The Rebel Faction

Sith Temple

The communal chamber of the temple, where most Apprentice training sessions were held, was cast in an eerie glow from the dim glow panels adorning the high roof. In the center sat a lone form, the Sith Master meditating as he waited for those he had summoned to arrive.

In fact, Vance had sent a pupil away a matter of minutes prior, with strict instructions to inform a select few Apprentice of his need to speak with them. It concerned a mission, of sorts, that would test both their ability, and their loyalty...

Opening his eyes, the Sith Master let out a slow breath. He sent out his senses, searching the temple beyond, seeking out the presence of those concerned.

They would arrive shortly...

"Are you certain of it's origins?" asked the hooded and cloaked figure into the holounit. The man he was speaking too, had the rank cylinder of a commander on his uniform, which consisted of such garb that one would think either mercenary or bounty hunter of some kind. That was not too far off the mark, but what this person ran was a legitimate organization with legal ties to many planets.

"Yes, milord." stated the man simply. Just talking to the hooded figure, his employer, was bad enough. He didn't want to waste any time of small talk, nor was the employer, a user of the dark side of the force, in the mood right now for small talk. An item that he had been seeking for some time had apparently come up, and he would not be happy if it was just another false sighting.

"Very well. Retrieve the item with utmost caution to protect it from harm. I do not care what you do to it's current protectors. Once you have retrieved the item, contact me again on this frequency. And commander....Do not fail me again." warned the hooded figure as he pointed a single pale finger at the man, who visibly wilted backwards, before bowing and severing the communications link.

Sighning inwardly, the figure threw off his cloak and hood, revealing the features of Darth Necros underneath, the sith knight who was known to some at the temple as having employed lackeys to do his dirty work for him. Some thought him lazy and weak for relying on underlings to do his work for him, but others recognized it as a simple layer of security to keep his identity a secret from those who didn't need to know about him and his works.

The door to the room knocked. Necros looked over at it, and reached out with the force slightly, wondering who would be disturbing him. He found the mind of a young apprentice. Using a slight gesture of the force to key the door open, he let the little boy in.

"Speak. Why do you disturb me?" asked Necros in a slightly cold voice, letting a little threat enter his voice. While he would never strike down a fellow sith, he did not appreciate being disturbed without a good reason, or really, for any reason at all, espically not after dealing with fringe scum like that commander.

"Sorry master Necros. I am searching for some apprentices that Master Jas has requested an audience with." stammered the boy as he looked fearfully towards the foreboding knight.

"There are none here. I suggest you search elsewhere." he sneered before turning his back to the little boy, a clear sign of dismissal. Ever since an encounter on an asteriod and other failures and backfires, Necros had learned of his own limits, and the taste of those limits had left his emotions bitter, reflecting upon the way he treated others here at the academy, espically apprentices, now. The only ones who he showed any sign of respect or admiration towards anymore were the masters or a few select other knights.

As the little kid fled the room, Necros turned back to stare at the door.

This would not do. While it was the dark side to be angry, this much anger clouded his thoughts and emotions. He recalled a force technique often used by dark siders to dispell unwanted emotions.

He went through that routine now, letting the force flow through him, gathering up his anger and hate, then channeling it out of his body. He growled and snarled as the emotions flowed out of him, and manifested it self in several ways. A glass of water sitting on a table nearby broke into shards, as the entire temple shook slightly.

Moments later, it was over. Feeling much better, mood wise and thinking wise, Necros decided to go on a little walk. Now that he could accomplish it, he needed to get some thinking done.

The Apprentices arrived.

Ithron, as usual, was as prompt as he could be, and this pleased Vance; it did well to be able to show one's ability to react quickly, even in such a small manner as when being merely summoned.

Mira, though also one to remain the strived, was only closely behind the former. She had proven her ability amid the Aprentices, to be sure, but one could never seek to gain too much at once, lest one be overwhelmed.

