Occlus is as still as a statue, poised in calm readiness for Vincoria's attack. Her Force senses stretch out to fill the surrounding space, a dense web of tripwires. Her breathing is even and unhurried.

Vincoria adopts a modified Soresu guard, her saber still unlit. She does not look at Occlus: she looks past her, not focussing on any one part of her body, letting her senses take in her opponent as a whole. 

Here are the lines of Occlus' web. Here is the Sith Lord herself. Here is readiness. 

She moves. 

Explode right, low, below the web of her senses. Strike at the wrist of her blade hand with a burst of Force. In, through a strand of the spiderweb: if she avoids them all, that too will make her predictable. Bait the counterstrike. As it passes, light her shoto and strike through the opening behind the blade. If she cannot avoid it, parry. 

Occlus sidesteps too quickly to see, snapping her arm back to absorb the energy of the blow. Their positions wind up reversed and Occlus does not essay an attack.

Even if she hasn't dropped her blade, Occlus' guard has been disrupted by the movement of her saber hand - and Vincoria has closed distance. Light her Shoto, cut upwards across the thigh. End in the Soresu guard, protecting her head and upper body. 

Occlus flips up and over Vincoria's cut, slamming back down with radiating force as Vincoria finishes into her guard.

Vincoria's stance is strong, and her mind is ready - but she cannot stand against that force. Rather than be as stone, and break...

In the instant before the pulse of power hits her, Vincoria leaps, letting the shockwave propel her up, rather than away. With the ship's gravity on her side, most of her speed has been lost when she hits the roof of the cargo bay. 

Occlus straightens back up, and waits for Vincoria to do the same.

Vincoria lands safely with a small pulse of Force, and settles back into her stance, her violet shoto thrumming steadily. 

She smiles slightly.

"I hate fair fights."

Occlus smiles. "They are tiresome, aren't they?"

"They are." 

Vincoria shifts her stance, moving into a more open, aggressive form - then darts inward again.

Despite her direct attack, her footwork and presence weave complexly, suggesting other strikes, other movements. Halfway through her charge, she gestures as if to throw her shoto - but the true attack is a strike to the shoulder, cutting diagonally down across Occlus' body.

Occlus is not deceived. She parries, and uses her superior strength to reverse Vincoria's momentum, forcing the locked blades back towards her.

Vincoria won't win this clash. Switch off, sidestep. If Occlus loses her balance, reignite and strike at her back as she passes. If not, strike at her face with the blade's hilt. 

Occlus halts her efforts as soon as the resistance vanishes, turns to keep Vincoria in front of her, and brings her saber in to a close guard.

Vincoria is already committed to her strike. Recoiling now would only unbalance her and put her into worse trouble. 

Of course, this does put her in the rather unenviable position of punching into a lightsaber. 

Not something Occlus would have done, certainly. But she is not the one with the regenerative immortality. Occlus lets her burn away her knuckles, then shoves Vincoria back with a telekinetic fist.

Vincoria doesn't have the concentration to repel Occlus' force strike. She's thrown across the room, rolling to an awkward halt up against a support column. She cradles her mangled hand close to her body, and curses under her breath. 

Ow ow ow ow. 

Pain is a distraction. Ignore it.

Vincoria reaches out with her remaining hand, and lights her lost saber where it lies on the ground behind Occlus. With a tug of force energy, it leaps towards her, incidentally striking at Occlus' ankles. 

Occlus contests Vincoria's attempt to retrieve her saber, causing it to veer off course into a corner, out of reach.

"You dropped your saber and I have destroyed it. At this point, you would be dead."

Vincoria clutches her ruined hand close to her chest, pressing it in beneath her robe. 

"I'm, nnn, not dead yet. When you have a saber to my neck, then I'll agree." 

She charges again. She's slower. With a burst of Force from her offhand, she tries to rip Occlus' saber from her grasp - but her control is weak, sloppy. 

Occlus's will is durasteel. Her saber does not waver. She closes with Vincoria and quick as thought, her saber darts out four times.

As the attack falls, Vincoria suddenly matches Occlus' speed. Darting aside from the first two strikes, she parries the third and fourth with the newly-lit blood-red shoto in her regenerated right hand. 

The fifth attack is hers- a plunging strike aimed for Occlus' heart. 

Occlus steps back as she bats it aside.

Vincoria advances, using her free hand to direct a Force push at Occlus' non-dominant leg while she strikes again with the saber. 

Occlus absorbs the push without visible effect, and parries in place. Her riposte leads into another blindingly fast series of strikes.

Vincoria keeps up, but the rapid strikes force her onto the defensive. 

Occlus maintains her assault, and steps up the tempo until she forces an opening.