Korriban - Valley of the Dark Lords

[Rajnish Grievous]

Rajnish stops in his tracks as his red eye stops on the Madman as he bald his fist as if he dared the Madman, to be left behind with him. His anger rised some from just the Madman's voice, this human or whatever he was was getting under his metal skin. He relaxed his claw like hand as he stands there awaiting the Emperors decision.

[SK]

The Sith Infiltrator "Revenger" comes out of hyperspace, and starts to make his landing near the "Valley of the Sith Lords". As the ship lands, the ramp descends, and out comes SK, dressed all in black, with his black cloak, and his black robes.

He walks out over to towards the Valley, when he stops and listens to the force. He can sense a couple of beings here, and one of them is very strong in the dark side of the force. He knows that it will not take them to find him in the force, so for now, he will just have to wait in anticipation.

He then goes over to the Temple that housed the spirit of Ajunta Pall.

[Emperor Ire]

"I would rather keep you close, doctor." Ire says as he continues to walk up the stairs and closer to the surface. "Don't think me untrusting of you, I have questions better answered in person and away from prying eyes. You'll be coming with me aboard my ship."

Ire says nothing else as he walks up the stairs and takes a turn up another set of stairs that leads them all to the surface. Ire takes a deep breath of arid air and lets out a sigh."Ahhh, fresh air."

[Konstai Vekdara]

Huffing up the last few steps Konstai looks out across the floor of the valley as they finally exit while thinking over Ire's last words to him.

"That will be a problem then, if you make it so. I will not leave my ship, studies and my pet here unattended to. I am willing to bet that your ship in orbit is more than capable to ensure I attend upon you for further discourse, and I am not known to be a betting individual."

He starts to turn to walk towards his ship in the distance, then tilts his head and looks back to Ire.

"It seems another has arrived, another one of your minions?

[Rajnish Grievous]

Rajnish exits and looks at the Emperor then back over to the Madman. His eye starts back to moving and his sensors kick in. Then he heard the Madman's comment, he looks over at him as he walks off. He starts moving towards him as if he was thinking he can just walk away from the Emperor.

The Madman said something else that caused to scan the area as to he felt a presence that was strong in the Dark Side like that of his Master.

[Emperor Ire]

"Indeed, my ship in orbit can keep you from escaping." Ire says to Konstai before he feels the presence of another on the planet, someone powerful. Ire decides now is not the time to search this person out but cannot deny this person might pose a threat, which is something that makes Ire reconsider for a moment but still decides against locating this presence he feels. Ire shakes off these thoughts to finish responding to Konstai. "Take your ship into orbit and dock with my ship, you won't be able to miss it, I shall meet you there."

Turning to Grievous, Ire decides that maybe he should send a 'distraction' in the direction of the presence he feels on planet. "Grievous, I'm judging by your attention being drawn elsewhere you can sense what I sense, go track down whoever that is and give me and the good doctor enough time to get back to the Atrocity."

[Konstai Vekdara]

There is only a moment of pause from Konstai, somewhat impressed by the sheer confidence in Ire's statement. There was a solidity to it, and a very weighty implication, for there were few people who did not live on a civilized system who had not heard of the Atrocity.

With a nod, but no further words, Konstai legs it off in the direction of his ship.

A short while later as he arrives at it, he readies a tranquilizer just in case his pet is a bit too enthusiastic as he enters. Luckily for him, it was apparently in a lackadaisical mindset. Sparing no time to treat his wounds, he fires up the ship and heads for orbit, his palms sweating on the controls as he approaches the massive ship.

[Emperor Ire]

Ire approaches his ship, orders his troops aboard and proceeds to take off for the Atrocity as it sits in orbit. The massive ship can be seen getting bigger in his forward viewport as the Silent Knight gains altitude, he breaks the atmosphere and heads closer to the Imperial flagship. Ire spots Konstai's ship already in orbit as his ship is the first to enter the Atrocity's massive main hangar bay. As Ire pulls in, the Emperor orders that Konstai's ship be given permission to land in the same hangar bay. As Ire sets his ship down and switches off its engines and other systems, he wonders how Konstai will take the overwhelming darkness that seems to permiate from the Atrocity -- only one way to find out...

