All was quiet in the room she sat in on the small shuttle as it soared through Hyperspace. She had one leg draped over the other and her arms crossed as she leaned against the wall. Wearing only a pitch black jumpsuit with light armour padding, she had a long staff with short blades on either end strapped to her back, and an ornate dagger strapped to her hip. Keep your weapons close at all times her father had taught her. They are your life, and your enemies' death. To be unarmed is to be vulnerable. She'd been training since her childhood for the opportunity she'd been presented with, and wasn't going to squander it by letting any of her father's lessons go over her head.

"We're coming out of Hyperspace and will be landing shortly, my Lord." She heard the voice of the pilot over the intercom as the typical sound of the Hyperdrive shutting down resounded through the shuttle. With that, she prepared herself.

Not long after, she could feel gravity taking hold of the ship as they descended into Korriban's atmosphere. As she felt their descent slow, she stood, knowing the ramp would open at any moment. Sure enough, around two minutes later, the ramp opened, showing the platform she was to exit on. As she did so, she cringed slightly as the light of the sun hit her face, her pupil-less red eyes unaccustomed to such intensity. That would have to change soon, she realised. Fortunately, her species' blue skin was not prone to burning, but it wasn't impossible. Perhaps Korriban's desert climate might be enough.

Even the breeze was warm as it blew through her short, spiky black hair, slicked to the side.

As she walked along the platform, she was greeted to the sight of a dark skinned human wearing light grey armour and a lightsaber at his hip. He seemed to be on the older side, with his shaved short hair being salt and pepper grey.

"Excellent, you've arrived. We have much to do, and very little time to do it." He said to her as she approached him. "I am Overseer Tremel, and I will be administering your trials." He introduced himself.

"Clarr'ein'emys." She followed suit. "I answer to Reign." She added, knowing her name was a mouthful to regularly use. At least for humans.

"Reign then." Overseer Tremel nodded. "I have overseen the Trials of Sith Acolytes for many decades, ensuring that only the strongest join the ranks of the Sith." He explained to her. "You may have noticed you are here ahead of schedule; that was my doing. I expect obedience, is that clear?" He asked.

"Understood." Reign nodded. Still, she got a strange sense that Tremel may not have approved of her enrollment. If that was the case, why had he brought her to Korriban in the first place, she wondered.

"Good." Tremel was satisfied. "Your purpose here is simple; to face your Trials and serve me. Do both of those things, and you will be the most powerful Acolyte here." He promised.

"And yet there's something you're not telling me." Reign deduced, crossing her arms, Surprisingly, Tremel actually smirked at her remark. He approved.

"Slow to trust, even in the face of my authority. That will serve you well." He praised her. Well, as best as a Sith would anyway. "Be mindful though, the line between caution and cowardice is thin." He emphasised.

"I'll be certain to toe that line carefully." Reign said wryly, getting a scoff from Tremel. He wasn't going to indulge her wit.

"The Trials are deadly in of themselves, but they are hardly the only threat you will face." He went on. "There is another Acolyte, Vemrin. He is your enemy, and he will try to kill you." He said. He wasn't even warning her, he was merely stating a fact.

"He will fail." Reign responded in kind.

"With my guidance, the same will be true of all your enemies." Tremel returned. "But first and foremost, you will need a better weapon." He eyed the staff on Reign's back. "Whilst there is no real issue with the weapon you have now, it is not the weapon of a Sith Warrior." He said. "Deep within the tomb of Ajunta Pall, there is an old armoury where Sith Warblades are stored, far superior to what you have now." He told her. "Though I see you prefer to fight with staves. An unusual choice for a Warrior, but that's fine. The armoury should have a number of spears or staves for you to choose from as well."

"Understood." Reign responded with a nod, walking past him as the Overseer stepped out of her way and gestured for her to be on her way.

"And be mindful of K'lor'slugs, Acolyte." He called out to her as she reached the door. "They are weak individually, but their numbers are virtually endless. They've been the end of many overconfident Acolytes." He warned. Reign nodded in response and went on towards the tomb.

