Watch it Burn [Jake]

[Silas]

Long ago he’d gone to Taris, and there had been a woman waiting for him there. Something in the smell of the cities brought him back to her sweet eyes, the passion in her touch, and the taste of her lips on his. It made him wonder what their life could have been like together if she had been able to life forever. With all of his heart he hated that place. Even the thought of being there made him tingle with a passion to equal the love which was impossible for the two to have bore. He’d crossed that bridge long ago, and now he had but to watch the ashes drift through the air to be drawn back to it. The sorrow, and the promise he had made to himself all those years ago. Damn it, thought the man as he sighed heavily, all he could think of was her face. Once again being on that planet, with another woman on the hunt brought him back to a sore place, and a world where the light in her eyes had been his whole universe. Now he despised the light, and could only wish for the darkness of night to bring him to sanity. While the idle thoughts of his past drifted through his mind there came a moment by which his ship reached the point of his exit from hyperspace.

Below a planet stretched before him, still to far to discern any real features from it, but close enough to see the beauty of it as the sun set on the horizon. There was something about the way a planet looks from space that sent a tingle down his back, and it made everything about this long journey melt away in a second. Perhaps it was something in the air, the taste of a creature on the run that made the hair on the back of his neck stand on end. While he looked down on the planet from orbit he saw his reflection in the view screen, and he quirked his head at it. Something in the look of his eyes made him weary of his current state, either the days without sleep had finally caught up with him, or he was truly beyond the state of a normal appearance. No matter which it was when he got to the ground he’d simply cast an illusion to make his face seem more natural, and none would be the wiser. However, it did make him sad that all these years he’d never seen the force affect him, but now it should begin to show signs. Oh his mannerisms had changed, and there was no doubt his mind was beyond all hope of reform, but he’d remain some form of handsome. In all honesty it could be that his mind could no longer be twisted anymore, and it was left to his physical form to become the victim of the Dark Side now. Oh well, all the better to train his powers with.

All of a sudden his mind snapped back to the issue at hand, for this was no small task to be pushed aside. Right now he needed to concentrate. With a quick breath both of his hands went to work on calculating entering the atmosphere of the planet below. All the while the inner mechanics of his mind revolved around what he expected from this Rhissai’arckan figure which he would soon face off to. There was no room at the moment to underestimate this woman, he’d witnessed first hand the might of a Jedi master, much less one of the council.

Rhissai’arckan, that name was far too long to think of every time he needed to address her as something, no he’d need to come up with a new name for her. Rose would work for now, he’d like to use Rosemary, but there was the length issue once again, and while it wasn’t as long as Rose’s real name, it was bothersome. This woman was once a council woman, and the point was to bring her in alive, which would only escalate the difficulty of the hunt. He’d need to be quick, cunning, and alert when dealing with her, and never for a second could Silas think he was the one with the upper hand. Oh, he was definitely a cocky bastard, but he wasn’t stupid by any means. This woman was not one to be taken lightly if her credentials proved to be anything more than just titles, and when the Jedi were in the mix you could always bet on some sort of surprise.

That woman of so long ago bloomed once ago in his mind as a wave of both anger and sorrow washed over him. Part of him was ready for this assignment, but then again he’d always remember her, and part of her would stick in the confines of his soul. It almost wasn’t worth letting her out for even a second as he meandered through a history so ancient, and broad it hardly mattered anymore. Yet still it hung in his mind as it angered him to the point of almost sheer stupidity. Right now wasn’t even the time to think of her. No, he should be concentrated on Rose. On her complexity, and the problem before him.

The first of what he knew would be a series of surprises was that this woman had left the Order in the first place. What he’d seen from the inside was an unspoken air of forever amongst its halls. Once you were in past padawan there were few people who were expelled from it, much less left of their own free will, and yet here was a Council member who departed on her own accord. Secondly there was the fact that’d she’d already made a mistake, and there was a meticulous nature among those religious zealots that often did not account for slip ups. Part of his mind wanted to be paranoid, it wanted to tell him there was a trap waiting for him, but even if there was the best thing to do next would be to spring it. Even then, he’d be sure to spring it in a way they didn’t see coming, if this was a trap at all. With a lick of his lips he prepared for turbulence, and the entrance landing on the planet below.

Closer to the war front he went, for he had analysed the data at hand, and concluded it would be the best idea for now. Of course he might be getting himself involved in a wild goose chase, but if you followed the bread crumbs this woman had left behind the trail would show itself. She’d made a few mistakes, some big, and some small. The sith would like to say he was able to use all of them, but in all honesty he really couldn’t at all. Stopped at Taris, a planet controlled by the Galactic Republic but still on the outer rim, delivering a message to a council member. All of it was odd, but now his eyes were locked upon the planet below, and it sort of made sense.

Onderon, in all it was farther from Rhen Var, but it was a different sort of mood, one which he felt she might find solitude in. All of its inhabitants were constantly plagued by the various creatures which it fell host to, their dark twisted nature brought down upon them in the form of havoc. None of them had wished for such a treatment, but they had been born to it, raised among the fear of not knowing if tomorrow you’d be alive to see the setting sun. So, this would be a good place to hone one’s skill, to meditate, and to work towards the betterment of humanity, and these zealots liked to think of themselves as police of the universe. While he wasn’t sure of her attentions by any means, this did make sense. It was close to the war, so she could keep her thumb on that, she could help out the inhabitants, and in his favour there were very few places to land a ship at all. To begin he’d check out the space dock for her ship, that should be a first sign, after that he’d troupe around some more. Hopefully he wouldn’t be following bread crumbs across the universe, he didn’t want this to last to long. In fact, if he was able to get out quickly he could sedate her, and lock her into one of the cells on Mygeeto so as to get some work done. That way he could at least have a reason to be away. The Order wouldn’t be suspicious then, and he did have Ysalmiri in his little workshop to employ at his bidding.

“This is Onderon Starport to unidentified space craft, please send you licence and ship registration through before proceeding to the ramp,” A young female voice wafted through his commlink, and he smiled for a second, she did sound rather appealing.

Quickly entering his ship’s security clearances, and the requested information he sent it to the place indicated by the voice. ”Does everything check out, Madam.”

Of course it would, they’d go right over the false papers as if they had been made by the Supreme Chancellor himself. When Silas wanted to get something done, he made sure it was done right even if he had to break a few morals to get there. It didn’t really bother him, to break the rules of normal society, no he’d gotten past that phase a long time ago. Now, the only thing which could really get to him was doing something that he didn’t perceive as good enough, and there was only two things he actually feared. Those two things would not be revealed at this time, and even if he did they’d never know how to force his fears upon them. No, in the attempt to make his fears realised, he would only make his fears go away, which was the reason as to why no one knew it yet. Eventually someone would know, and then they’d willingly or unwillingly have to help him, there was no choice in the matter.

“You’re clear for landing, Catalyst, please follow all standard safety precautions, and you will be directed towards a terminal once landed,” Told the voice of the very same woman, and he could slightly in his mind imagine her. It was a most beautiful image.

Catalyst, that was a name he’d forgotten he’d chosen, and now he was glad this ship had been christened as such, it fit. Down into the atmosphere he began to pick up speed too fast, and so he began to adjust a little, but at the same time was mesmerised by the whips of flames which danced on the nose of his bird. Plasma was such an interesting thing, it worked in such odd ways, and he almost wished he was able to play with it in a safe manner. In a way he guessed his lightsaber was him trying to play with the deadly state of matter, but it wasn’t the same. Lightning could come from his fingers, he could make flames erupt in a man’s mind, but it wasn’t the same. Sometimes even he wondered about what when on in his mind, and right now was one of them.

***

It took only minutes for Silas to discover his way to a place which seemed to him to be the command tower, where all the records were kept. Like a hawk on her perch there sat a man with a pointy nose, and a rather pronounced brow line. There seemed to be some other things which brought one species in to his mind, and he probed a little closer with the force. The Sith didn’t know a lot about sense, that had never really been his area of expertise, but he knew enough to tell this man had two hearts. Along with the deep set eyes, and other small indications in the man’s behaviour as if he’d ran into a Chev, something you didn’t see every day. With a smile he considered what this man could provide for him, and wished for a second he could make arrangements for him to see Mygeeto. But no, he’d just have to perform a few social experiments here.

