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After Vowrawn escorted them out of the Sith Academy, he personally transported them on a yacht shaped spaceship, and took them to a bright, silver colored skyscraper.
It was the second tallest building in all of the city, dwarfed only by the massive Imperial Palace.
The gaudy building stood in stark contrast to the rest of the dull, drab architecture of Kaas City.
Varrus was shocked to learn that the silver material was doonium. That was one of the most expensive resources in the galaxy.
Every military grade ship had their outer hull coated in the heat resistant substance.
Darth Vowrawn was so ridiculously rich that he could coat an entire building with what was essentially a capital ship's worth of doonium.
Clearly leading the entire Empire's logistical support apparatus and production facilities had treated him well.
Other Dark Councilor's maintained control of the army, the spy network, or vast arcane reliquaries. Vowrawn? Vowrawn had money.
The elder Sith acted like a skyscraper covered in doonium was nothing, but Varrus was certain the old man got off on their surprise. His posture screamed 'you don't get to the Cloud District often, do you?'
Varrus had a suspicion that the only reason someone of his standing would personally escort them was to show off.
This old man was something else.
Upon docking at the top floor, Varrus caught a glimpse of Vowrawn's office.
The interior was decorated with dozens of lightsabers hanging from the ceiling, forming a rainbow colored chandelier. A pair of life sized, stuffed Wookie and Trandoshins were wrestling in a corner. Spice, and every known drug in the galaxy were clearly labeled, and sat in clear jars on a long table to the side.
The far wall was decorated with mystical artifacts, Varrus's burgeoning force sensitivity was screaming 'danger' from the items casually strung up on the wall. Finally, a wide open glass window served as the backdrop, revealing Kaas City in all its rain swept depression.
"Greetings, I am designated as DN-UTZ, please accept these on behalf of the master!" A red protocol droid similar in make to C3-PO handed each of them a comlink. The device doubled as a transponder, emitting an IFF so that the copious amount of droid guards, and automated defenses didn't blast them to shreds.
"This way sirs and madam. Acolytes have a section of the building set aside for them. The master is a busy man, and will have orders for you soon." The protocol droid ushered them away.
Varrus stepped away from the droid, and dropped down to a knee in front of Vowrawn.
"Lord Vowrawn, may I request a boon!" Varrus proclaimed loudly and forcefully.
"Hoh?" The elder Sith expressed amusement across the Force.
"I wish to better serve you my Lord! Please teach me the ways of concealment, so that I may surprise your enemies, as you surprised Darth Ravage!" Varrus made sure to keep his eyes on the floor, and speak with as much sincerity as possible.
A moment of silence passed, and if anything, the sense of amusement only seemed to grow.
"You noticed that, did you? I had thought you nothing more than a brute, I see I was mistaken. I don't have anything to worry about from one so clever, do I?" Despite his softly spoken words, Varrus couldn't help but detect menace coated in his silky speech.
One slip up, and Varrus knew his life was forfeit.
"Of course not my Lord! An unthinking brute is only as good as the leash constraining him. Good only for direct conflict, all it would take is one whisper, and the brute would bite the hand that feeds him! One who is aware of his surroundings is not so easily swayed into betrayal. It is this one's humble opinion that there is nothing more charismatic than a Sith venerable. Any paltry trick would be washed away in the face of experience." Varrus quickly espoused, his desire to learn outweighed any fear of reprisal.
"Well said, well said. A slick tongue will carry you far Krawl. Maintain your loyalty to me, and you shall find I am good to my men."
"Then you mean-!"
"I am busy today, DN-UTZ will escort you to me when I have need of you." Vowrawn waved toward the protocol droid, and said with finality.
"Thank you." Varrus stood up and bowed, then went to follow the droid.
"Master Vowrawn, I also request training, I can make it worth your tim-AH!" The red skinned Twi'lek sauntered over, shaking her hips, but caught a painful burst of lightning from the older Sith.
"Come along." DN-UTZ pressed on, ignoring the girl's plight.
The Twi'lek grit her teeth, and limped after them. Hatred radiated off her and toward Varrus like a steamed vegetable emitting vapor.
Taking one last glance back, Varrus caught sight of Vowrawn smirking.
'Meddlesome old man.' Varrus internally grumbled as he walked away.
For every inch of the hallway leading up to Vowrawn's office that didn't contain an expensive decoration, there was a battle droid, or mounted laser cannon.
Many of the droids were non-standard to the generic Sith war-droids. Their eyes gleamed with a deadly intelligence that Varrus would expect to be found in an assassin droid like HK-47.
After descending in the elevator, they reached a section of the skyscraper to the Acolytes quarters, and were presented with their own rooms.
Varrus didn't care to make small talk, and immediately made for his bed.
It had been quite the day.
Varrus only slept for a few hours when a message on his comlink woke him up in the early hours of the morning, and summoned him to the training hall.
Inside the training hall, it was filled with all sorts of practice droids, and obstacles.
The point of this exercise was to learn Force Concealment, and Vowrawn had obliged.
A raptor, similar to Jurassic Park's velociraptors was to be his litmus test.
As most creatures on Dromund Kaas tracked beings through the Force, the Sith Lord had sought fit to test Varrus's abilities by setting this animal upon him.
Its eyes were blind to the world, but it had evolved in such a way that it could track down its next meal via the Force.
Vowrawn would command the creature to leave the room, then have Varrus attempt to repress his signature within the Force.
'Ignore me. Ignore me. Ignore me.' Varrus chanted mentally.
It seemed to be of no use, as the raptor immediately zeroed in on his location, and scored a blow across his chest.
He fell to the floor in a grunt of pain. The raptor had torn into his robes and flesh before backing off upon Vowran's command.