XXX

Reign ducked and slid under the swinging claw of a massive K'lor'slug, spinning around and spinning her staff with the momentum, slashing at the beast's torso with both blades. An instant later, she back-stepped, and then immediately dashed forwards again and brought one end down in a diagonal slash, and then again upwards. The combination of the quick-paced and brutal attacks brought the massive slug to its death within mere seconds. With a single, violent swing over her weapon, Reign knocked all of the blood off of it and sheathed it onto her back, walking past the slain beast without another thought.

She'd been wandering deeper and deeper into Ajunta Pall's tomb for several hours now. She'd come across a number of the beasts in that time. The one she'd just slain now wasn't even the biggest, and it was at least three times her height.

As she continued her way through the barely-lit hallways, she suddenly stopped when she heard the tell-tale mechanical click and hiss of a blaster being loaded.

"Don't move girlie." A deep, gravelly voice said as several figures made themselves known, surrounding her.

"Sith." One of the raiders, at least that's who Reign assumed they were, announced as another one of them approached from behind and confiscated her weapons. She didn't resist, opting rather to analyse her situation before making any moves.

"Yeah, figured." The one who took her weapons said. She made sure to keep a note of where he was.

"What do we do with her?" One of them asked.

"Same thing we do with all the others that interrupt our operations." The man who had a gun trained at her head said with a scoff. By this time, Reign had formulated a basic strategy for solving the problem she was present with. Nobody saw her right hand tense slightly.

"Those guys were soldiers! Grunts! Nobody cares about them! This one's a Sith! More will come if she dies." Another of the men protested, his tone laced with cowardice. In that aspect, he seemed wiser than his peers.

"Then we deal with them." The one with the gun said, getting impatient.

"If you think killing me to be a simple endeavour, you will find yourself sorely mistaken." Reign warned them. It seemed only fair. After all, after a headcount, it seemed to be thirteen of them against her. Only thirteen.

"All bark, no bite Sweetheart." The man pressed the barrel of his blaster to the back of her head.

"As I said; foolish." She responded, and with a quick flick of her wrist, the man's neck snapped, and he was dead.

Before his body even hit the ground, Reign performed a large backflip, calling her weapons to her hands, catching the dagger in a reverse grip, the staff in the centre, and landing right behind the one who'd taken them. Before he could react, she slashed forwards with both weapons, bisecting the man at his waist. And again, before his body even hit the ground, she was right on the remaining men with lethal intent. None of them were even able to yell to open fire before she'd buried her blades in the throats of another two of them, bringing them to the ground.

By that point, they were all firing on her, but her style of movement instantly changed. Before, she was agile and nimble, light on her toes and quick to move. Now, her stance was hard and strong, but still flexible enough that she was able to deflect the incoming blaster fire from all directions. Within minutes, all but one of the raiders had been gunned down by their own blaster fire. She offhandedly noticed that it was the one who protested against killing a Sith.

Immediately, he dropped to his hands and knees, and began to grovel.

"Please don't kill me! I have a family! I only-" He stopped as he felt pressure pressing on his throat, cutting off his air and his voice.

"Those who beg for mercy, are unworthy of it." Reign said simply, flicking her wrist once more, and breaking the man's neck. With a shake of her head, she shook the blood off of her weapons once more and continued on her way.

XX

The remainder of her delving into the tomb was met with few distractions, just a few more K'lor'slugs and a handful of raiders before she finally reached her destination. The chamber was smaller than she'd expected, but surprisingly well-lit in comparison to the rest of the tomb. At the very end of it, there was a weapons rack that held a number of weapons, including the Sith Warblade she'd initially been sent to retrieve. Her eyes perused over the rack before settling on one she liked.

A Sith Spear.

It was a unique weapon. The staff she currently held was simple in design; a basic polearm with short doubled edged blades on each end, nothing special at all. The Sith spear, on the other hand, was different. There were ornate patterns etched along the length, and a wide leather grip in the centre, which would help. The blade was slightly curved, and only had a single edge, with the spine serrated. The other end did not have a blade, but it was sharpened to a point, making it good for stabbing.

It even had an activation switch on the grip.

