Final Evaluation

Ex-Mercenary Captain Xyn Ther'za stood in the briefing room of the Mercenary Guild on the planet Asturias, awaiting her son and apprentice Artemis to give him what would be his final mission under her tutelage. The room was empty, save for a desk upon which were piled several holodisks containing the Guild's personnel records--currently consisting of Xyn and Artemis--and a box containing a shiny silver blaster for... special circumstances.

"You called, master?" Asked Artemis as he entered the room, giving a slight bow as he did so.

"You don't have to do that," Xyn reprimanded, hanging her head to hide a small grin. "We're not the jedi. We have no need for such traditions." She gestured at the desk, stepping aside. "Very soon this will be yours, along with the title of Mercenary Captain. But first, I'm going to need to test your ability to perform your duties."

Artemis perked up a little, a questioning look appearing on his face. "But haven't we covered all the forms of combat already?"

"Yes, well that's not all this job requires." Xyn brandished her dagger. "You know how to deal with an enemy with a weapon, whether or not you have one yourself." She handed the dagger to Artemis, pulling out the blaster from the box. "You could disarm a foe with an advantage over you, even if they have a ranged weapon." She handed him the blaster. "But you need to learn one last thing; something which I alone cannot teach you. You must face a jedi, to learn how they fight combining weapon combat and force powers. Even if you manage to disarm a jedi, they are still a threat because of the force."

A vacant look now spread across Artemis' face as he struggled to find words to fit his confusion.

"In this line of work, you will undoubtedly find yourself toe-to-toe with a force-user at least once. What you do when that time comes is up to you, but what I'm about to set up should help you to decide. In my experience, it is always better to try and escape, but you just might find an opportunity to do some amount of damage to leave a reminder of why it's best not to mess with the Guild."

"I think I understand, now." Artemis started nodding. "You want me to go out and fight a jedi!"

"Precisely," Xyn smiled a devious smile as she gestured toward the door. "The stage has been set on Coruscant. Go ring some bells and see who answers."

"Yes, master." Artemis bowed as he left, despite Xyn's previous objection.

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((So, if you read that whole thing, I must thank you and apologize. Long story short, Artemis needs to fight a force-user, and he's heading to Coruscant to do so. If you wanna do some [harmless] sparring, head on over to Coruscant and we'll see what happens lol))

Mind if Vector fights Artemis?

Coruscant, is under CIS control, so technically it wouldn't be too devoid of combat...and what better way to gain training than fighting the Dark Jedi?

((sure, that works out and shall be fun. I DECREE IT SHALL BE FUN, AND SO IT MUST BE!!!!))

Artemis landed in one of the many Coruscanti space ports and walked toward the nearest theater. If he was going to get noticed, he'd need some special effects, but he didn't want to use explosives because someone could be injured, and that would not look good for the Guild.

"Hold it, kid!" Bellowed a large guard, armed with a stun baton, in front of the door to the backstage area. "You can't go in there without a pass."

"I don't need a pass," replied Artemis, waving his hand in front of the gammorean. "You'll step aside and let me through."

"Haha, this kid's funny. He thinks he's a jedi or somethin'!"

Just as the guard turned to his comrade to gesture to Artemis in ridicule, Artemis delivered a swift punch to the guard's neck, knocking him out. The other guard saw the first fall and rushed to attack, but Artemis sidestepped the guard's overhead swing and put out his foot to trip him. As soon as the guard hit the ground, Artemis was upon him with an axe kick--though throttled down to avoid killing him--to the back of his head.

Now, with both guards incapacitated, Artemis entered and took as much of the fireworks as he could carry, heading to the roof to set them off.

"Well, time to see who shows up!" He said to himself as he lit the first fuse and sent a rocket into the sky to explode in a vibrant display of bright colors.

Unknown to Artemis, when he removed the fireworks from their resting place and entered the roof, an alarm triggered. This sent a distress beacon to any nearby droid police units in the area. Simple Mark I Battle Droids (Episode 1, the skeletal ones), rushed to scene and the seven of them converged on the scene.

The droids, always have a somewhat quirky personality due to modifications by the CIS Military, looked around as their Captain radioed in a response from one of the Dark Jedi:

"Hold position, do not let anyone in or out of the theater. I am on my way."

The droid simply replied "Yes, sir," as the others took up defensive positions around the entrance. Within seconds of them getting their position ready, by moving around a few pieces of stuff in the area to create a simple blockade, a boom echoed across the street. The droids looked up into the sky to see a pretty array of colors dance before their eyes, as the fireworks continued to go off into the day.

The droids retook up their defensive positions as the fireworks continued. They awaited the Dark Jedi Commander, Vector.

***

Vector

The Gen'Dai was in the process of threatening a local merchant who had refused to pay his dues to the Confederacy. Such things like this were trivial. Droids could have done the job, just like him, and yet even though he was the Supreme Commander of the CIS Military, he still had to pick up loose ends around the Confederacy. It was important to him that the crowds stay pleased with the Confederacy. He walked amongst the crowds, conversing, keeping the political and civilian oppinions up that he was a good commander, willing to talk with his people.

