She hadn’t realised how weak Renso had become until they had to actually help the elderly Sith Master to his feet between them in order for him to lead them down the passageways that seemed to climb even further down into the tunnel network. Renso’s fierce insistence that the Xiis were stronger than any contingent of soldiers Saresh’s Alliance could possibly throw at them left a sour taste in Aria’s mouth, the Champion for once utterly silent while the Sith and Yerbol exchanged verbal blows.
Aria took the crystals as Renso held them out to her, turning both halves over in her hands as she examined them more closely, though her interest in the crystals would be quickly diverted when Renso collapsed to the ground. They tried to help him to his feet once more but this time instead of accepting their assistance, the Sith alien weakly shoved them aside and shook his head. It had only been two weeks, so while they had been expecting Renso’s condition to deteriorate neither of the duo could have predicted it would occur so swiftly.
“Wait, but...what do we do now?” they’d taken his teachings on board, but were they REALLY ready to start actually teaching others? She was somewhat doubtful…
Renso’s sides fluttered weakly as he tried to utter a few last words of wisdom, but the syllables could hardly leave his lips and after a few more painful breaths the former Sith Master’s body fell utterly still.

The silence that now hung in the chamber seemed to permeate right through into her bones. Every rock took on a humanoid form, taking on a sickly grey-blue palor in the pale white glow emitted from the crystals resting in her palm. The shadows were full of ghastly crimson eyes. She closed her fingers tightly around the crystal, trying to block out the glow and redirect her thoughts before she let the fear become too deep-rooted. They had to keep moving. They had to stop the Xiis. Had to figure out what to do on their own. Exhaling a shaky breath, she turned back to Yerbol and murmured.
“I wonder what will happen to him, now, if he wouldn’t become one with the Force?” they would never know, only able to put his physical body to rest alongside his former comrades, and wish the late Master the peace he finally deserved.
With no more reason to linger on a moon full of creepy Whispering forests full of disembodied spirits, they returned to the ship and convened in the cockpit to discuss their next move. Renso had mentioned the Xiis leaving Wild Space, and that their sole purpose after reawakening was to destroy everything in their wake.
“We gotta warn people, Bol.” At least, she thought, it would be easier to get people to believe them this time around.
_________________

[several hours later]

The duo once again stood before the Council of Elders, looking from one stunned face to another as they waited for one of the older Force users to say something (besides “well, this is deeply concerning” which they had heard one time too many in the past hour or so!) about the information they had just presented to them. It had been very difficult to explain the events that had occurred on Nuncata, to explain that Renso had been very much alive when they had arrived and had deteriorated from ill but coping fairly well to his eventual death in only a couple of weeks, but somehow they managed to communicate it all along with the former Sith Master’s warning and his encouragement that they should continue to pass on the teachings of unity and trusting in the Force after he was gone.
“Perhaps we shouldn’t tell Saresh and the Alliance.” Ailel put forward, prompting everyone’s attention to turn directly to her.
“Master Ailel, have we not learned the damage that keeping secrets can do?” Aria frowned dubiously at the older woman.
“If we tell them, it could spark panic, and they may attempt to deal with the threat in the very way this Master Renso has warned you would only lead to more genocide.” Ailel countered calmly, hands folded neatly in her lap. “I’m not suggesting that we keep it from them permanently, only that we withhold the more specific information until we are better equipped to offer them a way counteract it.”
“‘Better equipped’?”
Cheriss sat forward in her seat, her chin propped up by the palm of one hand in what the rest of the Council fondly referred to as her “thinking pose”.
“Then we cannot delay setting up an academy, or teaching more young Force users, any longer.”
“An academy?” Aria eyed the Masters before them suspiciously. Just how much had they planned and discussed without her and Yerbol?
“It’s only in the loose stages of planning.” Cheriss protested with a knowing smirk. “We planned to run it past you both as soon as you returned from meeting with this Renso figure.”
“With the refuge programme being so widely accepted, a lot more Force sensitive youngsters are appearing, but since both Tython and Korriban were destroyed there are no real sites that can be used as training facilities for them to be trained in using their abilities.”
“We didn’t want to rush into things.” Cheriss continued. “But perhaps it’s for the best to ensure that there is a foundation for our new teachings to be passed on to others in the future. This is what he wanted you two to do, isn’t it?” the Dathomirian questioned Aria and Yerbol. “Become teachers of his refined philosophy, that we discovered on Quensu.”
“W-Well yes but...we’re only twenty something and-”
“Have been through enough to have the experience to teach younglings. You might not be Masters yet but you are more than capable of being tutors, and Force knows we could use the back up if these ‘Xiis’ are moving fast enough to have reached known space already.”
Aria exchanged a glance with Yerbol, sighing softly as she nodded in agreement.
“So what do we tell Saresh instead, then? I imagine it’s going to look suspicious if we just start asking them to send us Force sensitive children without any explanation at all…”
A chuckle of amusement came from Ailel, the Master answering:
“Simply that we want to continue her previous successes and begin setting up a proper Order again. Some of us AREN’T twenty something anymore and we aren’t going to live forever, you know.”

