Unforgiven(Ben)

[Neive Undant]

Prazutis took a second as he felt the quick movements of the familiar presence. He needed to move quickly if he was going to take out the defector and escape. Hell, he thought, if he couldn’t get the defector, he still needed to focus on his own extraction from the building.

Putting a finger from his armor on his wrist comm, he send out a signal to his droid pilot to come around and pick him up before he returned to the rafters. It would take a while for the droid to prepare and get to his location, so once more he took off, opposite direction of the presence, towards the room he learned the defector would meet the Alliance representatives for relocation to kashyyk. This day, the Empire would not lose any information to the Alliance. But already has the Alliance been opened up for attack, with an array of data on their detail about Cerea currently in Imperial hands.

Prazutis saw the group of 4 guards and the defector walking towards the doors of he conference room, needing to act fast. He could swiftly follow them in and eliminate the guards before Kenobi arrived, however that gave not only risk, but it would blow his cover. Though, with the Jedi making his way towards Prazutis, did he have much cover to still employ?

Prazutis thought for a moment before reaching out his hand, finding a guard who had a finger on the trigger of his blaster. Perhaps he could tighten the man’s hand, have him fire on the major seemingly on accident? Or maybe just a misfire to the floor to cause them to pause their movement for him to find a spot to ambush them from? Prazutis didn’t know exactly how this would happen, but he needed to do something, anything, and now.

Reaching out, he grabbed the index finger of one of the guards with his blaster’s barrel facing inwards to the group, and with a gentle but firm pull, he hoped his best for what would come next as he kept moving through the rafters towards them.

[Ben Kenobi]

The lift was painfully slow and Ben didn’t appreciate it one little bit. Soon enough however the lift arrived into a high enough range that Ben reached out and forced the next set of doors open and he disembarked the lift with but a casual step on its way to a higher level. He was now facing the wall with an extended corridor to the left and right. Sensing his foe was near, he was able to better isolate the haze into a more accurate form and looking to the right he viewed four men in the garb of Embassy Security and they were escorting a man in civilian attire and a briefcase in his hand. The guards were well equipped, the lead pair had BlasTech DH-17 Heavy Pistols holstered with stun batons in their right hands. The rear pair were seemingly more equipped for range skirmishes as they only carried the old model BlasTech A280C Rifles that were the hallmark of Alliance Infantry back in the day.

He viewed them carefully and his sudden and unannounced appearance startled them, the lead pair drew their pistols and but with a hand up Ben announced himself. “Hold your fire! Jedi business.” They were almost instantly relieved but just as the escort was about to start walking again one of the rear men’s rifles went off!

The detail jumped away from the snap discharge and the civilian dropped to the floor with a smoldering crater in the small of his back. The guard that shot the civilian, who was in fact the Imperial defector, went ghostly pale and froze in place with utter disbelief on his features. Once the other three men recovered they attacked the frozen guard; one rifle buttstroke to the gut followed by multiple stun baton impacts and soon after he was tackled to the ground with shouting to frame the scene.

Ben was also shocked, though he was not so fooled. While the insurgent had made a successful infiltration and he’d managed to evade him thus far, he had made an effort with the Force at close proximity and it lit off like a beacon. His eyes shot upwards and he also looked in disbelief as he witnessed the assassin in the high rafters!

“You!” Ben called out, “hold it right there!”

As for the status of the Major, it seemed he was still alive but squirming on the floor. It had been a point blank shot from a high powered rifle. This moment was critical, if he could be rushed to the medical wing of the Embassy then it was likely he could be saved. It was unlikely however that this assassin would be willing to allow such a maneuver though.

[Neive Undant]

Prazutis looked up from his view on the group just as Kenobi had noticed him as well, the eyes of the Jedi contacting the void that lay beyond his helmet's glass eye ports. His time was up, and as he felt the life struggle to remain within the major, he had a decision to make: try to stay and finish the man off, but be open to attack from both Kenobi and the Alliance, or make his escape now, and hope to get away before Kenobi could reach him. Looking down for only a split second, he saw that his ship was still a good distance away. If it took a bit more time, he could still use it for extraction and kill the major before making his escape.

