Nomen Karr knelt limply on the chamber room floor. He clutched at the wound on his abdomen and grunted from the pain. "My wound is mortal, Sith. You have won. At least I die knowing you will never find Jaesa."

For the first time in a while, Raina stood silently and was unsure of what to do. She hadn't intended to mortally wound Karr. She still needed to find Jaesa, and Karr was her best shot at succeeding.

As if designed by fate itself, several Imperial troops marched into the chamber, joining the Sith and Jedi. "My lord," one of the troopers announced, "Quinn said we could find you in here. Darth Baras sent us in case you needed our help. But it seems you have everything under control here."

Baras obviously thought there was a chance that Raina would fail this mission, or at least not be capable of handling it on her own. That enough was an insult to the young Sith Warrior. Still, Raina held her tongue and instead, put on her usual smug grin. "Absolute control," she agreed, loosely Force choking Karr enough to lift his head and labor his breathing. "He's fading though and needs to be stabilized."

One of the troopers pulled out a medical scanner and pointed it at Nomen Karr. "Yes, my lord. We will take him into the chamber next door and tend to him. Anything else, my lord?"

Raina smirked wildly at Nomen Karr, her grip on his neck tightening slightly. "I want him strong enough to endure a round of moderate torture." She released her grip on the Jedi's throat and allowed the troopers to surround and bind him.

"No!" Karr screamed weakly. "I want to die! I must...protect Jaesa…."

"You will live long enough to suffer more than anyone else in Jaesa's life has suffered." Raina said, her voice booming and commanding. "More than her parents, more than Master Yanlach. She will feel every ounce of pain I inflict on you."

Karr straightened himself up enough to face the Sith, his head raised in defiance. "Torture me all you want, Sith. It will only fuel my hate for you."

Kneeling down in front of Karr, her face mere inches from his, Raina placed two fingers under his chin and forced him to meet her gaze. "I thought Jedi weren't allowed to hate," she questioned rhetorically, her grin growing wider each time Karr tried to pry his chin from her firm grasp. "Don't tell me that I've gotten under your skin, Karr. After all, you are a Jedi Master."

"You're smugness is an insult!" he spat furiously. Raina didn't bother wiping away the saliva that landed on her face. "You are NOT my better. I will kill you, Sith. I will kill you, and I will kill your master! Do you hear me? You'll both be dead!"

"Now Karr, what will Jaesa think when she senses all this darkness raging inside you?" Raina taunted. She released his chin and quickly stood so that the medical trooper could finish his examination.

"Don't touch me, Imperial scum!" Karr shouted, recoiling away from the medic.

Raina once again grabbed his neck with the Force in order to keep him still but not to restrict his breathing. "Such hatred," she chastised, sucking through her teeth in disapproval. "This man is trying to help you, Karr, and yet you treat him as if he has an oozing, flesh disease. For a Jedi, you are extremely judgemental."

Normally, Raina would try to avoid inflicting physical torture on a subdued subject if the decision were up to her discretion. She saw physically torturing a defenseless being as cowardice and quite boring. In her eyes, establishing dominance over an opponent would only be noble and exciting if she and her opponent we on an equal playing field. Plus, she knew from her time as a slave on Tatooine that torture isn't a reliable means of gathering information anyway.

Mental torment, on the other hand, was an entirely different arena. There was no challenge with tormenting someone when they physically couldn't fight back. But a subject with a sharp and functioning mind could be toyed with for days and would be capable of outsmarting their subduer. And Raina simply loved testing the resolution of others and trying to find their mental breaking points.

"Fuck you, Sith!" Karr screamed as he lunged towards Raina as much as his weak body would allow. The troopers held him back to keep him from falling forward. His mouth was moist from salvation, and more bits of saliva flew from his mouth as he shouted. "Fuck you!"

At this point, the hatred and anger boiling up inside Karr was so strong that it was overwhelming Raina's senses. Karr had given into the Dark Side of himself, so easily, in fact, that Raina had to remind herself that she had only bested him as he was already on the edge leaning towards darkness. She just gave him the slight nudge he needed to fall.

"Your anger is intoxicating, Karr," Raina cooed. "I can't wait for your Padawan to sense how far you've fallen-"

"My lord," Quinn interrupted breathily. He'd hurried into the chamber where Raina held Nomen Karr and appeared shocked and alarmed. "The Padawan has arrived. And she looks rather...unnerved."

As if on cue, a tall, dark-haired girl clad in traditional Jedi robes and a double-bladed lightsaber attached to her hip walked into the chamber, passing Quinn as she entered. Her shoulder length hair was disheveled and partly covered her face but not enough to hide her set look of resolution. "Let my master, go, Sith!" she demanded.

Raina couldn't refrain from letting a surprised, impressed grin form on her face. "The Padawan has teeth? I'm curious to see how strong the bite is," she purred as she slowly approached Jaesa. The Sith eyed the Padawan from head to toe in an attempt to size up her opponent, the younger girl clearly uncomfortable from the attention.

Karr bellowed with frustration upon seeing Jaesa enter the chamber. "Jaesa, no!" he screamed. "You stupid girl, I told you to stay hidden. How dare you defy me!"

