A Fierce Rivalry is Born (Danthien and Rugs)

[danthien]

Loud, stupid, and ugly. The aliens moving around Rajjdan as they moved their crates of illegal spice onto transports disgusted Rajjdan Trillvan. Rodians, Bothans, and Sullustans hurried around doing their jobs, trying to ignore the man in black leather watching them. Whenever he shifted his position the two lightsabers on his belt would clink, drawing someone's scared eyes toward them, just to quickly turn away in fear. What scared them all the most was Rajjdan's face. It was not scowling, as they would have expected of a Dark Jedi, nor was he smiling, which would have been creepy. His face was a blank, neutral. He was just there like he didn't care and yet everyone could feel hate and power emanating from him. Their Twi'lek crime boss had only hired the one Dark Jedi, for an operation that normally warranted over two dozen heavily armed thugs for protection. Such confidence in the single man scared the aliens more than anything had before. Plus, he hadn't moved from his spot in over two hours.

What insignificant rabble. The Dark Jedi thought to himself. He had taken the job because he was getting paid twice what the two dozen men would have, plus he owed Ki'Rahn a favor. Ki'Rahn had reason to believe the Jedi Order was investigating his syndicate, which would mean even four dozen men would be useless. So he had called on Rajjdan, who was passing through, to return an old favor. Rajjdan was short on funds, barely having enough to fuel his Gifted Shadow. So he accepted the job.

The operation was almost over, only two transports were waiting to be filled when Rajjdan felt a tremor in the Force. When he suddenly turned his head to the south, everyone who saw him moved jumped nearly out of their skins.

"Hurry up!"

He roared at the petty criminals. The Jedi's finally here. He thought to himself as the crooks stumbled over themselves to finish up.

[Rugs]

Ah, Coruscant, you've got such a filthy ass.

Locke strode spryly through one of the many dark alleyways that snaked throughout the Lower City. His hands rested easily in his coat pockets, and his was the stride of a man who'd walked that alley more times than he could count. In a sense, he had. No, he hadn't been down that alleyway in particular, but he'd been through thousands like it all across the Galaxy, from here on Coruscant itself to Nar Shadaa. And he'd learned that, once you got used to them, they were all the same.

He wasn't dressed as a Jedi. Not today. Though he wore his coat, it wasn't something that Jedi often wore, and thus not enough to distinguish him as one, at least at a glance. Underneath, his dress was simple, as it often was when he was masquerading as a common man. He wore a dark blue shirt, with short sleeves, and some black spacer's pants that were tucked into a pair of black boots. His pistol was in plain sight on his belt, but then again, how many Jedi used pistols? The real giveaway, his lightsaber, was hidden away in a pouch, though he could have it out in a heartbeat if need be.

The job he was on was a simple one, compared to some of the others he'd been involved in before: there was a transaction being made that involved some spice, and he needed to stop it. Very simple, for the fairly well-seasoned Investigator. Much easier than the jobs that involved going undercover for months at a time. All it had taken was a day or two of digging around, and he had his information. And now, the movement of the spice was set to happen, making it time for Locke to strike.

He came up to the exterior of the hanger where the spice was supposed to be being loaded and paused, checking over his equipment. Blaster, lightsaber, check. Com to the authorities... got it. He looked up and rolled his shoulders, stretching out for the inevitable action that was coming.

Before he walked in, he reached out to the Force, feeling out and within the building, trying to get a hint of what was waiting for him within. There were the expected presences of what could only be criminals as they scurried about, but there was something more, something different. Something unexpected.

Something dark.

And that something could touch the Force. Lovely, Locke thought, running a hand through his hair. Last time he'd unexpectedly run into a Dark Jedi on a job like this--and in this part of the city, no less--he'd been beaten to within an inch of his life. The saber scars on one of his shoulders and a thigh were still there as a testament to what could happen if he got hasty. It wouldn't happen again.

"Hello, gents," he said as he threw the doors open wide and walked in, as if he owned the place. "I'd hate to ruin your fun, but I heard through the grapevine that you're all up to a particularly illegal sort of activity." Locke stopped, looking them over, before his gaze fell on the tall, silver-haired man in black leather. There he is.

"Now, there are two ways we can go about this." He shifted his weight from one leg to the other and cleared his throat. "You know the drill, it's an old cliché: we can do it the easy way, where you surrender to me, or we can do it the hard way. I can assure you," he went on, meeting the tall man's eyes directly, "that things will go much more smoothly for everyone involved if you go with the former.

"Which way will you go?"

