Showdown

[Syd Celsius]

Wearing: 451 Suit

Armed with: Wind and Fire Wheels (Twin blue bladed lightsabers)


Flying: Scorched Earth (Modified Star Courier) (https://starwarsrp.net/topic/136853-scorched-earth/#entry1868997)

The Fringes of SJO space could get remarkably lonely sometimes.

Syd welcomed this...sometimes.

Though she was terrible at socializing, nearly four centuries trapped in a rock had taught her being around others was a necessity, if only for the sake of maintaining one's sanity. But she still found herself occasionally wanting solitude...especially in light of recent revelations.

How does it feel? she imagined the First Sith she had ever killed would ask. How does it feel, living in a future where the one thing you can truly say is your own is the weight of all your bloody crimes as a Sith? A Sith barely anyone even remembers, let alone saw?

Syd regretted the musing. She was glad she wasn't that beast any longer. As Syd privately investigated more and more of that monster's crimes the more she realized had she run into the old her, Syd would have killed her without blinking. Syd might have even been actually slow about killing the old her, whose death she remembered clearly now, enough to know the Sith she had been deserved to get torn apart by magic. The pain had been agonizing. Madness inducing. Fitting.

Syd had been examining the shelves of small baubles and trinkets she had collected as time passed. (She had a fascination for shiny coins in particular.) She had collected, organized them, even though there was no need. It was the closest this heavily armed Star Courier could get to feeling like a home. Most times it was but a killing tool--

The ships alchemized sensors picked up a faint unreliable blip as she toyed with an ancient Nabooan coin as she went alert, adjusting the sensors carefully.

There. A ship trying to stay quiet. Syd engaged her WhisperThrust, but her nature as the Geist likely gave off a strong Force presence regardless. She had not been expecting anyone out her but ever since Ingo, she had been trying to discover the smuggling routes to The Sith Empire and plug them up.

Her ship's main weapons had three times the range of a ship this size so if worse came to worse she felt pretty good about her ranged options. And if it came to a dog fight, her armor could take a beating. The ship wasn't called The Scorched Earth for nothing.

She approached the other ship carefully, trying to get a feel for the danger as she got closer...

[member="Curtis Learchin"]

 

[Curtis Learchin]

Curtis was not pleased with his current situation.

He was being forced to travel through Silver Jedi territory, on his way to meet back up with [member="Loreena Arenais"]. He'd told her that he'd be back soon, and that's why he was cutting through such dangerous space. Mind you , it was only dangerous because he was a Sith.

He'd exited hyperspace on the fringe of SJO space, trying to mask his presence and get through the system with relative ease. That was one thing the Sith-Imperial Courier had going for it, it was a speedy little ship. But speed didn't mean unseen, and evidently he wasn't alone. He'd felt the presence as soon as he'd begun to move through space, a strong force connection that seemed somewhat unnatural. Luckily he'd brought his lightsaber with him instead of his staff, he had a feeling he'd need it soon enough.

The enemy ship couldn't have been too much smaller than his own, but small didn't mean easy. If possible he wanted to avoid conflict, but nevertheless he begun reading his weapons. The two laser cannons on the port and starboard wings offered a light amount of offensive power, so he'd be relying on speed if anything.

But for now, he pushed forward, intent on avoiding a confrontation in such a place.

[member="Syd Celsius"]

 

[Syd Celsius]

She sensed someone dark aboard. Programming said kill. Syd, though trying more and more to be human and less like something created only to kill...a description that accurately portrayed both her career as a Jedi AND a Sith...there was simply no reason for this feth to be in SJO territory. His vessel was clearly Sith. Guy had drawn the short straw, her being out here at the same.

[member="Curtis Learchin"] was radiating power and the dark. He wasn't some sloppy agent. What had he come here for?

Syd turned on The Dragons breath cannons, lasers that had three times the range of other ships this size. Her ship was slower but the sheer range and firepower meant he was in for a fight.

Syd was in no mood to hail him and demand surrender. She had read about a horrific incident in which a pilot called Poe Dameron had stalled the head of a massive warship long enough to launch a devastating strike. He could give her the runaround all he liked once there was no ship to run to.

Targeting came on line, the highly accurate sensors plotting possible evasion trajectories the craft might take to avoid laser fire as the Star Courier closed in.

"Shooting Solution Imminent..." The computer announced as the reticle overlay on an image of Curtis's ship.

The Star Courier, though slower and less manuverable, sped to the enemy craft with all the purpose of a forest fire, inexorable, like destiny.

"Shooting Solution reached. Fire. Fire..."

Syd squeezed off heavy, deadly long range bolt from much farther out than should have been possible, a slow series of them, each aimed either at Curtis or thwarting an evasion route from her fire that Curtis might try. Syd targeted his engines, deciding to interrogate him first, and then...'maybe' kill him. He was trespassing, after all.

