Open Terrain

Headmaster:├óÔé¼┼ôNow we will focus on lightsaber combat.├óÔé¼┬Ø
*The headmaster stood in front of a large training area filled with hopefuls.*
Headmaster:├óÔé¼┬ØUs Sith, we only use the lightsaber, a jedi├óÔé¼Ôäós tool, as a weapon, in order to shame them.
But a Sith must be an expert with a lightsaber. And expert at combat in all forms, but especially in this.
No jedi should ever defeat a Sith in lighsaber combat.├óÔé¼┬Ø
He pauses to let the words sink in.

Headmaster:├óÔé¼┬ØTake your places, and let the training begin.├óÔé¼┬Ø

*All of the hopefuls step into separate training slots.*

*Several droids step out.*

Headmaster:├óÔé¼┬ØThese are training droids. Their plans and stockpile were stolen from a jedi academy.
There are two kinds of these droids. Ones that imitate force powers, and the others that wield lightsabers.
They can be especially deadly, but for this instance, since hardly any of you have experience with the blade, we will only attack you with, one. And at a low level.
But I├óÔé¼Ôäóm afraid the blade is still├óÔé¼┬ªreal.
Begin!├óÔé¼┬Ø

*The less experienced students eyes wide, look back stunned, and then back as their separate droids step out of the spawning tubes.*

*Clack clack clack. Snap hisss.*
*It├óÔé¼Ôäós the same all around the board.
The droids stepped out, and ignited their blades, and began to circle their respective hopefuls.
All are nervous and in the low ready├óÔé¼┬ª
All except├óÔé¼┬ªThe tall man, from before.*
He simply stood there, expressionless├óÔé¼┬ªhe didn├óÔé¼Ôäót even look at his droid.
The droid watched, stepping towards him, beginning to circle.
The tall man simply stood, legs spread, hands behind his back, staring forward into space.

*The droid took two more precautious steps├óÔé¼┬ªthen lunged forward.*
In one swift move, seemingly in slow motion, the tall man lifted his arm into the air, the hilt of his saber leaping from his belt, igniting and landing in his hand, and he swung it, deflecting the first attack, knocking the droid blade away, and counter attacking, slicing down through the droids arm, ├óÔé¼┬ªwith one hand. And in the same move, sliced across through it├óÔé¼Ôäós legs, then brought the blade up, hitting the droids other hand, catching it├óÔé¼Ôäós fingers.
Before the droid hit the ground, the blade was retracted, and the hilt snaped back onto his belt.
*Many simply stood, mouths open, unable to look away, many students, and some master├óÔé¼Ôäós.
Then a scream went out.*

*People looked and rushed to the scene.*
*Jawn sat on the ground, holding his arm. The droid was on the ground, damaged, but able to lift it├óÔé¼Ôäós saber. Jawn├óÔé¼Ôäós hand was missing.*
*The droid tried to move towards the boy on what it had left of legs, and as it got within striking distance, Jawn, through clenched teeth, and rage in his eyes, sent lightning flashing from his fingertips.
The droid takes the lightning, wrapping around it├óÔé¼Ôäós body, then, shortly deactivates, shorting out.*

*Jawn lays back and rests, breathing the pain away.*

Alilah watches him from out of the corner of her eye.

Highly aware and alert to the reality of it now, she watches, face showing her alertness.
She steps to the side, following with the circle of the droid.

*Next to her training square, another student screams in aguish as the droid he combats does something to him.
Another boy is pierced through his gut.*

Alilah, hearing all this around her, can barely take it├óÔé¼┬ªthen finally├óÔé¼┬ª
Sucks it up and focuses, shutting everything out.
*The droid makes it├óÔé¼Ôäós first move. She blocks, then steps back. As does the droid. It watches her.
As she it.*
It then makes another move, lunging at her again.
She parries, and then strikes!
A hit!
*Some of the hydrolics on the droids arm steam and spark.
The droid looks down to its arm.*

Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôYes!├óÔé¼┬Ø She whispers to herself.

*Then the droid simply grabs the saber with its other hand.*

Her mouth fell a little more open, she did not expect that.

But then determined once again, she refocuses as the droid continues to circle her.

*On the other side of the room, other hopefuls fall. Some without limbs, others using force attacks to try and stop their robotic enemies.*

Alilah, watches as the machine continues to circle her.
Then she has an idea.
Instead of continuing away in the circle, she suddenly moves back, towards the machine.
It tries to start going in the other direction, but then steps forward, attacking.
Alilah, parries, parries, attacks, attacks, attacks, overhand chop, low swing, the droid pushes it├óÔé¼Ôäós midriff back to miss the blade.
*As the sabers come back to par, they lock.*

Then Alilah remembers an old trick she once saw├óÔé¼┬ª
She slides the blade downward as hard and fast as she can.
The droids fingers come off as she slices across them.
*The blade falls to the ground as the droid looks at the severed fingers.*
*Then watches its opponent, circling. It then rolls, grabbing the hilt, and coming back up, spinning around. With its original damaged arm, and limited mobility of it, stiff and bent, it swings left and right at its organic opponent.*
Seeing the limited ability of its attacks, Alilah simply steps backwards at every swing, then brings her blade up at an angle the machine cannot defend against.
Slice├óÔé¼┬ªSlice.
*The droid falls apart in three pieces.*

She lets out a sigh of relief.

And deactivates her saber.
Leaning forward, hands on knees, she breathes her victory.

Then hears the commotion on the other side of the room.
As everyone nurses their wounds and Alilah looks to the other side of the training area, she sees├óÔé¼┬ª the tall man again, fighting├óÔé¼┬ªstill?

The tall man steps back as two droids step closer to him, both with blades ignited.
Then they both step forward, attacking.
He deflects, and counters to each.

He continues to step back as they both attempt to catch him off guard and strike.
But he simply spins to meet their blades.

*Clash, clash, strike, strike, strike, parry, parry, lunge, counter.*

*The droids were relentless, but it seemed they often had to revaluate because somehow they always seemed to end up on the same end of the man instead of separate sides.*

Was he doing it on purpose?

She quickly put the thought out of her head.
Impossible. He├óÔé¼Ôäód have to be the headmaster to possibly be half that good.

She soon comes out of her thoughts├óÔé¼┬ªbut only to see one of the droids down├óÔé¼┬ªand the other├óÔé¼┬ª

*Clash clash, grab, slice, slice.*

*The second droid fell too.*
She watches it fall.
*Looking at the droid corpses. The crowd lets out small cheers.*
The tall man steps out of the way to the console to deactivate it as if it did not even phase him.
*Then another voice steps forward as he turns leaving.*

Sith Student:├óÔé¼┼ôHey hopeful!├óÔé¼┬Ø

*Everyone freezes as if they all know the voice.*

*They move aside as the tall man looks to who spoke.*
He sees a boy, a little younger than himself, as the crowd splits.
The boy holds his lightsaber hilt. Standing, staring.
The tall man's eyes squint, measuring up the boy if he was being real and if he had any actual ability.
The boy stares back.

*Another boy whispers to the challenger.*

Another Student:├óÔé¼┬ØStudents aren├óÔé¼Ôäót supposed to challenge hopefuls. They aren├óÔé¼Ôäót even in yet.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Sith Student:├óÔé¼┬ØShutup!├óÔé¼┬Ø The boy whispers back, holding the stare slightly tilting his head.

The tall man breaks the stare soon as if it├óÔé¼Ôäós not worth it.
Then takes his ragged jacket and starts towards the exit.
The boy watches, his lips more pursed, smile gone as his challenge leaves.
Sith Student. ├óÔé¼┼ôHey I├óÔé¼Ôäóm talking to you!├óÔé¼┬Ø
The boy commands as the tall man walks past.
Sith student:├óÔé¼┬ØWhats the matter? You afraid? Sith know no fear. You want to be a Sith don├óÔé¼Ôäót you?├óÔé¼┬Ø
The tall man stops├óÔé¼┬ªthen keeps walking.

The boy, not known to be ignored, especially by one competent in the force and lightsaber combat, grits his teeth in anger. Then smiles a mischievous smile as if a lightbulb comes on.
Then ignites his saber, suddenly throwing it at the tall man!

The tall man spins, igniting his blade, swigging, hitting the boy├óÔé¼Ôäós blade down. It clatters to the ground behind him.
The tall man stands, hilt ignited in hand, staring at the boy.
The boy stands proud, accepting and holding the stare, leaning back, proud.
The boy├óÔé¼Ôäós hand twitches a little. The hilt does as well.
But the tall man stands still.
*The hilt then tumbles across the ground back towards it├óÔé¼Ôäós master.*
The tall man quickly lifts his foot, and stomps down.
His boot holding the hilt to the ground.
The tall man continues to stare at the boy.
Then quickly slices the hilt in half.
The boy stunned, growing more angry by the second, looks at this sliced hilt, then brings his glare to the tall man standing on most of it.
The tall man simply watches, bitter stare returning against the boy├óÔé¼Ôäós.
Then turns away, deigniting his own hilt and exiting the training chamber.

Alilah, watches as he exits.
Something was very strange about that ma-

Hanso:├óÔé¼┬ØOh hey. Are you alright?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah, eyes wide, quickly turns to find Hanso coming up behind her.

Her eyes light up but she quickly cools them down.
She then notices as he approaches, he is limping, and holding his arm.
A small burn cut on his leg and one on his arm mess up the usual design of his clothing.

He notices her look.

Hanso:├óÔé¼┬ØJust a few nicks. Are you okay?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØYeah, just fine actually.├óÔé¼┬Ø She says pointing at her droid.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØBut did you see that?├óÔé¼┬Ø She says staring at the training square where the commotion of the tall man had been going on.

Hanso:├óÔé¼┬ØWhat?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah, looks about as the rest of the hopefuls are being attended to by medics├óÔé¼┬ªif they are alive.
She sees the devastation to her fellow hopefuls├óÔé¼┬ªand then notices├óÔé¼┬ªno one else had really seen, at least not any hopefuls.

Her perplexed look changes as she finally turns around to shrug it off.