None the less, as each presented him, or herself, in arrival, so to did Vance nod and motion for them to be seated. There was really quite little required in the way of formalities, it was simply expected that when a Master called an Apprentice, that one paid attention.

For a moment the Sith Master said nothing, his attention having shifted somewhat to encompass the temple beyond his immediate meeting chamber. Above, it felt as though one of the Sith was undergoing mental preparation, and the temple was vibrated slightly in response to the emotion purged. The being responsible was known to Vance, especially following the display of presence, and the Sith Master decided he would seek out the Sith Knight and speak with him...

But once he had concluded with the Apprentices.

"Apprentices, I have called you here to speak with you of matters I wish to have completed," Vance started, his voice clearing from lack of recent use, following his hours long meditations, as he spoke. "You both continue to prove yourselves as able, even adept, students of the Dark Side. However, despite your individual power, the differences you have from one another has caused a rift, of sorts, to begin forming. Needless to say, in order to instil that relationship of brotherhood, you will be working together on a mission I have deemed appropriate for you both..."

Looking to Ithron, Vance narrowed his eyes. He had sensed the growing darkness in the young man, the gnawing at his presence, and it had begun to affect the Apprentice. While it remained that the Sith embraced the dark, so to was it that a Sith should know the limits of how wilfully one gave himself over to the forces at his command.

"While you may not be completely comfortable with one another, you will be required to place your resentment to one side, in order to complete my commands," The Sith Master continued, glancing to Mira. "It has come to my attention that an object of some importance as recently been discovered. What I want from you, is for the two of you to travel to Korriban; once there you will seek out this item for me, and return it as soon as you are able."

The young woman seemed reluctant, as of late. She seemed to almost be tip-toeing around the other Apprentice, or at least emanating a feeling of caution; and if this remained the case, then an eventual confrontation to quell ill feeling toward the other would be a possibility... and right now, with the Sith numbers beginning to draw thin, the Sith Master required each of his Apprentices to be loyal and dedicated to the Sith Order's ideals.

Internal bickering led to rivalry, and while this was acceptable within the Order, so to was there potential for far greater forms of hatred and in-house conflict... the same conflict that could end a Sith Order's era, if history was an indication.

"There is no discussion," Vance said, his voice final. "This is simply how I wish it to be. You will work together, and you will succeed in this mission... return to me when you have done so. The fact I have told you nothing of the prize that you seek, can be considered a portion of a test for the both of you."

Smiling, the Sith Master closed his eyes and began to focus his thoughts.

"Dismissed."

"Yes, Master," Mira added. She hated it that Ithron seemed to beat her to everything - he had arrived first, he had answered first... Well, maybe hate wasn't exactly the right word. Annoyed was more like it. Despite the other apprentice's actions, and despite his obsession with anger and darkness, Mira couldn't exactly be said to hate him. She was annoyed at his antics, and fearful of his corruption. But she didn't hate him any more than she hated herself. Much less than she hated the Jedi.

That's an interesting thought. It was the first time she had actually even allowed that idea into her head. To hate the Jedi. What exactly does that mean? That I hate their ideas, their inaction? Certainly not the people; many of them are, or were, my friends. Master Horn, for one.

But now was not the time for these sorts of thoughts. Mira put them on the back burner of her mind, where she could readily access them when she had nothing else to do. Most likely sometime when Ithron was annoying her.

As she rose, she bowed once more to Master Jas. Other thoughts continued to run through her head as she left the room. Why, if this artifact is so important, does he want me to go after it? Is it a test of my abilities? Or does its location call for something I specialize in? No, couldn't be that. If it is so important, why does Master Jas not go himself? Or is this simply a way for the Master to force Ithron and I to work together?

As usual, none of these questions had any answers. Ever since her duel with Ithron, she had been plagued by questions that had no reasonable answer. At times the number even surpassed the number of questions that had run through her mind as a Jedi. These questions were of a different sort, though. Darker, perhaps.

