Sorry For The Wait... (Mikhail Shorn)

[Tathra Khaeus]

So, damaged songsteel armour and what feels like a dodgy lightsaber. Need some credits, need credits quick. Go to an abandoned camp site that could possibly hold a sith holocron and sell it for credits? Why not, what could go wrong?
Oh yeah, you could run into this guy.
[member="Mikhail Shorn"]

Astrian treded carefully, the forest area was thick with smoke. However there was a strange clearing near a camp site, as if some power held back the darkness. Astrian assumed this would be the source of the dark side energy, he assumed he would find the holocron here. But, somewhere in the back of his mind he assumed others may have come for the holocron as well. In his current state, he was entirely sure if he could handle much either way. But, as long as it wasn't a master of the darkside or anything along those lines. He would likely be able to deal with it, well at least he hoped. He came into the clearing, his eyes scanning the area. "Seems good enough."

 

[Lord Ghoul]

There was another option that perhaps Astrian did not consider. What if the only thing holding back the darkness was a greater evil?

The campsite was empty. Smoke rose from burning tents and was swept into the surrounding forest by a light breeze that left the clearing relatively empty. Empty of smoke, that is. Not the charred remains of tents, nor the dozen or so corpses that littered the grounds. The remains were mostly human and they were all armed. Or had been. Some were missing heads, while some were killed by horrendous, gaping wounds in their chests. As if a large caliber bullet had torn through them, nearly ripping them in half. Others were ripped in half, bodies pulled apart by hideous might. Their blood still wet the soil. Mangled remains - those that still had eyes to look with - stared up into the sky.

From within the pillars of smoke strode a figure armored all in black edged in gold. Upon his head he wore a helm that almost resembled a crown. His features were hidden behind the visor, but his power rippled outward in the Force. Blue eyes as cold as Hoth looked upon [member="Astrian Callus"]. Mikhail Shorn, the Thronebreaker, Bane of Coruscant, Champion of the Cauldron, let the smoke writhe around him. He stretched out a hand suddenly and grabbed the smoke. At once, a spear of midnight black formed in his hands. The ethereal weapon hummed with energy, fashioned from the essence of the Dark Side itself.

Shorn smirked, cruelly. He wore leviathan bracers beneath his armor. At his belt were pouches of phrik ball bearings and in a sheath at the small of his back was his beskar knife, infused with devaronian blood-poison. He did not need any of these. Nor did he need the Darkshear. Such a weapon was usually invisible. Mikhail wished it otherwise. He enjoyed theatrics on occasion.

The Sith Lord came here to find a holocron. A favor for one of the Heralds, as they were now calling themselves. It seemed others had heard of it as well. He didn't know who owned the campsite. Some expedition or other. It didn't matter. He had slaughtered them like animals. For that was what all humans were, at the base of it. Animals. It seemed one more beast stood in his way.

"Boo."

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian stopped in his tracks, the 8 foot tall man stood clad in damaged songsteel plate. He studied the scene before him, fire and blood. What did this to them? He wondered, taking his saber from his belt as a precaution. Astrian eyes dared to look up, something on the edge of his vision made itself apparent. Black with golden highlights stood against the tide of ferocious dark side energy, manipulating and producing it himself. It had seemed Astrian had come upon a sith, master of the darkside. Exactly what he had wished not to see. Out of all his days, this blasted sith couldn't have chosen a better one.

Astrian, regardless took footing and ignited his blade; taking it into a Djem So stance. Astrians eyes linked with whatever lay behind the devilish creature that stood before him's helmet. He wasn't even sure he was a human, he wasn't even sure if he was an entity or a spirit. Astrian had no idea what he was dealing with, he needed to be cautious. But then he or it, spoke. -Boo- Clearly, some form of taunt to express just how serious the entity considered the threat of Astrian, an attempt to undermine his no doubt. Astrian did not reply, or expressively react. He simply readied his body to move, to move fast.

[member="Mikhail Shorn"]

 

[Lord Ghoul]

Fingers curled around the ethereal spear of midnight black, gripping it tight. Behind the helm, Mikhail smiled. Those who fought with sabers were often intimidated by the sight of enormously tall individuals. Standing just 6'1", Shorn gave exactly 0 karks about the gargantuan height of his opponent. His main weapon was not a lightsaber. Nor even the spear in his hand. His main weapon was the Force itself.

Still smirking, Shorn drew back an arm and hurled the Dark Side spear toward [member="Astrian Callus"], hoping to impale him with the otherworldly weapon. The ethereal shaft could not be blocked by lightsaber or physical weapon. Only the Force would do. In truth, though, the spear was merely a distraction from Mikhail's true attack.