[danthien]

As the Jedi busted in like he owned the place, Rajjdan silently thanked the Force that they were ahead of schedule. Even if the last two transports didn't make it, the dent in Rajjdan's wallet would be small enough not to care. At this point, Rajj didn't really care if any of the thugs in the hanger survived.

As the Jedi spewed some easy way, hard way nonsense, Rajj stared coldly at the Jedi. Suddenly Rajjdan realized that the Jedi didn't look like a Jedi. He had a blaster on his belt but Rajjdan felt that the man had a lightsaber hidden somewhere in there. As Rajjdan was about to respond to the Jedi, one of the nearby Bothans laughed loudly at what he saw as a lone idiot, not realizing that the man was a Jedi. Whipping out a pistol the idiot fired three shots at the Jedi. Rajjdan calmly watched as the Jedi easily dodged the blaster bolts and then threw the man aside with the Force. The man landed hard on his ass, dropping his blaster.

"If you idiots have even a single brain cell, you will not go near the Jedi, continue with the loading and get out of here, he's mine." Rajjdan said coldly before turning back to the Jedi as everyone else scurried around. "I'll take the hard way, if you don't mind."

Rajj ignited his two lightsabers, getting into a Jar-Kai stance as he stared down his opponent, his silver-blue eyes emotionless. This hanger was not going to come out of this in one piece.

[Rugs]

Was it too much to hope that, just once, someone would surrender. Obviously, Locke wouldn't make the offer if he didn't believe he could beat the daylights out of the people he was making it to, but noooo, they always had to make things difficult. Unnecessarily so.

Like the Bonthan.

Well, perhaps there wasn't as much to blame him for, since Locke didn't look like a Jedi, but generally, if a lone man comes in and makes an ultimatum, you shouldn't attack them. It was a lesson the Bothan learned soon enough. Oh, he shot at Locke, probably thinking that he would put the little pest down. He was wrong.

For one such as a Jedi, who fights precognitive, it wasn't hard to know the attack was coming. Locke wasn't the best in the school of sense--neither was he bad in it--but he could feel the Bothan's intent from a mile away. As such, he only turned his head to glance at the foolish creature as it's blaster came up and fired, hurling several bolts of red plasma toward Locke's chest.

Locke moved, calmly taking a step to the side, and before the blasts had even passed him completely, he lashed out with the Force, send forth a wave of energy that unceremoniously dropped the thug on his behind. "You're not the sharpest knife in the drawer are you, bud?"

"If you idiots have even a single brain cell, you will not go near the Jedi, continue with the loading and get out of here, he's mine. I'll take the hard way, if you don't mind."

Locke snorted. Of course the man would choose a fight. "Ah see, there's the problem." The words were calm, conversational, and Locke paced to the left, as if he was ignoring the man that stood before him with two lightsabers at the ready. "See, I can't let that spice get away, and you seem to want to get in my way." Locke paused, glancing at Rajjdan before continuing on his arching path. "That's a problem, dear friend. But we are flexible people, are we not? I'm sure we can make adjustments."

Without warning, Locke took hold of the Force and stuck out toward one of the ships. Telekinesis was his bread and butter, as far as the various areas of the Force were concerned, and that's what he planned to use now. He grabbed onto the loading ramp of one of them and yanked back. For a few moments, there was a soft groaning noise as the metal resisted, and then it tore free with a loud crash and went sliding across the floor, leaving a shower of sparks in its wake. One poor thug--a Duros--was unfortunate enough to get in the way and was sent flying, as if he'd been a ball, and the ramp, the bat.

That'll delay them for a little while. Should keep 'em from taking off, too.

It was then that Locke turned his attention to his lightsaber wielding adversary-to-be. He was tall, towering half a foot over Locke. Physically, he looked to be strong--stronger than Locke at least, though that wasn't something the Investigator wasn't used to; while he wasn't weak, he wasn't the strongest guy around. His strength was in his agility, not in the sheer amounts of power he could put out.

"I suppose if you must do this, I don't have much choice other than to agree, do I?" He sighed, and reached back to the pocket on his belt and removed his lightsaber. It flared to life, lighting up the area around him with an orange glow. Locke tsked and shook his head. "Y'know, I'd think that one day, someone would just come along without a fight, but I guess you won't be the guy, eh?" He smirked, and his eyes twinkled mischievously. "Fair enough, then. Your move."

[danthien]

Rajjdan didn't even try to stop the Jedi, even though he say it coming from the man's speech. Rajj passively watched as the Jedi tore the ramp off of one of the transports and hit some poor Duros. He went flying out the open hanger, falling the rest of the way from the undercity hanger to the surface. Rajjdan doubted that the man survived.

Rajj kept his eye on the Jedi as he paced around him as he continued to talk.

