The burnt red sands of Korriban filled the window as I vibrated with anticipation in the cockpit. Sergeant Hopcroft slowly guided the ship down to the planet's surface; our destination seemed to be a large stone temple. We landed gently on one of the pads, a massive statue staring down at us from across the suspended bridge. It seemed to dare me to enter the building underneath it. I grinned. Without turning away from the controls, Hopcroft whispered "Good luck, my lord," as I strode out of the ship.
The hot, dry air of Korriban slammed into me when I stepped onto the walkway. The red sun gleamed off my headplate, casting strange rays around. I wrapped one of my lekku around my neck, took a deep breath to steady myself, and walked down the bridge toward the temple, feeling the anticipation, fear, and excitement build in me as I grew closer. When I reached the end of the walkway, the ship powered up behind me and took off to report to Tavrain. The sand swirled around my feet in the unnatural wind. I stepped into the shadow of the building and found it a pleasant relief from the heat. On Nar Shadaa, given the cityscape nature of the moon, one rarely saw much of the sun; it was usually hidden behind skyscrapers. I'd gotten used to endless night. I would have to get used to the blazing sun here.
Under the overhang held up by the statues, I found the main part of the temple a good ten feet in. This wall, however, was durasteel and not stone. Off to my left, I could just spy a wide, short set of stairs leading up to the entrance. I made my way to it, wondering when I would encounter another person. Tavrain had said I would be sent to Korriban for "training", so I imagined there would at least be someone to teach me. I didn't know much about Korriban other than it was a Sith world, so I would have to keep my wits about me and see what I found.
The door at the top of the stairs opened to reveal a long hallway. Halfway down it was, finally, another person. I stepped just inside the door, but came no closer, ready to defend if need be. Tavrain had said he would take me as his apprentice if I survived, which meant this training had a high chance of being fatal; it was for the Cathar Husi. But if I was smart, careful, and ruthless, I would make it and become Sith. I felt a tingling rush of power at the notion.
The person down the hallway was a female human. From this distance, all I could see was that she had light hair and wore dark robes. As the power, the… Force was rushing through me, I could also tell something else; I felt something of a connection to her. Could this be a Sith? "You're late," she called out in a bright Imperial accent.
When I replied, I spoke with the same cadence. I had decided on the ride here that it was in my best interest to adopt an Imperial affect full time from now on. I knew that if I was to become a Sith, I would be spending a lot of time with Imperials. Though every now and again, you did run in to those in the Empire without an accent, in my experience tracking down targets in their space, those Imperials frequently led conversations with explaining why they didn't speak like everyone else. That did not entirely sound like a pleasant conversation to so endlessly repeat. I would be fighting enough to convince them that an alien was to be respected; an alien with a strange accent would be doubly distrusted. I had spent enough time practicing with Lurek that I could affect an Imperial accent perfectly, so no one would notice that it wasn't natural. When I got back to Tavrain's ship, it wouldn't be entirely unusual for those there to assume I'd gotten the accent during my time in training.
I shrugged, unperturbed by her admonition. "I had an enemy of the Empire to kill."
"Are you so incompetent that it takes you days to kill one person?"
"A good hunter knows that to catch her prey, she must lie in wait until the moment is right. If she is too hasty, it may spook and flee into the safety of its burrow."
"Hmm," she scoffed, "If you're done making stupid metaphors, follow me. You need to get to your… orientation."
She spun around and strutted down the hallway. I walked quickly behind her until I caught up, but kept a good ten feet between us. She didn't seem to like me and I wanted plenty of space if she decided to attack. The Sith, if that's what she was, led me down the hall until it curved at the end, then let out into a massive great room. The durasteel walls, mostly matte black, were illuminated by patterned cracks through which seeped red light. Huge dark arches supported the ceiling and acted as pillars along the handrail of the stairs to the second level. Between the two sets of stairs stood a statue similar to the ones outside, though this one was made of metal instead of stone. Across from the statue was a large archway which seemed to lead outside, judging by the sunlight streaming in. We had come in through a doorway near the base of one of the stairways. Unmoved by the grandeur of the room, the Sith continued through, leading me back behind the statue and into a door labeled "Headmaster's Office".