“What are you doing in here?” Demanded the voice, for Silas had very pointedly ignored the sign that read ‘EMPLOYEES ONLY’. This man would learn he didn’t follow many signs. Even if he could read, they didn’t always know more than you did.

”I am afraid I will need to be seeing your records for every ship that has been in and out of here recently, Responded the man with a quirk to his lips, as he took a step closer. Of course this man wouldn’t see the correct image of Silas’ real form, but the illusion of a red headed boy which he forced him to see.

“I can’…” Was all he was able to get out before Silas caught him with the tips of his fingers as he pulled him up into the air.

”Monsieur, I believe you will be telling me those secrets with or without your conscious approval. For you see, you have not quite grasped the severity of your situation yet,” Whispered the old Sith as he took another step closer to this man, now speaking directly into the creature’s ear. With a laugh he placed him back in his chair and the negotiations began.

[Dire Wolf]

Years seemed to have passed since the woman had left her Order as she stood over an unconscious man as his body rested upon the cold steel of her table. Those green eyes set in her skull gazed down at the man who allowed his fragile life to be put in her hands. The same hands that had killed in the most brutal of ways but short time ago. The same hands that tortured and destroyed men not unlike this one to keep others in line.

Two barely coherent images flickered and flashed into her mind, both were of her hands doing these things... and both hurt her heart. Pain and death had been prevalent throughout these images, and the fact that she inflicted it all was beyond painful to her. So painful, in fact, that she could scarcely believe that she was so quick to join the fray with Vreem. After she saw what war did to people, did to her, the woman had vowed to never kill unless she had to.

Rhissai's powerful nose made a sniffling sound as the air rushed past its filled cavity. Hate flowed through her heart at the phantoms of her past, some filled with hurt and sorrow of her own... though most were drenched in the blood of others. A heavy sigh fell from her lips as she continued to gaze down at this man, who had no idea what she had been or could become on a moments notice, but had come to her all the same.

Put simply, bluntly, Rhiss became a doctor shortly after leaving the Jedi Order. A healer. Not a destroyer, or even really a protector. Though she wouldn't hesitate to do the latter if the situation called for it. At first, at least, the woman had tried to be something of a vigilante. She guarded the innocent by draining the blood of the evil, but she quickly learned that the path of a vigilante was one that flirted too close to the Dark Side. Her reasons for leaving the Jedi, and the war, were to simply stop herself from falling once more.

An encounter with a bounty hunter not long after her leave from the Order had her use her power in the Force to repair a man's body and mind. That was when she knew her calling. Onderon's only city was the perfect place for her to not only heal, but to practice her power in the healing arts. While, granted, Onderon was not exactly in dire need of healers it was the perfect place for her to hone her skills to be used on one of the war torn worlds of the outer rim.

With a sharp shake of her head, the woman cleared her mind of the musings and replaced them with ones that pertained to he task. The man on the operating table was one that had come to her because he needed mental healing, lots of mental healing. The man hadn't told her what he'd seen, or even told her anything really... as he'd made it plainly obvious that he was very insane.

Her waist length midnight black hair had been elegantly cut to about shoulder length, and at that moment it was done up gracefully on her head. The woman's clothes were outstandingly simple, one would easily mistake her for another commoner of Isis if they couldn't feel the commanding power that radiated from her form. Though each of her hands were covered by a simple leather glove, which hid her deep red tattoos on them from view. It was one of her greatest desires to mask this power, but all of her attempts to learn this power were in vein. Rhiss needed knowledge, a guide, that she had no access to... at least not any longer.

The Aphithiri woman pulled up a chair so that she'd be sitting near the man's head as his unconscious body rested on the operating table. Irritated at herself, the woman flicked a wild lock of raven hair from her vision and tucked it behind her ear before pressing all ten of her finger tips against the side of the man's head. Contact always made it easy to keep up a telepathic bond with a creature, and completely took out the inherent need to sense the target to commune with it. Rhissai gently connected her mind to the turbulent fringes of his through her fingertips.

Memories, emotions, thoughts, ideas, words, they all swirled together where intricate lanes should be carved. The following the paths of a healthy mind was challenging enough, and reading the unintelligible babble of an insane mind was nigh impossible. Stopping lanes and paths from curling together in a vortex was possible, but it would be long, challenging, and very exerting. Not to mention complex.

~_~_~_~_~_~_~_~

Hours later, the woman pulled her fingers from the man's head like one would pull a magnet from a piece of steel. Her weight slumped back into the chair and her head leaned heavily against its padded back. Rhissai's chest heaved up and down as she rested her full weight against the soft chair. Her breathing was deep as if her body ran a two minute mile while her mind was within another's. The lids of her eyes slowly and delicately slid down to shield her brilliant green eyes from view.

The men from his asylum would be back to collect him shortly, and until then... she decided that allowing her body to fall into a small slumber wouldn't hurt things at all. Nothing but a dull in her powerfully bright presence and a light sigh marked her brain's withdraw into unconsciousness. It was a pleasant slumber, though it was one filled with dreams... or visions... she couldn't be for certain.

A shadow slowly slid about behind a veil of darkness, the only thing about it that was certain was its basic shape and structure. It was male, of that she could be certain. Broad shoulders and the outline of very defined triceps and biceps, as well as narrow hips and bulky legs. Though none of this was overly so, just enough to be powerful but still pleasing to her womanly eyes. The man's clothes, or the shape of them anyways, reminded her of a noble from the pre-hyperspace times. At least what she could see.

The outline of long hair, nearly as long as her own was before it had to be cut, was also visible... it only made her eyes feast more on what she could see. Her mind wandered about, wondering mildly what the shape could possibly look like behind that impenetrable veil of shadow. The shape fell back lazily onto what looked like the dark shape of a bed.

She neared it.

Rhissai soon found herself sitting on the couch, her arm extended out and lightly stroking what passed for the shape's face. Its skin was smooth and warm, and the backs of her fingers found it pleasurable. She caught herself saying something in an odd tongue of Aphithiri, one that she barely recognized... though the tone of her loving words spoke far more than the words themselves could ever hope to convey. Each word rolled softly and beautifully into the next, like a flowing brook that ran through a pleasant meadow. This was when her recurring dream cut itself short... but this one continued on.

The viel of shadow that had fallen in between her and the phantom of her dream began to lazily lift from her sight, revealing more and more of the fine details and contours of his form. His face was a soft tan, and its basic structure reminded her of some kind of an alpha-wolf on the prowl. To her, at least, it was devilishly handsome... only to be marred by a tribal tattoo along the right side of his face, around his lifeless grey eyes.

That grey... it changed.

Streaks of green and purple quickly turned that lifeless grey into a pool of those two colors. For an odd reason, she smiled warmly at the site... completely unperturbed that a human-looking male's eye color changed of their own accord. Again, she spoke that odd dialect of her mother tongue.

So she stayed locked in this pleasurable dream, her senses dulled considerably at the pleasurable dream, or vision, that her mind played out for her. Briefly, she found herself wishing that she could dream that dream until her body wasted away to nothing. Perhaps she should, simply put herself into a meditative trance... dream that dream until she passed into the Force. She wouldn't, of course, but it was certainly tempting.

Too tempting.

[Silas]

Something was in the air. Like the smell of a burning bush about to swallow up a village, or perhaps the lingering anticipation as if you were to see a panther sitting upon his haunches in hope of a meal. These were culminating upon the fear, the hate, the love, and the mix of emotions in his mind to create the urge, perhaps even the necessity to kill. Even if he did kill right now, nothing would be right anymore. It’d be back to square one, and he’d be a very angered Sith, yet he’d have no one to blame but himself. So in a display of complete and utter self control the man simply looked into the man’s eyes to impress the urgency at hand.

Negotiations, they were as sweet as one might dream. Not quite the level of enjoyment one might get from something a bit longer stretched out, but it had a different sort of ring to it. This had not been some simple exchange of knowledge. No, Silas had been forced to do something most people would think unimaginable, or inhumane, but in all honesty it was just a notch into what he has done in the past. When the man had refused to give him the information despite several stimulants with whatever he could find in the immediate vicinity, he had resorted to probing his mind. Without hesitation the Sith had ripped through the man’s mind into the depths of his consciousness, and had begun to sift through the information in there. Upon the moment of entry there was a flood of thoughts that were confusing and chaotic, but it only took seconds to push those out of the way. Once past the preliminary chaos he dipped farther in, feeling his way across the feel of his memories as each one flooded his senses.