"I suppose if you must do this, I don't have much choice other than to agree, do I? Y'know, I'd think that one day, someone would just come along without a fight, but I guess you won't be the guy, eh? Fair enough, then. Your move."

At least the Jedi was quick to catch on, though he sure did talk a lot.

"Surrendering is not in my nature. My master would probably come back from the dead to kick my ass if I did. So no, I will not be the one to surrender to you."

Rajjdan took a quick glance back at the transport the Jedi had damaged, and shrugged.

"By the way, you're rather late. This is last two of a hundred transports of spice. Right now the dent in my paycheck for these two wouldn't bother me in the least."

Suddenly Rajjdan pointed the index and middle finger of his left hand at the Jedi, letting a torrent of Force Lightning fly at the Jedi to start their fight.

[Rugs]

One of the corners of Locke's mouth quirked up in an amused smirk at Rajjdan as he spoke. He was so sure of himself.

"Ah, woe is you, then," he said, amusement coloring his words. "You've choice of getting your ass kicked here or getting it kicked by a dead master. Quite the predicament." He rolled his shoulders, popping his neck, and sighed. Locke's stance was relaxed, and really wasn't much of a stance at all, yet. His lightsaber rested easily at his side, though he was quite alert, able to bring it up to defend himself in an instant if need be. But he didn't plan on revealing too much about himself, not even what style he might use. Not yet.

"That's quite the predicament, isn't it? But I suppose, where I you, I'd do the same." He flashed a grin at the Dark Jedi. "Much easier to explain away getting your ass kicked by a living man than by a ghost, eh?"

"By the way, you're rather late. This is last two of a hundred transports of spice. Right now the dent in my paycheck for these two wouldn't bother me in the least."

Locke snorted roughly. Did this man, think he was some greenhorn, still wet behind the ears? "Yes, trust me, we're quite aware of the other transactions that have taken place. They won't get far, you can be assured of that. See, the thing about moving so much at one time is that it tends to make noise. A lot of noise, whether intended or not." Locke titled his head a bit, as if he were sizing Rajjdan up. "Were I you, I'd be a bit more concerned about the shape of my pocketbook, friend. Even as we speak, your friends are being apprehended and dealt with by numerous forces, both from Coruscant and the Republic. You should work for people that know how to be more ah... secretive. But I digress."

Then the Dark Jedi pointed two fingers toward Locke. There was a moment where Locke could feel the buildup of the Force, though he couldn't say what it was exactly that was coming. Whatever it was, it would start the fight in earnest.

It was lightning. It screamed through the air, arcing toward Locke. He reacted quickly, shifting his weight to send him down and to the side in a roll to his left that took him out of harm's way. And just in time. The lightning crashed into the spot where he'd been, arcing violently over the floor.

"You'll have to do better than that, bud," he jeered as he threw his hand forward. Tendrils of the Force went forth, but Rajjdan wasn't their target. Not directly. Again, he grabbed on the loading ramp of one of the transports, this time the one he hadn't already ruined, and pulled. It came free once more, but this time, Locke sent it flying toward Rajjdan's back. Of course, he had no doubt the tall man would notice it, with all the noise it made. And that was why, as they ramp flew forward, he let loose with another telekinetic attack, sending a blast of energy hurtling forward towards Rajjdan so that he'd be caught between attacks from two different directions.

He wasn't planning on engaging Rajjdan blade to blade just yet. No, for the moment he wanted to test the man, see what he was made of. He'd learned his lesson four years ago about rushing in blindly and overconfidently, and he didn't intend to repeat that experience today.

[danthien]

As the Jedi told him that the other transports were being taken down as they spoke, Rajjdan shook his head. Like he cared. His job was to look after this area, once the transports left, they weren't his concern. And his cocky statements were getting rather irritating.

After he launched lightning at the Jedi, who dodged, Rajj sensed the Jedi using the Force himself. He got ready for whatever it was but was surprised by the loud screech of metal behind him. Glancing over his shoulder he watched as the second loading ramp came flying at his back, taking out some thugs on the way. In the back of his mind he sensed the bundle of Force energy coming at him from the Jedi in addition to the large hunk of metal.

In one swift, fluid motion, Rajjdan jumped up in a back-flip, just as the ramp and the Force Push collided below him, stopping the ramps motion, it almost eerily seeming to float below him for a split-second before Rajjdan's feet touched it, using the Force to pull it with his still spinning back-flip. As the sheet of metal faced the Jedi Rajj channeled the Force down his legs, with Lighting running down them into the metal, launching the electrified metal at the Jedi.

Rajjdan landed exactly where he stood moments before, taking a cocky stance of his own as he looked at how the Jedi fared his trick.

