~| The Jedi Temple on Coruscant |~
~| Day 1, 11th hour |~
Sish laughed aloud as the first Jedi spoke, dodging the debris as they were thrown at him. It was amusing, the lengths some would go to convince themselves they were still good people. “That is very hypocritical of you, don’t you think Jedi?” He taunted, glancing briefly as Khan began his attack as well. The Trandoshan’s limbs filled with force speed, and he waited for them to reach him.“You call me a coward, but you just let an innocent man die because you were to afraid to sacrifice yourselves. You claim I have no honor or duty, yet you showed you have neither when I gave you a choice to save him. As for good, well,” Sish shrugged as he darted out of the range of the lightsabers swinging at him. “That is heavily based on personal. Don’t you think?” Lightning sparked from his claw and he threw it at Denso, before lunging towards Khan, lightsaber thrust forward to spear the Echani.
“Only cowards butcher people like you Sith do.” Denso snapped as his initial attacks missed, the lizard dodging the strikes. His opponent was clearly a talented combatant, though the Jedi knight had faced those before on the battlefield. As lightning sprung out from Sish’s claw, the Kiffar shot up both lightsabers to block it. He planted his feet and held his ground as the sparks flew.
“Khan watch out!” Denso hollered as the reptile launched himself towards the young padawan. He was not nervous about the boy’s skill with lightsabers, but the Sith lord was a ferocious enemy. As the lightning began to dissipate Denso charged at Sish, moving his body downwards as he lunged at the reptilian’s legs.
Khan had to throw himself into a wider turn in his pivoting spin to avoid the thrust of the Trandoshan’s blade, his own body reading abilities and his Master’s shout of warning giving him just enough time to avoid fiery impalement. He still carried through with a high counter-slash of his own as he avoided the Trandoshan’s attack, but it was awkwardly aimed from his defensive whirl.
Sish grinned as he heard Denso shout, quickly leaping away from the Jedi Knight’s swinging blades and Khan’s counter strike. Even he wasn’t arrogant enough to try and take on both of them at once. He tossed his lightsaber into his organic hand, waiting for the two to attack again. “My, my. Someone cares an awful lot about their apprentice. Isn’t that against the Jedi code? To have emotions that make you choose one life over another? It seems like it.”
“Compassion is not against the Jedi code, Sith. But an animal like yourself would not know that.” Denso shouted back as he twirled his lightsabers around.A smile sneaked onto his face, showing that he was totally composed and calm.
He stared at the Sith Lord as he tried his best to not let Sish’s taunts get to him. He briefly glanced at hi padawan, knowing that the boy was uninjured and keeping his composure. Then the Kiffar channeled the Force as he lifted scattered debris around him, then with a grunt tossed them in Sish’s direction with a grunt as he hoped to hit the Sith with something.
“That didn’t sound like compassion. You certainly didn’t have any for the man you let die. Or is sacrifice against the Jedi code as well? I think it is. It’d fit you Jedi so perfectly. Can’t
actually die for the people you claim to protect can you? Just tell them that so they won’t expose you for the cowards that you are.” Sish snorted dismissively as more debris was thrown at him. He knocked aside some debris with the Force and dodged others. “Come now, you know that this won’t work. Stop giving in to your fear and face me.”
Khan waited for the last piece of debris to be thrown before charging in again, watching the Sith’s movement as he used the Force and dodged, trying to get a grasp of his speed and footwork. Then he rushed in at the highest speed he could push himself to, trying to take a sliding slash at the Sith’s legs, mostly as an attempted distraction for Denso “Shut up and fight already!”
“Fear is a path to the dark side, the Sith are the most fearful people in the galaxy.” Denso shot back as his eyes caught Khan starting to move.
As Denso’s brave padawan charged into combat, the Kiffar almost smirked. The boy had enough of the Sith’s taunts, and tried to surprise the reptilian. As soon as he saw Khan’s feet move rapidly, Denso shifted his own as he used the Force to accelerate his own sprint, charging Sish head on with both lightsabers raised. His apprentice was going low, so Denso went high. As he closed the distance between him and his enemy he swept both of his lightsabers at the chest level of Sish, the blades moving with ferocity and speed.
“You can’t know courage without knowing fear. We merely recognize and accept our emotions, rather than hiding from them and fearing them constantly.” Sish replied, grinning at the padawan as he charged. “I’ve just been waiting on you.” He blocked Khan’s slash at his legs, holding up his mechanical arm at Denso as he charged, grinning still. Flames spewed from his hand as soon as Denso was within range.
Khan’s speed alone wasn’t enough to give him an edge, though speed and technique were likely his only real asset in a fight against a Sith this obviously experienced in killing. But the Echani padawan wasn’t fighting alone and had even more faith in his master’s abilities than his own. He was irked at how Sish was able to block his lowline slash, but he just took the energy the Trandoshan’s lightsaber imparted as it shoved his blade aside and used it for himself as he whirled around, rising from his crouch to try and slash at the outstretched mechanical hand from the opposite direction as soon as the block pushed him off.
As Denso charged towards the reptilian, he was surprised to see the Sith raise his metallic hand and unleash a burst of flames. The Kiffar sent himself to the ground as the flames hit him, his armor taking most of the impact. He slide away from his target, and rapidly tried to douse the fire enveloping him. As the smoke rose into the air and the flames began to falter he let out a deep cough, then stared back at Sish. Letting out a deep breath he once more dashed at Sish, attacking the opposite side of his apprentice was.
