It is time (Darth Vornskr)

[Vaelokin]

The Sith Apprentice Vaelokin stood in front of his Master. The Maelibus made no movements to kneel, or even bow before the Sith Lord that was, @[member="Darth Vornskr"]. He was already his Apprentice, he was already a Sith Lord. What other achievements could his Master gain by just having another weaker being bow to him? He remained standing, arms clasped within his black robes and he waited for any sign of orders from his Master. Instead, he took it upon himself to speak.

"Shall we enter your Palace?" He asked, looking at the surroundings upon the steps of his Panathan Palace and waited for his response. His left hand, his lightsaber had ached to strike down his Master, but he wasn't ready yet. He wasn't ready to become the Sith Lord that would feast upon the flesh of it's enemies. The day would come however.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Vornskr said nothing as he led his hulking apprentice up into the massive citadel that extended along the remaining length of the peninsula they had landed on. Far behind them was the city of Mordanas, the new capital of Panatha built soon after Vornskr became the leader of the world and it's people. The new capital featured Vanr architecture mixed in with traditional Epicanthix architecture, creating a hybrid city fit for both warrior races. However; the Vanr had their own capital, Zilthuras, high in the mountains that overlooked the jungles down below, and most of them were reluctant to leave their mountain homes. Another large number of them lived within Vornskr's citadel as his Honor Guard, bound to serve him after he led the exodus from their original homeworld of Dromund Kaas when it's apocalypse came at the hands of the Mandalorians.

The inside of the citadel was truly magnificent, glorious polished marble covered the floor and tapestries of the Zambrano family crest lined the walls. Paintings recovered from Vornskr's old castle on Thule hanged on the walls in certains areas, but most of the walls were left bare or were in the process of having art placed upon them. Hallways that led away from the central core hallway led to various other rooms ranging from kitchens, dining halls, training chambers, brothels, guest chambers, and even featured the occasional passageway into the expansive dungeon system beneath the citadel. However; the main corridor led straight to the throne room, where Vornskr led Vaelokin now, and once inside he would marvel at the high ceiling and the open archways lining each side of the throne room, where Vanr Honor Guard now perched silent and stoic.

Vornskr waved a hand for Vaelokin to wait as the Black Iron Tyrant went to sit upon his Black Iron throne, "Vaelokin, you are one of many that have apprenticed under me. Currently the fourth in this current generation of apprentices, but you are one of the few with the most promise. This citadel is where you will reside until I deem you fit to go out into the galaxy and do my bidding and the bidding of our Dark Lord."

@[member="Vaelokin"]

 

[Vaelokin]

The Maelibus followed his Master into his palace. It was a nice palace, for a humanoid he guessed and what would count as a Maelibus for hands, clenched. Not an unusual action for Vaelokin, and he eventually started to repeatedly do it as he followed his Sith Master.

Soon, they were in a large room, where @[member="Darth Vornskr"]'s throne remained, and he watched as the Hound walked up the steps to the Throne and sat upon it. The Apprentice said nothing when his Master spoke. Obvious lies, 'the most promise,' was a joke at best. Though Vaelokin would accept it neutrally, and he did, with as deep a bow as he was willing to go. "As you wish, my Master." Said the deep voice of the Maelibus and he waited for his next words.

"What shall you have me do, now?"

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"For now I would have you familiarize yourself with my castle, for it is your home now. It's chambers are many, and there is plenty to test your mettle against. The beast pens below house some of the most savage creatures known to the wider galaxy, including specimens from Vendaxa and Gratos, courtesy of the Graug I employed in my service. The armory will supply you with new gear and weaponry, and as a place to practice your skill at metal-forging and lightsaber construction. The training yard comes with a variety of obstacles and challenges for you to regularly test yourself to your limits. I want you to scour the castle, and then return back to me. I have a task for you, and a few gifts of my own to help you in this task." Vornskr rested his elbows on each knee and gently rested his chin on his knuckles as he clasped his fingers together. He hoped the Maelibus was up to the task Vornskr had in store for him.

@[member="Vaelokin"]

 

[Vaelokin]

The Sith Apprentice had the expression upon his face that for a Maelibus would approximate as a frown. His Master was giving him free roam of a place that he didn't know, and would remain in that Throne the whole time? His Master was certainly a patient man Vaelokin realized when he turned -- without bowing, or any other form of acknowledgement of his Master's existence, as he went back to where he came from. He was going to do as he was told and explore this palace.

To the armoury.