[Rugs]

Ah, good, this one's got at least part of a brain, Locke thought bemusedly as he watched Rajjdan leap into the air, over the ramp and the blast of the Force that were closing in from either direction. It was good for him, that, else he might have been squashed between the metal and the Force, which might as well have been a wall of air.

The Dark Jedi turned his evasion into an attack and called the metal to his legs. Then he channeled, pumping lighting down into it before sending it on, hurtling towards Locke. The Investigator only smirked at the now-electrified slab of metal.

Cords of the Force swept out at Locke's behest, wrapping around the ramp and bringing it under his control. He moved his left arm back, allowing it to keep on, in order to keep the momentum going for what he had in mind. "Well that was a clever trick, friend," the said as the ramp looped around behind him, slamming into one of the thing metal pillars behind him. It bent with a loud groan and a shower of sparks as the ramp continued on, propelled by Rajjdan's push and Locke's manipulations. "But again, you'll have to do better than that."

It was then that Locke gestured forward with his right hand, sending the force out to grab and Rajjdan and pull him. And then, at the same time, he brought the ramp around from its loop, using the already-gathered momentum to slingshot it forward, toward his large opponent.

Another test. Locke wanted to see what this man's reactions were like before he charged in and committed himself to a more intimate form of combat. And if Rajjdan couldn't deal with these proddings, then obviously, he wouldn't be worth Locke's time and effort.

Then again, he had given him the chance to come along peacefully. And Rajjdan had refused. Locke couldn't be blamed for having to deal with stubborn people.

[danthien]

Rajj grinned as the Jedi suddenly pulled on him with the Force and turned the piece of metal towards Rajjdan, again. It was an interesting maneuver to say the least. Rajj used the pull, moving with it to go faster. Just before he collided with it, Rajjdan sliced it in half, the parts falling harmlessly to the side as Rajj boosted himself straight at the Jedi, his two sabers ready to slice up the Jedi. As their Lightsabers clashed, Rajjdan channeled Lightning through his Sabers, making them even more dangerous as electricity arced off with a screech like a banshee every time their Sabers hit. After a short barrage of strikes Rajjdan quickly jumped away, landing on top of a nearby crate.

He smirked as he looked down at the Jedi, his voice cocky as he spoke. "Your not bad for a Jedi. Deceptive, clever tactics, why, it seems almost like you actually have a pair in your britches. What's your name Jedi? Mine is Rajjdan Trillvan."

[Rugs]

"Only almost?" Locke asked with a laugh as he spun his saber 'round in his hand once and brought it down to his side. "I suppose I have some more work to do then, eh?" He flashed a grin at Rajjdan and rolled his neck, letting it pop.

They'd crossed sabers now, if only for a moment. Naturally, since they were still in the phase of the fight where they were testing each other, each feeling the other out, they hadn't gone toe-to-toe for very long, and as such, no real advantage had been gained by one or the other. Still, Locke was confident that he could take on this Rajjdan. He had to; it was his duty.

"Locke Nemsee's the name, Rajjdan," he went on, making a slight bow with a flourish of his blade. When he straightened, he looked at the man and shifted his weight, causing his ends of his long coat to sway gently around his legs. A few of the petty thugs that had been working here were still around, scrambling to do something about the two ships that Locke had been so kind as to ruin. And along with the ones that yet lived were some corpses--remains of those who had been unfortunate enough to get in the way of the ramps as they'd been hurtling through the air. I guess that's the way it goes when powers such as our clash, Locke thought idly. If they were innocents, he would have been disturbed. If they were innocents, he would have moved the fight to another location. But they were not--they were criminals, just as Rajjdan was, and whether their punishment was death or incarceration, they deserved whatever was coming their way.

"Answer me this, Rajjdan," Locke said, turning back to look at his opponent. "What's a man like you doing working for petty criminals like this? You're obviously a man with formidable abilities. You couldn't do something a little more... oh, I don't know, noble?"

[danthien]

When Locke bowed with a flourish, Rajj returned the gesture with a Makashi Salute, though it was the only thing about the Makashi style he knew. "It is a pleasure to meet you Locke Nemsee." He said, before the man continued.

"Answer me this, Rajjdan, what's a man like you doing working for petty criminals like this? You're obviously a man with formidable abilities. You couldn't do something a little more... oh, I don't know, noble?"