*A medic approaches them with supplies.*

*Test one...*
Headmaster's voice:"Your first test will be hard for most of you. But it is by far not the worst you will endure. You must find a Barab Ore Ingot. It will be a vital component for your new lightaber's when you make them...If you haven├óÔé¼Ôäót already" He turns to leave, then stops.
Headmaster:"Oh, and by the way. An ingot is your ticket of passage back into the academy. So you better hurry. Cause if you don't find one in the next 50 hours...You might get a bit of a sunburn...hahahah"

*Thunder cracks and rolls across the dark cloud filled sky.
Rain drops heavily from above.*
A very wet, and very miserable Alilah runs to under an outcropping of rock from the nearby massive rock formation.
Mouth open, she turns, looking back out at the downpours covering the terrain, wrapping her arms in front of her by grasping her elbows. She controls her shivers as she looks out into the night, then turns around - and freezes.

There he was.

The tall man from before.

He sat, squatted on an inner outcropping under the main one, against the rock.
He stared out into the distance as well, and then finally turned his gaze towards her.

She finally broke it, her eyes shifting about, searching for something to look at.

While she did, unseen to her on the other side of his body, he slipped a communications holocom back into his belt.

She finally turned away, and sat down, wrapping her arms around her legs, hugging them to her chest to stay warm, rocking ever so slightly.

Finally, she turns her head a little.
Alilah:"So,... have you found any Ore ingots yet?"

No response.

Alilah:"...I haven't found any yet either..."

She pauses, looking forward again, then staring at the ground.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØJust a few├óÔé¼┬ªhours left├óÔé¼┬ª├óÔé¼┬Ø
She paused. Wanting to not give up hope. She decided to change the subject.

Alilah:"So...what ...what do you think about ...you know,... yesterday?"

*Again, silence fills the air in terms of a response. Only the sound of the rain heavily falling to the muddy ground.*

Alilah:"...Me either...I can't stop thinking about it...James...he├óÔé¼┬ªhe seemed so nice...
Do you think he was really trying t-├óÔé¼┬ª to kill all of us...or even the headmaster?"

She stares out now into space, thinking or at least pretending to.

Then her gaze lowers.

Alilah:"Well, ...I-I guess I ...better get started again... Not long before...daylight..."

But as she turns she sees...he is gone.

She scans the rocks for him, but he is nowhere to be seen.
She looks back down at the ground.
Starring.
She knew she needed help.
But he would not help her.
No one would.
This was the Sith.
Was she going to die?
The thought of the radiation from the star├óÔé¼┬ªthe bright light├óÔé¼┬ªtoo bright├óÔé¼┬ªbaking her alive├óÔé¼┬ª
She shudders and is about to get up when something catches her eye.

*On the ground nearby/behind her lie a handful of small rocks...strange in shape and color.*

A small hint of a smile begins to spread on her face as she realizes what they are.

She turns around again and looks out into the rain for the man, but he was still nowhere to be seen.

She allows the realization to sink in...smiling largely again, then suppresses the smile, turns quickly and grabs the stones up.
And runs back out into the rain.

The strange model of a ship, hidden in the terrain, suddenly sends out a burst message, encoded and encrypted with CDDC codes out into space.

*Running out of the dark rain comes the figure of a humanoid. Coming closer the figure of the humanoid begins to appear more and more female. Then finally, coming into the hillside academy entrance doorway to get out of the rain, dashing into the outcropping covering the door, Alilah stops.*
Standing there, looking really happy despite her being soaking wet which would cause anyone else to be miserable, a smile on her face, she looks around, then pulls out the ingots.
She holds them as high as she can, showing them off before the camera.
The door unlocks and slides open.

She comes inside the dry place.

*Many wet hopefuls and some officers stand inside.*
Alilah now joins them.

She looks around smiling slightly still.
But then├óÔé¼┬ªher smile begins to fade.
She doesn├óÔé¼Ôäót see him.
Where was Hanso?
She continues to glance about, scanning the faces in the crowd.
Looking├óÔé¼┬ªLooking├óÔé¼┬ª
Nowhere├óÔé¼┬ª
She finally comes up to Jawn.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØHey Jawn. Have you seen Hanso?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Jawn:├óÔé¼┬ØNo, why?├óÔé¼┬ØHe says with a look that was borderline, ├óÔé¼╦£Why are you asking me?├óÔé¼Ôäó.

She looks away, hints of worry beginning to form on her face├óÔé¼┬ª

She continues to look around├óÔé¼┬ª

Then runs to an officer.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØOfficer. Have you seen Hanso?├óÔé¼┬Ø

The officer looks down at the female.

Sith officer:├óÔé¼┬ØNo hopeful. He may have passed through earlier. But know that the first person to come back was Joni, and that was not that long ago. Check the dorms if you wish though.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Running off to inspect the dorms, Alilah, dashes out the foyer doorway.

Running past the rooms, Jawn, Toni, Dak, Johi, Ah, Hanso!

Empty.
The room was lifeless.

She freezes, her mind racing.

She then begins running though the halls.
Looking desperately for him.

Nowhere.

She returns to the main foyer entrance.

Looking around at the other hopefuls getting dried off or talking about their own stories of adventure in the wild looking for their own separate prizes, he is still nowhere to be seen.

Alilah((Maybe he is just late. Yeah.. Maybe that├óÔé¼Ôäós it. He just hasn├óÔé¼Ôäót come in yet...))
Looking back at the monitor showing the outside.
The sky was beginning to lighten.

Alilah((I├óÔé¼Ôäóll just wait right here├óÔé¼┬ªhe├óÔé¼Ôäóll be here any second├óÔé¼┬ª.any second├óÔé¼┬ª))

*Several minutes later.*

Sith officer:├óÔé¼┬ØWell students. Time to go back to your training. The day cycle has begun again.├óÔé¼┬Ø

*There is a slight murmur as the hopefuls exit.
Alilah looks dismayed as she sees Hanso nowhere in the crowd.*

She runs to the officer.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØOfficer.├óÔé¼┬Ø

He stops, looking at her through his nose.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØWhat about the students that did not come back?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Sith Officer:├óÔé¼┬ØIf they were too weak to make it back. Then they will perish.├óÔé¼┬Ø He says as if it was obvious knowledge, walking off.

Alilah, looking down, saddened by this news, looks back at the monitor, watching the blazing sun rise on the horizon.
She looks away, then to it, then away again. And follows the others.

*Later├óÔé¼┬ª

Alilah walks down the dark, quiet hallway.
The lights were out, and they looked like they had been for some time.
This hall of the dorms seemed abandoned. And were seemingly still because of the state of decay they were in.
The carved out clay and stone bricks grow more broken and chipped and cracked the farther she goes. Parts of the walls and bits of the ceiling have fallen in and crumbled.
The webs on the walls grow larger the farther in she goes, but more empty, and broken.
The air seems to be cold and damp around her, but more so than it should be.
Or perhaps it was her that simply felt cold.
Either way she just couldn├óÔé¼Ôäót place it.
The farther into the tunnel she walked├óÔé¼┬ªthe worse she felt.
Something just wasn├óÔé¼Ôäót right. Death├óÔé¼┬ª*

She is just about to turn back until...

She sees a small light.
It was coming from a small room at the very end of the tunnel.
She creeps up as quietly as she can, and comes to the corner, right before the opening of the room.
Peering around the corner├óÔé¼┬ªthere she saw ├óÔé¼┬ªHim!

His eyes closed, legs crossed, as he sat on the bed. The tall man from the first day, training, and outside.

He sat there, breathing deeply.

What was he doing?
Meditating?

*Several pieces of something floated in the air as if in zero gravity.
In the middle of them floated two crystals, both red, one with an inner red light emanating from the middle, the other dark red.
The ore ingot sitting on the table suddenly lifted up and floated across the room to the man. It floated into the pieces and glided around with the rest of the crystals in the middle.
Then the pieces started coming together.
The crystals floated closer gathering in the middle.
Then the rest of the electronic pieces began to form a skeleton of parts around them, making a stick of electronics. Then the metal plat- OH it was a lightsaber!*

*She had never seen one being put together before.*
She looked down, semi turning back around the corner and grabbed her own and looked down at it, wondering what it looked like underneath.

Then peered around the corner back to him.

Then decided to leave before she got caught├óÔé¼┬ª

├óÔé¼┼ôYou should really try learning to mask your presence.├óÔé¼┬Ø

She froze.
Then peaked around the corner again,

He still sat, pieces of the lightsaber clicking into place, eyes closed.

She ducks back around the corner, fear on her face, then sucked it up, and jumped out.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØYeah, well, I you know├óÔé¼┬ªI didn├óÔé¼Ôäót really care if you knew I was there├óÔé¼┬ªuh..er├óÔé¼┬ªhow did you do that by the way?├óÔé¼┬Ø

His brows flinched the slightest bit.

├óÔé¼┼ô├óÔé¼┬ªYou don├óÔé¼Ôäót know how to sense in the force yet├óÔé¼┬ªhm.├óÔé¼┬Ø He relaxed saying the truth.

Her eyes shift as she looks for something to talk about.

├óÔé¼┼ôWhat do you want?├óÔé¼┬Ø

She jumps at the question realizing he was speaking to her.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØI ah, well. I couldn├óÔé¼Ôäót sleep. And well, since you├óÔé¼Ôäóve been looking at me and following me all day I figured I├óÔé¼Ôäód pay you a visit.├óÔé¼┬Ø She tried to play off with her ├óÔé¼╦£confident├óÔé¼Ôäó voice at the end of her sentence.

She paused, trying not to bite her lip, waiting for him to answer.

He just breathed as the last piece of the hilt snapped into place.

She scuffed dust with her toe, her attention slowly being attracted to the ground├óÔé¼┬ª

Then tried again.
Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôSo..uh..nice lightsaber├óÔé¼┬ªwhere├óÔé¼Ôäód you get it?├óÔé¼┬Ø She asked with brash.

├óÔé¼┼ô├óÔé¼┬ªI stole them.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah├óÔé¼┼ôOh yeah? Me too, from this dark force user in the ranks├óÔé¼┬ªhaha she is probably so ang- wait├óÔé¼┬ª├óÔé¼Ôäóthem├óÔé¼Ôäó?├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ô├óÔé¼┬ªI took one from my master. The other from her second. Then combined their most useful parts.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØOhhh...├óÔé¼┬Ø

She stared, then shook herself out of it.

Alilah├óÔé¼┼ôOh, uh, yeah├óÔé¼┬ª So, is this what you do when you can├óÔé¼Ôäót sleep? Meditate?├óÔé¼┬Ø She said mixing sarcasm with flirt.

