The Old Republic

[Renegade]

"Peace is a lie, there is only passion.
The words repeated, thirty voices in unison.
"Through passion, I gain strength."[/i]
Again the words were amplified the second time, reverberating off the metal walls of the classroom.
"Through strength, I gain power."[/i]
With his eyes closed, as the others were, the voices of the students mingled with his and was a dull roar in his head.
"Through power, I gain victory."[/i]
Kalen said the words, drinking in the inspiration that they brought. Even after having said them so many times before.
"Through victory, my chains are broken."[/i]
That was his favourite line, he always said it with more zeal than the others, as if it were literally breaking his chains, again...
"The Force shall free me."[/i]
The last line was spoken just once by everyone, without the cue from the speaker. The speaker was a slender human man, with all the honorifics of a sith who had bathed deep in the dark side, unnatural red eyes, and paled skin. He was an military officers uniform which rippled with the damp warm air that snaked it's way through the academy from outside.
Master Tulli stood with is arms folded, looking down on the students with a cold look of disgust. No one could figure out if he was truly hateful for no reason, or if he just acted that way to 'weed out the weak', as was his job description. Either way he was a vile man, who enjoyed putting the students through their paces.
In the last nine months, ten students had died from his trails. Kalen did not care about them though, he looked to the future, the only significance that their deaths held was that it was not him, and he could get through the next three months and hope to be deemed worthy of being apprenticed this time. If not, he'd have to go through it again, and this was his last chance. After three years of failure, you purchased by a Lord and are to be their slave, and slaves did not last long. He would not go back to that, being a 'roaming slave', sold to commonfolk was one thing, Sith Lords were totally another.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Aele often wondered if it weren't some kind of heresy that the code did not make her tremble with the same zeal it did the other candidates. She believed every word of it with her whole heart, the fire of passion burned powerful in her breast. The ways of the force had always come naturally to her, it was a trait of her race - or so she was told, though she'd never met anyone with an energy that felt like hers. Through the force she could 'feel' everyone around her as crisply as if she were seeing them through eyes, and it was because of this that she knew this recital did not super-charge her the way it did the others, especially the man who stood beside her.

But why should any of that matter? Petty words and oaths. Why should they matter in the face of what she could achieve. Her drive was strong, her skill with the vibroblade practically unparalleled. It was her time to show her power, to show that she would be more than a valuable asset, that she could be mighty. She was ready to be given a real weapon with which to test her might.

((Sorry it's not that great >.<))

[Renegade]

"You all recite the code as if you are worthy to speak it,"Master Tulli spoke, his facial features contorted with every inflection. "Today you will be put into teams of five, and taken to different areas on Thule. Lord Kul is looking for an artefact that we speculate to be in one of these locations. A day after the artefact is found, the other teams will be notified, and returned." A smirk crept across Tulli's face, and Kalen knew that little bit of unnecessary torture was his idea.
"Your team number will be sent to your holocomms. Your team number will be the same number of the hanger bay you need to go to-to be transported. Now get out of here, worms."
"Master Tulli, how will we know what the artefact looks like?' Kalen asked, his voice cultured, if not arrogant.
"It will look, really old." Sarcasm was the only response Kalen should have predicted.
Kalen just figured he'd know if he saw it. He left the classroom as all the others did and went to his dorm. Nothing had come through on his communicator yet, so he used the time to freshen up. Kalen disrobed and stood under the naturally warm, putrid smelling water that was drawn from whatever water was around on the savannah. He was here because he was lucky they said. He never agreed, he was here because he was strong. He had lost his temper with his previous master and killed him in front of a Sith Lord. His previous master was humiliating him in front of the Lord, and tried to make him grovel for forgiveness for dropping a platter. Which he had done on purpose in an effort to humiliate his master in the first place, but that was besides the point. His master was weak, and Kalen was strong. The weak serve the strong, not the other way around.
Which is exactly what the Lord had said when he told Kalen he would be serving the Sith Lords one day, and sent to the academy. It was both a smooth lesson in humility and a way out of slavery, at least for now. kalen stepped out of the shower and stood in front of the mirror. He was of medium build, stronger than a typical bounty hunter, but not a warrior. He was a Zabrak, and just as proud as any of his fellow Iridonians. His horns were set in five lines, four back and evenly spaced outward to an inch above his ears. The back half of his scalp was covered with black hair tied together in a ponytail, which contrasted his pale grey skin. His tattoos were that of his father's, traditionally tribal in design. Thick spiked lines cupped the space under his ears, which curved up over his eye sockets and spiked outwardly. Down from there lines ran down beside his mouth and ran the length of his jaw. The tattoos were not jet black, but rather a much darker grey than his skin. Though despite that the tattoos were not too dark, it still made his pale blue eyes noticeable. His eyes also had the first tell tale signs of dark side corruption, a very thin ring on the outside of the iris that has gone from blue to a yellow.
He put on clean robes that were void of a hood, as students were not allowed them, as they were usually a sign of office. The robe was black with red decorations and trim. Not all students wore robes, some wore bits of armour, it depended on what they were aiming for. Kalen's goal was to become an inquisitor, as his control over the dark side of the force surpassed most of his peers, if not all of them. He checked his communicator, and had received a message, he waved his hand and it opened.
Team Three.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Aele had departed as swiftly as the others as their tutor finished relaying their task. They were getting harder with each passing day, trying harder and harder to kill off the unworthy and spare only those who were worthy.
'The weak should be ejected with no mercy,' she told herself, chanting like her own personal mantra. She was not weak... She was undefeatable.

