"Very well." Subtle handflick to cut the comm. "Pirate, plot a course for Corellia. I want us gone as soon I'm done making arrangements."

Occlus types a pair of frequencies into the terminal. Two small figures appear, one grey-haired man in a Navy uniform and one red-skinned man in Sith robes. "Moff Pyron, Darth Vowrawn. Our timetable has accelerated. Thanaton has just called the Kaggath on Corellia."

"Corellia? I can have my forces there in sixteen hours," says the moff. "How long will you be?"

"I am departing Korriban as we speak, no more than twenty hours."

"Good, that will give us ample time to begin deployment," says Vowrawn. "Darth Decimus is in overall command of that front, I will liase with him and determine a suitable headquarters."

"It is important that I be seen to contribute meaningfully to an Imperial victory while we are there. Pyron, commit the bulk of your forces to the main battle, but hold at least two companies in reserve, under my personal command. Vowrawn will find out from Decimus where you are needed."

"Very good, my lord." The three participants exchange nods, and the terminal goes blank again.

Nariveth is taking this all in with utmost composure. She did get a warning about this, didn't she? Though she's kicking herself for not connecting the acolyte pair's warning to Occlus's research into a Kaggath, then she would already understand what's going on besides 'the two Sith are about to kill each other in the middle of a literal warzone.'

She doesn't ask a question of Lord Occlus because it seems like she just became very busy, but she does sort of dryly raise her eyebrows in a 'And what am I to do during this?' manner.

"It seems the matter of your lightsaber just became rather more urgent, apprentice. I will go gather my spares and put together a list of instructions for you to follow. Lieutenant Drellik will show you his crystal collection, pick two. One for color, one for focus."

Drellik beams. "Oh, how exciting! Right this way, if you please!"

Nod. She holds up a hand to Drellik to wait a moment.

"I'll have some questions later, about the specifics of.... this... but for now does the focus do something in particular that I need to look out for? The lightsaber seems a touch more urgent."

"All of the crystals in the lieutenant's collection are suitable. He has a discerning eye. Trust your instincts."

She nods again, then turns to follow the lieutenant.

Let's see some crystals!

Talos Drellik is very enthusiastic about his crystals. He pulls out a case of about thirty or so to let Nariveth handle, and is more than happy to explain the history or formation process or cultural significance of any of them.

Well, she actually finds this terribly entertaining and will probably ask him about them later, because she has never heard any of this information before in her life and it sounds cool, but they're on something of a schedule. So he'll have to keep that to a minimum for now. ... Probably just to the ones she picks, because it might actually be useful instead of just interesting.

"One moment, the focus seems more important than the color. This shouldn't take long."

And she closes her eyes and slows her breathing and reaches out towards the crystals with the Force.

A few of them feel - well, it reminds her a bit of Korriban, but on a much smaller scale, and a lot less permanently. Little traces of - she's not quite inclined to call it evil, but little traces of something that resembles Korriban. These are the odd ones out, though. Most of them feel like - looking through a glass that twists the light in some subtle way, hard to pick out unless someone's paying attention. She has a moment of debate over whether or not it would be thematically appropriate to pick one of the not-quite-evil ones to try and redeem it. And then she decides that this is her lightsaber and she is not beholden to redeeming inanimate objects if she doesn't want to. She reaches out to pick the one that feels nicest to her, and figures out the one she wants near instantly. The way it's structured feels soothing. Tidy. She likes it.

And so, she reaches out and picks it up, then opens an eye to peer at it. It looks like an ordinary yellow crystal. She asks Drellik for an overview of some of the more interesting things about it while she goes to pick out a color crystal.

"Oh yes, that is one of my favorites! I picked it up at this marvelous little shop in Kaas City, way down near the bottom. It's somewhat dingy but they quite often get the most fascinating shipments. Apparently, it was once part of the royal regalia for the Druckenwell duchy. Thought to be lost centuries ago, a pirate attack or some such, but do you know where they found it? A storeroom in the basement of the palace! Imagine that! Of course, with all their financial troubles lately, they had to put it up for auction..." And so forth. He's rather voluble, once he gets going.

Nariveth finds crystal storytime incredibly charming, especially when her last few days have been spent frightened for her life and running around in Sith tombs. Storytime about crystals is relatively ordinary. She's smiling faintly after the third sentence.

She picks out a deep purple colored crystal for the blade color.

"Ah, now that one I actually found on one of my digs, not professionally of course, just one of my little recreational exercises. I was on vacation on this delightful little world called Ai-oni, the natives are somewhat primitive but they brew exquiste teas, the best I've ever had. I had it cut and polished as a memento. But if you're satisfied with your choices, we should go meet Lord Occlus in the cargo bay."

"Yes - thank you very much for your help. And the conversation."

