Skirmish The Battle of Genarius - [THR v SC]

[Lysander von Ascania]

Armor | Sword
Naniti Jonyna Si Shade
​

Edic Bar was in negotiations with gravity and steadily losing. Lysander’s gaze lifted, only to find the Cathar still airborne. Somewhere, that registered with the same detachment as before. He refused to be impressed. Their blades shifted again, Nemesis binding and sliding. Physics and commitment.. blades were always honest. He had no problem living in that space.

Only when the Jedi’s focus shifted past him and back toward Naniti, did something inside slip its restraints entirely. The sensation was one of losing footing. The floor nearby was still dropping away and he paid it no attention. The anger that followed was not hot, but vast and crushing. It rose far beyond discipline and training.. it exceeded anything he could govern.

The Dark that saturated Edic Bar was fear soaked into the currents and panic woven through the air as people realized they were running out of time. Hatred, despair, regret, layered atop one another. So thick he might have tasted it. Loud and ripe.. and Lysander planned on harvesting all of it.

That was why he opened himself to the Dark as a vessel, letting it pour into him, burning through his veins as borrowed strength. Consume Essence was not something casted; no, it was something he allowed.

Then he saw the hilt and barely bothered to do more than pivot, as one did when creating a new angle. But something else reached him first, searing through his armor and right into muscle. Fibers of his deltoid parted as a fiery trail followed, cauterizing as it went. Strength dared to bleed out of him. Pain flared with raw intensity.

There was no discrimination in the harvest. The aura thickened, blackening, as a Force barrier conjured into existence. Pressure built. Nearby walls began to fracture. Panels were screaming. Debris lifted, building momentum. All of it was caught in a telekinetic vortex that orbited him, begging for release. There was no stopping it now.

“Now we all go down together.”

Somewhere under the violence, he kept the belief that the Togruta would find a way off.

The barrier shrieked as everything inside him tore free. A storm of Force lightning began erupting in violent blooms, surging outward in every direction and the telekinetic mass reached its limit. A shockwave followed, a detonation that ripped through the flooring and nearby walls as if they were nothing. There was no telling how far it would spread.

 

[Naniti]

The violet Togruta didn't like having both arms occupied with dead weight, but an unconscious, limp woman was no simple thing to haul about. Everything would be fine though. She used the anger against a dense moralist occupying her and Lysander while the city literally began to sink into the clouds to fuel her forward in spite of the circumstances. Didn't Jedi normally see sense? Wasn't it supposed to be the Sith consumed by rage that paid no heed?

And that soon punctuated by a damned fighter raining ion bolts down on the path ahead. A turn that only fueled Naniti's steps as she hopped from one step to the next to avoid being hit dead-on. Ion blasts were meant to disable technology, but they weren't soft gusts of air even for the living either.

In other circumstances, one would be inclined to pray that a person would forgive them. But those circumstances involved someone of good moral character that was concerned about the welfare of those in their charge. Who was Shade again to Naniti? Not a comrade. Not an ally. So, they could be a Togruta's shield. The violet woman dropped in stature, knees bent in nearly a stumble forward, with her montrals leaned forward. The Chiss's arm and leg in her grasp kept her spread open, and the other arm and leg dangled low over the Acolyte's back. Were consecutive stun bolts hazardous to one's health? Sith don't care.

If it was vexing for the Cathar to have the Togruta responding as if her back wasn't to the other woman, then Naniti was doing her job. Well, her unique sight was anyway. Something had to make up for constantly judging where things were in proper relation to herself. Something had to make up for her childhood full of bitterness.

With a grunt, she shoved forth to race toward the ship.

At least Naniti didn't need to worry about Shade waking up suddenly what with being stunned. If there were time, perhaps the Togruta should check and make sure the Chiss was still breathing, but her attention lay elsewhere. Namely on getting the ship airborne and headed back in Lysander's direction. "And if you see an X-Wing flying around shoot it out of the sky," she snapped. Hopefully with the Cathar aboard it.

As they started to dust off, a tempest of lightning lit up the nearby area. Naniti trusted Lysander could make it through anything, but found herself worried if he was going to such lengths. He enjoyed his duels. Not that now was the time to take one's time as the city was lost in all but time.

Lysander von Ascania | Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Lysander von Ascania Naniti
​

Any sane person would retreat now. Call it a loss, get to safety. But that was the trick with Jonyna. She always knew her escape route. Always planned one.