“So, if we’re going to set up a proper Order...what are we going to call it?” Matthew enquired, his eyebrows knitted together in a curious frown.
“Something in High Sith.” Aria blurted out before anyone could have time to suggest anything else that would be too close to the old titles. To clarify, she added:
“We owe Renso that much, the teachings were his to start with. We should take a name in their language, to remember them by.”
Ailel seemed slightly wary about the proposition, but only because High Sith was such an obscure language in comparison to Basic and the other alien dialects that were widely known. “Nobody would know what it meant!” she proclaimed. “They might think it’s weird.”
“That’s the point, Ailel!” Cheriss chided, her features splitting into a grin as she nodded in agreement. “It would be different, people wouldn’t forget it in a hurry. I think it’s a fine idea, and I know Roan would have supported it too if he was here.”
Attentions were turned to Voldon and Matthew again.
“What do you think of the idea?”

While change had been a recurring motif in their lives the past eight and a half months, it was still a jarring experience. An academy? A formal Council that blended together former Jedi and Sith that were not only getting along, but working together for the true betterment of the galaxy? Younglings being taught in the ways of the Force that encouraged harmonization rather than polarization? Yerbol had contributed as much as he could to their retelling of events in regard to Renso, but he let Aria and the rest of the Council do the talking while he soaked in the order of events. He hadn't been the only one quiet, Voldon not uttering a word until the room's collective curiosity was directed towards him. A sarcastic smirk broke across his dusk colored face.
"To be fair, we DID derive the word Jedi from High Sith, did we not?" Matt nodded.
"We did. According to the archives, historians claim that the Sith were the ones to name the Order as a label of condescension. The Jedi were a faceless, nameless band of rebels until that point." He continued to muse:
"That name must've arisen after those 'radical Sith' broke away from the original philosophies and began teaching the Sith Code we know today. Maybe there were Sith who took the opposite stance? If only the archives were still available to search."
"And even if they were, they stand as a monument to a past we'll need to forget." Voldon surveyed the room with his eyes as he continued:
"We need to move forward. I can't think of a better way to do that than to have a strong, powerful name for what will define who we are. Whether it be in High Sith, Basic, Twi'lek, I don't care. It needs to be emblematic, though, of a new beginning."
"Then may I suggest something?" A chair scooted next to Aria's, said chair occupied by an all too familiar blonde Miraluka.
"Always with an entrance, eh, Malu?"
"I missed you, too, my dear Voldon." She patted Aria on the back, looking to her with a knowing smile before glancing around the room.
"Oh come now, you can't be surprised that I'm here."
"The last transmission we received from you was three months ago! We were bloody worried!" Matt proclaimed, some of the others nodding in agreement.
"Yes, and what did I say in the transmission, Matthew? I said I would return as soon as I could with the help we needed. You'll want to meet the retinue I brought back...after they clear the med bay, of course."
"Med bay? What-"
"I thought we were trying to name ourselves, not socialize with an old codger like myself." She giggled slightly as she sat back.
"I promise I'll explain everything after this little meeting is over. But, I digress from my original point. In my travels I had a bit of time to do some reading on the language of the High Sith. Without Roan, I thought it would be necessary for me to at least have some working knowledge of the language in case I wanted to pick up where he left off. I came across two words that I found enticing that, when spliced together, form the basis of a powerful message." She cleared her throat.
