The Dawn of Decidion

Deciding to really test his favorite Sith, Riftstalker snuck onto the the Arren grounds, disabling or even outright fooling the security perimeter and guards as he did.  When necessary, he used the stealth field generator in his belt as he made his way through the corridors and then out into the arboretum to find her.  Keeping himself hidden in the stealth field, he slowly made his way out along the path, careful not to disturb anything that would give an outward sign of his presence while keeping his mind calm to lessen the chance of her picking up on him through the force too soon.

Jocelyn Arren was standing in the central area of the structure - a 'picnic' type clearing with black wrought iron benches around a clearing that was mostly grass save for a little round wrought iron table with two chairs. She was wearing a white sundress with thin straps over her otherwise bare shoulders, the skirt of which was about knee-length, her bared feet partially concealed by the grass, and there was a look of concentration on her face, her head tilted as though listening.

The air became very still as he got close enough to come into view of this scene, almost as though it was thickening around him. The moment after he put eyes on her, her head swiveled in his direction, her eyes narrowing as though trying to see something difficult to pinpoint.

Seeing her look in his direction, he reached down to deactivate the stealth belt, a grin on his face as it shimmered into view.  "I wondered how close I could get to you before you caught on, and even now I'm betting I could have moved a bit closer."

Riftstalker wore mercenary armor, black and silver, a rifle slung on his back, with no fewer than 3 vibroblades visible, though she knew from previous experience with him that he would have many more hidden in the armor and on his body.

He walked into the clearing, toward one of the chairs at the table. "I brought you a gift.  Besides myself."

Transformed from poised and dangerous to friendly and relaxed, Jocelyn favored her friend with an approving smile, though she would never give him the satisfaction of agreeing that he could possibly have gotten any closer to her without consequences. She walked over to join him at the little table, her voice pleasant and just as conversational as his own. "I was wondering when you'd get around to visiting me again. What did you bring me?"

Riftstalker pulled a small holo-projector from a pouch on his belt and set it on the table, activating the playback button.  The recording was from somewhere on Korriban, evidenced by the ruins and statues in the background of a crypt.  It showed a group of seven acolytes surrounding another that had been backed into a wall, all of them are armed with the traditional warblades that were earned as part of the trial to even see if one was worthy to continue training once they'd reached the academy.

The group of seven attacked as one, forcing the cornered Rattataki to defend himself.  Using the force to send one flying into the other, he did a high backflip out of the circle they had formed around him, landing on a ledge. He hopped to avoid a blade coming at his ankles and then spun as he sliced into the face of his attacker with his warblade.  The Taki went on the attack against the other four before their two comrades could recover, leaping into the fray, parrying with his wristguard before stabbing into the heart of a human.  

Pulling the blade out, he fell to his knee and raised it above his head to block an attack from behind him.  Rolling backwards, he brought his foot up to connect with the stomach of that attacker as he sliced at their Achilles tendon, severing it to bring them down. He was instantly back on his feet, swinging into the acolyte's neck to finish him off.  

The other two learned the lesson and attacked as one, trying to flank him from either side, but it became obvious the Taki was used to such tactics as he backed himself against the wall so that they were forced come at him from the front.  The two he'd first used the force to send flying were starting to come around, and frustration registered in the Taki's face. The fight was taking too long by his estimation.

Quickly, his expression became something far more vicious as the two who were closing in decided to charge. The first swung for the Taki's neck as the other aimed for his ankle. The Taki used his blade to block the one for his neck as he hopped to bring his boot down on the one swung low, catching the flat edge and coming down so hard that it pulled from the hand of it's wielder.  Using the Force again, he casually broke the now weaponless Sith's neck, making it a much more even three on one.  

With four of their comrades dead at his hand, the two who had been taken out first decided to retreat, calling out with a xenophobic slur as they ran off (likely to try to and escape the academy and their failure altogether). The last tried to do the same but the Taki was too quick, grabbing him with the Force to hold him in place as he stalked toward him with the look of a predator on his face. He said something the recording couldn't quite pick up, and the Acolyte stammered out a name. With a nod, the Taki beheaded his last opponent as the image faded out.

