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As it turned out, defeating the terentatek wasn't the hardest thing in the world, even without Vette having much in the way of accurate marksmanship. Not that it would have mattered if she did, the piddly little blaster pistols that I had taken off of the tomb raiders and given to her had nowhere near enough power to penetrate the hide of such a beast, never mind one as old and heavily modified as the guardian of the star map. In the end, Khem Val and I had slowly wittled it down over time and killed it before stepping past its fresh-made corpse to the console that held the map itself. Better still, I had proven to Khem that I wasn't, to use his flattering description, 'entirely pointless' in a fight. Which was great, and said good things about my potential for survival in the future, both from the threat that he posed to my continued health and from others.
Now, standing before the holographic display of star systems and hyperspace routes, I felt a sense of accomplishment that was quickly tempered by pragmatism. The map was ancient, likely outdated in terms of political boundaries, but the celestial bodies themselves wouldn't have moved significantly in the intervening millennia. Not to mention the fact that Zash would certainly have the ability to make drift calculations herself, or else could get her hands on someone who could.
"Is this what we came for?" Vette asked, peering over my shoulder at the glowing blue projection, and I smiled faintly at the use of 'we', no matter how much sense it made under current circumstances. "Looks like a regular star chart to me. Kinda pretty, I guess, but I'm not really feeling the hype."
"That's because you don't know what it leads too, Vette. This star chart shows the planets that Tulak Hord himself hid personal relics and artifacts over the course of his travels and his wars. Even ignoring the historical and cultural value of such items, which would obviously be almost impossible to overstate, the knowledge that they could hold could change everything. Knowledge lost in the last few millennia, suddenly at our fingertips again." I responded, sounding almost as covetous as I felt. It was going to be hard to let Zash take them off of my hands, even knowing that I'd be getting them back eventually once I dealt with her body-snatching attempt. Then I shrugged. "Of course, I also need to bring it back to become Zash's apprentice, so ultimately what you and I think of it is irrelevant."
"I tire of this place, little Kallig." Khem Val grumbled from behind us, and I glanced back at him and resisted the urge to smile. He looked almost grumpy, standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, even given his, uh, tooth and jaw situation, which was somehow amusing despite the fact that his massive frame was splattered with terentatek blood. A lot of terentatek blood. "Let us leave this place and meet the would-be master of a Kallig."
"Right you are, Khem, right you are." I agreed promptly, turning on my heel and heading for the entrance once again, intent on working my way back out of the tomb. Under most circumstances, I would be looking for the hidden exit that the game had possessed, but I wasn't entirely sure I wanted to trust our safety to a disused ancient passage such as that. Besides, with Khem and Vette following me, and without being as horribly run-down and exhausted as I might have been if I had been forced to fight the dashade and force him into service like the game, it shouldn't be particularly hard to get past all the other acolytes.
"And what will happen to me, huh?" Vette asked, following me with a frown and genuine concern, even fear, tinging her presence in the Force.
"Back into a cage, for the time being. I'm sorry Vette, but you're part of Baras' trial for an apprentice, I can't take you without us both being killed." I shook my said, genuinely regretful, the feeling growing stronger as I felt her dread and hopelessness swell. I couldn't stand it, so I continued. "Don't worry. He won't hurt you, he needs you for the trial, and you can quite honestly tell him that I killed his apprentice due to a grudge between us from the Inquisitor's deception using that commando. He isn't likely to seek revenge against me over that, not if the root cause of the issue was a mission from the Inquisition." I paused for a moment, feeling the wait of my ancestor and Khem Val both, before sighing. "Alright, that's not true. But he won't be overt about it. Most likely, his replacement for that psycho I killed will be encouraged to kill me off if we come across each other again."
"In which case, we will defeat him, I will devour him, and the woman will belong to you, little Kallig." Khem interjected, sounding annoyed. "Do not waste time concerning yourself with trivialities."
"Fortune favors the prepared, Khem Val." I chided him, if politely, looking back at him and raising an eyebrow as I walked. "I have neither the influence nor the rank nor even the experience required to simply take things as they come. Unlike some Sith, I refuse to simply charge headfirst into the future without any sort of forethought. Prior Planning Prevents Piss-Poor Performance, after all, and I have come to far and have farther still to go. I won't risk it by living entirely in the moment."
His only response was a grunt. It didn't sound too irritated, which was something I supposed. Of course, he didn't necessarily sound all that impressed either, so I couldn't exactly let myself feel particularly proud of anything at the moment. Not that I would become a foolhardy idiot who constantly put themselves out a limb, just because it would make him happier with me. And yes, that was somewhat ironic given some of the more foolhardy things I had done thus far with myself, but there was a difference between calculated risks and blind brashness.