To Lord Occlus!

Who is waiting by a workbench! The internal components of several sabers are neatly arranged on one side of it, next to a sheet of flimsiplast.

"You have selected your crystals, then? Good. Traditionally, the construction of a lightsaber is a three-day process, with fasting and rituals and meditations and so forth. We do not have that much time, so I have condensed it. In summary, you must hold the ideal of the finished form in your mind while you manipulate the pieces. As each slots into place, focus your will and impress the ideal form on to it."

Solemn nod.

"Sounds straight forward enough, though I'd like to study and understand the ideal form so I can get it exactly right."

"The ideal form is what you, specifically, want your lightsaber to be. Within the constraints of available materials." She gestures at the pieces on the workbench.

"Oh. All right, fair enough. I thought the internal workings would be more troublesome."

"All the difficult engineering problems have already been solved. I will leave you then, and see that you are not disturbed."

She nods, and she sits with the lightsaber components in front of her, and she thinks about what kind of lightsaber she would want to have. Her first step is to look at her Sith lightsaber to get a good feel of all of the major components in a typical lightsaber. Even if she doesn't like it, it might have some salvagable aesthetic choices. After a bit of peering, it turns out that it mostly doesn't, but looking at it makes her think about all of the things she does want, which is just as good.

And then she begins. She finds to her surprise that she isn't actually lacking in wanted materials; she can get everything she wants out of what's in front of her, right now. Mind, she has to rip off a lot of extraneous things, because her lightsaber is going to be a thing of beautiful elegant efficiency, but that's quite all right. If it gets her something she adores in the end, she'll rip off all of the extraneous sharp bits.

Time falls away. It's odd, how this sort of thing leads one to getting carried away, but not unpleasantly so. She's working. She might have been tempted to scrape together something not-awful earlier, but if she's going to go to all of this trouble to make herself her lightsaber, she's damn well going to make herself a lightsaber.

At the end of it, she has exactly what she wants. It's the perfect length - with the way she was taught to use a sword (it feels like ages ago, even though it was yesterday) it's built to favor being held in one hand, but with room for both if it comes down to direct strength. The body of the hilt is textures to prevent it slipping in her grip, without being uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time or hard to clean or ugly. She's balanced black and silver durasteel to keep it from being entirely a single color - bands of black and silver, curving into one another smoothly and breaking up the simple cylinder shape. It flares in and then back out, to warn her if her hand starts to slip in the wrong direction, and then actively stop it if it does before her fingers get burned off, while still looking - well, pretty. In her opinion, anyway, she supposes the pointless spikes must have looked appealing to someone at some point. To someone else, this lightsaber might look - simple, maybe. But she thinks it looks dignified and economical without looking boring.

When it's all together, she stands, wondering if her lightsaber's about to explode and make her look like an idiot. She turns it on anyway. It does not explode and make her look like an idiot. It works perfectly, its purple blade's hum a softer, more comforting sound than the Sith lightsaber's ever was. It feels correct in her hand. The right weight, the right diameter, the right length. She's proud that she made something that she can find this beautiful.

Then, because she can't have any momentous moment go without being spoiled, her stomach grumbles in annoyance and she belatedly realizes she hasn't eaten anything at all today. She turns off her lightsaber, clipping it onto her belt where it belongs. After neatening up the leftover materials of lightsaber building, she goes looking for a place to scrounge up food.

Andronikos and Lieutenant Drellik are in the galley, chatting idly. Andronikos waves when he sees her.

"Hey, there's the new kid. How'd the saber turn out?"

"Hey. I'm really happy with it," she chirps, pleased.

She starts scrounging for food. Systematically. The Sith hungers, damn it, and she will be fed.

"How long was I in there? I completely lost track of time."

"About eight hours. We'll get to the Corellian system in another ten or so. Here, let me heat you up some of these Iwani cakes. They've got cloudberries in. Bosslady ordered a bunch a couple days ago for some reason."

"Oh, thank you." She gets out of his way so he can feed her.

"Eight hours," she muses. "Damn. I didn't think it'd take that long, I might have put up with the stupid pointy saber for a while if it meant I got eight more hours of panic training in..."

"Ah, I wouldn't worry about it too much. Bosslady'll keep you close, no doubt. Here you go."

"Thank you." Food! Nom.

"Sho 'm-" She recalls that she cannot chew and speak at the same time, no matter how much she wants to, and swallows. "So, am I going to be a big walking target or the equivalent to a wallflower or...?"

"You will be a target, yes. All of my assets will be, to one degree or another. The Kaggath is a test of more than just an individual's strength, it measures their power base as well."

When did Occlus get here? Nobody knows. Andronikos tosses a cake at her and she snatches it out of the air with the Force and begins eating.