When the Force Barrier went up, she broke the bind as her knees erupted with flame, sending her backwards. A nut to crack, both metaphorically, and literally. As the station fell apart, she felt it. the swirl of telekinetic rage. Of the darkness swelling to swallow the light. Once more, as she had time and time again, she become a candle in the dark. And yet, she didn't flinch. She didn't flee. She didn't cower or cry.

No. She smiled.

That damn smile that had gotten her through 932 years. The smile one might mistake for a madwoman, or a jester. The smile that had mocked inquisitors, had opposed oppressors. Had shined like a star against the dark for longer than either of her opponents had been alive.

In Lysander's ear, he hear it. Her voice, still breaking through the violence, spoken like they were still having a casual chat.

"That's the funny part about you sith to me. You're always so smug. So sure of yourselves. Think you're so clever. The truth is-"

That candle became a comet, as Jonyna didn't dodge the debris that swirled around Lysander, she navigated it. Like a pinball she stalked Lysander, moving faster than the normal eye could track. Bouncing from steel panel, to floorboard, to I beam, like a crazed freerunner through a concrete jungle. That's what this was to the Cathar. A jungle. And she knew Jungles. All the while, every bolt of Force Lightning that aimed at her was eaten by a pair of ethereal wolves that seemed to protect Jonyna, rather than attack.

For a moment, she circled, like the predator she was. Finally, she sheathed Liz, transferring the absorbed power from one blade to another, as she cocked her whole body against a massive beam she had landed on.

"You're all bound by impulse. Me? I live in the Fast Lane."

Suddenly, her feet exploded as she was rocketed at mach 3 towards Lysander's shield, drawing her White Blade in a single slash to slice the barrier with everything she had.

All the while, Naniti heard that same voice, whispering in her ear.

"And don't think I forgot about you."

That X-wing made another pass, firing it's ion bolts right at the ship the two had hoped to use to escape.

Jonyna intended to finish this, one way or another.

 

[Balun Dashiell]

The Battle of Genarius
Light Side Objective: Defend Edic Bar Spaceport
Location: Port Authority District, Spaceport
Inventory: Spacer Apparel, Lightsaber, K-16 Bryar Pistol
Tags: Cerys Dyn | Jorryn Fordyce

The initial piercing strike sent Jorryn Fordyce into motion as anticipated. The illusion was a common variety of sabre forms taught by both the Jedi and the Sith alike, teaching both the strengths and weaknesses to enemies on equal footing. He knew roughly what to expect of her form, just as much as she did of his.

Whether she was Sith, Dark Jedi or simply a Rogue Force User; The Woman was quick and held great reflexes, matching his own as he drew his copper blade back and turned in to drive a second strike toward her, meeting her own blade and positioning her awkwardly as she managed a defense that he sensed couldn't be held for long against his strong-armed handling of his weapon.

If she were someone that Balun felt he could overcome, he might have tried to convince her to submit in this moment. To relinquish the fight so that he might not need to end it forcefully, yet from two simple yet deadly strikes that she had held her own against, he knew enough to realise that he couldn't allow his guard to slip with this one.

His eyes squinted against the flare of energy as their blades burned against one another. He could feel her struggle, the way that she was positioned, looking for an out to recover. Movement caused his eyes to widen; he didn't need to make out exactly what it was. The Force surged within, and the fingers of his left hand unfurled from around the hilt of his lightsaber, sending a sudden yet relatively small telekinetic blast out against her. At such close range, the kinetic force should have been enough to distance them both from one another, enough to get him clear of whatever she had planned.

As a result of his own actions, he was sent backwards, his feet hitting the ground into a hasn't stumble and inevitable halt as he lowered his weapon in his right hand, looking out ahead of himself to where he found his opponent, now also wielding a second blade, that of Cerys Dyn 's.

"I'll be taking that back before you leave here today", He raised his lightsaber out, pointing with the blade to the shoto that Fordyce held in her offhand.

Jedi Master: Ala Quin
Major Faction: The High Republic
Sub-Faction: Jhaessa Prime
Conglomerate: Dashiell Incorporated™
Subsidiary Company: Dashiell Retrofit™​

"Speech"
'Thought'​

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

Armor | Sword
Naniti Jonyna Si Shade​

His gaze never left the Jedi, one still standing within the storm he just unleashed. Of course, he heard her words. He registered the smile too. The surge of adrenaline had already passed. And still, nothing about this felt like defeat. Detachment settled in, the kind that comes when an outcome finally confirms a hypothesis.

