SWTOR: The Emperor's Wrath Ch. 07

Vemrin took a subconscious step back in shock. The young upstart bested him! How? Why? The questions running through his mind were shunted aside, though by his grievously hurt pride. "What?! I've done everything you've asked! Better than any of the others! The honor should be mine!"

"Today Aaric is every bit your equal, Vemrin. But the force is stronger with him. Much, much stronger... There is a special power sleeping within him. It was a simple decision." Baras explained, though it did not stop Vemrin's growing anger. "Now, wait at my antechamber to recieve further orders. This instant!"

Hearing the sharp tone of his voice meant there would be no room for argument, lest he face certain death. Still seething, he gave one last dangerous look at his rival before stomping off.

When he was out of earshot, Baras addressed his chosen acolyte. "Now I hope you can fathom how fortunate you are to be singled out, Aaric Trirum. If you can complete this next task and become my full-fledged apprentice... The galaxy will bend before you!"

Aaric smirked. If anything, Baras was gleeful to have a powerful apprentice by his side to do his bidding, not because he was happy for him in itself. Still, Aaric had to play the part of the subservient acolyte. He bowed and said, "Your honor me my lord. I will serve you to the best of my ability."

"Good. The lightsaber you seek is old and powerful." Baras explained "It is hidden inside the tomb of Naga Sadow, where few Sith have ever set foot. Almost no one knows how to find the secret entrance, but there is a Twi'lek in the holding pens who was caught trying to break in there a while ago. I hear she is quite willful. Bend her to your will then make her show you to the entrance to the forbidden cave."

Aaric recalled the humorous, blue-skinned Twi'lek. Somehow, there was something about her that interested him, but didn't have the chance to ponder further. "It will be done, Lord Baras."

"Other acolytes will be sent to the tomb to complete their own trials. Academy laws are waived there, so they will try to murder you.become" he warned. This test will determine if you can finally ascend to become true Sith! So bolster yourself, for stepping into Naga Sadow's tomb is to breathe in death itself."

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BZZZT! "Ouch! Give it a rest will ya?!" Aaric heard as he entered the prison cells.

"I'm just squeezing every drop of satisfaction I can get from you, little bird." Knash replied snarkily, before noticing Aaric's presence. "Ah, as if on cue. Look who's back! Heard you're going to Darth Baras' new apprentice. Hrmph, Good job if you can get it. I heard you'll be taking this little thing off my hands. She's a pain in the neck."

"Ha! Who's a pain in the neck?" Vette cocked a brow and folded her arms, while pointing at the offending device. "I'm the one wearing the shock collar."

The irony in the statement caused Aaric to cover his mouth as sneakily as possible while he chuckled wryly at the prison warden's humiliation, while Knash's face twitched in annoyance by her smartass remark. It seemed this alien would definitely be an Interesting one to be with.

"Hrmph. Consider it a going-away present, Twi'lek." Knash said, failing his attempt at nonchalance. "Seems you might be useful for something after all. This bruiser here is gonna take you to the tomb where we caught you."

Instead of turning fearful, she simply grinned foxily. "None you can figure out how to activate the statues in the cavern huh? You got some kind of super secret Sith business in that secret chamber, do you?" she turned towards Aaric.

Inside, the acolyte was already quite impressed. While others would have become a quivering spineless mess from the torture she recieved, she still managed to stand tall and snark on it like it was nothing. That meant either she had a significantly more steadfast will than others... or she was too used to this kind of treatment. Either way, her antics provided some good entertainment and he decided to reward her with a little civility. She earned that, at least. "As a matter of fact, yes. And I would appreciate the help." He said, if a little patronizingly.

Vette whistled. "Wow, someone just talked nice to me for once!"

"Don't bother being pleasant, acolyte." Knash snapped. "Here, take this shock collar controller. I'll set it to a higher level. Use it enough, and she'll show you the back door to her mother's house."

"Just showing me her own back door will be more than enough." Aaric muttered while eyeing her slim and petite body. Something which was not lost on the young Twi'lek and made her shiver a little; in fear or excitement, she couldn't tell.

"Umm, okay." she replied, not knowing how to react to his statement, "I suppose I can play tomb tour guide. Alot of work went into cracking that nut, but I did it once, I can probably do it again. So we're clear? i'm officially on strike when it comes to domestic duties."