Just as Raina had predicted, Jaesa was taken aback when she saw the physical transformation that her master had undergone. His face was now thin and hollow, his irises a fierce shade of orange and his sockets darker than coal. "Master Karr," she whispered in disbelief, her voice barely audible to even Raina. "What have you done to him, Sith?"

Karr shouted at the Sith Warrior again, cursing her and threatening to kill her with her own lightsabers, no less. His voice, although weak, echoed hauntingly throughout the chamber and noticeably unnerved his Padawan, Jaesa.

"Has this been inside him all along?" Jaesa questioned desperately. She looked more and more hopeless and abandoned with each passing glance at her master. "No...no one can hide such darkness," she said. "Somehow, you have turned him mad!"

"Have you ever used your power on your master, Jaesa?" Raina asked, moreso out of curiosity than to further inflict torment on the girl.

Jaesa shook her head aggressively. "No. Master Karr told me to never use my power as a crutch. Only to use it when it was clearly necessary."

Raina rolled her eyes in irritation and laughed bitterly at Karr. "You didn't want her using her powers against you, did you?" she asked incredulously. "You were going to use her as a weapon in your own personal vendetta against Darth Baras all while keeping her hidden from your true intentions."

"Master Karr?" Jaesa questioned pleadingly again.

Before Karr could speak, Raina turned to face the Padawan again and interrupted, "Don't trust me or Karr. Use your power, Jaesa. Look into your master's heart and see the truth."

Hesitantly, Jaesa bowed her head and clutched her hands together in front of her chest. A bright, light blue forced surrounded her upper body. "I sense pride...and envy...and hate...and vengeance?! No! What trick is this? I would have known if such darkness resided within him."

"This is no trick, Jaesa," Raina countered firmly. "It did not take much effort from me to unleash this side of Nomen Karr. Something that easily brought to the surface has been dying to escape for some time. I didn't create his darkness. I merely let it out."

"You killed Master Yonlach, and you killed my parents. And now you've turned my master against me. I felt every torturous moment you put him through. This must end now." Jaesa removed the double-bladed lightsaber from her waist and emitted the yellow blades.

Raina readied herself for the inevitable fight, engaging her own two red lightsabers. "I couldn't agree more."

Neither of the warriors relented the fight, not even after Karr began screaming and pleading for it to end. Raina knew she wasn't leaving Hutta without the corpses of both Jedi Master and Padawan. Baras wanted the both of them dead, a task Raina had no qualms with performing. But now that she had met the mysterious Padawan for which she had spent many weeks hunting, Raina was beginning to doubt whether it was the wisest decision to kill the girl.

"This girl is stronger than any Force user I have met," Raina thought to herself. Jaesa wasn't as skilled in combat as the Sith Warrior, but she was holding her own fairly well. "It would be a waste to eliminate such a powerful force."

Raina needed to end this duel fast. She Force pushed the Padawan several feet away from her, giving her the space she needed for her next attack. With both lightsabers raised towards her right right side, she immediately ran fast towards Jaesa and brought her two sabers down hard against the Padawan's hilt, narrowly missing the girl's hand but destroying the weapon.

Unarmed and kneeling on the floor, the younger girl readied herself for the impending final blow from her Sith opponent. She closed her eyes as she heard the sparking whirl of a lightsaber being raised above her head. When she instead heard the sound of a lightsaber disengaging, Jaesa immediately jerked her head up and looked upon her opponent in confusion. "Why…?" she trailed, struggling to form any other words. "You had the opportunity to kill me, and you didn't take it."

Raina holstered her lightsabers. "I may be a Sith, but I'm not stupid. And killing you would be just that. I'd much rather train you myself. The way someone with your power and ability deserves to be trained."

Jaesa's eyes widen in surprise at the Sith's offer. She'd come to Hutta to find Nomen Karr with the intent of eliminating the threat of this Sith Warrior. And yet here Jaesa was, kneeling at this Sith woman's feet in defeat, her master corrupted and defenseless. Should she refuse the Sith's offer and remain devoted to the Jedi, a group in which she was beginning to lose faith? Or should accept this Sith's hand, joining the Dark Side and therefore turning her back on all the teachings to which she had devoted the last several years of her life?

"This is a one time offer, Jaesa," Raina warned, a somewhat hopeful tone laced her voice. "Join me, or face the same fate as your Jedi Master."

Karr let out a rageful roar that echoed throughout the entire chamber, shaking the walls and columns that adorned the room.

To be continued...

Cliffhangers!

So a little note about exactly what I'm doing with the story so far. For those of you not familiar with the Sith Warrior quest line, there's a pivotal scene at the end of the first Chapter of the game where Jaesa becomes the Sith's Apprentice. That final moment is where this story is picking up.

I thought about jumping straight into the part where Jaesa has already joined the Dark Side, but I felt this key scene could help explain how I'm writing Jaesa as well as give insight into Raina's character. Anywho, there will be one more chapter taking place on Hutta. After that, we dive in to the fun stuff!

Thanks in advance for your support and feedback! I plan to post every Friday!

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters except for Raina. Also, some actual dialogue from NPCs in the game will be included in this story. I don't own that writing either. This fic is purely for entertainment purposes, and I am not making any monetary gain from its existence.