Chapter 9

The three sith waited anxiously by the door wanting to enter. They had been called out, minutes before they had to meet with their fellow students and were beginning to worry.

"We are going to miss it", Labrias broke the silence.

"Hush, or would you prefer to get caught", Karala was always the optimist Molker thought to himself.

"Just saying, is all".

"Silence", Molker hissed quietly. The door in front of them had released its blast seal and was beginning to open. They were at the entrance to the sith council chambers where the five masters met regularly and where Count Dooku would stay whenever he visited. The chambers consisted of the personal quarters and the council room itself which they seemed to be heading towards.

The last light left the hallway when the door closed except for the distant red glow at the end. The three continued slowly and breathlessly their movements seemed as one fluid motion down the passage to the end. The end. The end of what? Molker thought to himself. The end is only the beginning. It's where a decision has to be made, it's where he has to decide what to do. At the end he faces the path to death or freedom, it was up to him. The light was getting closer. He could still do what Karala asked him to do, escape now and leave the others to their fate. No, he closed his eyes, he could not abandon them now to die, he had to give them a chance to live.

When he next opened his eyes he was standing in the council room. The tall Darth Jorgand was standing in front of them, Darth Fernis to his left and Darth Xamim the deep green scaled to Faleen his right.

"Kneel", the command echoed through their minds as much as it did the room. The three standing masters and the two seated, Darth Schawn a powerful Chiss with a photoreceptor replacing an eye lost long ago and Darth Ven a sinister looking Quarren often called 'vengeance' for his temper, all looked expectantly at them. Molker bowed his head and slowly took a knee followed by his companions by his side.

What if he didn't start a revolt against the masters, he could lead a great escape and leave this life behind. As he looked up at the master's face he knew that it wouldn't work. The masters expected absolute loyalty, if they fled they would be hunted down. The masters needed to be eliminated first.

Stepping forward in tandem the three masters drew their lightsabers and ignited them. They began to lower them down towards necks of their pupils, if the masters knew about their plan they would kill them now in cold blood. Molker had to take that risk, he held his breath and waited.

Each moment felt like an eternity in one motion everything could be undone. He could not let his fear show, his fear became anger. Anger at the masters, at his brother for leaving and at himself for being scared. This was good anger though, the more anger he had the stronger he became. Anger turned to hate and hate turned to strength. This was the sith code at work. He would not be afraid, after all he was sith but he could not help but feel the heat of his master's lightsaber on his neck. Finally a voice broke through the darkness.

"Darth Labrias, rise. Know that you are now forever sith and take your place as Lord of the darkside", Xamim croaked and removed his saber and deactivated it.

"Darth Karala, rise. May you live always be an advocate of the force and take your place as Lady of the darkside". Fernis finished and replaced his lightsaber on his belt.

"Darth Molker, rise. You were always strong and you have today, mastered the power of the force. Take your place as Lord of the darkside", Jorgand's voice boomed above the silence. He drew back his lightsaber and held it above his head. Reaching out to the darkside Molker's blade joined his former masters as did his companions.

"May we always be united". How foolish he was, Molker thought, he had no idea what fate had in store for him. Jorgand's eyes seemed to look right at Molker and he wondered just how much his old master really knew, "Take your place on the council for the first time as sith lords", Jorgand pointed to three unoccupied seats that they quickly filled. Deactivating their lightsabers the masters also took a seat.

"Now that you are sith, it is our duty to tell you all we know", Fernis scratched his chin thoughtfully.

"What is it that you wish us to know, Lord Fernis", Molker breathed.

"You will spend three standard weeks here in the other rooms in the master's quarters, before you are sent to fight jedi. During these weeks you will learn about the jedi in order to fight them".

"Yes", Lord Ven hissed, "but first you must be aware of some of the history of the sith and of jedi"

"It might interest you to know that the jedi and the sith were once the same people. When the force was discovered there was no distinction between light and dark there was only the force and there was peace", Lord Xamim paused to watch the new sith lords take in the information. "When the divide started the jedi and the sith began to have conflicting views about the force. The jedi believed that they should be servants of the force and move to its will, the sith on the other hand looked to use the force as a tool to accomplish a goal. A thing to bend to your will.", He paused and Fernis took over.

"Neither is true really the force exists and so do we there is no distinction about who serves what and what the difference is between light and dark only what you make of it, whichever way we use the force is irrelevant, as long as we use it to become strong".

"Before Sideous and Dooku, there was no sith academy and the sith had been wiped out completely for generations. Before them every time a sith lord rose up they would be killed by a legion of jedi warriors. But before Sideous the sith had never united as one, as we are today. We will crush the jedi as a united front", Lord Schawn back in his seat as he finished.

"The reason the sith were so few and far between is because of their fear, they feared that if they were to show weakness at any moment that another sith would rise and take his place. This is why the sith of old would become sith lords, only when they were able to kill their masters in combat first. You should be lucky that today you don't get the same treatment", Jorgand's words seemed more like a warning to Molker but he was still intrigued, living aboard the Academy he couldn't imagine sith turning on each other but then there was Hapurn who died because he did. They were also planning to turn on their masters too but was that any different from the sith of old legends. Perhaps it was, maybe it wasn't a sith tradition but something that was destined to happen. Jorgand continued.

"This is what left so few sith in the galaxy. With the death of the old master so much knowledge was lost and had to be relearned over generations. This is what truly kept the sith at bay, their fear of showing weakness became their greatest weakness and before lord Sideous they were wiped out".

Jorgand studied Molker carefully with only his eyes and then spoke.

"That will be enough for now anyway, use your old rooms for tonight and you can transfer to the masters quarters tomorrow". The three stood and bowed their heads before departing the room, they were already late for another meeting.