Prazutis stood tall on the rafter, his black cloak covering his insignias still. At least for now, nobody knew his allegiance... and he could at least try to play this off without the Alliance bolstering defenses. If they suspected this was an attack by the Sith, then they would have less of a chance of tightening security in orbit... but killing a defector from the Empire, this was one ideal that suggested that he was no raging Sith who had made its way to the agricultural planet.

Perhaps he could warn his superiors upon report that due to Jedi interference, defenses should be expected to increase. But, until he went for his report, all he could do was complete his goal and get out.

Prazutis put his hands up a moment as he stared into the Jedi's eyes, his endless gaze watching the Jedi's every movement before he slipped off the rafter, lightsaber flying into his hand and igniting in a crimson fire as he brought it down towards the major, aiming right between his shoulder blades at his spine. He survived one attack from Prazutis... he wouldn't survive another.

Prazutis observed the situation he would be putting himself in and kept one hand off of his hilt, gripping his saber in his left arm and preparing to defend from the guards with his right the second before he regains control of his blade.

[Ben Kenobi]

The dark figured moved in a blur of motion… and he was fast, very fast! If Ben had not been prepared there would have been no possible way to counter. Having been ready for this fiend’s action his own blade leapt to life with a snapp-hiss and the yellow beam of the lightspear hummed into existence. The decision had already been made within the hair of a split second; Ben had to choose between striking at the opening left by the assassin in his attack against the Major or to defend the man. Obviously he made to intervene and his yellow blade intersected that of the assassin’s…

Something else dawned on the Jedi Master at that moment. This assassin was wielding a lightweapon! Such as it was the caliber of this foe had leapt significantly in the span of a moment as their blades crackled together and the Major squirmed all the more with effort to escape. Now though Ben was in a very close proximity to the assassin and currently while his senses were distracted in opposing this violent being, he felt the communion between his spirit and the foe. It wouldn’t dawn on him for a while, but once it did he would realize that he personally knew this man.

For now though he was locked in the opening of a duel. He may have blocked the first strike well enough but he was not in position to relent, he needed to get inbetween the assassin and the Major. Ben moved swiftly to take that initiative and make the maneuver as he sent a hefty backhand streaming out towards his foe in order to force him backwards where he’d manage to take a sidestep and superimpose himself to defend the ex-Imperial Officer.

Meanwhile the Embassy Guards hustled away from the skirmish with their weapons drawn though they did not fire for threat of accidentally shooting the Major or the Jedi in the process. One of the Guards holstered his sidearm and knelt to reach out to the Major, while still very close to the assassin this man was braving the proximity to arrest control of the injured man.

The fourth of their number still moaned and groaned on the floor, his prior beating had been thorough and he was no longer a factor in this combat…

[Neive Undant]

Prazutis took another split second to observe the situation. The major below on the floor, one guard reaching to grab him, the others creating distance. Prazutis needed to put at least a bit of space between himself and Kenobi, he thought to himself. And a tingle in his helmet warned him he needed to act.

Prazutis kicked his armor's left leg to the side, grabbing the collar of the guard trying to reach for the defector and pulling his free arm back before sending it forward, an explosion of impetus from the force going into the back of the man, turning the being to a projectile as he was sent towards Kenobi. Prazutis hoped that was enough of a distraction, either saving the man or dodging him to keep from being inadvertantly tackled to the ground, giving Prazutis the opportunity to swing his blade down towards the defector's neck, hoping to completely behead him. The Jedi would definitely have to be quick to save the defector, but would he simply sidestep the guard and let him keep moving into the wall behind the Jedi? prazutis wasn't sure, but with the power put into the strike, the man would be sent a good ways away from them. But in any case, it was a choice for the Jedi: catch the rebel and give the defector's life to Prazutis, or dodge him and save another life, only to let the guard's life hang in the balance as he flew into whatever met him behind Kenobi.

