Tool of the Trade

[Via Dolorosa]

The time had finally arrived for the Sith Knight to construct her first lightsaber and cast away the last remaining piece of Ryi's failure. Since the time she betrayed and murdered her brief mentor, she had carried his weapon as her own. But no more. She yearned for her own blade, one that reflected who she was. Though she did not possess the knowledge directly in how to construct one, she had four somewhat reliable sources to aid her. Four of the five voices had agreed to aid her in this quest, but before she could begin constructing the killing tool; she first had to obtain all the parts, which included two crystals.

Darth Venefica knew the hardest part would be obtaining the two crystals since there were numerous ones out there, scattered across the galaxy on various planets. So for the time being, the quest for the crystals would wait. Though she could simply strip down her current lightsaber for most of the parts, she wanted fresh parts for a new lightsaber, and she wanted no taint from Ryi on her new one.

The activation stud, the blade emitter, and the emitter matrix were the first three parts she wanted to obtain. She had found a Sith who dealt with such parts on Prakith and in exchange for the three components, she had to kill one of his rivals.

Not wanting to openly challenge the female rival, not out of fear but she didn't want to waste time dealing with her associates, she stalked the female Sith for two days. In those two days she observed her daily activites; where she ate, where she spend her free time, and what she did for 'fun'. None of those options gave Darth Venefica the opening she wanted. So one night she followed the female rival back to her quarters, and when the female went to sleep, Darth Venefica made sure she never woke again.

"Here is the proof you wanted. Her lightsaber and her right hand," Darth Venefica said to her contact as she presented both to the man at the hidden meeting spot. The man thanked her and handed her the three components, and then Darth Venefica killed him. Loose ends.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

With three components in her possession, she now turned her focus to obtaining a diatium power cell and a blade power adjustment knob. The former would be the first she would seek out, while the knob would prove to be more easier to obtain. She had heard through certain circles that there was a black market on Coruscant's Underworld that dealt with a variety of goodies. So to Coruscant she went.

The moment she landed on the planet's surface she headed toward the Underworld to inquire about this black market. At first it was proving difficult for most people never heard of it, so after changing tactics and offering a trade to a local crime lord, she was pointed in the right direction; after she completed her side of the deal. The crime lord wanted a valuable piece of art that was in possession of another crime lord.

Using her ability to dominate minds of others, she was able to convince the two door guards she was here to speak to their boss on business, and thus was granted entrance into the crime lord's residence. Unable to just walk freely looking for this art without drawing unwanted attention, she went straight to the source; the boss himself. The male Rodian appeared to have seen better days. When she stood before him, he inquired why she was here and why he shouldn't have her killed.

"You will give us the piece of art known as Tellion's Disaster," she said into his mind while she held it firmly in hers. The Rodian blinked a couple of times then laughed. "Your mind tricks will not work me, girl. I have neural implants embedded into my brain. Kill her!" Her lightsaber flashed into action killing the first two guards before they could draw their weapons, while the third one was encased in blue and white energy from her Sith Lightning. "You should have made it easier on yourself," she barked slamming him back hard into his chair with a strong Force Push, knocking the wind from his lungs. Then he too was killed. She took the artwork, killed the two guards on her way out, and returned to the crime lord she had made a deal with.

The crime lord thanked her and gave her the information she was seeking. After settling on a price for the cell, she paid him and to her surprise discovered he was also in possession of the knob, which she also purchased. She left Coruscant behind and closer to creating her new lightsaber.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Her next stop landed her on the planet of Tython, where an ancient Jedi Temple laid in ruins deep in the forest. It was there she would seek out the field energizer, stabilizing ring, and flux aperture. Her only concern coming here was that the temple had been completely plunder by salvagers, which would force her to seek out another location. She hated setbacks. When the shuttle landed in a open clearing a few hundred yards from the temple, she saw a small camp set up by the temple. Salvagers.

She strolled toward the temple at first, then decided to investigate the camp. Three men were lying about working on different pieces of technology when she entered their domain. "Excuse us gentleman," she began making eye contact with each one momentarily before adding, "We were informed by a nameless contact that this temple is fair game and that anything we discover inside under the rule of 39.S automatically becomes our property." After exchanging glances with one another, the man in the middle replied, "Well, that is true. However, at the current moment it is unadvised for anyone to go in there with that beast roaming about. It's already claimed four lives since we arrived." A beast, huh? She would not allow some primitive creature to come between her and her treasure.