Jocelyn's face was passive as the fight began, but that quickly changed when the Taki's blade sunk into the heart of one of his attackers early on. In fact, as the fight raged on, she had begun to lean forward, emerald eyes keenly following each attack and counter with growing intensity. By the end of the recording, her hands were clenched around the edges of her chair seat while her expression near-mirrored the predatory look on the Taki's face.

As soon as the image faded out, she pressed the playback button, remaining silent as she watched once more with laser-like focus. Finally, as the image faded out for the second time, she snapped her attention to the man opposite her with a fiery excitement near-emanating from her, waiting expectantly for him to speak again.

Riftstalker merely smiled and activated another recording. This time, there was no question of exactly where it had been recorded on Korriban - it was within the heart of the Sith Academy. The Taki was there again, but this time he had a lightsaber in hand, and his opponent was one of the overseers.

The Taki growled, his face once again filled with the look of a predator, "You tried to have me killed.  And failed.  You should have known better than to send only seven."

The overseer said nothing in response, merely igniting his own saber and charging.  The fight was long, and just when it appeared to be near a stalemate, the look on the Taki's face came into full view of the camera. He had been toying with the overseer, the look of pleasure each time he parried an attack and counterattacked gave him away. He could have ended the fight at any time, but he had wanted to give the overseer false hope.

Finally, he caught the overseers blade on his and moved in close, forcing what should have a been a more powerful opponent back.  "And you called me a weak abomination."  

A spin and a slash and the overseers head was on the floor.

If the last recording had captured Jocelyn's interest, this one had her practically salivating. "Is he still on Korriban?"

"Of course.  Awaiting judgement for killing five acolytes and an overseer.  For as much as you Sith respect power, you tend to get bent out of shape when politically connected fools are killed."

She looked back at the space where moments ago, the taki had slain the overseer in the holo-recording, a wicked smile on her lips. In the next moment, she was on her feet, stalking toward the path to the door. "Coming?"

"I had a feeling I made the right choice in coming to you with this instead of Kaldaras.  I knew you would give it your immediate attention."  Riftstalker stood to follow her.

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Korriban

The Rattataki known as Rusok Kras was pacing in one of the rooms in the academy, the door sealed with a force field. The sense of a new presence washed across his Force senses, stopping him mid-stride, and a moment later, he was standing at the shimmering field to taunt the two guards on the other side of the portal. "Something tells me that if you know what is good for you, you'll go get your master and my lightsaber."

Of course, the guards ignored him, and in the quiet minutes that followed, he became aware of two things: someone powerful was coming to claim him, and in exchange for his absolute loyalty, she would see him to the pinnacle of his potential. It was not an offer, a deal or something in question in any way. It was simply his reality to accept.

Rusok became content, perhaps even a bit eager to meet the woman whose face was now so clear in his mind.  Shaking his head, he chastised his guards. "Don't blame me when my new master cuts both your heads off."

Minutes later, a red saberstaff blade abruptly erupted from the back of the guard to the left side of his door, and where there had been nothing but air in the space before the guards a moment before, a slender figure no more than five and a half feet tall shrouded in black stood with one hand on the hilt of a saberstaff while the other was outstretched toward the second guard.

Lightning leapt from Lady Somaesthesia's fingertips to assault the second guard as she withdrew the blade from the chest of the first, letting the dead man's body slump to the floor. Her remaining target seized with the flow of the red-purple energy, and by the time he had managed to fight to get his hand to his weapon, the saberstaff's humming red blade was against his throat. A cold, mechanically altered voice sounded from the helmeted figure. "Go and tell your masters that the prisoner is now a member of House Arren."

Rusok watched from the other side of the force field, and as the second guard ran off to warn his masters, he closed his eyes and concentrated until the sound of something shattering within the wall beside the doorway heralded the force field's deactivation. "Well done, Master."

He stepped out into the hall and moved to bow on one knee before the Sith Lady.

Somaesthesia deactivated her saberstaff and placed a gloved hand atop his head in tacit acceptance. The hand dropped beneath his chin to draw him up to his feet until her mask was angled up to allow her to look at his face and the cold mechanical voice sounded from the helmet's speaker again. "Where is your lightsaber, Apprentice?"

