Megalovania

[Darth Tagus]

Theme
cPvP, Death Disabled​

Tagus was many things to many people but one thing he was not was wasteful.

With the Sith invasion of Mandalore, there were squads and armies and navies being thrown at the Mandalorian defenders and there was all manner of combat being undertaken. It was all just noise to the Sith Lord however as he descended down the ramp of the transport shuttle he had ridden down on.

Behind him, his allies ignited their lightsabers and ahead of him the Mandalorian defenders began to open fire. His allies rushed ahead of him, lightsabers flashing, and he allowed them to rush past him without a word, like water rushing around a stone in a stream.

Without igniting his own weapon, Tagus marched through the chaos as the Sith and the Mandalorian forces fought each other tooth and nail. He passed through the defensive lines as the Sith and Mandalorians forswore any ranged combat to engage in a brutal melee.

Emotions were high on both sides but the distraction allowed Tagus to marched into the central library of Mandalore. He was a Sith Lord and he had his own sphere of influence and specialty; the past and those objects worthy of being preserved. Did he like the Mandalorians? No.

Was he above cherry picking some of their key cultural artifacts to instruct future generations about them?

Also no.

So he marched into the wide open hall of the repository of knowledge with his lightsaber in hand and his eyes open. Were the books and secrets worth defending fiercely? Perhaps but the reason he was paranoid had more to do with who he was. No matter his target, Tagus would be a juicy target for any Mandalorian at this point.

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

♠ THEME ♠
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Thick smoke whipped past the metal body of the dropship as it rocketed at top speed through the clouds. The billowing collums were filled with falling shrapnel from the dying ships above, the crashing starfighters and the various bits of risen debris carried on the violently made thermals. A torrential storm had been projected the day before. It seemed fitting for the Empire to attack when everything would be at its darkest.

The metal frame of the dropship groaned as the engines were pushed to their limit. He was late and had been intending to go somewhere else to make sure a certain someone was alright. But reports of the bombings had brought him to his current vector. They had not just blanketed the whole planet with bombs and destroyed everything. The Empire could have but they held back. This was the same as all those years ago, before Silent Badger's time. Back then the Empire had done more than destroy, they had stolen the cultural history and now they were attempting to do it again.

The light in the back of the dropship changed and the basilisk war droid took a heavy clanking step that shuddered the entire vessel. The rest of the occupants were silent and their dark black and red armor tinted by the light. No clicks of weapon loading, fixing of gear. They had been prepared for the past several minutes and were just waiting to engage. Koil was no force user, but he could sense the blood lust in the air.

The door opened when the ship pierced through the clouds finally. Roaring air causing armor webbing to flutter, rifle slings to shake, but the dropship's occupants did not flinch. One by one they did not jump, they did not run, they just stepped out of the back falling to the planet below.

A few moments of freefall before they brought their weapons to bear and ignited their jetpacks a mere few stories above the ground in front of the library. The cavalry had arrived. The dropship's laser cannons provided a strafing run and returned to another location for backup. The pilot had his own tangos to deal with and seemed to have grabbed the attention of two sith starfighters.

In a violent slam the basilisk war droid crushed several Imperial troops in its landing. The metalic creature of utter destruction. The reinforcements of the mandalorians joined the fray and added to the carnage. But a lone robbed figure inside the entrance of the library caught the Silent Badger's attention.

Dismounting his droid, the beast would run on auto, continuing to support his comrades outside, holding back the tide of darkness. In a burst of his jetpack the scatterweave clad mandalorian shot towards the windowed upper levels. There could be more inside than just the lone figure.

Landing on a balcony above he had his quickdraw blasters drawn. Moving into the second floor making sure it was clear he walked cautiously into the library's upper levels. In the center of the building the second floor was open to see down into the floor below. Koil came to the edge to see if there were other Imperials inside but it seemed to just be the lone Sith. Both weapons were partially raised and pointed in the dark sider's direction but one lowered to its holster and Koil drew a throwing knife. At this elevation he knew he had advantage, and the Sith maybe did not know he was there, but he did not pull the trigger, not yet.

Taking the throwing knife he hurled it towards one of the power boxes at the back. It embedded itself into the case, a spark shootinig out for a moment until all the lighting went dark. With that, Silent Badger took a step back away from the edge of the balcony, becoming swallowed up by the shadows and out of view.

@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Tagus]

Darkness.

Darkness?

Did the Mandalorian think that he had won himself an advantage? Did he believe that the shadows hid him better than any could find him? Or did he believe that Tagus could be cowed by it?