His eyes opened
├óÔé¼┼ôYou sleep?├óÔé¼┬Ø

She stands, her mouth open, caught not knowing what to say├óÔé¼┬ª

├óÔé¼┼ôOh├óÔé¼┬Ø he says as if remembering again that she is a beginner, closing his eyes once more.
├óÔé¼┼ôNo, you can hardly ever sleep. It├óÔé¼Ôäós too easy for someone to kill you. You can hardly ever sleep as a Sith.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØOhhw.├óÔé¼┬Ø

She then snaps out of it again.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØSo, then uh...! My name is Alilah.├óÔé¼┬Ø She stands up straight and tall proud suddenly.
Alilah:├óÔé¼┬Ø Alilah Kalari.├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôYes. I remember from the first day.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Her confidence seemed to stutter, but she soon gained it back with brash.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôSo, whats wrong with you? Too stuck up to tell me your name?├óÔé¼┬Ø

*It was silent for a second.*

Her inner confidence stuttered for a second again as she saw her tactics did not seem to work on the man. He simply didn├óÔé¼Ôäót care enough to respond to her prys for his emotional response. It threw her off.

*Finally├óÔé¼┬ª*

├óÔé¼┼ôArkhan. Arkhan Miderve.├óÔé¼┬Ø He said still sitting cross legged on the edge of the bed, eyes closed, saber floating in the air.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØWell, Arkhan. It├óÔé¼Ôäós not so nice to meet you. You think you├óÔé¼Ôäóre going to make it- Do you even know now how to use that thing?├óÔé¼┬Ø She said suddenly referring to the lightsaber spinning slowly in front of him.

Arkhan with his eyes still closed, ├óÔé¼┼ôHave you practiced with yours?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôAnd what is that supposed to me-?├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôTwo other hopefuls have saber combat practice. All of the higher students know how to use a saber even slightly effectively.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah├óÔé¼Ôäós eyes move to the ground as her mind realizes.

├óÔé¼┼ôThe only way you will make it in is if you have training with a lightsaber. Lots of training.├óÔé¼┬Ø
His eyes open and he looks at her.

Alilah├óÔé¼┼ôI trained last night actually. Right before the day cycle.├óÔé¼┬Ø She says remembering the time with Hanso.

His eyes closed again and he focused on the force.

├óÔé¼┼ôYou should train every chance you get. It├óÔé¼Ôäós the only way a Sith lives. If you don├óÔé¼Ôäót get strong enough├óÔé¼┬ªyou├óÔé¼Ôäóre killed.├óÔé¼┬Ø He then looks at her as if she should have already realized this├óÔé¼┬ªas if he is growing amazed she did not know this already.

She tries to get the words out├óÔé¼┬ª
Alilah├óÔé¼┼ôI uh, yeah. I already knew that.├óÔé¼┬Ø She says matter of factly with sass.
Alilah├óÔé¼┼ôThey uh. I just├óÔé¼┬ª haven├óÔé¼Ôäót been through the whole place yet.├óÔé¼┬Ø

His eyes open again and he looks to her again with that look of astondment.
├óÔé¼┼ôYou mean you haven├óÔé¼Ôäót scouted the entire academy yet?├óÔé¼┬Ø

She looks to find answers that are not there├óÔé¼┬ª

Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôuhhhhhh, I mean, yeah, that was ├óÔé¼┬ªwhat I was actually doing right now actually..yeah..├óÔé¼┼ô

├óÔé¼┼ôOh,├óÔé¼┬ªGood.├óÔé¼┬Ø He says sounding ever so slightly relieved and closing his eyes again to continue meditating.

As she turns to leave, she stops and turns back around.
Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôWhy are you... all of the way over here anyway?├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôThe dark side is strong in this part of the academy. Very strong.├óÔé¼┬Ø He answered his eyes closed still.

Was that what she had felt all of the way down the darkest part of the hall, and even now?
The dark side at it├óÔé¼Ôäós strongest she's felt?

├óÔé¼┼ôWhy are you here?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØI just told you I wa-├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôNo, why are you here. At the academy?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah taken offguard by this, quickly brings up her recited answer.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØTo be a Sith. I├óÔé¼Ôäóve always wanted it. To wear the robes. To have a lightsaber. To have the power, to do whatever I want. Anytime I want. It├óÔé¼Ôäós been my dream since I saw a dark jedi choke man with the force just because he stepped bumped into her.├óÔé¼┼ô

She steps and leans forward, closing her fist semi dramatically.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôI want the power.├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôAnd you have prior knowledge of the Sith?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôOf course. You heard me on the first day, remember?" She says attempting to throw his own words back on him.
Alilah:" I hacked the Phoenix Imperium database. I have memorized all the known knowledge of the Sith we have today. Since the ancient times.├óÔé¼┬Ø She anounces proudly.

├óÔé¼┼ôSo you know the truth then?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah, taken off guard somewhat again:├óÔé¼┬ØWhat├óÔé¼┬ªtruth?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Now, almost as if everything else he said was for show, and now as if beginning to not care what he said,

├óÔé¼┼ôWhen you are a Sith. You are always alone.
You trust no one. You hate everything.
Every waking moment you are expecting someone to kill you for your power or because of it in some way.
You train without rest.
Isolate yourself till you are strong enough to kill them, making sure you are alone.
Always.
You see, there is only one at the top. Every Sith knows this.
Everyone will fight. Everyone will die. No one will rest. Making being the best├óÔé¼┬ª the worst.├óÔé¼┬Ø

She watched as he said this, face growing more contorted as she heard what sounded terrible and strange, but slowly knowing it was true.

She stepped back as she watched him speak, eventually leaving the open room as he continued to talk.

├óÔé¼┼ôBeing a Sith doesn├óÔé¼Ôäót mean freedom.
It means slavery.
In one way or another├óÔé¼┬ª├óÔé¼┬Ø

Then she left walking down the shadowy hall, until she started to run to escape it.

├óÔé¼┼ô├óÔé¼┬ªYou will always be a prisoner.├óÔé¼┬Ø

*The next day...*

Headmaster:"And now students, we will be training to learn the art of torture and pain. Today will be fun."

*All of the hopefuls stand in the interrogation room, standing about watching.*

*The headmaster waves to an officer and he in turn turns to the console, and flicks a switch. Several of the interrogation pods electrical fields go down.
Several prisoners led by other Sith officers step out of a nearby doorway.
They place the men in the pods and step away.*

Headmaster:"Here we have several prisoners. Some are smugglers, others are pirates. One of them is another student who has betrayed me. Each of them hold some valuable information that they will not disclose. Unless they are persuaded otherwise├óÔé¼┬ª
If you want to gain prestige and be chosen to enter this academy, then you must find a way to get this information. However, the one limit is, you cannot kill the prisoner...find the information out, and you will be rewarded. I leave the rest up to you."

*The headmaster steps away and several hopefuls step forward.*

*Several of the prisoners stand in such a fashion as if to breathe defiance and skepticism.*

*Many students step forward.*

Alilah also does.

She steps forward with her confident stance. She knew plenty about interrogation techniques from the academy. It was all about dominating the conversation. And if you have it, applying the right amount of├óÔé¼┬ªpressure.

Arkhan watches from the back.
He slowly closes his eyes, and reaches out, pulling on the dark side of the force, reading the surface thoughts of the minds of the prisoners the best he can.
Then he finds him.
The student.

Stepping forward he begins to approach the common looking man in the pod to the far side.
The man notices him and turns away, slowly crossing his arms.
Arkhan steps closer.
The man continues to look to the side.
*Then a noise can be heard amongst the other background sounds of the room├óÔé¼Ôäós many voices talking, yelling, some screaming, of all of the interrogations.*
*It was a sound, like a machine taking in air. As if the machine was breathing. In, and out.*
*He took no notice at first, but it happened again.*
He looked to the front of the pod again to see Arkhan still approaching.
Then looked away in obstinance.
*Then sounds in the rest of the room began to fade out, almost entirely. The breath was louder this time.*
The man tries not to look back at the boy approaching.
prisoner ├óÔé¼┼ôThis is just a mind trick, they don├óÔé¼Ôäót work on me, I can resist them.├óÔé¼┬Ø
*He says as the sounds in the room grow audible again.*
├óÔé¼┼ôNo, you can├óÔé¼Ôäót.├óÔé¼┬Ø
*The sound in the room suddenly fades again as Arkhan├óÔé¼Ôäós voice changes, suddenly booming with baritone.*
*The man looks to Arkhan, now replaced by a figure of black, smoky shadow.*
*The room├óÔé¼Ôäós noise goes from silent to reverberating white noise, flapping back and forth like a sheet of metal having its center shaken, flopping in and out.*
*Everything surrounding the shadow soon begins to fade to black as well.*
prisoner ├óÔé¼┼ôNo,├óÔé¼┬ªno├óÔé¼┬Ø the man says, eyes closed tight, beginning to hunch his shoulders as he goes from crossed arms to hugging himself.
├óÔé¼┼ôTell me, what is it you are hiding? What do you want to├óÔé¼┬ª tell me?├óÔé¼┬Ø
The man dares to look up at the shadow. He forces himself.
It looms slightly larger now.
He tries to look away, but can├óÔé¼Ôäót. He turns back to stare.
The smoky, flowing shadow slowly grows a jet black helmet and a goggly bug eyed mask to match under it, extending them out of the fog of obsidian, out of its mass.
├óÔé¼┼ôYou are here for a reason. TELL ME. Tell me what it is you know. WHAT are you hiding?!├óÔé¼┬Ø
The man is quivering, his mouth open trying to breathe, he struggles to remain rational. His eyes wide, he looks back out at the shadow with the helmet and mask covered head. The head grows closer as it reaches out further from the shadow, pulling a large, reflective, black armor chest plate and shoulder plates out with it.
prisoner ├óÔé¼┼ôI don├óÔé¼Ôäót ├óÔé¼┬ªknow├óÔé¼┬ª.anything├óÔé¼┬ª├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôLIARRR!!!├óÔé¼┬Ø The helmet and goggled mask scream in a booming ear splitting voice.
The man shudders violently at the being of shadow├óÔé¼Ôäós scream.
He cowers lower.
*The breathing continues in the background. It never stops. Again, again, again, again, again.*
*The figure sticking out of the shadowy mass suddenly looms over head, growing in height and size out of the shadowy mass below. The lights on a panel on the belt of the figure flash violently at the man├óÔé¼Ôäós face. The figure├óÔé¼Ôäós cape covers most of his body on the sides.*
The man shakes now, sobbing softly to himself as he covers his head with his hands.
├óÔé¼┼ôWHO DO YOU WORK FOOORRRRRR????!!!!!├óÔé¼┬Ø
prisoner ├óÔé¼┼ôAhhhhhhhhhhhhhh├óÔé¼┬ª Cryton! Cryton!├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôCRYONT IS DEAD. WHO DO YOU WORK FOR????!!!!!├óÔé¼┬Ø
prisoner ├óÔé¼┼ôI am a sleeper cell. I was sent here to investigate! To scout it out for traininggg!!! Ahh ha ahhhhhhhhh.├óÔé¼┬Ø
The man cries out, tears flowing down his face as he cowers close to the bottom of the pod as he can get, covering his head with his hands as the entire room now covered in darkness, swirls in shadow.

