AN: Shorter chapter this time, figured since I gave the Republic characters an almost exclusive chapter last time, I'd do the same for the Imperials.
-X Ren X-
Ren landed the speeder, stepping off it and looking around Kalikori village. It was a rough collection of prefabs and farms with a few banners hanging off the buildings.
Looking up, Ren sighed lightly. The sun was starting to set, he probably should have waited until tomorrow to start this.
The man's feet carried him towards a pair of Twi'lek men standing next to several metal casks.
"Get another, the festi-" one stopped as they saw him, "What do you need Jedi? This is the Festival of Awakening, you're not welcome here."
"I'm not a Jedi," Ren said, "I'm investing a theft is all."
"A theft? What was stolen?"
"A holoprojector from a Jedi training grounds. You haven't heard anything about that, have you?"
"I dunno," the man said, "maybe-"
"Will this jog your memory," Ren asked tiredly, holding put a chit with fifty credits on it. He was used to this stuff by now.
"Yeah," the Twi'lek nodded, "Nalen found one the other day. Of course, you said you're not a Jedi. I guess you don't know who Nalen is?"
"I don't."
"Nalen Raloch has been out dueling champion for nine year straight. He once saved an entire scouting party from Flesh Raiders, single handedly."
"He's a hero," Ren said.
"Yes. And he likes his peace, so leave him alone."
"That holoprojector is dangerous," Ren said, "I just want to make sure nothing bad happens to him."
"Nalen can take care of himself," the man said.
"Against Flesh Raiders," the other twi'lek cut in, "but that Jedi tech can be weird."
"...Ok, fine," the first said reluctantly, "Nalen went into Flesh Raider territory a few hours ago, he's got a cave out there he likes to stay in."
"He's not here? I thought this was a big festival."
"Nalen's been… distant, lately. Since he found that projector, actually."
"I see," Ren nodded, "Can you point me towards the cave?"
"I guess."
Slowly, dodging around Flesh Raiders under the cover of night and listening to the fading noise of people celebrating at Kalikori, Ren made his way to the cave.
It was on a cliff overlooking Kalikori and littered with bones. Ren drew Stormflower as he went, feeling uneasy.
At the end of the cave, on a slightly raised area, was a tent next to a giant pile of bones, a red crystalline cube pulsing next to them with the holoprojector on it. Reaching for it, Ren froze, spinning and pointing his blaster at a pile of bones, "Come out! I know you're there!"
A blue skinned Twi'lek stepped around the bones, a blaster pointed at Ren and a vibroblade in the other hand, "You aren't as bad as some of your fellows."
"Nalen Raloch?" Ren asked.
"Yes," Nalen said, "My people told me about you? Told you of their protector?"
"They did," Ren kept Stormflower trained on Nalen, "They said you had this projector. I'm bringing it back to the temple."
"No," Nalen said, "I need that. My training isn't complete. And once it is, there will be no temple to bring it to."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
"I'm going to make Tython our world. No Jedi, no Republic. It'll be ours to plow and harvest, our home."
"Do you really think that would work?" Ren questioned, "Even if you somehow managed to defeat the Jedi, the Republic will just send troops to avenge them. You'll only get the people of Kalikori killed."
"The Republic and Jedi are weak," Nalen growled, "Once I train others, they won't be able to stop us."
"Then the Empire will come," Ren said, subtly hitting the button that activated Stormflower's vibroblade, "They'll want to destroy anything Jedi related, and you have to know how they treat twi'leks."
Nalen shook his head in refusal, "No. No."
"You know I'm right," Ren said.
"You're a fool," Nalen holstered his blaster, sheathed his vibroblade and raised his arms, "Let me show you my power!"
Ren felt the entire cave quake, rocks falling around them, "What are you doing?"
"I'm drawing the Flesh Raiders," Nalen said, dodging the shot Ren fired at him, "I'm going to bury them here!"
"You're going to get us both killed!" Ren said, raising his voice to be heard over the shaking stone.
"Only if you're slow," Nalen said, jumping down and running towards the entrance.
Ren grabbed the projector, running for the entrance and dodging around the Flesh Raiders as he went. Locking eyes on the apparent leader of the Flesh Raiders standing in front of the mouth of the cave, Ren flung out his hand, watching one of the fallen stones be blasted forward and into the Flesh Raider.
Panting, Ren looked back at the collapsed cave, before looking at the pouch holding Rajivari's holoprojector.
He had to get this back to Yuon.
