Raezyr guided his blades to the weakest points of the Nautolan Jedi's defenses. Her sphere of defense was shrinking rapidly as he pushed his advances and she retreated. Each block or parry she made that was less than ideal, which was most of them at this point, had a fitting snowball effect on her future defenses. She was as good as helpless and dead if he so chose, but he refrained for the moment.
Her understanding of her situation was palpable in the Force. She knew her fate lied entirely in his patience. Sith were not known for their patience.
What he couldn't understand was the accompanying sense of calm she exuded as she continually flailed to stay in the Fight. He lunged and planted his heel firmly in her sternum and sent her sliding on her back into a snow bank. He couldn't see her now, but that wouldn't help her calm. Her face was already reddened from the wind and the cold. Her flightsuit was made to shield her from the cold of space, but Hoth was a special hell and her aquatic genetics were doing her uncovered head no favors. Raezyr was glad yet again for his helm and the minimal shielding it provided from the elements.
Do you no longer fear death as you did on Coruscant, worm? The Sith reached out to her mind with his message and sensed her impending counter attack.
Predictably, she launched herself through the air at him with a bland horizontal strike at his offhand flank. He stepped into the attack and with his short saber, he sliced the tip of her weapon off, causing her blade to immediately disappear without even flickering. Her momentary triumph at what seemed a poorly aimed block disappeared as quickly.
His other hand reached out instinctively yet with intent, and caught her by her throat. His lightsaber had nearly landed in the snow when he pulled it to his free hand through the Force, as he shut down his short blade and placed them both in his pocket without removing his glare from her strained expression of struggle. He held her off the ground and increased the pressure to her neck.
She gasped and words came out weakly through her tightened windpipe. "I fear death..." She coughed and drew what air she could. "No more dan I fear you or da Sith."
He twisted his body around and pulled her with him in a half turn. Driving her into the ground by the back of her neck first, she was nearly buried completely in the subzero terrain.
"There are fates worse than death, Jedi." He spat the last word. "Anything I remove from your body here, on this planet... the flesh will shrivel and die quickly. You will not be able to replace what I take from you so easily this time. Tell me... how attached are you to those.... things on the back of your head?"
If she had wanted to reply to his threats, he didn't give her time as he released her throat and instead grabbed hold of the collar of her flight suit. With a grin, he yanked her upwards as hard as he could. As she reached the apex of her sudden upwards flight, he pulled her back to the frozen ground. With a ripping noise, the fabric of her suit gave way by a small centimeter.
Raezyr laughed, as he knew that was enough. She was running very short on time, even with whatever strength she could pull from the Light Side of the Force. Still, her calmness emanating in the Force was getting on his nerves.
---------------
Val circled the area one last time. It didn't matter how low he went, he could not get a visual on the fight below and the weather made it impossible to get an infrared sensor reading. He couldn't see what was going on below him without going low enough to land or be in the range of a lightsaber throw, but he could feel quite strongly that things were not faring well for Nal.
She had not called for him to help her, but he was getting the distinct impression that she wouldn't, perhaps until it was too late. He was positive that it was more out of naivete or bravery that she did it, rather than a cold sense of revenge or justice, but he couldn't allow her to sacrifice herself under any circumstance.
He took his fighter upwards into the atmosphere for one last distance scan to ensure the other Sith wasn't closing in on them, then he'd decided he'd have to land and help capture the Sith. He wished the Unity hadn't denied their request for support...
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