Chapter 7 : Weaklings and a challenge

Arkunov returned to the academy. He had retrieved the three shards from Tulak Hord's tomb. When he reached Baras's quarters he saw a group of three acolytes waiting outside it. For the second time that day.

He recognised one of them as the acolyte that approached him with Vemrin the first time he had been in Baras's chambers. Arkunov couldn't remember the acolytes name as he hadn't been very impressive to begin with.

"You made it" he said "You completed the trial. I tried to get through the tomb but there just too many shyrack. But you retrieved the shards from the tomb of Tulak Hord didn't you?"

'Pathetic' Arkunov thought 'How does he expect to become a sith if he can't defeat a few mindless beasts.'

"You need to move out of my way."

The other acolyte glared back at him. "I'll take that as a yes then." And with that the three fools drew their blades.

Arkunov ducked under the clumsy swing of the lead acolytes blade. Moving in close he slammed his fist into his opponents chest, his force augmented strength slamming him into the opposite wall. He was stunned, no longer a threat. His two accomplices moved in closer trying to gain the advantage over Arkunov. It didn't work as Arkunov unleashed the force upon them, smashing their force shields and crushing their bones upon impact with the opposite wall. He released them and let their bodies fall to the ground. Dead.

Arkunov scowled. He knew that none of them individually would present a challenge. But he had hoped, in vain, that the three of them together would force him to exert himself more than he had just now. He turned around as he heard a noise behind him. He saw the lead acolyte struggling to his feet. As Arkunov approached him the lead acolyte stuttered into speech, "Please stop. I made a mistake" Arkunov sneered, if this fool truly thought that his life would be spared if he apologized he was sadly mistaken. "I thought it would be better to ambush you and take your shards. But I see now that was an even more futile attempt than my first.

"Vemrin is already inside with Darth Baras" he said, "all of the other acolytes are dead. You were my only chance at success."

The acolytes expression changed to one of complete terror. "Now I'm doomed. If I don't return with any shards Baras will have me... killed."

"I'll save Baras the trouble" Arkunov said. He drew his warblade and thrust it through the acolyte's chest. The acolyte gasped in pain, he struggled trying to remove the blade. His efforts resulted in blood spewing out of his mouth and dripping onto the floor.

"You would have never made it as a sith fool. For you are too weak and insignificant to be one."

And with that Arkunov retrieved his blade and turned into Baras's chamber.

When Arkunov entered the room he saw that the other acolyte had indeed been correct, the only two people in the room were Baras and Vemrin.

"Ah the prodigal supplicant returns" Baras said, as Arkunov handed the shards to him "and with all the shards from the tomb of Tulak Hord . Excellent."

He turned to Vemrin, "It seems that your hopes have been dashed Vemrin."

"Appearances can be deceptive" Vemrin replied.

Baras returned his attention to Arkunov "Excuse Vemrin, Arkunov. He didn't take at all kindly to you turning those young acolytes on him. Even though they were no more than untrained novices." He wasn't surprised. After all he had only sent them after Vemrin so he could test his strength. Arkunov would have to check in with one of them later in the academy's medical bay, if any of them were still alive, to get a report on how quickly they had been defeated.

Arkunov smirked "I hope he's not holding his breath for an apology. A blowhard like him might suffocate."

"The tension is thick between you two. A source of emotion that you can feed on. I wonder what will happen when it boils over. Both of you stand on the precipice of becoming sith."

At the same moment Arkunov and Vemrin turned to look at each other. Both gazes threatened great suffering for the other.

Baras continued. "But only one of you will have the opportunity to claim a unique lightsaber and begin your tenure as my apprentice.

"However this will not be decided yet. I must still finalise the arrangements for the trial. The both of you will return here tomorrow and then the victor shall take their final trial. Now leave."

Arkunov went straight to the academy's medical bay after he left Baras's chamber. The first thing that he noticed when he entered the room was that there were very few beds or kolto tanks occupied. Scanning the room Arkunov saw one of the acolytes he had been looking for lying on a bed at the other end of the room hooked up to numerous life support systems, as he got closer he recognized the female acolyte that had led the group that approached.

Looking down at her he guessed that she had a few broken ribs. Arkunov also guessed that she probably had at least one punctured lung judging by the breathing apparatus that was attached to her. However her most notable injury was that she was missing an arm, her left cut off just below the elbow. Suddenly she opened her eyes, almost as if she could feel Arkunov's eye looking down at her.

Arkunov sensed rage spiking in her as she looked at him. Hate of Vemrin, for crippling her. Hate for Arkunov, for sending her on what she now realised had been a suicide misson. And finally a strong feeling of self loathing for being too weak to defeat Vemrin.