*Some of the other students look on. All they see though is a man. Cowering in the pod, crying, yelling out in fear and brokenness. And the hopeful, the tall hopeful that had some build to him, standing outside the pod. The one hopeful Alilah knew as ├óÔé¼╦£Arkhan├óÔé¼Ôäó. Who never changed his tone from boredom the whole time.*

prisoner ├óÔé¼┼ôAhhhh, ahhhh, ahhhhhhhhahahahhhaaaaaaaaa!├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôDo you think, you know death. Do you think you know FEAR? I will SHOW YOU FEAR. FEAR, and PAIN, and DEATH, like you cannot IMAGGINEEE!├óÔé¼┬Ø

Arkhan walks away from the pod exiting the chamber. No emotion on his face.
*The man in the pod continues to cry out in terror as he crouches in his cell, his eyes squeezed shut, rocking, arms over his head.*

prisoner├óÔé¼┼ôAHHHHHHHHHHHH!├óÔé¼┬Ø

She knew this time, he was not there.
She had remembered something. Something that stuck out in her mind, that drew her eye last she was there├óÔé¼┬ª
A small case. In the corner or the room. A black case. Metalic but made with black and covered in leather.
She needed to find out what it was he, Arkhan, was hiding. And whatever was in that case, she was sure was the answer.
Creeping forward, crouching, stepping, she snuck around the corner.
There, the faint light gone, was the room.
Her insides turn and twist in inner fear.
She felt so odd still, but now that she knew what it was, the presense of an incredible amount of the dark side, she tried to welcome it, but that only snubbed the effects of it slightly.
Turning the corner, she crept closer, and flicked on her small glow-lamp.
The room was eerily quiet. More so than before.
Ever before.
She crept forward further.

There it was.
The black case she had seen before when she spoke to him last.
On all fours, she approaches.
Looking around to make sure no one was sneaking around her, following her, and remaining still to listen├óÔé¼┬ªshe waits.
Then clicks the latches.
The top of the case electronically unlocks, and unseals.
The metal top splits in two and the two halves yawn open.
She peers over the top of the case.
The light reflects back off of something.

A mask.
Inside a mask with goggly eyes lies facing up. It has electronics upon it, and built into it.
A helmet resides nearby, matching it in solid polished black.
It all lies on top of some plates of black and gray durasteel colored chest armor and more.
Surrounding it lies cloth. Armor weave rather. And plenty of it.

She reaches in and wraps both sets of fingers slowly around the mask.
She pulls it out slowly.
Something eerie about the mask threw her off.
It was definitely of Sith in design.
But what kept drawing her eye over and over again, tugging at her attention like something she was supposed to notice, was a glove. It lay in the far corner of the case.
She stares for a moment.
The glove was long, black as night, made of the same material as the body suit also underneath the chest plates.
The glove was longer than normal, and covered the hand and wrist some of the way down the forearm.
But something was still just not right about it.
Something├óÔé¼┬ª
It made her incredibly uneasy.
But something about it spoke to her├óÔé¼┬ªlike power.

*Crack.*

*A noise.*

She looks back.
Then turns, resealing the case.
Then stands just as the light comes on in the room.

Hands behind her back.

There he was.
Arkhan.

├óÔé¼┼ôWhat are you doing here?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alilah stutters for millisecond.
Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØLooking for you.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Arkhan watches her, then eyes her body language, then sees the case behind her, then immediately moves his stare back to her eyes.

├óÔé¼┼ôWhat is it you want?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôHow did you├óÔé¼┬ªdo that today?├óÔé¼┬Ø

*Arkhan walks towards the side of his room, and Alilah moves to the side further away from his movement and the case.*

├óÔé¼┼ôDo what?├óÔé¼┬Ø He says pretending not to know what she is talking about as he begins concerning himself with things in the room.

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØThe interrogation today├óÔé¼┬ªthe man was screaming├óÔé¼┬ªand all you did was├óÔé¼┬ªtalk to him.├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôIt was more than that.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØWell├óÔé¼┬ªduh. I mean, but how did you do it?├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôIf I told you that├óÔé¼┬ªthere would be no competition would there?├óÔé¼┬Ø

*He looks to her, and she to him.*

├óÔé¼┼ôI├óÔé¼Ôäóm not your master.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØDuh. But├óÔé¼┬ªwhere did you learn it from?├óÔé¼┬Ø

He continues to move things about, shifting, checking for├óÔé¼┬ªtraps.

├óÔé¼┼ôThe dark side is a pathway to many abilities some consider ├óÔé¼╦£unnatural├óÔé¼Ôäó.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah rolls her eyes forcibly:├óÔé¼┬ØWell duh. I mean c├óÔé¼Ôäómon. Why do you think I├óÔé¼Ôäóm in on this?├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôWhat did you think of the training?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôWhat do you mean?├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôYour friends getting hurt. They may never recover.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØYeah, well, their loss not mine.├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôWhat makes you think you won├óÔé¼Ôäót be the one getting hurt next time?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØCause I├óÔé¼Ôäóm just that good.├óÔé¼┬Ø

He gives her a look that semi throws her off. A look of no emotion, but observation. Then an eye brow raise as if to question her.
├óÔé¼┼ôSo you had ingots of your own?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Her eyes shift in uncertainty.

├óÔé¼┼ôAnd you could interrogate a non force sensitive?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØHey, he was a hard case to crack.├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôAnd you will always be able to kill the training droids, even at higher levels for the first time, without being killed or wounded permanently yourself for life?
You know they where at level one...right?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØI├óÔé¼Ôäóll just train more├óÔé¼┬ªwith live partners├óÔé¼┬ª├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôAnd expect people to give you mercy when you are full Sith because you are used to ├óÔé¼╦£training├óÔé¼Ôäó?├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôAnd you would kill people without mercy yourself?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØHey, don├óÔé¼Ôäót take me for some rookie. I├óÔé¼Ôäóve killed before.├óÔé¼┬Ø

He looks to her with some surprise├óÔé¼┬ªthat soon fades.

├óÔé¼┼ôBecause they had done something wrong, or out of pleasure? Because they were weak enough to kill or because they were so strong they were the only thing over you? They were in your way?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Her eyes and stance shifts.

├óÔé¼┼ôBecause you wanted what they had, lusted for their power, envying what they had, or because it was your duty.├óÔé¼┬Ø

He begins stepping towards her.

├óÔé¼┼ôDid you kill without mercy because it was easy or because it would make your stronger? Will you do it again gladly, or will you hesitate? But you can├óÔé¼Ôäót hesitate though. Ever.├óÔé¼┬Ø

She looks back at what she was approaching, stepping back a little, then back at him, watching him creep towards her.

├óÔé¼┼ôLittle girl. You don├óÔé¼Ôäót know what the dark side is all about├óÔé¼┬ªdo you?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØOf course I do-├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôDo you?...├óÔé¼┬Ø

He stares.

She watches back, leaning back against the crumbled wall.

├óÔé¼┼ôThen strike me.├óÔé¼┬Ø

He leans back now, standing upright, taking a step back, legs spread, arms behind his back.

She didn├óÔé¼Ôäót know what to do.

├óÔé¼┼ôStrike me down.├óÔé¼┬Ø

She wasn├óÔé¼Ôäót sure what he was doing.

├óÔé¼┼ôWha-?├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôDO IT.├óÔé¼┬Ø

She shook at his yell.

Then reaches slowly towards her lightsaber.

He stood, thousand yard stare over her head, beyond her, focused. Standing completely still.

She grabs her hilt├óÔé¼┬ªand slowly pulls it up├óÔé¼┬ª

He still does not move.

She ignites the saber. Its red blade leaping from the hilt.

*It stood there between them. The barrier between the two.*

Then she built all of her focus, forcing herself, raising her blade high in the air├óÔé¼┬ª

He still did not budge, not even his stare. The image of the red blade reflected back in his eyes.

Then she brings it down-

*In an instant, like lightning, before she even knew what happened, she felt her wrist twist near to breaking, her hilt being taken from her hand, her legs flying out from underneath her, the ground slamming against her, fast, her face suddenly pressing into the dusty floor, and another *snap hisss* and a humming vibration of a lightsaber.
A crimson blade suddenly at the back of her neck, the blade so close to her face├óÔé¼┬ª*

├óÔé¼┼ôThis is the Sith. This is how it will be. Every day. Every breath. Every waking moment of your life if you take this path. It will be nothing but learning to defend against this. In and out, watching and waiting. It will never come. Or it will come soon. But it will be when you least expect it. And if you are not ready├óÔé¼┬ª├óÔé¼┬Ø

She sees his blade coming closer, closer, closer...
Then deignites.

She feels her joints and arm and body loose the pressure put on them and she falls flat to the floor. Then turns slowly and looks to him, the dust on her face, hair out of place.

He stands turned away from her. Hands behind his back. Saber on his belt.

She breathes. Watching him.

├óÔé¼┼ôThink about what I said├óÔé¼┬ª

...now leave.├óÔé¼┬Ø

She watches him with an uncertain stunned eye.

Then looks about for her saber. Finding it, she grabs the hilt and slowly gets up, watching him, and also the exit, carefully making her approach into the hall.

├óÔé¼┼ôBut before you do├óÔé¼┬ª
Hack the video archives.├óÔé¼┬Ø

She stops, and looks back to him, still facing away.
Before she can fully mouth the word ├óÔé¼╦£what?├óÔé¼Ôäó.

├óÔé¼┼ôWatch the security videos...The day of the ingot training.├óÔé¼┬Ø

She slowly continues to creep out, moving faster the farther she gets and the more sure she is he is done speaking.

