Traitors and Patriots

[Charlie Sharper]

Tem walked off the landing platform dressed for the extreme cold of the frigid Arkanian winter. He was traveling as a civilian for the mission and as such his saber was concealed, along with anything else that would normally be seen on a Jedi. He handed several credits to the dock master, peering at him through his goggles, "This should be enough..." Tem said quietly, the dock master handed him a receipt, "Where is the nearest inn?" The dock master looked up from his papers "There is one about a block away, the Ice Princess, I think..." "Thank you." Tem said walking out of the port and heading into the cold.

As Tem walked he pondered over the situation, he was unsure why he was sent to protect a Sith Empire defector, the Republic was at war with the Sith, not the Jedi. But he assumed that the defector must have reached out to the Jedi instead of the Republic, that he wanted their protection. Tem arrived at the Ice Princess a short time later and paid for his room, then went to get ready for the meeting with the defector.

Tem sat in the center of the room and began to meditate, he couldn't get his mind off of the mission though, why had he been sent to escort and protect a sith defector, all of it seemed very odd. He reached out with the force and he could sense the others in the hotel, even read some of the more weak minded ones.

After an hour he headed downstairs and set out for the cantina where he was to meet the contact. It was a very run down place but it was still bustling with activity. He proceeded to the back of the cantina and from there he ordered a drink and waited for his contact. As he waited he scanned the crowd, his goggled eyes peering into the mass of people. After a short while he sensed a new presence, someone walked into the bar hooded and cloaked. Tem closed his eyes and felt out with the force, it was his contact, a human female. Shewalked over and sat down across from Tem, “Are you alone?” Tem didn’t look at her, “Yes, I was not followed.” The woman looked around suspiciously. “You’re late, I was expecting you yesterday” Tem still didn’t look at her “Today was the meeting date.” “When does the Jedi get here?” She asked, Tem looked at her now, “I am the Jedi.” Tem said confused by the question. "Who did you think I was?” He asked looking right at her now. “Wait….you’re not republic?” “No, like I said, I’m the Jedi you wanted to meet with.” She was obviously distressed by this. She stood up and headed for the door. Tem instantly got up and followed her out the back into an alley. Tem stopped and asked directly “What’s going on here?” She was pacing back and forth. "I don’t know, I was supposed to meet with a Republic spy yesterday and you were supposed to then pick me up and take me to Coruscant!” Tem then looked around as he felt someone approaching. He had a bad feeling about this whole mission and it was only getting worse.

[kozeph]

"Dam this cold" Kajir cursed deep in his head while pulling his red hood of his tabard up. His youthful face was covered with a black synth fiber that covered his lower face, from the nose below and only the piercing brown eyes looked on to the street below. He knelt and opened a metallic silver case revealing a sniper rifle, Kajir dug in and rested the gun on the border of the building rooftop. He was arguably half a block away from the building his target had gotten inside just now.

Ellanah Beatriz an intelligence officer that recently defected and now sought refuge in the republic in exchange for the secrets she knew. A bad move on her part. Kajir was called in to execute the traitor and was given two covert operatives to assist him. Ellenah had lucky enough managed to stay one step ahead of Kajir, but her luck had run out and the assassin had tracked her to the Ice princess inn. Her time had ran out and while the order was to retrieve her unharmed if possible. But on his own accord Kajir decided to terminate her, it was less risky that way.

The assassin shut his eyes and began reaching out with the force, he felt strong presence inside.

"Jedi..." He said slowly while gritting his teeth below his black half mask.

The human looked down on the sights of the rifle and began looking through the scope. He didn't had a clear shot of the female or the Jedi, the windows didn't gave him a favourably spectrum of sight.

"I don't have a clear shot. Breach in and eliminate the target, I'll provide sniper support" Kajir spoke through the comms to his two fellow operative, in the street below.

"Understood" Came the gruff reply a moment later. Below in the snow covered street two figures in black coats began making their way to the Inn.

Three minutes passed, three minutes of extreme pressure happened. Then blaster shots where heard, the humming of a lightsaber and people screaming and flooding out of the inn. Then silence...

Karjir waited in silence for what seemed to be an eternity.

Then two figures came out, both seemingly human. The Jedi and the target, the deserter. The choice was tough but Kajir made it a priority to take down the Ellenah.

He pulled the trigger and a green bolt of plasma hit the female square in the chest.