"Well it appears Vemrin might provide some challenge after all", Arkunov said "Judging by the fact that none of your companions are here."

Arkunov leant down towards her so that his mouth was right next to her ear and whispered to her, "All that hate and pain you feel now, use it. Let it fuel your power. For that is the way of the sith". And so saying he left the room leaving her to mull over what he had said.

Arkunov left the medical bay and wondered what he could do till the final trial tomorrow, as he had no doubt that Baras would choose him to complete the trial.

Before he could make up his mind though he was approached by an acolyte. The acolyte cringed as Arkunov turned to look at him, clearly his reputation had spread.

"Acolyte Arkunov, overseer Rance has requested you come to the training room immediately for advanced combat drills", the acolyte stuttered out. Arkunov nodded at the acolyte, dismissing him before he soiled himself.

When he arrived at the training room he saw several pairs of acolytes sparring against one another. Scanning the room he saw that all the acolytes were paired up except for one, a female zabrak who was standing next to a man in full armour who Arkunov presumed was Overseer Rance. Rance was of the same height and build as Arkunov and was clearly a battle hardened warrior. The zabrak was quite different she was much smaller and slighter than either Arkunov or the overseer, Arkunov thought that she looked more like one of the acolytes who followed the path of the inquisitor.

It was at that moment that Rance noticed Arkunov and beckoned him over. "So you're the one Darth Baras is so interested in then", he looked Arkunov up and down "I will see if you have earned your reputation though. You will do that by sparring with Acolyte Dethree here", he said gesturing at the now named Dethree as he did. Getting a second look at her Arkunov couldn't help but think that she looked vaguely familiar. She certainly seemed to recognize him as she looked at Arkunov with hate filled eyes.

"Both of you take up your positions".

Arkunov and Dethree moved to opposite ends of the their arena and both drew their weapons. The zabrak didn't carry a warblade like Arkunov she instead carried a standard vibroblade. Not sure what Rance had planned by setting him up with her Arkunov prepared to make the first move, however before he could Dethree sent a bolt of violet lightning straight towards Arkunov.

Arkunov raised his blade just in time absorbing the bolt of lightning just before it would have made impact. Not allowing her to get another bolt off Arkunov leapt towards bringing his warblade crashing down. At the last possible second Dethree intercepted it, saving it from decapitating her. However that was when something unexpected happened, the lightning that Arkunov's blade had absorbed earlier unleashed it self when the blades clashed. This blasted Dethree back sending her crashing back into the wall.

By now all of the other acolytes had stopped sparring and were watching the intense clash that was happening before their eyes.

Arkunov moved in attempting to strike a decisive blow and end this fight. Unfortunately Dethree countered by unleashing the force against him in a way he had never seen before. It felt as if the dark side it self was trying to crush Arkunov from the inside out, he snarled in pain unsure of how to free himself. Dethree moved towards him slowly, enjoying his screams.

"Now you shall pay for all that your family has done to me" she hissed. That is when Arkunov remembered her, she had been one of his fathers slaves who had been taken from their home just before he left for the academy. He had assumed that she had just been sold or executed but clearly someone had discovered force sensitivity within her. Rage burned inside Arkunov like the heat of Korriban's sun. He would nor allow himself to be defeated by one who had once served him. He roared in hate and unleashed the most powerful force scream he had ever produced. It affected the entire room cracking the floors and ceiling and sending people flying into walls, the only one who was barely hurt was overseer Rance who had managed to throw up a force shield to protect himself somewhat from Arkunov's rage.

The scream had also had the unintended effect of freeing Arkunov from Dethree's spell as the caster herself had been blasted back into the opposite wall. Rage still controlling him Arkunov unleashed the force upon her. He seized her telekinetically by the throat, choking her, he tossed against the walls fully intent on smashing her bones.

"Enough!"

The shout had come from overseer Rance, reminding Arkunov of the academy rule. He dropped Dethree and turned towards Rance. The overseer gestured for him to leave indicating that the test was complete.

Before leaving Arkunov walked towards Dethree. The dazed zabrak glared back at him letting him know that this was not over.

"We shall meet again inquisitor", Arkunov said "after all I need someone around to give me a challenge".

Okay so now I have introduced my Sith Inquisitor Dethree. I had this moment of Arkunov and her meeting for sometime on Korriban, it was just a matter of finding the right time to do it. To those of you who might be wondering why I didn't go straight onto the final trial it's because if I followed the storyline like that Arkunov would have only spent like a day at most on Korriban.