-X Ruby X-
Ruby was quietly walking down one aisle of holobooks, reading the titles as she went while holding the one she had already had grabbed close. She was looking for something to start to give her an edge over Ffon.
Ruby wasn't a complete idiot, Ffon had been breed to be a Sith. Ruby hadn't even known the Force existed before she was fifteen, was twenty by the time she learned she was Force Sensitive.
Ruby passed over the section about manipulating the mind with a suppressed shiver of disgust.
"Anything particular you're looking for, Acolyte?"
Ruby stopped, turning towards the woman who had spoken. She had short blonde hair and was wearing red robes, "Not really. I need to learn more if I want to succeed here. The lessons they gave us before were just kinda 'zap it' and then 'zap it more'."
"And many Sith believe that's all you need. You think differently?"
"Yes," Ruby said, "'Through power I gain victory'. My rival is a pureblood, I need more power if I'm going to beat him."
"A pureblood?" the woman asked, "I'm sorry, Acolyte. Who is your Overseer?"
"Harkun."
"So you are hoping to be apprenticed to Lord Zash?" The woman held her chin, "Strange…"
"What's strange?"
"Nothing you should be concerning yourself with, Acolyte. If you would like, I can show you a few tricks I've learned over the years."
"You'd do that?" Ruby lost control of her mask for a second, before returning it, "Wait. Why are you offering me this?"
"Is it not a mentor's job to pass on their knowledge?" the woman said, "There is much for you to learn."
"I-" Ruby hesitated. She wasn't really in a position to refuse. The only people she could truly call an ally on Korriban was Pyrrha and maybe Jarobi, "Ok."
"Good! Come with me, Acolyte."
Ruby trudged after the instructor, retrieving her vibroblade and checking out the book as they headed to the nearest training room.
"Tell me, Acolyte, have you started to design your lightsaber?"
"Uh," Ruby cocked her head, "No? Why would I?"
"Crafting a Lightsaber is an important part of becoming a Sith. It, or they if you prefer Jar'kai, should reflect you. Weapons that anyone can recognize as yours."
Just like Signal. Ruby wet her lips, despite her hands itching to grab a empty book and beginning the sketching, "But that's still a long time from now! I haven't even been here for a month. Lightsaber training doesn't start for at least another six."
It took prodigies to switch from a regular sword to a Lightsaber without a period practicing with a training saber in between. Since the blade of a lightsaber was nothing more than plasma, its center of gravity was based entirely around the hilt. With a training saber, slipping up resulted in some pain and a welt, with an actual saber, it ended in missing limbs and death.
While there was probably Sith that thought only those prodigies deserved to become Sith (and most of them would probably be dead if that rule was actually in place), a larger portion apparently believed that wasting resources to train them only for them to cripple or kill themselves shortly after was… well, a waste of time and resources. Lords and Darths didn't want to wait years, if not decades, to get an apprentice that lasted any amount of time.
"The sooner you have it designed, the sooner you can make it when you become an Apprentice. Lightsaber crafting is a deeper field of study than you might know. Curved hilt, and double bladed are the most common alteration to the hilt, but you can do much more with the blade than you might think. Using a smaller emitter to attenuate the blade to form a rapier, weakening the containment field, variable length blade. You should read up on it, Acolyte. Especially as you have no legacy, so you won't be inheriting a lightsaber."
"I will, ma'am," Ruby said as they entered the training room.
"Good," she smiled, an unusually kind thing, "Now. I promised to help you train, didn't I?"
"Yes."
"Well then," she said, "watch me and I'll explain what to do after."
The Sith held out her arm, pointing her finger at one of the training dummies in the back. Ruby felt the Dark Side gather in the older woman, before a beam of red tinged energy exploded out of her hand and smashed into the dummy, knocking it into to wall and leaving a smoldering mark on it.
"What was that?" Ruby asked, eyes locked onto the dummy.
"A blast of the Force," her teacher said, "Now, come here, Acolyte."
Ruby did so, entering the same pose, "How do I-?"
"I want you to think about the people you hate most," the woman said, "can you do that?"
Ruby's eyes drifted close, four people immediately coming to mind, her dead master, his equally dead apprentice, Ffon and Harkun, "I can."
"Good. Now, imagine the dummy is them. Imagine all the pain you want to inflict on them-"
"I don't want to-"
"Oh, everyone does, deep down. There's no shame in it, it's just another facet of the passion you feel. Focus on those feelings, dreg them up and infuse the Force with them, push them out."