"Noble?" Rajjdan asked himself quietly as he remembered the most noble thing he had ever done, kill his father. "Noble actions aren't really my forte, and besides, if I ever tried to do something nice you Jedi would notice me, and my Darkness. I'm not sure about you but every Jedi I've met so far would sense my Darkness and jump straight for the kill, thinking me an evil Sith or something just because I'm not afraid of using the Dark Side." He smiled then as he looked at the Jedi. "I'm sorry, I'm rambling, come, let us resume our fight." He said as he grabbed a nearby Rodian thug with the Force and chucked the poor guy at the Jedi. The way Rajjdan figured, the whole operation was a bust. He already had his money, two transports worth would be subtracted later by a droid automatically, but his job was done here. It was time to enjoy a good fight.

[Rugs]

"Are you so sure?" Locke asked, holding a hand up in front of him to slow and then stop the Rodian's movement before setting him down roughly onto the ground. He sighed and deactivated his lightsaber for a moment so that he could shrug out of his coat, letting it fall down to the ground where he stood.

When he looked up at Rajjdan, his eyes were hard, filled with a determination to do what had to be done, but there was something else there. Remorse, perhaps. "You think we would come in to stop someone who's trying to make the Galaxy a better place? We're not that obsessed with taking down others, Rajjdan. Or at least, I'm not. But I guess it doesn't matter for us right now, does it?

"As you say then, Rajjdan." Locke's lightsaber came alive once again and he gave a Makashi salute of his own--a formal procedure to give way to the start of their real fight. "Know this: once I've beaten the daylights out of you, you'll be taken to the Temple, where someone else can deal with you. I hope for your sake you know how to be cooperative."

Then he started to move forward toward Rajjdan. His walk was calm, unperturbed as he moved forward, simply moving one foot ahead of the other. Grey eyes met Rajjdan's blue-ish silver, and then Locke was moving quicker now, his blade coming up for a strike.

On the surface it looked like a vertical strike, down at Rajjdan's left shoulder. However, Locke had different things in mind. With the speed and precision that Makashi was known for, he arrested the blade's descent and suddenly switched line's, turning into a horizontal sweep at Rajjdan's right side. No matter if the attack landed or failed, he'd continue on, stepping in toward Rajjdan and striking out with a hard punch to his floating ribs on his left side; a punch that, if it connected, had the potential of breaking bone.

[danthien]

"You think we would come in to stop someone who's trying to make the Galaxy a better place? We're not that obsessed with taking down others, Rajjdan. Or at least, I'm not. But I guess it doesn't matter for us right now, does it?"

Rajjdan shook his head. He liked this Jedi, under different circumstances they could have been friends. But as it was they weren't.

"No, it doesn't matter." Said Rajj. "I have my job to do. You have yours."

Once Locke reactivated his lightsaber and gave a Makashi salute of his own, signifying the beginning of the real battle, Rajjdan nodded as he listened to Locke continue. "Beat me? Let's make a bet then, if you win this fight I'll become a Jedi, if I win, you become my apprentice." Rajjdan grinned as the Jedi approached, their eyes almost sending sparks between them as the Jedi came in for the attack.

Rajj saw a vertical strike coming down on his shoulder but his senses told him that a horizontal strike was coming at his right side. His instincts had yet to be wrong so he went with them, his right, silver blade coming up to defend at the exact same moment Locke switched lines, blocking the strike as Locke stepped inside Rajj's defenses to punch his left side. Once again his instincts had told him it was coming so his torso was already turning to the left, the punch barely grazing his black leather shirt as he started to bring his left, rainbow colored saber in a back-swing to Locke's left, aimed right at his ear. Whether Locke blocked or dodged, Rajjdan's right saber was right behind it, ready to strike lower at Locke's waist.

[Rugs]

"Beat me? Let's make a bet then, if you win this fight I'll become a Jedi, if I win, you become my apprentice."

Locke snickered. At least this one has some sense of humor. "Sorry Rajjdan, unless you've been a part of the Order before, they won't let you in. Unfortunate, but I don't make the rules. I could use an errand boy, though. I think you'd fit that role perfectly." Again, Locke flashed a grin at Rajjdan, and then their fight began in earnest.

Locke wasn't surprised that his attacks failed, though the smoothness with which Rajjdan responded to them caught him a bit off guard. The man had stopped the feint as if he'd known it was coming, and had managed to avoid Locke's punch with relative ease. Locke scowled a bit. While it would be impossible to gauge the potential skill difference between them in just one exchange, Locke knew that this Rajjdan wasn't some piece of riff-raff like the others he was so used to dealing with.

He'd actually have to put forth some effort for this fight.

Well, it had been a while since he'd gotten to stretch his legs, as it were; he just had to make sure things here went better than they did last time he ran into a Dark Jedi that had been hired to protect some petty gang.