Well Darth Tagus was not, unfortunately for this Mandalorian, afraid of the dark.

Drawing the Force to himself and keeping his wits about him, Tagus did not ignite his lightsaber but was prepared to. Instead he applied what he had learned from his departed wife from linking their minds together.

His Miralukan wife.

Force Sight was easy on him so he barely even lost a step as he continued on his path unimpeded, near silently. He did, however, move slightly to his left, silently moving towards the pillars at the side of the hall.

The hall was in total darkness - his enemy had thought to blind him but could his enemy see any better?

 

[Darth Tagus]

Well it seemed as though the Mandalorian was content to wait.

Was Tagus?

Certainly.

However... there were things to do. If he had been here purely to kill some Mandalorians, he would have gladly waited around but as it was, he knew that he had a limited window of opportunity when it came to either destroying or stealing the knowledge that had been hidden here.

With his senses still alert, Tagus walked deeper into the library towards the databank at the back of the room. His lightsaber was at the ready in his right hand now, still not activated, and he was ready to begin. Tapping a few of the buttons on the databank with his free hand, the process for the manual ejection of the datatapes began.

All he had to do was remain uninterrupted and the cultural knowledge of the Mandalorian people would belong to him and he alone.

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

Being in the darkness did not dictate stillness. Koil moved along the upper floor unseen. Calm and focused the War Councilor moved still from cover to cover even though he doubted the Mirialan could see him amidst the shadows with his scatterweave coated armor and def care but the Mandalorian knew to never underestimate your enemy. Just because he had won fight after fight in the past did not mean he would win this one. The Echani had often defeated those who thought to great of themselves because they had always won up until that point. Koil was not the same as them.

When it was clear what he was moving towards Koil pulled a concussion grenade from his pouch. His other hand holstered the quickdraw on his hip and pulled his Dirk pistol from his underarm holster. Tossing the concussion grenade down towards the back of the man a few meters set to impact he did not want to damage any of the artifacts or data inside the datatapes. A fragmentation grenade could end badly and Koilw as not the type to endanger his people's culture.

Regardless of the grenade's ability to disable and hammer the Sith's senses to a debilitating affect the War Councilor leaped over the side and fired his pistol at the back of the Sith. He was not above shooting someone in the back. The grenade would have impacted just before the Sith hopefully pressed the eject button.

@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Tagus]

So the Mandalorian decided to play.

One of the advantages of Force Sight was that it was not restricted in the same way that regular sight was. It was able to, in a short range, see through objects including the back of his own head. The fact that he had been actively waiting and prepared for warnings through the Force helped.

Aborting the motion to eject the data from the drive, Tagus didn't hesitate to throw himself into a roll to his left, diving behind one of the data-shelves that littered this area of the library. The concussion grenade exploded with himself just beyond the radius, having begun his dive before the grenade impacted and detonated.

Thankfully this would mean the slugthrower round would also miss him, though the only reason Tagus knew it was a slugthrower round was because of the damage it did to the wall he had been stood in front of. He would usually have heard the difference due to the distinctive sound of slugthrowers but the concussion grenade had been out of range to disorientate him to the point of helplessness - it was still an overwhelmingly loud noise that covered the sound of the slugthrower rather well.

He rose from his roll facing the direction the shot had come from, his lightsaber still not ignited as he reached out with the Force, sending a retaliatory blast of Force Push in the direction of the shooter, blasting through the thin cover of the datastacks to send the pieces flying towards the enemy as a scattering of shrapnel.

Shrapnel that probably held some facts about Mandalorian culture actually.

"Come to defend your culture, Mandalorian? I half expected you to challenge me to a duel for the knowledge!"

It would be just the type of thing most Mandalorians would do after all.

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

The Sith had waded through the battle outside, approached the library alone and gone through all of this without any cohorts. He was different from the other dark siders outside and Koil learned how different when his concussion grenade was dodged as well as his initial shot from his pistol.

Smoke had just barely begun to curl upwards from the muzzle of the barrel when the Sith Lord threw a blast of telekinetic power towards him. The War Councilor had only just got his footing from the leap and was trying to advance on the dodging Sith for a follow up shot but the counter attack sent data stacks, glass and other loose items flying along with his own body. Silent Badger flew back, his lower body actually ending up above his torso. Twisting and landing he kept himself from falling on his face. Recovering with a three point stance he raised his V slit visor to center on his enemy.