[Konstai Vekdara]

He had seen pictures of these vessels before, and had seen plenty of the mammoth bulk freighters over they years, but as he flew alongside the hull of the massive ship towards the hanger bay that he was routed to, he could not help but to let out a low whistle of awe.

As his craft lands and he goes through the usual post flight regime, he starts to feel the difference between this vessel and others. There is a sort of presence in the dark side, but more than that. He feels in some ways like he is still down on Korriban and then realization dawns on him that the very ship is not unlike a force nexus for the dark side. Amazed, he takes a moment experiencing it, it flows through the structure of the ship itself like it is a great evil beast; something that he has considerable knowledge of.

As he finally walks down the ramp of his ship to the waiting Emperor and his entourage, He can feel the pulse of the power, almost as if seeing it he looks down the line of the ship deep into its labyrinthine core and is struck in awe as he feels the "heart" of the beast down somewhere in those iron ribbed depths.

All of that massive power harnessed to a single point, a point he looks at now, he cannot but look, like a podrace crash you just have to... and that point is within the depths of that black shroud behind those yellow-red eyes.

"Nnnnnnnnngh!"

Clutching his head at the enormity of it and the will behind it, he drops to his knees and tips over, curling into a little ball as he moans and gibbers to himself... Even if one of Ire's guards had taken a good run-up and kicked him square in the fork, would the reaction not have been as sudden and debilitating.

[Rajnish Grievous]

Rajnish turns his head to his Emperor and nods. It was time to see if the device that blocks his force powers will work. His feet claws spreaded some as he began to run off in the direction where he felt the presence. He thought to himself.

(Now I can see if this new body is any good in combat)

He stops at the top of ahill and scan the area, his red light for his eye stops as he see the figure near the temple. He looks down at him walking down slowly towards him.

[Emperor Ire]

Walking over to the debilitated Konstai, Ire cocks his head to the side as he assesses the doctor's condition. "Hmmm, he doesn't seem to be handling it well."

Ire orders guards to take Konstai to the medical bay and keep him comfortable, code for 'sedated', until the Atrocity arrives back at Carratos. Ire walks away and heads towards the turbolifts to get to the bridge. Once on the bridge, Ire orders an immediate jump to Kal'Shebbol to engage the enemy fleet oppressing Pro-Imperial supporters.

[Rajnish Grievous]

Rajnish looks at the new figure but he does not move and say a word. Rajnish figures he think he is just a droid. He senses his Emperor was gone now, so no need to stay here. He knows where he was headed, so he turns and heads back to the shuttle orders the pilot to take off and join him.

The shuttle reaches high orbit and jumps as well.

[SK]

As he makes his way towards the back end of the Temple, he had felt the power of the dark side. Not just in the room, but also on the planet. The presences that he had felt were soon gone though, so now it was time for him to go further into the Temple.

He had finally made his way to the tomb and looked around. the tomb was still ver old and run down. Scavengers and Archaeologists during the years have disected the tomb from top to bottom.

After looking around for a bit, he then got down on his knees, and closed his eyes. Summoning the dark side of the force to him, he begins to meditate, as he searches for the trapped soul of Ajunta Pall through the force, and to ask him questions that hopefully the dead Sith Lord will have answers to.

[SK]

After meditating for a while, he still has not gotten any response from the dead Sith Lord. He then gets back to his feet, and heads out of the Tomb. There he goes back towards his Sith Infiltraitor, and then lifts up, and heads towards orbit.

There he sets in coordinates to head back towards Coruscant. He engages his hyperdrive, and the ship heads off into hyperspace.