Never before had Varrus regretted asking someone for knowledge like he did at this very moment.
Oh sure, he'd been caught up in school lectures that ran long, stayed late after work for training. or waited patiently as an elder rambled for hours.
But this? This was torture!
He shouldn't have expected any less when his first meeting with the man was a trial to the death. Vowrawn's operating procedure very much indicated he possessed a 'trial by fire' mentality.
They repeated the exercise twice more, but the result was the same.
At this point, Varrus was beginning to feel delirious from the blood loss, and only kept himself standing from blind rage at the beast, and fear at the implications of failure.
"This is the third time Krawl. I am most displeased. Perhaps you require additional motivation." Vowrawn derided, then turned to the raptor, and ordered "Upon entering the room, move to kill."
Varrus stumbled to his feet, and knew that this was his last chance.
The raptor released a shrill screech in acknowledgement at Vowrawn's command. It left the room, waited a minute, then walked back in.
Varrus pulled on his connection to the Force, and desperately began to repeat a mantra in his mind.
'Ignore me. Ignore me. Ignore me.'
He held his breath as the raptor rounded the corner.
Ability: [Force Concealment lvl 1]
The raptor took deep breaths in the room, prowling every which way. However, unlike the last three times, it didn't directly pounce on Varrus.
Varrus let out the breath he was holding in relief.
It must've heard him, because it lunged at him the moment he made the noise.
He raised his lightsaber, and swung it in a wide, powerful arc. The beam of red plasma easily swept across the raptors neck, and decapitated it before it could deal any damage.
It flopped lifelessly to the ground. Varrus was quick to side step the beast so as not to be caught up in its momentum.
"An adequate performance Acolyte. I had thought myself mistaken in your abilities, yet you have displayed your prowess once again."
"All to better serve your goals."
"Indeed? It just so happens I have an issue suited for your new found skills. South West of Kaas City, a slave rebellion has broken out. Collect data on their numbers, weapons, and positions. See DN-UTZ for more information."
"Thank you for the training, and opportunity Lord Vowrawn." Varrus bit out through the pain, and made sure to bow.
"Patch yourself up, and replace your garments from something in the armory. You are an embarrassment Krawl, I will not have one of my representatives shuffle about in rags." Vowrawn said before walking away.
Varrus chuckled to himself, then stopped to hold his side, and hissed in pain.
He was wise to the old man's game. This carrot and stick mentality reminded him of the vicious corporate work he was familiar with.
Varrus had done some work for the Mouse back on Earth. Being amongst the Sith didn't feel all too radically different to him.
Before he left the training room, a medical droid sprayed him with bacta, then slapped on some patches.
The liquid stung, but Varrus could already feel its rapid healing power. The closest he could describe the feeling would be like the bubbling sensation of hydrogen peroxide, only 10x more painful.
"Thank you." Varrus said to the medical droid, then took the elevator to the armory.
Once he stepped out of the elevator, a red beam slowly scanned him from head to toe.
Dozens of turrets, and a few droids pointed their weapons at him.
"Identity confirmed. Status: Acolyte. Name: Varrus Krawl. Access Level: D. State your purpose." The droid's robotic voice said in a tone similar to ROB from Star Fox.
A blast door opened, revealing a serious arsenal of state of the art weaponry and armor.
"Can you procure me custom equipment?" Varrus took a look at the armor, and most of it seemed to fit a standard template.
Varrus knew that in this universe, important people had their own look. If he donned the standard Sith apparel, he would be doomed to the roll of cannon fodder.
"Affirmative, access Level B required." The droid replied.
So if he wanted better gear, he had to increase his relation Level with Vowrawn. Easy enough.
"Then this is what I'll take."
Varrus left the armory wearing a black suit of armor. He opted to forgo the generic helmet in favor of revealing his face.
While being a Sith Pureblood would doubtlessly draw attention to him, Varrus refused to look like any other mook.
Main characters refused to wear helmets, following that logic, Varrus couldn't bear the standard look. The only time it was acceptable to wear one, is if it was unique, or iconic. Vader and Revan were standout characters, their masks only furthered their aura of mystique.
In time, perhaps he would find something that satisfied him. It may seem silly, but appearance in this universe was something very real, and very important.
No one respected Jar-Jar Binks. But put a Mandalorian in a room, and everyone made sure to keep an eye out on his hands, lest you find yourself on the business end of his blaster.
Unfortunately for Varrus, the only armor available to his access Level was one so generic, but he would make due.
All he had to do was kill Vowrawn's enemies if he wanted an upgrade.
Keeping in line with that thinking, Varrus took out the comlink.
Unsurprisingly, he only had one contact.
Dialing DN-UTZ's number, the hologram whirled to life, and depicted a tiny blue image of the protocol droid.
"Greetings Acolyte! Our master has briefed me on your mission. Transmitting the coordinates to your commlink now!"
A map of the city, and the surrounding area popped up on the communicator. It showed detailed directions similar to Google Maps and indicated where Varrus was instructed to go.
"I've got it. Are there any other details I should be aware of?" Varrus questioned.
There was a brief pause, in which Varrus thought the droid had frozen up, before it began to speak.
"The slaves in rebellion belong to Lord Qet, one of the master's apprentices. They were constructing a statue in master's likeness, but stopped halfway. Be advised, there is an 88% chance they were armed by one of Darth Vowrawn's rivals. There is a further 55% chance of Force sensitives hiding amongst their number."
"Thank you DN-UTZ." Varrus was about to cut the transmission when the droid spoke up.
"I see that you have requested Level B access. Destroy the insult to our master's honor, and I'll upgrade you to Level C." DN-UTZ said before cutting the link.
Unable to sleep, Varrus decided to head to the training room for some last minute practice. He would head out come first light.
