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[Carach]

"No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy."​

Her invisible form pushed the door open and was immediately hit with the sense of wrongness. It was pure, raw energetic precognition hitting her face-first, a split second before the actual assault would come and ruin her day. The woman could see the dark corridor as clear as daylight -- exaggeration, it was all light and dark gray lights illuminated by her cloak, but she saw what was crucial -- a man in armor running before her...

...and at the far-end of the corridor one lone trooper crouching down in the wait.

Cerita's hands clapped together and her concentration shifted. A bubble formed itself around her and [member="Micah Talith"] behind her, but she wasn't aware of his presence yet.

He would be aware of hers now, though. Her concentration had shifted and the cloak stopped working.

"Fierflek," The green woman cursed under her breath- then the whole place went to hell, sonic booms rushing through the corridors and sweeping away all that wasn't protected.

The armored man in front of her was hit by the greatest brunt of the attack, she could practically sense bones snapping, head punched back and body flying backwards against her own shield. But there was little Sarova could do about him.

She had more pressing matters right now.

 

[Atlas Kane]

It seemed that the Trooper was having fun with his task. He had been firing multiple rounds down the hall-way at what Praetorias assumed to be hostile forces. He was interested to see how well the Trooper would manage at holding them back, but he didn't have the time to observe. His objective was a different one, instead of holding the corridor he would be going through some of the data-interfaces that were everywhere within the large room. He approached the closest one, tapping away at the screen, preparing to connect it to a datapad. It would take a while to download the necessary information, but luckily he had multiple datapads, allowing him to start multiple download processes at the same time, and as soon as he had set up the first one, he moved on to the next terminal and began the process anew.

"Hayato, don't run too far ahead, we won't be able to see where you're going!" He could hear the voice coming from behind him. It was growing quieter with each step he took. A vast golden field of crops spanned out in front of him as he continued running along the dirt path, leaving the treeline behind him. The sun was shining brightly in the clear sky, making the crops seem like golden miniature versions of it. It was quite beautiful to behold.

"Hayato!" he could barely hear the voice by now. In the distance he could see a small building, the place he was headed for. Its red roof was unmistakable amongst the blue backdrop of the sky.

The Darth shook his head. What was that? Another trick from that blasted Jedi? Was he trying to resist in new ways, by showing him pointless memories? The Sith grumbled something under his breath as he continued to tap on the terminal, trying to keep his concentration on the here and now.

[member="Cerita Sarova"]

 

[Carach]

One of the first things you learn as an aspiring forcer was a shield or a barrier or a bubble.

Anything to get you out of a tough situation or at least offer you more options when the going gets tough. Ceri had long ago decided to specialize in alchemy and comparable derivative arts- so while she knew that some could form bubbles around others and have 'em kill themselves by crossfire... that wasn't an option for her, yet there was something else she could do.

Something she needed to do.

Back when her old Master had been working on Velocrons he had enlisted her help; TK blasts, Fear effects, things like that. It was the first one that would be helpful right around now.

The bubble collapse around her, until only a single focal point remained right in front of her. It kept absorbing the onslaught of weapon's fire drawn to it, until finally... it imploded. A barrage of telekinetic energy lashed out across the hall, it took the lights with it, the glass shards and all other material from the hall, before bursting against the sole trooper at the end of the corridor.

He got launched back through the door, before being crushed against the far-end wall... coincidentally that was right next to [member="Darth Praetorias"] and his hacking attempts.

Ceri kept on moving, this wasn't the time to lag.

 

[Atlas Kane]

A loud sound erupted from the hallway, at first dampened by the metal door, but then heard freely when the trooper was launched into the room at high speeds. The Darth casually glanced at the trooper. Multiple broken limbs, heavy internal bleeding all over his body, at least two organs ruptured. The man was dead. The Sith tapped one more time on the terminal before turning around, towards the entrance.

"Welcome. I hope you'll like it here." The Darth chuckled. "I do not appear to be able to see you however, so why don't you drop the sharade and reveal yourself?"

The Sith drew his lightsaber, activated it downwards to the side, then brought it up in front of him in the typical Makashi salute. He may not be able to see his opponent, but he knew where they were coming from.

Praetorias drew upon his emotions whilst walking closer to the hallway's entrance. His hatred, his anger and his passion all flared up as he called on the Dark Side and once he was only metres away from the entrance of the hallway, he extended his hand towards it. "Enjoy." He said before unleashing a torrent of lightning towards the hallway.

He had finally arrived at the building. It was a wooden building; Each wall was decorated with ornate engravings, made even more beautiful with various vibrant colours. The young kid always loved staring at the engravings. He walked around the building, to the other side where the entrance was. There was no door that had to be opened, only a large gap in the wooden wall that one could walk through to get inside. Hayato had always enjoyed that about the building; The lack of a door had always made it quite welcoming and inviting, free for anyone to enter as they willed.

[member="Cerita Sarova"]

 

[Carach]

The Kelsieri Echani were not unlike their brethren of Eshan when it came to fighting.

Close-quarters, speed over strength and an increased focus on battlefield awareness. After all, you couldn't very well defeat your direct opponent, if you suddenly got clubbed over your head by someone you didn't see coming. Ceri moved, and she moved fast, yet Praetorias had the advantage of not having to run through an entire corridor.