For a second there was a moment when the Sith touched a very vivid memory, and he could sense a taste of some horrible wine on his lips. An amiable attempt at hate filled the fingers of this person as it gripped a glass, but it wasn’t enough. Not for the situation, and the wanderer through this man’s mind delved deeper into the depths of this thought. While this woman, far too beautiful for him, played with his emotions, and he stumbled over his words Silas could only laugh. It was pathetic to watch his awkward social abilities. Humanity was such a frail thing, always finding some little pebble to trip over if you gave them enough time.

Time wasn’t something he had to conserve, but at the moment he didn’t feel much like killing it either, so he pushed just a bit farther. Stretching into the parts of him mind which the man tried with all his might to keep from him, but it didn’t take long to figure out where the code was. Of course he didn’t have the records memorised, but now the sith had the means of getting to it. With a smile the man pulled out of his mind, and turned to the computer the man had. For a second the hands of the person, whatever he was shot up in protest, but the force pushed him back into his chair, and sent it wheeling across the floor. For a second he considered killing the man, but that would come later if at all, right now he checked the records. It didn’t take long for him to run through the figures, and find the code to this woman’s specific ship.

With a smile he turned around to look at the man with a grin, ”Now, what to do with you?”

For a second the man opened his mouth, but as if against his will it shut again. It wasn’t as if the man had just had his mouth clamped shut, Silas had physically cut the nerve endings off to his mouth. A little trick he’d found out through many different observations, and poking around on the human body, it was interesting. All those lines of electrical impulses had to lead somewhere, and if one observed the force well enough you could be trained to follow them. Silas was no medic, no healer, or even a physician of any kind, but he did know how to connect the dots in the human body. Everything was a little bit different, and it was slightly odd to have two different hearts beat at the same, but in the end one thing lead to another, lead to another. Like that this man could no longer feel his face, smell the tinge of fear in the air, or taste the thick feeling of his tongue. All was apart of the severance which would matter in a few seconds for he took his fingers and as he snapped them the man fell limp in his chair. Someone inexperienced might think he died of suffocation, but no normal man died in this manner.

Blood still left the body through a number of puncture wounds from a pen, and there was a small ring of third degree burns around his wrist which continued to ooze, but the man was dead. Like a thread cut from a piece of tapestry his life now fell into whatever waited on the other side, and now Silas had proof of what he came here for. Rhiss was here.

”I’ve got you know, my puppet,” Silas whispered to himself as he pulled away from the computer, and began to waltz out the door. A body lay in a seat as someone might if they had fallen asleep. A long slumber awaited his soul.

***

The streets of this city seemed odd. Something about them gave off an aura of distrust, as if at any moment someone might fall over, or something might attack them. Silas didn’t know if he was making this up in his mind, or if this place was really that cautious, but they didn’t feel safe. Part of him felt pity for these people who lived their life as such, but if they were at fault for their life to be lead in such a hostile place. Right now he knew they would have to fight, he’d have to try to sedate, or kill this woman if he was to get her off this place. One of the thing she couldn’t do at all was cloak his ability in the force, and all he could hope was that she couldn’t either. If even for a second he had a moment of surprise on the woman he might be able to attack her mind, which would be the easiest situation, but how many times did life really turn out to be easy?

If Rhiss was captured there would be a change in the war, but how big that change would be depended on how they used her. All of a sudden he was brought to the past, to think of how much better a bounty hunter that woman had been, she had been more driven. Perhaps he did have the force on his side, but at the time he had hated the idea of it, and they had been more perfect than ever before. A single tear edged the side of his cheek, and he wiped it away quickly as he ducked into an alley.

”Where are you,” Whispered the Sith as his presence in the force flitted about, and he sent it out to search for her, an ability most Force Users easily possessed. Right now he could feel her, sense a power near him immersed in the light side. There were some force sensitives around, but they weren’t strong enough, most would have barely been able to life a candle when fully trained.

Something changed, he could feel it strongly now, it was as if suddenly something had changed, but that didn’t matter right now. All he had to do was begin the hunt in this lonely city for a woman who might be able to kill him. Then once upon her, he must fight, and perhaps capture him single handily, that shouldn’t be too hard. Past a house, beyond the look of a beggar, and into the string of people the man hunted his prey, ready for the chance to pounce. Ready to kill if he must, this woman would be his prey.

[Dire Wolf]

(not my best. x.x apologies)

Emerald green eyes flickered back and forth behind closed eyelids as her mind played out that pleasant dream. A slight smile pulled the corners of her lips apart, and her chest gently rose and fell with her breathing. Happiness. The Aphithiri woman had only felt the emotion once or twice in her lifetime. Its sweet touch only warmed her heart when she met her master, became a knight, met her apprentices, and when her second one was promoted to master. She could almost count those times in her life on one hand.

Within her dream, the woman allowed her weight to fall in beside the handsome man on the couch. He had since moved so his back was against the back rest of the couch, partly for comfort and partly to allow her to rest in front of him. The combined comfort of the fluffy couch and the warmth of the blonde's chest against her back. Rhiss couldn't help but think about how she hadn't truly realized how badly she wanted something like this for most of her life. Granted, Eurachis was fine... but it was different. Part of her thought that she was only truly interested because it was so forbidden, but this... it just felt right. Not forbidden. Not against her vows. Just... allowed.

A heavy sigh of comfort fell from her lips at the thought, the realization that whatever this was wasn't barred from her options just because of where she decided to sleep. Briefly, she forgot that she was in a dream. That smile grew into a closed-lip grin as she felt one of his muscular arms fall in across the front of her body, and link up with the one that she used as a meaty pillow.

Her weight promptly leaned against his front shortly before she heard something. Could it be him speaking, she wondered? No. It sounded deeper, more guttural, like Wrex's growl when he heard something nasty go bump in the night shortly before bumping right back. There wasn't any need to respond to that growling, whatever it was wouldn't be strong enough to get her anyways. Especially with the big man holding her securely in his arms. Safety was a good word to describe the feeling that dominated her mind at that moment.

Until she heard the deeper growl, louder, and even stronger. Almost as if the beast of a Vornskr had moved in front of her protectively as she slept. Despite her state of rest, the more primal part of her mind stirred within her as it listened to the warning signs in the Force. Something was coming, its intentions dark, and it was coming for her.

Those emerald green eyes slid open as the dream, vision, or whatever it was ended sharply and without warning. Disappointment caused her face to droop, and her body to slump into the big comfy chair even further. If only that was reality, and this was her dream.

Rhissai's brow furrowed notably when she saw Wrex growling at the door at her feet. The midnight black vorn looked something like a regal statue as he sat back on his haunches, rear resting on her foot, and ears pressed back into his massive skull. A cautionary growl rumbled within her mind, one that warned her to ready herself for a fight... unless she wanted to be taken.

A small bit of fear reared its ugly head within her heart, though it was quickly tamped down. Being ruled by fear and emotion was a quick way to a young(ish) demise. Rhiss thought about snatching her lightsabers from their hidden spot via telekinesis, though quickly ruled out the notion. She could easily handle a great deal of the enemies that crossed her path, and if she couldn't... it would take less than the blink of an eye to retrieve White Fang from his resting place.

With a weary sigh, the woman rested her weight against the wall of the clinic. In no way was it warm and welcoming, like the muscular chest of the man from that dream. Instead, the stone was cold, hard, and unforgiving. She needed a casual place to wait for the nearing presence, however, and the spot she was in gave her the quickest reaction to anything that may shoot first and ask questions later.

[Silas]

Some days it was almost as if death was more than just a game, but then there where those days when it was like a treasure chest. Every heart beat as the body slowly starts to dies is like a new, and wonderful toy to be played with. When someone played with life they tended to come out smarter than when they left, but they also grow a cold sense of humour. Even those who claimed to be helping lives seemed to have developed such a trait, and this was no different for Silas. Every little part of a human, or a Zeltron, Ubese, Umbaran, or any race in the galaxy makes his life a little better, one cell at a time. Someone had to play operation on all these people, Silas just wasn’t very careful about hitting the sides. In fact, in his opinion that was the best part of all of the whole game.