With no concern about a prowling beast about, she entered the temple and began her search; investigating every room she came across. There was a lot of valuable items just waiting to be plundered but she did not care for those, what she came for carried more value to her than everything in the temple combined. After searching for two hours, she felt no or saw any signs of this beast nor any signs of what she came here for. She was about to give up the search when from the corner of her right eye she caught a glimpse of a door nearly hidden by vines. Potential jackpot?

She brushed away the vines and stepped through the door and saw huddled in a corner a humanoid figure gnawing on a leg bone that probably belonged to one of the four claimed lives the man outside mentioned. Also, she saw resting on a workbench the pieces she needed. Kill this thing and claim her rewards. The creature stood up, cast aside the bone in favour of fresh meat, and charged the onlooking Sith. She grabbed the creature's body through the Force and flung it into the wall on the right. The creature thing howled, recovered, and charged again. Only this time it was met with Sith Lightning that quickly began to boil the grey flesh. Darth Venefica poured more emotions into the Force power, killing it instantly.

After retrieving the pieces, she returned to the shuttle and put Typhon behind her.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

The pommel cap and pressure grip were next on the list of components she needed to obtain. Byss was her destination, a planet rich in the Dark Side as well and a planet that had a steep history for the Sith. She had made contact with a less than desirable character and he would gather what she needed while she traveled to the planet. She didn't trust him but he promised he could get the two parts for her. She hoped for his sake he kept to his promises. She was drawing closer and closer to constructing her new lightsaber, and only a few more things remained. She didn't have time or the patience to deal with set backs or broken promises.

Once the shuttle landed, she set off straightaway to meet the man at the location he had chose, and no sooner had she arrived than he already tried to weasel more credits from her. They had discussed and agreed on the price for the components and now he wanted to alter the deal. He was brave to attempt to get more credits from her, but he was fool as well. "We agreed on 5,000 credits for the parts and now you wish to make us pay more," her voice taking on a tone of angry. The man raised his hands to his chest saying, "We did. We did. But obtaining them for you caused me to use more resources than I anticipated. Nature of the business. 7,000 credits or I walk away" The fool insulted her with a smile.

She wiped away his smile when she invaded his mind using Mind Shard and destroyed his mind, leaving him nothing more than a drooling fool. "We would suggest to you that in your next business transactions you hold to the agreement...but there will not be a next time," she replied producing her lightsaber and proceeded to cut the man down. She opened the metal case next to the dead body and smiled herself when she saw the parts.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Standing at the bottom of the shuttle's ramp on the recently conquered world of Kuat, the Dagobah Sith needed to find the last two parts, minus the crystals and the unique handle she had in mind, before she could begin the construction of her new lightsaber. She was not part of the invasion that took the planet, so the layout of the area was foreign to her. However, she had commandeered a small astromech droid to assist her and had the engineer program the coordinates to a couple of warehouses that could potentially have the items she needed.

The droid led her to the first warehouse, a war torn building that had seen better days before the invasion. The Sith were in the early stages of rebuilding this planet, like all planets they conqueror. She entered the building and began her search of the area. Every room had been left untouched but every room failed to provide the Sith with the radiator and radiator casing she required for her weapon.

Just as before, she followed the droid to the second building observing the city along the way. Ever since she had built the Sith temple on Erida, she found a balance in her life in building and constructing structures for the One Sith. Unfortunately, she could not find the time to assist in rebuilding their new worlds. The Sith were always on the move, claiming one planet after the next. And she aligned her talents there, for now.

A series of beeps alerted her that they had arrived at their location. Without wanting to waste more time, she charged in the building and began breaking crates open and searching through manifest and shipping reports. The last report she read explained a container that housed several unique and rare items had been hidden in the basement of the building when the Sith invaded. Once down in the basement, she found the lone container, opened it up, and smiled.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

The first stop she made was Phemis to acquire the rubat crystal. The crystal was known to sharpen and define the blade making it easier to track and strike opponents quicker, and as an added bonus it would make her attacks faster. Since she was not ever going to be a legendary swordsmen, she needed every advantage she could get when facing her opponents. She had studied up on the planet discovering there was a unique crystal cave that housed the rubat crystal and that was where she ordered the pilot of the shuttle to land.