Fortune also, it soon became clear, favoured the acolyte that wandered around with a dashade on her heels. Not even the most desperate, delusional, or arrogant trial-goer was willing to try and pick a fight with us as we made our way back through the tomb. On the contrary, the vast majority of them worked rather hard to get as far out of our paths as they could as rapidly as they could manage it. Something Vette certainly seemed to enjoy, judging by her presence in the Force, the smirk on her lips, and the near-strut she began to walk with.
"You know, this whole 'get out of my way or get eaten' thing has a certain appeal, when you're not on the receiving end of it." Vette whispered to me as a pair of acolytes practically dove headfirst into an alcove to avoid Khem Val's massive shadow falling across them. "Any chance I could borrow him sometime?"
"I doubt he'd appreciate being treated like a fashion accessory, Vette." I replied dryly. "Though I imagine the effect would be quite striking at social gatherings. If anyone was annoying me, I could simply have him glare at them until they left. Provided, of course, they risked getting close enough to annoy me in the first place."
The journey back through the tomb was mercifully uneventful, in the end, and as we stepped back out into the blinding sun of Korriban I felt different. The air seemed lighter somehow, though that was likely just my imagination…or perhaps simply the relief of having completed what I'd come here to do? Either way, I found myself walking with a newfound pep to my step, and a smile on my lips, faint though it might have been. The star map was secured, my dashade companion had (hopefully) stopped actively expecting and planning for my imminent demise at his hands, and I was one significant step closer to becoming Zash's apprentice. And, thus, one step closer to fulfilling my destiny.
"Oh my! Acolyte, you've returned!" Yashia was still on duty, it seemed, and I felt her spike of surprise and pleasure as she saw me, relieved that I had survived. The fear and shock at seeming Khem Val was almost enough to overshadow it, but only almost, and to my mild surprise and appreciation I found that quite gratifying.
"Ah, Yashia. Excellent. Yes, I'm fine, as you can see, if with new companions. Would you mind terribly radioing ahead to the Academy that I will be arriving with Khem here?" I greeted her with a smile, enjoying her faint blush, as I waved slightly in his direction. "I would hate for someone to try and shoot him or something, after all the effort I went to collecting him in the first place. Besides, he's been locked up in the tomb for rather a long time, and…"
"I hunger for the flesh and blood of those who wield the Force, little one. Let them attack me. I shall devour them whole and feast on their bones." Khem 'helpfully' interjected again, and I resisted the urge to sigh as Yashia paled dramatically. Not at what he said, because she -as a low-ranking, Force-blind soldier- wasn't exactly fluent in Ancient Sith. No, it wasn't the words themselves that had her reacting in such a way, but the sound of his voice and the sight of his long, fang-like teeth moving while he spoke.
"Y-yes, of course Acolyte. I am at your service, of course. I'll send a message immediately. Please, give me a moment to confirm that they've received it before you move on." she agreed immediately, and I gave an amiable nod. As she reached up to her ear to make the call, a familiar sound had my head coming around…and a familiar presence had my eyes narrowing as I watched a pair of shuttles swoop down from the clouds to land at the arrival platforms.
Well now, pretty girl, weren't you here just a little bit early?
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Lycia Tyrann, Lord Zash of the Pyramid of Ancient Knowledge of the Sith Empire, was almost beside herself from excitement. She had received word not minutes ago that her savior -even if the poor thing was ignorant of her purpose- was on her way back from the Tomb of Naga Sadow with the dashade in tow. Oh, and a couple of others it seemed, but they didn't matter in the least. And with the dashade, doubtlessly, the star map leading to the knowledge and the tools required for her to properly perform the Ritual of Essence Transference. She'd not doubted for a moment that Khai would succeed, she was a highly capable girl, and one with a tendency to attract loyalty and aid from those around her. A useful trait, and reputation, to have in the future, once Khai's body was hers. Equally useful would be the people that Khai had already collected, in particular House Luwian's little heiress Asmu-Nikal. That House had more than a few interesting relics and pieces of knowledge, not to mention no small amount of credits, and the possessive affection that the pureblood had held for Khai couldn't have been more obvious.
Not to mention that she was rather looking forward to experiencing life as a woman with a bit extra. She'd had sex more times than she cared to count, some more willing than others, and some with more willing partners than others, but she had of course never experienced the sensations of having a real cock when she fucked someone. It was going to be a novel experience, and she was sure that she would love it.
