The smoke and fire billowed out of the destruction lapping against the impervious stones like a lash against a slave's back. The two figures were both cloaked in a flickering orange ambiance as they stood their ground.
The two men stood ten paces from one another just standing and staring for a moment. The whole area suddenly calmed as it prepared for the storm.
Talis could feel his anger welling up in him as he had found his prey. This man had the audacity to manipulate these misguided tribes into rebellion while he was away on Kashyyyk assisting the wookies in fighting back a blaze started by an illegal logging operation on the planet. Now the frenzy he had whipped them in had finally boiled over and now people were suffering. It was time for this to end. He was going to deal with this his way.
The tall Miralukans frame alone made him an opposing figure. He stood a few inches taller than his opponent which gave the taller man a slight reach advantage. Covering his body was a blacked out markless Mandalorian armor that was augmented by his normal clothing attire. On his head was the signature Mandalorian helm but in his hand was an elegant white hilt curved lightsaber hilt. The hum of his prey's crimson lightsaber could be heard across the room.
The Gray Jedi moved first. A tingling could be felt in his legs as he adjusted his stance. Turning his body to present a smaller target picture to his opponent, Talis pointed his inactive hilt at the Sephi opponent. The dark eyes of Archturus followed the sudden shift in stance.
'Why has he not activated his lightsaber?' The Sith Battlelord had caught his fair share of jedi but usually they just rushed in with their green and blue blades ignited in a reckless fury. This imposing armored Jedi stood resolute and masterfully moved his body to best present and offense and defense. This would be an annoying fight for the Commodore as he took a typical judo stance with his hands tightly gripping his lightsaber. He raised the crimson weapon above his head and held the blade at guard above horizontally. Arrogantly the older man twisted his body and bent his knees and smiled.
"Are you normally this childish?" The Odanite chastised.
"Only for foo…" the Sith was cut off as the younger fighter came forward at blinding speed with a few bounding steps.
With only one more step before the two would clash, the Mystic concentrated for a short moment to call on the Force. As Talis made his last bound forward he blackened the area around the two combatants.
To the commodore it was as if something had suddenly shut out the lights. But he knew this ability and he also had seen the direction his opponent was moving. As he swept through the void the man fully expected to make contact with something. As his strike pushed through the empty air he felt himself leaning too far forward.
He had not hit his opponent and was now off balance. By instinct the Sith stepped hard forward and adjusted his weight and swung back behind him. Again he hit nothing but the emptiness of the void. Confused with his two failures the man reached out with the force to sense his surroundings. He knew something was in the black void with him but he could not feel any malice or power emanating from it.
After Talis had activated the black orb to physically conceal himself, he dropped into an acrobatic roll and tumbled past his opponent and under the man's strike. This was his favorite move to enter combat as it helped him to set up one of his personal fighting tactics.
As he came to his feet he backed away from where his opponent was. Focusing his mind Talis concentrated on not being felt by the prying senses of his opponent and waited a few moments. He then reached out with the Force and drenched the man in his unfathomable well of emotions.
Archturus felt a sensation as the air around him changed. He felt his heart rate increase and could feel a flop sweat come over him as a chill ran down his spine.
'Am I,' the Sith thought for a moment, 'afraid?'
The realization of what he was feeling caught the man by surprise but instead of debilitating the old man it fed his rage and anger.
'You think you can scare me boy?!' Outraged by the audacity of the younger fighter the old Sith juggernaut did what he knew best. He started wildly lashing out around him with heavy strokes. Searching for his opponent.
Talis had shaken his confidence and goaded the reaction he wanted. Talis moved forward in his sound suppressed armor just outside of the enraged Sith's range. The Miralukan broke off hiding his force powers in the darkness. As the Sith's senses latched onto the Odanites position he raised his lightsaber high to strike. As the lightsaber came to its peak the crafty Miralukan's darkness vanished and the battle torm landscape flooded back into reality.
The sudden fiery glow buffeted the sight of the sephi but he could still make out the shadow of his opponent. As he aimed to strike the irritating younger man he allowed his rage to fill him to empower his strike with all his annoyance. Before the strike could connect, Talis stepped and focused on strengthening his arms. He easily grabbed the wrist and shoulder and stepped in while turning to the weapon side and pulled his arm taunt as it continued forward.
With all his might Talis slammed the old man flat on his back in an overhead throw. Quickly Talis released his wrist and drew his lightsaber and stepped up and passed the Sith. Activating and slashing across the Purple skinned neck of the would be tyrant, ending his reign with a silent finality only punctuated by the crackling of the burning material in the rubble as it popped and fizzled out.
Talis turned and looked at the decapitated head as it spun slowly from the force of his strike. The look of surprise permanently welded to the man's features. Talis felt sad for the man but he quickly swallowed that emotion and pulled out his comm link. As he waited for the recipient to answer his phone call he pulled his vacuum sealed helmet off and held it under his armpit.
*BEEP*
"This is Jon, who is this?"
"Commodore Archturus is dead, this is Warpath reporting for duty."
Cheers and hoots echoed back over the radio at the news. Talis' mind was elsewhere as he felt the crash coming from the fight he had just somehow edged. He knew he had gotten lucky that the man was easy to enrage. Talis stumbled to the nearest destroyed pillar and picked out a comfy spot to sit and get some sleep. As the Jedi came to his resting spot he looked back at his slain enemy. He reached out his hand and with a little more exertion than he expected the hilt flipped up into his grip. Talis let out a heavy sigh. There was no way the exhausted Marauder was going to be able to assist in the rescue and protection of the royal family. He would just have to put his faith in the Odanites that they could come thru.