She lowered her sabers once more, her hands shaking as the body fell to the floor in front of her. It still shook her when she killed someone.
The Dark Lord then approached "Haha, very good apprentice., you will do well here." She gazed at him, the anger surging behind her eyes as she fought the rush from the battle. Extinguishing her sabers, she bowed, and then waited.
"The graduation ceremony will be later tonight, you should get ready" One of the instructors announced. She looked back at him. "Is there anything I should do to prepare, My Lord?"
"Besides bathe?" he jokingly said, "Just prepare your finest robe, dismissed." A smirk passed over her features at that remark, and she bowed once more, departing for the dormitories.
A shower was a welcome distraction, giving her time to reflect on everything that had happened, and to heal the wounds of battle. Her long hair was braided tightly, hanging down her back, the dark fabric of her robe draped over her slender shoulders.
An instructor entered the dormitory. "All graduated apprentices are to report to the main hall. Last arrivals willl be cast out." Callista rose before he was done speaking, and exited the room not far behind him. The main hall was vast, A huge open room, that echoed slightly with her footfalls. She could hear the rest of the class as they filed in quietly behind her.
The Dark Lord approached the elevated area in the middle. "You are here as you are the strongest, the most capable and the elite." He cleared his throat "Now you will be assigned master will head out into the world with them, to learn firsthand the life of a sith."
His words sent chills down her spine, as the words of gifted speakers will. She squared her shoulders, standing proudly with her classmates. He read a long list of names. "Jarrod Helightin you are with Master Orraj, Callista you are with me..."
Her eyes widened as he read off her name. It was a greatr honor to become his student, but she also knew her life would not be an easy one...
The night passsed, and there was much to drink, and much celebration, later that night the Dark Lord stood at a window, just staring, thinking 'How can I best get this apprentice to be an asset to the Order?'
The celebrating ran well into the morning hours, for she and her classmates had made it through a lot together. SHe withdrew after a while to the chambers she now shared with him, settling herself to meditate. So much had happened over the past few months, she could scarcely comprehend it.
She had gone from being a respected jedi, to being cast out for doing what she thought was right. Her anger swelled slightly with the memory. her own friends had cast her out, she would never forget their betrayal.
The Dark Lord entered the chambers, and spoke "Get ready to leave, we're going on a mission, I'll explain on the way."
She rose quickly, grabbing a spare set of robes, and tossing them into her bag which rested by her feet. Slipping the bag over her shoulder, she nodded to him. "I am ready, Master."
He led her to a hangar area, where they board a nicely sized craft with two crew members, a human relation's droid, and a pilot. He instructed the pilot of the destination and then called Callista to him to discuss the mission "We are heading to Nar Shadaa to have talks with a particularly capable group of mandalorians, they could be great use to us."
She raised an eyebrow at that. "What use could we have for the Madalorians, master?"
"We are going to use the Mandalorians to strike a smaller planet near a recently uncovered Jedi training facility...our target is that facility as it holds a particular type of crystals that augment lightsabers to shine with the same intensity as their user."
"In regards to Force-presence?"
"Force presence and the way that user manipulates the force, the dark, the more intense the beam becomes, Legend has it that the great Lord Ragnos used one of these crystals and he could slice a Rancour in half in one swing."
"Wow... What kind of crystals are they?"
"Lightsaber crystals, you will have to replace your current ones." She nodded, and thought a moment. "That can be done easily enough..."