Ask Invasion Snake In The Grass

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen met the Sith’s blade with his saber, deadlocking both. At the same time, his left hand flicked to the side, calling the Sith’s blade to his left hand. The Knight purposely kept himself angled behind his blade to ensure his blade was in the way for any grappling attempts, though it wouldn’t protect him from Force attacks. Tazlen pivoted on his right foot to circle around Jaikus, igniting the Sith’s own blade into the man’s unprotected right flank. The abrupt pivot would also hopefully allow him to move out of the path of any attacks from the man’s free left hand.


@Altaris @Versok @Logan

 

[Vesper T'Rahm]

Vesper paid the Sith's words no attention. Sith always liked to talk but it was never anything of actual substance. Since her attention was focused on Jerex, Vesper was able to easily see the Sith duck the drawer. With a swift slice of her lightsaber, she was able to cleave it into two pieces that flew to either side of her and skidded along the floor.

As she hit the ground, Vesper saw the spurt of lightning leave Jerex. She had little time to decide what to do and diving to the floor seemed like a bad idea. Instead, her second lightsaber snapped to her hand. Crossing her lightsabers in an x-formation, Vesper absorbed the force attack into the shimmering blades of her weapons.

Since it was just a short burst and not a prolonged stream, her lightsabers were able to handle it with relative ease. If the Sith had tried something with more oomph, Vesper wasn't so sure her defense would have been able to hold.

Blades separating, Vesper held them defensively and her eyes narrowed. Thus far, the old Sith had managed to evade all of her attacks. Annoying.

She would let Jerex make the next move, thinking that a role reversal might be the play to make for the moment. Maybe Jerex had flaws in his offense that he didn't have in defense.

@Sreeya @Altaris @Versok

 

[Jerex Dorn]

Vesper would give the old sith a chance to be the one attacking and Jerex would gladly take it, not even giving her time to breathe after the lightning came a little short. From the hand that commanded lightning not too long ago would start emerging a burst of flames, a cone of fire directed towards Vesper and aiming to scorch her alive as Jerex let out a cackle that would be as joyous as it would be creepy, this was really giving him memories of the good old times.

The fire wouldn't need to travel far to hit Vesper, who had been closing the distance since the fight had begun and was probably just a few meters away after the leap, between that and the fact that Jerex focused on covering a bit more of an area to give her even less wiggle room would make it very hard for the jedi to step out of the way. But the real reason he had used the flames was because it was a destructive power that she couldn't reflect with the lightsabers, who now were in the way when it came to channeling the force. They might be good at slicing and dicing foes, but Vesper wouldn't be able to deal with the attack using a couple fingers from each hand either, if she tried to block the attack with the force she would survive, but she would probably end up very injured as well...And toasty.

After that, Jerex would see if she would survive, what she would do and adapt, not one to press on the offensive thoughtlessly.

@Sreeya @Logan @Altaris

 

[Jaikus Thorne]

While Jaikus’ right hand continued to firmly hold the bladelock in place, he didn’t take his focus off of what Tazlen was doing with his free hand. The Axxilan played his cards close to his chest, and it was for that reason that he deliberately didn’t follow up with any attack - instead choosing to draw the Force into himself in preparation for whatever follow-up offense the Jedi committed himself to. As a result, Jaikus’ eyes immediately snapped out to the left when Tazlen flicked his wrist - the Force flowing outward to coil around the unignited hilt of his lightsaber. The Axxilan had chosen not to reach for his saber after being disarmed, and a part of him anticipated Tazlen to use the crimson blade against him.

The moment that Tazlen began to pivot and circle around, Jaikus’ left hand thrust forward from its readied position at his center mass - unleashing a concussive blast of the Force directly into the half-Annfyn’s chest - timed just as the Jedi attempted to close in towards his flank. At near point-blank range, Force attack had the capacity to crack ribs if it landed directly - as well as bodily throwing Tazlen backwards from where they were currently engaged - breaking the bladelock and a small distance between them.

There would be little to no warning before the Force attack was unleashed onto the Jedi, given that the Axxilan had preemptively readied himself and focused his energies in the Force - and the fact that both Tazlen’s hands were pre-occupied would make it an attack that was even more difficult to defend against.

If Tazlen still managed to ignite Jaikus’ own saber towards his right flank, the Axxilan would pivot on his right foot and abruptly step backwards - attempting to put some distance between himself and the swing. The Axxilan knew that he would not be able to avoid the blow entirely due to the close proximity, but he attempted to spare himself from being entirely impaled by the blade in exchange for taking a more superficial blow to his mid-section.

