Duel Galactic Kaggath Round 1: Thalia Senn vs Allyson Locke

[Razmir Tezhyn]

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Thalia Senn vs Allyson Locke​

The arena floor rumbled and shook, the entire surface sliding open like a missile silo to reveal… an enormous Wroshyr tree rising up from the lower levels. It towered so high that its upper branches crested the arena and stood nearly eye level with the skybox. It sat upon a grassy, fern littered field. Amid the ferns, shapes prowled. Dangerous predators. Vornskrs. Force hunting beasts.

The boughs of the Wroshyr tree criss-crossed, forming limbs as wide as Coruscanti skywalks that the combatants could duel upon.

Droids hovered in the air around the tree, some with cameras, but many projecting interlinking rayshields so that the duelists could not interfere with the duels of the others. Of course… ray shields could always fail.

If any of the combatants fell to the ground far below, they risked being set upon by the vornskrs.

The announcers’ disembodied voice cut through as the combatants took their places on the boughs of the tree. “Honoring those who fell in the Battle of Kashyyyk between the One Sith and Republic, so many years ago, I give you the FIRST ROUND of the GALACTIC Kaggath!”

“Hailing from the stormy seas of Pamarthe, please welcome into the ring a walking fiasco of a Jedi, THALIA SENN!

“And her opponent, having discarded the weakness of the Jedi and embraced what she wants, competing as the CHAMPION OF THE SITH ORDER, please join me in welcoming the master of shadows, the tournament favourite, it’s ALLYSOOOON LOOOOCKE!!!”

“CHALLENGERS! BEGIN!”

 

[Allyson Locke]

//: Thalia Senn //: Razmir Tezhyn //:
//: Attire //:
//: Equipment //:
//: Bow & Arrows //: Contact Lens //: Jacket //:
//: Non Transferable "Equipment" //:
//: Ava'kash Brand //: Emperor's Echo //:

Hearing her name announced, the words chosen, and the crowd's roar. It made the Corellian wince. Being known was death to an operative, but she had already carved her name deep enough into the history books. At least once she died, most of it would be erased - a figment of the imagination and a warning to younglings.

Allyson snorted, remembering the exaggerated tales Darth Virelia had told her they told the children of the Jedi. If anything, Allyson hoped they helped someone - it was apparent it didn't help Serina. But much could, minus a nanite arrow to the throat.

Unlucky for the Corellian, she didn't get the Witch from Polis Massa in the first round. At least then, she'd be willing to sacrifice the higher-end gear she typically used on missions. The risk of losing it all was worth it if she could rid herself of the festering boil of a woman.

The crowd continued to roar as the arena shook, forming the battlefield. Allyson felt a hint of annoyance with the arena choice. It was one that she didn't fight in—but her father did, and she had heard stories, mostly about naval combat.

The Republic was home, flawed - but it was home. Still, she knew Kashyyyk - better than she should. Having lived there and then several missions on the planet's surface, the jungle felt like home.

The gate shook, opening to begin the dramatic reveal of the Corellian. The moment light peeked through the bottom of the door, Allyson faded into the Force. Her lips parted, exhaling as she drew in her presence. Her goal was to be nearly invisible to her opponent, allowing her to gain the advantage of surprise. Even with her skill set and years of experience - she didn't plan on taking the Jedi lightly.

ALlyson had learned to value survival. Those who were able to survive, make it through their trials, and continue were worth respect. Thalia was someone she had heard about in passing through small investigations, but the woman had never been a focus for the spy.
Still, she was a Jedi, someone who knew how to survive.

Allyson crept from the hold; she could feel the eyes of the crowd searching for her. Their cheering was hushed as the sound of whispers echoed. She had disappeared and had not shown her face the moment the doors had finished opening. If she had, it would have given Thalia a moment to gain a visual. From there, it would only be a matter of moments before the Jedi could figure out where she had gone.

Her goal was to hide in the foliage and gain ground on the Jedi.

Drawing the bow, Allyson brushed the finger pads of the leather archery glove, a quick patter to command the quiver on her thigh to prepare the nanite arrow. Another movement of her fingers in a different pattern formed a second arrow in the quiver. Her feet moved carefully, lightly, not leaving a sound or a print in the soft arena ground. Her eyes scanned quickly, searching for the gate from which the Jedi had entered.

The contact in her eye adjusted, zooming in on several points of the arena from the safety of the jungle terrain. She paused her search for a moment to let her ears catch the cracking branches of others.

Seems they weren't alone. Allyson got a feel for her surroundings and continued moving, invisible from sight and the Force. A hand reached, drawing the first arrow and drawing it tight, her grip tightening. It was a familiar feeling; the bow she used was her first - a gift on Life Day.