[Azah Beillane]

"Ha! You are just a kid. I doubt you have the stomach to be a killer, let alone make the sacrifices necessary to be a Sith."

"I'm not a kid! I'm a Sith! And I am a killer too! I killed three people just to get you and they weren't the first either, and they sure won't be the last. The Jedi will pay for letting my parents die like that!"

"So I see. Well, my first apprentice was only 10 when I found her. She said much the same thing. But why are you coming to me instead of seeking out and becoming the apprentice of the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith?"

Standing, Azah shrugged.

"There isn't one. I've heard there are a few Sith scattered around the galaxy, but not a single master among them. If I am to learn the ways of the Sith, as is my destiny so that I may have my revenge against the Jedi, then I am left to learn solely from lost Holocrons and ancient tomes."

The holographic representation of Darth Bane was livid. How could there be no Dark Lord of the Sith? How could the galaxy have a few scattered Sith? There was only one way possible. The Rule of Two had been broken. Darth Bane himself had been in the situation where Azah now found herself. No one would teach him, so he turned to the very same tools that she now sought. She had his determination and was obviously resourceful enough to locate and acquire his Sith Holocron. Very well, he would teach her. And he would start with the Rule of Two.

"Two there must be. No more. No less. One to embody the power, the other to crave it. This is the Rule of Two and it has obviously been broken. You must restore it. If you won't, then I cannot help you."

"Those who use the dark side are also bound to serve it. To understand this is to understand the underlying philosophy of the Sith. The dark side offers power for power's sake. You must crave it. Covet it. You must seek power above all else, with no reservation or hesitation. The Force will change you. It will transform you. Some fear this change. The teachings of the Jedi are focused on fighting and controlling this transformation. That is why those who serve the light are limited in what they accomplish."

"True power can come only to those who embrace the transformation. There can be no compromise. Mercy, compassion, loyalty: all these things will prevent you from claiming what is rightfully yours. Those who follow the dark side must cast aside these conceits. Those who do not—those who try to walk the path of moderation—will fail, dragged down by their own weakness. Those who accept the power of the dark side must also accept the challenge of holding on to it. By its very nature the dark side invites rivalry and strife. This is the greatest strength of the Sith: it culls the weak from our order. Yet this rivalry can also be our greatest weakness. The strong must be careful lest they be overwhelmed by the ambitions of those working beneath them in concert. Any master who instructs more than one apprentice in the ways of the dark side is a fool. In time, the apprentices will unite their strengths and overthrow the master. It is inevitable; axiomatic. That is why each Master must have only one student."

"This is also the reason there can only be one Dark Lord. The Sith must be ruled by a single leader: the very embodiment of the strength and power of the dark side. If the leader grows weak another must rise to seize the mantle. The strong rule; the weak are meant to serve. This is the way it must be. My time here is ended. Take what I have taught you and use it well."

"These are the words of Darth Revan, and why the Rule of Two is necessary for the Sith to be at our absolute strongest."

Azah smiled, having learned her first lesson. She nodded her agreement wholeheartedly. Someone had broken the Rule of Two. That had to be why the Sith were so presently borked. She would correct that error and restore the Rule of Two.

"It won't be the first time I've killed. I took this off a Sith that I killed on Ryloth, though I had thought she was a Jedi when I attacked her. I was able to injure her and she unprepared for the way I fought her. I saw the opportunity to kill her and did."

The need to rationalize her actions revealed far more about what she was feeling to Darth Bane than she could have realized. He had this conversation before, but he had chosen his apprentice well then and had only had to say it once.

"Then she was weak and deserved to die. You feel sorry for them now? The people that you have killed?"

Azah considered the question. She felt sorry for the Sith woman because she was thinking they were on the same side as enemies of the Jedi. Now she was learning that wasn't the case.

"You feel regret. Remorse. Maybe even pity. But those are worthless emotions. They mean nothing. What you need to feel is anger!"

