The Dark Academy on Korriban

Jo'ren paused long enough to use the refresher and drop off the assorted parts he had collected from the spaceport. Feeling clean and fresh again he decided to pay his old roomie a visit. It was good of Gerald to have avoided death in the wastes.

Reaching up to the door he gave it a firm knock. "You in there Gerry? It's me, Jo'ren."

Gerald opened the door promptly, he was wearing slippers and had on casual clothing. He smiled seeing Jo’ren and said, “Hey Jo’ren, what’s going on?”

He stepped away from the door to allow him into the small room he had.

The big sith grinned and clapped him on the shoulder.

"I thought I'd better come and check you made it back in one piece my friend. Figured we could share stories...and I've got something else in play that might interest you too."

He walked in and looked around at variants of the same Imperial propaganda posters in his own room. At least they had given him a decent-sized chair. He thought back to Lord Savas and his desire for power and a comfy chair.

“Sure,” he closed the door and said, “What do you have going on, I’ll gladly help a friend.”

Jo'ren gave him a long look before he spoke again. "You're a good man Gerald, and you've got a lot of potential. Don't let anyone take advantage of that first part without giving you something in return. It's the Sith way to cheat and steal and betray, which is why you need to think carefully about who your friends are and how far you can trust them."

He let out a big sigh and then smiled, letting the clouded expression disperse naturally. "You're the smartest guy I know Gerry, and I've got a lead on something that could be huge. But I need some help, and so I came to you."

He leaned in conspiratorially and whispered. "I need to get my hands on some Imperial travel codes, or a transponder for a light freighter, so it can get down to the surface no questions asked."

Gerald listened and then blinked at the end, “Wait… what? I mean… why? I mean no questions asked.”

He was quiet for a bit and then sat down at his desk, “I won’t ask what for, but you can’t ask how I got them, okay?”

A genuine smile crossed Jo'ren's face at that moment. "You have a deal my friend, you have a deal. Plus I'll owe you a favour."

He shook his head a little, still smiling. "I knew you'd come through. Any idea what the timeline would be? Any chance you could get them by tomorrow afternoon?"

“I can do it, after the Orientation I should have it done,” he said with a serious but friendly tone.

"Perfect. Thanks, I definitely owe you one." He gave Gerald an appraising look. "So. Tell me about your trip through the Wastes! You don't look hurt so I'm guessing you avoided any packs of wild beasts? And how about the other Aspirants, have you met any who seem like they could be good allies?"

“I got lost… it was not very fun out there but I did run into Zeno who had an adventure out there, guess he fought some droids in a tomb or something, I am going to look at the chips from the droids tomorrow,” he said with excitement.

"Ah, well it's not that surprising. I'd been here before so I had an idea of where to go at least." Zeno? "Who is Zeno? Don't think I've met the guy." The enthusiasm was infectious. "Chips huh? So what will you look for exactly? I've been thinking I should learn more about mechanics, but never got around to it."

“Probably look at what their programming was and check records and try to see if there are any other locations,” he said honestly.

“I need to see the states of the droid chips.”

Jo'ren nodded. "So you can get map data off the chips and see if you can find some more stuff to investigate. Secret tombs, that sort of thing?" He gave his buddy a serious look. "Like I said, make sure you get something out of this."

“Will do, I had not considered that but this is for Lord Zash I think, so it should impress her to show her my skills,” he said with a smile.

"Hey that's great! Yes." He looked the smaller man up and down. "Lord Zash huh? Well she's easy on the eyes, and appreciates technical talent, or so I hear."

A grin spread across his face. "She'd be a good Lord for you Gerald."

“I hadn’t noticed if she was easy on the eyes,” he said with a nervous laugh.

“She seems really approachable though, not scary like some of the other Sith lords.”

Jo'ren laughed. "Yeah, right. You hadn't noticed, sure."

"As for the others, well, there is strength in Fear. Others think twice about crossing you if you are feared. In some ways it's the Lords who don't feel they need to project that sort of aura that you want to be even more careful of..." He shrugged. "Still, Lord Zash seems like she'd be appreciative of your skills, so that sounds promising."

“I think that will be my path, at least unless someone else takes notice. I think that would be the best use of my skills,” he said with a nod.

“I still need to get better with a Lightsaber though.”

"Huh, well... I'm pretty handy with a lightsaber, and I've been planning on learning some mechanical skills. So maybe we can help each other out?". It made a lot of sense.

“Yeah that would be great, I would be so thankful for some guidance!” he said with excitement.

"Alright, let's do this!" He slapped Gerald's shoulder affectionately. "Let's get some training sabers once we've settled in and I'll help you with the basics. It's tricky to begin with, but once you get used to their being no weight to the thing it starts to get easier."

He gave a sly smile. "Plus I won't give you too much shit if you stun yourself with the training blade a few times. Hooo boy, my teacher gave me such a beating in my first few lessons I thought I was going to die." He chuckled, it was easy to laugh about it now.

"Do you know if there's a decent workshop somewhere in the complex? I've got a mechanics project I want to work on at some point and good facilities might help my total lack of skill."

“Oh yeah the Hall of Shadows has a few good workshops, what are you building, or planning to build?” he asked.

Jo'ren beamed. "The hilt for my lightsaber... I went out and picked up a load of parts today. No crystal yet of course, but you got to start somewhere." Leaning in conspiratorially he added: "Keep it to yourself though. It'll be a surprise for the Instructors when I turn up with my very own."

"My lips are sealed, you think you are ready for one?" he asked.

"Absolutely, no question." Of course the force would play a nasty trick on him the following morning, and then reward his skills with...some sort of bond to Jaina Von later that same day. It was complicated. But right now he was convinced he was the next Darth Marr.