Her first one.

Another cautious exhale as she waited.

 

[Thalia Senn]

Allyson Locke​

Thalia's booted feet clicked on the worn bark of the Wroshyr tree as it rose in an opulent display for the arena to see. Her eyes peeked out from beneath her long locs, her hair partially hiding the burns on the right side of her face. She frowned up at the cam droids and cheering crowd, her hand blocking out the bright arena lights. It bathed the fighting pit in a sterile light. Every part of this tournament had been so meticulously fabricated, from the name, drawing in fools like her, to the custom battle fields that seemed to have been snatched straight from their native lands. She glanced down, the hunger in the Force drawing her attention.

Well, it couldn't be 100% authentic. Honestly, from what she remembered of Kashyyyk, it was probably for the better. Poor things, they probably hadn't been fed in weeks.

“Hailing from the stormy seas of Pamarthe, please welcome into the ring a walking fiasco of a Jedi, THALIA SENN!

Thalia kissed her teeth and shook her fist up at the cameras before offering a rude gesture.

"I ain't no stormin' Jedi!" she shouted. Salt and spray, she hadn't even been to Coruscant in years. Nary an outpost had heard whisper of her name. It was probably better this way though. Wayseeking, she'd called it when she told her last and final Master, Amani Serys , that she was leaving Coruscant after her promotion. Lots of things had changed since then. Old Ghosts like sirens and starweirds kept rearing their ugly heads. It was part of why she was here in the first place. An old com device she'd kept secretly from her days running with the Maw had gone off.

They were apparently still kicking. She needed to find them, and end them. A Kagath'd seemed like the perfect place. Instead, she was packed up against yet another old Jedi she'd idolized in her stary-eyed childhood. Though, the Sith? That was new. Thalia could understand being manipulated into joining the Sith, but for the brief moment she could sense her opponent, there was no hatred, no malice, no greed. None of the hallmarks of a Dark Lord's touch on the mind so much as tickled Thalia's senses. She shivered, remembering that old creature's grip on her mind. She still had nightmares.

A black-winged Drake on the high seas, her father bleeding out in their family home, the stump of an arm where it had been vicously torn from his shoulder by those things of the deep. The buzzer blew and the bout began.

Clear your head, fool girl. Allyson's hunting.

She'd noticed the girl vanish from sight and the Force. A hard youth on the high seas of Pamarthe and the brutalist trainings of Darth Solipsis had trained her more human sense of self preservation though, and just like she felt the hunger and gnashing jaws of the vornskr below, she knew, could feel it in her very bones, that she was being watched.

Sstay true, Thalia. Handle thiss like the Jedi you are.

The voice of her second Master, Khefiir slithered into her brain. She felt the hair stand up on her arms. She hadn't heard his voice in her head in a long time. But...

"I am no Jedi," she said softly to herself. Longing, fear, feelings she hadn't felt since she was a teen welled up. The anger too. But she wouldn't let his voice or her's taint Kherfiir's well meaning memory. If she wouldn't show herself, Thalia would just have to be ready. Power began to swell within, Thalia tapping into the Force, catching its waves like wind in her sails. She got the feel of them, catching them and adding them to her well of strength. The Force flowed through all things in these waves, it was what made the Order of Shasa such powerful telekenetics, but you had to know how to read them first. Every being was like a stone in the wake of these waves, the water crashing around some, bifurcating around others.

"Before we start," Thalia said, loud enough for Allyson to hear, wherever she was, "I wanted to tell you I looked up to you as a lass. I looked up to a lot of you geezers. I promise I won't do you so bad as the Old Man or Romi Jade ."

The Force exploded from her in a telekinetic burst. Force repulse was an unfocused, brutalist technique, but when you couldn't see your enemy...Well. If you wanted the eels out before the Weeping, you made sure to toss the whole barn. It came from her in waves, pulses. The power she'd stored was not for a single burst but several, each reaching farther and farther, until it shook the edge of the arena Thalia was closest to. Drinks were thrown into the air, vornskr sent to the far end of the arena, whimpering, their spiked tails between their legs.

​

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[Allyson Locke]

//: Thalia Senn //:
//: Attire //:
//: Equipment //:
//: Bow & Arrows //: Contact Lens //: Jacket //:
//: Non Transferable "Equipment" //:
//: Ava'kash Brand //: Emperor's Echo //:

Used to look up to me and the other old geezers? Kid needs some new heroes or something…​

Allyson thought to herself as Thalia came into view. So the girl knew her, meaning she knew what skill set the Corellian carried.

