Confrontation – 3660.287 BY
With a dread filled stomach Zanleya made her way to Darth Tharmin's chambers, situated on the fifth level of the Academy. She was partly buoyed with confidence from having received her master's approval, but still not nearly confident enough to face Tharmin. This would be the first time that she had spoken to a Darth, besides Kharvak, and she could still clearly remember the first meeting with her master and the petrifying terror she had felt. On that occasion the Darth in question had been coming to her rescue, this time it was quite the opposite.
She muttered the Sith code to herself as she approached the corridor in which Tharmin resided, trying her best to get control of her emotions. By the time she reached the plain and flat metal door she still felt like she was facing a firing squad. With a sweat slicked hand she pressed the intercom.
"My Lord, I, Zanleya, am here to see you," she said, trying to sound self-assured.
The door slid open without a reply from the man within and she stepped inside. The chamber was dark, for it contained no windows and the only source of illumination came from a pair of dull lights on the far wall; they gave off an orangey glow bathing the chamber in their half-hearted light. The room was relatively bare, although a couple of suits of armour rested on stands against the back wall and a row of ancient weapons sat on a rack to the left. The opposite wall was given over to a small repository of knowledge, a few weakly glowing holocrons in a line next to a number of ancient leather bound tomes. A couple of doors in the right wall led away to the rest of Tharmin's domain. However, as was inevitably the case, Zanleya's focus was not on the room's relatively sparse decoration, but on the occupant. Darth Tharmin stood facing her, almost silhouetted by the dull lighting so that discerning his features was hard. He was slightly taller than Kharvak but not quite as broad shouldered, putting him a good head and a bit taller than Zanleya herself. He was clad in an advanced variant of plate armour, white and black segmented greaves protecting his legs whilst his chest was covered by a yellow plate. One gauntleted hand rested on the exquisitely crafted lightsaber clipped to his belt. His face was hidden behind a black mask, a narrow tinted visor stretching across it, despite this Zanleya could still very much feel his gaze burning into her. Whereas Kharvak struck an imposing figure, his posture and behaviour gave him a militaristic presence. Tharmin however exuded the pure power of the dark side, undiminished by apparent servitude to the Empire like Kharvak. While it might just about have been possible, for a fool who did not know otherwise, to look at a pict capture of Kharvak and believe he was a general and not a Sith, the same mistake could not be made with Tharmin. His attire was impressive, his stance displayed the power he wielded and he radiated the energy of the dark side, almost giving him an aura of might.
Without being bidden and practically without needing to think, Zanleya dropped to one knee, her head bowed. As with her encounter with Lady Gethen about a year ago, she knew that her best bet of getting out alive and relatively unharmed, was utmost respect and deference toward Tharmin. She was a threat, if only small, to him and that did not bode well for her continued good health.
"Give me a reason I shouldn't see you killed," Tharmin stated, his voice commanding and slightly distorted by his mask. Zanleya reeled, it was not the introduction she had been expecting. "There are many ways I can see to it that you meet your end: an impossible trial, an accident, a rival acolyte suddenly well equipped. I don't need to break the rules to see to it that you die," Tharmin threatened.
"My Lord!" Zanleya gasped in shock, looking up at the imposing figure standing over her. He did not bother with preamble or grand introductions, Zanleya realised she was here for one thing and one thing only, to ensure her silence one way or another.
"You have intruded upon my business and I don't take kindly to that," he hissed, the noise sounding all the more menacing coming from his speaker grill. "So, tell me, why should I not kill you?" Tharmin demanded. Sudden panic gripped her, she had known Tharmin would not be pleasant toward her, but this was not what she had imagined. Zanleya thought fast, her mind racing as she attempted to find a way to escape the dangerous situation she now found herself in. It was do or die she realised, she was going to have to do something bold to force Tharmin to respect her… that or he would kill her. Knowledge is power, just as much as power is power, Zanleya thought, Kharvak's classic quote drifting into her frightened mind. Tharmin had power, the standard sort, he could speak and his will would be carried out; she did not possess that sort of power. So she would have to try and use knowledge to counter him. Frantically she racked her brain, a thousand ideas and possibilities flying through her mind like a whirling sandstorm of thoughts.
"Because I've set up a dead man's switch," she replied evenly, doing her best to keep her eyes fixed on his hidden face. He paused, his emotionless mask scrutinizing her. "If I don't enter a code every week, what I know about you and your apprentice will be sent to my master Darth Kharvak. If you kill me, he'll learn what I found out," there was a hiss of anger from Tharmin. "So murder me, his apprentice, I'm sure he'll take revenge and kill your apprentice in turn." It was a bold statement indeed and she knew she was very much putting her life on the line. She also did not know if Kharvak would react like that, although she hoped he cared enough for her to at least avenge her should she be murdered.
"Pathetic zygote! How dare you threaten her!" Tharmin thundered, he swiped his hand as if back handing a slave and Zanleya was sent hurtling across the room, crashing into the wall. She had been prepared for such an attack, but her force defence was crushed beneath Tharmin's power, her meagre block shattering before him like a pane of glass. Striking the wall, she fell to the ground completely winded.
"Aghh!" She gasped in pain as soon as she had her breath back, then gritted her teeth and pulled herself onto all fours. Tharmin stalked toward her, unignited lightsaber now gripped in his right hand.
"You know it's true," she spat. "You know he'll want revenge. But if you don't kill me, he'll never find out." Tharmin paused as if he had only just realised something.
"You haven't spread what you know?"