"Qyaari. Qya meaning Lord and Ari meaning Force. So, in Basic, Lords of the Force." Voldon jutted his chin out in approval, nodding.
"That'll work for me." Matt stroked the small tuft of hair on his chin that was growing out(Cheriss made fun of him for it far too often...he liked it).
"Neutral, yet powerful. Depicts our new found appreciation for controlling the Force, not others." He looked to the others with an appreciative smile.
"I think we've got ourselves a legitimate name." There was a bit more discussion on the name, but in the end the Council of Elders agreed that from here on out, the galaxy would not know Jedi or Sith no longer, but the Qyaari, the Lords of the Force.
"Well isn't this all an exciting time?" Malu rose from her chair, but not before Voldon asked:
"Alright, spill, Malu: where have you been and who's in the med bay?"
"Well, I collected myself on Hoth along with a few other things before traveling to more populated planets in search of those of our Force using brethren who may have hidden themselves in 'plain sight'. Two were in the underbelly of Dromund Kaas, living in a cave(former Sith). Another was on Coruscant, a former Jedi Knight who was protecting several younglings that were thankfully not too beat up. Those three put together informed me that there was a kind of...well, for lack of a better term, underground network of Force users on several worlds that had formed out of necessity to survive. Most of this network was caught by Bracknell's lackeys, but some, like these fortunate souls, managed to stay off the figurative grid. They scavenged, foraged and knocked off minor Alliance supply caravans in order to survive. Resourceful ones, they are."
"Why hadn't they reached out to us?"
"They're afraid, darling. Afraid that Force users are going to be hunted again, that it would only be a matter of time. Thankfully the ones that came with me were more than willing to subscribe to our new philosophies, but others will need more convincing. For now, we can be thankful we have more experienced Force users onboard." She looked to Cheriss, asking:
"Cheriss, would you happen to remember the last name Lugansa? One of the cave dwellers told me that they served under a Lord Lugansa, but I can't quite place the name..." Before Cheriss could answer, the holo terminal recently installed in the Council chambers(now official) came to life, Saresh's face betraying concern.
"Chancellor! We weren't expecting a call at..." The chronometer next to her projection said that it was two in the morning on Coruscant.
"This late."
"An urgent matter has come up that I feel you should know about. As you may have heard, we had been in negotiations with some of the more powerful Hutts in the Outer Rim for full control of Nar Shaddaa. Those negotiations are now on hold because the entire planet has gone dark." Yerbol spoke for the first time in probably half an hour:
"Dark, Chancellor? As in, no communication with anyone?"
"Correct. Hutt Lords off world have alerted us that they sent their own task forces to investigate, but no reports came back...and neither did their squadrons."
"Why not send in a fleet?"
"A show of military force that strong might send the wrong impression to the Hutts, that we want to assert control. We need the Hutts on our side, which they will be if we send in Force users who can investigate."
"It just so happens that our newly appointed Champions are here with us." Voldon nodded to the duo.
"Think of this as your first official mission as Qyaari."
"As what?" Saresh furrowed her brow quizzically.
"We'll explain in a moment. For now, what would you like them to do?"
"Send them along with Havoc to Nar Shaddaa, collect intelligence and do whatever you need to in regard to restoring the planet."
"Right...so saving a planet." Yerbol nudged Ari playfully.
"We've had to take on worse, right?"