That was exactly how she felt about the first being she had killed. She had sacrificed her virginity for transportation from Ossus to Dathomir. He had taken advantage of her, which she didn't deny to herself that she had allowed him to do, then laughed at her and revealed that he had never intended to keep his end of the bargain. He was going to deliver her to Kessel for credits instead. She had never been more angry in her life than in that moment. She had pretended to still have the innocence that he had taken as she begged him not to do that. She said that she would sleep with him again and that would be enough right? She knew from his smirk that it wouldn't be. Yet this time, she straddled him and enjoyed it because she knew how it would end this time. When she finished, she had taken the punch dagger and drove it into his throat through the carotid artery just before he could finish. He had lost the right to. That fire in her eyes brought a smile to her new holographic master's face.

"There. That is what you should feel. Their deaths were not an accident. What happened was not some mistake! You are remembering what you felt when you unleashed your power against them. Remember what you felt when the Jedi did nothing as your parents died. Yes, yes, that's more like it. I can see the passion in your eyes.

Peace is a lie. There is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall set me free."

"Peace is a lie. There is only passion.
Through passion, I gain strength.
Through strength, I gain power.
Through power, I gain victory.
Through victory, my chains are broken.
The Force shall set me free."

"Exactly. Now... if you would be a Sith, then you must shed the last of who you once were and embrace your destiny fully. What is your name?"

Azah understood what he meant, and she grasped its significance. She considered the question carefully before she answered.

"I am Vixen."

A vixen was a female fox. She was a beautiful and attractive woman, even if she was under age in virtually every system of the galaxy. She was also very sly and cunning. Yet a vixen was also a woman known to be quarrelsome, shrewish, spiteful or malicious. She was all of these things. The name was very apt for who she was and who she was to become.

Darth Bane had approved and given her an assignment. She now found herself taming the wildlife of Korriban's Valley of the Dark Lords. The Hssiss were too stealthy to see with the naked eye most of the time. They seemed to have an uncanny ability to make themselves almost invisible. Yet, if you knew how, then you could sense them in the Force.

He had not told her exactly what to do, nor did he tell her how. He had simply told her to think about how she had done it before and to do it. All she had known was how to direct the path of a slug towards the vital organs of an enemy's body for a kill shot. Her entire species were deadly snipers. And now she found herself staring through the scope of her Czerka Adventurer rifle at a target that she couldn't see at all.

She had to feel the presence of her target in the Force, just as she felt the location of the slug to subtly direct its path. She had been doing this for two days now. Yesterday, she had killed most of the Hssiss in close proximity to her ship, Kraken, and those which had survived had been driven back. They were afraid of her now. Good. They should be. And now they were more of a challenge.

The boulder closest to the Hssiss that she was aiming at currently was 1.2 kilometers away. That much she could tell with her range finder. The exact distance to the target that she couldn't see, she had no way to know for certain. She was aiming with the Force.

She squeezed the trigger and fired the shot. Now she had two focal points withing the Force to monitor: the hssiss and the slug she was directing towards it. The hssiss seemed to feel her focus and tried to run. Now her stationary target was a moving one, trying to build its acceleration in time to flee the danger. The slug tracked it and moved, adjusting trajectory mid-flight, as the hssiss moved. When the hssiss went right, so did the slug. When it stopped short, the slug compensated. As it darted off to the left, the slug made one final adjustment before embedding itself into the heart of the hssiss. The hssiss presence blinked out of the Force as it died. A smug and sadistic smile crossed Vixen's lips as she took aim at her next prey.

The nearest landmark was 1.6 kilometers away. This hssiss was well beyond that and was already moving at a full sprint to increase that distance. Obviously she had spooked it with her earlier shot. She relished the challenge and she fired without hesitation at the second victim. The slug was leading the hssiss and well on course to hit the target with little intervention from her. She was an expert marksman after all. The hssiss started to slow down and Azah had to do very little to compensate for this. After two days of moving to targets farther and farther away, she had grown quite confident and was already very good at what she did to begin with. She was getting even better and far deadlier the more she worked.

