Private Higher Learning

[S0-T0]

Soto had not been aboard the Crimson Path for very long, but he had been there long enough to gain his own office. The space was actually large than he had expected, though he had not given an actual position within the High Sith just yet. There was one large issue on Soto's agenda however, gaining an apprentice. It was a long term goal of his, to train a powerful sith to succeed himself.

He had sent out a message to multiple young sith, looking for a capable master from across their ship. Several individuals had already arrived. A male sith pureblood, a female togruta, and a male twi'lek. They all appeared to be a competent bunch, but there was to be a forth arrival soon. The droid sith, masquerading as a tognath, sat behind a metal desk as the students all arrived. "Welcome to my office. I am Soto, a lord of the High Sith. I'm sure each of you are here answering my call for an apprentice."

Each of the three students would give Soto a short bow, but the sith would be quick to shake his head and wave his hand. "There is no need for formalities around me... You will not all be here for long. Only one of you is to become my direct apprentice, though the rest of you will get other opportunities in the future... I will be subjecting all of you to a short series of tests, to determine who here is the strongest among you."

Atramilitis

 

[Atramilitis]

Location: Crimson Path | Outside of Soto’s Office
Tags: S0-T0

Atramilitis was late in reporting to his potential master’s call it seemed. There was a subtle shrug given as he looked over the other potentials. The Pureblood was an interesting sight for the Atra, he’d only seen one before. According to his former master they were the highest of the dark side users at one point, but over time they fell from grace. There weren’t very many in the galaxy any longer. The fellow Togruta was younger than Atra, the lekku were nice, but Atra just couldn’t see one of his own kind without seeing red with anger. Lastly a Twi’lek. Males were stronger than females. Uglier too. Atra would show these three who the superior Sith was.

The fourth potential student of Soto strode into the room with confidence and hate. There would be only one apprentice of Soto and it would be Atramilitis. He kept his cowl up over his head, it disguised his short stature as well as complete confirmation of his species. His lekku stuck out so there were only so many possibilities, but one would still have to guess.

“Your student has arrived Master Soto,” Atramilitis announced, to the other potentials as much as to the teacher. “You can do all the tests you’d like. But there is only one outcome. These three younglings will fall. And the more powerful will rise to the top.”

 

[S0-T0]

As the first three took their places, standing in front of the Sith's desk, their forth and final arrival would soon reveal himself. It was a male togruta who came to answer his call, and a boastful one at that. Pride made for an excellent sith, if said pride could be molded into the powers of the force. The other potential pureblood apprentice would sneer at the young man as he entered, "Hmph. What a joke." While the other two applicants would give looks of concern.

Soto had gotten Atramillitis' name down earlier, and would give him the closest thing to a smile the disguised tognath could offer. "Atramillitis, you are a bold one... A tad bit late, but bold." The sith lord would stand up from behind his desk, leaving a small number of papers scattered about. He would eye each student up and down, and would begin walking behind the line of potential apprentices. They all seemed to be in decent physical condition, though the two Togrutas appeared to be in the best shape. The Pureblood was a tab bit slender, while the Twi'lek was a bit bulky. Regardless, it would be stiff competition.

"I am told each of you have some degree of skill in the force. Even the youngest sith can feel the presence of others within the force... Your first task is to use this ability on me. Tell me something interesting about myself, hm?"

As he instructed, the room full of students would begin shutting their eyes, all attempting to sense Soto through the force. Little did they all know, the man was a droid. He had no presence in the actual force, but Soto justified this by claiming it was an exotic technique, not that these students would know. Some time would pass, but the students had yet to speak.

"Anytime now... What do you feel?"

Atramilitis

 

[Atramilitis]

Location: Crimson Path | Outside of Soto’s Office
Tags: S0-T0

Atramilitis did not like this game. And he knew it was a game. He used the Force along with his montral as a passive warning system. He knew that he could burrow into people’s heads. See who they were. Demand things from them. But he had not been trained well enough on the latter and wasn’t very interested in the former. He cared very little of what species existed in the galaxy nor what it felt like to be in their heads. But he desired power and if Soto could give him that he would play the game.

“You trick us,” Atramilitis spoke out first. His teeth grinded together in anger. He had pushed against the consciousness of his potential master and found nothing. He was not blocked or nudged towards a certain interesting fact. Atra was expecting some sort of deceit, but what he found was intriguing.

“You hide,” Atramilitis accused, though there was a smirk on his hidden face. “You are more powerful than us. A Sith Lord. And you trick us like this. Why? To see if we make some tale of your glory? No Lord Soto. Your glory is something you will have to prove. But this exhibition was quite impressive.”

 

[S0-T0]

Soto held his hands behind his back as the students struggled to find anything about him. Some of them would mutter to themselves, wondering why they couldn't sense this man, or his thoughts. Of course, Atramilitis would be the first among them to speak up. He would mention that it was a trick, something the droid sith did to stroke his own ego.

The disguised tognath would audibly chuckle as the young man pointed this out, and would simply shake his head. "I did this to show you all what you could learn. An ability that causes the force to ignore your very existence. It is something very few can master, but one of many powers I will teach to my apprentice."

Of course, the young man would also mention the lord's glory would be something he needed to prove. In due time that would happen, he and the empress would be leaving to sack a jedi enclave soon. Surely he would gain the rank of Darth after that. Regardless, he needed to focus on the moment. "If you want to know the depths of my skill... Then all you need to do is defeat your peers... Next test..."

The droid would point toward the male twi'lek, and then toward Atramilitis. "Yolvin. Atramilitis. The two of you are to show me your skills with a lightsaber... Fight until one remains standing, but do not kill."

Atramilitis

 

[Atramilitis]

Location: Crimson Path | Outside of Soto’s Office
Tags: S0-T0

Soto bragged on the ability he portrayed to his potential apprentices. Rightly so in Atramilitis’ opinion. To be able to make yourself disappear in the Force must take a tremendous amount of effort, yet Soto stood and talked with them as if it was nothing. This tognath was a worthy teacher. Atramilitis would push these others to the side and take his place with Soto.

And the next challenges would provide just that opportunity. The inevitable was the first it appeared and the opponent would be the large, ugly Twi’lek. Lightsaber combat was not Atramilitis’ forté. He had been trained extensively in the first form that his first master called Shii-Cho as well as a small amount of training in Makashi. This would have to do for now. This training and Atra’s guile would get him through the first rival.

The Togruta shrugged off his outer robes and readied his blade for combat. With the normal snap-hiss sound of an extended blade of a lightsaber. An orange hue filled the room, enhancing the natural color of Atramilitis’ skin. A sneer formed on the Sith apprentice’s face and he stalked to his left, starting with a circle around his opponent looking for an opening.

Yolvin was either more confident or sensed that his opponent was not going to strike first. The Twi’lek struck out with a strong two-handed overhead attack. Atramilitis moved to parry and side step the attack. Yolvin was slightly off balance and Atramilitis struck at the opportunity. He offered several quick strikes at varying positions of his opponent’s stance. All were parried however as Yolvin held the final strike in mid-air Atra’s smirk grew. He took one hand off his blade and waved to Yolvin before unleashing torrent of Force Lightning through his opponent.

The Twi’lek flew across the room and laid huffing on the floor. Atramilitis turned to Soto and gave a half bow, half nod to the Sith Lord. “I hope that doesn’t break the rules of ‘lightsaber’ skills. He was obviously more talented with the blade. Would have worn me down and won. I was smarter and stronger in the Force. I do not apologize. But if you wish to judge against me that is your choice.”