Ruby breathed in through her nose, searching her heart. Finally, she grabbed the Force and pushed every angry feeling she felt into it. The blast that flew from her arm wasn't as refined as the woman pacing behind her, smashing into the dummy and shattering it.
"Well done!" Ruby turned, "I knew you could do it! Now, you should probably head to the infirmary."
"Why? I-" Ruby stared at the the slowly healing burns as she raised her hand, "I, but, it doesn't hurt?"
"It happens the first few times. Off to the infirmary, we'll meet back here in a couple of weeks, I can't wait to see what progress you've made."
"Yes, ma'am."
- X Zash X-
Zash watched her future apprentice leave, frowning. She had told Harkun she wanted a lower class slave, not a pureblood. What was he thinking?
She would have to look into this, and make moves to have Ruby succeed. She needed a body, after all, and all reports said Ruby was the most skilled of the slaves. The also body couldn't be close enough to anyone for her to get caught.
But she hadn't expected Ruby to succeed with even a unrefined bit of Sith sorcery on the first try. It was a bit worrying, but they were in a nexus of the Dark Side.
- X Pyrrha X-
Pyrrha shifted Miló into spear form, driving the base into one droid's torso before using it to bat away a vibroblade and impale another. Yanking it from the metal, Pyrrha flipped it and impaled the one behind her.
The next droid that came at her had a pair of blades and Pyrrha grabbed Miló by the center. Batting away one strike, then another, before driving her palm into the droid's open torso.
Pyrrha was still trying to get used to the feeling of something being moved without her using her Semblance. The droid broke as she launched it across the room and into the wall.
Spinning, Pyrrha deflected another two attacks and ducked under a third. There were two more droids with a sword in each hand. She let a smile slid onto her face as she shifted Miló again.
With four blades, things got even more fast paced. Pyrrha rapidly switched between Miló forms, to deflect the storm of attacks flying at her. Time seemed to slow to a crawl as Pyrrha dodged around a blow, tightening her grip on Miló the slightest bit before throwing it.
It smashed through the first droid easily, allowing Pyrrha to briefly grab one of its swords to deflect the other droid's swords while she yanked Miló back to-
Stars exploded across Pyrrha's vision as the sword in her hand suddenly delivered a powerful shock to her. Clenched her teeth, Pyrrha growled in anger as she dropped it, letting her right arm hang as she grabbed Miló with her left hand.
It wasn't often Pyrrha envied Ruby for being ambidextrous, struggling to use her nondominant hand to fend off a droid was one of those times. Still, between her Aura and the cool feeling of the Force currently wrapped around her arm, she was regaining feeling in it.
Switching hands, Pyrrha reached out with the Force, clenching her hand and ripping swords from the droid's hands. Stepping forward, Pyrrha stabbed the droid, shutting it off.
"Interesting," Overseer Rance said, "Very interesting. I must admit, Temere, when you walked in with that weapon, I had my doubts, but you've made it clear you know how to use it well over the last few days."
"Nikos," Pyrrha said under her breath.
"I'm sorry?"
"Nothing, Overseer," Pyrrha said, already resigning herself to the fact that most people would be calling her Temere over her own last name.
"But what I find truly interesting is that you were able to continue fighting after grabbing this," Rance grabbed the discarded vibroblade by the blade, carefully weighing it, "These blades store a charge within the hilt to punish Acolytes from doing exactly what you just did. It's a habit you should not get into. I know Apprentice level Juggernauts that would be left incapable of fighting after the shock, you ignored it with ease. Impressive."
"Thank you, sir," Pyrrha nodded.
"I'll need to adjust your training to account for this. Stronger droids, Djem So techniques, armor. It is close enough to the end of day, you may leave."
"Thank you," Pyrrha nodded. Tomorrow was her and Ruby's rest day, leaving Pyrrha wondering what Ruby planned to do.
Well, other than practicing.
In the hall before their room, however, Pyrrha was stopped by an unpleasant sight. Namely, Ffon.
"Temere," Ffon gave a nasty grin, "Going to your slave?"
"Ruby isn't a slave," Pyrrha said, moving past Ffon.
"Enjoy her while you can, she won't survive much longer."
Enjoy? What was-?
Pyrrha stomach rolled as she realized what Ffon was implying, "It's not like that and Ruby will a hundred times the Sith you could hope of being."