Unfortunately for the girl - well, woman, Allyson had picked up some new tricks in the Empire. She wondered if that disappointed Thalia - someone she had looked up to falling so far from grace. Or was it something that was expected of the Shadow?

No one ever trusted Allyson as far as they could throw her, with or without the Force.

Everything around her began to pulse, and Allyson was hit quickly by the first blast of telekinetic waves. It launched her back, but focusing on her body and how the waves pulsated against her, the Corellian could balance herself.

With each pulse that shook the arena, Allyson let it carry her higher up the tree. The moment the calm came between the waves, Allyson prepared herself, grabbing ahold of the next branch. With some distance between her and Thalia, she tucked behind some of the larger trunks, which gave her a somewhat effective break between her and the pulses. Her body hurt, each wave was intense, and she had minimal protection from the Force, which enhanced her body and minimized the pain. Still, Thalia wasn't just a force user.

She was strong in her own right, and Allyson knew she needed to respect that.

A hand reached for her quiver. Luckily, the explosive tip was protected from the blasts. If they hadn't been - it would have been goodbye legs and probably goodbye Allyson.

The explosive arrow was drawn, its tip protected as the wave passed. She wondered if she was going to fire the arrow between the pulses. Once more, she dug deep, focusing on her core, arm, and everything tied to firing the bow. She wasn't a master of telekinesis, but she understood how to create her body and the objects around her to resist.

As the wave passed the tree, Allyson whipped around the corner and fired the explosive arrow towards the canopy over Thalia; upon contact, the arrow would explode in a wide radius, burning whatever it came into contact with.

In a fluid motion, the trained archer retrieved the next arrow and fired it in rapid succession. This one was tipped with a vial of acid, and the moment the wave of telekinetic energy hit it, the vial would shatter, raining the acid upon the Jedi.

She needed the woman to be distracted by the inferno that began to burn around her. Allyson crouched, hiding behind the tree truck as she ran her fingertips over the edge of the glove. Three more arrows formed in the quiver, and she waited - still hunting.

 

[Thalia Senn]

Equipment:
3 Dual-Phase lightsabers
Scarf
Heavy Blaster Pistol
Black and green spacer's outfit

Allyson Locke
​

the top half of the Wroshyr tree is gone!"

Heat blazed above her, and droplets hissed at her feet. Was she using acid? Before the rest of the acid could burn her, something in the old tree cracked. For a time, she'd forgotten that this was a shared space. She wouldn't again. The top half of the tree Allyson had fled to came tumbling down, nearly crushing Thalia. She dove, using her scarf and the Force to grapple to another set of branches. The wind tousled her hair as she flew and spun into another section of the tree. Lightsaber in hand, the green blade activated, cracking to life as she cut more falling debris out of her path.

What sort of tournament had she gotten herself into?

Had the tree not exploded, she could have figured out where Allyson was, but now? She didn't even know where she was. Her eyes watched the ancient branches cascade below, wondering if she'd fallen to the vornskr pit. Not that it mattered. She doubted most of the poor beasts would live.

​

 

[Allyson Locke]

//: Thalia Senn //:
//: Attire //:
//: Equipment //:
//: Bow & Arrows //: Contact Lens //: Jacket //:
//: Non Transferable "Equipment" //:
//: Ava'kash Brand //: Emperor's Echo //:

This was not going as planned.

Allyson didn't get the chance to relish in the planned distraction when something bigger suddenly occurred. Cursing, the Corellian leaned into the toppling canopy and sprinted across the falling branches. Each foot kicked off, allowing her body to twist and continue forward towards somewhere safe.

Unlike other Jedi, she didn't possess the ability to propel herself through obstacles with telekinesis; she had other ways - but sometimes, the hint of jealousy gnawed at the back of her mind. She caught from the corner of her eye Thalia swinging by her scarf, maneuvering through the thicket that threatened to crush her.

Finding a safe branch, Allyson once more hastened her actions through the Force and took a quick aim, using the contacts to aid her with the targeting of the moving Jedi. Thalia was fast, but most Jedi and Sith were. Grabbing one of the arrows, Allyson drew the string and aimed. She could see the general path of the Jedi and aimed just ahead of her.

If everything worked out, Allyson would catch Thalia off guard as the arrow passed by the swinging Jedi. As it made contact with the falling canopy, the tip of the arrow would explode, aiming to engulf the girl in more flames.