She took a deep breath and realized that Ithron walked beside her still. She glanced over at him. Such a simple action, yet even a look brought with it an oppressive feeling. The darkness that consumed him spilled over into her soul, blotting out more of the light that was left.

That was another interesting thought. Mira had not yet been completely consumed by the Dark Side. In fact, were the truth told, she desired it that way. She had seen what the Dark Side could do to those who surrendered themselves fully to it, and she wanted no part of that. It literally rotted the flesh, and it still sickened her.

No doubt at some point on her journey she would reach that point where the darkness was all that was left, but it was not yet. She did not know it, but this moment was the most dangerous point for her. She still treaded close to the line, perhaps waiting for something to show her that the Jedi would take an active role in the galaxy, yet it would take very little to force her to abandon all trust in their ways. This was the point at which every Sith stood. This was Revan and Malak outside the Dantooine ruins before the discovery of the Star Forge. This was Anakin Skywalker facing Obi-Wan Kenobi on Mustafar. This was Luke Skywalker, dueling his father on Bespin. This was Darth Vader, watching his son being killed by Emperor Palpatine. This was Mira, now standing ready to journey to Korriban to seek an unknown artifact. As the old saying went, There is nothing new under the sun.

But none of this was known to Mira. She simply embraced the teachings of the Sith in the ways she knew. The rest, she assumed, would simply come with time.

Ithron still walked with her, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. Well, she thought, if I have to work with the man, I might as well break the ice. "So, any ideas what Master Jas wants?" she asked.

Ithron shook his head, which Mira at first assumed to be a negative response, but the "What?" that followed it belied her first assumption. She repeated herself, already a bit exasperated at him. He should have been paying attention. "I said, do you have any ideas about what it is that Master Jas is sending us after?"

"I don't." Ithron replied simply. "But I'm sure you can sense what's going on in the galaxy at the moment..."

"Of course," replied Mira. It wasn't so much that she could sense it as she had heard about it in the previous weeks when she was on Telos. And she still had a connection with some of the Jedi and could feel some of what was going on. "The Jedi have disbanded. Well, not entirely. They've dissolved as a cohesive unit. I felt this coming over a year ago, before I left the Order. It's not news to me."

Ithron, changing the subject, asked her what she knew of Korriban. Apparently he had not studied the ancient planet of Sith lore, nor had he ever been there. Mira had done both, and when she was there she barely escaped alive. Certain things could only be discovered by being there, so she kept much of the information to herself. But she did enlighten him on those things that were a matter of record.

"Well, Korriban is thought to be the home of the Sith species," she replied. "Apparently the Sith stole the name from the race. Later, a fallen Jedi - I forget his name - fled to the planet and established what would later become the Sith Empire. That Empire, like all others in the past, fell, and the planet was forgotten for over a thousand years.

"It was resettled by the surviving Dark Jedi after the Exar Kun War, but the Sith Academy there was wiped out by the Jedi Revan. Still, many Sith tombs are on its surface, their wonders awaiting any treasure hunters that can get past their traps.

"Several Sith Empires have risen since that time, and many of them had an Academy or some sort of learning center based on Korriban. But for the most part, the ruins of the original academy are unchanged. It is even said that Darth Sidious visited there on several occasions, but even he was unable to overcome the ghosts of the Sith that still reside in the tombs."

She broke off, looking at Ithron. His face was clouded, confused, even...eager. She reached deeper, subtly probing his mind, looking through his mind. She felt the power of Korriban, the Dark energy waiting to be tapped. She felt his excitement and his desire to solve the mystery of the darkness inside him.

"Ithron," she said. He glanced her way, and she held his gaze. "You may find answers on Korriban, but don't trust them. The planet is dangerous to all who set foot on its surface, and especially so to those who can touch the Force. The Dark Side is strong there; perhaps too strong to even allow clarity of thought. I know."

She left it at that, walking in silence for a time. His response, when it came, was unexpected.