Battle Royale Round One - Bahn Durm

“What the-”
That was all I could manage before another string of blasts came flying towards me. I didn’t know who he was (his helmet was staying on good but in a very awkward shape), where he came from or how in the Hell he even knew I would be here. Yet, I was only concerned with one thing, how the spast could he possibly be this fast? I mean, I’m no Jedi, yet, but I wasn’t feeling any sort of Force sensitivity from this guy. Maybe he was just capable of hiding it (I definitely needed to learn that, if he was). Maybe he was just too well trained. Maybe I wasn’t as gifted as I had been led to believe.
All these thoughts raced through me as I gathered my footing and raced towards him, deflecting blaster bolts that seemed like they'd never end.
As I neared him I noticed that he was shorter than me but far more muscular and carried that repeating blaster as though it were a pistol. His strength was very intimidating. The shots were coming so fast, but not as fast I was.
There was that satisfying hum of my blade (I never ceased to marvel at how beautiful the newly crafted violet blade looked in my hand) as it came down on his repeater. His gun was to be nothing more than decorative metal in his hands. Victory couldn’t have been easier, and I guess that’s what he wanted me to think. It was just at that moment when he acted and his move surprised me, again! He dropped the repeater in the middle of my strike and swung his giant arm across my face, landing a blow that I’m not known to let hit. He took advantage of my momentary pause and gained some ground between us.
“You’re fast kid, I'll give you that, but you’re as predictable as a Sith’s loyalty. Show me something before I get bored and kill you.”
These taunts were hard to ignore, especially since that punch had wounded my ego more than he realized. But that’s what he wanted. I had to think more like Sel* and less like the kid I was. So, brute force wasn’t going to beat this guy. That’s when I noticed my surroundings; strange that I hadn’t done so before.
The lush forest of Caarimon was all around me and I was ignoring its potential. That’s when I gained the upper-hand.
The soldier had already drawn the rifle from his back, but I was prepared. The push was already forming in the back on my mind and before he could pull the trigger, the blast of my Force push knocked him straight to the ground, rifle lost to the air.
Knowing he was tougher stuff than that, I expected his quick recoil and moved the ground underneath him to take out his feet. That’s when I brought in the vines from the trees around us. Such wonderful allies they were as they quickly had him bound in their grasp. Legs and arms bound, he was defeated. It was going to be an easy kill, and I think he realized it. He didn’t fight it.
Saber still aglow and humming, I strode up to him. I wanted to know this face. I needed to know who would be this rash. Oddly enough, he didn’t stop me when I reached for the helmet. And I dropped it when it was off.
The blue skin** was all that I needed to know that it was Arashi, Procurator of Justice for Order, that had attacked me. The tendrils that pointed out his Twi’lek heritage only confirmed it. It was Arashi. But why?
“You’ve got it Bahn. You’ve got the ingenuity that I need to know I can trust in my battle compatriots. I needed to know that I could count on brains more so than your brawns, especially from a padawan. Now, I need to know if you’ve got the sense to spare your superior and release me from this mess.”
If he couldn’t see the smirk through my mask, he got the gist of it when I strode past him on my way towards the Temple and toward Jacan.
As I approached the complex of the Order, I couldn’t help but laugh to myself. I enjoyed the little brawl. I think Arashi did, too. From the sound of miniature buzz saws and snapping vines from the forest behind me I figured that I’d probably find that out soon.


*Sel Kal, Bahn’s aunt. More info to come
**Arashi’s skin color is still undecided and not canon in this story