Tython Training Session

[Laira Darkhold]

In the past the Mandalorians had worked alongside the Sith, sometimes we had fought for them vehemently, like during the Great Galactic War. Back then they had manipulated a man an installed him as Mand’alor in hopes of gaining our great, warlike, people as allies, perhaps even subjects was their intentions. And when Mand’alor the Vindicated took the mantle through single combat, what did he do? He sold the services of the United Clans to those same Sith, knowing they had used his predecessor. Back then the only rules Mandalore had for its people were you don’t help endanger Mandalore, you don’t murder other Mandalorians in cold blood, and you don’t do anything for free. That was the way of Mandalore one of my own allies sought to restore, but only time would tell about that pipe dream.

I had very few rules of life, and one of them was everyone’s money is good. It was more of a metaphor in the long run, since I had plenty of money. What the Sith offered was knowledge, and knowledge is power. Darth Carach, paid well, but there were rules to this as well. Never do something you are good at for free, and get half upfront. I was coming to Tython to get the first half of my promised pay, arguably the most important half.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Tython was the ancient Jedi Homeworld from the time before the Republic, which basically made it a hot spot for the religious types, often for both sides of the conflict. I didn’t know if Darth Carach was like that, and I didn’t really care so long as he wasn’t trying to dump his hokey religion on me. And given the fact he was not above buying quality help, I doubted that he would to convert a mercenary. Perhaps set up an open contract, but not convert.

The ship, slipped into the atmosphere, Darth Carach having provided the proper codes to gain access to his world, and moved towards the palace the Sith Lord lived at. With a metallic groan the landing struts took the weight of the corvette, and a hiss poured out from the boarding ramp as the pressure equalized within the luxury corvette.

“Netra, keep an eye out, the One Sith aren’t exactly trusted allies as of yet. I don’t won’t any of them mucking about on my ship.” The large droid, shook its head much like a large cat might and stretched for a moment before moving and taking a seat at the top of the boarding ramp, turning on his active sensors.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

Darth Carach had expected me, which was good seeing as I had accepted his generous offer and told him I would be arriving on his world to collect. His guards let me into the palace and a servant droid instructed me to follow it.

“Right this way Master Vereen. Lord Carach is unavailable at the moment, though he may be free sometime later. He has prepared a small section of the library for you and left your payment inside.” The droid said in its metallic robot voice, stopping and gesturing towards a door.

“Thanks. Tell your master the privacy and accommodation is appreciated.” I said, reaching for the door only to be stopped by the droid speaking once again.

“If you need anything simply ask an attendant droid and they will fetch it for you. Also I have been instructed to warn you that you may not leave this room with anything that you did not bring with you.” It said, turning and leaving at last. The door was old style, not a blast door, swung open on hinges. Certainly a ray shield could protect the library if any danger presented itself, but that was arbitrary knowledge at best. I was here for much more important information.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The small private library Darth Carach had set aside for me contained dozens of ancient books, actual books, detailing different parts of Galactic history, and for the most part, of little importance to my desires. No doubt he was keeping anything else he had of value away from my prying eyes in case he had need of my services once again. Even still the collection he had made available to me wasn’t entirely useless, no information was useless in my opinion. If only I had a memory that could make use of all the random facts and data points that were collected in this place.

I left the few shelves that were present and turned my attention to the small locked box that sat all alone on the table in the library. A comfortable chair had been placed before the box, and a couch lay behind it against the wall.

I sat down before the box and thought to myself, <This is what you came all this way for.> as I reached for the box and it clicked, the locks disabling at my touch. Slowly I opened it to reveal the treasure of the mind I had bartered so much for.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The faint red glow from the holocron filled the room as the box was opened. The red tint added to the small library alcove allotted for my use. For a moment I simply looked at it. It was the first Holocron I had seen, but it was by far the most potent. The others I had seen were the general knowledge one provided by the obsidian order and a padawan training one provided by the Silver Jedi. Those had been useful at the time and had taught me much in the ways of the Force, but they lacked substance. They had shown me the basics of a great many things and had helped me many times. But this was the Holocron of the ancient Sith Lord, Naga Sadow.

The former Dark Lord of the Sith had been a master illusionist and mentalist with the Force, and he had also been a master of the ancient arts of Sith Alchemy, both topics that interested me greatly. I picked up the small glowing object and held it up to my eyes, inspecting it closely first before reaching out to it in the Force. I could feel the darkness and the evil surrounding it, but its knowledge could be used to meet the ends of whomever obtained it.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

I played with the Holocron, inspecting it through the Force and slowly unlocking it. The information hidden within would be guarded and there was always the risk of corruption by the holocron’s guardian, but I was confident and prepared. I had studied the Sith Lord to some degree and understood how to protect myself from such manipulation. Still, it never hurt to be prepared.

