An Imperial Shuttle was coming down on the desert world of Korriban.
The Imperial soldiers guarding the landing pads knew full well what it meant. A new batch of Acolytes had arrived on the homeworld of the Sith.
After all, Overseer Rance had been waiting for half an hour at the landing pad for them to arrive.
A few minutes later, the Imperial Shuttle finally touched down on the landing pad, and from it, seven new acolytes emerged.
With an unimpressed look at his newest batch of Acolytes, Rance sighed. They assigned him another batch of weaklings, and those weaklings would probably never get the chance, even to attempt participating in the trials.
That's what he thought until his gaze fell on the last person to get off the shuttle.
'Now, isn't that interesting!' Rance started grinning in his mind despite not letting anything transpire on his face.
The person Rance had just looked over was a Sith, a true pureblood of their race, with crimson skin and some facial tendrils on his brow and cheeks, hair black as night, and piercing yellow eyes.
If that were all, Rance wouldn't have cared too much, but this man was different. His entire body reeked of the dark side. He was born powerful, a genuinely talented individual.
Once all the Acolytes had gathered, Overseer Rance decided to address them.
"Welcome to Korriban, Acolytes. Before we begin, know this. I don't expect any of you to survive long enough to have any hope of ever leaving this place alive. Korriban is not a playground. It is a beast, and if you are weak, the beast will devour you." Overseer Rance said without any pity.
"Well, for some of you, it is still an opportunity. After all, what else could you have done with your life? At least here you have a chance to rise above others. To shed your status as slaves and to become Sith."
"In any case, your first trial starts now. You are to reach the Sith Academy. To do so, you will need to go through the Tomb of Ajunta Pall. I will see those of you who are still alive at the academy." With that said, Overseer Rance turned around and left behind the new Acolytes.
The young Sith at the back of the group of Acolytes couldn't help but let a savage grin appear on his face. This is what he had dreamed of all his life. The moment he had touched the soil of Korriban, his entire body had screamed in pleasure. He was finally home.
The young man was Saryn Seake. He was born in House Seake, a minor noble house on Dromund Kaas. For as long as he could remember, he had always known that he was exceptional in the force. He became more powerful than his parents in the Dark Side while he was still merely a child. He was destined to become Sith, and nothing would stop him on his way.
As he was appreciating the beauty of the Dark Side permeating Korriban, the incessant chatter of some pests around him disturbed his contemplation.
Opening his eyes, he saw some humans and some aliens. Saryn had never cared about an individual's species as long as they were competent. Unfortunately for those new acolytes, Saryn didn't find any of them interesting whatsoever.
Not caring about their chatter, Saryn departed from the Landing Pads to enter the Tomb of Ajunta Pall.
"W- wait!" Just as he was exiting the place, a rushed voice came from behind him. Saryn turned around to see who was talking to him.
Behind him, one of the humans, a blonde female, was catching her breath. She had apparently run to catch up with him.
"We should stay together, it'll be safer that way." The female wanted to keep going, but Saryn cut her off by turning around and departing with mocking laughter.
"Yeah, good luck with that then." Under the flabbergasted eyes of the female acolyte whose name Saryn hadn't even bothered remembering, he walked off alone into the desert of Korriban.
'At least that one wasn't so bad. She's got some potential in the force.' Saryn smirked and continued to walk forward.
Korriban was the homeworld of the Sith, and it was also the world where the Dark Side prospered the most across the galaxy.
Across Korriban, you could find tombs of ancient Dark Lords, and some even older than the recorded history of the Sith Empire.
The tomb closest to the Sith Academy, which served as the first proving ground for the new Acolytes, was that of Ajunta Pall.
Saryn didn't have to walk long before he arrived at the entrance of the gigantic tomb.
'Ajunta Pall… The very first Dark Lord of the Sith.'
'Going through his tomb should be interesting, though I doubt I will find anything of value in there with its proximity to the Academy… '
'No matter, I'll have plenty of time to uncover secrets on Korriban later.'
Standing in front of the massive stairs leading down into the tomb, Saryn closed his eyes and felt the powerful Dark Side emanating from this place.
"No wonder that man was the first ever Dark Lord of the Sith. This place radiates power." Saryn enjoyed such places. Being surrounded by power had always made his hunger for it grow since he was a child.
"Let's see what this tomb is all about." Without hesitating, Saryn descended the stairs with confident strides.
As he descended further into the darkness, he heard the sounds of blasters firing and soldiers issuing orders. It didn't take long before he discovered why.
A company of soldiers was fighting some disgusting creatures at the end of the stairway. They had created a barricaded area to keep the insects at bay.
After looking around for an instant, Saryn found what he guessed was the commanding officer.
"Soldier, report what's happening." Saryn wasn't one to waste time, so he directly ordered the apparent highest-ranked officer to report the situation.
"My Lord! My apologies, I didn't see you coming. Sergeant Cormun, Fifth Infantry Company, Korriban Regiment. Request to speak freely." The sergeant appeared somewhat nervous. This wasn't anything new for Saryn.
He was used to people cowering in his presence because he was born Sith.
"Report, Sergeant, make it quick." The sergeant visibly relaxed a little once Saryn replied.
"Yes, my lord. May I ask if you are one of the new acolytes who just arrived on Korriban? Respect and fear quickly masked an inquisitive look in the soldier's eyes.
"That is correct," Saryn replied sharply.
"My Lord, I have an offer that would allow you to not only show off for the overseers but start building ties to the Imperial military, as well."