Really, this couldn't get much better. She'd just been looking for a convenient and useful replacement body when she had begun her scrying, and been surprised but pleased by the exotic beauty that Khai had held in her visions. Her searches for the girl had proven fruitless for a long, long time, but when she had finally found her -despite various setbacks- she had only gotten happier. Oh, Luwian had refused to sell her, which would have made things a bit easier and cleaner, but she had found in Darth Marr someone who was more than willing to tentatively support her drive to get more acolytes from the ranks of the slaves. He cared for nothing more than making the Empire strong and keeping it so, after all, so the chance at bringing more Sith onto the battlefield was guaranteed to have caught his ear. With the Dark Council behind her plans, it hadn't been hard to ensure that Khai found her way onto the shuttle to Korriban and into the appropriate acolyte pool.
Of course, Lycia recalled with a frown and a dark pulse of aggravation, her plans might have been disrupted by that idiot Harkun and his pet pureblood brat if Khai hadn't managed to deftly -and honestly, for a wonder- maneuver the boy into begging his way out of her pool and into another. She would have to consider doing something about that. Letting Harkun go around ignoring the wishes of his betters when it came to the training of the acolytes wasn't remotely acceptable, and she could hardly take her irritation out on…Ffon, was it? She could hardly take her irritation out of Ffon now that she had spared him and sent him off to serve another Lord. A certain degree of capriciousness was expected and allowed for a Lord, but there were limits. Not to mention the fact that she wasn't particularly interested in picking a fight with another Lord over the boy. It would be a distraction from her efforts to prepare the ritual, and to prepare her powerbase for her new body to take over once the ritual was complete.
As it turned out, it was dreadfully complicated setting up procedures and cut-outs required for one's apprentice to inherit one's powerbase without being obvious about it. Especially when one didn't even have an apprentice yet. The last thing she needed was people asking questions about her apparent generosity for a girl she barely even knew and hadn't -yet- claimed. Fortunately, she was rather talented in the field of subterfuge, for all that she was a sorceress of Ancient Knowledge rather than an assassin of one of the military Spheres. She…
A soft chime drew her attention from her thoughts, and she looked up as her imminently-elevated apprentice walked him, closely followed by…oh, but he was an impressively terrifying specimen, wasn't he? She had never met a dashade before, never even seen one in person, and it went without saying that he was far more impressive in person than any generic holo-image could have hoped to be. At least seven feet in height, if she cared to guess, and several hundred pounds of pure muscle. "Welcome back, acolyte." Lycia greeted with an entirely honest cheer, rising to her feet with a smile, before frowning faintly. "Ah, but where are the rest of you? Were you not accompanied by a Lethan slave-girl, excellent taste by the way, and some cute little soldier girl?"
"Unfortunately, Vette belongs to Darth Baras, so I had to return her after I killed the last two members of his acolyte pool. Yashia, that cute soldier you mentioned, is escorting her back to her cell before waiting for further instructions from me." Khai responded promptly, sounding a bit disappointed, and Lycia arched an eyebrow at her for more than one reason as she continued. "I'm thinking of keeping her, perhaps giving her to Asmu-Nikal the next time I'm on Dromuund Kaas. Most of House Luwian's soldiers are dead now, after all, and I believe my former mistress would enjoy playing with her if given the opportunity."
"While I'm sure she would, and I don't particularly care either way if you abscond from Korriban with any specific Imperial, I do have to ask about Baras' acolytes. Why, exactly, did you kill his last two prospects?" Lycia asked dryly, wondering if she was going to have to fend off a Darth's attempts at revenge for the foreseeable future, first as Master and then as 'herself'.
"I was given as special assignment by an Inquisitor Urinth, to 'save' a captured Republic spy from the predations of a Sith acolyte for the sake of a counter-intelligence operation. The acolyte chosen was Tremel's special project. I never bothered to learn his name. At any rate, as it turns out he didn't particularly like the methods I chose to fulfill the mission and decided that he was going to kill myself and his last rival." she explained, shrugging in a distinctly unconcerned way. "I killed the two of them first."
"I see," Lycia said, tapping her fingers against her desk thoughtfully, internally both relieved and rather impressed. "That's... actually rather convenient, the fact that it was for an Inquisitor I mean. Baras is unlikely to pursue revenge against you directly if the incident stemmed from Inquisitorial orders, especially a mission against the Republic itself. He'd be challenging the entire Sphere of Imperial Intelligence, which even a Darth would hesitate to do without substantial political support."