Koil stood up, regaining a firm stance while the Mirialan mocked those that would have come at this confrontation differently. A few scraps and some mild disorientation from the battering of improvised items had done little to actually hurt Koil or do more than scrape his armor a little.

"It's not mine to gamble with." He said coldly in response to Darth Tagus. His people's history was not something he would fight over like it was some tab at a bar. His left hand unsheathed a throwing vibro-knife in reverse grip. The blackened metal meant to normally remove the chance of glinting metal to reveal his presence to his enemies. In this case it would still be visible to the Sith though the matte finish was less shiny than most blades.

Koil raise his hand up and fired a series of four shots, tracking Tagus as he would no doubt move to dodge. The man had yet to show one of the notorious glowing weapons that force users were so fond of. The flash of the weapon was only a short moment, better for dark environments like that than a blaster.

@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Tagus]

It seemed that this Mandalorians wasn't the typical kind... he actually had something resembling a brain inside that tin can of his. Tagus would be the first to admit that he could respect a man like that. Enough that he likely wouldn't actually even kill the man even if he had the chance.

Why would he?

If Mandalorians could be cunning and intelligent like this one then there was hope that their peoples might not forever be enemies even with the attack on Mandalore. After all, holding grudges was the prerogative of weaker, pettier men and women.

"Then stack the deck."

Reaching into the Force, Tagus let off a bright flash of light, as tall as he was and about ten feet wide. It wasn't the Light Sided "force light" because it didn't have to be - it just had to be a bright flash to disorientate the Mandalorian and throw his aim off. The first shot was roughly on target anyway, impacting the cheek of his armoured mask as he charge forwards, low and fast. It slowed him a second but not much.

Rather than dodge to the side as was expected by the width of the distraction, he instead surged forwards towards Koil, sending a Force Push ahead of himself to stagger the man and throw his aim off after the distraction even as he slashed upwards from his right side with his lightsaber, which ignited as it travelled through the air on it's course to sear through his chest armour.

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

When the last sylable left the green skinned Sith's lips Koil's weapon discharged. White light, not from his muzzle flash this time, bloomed in front of him. Out of instinct his eyes closed, his V slit visored helmet turned while his face winced at the sudden brightness. But the War Councilor had not stopped firing. His steps taking him back to give him more time to clear his vision before he saw some attack from Darth Tagus.

Without seeing it the Silent Badger felt the same surge of power send his body moving like something had physically touched it. His right hand, after the third shot was moved out of the way with enough force to even throw the dirk slug pistol scattering onto the floor back towards the entrance but was lost to the shadows that still permeated the area.

What came next had him raise his vibro throwing knife up to defend the bright crimson blade coming to meet him. The snap hiss had him focus on it and the light coming through the disorientation. Silent Badger had learned to fight with knives long ago but even with all the experience he had it was not ideal to combat an energy blade with a small knife. The block also sent his hand deflecting the blow away from him but the force of it left his guard open, putting Koil on his backfoot.
@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Tagus]

His enemy's guard was open.

Tagus could, and perhaps should, have taken advantage of this with the tip of his blade. It might not have gotten through his armour entirely but it would have been something. But instead, he didn't. Instead, Tagus felt the urge to continue the battle in a way that few might have expected.

Stepping forwards to capitalize on the open guard, he lashed out with his right foot with a simple but strong front kick to Koil's chest to send the Mandalorian backwards.

Tagus extinguished his lightsaber.

"I know your history, Mandalorian. I challenge you in the ways of the ancients." he declared firmly, "Melee combat. Winner takes their objective - I take the drives if I win; you can take my mask and I shall withdraw my forces in the area if you win."

He was referencing how the Sith Levi had managed to convince the Mandalorians to join the Empire in the first place by completing three combat trials against Mandalorian warriors without using the Force.

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

A heavy grunt exited Koil's mouth as he was kicked back several meters, his back slamming into a glass case, sending shattered pieces to the ground in glittering bits. Armor or not, getting thrown and jostled around was still not something that was as easily dealt with as one thought.

Righting himself, distrubing more broken pieces of the library for them to fall to the floor. The Darth continued to talk about some old way of combat. Some challenge of honor. Koil was not honorable. He was a terrible person who had committed many crimes, carried out audacious acts and allowed horrors to go on without resistance. Even if there was an honorable way to do this. He did not deserve the honor of it.

Reaching up to his shoulder with his now free hand that had once held his pistol he brushed off a few piece of glass that had rested on his shoulder. The Silent Badger had already told him that he would not offer up drives because they were not his to give. "You talk too much." he answered to show his refusal.