As she picked it up, she activated the weapon, and the blade vibrated and hummed like any other vibroblade. More than that, the edge began to glow bright red as it heated up. Her current staff didn't have that function. The Sith Spear was definitely a superior weapon. Even if it didn't glow as it did, she could tell by the vibrations and the hum of the weapon; it was much more refined and smoother than that of the vibroblades she'd used in the past. Giving the spear a test swing, she found even its balance was better.

Yes, a fine weapon indeed, despite its age.

Right as she turned around to leave the chamber, she felt a light tremor in the ground, and the caskets along the walls all broke open. Out of each one, a sparring droid emerged, each one carrying a vibroblade. There were a dozen of them in total. She brandished her new weapon, gripping it with both hands. As the droids approached her, she willed her power to build within her, and then, after taking a deep breath, she released a shrill scream from her lungs, the power expanding outwards in all directions, knocking her opponents over. With the enemy distracted, she leapt towards the nearest one with lethal intent.

XXX

Finding the exit of the tomb was a lot easier than continuously delving deeper into it, that much was certain. Any tomb raiders or K'lor'slugs Reign came across were quickly dispatched. She could have gotten to the academy sooner, but she decided to spend some time bloodying her new weapon, and getting used to the feel of it.

After leaving the tomb behind and approaching the academy, Reign allowed herself a moment of awe.

The academy was larger than some cities. At the academy's centre, there was a massive pyramid, stretching high into the sky, and from its base, there sprouted massive expanses of many buildings, courtyards, and hangar bays. The entire complex was surrounded by anti-aircraft turrets, some of which could even fire into the planet's upper atmosphere.

Shaking her head, Reign continued inside the academy, not being stopped by the guards that stood at the entrance.

"Acolyte." A feminine voice called out to her, and she stopped, turning to face the owner of the voice. It was a young woman, probably only a few years older than her, wearing a tight fitting set of Warrior's armour. She was a Pureblood, with the telltale red skin and spines on either side of her chin and in place of eyebrows. If that didn't indicate her position, the lightsaber at her hip did. "So it's true, Overseer Tremel really has brought a Chiss into the Academy." The woman with a light curling of her lip, as if she didn't know exactly how much she disapproved of Reign's presence.

"Half Chiss." Reign corrected the woman. "My father is human, and a prominent Sith at that." She added, crossing her arms, almost in challenge.

"Whatever." The woman scoffed. "If we're going to have aliens in the academy, we may as well make sure they earn the privilege." She said haughtily. "Overseer Tremel may teach you the ways of the Sith, but not all of the skills. We have specialists for that. I've been instructed by Overseer Tremel to direct you to the Academy's archive, where Overseer Rance is waiting for you." The woman explained.

"Understood." Reign briefly contemplated responding to the woman's attitude in kind, but decided against it. She'd just started at the Academy, and already had an enemy, as Tremel had informed her. It wouldn't be wise to make another one just for the sake of getting a stabbing word or two in.

The woman scoffed and walked off, and despite her attitude, Reign couldn't help admiring the curves of her hips as she walked away. She had to smirk. At least not everything about that woman annoyed her. Shaking her head at her own humour, she brought out her datapad and opened the map of the academy that Tremel had provided her. The archives would take her out of her way to Tremel's chamber, but it was by the man's instruction, so she didn't think there would be an issue.

XXX

"You are strong, but you could be stronger." Overseer Rance had evaluated her once she'd arrived at the archives. "The Force is a weapon, and I will show you how to use it." he'd promised her.

She'd spent the next few hours honing her skills with the Overseer.

Reign's preferred lightsaber form was Form IV, also known as Ataru. It was swift, aggressive, and acrobatic, which tied in perfectly with her build, and her skill with polearms. However, knowing that she wouldn't always have such a weapon available, she made sure to keep her skills in Form V, Djem So, sharp. The beating she'd suffered at her father's hands when he'd disarmed her after she got too comfortable with the practice staff had hammered that point home quite well. She'd also long since mastered Form I, Shii-cho, as an introduction to lightsaber combat.