"That was my thought, my hope, as well, especially if I returned his slave of my own volition. Though I imagine he'll encourage his next apprentice to deal with me should our paths cross, regardless of what I did or didn't do, and regardless of why it all happened." she confirmed, sounding a bit worried, though not nearly as frightened as one might expect. Arrogance, perhaps, given her past successes. Lycia hoped the girl didn't get herself killed before things could be brought to fruition.
"Yes, I rather think you're right about that." Lycia smiled, her eyes flickering to the dashade again as he leaned forward slightly and sniffed the air, peering at her with palpable contemplation. "But that's a concern for another time. I'm far more interested in what you found in the tomb. I see that you have the dashade, of course, but dare I assume you have the star map as well?"
"Of course, as if failure was ever a possibility." Khai scoffed lightly, pulling out a holocron. Lycia reached out for it eagerly, eyes bright, but the dashade stepped forward and loomed ominously, eyes sharp and cold. "Ah, forgive me, master. This is Khem Val, devoted Shadow Assassin of Tulak Hord. He was willing enough to let me live and aid me in retrieving the map, but…"
The dashade interrupted, his voice a flanged growl as his archaic -very archaic- Ancient Sith rumbled across the room, and Lycia had to deliberatly put effort into not flinching away from his teeth. "This is the one that would command you, little Sith, and seeks the claim the legacy of my master, Tulak Hord, Lord of Hate and Master of the Gathering Darkness?" he scrutinized her carefully, inspected her, and Lycia couldn't help but think of her days as an acolyte, being judged by those above and beyond her. After a moment, he grunted and turned away. "She smells of death and witchcraft, but she is unworthy of death at my hand. It seems the two of you will not be my feast after all, little one."
With that, he trundled from the room, clearly having no further interest in the discussion, and Khai sighed tiredly.
"Sorry about him." the girl apologized, more than a little wryly, as she shook her head lightly. "Politeness isn't really a thing for him, especially not when it involves Tulak Hord. Still, he must be pleased, since he didn't try to eat us. He's been threatening me with that ever since I found him, depending on how meeting you went."
"One would think you would have warned me, acolyte." the censure in Lycia's voice was entirely genuine, and Khai shuffled her feet awkwardly.
"I know, but…I don't think he would have taken that well. He has pretty specific opinions on Sith-hood, and warning you ahead of time could very well have fallen afoul of that. He wanted to evaluate you as you are at your most natural, so…" she admitted with another, much smaller and less casual, shrug, and Lycia resisted the urge to sigh in annoyance at the honesty that suffused the words. It seemed that, as useful as a tool he might be, Khem Val might prove something of a thorn in her side for the foreseeable future with his judgmental nature. Fortunately, she would interact very little with the two of them after Dromuund Kaas.
"Very well. I suppose I can understand why a two-thousand year old being, especially such a close companion to Tulak Hord himself, might prove to be a bit…opinionated about things. Nonetheless, I advise you to keep him firmly under control, acolyte. Now, the map?"
"Yes, of course." Khai bobbed her head, putting the holocron down on the table and activating it. The spiraling arms of the galaxy, bright stars dotting their faces, spilled out to fill the room, and Lycia smiled in hope, excitement, and wonder as she looked at it all. It was so much more than she had hoped it would be, and she had no doubt she would enjoy spending her next several lifetimes discovering and collecting every secret it held, but for now…for now, she had the formalities to deal with.
"Well then," she said after a long, long moment of examining the swirling stars and nebulae, shutting down the holocron and gently placing it in one of her robes' many pockets before stepping around the desk before her. "It seems that you have completed every task I provided to you with aplomb, and done a few more things that I would never have expected of you. And therefore, Vestara Khai, you have proven yourself worthy of becoming my apprentice." her hand dipped into her robe again, pulling out a worn lightsaber hilt, scuffed and old. "As such, you have proven yourself equally worthy of wielding a proper lightsaber." she paused for a moment before smiling, nigh on grinning. "Do be careful with that, it was my very first lightsaber as well. I'm afraid I have something of a soft spot for it, still."
"Oh? Well, I'm honored, Master. I'll put it to very good use, I promise." Khai accepted the hilt with a pleased look and inspected it carefully, igniting it and testing the balance. Humming in satisfaction and deactivating it again, she clipped it to her waist and folded her hands behind her back. "What is next then? Dromuund Kaas?"