With embers floating on the smoke which curled around his armored figure, Mikhail Shorn didn't exactly look like a goody two shoes. Shorn stretched out his other hand as he threw the spear, fingers curling inward like claws as he wrapped his telekinetic willpower around the ridiculously tall man. Force Aura, something every Force sensitive had, prevented him from doing something like crushing the man's throat immediately or stopping his heart with a squish of telekinesis, but what he could do was squeeze extremely hard. So hard that Astrian would feel as though a giant had wrapped a hand around him. His arms would be unable to move, locked to his sides. Pinned.

Mikhail did not know who this man was, but he didn't really care. What the man was was in his way. Time to fix that.

With the aphotic flow of the Dark Side roaring through him, Shorn raised his fist upward, then brought it down in a jerking motion as he attempted to lift the man into the air, then bring him back down into the ground with enough kinetic energy to snap bones like dried twigs. This was how he had broken Jared Ovmar's legs before killing him. This was how he had shattered Triam Akovin. And it was how he usually dealt with situations. Telekinetic body-slam.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian charged forth towards the sith before him. He believed he had met this man before, yes. At ossus, the one with those strange grenades. Astrian ran forward with his red blade in hand, slashing at the ethereal spear with his blade. Only then to realise he could not harm it, his naivety of such things cost him a bad start to an already unfortunate collision. He used the force and his augmented strength to keep going and narrowly dodge the spear as it cut through his the side of his chest and down to his waist, the blade cut deep and dented the songsteel. Through gritted teeth he continued the charge towards his opponent, then the man reached out in the force. Grabbing Astrian within his elemental grasp, it was like walls were closing in on you. It became harder and harder to move with every motion, but his augmented strength allowed his muscles to push on. He was slowing, but he was still getting closer to the sith ahead of him. If he just reached him, he would rip him apart. But, just as his saber came near to range of the sith. His body was levitated, pulled up into the air in a jerking motion. Astrian had heard about his power, force crush. He only had a few seconds before his body would plummet down to the ground and his bones would likely crack. But not be broken, his augmented form gave him that assurance. However, he would prefer to avoid that entirely. Applying as much opposing force energy as he could as he came plummeting down to the ground. He was sent crashing down arms fist with his body brought up into a near foetal position, and as the energies collided, he bounced and rolled to the side. His body still slamming hard to the ground but the armour and force collision took in most of the impact. Rolling to the side into a crouched position, Astrian held up his saber defensively and unleashed a powerful blast of force lightning towards his enemy from his outstretched right hand, and with that as it reached his enemy he leaped towards him with force speed. A blur of motion moving quickly towards [member="Mikhail Shorn"].

 

[Lord Ghoul]

Dark satisfaction rolled through Mikhail as the eight foot tall behemoth hit the ground with a crunch of metal and bone. Shorn remained where he stood, mischievous blue eyes watching as the armored man got back to his feet. His foe raised a hand and tendrils of lightning leapt forth. Their crackling web of electrocution threatened to ensnare Mikhail, but he raised a hand and caught the lightning with his closed fist. He wore AEL Leviathan Bracers. They had alchemized metal built into the knuckles that would attract lightning to it the same way a Sith Sword did. It would also store it like a capacitor.

[member="Astrian Callus"] moved toward Mikhail with a blinding swiftness. The man was faster, taller, and stronger than Mikhail. Physically. Next to the power of the Force he was nothing, barely registering on the power scale. Mikhail knelt and slammed his fist into the ground, unleashing the lightning from his bracers, but also hurling outward a wave of the Force. The storm of lightning and telekinesis rippled outward from Shorn in a semi-circle. If the lightning didn't fry Astrian, the Force push hurled from the man who had brought down the Senate Building would probably fling him into low orbit.

"You should have stayed on the ground."

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

The lightning caught Astrian, causing his muscles and body to jerk in pain before being flung back as he once again came close to his opponent. Astrian was flung high into the air, his saber sent flying off in some random direction and in moments Astrian mind was working to keep him stable, he registered the situation and brought his body out into a flat surface. Empowering his body with a shield like essence to ready himself for impact, he began to fall. The tree's below him beckoning him forth. -Oh, this is gonna hurt!- He thought to himself, his mind would mostly calm and collected as his fingers felt the leaves of tree's bash against them, and then his stomach, chest and the armour hit him. "Ugh...!" He exclaimed, a thick branch caught his fall in his chest. Blood escaped from his mouth as the branch gradually snapped under his weight and he plummeted to the ground with a heavy thud.