He thought to himself as he moved through the winding corridors of the Pacanthan (?) palace, and after what seemed like hours, had found everything his Master had been speaking about. Beast pens, the armoury, even the apartments of those who stayed with @[member="Darth Vornskr"] if they were granted the chance, though most of his time was spent in the armoury. There was a forge in there, he could sense the usage of the Dark Side from it, and he saw the armour sets upon the walls and around it, neatly placed.

By all means it was an impressive castle, though he touched nothing. It wasn't his time yet, and once he had mentally noted down every single important place in the castle he found himself walking back up to the throne and stopping just at the foot of it. "I have returned." He said as if it wasn't obvious enough.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"I hope it was to your liking? I had heard my castle described as imperious once, and I think that word perfectly describes my abode. Wouldn't you agree?" Kaine said from atop his throne, which was more occupied now since Vaelokin last saw it. A wench was now spread across the Tyrant's lap, with a small tray of fruits to feed her master. Kaine took a bite out of an apple as he stared down at his apprentice, "It is good that you have returned so soon, I have a mission for you. In Hutt space there is a man called 'Axis Corvius', he runs an elaborate drug trade through Nar Kreeta, Nimban, Klatooine, and Toydaria. I want you to find him, and bring him back to me alive. For now he remains a possible important asset in my plans, and I need him intact for now. Should he prove to be useless, you may deal with him as you wish."

@[member="Vaelokin"]

 

[Vaelokin]

The Maelibus said nothing while his Master mocked him. His palace was suitable for his training he supposed, perhaps a bit too large. Though he supposed beings such @[member="Darth Vornskr"] needed such things to compensate for things. Things that Vaelokin hardly worried about, his only loyalty was to himself. "It is adequate." He answered curtly.

"Where is my ship? Will I have a team of professionals to aide me? I don't work in an Intelligence Bureau." He said calmly. And his clawed hands folded across his chest for only the brifest of moments before falling back to his side once again.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

"Your ship will be docked in the palace hanger bay, fueled and filled with supplies you will need during your mission. As for your team of professionals, I have assigned to you a team of recruits straight out of the ISB academy on Bunduki, all of them having gone through months of dedicated training to prepare for their first mission. They will aid you, and they know their mission, and you know yours. The leader of the ISB team is Sergeant Inque, and she will be your second for the mission. I expect nothing but success from you, Vaelokin. Failure is not an option." He cracked a slight smile before giving the signal for Vaelokin to depart and get his mission underway. The vessel that was awaiting Vaelokin was a fresh off the press Sekairo-Class Stealth Transport, which was ready for immediate departure once the Sith Acolyte had debriefed with Sergeant Inque, and boarded the shuttle.

@[member="Vaelokin"]

 

[Vaelokin]

The Sith Apprentice bowed to his Sith Master and turned to leave to go to the hangar bay. His Master wouldn't be failed, and Vaelokin wouldn't be being killed for a non-existant failure. "It shall be done." He said, just loud enough for his Master to hear as he moved back to the way he came.

"Quite the gift." He muttered to himself as he turned to move up the stairs to go to the hangar. He heard the sound of equipment being moved and when he emerged upon the hangar bay's platform, the ISB team saluted, and the one who was quite obviously the leader came to him. He had already forgotten her name, and when she tried to get his attention, the Maelibus only walked by her to the ramp with the only sign of acknowledgement being, "get on the ship." And his feet carried him onto the ship where he awaited for the rest of the team to arrive.

The first person, who only spared him a glancing look continued into the cockpit, and the ship must have been going through it's pre-flight check. Good. He didn't want to wait any longer. And then the rest of the team came upon the ship, it was silent, and he figured the Sergeant -- he believed, would go through the briefing. And he was right, because she was already speaking as the ramp closed behind her and the sound of hangar bay doors echoed that of the ramp's closing. "Speak." He said as the ship began to lift off of the ground and already begin flying into the atmosphere.

I hate humans.

@[member="Darth Vornskr"]

 

[Vaelokin]

The ship exited hyperspace over the planet of Nar Shaddaa. It was the best place to start, after all, @[member="Darth Vornskr"] had said in Hutt Space, and where better to start. Vaelokin stood up from the seat he was in and looked out on the viewports on the side of the shuttle. "Prepare the equipment. I want to be off of this planet within the day." He said, staring at all of them with what appeared to be dead eyes, despite them glowing in an ominous manner. He wouldn't hesitate to kill them all and then go to the planet alone, but he couldn't hesitate. Perhaps he could kill them all once the mission had been completed. We shall see...We shall see...