The hssiss was trying to speed up again and vary its angle. The slug split the rib cage and tore through the left lung. The hssiss slowed quickly as it struggled to breathe. It was bleeding out internally and died a painful and agonizing death. Vixen smiled and savored its suffering rather than waste a second slug to ease its suffering. It was already dead, there was nothing that could change that. And she simply drank in and enjoyed its final moment of agony and suffering before she celebrated triumphantly once its presence had finally blinked out of the Force.

[Azah Beillane]

"When someone seeks to lead you into a trap, spring the trap. A Sith has nothing to fear from the traps you see coming. Use the Force, Sense them, pay attention and know what the trap will be and when you must face it. The only traps you need be concerned about are the ones that you miss."

Vixen had spent the last week being taught techniques for meditation that had been designed to help strengthen her connection to the Dark Side of the Force. Now that connection was about to be put to the test. Her next assignment was to work her way through one of the trap loaded Sith tombs here in the Valley of the Dark Lords. There would be any number of traps as puzzles presented themselves to block her way and deny access to the weak and unworthy lest they manage to possess the gifts and secrets at the tombs heart.

There would also be any number of beast that would haunt the unholy halls and stalk her progress seeking an opening to attack. She had her weapons; however, she intended to practice her new advanced talent of ballistakenisis. She had an assortment of ball bearings in a pouch in her utility belt for just that purpose.

"The tricks of the dead will be nothing more than a stepping stone as I take the secrets of those who came before, harness their power, and bend it to my will."

A sadistic grin crossed the lips of the holographic representation of Darth Bane as his living teenage apprentice grew bolder in her demeanor and he watched the yellowness flare in her eyes as she spoke with a harsh venom of contempt on her lips concerning any being, living or dead, who sought to stand in the way of her destiny.

Before she left, she packed the holocron to take it with her. It would not do to allow someone the opportunity to reclaim that which she had taken from their unworthy possession. She also activated the Bith vehicle voice lock that she had purchased earlier with stolen credits. When she wanted something, she took it from the weak. It wasn't lost on her that someone thinking they were stronger than she was to attempt to take that which she felt was hers by right. She had no intention of allowing them to do so easily and fully intended to kill them viciously, painfully, and mercilessly when they failed.

Her anger and hatred grew with each passing day as she drank in the Dark Side like a morning cup of caf. Any perceived innocence within her now was quickening into more and more of a play actors trick being played by a grifter running a con.

Two there must be. No more, no less. One to embody the power, the other to crave it.

And oh how she craved it.

[Azah Beillane]

This was the tomb that called out to her. She had no idea which Sith Lord of how long ago had been laid to rest within and she only cared in so much as what power she could glean from any artifacts or tomes they may have left behind. Yet her first obstacle would be getting in. The entrance was blocked by a massive boulder that was somehow wedged into the door.

Her telekinetic skills had evolved from having first been trained in her species method of directing a slug in flight to guide it using significant concentration to her target. Now she was equally lethal with a simple ball bearing which hadn't even been fired from any rifle or pistol. Yet they were small and this boulder blocking her path was massive.

Her Force Sense was growing as well. The object was completely inorganic, yet she had no trouble seeing and feeling its borders within the Force. This was her fourth attempt to remove the obstacle from her path. She was sweating from exertion and her anger was growing white hot.

Peace is a lie. There is only passion.

And she let that passion burn unchecked. She could feel it as though it truly were a literal flame which burned within her body seeking to devour all that which dared to stand in its wake.

Through passion, I gain strength.

She took that passionate desire and harnessed it. She gripped it tight to bend it to her will. Anything her body lacked in physical strength, her mind did not. This boulder would move simply because she willed it.