When Silas got his hands on a Jedi he almost had this anticipation that he’d feel slightly sorry for them in the end. By the time he got the creature back to Korriban there might not be much left for them to examine. Oh, of course she would be alive, and she would probably be very willing to talk, but without intervention her mental status might not be the kind you would let upon the world. Everything had a point where it was under enough pressure, that given enough time it would break. All they needed to discover was what that point was, then it was almost as if the mind was a toothpick. Even a Jedi had to cave at some point, Silas promised. Silas might be a horrible person, but he didn’t like to lie, so this Rhiss better like to scream.

A deep breath brought him one step closer to her, a moment away from the point of no return. With both hands he grabbed the two lightsabers. Like part of his arm he held onto them as he approached the building the power came from, a look of pure ecstasy on his face. Eventually this place would have been found, she would have been found by someone else. It was only pure luck that he’d stumbled upon her first, which made all of this all the better, for he’d get the girl, her essence, and the reward. Hopefully she wouldn’t die, that would be a most unfortunate of circumstances, and the end result might not be so pleasing for those in the Sith.

”Time for a pretty little Jedi to meet my pretty little scalpel,” Whispered the Sith as he came up to a door.

This door was right, it was the one he had sought for a while now, and the one that would lead him to his prey. Someone was in there, something else was there too, but it wasn’t the threat. No, that lay in the creature there who was so strong in the force, her Council member status seemed to have been well earned. It would be difficult to strike her down with the force, but if they were going to fight it might as well be with both, since Silas was technically supposed to be a balance between both. Eyes slightly narrowed he extended his foot to knock in the door, as they hit the sides he padded his way through a first hallway, making his entrance much less dramatic as he’d hoped. At least she’d have a moment to anticipate him, for it wasn’t the hunt that pleased him, but the part when people realised how screwed they really where. When they could look in his eyes, and see insanity descend upon them he would squeal with joy.

With a heavy intake of air, he looked once more at another door, this time certain that he’d found the right one. A well placed kick sent the door in on its hinges as he looked upon this place with a dark, sinister look of accomplishment.

”I really did hope you’d be harder to catch,” Muttered Silas as he saw the black haired woman inside this room.

There was a dog, it growled at him menacingly as he entered the room, but he couldn’t have that. Animals weren’t good test subjects, there wasn’t any personality in them to clutch onto, no response to the pain that one could relish. They had reactions, just not the right ones, and they were boring after a while. So, with one off handed gesture he sent a wave of force towards the mutt, not really caring to look if it hit him or not. Now it was time to confront the woman. Slowly he hit one of the buttons on his lightsaber.

”Let’s make this quick, okay? I want to get to the fun part, puppet,” Spoke Silas with a twinkle in his eyes. As he hit the other button, and ignited his lightsaber he moved quickly to slash at her, while his mind attacked her at the same time. Hopefully the volley would prove to be adequate over time.

[Dire Wolf]

Despite the situation, Rhissai found herself staring blankly at the door to her clinic. Perhaps it was the anticipation that kept her eyes glued on the door, or fear... or a mix of the two. The creature on the other side was powerful. The true measure of his power was nigh impossible to measure with her senses alone, but she did know that his dark presence cultured up a deep sense of foreboding deep within her heart.

So wrapped up was she within her own thoughts, the aphithiri woman jumped back when the dark thing slammed his boot into the door, sending it flying off of its hinges. "Wrex, for the love of the Nine, don't attack it. Just hang back. Please." She thought. Not to anyone or anything. Their bond wasn't of the type to be seen or felt in the Force... it was deeper... and not borne of force sensitivity. Her and Wrex shared minds, in a way, and in return she received images of inaction on the condition that she wasn't about to fail.

Rhiss barely had time to reassure the massive canine when the Dark Jedi threw a directed wave of his willpower into Wrex, sending him rolling backwards into the desk. A special kind of dull pain throbbed at Rhissai's back, some parts more concentrated than others, mirroring the same pain in Wrex. Her stoic face hid the pain in her body, and even her eyes managed to cast off an apathetic glint as they gazed deep into the wretched man.

Then he spoke.

His words caused shivers to ripple up and down Rhiss' spine, and turned her face an ashen grey. Puppet. It was precisely what her Dark Master called her during her tutelage under him. It reminded her of those foolish times in her youth when she was little more than a vessel of vengeance and anger. When she was little more than a puppet, a pawn, for those that had higher ambitions than her own. She loathed the word, and the meaning behind it.

The dark jedi's words had barely reached her ears by the time that he started his assault on her. A quick telepathic strike followed by one that was intended to incapacitate the threat was exactly how Rhissai fought, though it was someone disconcerting to her how easily she fell prey to its effectiveness. Her mind, still reeling back in memory and pain from the six letter word, was effected far more than it should've been by his telepathic attack.

While her mind was cringing at the combined pain of memory and mental attack, her body was reacting as it should've been: defense. Every good martial artist practices their until it comes without thought, or even voluntary reaction. Such was how she trained for nearly fifty long years.

The bottom of her wrist, the part closest to her pinky, slammed into and worked to drive the attacking arm upwards so that the blade would sweep around her body in a crescent shape. Should the blade pass around her, she would send the free fist towards the man's throat with deadly precision and speed. The second hand, the one that moved to deflect the slash at her, moved to hit him in the nose with the heel of its palm.

As her mind began to regain its footing, she called the Force to her muscles so that it would back their speed and power. Augmenting them to a herculean level in all qualities. Her knuckles grew white as she packed the fingers attached tight into a fist and slung them towards her adversary's abdomen in a lightning fast flurry. Electricity even began to crack and dance along those tightly closed fists as she began her flurry, each contact would discharge a small amount into her target... numbing it for a short time. Making it hard to move for a short time.

As her flurry finished, she ducked down and sent her leg out in a blur to sweep his legs out from under his body while sending out a stiff telekinetic push to send his body sprawling should he manage to dodge her attack. Once this little barrage was complete, she retreated back to Wrex, fists still up and crackling with lightning.

"There's no need for this. Just walk away. I'm done with war, killing, pain... just leave me be. Fight your transitory wars if you want, I don't care." Her words were meant to partially threaten but mostly implore, and sounded as such. She knew he wouldn't hear her plea... or heed her warning... and didn't need the light growl of her senses to figure as much. It just never hurt to try, especially when you were one who had a heavy conscience.

[Silas]

Puppet. His family. A life past long ago. All of it came in a flood back to him, a wave which threatened to over take him. One such word brought a slight cringe to her face, a mental pulse which he could not only see, but sense no matter how hard she might try to hide it. That word might have power over her, but she had a slight sense about her which brought him back to the ferocity of someone he’d known a long time ago. Of course it wasn’t the same, she wasn’t the same at all. Just enough to make him remember, just enough to make him forget his senses. For a second he could barely think, much less react; barely breathe, much less think. When his lightsaber came towards her she didn’t even need hers to block him, a state of inexorable unawareness which caught him up in a wave. Within the matter of a second his hand was twisted out of her path, and her other one came up to hit him, but with quick acrobatics he flipped out of her grip.

Ah shit….

Within a few seconds, again this Jedi was upon him with her eyes alight with a passion, not the same as a Sith might be succumb to, but a passion all the same. Fists crackled with lightning which danced among her fingers, down her hands to encase her fists which were brought down upon him. With a simple grunt as the hits knocked him over as he was pushed back into the walls of the small place, and his eyes locked place with hers. Pain wasn’t that hard to ignore at the moment, he knew of a hurt much worse than this, and he simply shrugged it off, but his skin still tore. The volley of fists ended in a matter of moments, and he was left up against the wall, slightly breathing hard.

"There's no need for this. Just walk away. I'm done with war, killing, pain... just leave me be. Fight your transitory wars if you want, I don't care." The woman told him, her voice seemed like they had given up. Not on all of this, but on him. On the hope that even for a second he might give up before she had killed him, and sent his Force ghost to hell.

A bit battered he fell down the wall, his eyes however looked at her with a curious light as he responded lightly, ”I’m not sure you realise why I’m here. It doesn’t really matter what I care about, so why would that make me care what matters to you? And I’m sorry if you don’t think there’s a need for this, I need it because you are the only way I can go back to my family. Don’t worry, you’ll meet them soon.”