She'd thought she'd done quite well for herself in her weapon proficiency, and though she was right, Overseer Rance had quickly shown her that she wasn't as powerful a warrior as she thought she was. She would have to work hard to measure up. Her father had prepared her well for her trials, and then some, but even a decade of training wouldn't provide the experience that Overseer Rance had. She may very well be the most skilled Acolyte in the Academy, but skill wouldn't amount to much without proper combat experience, and that was something she lacked. She'd have to work on that.

With that objective noted, she left the staff she'd arrived with in the armoury where someone else could make use of it, and continued on her way to Tremel's chamber. It didn't take her too long to reach the corridor where the chamber was located, but before she could approach it, she was stopped by a voice.

"Hello there, Acolyte." A young, burly man said as he approached. He was taller than her, not to mention more muscular, and he had a Warblade strapped to his back, not unlike the one she'd seen in the tomb. Following behind him was a much larger, beefier man who had a practice sword far too small for him strapped to his back. "Let me get a look at you." The man continued, looking her over.

"Take a picture, it'll last longer." Reign drawled.

"Funny." The man snarked back. "So you're Overseer Tremel's secret weapon then? I saw you fair against Overseer Rance. Impressive, certainly, if a little ironic." He shook his head. "I'm afraid the old man waited far too long to make his move." He said. "I'm Vemrin, and unlike you, I've fought and bled for everything I have. I demand respect." He said, his tone taking a dark turn.

"You have no idea what I've been through to get where I am now." Reign responded with a scowl. She'd trained in lightsaber combat for over a decade, killed beasts such as rancors and acklays to show her progress, and endured weeks of starvation and dehydration in hunting these beasts. All of that, on top of the discrimination and stigmatisation she'd endured from her own people, being Force-sensitive. Tremel may have brought her to the academy ahead of schedule, but she'd earned her place.

"Please, everyone knows what Overseer Tremel is doing." Vemrin scoffed in response. He had no idea who he was dealing with. "If he'd made his move when I first came to the academy, a year ago, he'd have stood a chance. Now, too little, too late." He growled, crossing his arms.

"This is ridiculous, Vemrin." The man behind him spoke up for the first time. "Why can't we just kill her and hide the body?" He asked, almost whining like a child.

"Patience Dolgis." Vemrin responded. "We aren't on Balmorra anymore. There are rules and traditions we need to uphold." He said, giving Reign the stink eye. "We'll leave the shortcuts to Tremel and his pet here." He said, walking off. Reign said nothing. She wasn't going to respond to his petty taunts.

"Be right with you Vemrin!." Dolgis called out to him in a submissive, yet eager tone. His face morphed into disdain as he turned his gaze to Reign. "Alright you useless priss." He hissed at her. "Acolytes might be forbidden from killing each other, but accidents happen. No witnesses means no murder."

"I wonder how long it will take for my blade to accidentally bury itself in your throat then?" Reign drawled out, getting bored of the conversation. Dolgis growled in response.

"No more warnings!" He hissed. "Vemrin's the alpha monster here. Cross him, and you die." He said, sliding his thumb across his throat before storming off. His anger at not being able to get under Reign's skin bubbled in his chest, she could feel it. Shaking her head in exasperation, she continued on her way to Tremel's office.

XXX

As she entered the room, Reign was greeted to the sight of Overseer Tremel, speaking with a young woman that bore a striking resemblance to the man himself. She had the same dark skin, the same eyes, and the same angular face, though she was far more aesthetically pleasing than Tremel, even with the three long scars running down the side of her face. A beast's claws perhaps?

"You've returned, excellent." Tremel said as he noticed her presence. "I just received a glowing review from Overseer Rance. He claims you're the greatest student he's ever seen. I'm impressed." He praised her. "I see you've taken well to the Sith Spear. How do you like it?"

"It is one of the better blades I've wielded." Reign admitted.

"Father, what are you doing?!" The young finally decided to speak up. "I've been here six months, and I only just got my Warblade!" She protested, evidently displeased.

"I've been preparing to become a Sith for far more than six months." Reign spoke up absently.

"Shut up!" The young woman hissed.