Ffon scoffed, "She's a slave, she isn't like you or me, Te-"
"You're right, Ruby isn't like you or me. She's stronger."
"She. Is. A. Slave," Ffon repeated slowly, "I'm looking forward to seeing her realize that before I ki-"
Pyrrha span, drawing Ýmnos from where it had been sitting in its sheath and pressing it against Ffon's neck, "Don't ever threaten Ruby in front of me again."
"You'd threaten me over a slave?" Ffon voice had lost some of its mockery, his eyes staring down at the blade, "Murder isn't-"
"On my first day here," Pyrrha said, "another Acolyte said something to me. It isn't murder if there's no one around. Threaten Ruby again and I will make sure there's no one around."
"Harkun will kill her if I-" Ffon stopped as Pyrrha pressed the blade closer, hatred coursing through her veins, pulling the Force around her like a cold mantle.
But he was right. Harkun would blame Ffon's death on Ruby in a heartbeat if he was found dead outside their room.
Snarling, Pyrrha pushed Ffon away, walking towards her room. As she stopped to open the door, Ffon called out.
"Go on, you're perfect for each other! The heiress who thinks she's knight and her wh-"
"Is that supposed to be an insult?" Pyrrha shot back, locking the door behind her, "I'm back."
"Oh, hey Pyr!" Ruby looked up from where she was sitting at her desk, waving with her bandage wrapped left hand, "I was working on something for you! Come on over!"
"What happened?" Pyrrha immediately rushed over, "Are you alright?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah," Ruby nodded, "I just burned myself with a Force trick, I had it wrapped in kolto just to be safe."
"When was this?"
"A couple of hours ago," Ruby said, "it's fine."
"Let me see," Pyrrha grabbed the edge of the bandage, unwinding the dry cloth. If Ruby had burned her hand, it didn't look like it anymore, "It's healed."
"Cool! Now," Ruby grabbed the paper she had been working on, "Ta-da!"
Pyrrha blinked at the lightsaber in front of her. The hilt was slightly longer than normal, with a series of notes scribbled around it.
Phrik was written next to the hilt itself, with an arrow on each side. One read Wide blade emitter? Do those exist? Look up and the other second emitter, ask Pyrrha.
There were also a set of rough drawing of someone Pyrrha assumed was supposed to be herself holding a lightsaber, one with her holding it above her head like a spear half done.
"It's just a rough start," Ruby babbled, "but I'm sure I'll have it ready before you make your lightsaber. If you want to use it, of course. I comple-"
"Ruby," Pyrrha smiled at her, taking the sketch and rolling it up, "It's amazing."
"Oh," Ruby sagged with relief, "Good. I'll-"
"What about yours?"
"I've been working on it too, but it's not as easy as yours," Ruby gestured to the rolled up pieces of paper next to her desk.
"Should we get something to eat, then?" Pyrrha asked.
"Or we could have a droid bring us some and start a vid," Ruby suggested, "Start relaxing a bit early."
"Ok," Pyrrha smiled at Ruby.
"Great!" Ruby grabbed her comlink, crawling onto her bed and dragging Pyrrha with her, sitting almost uncomfortably close to Pyrrha, "What sounds good?"
"You choose," Pyrrha said, adjusting herself to be comfortable and pushing Ffon's words out of mind the best she could.
- X Blake X-
Blake turned a corner, dodging another blaster shot and firing a shot in return. This one wasn't from Vito, but a contact Weiss had in SoroSuub.
Dodging around another pair of bolts, Blake shifted Gambol Shroud and used it to cut a thrown brick in two before shifting and firing another bolt at him.
"Nora," Blake said into her comlink, "Where are yo-?"
Before she finished the sentence, an arm swung out from around the corner, clotheslining the corporate spy. Nora flipped the bith over, pinning his hands behind him, "Got him!"
Grabbing the bith's gun, Blake switched it to stun and shot him. The bith spasmed once, before stopping, allowing Nora to pick him up and throw him over her shoulder.
"Let's get back to the shop," Blake sighed, rubbing her eyes. The last week had been busy, they needed to make a name for themselves fast if they wanted any hope of getting into the Great Hunt, so they had been going from bounty to bounty as quickly as possible.
It took an hour, and another shot, to make it to Vito's shop. Walking in, Blake looked at the cyborg, "Is she-?"
"Out back."
They didn't get halfway through the door before they were jumped by the SoroSuub rep, "Did you get him?"
"Yep!" Nora dropped the bith onto the ground, letting the woman check him.
