Abandon All Hope, Ye Who Abandon the Sith

[Phoenix]

Duel between Javik Dalos and Valdir Carran

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Somehow, every time something needed doing for the Sith and Javik was assigned to do it, it ended up being on some planet that was itself the armpit of the galaxy. Javik wasn't sure why Valdir Carran had chosen to come to Sullust as the planet of his choosing, but he could take a pretty good guess: he probably thought the Sith wouldn't find him here. He was wrong.

Javik had arrived on the planet some time earlier after hearing reports that the Acolyte in question had gone on the run and wound up here. That just wasn't going to fly. You don't just leave the Sith, so Javik was here to bring the Acolyte back: dead or alive. If it came to blows, Javik wouldn't hesitate to end it, but he'd try reasoning with him first. At least that's what he told himself. In reality, reasoning with people wasn't his real job in the Sith, his real job was killing people; a much more likely outcome to this scenario.

Javik had been suppressing his Force presence since arriving, so as not to alert the Acolyte to his presence. Now, however, with the other Sith in sight, Javik unveiled his presence for the Acolyte to sense, at least if he was attuned enough to his surroundings. Drawing his saber from its holster, Javik held it in his right hand and with his left aimed his flechette pistol at the Acolyte. In full armor with his full arsenal of weapons, he no doubt looked a little bit daunting, but he wasn't a Sith in order to look friendly.

The area they were in was between a pair of mountains about 50 meters across with a small "river" of lava about 2 meters across running down the center. Javik looked down at the man below him from a ledge about 4 meters above him and shouted, Carran, surrender now and come back to the temple, or be eliminated. His senses were ready and wary for any signs of a trap, but how could the Acolyte have known he was coming?

@Ecclessey

 

[Eccles]

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Valdir had been on Sullust for far too long, but somehow the planet was too much akin to his own inner state to not be drawn to it. He had been on his way to Coruscant, to Gith, when he encountered and fought a Jedi at a space station along the route. The loss, the humiliating loss, had him turn his tail in shame. Unable to apprentice with the succesful Carran Sith and also unable to return out of the sheer shame, Valdir had began to drift in both mind and body. Sullust voiced his inner turmoil, so Sullust had become his new home.

Due to the toxic atmosphere on the planet his meditation sessions amidst the active volcanoes were never comfortable and would be lethal for humanoid species if exposed to for a longer time, but Valdir had long before his arrival taught himself how to combat poison and prolongue his misery in order to defy death. The toxic gases still hurt him, but instead of his life slipping away his anger would grow as that's what the technique required. He had been deep in meditation, following the ruptures below the ground and the outlet of the volatile and toxic gases as if they played a symphony of misery on which he could draw. In his agony he had completely missed Javik's presence until the human adressed him from afar. Ignorance Valdir mused as he opened his eyes and saw the Sith point a pistol at him.

A large cloud of smoky ash was just descending on Valdir's lower position and having registered the Sith's threat he made use of it by transferring part of his already present anger to his legs and so use the Force to speed up his movements within the cloud of ash. Removed from view, he had luck on his side as the Javik's advantage was lessened. Somehow the fact that the Sith had send an assassin comforted him, as that meant he wasn't regarded as a failure after all. His eight years at the academy not regarded as a complete waste. But if the Sith valued his presence within the Force so highly, what did they know that Valdir didn't? That his first master tried to kill him by dropping him on an abandoned planet, was that to eliminate a future threat.. was the attempt on his life today of the same sort? Valdir had carried the weight of his failures on his shoulders for months and had almost given up, but this, this made him see his potential. The Zabraki warrior, the best fighter of his clan, he would not perish as a result of his sickening failure. He'd die fighting overwhelming odds, and the Sith that was after him had a presence in the Force that could easily be regarded as such.

Allowing the ash to darken his complexion, Valdir took the hilt of his lightsaber to hand, but did not ignite the bright red plasma beam as it would alert the assassin of his position. Instead he waited for Javik to approach, he waited not for the hunter to close in on his prey, but the prey to come to the hunter. @Phœnix

 

[Phoenix]

Javik had chosen not to use a breath mask yet, instead relying on the Force for breath control, but had a breath mask packed away in a pouch on his armor just in case he decided he wanted it. No harm in being prepared. His opponent disappeared into the smoke and was lost... or at least Javik let him think he was. It was no surprise that he hid himself away, hoping no doubt to catch Javik off guard. A risky move to use Force speed so early. He would likely tire himself out if he chose to rely too heavily on the Force.