@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Tagus]

Talked too much?

Well, it had been said he would admit.

So Tagus didn't say anything in response to the refusal by the Mandalorian, instead he reached deeply into the Force and his left hand, his free hand, began to spark until it was quickly covered in writhing lightning. Charging forwards, he kept his right hand up in front of him to guard from any attacks, the lightsaber ready to be ignited in his hand, while he kept his left hand slightly further back, reared back.

As he approached he would make a show of a stab at the helmet of the Mandalorian with his right hand, while his real attack with his left hand thrusting forwards towards the side of the Mandalorian's armour, just below the ribs. It was a natural join in the armour so should be weaker, allowing the lightning to strike at the body. If his attack was off course the shock would still be conducted by the armour.

@Darasuum

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

The darkness before Tagus was lit up by the electricity that coursed through his left hand. His lightsaber remained unignited or the time being though its sudden ignition could still happen. When he cam close Koil used the outside of his own left forearm to push away the wrist of lightsaber held hand. His vibro-blade still in that hand kept the tip of the blade pointed towards Tagus but it moved away as the appendage that held it was focused on keeping the Sith's energy sword away from Koil.

The other hand reached forward and grabbed the bicep of Tagus halting the hand before it could contact Silent Badger. But there was nothing else he could do with that hand if he wanted to keep the arm away from his own body. But he did not intend to use it. With a sudden forward motion his helmeted head would slam towards Tagus's unprotected face.

Hopefully that would cause the Sith Lord to real back enough to get more distance once again and hopefully even weaken the lightening power in his left hand. The pretty green faced Sith could use with a little uglying anyways. If the electricity still was released and not lost by the Mirialan then the physical contact with Koil would have Tagus getting electrocuted as well.
@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Tagus]

A close quarters fight with a Mandalorian was always going to be risky but he was happy. He was happy to have such a battle ongoing. It was some of the most fun he had ever had in the last few years and he was grinning behind his mask.

The Mandalorian locked him up and Tagus grinned madly behind his mask, even when the warrior reared his head forwards to headbutt him. Grunting in pain as his own mask smashed back into his nose with a crunch. The blood gushed in response but Tagus did not relent.

He unleashed the lightning into Koil and it surged into Tagus by the closest contact... which Tagus used to channel the lightning through himself using the Force to conduct it straight back into Koil. It would still hurt him but his pain would be managed by the moving and controlling the lightning.

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

Koil's grip tightened. He tasted copper, smelled something burnt. The pain that came when headbutting someone was fleeting as he felt the excruciating electricity course through his body. He could not let go, he could not draw a weapon or do anything in the heart beat of a moment. Silent Badger could tell there was no affect on the Sith he was attached to.

He activated his jetpack, lifting himself off the ground, Tagus still held on and flew with the intention of slamming the man through stack after stack of the archives until he finally came slamming into the wall.

With that reaction Koil would bring his vibroblade down across the nearest extremity the Sith had, his right arm. The Echani had blocked the feinted attack from the respective arm and now with his vibro bladed weapon he could draw the edge quickly across the bicep and tricep area. He saw the arm guards ended at the elbows and landing hits was the point, not an outright kill. A lesson from his training under his unrelenting father popped into the back of his mind. Large slashing and cleaving cuts rarely win fights Koil. Numerous shallow cuts, you don't over extend yourself and your enemy bleeds out faster that way. But he needed to make sure he landed more slices after this one before thinking the tenacious Sith would be down for the count.

@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Tagus]

Jetpack.

Ah.

Tagus would be the first to admit that he had hoped the lightning would fry the delicate circuitry that such a contraption relied upon but it seemed the Mandalorian had gotten lucky or Tagus' aim had been off. It was most likely the latter if he was being entirely honest with himself. He honestly hadn't seen that the Mandalorian in question even had one of the blasted things but the darkness kind of excused that he felt.

Half in strategy and half in desperation, Tagus grunted and wrapped his legs around the Mandalorian's waist and pulled his body flush against Koil's. The first advantage of this was that it pinned Koil's slashing arm tightly between the two of them; this had the disadvantage of causing the edge of the blade (not the point, thank the Force) to be pressing into the flesh of his upper right chest and cutting a line into his flesh.

Growling in anger and pain with each collision and the blade, Tagus continued to channel lightning into Koil with his left hand while his right came into play. Scowling behind his mask, he turned the lightsaber in his hand and activated it when it was pointing downwards behind Koil's back.