"Hmm, good guess." Lycia arched a brow again, mildly impressed. Then again, the girl was from that world, and her old owner had only just finished Korriban when they had met, so she might be more familiar with the process of early apprenticeship than most in her position would otherwise be. "Almost. You'll be sent to the Imperial Fleet Headquarters at Vaiken Spacedock, in orbit above Jaguada. You'll receive some basic equipment upon arrival there, as well as a small stipend to collect anything else you need. Transports to Dromuund Kaas leave several times a day, so you have time to explore, but don't keep me waiting for too long. We have a great deal to do, after all."
"Of course, Master. That shouldn't be a problem. As fascinating as I'm sure the fleet is, there will be plenty of time to inspect it more fully at a later date. Besides," she shrugged with a small smirk. "I'm well acquainted with the markets of Dromuund Kaas, I'm entirely positive that I will be able to find whatever I could possibly need, yes?"
Well, that was certainly true, and Lycia waved her from the room with a soft, genuine chuckle. A chuckle that returned not long thereafter when she was informed that, in her name, her apprentice had, in fact, absconded with Private Yashia of the Korriban Garrison. Of course, she was distinctly less amused to receive another message informing her that her apprentice had been ambushed by three Sith in the service of Darth Skotia, which the girl had promptly torn apart and fed to her dashade. If she wasn't already planning on killing the man -if he could even be called that anymore, after all of his self-modifications- to secure his powerbase, she would certainly be plotting it now. Sending his tools to kill whomever completed her trials, would he? She would celebrate his death all the more, now, when it happened.
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Ce'na of No Clan, who had long ago started preferring her Basic pseudonym of Vette when interacting with the galaxy at large, was the happiest girl in the world as she -naked once again- leaned against the back bars of her cage, arms folded beneath her breasts. Which would strike a lot of people as something to be very, very unhappy about, but Darth Fatass hadn't had her executed, and Khai had promised -and Vette most assuredly believed her- that if The Psycho's replacement as Baras' apprentice proved to be intolerable, then she would kill them too. And this time, she would keep Vette with her.
The way she had said it, the confidence and casual surety as she declared that Vette would be hers, shouldn't have been nearly attractive as it was. She hated being a slave, after all, hated having a collar around her neck and hated having her life, her body, and her happiness to dependent on the whims of someone else. And yet, if it was Khai…if it was Vestara, perhaps it wouldn't be so terrible after all. Being owned might not be ideal, but depending on your owner, it might not be the worst thing in the world either. And, thanks to Kory's willingness to go into explicit, long-winded detail about what life was like under Vestara, Vette knew exactly what sort of owner she would be looking at.
And it wasn't as if sexual submission to a worthy dominant was the worst thing in the world to imagine either, and Vestara sure as hell seemed to be one.
She had only known Vestara for a short time, but the woman had a commanding presence that made Vette feel safe despite the chaos around them, despite the horrors of the tombs and the walking nightmare that was Khem Val. It was ridiculous, really, to feel safe around a Sith —especially one who'd killed multiple people right in front of her— but there was something different about Vestara. She wasn't needlessly cruel like most Sith. She didn't enjoy suffering, genuine suffering, for its own sake. And, perhaps most importantly of all, she had once been a slave herself. She knew what it was like to wonder if every day was going to be your last thanks to the capriciousness of whoever held your leash, and it looked to Vette like she wasn't going to act like the very beasts she had once been owned by.
More than that, Vestara was clearly competent. The way she had handled the tomb, the terentatek, even Khem Val himself - it all spoke to someone who knew what she was doing. Someone who could actually protect the people under her care, rather than simply using them as disposable tools or losing them to someone stronger and more talented. That was more than most Sith could claim, and infinitely more than Vette had ever dared hope for in an owner. And perhaps…perhaps, someday, she might be a free woman again.
The sound of footsteps echoing down the corridor drew her from her musings, and she looked up to see a figure approaching through the dim lighting. Not Vestara - she would have recognized that particular gait anywhere by now, and besides, Vestara was likely on her way off planet at this point as a freshly-appointed Apprentice. This was someone new, someone walking with the sort of deliberate, measured pace that suggested they were trying very hard to project confidence they didn't necessarily feel. A newbie fresh off the shuttle then, just like Vestara had figured.
Then she stepped fully into the light, and Vette stared for a long, long moment, then blinked hard and shook her head.
"Lana Beniko. Gotta admit, I did not see that coming." she remarked as she took in the gorgeous blue-eyed blonde. Pushing herself upright and wiggling her fingers in a wave, she flashed a sly smile. "Hey there. Names Vette. Let's have a good time together, okay?