Chapter 14: Path of Ruin [Star Wars SI]
Synopsis: A self insert into Star Wars during the old republic era. Aldrex awakens as a slave on a cortsis mine.
Author: Rictus
Site: Spacebattle
Prologue:
You would become Sith, or die trying. That's what Overseer Iren said when we landed on Korriban.
Guess I should rewind a bit and explain how I got here.
To make a long story short, I don't know how I came to be in Star Wars. I just woke up one day with a shock collar slapped to my neck on some hellish dust ball. Turned out, it was a cortosis mining camp on a Sith-controlled world and I was a slave.
I didn't get any flashes of memory from another life or anything, so I had to ask around carefully about who I was after I regained control of myself. I got some strange looks, but they told me. Turned out I had a different name and homeworld, yet my body was still physically the same. Minus the brand on my face. I had just arrived, burns still fresh.
Aldrex Zare, former citizen of Brentaal IV. It took a while for me to get used to responding to that name. Well, on the rare occasions when it got used. Most times I was just referred to as "slave" or "hey you."
It didn't take long to figure out when in the timeline I was after a Harrower-class dreadnought stopped by for refueling on its way to somewhere else.
Of course, I was terrified out of my mind. I'd jump at shadows or flinch and cower every time someone approached. I didn't sleep for days at a time. Barely nibbled at food.
One of the other slaves, an older Zabrak, tried to reach out to me. But I ran and hid from him. From all of them. This irrational terror (and that's exactly how I see it now) continued for weeks. I dropped weight like it was made of concrete and freaked out at the slightest touch.
By the end of the first month, I was little more than trembling skin, bone, and poorly-developed muscle barely able to do the work I was assigned.
I think the guards were amused, but their supervisor had them force-feed me to keep me alive. A half-dead slave couldn't work, especially a heavy labor slave. I would appreciate his pragmatism months later.
As Yoda once said, fear led to anger. After I regained proper cognizance, I was angry. Angry at my enslavement. Angry at being afraid. Angry at anything and everything. My temper was on a hair-trigger. I wasn't stupid though, so I didn't try to take out said anger on anyone else. I had no desire to feel what it was like to get an electrical shock directly to my spinal cord. Still, the other slaves apparently sensed it and kept away.
I recovered from my terror-induced stupidity and actually took care of myself, exercised when I could. I was never a large man as I stood a few inches shy of six feet tall, but I was stocky. Heavy labor just made me fill out.
Rage fueled me for a while, but I needed to blow off steam before I did something stupid. Directionless anger didn't help me, so I vented on the poor unsuspecting rocks. It worked for a while, until something happened.
I don't remember what it was that set me off that day, but my anger spiked as I was hammering away. Before my eyes, my jackhammer let out a squeal as giant invisible fingers crushed it into scrap.
I was so surprised that I didn't try to resist when the guards found and beat me later for "damaging equipment." To untrained eyes, it looked like I just went at it with a rock. Luckily, none of the camp's personnel were Sith, so they couldn't tell the difference.
I also didn't mind that I wasn't trusted with power tools after that. I was given a pick-ax and told to get back to work.
My accidental use of the Force snapped me out of my months-long rage. I needed to figure out how I did that. I wanted to learn how to use the Force just for the sake of it. It was something to break the monotony.
So I practiced while mining away from the others, using the Force to crush rocks and pick out the bits of cortosis. I got good at it, too. The guards' expressions of confusion when I brought in the largest haul fueled pleasant dreams for days.
I learned quickly, despite my fumbling. Just getting angry wasn't effective. Anger could be used to give me sudden spikes of power, but it gave me tunnel vision. I had more consistent results when I willed something to happen. Effectively, I metaphysically demanded something. And reality eventually complied.
Telekinesis was easy to learn once I figured out the trick. It was moving progressively heavier things that took effort. I thought about trying to practice other abilities, but I didn't think I could do so safely. What if I tried to read someone's thoughts, overpower it, and accidentally cause a brain hemorrhage? I didn't want to take the risk and expose myself yet.
I acknowledged that it would be inevitable that I'd be found out. I might as well have a really good trick by the time it happens.
I thought about using my newfound powers to help a slave revolt. But when I started seriously considering it, I couldn't bring myself to care. I wasn't attached to any of the slaves. I didn't really hate the guards that much. But above all, it wasn't pragmatic. Even if it was successful, there were no hyperspace capable vessels on planet. Those came to us. The Sith would simply bombard us from orbit and restart the operation.
