Following the Kissai

[Tormax Tryte]

Darth Naefas's shuttle landed in the hangar bay of the Coldharbour. The ship was a haven for dark siders of all sorts, or so it was said. He himself felt it was like a hotel resort, but instead it was an always moving dark sided nexus.

He loved it's feel within the Force. With the sheer amount of bogan energies upon the ship and the potential of a lot of it's passengers and crew, it was truly an amazing thing. He could only wonder if the Republic knew of it's existence within the Galaxy. But if they did, why hadn't they tried to take the ship yet?

The turbolift doors that led to the hangar a few levels down opened up and admitted him to an open corridor. He glanced across the groups of people walking across the halls and going about their business. It was a pleasant sight, but he had something to do on the ship and there was no time to sit and marvel at the sights.

He had to find an Alchemist that he heard often visited or lived on the ship. Or something similar. If she were an alchemist, would have to be a dark sider, so she would be safe on the ship. He had gotten a little bit of a description of her.

But he wanted to hurry and find this woman. He didn't have all the time in galaxy, and he doubted she knew he was looking for her. Though, it would make things a lot easier for him. Then again he doubted she would stay on the ship for long. It was time to hurry.

@[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

A few simple questions would lead @[member="Darth Naefas"] to an unassuming shop, one of many. This one was small, its walls covered in blades of every description, some masterwork and some not. A few other materials alchemists plied their trade here in the bazaar of the Coldharbor, and this one didn't especially stand out. In the back room, a girl with purple eyes was painstakingly working terentatek hide into leather. She glanced up through a beaded curtain as Naefas entered the front room. "Be right with you," she said, and fitted the leather with its last two rivets of alchemical metal. When she emerged to the storefront, it became clear that she had been in the middle of work for some time. She wore a laborer's jumpsuit stripped to the waist, and a basic tank top. Soot and dye stained her hands and face. She looked about eighteen.

This was Rave Merrill, newest High Councilor of the Fringe Confederation, and before that their chief alchemist. Defeater of Sith Masters, maker of monsters, forge artist of blades, owner of a Black Hex.

Petite teenager with an average, even weak, Force aura. Whether or not he'd seen her face on news from the Unknown Regions or secret dossiers from the Empire for whom she'd made the Akure Leviathans, whether or not he knew who she was, Naefas would quickly be able to tell that this was no Darth.

"Six-six, maybe two hundred pounds, yeah? I'm willing to bet you're after something long, light and strong - you can get enough momentum with a long swing as is; with your build, you don't need a heavy blade to give you momentum. Or are you still deciding what king of swordsman you mean to be?"

 

[Tormax Tryte]

He didn't say anything when the girl spoke to him. Instead, he continued to stare into her eyes for a few more moments before turning to look to the rest of the store and the equipment that was around. "I have come to learn the ways of Sith Alchemy." He said simply, before turning his yellow gaze back onto her. "Are you capable of teaching it to me?" He needed her. He would need to be as 'polite' as he could. Though that never came easily.

@[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

@[member="Darth Naefas"]

"That's not the question you need to ask yourself." Feth, he couldn't be much older than her, if at all -- and he hadn't been clone host to an old Master, forced or blessed to live with adult memories since childhood. "The question you need to ask yourself is -- are you capable of learning? Humility's everything."

The girl adjusted the jumpsuit where its unzipped top half wrapped loosely around her hips. "There's a reason a lot of the best teachers humble their students before they begin. Part of it's that they get new 'prodigies' every day, looking to train with the best. Some teachers get selective; others get greedy. Me, I haven't decided what kind I am. But whether I'm selective, only looking for the best students, or greedy, only looking for those who can offer me connections and wealth...either way, I need to know what you bring to the table. What are your skills, your specialties, your allegiances, your assets?"

 

[Tormax Tryte]

He thought of the questions for a few moments before he answered without pausing once his thoughts had formed up. "My skills focus upon the Force, though I am proficient with the Lightsaber. My allegiance is to myself, and to the Sith Empire. I have three cruisers located within the Mid-Rim." He couldn't be turned away. "Failure...Is acceptable." He said after his previous statements.

