Chapter Text
The Force was different here.
Dezri had often drawn on its power. It had been comforting; it had sustained and protected her. But here, it felt… wrong. She had been working on Korriban for almost a month, but the wrongness hadn’t been so pronounced, so intense. Was this the darkness she had heard of? It must be, for it was increasingly difficult to ignore as the shuttle drew closer to its destination- the Sith Academy.
The recently freed Zabrak stared at her hands, folded in her lap. She was nervous but determined. This was the second chance that she had never dared to hope for. If she could survive the Academy, she would become a Sith Apprentice. She would have more freedom than she had ever thought possible. It was a new beginning.
She shifted in her seat, restless. One of the others, a human female, looked up. Eyes that were somewhere between blue and green met burning orange. The acolyte blinked and looked away again. Dezri was inexplicably amused by her shy demeanour and waited until she looked up again. This time, the Zabrak smiled at her.
The acolyte smiled back.
She seemed nice, so Dezri decided to introduce herself. She might as well try to find allies here.
“My name’s Dezri,” she said quickly, before she could change her mind. “I used to work here on Korriban.”
The acolyte seemed surprised. “I’m Kory,” she replied. “From Begeren.”
Dezri nodded and waited for Kory to say more. The silence held for an awkwardly long moment before the human broke it. “I didn’t know I was force-sensitive until a few days ago.”
“Me neither,” another acolyte said. “But I always knew that I had a gift. I’m Gerr, by the way.”
“So did I,” Dezri told them. It wasn’t actually true, as she had always known of her power, but they didn’t need to know that.
“What about you?” Gerr asked, directing the question at the four acolytes who had not spoken yet.
“We didn’t know,” one of them said. After a second, he added: “My name is Balek and this is my brother, Wydr.”
“It’s nice to meet you both,” Kory told them, and Dezri nodded in agreement.
“And you two are...?”
“Niloc, and no, I had no idea;” one replied the other, a Sith Pureblood, simply glared at her. Dezri choose to ignore him.
“So,” she began. “Do any of you know anything about the Academy?”
The Pureblood snorted, as if in contempt.
“I suppose you do?” Gerr asked him, sounding annoyed.
“Of course I do! I am a true Sith, unlike you, scum.”
Gerr was unfazed. “We’re all acolytes here. You’re worth no more than the rest of us.”
“You’re deluding yourself if you believe you have a chance,” the arrogant acolyte snarled. Gerr shrugged.
“We’ll see about that.”
After a moment of tense silence, Wydr spoke up: “We should be arriving soon,” he said. Dezri was inclined to agree, for the darkness was stronger than ever. She observed her companions; Kory and the brothers looked as nervous as she felt, Gerr looked determined and Niloc was unreadable. The Sith Pureblood met her gaze and held it until Dezri looked away.
The shuttle began to descend. No one spoke as they landed and the door slid open. One by one, the acolytes rose to their feet and stepped outside.