"No, I kept my word, I promised Lady Cåssie that I would not tell anyone and I haven't. The dead man's switch is merely a precaution…" she let the sentence hang, the reason for its creation and the implication of such did not need explaining. In truth she was completely bluffing, she had not set up such a system, yet. If she made it out of Tharmin's chamber alive though she fully intended to; she was just betting on him not seeing through her deception and not wanting to take the risk.
"That was wise of you not to say anything. You're playing with fire little acolyte, with powers you can't handle," Tharmin warned, Zanleya heard the tone of his voice change slightly, it was only the smallest of alterations but she noticed it. He knew she had him beat, she had an advantage over him and he was being cautious now.
"My Lord please forgive me, I should never have said anything to Cåssie in the first place. I do not intend to bring harm upon Lady Cåssie or yourself," Zanleya apologised, pulling herself back to a sitting position. She realised that she was going to have to hastily back track. Hopefully she had convinced him that it was best to let her live and now she wanted to let him recover face and feel like he was in control again. It did not take a genius to work out that Tharmin did not like people having even the tiniest bit of power over him.
"For your sake, I am glad… because if she is harmed because of your actions, death will be a mercy for you," Tharmin threatened. Zanleya did not doubt him for a second.
"I haven't told anybody, not even Kharvak… although he did ask what I knew," Zanleya admitted.
"What did you say to him?" Tharmin demanded.
"That I couldn't tell him what it was I had learnt," she replied. Tharmin nodded his approval.
"Very well, you defied your own master to keep my secret safe, I shall credit you that. If you had told him then you might both have suffered unfortunate accidents," Tharmin stated. Zanleya blanched slightly, that was something that had not occurred to her. Kharvak could only take revenge on her behalf if he was still alive; if Tharmin killed him too, her threat of a dead man's switch was empty. She was not sure which of the two Darths was the more powerful and in truth she did not want to know. Clearly though he did not wish to move against another Darth unless he had to.
"And I will continue to keep it safe, just… don't kill me," Zanleya said lamely. She hated herself for sounding so much like she was begging, almost like the pathetic yellow skinned twi'lek who had died in the tomb of Tulak Hord. She was truly frightened for her life though, as logical as her argument seemed to her, Sith were notoriously unpredictable and volatile.
"Your foresight has saved you this time, but don't think that I will forget about you," Tharmin said.
"I won't cause you trouble," Zanleya insisted, although a voice at the back of her mind told her that that might not be true.
"See that you don't," Tharmin hissed menacingly.
"I promise I won't tell anybody, besides if I did you wouldn't have a reason to spare me anymore would you?" Zanleya said.
"Correct," Tharmin stated. "I have one question, what if you die during a trial? Or because you fail in the duelling pit?" Zanleya detected a note of concern, only a small one and hidden behind a façade of power and anger, but it was definitely there. She realised he was worried that Kharvak would learn his secret even if he was not responsible for killing her. Pausing for a moment she pondered how best to respond. Her immediate reaction was to say that she would not care; if she was dead then Tharmin's love life would not be a concern of hers anymore. However, she knew that was not a sensible line of logic to take.
"He wouldn't come after Cåssie if it wasn't you who killed me. So I imagine it wouldn't matter, besides I don't plan on dying any time soon," Zanleya replied with conviction. Tharmin was obviously not satisfied with this answer, but there was little he could do to change it.
"That's what they all say," he remarked casually, referring to the great numbers of acolytes. "Most of you don't make it." Zanleya narrowed her eyes and put on a face of determination. She was going to become Sith she swore to herself.
"I will," she stated. "And I guess you'll just have to hope fate doesn't conspire against me," she added with a wicked glint in her eyes. Tharmin's left fist clenched and his fingers tightened around the hilt of his lightsaber. They both knew what that meant; she wanted to make sure he did not scheme to get her killed indirectly. He strode forward so that he was looming over her once more, his grim mask glaring down upon her.
"And likewise if anything, anything, happens to Cåssie then you will have seen your last sunrise. So let's hope fate doesn't conspire against her either."
"It won't," she reassured him, doing her best not to flinch away from being in such close proximity to him.
"Just remember little Zanleya, you aren't safe on Korriban. Now get out before I change my mind," he snapped. With utmost relief Zanleya rose to her feet, she gave him a courteous bow, hoping it did not come across as mocking, then made for the door. Tharmin watched her leave and the hairs on the back of her neck stood on end. She felt both exposed and vulnerable with her back turned to the powerful Darth, but equally she knew that she had to show such submission to him. The door opened and she almost ran through it, desperate to be out of Darth Tharmin's dingy domain and his threatening presence.
She almost sagged to the floor with relief as the door closed behind her, Tharmin's burning gaze at last blocked. Then Zanleya smiled, a small but happy smile. She was still alive, Tharmin had spared her and it sounded like she was not going to have any further problems with him. Of course there was no guarantee, lies and deception were the bread and butter of the Sith Academy, but he seemed to have understood that Cåssie's continued survival was tied to hers. It was by no means an ideal situation, she still wished that she had nothing to do with Tharmin but given how the meeting had started she was just glad to still be in one piece.
Nevertheless, surviving Tharmin was only the start, now she had to endure the machinations of Jensine and all the other trials the cruel and compassionless overseers would throw at her. Still she told herself, it was no mean feat, being confronted by a Darth and coming out alive and relatively unharmed at the other side. One day though, one day she would be that Darth and nobody, not Tharmin, not his lover, nor Jensine or anybody else was going to stop her.