As he pulled himself off the ground, he decided a simpler attack plan, which while might not be the best idea, but might work. With a flicker of his wrist, he sent a wave of the Force towards the woman, and would hope it to pin her down for a bit while he could think. Once she was where he wanted him, he would walk foreword, his eyes locked curiously on hers as he prowled up to where he’d left her. With the Force still centred on her body, he thought of how he could incapacitate her without actually killing her. It wasn’t too hard of an idea, but this one was a wild one, he didn’t want her to wake up before he got her back to the ship. One hand would go up to her throat to hit one of her main pressure points, and another of his arms would grab his lightsaber to wherein he would pull the dog towards him. With the lightsaber pointed at him, he figured it might be a bargaining chip. Anything would be nice at this point, for he didn’t think he could beat her in a fair duel.

”Now, I’d rather not hurt the mutt, but don’t worry I will. I’ll also cut that pretty little neck of yours if you put up too much of a fight. A dead body might not be ideal, but I have a feeling they’d be more approving of that than nothing,” Whispered the Sith to her, as he began to twitch, his mind ready to be on the ship, with her mind his playground.

[Dire Wolf]

Fear caued the woman's brilliant green eyes to grow wide in her dinner plates as the man threatened her familiar. Its radiance was so powerful that it managed to seep through the thick and powerful mental barriers that the former Jedi kept erected around her mind at all times. Her heart quickened to a dead sprint in her chest, begging her to allow her feet to follow its beat. Rhissai realized, at that moment, that she'd have to kill the man to ensure her own safety.

She hadn't remembered how she ended up against the wall, her throat wrapped up in this man's grasp. Obviously he had done something that she was only half prepared... which would be a mistake she wouldn't make twice. "Please," she begged, her voice devoid of the musical tone it generally held, "leave him out of this." What few people outside of Aphithir realized was that their familiars, Wrex in this case, grew a simbiotic bond that was beyond the reaches of the Force. He was just as much a part of her as her own arm, and vice versa. A death in this bond would feel precisely like that: the loss of a part of yourself.

Rhissai could feel her muscles bunch together as the Force flowed into their sinewy meat, hastily taking them well past the level that even a super-human could make. While the fear was apparent in her face, the look of utter terror within the two emerald pools in her eyes had vanished. In a seemmingly spontaneous snap of motion, Rhissai shot her arm up only to bring the elbow down on the forearm holding her neck. The force of the impact would break a normal person's arm if it hit, though it would likely do less to a Force user. Her other hand whipped out at her enemy's lightsaber, her mind commanding the air between her open palm and the tiny metallic cylandir to detonate in a display of will and power. Rhissai's aim was to use that stiff Force Push to throw the lightsaber from the man's hand, or at least throw his arm far enough away for her next attack to succeed.

In a single, smooth but lightning fast motion, Rhissai's hands moved from their predescribed positions and attempted to latch onto the back of his neck. Should the soft flesh of her palm find purchase, they would seek to drive his upper body downwards while her leg shot up towards his sternum, looking to execute a powerful (muay-thai style) knee into him.

Should this attack succeed, Rhissai would shoot around and place herself between the wretch and her massive black familiar. She still vehemently denied him a place in the fight she found herself in. As badly as he wanted to help, the big vornskr would only be a hinderance to her and assistance to her enemy. "No, Wrex, don't you dare," she thought as Wrex was preparing to pounce. He didn't back down. With a growl, she captured his weight within a pocket of protective air and hastily sent him through a window. Perhaps she'd get lucky and he'd stay there until he realized that he didn't have a command of the Force like she did.

"Before you're sent to the family that you want to see so badly, Dark Jedi, let me hear your name." She guessed that his family was dead. Probably, likely, by his hand. Despite her confident if not arrogant words, something deep within the woman's heart told her that this would be a fight that she wouldn't win. Quite the opposite. Something told her that she'd finally feel what it was like to be in the chair of an interogatee by the end of the day.

It wasn't something she felt she didn't deserve, but that didn't mean she wouldn't fight tooth and nail to keep it from happening.

White Fang sprang from his hiding place at his master's will, hitting the soft flesh of her palm with a quiet slap. She couldn't help but notice how its katana-style hilt fit perfectly within her hand's grip. The Aphithiri woman loved it. Her grip tightened on the saber to the point where her knuckles turned white, and shortly thereafter she ignited the blade. A brilliant silver star hissed to life within the room, quickly calming to a sull hum after its igneous birth.

Rhiss didn't attack. She was never the aggressor, even if the opening attack had been made. Though she wouldn't hesitate to call on her knowledge of attack, should this fight call for it. "Your move."

[Silas]

”Please, leave him out of this,” Pleaded the woman, a fear thick in her eyes.

It was odd, he’d known that she had some sort of attachment to this animal, but it was much stronger than he’d originally thought. For no one could make that kind of a reaction from just a simple devotion to the animal, and he’d even seen force bonded people more apathetic to their partners than that. It wasn’t the way she kind of tensed up, it wasn’t the fear in her face, but the look of pure and utter horror which ravaged her eyes, and threatened to over take her. It was much of the same sort of raw emotion he’d gotten when she’d last snapped, and he found it interesting the amount of emotion in this Jedi. Most of them at least tried to cover up what they felt, they wanted to be apathetic all the time which was ridiculous. In all honesty even through the hate he barrowed for these religious zealots this one was almost bearable, she wasn’t quite so pretentious as some he’d met in the past. That didn’t make the want to kill her any less, though.

Actually if he wanted to honestly access what he wanted to do with this child, it would be to put her through rigorous tests to see just how far he could stretch her. See how much her mind could take before it completely, and undeniably snapped beyond all reasonable control, or hope of repair. Some parts of him thought it’d take a long time, but then again she seemed to have such easy stressors to pinpoint, and it’d probably only take a few prods on that little puppy of hers to really get her worked up. It’d be imperative for him to keep that dog alive if he was able to capture her, and bring him with them whenever they went to the ship. Well, that mostly depended on if he made it back to the ship at all, but he had a feeling that it wouldn’t be long before he found something which worked.

A second before it happened he could feel it come towards him, but he simply allowed it to happen as her hand came up into the air. When her arm came down he didn’t brace for it, but simply went with the attack, but moved his arm before it shattered his arm. The other hand was pulled behind him as he clutched onto his lightsaber, and this distracted him just long enough for the next attack to work just perfectly as he felt her knee come up into his sternum. For a second he staggered backwards as he regained the breath this woman has just knocked out of him.

”You sure do know how to treat a man,” Wheezed the Sith as he put a hand to his stomach and looked for the lightsaber which had fallen out of his hand when he had been hit with the last attack.

Before he could do much she was once again in front of that vornskr she seemed so attached to, and he must say the attachment was something he didn’t expect from a Jedi. Most of them were calloused creatures, their only true companion in life a master which would pass them on and move onto another without a second thought. Silas never once regretted his decision to leave their order, and he knew they at least would claim they were better off without him. They were still pretentious even if this one was a little bit different then the others that doesn’t mean they had a few outliers. Mathematics weren’t exactly Silas’ strong suite, but he understood enough about them to know if a set of data had one number too far out of range as to offset the overall average of that data enough it could be excluded. Perhaps that was why this Jedi had gone into self-exile; she was too different to stay amongst them, and they probably fed her lies that it was a horrible thing.

”Before you’re sent to that family you want to see so badly, Dark Jedi, let me hear your name,” Sniffed the Jedi after she sent the pup out of the window with a movement of the Force.

With a roll of his eyes Silas slowly responded, ”The polite thing to say would have been please, child.” With one outstretched hand he pulled the lightsaber towards him with one hand, and clutched onto it as he reached to his waist to get the other, ”I’m a Firrerreo, and we have a belief that one’s name is sacred above all other things. If I told you my name, that would give you power over men, and I can’t have that. People call me Silas. Silas Isao. You seem to be under the impression that someone is going to bring me to my family, but you see only I know where my family is. Anyone who did know I would have killed by now, puppet.”

With the end of his little speech to her the lightsaber she seemed to have hide went to her hand quickly as she grabbed it. The Force was such a useful tool, especially when one could summon it at any time for any reason, and these small menial tasks were just a hint of what he could do, and it was about time he stopped messing around with his food. As the silver lightsaber ripped into the air with a sizzle, he smiled a broad smile as he let pressed down the activation switch to his yellow bladed sword. Then with another quick tap he let the red one scream to life as he took a step closer towards her, but he didn’t have any intentions of using either one of them. For now he simply had aspirations that she might give up at any moment due to fear, but she seemed to stubborn to fall for any of his little games or tricks. No, this would take brute force, something which he wasn’t much accustomed to, but he’d be willing to resort to it if that’s how she wanted to play.