"Their master took it when he found me standing over his pet.  He was waiting for the right moment to execute me, to make an example out of the 'inferior species' that have infested his sacred ground."

"Then, we'll go get it." She gestured for him to lead the way, dissolving into shadow the moment he turned to obey.

Rusok stalked through the halls of the academy, the look on his face enough to send most back into the nearest open door as he moved into the upper levels.  Finally, he was stopped by a pair of guards at the end of a hallway. Apparently, news had traveled that the prisoner was free, and they were there to put him back in his cage.  Rusok never hesitated or even broke stride as he moved between them, each hand moving up to strike a throat, cutting off their air before they had a chance to level their blasters at him.  A twist with the Force and the non-Force using guards were dead as his feet.  Ahead, two Sith apprentices stepped from previously closed doors, their sabers activated.

Exactly halfway between the Sith and Rusok, the figure in black seemed to coalesce into existence as though formed by tendrils of darkness that reach from every shadow within sight, and the mechanically altered voice sounded again. "Step aside. I do not kill my brethren unless they make it necessary."

Rusok crossed his arms behind his master, waiting for the Sith to comply.  They had, of course, seen the footage of him murdering his fellow acolytes by now and also come to the same conclusion she had about the footage of him and the overseer.  Faced with a true Dark Lady of the Sith, and her new apprentice, they deactivate their sabers and fell in front of the two, walking toward the door at the end of the hall and serving as an escort to see them inside without further conflict.

Satisfied, Somaesthesia signaled for Rusok to join her at her side with a simple inclination of her head, prompting him with a sense through the Force, so that already, there would be the appearance of Master and Apprentice acting as one. Once he stepped next to her, they strode confidently down the hall and through the door to find his accuser.

As suspected, the human waiting behind the desk was one of the more xenophobic overseers employed on Korriban. Four more Sith acolytes stood guard before the desk.

The first two acolytes that had led them inside did not move to join their brethren, instead standing at the sides of Rusok and his new master. "It is always a pleasure when a member of House Arren comes to the Academy.  Though I regret that this..."  He spit the word “alien” with contempt as he continued. "...has somehow managed to fool you into thinking he is worth all this trouble."

"Do you dare insinuate that I can somehow be hoodwinked by a student of this academy?" As before, there was no note of threat or warning in the mechanical tone that emitted from the helmet, but the very air around the Sith woman spoke volumes. The question was not just a threat, but a challenge, and something about her regal posture made it very clear that she would have no problem putting any questions as to her dangerous reputation to rest.

"No...I did not mean..." He stammered as he began to choke, Rusok's arm raised with his hand closing into a fist.

"Apologize for insulting my master and turn over both my lightsaber and your own. Do it quickly before I regret even giving you the chance to buy your pathetic life."

The overseer choked out an "I'm sorry, forgive me!" and pushed the two lightsabers across his desk.

The weapons flew across the room to Rusok's hand. Dropping his force grip on the Overseer's neck, he clipped his own saber to his belt while holding out the Overseer's to his master.  "He would like you to have this, as a symbol of his new fealty to your house, Master."

Rusok's eyes remained on the Overseer, who could only nod in response as he rubbed a hand at his throat.

Somaesthesia took the lightsaber from Rusok. "Already, my apprentice shows wisdom beyond his training. I would have seen you dead for insulting my judgement. You should thank him for allowing you to live in service to a great Sith House."

The overseer sneered contempt, but as he began to protest having to thank an alien, he got no further than "Ne..." out before his head spun with a loud crack as his neck snapped.

"Anyone else?"  Rusok growled at the remaining guards.  When none of them moved, he turned and offered his master a predatory smile. "It appears that you have gained six new underlings here at the academy, Master."

The Sith Lady simply nodded and turned to stride out of the room, expecting him at her side as she made her way back to her ship in silence.

Once the ship's hatch closed behind them, the mechanical quality to the voice that came from the helmet was gone, leaving behind it the clear, silken tone of his new master, albeit still carried by the helmet's microphone. "Very well done, Decidion."