We stepped quickly through an antechamber beyond, then into the office proper. There, behind a large desk, sat a human man. He was dark complected and dark haired, but his eyes were a bright grey. What really struck me about him was the sense of power I felt rolling off him in waves. Ever since I'd arrived here, I'd felt like an exposed wire and this was a battery if ever I'd felt one. This was a Sith and undoubtedly the master here. I'd bet a Krayt's pearl on it.
The woman walked around the desk to stand behind him, but I stayed in front. He looked up from his typing to stare me down. "Greetings, my lord," I bowed, though it prickled my pride to do so. These Sith demanded respect in the face of power; I'd learned that much from Tavrain. I would not toady or grovel or bargain – those days were long over – but if this was the master here, he was in charge of determining if I became Sith. He was the barrier between me and the power I sought. If I could get it by showing the deference he expected, I would.
"Greetings," he stood and walked around the desk to lean against the front of it. "Lord Tavrain sent word of your arrival. He said he gave you the name Morven."
"Yes, my lord,"
"Excellent. I am Lord Kilfenn. This is my apprentice, Ashmari. I am the headmaster of this temple in charge of training Sith Acolytes until such time as you sufficiently impress a Lord to take you on as his apprentice or die trying. Now, hand over your blaster. It is not the weapon of a Sith."
Though I didn't like to be unarmed, I wasn't entirely surprised by this turn of events. I supposed, however, that with the Force as my disposal, I was never truly unarmed. What a comforting thought. I unclipped my blaster from my belt, glad I'd had the foresight to hide Lurek's away, and handed it over. Ashmari took it from me with a look of disgust. After setting it on the desk, she picked up what looked almost like a staff if not for the hilt at one end. I realized it vaguely resembled a lightsaber. Ashmari "handed" it to me by roughly swinging to blade end at my stomach. I caught it with my left hand, much to her annoyance, and was relieved to find it didn't cut like a lightsaber or even hurt at all. That is, at first. Ashmari pressed some button on the hilt and the blade lit up orange, zapping me with a painful shock. I groaned, but gave her no more satisfaction than that. She quickly turned it off again and shot me a look as if to sarcastically say "Oops". Two could play at this game. Answering her look with a sadistic grin, I passed a current through the metal of the blade and into her hand. She yelped and quickly dropped it, leaving me in sole possession of the weapon.
Kilfenn laughed loudly. "You seem to have already found a rivalry. You would, though, be better served by testing your mettle against your fellow Acolytes. Ashmari here isn't competing for the attention of a Sith Lord. They are."
"Of course, my lord," I said, still smiling at Ashmari. I would take her down a peg or two before I left here whether she was competition or not. She was the apprentice to the master here, so she could make a nuisance of herself if she wanted to. I wouldn't let her get in my way.
"Now, Ashmari will take you to your quarters. I suggest you get some rest. It is getting late and no one here will coddle you for being tired."
"Yes, my lord." Ashmari led me out of the office, around the other set of stairs, and into a door. We walked down a long empty hallway until finally, doors started appearing on either side. She led me to a door with a Trill character emblazoned on it, grabbed my arm and roughly turned me toward it before spinning to walk away alone. "So, what exactly is your problem with me? Or are you this pleasant with all the new Acolytes?"
Ashmari stopped and for a moment I thought she would ignore me, but eventually she turned around and stormed up to me. "We don't need scum like you."
"People have called me scum for a lot of reasons, so you're going to have to be more specific."
"Bounty hunters." She spat. "You're disgusting. Killing for money, spreading chaos for a few credits. You don't know what it is to have a true cause to follow. You don't care about anything but yourself."
Ah, here it was. The real reason she hated me. No, not because I was a bounty hunter and she had some sort of strange moral high ground over me. Because I was a bounty hunter and someone she knew was killed by one. I stepped right in her face and breathed. "Who was it? Who did I kill?"
She jolted back and for a second, just a second, I saw terror. Some horror that could only come from a child's impotence flashed through her eyes. And then it was gone, replaced by hatred. Ashmari turned and stormed back down the corridor as I watched her go. Whoever she had lost, I hadn't been the one to kill them. They'd been murdered when she was a child and could do nothing to stop it. For a moment, I felt a kinship with her; I too knew what it was like to have a loved one hurt when you were a powerless child. I quashed that feeling before it went any further. Ashmari wanted to hate me and she could cause me trouble if she wanted to. If it was trouble she wanted, she would find more than she bargained for with this ex-bounty hunter.