This tactic wasn't a very honorable one, Prazutis thought, but the lives of Alliance scum meant nothing. They were no civilians, and as such, he felt he had a lot more freedom within this building than if they were in the civilian streets of the village.

Prazutis kept his senses up, his right arm facing the Jedi. He may be the one going on offense a good amount of time, but he also knew, from the training of Neive Undant, how to defend. Once these 2 men had met their fates, Prazutis would focus on dueling Kenobi until his ship arrived. Now, he just needed to see what Kenobi did, how he would react.

And with the force, there were still endless possibilities of what could happen from here on out.

[Ben Kenobi]

It happened in an instant nearly too fast to even react, Ben staggered backwards in a slow rotation as the bodily projectile slammed into him. Granted the momentum was terminated by the impact but Ben had no intention of arresting the man’s flight for he lacked the time to effect a response while remaining engaged to the assassin. The guard helplessly flailed into Ben and harmlessly reflected off the Jedi’s side and only managing to avoid Ben’s own lightweapon by the Master’s expert maneuvering of his weapon. In doing so the guard plummeted to the ground hard and while shaken up and badly bruised he was overall unharmed and it allowed the Jedi Master to remain within melee contact without having been forced away… however.

The split second that it had taken to discharge the flying body and render that attack inert was a split second that it took the assassin to enact his vile purpose to his target. A thick and sickly smell of burnt meat hung in the corridor along with a layer of smoke that meandered off the impact point of the corpse.

Surely Ben was taken by the shock of how callous this villain had been in his actions but he also cursed himself for not having anticipated the kill stroke and managing some sort of intervention. Be that as it may, this assassin would not escape retribution and now that the guards were firmly behind Ben and with only the assassin before him it only meant that he needn’t worry about holding back for the caution of others. Instead he could focus the entirety of his efforts on this assassin and bring him to justice for his murderous intentions.

His first maneuver to this next round of the combat was to erect his mental barriers of Force Shield that this foe could not further gain advantage through Ben’s lack of preparedness. With that set firmly upon him he engaged the apparent Sith with the precision due from endless combats spread throughout stretches of the Galaxy in numbers that were unable to count. He began with the first and only flourish of his lightspear in a maneuver that bought him space and from there he squared himself to the center of the corridor and with speed that belied the physical appearance of an upper aged man he displayed to the assassin the meaning of swordsmanship.

With the range of the lightspear Ben used it to its maximum efficiency and pressed the attack. For a Master of Soresu, attack was not his strength but with the reach that the lightspear gave him he didn’t have to sit and wait for mistakes, rather he could create them. However, Ben also feared this foe would take flight now that his goal was accomplished. He needed to press his foe and with enough patience an opening would present itself.

[Neive Undant]

Prazutis listened to the mutilated hiss of plasma against skin and bones. He kept his attention on Kenobi as he took a step back, seeing the guard fall to the ground and the master move forward.

Prazutis began a slow retreat as he watched Ben's staff, taking note of the style of his combat as he kept moving back. As he went, he kept to the defense, letting Kenobi keep to the offense while he waited for the second he could create space between them. Pressure was on Prazutis as he struggled to find an opening, every second filled with Kenobi's onslaught to the point that Prazutis had no chance to push him back.

Prazutis felt a small vibration on his arm for just a second, and while not letting this distract him, he needed a way to put space between him and the master before him. His ship would be arriving very soon.

Prazutis took one more step back and with his front leg, he kicked at the ground beneath them, drawing force energy into this quick movement. He needed to get outside, and fast, he thought to himself. However, with the assault from Kenobi in front of him, he couldn't focus on anything but the opponent in front of him.

Prazutis felt around his surroundings, feeling the movement of the guards away from him and Kenobi as he tried to find his way to an exit.

Or maybe a window...

Prazutis kept his blade up to defend against Kenobi's continued onslaught as he awaited his opportunity to again move away and get outside, and to his ship.

