The Dark Academy on Korriban

She'd been summoned; and so Layne arrived despite the possibility that this was going to end up being a bad thing.

"I'm here to see Baras," she told whoever was in charge of reception.

They show her in. Darth Baras is looking out his window to the training grounds and speaks without turning, “You have been making a name for yourself, Layne.”

Layne wasn't sure if Baras was congratulating or disparaging her.

"Yeah," she said. "You can either thank or blame overseer Thaine for part of that, at least. You were right about her."

“And what will you do about that?” he asks.

It was either stupid, or brilliant; but Layne decided to just bring her current thoughts on it to him as literally as she could formulate them. Maybe he'd respect her for it. Or maybe he'd consider it treason.

"Brood angrily about it until I find a way to get back at her without having the headmaster execute me for it."

“So you have chosen to be patient, why?” he asks.

"I already proved I'm not a coward the first day I got here. Yesterday I proved that I'm not weak when I killed that... thing she sent to kill me. Whatever that was. Maybe now I'd like to prove I'm not an idiot."

She shifted her feet slightly; as if the act helped formulate her thoughts.

"Besides, I've had time to think. Time to adjust... to... my new reality. I didn't know anything at first. I thought everyone here just cared about power and brutality, nothing else; and so that's what I showed them. To prove I'm not some chump that they get to walk all over like she's nothing. Law of the alpha."

She shifted her feet again.

"They know that now. So maybe I can tone it down a little."

“Now what do you think the Academy is about?” he asks.

OOC: Moved thread to EM.

"Weed out the weak, forcing the rest of us to grow, and figure out which of us has the most worth."

Well, that much seemed obvious to her, at least.

"Doesn't really work out that way if you let fancy nobles get a leg up just because of where they were born. But I figure if you big guys are smart enough, then maybe that's just a ploy."

“The old paradigm holds sway, the best and most pure can only be Sith. Nepotism and favoritism run rampant,” Baras says finally turning to Layne.

“Is life fair, aspirant?”

"No," she said. "I guess I was just hoping it was a trick. Inflate their coddled egos to see if they'll trip up and get themselves killed."

“It is if you are not fool locked into dogmatic processes of culture. Pedigree mean nothing to me,” he says calmly.

“The Force cares nothing for bloodline or lineage, some lines have fostered strong Sith others come from nowhere. It is the will to use it, to survive that matters. You have thrived even with all the odds set against you.”

“And there were so many obstacles,” he says with a focused look.

"I've never been coddled," she answered, meeting and keeping the gaze. "Even if you have the will to survive, it means nothing if you've been praised your whole life just for figuring how to breathe and think that that means the universe owes you fealty."

She crossed her arms.

"When you have nothing to lose, you have everything to gain. I thrive because I dare to thrive."

“I have need of such determination. Layne, I have decided to name you my future apprentice, you could be my legacy I have been waiting for. I have many apprentices, all have served with loyalty and distinction,” he says.

“The Force is strong with you, I believe you could be the strongest of them all. If properly tempered.”

She liked the sound of that. Of being strongest. Of being a legacy. Of being recognized. Yet there were questions that had to be answered.

"And how do you imagine I should be tempered?"

“Where do you believe you are weak?” Baras asks.

"Playing the political games," she said.

"But I don't really care about those. I know there's stuff happening behind the scenes. I know there's propaganda and there's truth. I know there's plots within plots. But I don't care to become like those smiling nobles who get completely lost in them. I'll never catch up to them anyway. I just need to get better at recognizing what's happening so I don't fall victim to it."

“You serve me, you will learn quickly that smiling nobles are children when it comes to the machinations of the Sith. Serve me and I will unleash you on the galaxy; you will kill Jedi… Sith… any enemy that opposes my will. You will be seen as my sword, when words fail. You play your part, you show loyalty and the Galaxy will be yours,” Baras says with a nod.

“I do not make this offer to a rabid dog, but a Sith. I trust you understand the difference.”

"I'm not a rabid dog," she answered. "That's just what the idiots think I am. Because I want them to."

She looked down at her side for a moment; toward her weapon; before looking back up.

"And your other apprentices? Thaine? Others? I don't think some of them will like being my equal."

“Then you will struggle, is that any different from what you have experienced?” Baras says calmly.

“The real question is this Layne, are they truly your equal?”

"Knowing I'm better than them is fine. But that doesn't solve the problem of your apprentices getting slaughtered because *they* think the same thing and feel the need to prove they're better than the rabid slave girl. I imagine you'd like at least some semblance of order among your apprentices."

“A little slaughter suits my purposes. Some apprentices are not worth having, but you are correct I do not want chaos. Rona means nothing to me and will destroy herself eventually. If that time is sooner then so be it, she has no purpose in my Empire,” Baras says calmly.

"Good to know," she said; before realizing something.

"Will I be the only apprentice you're taking from the aspirants?"

“No.”

“I will be taking another, for purposes that suit a larger plan. You will be my true apprentice, the one that in time I will entrust my most important tasks. In public, you will be my sword. I believe this role will suit you.”

“Together we will be unstoppable,” he says approaching Layne.

If nothing else, Baras certainly knew how to play on the strings of pride.

"Can I ask who the other will be?"