"Silence, Eskella." Tremel ordered his daughter. "I have my reasons, and you are not to breathe a word of this to anyone." He said sternly.

"Yes, father." Eskella, her name now known, begrudgingly responded.

"Reign, this is Eskella, my daughter." Tremel introduced them.

"I hadn't gathered." Reign responded dryly. Tremel ignored her.

"She is one of the advanced students here, well on her way to becoming Sith. If she minds herself." he mixed the warning to his daughter into his introduction. "Eskella, this is Reign, my new charge."

"I'll keep your secrets Father, but don't expect my help when all of this blows up in your face." Eskella said haughtily as she stomped out of the room.

"Don't mind her, Acolyte." Tremel gave a sigh of exasperation. "She's just sour over my keeping secrets. She growls, but she's loyal." He assured her.

"I'm guessing she gets her looks from her mother." Reign quipped with a smirk.

"Indeed." Tremel rolled his eyes. "On to business. I thought I heard Vemrin's voice outside. Did he strike so soon?" He asked, an edge of concern in his tone.

"He tried to assert his dominance. He failed." Reign said simply.

"If he didn't attack, that must mean he doesn't see the threat you are. Good, good…" The Overseer responded thoughtfully. "Still, this doesn't bode well for time. Vemrin won't sniff around for long before trying to take a bite." He frowned.

"What exactly is your issue with him?" Reign asked.

"Where do I begin?" Tremel gave a deep sigh. "In a drive to build up our numbers after the casualties we suffered after the war, the requirements for enrollment at the Korriban Academy have been relaxed." His lip curled in disdain. "These days, anyone with Force Sensitivity is allowed entrance." He explained. "Vemrin is mixed blood, the rot that eats away at the bedrock of our Empire. He must not be allowed to advance." He said firmly.

"So you're an elitist snob then." Reign crossed her arms.

"You say that like it's a bad thing." Tremel responded, his tone almost flattered. "It is the way of the Sith. Only the best and most pure should be good enough." He said staunchly.

"And what do you call me then?" The Acolyte raised her eyebrow expectantly. "I have just as much mixed blood as Vemrin. He's pure human, at least as much as any other in the Empire, I am not." She reminded the Overseer.

"Be that as it may, Vemrin's legacy has been sullied and tainted. He may have Sith blood, but most of his relatives are slaves and peasants." Tremel scoffed. "You, on the other hand, are the daughter of a Darth, and your mother is a member of one of the Nine Ruling Families of the Ascendency." He went on. "I'll be the first to admit I have mixed feelings about allowing Chiss into the Sith, but the Ascendancy has been a loyal and powerful ally for a long time. If nothing else, the small number of Chiss already in the Order have done well for themselves as Sith. They deserve, at the very least, the chance to prove themselves." He said with a slightly frustrated sigh. "Your relations and status among the Empire and the Ascendancy make you a fantastic candidate, and a prime opportunity to get rid of Vemrin. Given the choice, I would sooner allow you into the Order than him, much sooner."

"How noble of you." Reign drawled with sarcasm, making her opinion clear to the Overseer. "Are you not aware of the stigma that force-sensitive Chiss endure? They face much the same bigotry that aliens do in your Empire."

"Mind yourself." He warned her, before continuing where he left off. "Unfortunately, Vemrin has caught the eye of one of the most influential Sith Lords in the Order, Darth Baras, and is being groomed to be Baras' apprentice." he explained, his disdain clear. "If he were to advance to Apprenticeship under Baras, the power he would hold would be considerable. He would change the Sith for the worse." He scoffed.

"So what's next?" Reign asked, having heard everything she needed to. Apparently, the Overseer agreed.

"We must proceed to your next trial as soon as possible." Tremel said, taking a look at his datapad. "It will take some time to have it ready though." He said. "Return to my chamber in a week, by then it should be ready. Until then, keep up your training under Overseer Rance, and take some time to visit Lord Samus as well. He educates Acolytes on the more esoteric uses of the Force." He instructed. "And don't neglect your personal studies either." he added as Reign turned to leave.

"Understood, Overseer." She nodded, leaving the room.