She continued firing the semi auto bolts, in her element.

 

[Curtis Learchin]

A volley of fire came screaming towards Curtis, as he pulled the ship into a backwards roll, narrowly dodging the blasts. The force had saved him that time, but he couldn't rely solely on it.

So much for sneaking, He thought as he brought the ship round to face his attacker. From the short burst he could tell that they were far more heavily equipped than he was, and now he was fighting for his life. Blitzing forward, he launched an attack of his own, sending bolts of blaster fire towards [member="Syd Celsius"] and her craft. Seconds later, he sent his ship into a downwards spiral, another set of blasts soaring behind him. The accuracy of the enemy craft was more dangerous than the craft itself.

"Jedi..." Curtis muttered, feeling rage begin to bubble under his skin. If he had the chance, he would kill her for delaying him, for keeping him from his beloved. And he would relish in the killing.

 

[Syd Celsius]

Damn! The craft rolled, and returned fire.

Syd did not bother moving the craft as the bolts hit, deciding to let the heavy armor and shields do the work, the ship shuddered a little but she had taken worse. The weapons on that thing were nothing, but it made up for it in speed...Syd's ship was more the "Absolutely-Will-Not-Stop-Until-You-Are-Dead" type not the "Oooooh-a-mouse-lets-chase-it!" type in terms of manuverability and speed.

"Shooting Solution Imminent..." The computer announced as the enemy craft of [member="Curtis Learchin"] sent a spray of bolts her way again, and this time she really was rolling out of the way to give the computer more time to lock on as she got slowly, ever so slowly, closer.

"Shooting Solution Imminent..." The computer repeated.

Syd turned on both weapons, adjusting the power systems accordingly, The secondary system, laser cannons from a Tie Interceptor heavily modified and mounted on a turret, able to one-shot small asteroids, locked onto Curtis's craft.

"Shooting Solution Reached. Fire. Fire..." The Computer warned.

A hail of red bolts from the undermounted turret, in addition to the heavier, even more deadly bolts from the main system, began spraying at Curtis's ship, trying to target his engines and possibly just rip away his shields at the same time. But he had gotten away once before, and Syd for some reason was getting more wary of how unexpectedly fast that vessel he was in could be...it was like trying to swat a fly with a hammer.

Fortunately, Syd had a pretty big hammer.

 

[Curtis Learchin]

Just as soon as Curtis had righted his craft, another flurry of shots came his way. Swerving to the right, most of the bolts flew past him. A violent shake of his ship brought the realisation to bare. Red warning lights flashed across the control panel, and the display showed that his port side engine had been hit, the bolts had torn right through his shields and hull.

"Cheap piece of junk..." Curtis cursed, he knew he couldn't win this fight, his blasts had glanced off the enemy craft as if they were nothing. But the planet below...

He brought the ship around, employing the now lessened speed of the craft to make a bolt for the planet. He had no doubt he'd be able to beat the enemy pilot in single combat, but he's have to avoid getting shot down first.

[member="Syd Celsius"]

 

[Syd Celsius]

Direct hit! He was retreating. Syd was surprised. Then she realized that whoever [member="Curtis Learchin"] was, he probably had not come prepared for fighting and was now fleeing to the planet below them. It might be a different story once he reached the ground and could put up a proper defence however. Part of her considered just finishing him off but she simply had to know what he was doing here--

The proximity warning went alive like it was a fireworks celebration.

"What!?" Syd exclaimed.

Ion cannon fire from the planet below rammed into her vessel. All instruments went dead and Syd was now in free fall, trying to get control, trying to reboot the systems before she became paste. She had survived plenty of things, but even she couldn't survive the massive explosion that would ensue if she impacted.

Syd, as the planet loomed, went past Learchin's ship in an out of control spiral, just barely starting to enter the atmosphere. She could feel the interior heat.

Finally, the console came back alive but engines were at quarter power, only one of her cannons was working, and her crafts already low manuverability was reduced to almost nil as she struggled to right the vessel.

The vessel barely managed to avoid burnup, part of the hull getting scorched unevenly as one engine failed and alarms shrieked at her. Part of the console blew out and Syd barely managed to keep to a basic course for proper re-entry.

Clouds blew past her, Syd yanked hard on the controls as the ground started to rush up. The Scorched Earth ironically lived up to its title as As Syd "safely" crashed, the ship skidding across the dirt, the blown out engine leaving a trail of fire as the ship came to a halt.

The impact would have killed an organic. Syd wasn't organic but the impact violently slammed her into the sparking console, deforming her psychic shell that made up her figure as it spread everywhere like silly puddy, one of the switches puncturing it and sending a stream of fire from the "wound" blasting the hull. Syd clamped down on it, her shell reforming to its previous state as she immediately begin a damage assessment of her craft. It might fly in an emergency. 'Might'.