@Logan @Sreeya @Versok

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen barely got a hold of the Sith’s saber when he caught the Sith preparing a Force attack. As the push came, Tazlen didn’t resist. A push in close proximity didn’t automatically mean cracked ribs. That didn’t mean it didn’t hurt, and it knocked the wind out of the Jedi and his ribs were definitely slightly bruised. However, Tazlen also purposely leaned back and moved with the push. This would lessen the impact since he wasn’t offering resistance against a force slamming into him.

The Jedi decided that the Sith quite simply didn’t desire to fight and was wasting the Jedi’s time. As a result, and because of Tazlen going limp purposely, the push made him sail further away and land near the terminals the Sith were operating before the Jedi stormed in. Tazlen kept his distance, now holding both sabers. While he was still catching his breath, he slammed down on the console button that broadcasted comms to all the worker floors below. Tazlen kept his gaze on the Sith, prepared for whatever other lame attack he had planned (probably another push).

“Execute Operation Sullust,” He announced. Every worker below would know to rebel and throw the entire factory into chaos. It was only a matter of time before even this floor was stormed.

Tazlen didn’t budge from where he was, prepared to defend himself but also get the jump on the Sith if he tried to turn on Vesper. Since the Sith hadn't rushed at him after his push attempt, he would be in no real position to do anything to stop Tazlen from his quick and unexpected announcement.

@Altaris @Versok @Logan

 

[Vesper T'Rahm]

The old Sith really did seem to be doing everything in his power not to fight Vesper. All she wanted to do was fight with laser swords, was that too much to ask?

When flames began to sprout from Jerex's finger tips, Vesper's eyes flicked up to one of those fire emergency sprinklers that office buildings always had. Even holding two lightsabers, she was more than capable of tearing the little metal thing out of its housing. The resulting downpour of water from the broken water line doused Jerex's flames and effectively put a barrier between them, at least for a few seconds.

Off-hand saber going back to its spot, Vesper called on the force and sent several desks flying toward Jerex. If he wanted to fight with just the force, fine. Vesper could do that.

Hopefully the sudden appearance of water would surprise him enough that he'd get smashed by one of the desks. Vesper was really starting to get bored.

@Sreeya @Versok @Altaris

 

[Jerex Dorn]

Well, it seems like the jedi had a creative solution to counter the pyrokinesis attack. Unfortunately, it wouldn't do enough to completely save her from the inferno that would be unleashed upon her. Sprinklers were effective tools against dealing with fires, but this was both because fires usually started small and rather because the water would be poured on it continuously for quite a while. This attack was both the strongest attack Jerex had released yet and would obviously be too fast for the sprinkler to completely put it down before it hit her.

Combined with the fact that she did it as a response to flames coming out of Jerex's hand and the water would be hitting the flames just right before they hit her, given the distance between them. As a result, the flames would be taken care off but a great deal of hot steam would come her way from it, scalding her torso and arms in a painful manner. Not the killing blow he had been going for, but it was a nice start.

As a result of the steam scalding Vesper's, her desk attack would end up missing, the accuracy of the force throw worsening because of it. "Mhm, quick thinking, nicely done." He said as he looked at her in a vigilant manner and slowly walked forward, closing the distance just enough for their lightsabers to clash but not enough to hit each other. Right foot forward, his blade on his right hand in a fencing style while the other one was free but out of the way. Even he had had enough of fighting using the force, so he would let her fight him in a duel like she wanted...Now that he had a bit of an advantage, of course.

@Sreeya @Logan @Altaris

 

[Jaikus Thorne]

While Jaikus had been confident his force attack would land, he was nonetheless taken offguard by the fact that Tazlen didn’t resist the maneuver - instead allowing the concussive energies to carry him towards the terminal - broadcasting the start of ‘operation Sullust’. Jaikus couldn’t help but grit his teeth tightly beneath his mask. The Axxilan was in no position to intercept anything that the half-Annfyn had done, and had to simply accept the new reality.

It would take some minutes for the workers to storm their way through the lower levels and into the command center, but Jaikus knew that it was only a matter of time before they were overwhelmed. It meant that they couldn’t afford to drag the fight out for much longer.

Without wasting any additional time, Jaikus sprang off from where he was left standing - keeping his vibroblade held in defensive position as he closed the distance between himself and Tazlen. The Axxilan wasn’t blind to the fact that the half-Annfyn had kept a hold on his saber, and would now have to properly contend with an opponent wielding two blades.

Once he was within striking distance of the half-Annfyn, Jaikus abruptly pivoted and rounded to the left - positioning himself on the Jedi’s left flank. While he kept his left hand drawn back and raised towards his center mass, Jaikus swung his vibroblade from right to left - attempting to carve a molten channel across Tazlen’s lower ribcage and up towards his shoulder. He made no attempts to unleash any other Force attack at that moment - opting to continue the fight in close quarters from this point forward.

