Getting to Korriban turned out to be not as difficult as you might imagine, given that the galaxy was in the middle of a war and I was going from a stronghold of one faction to a stronghold of another. But war or not, as long as there are credits to be made, the universe will spring up a middleman, someone who will be able to get you one step closer to your destination provided he takes a small cut.
Except it isn't quite so simple. That same middleman might secretly arrange for you to be sold to the Hutts, which would indeed be quite the inconvenience. It is simply a question of risk and reward for your middleman, who he knows and what he thinks he can get away, how much you are willing to pay him vs the going rate for a human slave.
But this danger is avoidable provided you have time and credits. Where governments do not enforce the law, reputation becomes the currency of every galactic merchant. At every space station, I lingered for a week or so, making conversation to learn who the locals considered reliable. I was careful to be casual about my inquiries, lest my goal be discovered and I make myself the target of some scammer or kidnapper. I made sure not to rely on any single source but on the mass of opinion, which often led me to expensive but reasonably safe freighter companies willing to take on passengers.
I pity the poor fools who purchased transport from the merchants at the starport, those Quarren and Rodians who always stand by the demarcation lounge and shout surprisingly affordable prices at the passers-by. That is a sure way to end up in a slave mine, fattening the belly of the local Hutt. People who come from corners of the galaxy where the law means something often fail to understand how things work on the frontier.
To make a long story short, a month and several changes of ship after I set off from Dantooine, I found my feet on the soil of Korriban, facing a skeptical-looking customs officer in the settlement of Dreshdae.
"Entry pass, please."
He was human, like me. Fraying hairs and burgeoning wrinkles graced his face, which was not unkind. I sensed the upcoming negotiation would be somewhat easier than usual.
"Pardon?" I said.
"Your entry pass, young man. Kindly hand it to me."
"What is this 'entry pass?' Of what do you speak?"
"I speak of the document which authorizes you to enter this planet."
"And who issues this entry pass?"
"The Sith Imperial office on Taris, of course."
"On Taris?"
"On Taris."
I took a deep intake of breath and did my best to appear outraged. "Do you mean to suggest that a visitor to Korriban must make his way to Taris first?"
"Just so."
"My good sentient," I said, "have you any notion of the distance between these two planets?"
"Regulations are regulations," he said, shaking his head in disapproval.
"Oh," I said, reaching inside my robes. "Silly me. It seems I do have an entry pass after all."
I handed him a credit chit which he swiped across his handheld.
"I believe your documents must have been torn," he said smiling, "For I see you have half of an entry pass here."
"Half?"
"Maybe a little less."
"You cannot be serious."
"I am afraid that I am."
"Half." I did my best to sound incredulous.
"Indeed so."
We went on in this vein for a while before I handed him a second chit, containing roughly a third of the amount of the first one.
"This is all I can find of my poor torn entry pass," I said, "Now, kind sentient, I am a force user of considerable power, come to try out for the Sith academy. What will my future masters think if they learn you did not let me through?"
He grumbled a bit but ended up letting me through. Had I been able to show off some fancy-looking power, I suspect I could have bargained him down to almost nothing; but, as things stood, I made a decent, if not spectacular, deal. In any case, minutes later I was out of the starport and into Dreshdae proper.
I must tell you, reader, that I arrived at Korriban with some rather romantic notions. Think of what you know of the Valley of the Dark Lords; think of the old tombs which have been harboring secrets through the eons; think of the caves, full of unknown dark powers and mysterious revelations; think of the kath hounds, the ancient obelisks. And what did I see before me? The settlement of Dreshdae, which was barely more than a trailer park.
Still, I was one step closer towards my goal.
Eyeing the gates of the starport, I briefly considered that absolutely nothing forced me to go through them. I hardly need to point out that the Sith have a fearsome reputation. I could turn around right that moment, find passage off-planet. I could go back to my homeworld, to my parents and their estate, to a world of bright springs and ample harvests. I could tell my family that I had no force affinity after all. What would become of me then? Likely, I would find a girl from one of the nearby villages to marry in time. There was still time to turn around, to fall back onto that path.
Need I even say what I did next? Naturally, I walked through the gates of Dreshdae, apprehensive but never doubting that I was making the right choice.