The discussion about an appropriate name seemed to be going in the right direction,which Aria was pleased to note though the conversation would be put on temporary hold as another familiar voice which they had not heard for some three months spoke up to offer her own input. Aria turned her head as another chair floated up to join them with the blonde-haired Miraluka perched in its seat and returned the smile, nodding slowly as Malu offered up her discoveries pertaining to the High Sith language and suggested a name that they might all find agreeable.
“Qyaari…” she echoed, as if trying the name out before she nodded again. “I like it, has a nice ring to it.”
Similar murmurs of approval followed from the other members of the Council which sealed the deal and made the name official.
Cheriss frowned thoughtfully as she too tried to place the name. “Lugansa...yes, I'm sure I've heard it but I don't know if I recall him enough to put a face to the name. At any rate I don't imagine Lugansa himself survived Bracknell's purge; though as you say it's good to have the possibility of some other competent Force users, even if they will take time to recover.”
Their meeting at that point was interrupted by an urgent call from Chancellor Saresh who had worrying news about the state of affairs on Nar Shaddaa. Before Aria knew it she and Yerbol had been volunteered to go and investigate the disturbance.
“We just can't catch a break, can we?” she groaned, though she couldn't keep the smile from forming. Saresh was right, they couldn’t risk agitating the Hutts by sending in an entire military fleet, and if they were able to sort out the problem it would only stand the Alliance and Force users in general in a better stead with the Hutt cartel...
_____________

The members of Havoc squad were all too happy to see the duo again, Bex and Abbeth particularly so. They spent the journey to Nar Shaddaa catching up with the squad members, which was nice. The only thing that was missing, Aria thought absently with a pang of sadness, was Neta, who it seemed as if they hadn't seen in forever. In some way Aria was glad of that, because it meant the ex-pilot was safe and happy with her kids, but it didn't mean she didn't miss the way Neta always seemed to look out for her and Yerbol.

When they arrived on the smuggler’s moon, they found that ‘dark’ may have been a slight under-exaggeration of the situation. Nar Shaddaa was normally a bustling hub of activity, full of vendors, traders, pilots, bounty hunters and all other manner of people looking to make a quick buck or to hit the red sector for a much needed break during a stop off...so to see the streets almost entirely devoid of occupants was very concerning. They hadn’t taken more than a few steps off their respective ships before they could tell something was indeed very wrong. Even the spaceport was nearly empty, with only a few maintenance droids buzzing past, only two other people stood near the exit, a Rodian and an individual decked out in classic Mandalorian beskar armour. Their attention was fixed on the display screen suspended above the customs check in area.
“This doesn’t look very good, does it?” Aria muttered as they edged closer to the terminals to see what all the fuss was about. Playing was a news bulletin that appeared to be coming out of Coruscant rather than from Nar Shaddaa directly, the images displaying bloodstained streets of the Promenades. No bodies were shown, though a bold title claimed in large lettering:
“PROMENADE MASSACRE: HUTT BOSSES FOUND BUTCHERED”