As Denso doused the flames on his body Sish yanked his arm down to avoid Khan’s slash and responded with a horizontal slice towards the Echani’s chest. Regardless of whether or not it hit, he leapt backwards again as he saw the Kiffar charging, settling into a defensive stance once more.
Khan could fortunately react fast enough to prevent himself from being cut in half, using the momentum of his own rising, spinning slash as it was voided to twist and leap over the Sith’s blade. Trying to sail just over his opponent’s blade was a risky move, but made less so from reading the hesitance in the Trandoshan’s stance. As he’d guessed, the Sith had retreated immediately after that attack and Khan rolled to his feet unharmed, studying his opponent for openings and his Master for tactical opportunities.
Denso watched Khan react and spin upwards, dancing over the Sith lord’s lightsaber. His padawan rolled to his feet uninjured as Denso continued his charge. He spun both lightsabers and looked as if he was about ready to go full speed with another attack. Then at seemingly the last moment before he completely closed the distance between him and his enemy he paused in stride. Then he let the Force flow through him, and lifted up multiple small pieces of debris scattered around the room. Then he flung them rapidly, one after another at Sish.
“Go!” Denso hollered to his apprentice as he continued tossing chunks of debris at the Sith. He hoped this distraction would give Khan an opening to exploit.
Sish raised a claw, using his own force to bat aside two of the rocks at the last possible second. Shaking his head in seeming frustration, he brought his lightsaber to bear, slicing down the rubble he couldn’t dodge. It seemed that all his focus was on avoiding being knocked out by the flying debris.
Khan leaped out to an angle and rushed in again from the side, watching each of Sish’s defensive movements as he blocked and dodged, reading his shifting stances for an opening even as he closed the gap between them. Khan came in from the Trandoshan’s left side, running as fast as Force-enhanced speed could manage and kicking off of the ground in one last burst of movement as he slashed high and down on Sish’s arm.
Denso kept throwing every piece of rubble he could lift and toss at the Reptilian, noticing the frustration from his opponent as the Sith shook his head, slicing and dodging debris. From the side the Jedi watched his padawan take action, charging in as he searched for an opening. As Khan made his last surge of movement, Denso followed him in the attack, no longer tossing debris he instead went for a direct assault. He used the Force to increase his sprint, putting any feelings of tiredness behind him. As he drew nearer and nearer he rose his twin lightsabers upwards and sliced from both sides, aiming to carve right into Sish’s midsection.
Sish continued to focus on the debris, barely managing to stop them from hitting him, as Khan drew ever closer. When the padawan was coming down for his attack, Sish’s movements changed. He twisted to the side, dodging khan’s attack, and made a broad push with the Force at the rubble and Denso flinging the former far away from him. As Khan landed, Sish’s metal fist lashed out and caught the Padawn in the face, flinging him across the rubble strewn ground. Khan rolled to stop and remained unmoving; knocked unconscious.
Sish turned his attention back to Denso, leaping backwards once more, with a grin. “And now it’s just the two of us.” He shifted into Djem So, taking a step forward and swinging his lightsaber like a baseball bat towards Denso’s right side.
Denso watched as his apprentice was knocked out cold by the brutal Sith Lord. His eyes had shot open and he stared as the young Jedi went down hard, rolling on the ground before coming to a complete stop. He finally blinked once he saw Khan’s chest moving, realizing the boy had survived. The Jedi Knight would not have been able to bare losing his apprentice on this already terrible day. The Maker only knew how many friends and allies had perished in this brutal, desperate assault on the Temple. He let out a deep breath, and calmed himself.
“Are you more lizard or machine, Sith?” Denso chirped as he rose both his lightsabers upwards, then slightly bent his knees, catching the powerful swing.
“It’s about half and half right now, but more than enough to win this.” Sish replied, baring his teeth.
“So many robotic parts, is that where all your anger comes from?” He teased with a tension breaking smirk, then let out a grunt as he brought his left lightsaber down quickly, swiping at Sish’s midsection.
Sish’s lightsaber darted down, catching Denso’s and immediately slicing down towards the Jedi’s left leg. “No. My anger comes from the fact that the Jedi have weakened and ruined a large swath of the galaxy with their hypocritical ways.”
“A Sith speaking of others ruining the galaxy is most ironic. Considering all the planets your murderous Empire has left in ruin.” Denso replied as he shot one of his lightsabers downwards and blocked the slice. He then quickly swung both his blades at the Trandoshan, rapid flurries as he was hoping to land some kind of blow.
“The Strong Survive and the Weak die. If you recognized this as the natural order of the galaxy, there would be far less weak ruined worlds and far more strong planets to fight back.” Sish darted backwards, blocking what slices he couldn’t dodge out of the way of and using short blasts of his flamethrower to keep Denso from overwhelming him. Even still, the jedi managed to slice across his chest. Sish snarled in annoyance. This was going on to long. Suddenly stepping forward, he released a blast of his flamethrower at the Jedi and used the Force to yank a piece of rubble at Denso’s back as soon as the Jedi dodged.
Denso continued his barrage of attacks with both of his lightsabers. Forcing the Sith to backpedal as he kept up the assault. He was mindful of the spewing fire emitting from Sish’s flamethrower. His concentration was fully on taking down the Sith Lord, but just as it seemed he was gaining the advantage he failed to notice the chunk of rubble careening toward his back. Denso felt it connect hard in the back of his head. For a moment it seemed as if stars filled his vision
. Then he blacked out from the blow, collapsing into an unconscious heap on the floor.