She'd been brought here young, any recollection of her kin long wiped from her mind, though she'd never been told just how, and strangely never cared to know. The masters had told her that she could become powerful if she embraced the dark side, allowed herself to succumb to the deepest passions inside her, the rawest emotions.
She'd pushed her body until she broke, as if she had something to prove, and though praise was never forthcoming, she didn't need them to tell her she was mighty. She knew she was.

And yet there was always something that bothered her. She relished the power, the flow and the might, but she never felt the malice, never saw the need for the violence and cruelty that seemed all too common here. Feeling the force around her had always been as easy as breathing, for it allowed her to see.

Aele was a Miraluka, the only one here in fact. Though without eyes from birth, an evolutionary result from her poorly lit homeworld, she could see just fine, strongly gifted with a sensitivity to the force. Save for the lack of eyes, which she concealed with a sleek leather mask, she appeared human. She was lithe and agile, admirably curved at the hips, but somewhat lacking in the chest. She wore her pale hair back in a high ponytail. She favoured an attire of restricting black pants, boots and top, her arms covered in armour. Rather minimalist in the eyes of most, but she had what she needed.

She heard her communicator beep, rousing her from her thought. A quick press of a button had the device read her number to her.
Three.
So she was on her feet again, headed for hangar bay 3.

[Renegade]

Kalen was the first to arrive in the hanger designated '3', though it was not long after he arrived that the others showed up, his team members. He had his vibroblade sheathed, but could not wait until the day came when he did not need it any more, when he got his lightsaber. He looked over the other students, quietly judging them. Another was dressed in robes but the other three were more suited for close combat. One of which, he was quick to notice was a woman. He could not see her face properly, but her figure was unmistakable, he allowed himself to admire her body a little longer than he probably should have.
He walked up the ramp of the transport and sat down, not bothering to strap in.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Aele hadn't bothered wasting any timein the hangar proceeding right up to take a seat in the transport. She deliberately sat next to the only other person already onboard.
"your subtlety astounds," she said flatly.

[Renegade]

"Then you are easily impressed," He said, mimicking her tone. "Apologies if I have offended." He watched as the others got aboard. Soon after the ramp went up, now acting as the back wall of the shuttle. There was a slight jerk, and then they were off. No idea how long it would take to get to where they were going. Tulli had said that they were being taken to different places on the planet, not just the continent. It could be a long ride.

[Tifa Lockhart]

"No offence," she replied with a shrug. It didn't matter to her if they looked. She'd just smack them hard if they thought they could touch.
"I don't think much of our team mates," she murmured with brutal honesty.

[Renegade]

The first thing he noticed was that he admired her honesty, the second thing he noticed was that she seemed to be trying to relate to him, so he humoured her. "Indeed, I don't think anything of the team." He replied, not looking at her, and not caring who heard him. "Teams are not necessary, surely we'd cover more ground alone. I mean really, which of the Legendary Siths of old was part of a team?"

[Tifa Lockhart]

Again, Aele shrugged. She didn't care if he wanted to puff up and get his bravado going.
"I doubt this has anything to do with teamwork," she stated.
She heard one of the others shift uneasily across from them.
"it's a herd thinning exercise. Nothing more."

[Renegade]

" Yes, but what, or who will be doing the thinning, I wonder." He said as he looked at the one who was shifting around dead in the eye.
Kalen had decided there and then that he liked this one, she seemed to have a lot more between her ears than most of the other students, and she carried her self with an odd confidence that was not backed by any visible arrogance - this intrigued him.
They were clearly not being sent too far away, because no longer than two hours had passed when the shuttle started to slow down. There was a rumble as the ship landed and the ramp was released again. Kalen got out of the shuttle as quickly as he could, he never liked ships, especially not small ones. On his homeworld there were many dangers, but those were overcome with strength and intelligence, which is what made his people so self assured and strong, whereas ships broke. Sometimes for little reason and there was usually nothing for it but to go down in a spectacular explosion, and as glorious as that sounded, Kalen had more aspiring preferences.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Aele followed along behind at a much calmer pace. it seemed almost as if nothing phased her. The moment they were all off the ship the shuttle closed up and took off, leaving them there in the middle of nowhere, completely alone.
Aele took a moment to breathe deeply, getting her barings from the force energies around her.

[Renegade]

Kalen took a moment to survey the area. The area in which they had been dropped was a grassland ecosystem characterised by the trees being sufficiently small or widely spaced so that the canopy does not close, it got thinner to the east, and thicker north-west - The air was warm and damp, much like the air at the academy. Though the terrain near the Academy was a lot more arid, at least in comparison. This would be a likely spot to hide something.
Looking around again, he could see the tip of a structure to the north-west. " I think that, would be a good place to start looking," he pointed in the direction of the structure and started walked, evidentially not caring if he was followed or not.

[Tifa Lockhart]

Aele moved to follow Kalen without a second thought. She did not follow him because she was a follower. Rather she followed because the force seemed to pull her in the same direction. She could feel an unnatural structure in the distance, and that certainly seemed the right place to look first.

[Renegade]

The closer they go to the structure, the area around them was grew gradually silent, no native fauna made a single sound, there was a power here. Or perhaps it was them, that scared the animals away. In front of the stone temple was a group of soldiers. No, not soldiers, they were not wearing republic armour. They were scavengers, probably from a local town that has somehow remained hidden.
"Look, scavengers," he pointed to make sure they saw. "Over there. Only four of them outside, but I bet there is more inside."