"This is him, alright," she nodded, handing Blake a briefcase, "We appreciate your discretion in this matter, Ms. Schnee was correct to refer us to you. I'll be taking my leave."
The woman's lasat bodyguard stepped forward, grabbing the bith and jolting it with an electrostaff. Hoisting the bith onto his back, he walked out the back entrance with the woman.
Walking out of the back, Blake froze as she saw Vito talking with a bald man, ignoring Nora bumping into her. Vito turned, a wide smile, "Blake, N! I was just finishing up getting you your next few jobs."
"Few?" Blake asked, stepping to the side to let Nora into the room.
"Yes," Vito nodded, "This is Braden. He's got three jobs for you."
"Ok…?"
"Yes," Braeden nodded, "I'm building a team for a difficult job… actually, a difficult series of jobs. Have you heard of the Great Hunt?"
Wha-? No, there's no way they were this lucky without outside interface. But from who and why?
"Why us?"
"I've been keeping an eye on you for the past week. It's been a long time since I saw a hunter work with the intensity you two have. Like there's something personal in it for you."
"We're trying to get to Dromund Kaas," Nora said, "We were actually hoping to join the Great Hunt!"
Blake sighed. Nora had no vault, "Yes. We are."
"Why?"
"We have a friend we're waiting for there," Blake supplied, "This is the best way onto Dromund Kaas."
"Interesting," Braden said, "I'm fine with it, so long as you're willing to stick with us until we win."
Blake considered their options. This might be the only chance they got, but it would keep them near the Empire for long enough.
Before she could decide, Nora made the decision for her, "Ok!"
"Then finish these jobs," Braden said, handing over a datapad, "I want to make sure your worth it. Then we'll need to get you down to Nal Hutta and begin trying to gain the favor of Nem'ro the Hutt."
"How long will that take?" Blake asked.
"Well, the jobs are up to you, but they're harder than your standard fair," Braden said, "They'll have guards, or are smart enough to go to ground. I'd guess a month, then a few more on Hutta, a few weeks on the imperial fleet to get supplies before we move on. So?"
Blake stared at the extended hand, sharing a look with Nora. Reaching out, Blake shook it, "You have a deal."
- X Ruby X-
Ruby sat up, yawning and stretching. Looking over, she smiled at Pyrrha. Ruby used the Force to pull the bedding up, turning off the holoprojector with a wave of her other hand l as she did. They had fallen asleep in the middle of the vid, a 'romantic-comedy'.
Ruby hadn't gotten it, the idea of trying to date someone you had just met seemed wrong, icky even.
Grabbing her datapad, Ruby turned it on and sent a message to Blake. She missed the old one her and Weiss had gotten along with the credits needed for the Dragon… though it was probably either still on the Dragon or with Blake.
Ruby
You awake?
Sliding out of bed, Ruby slipped into the bathroom, turning on the shower and letting it warm up as she got ready.
What should her and Pyrrha do today? Spar, obviously, if not to get better than just for fun. Ruby enjoyed fighting and she'd watched Jaune and Pyrrha spar enough to know Pyrrha felt the same.
Then maybe her and Pyrrha could practice with the Force and relax. They had to train enough that a single lazy day wouldn't hurt anyone.
Showering as quickly as possible, Ruby dried her hair and walked back into the room. Checking her Scroll, Ruby found a response waiting.
Blake
I am now.
Ruby
Did I wake you up? I'm sorry.
Blake
No, we moved into our temporary place. Nora's running around yelling about pancakes.
Ruby giggled, changing and stepping out of the room.
Ruby
I'm going to get some food myself.
Blake
You're getting enough to eat, right?
Ruby
Yeah. They treat us pretty well, all things considered… well, except for the trials.
Blake
Why?
Ruby
Sith rule the Empire. I guess they're getting us ready for the noble life or something.
Putting away her datapad, Ruby walking into the mess hall, grabbing food for her and Pyrrha. Grits, toast, eggs and ecclessis figs.
Walking in, Ruby poked Pyrrha, "Breakfast!"
"Mhm," Pyrrha mumbled into Ruby's pillow.
"Come on," Ruby said, "You can nap after! I need to stop by a couple of places.
"Fine," Pyrrha sat up, grabbing the plate Ruby offered her.
Sitting down next to Pyrrha, Ruby began to eat with her.
- X AN X-
Anything you liked about this chapter? Disliked? Anything you were confused on? Let me know!
