The Dark Academy on Korriban

"Layne Hoshin."

Short and to the point, she crossed her arms.

Guess I got to poke 'em after all.

"So what's the big deal with the sith anyway, huh?"

Remmington nods. "Nice to meet you."

To her question he looks over to Khalim the True Sith, if he wished to field the answer to this query.

He wryly glimpses at Layne and asks, on the topic of earlier, "Do you mean sith as in the race, or Sith as in the organization?"

Gerald was about to reply but Layne’s response shocked him to silence. What if someone heard him talking to this… person? Maybe they were insane? Maybe they were a criminal? This called for his greatest defense, he raised his datapad to eye level.

Surely he could hide behind the ruse of the deceptive datapad. Nothing to see here but a student studying.

"Whichever's the one with the laser swords."

Oh boy.

He raises an eyebrow somewhat at her question, as it seems she is asking about the organization of the Sith.

"Are you not from the Empire, Ms Hoshin?"

"Don't think so," she said, which was a slightly odd way of putting it perhaps.

"Does it matter?"

He shrugs, "Not particularly, though it would have helped to explain why you don't know of the Sith."

"As to what the Sith are; the Sith are the driving power behind the Empire, and are the strength of the Empire. If you're on this vessel, you're either crew, a slave, an acolyte seeking to become Sith, or possibly a test for the acolytes to face. As you're not working, you are unlikely crew. You're speaking with us, which would eliminate slave. And you're walking freely, which eliminates a condemned future test. Thus, it seems you must have caught someone's attention."

Gerald peered out from behind his datapad and said, “You should know the laser sword,” you can hear the air quotes in his voice, “is called a lightsaber, and although used by the corrupt Jedi, it is perhaps one of the most deadly weapons in the galaxy in the hands of a Sith.”

"Is that so?" She turned to Gerald.

"Guess you've never fought one then."

“Me, fight a Sith?” he said with some indignation, actually a great deal of indignity.

“They are the saviors of the Empire I would rather lose my hand or suffer lashes than face a Sith in battle. You must be mad!” He looked at the others and added, “I think this woman is addled perhaps we should avoid her, no offense meant of course.”

He smiles somewhat at Gerald, once again with the customary lack of warmth, "If you call a woman "addled", Gerald, you absolutely meant it with offense intended. Do not weaken your statement with an apology afterwards."

"You can't teach someone like that how not to be weak." she took a step forward, getting right up into his personal space, staring him down. "First he calls me lord because he's too afraid to assume I'm not. Then he tries to convince his new buddies to leave with him, because he's afraid of what I'm saying and because he's too afraid to just leave all by himself."

She shrugs, and gives him some breathing room.

"Can't say I was too impressed with that sith I was talking about, but at least he wasn't a coward."

"Imperial citizens have a high regard for the Sith, and for good reason. I suppose it will take some time for him to adjust to the change." Remmington says in Gerald's defense... though it is somewhat more akin to a back handed compliment. "Knowledge is an important weapon as bravado."

Looking over to Layne. "It matters little how you got here. As long as you are here then there will be time soon enough for you to prove yourself to the instructors and others. Of course that applies to us all." Albeit in varying degrees. He casts a sidelong glance over to Khalim.

Well that escalated quickly and now he was pushed to a corner and called a coward. Sith were not cowards, they were powerful and laughed in the face of danger. He puffed up his chest and gathered his nerve and said as firmly as he could, “I am sorry you feel that way, perhaps I was wrong.”

"Perhaps?" the tone of her voice suggested he'd better change that to a 'definitely'.

"Is everyone at this academy going to be like you?"

Remmington shakes his head. "That is doubtful. Most will have been trained for quite some time and will more than likely be down right cutthroat. Those who did not make it this far without merit will have been culled long ago.

Gerald Han probably excels in academics enough to at least get him through the door in the Academy."

Looking over to Gerald he adds. "I will be looking forward to your progress."

“Yeah, I am a scholar or I want to be. I was on track to work as a clerk in one of the Ministries when well, that’s not important. Now that I have a chance to be Sith, I think I should expand my ambitions,” he said before he raised up his datapad shield.

He really just wanted to vanish but this was the best he could hope for.

/ The Thorne profile threw me off for a second. /

"Ambition is a good thing. Work hard though you'll need to practice your physical training too. Even if you become something of a mystic." Remmington replies.

He frowned at the idea of physical exertion but nodded and said, “I will have to redouble my efforts, it seems I know less about the Sith than I realized.”

Remmington chuckles a bit darkly. "Well I am sure our saber instructor will drill it into you even if you didn't wish it so."

"They're going to teach us how to use laser swords?"

She apparently hadn't given up on calling them that yet.

Shame they didn't let me keep it.

Gerald figured that was a sign this one was unworthy. Surely she was here to be an example of everything that they should not be. That has to be why they would bring this thing onto the ship. Surely the Sith would not allow her… it to become one of the masters of the Empire.

So for now he studied lightsaber forms on his data pad.

Remmington nods at Layne's question. "Lightsabers are elegant weapons that go hand in hand with Force users. Naturally we shall be trained and pushed to improve our skills."

"Do they all glow red?"

Layne Hoshin, asking the important questions.