His eyes took her appearance in completely, her eyes, her facial features, and her body specifically. Though what intrigued him were her eyes if anything. Yellow orbs snapped back up to look into her own purple ones and he awaited her answer.

@[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

@[member="Darth Naefas"]

"Don't let your attention linger where it shouldn't," she said matter-of-factly, as his eyes wandered. "I work a forge in trousers and a breast band, nothing more. If you can't keep focused on the task at hand, the forge will eat you alive. And telling my your skills focus on the Force -- well, I'l need more detail than that. Are you well-rounded? Do you have specialties?"

 

[Tormax Tryte]

"I am well rounded." He said, before adding: "My specialities lie within Sith Lightning. And pyrokinesis." He nodded when he said that. It was true, pyrokinesis and force lightning were his special abilities that he tried to use as infrequently as possible. More as finishing attacks, or starters. Though he had yet to utilize pyrokinesis in actual duel as of yet.

Based from what he had gleaned just from studying her, Naefas understood that this alchemist was young. He was curious as to how she knew of the ways of Sith Alchemy. She couldn't be older than him, no. But as long as she could teach him what he needed to know that was all that mattered.

@[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

@[member="Darth Naefas"]

"So the kind of Sith who knows how to break things, but not necessarily how to build them. Well, that's fair enough. That's the Empire's curriculum in this day and age, and the reason I went to the Fringe -- where the whole Dark Side is studied.

"You never answered my first question. What sort of blade do you prefer? What do you need to know, and what do you need to make?"

 

[Tormax Tryte]

He was quiet for another few moments. he had never truly thought of what kind of blade that he wanted. His plans had only gone as far to find somebody to teach him Sith Alchemy. And now that one of those people were asking him he didn't know the answer, and then it triggered in his mind.

"A bastard blade. 1.5 meters if it were possible. I need to know the metal workings of Sith Alchemy to forge a Sith Sword." He said shortly after the thoughts had begun to roll through his mind.

@[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

@[member="Darth Naefas"]

"A versatile blade type, if you have the training. I know Ashin Varanin, for one, favors an alchemical bastard sword." She eyed him for a long moment, then nodded. "What can you offer? I don't take apprentices for the sake of my pride unless I'm teaching Masters how to do this. I expect something of equal value in return, whatever that might be."

 

[Tormax Tryte]

How would he know what he could offer her? Well he knew what he could offer her. But he didn't know if it was to her taste. "I do not know what would appeal to you, alchemist. However, I can teach you what I know of the Force and the Lightsaber."It would be odd to have a Master who was also his Apprentice. Though it wouldn't matter as long as he learned how to make his Sith Sword, that was all that mattered in the end.

@[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

@[member="Darth Naefas"]

"The more destructive aspects of the Force have never appealed to me," she said. "I'm a creator, not a breaker. Then again, I'm rather good at creating things that break other things. How about this? I'll train you if you tell me every name you use, and owe me a favor which I'll collect someday. Do that, and I'll show you everything you'll ever need to know about making Sith swords. I'm Rave Merrill, by the way," she added.

 

[Tormax Tryte]

He nodded his head. He throw back the black hood that covered his head and he was quiet for a moment. He was wondering whether or not he should remove his hood. To learn alchemy...Or hide his identity? It was an unbalanced decision.

His hand flew up and removed the helmet from the Pureblood's head and his crimson tattooed face stared at her. "My name is Darth Naefas. That is my only name." He said before throwing his hood back over his head, though he didn't put his helmet back on his head. "When do we begin?"

@[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

@[member="Darth Naefas"]

Rave's lips compressed to a thin line, and she nodded. "So be it, Naefas."

She flipped a handcarved sign to 'Closed' and led him into the back room. An alchemical forge and metallurgical apparatus sat beneath an immense ventilation hood, and CryoBan heat sinks lined the walls in case of catastrophe. She pulled out an assortment of metal ingots, seemingly at random, from poorly organized stacks, and laid them out in front of her.

