CH. VI – Lessons Learned
The ship we were aboard made its final pass in the dark Korriban night sky.
I was reviewing the plan in my head, I knew it well by now.
Velion had gone over it with me on the return trip.
Fenox would be poisoned at dinner and when he retuned to his room weakened and in dire pain from the poison, we would strike.
I was to go in first, in stealth, before he retuned and observe him until the others arrived and to take his lightsaber if at all possible. With his lightsaber gone the mighty Fenox would pose no threat, he was as inept at using the force offensively as Morgana was at combat. And care for her as I do, that's pretty bad...
The ship touched down and we stepped off, I looked around the bay and saw no one, except for the Dark Jedi who had been sent to finish what I started at the research facility.
She would be there for the kill as well, another to our number, that makes 5 there to take Fenox down.
Velion, myself, and 3 Dark Jedi under Velion...I had been promised the killing blow, Velion simply wanted to see his old enemy dead and he cared not who did it, besides, for me it was personal.
Morgana was supposed to be there, but then it was decided against, she would only get in the way. As I said earlier she was inept at combat and Velion had to pull some strings for me to keep her off the list of apprentices who weren't going anywhere fast...those apprentices had a way of disappearing, and those among the Sith who disappear do not often return.
I made my way down the halls of the academy, silent as the grave.
I reached my old master's room and entered the code to the lock, I had known it for years, ever since I came under his him.
I entered the room and looked around, making sure I was alone.
I walked to the wall where his lightsaber was kept and took it from the wall, he was truly foolish to leave his weapon in his room, to leave himself unarmed when death could come from nowhere as it was about to.
His error, our blessing...
I took the saber and placed it in my robes, it was a masterfully built weapon, truly a marvel of design among lightsabers and it would be mine in a few short minutes.
I waited in silence, staring at the door, wondering what the confrontation would be like, what would be said, how long it would last.
There would be no questions, but there would be an answer, him answering to me, for his crimes against me and Morgana, against Arkus as well.
I cleared my mind for battle, and began to focus all my hate, all my anger, just as he had told me all these years, to focus it and use it, like I used it against my father when he did the same thing Fenox had done, only he had succeeded, he had deceived me and killed the only thing that meant anything to me.
My father had fallen at my feet, Fenox's fate would be no different.
Another tale for another time I thought to myself, I must keep my mind in the present and on why I am here...to kill yet another weakling.
Fenox...a weakling...the thought of it filled me with feelings of power, if Fenox was so great and was below me, how powerful was I?
Quite powerful to be sure and under Velion, one of the true great Sith assassins, I could become greater. Before I had only desired to become an assassin, but now, with Fenox dead, I wanted more, to be in the service of Lady Revan herself, I wanted my name immortalized in the Valley of the Dark Lords, to be remembered amongst the names of our honored dead...Marka Ragnos, Naga Sadow, Exar Kun...
But Fenox wasn't dead...yet and I was still only a knight.
The door sliding open brought me back to reality and I laid eyes on my old master, pail and hobbling, pathetic looking.
I could handle him myself I though, he had no weapon, I had the advantage here, he didn't even know I was still alive, one quick strike could do the deed.
I watched him sit down and grasp his stomach, I could no longer stand it, he had betrayed me, tried to take Morgana's life and mine as well.
Just as every mark he had given me before, when his time came he would die by my hand, and his time had come.
"I did as you asked Master" I said as I stepped from the shadow and saw him fall into a state of terror I hadn't seen before, not on any of my marks, no one.
I loosed lightening from my fingers and blew out the lights as soon as I was done speaking those words, and the room went black.
"R...R...Rane?" he stammered "You're...alive?"
"Yes master, I am" he was becoming more and more afraid by the second, I could tell.
"I know what you did, the attack on Morgana, I know what you planned to do, have me die in that forest? You though I wouldn't notice the motion sensors did you?
Didn't think I could find a way around them?
You obviously underestimated me master. But it doesn't matter now, now you've learned just how resourceful I am, and just how deadly I can be"
I could hear his breathing louder than ever, he was afraid of his apprentice, pathetic...