Again she begins running down the hall.

He stares at the wall.
His eyes yellow and outlined by red, shifting in thought.

*Kiesh mediated in the silent cave. He pulled dark energies into himself as twisted thoughts flowed through his body. He was preparing himself for the coming battle. If he knew correctly, they would organize first, for the Barabels weren't stupid creatures. He would need to spring a trap on their own field of battle. The dim lighting in the darkened cave was eerie and dreadful. Rocks floated about and a pair of red eyes which came from his face stared at the wall. He would kill them... He would kill them all. He was fully determined to take as many as he could... It didn't matter if his sanctioned troops and weapons didn't make it... This Sith Lord was filled with anger and hatred that his dark energies had peaked at a constant. To bring this Farghul down would take much effort than regular blasters or even Jedi could do. They would have to pull something unexpected to strike him down...*

*The screen comes up.*
Her eyes shift about. *No one is watching. No one can see her. No one is here.*
*The video scans through the rest of the days├óÔé¼Ôäó logs, then comes to a view of electricity suddenly wrapping itself around someone.*She froze the image as she saw his face. *In agony, on the screen, there he was. Hanso.**The frozen date and time of the day mark the miniature holoevent before her at the bottom of the terminal.*
She looks at this face and the anguish engulfing it. Then scans back, to the beginning.

*Hanso runs in out of the rain to under the outcropping over the doorway into the academy.
Stopping outside, he looks around and waits just barely outside the dry doorway.*
*He stops, letting the water drip from his body, holding his arms out, flapping them twice to throw excess water off.*
*He holds his hand up to himself and opens his closed fist to reveal several small stones.*
*A smile on his face.*
*He looks about in the rain, as if looking for someone.
He stands and waits. Watching, looking, waiting.
He stands there for some time.
Until finally, he turns around suddenly, a voice comes from the com unit in the doorway calling him in.*
:: ::The headmaster would like to speak with you briefly.:: ::
*He nods yes and turns slowly.*

*Then, to one only heavily paying attention, a small something splashes into the mud nearby him.
He pauses for a moment, then turns, holds up a stone, and enters the academy.*

Alilah is stunned.
She cannot believe her eyes.
((<<He did come in!>>))

*But before she goes to the next feed, she sees someone sneak up, reach into the puddle the object fell in, and pull out an ingot. He turns looking incredibly sneaky and underhanded in his expression, and then comes to the door.*

((<<Joni. That slime├óÔé¼┬ª>>))

She goes to the next clip.

*Hanso walks into a room. The door closes behind him.
The headmaster stands in behind his desk, back to the door, hands behind his back.*

*Hanso kneels to both knees, and bows his head in the middle of the room, facing the headmaster.*
Hanso:├óÔé¼┼ôWhat is your will headmaster?├óÔé¼┬Ø

Headmaster:├óÔé¼┬ØHanso.├óÔé¼┬Ø

*He turns to look at the hopeful.*
Headmaster:├óÔé¼┬ØYou have done well boy. You have basic lightsaber skills. You can think for yourself. Which is more than most here have. And you are able to do what must be done.├óÔé¼┬Ø

*He walks as he talks, coming back around the desk, facing the hopeful.
Hanso smiles slightly at this praise.*

*Headmaster turns to face his desk, and reaches out to toy with the trinkets upon it.*
Headmaster:├óÔé¼┬ØHowever. I├óÔé¼Ôäóm afraid your potential in the force in comparison to your new ├óÔé¼╦£friend├óÔé¼Ôäó miss Kalari does not really compare. She has a much higher midichlorian count than you do. You are holding her back, and will do nothing more than that in the future. Therefore we are ending your ├óÔé¼╦£relationship├óÔé¼Ôäó with her. Love breeds mercy.├óÔé¼┬Ø

*He pauses.
The boy strains his eyes to look up, but keeps his head bowed.*
*Suddenly, the headmaster├óÔé¼Ôäós hand hanging next to him springs open, tense, and electricity surges all around it.*
Headmaster:├óÔé¼┼ôAnd there can be no mercy.├óÔé¼┬Ø
*Hanso looks up, but it is too late.
The headmaster spins halfway around throwing his arm up, lighting leaping from his hand.
Hanso stands, the electricity wrapping around his body, his saber already in hand, he strains, bringing his saber finally in between them, suddenly channeling the energy into it. Jaw clenched, teeth gritted, he pushes forward, adding his other hand to the hilt, pushing back the electrical attack, beginning to let out a slowly growing yell as he pushes.
The head master slowly raises his other arm, fully extended, and then blasts lightning from that hand at a slightly different angle. The electricity leaps forth next to the blade, missing it with it├óÔé¼Ôäós angle, and hitting Hanso dead on.
Hanso cries out in pain, muscles suddenly flexing, body arching backwards, lighting licking around it, the other stream no longer being absorbed by his blade now, hitting his everything, blade and him.*

*This was the image she saw.
He was dying.
He was dead.
And the headmaster killed him.
He killed him because he was helping her. Because he was close to her. Because he was├óÔé¼┬ªloving her.*

She sat back.
She didn├óÔé¼Ôäót know what to do or say.
She looked once more at the holovid, then got up, looking away, somber expression. Then cut the feed, and cut off the terminal.
And walks away.

*Kiesh sent lighting from his finger tips into the Barabel's skull. He had grown tired of waiting and Kiesh had found a small hunting party in the night across the plains. His foot pressed down on the Barabel's chest as he smiled devilishly. The Barabel kept hissing and thrashing but could never quiet get a hold of the Farghul. Suddenly another Barabel charged and rammed himself into the Sith Lord. Kiesh grunted from the impact and was sent flying. His face hit the ground and he started to tumble. Anger rose within him and he used the momentum to spring himself back up. His eyes became blood shot red and he looked upon the last Barabel. Kiesh activated his saber and charged. The red light glowed softly in the night as the two came closer and closer. The Barabel lashed out with one of his claws. Kiesh jumped and took his free hand to twist the exposed arm. He twisted it making a loud "crack" and came down with his saber across the Barabel's back. The creature went limp and his body fell down signifying that he was dead... Kiesh kicked the body and felt a slight pain in his shoulder... No matter, it would heal soon enough. Plus he was more than ready to fight anything that the Prime Minister should come with.. Yes... Yes indeed...*

Alilah busts back into her room.
Tears try to flow but she holds them back.

*Then her terminal beeps.*
She looks over at it.
Staring for a while at the floor after glancing away, she finally moves towards it.

*A message.*

*Triple encoded.
From the headmaster├óÔé¼┬ªdirect├óÔé¼┬ª*

Headmaster:├óÔé¼┬Ø Listen carefully now hopeful. And tell no one of this. This is secret beyond all things. As it must be.
You have shown great potential.
You are the greatest of your fellow hopefuls.
There is but one mission left for you to accomplish in order to become a true Sith student.
One last thing├óÔé¼┬ª
The true meaning of a Sith, is this:
To be a Sith is to rise above all morality to get something done, to accomplish a mission.
The ends always justify the means.
You cannot take this to heart, but you must make this your heart in order to truly become Sith.
Now.
Your next test and final mission of your hopeful time,
Is this:
You must kill one of your fellow hopefuls.
AND a student.
One who has already graduated.
This is your mission.
Only then hopeful, will you personally be an official Sith student, and become one of us.
Bring me proof of their death, and you will gain all of the rights and privileges of a full Sith in this academy.

Remember, keep this secret above all other things. Bring it up nowhere, to no one, and not ever to me, until you have the proof, and then only in private.
Stealth and secrecy is part of being Sith. And you must make this your heart as well.
One can never know of this mission. This mean├óÔé¼Ôäós the galaxy not knowing if it├óÔé¼Ôäós existence sometimes. For what greater enemy than one you cannot see, than one you did not even know existed?
The Sith must remain strong.
And only the strongest, you, must survive.

Take the force, make it go with you, make it yours, it will be with you. It is your ally.
May the dark side be with you, always.

Signed: The headmaster.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Alilah does not know what to make of this├óÔé¼┬ª
She watches is and thinks,
Pondering.

*However├óÔé¼┬ªso do many others├óÔé¼┬ª

Other terminals, all over the dorms, hopefuls read the same message, and make evil plans in their hearts.*

A similar terminal in a cold barely lit part of the dorms also shines in front of a tall man, then goes off. He steps away├óÔé¼┬ªhis fist squeezing tight, then releasing.

*Kiesh felt a blip in the Force fade away. During his mediation he had sensed two Jedi had arrived on the planet. When did they arrive? He did not know, but only knew that these two would meddle with his plans. As he was trying to possibly figure who they were, their signature vanished and he could no longer feel them through the Force. They possibly shielded their presence... And they did it well. The Sith Lord spat out in disgust of the Jedi being here. They were probably the ones responsible for his hired guns not to arrive. The Sith Lord would have to take care of this himself. Standing up, he silently walked in the night to set up a place so that they could find him. He wanted them to come now, yes... He was tired of waiting. Kiesh wanted vengence... and blood... and the death of others.*

OOC:This occurred right before Alilah snuck into Arkhan's room and looked at the contents of the black case.

The sound of lightsaber├óÔé¼Ôäós clashing comes from the training area.
*The tall man and a droid stand outside the slots, dueling.
The droid has two sabers. Both green.
The tall man├óÔé¼Ôäós crimson blade strikes both of them fast, multiple times, seeming to bounce off them, ricocheting back and forth.*
*He steps back, blade coming back as well.
The droid, comes back, green out front in guard, other back, down low, ready to swing in.
The tall man steps forward, attacking with a one handed overhead chop. The droid blocks with the front blade, then swings the back forward to attack. The tall man blocks, hitting irregularly, and fast.*
*The droid could keep up though.*

*Strike, strike, strike, strike, strike, parry, counter, strike.*

*The blades flashed. The vibrating sound filled the air, only matched with the sound of blades clashing.*

*Then, suddenly, the droid brings its back blade down to strike, but in a red flash, its hand falls off its wrist.*

*The droid retracts its stub of a wrist as it brings it├óÔé¼Ôäós downward pointed green blade up.
But another red flash sends the green blade pointing downward again and quickly severs the upper portion of the machine├óÔé¼Ôäós arm.

The last movement of the red blur that was the crimson blade, slices the droid neck.