“Your move,” She told him with her lightsaber read, no doubt there was some sort of moral code she held which prevented an attack before he did.

For a second he smirked at her before he answered, Sure thing, Rosemary.”

For a second he looked like he might attack the woman with his ligthsaber before he began to draw inward upon the force with all that he could muster, and began to create kinetic energy through the force. While his hands still held onto his lightsabers he created a ball of the kinetic energy, and sent it sailing through the air towards the woman. Kinetite was something he’d learned a long time ago from his master, and wasn’t a difficult thing to do if you knew what you were doing. It probably wouldn’t do a whole lot to Rosemary, but he quickly brought one of his lightsabers down upon her side, and the other towards one of her legs. If any those didn’t hit, he would spin through the air, and go for a non lethal hit towards her lightsaber arm, then would bring them down crossed together to meet her one lightsaber.

Suddenly emotions rushed back into his minds as he looked into her eyes, and saw a past that he loathed with every fibre of his being. Every part of his body quickly filled with his hate, and he funnelled it towards this Jedi as he danced a dance with her which just might lead to his death. With a determined look on in his eyes he pushed with all his strength, and sent a wave of force past him which caught the edges of his clothes as he could feel the air around him shift. If it sent her back he looked at her with a hate in his eyes as he once again realised why he had left those back at the academy. All the feelings he had once felt rushed back to him as he growled, and the rage he felt threatened to over take him. Quivers overtook his entire body as he took another step, ready to use Force Plague in a seconds notice if he must, as his entire demeanour towards this battle changed with one simple attack.

”Yield now, Jedi, or I will not be kind to you anymore,” Murmured the Sith darkly.

[Dire Wolf]

"Silas is as good a name as any, Dark Jedi," the tone of her voice had drastically changed to something quicker and more aggressive. No longer did she beg him to return to the dark pit that he crawled out of. A fight was now obviously inevitable, and she wouldn't quit until he was dead. Though, in a way, her offering to attack was something of a last chance... should he not take it, her saber would taste flesh.

The all to familiar report of a lightsaber met her ears, this one casting a brilliant red hue that clashed with White Fang's silver aura, creating a battlefield of pink where they met. Barely a heartbeat later a second blade of plasma erupted into existence, this one throwing off a brilliant yellow, the combined yellow and red seeming to beat back her lightsaber's aura.

Her eyebrow's furrowed when he replied, but did nothing to attack. Nothing instantly obvious, anyways. It wasn't until she saw that rippling orb of air that she realized what he was doing: Kinetite. Rhissai's form leaped to the side, knowing full well that she didn't know enough in the discipline of protection to adequately throw the destructive orb of energy back to its sender.

Rhiss was barely up before Silas began his onslaught. The aphithiri's defense could be described in one word: conservative. Each movement was only allotted as much energy as it needed. Her lightsaber moved down to deflect the shot at her leg, then over towards the opposite side smoothly. Again, when he flipped around, her saber easily rose up to meet the attack. Such was the way of Soresu.

It was only until his two blades crashed into hers in the likeness of a scissor did her body truly begin to expend energy. The Force itself rushed into her muscles, augmenting them to beyond even the level that even the most powerful human could hope to attain. Her emerald eyes locked with his, casting off such an intensity that it almost looked as if she was trying to set him ablaze with her gaze alone.

Silas' minor force push was barely noticed, let alone pushed her back. Shortly after the push the woman let out a mighty roar, with both her voice and her telepathic power, as she tried to lift his scissored sabers upwards. Regardless of her success or failure, the woman sent one leg back to support her weight before sending a second up towards his crotch. Should she hit his groin, or fail but not get her leg caught between his, she would withdraw that foot and send the same leg's knee towards his sternum... the very same spot she struck before.

Once this was done, she would release one of her hand's grip from her lightsaber and cast it out towards him with extended fingers. She would feel the tingling sensation in her very nerves as the electricity built up, and finally discharged into the form of lightning. Arcs would dance between them, and she'd use telekinesis to throw him back while keeping the lightning up for a few moments.

Again, should all of this succeed... she would walk up towards him, lightsaber to his throat. "Do you yield, Silas Isao?" Her voice would be stern, cold, and short. Anyone who even remotely knew the woman would see someone else, someone certainly not her. It was a Jedi they would've seen. One who offered one last chance at life, one that would certainly be inevitably refused, before the proverbial axe stroke fell.

[Silas]

This game they played, it didn’t have any rules. That’s what he liked about it, he liked to see the raw carnage which pent up inside of this woman’s eyes, her mind, and her every action. It was like he watched a movie for the first time, and every turn brought a new perspective on things. Perhaps she had been a Jedi at one point, but she was like no other Jedi this Sith had ever encountered, she was passionate, and her power seethed in her every movement. Some of her own kind would think she was opening us herself to attack, and somehow made herself venerable, but the truth was that she knew how to fight. There wasn’t two ways about it, there wasn’t a way to skirt about the truth; this woman played the game so well, and she deserved recognition for that. The only thing which Silas could hope at this point was that he might be able to strike back, and hit at just the right time to make her realise just what he was capable of. At the moment he played the game, but not intently, he skirted about the outsides as he tried to figure out what made her tick. When he found it, he had let it get away, and he would never allow that to happen again. She was too strong for that.

”Silas is as good a name as any, Dark Jedi,” The woman told him, a look of pure determination in her eyes.

When their lightsabers crossed they stood locked in motion for a second before he could sense it coming, sense it as the wave of the Force poured through her body. For a second he smiled at her attempt to move his sabres, but as she put her weight on one foot bit his lip slightly whilst he pushed back with his lightsabers, and narrowly dodged the attack towards his crotch. With a quick intake of air he could sense the oncoming attack once again towards his sternum, and this time he leapt back just enough to catch the end of her knee as it came to graze against his chest.

One of her hands came off of her lightsaber as he looked at her with a head tilted to one side for what she was drawing upon the Force felt familiar, but he didn’t believe it. Jedi didn’t use Force Lightning, it was ‘evil’ or whatever they thought the Dark Side was supposed to be. Something about this woman wasn’t not only unorthodox, but butted heads with all out Dark Sider. Oddly enough he didn’t feel an ounce of the Dark Side as she drew upon the Force for this attack, and before she could send the arcs towards him, the Sith had his lightsabers up. With the Lightsaber as his conduit he used them to block the onslaught of lightning which came towards him in volleys, but he wasn’t able to stop the Force Push as he was sent towards the wall behind him. Soon his back hit the wall with a soft thud, and he growled as he tried to protect himself.

As he was pent against the wall she brought her lightsaber to his throat, not much different from the way he’d just threatened her and muttered, ”Do you yield, Silas Isao?”

Slowly he began to chuckle, the chuckle became a cold laugh, and before he could even think his laugh became a cold hysteria before her. This wasn’t over, this would never be over, not if they were both still standing. They both knew it, she was just too stubborn in her righteousness to admit it. ”You wish it was over, this has only just begun, puppet,” Laughed the Sorcerer as he looked at her eyes, the lightsaber in her hands.

With a loud scream he sent a blast of telekinetic power straight towards her with every fibre of his being poured into that one action. If that succeeded he would push the Force into waves like individual weaves to cover the ground below him, and with it the building around them began to shake as the frame along with the foundation began to warp under the pressure. Darkly he looked at the Jedi as the Alter Environment began to take hold, perhaps the one destructive thing he’d really taken time to make precise it was extraordinarily interesting. One couldn’t just use this power at will, they had to know what they were altering, they had to use their knowledge as a weapon. If anything Silas could use as a weapon it was knowledge. As chunks of the ceiling began to fall, and his rage built up, he let out a wave of those threads of Force to cause lightning to crackle under his upraised arm. Energy raged through his fingertips as he let out a wall of pure energy through the air, as the Force Destruction would might hit his prey he pulled up his lightsaber to strike once more.