The odd thing was that I wasn't angry anymore. I could still get angry, but it wasn't a constant state. If I had to describe my mindset in a word, it would be "detached." I wasn't apathetic, at least towards my own well-being.
So a few more months passed. Then the Sith governor paid his annual visit.
I made up my mind quickly. I gave in to the inevitability and let myself be found. When he and his entourage confronted me, the pride and bluster gave way to surprise as he came upon me meditating while lifting four of my fellow slaves. I set them down and presented my hands for the cuffs.
Then, I was out among the stars for the first time in my life.
But if I am to be Sith, it will be defined by a code of my own choosing.
"There is no passion. There is solely obsession.
There is no knowledge. There is solely conviction.
There is no purpose. There is solely will.
There is nothing. Only me."
Around fifteen hundred years from now, Darth Ruin will base his resurgent Sith Order upon those words. To him, they represented his views of moral nihilism and solipsism, a madness derived from his narcissism. To me, it is a guideline towards endurance.
A Sith requires an obsession to remain focused. Darth Vader, after losing everything, retained his sanity by obsessing over enforcing order upon a chaotic galaxy when blind rage failed him.
A Sith requires conviction to push forward. Darth Bane toppled the Brotherhood of Darkness single-handed by forging his own path against all odds and sense.
A Sith requires willpower to survive. Darth Sion arose from the dead again and again by simply refusing to die, with little more than bloody-minded determination fueling him.
In the end, my path…Others may guide it, but I alone choose where to walk.
Chapter 1:
I couldn't help but sneer as the hopefuls stepped off the shuttle, my facial tendrils twitching slightly at the motion. This was the future of the Sith, apparently. An Empire built on the backs of slaves, and now we attempt to raise them up to be Masters.
They were a motley bunch, to be sure. Only two of the eight were human. None were Imperial.
I let them stand at attention in silence as I reviewed what had been reported about each.
The first was a massive Wookiee brute by the name of Gaarurra. He had been fighting in the gladiator pits of Geonosis for nearly three years before he was noticed by a Sith Lord. Deals had been made and credits exchanged hands to send the beast here. Normally, it would not have even been considered, but we needed to bolster our ranks no matter the source.
I only needed to glance at his two and a half meter height to know that he'd be well-suited for Juggernaut training. Well, if he survived. Of course, he would never rise to prominence even if he did. No Sith would promote him as it would effectively be political suicide. Regardless, I suspect the others will gang up to kill him first.
Next was the Twi'Lek, Kalista. Formerly the pleasure slave of a Republic-aligned crime lord on Tatooine, she "freed" herself by killing him, only to be captured again when Imperial forces raided his hideaway. Her Force Sensitivity was noticed quickly.
The sheer rage in her was simply delightful. Whether she could learn to harness it or not would determine if she survived. If she did, she might make a nice fit as an assassin. Or a bedwarmer. Either one would serve the Empire's needs.
Third was, I believe, the weakest link. A Quarren named Garsh. He had only been on planet for five minutes and he was already starting to look dehydrated. Once I'd seen what species he was, I didn't even bother reading the rest of his file. Korriban was going to kill him before the first task did.
I hope it does. It would save me the trouble.
Fourth and fifth were a pair of Zabrak twins. The male was Terrak and the female Ianna. Born to a household slave on Dromund Kaas, they came into the world with a symbiotic bond with each other. Compared to the others, they were pampered and weak, too reliant on each other. I was not too impressed with them.
Still, Zabrak are renowned for their high pain tolerance, so that may compensate somewhat for their weakness in the Force.
The sixth was a Nautolaun, Qiv Brellen. Like Garsh, he was from an aquatic species, but it seemed that he was tolerating the local climate better. He had been found serving the Hutts on Nal Hutta as a mechanic. His technical skills were of less interest than his strength in the Force, but it was a good indicator of his intelligence.
However, he is too cowardly to be a proper Sith. But fear can turn to desperation. And desperation perpetrates interesting results.
Now, my potential "problem children." Fittingly, they are the only humans of the group.
The first is Olia Fen. A fallen Jedi. Or rather a fallen Jedi Padawan. Her kind are always…troublesome, as they tend to delve too deeply into the Dark Side, too quickly. She is brash, but powerful and skilled. She claims the Jedi held her back from her true potential. An opinion I can agree with. Due to her origins, she will require less practical training and more philosophy. As it stands, she could likely wipe the floor with the rest of them.