"I was sent here to command a hard target mission to exterminate k'lor'slugs in this tomb." They're... horrific things. Mouths bigger than your head."
"Unfortunately, we were unprepared for this mission. I've already lost three squads of good men fighting them. They come in packs, they just... they'll swallow a man whole." As he explained, terror appeared in the sergeant's eyes. It was clear he had seen the disgusting insects in the act.
Saryn frowned as he heard that. The Imperial Military was supposed to be strong and highly trained. Even more so for soldiers deployed on Korriban. They were supposedly the cream of the crop in terms of military prowess.
"How did that happen? Your men should be the elite of the Imperial Military. Are you telling me that bugs decimated three squads of those soldiers?" Saryn shared his doubt with the sergeant.
"Those men were battle-hardened. The enemy just has more numbers."
"They outnumbered us five to one. There really was nothing we could do except entrench ourselves here and keep them at bay." The sergeant had been as surprised as Saryn was. He knew how good his soldiers were.
They were just unprepared to face the k'lor'slugs and underestimated their numbers.
"To be honest, my Lord, at first everything was going smoothly. But the damn k'lor'slugs breed so fast there's no way to wipe them out conventionally. So we started targeting their egg chambers." As if he recalled something terrifying, the Sergeant gulped, "They went insane. We planted explosives in all the egg chambers, but the k'lor'slugs were all over us before we could detonate them, and we had no choice but to retreat here." The sergeant had a mix of fear and anger in his eyes, thinking about how close they had been to completing their missions.
"I see. I think I could help you. But you better not forget the words you said earlier." Saryn's yellow eyes locked with those of the sergeant.
"I will keep my word, my Lord." Sergeant Cormun replied with a vigorous nod.
"Good, I'll be on my way. Wait for me here, I'll be back soon. Then, we will talk again." A savage smile appeared on Saryn's face, and he quickly left the little 'outpost' created by the remaining soldiers.
"Don't underestimate those k'lor'slugs, my Lord. They're... they're smarter than they look." As he was leaving, the voice of Sergeant Cormun rang out from behind him.
"You do not need to worry, Sergeant, I have been hungering for prey to hunt since I left Kaas City. Those disgusting bugs will do just fine as my first stepping stones on Korriban." Saryn kept going without turning back to look at the sergeant, but the savage smile on his face had only grown bigger.
The moment he had exited the outpost area, Saryn entered the main hall of the giant tomb of Ajunta Pall. There he saw the disgusting little insect called the k'lor'slugs.
Those things were even uglier up close, so Saryn didn't waste any time and began exterminating all of those that crossed his path. It was very easy for Saryn, as he had already learned how to use the Force on his own as a kid.
A single force lightning could reduce a k'lor'slug to a charred piece of meat, and the training saber he had received when he left Kaas City was enough to dispatch all the insects until he soon reached a side room leading directly to the egg chambers of the k'lor'slugs.
The only path toward those egg chambers was down another flight of stairs, even deeper underground.
"To think the tomb of such a powerful Sith Lord could be overrun by such vermin, how pitiful." Looking at the innumerable k'lor'slugs' corpses around him, Saryn shook his head and descended the stairs.
Saryn knew that emotions were the key to power in the Dark Side, but he had never felt fear in his life before, and it wasn't going to happen because of the disgusting insects known as the k'lor'slugs anytime soon.
Having finally reached the end of the stairs, Saryn saw the so-called egg chambers. A few rooms filled with egg sacs, and bigger-than-average k'lor'slugs all around.
Each egg sac oozed a rancid green liquid that smelled like death, transforming the chambers into a disgusting mess.
"How disgusting." A frown appeared on Saryn's face as he smelled the disgusting smell permeating the room.
In the depths of the egg chambers, Saryn could see a gigantic k'lor'slug. Probably their queen or matriarch, whatever those things were called.
Quickly scanning the room, Saryn saw the detonator on the ground near three half-devoured Imperial soldier corpses covered in the same green liquid that oozed out of the egg sacs.
"Let's get this done. I still need to go through the tomb later." Saryn walked toward the detonator and killed the few k'lor'slugs that tried to stop him with a simple wave of his training saber.
It only took him a few seconds to reach the detonators and pick them up.
He didn't hesitate a second and activated the detonating sequences.
Surprisingly, when he turned around to leave the room, the giant k'lor'slug that was previously in the depths of the egg chambers had arrived behind him and blocked his path out of the room.
"I see. That's what the sergeant meant when he said those insects were more intelligent than they looked. "
"This thing understands that I'm going to blow this place up and wants to keep me in here, so that I don't have a choice but to deactivate the detonating sequences." With a grin, a look of realization appeared in Saryn's eyes.
"I'll give you this, insect. Your plan could have worked if it were anyone else, but unfortunately… "
"Truly, you should have just left when you still could." The predatory grin appeared again on Saryn's face.
The members of his species were born hunters. Seeing such large prey trying to contend against him, Saryn's instincts flared to their peak, and he started fighting the giant k'lor'slug.
Well, fighting was a big word. With a single force lightning, the k'lor'slug matriarch curled up on the ground and started convulsing. Saryn used that exact moment to decapitate the k'lor'slug matriarch with his training blade, erasing its pitiful existence here and there.
"How disappointing… It could not even survive a few seconds."
"I hope some stronger things are lurking on Korriban. I'll be really disappointed if that's all there is to this planet." With a shake of his head, Saryn sheathed his training blade and departed from the room to report the good news to the sergeant.