The droid lies on the ground, armless, decapitated.*
The tall man steps away, but then hears clapping in the background.
*He looks up and back, and there he is. The same boy who challenged him earlier on the day of lightsaber training.*

Sith Student:├óÔé¼┼ôGood fight, but now it├óÔé¼Ôäós time for the real thing.├óÔé¼┬Ø

The tall man stops, eyes squinting slightly, viewing the boy with mild frustration and sizing him and his intentions up.
The boy continues to approach, striding confidently, smirk on his face.

├óÔé¼┼ôI already beat you in front of everyone else. You├óÔé¼Ôäóre beat. Now go away.├óÔé¼┬Ø

He keeps approaching.

Seeing the boy not stopping,
├óÔé¼┼ôDon├óÔé¼Ôäót make me hurt you boy.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Sith Student:├óÔé¼┬ØBoy? You couldn├óÔé¼Ôäót be more than a couple of years older than me.
Look. I├óÔé¼Ôäóm the best. Always have been since I killed the last man known for it here.
Now I├óÔé¼Ôäóm going defend my title.├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôAnd how do you plan on doing that? I already beat you that day. And in front of everybody.├óÔé¼┬Ø
The tall man says pacing to the side to get his position.

The boy pulls out another hilt, to match his own from earlier├óÔé¼┬ªbut this one was different.
It was a bit longer├óÔé¼┬ª

Sith Student:├óÔé¼┼ôWhen you├óÔé¼Ôäóre dead, and I├óÔé¼Ôäóm here with your corpse, they will all know.├óÔé¼┬Ø

*He holds the hilt out horizontally, one side emits a blade, then does the other├óÔé¼┬ª*

*The tall man watches the first blade shoot out, then the second.
Then back to the boy├óÔé¼Ôäós eyes.
The boy├óÔé¼Ôäós smirk grows into an evil grin.
And he spins the double sided blade and steps forward.
The tall man spins his crimson blade with one hand, and steps forward to stop the twin blades.*

*The red clashes. The boy├óÔé¼Ôäós blade leaves the tall man├óÔé¼Ôäós, but then another takes it├óÔé¼Ôäós place just as the other leaves.

The blades clash as fast as before.
The boy brings his blade back and forth, trying hard as he might to land a strike on the skilled hopeful.
The tall man watches carefully, his focus full and returning.
The boy brings his blade up against the tall man├óÔé¼Ôäós, and tries to spin, bringing his other blade to cut the hopeful down. However, instead of blocking, the hopeful unexpectedly ducks, letting the blade pass inches over him.
Then suddenly a fist impacts the boys face from over his shoulder.
He shakes his face as he takes a split second to recover and then turns to face his opponent again, teeth clenched in response.*

*In the far end of the Dorms, the darkest abandoned part, Alilah approaches Arkhan├óÔé¼Ôäós room to see what was in the black case.*

*The blades clash hard now, one of the double red returning again to meet the single crimson. Their faces come close behind their blades. The boy gritting his teeth in an evil slight grin. The tall man, face forced calm, muscles behind it quivering in effort to hold.*

*They break apart, and hold their stances, then the boy comes at Arkhan again, swinging one blade down. Arkhan sidesteps, hitting the boys blade into the ground, then bashing his face with his fist again.
The boy stumbles to the side, blood trickling down from his mouth. He is stunned at first, his eyes showing it, and then enjoying it, comes back full force at Arkhan.*

At this point he attacks Arkhan, who is calm and ready to end this. But the boy is tired, and unwilling to accept or admit it. He attacks again, sloppily.
Regnum sidesteps with a counter move, allowing the boy to stumble past him into a crouch to stop himself from falling.
Arkhan stands still as the boy, anger growing as he looks back to the tall hopeful, rises, bursting up, and spinning to fight, then spins in attack.
Arkhan holds the block with the boy, then shoves upward, forcing the boy into a spin to turn and try and meet his blade again.
But as the boy turned, a crimson blade came through his elongated hilt, slitting it in two.

*The boy holds two blades out now stumbing backwards but only for a millisecond as Arkhan dropshis own blade, lunges forward and grabs the boy by his hands, and the hilts in them, and using the force, slings him around, the circular force pulling the blades from the boy├óÔé¼Ôäós hands, and sending him flying across the room into the wall.*
*Slam!*
*And before he could react other than his instant grimace in pain,* *psshhewwww.*
His own two blades, pierced into each of his shoulders.

*The hopeful had cleared the distance with a leap in half a second, and had stabbed him with his own two blades.

Pinned into the wall, the student can only grit his teeth in anger and stun, as he can not breathe. He tries to push Arkhan off, but to no avail. His muscles connecting his shoulders and chest were destroyed and disintegrating further as she slid down, losing the struggle against gravity on his own weakening legs.*

*But then Arkhan did let go.*

*And turned to walk away.*

*Would he spare him?*

*No, wait.*

*Arkhan├óÔé¼Ôäós own hilt leaps to his hand.*

*But he walks away still.*

*The student's blades burning hot with the ore ingots suddenly cause the boys clothes to light on fire.
Regnum walks to the entrance of the room and stops as the boy begins to scream.
He roasts right there├óÔé¼┬ªhanging on the wall, flames slowly engulfing his body, the molten rock from the wall seeping down his back.

But he then jumps off the hilts, yanking his body off them, and runs forward, arms dangling, limp.
Until he trips, falling over, slamming hard, face first into the ground.

He lies, there, burning.*

And Arkhan, without looking back, now continues out the doorway.

*The party would now be just outside Alater-Ka. The moonless night was pitch black except for the few lights that were on the outside of Alater-Ka. Haraz and his "guard" had already separated from the group and was a little distance away. Sharak could see perfectly in this darkness and he knew that Szlaba would also be able to see given his species. The Barabel was slightly concerned about Tanner. The Jedi would have to use the Force to guide himself through the pitch black regions of Barab. Sharak looked to Szlaba and spoke.*

Alright, Haraz iz going to the last known location of thiz Sith. We should shadow him until the prey revealz himself. Tanner, watch your step. The terrain iz unforgiving.

*He then started shadow Haraz's party at an even pace. He kept his senses alert for any trouble that might find them...*

*Meanwhile up at the front, Haraz moved along with his men looking for this Sith Lord. Shek slightly squirmed in his arms but kept still nevertheless. Under all the elegant clothing he wore hung a large repeating blaster which he would use at the right time. He turned behind him and saw a small piece of movement which he knew was Sharak and the two Jedi. His gaze went back in the front knowing that this Sith was probably waiting for them... or possibly... hunting for them.*

Sith Student: ├óÔé¼┼ôYeah well I don├óÔé¼Ôäót feel so inclined to believe you.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Sith student 2: ├óÔé¼┼ôWell I don├óÔé¼Ôäót care about that, lets just finish the scouting and leave, the sun is coming up├óÔé¼┬ª├óÔé¼┬Ø

*But just then.*
*Slam.*
*The rock he threw hits something hard├óÔé¼┬ªand metallic.*

*He walks up to it, eyeing it oddly.
Then looks closely as he nears.
Then pulling on the plant growth on it, he yanks down and pulls it off.*

*It├óÔé¼Ôäós a solar panel├óÔé¼┬ªfor a ship├óÔé¼┬ª*

*He does not understand it at first├óÔé¼┬ª
How could a ship get here with the detection sensors on the planet?*

*He looks at his friend and he does not understand either.

Sliding his hand down the solar panel he realizes what it is, then a small alarm goes off├óÔé¼┬ª

They step back afraid suddenly, saber├óÔé¼Ôäós ignited├óÔé¼┬ª
Then├óÔé¼┬ª

A turret slides out of a compartment,*

*Pchow phcow pchow,*

*And fires large bolts at the intruders.*

*They step back deflecting them, finally leaping behind a massive bolder.*

Sith student 2:├óÔé¼┬ØWe have to report this!├óÔé¼┬Ø

*The other nods and they both leave.*

*However├óÔé¼┬ªa signal goes out├óÔé¼┬ª*

Sith student 1 ├óÔé¼┼ôWe need to return to tell the headmaster of this!
There could be a spy here!├óÔé¼┬Ø

---
A signal comes across on the transponder on the belt of a man meditating in the darkest regions of the academy.

He opens his eyes, then looks at the device.

├óÔé¼┬ª


*The two men enter the academy. They step forward, walking quickly to locate the headmaster.*
Then one man steps out from behind a corner.
├óÔé¼┼ôHello gentlemen.├óÔé¼┬Ø
*They stop, and look at the man.*

*Bah, it was just a hopeful.*

├óÔé¼┼ôWhat seems to be the matter?├óÔé¼┬Ø he says distracting himself with something nearby, reaching to fiddle with it.
├óÔé¼┼ôYou look in a rush...├óÔé¼┬Ø, he places a hand behind his back.

*One student looks at the other.*
Sith student 1:├óÔé¼┬ØNone of your business hopeful, now get outta our faces.├óÔé¼┬Ø

├óÔé¼┼ôIs it that ship you found?├óÔé¼┬Ø

*They both stop after turning around to leave, freezing├óÔé¼┬ª*
*Then turn slowly.*

Arkhan still looking away, distracting himself with something,
*the two hopefuls stand their ground├óÔé¼┬ª*

Sith student 1: ├óÔé¼┼ôIt├óÔé¼Ôäós you├óÔé¼┬ªyou├óÔé¼Ôäóre the spy in the academy.├óÔé¼┬Ø

Arkhan looks up with his eyes, but makes no effort to move.

*They each ignite their red blades
Then├óÔé¼┬ª*
Arkahn spins.
*They both lunge forward.*
He catches both their blades in a lock, then reaches under sending a powerful force push into one├óÔé¼Ôäós gut, sending him flying, smashing into the rock wall behind him. Then holding the lock with the other student, he turns a bit, twists, and in one move, slides his blade out, slices the man├óÔé¼Ôäós arm off, then cuts up his middle a few inches into the flesh, into his face, and then throws his saber into the man smashed into the wall.

*The one standing falls, the other crumples, reaching down to grab the hilt of the saber pinning him to the wall, and falls out of his mini vertical crater, smashing into the ground.*
Arkhan├óÔé¼Ôäós saber returns to his hand.
He starts stepping out of the room├óÔé¼┬ªthen pauses for a second├óÔé¼┬ª
Then each of their sabers come to his other hand right as he exits.

Understood, Minister. I came prepared.

Tanner smiled knowingly behind the filter - beyond it, of course, his face remained a stoic, alien mask. It took only a little adjustment to his eyepieces to make the terrain around him brighter. It was not ideal lighting, to be sure, but slightly better than before; still, he made sure to keep a buffer between himself and the other two, as a single misstep could easily send him stumbling into them, breaking their cover.