"I can guarantee you, a servant maid is the last thing I need." Aaric chuckled once again at her attempts at dry humor. "You could help me bust a couple of nuts though..."

Again, Vette was stumped trying to come up with an reply. Everyone she came across within the empire always seemed to want to torture or yell at her, but coming on to her like that? "Ahhh, um. Okay, well maybe things are looking up for me. As if they could get any worse."

Once the necessary paperwork was done, Knash unlocked the cell and released the twi'lek.

"Lead the way," she quipped "I'll show you the unlocking points throughout the tomb then open the secret door for you."

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The two of them left the cells and made their way towards the academy entrance. Vette followed quietly, but kept looking around and observing the entire place like a curious Vine kitten.

"So, you're the guy who tortured those poor souls way back when right?" Vette quipped, "You know my name. What's yours?"

"You will learn my name once you have earned the privilege of doing so, little bird. Perhaps once this errand is done." Aaric replied, not breaking his stride.

"Well, for starters. My name is Vette. Not 'little bird', buddy." The Twi'lek admonished, "C'mon, what's yours?"

Aaric halted abruptly and spun round, almost causing Vette to bump into his chiseled pecs. "You will address me as 'my lord' until I see fit to tell you my name. Understood?"

"Okay, okay!" Vette raised her hands in surrender. "Don't be so pushy."

They continued their walk down the hallways. Aaric was silent, but Vette continued making comments and muttering to herself. The acolyte guessed that if he was enjoy the little bird's witty tongue, he would have to tolerate her incessant remarks.

"As far as place of higher learning go, this has got to be the scariest." Vette quipped.

"The whole planet is literally filled with the dark side and monuments to long dead Sith Lords. What did you expect the empire to build? A shrine to flying rainbow Banthas?" Aaric deadpanned.

"Ha! I would pay to see that!" she laughed, while her handler raised a brow at her. "What? Beats being electrocuted by baldy mcbald face. Just felt like cooperating with you is gonna be the better choice. The least I could do is enjoy it while it lasts."

"Is it now?" Aaric halted again, and smirking while an idea ran through his mind. "You will cooperate? Do anything I say?

"Well, except kill myself or do something suicidal of course." Vette replied. "I'll do anything if it could get me away from getting caged up again. Its boring!"

"All right then. Let's try something. Stick your tongue out." He ordered.

"What?" Vette was taken aback at the queer instruction.

"I said, stick your tongue out." Aaric repeated more firmly this time.

"Uhh... Okay?" She said confusedly, "Howth thith?

Aaric took a look at her long, pink tongue. "Good. Bend forward, squeeze your arms together in front of you as much as you can. Oh and close your eyes."

"Okayth." She complied.

The acolyte was smirked to himself. She seemed genuinely willing to follow his instructions. Her arms in front of her pressed and pushed up her modest B-cup breasts, making them bulge. Her face had a cute expression and her mouth looked so tantalizing he almost wanted to plunge his meat stick straight into her gullet and start pumping her throat then and there.

He stopped himself from giving in to the temptation though. He already sated much of his lust with Malora, so he would take his time with this one. This alien girl seemed special, and he was going to slowly turn her into a tool for his own perverse use. He wondered if he Darth Baras would allow him to keep her. "Okay that's good enough. Lets go."

"Huh? That's it? What was that all about?!" She quipped.

"Just testing your ability to follow instructions, little bird." Aaric replied, feeling giddy at the possibilities for her.

"But why do all that? You could have made me do something else." Vette huffed.

"Because I believe you have better talents than imitating the sounds of a Kowakian monkey lizard."

Vette stared at him, then gave up trying to figure him out. "You are so weird..." She mumbled.

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Similar to Tulak Hord, Naga Sadow's tomb was not far from the academy as well. With his enhanced dueling skills, it took little effort to dispatch the many Sith hopefuls that attempted to strike him down whether they ambushed him or faced him head on. Vette usually hid somewhere out of sight while he did his 'Sithy stuff' as she called it. Strangely though, she did not seem to mind the trail of death that followed him. Sometimes she would cringe at how they died, but she was not horrified or disgusted at the least. Something which seemed to intrigue him a little.

"So what were you doing before Korriban, exactly?" Aaric questioned while they made their way to find the last switch.

The question took Vette by surprise. Ever since she stepped foot on the sand-blasted planet, nobody asked or even cared about what she did before. "Well I am, or was, a treasure hunter."