Syd went to her personal chamber and stripped off her red armor, putting on the Sage Suit, a green and gold chrome skintight suit of enchanted silk. Her psychic shell rippled like water, the orange light in the back of her throat turning green. The suit would heavily suppress her presence in the Force, and rapidly repair her, making her flames burn people and things of the Dark much more intensely, making her touch, already naturally painful to Dark Adepts, even more so. The main disadvantages were her powers required much more effort to use and she could not control the flames beyond her ability to have them hone in slowly on those with the dark.

But with her ship down for the moment, Syd had to make sure she wasn't too easy for him to track down. He'd likely have problems with his own ship soon if that Ion Cannon targeted him. But Syd was trained to always try and take the advantage. The advantage in this case was remaining as difficult to detect for as long as possible.

Syd floated out of her ship, phasing through its hull with The Force and stopping still in mid-air as she beheld what was before her.

It was a desert plain of almost pure white sand, almost salt like. Probably 'was' salt, she mused.

But it was the dozens of statues, some toppled, some crumbled, some still standing, of Mandalorians. It was heavy stone they were carved of, and they were over nine stories tall. They lined a trail that seemed to lead to a vast, crumbling fortress of whitest stone in the distance. And among those statues were the remains of rusted over droids, each styled to resemble a somewhat skeletal frame with a head resembling a Mandalorian Helmet. One arm looked to be a vibrosword, the other a B2 Style blaster cannon. Syd floated over to the droid, examining it.

"Phase One Dark Trooper knockoffs?" Syd asked herself.

She looked at the statues again. She had never heard of a Mandalorian presence in this part of SJO space. And the Mandalorians certainly were not the type to build statues...

But she had bigger problems. Such as who was on that ship.

Syd stretched her senses, trying to feel for him as she landed and began the long walk to the strange place in the distance. He would likely head here as well...it was the only structure she could see.

Perhaps she would be able to ambush him...

(Holidays have had me busy, Curtis. But I finally got around to this.)

Equipped: SAGE SUIT

Spoiler

http://starwarsrp.net/topic/147821-sage-suit/

 

[Curtis Learchin]

His descent to the planet below was a rocky one, his ship shaking from the damage and the atmosphere's resistance. What surprised him more though was the ion shot that screamed past him on his way down, followed by a burning object falling alongside him. His attacker had been shot down, but not by an ally of his. It hadn't targeted him though, maybe because his ship was already too damaged to be considered a threat.

Curtis managed to bring his craft into a semi-controlled landing, though the sound of screeching metal was not a good one. In the distance he could see a plum of smoke, and a series of strange statues that resembled some sort of droid. Exiting his craft, he made sure to put it on lockdown just in case, before drawing his lightsaber. The crimson blade made him feel a bit safer on the foreign world, and he started towards the statues.

By the time he arrived at the structures, the sun had begun to set, casting long shadows across the desert. It uneased him. The wreckage of his attacker's ship lay dormant in the sand, but he kept his distance, instead reaching out with the force to try and get a bead on the missing pilot.

Syd Celsius

 

[Syd Celsius]

Syd had been examining the ruins on her journey to the ancient fort when she sensed him, angry and uncertain. He was powerful. Powerful enough to kill Syd? That remained to be seen.

Not that Syd wanted to die of course. But she was so used to crushing most Dark Adepts she came across she had begun to wonder if she had grown too comfortable.

Syd, upon sensing Curtis Learchin decided to double back through the ruins, taking advantage of how the suit she currently wore greatly reduced her presence in the Force. She kept behind large rubble, knowing the moment she stepped from cover he would likely see her green and gold chrome suit gleaming, reflecting the sun like a mirror. It was stealthy, but not 'that' stealthy.

She could feel his power. He wasn't some pushover. But what had he ventured solo into Silver Space for.

He had to be meeting someone. Someone who knew him. It was the only thing she could think of.

He also wouldn't have gone alone if he wasn't confident of his chances at victory.

Syd decided she would test his defenses first, though she was still far away as she spotted him close to her ship.

"Ashla, send a swarm of serpents for my foes..." she whispered, concentrating hard.

Her stomach bulged and warped, creating the constructs within her and her jaw extended unnaturally as she literally vomited out snakes composed of green fire. Curious. The snakes were normally reddish orange. (Never mind the fact she had vomited them.) They seem to have taken on the damaging properties of her suit. They began to slither quietly towards him while she went to a different position to observe the effects. Hopefully he would not sense them until they were literally on top of him, where they could really do some damage.

She wasn't looking to kill, just see just how much Force she would need to apply to get him to cooperate...