*Alilah walks towards Arkhan├óÔé¼Ôäós room.*
*She had pondered this for some time. She knew who to ask.*

He stands in front of his own terminal still.
He looks up as she appears in his doorway, but does not turn.
She is nervous in stance.
├óÔé¼┼ôYou saw the message then?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØWha- ├óÔé¼┬ª.you mean?├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôYes,├óÔé¼┬Ø Arkhan turns.
├óÔé¼┼ôHe sent it to everyone. It├óÔé¼Ôäós everyone├óÔé¼Ôäós mission. Not just yours├óÔé¼┬ªor mine.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Her eyes shift downward.
├óÔé¼┼ôEveryone will try to kill everyone now. Only the strongest will survive.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alilah continues to stare at the ground.
├óÔé¼┼ôI told you this was how it would be.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alilah looks up. ├óÔé¼┼ôWait, this could all not be true. Let me see your message then.├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôIt autodeletes after you open it. You know that.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØSo├óÔé¼┬ªI-It could be a trick!├óÔé¼┬Ø
Arkhan├óÔé¼Ôäós face slowly changes to subtle disgust.
├óÔé¼┼ôLook, LOOK. Even if I am lying. You have to kill two people in order to become a true Sith. A task you are not up to am I right?├óÔé¼┬Ø
She is taken back upon realizing he is right. She doesn't have the skill, nor it in her to do so...that she knows of.
├óÔé¼┼ôSo what are you going to do?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alilah ├óÔé¼┼ôI-I├óÔé¼Ôäóll├óÔé¼┬ªI├óÔé¼┬ª├óÔé¼┬Ø
Arkhan watches.
She fumbles in her thoughts and words.
Finally she comes to a decision.
Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôI don├óÔé¼Ôäót have any way├óÔé¼┬ª├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôThen leave.├óÔé¼┬Ø
She looks up at him, in surprise at hearing his sudden empathy in his speech and even more so at his new facial expression.
Not anger, or hate, or bitterness, or disgust.
But care.
├óÔé¼┼ôGo. You don├óÔé¼Ôäót have to do this.├óÔé¼┬Ø He pauses for a moment, staring into her eyes.
├óÔé¼┼ôGo, Live a normal life. Live for what matters most to you. Get an education. Meet a great guy. Get married and have kids. Start a family. Start a business. Buy a starship. Go have fun with your life. Enjoy it. I tell you now. The life of a Sith├óÔé¼┬ªis all but this. It is not enjoyable. You don├óÔé¼Ôäót get to do what you want. You are a constant slave. And you are always ├óÔé¼┬ªalone.├óÔé¼┬Ø
She looks to him now├óÔé¼┬ªface in awe.
Finally, she looks down.
Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôYou├óÔé¼┬ªyou├óÔé¼Ôäóre right.├óÔé¼┬Ø
He pushes her chin up with his hand.
├óÔé¼┼ôHey, this is nothing. Most people don├óÔé¼Ôäót ever learn this. You bypassed the lure of the darkside, and the propaganda. Now you can live your life with no regrets. You gained the wisdom. Now use it├óÔé¼┬ª to live life truly to it├óÔé¼Ôäós fullest. ├óÔé¼┬Ø
She looks up to him├óÔé¼┬ªand slightly smiles├óÔé¼┬ªand begins to turn away.
Walking away, she then turns back.
Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôWhat will you do?├óÔé¼┬Ø
He pauses, having turned away himself.
A sudden stricken sad look comes upon his face├óÔé¼┬ªas if he had never thought anyone would ask, so he didn├óÔé¼Ôäót have an answer prepared.
├óÔé¼┼ô├óÔé¼┬ªI will leave too. And├óÔé¼┬ªreturn to my ma-├óÔé¼┬ªlife...├óÔé¼┬Ø
*A moment passes between them.*
Alilah: ├óÔé¼┼ôThanks Arkhan.├óÔé¼┬Ø She says with some new energy that she did not have before.
He turns, a smirk on his face, and eyebrow raised at her response.
Alilah smiles back:├óÔé¼┬ØI see now├óÔé¼┬ª.I├óÔé¼Ôäóm going to become the best business woman I can be. I├óÔé¼Ôäóll├óÔé¼┬ªI├óÔé¼Ôäóll take over sytech├óÔé¼┬ªor kuat drive yards!├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôGood!├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØI├óÔé¼Ôäóll get a life, and hold on to it, and live it to it├óÔé¼Ôäós fullest!├óÔé¼┬Ø
├óÔé¼┼ôThere you go!├óÔé¼┬Ø
Beaming now, Alilah steps out of the room, walking away with energy.
Regnum turns away to his thoughts...his face content...but that slowly fading...

*Alilah walking down the hall suddenly hears of some commotion.
Drawing close to the crowd, people are covering around two students that lie dead in the hallway to the outside.
They have been killed by a lightsaber, and their hilts taken.
Many wonder why and how. Murmurs are abundant. She watches them├óÔé¼┬ªher eyes wide.
Her hand slips to her lightsaber.
She needed to protect herself.
She might be next├óÔé¼┬ª
She moves away from the crowd and scene, the only one leaving rather than gathering to it.
..

Walking down the hall to the dorms├óÔé¼┬ªher ears suddenly pick up noise in the dead silence.*
((>>Lightsabers├óÔé¼┬ª <<))
*She creeps to the corner, peering around.
There, in the square room that joins several hallways to areas of the hallway, she sees them.
Two people, dueling.
One is a hopeful she saw upon the first days of the academy.
The other├óÔé¼┬ªa student, she could tell by his uniform.
She watched as they fought furiously, never stopping, focused and determined. One to live, the other to kill.
She backed around the corner, her thoughts racing├óÔé¼┬ªhow would she get past them, what to do, could she stop them?
Then a small thought entered her mind. A tiny whisper in the back of her mind.*

Kill them.

She shrugged it away.
*But it returned.*

You know you want to.

Then she toyed with the possibility of it.

Even if I did, how would I?

*Then, as if to answer, here eyes suddenly rested upon the belt on the ground in front of her.*

*The belt had three large thermal detonators hooked to it.*

Here eyes widened.

She swallowed.

Then turned to look at the two fighting around the corner again.

Then back to the belt.

*The voice whispered again.*

Do it.

Alilah ((>>No, I am going to live my own life, a life of freedom happiness.<<))

Happiness is doing what you want. You wanted this for so long didn├óÔé¼Ôäót you?

Well I ├óÔé¼┬ªno wait..

Don├óÔé¼Ôäót resist. this is what you want. Don├óÔé¼Ôäót lie to yourself. that is not what you are suppsed to do.

But Arkhan said-

What he said ultimately meant, do what you want. He was testing you. Maybe even helping you gain strength against the resistance you will face against the real thing when you are a sith. Remember? He told you everything you needed to know about being one. Maybe he was encouraging you.

Well├óÔé¼┬ªI

Think about it but my advice is Don├óÔé¼Ôäót wait, do it now.

But-

Think about it all you want├óÔé¼┬ª.but if you don├óÔé¼Ôäót act soon, one of them will win├óÔé¼┬ª

She stares out at the wall, motionless, face filled with fear of indecision.

*The two fight hard. Their saber├óÔé¼Ôäós clashing, light flashing out, humming and energy dispersal abundant and loud.
They grimace, clenching teeth dramatically as they lock their blades together.
Then the three doors to the room begin closing, sliding down shut.
Then├óÔé¼┬ªa beeping.
They look at each other├óÔé¼┬ªthen both down at the ground near one of the doors├óÔé¼┬ª
Then see the belt on the ground, and the large thermal detonators on it, beeping.
They break, both sprinting for the other doors├óÔé¼┬ªbut it was too late.
BLAM!
Is all that can be heard from the outside. The pressure from the explosion quickly smashing everything inside.
├óÔé¼┬ª
A shadow of a person can be seen fleeing down the hall.*

*A day later.*

Alilah comes busting down the hallway.
Alilah:├óÔé¼┼ôARKHAN, ARKHAN!├óÔé¼┬Ø
She runs down the dark hall now, nothing about it├óÔé¼Ôäós scariness mattering any more.
She busts into his doorway, breathing hard, Black Sith robes hanging from her body, her breathing mouth barely containing her smile.
Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØARKHAN LOOK, I├óÔé¼ÔäóM A STUDENT! A SITH!├óÔé¼┬Ø
Arkhan slowly turns to see what was running down the hall to him and to see her.
His eyes suddenly open wide, and his mouth open.
├óÔé¼┼ôWHA?-├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alilah:"I did just what you said, I did what I wanted, just like you said, and now I├óÔé¼Ôäóm a Sith look!"
He stares at her wide eyes, anger building.
Alilah:"Isn├óÔé¼Ôäót it great! I├óÔé¼Ôäóm a sith just like I always wanted to be! I can be one of the greatest masters!"
Arkhan turns around, and continues moving his things around for packing.
├óÔé¼┼ôYes yes, a fine monkey suit for polishing your master's boots as you sit as his feet!├óÔé¼┬Ø
alilah:"It├óÔé¼Ôäós it├óÔé¼Ôäós what all Sith students wear."
"Ha, and I thought you understood what I was trying to say to you. I thought you wanted to do something with you life rather than choose slavery and misery!" He sweeps all the items off the table and violently kicks it over, turning to her now to yell.
"I thought you had some brains! I thought you had a future!"
Alilah:"But what, what are you talking about? This is my destiny!"
"Great destiny! HA! Another stupid little slave, a pet kathound for that big bald idiot Ulak! Congratulations girl!
Alilah:"What do you mean? What do you want me to be?! You don├óÔé¼Ôäót know a thing about whats going on today! I├óÔé¼Ôäóm lucky to be Ulak├óÔé¼Ôäós student. He says I├óÔé¼Ôäóm special. You- y-you├óÔé¼Ôäóre just angry cause you didn├óÔé¼Ôäót get it first!"
"Ohhhh├óÔé¼┬ªof all the stupid, pathetic..petty├óÔé¼┬ªidiotic├óÔé¼┬ªbbbbbb├óÔé¼┬ªbaaaAAAAHHH!"
*The walls begin to shake and crumble in their decayed state.*
*Alilah runs fast, sprinting away down the hall as Arkhan, eyes closed, enraging further, lets the force go rampant with his emotion.
Blocks begin to fall from the ceiling.*