The reporter delivering the story sounded highly anxious as he supplemented the headline with further details.
“Never has a crime been so brazenly committed on Nar Shaddaa nor has anyone been bold enough to target the cartel directly. No successful contact with Nar Shaddaa has been made since the bodies were discovered...all comm channels appear to be unresponsive, whether this is a technical or manpower issue we cannot confirm.” this backed up the intel Saresh had given them over the holo before they had left. “Nal Hutta have contracted investigation teams to attempt to get to the bottom of this but as of yet they have not made contact to deliver reports. The team have been on radio silence since arriving on Nar Shaddaa and the Hutta bosses begin to fear the worst. Chancellor Saresh cautions everyone NOT to panic and to abstain from travelling to the smuggler's moon until the issue is resolved.”
“This bad, not worth sticking around for. No Hutts to take contracts, Moon no good for bounty hunting any more.” one traveller, a Rodian, insisted.
“Like this is anything new!” his companion protested, her voice obscured by the visor of her helmet, “Just gang crime finally catching up to the Hutts. Some business owner probably got tired of being swindled and paid them to take the slugs out.”
“You not see bodies. Very brutal. Worse than gang killings, this not gangs.” the Rodian muttered. “Me not sticking round to be next kill.”
Aria struggled to see over the men's heads to get a glimpse at the images on the terminal but she doubted they would be any help if the whole moon had been dead to comm channels for weeks.
“You been down there, have you?” she asked the alien who had spoken. The bounty hunters eyed their little group with wary mistrust.
“Just answer the question, please.” Elara urged as Havoc joined them after scoping out the area. “Saresh sent us to take a look at things.”
“Lady wants to end up in coffin that her choice!” The Rodian hunter exclaimed, his voice going up an octave. “Need much weapon, much smarts to avoid being torn to pieces!”
“This place is bad.” the Mandalorian added. “all the other travellers cleared off a few days ago, and most people stay off the streets just to be safe. Anybody who doesn't lock their doors vanishes and nobody hears from them again; if you were smart you'd probably go back to wherever it is you came from.”
“I'm sure we can handle it.” Aria chuckled, lifting her cloak to tap the lightsabers at her belt. “So, what's the situation? Did anybody actually see anything or anyone going for the Hutts before they died?”
The Mandalorian shook her head. “So far as we know it was business as usual, next thing you know there's a huge commotion down on the Promenade and then everything goes dead silent. People went down to investigate and never came back up, my partner here was one of the only ones who managed to make it out and even he doesn't want to talk about what he saw.”
Aria wasn't sure it was possible for the Rodian’s eyes to get any wider than they already were.
“Me not see much.” He insisted. “Saw Hutt body torn apart, not get close before chase by strange thing. Red eyes, that all me see before running. Almost got caught but was faster than others, ran back here and not stop to look back.”
Red eyes. That didn't sound good. Aria exchanged a glance with Yerbol as they dismissed their informants and began to head for the Promenade. As they descended the steps, the stench of decay hit them, Aria grimacing and covering her mouth and nose with one hand.
“Ugh...doesn't smell good either.”

Bodies were littered across the street, not just the Hutts but others too, of all species and age. All had been torn open, viscera and entrails spread out in a gruesome display. The Rodian was right, this was overkill even for a gang war.
“This isn't a gang crime.” Elara muttered as she stepped back from the corpse of a woman who had desperately tried to protect her young child but to no avail. “Gangs target opposing gang members, and even when people get caught in the crossfire...never like this.”
Picking their way through the carnage, they found the Hutt, who was in no better condition than the other bodies.

Aria swallowed, the sour taste returning to her mouth. Red eyes, the Rodian had said.
She and Yerbol exchanged a knowing glance, hands closing around their weapons as they moved to survey the area. They were here…

With this only being his second time on Nar Shaddaa, he didn't like he was in the position to comment on how strange it was to feel the vacuum of emptiness that hit them squarely between the eyes when they landed, but it was still a surreal feeling nonetheless, that feeling reinforced when they descended to the lower promenade. The "glitzy" gleam of commercialism was intact through the recurring advertisements proclaiming that sales would be in effect until two days ago, scantily clad female holograms beckoning potential patrons to various shady looking establishments and a constantly running banner of headline news scrolling across a screen that wrapped around the balcony that overlooked the spectacle of death they were entrenched in. Overkill was a massive understatement. This was borderline psychotic.

He could feel Ari's concern tighten as they continued their patrol around the square, mirroring his own. Slicing through the stillness with his senses, he reached out, attempting to grasp any hint of what had occurred. There was some muttering behind a few of the locked shop doors, but after a few attempts at knocking and establishing themselves vocally as non-threats, it was gone.
"You would think they'd be happy to see us." Zora muttered, vibranium daggers gripped firmly in hand as she walked away from yet another stonewalled attempt at coaxing civilians to exit their secured(so they thought) location.
"Would you want to come out here?" Bex retorted, blaster rifle parallel to the ground as he examined an exit from the Promenade just north of where they stood.
"All dark down that way." He commented as he rejoined the group, which was now rallied at the southern edge of an inactive and massive fountain that dominated the center of the square.
"Right, so we're going to get nowhere down here." Elara bit her lower lip in thought, looking towards the northern edge of the upper promenade.
"And I have a feeling that if we keep going down without any intel, we'd be walking straight into a trap." She thought for another moment before pointing to where she had focused her attention.
"We ought to head to Alliance embassy located just over there. I'm sure we'd get a much warmer greeting."
"Wait, Chief, why didn't we head there first?" Elara motioned for them to slink upstairs as she answered Abbeth's question:
"And ignore getting a first look ourselves? I wanted us to confirm my worst suspicions before attempting to get inside the embassy."
"Attempting to?"
"Alliance embassies aren't just your normal run of the mill shops. If security protocols were activated, we'll probably be dealing with ballistic droids programmed to shoot on sight. Not to mention circumventing the lock down by finding a working terminal and...well, you get the point."