Pressure reached Lysander before sound. Air thickened, viscous without any doubt against his skin, clearly arriving before the impact of the Cathar's commitment. Mass multiplied by velocity, intent driven into a single vector.. not entirely difficult to understand. The Sith's barrier screamed as his foe detonated against it. It barely held.. and the collision rang through his bones.

The demand for reinforcement was immediate. Raw and greedy.. non negotiable too. So, he poured what he could into it. The current equation simply demanded such. He slid back several paces, boots skidding, muscles tightening too late to fully catch him. The barrier wasn't so passive he could just move wherever. The last step he finally surrendered to.

His fall was ugly. Lysander dropped through the floor and landed hard on the level below. A grunt tore from him. The breath driving from his lungs was sharp. Rolling up on a knee, the searing pain once more reminded him where the cauterized wound biting into his deltoid. The flesh there protested against all movement.

While strength bled away, the Dark continued to feed.

This was no different than how any other fight might bring fatigue mid round. And he'd never been one to stop because something hurt. Civilians spilled past him in the corridor, the panic clearly etched into their faces . The noise barely registered.. more whispers of fear, prayers, and even blame..

All of it rolled off him without meaning.

Rising to his feet, he welcomed the Dark again. Lightning erupted in jagged blooms, savage, unchained, ripping through the corridor. Bodies were snared in those cruel currents, the screams of innocents falling short as they were slammed into the deck.

Should the Cathar insist on staying.. he would simply help the city along and let it bury them together.

 

[Naniti]

The Falling City -- it wasn't floating on Cloud Nine any longer -- was a disaster in the making. People had run for emergency ships, escape pods, and whatever else could fly. The Jedi were no doubt doing their best to get people off. Probably get a lot of them too, but the city was sinking fast. Fast enough Naniti found the whole battle below pissing her off. A sensation she didn't try to fight as her nails dug into the headrest of the pilot's seat.

A piercing blade of a building nearby had begun to crumble into its footprint; a ruin listed to the side and began to drop toward the platform like someone exhausted at the end of the day, so spent they couldn't take their shoes off before hitting the bed face-first.

The Togruta sneered as her hand shot out to tear a broken chunk of that duracrete and durasteel framework away from its bulk. She swung it around in the path of the X-Wing that had circled around to harry them on their approach back to the fight. "Dammit," she hissed as her other hand released the headrest to help in controlling the hunch of rubble. Half a second later she released it to fling off into the nearby distance. What did it hit? Was anyone there? No one cared.

"Bring us back around," she snapped as Naniti darted toward the back. Not even a glance spared for the Chiss as the Togruta walked out on the ramp of the ship.

Lysander. Let her go down with the city. That platform is about to crack like an egg from structural stresses. She'd told him this wasn't going to turn into a midair last-ditch-effort save, but the longer those two fought the more likely that was happening. And maybe no one gave this enough consideration, but when a flying city broke apart there was a Sith-ton of debris. Flying ships don't like debris fields. Not to mention the wind currents playing havoc with controlling the flight path between all that debris.

Lysander von Ascania | Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Lysander von Ascania Naniti​

When the sith fell, so did Jonyna. Well, perhaps fell wasn't the right word.

Blasted. She blasted down. Like a projectile fired from a mass driver. The flame exploding from her feet storming her forward, before she slipped in a sudden jet of flame, and landed right on her feet in front of him. Once more, she switched blades. The lightning was caught by songsteel and a crystal that shined ever-brighter. Jonyna knew the crystal could only absorb so much, and so in a show of force, she sliced at the air between the two, letting loose a sonic shockwave, that rocked the air like a cannon blast.

The platform was going under them, and yet Jonyna didn't seem to notice. As the floor buckled under her feet, she blasted upward once more, going into a top-like spin to keep firing sonic booms towards the sith.

Either he'd retreat, or she'd close the distance.

Elsewhere, the X-wing weaved through the debris field, letting it's shields take most of the small pieces while dodging the larger ones, once more disappearing into the clouds as it dove out of the falling platform's way.

That of course, being literal, as the fighter activated it's multitude of stealth systems to allow it to disappear off of Naniti's sensors. As it waited for the sith's next move.

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

Armor | Sword
Naniti | Jonyna Si
​

As the Jedi landed in the same hall, Lysander tracked her movements without ever moving his head. The flooring continued to shear away in slabs. Support struts were screaming as loud as hopeless civilians that would most likely never see another day. And of course, he was already bracing for the next angle of attack.

