to one odds and if any of the attendees joined in those maybe six or seven.

The numbers game could surely scare off in the very least these mad men if not decimate them. The guards stood in their formations weapons drawn on the three men, then small little human pushed through them and behind him followed by to large wookiees in combat armor. The wookiees dragged several dead bodies of the zombies that Darth Nexion had made. Then the little man spoke with a loud booming voice.

"I suggest you all drop your weapons and surrender. I will give you to the count of five. One….Two… Three…."

One of the attendees yelled out during the count. "We stand with the City guard, those three are the culprits trying to free slaves. They are pathetic." And then the head of the slave guard spoke up. "We are just protecting the product but will back the city guard up if need be."

---

Spek Zhio | Laphisto | Darth Nexion

 

[Laphisto]

Upon realizing the situation they had found themselves in laphisto frowned pressing a button on his vambrace and calling his ship to him eyes darting around with a small rumble ", I was actually here as a paying customer. Though it seems we have over stayed our welcome."

Laphisto gave a small chuckle and gave a small bow towards the city guard and the strange little man. Taking a soft breath inwards and drawing slightly on the dark side of the force as he moved to prepare another attack. Any shards that were present at or around his feet began to softly lift into the air though low to the ground. His eyes darting towards Spek Zhio " should we get separated on our way out, you seem like a man capable of many things, head to the Kalinda system if ever your in need of a job"

The moment the transponder went operational commander Tarian would walk forwards placing a hand on the pilots shoulder " the commanders gotten himself in trouble again. Lift off and head to the coordinates iv transmitted to your view screen pilot." As the LAET Gunship took off it would fly over Kaila Irons Tella Voland and Tamsin Graves the them of its engines being heard as it dashed for the square.

Darth Nexion

 

[Spek Zhio]

You would hope someone would get used to it, but the depths that stupidity could reach, never ceased to amaze Spek. Was it merely the complete lack of common sense - so ironically thus called common - or was it pure cockiness? Whatever it was, those guards, enforcers, and onlookers had just witness them conjure up lightning, move boulders with their minds, and flourish deadly weapons with ease, so how could they possible think that a Wookiee would be the thing to tip the scales in their favor?

"Hum... Yeah, sure!" Zhio's attention was drawn to Laphisto's invitation. "So long as the pay is good," he smirked. Disconnecting his sabers into dual blades again, since the Sith seemed to have no intention of further pursuing the fight, he was prepared to flee the scene. Not because he feared the odds, but because he had just realized that the escapee and Spek's Sith acquaintance were also already leaving. There was no further point in risking bloodshed, even though his getaway would not be as instantaneous or cinematic as that of soldier boy.

"Hey there fellas! Some mighty Wookiee you got there!" he said to the crowd, turning off the sabers and attaching them to his belt by their magnetic slivian iron on the pommel caps. Raising both hands in the air, palms open in an universal sign of surrender, he continued, "I'm glad you're here to protect me, these dudes came outta nowhere and began throwing stuff around! The blatant disrespect for city's property. How uncouth! I was mighty scared for a second there..."

Discreetly, Zhio was using Force telekinesis with both hands. One to yank the furred beast into the air, the other to pull his red coat to him. The red coat that was some distance away, folded on top of a table on a cantina's terrace. "Dank farrik! I didn't know Wookiees could fly as well! How cool is that?" he yelled in feigned surprise, causing everyone's head to be turned towards the Wookiee who, growling as he went, began levitating twice his height above ground. Thanks to the distraction, no one seemed to have noticed his coat flying, like a magical carpet straight out of a Nabooian fairy tale and into his arms. Putting on the coat, he dashed through the crowd, on his way to his nearby speeder. Lightsabers flying and igniting into his hands as he did, the Zeltron was deflecting the occasional blaster shot while dodging melee attacks directed at him.

Getting on his vehicle, lightsabers off and at his belt once more, the Zeltron sped away towards his starship.

"Oh boy, Alcyone will not be happy about this..."

---

Zooming into Fate: Escape

 

[Tamsin Graves]

A ship was coming up behind the city guards fast, a few turned to look behind them just to see the city turbo laser fire upon it. Chaos ensued for the next few minutes as the ship was shot down and a vast majority of the guards turned to watch the ship spin and plummet to the ground crashing into civilian owned buildings. Their eyes widening inside their helmets as they saw the pure destruction before them. Yet the little commander rand his wookiees stayed looking forward stoic. The little commander finished his counting.

"Four…. Five…, Open fi….." He stopped and saw his guards the majority distracted by the incident behind them. "FOCUS MEN!" He yelled to try to snap them to attention.

Unfortunately for the little commander the zeltron opened his mouth. Both him and the giant man in armor tried to claim some sort of innocence. One claiming to be a just a customer and the other claiming that the big guy and caped started it like a little child would. The commander didn't believe either of them.

The Zeltron kept yammering on most of it nonsensical but then a wookiee began to fly taking the guards attention once more off the occupants of the square. This time the commander did take his piercing gaze off the two as his friend and companion was lifted in the air. The fear in the wookiees noticeable as he began to flail and growl with ground not being beneath his feet.

None of the guards noticed as the trickster Zeltron vanished into the crowds of chaos panicked people due to the crashed ship. Then the woookiee came crashing down to the ground, his left leg snapping on the fall down. The guards quickly tried to push their distraction out of their minds and return to the matter at hand as there wookiee friend howled crying on the ground. "FIRE!" screamed the little commander the guards opened indiscriminate fire on the two remaining. They didn't even care that the were taking out the slaver guards behind the two men or people in the crowd they were all filled with fury. These people had come to their town and caused nothing but Havoc in there everyday life.

 

[Laphisto]

Laphisto watches the special that had happened with the wookie and Spek Zhio he would have followed suit running off into the crowd and disappearing though he gave a small frown as his communicator flicked to life the voice of Commander Tarian ringing out

"Sir this is Tarian, ships gone down. Crashed into some hotel of sorts, keldan fell in the market streets about forty meters to your west. Blitz is dead, as are kommer and chive. Iv met some of your friends. Turning on my locator now. See you soon commander "

Laphisto rumbled out. As he was left behind by spek he continued to charge his ability and just as the guards began to fire and the wookie fell he unleashed the force maelstrom he had been prepping sending splinters of wood, sand stone and other various pieces of debris outwards. With his location being surrounded it was his best option before unfurling his wings and launching into the air.

He had been quick taking a few shots on his way up and over as seen by the blaster scores on the Siegerium plating of his armor. And he flew over buildings and streets trying to find keldan. As dirt and dust began to settle he spotted the man limping into an ally way.

Closing his wings laphisto dropped behind the soldier who quickly drew his pistol aiming it for the commanders chest, laphisto's hand grasping the barrel and pushing it away.

The man gave a sigh of relief and quickly moves to stand at attention though cried out in a bit of pain " sorry sir, thought you might have been one of the guard. My transmitter broke on the fall but I'm still battle ready. Commander Tarian crash landed about twenty meters from here"

As he spoke the soldier pointed to the small pillar of smoke begining to rise.

Putting an arm around the soldier laphisto moved to help them as they walked " alright let's get moving then"

Tamsin Graves