The Dark Academy on Korriban

“I am not known for my humor, Apprentice,” he says calmly.

“Levity is not my strong point nor do I accept outright defiance easily.”

"I just want to make sure I get everything I need to grow stronger," she said. Less defiant in tone now, perhaps.

"I will make sure to be worth the investment of knowledge," she added after a moment's pause. "I won't waste any more of your time. Except... well... may I ask what I should think of Darth Vowrawn?"

“He is a fop and a fool, why do you ask?” Darth Baras replies.

"Well, I don't really want to bring him up again, but I heard someone suggest that Vowrawn might be taking an interest in Torsin. It's just a rumor though."

“I see, keep me informed if any more of these rumors come to light,” he says narrowing his eyes.

Not completely useless after all

"Will do," she said; waiting to see if Baras either had more to say or if that marked the end of the conversation.

"Then we are finished here," he closes the line.

Not entirely satisfied; she follows up by punching in the code for a call to overseer Thaine.

Thaine answers with a pleasant smile and a warm attitude, “Oh this should be good.”

She is standing tall and has a smug look on her face.

"Overseer Thaine," she said, crossing her arms. "Let's skip past the usual pissing contest, shall we? I punched you. Then you would've killed me if not for Baras. And then you tried to *have* me killed a couple more times after that. You made your point several times over, but somehow I'm still here. Can't we just agree that we're both badasses and move on to more important things than petty revenge?"

“I’m off Korriban, I really don’t care what you do now,” Thaine says.

"Heading to Kaas city. I know. Or did you already arrive?"

“Does it matter?” she replies.

"You're not even curious how I know where you're headed?"

“Sure but the way I see it, if you wanted me dead you’d have told Baras, so this is must be your attempt at blackmail or some other mischief I don’t really care about,” she says.

“I’m a little tired of blackmail and intrigue.”

I fucking knew it...

"Yeah, I figured Torsin would try and blackmail you with it. That's how he thinks, after all. Probably smiled the whole time he was doing it too, didn't he?"

“Indeed,” she says with an annoyed look.

“It seems to be the season for blackmail.”

"I'm not calling to blackmail you, Thaine. Relax."

“Forgive me if I don’t relax, what is that you want,” she responds.

This was an incredibly ironic reversal of positions. One that was not unsatisfying in a way.

"Well, I just figured we have some things in common. A mutual dislike of Torsin, for example. Wasn't hard to figure that one out of course. It was just that I used to think it was because of the fear he was going replace you as your master's star apprentice. But I guess its clear you don't really care much for Baras anyway."

“I did my time and I’m now moving on to better things and better opportunities,” Rona replies.

"Right. Assuming Baras doesn't find out about the secrets you're selling of course. I'm guessing... Vowrawn? Well, it doesn't matter to me. Neither of us has any love for Baras. Neither does Torsin of course, but he's the politically ambitious type. He's going to end up using that information to get ahead regardless of whatever you gave him for his silence. Question is, what are you going to do about it?"

“Torsin will get his, I have no doubt about that,” she says with an annoyed look.

"He's vital to Baras and his plans, and that means he's protected. So if you're hoping you can get rid of him by just waiting around until someone does it for you, you'll probably be waiting a long time. Long enough for Torsin to find some way to use this blackmail against you again."

“I am not wasting resources on Torsin but if it will make you feel better I could organize a little surprise for him on Yavin IV as long as you promise to never contact me again,” she says with a growl.