[Charlie Sharper]

Tem walked over to Ellanah and placed his hand on her shoulder, “We have to move…Now!” Tem lead her down the street and toward the Ice Princess. When they arrived he went about ensuring the security of the building, he could feel something ominous coming. He knew it wouldn’t be long now before they revealed themselves. “We have to keep moving. We don’t have long” “Who’s coming?” “I’m not sure, but they are coming.” He suddenly felt a strong force presence, it had to be a force-user. Tem opened the door to the room and looked out as two figures entered in black cloaks, Tem didn’t need the force to know what they were here for, he dipped back into the room to grab Ellanah and pushed her out into the hallway, then stepping in front of her he slid the lightsaber out from his sleeve and headed toward the two mysterious figures.

They both produced blasters and pointed them at Ellanah, Tem activated his saber and deflected the first two bolts back at their sources. The first bolt struck the blaster of it’s origin, destroying the blaster and sending a piece of shrapnel into the wielders eye, killing him. The second bolt struck the other figure in the leg, causing him to shriek in pain. Tem headed toward the survivor to interrogate them when Ellanah sprinted past him for the door. “Ellanah, wait!” Tem yelled, but she didn’t listen, he sprinted after her but she was already out the door when Tem reached her. He tried to pull her out of the way of the blaster bolt that he knew was coming, but he was too late, it struck her square in the chest. Tem looked up in the direction it came from to see a sniper aiming at him, but he dove out of the way in time to feel it whiz by him. He activated his saber and took off down the alley.

He called on the force to jump up to the ladder on the side of the building, he continued to force jump his way up the ladder until he reached the roof, and activating his saber he leaped across the roof in a single bound bringing the saber high above his head and bringing it down on the sniper, intending to wound the mysterious force user.

[kozeph]

A satisfied smirk came up in Kajir hidden lips, his mission was accomplished and hopefully this sucess would help in some way for being promoted from the rank of initiate. Kajir aimed for the fast moving Jedi, but his skill with a rifle was not good enough to keep up with the sprinting Jedi knight. Kajir simply decided to use his time to pack up the sniper rifle and put it back in it's suit case, he had to leave no evidence.

By the time Kajir finished packing the sniper rifle, the Jedi jumped into view and leaped head on to cut the sith assassin in half. Kajir threw the suit case which acted as a brief shield and was cut in half instead of him. The heavily dressed assassin eyes locked his pupils with the goggles of the jedi knight.

"Give up Jedi, Your mission failed the moment she walked out of the building" Kajir said coldly behind his half mask. Kajir walked around the Jedi knight circling around the rooftop. Once away from the edge of the roof, Kajir drew from his winter jacket a curved lightsaber instead of the average metal casing, this lightsaber had a wooden cover. This old dry wood was filled marks made from a knife, the exact number was forty six for the forty six slavers he had killed, forty six out of fifty marked by death. The people who destroyed Kajir peaceful life.

The saber hissed to life, the blue light so un sith like. This lightsaber that belonged to his father and his father father. Kajir considered his options he should really leave but the opportunity to finally test himself against a Jedi was to good. His report would be all but more pleasing to Kajir superiors if they knew that the Sith assassin had both taken care of the target and dealt with a Jedi knight.

"Come Jedi Knight, I want to see what your kind is capable of" The sith initiated pushed forward thrusting his lightsaber forward, looking to stab the Jedi knight in the heart.

[Charlie Sharper]

Tem landed heavily on his feet as the assassin rolled toward the other edge of the roof. As the Sith spoke, Tem closed his eyes and calmed himself with the force, allowing his anger over the murder to be washed away. He then opened them and looked at the Sith again.
"Give up Jedi, Your mission failed the moment she walked out of the building"

"My mission isn't over until you have been captured, Sith." Tem called calmly. He watched as his opponent withdrew his saber, Tem fell back into his stance and readied himself for an attack. The saber the dark jedi held flared to life, it's blue blade illuminating him. Tem thought that it was odd that he carried such a blade, no doubt taken from a Jedi. Tem's blade would not be added to the force users collection, of that he was sure.

"Come Jedi Knight, I want to see what your kind is capable of." With that Tem ran forward toward the dark Jedi, bringing his blade across his body to clash with his opponent's blade. Spinning around away from the Sith's blade. As Tem spun he swung his saber low, bringing it back up toward the Sith.

[kozeph]

Kajir blade pull back if only a bit, giving him a bit more freedom and to avoid the Jedi strong parry to push the Assassin's blade of course and where it could not defend Kajir. Both blades connected and the noise was something interesting, it had been a long time since he had drawn his lightsaber to fight a force user. For the past months and years he had relied on the force and other weapons but rarely in his lightsaber, the one that belonged to his family.