Through strength, I gain power.

Dust was disturbed along the edges as the force of her will began to manifest. With now visible progress, her confidence grew into something which simply refused to be denied. The boulder was no match for her. She was a Sith. She was worthy. She would have the secrets which lay hidden within this tomb. No test presented to her by someone long dead was powerful enough to stand against her.

Through power, I gain victory.

With a near growl, she ripped the boulder free and sent it flying through the air and away from where she would go. The score was now Vixen 1, Tomb 0.

Through victory, my chains are broken.

The massive boulder had been no heavier than one of her slugs or ball bearings once she had removed it and held it in the air using the Force. It was that fact, which in her moment of victory, had caused her to realize that size mattered not. What mattered was the strength of her will and her power to command the Force and bend it to her will. The boulder was no more or less of a challenge than a slug or ball bearing.

The Force shall set me free.

And with that she was free to enter the tomb. Her eyes flickered yellow as she allowed her lust for more power to continue to simmer unchecked as she took her first steps into the tomb towards whatever secrets may lie within.

[Azah Beillane]

Vixen was not exactly fluent in the language of the ancient Sith. On the other hand, it appeared that Doroti, her multi-talented FIII Footman droid, was. It seemed that upon her officially becoming a Sith, all be it in an unorthodox manner, a hidden section of Doroti's programming had been unlocked. As it turns out, Doroti is the word for droid in the ancient Sith language. At some point, he have been created and programmed to serve the Sith. It seemed like destiny now that she thought back over the course of events that had led him to his new master.

She was wearing an ear bud which connected wirelessly to her comlink so that she could easily communicate with Doroti back on the ship easily. How he had managed to rig the mini holovid cam that streamed her point of view to his console live, she wasn't sure and didn't question. Should she run into any hieroglyphic puzzles within the tomb, Doroti could interpret the symbols and provide her with a decent translation. However, it wasn't a hieroglyph that the red blade of her lightsaber revealed. It was a tuk'ata, also known as a Sith hound.

The tuk'ata were the guardians of the tombs of the fallen Sith Lords of long ago. They had been for so long that many believed them to be immortal and drew nourishment from the Force itself. Vixen wasn't sure if the glowing red eyes were more or less ominous than the three rows of sharp teeth. It had three horns, 15.24 centimeter long sharp claws, and a whip-like tail.

"Tell it 'itik atgal zveris' with authority that suggests that you will kill it should it fail to comply."

Azah had been planning to kill it. The tingling sensation at the base of her neck was an alarm of danger was enough to tell her that this canine-like thing was perfectly willing to kill her. She had intended to kill it before it had the chance, but decided to take Doroti's approach.

"Itik atgal zveris!"

Her eyes flashed yellow as she channeled her very dark emotions and poured them into her voice. The tuk'ata responded to her words by cowing and retreating further back into the tomb.

"Excellent. What did I just say to it?"

"Get back beast."

"It did."

"I know."

Having witnessed that she had the force of will to command the tuk'ata, the swarm of pelko bugs which had been stalking her and trying to size her up since she had entered this tomb, decided that she was too strong to attack. Sometimes the Force works in mysterious ways, or perhaps Doroti had seen the insects and intended the display for them rather than to save the life of that tuk'ata. She really didn't care as she stepped deeper into the tomb.

There was that sensation at the base of her spine again. There was an incredible amount of danger here. She could feel it in the Force as her ability to use her Force Sense continued to grow. In the middle of the floor was a six by six grid of thirty-six tiles. Each one had either a sun or a moon on it. Doroti read the nearby hieroglyphs which revealed the riddle that must be solved.

"Visa irus' vi diena ax visa menuo vi jen' vi naktis sekleti dotacij laisve ax mirtis su ax lauke kova. Silpnumi saven su nie nutarisas ir tave draika iv mano pyktis valia buti nien bauda kia lyteti. All light as day or all moon as dark as night shall grant freedom or death with or without combat. Weaken yourself with no decision, and the heat of my anger will be your penalty to feel."