With her lightsaber acting as a torch, she traversed through the cave's darkness until it spilled her out into a heavily illuminated chamber, complete with hundreds of crystals. With her knowledge of how crystals worked, she used the Force to find the one that would in time call to her. And she found it after a couple of hours of meditating. Carefully she plucked the crystal from the crystal formation and held it in her hand, admiring the beauty of it. Now she needed to focus the crystal so it with be attuned to her.

Sitting on the cavern floor, legs criss-crossed and eyes shut, she began to reshape the crystal by pouring both her Force signature and emotions into it. The crystal vibrated slightly in her hands and taking more care now, slowly poured Dark Side energy into the crystal, changing it to a more darker colour. Once they transformation was complete, she spent two more hours meditating with the newly formed crystal in her hand.

Upon returning to the shuttle, she gave the pilot the next location then gently placed the crystal in a protective case. She was drawing closer to completing her new lightsaber. One more crystal and a brief stop at Dagobah and she will be set.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

During her research into crystals, she found another one that appealed to her. The Kasha crystal. It was known to reduce distractions even during tense combat situations. A master of distracting her opponents during combat, she knew this would be a great addition to her new lightsaber. With a lesser chance of being distracted herself, she could ultimately turn the tide of battle in her favour. However, the crystals were not easy to come by. Most of the texts she read almost pointed to them being extinct, if that was possible, except that one passage mentioned a cave on the planet of Hoth. She hated the cold!

Disembarking from the shuttle and greeted harshly by a blizzard, she quickly entered the cave and began her search at once. She didn't want to spend more time here than she needed. Hoth's temperature was not favourable for anyone except maybe for the furry creatures that hunted the frozen tundra. Luckily for her, fate was on her side. She discovered the crystal formation and taking more care than she did with the last crystal, she took it and returned back to the shuttle.

Inside the shuttle she went to work straightaway. Sitting in a meditation trance, she used both her mind anf the Force energy to twist, corrupt, and reshape the crystal so it would be attuned to her. The process had taken longer than the previous crystal due to the nature of the effects granted to the owner. At last she was done. She now had her two crystals and that left only one brief stop on the swamp world; Dagobah.

 

[Via Dolorosa]

The Sith Knight always felt a sense of safety when she came to Dagobah. It was the planet of her birth, the planet that shaped her in the early stages of her life, and it was here that she had been discovered by Ryi Olaap, the late Sith who began her early training of the Force. But that was all old news now, the past should remain in the past. And here in the present, she had business to attend to.

She knew what she was looking for as she moved through the swamps. A single tree that held memories for her. The tree had once been her safety zone from the others in her village. The Vahla Sith could recall several ocassions when this tree seemed to be her only friend, which in truth it was. The tree heard all her complaints, all her sad stories, and at times even heard her plots of revenge. So it was no surprise to anyone that she would choose to take bark from this tree and add it to the handle of her new blade.

"Hello old friend," she said placing both of her hands on the tree. "We've come back to you after so many years apart. We ask your permission to remove some of your flesh to add to our new weapon? And your flesh will always remind us of our eternal friendship." With her eyes closed, she could sense the stirrings of the tree's energy in the Force. Or maybe it was just her madness making it appear that way to her. After some time, she was granted permission from the tree. Carefully she cut away only enough of what she needed. She thanked her old friend and promised she would return and visit when ever possible.

Now she was ready....

 

[Via Dolorosa]

Secluded and alone, free from distractions, she stood staring down at the workbench deep in the underbelly of the temple on Prakith. Here she would construct her first lightsaber and cast away the last part of Ryi from her life. She questioned Lords and others on how to construct a lightsaber. She also had four of the five voices in her head to assist her in this task. She was grateful for their input now.

After medtiating for two hours and forcing all mental distractions from her mind, minus the four voices, she went to work. She began first creating the curved hilt, adding internal components such as the radiator and the radiator casing. Once that was installed, she added flux aperture, the stablizing ring, and field energizer. She took a step back and looked at it so far. And she was pleased.

Next she included the emitter matrix, blade emitter, and diatium power cell. Once that was complete, she carefully added the two crystals, the rubat and the kasha crystals, making sure not to crack them. She connected the pommel cap next. She was getting closer to completion. Finally, she attached the activation stud,the blade power adjustment knobs, and the pressure grip. The latter had been encased with the bark from the tree on Dagobah.

She picked up her new weapon, took a deep breath and thumbed the activation stud. With a crisp snap hiss the midnight blue metalliac blade emerged. She swung the the blade around taking notice of the balance it possessed. She had done it!