As he looked at her thunder crackled outside, and while he knew he could have caused this to happen it was just good luck that rain began to pour all around him. Through the cracks in the ceiling it began to fall, to strike down all around them, and Silas was ready to get this over with. If that meant just wearing her down until she was too exhausted to go on, so be it, but he would find something easier in just a few moments if it came down to that. With a heave he took in breath, and he could almost feel her knee still in his sternum. This couldn’t last much longer; he didn’t think his body could take it.

Both his lightsabers had ended up on the ground, and only one was visible at the moment, so with the Force he pulled it towards himself. That one sabre spun in his right hand as he looked at the woman, an apathetic demeanour about him. Perhaps she should make him angry, but really she was just a target, another game to be played, and soon she would be done with. As he sped forward there was a sensation which moved through his muscles while the Force sped up his movement, and allowed to move at speeds faster than most normal humans might be able to comprehend. With his strength he thought of a Force power which was relatively easy, even while fighting to execute. However, it did involve the mind which was something this woman seemed to be better at than most Jedi he’d ever encounter.

With quickness he would bring down a cut to crash the two lightsabers in a magnificent display of his harsh yellow upon the stark white of hers’. Then with a timely precision he would break the slash to spin around, and simultaneously begin an attack with Force Slow upon his victim. While distracted, and going against a Force user such as this he didn’t think it would work right away, but he would find a way through her defences. With a quick turn he brought his lightsaber down upon her, and the sabres would touch for just a second before he would push past it, and bring it down to strike once more.

As he spun the lightsaber he would bring it back down upon her with both hands grasped firmly on the hilt of the blade. If this would work he would push upon the lightsaber, and bring his elbow towards her head to strike that pretty little face of her. It’d be a shame if he messed it up, but so was the ways of war. Sometimes it left scars.

[Dire Wolf]

Rhissai didn't quite expect this Silas Isao to issue such a vigorous throw. Her weight was batted aside with ease, and she was thrown into the back wall with enough force to leave a small spider webbed crater on the duracrete. The Aphithiri woman could feel the brutal force of the contact push the air from her lungs, and her head snapped back into the wall with enough power to crack a normal person's skull. Though she was no normal person.

Before she knew it, the woman was face down on the floor struggling for breath. A raspy wheeze whined out of her throat, and each breath was more unsatisfying than the last. Fortunately, the man took it upon himself to send his power outwards into the environment, the building, shaking it with enough vigor to destroy the ceiling and turn the clinic into a rickety old shack.

As she lay there, wheezing, she mildly wondered how the man did all of this. Silas looked so young, far younger than she, yet he could do so much. Her senses told her that he was a skilled telepath, and his various other actions told her that he was powerful in the school of telekinesis and destruction as well. A cold realization hit her as chunks began to fall from the ceiling, and a powerful rain began to pour through the cracks. She may not have looked like a Jedi Councilwoman, yet she was. Rhissai, of all the people in the galaxy, should've been the last person to underestimate the man simply because he looked youthful.

It was a mistake that she wouldn't make twice.

By the time that he ceased exerting his power and charged, she had gotten her second wind and barely managed to regain her footing. Time itself slowed to a crawl as Silas bolted towards her, his speed impossibly fast for a human, but barely moving for someone who had such an extreme training in Body. In a fast yet smooth motion, Rhissai brought White Fang up to block the furious yellow blade.

Wait... what?

White Fang wasn't in her grasp. In fact, he was nowhere to be found. Her mind reeled at the new revelation, and her emerald green eyes went wide and frantically searched for the blade. "No time, no time, no time! Saber saber saber!" an alert sounded in her mind, bringing her back to the charging man with a plasma sword, looking to turn her into half of the woman she was then.

At the last moment she ducked below his blade, calling a handful of drywall dust from the ceiling to her hand. Force slow did little to her, as it slowed the body... but her command of the Force allowed it to be directed inward to expunge out minor forms of poison, and at times... sickness. She did just that with Force slow. Like water around a rock, the woman slipped around the blade so it only caught air. She always had a habit of being where the attack wasn't.

She watched him spin, adding power to an already brutal attack. As he spun, she threw out her left hand and launched the dry wall dust towards him. The man would spin around to find Rhissai crouched down and spinning the opposite way, her leg outwards and a cloud of dust flying towards his face. She was, of course, trying her hand at a foot sweep.

As she was rising from the foot sweep she screamed at the top of her lungs and cast her hands towards him. Every last fiber of her being was cast into the massive telekinetic push, mirroring an attack that Silas did just a few moments ago. Her hands formed a loose ring, and her fingers were clenched powerfully. Whether he evaded the sweep or was tripped by it, he'd likely be caught up in this powerful storm.

With another scream, this one straining the muscles in her abdomen, she unleashed a wave of directed power. Even after the first powerful push, she kept up the powerful storm. Redoubling her efforts, pushing him further and further back whether he was picked up and thrown into the wall or not. As she did this, her hands in something of a kamehameha stance, the aphithiri woman slowly advanced towards the man.

Another thought: her shoto. Rhissai's off-hand shot forward, calling forth the short blade from its hiding place. It coolly slapped against the warm flesh of her palm so that the short blade pointed downwards, and she raised it up towards Silas and flipped the activation switch. An icy blue star erupted from its hiding place in the steel hilt, and glinted menacingly at the man. At the last moment she released the constant force push and unleashed one final telepathic roar, seeking to disorient him before the brilliant star of ice and plasma would plunge into his chest.

[Silas]

Through the Force he saw it come, but to avoid the next strike he knew he’d just have to take the drywall dust, and move on. Only seconds later his watering eyes stung as he played out his moves, which were countered by the woman rather easily. In one over exaggerated push he shot off the ground as he pulled his feet up in a swift movement to escape the sweep of her feet, still he was in mid air when he felt the next move coming, and his mind frantically looked for an escape to only find but one route; be swept up in it. With mental astuteness on the fringe he landed on both feet to begin a counterstrike to hopefully stop it. All of a sudden a blast of the Force he did not at first comprehend smashed into his body as the one lightsaber he had left his hand, and flew towards the other side of the room.

Even if it had been hours, or years whilst he flew through that open space towards the wall behind him it would have been neigh but impossible to stop this inevitability. So all he could do was prepare for the moment when he would land as his back smashed in the brick hard enough to knock the wind out of him. As he gasped for a breath his instincts kicked in and both of the hands which were up against the wall pushed forward as a wall of the Force connected them. For a second the technique worked before another blast through the room, and slammed into him. Behind him the already weakened wall began to crumble behind him. Luckily his race healed faster, or he’d be ‘feeling this in the morning’ as many said. With a disgusted look he tried to push against her telepathic wall once more as they fought this intangible war. To no avail he used all his strength as she kept hitting him with blast after blast.

Behind him the wall cracked, and groaned, as pieces began to fall off. Clouds of drywall dust began to escape into the air as the old Sith growled loudly. Still, his eyes watered blood shot, and angry. Still, his mind frantically wanted out of this. Still, his screams pierced the air with an uncanny precision.

Now the volleys were at an end, the pieces were set, and the time for words was adrift in the ashes of their scorn. Fire alit in the warrior’s eyes as she moved upon the broken form of her opponent on the floor, a trail of blood drained from a scar on his arm. Darkness seethed from the red lines which distorted his eyes as he chuckled at the shoto which the warrior held within her hand to strike him down. One tattered hand, riddled with scars came up to send a violent push towards the other’s hand; the one with the blade. It lasted but a second before he brought himself to stand with the Force, and upon his feet once more he looked at the woman. For one last time Silas knew this must come to an end, he knew it would be the final chapter of this fight.

Without lightsaber, I will still fight her. Now without my sanity I take on this beast, for she has braved an enemy which has no soul, Thought the man with a slight touch of something akin to respect. Not for the woman herself, not for what she had been; it was for the veracity for which she presented herself. For not once did she pretend to be better than him, only to protect that which was hers to rightfully protect. The Sith understood this, and whilst he might have precious few reasons to protect anything, even himself, it was her willingness to attack which showed the earnestly. In ferocity she had shown her true self.

Within just a moment he had surmounted as much of the Force by which he might muster, and in the last moments of solace it formed sparks on the edge of his outline as he moved closer towards her. Earlier she had used something akin to lightning fists to attack him; this was not his intent. For a while as bounty hunter he’d gotten his fair share of fist fights, so one fist brought through the air to hit her in the abdomen. The second came up for a right hook as he brought it down. If those hit he’d kick her in the torso to fling her back towards the wall, and then his true attack was brought down.