@Sreeya @Logan @Versok

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen was against the terminals and he could see what was going on in the entire room, and he quickly stashed the Sith’s blade away to keep one hand free. He spotted the sprinklers being torn out of the ceiling, the pipes sending water gushing down. He also saw the Sith he faced preparing to charge forward to engage him in combat. Tazlen saw the inferno unleashed by Jerex and he acted almost as he made his announcement. The Jedi rapidly changed the torrential water raining down into shards of ice with cryokinesis, a direct opposite of what Jerex had done. Unlike Jerex, Tazlen wasn’t conjuring moisture out of nothing, and he was using the water pouring in. He sent the dangerously sharp shards flying directly at the Sith’s back from behind him to impale him on multiple points of his torso at high speeds. There was a rain of shards that the man wouldn’t have any way of expecting with his focus fully on Vesper.

The Jedi did the attack rapidly as Jaikus closed the distance between them. Jaikus was already in his forward momentum and wouldn’t know what Tazlen was doing without pausing, looking back, and course correcting. Tazlen's focus on impaling Jerex meant he wasn’t exactly prepared for an impressive dueling defense for Jaikus. However, he was quick enough to think on the spot.

As Jaikus came in with his swing, Tazlen abruptly shifted from where he was, applying a gentle Force nudge against the Sith as he whirled in with his blade. This would cause his blade to cut into the terminal that Tazlen was standing in front of a moment prior. Jaikus’ blade would bury into the console, sending sparks flying and effectively causing his blade to vibrate and jam into the electronics. Tazlen didn’t follow up with any attacks beyond using the Force to push Jaikus further into the console to effectively get him stuck and have sparks flying out to his face. Jaikus had the option of releasing his blade and abandoning it or risk getting electrocuted. Vibroswords weren’t anything special beyond metal blades that vibrated, and they certainly didn’t cut through everything like butter. If Jaikus maintained his grasp, his blade would conduct a charge and blow his prosthetic hand right off.

@Altaris @Versok @Logan

 

[Vesper T'Rahm]

Truth be told, Vesper definitely hadn't thought ahead to the fact that fire plus water had the possibility of creating steam. The only real defense she could manage was to turn her body so that her left side torso and arm took the brunt of the scalding. It hurt like an absolute mother fucker and caused her to let an expletive slip from her mouth.

Whether it was from the pain or from the annoyance at her own lack of foresight, she wasn't really sure.

The main thing that she needed right now was time; time to catch her breath, time to reassess. While her scalded arm was pretty much out of commission when it came to being able to wield a lightsaber, it could still channel the force.

As Jerex started to move forward, Vesper would send out the force to envelop around Jerex to keep him grounded. With no attacks coming her way, she was able to put a lot of her concentration into the hold, possibly even surprising the Sith with the strength she was able to muster despite the pain in her body.

All Vesper needed was to slow the Sith down, to keep him in place.

All she needed was time..

@Sreeya @Altaris @Versok

 

[Jaikus Thorne]

As he rapidly closed the distance between himself and Tazlen, Jaikus didn't take his eyes off the half-Annfyn Jedi - fully committed to bringing their own fight back into closed quarters. While the Axxilan didn't miss the hand gestures and Force usage from the half-Annfyn, the fact that the manipulation of Cryokinesis was occurring behind him and while the Axxilan was already committed to his forward momentum meant that he was oblivious to what the half-Annfyn was doing - and he had no intention of glancing over his shoulder to glean more information.

Instead, Jaikus kept his focus entirely onto the duel with Tazlen. At the apex of his horizontal swing, Jaikus felt the nudge of the Force from Tazlen - causing his vibroblade to extend in its trajectory and jam its buzzing blade into the command terminal. With little recourse to actually pull it out and no desire to get Byron’d today, Jaikus quickly decided against maintaining a grip on the weapon - releasing the vibroblade the moment that it collided with the terminal. If the sparks from the terminal still collided with his face, the fact that he was wearing a completely enclosed metal helmet would prevent any blinding or injury.

Instead of maintaining a grip on his vibroblade, Jaikus instead reached out with the Force with his unused left hand - the Darkess extending out from his fingertips and sinking deep into the the Jedi's own lightsaber - manifesting as Pyrokinesis. Rather than conjuring roaring flames from his fingertips, Jaikus directed intensity heat directly into the saberhilt - superheating the metallic surface and turning it excruciatingly painful to maintain a grip on - scalding Tazlen’s hand and - if successful - aiming to force the half-Annfyn to release the blade.

