Summary: A young human discovers his role in the bigger picture. (KoToR era.)
Content Warning: I try to keep the language fairly tame, but the content itself is more teen oriented.
Disclaimer: I do not own any established Star Wars characters or concepts. The characters focused on here are of my own creation.
Down the Right Path
Chapter 1
Dirac Gahl looked out the window of the transport ship and heaved a sigh of relief. He couldn't wait to get back to Telos IV. The red crystal he had been sent to retrieve was wrapped in cloth and tucked in a pouch at his belt, but he could still feel it. The Dark Side was strong in the crystal, he knew that much for certain, but there was something else to it. Whenever the crystal touched his skin, it hurt. Merely holding the thing with his fingertips caused incredible pain to surge through his arm, and as a result it was extremely difficult to encase the crystal in the pouch as he had been instructed.
Even now, with several layers of cloth from his black garments and the pouch between himself and the crystal, he could still feel the pain. Worse yet, the longer it was near him, the more the pain spread through his body. Dirac imagined his leg would be sore for days even after he got rid of the crystal. He briefly thought of trying to set the blasted thing aside, but he had been warned keep it with him at all times once he had it in hand. Couldn't this cursed ship go any faster? As much as it angered him that he had not been warned of the full properties of the crystal, he knew this was another test, and it was one he would not fail. Still, the sooner he got rid of the thing, the better.
As his mind wandered trying to avoid thinking about the searing pain emanating from the pouch at his waist, Dirac began to think about his destination. Ever since he had first heard the tales as a child, he wanted to join the ranks of the Sith. Most of those he knew during his childhood, if they were lucky enough to be Force Sensitive, they wanted to be Jedi. Not Dirac. Even when he was young he felt the Jedi were boring; too much waiting around, not enough action. Sure, some of the Sith were a little bloody-thirsty and excessively violent, but the Jedi had their share of bad apples too. And then there were the Sith Lords, but he only heard tales of them previously. Depending on whom you talked to, Darth Revan was either: one of the greatest military generals to ever live, a common Republic Soldier, or even a swoop racer! A swoop racer! Dirac still couldn't believe that one, but that Rodian swoop mechanic from Tatooine refused to think otherwise.
The important thing to Dirac was that he was finally on the way to achieving his dream. Of course there was some backstabbing and murder along the way, but it was all for the greater good. Well, his greater good anyway. It was for the best that Figum didn't make it past those trials to be accepted at the Sith Academy. The other students, not to mention the Sith Lords, would have put him through a far worse fate than Dirac did.
Dirac tried to suppress a shudder at the thought of the Sith teachers. The stories he heard in his youth had been misleading, if not outright lies more often than not. During his childhood, his dreams were often filled with tales of magnificent duels between Jedi Masters and Sith Lords; awe-inspiring displays of martial combat, skill with a lightsaber (or even two at once!) and use of the Force. Why, Darth Malak was said to have been one of the best lightsaber duelists in the galaxy! By the time he reached his teen years, Dirac lost count of the number of times he had been daydreaming about meeting a Jedi in the field of battle, his red lightsaber ready to clash with his foe's blue blade.
The reality of his situation was a far cry from the stories he had heard, however. As excited as he was when he learned he was Force Sensitive, his enthusiasm had dimmed consistently after he learned that the Sith Academy outside of Dreshdae on Korriban had been abandoned for years. He had heard rumors of another academy on Malachor V, but even if he had the credits to pay someone to take him there, he wasn't going to find a willing pilot on a misbegotten planet like Telos.
Then, his luck changed almost overnight. After having a particularly bad day, Dirac ran into three Duros punks during one of his exploratory trips to the planets surface. The punks must have thought they could scare him with their numbers and steal anything of value he might have had on him, but Dirac was ready for a fight. Sadly, the punks put up even less of a test than the Black Vulcar gang members Dirac ran into back on Taris, but the rush of combat did make him feel at least a little bit better.
After walking away from his battered and beaten foes, he heard something, like a voice, but it was in his head. Dirac wondered if he had taken more blows than he thought, but the voice only grew louder and clearer.
"Come alone to the abandoned bunker tonight, storage shed three." The voice said.
Dirac stopped in his tracks and whipped around, looking for the source. There were some bushes off to his left, and a pile of rocks far off to his right, but it was as if whoever spoke was right next to him. Then the voice spoke again.
"You won't find me yet. Come alone to the abandoned bunker tonight, storage shed three." The voice sounded harsher this time.
He didn't know what to make of it, but he headed back to the residential areas and bided his time for the rest of the day. He tried to keep busy to prevent himself from thinking about his odd occurrence from earlier in the day, as dwelling on it would make the wait until nightfall unbearable. Just before sunset Dirac even stopped by the med lab to make sure he came out of his previous fight as well as he thought he did. The doctor gave him a quick approval, and it was time for his mysterious meeting.
Dirac made sure to grab two of his vibro-blades, just in case. One tucked into his belt, and another hidden in his left boot. He was certain he could take anyone else his age in the area in a fight; the vibro-blades should give him the edge he needed against anyone else he could think of to expect. Dirac snuck out to the planets surface, and took a roundabout route to the old bunker. As his mind wandered about the possibilities the night might have, Dirac remembered that word had it a Jedi passed through there years ago just before a major battle involving the Republic. He had tried to forget about that, as he was not happy when he learned the battle occurred while Dirac was off planet with his family. Could a Jedi have contacted him?