The lightning crawled through the corridor before a blade drank it all in greedily. That was ok; everything failed eventually. The deep cut along his cheek burned as sweat carried into it the sticky line. At least it was a reminder he was still inside his own body, no matter how much he was spending with the Dark to sustain movement. The shoulder proved far worse; an ache flared constantly in protest.. burned flesh pulled, muscle trying to remember how to work properly.

But the Dark demanded more.

Those stress points left by exhaustion were filled.. not cleanly, more like a loan taken with obscene interest. Lysander felt the cost, for tremors were possessing his hands as breath deepened.

The Togruta's words threaded through the Dark’s roar.

There is no return for me here. Don't stay for this, Naniti.

Those words, telepathic or not, carved deep into his chest.. sharper than any physical hurt. Molten gold flared through the teen’s gaze.

Sonic force tore free, each wave hammering against the barrier. The first was absorbed, then a second. A third made it scream, with pressure collapsing no different than the dying city.

There was no time to rebuild it. With a bend of the knees and a push, the Force gathered beneath his boots, hurling him upward. Lysander slammed onto the level above.

"How many people are you saving right now? You chose me over them."

On the next inhale.. iron flooded his mouth; he turned a fraction and spat the crimson wetness aside.

“Then witness it..”

More lines crept along the ceiling as the structure would give, also presenting new openings. So, he leapt again to claim higher ground before it vanished, then again, to continue the climb.

 

[Naniti]

"Fine," Naniti hissed. Her hand slammed down on the pilot's shoulder to wrench him out of his seat. The Togruta shoved him out of the cockpit as she slipped in to take his place. Her blue eyes burned brightly as the ship rocked as its engines kicked in.

The ship didn't try going after the X-Wing. It shot away from the reckless duel. Once it got to altitude it pitched over and came around until its nose pointed down at the listing city in the clouds.

So, Lysander and the Cat wanted to play, did they? Thought a city tearing itself before her very eyes was a great spot to punch one another in the face? That was okay. It was o-kay. Neither of them wanted to 'surrender.' No one wanted to 'take the L.' A stalement that'd get them both killed over pride as a warrior or whatever nonsense was filling their head. If ever there were an example the Jedi were no better than the Sith this was it!

A violet hand slammed down on the controls. Two rockets burst free of the ship and streaked back down toward the city. "You want to play Catch the Falling Hero? Here it comes." The sights lined up on a distribution system still intact. One that detonated would help the city reach its end before gravity and physical strain alone would break it up. An explosion that'd tear through the very heart of the city leaving it a cloud of debris.

Then the engines flared to life against as Naniti piloted it right back down toward the pandemonium with her eyes an electric blue. The odds? Who needed the odds?

Lysander von Ascania | Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Lysander von Ascania Naniti​

Up. That's where he was going. And yet, she had no trouble following. Bursts of flame, and she was off like a rocket.

"There's a saying in my people. Kill the beast, save the future. Buildings can be rebuilt. Those who survive can keep living. But so long as the beast is alive, it'll keep killing. Keep destroying. Kill it, and you make it so that people can breath again."

Her sword crackled with energy, and in another swing, she unleashed another golden bolt of radiant lightning towards Lysander as they both climbed.

"I hear it in your breath. You're fading, exhausted. Me? I'm fresh. You'll need to do a lot more to make me hitch my breath and need to regroup. What's your escape plan? I know mine. I went into this with one. Yours is your friend. I know that much. Or has she left you?"

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

Armor | Sword
Naniti | Jonyna Si
​

The ground trembled beneath his boots as entire sections gave away. That was plenty enough to urge him onward. Without turning his head, he absorbed every sound. Through the pain, his vision tunneled with pulses from every direction. Signatures were flaring and vanishing.

No matter the stores whispered about the Dark and what it demanded, there was no denying its grip, the very thing propelling him forward when everything else wanted to fail.

The Force gathered beneath his boots unevenly, surging late. That platform split beneath him as well.

He couldn’t sense Naniti at all. It was almost a comfort, believing that she’d chosen to listen and leave.

Then, lightning came screaming. Bending his knees, he pushed. Lysander tried to form another barrier; it held for a fraction of a second before shearing away into the surrounding space. The wall beside him detonated upon impact. The shield collapsed.

The Cathar’s voice carried. Concern for himself had been carved out on Korriban, scraped from within and thrown away. What he would not accept was stopping. Not until the final breath.

Pain from the shoulder traveled down his arm, and fingers spasmed. The longsword slid from his grasp, just.. released.