@Sreeya @Versok @Logan

 

[Jerex Dorn]

Jerex did, in fact, not expecting the scalded jedi to try to use force stasis on him. A bit surprised and taken aback by this, the sith champion immediately focused on the force to counter it, trying to free himself. And while he would be able to do so eventually...He would not do it in time to notice the shards of ice directed towards his back.

The old man let out a horrific scream as the shards lodged into his back, stab wounds and lacerations forming all over his body as the sith champion dropped to one knee, his free hand being the only thing stopping him from completely falling to the ground as he let out more pained gasps, unable to do anything else at the moment.

@Altaris @Sreeya @Logan

 

[Tazlen Axil]

Tazlen didn’t look over to catch any notice of what happened with his ice attack. His focus was solely on the Sith in front of him, watching as the man abandoned the vibroblade which was stuck and still conducting electricity. He expected a Force attack, and he certainly got it. However, it was definitely a strange choice considering the two men weren’t exactly far apart. Jaikus chose to heat up a saberhilt in Tazlen’s hand and expected the Jedi to stand around. The reality was that the Jedi was more than willing to grip a hot saberhilt for what he could get in return. A seasoned warrior, the Jedi kept his grip on the blade, his hand growing red from the rapidly heating hilt. At the same time, the Force channeled through him to send him at Jaikus. His saber would swing in an arc to easily slice through the Sith’s left arm that was positioned to do the attack. Because the men weren’t a whole room apart, Tazlen closed the distance in a flash. His free hand, which had done the ice attack, was still frosty and channeling that energy.

Jaikus would have very little time to react, and his cybernetic hand wouldn’t be able to channel every offensive attack while his right was engaged with the pyro. Tazlen was perfectly willing to grit his teeth and fight through a burned hand if it meant chopping off a limb and helping take the Sith out of the fight.

@Altaris @Versok @Logan

 

[Vesper T'Rahm]

Even though it may have looked like they were working in some kind of perfect tandem, Vesper was just as surprised at Tazlen's ingenious attack as Jerex appeared to be. While her hold wasn't as strong as it could have been given her injuries, it still seemed suitable enough to hold the old Sith in place long enough for the razor sharp ice projectiles to bury themselves in the Sith's back.

Watching as the Sith fell to his knees looking like some kind of half frozen porcupine, Vesper figured this might be her best and perhaps only chance to remove Jerex from the fight and actually catch her breath. Clipping her lightsaber back to her belt, Vesper gathered the force in her now fully free and uninjured hand.

Letting it build for a moment, she would unleash a blast of force energy directly into Jerex. It wouldn't be strong enough to kill him, but it would be more than enough to send him into a nearby wall and knock him out, hopefully removing the impaled man from the fight. And given how injured Jerex was already, gathering enough wits to defend against her attack seemed like a long shot.

Pain coursing through her body, Vesper wouldn't be able to do much to help Tazlen with whatever he was going through at the moment - though it was likely he didn't need it anyway.

@Sreeya @Versok @Altaris

 

[Jaikus Thorne]

Jaikus had only a split second to channel pyrokinesis before Tazlen began to lunged forward - rapidly closing the distance between them with Force-enhanced speed. Whatever he might’ve hoped with the searing Force technique, Jaikus abruptly cut off the flow of heat - instead pivoting with his left foot so that his right side was turned to face Tazlen’s incoming swing. It wasn’t nearly the amount of damage that the Axxilan intended, but it would likely leave Tazlen with some superficial burns.

Due to Tazlen’s speed and Jaikus’ attention previously having been split into applying the Pyrokinesis, the Axxilan had no time to meet the swing with any offensive attack of his own. In a last ditch effort, the Axxilan brought attempted to bring his right arm up to meet the swing - banking on the phrik vambrace along his forearm to—

Too slow.

In a flash, Tazlen’s saber cleaved through Jaikus’ prosthetic like a hot knife through butter before the Axxilan could properly defend himself - separating the mechanical arm and leaving a molten stump in its wake. What nerves had been reattached as part of the prosthetic surgery screamed out in agony in a dulled - albeit extremely painful - repetition of what he had suffered back on Korriban. While the pivot had spared the Axxilan’s organic arm, it had nevertheless had the same effect of leaving Jaikus with one less limb to fight with.

The Axxilan reeled backwards, a groan of pain reverberating through the mechanized filter of his mask. With only one arm and body language clearly indicating that exhaustion from multiple Force attacks was starting to catch up with him, Jaikus knew he couldn’t keep fighting for much longer. He didn’t immediately follow up with any attack towards Tazlen - keeping the right side of his body turned towards the half-Sephi after stepping backwards.

@Sreeya @Logan @Versok