"Sith alchemy can be applied to any metal. Here's bronzium, desh, the makings of durasteel, plenty of options. Working any one of these is an art. The thing is, though..." She swept the ingots aside, leaving only one. "Done right, alchemy can make even simple black iron the equal of a lightsabre. It'll still be alchemized metal.

"But let's tackle something fairly basic." She pulled out a sword blade similar to what he'd requested. The wide tang was naked of a handle or hilt. It floated between them, and she closed her eyes. "This is an un-alchemized durasteel blade. Focus on the Force, and see if you can follow what I'm doing. I'll begin at the end of the tang, where the pommel is going to be. Feel with me as I begin strengthening the metal lattices and the molecular bonds. This metal has a crystalline structure of sorts, a network, a lattice. We smooth away the breaks in the lattice, without damaging the layering from the blacksmith forging. Then we begin pouring Dark Side energy into those connections, making them strong. Do not focus on destruction. Focus on dominance."

 

[Tormax Tryte]

He followed her into the backroom and clasped his hands behind his back when she moved. It was quite the impressive room he had to admit. Even though he didn't know anything about the room, or anything about most of the tools in there.

He moved closer to visualize the wide tang easier, before he started to focus upon the Force within his mind. He closed his eyes once he had a completed 'picture' of the blade in his mind. He felt around the end of the tang and focused on simply wiping away the breaks and gaps within the blade. He figured nothing was happening to the blade and continued on, beginning to practically bathe the end of the tang within the dark side of the Force.

@[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

@[member="Darth Naefas"]

"That's the general idea, yes," she said, eyes half-lidded in concentration. "The real test, of course, is how long you can keep that up. It takes hours. So...I will bring you water, and you'll stand here and keep going, just like that. Don't falter, don't sit, don't talk, don't think about other things."

She slipped through the curtain and went to obtain a cup of water for herself; she'd bring him water in time. Ancient alchemists had required a sacrifice of blood -- one measure from oneself, one from an enemy, one from a friend -- in order to pass on their learning. Rave didn't see the need. Not yet, anyway.

 

[Tormax Tryte]

He said nothing, did nothing except continued to help levitate the blade up in the air. Hours it would take to do this? He was an aspiring sorceror, but that was till straining his abilities. At least he knew what it felt to be a Kissai of old then.

The dark side of the Force continued to fill in what little gaps there were within the lightsaber and he slowly started moving up the blade slowly. He figured it would take a long time to form a blade that he wanted, but he didn't think it would have taken hours. There was going to have to be a lot of training within the future.

@[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

In truth, for a basic blade like this, Rave could do it in about fifteen minutes. But Rave had made hundreds of alchemical blades, and this was @[member="Darth Naefas"]' first time.

As part of the training, she left the room to switch the sign to 'open' and handle several customers. When she'd finished selling a spiked mordenkrad to a skeletal seven-foot Codru-Ji, and a needle-thin knife to a Ghostling, not to mention a handful of regular blades, she returned bearing a cup of water. She did not yet give it to him. Instead, she probed the blade with her mind, trying to ascertain what kind of a job he'd done, and if his attention had faltered or he'd missed anything.

 

[Tormax Tryte]

He hadn't even been aware that she had left the room. Though in his subconscious he realized that he was suddenly utilizing more of his power within the Force to hold up the blade, and so he adjusted to it and continued to expend his force energies while it slowly weaved in and out of the blade to pour in the power of the dark into the durasteel tang.

It was quite an energy sapping ordeal.

@[member="Rave Merrill"]

 

[Velok the Younger]

@[member="Darth Naefas"]

She stood there in the bitter heat and watched, holding the cup of water. He had to by dying of thirst, but this was about discipline. How long could he keep his focus? How much of the blade could he alchemize?

She upended the cup and splashed water all over the floor. Would he flinch? Would he talk? Would his concentration break?