*Students walk through the halls.
Hopefuls watch one another, joking, laughing, but keeping a watchful eye.
Two walk through the darkest hall.*

Jake:├óÔé¼┬ØYou ready?├óÔé¼┬Ø
Tonin:├óÔé¼┬ØOf course. Are you?├óÔé¼┬Ø
*Tonin pulls a mine from his backpack.*
Jake:├óÔé¼┬ØThrow it.├óÔé¼┬Ø
*Tonin flicks a switch on the deadly device and reaches back and tosses the mine around the corner.*
A *beep, SHEWWWWWWWWWAAHHHHHHHHA*.*Is heard and the entire room is filled with toxic green gas.*
Jake:├óÔé¼┬ØHaha, you ready?├óÔé¼┬Ø *Jake asks as he slips on his rebreather.
Tonin nods as he also puts on his breath mask as well.*
*They both jump around the corner, igniting their red sabers, ready to kill.*
*But their battle faces soon change to surprise├óÔé¼┬ª*
*Their eyes wide, they see emerging from the green smoke, something in black armor clad, crimson saber of its own.*

*Alilah and Tamia walk down the same hall as each other.*
*The scream of a male echoes throughout the halls of the academy.*
*They both look at each other, but play it off as one or another things causing pain or anguish in the academy as usual. Or maybe another of their hopeful siblings has joined their ranks as a student?*
*Either way they keep walking towards each other after exchanging simple glances and smug smirks.
But then the second cry sounded out.
This one different.*
*They stopped again, this time closer. They exchanged looks again, longer this time, but soon played it off with the same looks.*
*They kept walking past each other after a quick exchange of a giggle.*
*Then another scream went out├óÔé¼┬ªmuch closer├óÔé¼┬ªmuch more desperate├óÔé¼┬ªand quick, for it was obviously cut short.*
*Now they looked at each other again, over their shoulders├óÔé¼┬ªwas├óÔé¼┬ªsomething...happening?*

*The crimson blade swung through the black.
Another cut down.
Several men in black robes and gray suits stand about randomly in battle stance, saber├óÔé¼Ôäós drawn in the hall in front of one black armored man. The armor he wore as black as midnight, polished, reflecting back their faces and bloodshine blades, as well as his own crimson weapon.*
*The armored being yanked his blade from one of the students, and let him fall to the ground.
Several other dashed from around the corner, blades igniting, they also stood ready.*
*The armored being lifts his hand behind him in the air, the other holds his saber upright in front as the man he just killed crumples to the ground.*
*A massive block lifts behind the armored man with ease and speed , hovers for a millisecond, then flies at high velocity at the assailants, smashing one, carrying him back into the dark hall beyond, smashing him into a wall.
Two men dash forward.
The man in black armor, deflected one blade, sliced up through the others wrist, then grabbed him by the throat, and continued by choking him, whilst combating in lightsaber combat with the other with one hand.*

*Alilah and Tamia run to a terminal.
They access it.
Students rush through the hallway past them.
Accessing the terminal, they see the various security feeds. Flipping through most of them, all they see at first is hallways of scattering, running, scrambling students.
But soon they come upon an image of combat.*
Tamia:├óÔé¼┬ØWait! Go back!├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alilah scans back.
*There in the hall is a man, clad in black shiny armor, crimson blade swinging through the air, quickly and near appearing easily slicing through the enemies crowding in front of him.*
*They both look at each other.*

*Joni flexes his new hand in the infirmary.
He looks at it approvingly as the mechanical joints clink and clank up and down.
And then the door to the infirmary swooshes open.
He looks up, gasps, then reaches out for his saber on the table nearby.
It leaps towards his hand, but it├óÔé¼Ôäós severed midair, as well as his other hand at the wrist, and soon, his neck.*

*Alilah runs to the foyer of the academy.
She stops, freezing, looking around in fearful awe at the number of dead already abundant in the connecting room.
She takes a step back in sheer surprise inspired disbelief.
Tamia also comes up├óÔé¼┬ª.but soon sees why her fellow student has stopped, and gasps.*

*Headmaster Ulak could feel it as he sat on his bed, eyes closed, meditating├óÔé¼┬ª the death, the anger, the hatred.
He fed on it.
And he could also feel one other. One strong in the force. One he knew would come out on top.
But so much death.
Would this weaken the academy, the Sith?
No. They had all the power they needed now.
This boy was proving his worth. He was going to kill everyone until none was left.
All of the power and training would go to him. And he was taking it as he thought.*
((>>Haha ├óÔé¼┬ª Goooooodd.<<))
*He feels another sudden surge in the force.
He is here.
The door to the headmasters room swishes open.
Ulak, eyes still closed, does not turn.*
Ulak:├óÔé¼┬ØWell done my new apprentice. I knew you had it in you. Though you only had to kill two├óÔé¼┬ª.this was not good enough for you. These bugs were in your way.├óÔé¼┬Ø
*He begins to turn, opening his eyes.*
Ulak:├óÔé¼┬ØI├óÔé¼┬ªu-├óÔé¼┼ô
*His face is stricken with surprise and soon fear upon realization as he sees the black armored figure in front of him, blade out, the armor breathing for him. ... He recognizes him.
The headmaster grabs his saber, and rolls off the bed.*

*Aliilah runs to the hallway, Tamia right behind.
Suddenly Jawn comes around the corner, joining them in their run.*
Tamia:├óÔé¼┬ØJAWN!├óÔé¼┬Ø
Jawn:├óÔé¼┬ØWhats going on?!├óÔé¼┬Ø
Alilah:├óÔé¼┬ØWhere have you been?!├óÔé¼┬Ø
Jawn:├óÔé¼┬ØI was training, whats going on?!├óÔé¼┬Ø
Tamia:├óÔé¼┬ØThere├óÔé¼Ôäós some armored man in the academy killing everyone! He has already slaughtered most of the students and the rest of the hopefuls!├óÔé¼┬Ø
*Jawns eyes slide downward in thought as he runs.*
Tamia:├óÔé¼┬ØWhat are we going to do?!├óÔé¼┬Ø
*Jawn takes a moment then comes to a conclusion.*
Jawn:├óÔé¼┬ØAlilah, you go get the headmaster. Tamia and I will go to the entrance and communications and recall all the scouts for support!├óÔé¼┬Ø
*Alilah quickly nods in response.*
Alilah:"Alright!"
Jawn:├óÔé¼┬ØWe├óÔé¼Ôäóll meet you in the foyer!├óÔé¼┬Ø *Jawn yells as the two run off down another hallway.*
Alilah sprints as hard as she can.

*Ulak, red lightsaber lit, ready to strike, throws his other hand out, lightning blasting forth from his fingertips.*
The armored man, throws his hand out as well, and catches the lighting in an orb of energy, absorbing every ounce of it, his hand pushing backwards slowly.
*Ulak, puts more force into it, blasting forth with all his hatred and the dark side of the force he had mustered├óÔé¼┬ªuntil finally, he gives out. It was pointless, he was absorbing all of it and he didn├óÔé¼Ôäót want to waste any more of his force reserves.*
But the armored man, instead of letting the energy dissipate, pushes his hand back forward, and unleashes the lighting back that had been fired upon him.
*The bolts fly out twice the speed, they were shot, flying back out at him.*
*Ulak barely manages to bring up his hand in time, deflecting the lightning to the side. However, he does not deflect it with enough forethought to its direction being caught off guard by its return, and it blasts into the wall nearby, blasting out a fireball, rock, and some of the electriciy travels along the electrical there coming over head of him. The blast throws him to the side, his body wraps with arcs of electricity, and his flashburned body smashes against the other wall.*

*Alilah sprints hard now against the strain.
Who was this clad armored man. What was he doing?...wait-.*
*She suddenly stops.*
*The armored man├óÔé¼Ôäós mask in the video feed. It was one she had seen before├óÔé¼┬ª*
*But where├óÔé¼┬ª?*
*Then it hit her├óÔé¼┬ª*
*The black case,the memory of Arkhan yelling at her├óÔé¼┬ª
Was it..him!?*

*Ulak├óÔé¼Ôäós red and black charred face grimaces as he is losing in his pushing hard back against the blade of the man in black├óÔé¼Ôäós crimson blade. The black, goggley eyed, breathing mask, staring into his eyes.
He looks in anger at the masks wearer, only seeing his own scarred reflection gritting and grimacing back.*

*Tamia runs around the corner, Jawn right behind. He stops as she runs to the terminal, and begins typing, bringing up com signals.*
Tamia:├óÔé¼┬ØOkay! They should be on their way.├óÔé¼┬Ø
Jawn:├óÔé¼┬ØGood.├óÔé¼┬Ø *He says calmly as he scans the video feed for the outside doors.*
Tamia:├óÔé¼┬ØShould we wait for them or go help Alil-├óÔé¼┬Ø
*The sound of the *snap hiss* of a lightsaber from behind her cuts her off, and eyes wide, she slowly turns.*

*Alilah turns the corner, sliding to a stop, then freezes. One big clash of sabers, then a muffled *boom* and a figure blasts backwards. She tries to dodge but the figure grazes her, knocking her spinning to the ground. The figure impacts into the wall behind her.*
*The figure groans as he moves slightly, leaning against the wall from the way he impacted.*
*Then* ├óÔé¼┼ôUrk!├óÔé¼┬Ø*s as the sound of a saber flying through the air and suddenly impaling something pierces his lungs.*
Alilah looks up.
*The headmaster stands weakly, limply, against the wall, eyes wide in shock, holding the saber hilt of the blade pinning him to the wall.*
*Allilah watches in horror as he looks down at the hilt with his disfigured face from the charring and burns, and soon crumples over, eyes bugging out as he slowly dies.*
*The hilt suddenly yanks out of him and the wall, and flies back to its master, landing in his hand.*
*It├óÔé¼Ôäós master reignites it, the crimson blade shooting out with the characteristic* *snap hiss*.
*Alilah watches in horror, terror covering her face, mouth open, beginning to quiver as she slowly turns over, and tries to make herself move backwards, to escape the evil in black as he steps towards her.
now she stares in terror as the mask, the same goggly eyed, vent for a mouth, black, hard, curved and cornered mask she saw in Arkhan's black case, now with something new to it, breathing in and out, loudly, closes in on her.*
She cannot scream, she cannot breathe. She can only stare in absolute terror.