Kajir took three steps back and adjusted his blade so at to parry the Jedi knight low slash, trying to lead the attack away from him and where the goggle wearing knight could not defend. Kajir then made a step forward and came him making an elegant swing aiming at the neck of the Jedi warrior from the left, Kajir kept on the offensive by lowering his attack angle by extending his right foot and dropping if only bit, he leaned forward and thrusted his lightsaber into the Jedi knight defense.

Kajir strikes aimed to kill alone, there was no needless movement, everything was refined. It was the style that his grandfather had taught him long ago, it was called makashi the second form.

Kajir retracted his feet and returned to a standing position, showing a quick "X" like slash to break any chance of a counter strike. The assassin then Retreated five steps and made an upper cut.

He had nothing to say to a dead man.

[Charlie Sharper]

Tem pulled his saber back from the pary and brought it across his body, smashing into Kajir's blade while completely vertical, pointing to the sky. He then glided backwards on his feet, calling on the force to speed his retreat.

The dark Jedi was trained in makashi it seemed. It was a form that Tem was familiar with through his training with Heldo and Master Took. Makashi was a tough form to compete with: precise, accurate, and deadly, but Tem was confident in his training with Ataru. While he would make more brash strokes and violent stabs, he could overpower the dark Jedi's form with the aggression of his own.

For a moment Tem stood still, contemplating his strategy. He said nothing to the Sith, for he had nothing to say, he was content to let the silence linger. Makashi was dangerous and he would need focus to find Kajir's weaknesses. He would find them out soon enough; Tem jumped over to the Sith and swung his saber high over his head, bringing it down on the Sith's head with speed and strength, the qualities of his form.

[kozeph]

They disengaged and the Jedi made some distance between him and the Sith assassin. Kajir resumed his Makashi stance and waited for the fight to resume, there was silence, no words where spoken during that break. Kajir expected the Jedi to say something, along the lines of surrender, redemption or something akin. Thats what all the Sith initiates, that Kajir had ever spoken too regarding the Jedi said. Idealistic fools, hypocrites and weak old people. But this Jedi was not, this was the second time in his life that he had faced Jedi. Once before with a companion, Kajir had faced a master and it's padawan. Kajir took care of the padawan but his friend perished under the might of the master. That fight was full of drama, speeches about redemption and revenge, it was nonsense.

The Jedi knight charged back into the fray, jumping up and landing with a devastating blow. That Kajir had no hope of stopping, so he merely ducked and rolled out of the way, Kajir was agile and fast on his feet. This little stunt he could managed. The sith assassin rolled back up swiftly turning around to meet the Jedi knight. Kajir made a sudden thrust forward followed by a vertical attack, from bottoms up as it said.

Kajir began to see the style of his opponents strikes, Kajir was not as learned of Jedi lore to recognize every style with one or two swings. But as this little skirmish progressed the assassin figured out that the Jedi was using Ataru a form of aggression.

If the sith was not careful he could get overpowered by multiple brutal strikes. Kajir began formulating plans to hinder his opponent style.

The assassin went on the defensive, sending quick jabs and parries in an attempt to stop his opponents attacks

[Charlie Sharper]

The attack over the head wasn't a strike, but it did force the assassin to roll away. Tem pushed the attack by swinging his saber across his body at the sith assassin. Kajir parried and then made a succession of parries and jabs. This threw off Tem's timing slightly and forced him to block the jabs. Tem used his saber as more a bludgeon to block the quick jabs, attempting to knock Kajir's saber away from his center.

The Miralukan hybrid finally spoke as their sabers locked "Do you desire power, Sith?" Tem yelled. "If you truly sought power, you would seek peace. The greatest victory is achieved without the need to fight. The greatest power can only come when one becomes a part of something greater than themselves."

Tem knew that these words wouldn't sound as hollow as a lesson on the evils of hate. There was little chance they would sway the Sith to the side of the light, but he had to try, right?

[kozeph]

Kajir skipped back a couple of steps and was nearly on the edge of the roof. He was expecting the Jedi knight to keep on the offensive, but the goggle wearing knight did not. Instead he chose to speak out, words full ignorance and foolish dillusions.

If kajir lacked self control then he would have felt like laughing, but he did not. He didn't even find those words funny, something any of his "brothers" would probably have. The Sith assassin lightsaber died down and was turned off, Kajir stood erect and his eyes locked against those of the Jedi knight.

"You are blinded by illusions Jedi, you know nothing" He spoke out, just as cold as the frozen air of Arkadia. Kajir would not indulge the Jedi with his personal feelings, but he would plant the seeds of doubt on that man.

"Your peace only brings pain and death, Jedi. That is why the new sith rise... to shatter the peace of your republic" Kajir stepped back and fell down to the street level, his eyes never stopped looking at the Jedi. The assassin landing was cushion by the force and he landed unharmed. He looked up he could not fight the Jedi on open spaces, he would have to draw him somewhere that limited his wide and powerful blows.