The shuttle landed in the spaceport that was the closest to the capital upon Nar Shaddaa. It wasn't the first time he had been on Nar Shaddaa, and he was certain it wouldn't be the last one. Though the last time he had been there he had killed a few people, it seemed whatever planet he visited there was always a trail of death left behind him. Well, not on Panantha. Not yet anyway. "Where to now, my lord?" He heard one of them say.

"Am I the Agent, or are you?" He bit out. "We will start out in the Underworld. Split up, you'll go as deep as you can, and find as much information as you can." Vaelokin said, pointing to the largest one of the team. He felt as if this was going to take longer than just one day.

 

[Vaelokin]

Vaelokin wasn't the being to bring back thing's whole. Or alive, for that matter, but when his ship exited hyperspace over Panantha with Axis Corvius, he felt as if he forgot a part of himself on this supposed mission. He hadn't been able to kill. Anyone. His last decision had been to stay on the ship because he just looked like a monster, and it'd be better to not alert the Republic or whatever Anti-Sith Cults on the planet that he was around. Not to mention, he was probably the thing that parents sang about underneath children's beds at night.

I hate humans.

He thought to himself when the ship landed in the hangar bay and the ramp opened. Axis Corvius wasn't restrained. He had no escape. So, Vaelokin just dragged him off of the ship and back to the place his mission started from. @Darv Vornskr would have known he was coming, he had to, he dragged the squealing man through the palace corridor towards the throne he had seen a week ago. And when he stopped in front of the Throne, he threw the man down on the ground.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Vornskr was waiting patiently on his throne after he had heard of Vaelokin's arrival in the system, and had moved to the throne room to meet his apprentice. When his hulking frame entered the chamber, dragging the squealing pig of a man behind him, Vornskr knew that his apprentice had done exceptional. "Very good, very good. You did all that I had required of you." His eyes slowly drifted from Vaelokin to Axis, and with a subtle nod towards his guards they approached the sniveling man and began to drag him off towards the dungeons far below for reprogramming. They would peel the flesh from his back, and install cybernetic implants all along his spine and at the base of his brain stem. Other implants would soon augment Axis, but that was a story to be told another time. "Now that your mission is done, your training can begin. I warn you, it will not be an easy road. It will be the worst agony you have ever experienced, and only the strongest of individuals will survive."

Vornskr smiled as he rose from his throne and descended the steps, "Refresh yourself in your new quarters, my servants will show you the way, and then meet me in the yard for your first lesson."

[member="Vaelokin"]

 

[Vaelokin]

"At your command." He said with a bow, and then he backed out of the room once the guards had taken the man, Axis. He hadn't been a hassle when Vaelkin thought back on it, when he walked through the Pananthan Palace. It had been a waste of time if anything, but Vaelokin would do anything to become a Sith Master. He would kill anybody, do any mission. All for the power that the Sith could grant him.

--

The servants had shown him his way to the quarters once he had left the Great Hall, he had been redirected upon his path and he had found his quarters and was soon as fresh-faced as a Maelibus was going to be, and garbed in his new black robes, he was on his way to meet his Master again.

On his way to the yards he almost got lost, that was until a group of servants had been given a single question and they directed him easily enough and he was there without anymore problems. "[member="Darth Vornskr"]." He said when he arrived in the training yard.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Vornskr was garbed in only his pants and boots, his chest and arms completely bare, exposing the muscular, yet scarred, pale flesh of the Epicanthix King. His hair was still unbound and billowed wildly behind him as he stood, awaiting his apprentice's arrival. At his side were two durasteel swords, one firmly held in his grasp by the hilt with the tip of the blade pushing into the ground, and the other gently rested next to it. "Tell me, [member="Vaelokin"], at what extent have you learned professional sword fighting?" He asked the question without really caring to what the answer was, and continued on without referencing the Maelibus' answer. "We're going to have a little training exercise, you and I. At my side here are two swords, sharpened and infused with a substance called 'Devaronian Blood-Poison', a vile component that causes agony on contact with the skin. When it is applied to a weapon, it transfers it's qualities to the blade, making it all the more effective against your opponent."

He let his explanation sit in for a few moments, perhaps Vaelokin had already guessed what the exercise in question was already going to be before Vornskr further explained it. He picked up the other sword by the hilt, and tossed it with expert precision towards Vaelokin for him to catch by the hilt, rather than the blade due to the aforementioned poison coating the blade. "Your objective is to land a single cut upon my flesh, should you accomplish this task I will continue your training. Should you fail, I have another set of tasks for you to accomplish before you may try again." Vornskr then tensed his body and moved into half-casual half-defensive stance, his sword held lazily at his side.

