Round 1: I don’t even think the spiders gather here now… (Tmoxin Temi vs Darth Callidus)

[Darth Timoris]

Think of spice mines and you think of Kessel. The one under scrutinty was abandoned at the time of the Galactic Empire. Famous for being the location of the Conclave where the foolish Jedi thought they’d lure the Sith into the open.

Suckers!

This old mine was exhausted and abandoned, along with a lot of the equipment. And if the combatants were lucky, the spice spiders too will have left – but it would not be wise to linger just in case.

So there you have it. A largely rectangular cavern with self-illuminated panels affixed to the walls. There was one very old mining crane present and numerous repulsorlift mining carts – many still containing rock and ore.

On the plus side, the oxygen processor was still working and most of the derelict equipment was broadly intact.

There were also two cells presently in the mine. Brought in especially for the event, one housed [member="Tmoxin Temi"] and the other [member="Darth Callidus"]. They afforded neither combatant much room to move and the bars of the cage were durasteel and unforgiving. The aim of the fighters, as briefed, was simple. Defeat the other. Not that they currently had line of sight of course.

Oh, and of course the cells were locked. Of course they would be, it had to be a challenge after all. So both were currently locked in. And then a claxon sounded.

Let the fun begin.

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Although there were some in the galaxy who would be very pleased to see The Blood Monarch in a cage, Tmoxin Temi was not one of these individuals. This prison cell was quite an uncivilized departure from what the Hapan Dark Jedi was normally used to in terms of luxury accommodations, and this barbaric treatment of its Knights was why she had strayed so far from the Sith in the first place. But she needed to further advance in her skills and right now, languished at the Obsidian Order with no Master to spur her along.

Tmoxin wasn’t a fan of those confining Sith robes either, so she dressed in her own tailor-made black cloak-dress which flared out at the knee and had a vaguely Imperial design in the shoulders and arms. High, flat leather boots would adorn her pale legs. Only a small sliver of knee between the hem of her skirt and the top of her boots would be the only exposed flesh, along with her neck and face. She wore black, leather gloves on her hands.

The Kessel mine was dusty, gloomy and oppressive. However, Tmoxin did not suffer the normal poor-night vision that was a hallmark of the Hapan race. Corrective surgery performed at the hand of her brother when she was younger took care of that liability. She would be able to see as well as any human in the dark. The Dark Jedi Knight waited patiently in her cage for the tournament to begin and only greeted her opponent, [member="Darth Callidus"], with a defiant tilt of her chin. She studied the Zabrak’s jaundiced eyes with her brown ones, but her face remained as emotionless as stone.

Tmoxin wielded her crimson lightsaber and had a vibrodagger sheathed in a belt at her hip. When the klaxon sounded, the Hapan ex-officer quickly ignited her blade and slashed through the bars of the cage, the durasteel giving way easily to the laser weapon. Wanting to save her concentration and stamina, she sawed through exactly what was needed to emerge, holding onto the bars and twisting her body so she slithered out of the tight enclosure. She then slowly made her way towards the cage of the Zabrak, calculating the distance to her foe, and scanning the mines for any objects that may assist in her attack.

 

[Darth Atrox]

Mala's eyes were veiled by his black eyelids as he stood motionless in his cage, a light and non-restricting battle garments, with no armour as the regulations for the duel had specified. As the claxon sounded, the Zabrak Sith opened his eyes slowly, meeting his enemies own brown eyes with his burning red ones. Making no movement to his waist to grasp his two lightsabers, the Knight instead reached out his hand, in a Force Choke, his second reaching out to a dozen loose rocks on the far left of the mine, flinging them at the Dark Jedi.

Releasing his steel-like grip, Kulan sliced open the bars on his cage with his two scarlet blades, stepping out quietly.

"Your mind is slow and lazy." ​

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Darth Atrox snarled, twirling his shoto-blade, eyes alert. His mind was clear and crisp, sensing the objects in the dark space. Go on. Do it. he snarled in his mind, eyes narrowing, studying every minute movement, however insignificant it may seem to the untrained eye - everything happens for a reason.

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Tmoxin deflected the rocks with her lightsaber, similar to how she would have deflected blaster bolts - with choppy defensive strokes of her blade. A few stray rocks slipped past to bounce of her torso, but she was able to keep her head and chest relatively free from the sharp chunks of dirt. The Force Choke would be a more difficult to break. It felt as if his wiry, muscular hands were clasped around her throat, even though he was meters away. She summoned up all of her rage and disgust at this intrusion on her sensitive windpipe, and sputtering for oxygen, reached out to [member="Darth Callidus"]'s mind.