"Looks like there is a thing or two you could learn from me, from a true assassin, never ever, leave survivors".
"And another lesson" I said as I grabbed him by the hair from behind and wrenched his neck backwards "is to never leave yourself open...or unarmed"
I waved his lightsaber in front of his face and threw it across the room.
I heard it clatter to the ground on the other side, and he heard it to, the slight but distinct moan of a man in fear of his life issued from his lips.
"Coward!" I yelled at him "You do nothing to defend yourself?
the time has come...Fenox...for the master to become the apprentice, and I shall teach you your final lesson"
"I will not bow to you" he managed "You are not the master here".
I laughed.
"No?" I said and sent a pulse of force lightening into him and he began to drop, another pulse and he was kneeling before me.
"Then why are you bowing fool?"
He did not reply.
"Why?" I demanded and drove my knee into his back.
"B...because...you, you are stronger than I" he stammered.
I released my grip and his hair and backed off a few steps.
"Very good, you have learned your final lesson...I have nothing left to teach you"
I smirked as I said it and went on "I have nothing left to say to you but this...Your time has come"
"P...Please...Rane, mercy, show some mercy, to the one who taught you all you know"
"Mercy? Sith do not show mercy master, do you remember teaching me that?
Do you remember teaching me where to strike to inflict the most pain possible?
Do you remember promising me that you would teach me all you could and make me all that I could be under you?
You have, and I thank you for it master, but you taught me something else, my final lesson...that you were afraid, fear is weakness, and the weak will not survive, so master, I grow tired of these words and your time has come, so with these words I shall leave you...no, you shall leave me, and this world...Goodbye Master"
The sound of a lightsaber cutting through the air and silenced his scream.....
And the room went quiet.
Only the humming of my saber could be heard and its glow was the only light in the room.
In dying, Fenox had taught me all he could, that the strong must survive and not only survive, dominate.
Another lesson learned, another life taken...
The door to Fenox's room opened and Velion stood in the doorway, looking into the dark.
As the silhouette holding the lightsaber moved towards him he tensed but saw my face in the light from the hallway.
"It is done" I said as I kneeled "Master"...
The ship we were aboard made its final pass in the dark Korriban night sky.
I was reviewing the plan in my head, I knew it well by now.
Velion had gone over it with me on the return trip.
Fenox would be poisoned at dinner and when he retuned to his room weakened and in dire pain from the poison, we would strike.
I was to go in first, in stealth, before he retuned and observe him until the others arrived and to take his lightsaber if at all possible. With his lightsaber gone the mighty Fenox would pose no threat, he was as inept at using the force offensively as Morgana was at combat. And care for her as I do, that's pretty bad...
The ship touched down and we stepped off, I looked around the bay and saw no one, except for the Dark Jedi who had been sent to finish what I started at the research facility.
She would be there for the kill as well, another to our number, that makes 5 there to take Fenox down.
Velion, myself, and 3 Dark Jedi under Velion...I had been promised the killing blow, Velion simply wanted to see his old enemy dead and he cared not who did it, besides, for me it was personal.
Morgana was supposed to be there, but then it was decided against, she would only get in the way. As I said earlier she was inept at combat and Velion had to pull some strings for me to keep her off the list of apprentices who weren't going anywhere fast...those apprentices had a way of disappearing, and those among the Sith who disappear do not often return.
I made my way down the halls of the academy, silent as the grave.
I reached my old master's room and entered the code to the lock, I had known it for years, ever since I came under his him.
I entered the room and looked around, making sure I was alone.
I walked to the wall where his lightsaber was kept and took it from the wall, he was truly foolish to leave his weapon in his room, to leave himself unarmed when death could come from nowhere as it was about to.
His error, our blessing...
I took the saber and placed it in my robes, it was a masterfully built weapon, truly a marvel of design among lightsabers and it would be mine in a few short minutes.
I waited in silence, staring at the door, wondering what the confrontation would be like, what would be said, how long it would last.
There would be no questions, but there would be an answer, him answering to me, for his crimes against me and Morgana, against Arkus as well.