[Charlie Sharper]

"You are blinded by illusions Jedi, you know nothing...Your peace only brings pain and death, Jedi. That is why the new sith rise... to shatter the peace of your republic"

The cold air chilled Tem as much as the words the Sith spoke. Tem doubted he could sway this man from the allure of the dark side easily. Tem felt nothing but pity for the lost soul however, knowing that the dark side would only destroy those that use it.

Tem watched as Kajir jumped off the roof, his eyes staying on Tem the entire way down. As he landed Tem leapt from the ledge and with the force, landed softly in the street pinning Kajir between the building and himself. He would not allow Kajir to get away. His mission to save the defector Elleneh, but if he could capture this sith assassin, then maybe he could still succeed in swaying him to the light.

Tem then activated his saber again and made a broad stroke with his saber, bringing it from his left foot to his right shoulder with all his strength, attempting to overpower his opponent.

[kozeph]

Kajir activated his lightsaber again after the knight landed, he would have attacked but the jedi was faster. The assassin had been corned by the wall and he was in no position to dodge or parry the goggle wearing Jedi brutal attack, Kajir could only grab his lightsaber with two hands and perform a similar move, he backed up all of his strength behind his swing. Both sabers locked and hissed, the sith warrior attempted to overpower the Jedi, but he could not and slowly was loosing the strength competition.

At that moment Kajir wished he could have the ability to use telekinesis, but alas he did not. He had been born to a bloodline unable to perform the feats of the force most Jedi and Sith took for granted. Instead the assassin had been gifted with the powerful abilities to defend from such attacks. But that at the moment would not save Kajir, so he had to rely on his martial training.

The sith using the last of his strength pushed the Jedi lightsaber off course and away from the Sith assassin. Kajir wasted not time as the lightsabers were released from their contest. Kajir wasted no time to strike, his leg lunged forward in a kick aiming at the fleshy part between the ribs and the hip of the Jedi knight.

Regardless if he scored a hit or the Jedi managed to get away it would give the Sith the opening to slip away to less confined area. He turned off his lightsaber and jumped to the right away from the Jedi lightsaber and to the empty snowy street.

[Charlie Sharper]

As there sabers locked Tem looked into Kajir's eyes and could feel the hate in his soul. It overpowered the senses and cut to the very core of Tem, which saddened the young Jedi. As the time passed with the two sabers locked, Tem could tell that Kajir's strength was fading, but before his strength failed, he pushed with all of he could muster to break the lock and kicked out at Tem. Tem didn't have time to block the foot and as he drew back with his saber Kajir's foot made contact with his midsection.

Tem braced himself, but the blow still hurt....Really hurt...But Tem couldn't allow it to break his stance so he swung his saber wildly outward to keep the Sith's saber from capitalizing on him in such an unguarded state. His saber met nothing however as the sith was gone, running down the street. Tem took a moment to catch his breath. This whole fight was proving counter productive, Tem had failed to keep the defector alive. But he did have one of the hit squad wounded in the hotel...It wasn't much, but it was better than nothing.

Tem ran back towards the Ice Princess, bursting in to the lobby with saber drawn to find several security officers surrounding the injured human. He was holding his blaster and pointing it at them, as they were trying to talk him into putting it down. They were failing, Tem decided and with a purpose-filled stride, he walked between the four security officers. "I will shoot!" shrieked the human.

Tem activated his saber and with one swift move he cut the blaster barrel off and closing the distance between them the Miralukan jedi kicked his left leg out, his heel connecting with the figures injured leg, causing him to fall to his knee. Tem then turned his right side toward the man and lifted his right leg, kicking the fallen man square in the chest.

The man fell to the ground with a thud and Tem pointed his saber at his throat. "You..." Tem said in a professional tone, "Are under arrest." The security officers rushed over to bind the assassin. Tem looked back out the window, down the street and he could no longer see the sith, but he would remember the face and he also knew that he would see the assassin again. Of that much Tem was sure.

With prisoner in tow, they left the planet for Coruscant. He hadn't succeeded in his mission to obtain the defecting intelligence officer, Ellanah Beatriz, and most likely the assassin in tow was just a hired gun with little knowledge of the actually plot, but that was all that Tem had and he wasn't about to let that go. Ellanah's confusion on their meeting and her words about a rendezvous with a Republic contact puzzled Tem and he didn't get a chance to ask her about it. This whole situation was not what it appeared and Tem was going to talk with the Republic Liaision as soon as they arrived on Coruscant.