Mind control was something that she had studied at length with Master Wraith at the Tenebras Academy. Some would say that, even without her application of the Force to a sentient mind, Tmoxin was quite persuasive and could easily coerce friends, colleagues, lovers and enemies alike to do her bidding. This time it would be no different.

With an open mouth, grimacing and gasping for breath, still affected by the pressure on her trachea, the Hapan Dark Jedi directed her thoughts to the Zabrak's. He would hear her voice directly in his mind, responding to his own telepathy:

Your mind is slow and lazy.

I agree. I'm a slow-witted being, and there's no need to choke me. Do not waste your energy on my weak mind.

Like a siren's song, her voice would become soft and potent, diffusing over his brain, attempting to disarm and coerce him with its subtle enchanting quality. Darth Callidus would now hear Tmoxin's voice whispering directly into his ear, vibrating gently against his ear drum, her tone steeped in temptation and desire.

You will release your grip from my neck. I want to feel your power, but not in this way.

Stop choking and let me in.

As Tmoxin said the word "in," the Sith Knight would feel his face flush and grow hot as if he had a high fever. She continued attempting to weaken his mind with an illusion that would make it feel as though his brain was literally boiling in his skull.

 

[Darth Atrox]

The grip on her throat wavered slightly as his power was re-directed to his burning pain in his head. Let's unlock your secrets... he snarled to her as she was invading his mind. Suddenly, it felt as if his very head was melting. A searing pain burst through his body, seeping down through his spine and into every single bone, muscle and cartilage in his body. His teeth clenched, his grip on her throat relaxing finally, all power headed toward his head, soothing the pain like cold water on a burn. The Nightsisters of Dathomir had subjected the Nightbrother to similar tortures on his homeworld, and taught him the subtle art of telekinesis.​

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"Try harder, I see you are an anti-alien idealist? Pity, for once you'll have to learn what it is like to lose, spoiled brat."​

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The Zabrak then again raised his hands and released a powerful Force Push on his opponent, sending her sprawling backwards, reaching a hand up onto his head, shaking it a few times, blinking the pain away from his eyes and shaking it out of his limbs.​

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Unfortunately he'd been through this mind progress when he was younger. He knew the drill.​

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[member="Tmoxin Temi"]​

 

[Tmoxin Temi]

Instinctively, Tmoxin sharply inhaled when [member="Darth Callidus"] loosened his grip on her throat. When she recovered, taking a few steps back, she could hear him goading her on in her own head, wanting to unlock her secrets. She couldn’t tell if it was a threat or more of an aspiration stemming from her coercion of his mind.

No distractions now, she thought. You have him, Tmoxin. And to underline that thought, the Zabrak’s Force Choke relaxed completely.

As he tried to further insult her, she finally sent him back another message:

Oh you want to know a secret? Then I will tell you...

I always get what I want.

And suddenly the Hapan's formerly soft voice would rise and become shrill and incredibly loud, penetrating into his burning brain:

And I NEVER EVER LOSE!!!

But suddenly, she was off of her feet and flying backwards from his Force push. Her back hit the metal prison she had emerged from, and she cried out in visible pain. Scrambling up, she winced, and for a fraction of a second, could not move. But Tmoxin then concentrated on the Force, and through telekinesis and with one hand outstretched, she yanked his own metal cage from its anchor and pulled it up to hover in the air. The Dark Jedi then hurled it in an arc at Darth Callidus attempting to trap him between the metal bars and the dirt ground under his feet. If the attack was successful it would serve to injure him with the impact of the immense projectile, but also pin him down, so Tmoxin could freely inflict more damage upon him.

 

[Darth Atrox]

A booming laugh echoed around the dimly lit area, and the Sith Knight slowly walked up to his victim with a gentle thud, thud, thud. For the first time in this battle, the Sith Knight spoke, his voice filling the cave with malice.

"You hold yourself in such high esteem, Tmoxin. You-"​

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The Zabrak's sentence was cut short suddenly by the huge metal cage flying towards him. In a slightly rushed attempt to leap out of the way, the Zabrak's hands splayed forwards as he landed, mere inches away from the cage's landing point, face slightly smashed, the Sith attempted to stand, only to find his boot trapped underneath the bars. His left hand and shoto-blade were set to work freeing it, as he kept an eye on Tmoxin.

"Fool! I think we shall halt our petty Force Tricks, and duel with our sabers."​

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Fortunately, at that moment Kulan's foot was freed, and he stood, concentrating the Force on his ankle, holding the bones that had broken in place.

[member="Tmoxin Temi"]​