 

[Curtis Learchin]

The ship's wreckage crackled with an electrical twinge, giving him an uneasy feeling. The fuel cells could be bust, so they could explode. He hoped not.

He felt a strange change in the Force, as if something unnatural had been summoned. In a way, it felt similar to the feeling given off by sith spawn, but with something added to it. Looking out onto the sand, he thought he saw a slithering flame along its surface, but before he could inspect it, a sharp pain shot up his leg.

Looking down, he saw a snake-like creature with its jaw on his ankle, and with anger he activated his lightsaber, slicing through it. It was then he saw the rest. A swarm of them moving towards him. Taking a defensive stance, he began slicing left and right, a bolt of lightning escaping his fingers every so often.

Whatever or whoever he was fighting, they weren't natural.

Syd Celsius

 

[Syd Celsius]

Damage! Syd studied the injury he received, getting an idea of what kind of punishment he could take. He wasn't incapacitated...he was fighting back. He could feel pain too. Unlike some Sith, who you could wail on repeatedly and they would just smile and keep fighting.

The Flame Geist decided to at last reveal herself, floating into the sky overhead, her green and gold chrome suit gleam, eyes glowing fiery green. She watched his lightning discharges, prepared to counter the attacks of Curtis Learchin .

"Not the wisest thing, a lone Sith sneaking into the fringes of SJO territory..." Syd said landing thirty meters away.

"We can do this the easy way, where you hand me your sword so I don't have to make a mess...or we can do it the typical way, where you burn." Syd warned, blue sabers flashing on. "Pick."

 

[Curtis Learchin]

Whatever the summoner was, she was not human. The way she floated and the fiery eyes gave that much away, but they also displayed power. She would've made an excellent Sith.

"I have no want to fight, Jedi, just trying to get home" Curtis shouted back, still gripping his weapon. He was no fool, he would not surrender his weapon while her's were still drawn. A final snake slithered towards him, and Curtis sliced through it with a delicate spin, showing off his saber in its full glory. It was both in defence of the attack, and a warning for whoever would strike at him next.

Syd Celsius

 

[Syd Celsius]

"Hmm...a staff. You any good with that staff, Sith?" Syd questioned, stepping closer. It was clearly a work of fine craftsmanship and patience.

She spun her blades as she got closer, not quite within striking distance.

"Last chance. Throw down your weapon and tell me what you were doing in SJO space, and you will not be harmed." Syd told him.

Her magical programming said for her to kill him. Syd consciously resisted it as she had been trying to for months. She genuinely wanted to say she had provided every opportunity to end it peacefully.

This was serious in Syd's eyes. That smuggling network apparently had ingress routes throughout the whole of SJO territory. If a full on Sith could get past the patrols as casually as Curtis Learchin had, then the problem was even more severe than she thought.

Curtis would tell her what she wanted to know, one way or another...


Meanwhile...


Far from where Curtis and Syd were soon to go full Wolverine versus Sabertooth, the ancient computers that had disabled both their craft begin to stir.

The signal went out, and if the 40K Necron vibes weren't overwhelming enough (and they were, most assuredly, quite overwhelming) ancient droid brains began to stir under the dusts of the world.

But it would be at least fifteen minutes before the danger would be great enough to sense with the Force. This was plenty of time to waste the studio budget on copious amounts of SFX for Syd and Curtis to try and kill one another.

Syd waited for Curtis to attack, or to answer.

Annnnnnd action!

 

[Curtis Learchin]

"I'll keep my weapon, thank you" Curtis replied, his voice taking a more serious tone than it had before. He kept his defensive stance as he stepped forward in time with Syd Celsius ' steps. He could sense her more clearly now, and she really was different. Almost... unnatural, a deep-seated anger bubbling just below the surface of her skin.

"We really don't have to fight, Jedi. I'll happily go on my way" Curtis spoke confidently, almost as if he was giving a command rather than making a request. He knew full well that he wouldn't be leaving here without a fight, but he would try if it meant getting back to Lori sooner.

 

[Syd Celsius]

"Oh yes. Yes we do." Syd replied curtly, sprinting for him with both blades. She spun them deftly, slightly in front of her to try and ward off counter attacks until she was in range.

She whipped both blades at the shaft of his weapon, trying to attack it repeatedly with a flurry of slashes. Even if it didn't eventually cut his weapon in half she hoped to cause the surface on parts of it to become superheated, which might make it more difficult to grasp. It was a probing attack, to test if he was aggressive or passive as a fighter, dreading the possibility he used the blade like a spear. Spears always messed with her a little. It was frustrating.

Why?

Because though she had no word for the defensive technique in character, subconsciously and out of character she knew you can't Mikiri Counter a Lightsaber. You'll just burn your foot. You can parry though, but even then your posture could be broken if the guage got full.