Pieces of the small glowing pyramid shifted as I unlocked the device, moving from one set of ancient Sith symbols to another, each with their own significant meanings no doubt. The pieces stopped moving and clicked into place.

The guardian in the form of the long dead Sith Lord flickered to life, casting its glance down on me, as though even having been dead for almost five millennia the being was still far my superior. I smiled at the thought. Arrogance Eternal. Arrogance was the downfall of easily nine out of ten Sith Lords, and while I was not certain about Naga Sadow, but I was sure he had underestimated someone somewhere down the road and paid for it. It was the nature of those that believed they held absolute power.

The figure regarded me closely, then spoke, “I am Naga Sadow, Dark Lord of the Sith.”

 

[Laira Darkhold]

For hours I took notes on what I learned from this device, reading them back to myself, and opening myself to the Force, practicing the ancient and dark secrets the Holocron revealed to me on a tiny, miniscule scale compared to the progenitor’s handiwork. It would take practice and hard work to master, but the knowledge of how was there. It was more difficult than simply influencing someone’s mind and making them see things that didn’t exist. There were secrets there that taught me many things I would have to attempt in the privacy of my own home and training facilities. While I had no problem working alongside the One Sith so long as the exchange was good, I didn’t exactly trust them to show them my limitations with the Force. As far as I was concerned, they weren’t aware of my capabilities, and I would prefer that few beings knew what all I was capable of.

I spent the night studying the holocron, speaking with its guardian, and taking the knowledge from it that I desired. The notes I took wouldn’t be able to leave with me but the records from my helmet would, and those would be useful in the continuation of my training.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

As the day churned on, I check the chrono on my wrist. Forty straight hours alone with the mechanisms of a ghost of a Sith Lord probably wasn’t healthy for the mind, probably less so for the body. I looked around the room, made sure to get pictures of my notes and locked the holocron back in its original form. The faint glow had risen to a light while the holocron was unlocked and the guardian had appeared to me as red in color, leaving a slight red fade when I blinked my eyes clear.

I stood and stretched from where I had sat, though I had shifted every few hours, I was still slightly sore from having been seated for so long. The attendant droid whizzed nearby as it registered me standing. “Is there anything I can get you sir?” it asked as I moved around the library.

“No thank you. Tell Darth Carach I will deliver and I shall see him at the rally point. Until then if he needs me, he knows how to contact me.” It was cryptic, but they didn’t need to know where to find me. Holocalls were difficult to trace, and since the channel I left him was through the office on Bothawui it would simply record his messages there and then send them to my station through encrypted channels. Not completely untraceable, but since the station moved around and I was cautious it might as well have been.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The droid bowed and opened the old wooden door to the private library Carach had afforded me for my time spent on his planet. The first half of his check cashed appropriately and cleared as far as I was concerned, there was no backing out now. I owed him my presence and assistance, and he would have both when he desired. I walked from the palace and moved through the series of Sith Guards placed around the area heading for my ship.

It sat as I had left it, untampered with. A few guards were near the bottom of the ramp waiting for me. “We tried to refuel the ship, but the droid wouldn’t let us near it,” a technician said from among the armed guards.

“Good. I don’t need fuel and that means his programming works fine.” I responded, the annunciator in my helmet making my voice sound deeper than it was. I could sense the disgruntled feelings in them and hear their mumbled remarks, and smiled. It wasn’t like I would be returning here anytime soon anyway. As I walked aboard the ship, I nodded to the very large cat like war droid sitting at the top of the ramp, small blaster scorches in front of him. “Good boy, Netra.” I said, passing it by and heading for the cock pit. The droid rumbled and stood, following me as the ramp hissed to a close.

 

[Laira Darkhold]

The trip back to the Retreat was long and arduous, covering my tracks and stopping in neutral space to do a full scan of the ship for any homing beacons or tracking methods took time. It took longer when you did these things traveling in an odd direction away from where you needed to go, but this was necessary to throw anyone looking to follow me off my trail while I headed home.

Hyperspace was boring, but at least I had something to do, watching the recordings and going over the notes, testing the illusions and dopplegangers on a small scale, getting the feel for it. It was one thing to attempt to mind trick a few people into seeing something that didn’t exist. It was a completely different thing to bend light into being those images so that they could be seen by any. Force Users might be able to dismiss them, and the creator would need to be careful and make them react as they should to maintain the illusion and the realism to it, but it was doable, especially on a relatively small scale.

The ship was just about able to pilot itself once I had the convoluted hyperspace route picked out to take me near Endor, though soon, this route would be difficult to navigate through without entering Sith space. There was more than one reason to cultivate members of the Sith into potential allies, especially those influential members.