Prologue
Korriban
The Overseer
Hot.
It was always hot on the Sith home world of Korriban, but Overseer Tremel had long stopped paying such minor details any mind.
Dedicating one's life to lofty and far-reaching goals like preserving the way of the Sith and assuring their continued superiority over the masses had a way of doing that to a person.
Still, it was a most worthy goal, and Tremel was more than prepared to pay any price to see his vision fulfilled. And as he stood on the landing pad waiting for his newest acolyte to arrive from off world, Tremel knew full well that this latest undertaking could very well be his last. After all, one did not cross a being such as Darth Baras lightly, no matter what the end goal.
Hopefully this acolyte proves to be all that his instructors have claimed him to be. The sheer potential he has shown so far…
Tremel knew that his plan was a long shot. Overseers did not have any jurisdiction in the process of apprentice selection, as the incident with Overseer Harkun a few months back had shown. The man had managed to escape from that situation very lightly indeed, all things considered.
Then again, Lady Zash always was one of the stranger ones. I never could pin down just what that labyrinthine mind of hers was planning. Still…
Still, her stunning selection of a human former slave over a carefully groomed and prepared Pureblood showcased clearly for all that Sith Lords, at the end of the day, do what Sith Lords do. Tremel only hoped that the…irregularities that he had heard about his latest trainee would not dissuade Baras from making the right decision.
"Behavior unbecoming a Sith."
"Contemptible and irrational decision making."
"Occasionally indulges in acts of mercy, contrary to all that makes a Sith."
At the end of the day, the acolyte's performance reviews by his instructors were all marred by one simple, though expressed in many different, and sometimes colorful ways, blemish.
The acolyte had, for lack of better words, a soft spot.
This, above all else, worried Tremel the most. Any sort of weakness, perceived, real, or otherwise, could completely derail all of his carefully laid plains, both past and present. It could lead to the downfall of the Sith as he knew them. He could not, would not, allow this, no matter how extreme the actions he had to take with his new acolyte were. Tremel would bring him into line.
Oh he had already read the reports, about how the instructors would try to bring the acolyte into line using all matters of devices and powers. Mandatory visits with the inquisitors for tastes of Force lightning, various mind-altering drugs to heighten aggression; one visiting Sith Lord who had fancied himself a technological expert had even tried using a device that he claimed would force the impudent acolyte to obey every suggestion given to him by his betters.
Tremel chuckled softly as he thought of the last one. Apparently the device had failed spectacularly after much theatrical build up on the part of the Lord, though details were scarce. The report had simply ended with: Honored Lord Necrosis departed Ziost rather swiftly after this demonstration.
So be it, if brute force cannot persuade him, then I shall simply have to start with persuasion. If nothing else, the change of tactics should throw him enough to win me a foothold in his mind. Of course, I may have to become rather nasty. Nothing too permanently damaging though.
Suddenly Tremel saw a glimpse of durasteel in the sky and glanced upwards. He knew even before he had completed the motion that his acolyte, his destiny, had arrived.
And so it was that Tremel stalked forward to greet the new arrival on this dead world, where statues of long dead Sith crumbled and slaves cursed and were driven mad by the power of the Dark Side, to welcome the future of the Sith Order.
It was going to be glorious.
A/N: Quick note to all you beautiful people who are so nicely reading this: thank you. This is my first step in the world of writing fanfiction, and I'm highly excited about it. Hopefully you'll have just as much fun reading it as I am writing it. Standard disclaimer applies: I'm merely a poor college student, not the owner of Star Wars.