KORRIBAN: SITH ACADEMY

After the morning training session, Briza approached one of elite acolytes, she knew him a bit from fighting a few sparring matches with him in the past.

The pureblood sith, a typical red skinned male with acid burns from one encounter or another, who was slightly shorter than her, stood alone for the moment in one of the side halls.

"Good day, Grimt." Briza greeted the sith in a surprisingly polite and inviting tone.

"What do you want?" Grimt sneered back at her. It was unusual for her to greet him in such a manner and he instantly became suspicious, something was off.

"I have a proposition you might be interested in," Briza told him and gestured for him to follow.

Grimt paused for a moment, the invitation was both tempting and interesting. While he did consider her somewhat attractive for a zabrak, he also found her very intimidating. He, like the rest of the academy, knew about her high force ability and aggressive temper, plus he had fought against her and lost. He reluctantly followed without uttering a word.

Briza showed him to an empty room. After making sure no one was eavesdropping, she began to explain what was on her mind.

Grimt's expression gradually change from tens to amused, with every revelation, "Sooo, you want me to 'pretend', that I have accidentally killed your brother?"

Briza nodded to show he understood, "Yes. Tomorrow he and a dozen others are going to search the tomb of Naga sadow. You will force him deeper into the tomb. There you will burrow him under rock and rubble, so only some of his equipment will be recoverable as evidence."

"But what do I, get out of all this?!" Grimt utterly insisted. She couldn't possibly force him to do all this without some sort of compensation. Now that he thought about it, he might use her words for blackmail, not that he could prove anything, at this given time.

"The honor of besting me in single combat, at the upcoming tournament," Briza unveiled her offer flat out.

Grimt was perplexed for a moment. Would she really throw her prestige away, just to save her useless brother? "So you would let me advance above you, if I take part in your plan?"

"Precisely." Briza confirmed with a grin.

"But how do I know this isn't a trick?" Grimt demanded to know. This kind of behaviour wasn't standard Sith doctrine and widely considered weak. Then again, he had heard of her protecting that brother of hers in various cases.

"We will both have something on each other and if you wonder how I will climb the ladder once I lose... let's just say, I got that covered," Briza grinned mysteriously.

Grimt thought about it for a long moment and eventually decided it was worth the risk, he had long awaited an opportunity such as this. "Very well, I will play the part," he agreed to the terms with a slight grin of his own.

"Good, we have a deal," Briza replied satisfied and silently left the room without drawing attention.


On the landing platforms, an elder human-cyborg was running maintenance checks on his imperial transporter, as he noticed Briza entering the hangar in the reflection of the ship's metal hull. He immediately stopped what he was doing, turned around and bowed respectfully. "If it isn't my favored lord of the sith. Is there anything I can do for you my lord?" Jent asked politely.

Briza smiled in return, "I do in fact have a little job for you."

"I have a package I want you to deliver to my mother," Briza ordered in a firm but friendly tone. "I want you to deliver it to this address, personally," she gave the human a piece of flimsiplast with an address and some coordinations leading to somewhere in Kaas city.

"As you wish my lord. I will take off immediately, as soon as my ship is fueled and prepared," Jent replied eagerly, ready to please the young warrior in any way he could.

"No, wait until your usual takeoff to Dromund Kaas, so no one will be the wiser. And yes, this package won't be logged," Briza explained in a commanding, but soft voice.

Jent nodded and replied while standing at attention, "it will be done, my lord."

A few years back, Briza had saved him in an incident that could easily have cost him his life. He had at one time, while fixing the engines on his own ship, dropped his glow rod on a fuel pipe and accidentally ignited the fuel line to the personal yard of a sith teacher at the academy.

Briza, who had been witness to the accident, had told the sith lord that one of maintenance droids had malfunctioned and that the pilot had in fact actually tried to stop the fire from spreading. The last part wasn't all that far from the truth, and there was a droid who had conveniently succumbed in the fire after it too had tried to stop flames from spreading.

Since then he had gladly done her favors, mostly in the form of knowledge. He had even let Briza borrow his transporter, when it was not in active service, and he had given her pilot lessons. Luckily for him she caught on quickly, so she always returned it in the same conditions as when she took off.


The next day, Terrow and the rest of the group, found themselves in the tomb of Naga Sadow, equipped with only their training saber and a glow-rod. Their mission was to assist the imperial reclamation service, who was carefully digging through a wall when they arrived. Some in his group stood guard, while others scouted the corridors for a possible hidden Hssiss or a Tuk'ata, both deadly creatures awaiting for the right moment to make a meal out of them.

Terrow followed the scouting group, occasionally looking around to see if the pureblood sith, Briza had arranged to kill him, would show up. After having wandered the hieroglyph decorated halls, for what felt like forever, he suddenly found himself lost.

"So, this is the little brat I'm supposed to save," a dry voice came from within the crypt.

Before realising what was going on, Terrow was hauled into a wall. His back went numb with pain, "Do you have to be this violent?" he asked, sounding more calm than he actually was.

Grimt laughed dryly and replied in much the same tone, "Don't worry you pathetic weakling... I won't kill you, but your sister didn't say anything about you getting unharmed out of this... let's make it look convincing, shall we?" he added the last words as a sadistic smile spread across his red lips.

Terrow didn't know if he should be frightened or relieved, nevertheless he was slammed onto the floor, where he entered a world of pain centered around his stomach. He couldn't even scream if he had wanted to, as he was dragging head first through the rough sand. Each time he tried, his mouth would get filled with the accursed sand, which by now tasted of his own blood from all the lacerations on his face. Suddenly he was lifted up in a painful force-grip that squeezed his entire body. He started bleeding from new as well as old wounds which were opening up one by one.