Allyson didn't wait and fired another arrow, this one different from the explosive and the acid. This arrow was designed to split as it flew toward its target. Drawing it back, the length was as long as her wingspan. It fired, unhindered by the size of the Master archer. As it drew closer to the girl's back, the arrow split, shattering into a swarm of eight smaller arrows. All she needed was at least one to pierce, one arrow to draw blood.

She kept moving, hidden from the Jedi's senses. Still, the frustrating initial attack and the smoke from the burning tree were starting to irritate the Corellian. Looking at the plums of smoke, Allyson let herself begin to slide down the tree trunk in an attempt to get under the fumes and just throw off Thalia's sense a bit more.

Staying hidden was the mission.

 

[Thalia Senn]

Equipment:
3 Dual-Phase lightsabers
Scarf
Heavy Blaster Pistol
Black and green spacer's outfit

Allyson Locke
​

Alarm bells rang even as she made her way through the burning tree towards where she thought she sensed her opponent. Ripping a burning trunk already cracked from the explosion, she hurled it at the arrows without thinking, hardly looking. A silent sniper might take out even an unsuspecting Jedi in the chaos of battle or on a quiet day of peace, but Thalia knew. Knew she was being hunted, knew that death could be the result of her relaxing even for a moment. His voice rang in her mind, a memory from her youth.

Peace is a lie.

She slid to a stop when the trunk's momentum halted for a moment, the explosion sending it tumbling into pieces below. Something flew through the splintering wood. Thinking them shrapnel from the trunk or the arrow she repulsed, tossing dust, smoke, debris, and whatever else came her way into the air harmlessly around her. Thalia's eyes widened in realization. Those arrows had come from behind her. She'd been a fool, thinking Allyson would stay where she'd been. She turned around quickly and caught her. Thalia couldn't see her, could barely sense her disruption in the waves of the Force, but the smoke told her all she needed to know.

An unnatural trail. Escaping the fumes? Instinct had taken over for Thalia, the ability of Breath Control imperative for her raids with the Maw. She hadn't even thought others would seek to escape the toxic smoke. Now it had been Allyson's downfall.

Following the trail, and watching the waves of the Force, she holstered her sabers and pulled out her blaster, lowering the power to just above stun. It would still come as a bolt, but rather than knock her out, it might just numb her enough to keep her from using her bow. She fired several shots, golden bolts of energy raining down on Allyson's position.

​

​

 

[Allyson Locke]

//: Thalia Senn //:
//: Attire //:
//: Equipment //:
//: Bow & Arrows //: Contact Lens //: Jacket //:
//: Non Transferable "Equipment" //:
//: Ava'kash Brand //: Emperor's Echo //:

Good.

Thalia recognized the attack and dodged it quickly. Despite herself, Allyson smiled. She wanted to win, but killing someone as skilled as Thalia felt wasteful.

Still, Allyson knew she couldn't prolong this encounter. She needed to finish it. When she moved into a new position, Thalia reacted swiftly, noticing her through the smoke. That awareness surprised Allyson, who had counted on her opponent being too distracted to track her movements. Golden blaster bolts rained toward Allyson's hiding place, forcing her to duck quickly behind a thicker branch and what remained of the tree trunk.

Clever girl... Allyson couldn't help but grin.

The bolts hit hard but didn't break through the cover. Allyson raised an eyebrow. Why had Thalia lowered the blaster's power? Perhaps the former Jedi wasn't willing to kill her outright. Allyson held back a bitter laugh, careful not to reveal her position further.

Drawing a deep breath, she focused on the newfound strength she had acquired. The dark side gave her abilities beyond what she'd ever had as a Jedi. Focusing, she formed four illusions of herself, each armed with a bow and identical arrows and cloaked in the same invisibility. They came into existence, scattered around the arena, some clinging to the tree's remains, others on the ground, all moving simultaneously to confuse Thalia's senses.

Together, Allyson and her illusions advanced along the branches and burned areas, circling Thalia from multiple angles. Suddenly, each shadow stopped, aimed their bows, and fired. Each arrow immediately split into eight smaller projectiles, creating what appeared to be a deadly shower of arrows raining down toward Thalia.

But only Allyson's own arrows were real; the rest were illusions meant to distract and confuse the former Jedi. Hopefully, this confusion allowed her actual attack a chance to pierce Thalia's defenses.

Using the chaos of the moment, Allyson moved again, carefully hiding behind the branches and remaining foliage. She was now aware of how easily smoke gave away her location and made sure Thalia's direct line of sight remained obstructed.

 

[Thalia Senn]

Equipment:
3 Dual-Phase lightsabers
Scarf
Heavy Blaster Pistol
Black and green spacer's outfit

Allyson Locke
​

Overconfident.