[Ben Kenobi]

They were alone now with the guards having extricated themselves from an otherwise overwhelming situation and so the Sith face the Jedi alone. Ben Kenobi did not overextend himself during his efforts to press the assassin backwards though he also did not relent in the slightest and every moment was filled with the sound of clashing lightweapons. If it could be said of anything, this Sith was a talented swordsman and while the Jedi was senior it appeared that he was matching the fighting style well. This was concerning in that it meant the assassin held some form of familiarity not only with the Form III Soresu but with Ben himself. Frankly it didn’t spell out any large revelations about who this man was, it only told Ben more of what he already knew; somewhere, sometime ago, he’d crossed paths with this man in such an in-depth setting that he felt a familiarity with him.

Pressing these thoughts from his mind he refocused his efforts on stalling this fiend. For each moment they remained in contact with one another it meant another moment in which a mistake would reveal itself and Ben was very swift in such times.

He began to arc his jabs to the extremities of his foe now which allowed him to negate the range of his lightspear slightly in exchange for him being able to open his options a bit more. But it also meant the Sith would be in better position to attempt counters but so long as Kenobi kept up the pressure he did not feel this foe would do anything but defend though it also wouldn’t be the first time he was wrong about anticipating the actions of a Darkside Adept.

Setting up the next series of attacks, Ben lunged deep with his spear, an obvious feint that Prazutis easily slapped aside. Ben utilized the defense to his advantage. The defense struck his blade and sent it away but instead of correcting the direction and resuming the offensive as he’d typically done thus far, he pulled the spear in the current direction and used its momentum to swiftly spin around in what would be a multi-attack scenario.

With great speed Ben was able to bring his yellow blade in a horizontally slash roughly at Prazutis’ belt level. Whether or not the Sith made an evasion or a block Ben would spun the weapon around one hundred and eighty degrees on a low trajectory and his pommel would sweep through his enemies’ legs and dump him on the ground. It was by Kenobi’s estimation that the apparent Sith would leap into the air at that time to avoid getting pitched to the ground and put in a very vulnerable position. When the leaping evasion occurred Ben was prepared to take full advantage of it.

In Ben’s method of combat, leaving the ground was the absolute number one mistake of all. Without a good foundation there was little to nothing in its place. If the Sith left the ground Ben would present him with a mighty blast of telekinesis that would surely send him hard and away into the far wall and potentially open him up for a disabling follow up and put a swift end to this engagement.

[Neive Undant]

Prazutis, although struggling to keep up with the swift attacks from the Jedi, held his own and didn't allow himself to be caught off guard. He kept his senses up but focused on defending against the Jedi's strikes. One strike that was pushed aside, however, put the Jedi into a spin. Prazutis took a step back and watched the second spin, knowing what would come next from Kenobi's fight with Tormentous. However, the move that the Sith Lord was able to block by jumping to offense wouldn't work the same way with Prazutis' stature. He instead jumped back, only to see a palm push in front of him, and a pulse of impetus threw him backwards.

Prazutis looked back to see the wall he was flying towards, and within a moment, he had a thought.

This building was no palace of Naboo, or imperial capital of Bastion... it definitely wouldn't have as strong a structure as most other buildings of this size.

Prazutis turned in the air while he began his descent, balling up his armor's fist and focused the force's energy in the limb before slamming it into the weak metal and wood that made up the wall.

Prazutis tumbled through the structure to a balcony outside, the closest door back into the building still a decent distance away. This balcony seemed to be some sort of gathering place for people during outside events...

Prazutis quickly stood, his lightsaber still in his hand as he turned back and awaited the jedi to follow suit to the outside. In the distance, he heard his shuttle's thrusters on its way to extract him from the scene. However, as Kenobi came into view once more, he needed to buy at least a second or two for his energy to return. Such an intense and fierce battle that he had just dueled in took its toll on a physical body, but with his current state, only a moment did he need to prepare to go again.

"Even after your time in the Spire Prison... you fight as if you were still in your prime. I'll admit, I am impressed."

Prazutis took a step back, planting his feet as he awaited the Jedi's next move.