In the mean time, Rajjdan was countering. One of his blades came up in an attack, toward the side of Locke's head. Locke shifted his weight to the side, bring himself safely out of the strike's path, and at the same time, he saw Rajjdan's silver blade coming in at his waist.

His orange saber snapped around and met the silver one, and held it there, in a temporary lock. "Well well, friend, look's like you might not be half bad. But do you have what it takes?" He smirked as he looked up at Rajjdan, who towered over him, now that they were standing right next to each other. "After all, if I'm to become your apprentice, you'd best get to teaching me something." Then Locke spun his wrist, attempting to take control of Rajjdan's saber and push it out so that it would to the side and out of the way. As he did that, he prepared his own counter attack.

His leg shot out in a sweep toward Rajjdan's ankles, one that would take him off of his feet, were it successful. But, at the same time, he called the Force to his free hand shot in forward, with a blast of power that would send Rajjdan back through the air, and into the side of one of the ships.

[danthien]

Rajjdan grinned as the Jedi spoke while their sabers were locked against each other. "Well well, friend, look's like you might not be half bad. But do you have what it takes? After all, if I'm to become your apprentice, you'd best get to teaching me something." Locke was funny, Rajj had to give him that.

Suddenly Rajj's right saber was pushed away as Locke dropped into a sweeping spin kick at Rajjdan's ankles. For a moment Rajj almost simply stabbed his right lightsaber in the ground in front of the Jedi's leg, which would cut it off, but Rajj's instincts kicked in, telling him that a Force push was coming from Locke's free hand.

So instead Rajj did a Sai maneuver, jumping over Locke's kick as his Force Blast started to come at him. Rajj quickly made his own, quick Force push against Locke's. Rajj's skill in telekinesis was average at best, so the combination of Rajj's aerial position and weaker push meant that while Locke's push didn't hurt or anything, it did still send him flying. Using the Force to guide himself, Rajjdan landed on top of the ship instead of in its side.

"You know, the one who trained me was a Miraluka Master of your Order. I know all of your philosophies and principles, and even your Code. Minus my Dark Side tendencies, like a preference for torture and the like, I'm pretty much a Jedi."

Rajj smirked down at the Jedi from his high vantage point. The two ships was starting to take off. Since Rajj would use the Force to protect his ship, if the Jedi didn't hop on the other ship, taking their fight into the superlanes of Coruscant, the Jedi would lose him.

[Rugs]

Locke's foot shot out, but Rajjdan wasn't there. That wasn't too much off a surprise, though. He'd expected Rajjdan to jump up, or evade the kick in some other fashion; that was where the push came in, along with make sure to cover himself from potential counterattacks. But Rajjdan was ready for that as well, after a fashion.

He countered Locke's push with a push of his own, and while Locke's was the stronger of the two, it was able to weaken Locke's enough to keep Rajjdan from being harmed. Instead of getting slammed into the side of one of the vessels, Rajjdan landed on top, ready to keep going.

He's really not that bad, Locke thought, looking up at the Dark Jedi. This might be harder than I thought it would be. He was starting to notice that Rajj had a way of being prepared for his attacks, and was good at reacting to them. It wasn't the first time Locke had fought someone who acted as such, but it was an annoyance. If the pattern continued, he'd have to change things up--work to deceive rather than to attack outright, or when he did, attack with the intent of overwhelming.

"You know, the one who trained me was a Miraluka Master of your Order. I know all of your philosophies and principles, and even your Code. Minus my Dark Side tendencies, like a preference for torture and the like, I'm pretty much a Jedi."

Locke smirked. "Well that's very nice and all, but there's more to being a Jedi than just knowing what we believe, Rajjdan." For a moment, his mind returned to one of the Courtyards in the Temple, when he and Councilman Roq had had a similar conversation with a troubled padawan. "To be a Jedi, you have to be a Jedi. You have to walk the path, through all of the hardships, troubles, and sacrifices that come with it." Not that Locke was the best Jedi, by any means. "There are a number of those who know our philosophies, know our Code and our ways, yet they didn't have the wherewithal to walk the path." He shrugged. "But I guess they're 'pretty much Jedi,' right?" He grinned up at Rajjdan then; the sarcastic tone of his voice made it clear what he thought of that last question.

In the mean time, the two vessels were preparing to take off. Locke could feel Rajjdan using some sort of barrier or something to protect the one he was on. So that left Locke with a choice: get on the other one and ride through the sky, or find some way onto Rajjdan's.

Or break Rajjdan's barrier and keep his ship from taking off altogether.

Yes, he liked that last one.

"Sorry friend, I don't think you'll be going anywhere."