"Begin."

 

[Vaelokin]

"To a great extent." He said blandly. He felt as if he already knew his answer wouldn't even be responded to, or better yet, even listened to. And as he had figured, the King of Panantha didn't even verify his answer, but Vaelokin didn't mind much. He was going to be learning from a Former Sith Emperor and a powerful Sith within his own realm of the Force. He was certain there were things he would be learning from [member="Darth Vornskr"] that even other Sith Masters couldn't do.

At least he hoped so.

When the Sith Lord threw the durasteel blade at him, the Maelibus caught it from the air by the hilt, after hearing what it could do upon contact with the skin, he wasn't going to be letting it even touch his armoured flesh. Even if it would have to penetrate the scales itself to get to actual skin.

The Sith Apprentice leapt forwards, feet barely travelling above the ground and when he landed in front of the Sith Lord, he pivoted upon his right foot and made to feint to his left before seeming to slow down and stutter in his steps, as if he was making a conscious thought of which direction to go, he finally followed through with going left and struck to the midsection of his Master once he had gotten to his left side.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Vornskr brought his sword up to parry, [member="Vaelokin"]'s blade colliding with his own, sending wicked reverberations through the Sith Lord's sword arm. The maneuver also slightly deflected the trajectory of the Maelibus' blade, not by a wide or extremely noticeable margin, but just enough to make a slight difference. From that small opening, Vornskr threw himself forward and to the right, but from Vaelokin's perspective it would be to his left. He swung his sword in a shallow arc towards Vaelokin's midsection as he passed, hoping the blade or the tip would slice across his armored skin while Vornskr continued on by. All of this was done in a relatively quick timeframe, Vornskr's movements augmented by the Force to contend with Vaelokin's superior size and bulk, as this wasn't the first time Vornskr had to contend with someone larger than him.

The Mandalorians always seemed to like being bigger than their opponents, like some sort of tin can puffer Adder. The thought alone was amusing.

 

[Vaelokin]

Powerful armoured legs shuffling backwards away from the fast-approaching Sith Lord, when [member="Darth Vornskr"] moved to Vaelokin's right, the durasteel blade moved downwards to meet his with a solid vertical block.

It wasn't going to end that easily.

Then he threw himself backwards, practically sliding over the floor from his own will and he spun the durasteel blade around himself before he took a half-step forwards and gave a seemingly half-hearted swing to the chest.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Vornskr rolled across the ground, before coming to a halt as he slammed his left hand into the ground to slow his momentum. Vornskr fell into a defensive stance as the Maelibus came at him again, bringing his blade close to his chest, and with minimal movement he parried [member="Vaelokin"]'s attack towards his chest. In an instant he transferred the momentum of Vaelokin's swing into his own, counter-attacking immediately with a side step to his left, Vaelokin's right, and attempted to carve a path across the Maelibus' armored chest with the blade.

 

[Vaelokin]

The counter-attack had been powerful, it had nearly thrown him off of his feet, but he had balanced himself out as much as he could and was leaning backwards as the blade was coming to swing across his chest.

But just before the instant that [member="Darth Vornskr"] had transferred Vaelokin's momentum, the Maelibus's own durasteel blade went past his torso as he turned his body to the side, allowing it an unimpeded path. He wasn't going down this easy, and as he recovered, he spun on his heels, blade flashing around wildly at Vornskr's neck, before being redirecting mid-swing towards the fleshy area of his thigh.

 

[Darth Carnifex]

Vornskr's form tightened up, his blade returning close to his body as his mind worked to perceive the oncoming threats from his apprentice's bladework. His blade moved to intercept the strike towards his neck, but when it was revealed that it was merely a feint, his reflexes screamed as he moved to position his blade to deflect the strike towards his thigh. The Maelibus was faster than anticipated, and Vornskr barely had enough time to bring his blade in front of [member="Vaelokin"]'s in time. The parry was clumsy, the angle of defense awkward due to the size of both combatants, but Vornskr managed to bring it through. His new apprentice was truly something to behold, and he was becoming more and more impressed each second the battle drug onward.

Then Vornskr attempted a tricky maneuver, one that might leave the Sith open for a counter attack should it fail, but even still he was willing to teach his apprentice more. He had proved himself enough, but there was still the formality of the duel. Vornskr swung his blade upward towards the Maelibus' imposing frame while his sword was turned down towards the ground. He was aiming for the creature's upper arm, or at least the chest if he was lucky enough.