Dazed, bleeding and hurting quite badly. Astrian threw the massive branch aside, sitting up he grunted as he felt his arm dislocated. "Ugh.." He grumbled, he didn't know where in the forest he was. But he still had a locator for his ship, so he could return to it. He pushed his arm back into its socket with a muttered curse. "Blasted forcies." He said, taking to his feet and wiping the blood from his mouth. Everything hurt, especially the broken rib. But, he could get back to his ship. As long as the locator wasn't broken. "Kark that guy..."

[member="Mikhail Shorn"]

 

[Lord Ghoul]

Pale blue eyes noted the trajectory of the monstrous man's fall. Mikhail blinked once, then gathered energy into him and bunched up the muscles in his legs. He pushed off from the ground with a tremendous whoosh, leaping clear of the treeline and high, high into the sky. Other beings utilized the Force to physically enhance their sinews to make such a jump. Mikhail merely used telekinesis to accelerate his body, flinging himself through the air just as surely as he had flung [member="Astrian Callus"].

Senses stretched out, Shorn detected the man's presence below. A vibrant energy in the Force. Mikhail came crashing through the forest canopy like a comet. Telekinetic energy rippled out from him, tearing apart anything in his path. He slammed violently into the earth, crushing grass beneath his armored heels and bending his knees to absorb the fall, then the Thronebreaker rose to his full height. Shorter than Astrian by far, but somehow the relative height between the two no longer seemed to matter.

Mikhail raised a hand, fingers curled. "Leaving so soon?" He tsked and then wrapped his telekinetic will around Astrian's fleeing form and attempted to fling the man into the stout trunk of a nearby oak hard enough to break a great many somethings.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian wasn't able to defend himself as he was thrown like a rag doll into a tree, his body slammed into the trunk and his collar bone snapped violently. "Ooof..!" He dropped to the ground, blood dripping from his mouth. Anger shot up at mikhail shorn like a dagger, his eyes on him. Astrian was boiling inside, throwing a powerful force push towards [member="Mikhail Shorn"]. "Take the holocron and leave!" Astrian roared, pushing up to his feet and using both of his clenched fists. His body was in pain, he was in a fit of rage. Mikhail shorn would taste his anger before this was over.

 

[Lord Ghoul]

Another sickening crunch and another trickle of dark satisfaction from Mikhail. Beneath his helmet, he smiled wolfishly. A wave of the Force surged from [member="Astrian Callus"]' palm and came straight for Shorn. The Thronebreaker raised his palm and unleashed his own telekinetic shockwave. The two waves collided in a rippling that sent Mikhail backward a step, but his own prowess over this particular area of the Force surpassed knights and most masters. Few could contend with him in his premier power.

"I will," came the muffled reply. A high, cold voice that dripped with spite.

Mikhail wrapped his telekinetic will around Astrian once more. This time he didn't try to body slam the man, he simply squeezed with everything he had in him in an unparalleled Force Crush that would put the giant man on his knees. Shorn continued tightening his grip. If he pushed a little further he sensed he would be able to splinter bone. He had done this once to Darren Shaw when only a knight. That was a long time ago. For someone who could now rip bridge towers off of Star Destroyers a little thing like crushing a knight's bones was simplistic.

"Kneel," Mikhail commanded.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian had thrown Mikhail shorn off but only temporarily, in that small space of time. Astrian was building his mental and physical barriers as he sensed the oncoming onslaught. Mikhail shorn was the most powerful telekenisis user he had come across. But, Astrian was no novice, reaching out with the force and ripping a tree from its roots as Mikhail remained distracted by bringing Astrian to his knee's. The massive mans body was augmented, but even then it began to fail him as he launched the large oak tree at the Sith at lightning speed. Astrian fell to one knee as the tree came mere inches away from the Sith himself. Astrian dropping one hand down to balance himself. His yellow eyes shot up at Mikhail shorn with sickening rage.


[member="Mikhail Shorn"]

 

[Lord Ghoul]

One did not simply overlook a flying tree trunk headed straight for you. Mikhail's pale blue eyes widened beneath the mask, then he loosed a vicious, wordless snarl. The palm of Shorn's hand flattened and he released the giant from the Force Crush, then he unleashed a rippling wave of Force Push that made [member="Astrian Callus"]' previous attempt pale in comparison. A tremendous crack split the air and the tree trunk split apart beneath the blast of telekinesis. Wood splinters sprayed through the air. Several slammed into Shorn, driving him backward. He narrowed his eyes and loosed a sneer of impatience. Enough of this.