The Force surged into him now, more than it had at any point so far in their fight. It was enough to make the edges of his shirt ripple gently and blow some of the dust on the floor away from him. He reached out behind him, to two massive loading doors that separated the part of the hanger they were in from the bay that was adjacent to it. The veins that normally stood out on his arms became more defined as he pulled through the Force, willing the doors to come free.

Metal groaned loudly in protest as the two great doors began to bend. There was a loud snap as one of the hinges broke. And then another. And another and another. Finally, the doors ripped free, and Locke spun on his heel, sending the two huge pieces of durasteel hurtling towards Rajjdan's vessel was fast as he could throw them.

The doors were big and heavy. They could do a good deal of damage do the ship itself if they hit. Locke didn't even want to think about what they might do to Rajjdan. He hoped, for the man's own sake, that he could get out of the way.

[danthien]

Rajjdan nodded at Locke's argument, he was right, and Rajj knew it. As much as Rajj knew about the Jedi, he wasn't anything like a Jedi. The Jedi lived lives of self-sacrifice. The part that Rajj really didn't like about the Order was how they took infants and raised them into Jedi, never giving them a real chance to do anything else, while at the same time forbidding them from having any real fun. Rajj was glad he had been found by the Master. He was as powerful as any Jedi and was still able to actually "live". Even though he wasn't able to do anything really big since he had to avoid attracting both the Jedi and the Sith.

"Sorry friend, I don't think you'll be going anywhere."

Locke's words brought Rajj out of his thoughts and back into the moment. Locke was pulling two huge pieces of Durasteel plating and throwing it at Rajj's ship. Instead of trying to think up a plan himself for stopping them, Rajj let the Force guide him, and apparently the Force thought the best thing to do was jump straight up.

And Rajjdan did, using the Force to boost himself straight up, he found himself on the walkways in the rafters, much to the surprise of several thugs. Looking back down he watched as the Durasteel plating destroyed the ship. While wondering why the Force didn't guide him onto the other ship, he noticed through the Force that a tiny bit of shrapnel from the first ship had shot out, killing the pilot of the other, causing it to drift out of the hanger and head straight down into the abyss.

"Well that was close." He whispered to himself before running down the walkway towards an emergency exit on that level, ready for when the Jedi tried to stop him. A grin spread across his face as he wondered what the Jedi would do. Rajj was having fun with this Jedi.

[Rugs]

There was a loud groaning and shrieking when the two massive pieces of durasteel slammed into the transport that Rajjdan had been perched on. The ship shuddered from the impact, and was forced to slide a few feet from the sudden energy of the collision. Sparks danced, going this way and that and spreading out along the floor when the ship, which had begun to lift off, slammed back down into it with an awful racket.

With one ship neutralized, Locke turned his attention to the other, and was a bit surprised to see it go tumbling over the edge of the hanger down, down to whatever stopped its fall. Locke winced a bit as he gathered himself up again; he hoped no one would be hurt from that.

Now he returned his attention to the task at hand: stopping and capturing Rajjdan. The Dark Jedi had evaded the chaos that was born of Locke's improvised anti-ship missile, much as he'd been expected to. But where did you go, Rajjdan?

He looked around, his stance alert, for any sign of the big man. There wasn't any sign of him down here. In fact, save the occasional sounds of movement from one of the thugs and the quiet, steady drone of speeders outside, it was quiet.

The wind from the outside blew in, gently rustling Locke's hair as he looked about. He sighed, and let his lightsaber fall down to his side. Again, the Force came to him, filling him with life and light, and with it, he felt Rajjdan. He's up above.

Locke looked up, to the network of walkways that webbed out over the hanger floor. They were pretty high up. Higher than any normal person could jump. Higher than Locke might have been able to, even with the Force strengthening his legs; he was skilled in a fair number of areas in the Force, but using it to augment his natural physical abilities was one of his weaker areas, and even then, he used it more to make himself faster, rather than stronger. He might be able to make it, but then again, he might not. Not that it mattered--there were always other ways up there.

He dashed off to the side of the room and leaped up to grab onto one of the ladders that went up to the walkways. From there it was a simple affair to rush up and get on the walkway. And there, running toward one of the exits, was Rajjdan. Wait, why is he running?

"Where are you going, friend?" he called as he started to give chase. "I thought you were going to teach me something! Don't leave me here, to wallow in the depths of my ignorance!" He turned onto the walkway that Rajjdan was on and readied himself for whatever the Dark Jedi might have to throw at him. While the whole thing might have been entertaining, Locke was still very much aware that Rajjdan's intent was to cause him harm, just as he had to hurt Rajjdan to stop him.

The situation was still dangerous.