I cleared my mind for battle, and began to focus all my hate, all my anger, just as he had told me all these years, to focus it and use it, like I used it against my father when he did the same thing Fenox had done, only he had succeeded, he had deceived me and killed the only thing that meant anything to me.
My father had fallen at my feet, Fenox's fate would be no different.
Another tale for another time I thought to myself, I must keep my mind in the present and on why I am here...to kill yet another weakling.
Fenox...a weakling...the thought of it filled me with feelings of power, if Fenox was so great and was below me, how powerful was I?
Quite powerful to be sure and under Velion, one of the true great Sith assassins, I could become greater. Before I had only desired to become an assassin, but now, with Fenox dead, I wanted more, to be in the service of Lady Revan herself, I wanted my name immortalized in the Valley of the Dark Lords, to be remembered amongst the names of our honored dead...Marka Ragnos, Naga Sadow, Exar Kun...
But Fenox wasn't dead...yet and I was still only a knight.
The door sliding open brought me back to reality and I laid eyes on my old master, pail and hobbling, pathetic looking.
I could handle him myself I though, he had no weapon, I had the advantage here, he didn't even know I was still alive, one quick strike could do the deed.
I watched him sit down and grasp his stomach, I could no longer stand it, he had betrayed me, tried to take Morgana's life and mine as well.
Just as every mark he had given me before, when his time came he would die by my hand, and his time had come.
"I did as you asked Master" I said as I stepped from the shadow and saw him fall into a state of terror I hadn't seen before, not on any of my marks, no one.
I loosed lightening from my fingers and blew out the lights as soon as I was done speaking those words, and the room went black.
"R...R...Rane?" he stammered "You're...alive?"
"Yes master, I am" he was becoming more and more afraid by the second, I could tell.
"I know what you did, the attack on Morgana, I know what you planned to do, have me die in that forest? You though I wouldn't notice the motion sensors did you?
Didn't think I could find a way around them?
You obviously underestimated me master. But it doesn't matter now, now you've learned just how resourceful I am, and just how deadly I can be"
I could hear his breathing louder than ever, he was afraid of his apprentice, pathetic...
"Looks like there is a thing or two you could learn from me, from a true assassin, never ever, leave survivors".
"And another lesson" I said as I grabbed him by the hair from behind and wrenched his neck backwards "is to never leave yourself open...or unarmed"
I waved his lightsaber in front of his face and threw it across the room.
I heard it clatter to the ground on the other side, and he heard it to, the slight but distinct moan of a man in fear of his life issued from his lips.
"Coward!" I yelled at him "You do nothing to defend yourself?
the time has come...Fenox...for the master to become the apprentice, and I shall teach you your final lesson"
"I will not bow to you" he managed "You are not the master here".
I laughed.
"No?" I said and sent a pulse of force lightening into him and he began to drop, another pulse and he was kneeling before me.
"Then why are you bowing fool?"
He did not reply.
"Why?" I demanded and drove my knee into his back.
"B...because...you, you are stronger than I" he stammered.
I released my grip and his hair and backed off a few steps.
"Very good, you have learned your final lesson...I have nothing left to teach you"
I smirked as I said it and went on "I have nothing left to say to you but this...Your time has come"
"P...Please...Rane, mercy, show some mercy, to the one who taught you all you know"
"Mercy? Sith do not show mercy master, do you remember teaching me that?
Do you remember teaching me where to strike to inflict the most pain possible?
Do you remember promising me that you would teach me all you could and make me all that I could be under you?
You have, and I thank you for it master, but you taught me something else, my final lesson...that you were afraid, fear is weakness, and the weak will not survive, so master, I grow tired of these words and your time has come, so with these words I shall leave you...no, you shall leave me, and this world...Goodbye Master"
The sound of a lightsaber cutting through the air and silenced his scream.....
And the room went quiet.
Only the humming of my saber could be heard and its glow was the only light in the room.
In dying, Fenox had taught me all he could, that the strong must survive and not only survive, dominate.
Another lesson learned, another life taken...
The door to Fenox's room opened and Velion stood in the doorway, looking into the dark.
As the silhouette holding the lightsaber moved towards him he tensed but saw my face in the light from the hallway.
"It is done" I said as I kneeled "Master"...