Each leap became uglier than the last.. stripped of all grace. Finally, he reached the uppermost platform, but how long before it gave as well? Lysander’s breath was heavy. Blood spotted the deck from the gash along his cheekbone.

“You keep circling the idea like it frightens you. If you’re going to kill me, then do it.”

Chin lifting, the hands followed.

“Go on. Show me another trick. You’re not built to survive in the pocket. Distance is all you have.”

 

[Naniti]

With the city listing, its frame warping and breaking, entire sections began to fall into the sea of clouds ahead of the rest. Perhaps a few stabilizing thrusters or repulsors were online; or perhaps it was simply air drag that made the terminal velocity of the largest wreckage take the longest to vanish into the abyss. Whatever the case, nothing was quite the same any more.

The ship rocked violently to the side as it narrowly avoided debris coming from above, below, and the sides. Small objects descended at various rates, or ascended as explosions propelled them upward while spires collapsed across the platform spewing their contents all over -- on the ground, in the air, or off into the beyond.

Meanwhile the screech of blaster fire and the occasional torpedo could be heard as the Togruta raced across skewed platform. If you didn't look too hard and didn't know better, one might almost think the city was still upright and she was merely flying horizontally along its surface. Naniti, however, knew better. Her course took her up and down as much as it did side to side.

As she swung around, she reached out telepathically to Lysander, <Stop wasting time, grab something to keep me from biting your head off, and prepare to jump on board,> she snapped. Surely he could find something falling or flying about to appease her. Or try. And he'd have to try very hard what with his heroic 'leave me' nonsense. If he were any other person she might have done just that. He knew better, didn't he? If he didn't then that was just more of the male obliviousness at work.

Lysander von Ascania | Jonyna Si

 

[Jonyna Si]

TAGS: Lysander von Ascania​

Up and up, until they finally reached the top. She could see the sky once more, as she landed, breathing hard. Winded wasn't the word. She was stressed. Stressed that today, she'd need to throw everything at a simple sith apprentice. That one day, this one would become a true monster, like the ones she had faced before.

She needed to be sharper than the sith. That was always her goal.

As she landed, she sheathed the black blade, and once more drew the white. Despite the floor crumbling around them, she took a steady, practiced stance. Blade held above her head in one hand, as the other drew her saber, the ruby blade igniting with a Snap-Hiss.

"You want everything I have? You want me to kill you? Fine."

She didn't move an inch. Instead, a crack of thunder rang through the air as a bolt of natural lightning came down towards Lysander. The clouds had rolled in finally, and Jonyna rushed forward to meet it, White blade slashing forward.

 

[Lysander von Ascania]

Naniti Jonyna Si
​

Edic Bar was ready to collapse as another sound arrived.. a voice. It was Naniti's. Food? But there was something else.. irritation, a side of her he hadn't fully witnessed before. Lysander remained silent, given that it sounded less of an invitation and more like a challenge. He always liked challenges. Besides, there were bigger problems pulling at his mind too.

Lightning was preparing to crack down. Strange to think that only a few seconds earlier.. he might have been foolish enough to face it head on. Might’ve raised an arm and paid the price. But now there was a reason he didn’t drift.

A hand dropped toward the ground at an angle that was simply wrong. Fingers splayed and the Force answered. A violent backlash spit him sideways as lightning tore through the space. A blade followed, too close.. enough that heat from it registered.

After the sprawl, he pushed himself up. And that was when he saw it. A concession stand that didn't quite resemble a stand anymore. He knew the smell though.. grease, smoke, meat. So, he ran for it at full speed, letting the adrenaline mask the trauma just a little longer. The useless arm was pinned against his chest. Another section gave away somewhere behind him.

Apparently, it was abandoned in the middle of an order? Buns lay open, and beside them were chunks of charred meat. Probably too overcooked for Nanti. Perfect. Just perfect. Everything was crammed together. Engines came next; Lysander dashed forward and jumped as the ship drew near the edge.

That was one hell of a way to say he trusted her, if there had never been a clearer gesture before.

A hard landing to the hull knocked the breath out of him. Dizziness washed over him as the cut, burn marks, his shoulder, all the pain returned. He was going to need more than bacta. From the Core to the Outer Rim, he'd faced many a foe, but that was undoubtedly his toughest test yet. One day he'd settle things with that damn Cathar.

With great effort, he rolled again, then pushed onto one knee. The good hand made an offering to the violet Togruta.

"I heard you."

A tremor ran through Lysander's arm and a wince followed.

The words barely cleared his lip. "No condiments, but they're still warm."

-Exit-​