He dropped from his ledge and to the ground below. The truth was that saying that Javik was a master of Force sight, really would be a dramatic understatement. For years he had used it as his primary means of sight after the loss of his right eye, so despite the smoke's thickness, he could see exactly where the Acolyte was hidden. He kept a distance of about 15 meters from the other combatant, careful not to give away the fact that he knew the other man's position.

Without warning, he raised his pistol and fired. The round traveled through the air and upon reaching four meters out, burst apart and into a lethal cone of tiny needles, ready to tear the Acolyte to pieces. In his other hand, he activated his lightsaber, the black blade shooting forth, ready to attack should the Acolyte press the assault to close range. The fight had begun.

 

[Eccles]

The second he heard the pistol shot Valdir activitated his lightsaber, but the plasma alone could never protect him from all the needles at once. The lightsaber as such protected his vital organs, but the needles ripped into his flesh, sparking an intens rage within the Zabraki warrior as the pain momentarily caused his knees to buckle. Valdir wailed as he regained his footing and started his charge towards the black blade.

The ash cloud had all but descended and the river of lava was quick to show its true color again as Valdir jumped across to close in the remaining ten meters. The pain had enraged him and thus strengthened his connection with the Force. His aim was close-combat, as that was where he truly excelled, but he knew that another shot from that pistol would mean his unceremonious end and so he was prepared for anything.

 

[Phoenix]

Javik could see the Acolyte lurch back with the impact of the round. He was still alive, but badly wounded. Javik holstered the pistol as the opponent closed the distance with him. He gripped his saber with both hands and placed it in front of his body at a diagonal angle with the hilt closer to his right hip, but in front of his torso and the blade pointed toward his own left shoulder. His right leg was held back slightly as he awaited the strike from his opponent that would no doubt come upon completing his charge.

 

[Eccles]

Seeing his opponent holster the pistol and preparing for a classic bout, Valdir did something he had only done a few times in his life as he amplified his voice and screamed in the last few meters of his charge. His intent with the Force scream was obviously to deafen and distract Javik, opening up a hole in his defense that Valdir could exploit. Regardless whether or not it succeeded, he'd make his lightsaber clash with that of his opponent with powerful swings of his right arm.

 

[Phoenix]

The scream was a powerful move, but less so when used by an inexperienced Acolyte. Javik could feel the Acolyte gather the Force inside of him and as it released through his mouth, bubbling up from his lungs, Javik erected a barrier to absorb the sound. The hasty defense may or may not have stood up against a stronger opponent, but in this situation, it was sufficient.

An instant later, his opponent's strikes came in one-handed blows. As one of the blows came in diagonally from his own left shoulder to right hip, he brought his saber up in his right hand. The saber blocked perpendicular to his opponent blade, his blade pointed slightly toward the ground. Javik's left hand lashed out at the same time as his saber arm and his left hand wrapped around his opponent's wrist, the crushgaunt gripping down to break his opponent's wrist. From there, Javik planned to deactivate his blade for a mere moment, readjust his wrist, and reactivate the blade to impale his opponent through the heart.

With Javik's enhanced strength and the crushing power in the gauntlet, he should easily be able to hold his opponent's blade at bay - and break the wrist - with one arm and complete his plan, which if it was successful, would end the fight, and his opponent, permanently.

 

[Eccles]

His lightsaber blocked and the left hand of his opponent lashing out at his wrist, Valdir instead of trying to prevent his own wrist from breaking lashed out with his own left hand to blind Javik by piercing the man's eyes with his long unkept nails. As the actions were simultaneous, Valdir's wrist wouldn't break before his nails lodged themselves into the Sith warrior's skull. His opponent had a choice of saving his eyes and quite possibly also his life by backing down, or losing them to pierce one of the Zabrak's two hearts.