[Ben Kenobi]

With hand extended he bade the Sith away with the Force and for all intents and purposes a ’normal’ foe would have been upended and the fight all but concluded. Ben wasn’t known for utilizing the Force during battle, he was naturally skilled in such matters but when he did and particularly with his potency in telekinesis he typically didn’t need to go much further. This foe however had just proven himself among an exceptional few to be counted on one hand with an amount that was less still. The assassin twisted inside the flight and used his own potent ability in conjunction with Ben’s own and he smashed through the external wall as if it was flexboard.

Even then he continued and landed not in a disabled heap and not only on his feet but in a balanced stance befitting a fighter of capability. The Jedi Master hid his astonishment towards the man but he couldn’t lie to himself and he was in near disbelief that someone of this caliber was even in existence. He would have to meditate of the arrogance in those thoughts for he of all people ought to know that there was always someone out there of great skill and even as experienced as he was the fact of it stood out; he’d not encountered every budding situation. The Galaxy was a large place after all.

Ben rotated his defense and set into position for a counter attack that never came. He began to ease towards the punctured hole in the wall as the assassin spoke. Narrowing his eyes in physical effort to hear of the familiarity he’d sensed he was dismayed in failure. The grille of the man’s helmet broke the natural tone of the voice so that he could not fully grasp its origin. However, the man delivered to Ben some certain details that were key to this mystery.

Instantly he recognized that the assassin was playing for time and part of him was urged back to combat but there was something important that Ben Kenobi needed to understand. Someone of this skill level wasn’t just sent to Cerea to murder an Imperial defector. He was here for something else and Ben desired to know why. Not only that but to learn of this being’s origins would help to level the playing field for he obviously knew Ben yet Ben held little inkling of who this man may be. He needed more information and fighting this man to a bitter end was not the answer to gathering it. He would have to play the game for another moment.

The assassin mentioned Spire Prison and the mention of that place made the Master’s skin run cold in a chill. The years he’d spent in that nightmare had not been without cost and it had taken even him as a Jedi Master a long time to overcome it mentally. But to the point; there were only a few people that knew Kenobi had actually been at Spire Prison. It was common knowledge he’d been incarcerated but knowledge of the precise location was privy. He also mentioned Ben in his prime which suggested he had personal knowledge and his admittance of being impressed offered the notion that he had, at one time or another, a high or modest opinion of the subject which again pointed towards a personal familiarity.

There was something else. Something that the grille had failed to hide. Dialect and accent. Where the tone and audible chords were distorted, the telltale pronunciation of words was hard to make secret when someone was listening intently to every word being passed along. It was without a doubt that Ben recognized the speech patterns… he felt in his heart that he knew this person… but he could not draw a clear picture and the nagging thoughts were eating at him now. Too much evidence encircled this picture. This man was someone from Ben Kenobi’s past in a personal sense.

A good friend, a colleague, a student perhaps but not a teacher for the mobility of the man suggested his youth in comparison to Ben himself, even a possible rival long ago or someone from the Alliance Military? Many variables hounded his suspicions but he just knew that this man had once been someone close. Nothing was drawing a clear picture.

Then the question of what this man had become, arrived. At first he supposed a Sith but the man’s apparent intimacy of desire in taking down the Imperial Major felt scripted as if coincidence didn’t hold sway there. Also his effort to murder the Major rather than break away after Ben’s intervention supposed the assassin had a vested interest in the Major’s permanent silence. Sith was replaced with an Imperial affiliation though Ben understood the Empire to not be very welcoming of Force Adepts though he’d also not been plugged into political standings for some time and that policy could have changed or perhaps not. Then again this man could have simply been an independent assassin contracted to do this deed.

He realized he was letting his thoughts cloud his actions and so he resolved to sort them out later. Returning to the moment he stepped through the hole in the wall and out into the balcony while keeping his lightspear at the ready. “Throw down your weapon, assassin. There is nowhere else to go.” In the distance he could hear engines and knew that his time was limited. He would have to act quickly or face losing the assassin to a daring escape. “You will answer for what you’ve done.”