With that aside however, Vector was as ruthless as he always was, even more so than when he was apart of the Sith, something that he didn't tell to the general population. However, as the alarm came in about the Theater being attacked by someone, he ordered the pair of Super Battle Droids that he was with to finish the job. He was out the door in seconds, walking towards the theater.

Was it a mere coincidence that the attack had come when he was in such a close proximity? Was it a trap? Perhaps some Sith had decided to finally pay him back for betraying them. He gulped, thinking of the Dark Lord, Eternum, that he and Caedus had killed in a pitched battle.

He ushered those thoughts of his head, and walked into the theatre. He found two unconscious Gammreans, and seven droids. He ordered them to stay put, as he walked up towards the roof, as the echo of fireworks continued to boom throughout the city. He walked up to the roof, spotting a human standing there. He walked up slowly, letting him fire off a few more fireworks. Vector spoke quickly, trying to catch the young boy off guard, just to mess with him.

"So, it is you who is disturbing the countless Coruscantians who are going about their daily business today. Why are you doing that, again?"

"Well, you know how it is," Artemis replied, hiding his anxious grin. "Just tryin' to raise a little hell." He quickly turned around with a lit rocket, pointing it at the Dark Jedi with whom he found himself confronted. It was a simple enough gesture, he thought, as any force-sensitive being would have seen this move coming and dodged it effortlessly.

Sure enough, The Gen'Dai across the roof sidestepped the rocket as it flew past him, exploding in a shower of sparks over the droids who stared up at it cheering. Artemis lowered himself into a forward-guarding combat stance that Xyn had taught him, his dagger in his right hand held slightly below his center of focus.

"Nice move. You're CIS, I presume, hence the droids. Glad to see someone answered my call."

Vector gestured towards the city, smirking, wrapping his cloak back up as he drew his hand back into it.

"Well, you wouldn't happen to notice how Coruscant is under Confederacy control, now would you? But, then again, such things wouldn't be noticed by a vermin like you, no?"


He smiled, as the human took a fighting stance. Unlucky for the boy, he had also learned Martial Arts. Enough to know that the fight wouldn't be that fair, but not easy either. To say he was an expert was an overstatement, but to say the Gen'Dai was a novice was an understatement.

The Gen'Dai took his own fighting stance and made a small gesture for the human to begin his attack. While he felt that he should teach the punk a lesson, killing him wasn't needed in the situation, despite Vector's urge to pull out his lightsaber.

Artemis decided to ignore the obvious trap. If he was going to experience combat with a jedi, he would have to put himself in the thick of it. He lept forward, keeping low to the rooftop with his dagger forward. As he approached, he feigned left and jumped to the right, spinning with his dagger to swipe at the jedi.

OOC: Sorry for waiting so long, I have been very busy lately.

The Dark Jedi had anticipated the human's move and ducked. He lashed out with a kick, catching the human in the side of the leg. Or so he thought. The human was agile, to say the least. He had jumped above the kick, and pushed his knife into Vector's thigh.

The Gen'Dai howled, as he Force Pushed the human to the edge of the roof, watching him teeter on the edge.

Artemis decided that teetering above the edge of the roof was dangerous, as the droids below could open fire at any moment. He let himself fall, catching himself with his left hand, sheathing his dagger and readying his blaster pistol for when the jedi would inevitably lean over to check on him.

((sorry it's so short, I've got work to do.))

OOC: Been swamped with homework...

IC:

Vector watched as the kid fell over the edge. He relayed a message to the droids below that they were not to open fire on him at all. Vector leaned over the edge and was about to jump down when he sensed something via the Force: the kid was still there.

He smiled at the human's ingenuity. Vector flipped over the edge, and grabbed the kid in a surprise attack, and dragged him down to the streets below. The kid yelped, as he yanked down. The Gen'Dai rolled as he landed, and stood up swiftly, smiling, or bearing his teeth, depending upon how you looked at it, at the human.

"Clever idea, kid." growled Vector.

He unsheathed his lightsaber, ready to end it.

"It's about time that I finish you."

As Artemis was pulled off the roof, he cursed to himself. He knew that the jedi were supposed to be skillful, but to be able to predict every one of his moves as well as counter with more powerful ones... amazing. I had no idea the force had this much power... I might have to resort to... that.

As the Gen'dai dropped him on the ground and lit his lightsaber, Artemis knew the battle would end in his defeat if he did not resort to his desperation measure.

"Clever idea, kid," his opponent began. "But it's time I finish you."

Artemis rolled on the ground away from the Gen'dai, sure that he would chase him to attack with his lightsaber. However, with his back to Vector, Artemis reached in his pocket for a flare he had hidden that he took from the theater. As he completed the roll and saw Vector closing on him, he activated it, releasing a blinding light. In the confusion created by the flare, Artemis took off running.