The group walked around the right hand side of the upper promenade, spotting two Alliance flags in tattered shreds flanking the entrance. Human and droid carcasses littered the entrance, but it was the pacing figures that brought Yerbol's saber to his hand. They were of the same mold the duo fought on Quensu: defined musculature, powerful frames, deathly blue skin color, jet black hair and a frenzied animosity that defined their every step.
"Well, they look like murderers." Zora twirled her daggers as she bent her knees, ready to spring into action.
"Give support to Yerbol and Aria as much as possible. Check your crosshairs for friendly fire and use cover." Elara ordered in hushed tones, which was a moot point considering that the two Xiis were now staring the squadron down with hungry grins.

Let's play decoy.

Another of their strategies to deal with powerful enemies was "decoying", which basically had Yerbol distract one or more enemies while the rest of the assigned squadron(usually including Aria) dealt with other forces. In this case, he would distract one of the Xiis while they fought the other.

Don't worry. I'll be fine. Just like an earthquake, right?

One of Renso's many pithy sayings echoed in his mind as they informed Elara of their strategy, the Xiis charging towards them not a fraction of a second later. Yerbol dashed towards them both, dual bladed saber slashing horizontally so that both Xiis dodged in opposite directions to not get slashed in half.
"One on the right!" The Champion gripped the saber hilt with both hands now, slashing vertically only to hit air, the Xiis rolling right and connecting with a blow to his sternum, Yerbol thankfully avoiding another blow that would have sent him flying over the safety railing to the lower promenade. He thrust a hand forward, blowing his fellow combatant back towards the entrance of the embassy, sprinting forward and slashing diagonally, managing to clip the alien on his left shoulder before he dodged and threw himself at Yerbol. The sudden action caught the Champion off guard, saber spilling from his hand as he hit the ground. Before he could get up, the Xiis had his foot on his chest, threatening to crush his ribcage in spite of Yerbol's strongest efforts to remove the appendage.
"YOUR HEART WILL BE MY TROPHY!" His glistening teeth bared in a grin for a moment, but was replaced by a contorted look of pain as Yerbol slammed his eyes shut, concentrating on the strands of Force energy that the creatures emanated, tearing them away from his enemies body.

Sever the connection with the Force. Rip it to pieces. Make your enemy realize that his very essence is being torn away from him.

The Xiis stumbled backwards just long enough for Yerbol to rise, saber flying to his hand and activating for him to stab the Xiis through the gut, flinging his body off the promenade, crunching on the bloodied floor beneath.
"And that was just one of them..."