[danthien]

"Where are you going, friend? I thought you were going to teach me something! Don't leave me here, to wallow in the depths of my ignorance!"

The Jedi's words were so very amusing that when Rajj came to a screeching halt, he let out a loud laugh.

"That's true, how rude of me to forget."

Rajjdan turned back to the Jedi, taking a mental note of where the walkway was attached to the roof. He also took note of how high they were. Rajj realized that the only reason he had been able to get up here was because he had started on top of the ship, giving him a boost. He'd never have been able to jump this far up otherwise. He grinned a bit with self-satisfaction.

"Let's see, for lesson number one let's see how adaptive you are."

Suddenly Rajjdan called upon the Destructive power of the Dark Side, letting it flow, feeding it with emotions. Most Jedi thought the Dark Side was fed with Anger and Hate. While for the most part that was true, Rajj used the Dark Side with any emotion he had plenty of. Often this would give his powers a different "feel" from other Dark Jedi, especially like now, as he used not anger, but the exhilaration he was feeling. After all, Rajj found himself not hating the Jedi, he in fact found himself respecting him.

Putting his Silver Saber back on his belt, Rajj slammed his fist into the floor of the walkway, sending destructive energies into it. The walkway shuddered and rippled as the energy flowed through it, making most of it fall down, including the part the Locke was standing on. Continuing off of this, Rajjdan started to send a blast of Lightning at Locke, no matter how he decided to handle this situation.

[Rugs]

"Let's see, for lesson number one let's see how adaptive you are."

"Oh goody," Locke said with a grin as he came to a halt. His orange blade spun around once in his hand as he shifted his grip, preparing for whatever it was Rajjdan was about to do. Let's see what you've got up those sleeves of yours, Rajjdan.

What came wasn't another attack with a lightsaber. This time, Locke felt the Force surging into his foe. He steeled himself, knowing that such a welling of energy within Rajjdan meant a Force-based strike was probably coming.

The strike came, but it wasn't an attack on Locke. Not directly. Rajjdan slammed his fist down into the catwalk, releasing the energy that he'd built up. The metal shuddered and groaned from the stresses being imparted into it, and then it started to give. Locke swore under his breath as the section he stood on started to collapse. Time was short. He didn't intend on falling all the way down to the hangar floor.

He called the Force to him and sent it down into his legs, to strengthen the muscles therein as best he could. At the same time, he pulled on the section of walkway he was still standing on as they fell through the air together. And then he jumped. The Force carried him higher than he normally would have been able to go; at this distance, he could make the jump to get back to what remained of the walkway, if only just barely. At the same time, the piece of the walkway was forced down faster and slammed into the ground, clattering around this way and that and making all kinds of racket.

Locke deactivated his saber as he sailed through the air; it wouldn't do any good to accidentally maim himself while he was trying to get back up onto the walkway. He made the jump, though the closeness of it was such that he had to grab onto the railing and hang off the side for a moment, rather make it completely back on in one smooth motion.

The catwalk groaned when his weight slammed down onto one side of it. It was weak this close to its broken edge, and so, much to Locke's horror, it shifted down, as if it was going to give in. But, despite the scare it gave, it held strong.

Rajjdan, however, took advantage of the situation, and before Locke was able to clamber back up, he sent a blast of Force Lightning hurtling towards the Knight. Locke saw the attack coming, but his position was such that there wasn't really much he could do to stop it.

"Well damn."

He pulled himself up, trying to escape the inevitable. He didn't make it. The lightning hit him in the side, wracking his body in pain. A yell of pain escaped him for an instant before he forced his mouth shut and endured. When the attack was over, he pulled himself up and over the rail and fell to a knee.

He hurt, but he would be okay. His breaths came a bit harder now, as he looked up at Rajjdan through narrowed eyes. "Well aren't you clever?" he asked, around his breathing. There was a moment where he paused and pushed himself to his feet. When he was standing, he flexed his fingers, poppoing each in turn, and then turned his attention back to Rajjdan. A renewed determination burned in his eyes; a determination to win.

"I suppose the first round goes to you, then," he continued, calling on the Force. "But now it's my turn, yes?"

Locke threw both of his hands forward, and suddenly took hold of the part of the catwalk Rajjdan stood on. Then he clenched his fists and pulled his hands back, and the metal violently ripped free of its supports, with all of the screeching and groaning that might have been expected.

Then Locke was in motion, using the Force to launch himself forward toward Rajjdan, whether the man fell or found some way back up. He went forward in a sort of flying tackle, with the goal of hitting Rajjdan and taking him down to the ground, but he let his lightsaber come to life again, in preparation to defend against any strikes Rajjdan might make with his own blade.