"Treasure hunter, you say?"

"Yeah. My team and I were given a job offer to grab some Sith artifact here. You wouldn't believe the number of zeroes on the reward! But, you know as well as I do how that turned out..."

"And your team?"

"Most probably gotten off planet by now. Not sure if I'll ever see them again."

"Perhaps."

Vette quirked a brow but didn't respond, so she shuffled that into the back of her mind for later. Soon, they reached a large hall surrounded by more slave statues.

"Oh hey...We're here! Last stop." Vette chirped. "The secret entrance is in here, just give me a minute to get my bearings..."

Aaric patiently waited in the middle of the chamber. As Vette did her thing, he could feel a trickle of killing intent permeating the room and directing it straight at him. He smirked. It didn't take a genius to figure out who was doing it. As the intent became stronger, Aaric readied himself to surprise his ambusher.

"Got it!" Vette called out, "It's right... WATCH OUT!"

Like a flash of lightning Aaric spun and delivered vicious roundhouse kick to his would-be attacker's face. Said attacker's head snapped to the side and he spun in mid-air before hitting the floor like a sack of bones. He recovered quickly though, revealing himself to be the one and only Vemrin. Aaric though, was nonplussed.

"Urgh... damn that hurt!" Vemrin groaned as he pushed himself off the ground and got into his fighting stance. "Take your time, slave. Just have the entrance uncovered by the time I finish killing your new master."

"Can't say I'm surprised to see you, Vemrin." Aaric sneered. "You're remarkably predictable. Even without Vette's warning, I already knew you were here. Your stench of fear wafts this place like rot."

"Shut up!" Vemrin snapped, drawing his warblade. "My passions run deeper than yours. I am the true essence of what it is to be Sith! My legacy has suffered long enough. After today, you will be forgotten. It ends here and now!"

Aaric simply rolled his eyes and crossed his arms nonchalantly. Which angered Vemrin even more, like he wasn't taking him seriously! The nerve! "Coming here was a fatal mistake, Vemrin. Baras would have given you a second chance to serve him and the empire. Instead, you've wasted that chance on getting revenge! Pitiful, really. Tremel was right, people like you deserve to be washed out!"

"Try saying that after I cut off your head! RAAGHHH!" Vemrin leapt, closing the distance between them in a single bound and striking overhead intent on slicing his nemesis down the middle. Aaric blocked it easily, though he was impressed by the strength and ferocity of Vemrin's attack, then pushed back with even greater force. Vemrin stumbled a little but managed to hold his ground.

It was Aaric's turn now. Leveraging on his newfound knowledge from Tulak Hord, he switched to his now purely refined one-handed Makashi form. Short and sharp thrusts and slices rained down on Vemrin as he attempted to parry them all to no avail. His defensive sweeps and blocks looking exaggerated and overdone compared to Aaric's precise maneuvers.

Vemrin tried to take control of the fight. He ignored the pain of a slash to his arm and thrust into Aaric's chest. It was met with air however, and was quickly parried and succeeded by a sidestep and slash to his abdomen. Vemrin quickly distanced himself, clutching his stomach as burnt flesh seeped into his nostrils.

"Your skill is competent, but predictable." Aaric commented. "Against lesser foes, you would make a fine warrior on the battlefield. You would best serve Baras being one of his good little soldiers."

"Don't patronize me!" Vemrin growled.

"Come over here and make me then." Aaric taunted.

Vemrin's rage boiled and he charged, locking blades. He tried to push Aaric back, but his opponent stood his ground effortlessly. He noticed that Aaric was still using his blade one-handed, to hold him back. The failed acolyte gritted his teeth in frustration. Why was Aaric so strong? What did Aaric have that he did not?!

"Strength and skill only brings you so far, Vemrin. It's knowing how and when to use the force that makes the difference between us." Aaric explained. Before he could register what that meant, Aaric's free hand thrust forward. He was slammed by an invisible force and flung into the adjacent wall.

Baras' apprentice-to-be did not deign to explain. Even without Tulak Hord's knowledge, it was obvious that the lack of kinetic energy was the most glaring weakness of Makashi. Typical run-of-the-mill Sith would then look to the acrobatic Ataru or the more aggressive Shien and Djem-so to channel their hatred into continuous combos to storm through their opponent's defenses. The Mecrosa Order however, emphasized on eliminating the weaknesses in one's chosen form. Thus, Aaric fervently trained himself to strengthen his physical body to near inhuman levels to the point where he could block heavy-handed strikes one-handed.