This being Korriban, Vixen reasoned that dark as night, also known as the moon symbol in this puzzle, was good while light as day, meaning the sun symbol, was bad. She stepped onto the puzzle and as she did so, each symbol that she stepped on changed to its opposite. She changed each of the sun symbols into moon symbols. She heard a terrible roar of an agonizing death as a terentatek crashed into the door of a thick cage that held it back. Apparently all sun symbols would open the door to the cages and release one of the massive rancors on steroids into the room in which she currently was. All moon symbols killed them. The puzzle reset into a different pattern.

She saw a total of six doors. The grid was six by six. She got the idea there would be six puzzles. She changed each puzzle to a pattern of all moons. She thought to herself, amused.

"Every time a terentatek dies, a Sith girl gets her horns."

As she neared the end of the final puzzle, she realized that there was no exit to this room. Did she need to solve this one with all suns in order to open the door to the next area. She stood there for a moment before she remembered the final warning and stepped onto the final tile to turn it into a moon. As she did so, she felt the heat of the flame that erupted from beneath the tile on which she had just been standing a split second ago.

Her heart raced as she heard another terentatek die. She felt that she had chosen wisely. But how would she leave this room? As soon as she stepped off the puzzle, it changed to a patter on all suns and opened a door that descended lower into the tomb by way of a stone stairway.

Before Vixen could take her first steps down, she could feel a pair of shyracks, the natural enemies of her new tuk'ata friend, if you wanted to stretch the nature of their relationship that far, were flying up into the puzzle room quickly. This would be a perfect time for her to practice her new ballistakinesis ability. She withdrew two ball bearings from the pouch in her utility belt and held one in each hand. She held her right hand out and opened her palm.

She gripped the ball bearing in the Force as she tossed it nonchalantly into the air to prevent the telekinetic force with which she hurled it burn her flesh as if she held her palm under the barrel of her slug thrower as she fired it. She used the Force to guide its path just that fast as she shoved it down the throat and through the lung of shyrack to the right. As it was still dropping dead, she opened her left palm.

As soon as she tossed it into the air, this one was hurled under the chin of the rising shyrack and through its brain. The force of the impact ended up causing it to continue to tilt past vertical and when it crashed to the stone floor of the tomb, it landed on its back.

Smiling, Vixen reactivated the red blade of her lightsaber with a snap hiss. It doubled as a glow rod as she descended the stairs and stepped into the darkness of the passage leading her forward to the next level of the tomb.

[Azah Beillane]

As Vixen entered the next area, she could hear the roar of the terentatek barring her path about a quarter of a kilometer away at the end of this large open room. She could also feel the small pack of four tuk'ata closing in on her. The Force energy that permeated and saturated Korriban was intense, almost arrogant, and power hungry. It served those like her who craved power quite well. She wasn't so much trusting in the Force as a Jedi would have. As a Sith, it was more like grabbing it by the throat and bending it to her will. But that could also have been the arrogance allowing her to believe that she was the one in control.

She had almost opened her mouth to order the tuk'ata to attack the terentatek when she closed it. Somehow she knew the current puzzle which she must solve to unlock this tomb's deepest and darkest secrets would not be quite so easy. The Force did seem to be guiding her, somehow enabling her to seize the power which she craved so much. It occurred to her that the orders which had been given to these tuk'ata were different. They had been ordered to tear the flesh off of any who dared venture into this sacred space.

She knew almost instinctively that she would have to break them before she could bend them. Her eyes grew yellow as she summoned the fire within the core of her blackening soul by drawing heavily on and drinking in the darkness of the Force that clung heavily in the air like a choking humidity to those who chose to fight, rather than embrace, it. She hurled a ball bearing with ballistakinesis right through the sinus cavity and into the brain of the pack leader. Now she angrily addressed the remaining three members of the tuk'ata pack which would have sought to defy her will.