I smothered a smile as I notice that her now-yellow eyes keep darting to my belt, where her lightsaber hangs. I would make this a fair competition, though only in that all the acolytes would have the same resources to work with.
As for the other…
I reached up and massaged one of the tendrils on my chin as I circled the group.
If I had not read the report from Lord Durus, I likely would have dismissed him as nothing but a brute. For a mere cortosis miner, Aldrex Zare has proven himself to be interesting, at the very least. While still a lesser being, I do admit that he has shown the greatest Force potential of the group, demonstrating a high level of skill with telekinesis. The reports indicated that he has had no formal training, so the fact that he was capable of teaching himself to this level was astounding.
Still, I have seen greater students fail.
As the silence drags on, I continued watching them. Both to unnerve them and to gauge their reactions to each other.
Garsh seemed to suffocate in the heat, paying little mind to the others. It seems he may die sooner than I thought. Qiv appeared to want to help in some way, but dared not move. That empathy will have to be driven out of him.
Kalista was regarding everyone with a heated glare, while the twins kept their eyes to the floor. Spineless cowards.
Gaarurra simply stared at me, though I could feel his rage simmering beneath the surface.
Olia seemed to have homed in on the fact that Aldrex would be her greatest competition, though the latter seems to be oblivious to her stare.
Understandably, he instead shot the occasionally glance at the Wookiee. Focusing on the physically largest threat in the room. Smart, but perhaps not wise. Power comes from more than just muscle.
Oddly, I am not sensing much from him other than mild curiosity, which makes me wonder what is going through his head.
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Aldrex
Holy fuck he's huge.
I mean I knew Wookiees were big, but holy shit! The giant furball's about two and a half feet taller than me and probably outweighs me by a factor of two. I come up to his elbow!
He, or I think it's a he, was a remarkably good distraction from both the Overseer and the woman that keeps glaring at me.
Speaking of the Overseer, he's not one I recognize from SWTOR. He's a Sith Pureblood, and the only ones I know of are human. He doesn't have any hair, but his facial tendrils kind of look like a mustache and goatee. He's also got that uniform that all Overseers apparently wear, plus two lightsabers on his belt.
He hadn't spoken yet, just walked around us. Staring.
Finally, he spoke.
"Welcome to Korriban, acolytes," He greeted in a surprisingly pleasant tone. I was half-expecting to get sneered at, "I am Overseer Iren. You have been brought here for one purpose: To become Sith, or die trying. It is my duty to make sure at least one of you survives to fulfill that purpose."
The Sith gestured, "Follow me."
It wasn't much of a walk, just to the first room off the landing pad. In there was a single table with eight short swords on it. I don't mean vibroblades. Sword swords. No electronic parts. There were also eight bags next to each.
"You will be facing a series of trials over the next several years as you train. This can include delving into the tombs, searching for some trinket or sculpture, or it could be something more scholarly, such as translating an ancient text," Iren's yellow eyes panned over each of us, "They can be extremely dangerous. More often than not, an acolyte perishes in pursuit of one of these trials. I do not expect more than one of you to survive to graduate."
He pointed a hand at the table, "For now, these are the only pieces of equipment you will have access to for your first task. Take one of each now."
There was a moment's hesitation as we looked at each other, waiting to see who would move first. Turned out, it was the Wookiee, as he just walked up and grabbed one. I quickly followed suit and examined my weapon.
Not being an expert, I was satisfied that there were no cracks in the blade.
Once everyone had gotten their weapons, the Sith continued, "Each of you will now be assigned a different task, which you are expected to complete before setting foot in the academy itself. You have been given three days worth of food and water. It is a two day walk to the academy. I suggest you do not tarry long."
"Now for your assignments. You may leave after you have been briefed," He turned to the Wookiee and I, sneering at the former, "Beast. Zare. Both of you will be venturing into the tomb of Ajunta Pall, though you will have separate tasks."
"A squad of soldiers was assigned to clear out an infestation of k'lor'slugs in the east wing. They have not been heard from in several days and the pests remain. Taking care of that will be your task, beast," The Wookiee's lip curled at the continued insults. Overseer Iren ignored him and looked to me, "As for you, there have been reports of looters in the west wing. Your assignment is to remove them and collect any artifacts that they may have recovered. You are dismissed."
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