"You are weak! A failure!" Aaric walked over to the downed acolyte and spat on him. "Come to think of it, you are better off scraping the mud of Baras' boots! I should leave you here to wallow in your humiliation. There's no point in staining my hands with the blood of the unworthy. Goodbye, failure."

Giving him a last scathing look, Aaric turned his back and walked away. It was not long until he heard heavy breathing behind him. Curious, he turned back only to witness Vemrin getting back up. Black veins riddled his facial features and his eyes had turned a dirty yellow.

Aaric could feel the rage rolling off him and smirked. "Much better."

The enraged Vemrin let out inhuman roar that echoed throughout the chamber. With a burst of unprecedented speed, Aaric was suddenly beset by an unrelenting barrage of slashes and pummels. Only Aaric's masterful skills managed to keep him from being overwhelmed. Vemrin leapt and somersaulted in the air, bringing down a powerful slash intent on slicing his enemy's head in half. Aaric brought his own blade up in a horizontal block. Their blades clashed.

In a split second, the strength of both men became too much to bear. The warblades faltered and splintered at the contact point. Vemrin's top half of his blade flung forwards and past Aaric's face. Following through his motions, the other half still in his hand swung down and contacted Aaric's cuirass.

The blow made Aaric stumble in surprise. He looked down and saw a gash straight down the middle of his chest piece. It was not deep enough to break his skin, however. Hot liquid rolled down his cheek, which Aaric wiped off and glanced at it before throwing away his now useless blade.

Vemrin smirked as he did the same. "Heh! It seems you're not so invincible after all. This power... "

"Is useless without knowing how to use it." Aaric interrupted. "Tis' but a scratch caused by pure dumb luck. And a brute like you will never be able to utilize it to its fullest potential."

"Like you would know!"

"Because I do know, Vemrin." Aaric hissed. "I trained from childhood to become what I am now. Years of dedication to the Sith arts before Tremel discovered me! What you have is but a sliver of what the Dark Lords of the Sith can fully utilize. This duel has wasted enough of my time. Go back to Baras and beg for your life like the trash you are! You may still be able to serve him yet in another capacity."

"Our duel isn't over yet!" Vemrin charged, his fist pulled back ready to pound his enemy into submission.

Aaric was ready for him, however, and the Mecrosa heir shifted his body into position. Legs shoulder-width apart, left foot a step in front, master arm extended while the palm of the other hand rested on the forearm of the first: An Echani battle stance modified to suit Aaric's style.

Vemrin swung and overextended, Aaric parried and delivered his own vicious hook to his nemesis' jaw. Ignoring the pain, the failed acolyte tried to side kick, but was blocked by Aaric's forearm. Another hook, and Aaric dodged. A jab-cross. Aaric blocked the jab, blocked the straight then slapped it away followed by a backfist to Vemrin's face, sending him back-first onto the floor.

Anger and frustration overwhelmed Vemrin completely. Noting Aaric's close proximity, he jumped back on his feet and lunged. "I WILL NOT FAIL HERE!" he cried.

The sudden movement caught Aaric by surprise and he felt himself lift off the ground as Vemrin tackled him and slammed him onto the stone wall. Aaric was slightly winded, but was still in control. Vemrin stepped back and threw a haymaker. Aaric evaded, the fist blasting away a good chunk of rubble. He ducked under another straight, which formed a small crater behind him and stuck itself into the wall.

Aaric retaliated, throwing his elbow up and knocking away Vemrin's offending arm then bringing it down in a savage elbow strike to his sternum. Vemrin stumbled back, bent over and clutching his heart. Before he could recover, Aaric was already upon him. He leapt into the air and delivered a force-enhanced triple kick to Vemrin's already battered chest.

Vemrin crashed onto the floor in a battered and bloody heap, while Aaric stood seemingly unwinded at all.

"Fool. You already lost when I stepped foot on this planet." Aaric muttered and raised his hand. Pure violet lightning burst forth from his fingertips and struck the downed Vemrin. What felt like thousands of blunt needles entering and exiting his body at the same time erupted from Vemrin's pain receptors. He screams of rage morphed into cries of agony. But Aaric did not let up, he had to put Vemrin in his place. Vemrin was to know Aaric Etherall Tritum was lord and master now!