"Investment into what?"

"Time, energy, often other resources. This ship was a 'gift' from my master."

"—oh. She wanted you as a minion."

Occlus seems to find that vaguely amusing.

"Am I wrong or are you laughing at my naïveté?"

"Your imagination is charmingly limited."

"Did she want you as a slave? A sex slave? A host body to her incorporeal mind? A token of trade? An ingredient for a ritual?"

"Better guesses. If you have such a mind, do not limit it so."

She shrugs. "I am very creative, but I'm lacking in prior information that would let me direct it, given everything I know of the Sith was what the Jedi could teach. I could spend hours coming up with guesses, but you can feel free to give hints."

"No, I don't think I will."

"Do you want me to just keep guessing? Are you even going to tell me when I'm right?"

She shakes her head. "What uses do Sith Lords in general get out of apprentices, regardless of what yours wanted?"

"An apprentice does whatever they are told to. An extra body and mind can be useful in a variety of ways, as tool or aide. It is also a way of expressing one's own mastery, a status symbol."

"And is there a normal graduation process that does not involve anyone killing anyone else?"

"So long as you have a living master, you will always be an apprentice. Your master may promote you, but you will never ride higher than they."

"...wow that is such a badly designed system who made it."

She sighs and shakes her head. "Do you seriously buy into all of this?"

"Do I look like an idiot to you?"

"No, you don't, that's why I asked, it was a bit incongruous."

"It's easier to blow up a bunker from the inside."

"Yes, I appreciate the logic. I tend to have vague desires to try to change stuff rather than blowing it up but honestly it's unlikely to be worth it, or even at all possible, in this case."

"Little is."

"What are you planning to do after you kill that Lord?"