The Dark Academy on Korriban

The Inquisitors insulting task completed to obvious perfection, Jun-Tsu sat quietly in the shuttle bay waiting to be allowed to return back to Korriban. As much as she might have liked to view the planet on the observation deck, she had a good vantage point from here. Also, the massive size of the docking bay made it feel less crowded, which the observation deck had been when she was up there earlier.

So she stood alone fifty feet or so from the emptiness of space, all that separated her from it was the field that maintained their atmosphere. She looked out into that vast emptiness to the dusty red planet below. She watched the clouds move and shift, the mountains stretch out from the planet's surface. Korriban seemed so much quieter up here.

Gerald approached and said, “Wow, I didn’t even really appreciate the planet until now. This is amazing.”

The force witch turned her head slowly to see from where the exuberant comment came. Spying one of the acolytes that had been in their shuttle down to the planet the first time and at the trials, she knew of him, but had never met him.

"....Yes, it has a compelling beauty." There was no point in denying aesthetics purely for the sake of show. The young man might have been overly enthusiastic, but he wasn't technically wrong.

“Hi, you’re the witch right? You were amazing the Orientation. My name is Gerald, nice to meet you,” he said offering his hand.

Jun-Tsu narrowed her eyes but offered a slight smile, extending her hand elegantly.

"A pleasure," she spoke in her thick accent. "You vere skilled as vell."

The phrase 'killing with kindness' turned through the witches mind as she looked the innocent up and down, evaluating him up close. She tried to reach into his mind, but the whims of the Dark Side held her at bay, which only furthered her suspicion. Her eyes flashed an eerie green but it faded quickly back to its usual silver.

Force Power: Sense - 1eF = 2 Light Side

“You have pretty eyes,” he said with admiration.

"Zhank you," she said in that detached tone, still appraising the fellow acolyte.

"Hin, you are a part of the Empire but that is no Sith name."

“No, I guess not. Just a family name, I am not nobility or anything. Just a citizen doing my best to serve the Empire the best way I know how,” he said honestly.

"How....zelfless of you." She quipped bemused.

"A citizen uplifted by zhe blessings of zhe Dark Side. I assume you realize how lucky you are to be so elewated above zhe rest of zhe citizenry." She couldn't help looking at him, eyes tracing his face.

"Zhough zhe qvestion iz....vhy." In spite of her words she didn't ask, merely narrowing her eyes.

“I… uh… I was brought in because I have the Force?” he said nervously.

"Yes," she said as though talking to a dull child. "But vhy? Vhy have you been so blessed by zhe Dark Side? Vhat about you iz useful to it?"

She drew a touch closer, to look over his garb, his shoulders, his face. "Perhaps zhat is vhy. You zeem zo delightfully ordinary. True you've strong features, but you hardly zeem remarkable."

“I don’t know?”

“I don’t understand what you want me to say. I didn’t even know the Dark side had a will,” he says nervously.

"Zhe qvestions are rhetorical. Zhey have no ansver. At least, none zhat ve can diwine vithout true understanding of zhe Dark Side. Zhat you can't ansver zhem is no great surprize."

"I am not sure if that is an insult or not," he says with confusion.

"Zhen I have conweyed mein-self adeqvately." She stepped away seemingly content with whatever analysis she had gleaned.

"Zhe Dark Side iz like zhe ocean, vith depths und currents, und eddies. It moves zhrough us and choozes vhere to fall. It poolz in us, beingz like you und me. Ve are itz wessels. Ve give it form und agency in zhe vorld."

“That sounds interesting, I never really considered the Force as a thing. Like it just was you know. I don’t consider space a thing… or physics or slicing. It’s just a skill that I can do,” he responded.

She smiled that viscous smirk, "I zhall not dissvade you from your belief. Choose vhatewer path you desire. But I tell you zhis v'once, zhe Dark Side has moods. It has purpose. It haz motion. It moves vith vill if v'one cares to look. Und when you stare into zhe infinite sea of zhe Dark Side you can feel it ztaring out at you."

"Well thanks, I think," he says with a laugh.

She would have shaken her head if she cared about the young man's understanding. As it was she saw him as little more than decoration. A good looking piece of art to appreciate and then move on.

"You've an unusual temperament for a student of the Academy, yes?"

“I do?”

“Why do you say that? I love the Empire. Sith are the greatest of the Emperor’s subjects,” he says firmly like poster propaganda, except with fervent belief.

"Yes, but you lack...ambition. You lack a certain....choleric quality zhat many young Sith-in-training affect during zheir Academy days. Surely you have noticed zhe short-tempers, zhe firebrand attitudes, zhe manipulative smiles und glances." Poor dullard probably hadn't.

“So I am not mean enough to be sick? I just thought that was a stereotype,” he says curiously.

“Maybe you should check your privilege.”

"Archetype, not stereotype." There was a relaxed air to her demeanor.

"Und if you have met only zhose as exuberant und genial as yourself, zhen I am mistaken, but zhose I have met, vhile polite und loyal, are no less...driwen. I am sure in your own vay you are driwen, but you have zhis sense of innocent awe, vonder, about you. It might be mistaken for naivety."

"Well we shall see," he he shrugs.

"My life is for the Empire."

"You've already said that. Is that all there is to you? No personal ambitions? No desire to root out secrets? No drive to hone your skill? No secret passion for small engine repair?" Amusement played off her silver eyes as she began to walk away from the vast bay opening and over to a row of seats set aside for those waiting to board their shuttles.