"Maybe you didn't hear."

Mikhail's palm turned upward and the hundreds of splinters from the fallen tree trunk levitated into the air. "I said kneel."

Then Shorn gestured as if casually throwing something and the hundred splinters, some the size of Shorn's arm, hurtled toward Astrian. The splinters were accelerated to hurricane speeds. It was said that a hurricane could put a piece of straw five inches into a tree trunk. Likewise, Shorn's bits of shredded bark would easily pierce flesh. They would not be able to cut through the songsteel, but the kinetic energy of the impact would be enough to break bones and burst the organs beneath the armor.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian could do nothing in the situation he was in, other than the fact that Mikhail shorn had released his grip on Astrian and was busy throwing wood at him. He was dangerously close to Astrian, and the larger man's physique was impressive, as in going toe to toe with a terentatek and winning impressive. As the splinters came at him, he used his reserves of force energy to launch into a movement of force speed that caused the ground to break under his heavy, lightning fast feet. He leaped into and through the wood splinters at such a velocity that he was almost certain he would catch the Throne Breaker off guard and possibly get him down and in Astrians grip, where he could pummel on him. He would enjoy that very much, he could feel the smugness running off of the Throne Breaker. He wanted to crush in his skull and make an example of him, but he had yet to see how the sith would react to his last ditch effort attack.

Either way he'd never kneel to anyone, never again.

[member="Mikhail Shorn"]

 

[Lord Ghoul]

The giant of a man leaped straight through the splinters, coming toward Mikhail impossibly fast. Shorn's pale blue eyes widened, but the counter strike was immediate and decisive. As the tips of [member="Astrian Callus"]' fingers reached out to grab the Thronebreaker, Mikhail replied with excessive force. Splinters all around suddenly dropped as the Thronebreaker relinquished his hold over them. The tips of the giant's fingers scraped along the sides of Mikhail's helmet. Shorn was under no delusions of what would happen should the man manage to get his hands around Mikhail's head, helmet or no.

Mikhail pushed both of his palms outward and unleashed the equivalent of a telekinetic bomb blast. There was no focus required for this, no real concentration. It was raw, kinetic energy in the Force that simply rippled outward from Shorn's hands with enough energy to hurl Astrian twice as far as he had the first time. As he did it Mikhail loosed another soundless snarl and poured all of his cimmerian strength into an unadulterated Force Push that would send a tank flying. Nearby trees bowed over as if windswept by a class five hurricane.

"Congratulations, you touched a Sith Lord."

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Astrian was swung up into the air as his fingers scraped the sith lords helmet. Then, as he reached the sky he was flung forward by the force of what felt like the planets wind, it hurled him across the forest and far away from Mikhail Shorn. However, this time more prepared. Astrian used his force abilities to crash into the ground safely, not entirely wounded other than a broken ankle. He slammed hard into the face of the planet, far away from [member="Mikhail Shorn"]. Far enough that he was nearby to his ship, far away enough that the sith lord could not reach him. Broken, badly wounded Astrian crawled to his ship, his organs already beginning to heal. One of the many traits of being augmented, was a slow regenerative process. However the wound of the dark side spear remained incredibly dangerous. Astrian returned to his feet as he reached the clearing in which he landed his ship. Getting onboard the ship and getting as far away from this planet as possible. The closest civilised planet was kashyyyk, and he didn't intend on being followed.

Astrian began to start up the machines engines, hoping the sith lord would not take the time to come after him once again. The sith likely assumed he was dead somewhere with all of his bones in a mess. But, Astrian was a survivor and getting off of this karking planet was his only concern.

 

[Lord Ghoul]

Pale eyes stared after the flung body, before Mikhail turned 'round and headed back to the ruined campsite. Tendrils of smoke curled about him and little flakes of ember and ash drifted about. Shorn strode through the corpses until he reached a half-burnt tent that still smoldered slightly. He ducked inside. A corpse still clung to a plain looking chest. The victim's fingers were curled around the chest in a protective gesture. Shorn kicked the corpse off the chest and opened it with a blast of telekinesis.

Inside was a simple pyramidal shape a little larger than Mikhail's face. The Thronebreaker stooped down and picked it up. Webs of red spun about the holocron as it began to activate. The flickering image of the gatekeeper sprang to life.

"Who dares-"

"Oh shut up," Mikhail hissed, deactivating the ancient thing immediately. Then he turned around and headed back to his ship, from whence he would leave the planet. He had what he came for.

Exeunt.