Allyson finally showed herself, the real her. Thalia could almost smell the stench of the Dark Side on her. It twisted her stomach as heat not from the fires of the tree, but from the memories of unforgiving heat within Darth Solipsis' training spheres, rose up in her stomach. Why was she having this reaction to Allyson but not the Dark Jedi she'd fought since the war with the Maw? Maybe finding that com cylinder had effected her more than she'd thought.

Allyson's Force clones circled her like Pamarthen lions circled a sinking ship at sea. She let them. There were of no harm to her. They all created waves in the Force that disrupted and corrupted the flow. In fact, the entire arena was filled with cold currents that warped the natural waves of the planet. Harnessing the Force here with waveform was starting to make her sicker than she'd been her first time at sea as a child. But Allyson was no Pamarthen lion. She was a slippery sky-eel, and Thalia was a Drake.

It wasn't difficult to find the false from the real. If something like this had been used to copy the faceless hordes of the New Imperial Order or the cloned monstrosities of the moon children, she might have paused to reconsider her plan of attack. But she knew there couldn't be four Allyson Lockes, despite each clone giving off the same disturbance in the waves. They moved differently though. The way they moved about the arena so openly smacked in the face of how Allyson had played her hand this entire time. Even then, how they traversed...They had no substantial form. Their feet barely passed through broken debris, they did not shy away from flame or fume as Allyson had. One of these five had to be the real one.

She let them closer around her, holstering her blaster as they came. Then she struck, wings poised to dive and snatch the leader of the pride straight from the cold waters of the sea. Back to Thalia, she wondered if Allyson would even know what she was doing. She gripped the arrows in the Force, scattering them, and with her other hand she gathered the Force and let out a terrible scream. One strike. More feeling than she'd meant to put in. The telekenetic blast bored through wood, smoothing it along its path as it hurtled toward the fleeing Allyson. It moved like a wave, faster than any blaster bolt. It cracked thousand year old limbs like a child breaks a toy, cleared flame and smoke in its wake, and tousled foliage like a gale had been summoned from the stormy shores of Pamarthe. The attack pushed Thalia back a few feet and her locs hung suspended in the air about her face for a moment as the Force clung to her like a good sea cloak.

 

[Allyson Locke]

//: Thalia Senn //:
//: Attire //:
//: Equipment //:
//: Bow & Arrows //: Contact Lens //: Jacket //:
//: Non Transferable "Equipment" //:
//: Ava'kash Brand //: Emperor's Echo //:

The arrows scattered, blasted apart effortlessly by the Force—something Allyson should have anticipated. She had hoped the burning tree and the surrounding chaotic turmoil would have granted her an advantage. The dark truth of it all was that Allyson knew the longer this fight dragged on, the harder it became for her to gain the element of surprise.

A frustrated thought crossed the woman's mind. If only she'd brought her usual bow instead of what she had, perhaps she could have ended this sooner. But losing it wasn't a risk she was willing to take yet.

Allyson felt annoyance flash through her as the currents of the Force shifted abruptly and began converging around the Jedi Knight. The Corellian barely had a moment to brace herself before the wave exploded.

Everything around her shattered, flying in every direction. Rather than be thrown away, Allyson gripped tightly to the core of the tree, using the remains of the branches as cover and the aid of the Force. She dropped her Force Cloak and entirely focused on defending against the overwhelming telekinetic force.

As the blast washed over her, Allyson felt its power pour into her body. Her most valuable defense—absorbing and storing Force energy. This allowed her to channel the energy for retaliation. The moment the initial shockwave passed, she swiftly drew two explosive arrows in quick succession and fired. One arrow detonated first, while the second triggered a larger explosion aimed precisely at engulfing the retreating Thalia.

Unlike earlier, Allyson didn't hold back or remain hidden. She pushed forward, sprinting across the scorched remains of the tree. Each step accelerated her momentum until she launched herself toward Thalia. Her free hand swept forward in a vicious arc, releasing a far more sinister assault.

Dark energy burst into the arena, forming into a lethal construct of the Force. Moving as swiftly as the arrows before it, the construct shot through the explosions, aimed directly at Thalia's chest.

Allyson halted her pursuit, landing firmly on a broken branch. She stood fully visible now, no longer masking herself in shadows. The dark side radiated from her, seeping outward alongside a fresh wound from her Ava'kash Brand. From the wound, golden ichor dripped steadily from her fingertips as she drew in a deep breath.

The Emperor's Apprentice had finally accepted her role.

Is this what you had hoped for Empyrean?

Her mind asked no one in particular, but through the echo - she heard the twin voices of the Emperor and his worm...​

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