Private Shadows of the Sith Empire [Part 1]

[Darth Voyance]

Aboard the Soothsayer Battlecruiser
Above Korriban

Darth Voyance watched the bloated rust colored orb of the Sith home and graveworld Korriban balloon below as she watched from the secondary bridge of her battlecruiser. The secondary bridge was a personal viewing bridge for the Sith Lord. It was wide and empty. At one end was a long panoramic transparasteel blast window while the rest was dark durasteel tiles and dimly lit red lights embedded in streaks across the ceiling. She had come to Korriban to host a private lesson for a young Sith novitiate - Octavius Bellator . When she had formed the creation of the Qotsisajakaar Sect - the Sith Keepers - he was one of the first to inquire about its indoctrination. The boy was young in the ways of the darkside but, a potential swelled within him. A potential Darth Voyance found intriguing, and wickedly useful. She had invited him aboard her battlecruiser and further escorted him to her secondary bridge. When finished admiring the dark world before them, she turned around to speak to Octavius.

"Have you ever visited the homeworld?" asked Darth Voyance as she approached Octavius, dressed in her dark black and gold robes.

"It is a chillingly powerful place. It nearly suffocates you with the history of its dark culture."

Voyance stopped only a few steps ahead of Octavius and clasped her hands behind her back, resting them on her waist.

"Here you will begin your training and recieve the true guidance of the Sith Code...and the power it will unleash inside you."

 

[Octavius Bellator]

Octavius had been intrigued by the offer to visit Korriban when Darth Voyance contacted him. He had graciously accepted, of course, and departed the secret little project he had been working on for the past few months. He was pleased to be able to learn about some of the finer points of being a Sith, as his education until now had almost been entirely self-taught. It was the reason he was so interested in the Qotsisajakaar project, to begin with when he had learned about it. A chance to learn what he was actually part of, and a chance to become better than he currently was. And this was the first step to that goal.

He leaned against the glass of the secondary bridge, staring down at the dusty, red ball of rock that held so much value to the Sith. He could understand tradition and history, the legacy of their forebearers holding value, though he found it hard to appreciate it. It was not that he doubted its importance, it was simply he found it hard to care about that which was. He hoped he would be able to change that mentality with this trip.

Glancing up at Voyance as she approached, he shook his head. "I have never been this far into the Outer Rim before, to be honest. Not much to entertain me with out here, you know?" He turned his gaze away from Korriban, focusing his eyes on the woman before him. Unlike her, he wore a white and green shirt and pants combo. He enjoyed bright colors, and the attention they sometimes brought to him. He regarded her for several seconds before turning his gaze back towards Korriban.

"We shall see...there is certainly power here, though whether it alone will make any kind of breakthrough in me is dubious I think. But, I am always eager to be wrong."

 

[Darth Voyance]

"Breakthrough it shall," said Darth Voyance, gesturing for the young Sith Knight Octavius Bellator to follow her.

The two strode down the bridge over looking the sunken pits where sensor and navigation array officers toiled away, and reached a repulsorlift elevator. Descending into the bowels of the Soothsayer they travelled to a hangar where a shuttle awaited them. Voyance turned around spoke as the gangway hissed open and ventillation vapors spat out in white plumes.

"The Darkside calls this world its home," said Voyance, "It speaks to those who will listen. Listen and let it rush over you."

"Those who wish to wield the Darkside must first serve it, suffer that indignation, my dear noble-born, and then the Darkside shall grant you power beyond power."

Voyance walked up the gangway and into the shuttle. Inside was a lavishly furnished circular space, with red cushioned benches in black durasteel frames. She took a seat and beckoned the Hapes Noble to sit beside her. Sith Troopers, her legion's red streamed in along with attendants in dark red robes and veils.

"Power with out discipline however, shall destroy you as it has destroyed many," Voyance conitnued, "The sagest of Sith know to temper their power with the Sith Code."

"So let us begin the lesson with that, the Sith Code's first tenant. The origin of power...passion."

"What is your passion, Bellator?"

"What burns in your soul and pushes you to me, to the Darkside, to the path of the Sith?"

 

[Octavius Bellator]

Octavius followed Darth Voyance through the vessel, his hands resting comfortably in the pockets of his pants. He looked out of place among the uniformed members of the crew as he followed the Sith Lord, and he truly did feel out of place. For so long being a Sith had merely been his reaction to a galaxy turning against him. A youthful rebellion springing from the betrayal of those he thought he could truth the most. Seeing everything here though, what true Sith could accomplish...

It was daunting.

Octavius listened carefully to the words Darth Voyance spoke to him, his eyes narrowed as they came to the large hangar within the ship. To gain power, one must first serve. To utilize the darkside to its full potential, he must bend to its will. He had spent most of his life bent to the will of others, born into servitude of those who called themselves his sovereign by right of birth and blood. That same right had led him to be imprisoned by his own parents, and left to die in darkness, alone. The thought of servitude to another did not sit well with him.

As they boarded the shuttle, Octavius took a seat in one of the cushioned benches across from the Sith Lord. He draped his arms over either side of the bench, and folded on leg over the other, glancing at the ramp as it slowly began to rise. The Siths more recent question had thrown another bit of confusion into his mind, and he was silent for several minutes as he thought. Finally, he turned his head to Darth Voyance, his eyes narrowed and calculating.

"Vengeance. Vengeance against my family, vengeance against my homeworld, vengeance against a galaxy that does not care about me. I desire the power, strength, and knowledge on how to bend this galaxy to my will, and make it pay for everything it has done to me."

 

[Darth Voyance]

"Vengeance is a powerful motivator indeed," Voyance said.

"It ignites passion, narrows your focus and forges your purpose into a clear crystallized vision."

The shuttle shuddered as it landed on the arid, rust colored barren wastes of Korriban. Darth Voyance stood up and began to step to the exit, no waiting for Octavius Bellator and fully expecting he was already following. The exit opened as mechanical actuators hissed and whined as they did their work. The gangplank descended and so did Voyance. They were greeted by the hot and dry airs of Korriban, carrying wisps of dust that danced in ghostly processions that welcomed the two.

"Your vengeance shall be the passion that breaks the suffocating peace of exile and failure you have languished in," Voyance declared as she turned around to face Octavius.

"The first virtue of the Sith Code, the path that will lead you to the true way of the Sith shall be your guide."

"Peace...is a lie. There is only Passion," Voyance said, "We Sith must always struggle. Struggle to gain power, to adapt once we have attained and never settle."

"Follow," said Voyance, ending her teachings by walking away and down a dust submerged steel pathway that was a part of an Imperial civil works that connected the new spaceport to the ruins of the old distantly ancient Sith Empire.