With all the strength he’d accumulated in such skill he sent brilliant arcs of lightning through the air to the other woman. In haste he could think of no other way to put down a mad dog, so he hastily sent it towards her. Blue light flashed across the dark spots in his face, and for just a second she might have been able to see past that pretty young face to the true man inside. Perhaps if only just moments it might be, and then it was over as he walked a moment closer towards her. This would be over soon if he had his way, and he’d not allow their lightsaber in this brawl anymore. Perhaps he’d keep hers’ as a keep sake. Whilst he noted the blood which dripped off his skin, he did not care, and at the same time his body was in agony, but no response was made in his mind. Pain didn’t touch him, only a hate. A hate to kill his prey. A hate to finish Rhissai.

[Dire Wolf]

Satisfaction warmed the woman's heart as she watched the scintillating dagger of an icy hue drive downward towards the man's heart. Her tired mind conjured up the image of its unimaginably hot blade searing through his clothes, the flesh of his chest, and through the cage of his chest. The mental image pulled her lips back into something of a wild, brutal smile as she glared daggers down at the man.

Though it seemed that she withdrew her telekinetic assault too early, as he had enough time to call forth a blast powerful enough to throw her arm back and the shoto from her grasp. Satisfaction was replaced with dissatisfaction and surprise, though the latter was hardly enough to stay her hand in her defense. On instinct, her arms moved down and made an "X" at the forearm, catching his wrist in between hers. With one fist stopped, her left arm shot up so that the bottom of her forearm caught the inside of his elbow.

While make no mistake; the raven haired hell cat was exhausted, that hardly meant that she was spent. Her iron will refused to allow her to stop, despite both her muscles and her mind begging her to simply lay down and die. Within instants of her left arm blocking his haymaker, her right arm shot up, back, and forwards in a single blur of force enhanced motion. Lighting cracked and cackled from her fist back down towards her arm, making it look something like a bolt of lightning that shot towards his throat.

Should her fist meet his throat, she would press on the assault in the form of a flurry of fists towards his sternum. Each fist was lanced with lightning, and had nearly all of her ever diminishing strength into it. To end the flurry, a palm heel would slam forward in an attempt to break that softened sternum and send him reeling backwards.

Once there was some distance between them, she saw his fingers point towards her. Arcs of lightning instantly danced and played in the air between them. Her hands mirrored his, sending arcs of lightning back towards her adversary. Thunder roared as the bolts of lightning cracked and tore at each other, forming a furious orb where the two extensions of will and power connected.

Make no mistake: Rhissai knew that this was the way to lose the fight. Battling a Dark Jedi in a game of destruction never ended well, but at the moment it was the only way for her to extend the battle... and extending the battle was what she needed. Each passing second was another chance for her to snatch victory from the claws of death.

Every last fiber of her being was thrown into the lightning that she projected from the tips of her fingers, screaming at the top of her lungs to help throw more power into the lightning. It may have helped push her side forward some, but she knew that this was a fight she wouldn't win through ephemeral strength or knowledge.

She had to find another way... there had to be another way.

[Silas]

Silas had but a moment to think, and the woman not only deflected his initial attack, but then she gave her own attack. One of her hands struck his throat with an uncanny accuracy, and the Sith could feel every part of his wind pipe scream out in pain. Simultaneously he could once again hear the crackle of lightning between her fingers; such an odd technique for a Jedi to use. Perhaps he’d learn it someday, but at the moment he had no time for such contemplations and only time for the next parry as he brought up one of his hands to stop her next attack towards his throat.When one hand shot up towards his neck out of instinct he left himself more open to the strike which came next. The strike fell upon his abdomen, and while he instinctively tried to throw himself away from the attack, it hit nearly square on the area it was meant to go for.


As he reeled backwards he felt hot liquid bile in his throat, and before he could not stop himself from coughing up crimson blood as he leaned forwards just in time for it to land on the floor. One of his pale fingers dragged across his lips to pull the red liquid from his mouth as a growl came from his throat; sore and in pain from the previous hits. Suddenly as lightning poured across this place, it flickered around him as the arcs clashed, and splintered in the centre where they formed into the rudimentary shape of a sphere. There was a difference between confidence, and stupidity, but Silas did not know what this was for this woman; it could simply be desperation.

Her screams motivated her, they gave her power, but Silas did not need the strength of his voice, only the pent up anger which billowed inside him. Fury towards what she was, anger at her very existence was what he felt towards this woman, and a twisted wish for not just her, but her brethren to die. Not simply a hate which seethed, but a need to see them burn slowly, and feel their pain as they were wrenched in flames. This Sith didn’t always hold grudges, he could forgive, but the Jedi had no chance for retribution; they were sentenced to hell from here. Murder was all that was left for those who were once his brothers, an end to their story which might be more significant than the charade they paraded around for all to see. There could be no peace in the force, no stability amidst the chaos which it ensnared for its own purposes.

With one last inward draw, like a siphon he brought all the Force which he might be able to must, and pushed it through the tips of his fingers. The air around him seemed to be alive as the lightning ripped through the space between them, and with teeth bared he brought all he could upon the woman. Deep inside he could feel her; feel the weaknesses in her building. Perhaps he would lose if he kept this up, but all it would take was one more little tug, and she would fall apart at the seams.

One last surge with all the strength he could muster raced through his body as he saw an opening, but it required the woman to be distracted for just half a second. If this worked he would instantly bring his hands up, and clench his fists to grab hold of the roof above in a section which clung with just the barest of strength onto the building around. As both hands pulled down with the image that he himself had ripped the roof from its few last strong hold this Sith all but brought the building down on the woman. If somehow she stopped the roof in the collapse, he had one more thing up his sleeves. Through the pain which seeped through the muscles, the bones, and into his very soul he would bring forth the dark of his teachings to quickly rip the woman out of whatever state she was in.

Next came the tricky part, without giving time to think, if the other parts were successful he would use what might be the rest of his energy to pull the woman towards him. Assuming that works, he would ball one of his fists, and use all his strength to hurl it at the incoming woman as she neared him.

[Dire Wolf]

Rhissai was losing.

Desperation had led her to believe that she could have a hope at stemming off the wretch's lightning. At least until she could formulate another plan, but it quickly became apparent that she would have no such time. That volatile if not rudimentary orb seemed to have a life of its own, and terrible cacophony of their battling energy fields drew closer and closer to her ears.

Despite the fact that every single fiber of her being was devoted to keeping the storm of electricity from her body, it inched closer and closer to her form. Her roar seemed to make little difference in terms of power, which caused her exhausted mind to work feverishly at developing a new strategy.

Nothing.

The lightning was far too close for her to simply disengage and duck out of the way. If she released her power, or gave up an arm to call White Fang to her grasp, Silas' lightning would be upon her in an instant and wreak havoc with her nerves. Then, when all hope seemed lost, he released his lightning only to dodge and try to bring the ceiling down on her. Rather than pursue him with her lightning and be hit by the collapsing chunk of ceiling, she simply rolled out of the way. That heavy chunk of wood and duracrete slammed into the tile floor where she'd been less than a heartbeat before.

Rhissai shot up and ignored her physical and mental need for rest, calling the Force into her muscles to fuel them one final time. The fire that had kindled from the lactic acid within each muscle seemed to vanish, only to be replenished by the cool caress of the Force's power. The woman's frame turned into a blur as she sped off towards a wall, gaining enough speed within the scant distance to take a few steps along its surface before leaping off towards Dark Jedi. Her fist was raised and her body poised to deliver a strike to his chin that made the knee to his sternum look like she was merely playing.

But something was wrong. She was moving too fast. It was only then, when it was too late, did she realize that he used the Force to pull her towards him just as she leapt. The world was little more than a blur as she flew towards him in a haphazard fashion, her body no longer situated to transfer force at the last instant and her fist no longer up and pulled back.

She didn't even feel the man's powerful fist meet her face, or the damage it left. The world went from little more than a blur to dead black with little warning at all. When his fist contacted her chin, her speeding body almost instantly flipped around midair as it nearly halted to a dead stop. What little enemy remained pushed her forward, still flipping, and land on her raven-haired head before sprawling out on the tile. Her body was limp as a boned fish, and the only indication that she was even still alive was the subtle rise and fall of her chest.