The blade ignited in a moment but rather than stabbing Koil (which would stab Tagus in this close proximity) it lanced through his jetpack, causing it to explode violently and send the two of them spiraling to the ground, separating them in the air so that they would land heavily on the stone floors apart from each other.

Tagus grunted as he pushed himself to his hands and knees before tearing his battered and broken mask from his face.

"You're really starting to bug me, Mandalorian."

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

Tagus's back would do more than hit the stack after stack as they went through half of the building at high speed. Koil did not feel much of the jaring impact. But by the end of it the two of them were practically parallel with the ground thanks to the only thing keeping them up were either Koil's legs or the jetpack. But the jetpack was promptly destroyed. Though the man probably thought it would be a violent explosion the jetpacks were specifically designed to not cause any great damage to the user in the event it was breached by force.

With the lost propulsion they slammed into the ground. Koil on top of Tagus rolled away from the momentum to one side, a few meters between them. Koil's grip had been lost from the jolt of the rolling fall and now the two were once again parted.

Getting up, not as quickly as before, he still held his knife in his left hand. Blood dripped down its edge onto the floor of the library. The War Councilor's forehead was sweating, having endured the pain of the force lightening. With a slap he detached the ruined jetpack from his back. With a heavy thud it fell to the floor behind him, still smoking slightly from where the lightsaber had pierced it.

Hearing the frustrated tone of the Sith Lord in front of him made his lips crack into a smile a little. He would not be able to see it but that was fine. Koil pulled from his holster one quickdraw blaster. The two were not that far apart, perhaps a few meters. His stance was firm, defiant, the very reason that Tagus was getting frustrated. He had no idea how stubborn a Badger could be and the Silent Badger was perhaps the most hard headed out of all of them. The Sith Lord had offered an honorable duel yet had gone for using his damnable Force the first chance he got. It was good that the Echani felt he was not that gullible to have given into it at the first chance. Both of his weapons he raised in a fighting stance, not yet firing or moving from his standing position.
@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Tagus]

Hell, who was he kidding?

The way his heart was pumping ten to the dozen was proof enough that Tagus wasn't actually unhappy about anything that was happening right now. He grinned, unknowingly returning the Mandalorian's smile, as he licked his lips. His blood had a refreshingly copper taste that just let him know that it was real.

He was bleeding and all because of this little arsehole.

Of course the cut across his upper right chest hurt more than it tickled but it was something he would look into getting fixed in the future. And his back...? Well that was beginning to ache now that they were back on the ground and he could just tell that it was basically going to be nothing but one big bruise by this time tomorrow.

Was this place even worth it?

With his lightsaber still held in his right hand, Tagus had his front covered pretty well even at such a short distance. He spat out some blood as he channeled the Force again.

"What's the matter - tired?"

 

[Koil Solus]

___________________

If the man knew anything about force users it was that they relied heavily on their minds to produce the desired affects of the space magic techniques. They needed to focus on it for it to have greater affect. Using the force was like using a muscle or exerting ones' self and could tire with time. Koil knew this from fighting force users time and time again.

The Silent Badger did not so much as even grunt or huff in response to Darth Tagus's words. He circled to the man's left while bringing up his left hand over to his right wrist and fired the wrist rocket and simultaniously had his right hand pull the trigger on his quickdraw. At this range the wrist rocket would not explode. It did not have time to arm but it would hurt like any slug thrower weapon. That, combined with two simultaneous blaster bolts would not likely all be able to be blocked or dodged by Tagus. He would especially not be able to reflect them back at him considering their short distance with his own fast draw reflexes at work. The Sith Lord had wanted to get close after all now it was time to see if the Mirialan would start regretting it.

@Nefieslab

 

[Darth Tagus]

Tagus charged forwards.

His blade was activated and he let the Force guide it in it's quest to block the shots from the blaster. While they blocked them, sending them away from him, he was entirely unable to deflect them into his enemy which was a failing he put down, entirely, to the fact that the rocket had shot forwards to meet him.

Cutting the distance between himself and the launch point of the rocket meant it didn't have as long to build up speed but it still felt like a solid punch to the gut; from a wookie. Tagus grunted in pain as he fell to his left knee - he was going to be peeing blood for a few days he was sure.

As he went down to one knee he lashed out with the Force, slamming forwards with a Force push at Koil's upper body while also using a smaller, weaker, Force pull on his right ankle. The idea was to send the Mandalorian to the ground on his back like some kind of deadly armored turtle.