Just a few steps.

She almost got to the end when the tall abomination appeared before the entrance.

Instincts took over. She dropped to the floor and the lightning scorched a way past her, burning a slight streak through her cloak and that's when it happened. Darkside corruption interfered with the harmonic alchemical aura... netto result? Suddenly [member="Darth Praetorias"] would see a very visible green-skinned woman maybe two meters away from him.

Contrary to the Darth, Ceri didn't have much in the way of offensive arsenal... courtesy of studying mostly alchemy and adjunct disciplines like art of the small.

But what she could do, she did quite well. She didn't talk, didn't try to reason or exchange blowing quips with the Sith, her training had told her exactly what to do in a situation such as this one- eliminate the threat and only then bloviate. Her presence in the force shrunk to a needle point, concentration entirely focused on the area around the Sith's head.

Then Ceri shifted the molecules making up the air directly in front of him.

One second passed and then suddenly instead of a hybrid mix of oxygen, nitrogen and others, there would be airborne Sith Poison around him.

Theoretically it would make him stronger... but also more stupid and prone to rage, increased aggression. No tactical or strategic sense.

 

[Atlas Kane]

"Greetings." The Sith said as the green woman came into view. The Lightning was missing, but only by a slim margin a simple adjustment in angle would easily- He had taken a deep breath, Force Powers drained a Sith's energy quickly, so he was using them to keep his oxygen intake high so as to avoid physical fatigue. But that last breath, something was different about it. The Sith drew back his hand and turned away from the hallway, walking a few metres away whilst coughing. He could feel some kind of agent taking effect within him.

It was slow at first, but noticeable. The Sith had been trying to think of what kind of poison had a similar smell and taste to it, but his train of thought was cut short by a single thought. Kill. He had to kill that person. There was no other course of action.

He turned back towards the hallway, Lightsabre ready. "You believe you can poison me? Ha, don't make me laugh. Now come, meet your doom at the blade of my Lightsabre."

The young kid sat down, clasped his hands into one another and held them in front of his stomach. He tried to slow down his breathing, empty his thoughts. It was his attempt at meditation, but the young one was full of energy and couldn't well sit still and not think. He was excited about this day, it wasn't often that he and his parents came out here, yet every time was better than the last. The previous time they were here his father had taught him how to lift things using "The Force". He still wasn't sure what exactly it was or how it worked, he only knew what his father told him about an energy created by all living beings, but hoped to understand it better one day. Perhaps today?

The Sith shook his head again, resting a hand on his forehead. "You! Why are you doing this? I must concentrate on killing this annoyance!" He called out, not to his opponent, but to the other Spirit occupying his body.

[member="Cerita Sarova"]

 

[Carach]

Makashi, and by the looks of it a Master.

This would be difficult.

She had never been much of a lightsaber user, yet, the alchemist had tried to at least have a passing experience with it. Many forms were studied in theory, analyzing their weaknesses, underlining their strengths and possibilities, until only one form truly remained.

Niman. It was called the Diplomat's form, the Way of the Rancor or the moderation form and it was perfect for someone who wasn't interested in mastering every single form out there. Easy to learn and using the Force to push your opponent off his balance, it mostly relied on the user's intuition.

And Cerita had that in spades. Her form blurred as she pushed herself off the cold durasteel floor, her lightsaber sprining to her hand and igniting- she saw the moment and took it immediately. [member="Darth Praetorias"] seemed distracted, it was the fog moving over his eyes as he looked into his memories, and Ceri acted. Her free hand pushed up; it created a forceful nudge of telekinetic interference across the Darth's legs.

Then, if and when he was stumbling, the lightsaber would trail behind the alchemist's body moving up. It would slash at the knee of the leg closest to her.

 

[Atlas Kane]

The Jedi would pay for this once Praetorias was done with his foe. The Jedi had already tried multiple forms of resistance, locking himself away from the Sith completely, trying to wrestle control of the body away from him completely or merely partially, and attempting goad the Darth into doing foolish things that would have gotten him killed, but this new way was simply revolting. The Sith did not care for some useless memories, they were merely distracting and that was the last thing he needed during a battle.

He felt one of his legs slip to its side, yet quick to react, Praetorias found a new balance by shifting his other leg accordingly. Now in a lowered stance, but with his guard still intact, he parried the blade of his attacked and made a quick counter attack using a quick stabbing move as he adjusted his stance once more to go back to the traditional Makashi guard stance.

His parents arrived at the temple after he had waited a few minutes. "Hayato, we were worried about you." His mother said. "But mom, you know I can take care of myself, dad has been teaching me how to fight with a sword!" the young kid said as he stood back up and turned towards his parents. His father let out a warm laugh. "He's right. He's been making a lot of progress. Our little Hayato is going to be a great swordsman one day, I don't doubt it. But we aren't here to discuss the future, we are here for our picnic and to pay our respects to our ancestors." Hayato's father said as he walked into the building, kneeling down in front of the small statue of a Jedi located at the wall opposite to the entrance. Hayato and his mother joined him in silent contemplation.

The Sith's thoughts were getting more and more chaotic. If this kept up he would lose all self control, something that does not bode well with a practitioner of the second form of Lightsaber combat, that relied heavily upon self control and precision.

[member="Cerita Sarova"]