Once onboard the craft, Taja settled into a seat some distance behind the Padawan and crossed her legs. To Cor-Si, it appeared as though she was deeply engaged in the act of examining her brightly painted fingernails with flawless scrutiny; in reality, however, the Sith Master was preoccupied with training her energies on easing the ache in her chest, which persisted even now. For all her mental prowess, the girl's physical resilience was still alarmingly weak -- an aftereffect of the severe torture she had been subjected to as a child, during her so-called training as a Jedi. Taja's mind had gradually but surely recovered over the years (or at least, ascended to a slightly more endurable level of insanity), but her body remained broken to this day.

"The course is set."

She stole a quick sideways glance at the Padawan while his back was still turned to her, then returned her gaze to her lap when he stood and approached her. He was ambitious, but all at once very brash and impatient. His Jedi schooling had been disrupted relatively early on, apparently, and although he appeared more than eager to now gain knowledge of the Dark Arts, Taja's suspicions lingered. She was wary of his allegiances; Cor-Si readily believed that he was committed to learning the age-old teachings of the Sith, but she could see into a level of his psyche that he himself refused to acknowledge or admit. He doubted the very actions that had directed him away from his Jedi Master and embark on a search for her instead … and what good was a disciple of darkness if he failed to embrace the one evil that had originally lead him astray ?

"You do realise that my help does not come for free right?"

Taja was hardly concerned, however. She had sent him on a rampant journey throughout the galaxies for all those many months, not because she felt gracious enough to adopt a wayward Padawan and guide him into becoming one of her own -- no, she had no interest in acquiring a new apprentice at this time -- but rather, because she had realized early on just how easy he would be to mould, and how useful he would prove in assisting her. It had yet to be seen where his loyalties would finally come to lie, but for the moment, the Sith Master was perfectly apathetic. She would teach him all that he desired to know, all the dark little secrets, tools and tricks of the trade that he craved to learn, in exchange for his services -- and so long as she was likely to benefit from it somehow in the long run.

"Blasters! Would you just answer me? If you want me to aid yu then you better start talking. I want to know of the powers of the darkside. At least teach me something I might be able to use one day."

Cor-Si's cheeks reddened as the equivalent of a telepathic slap whipped across his face. "Maybe if you'd just shut the hell up and stop to think for a second !" she snapped. The boy's ability to chatter incessantly almost rivaled her own skill in that department. "I'm not one for raving on and on about how dark this is or how evil that is, so unless you want me to blow a hole right through the side of this ship as a demonstration, I suggest you wait until we actually reach Vjun before making any more dumbass demands."

An anger quickly rose within Cor-Si as the mental slap hit him. However, knowing that it would not please his Master if he shouted at her again he stilled his emotions. Placing a false smile on his face he stood from his seat.

"Maybe if you'd just shut the hell up and stop to think for a second ! I'm not one for raving on and on about how dark this is or how evil that is, so unless you want me to blow a hole right through the side of this ship as a demonstration, I suggest you wait until we actually reach Vjun before making any more dumbass demands."

"Yes Master."

With a courteous bow he returned to his seat at the helm of the ship and re-checked the plotted course. If this was the way Taja operated he may have to re-think about their arrangement.

* * * *

The dark and gloomy planet spun it's orbit, deep in the midst of the darkness of space. Like a laser from a blaster, th soro-suub yacht burst out of hyperspace and into the shadow of Vjun. It quickly pulled itself into a tight orbit around the planet, outwardly appearing dead to the universe.

"We've arrived my liege." Cor-Si pushed himself out of his seat as he spoke to his Master for the first time since his brief confrontation with the Sith a few hours previous."Sensors are showing no other ships in the system. Looks like we've got a wait 'till my associates arrive. Feel like teaching me anything yet or would you rather wait?"

"Set her down," she ordered. "Now."

After a few seconds of hesitant deliberation, the Padawan complied, a little more than begrudgingly; although it didn't appear as though the Vjun's acidic atmosphere was about to soon leak onto the surface of the barren, desolate planet, the surface of which was already heavily corroded, there was still the matter of the numerous ancient Sith traps littering the region. Taja, however, seemed unnervingly confident with her decision, and his failed attempts at defying her so far had taught him not to argue with the Master again, lest he was unable to fare as well (or as luckily) as he had previously. Before his aggravation could further grow from having his query completely ignored, the Sith suddenly spoke up, her voice shattering the awkward silence within the ship's quarters.

"As a child, my parents always worried about me, because I was so quiet. I never said a word, about anything. I guess it's no wonder then that they sent me off to live with the first stranger who showed up at their doorstep claiming to be a doctor, thinking they were actually doing me a favour. I can't blame them really; they were simple people, with a meager income that was hardly adequate for supporting themselves, let alone a third person, and no education to base their decisions off of," she started, her gaze idly fixated outside a nearby viewport. "He came to them as a saviour of sorts, a quick and easy answer to all their prayers. But, you know what they say about things that seem too good to be true …"

Her words trailed off and she remained silent for a few minutes, during which time Cor-Si wisely refrained from interjecting; it was the first time during their brief acquaintance that the Sith had shown even remote signs of calm and composure, and he wasn't about to interrupt and risk having her revert to her rather manic ways.

"What they didn't realise," she resumed finally, "is that the reason I never spoke was because I was too preoccupied with listening all the time. I could hear and feel everything, everyone around me. It was only after I had learned to selectively bar and control these alien thoughts, these miserable crying voices, that I was able to make progress with my training ..." At this, she stopped suddenly and furrowed her brows, as though contemplating whether or not to continue, and a second later her head snapped to the side to face the direction of the Padawan.

Her eyes widened. "Do you want to be able to hear them too, Cor-Si ? Do you want to hear them sing ?"

"Do you want to be able to hear them too, Cor-Si ? Do you want to hear them sing ?"

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Cor-Si's knowledge of the force varied in the eye of the beholder. He had learnt the basic knowledge of how to feel from the Force through the aid of his one-time Master, Vodo Baas. He had gone further on to learn minor force abillities through his own studies of the force and the little knowledge he could gain about the Jedi and the Sith.

This talk of hearing people sing, this confused him. From the moment he had met Taja he had snsed a slight madness to the woman. Was this teaching she promised of singing related to that madness or was it a force billitie of which he was not aware that she was willing to instruct him in. Could it be that she was willing to share knowledge of how to read minds?

"I...I fail to understand how you mean Master?" The Sith's eyes took on a a growing drkness that Cor-Si had come to associate with her getting angry. Being weary he hastily added, "however, I would very much like to see what knowledge you have to offer."

Around the two force-users the metal of the ship began to sway and buck as the soro-suub shuttle entered the atmosphere of Vjun. Cor-Si nervously sat in his seat. Afraid to move to the controlls less the Sith Lord revert to her usually state of mind.

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