"I can't fathom why your sister would save such a pitiful being. I could so easily kill you..." Grimt smirked while the temptation to tear this wretched weakling apart rolled over him, "but you are not even worth killing. Your worth is much greater to me alive."

Terrow felt his equipment along with some of his clothing getting ripped from his body, torn apart, crushed into small pieces and tossed in a bloody pile.

Grimt used the force to call upon a hungry Tuk'ata, that charged into the chamber, trying to get to the zabrak still hanging in midair. The pureblood walked a few steps out of the chamber, summing the force to tear the pillars down and thereby collapsing the chamber in on itself. As a final act, he sent Terrow flying out from the chamber, just before the 'weakling' was buried alive.

In another chamber, in a different part of the tomb, Terrow found himself dizzy to say the least. His entire body hurt and he had immense trouble just standing up straight. He nearly collapsed from the excruciating pain when a couple of medical packs was tossed at him.

"Patch yourself up scum! Be sure to tell your sister that I've done my part, now it's her turn." With those words, Grimt turned around and left through the opposite corridor.

Now all alone, Terrow began the monumental task of bandaging himself back together. He was weak and knew that if any foul creature were to find him… he would be done for. It took hours to get patched up and every movement was agonizing. So many times he wanted to scream in pain, but he knew that any loud noises and it would have been over.

As he moved through the empty corridors of the tomb, he occasionally saw traces left behind by the reclamation service drilling activities; he finally reached the desolate gorge outside the tomb.

Night had fallen and with it a cold dry wind was sweeping across the canyon. In order to reach the rendezvous point he and his sister had decided upon weeks ago, he was faced with some patrols lighting up the surrounding darkness. After yet another stealthy endeavour, he made it to the small cave, where Briza was awaiting his arrival.

"Is it done? Is my brother dead now?" Briza asked casually, as her brother came into view.

Terrow chuckled a little and with a small grin muttered, "I feel very much dead, right now."

"You look terrible, but you will have a long time to recover in peace," Briza smiled as she stated the facts. She pointed to a large container, "In the box, you will find military rations for a week and the medical stuff you will need."

Terrow nodded as he walked towards the container to inspect the content for himself.

"I guess this is goodbye then," Briza muttered with sadness audible in her voice.

"Or, until we meet again," Terrow replied in a surprisingly positive tone, despite the continuous burning pain.

Briza gave her brother a big hug as farewell.

"Ouch... not so tight, I just died or have you already forgotten," Terrow complained with glint in his eye.

Briza chuckled a bit and released him. Her face grew serious, "Remember what I taught you! Hide your force presence from everyone, it's the only way you are going to avoid discovery."

"Got it. I will have plenty of time to train alone," Terrow assured her with a smile and entered the container.

Briza gently gave him a gentle kiss on his scarred cheek and closed the lid.

After checking for nearby bystanders and security cameras she might have missed, she used the force to levitate the container, as she began walking toward the landing area.


Jent stood smoking beneath the control tower watching Korriban's yellow sun set in the horizon, when he spotted a familiar zabrak accompanied by a large container hovering behind her.

As a precaution, Jent immediately went inside and deactivated the suvallain systems. Thereafter he hurried down to meet the young red warrior. "This is the box I promised to deliver?" he asked for confirmation.

"It is," Briza confirmed, with a slight nod.

Jent looked at the container while calculating its measurements and relative weight. "Very well, it looks heavy. I'll get my lifter," he pressed a button on his robotic arm, and a lifting droid came rolling.

"Just be careful with it. It's fragile material," Briza commanded, with a hint of amusement in her voice.

"I promise you, it will not get a scratch. I'll keep an eye on it all night, and tomorrow morning depart for Kaas city. Depending on my delivery schedule, I expect it to reach its destination tomorrow evening," Jent assured her with a confident smile.

"Very good. Just make sure you deliver it before you return." Briza demanded with a cool and determined expression.

"Yes my lord, everything is understood," Jent bowed and got to work arranging the onboard containers, so it looked as if it had always been there.

After seeing her brother placed in between the other identical containers, Briza turned around and headed back to the academy.


On the way to her chamber, Briza was intercepted by one of the guards who came running after her. She turned around to face the guard.

The guard paused to gather courage before relaying the message, "My lord... I came to inform you, your brother is dead."

"How did this happen!?" Briza demanded to know, doing her best to sound both shocked and angry with a hint of sadness. Using the very real feeling of sadness she already felt, to fuel the deception.

The guard began the long and difficult task of explaining her brother's presumed death, 'in his eyes' the death of a nobody not fit to be taught at the academy.

"Who did this!" Briza demanded, trying her best to put on a mask of rage.

"Another acolyte named Grimt has been seen heading away from the site in question," the guard informed, as he respectfully handed over a bloodied and broken training saber.

Briza accepted the broken weapon and gave it a quick glance. In 'rage' she then smashed the remains of the saber onto the floor, where it splintered into even more pieces. "Clean that up!" she commanded with malice in her voice, spun on her heels and marched to her chamber.

Back in her chamber, she lay down flat on the bed. She was both relieved that Terrow had now been added to a long list of dead acolytes without anyone suspecting anything, and at the same time felt anxious by the thought of a mistake in her brother's planning. Though strategizing had always been one of his strong suits and hopefully it would be sufficient to survive on Dromund Kaas.

Hours of mental turmoil went by, before sleep finally overcame her.