"Atsikla negu sau'm ax mrias nuo nien isdav'kas iv nien meistras!"¹

The tuk'ata pack cowed and whimpered as they realized that they had a new master whom they had displeased. There was neither relief to be felt in Vixen's Force presence, nor was there any decrease in the intensity as she continued to speak.

"Ardyti mano laikas!"²

Vixen pointed them to the terentatek and they attacked it because they were not more frightened by her than they were of it.

"You're learning the language of the ancient Sith quite nicely Master. It is most becoming of a Sith of your stature."

Vixen smiled and prepared herself as Doroti stoked her ego. He clearly knew who buttered his bread, or kept his joints well lubricated to keep his motivators from sticking with him being a droid and all. She didn't relax yet. Her new pet tuk'ata were not going to survive their battle with the terentatek and she had known that when she gave them the order to attack it any way. She knowingly threw away their lives to injure and distract monstrous beast that was she was wise enough to know would crush her in a so called 'fair' fight. So she exploited every possible advantage and used the solution to this latest puzzle which the Force seemed to guide her hand toward in order to position that hand to grab the power which she sought and would make hers.

The tuk'ata had been ripped apart, just as she had known the would. Yet they had injured the terentatek and slowed its reflexes in so doing. They had also kept its attention from her long enough. As the last tuk'ata died and the terentatek searched for whom had set the canine-like beasts upon it, the lightsaber slipped from her hand and flew rapidly through the air like a spear. The terentatek's reflexes were too slow and Vixen did not need to adjust its flight path as the massive beast missed in its attempt to swat the weapon away. The red blade of compressed energy burned through living flesh and burrowed through the bone of the terentatek's skull as it embedded itself into the beasts brain. It was dead long before it finished lumbering forward for another pair of steps along its path towards the source of its undoing. As it teetered forward and began to collapse, the lightsaber retracted from its head and returned to Vixen's waiting hand as she pulled it back to her telekinetically.

With a wry and malevolent grin, Vixen stepped forward into the next chamber in order to accept this tomb's next challenge that would bring her yet another step closer to taking the power which she could practically taste on the tip of her tongue.

---

• 1 "Kneel before me or die for your betrayal of your master"
  
• 2 "Destroy my enemy"
  

[Azah Beillane]

As Vixen stepped into the next section of the tomb, her danger sense wasn't just tingling, it was screaming like a klaxon. She dove to the ground as the spears shot out from the wall that would have skewered her like a shish kabob flew over the top of her. As they retracted, she stood up to find spikes erupting from the floor. At first she was racing forward to stay ahead of them. Then they were driving her backwards. Now that they pushed her forward again, she realized there was some type of repetitive pattern in play here.

She cursed herself for not having realized this at once. Now she was being forced to feel around the room with the Force, while dodging a deadly pattern of spikes, in order to find the solution to this deadly puzzle. These spikes where everywhere it seemed, the floor, the walls... This was tedious work under the circumstances. On the far wall, in the left hand corner just above the door frame, was a mechanism. Telekinetically, she applied pressure on it with the Force to push the over sized circular button. It took concentration to do so. Her abilities were progressively growing stronger, but she couldn't use them so flippantly as to telekinetically push a button that she couldn't see with her naked eye from this far away while dodging spikes. She timed it so that she made her move in the brief gap between the spikes pushing her forward and the spikes that would force her back again. The opening was just enough to allow her the focus that she needed. Fortunately, that mechanism was the switch that deactivated the trap.

Vixen wasted no time in leaving this area behind her and moving forward. Even though this was the most challenging trap that she had encountered in this tomb so far and one that she struggled to survive, she still had a smug sense of satisfaction as she progressed closer to fulfilling her destiny. It would seem that the arrogance of Korriban itself could be at least somewhat contagious as its hunger for power most certainly is.