As they rounded the corner to the street where the embassy building was situated, the duo's suspicions were confirmed as they spotted the two Xiis pacing in the entryway.
Let's play decoy.
Yerbol suggested, Aria sinking her teeth into her lower lip as Zora made a remark about the humanoids looking like they could have been responsible for the carnage around them. The Champion nodded warily in response to both enquiries:
“Be careful.” she knew Yerbol had the strength and skill to hold his own of course, but it didn't stop her from worrying about him despite his reassurances. These Xiis were stronger and less scrawny than the Quensu group had been, more well rested. “They’re fast.” Aria warned the Havoc members, drawing both her sabers to her hands and activating them as Yerbol dashed forward. The pair of Xiis scattered to avoid the onslaught of his double blades, Yerbol darting for the rightmost while Aria and Havoc went to intercept the other on the left.
With Zora right beside her and the other soldiers behind providing cover fire, Aria launched herself into the air and tried to plunge both sabers down into her opponent's chest, but the Xiis had a firm footing and saw the move coming and twirled out of reach, Zora’s knife clipping him across the cheek before he could get out of her reach as well. Aria's lightsabers sank into the paving as if it were made of butter, the Champion cursing as she clocked the Xiis gathering himself for another assault while she tried to yank the blades free. Havoc bought her the few seconds she needed to regain her control by firing at the approaching alien who had to leap and roll to avoid being hit. He lunged for Aria again and attempted to grab the weapons from her hands, the Champion flicking her wrists millimeters to one side to throw off his aim. Renso's teaching had paid off, she wasn't going to fall for that trick again. She and Zora took turns, ducking, parrying and strafing as they fought to push the blue-skinned alien backwards only to have him surprise them both by giving a raucous shout and rushing straight towards them. Zora’s Mirialan reflexes meant she managed to roll out of the way in time, Aria on the other hand wasn't quite quick enough.

The alien’s shoulder connected with her sternum, sending her skidding backwards into the safety railing though thankfully she managed to shut her eyes and slow her breathing to control the momentum so she wouldn't be propelled up and over into the darkness below. Her back slammed into the metal rails, making her grimace in discomfort at the impact. She would tend to it later, right now the Xiis was diving straight for her again, Zora and Bex sprinting to try and intercept him though it was hit and miss as to whether they would make it. The Kel Dor lifted his blaster, took aim, and nailed the Xiis between his shoulder blades. He barely flinched, and kept steamrolling forward. Seconds. She had seconds to do something.

“ARIA!”
“I'm alright!!” she coughed out, forcing her back to straighten again despite the sharp pain that stabbed through her upper back, ignoring the crushing pain she felt in her ribs as the other alien knocked Yerbol to the ground. A fist flew past her left cheek, Aria barely rolling out of range in time, fumbling to throw her lightsabers up to protect herself from his next swing.
Then she remembered the crystals Renso had given her, which she had carefully installed before they had departed from Zinuthra. Shutting her eyes, she tried to block out the other sounds, the concerned members of Havoc shouting towards her and the monotone buzzing of the neon signs above their heads, and focused on the energy they emitted. Breathed deeply, opening her eyes again as she felt a tingle of energy shoot down her arms through the lightsaber hilts. The blades crackled with viridian bolts of energy as she lunged forward and swung. With a shout of final agony the Xiis crumpled to the ground in front of her as the electricity struck him in the chest, her lightsaber plunging through seconds later to finish the job (if there had been any doubt that it would have killed him in the first place).

Slightly wide-eyed, Aria sidled back to the middle of the promenade to join the rest of the group as they gathered again.
She wasn't sure what she had been expecting the lightning to be like but couldn't help but feel giddy with excitement, like a child with a brand new toy.
“That was wicked AWESOME!”
Her features split into a grin as she reached the others, relief flooding through her as she noted Yerbol didn't seem too worse for wear after his encounter. They were tougher than they had been before Nuncata, perhaps quicker of wit too thanks to the various endurance runs he had them partake in.
Thanks, Renso.
“Where did you learn to do THAT?!”
“Can you still feel everything?”
“Do you need to sit down,?”
“You okay?”
The duo were hit with a barrage of questions from the members of Havoc squad. Aria nodded, waving off their concern. “Just a bruise, I think. Or a sprain. Nothing broken.” she hadn't heard anything crack, and it didn't hurt that bad.

That seemed to satisfy their concern, Zora and Elara crouching to examine the alien corpse as Bex and the other gunners scoped out the nearby stairways to make sure there weren't any more assailants headed their way. Regardless, she could still feel a sharp throbbing sensation in the middle of her back where she had connected with the top of one of the rails, leaning slightly into Yerbol's side for a moment (though not too much, because she didn't want to put pressure on his already injured ribs) as he sidled up next to her.
“What ARE these things?” Elara asked as she straightened once more.
“They almost look like Chiss, but....wilder.” Zora commented, wiping purple blood off the blade of her knife.
“We think they're called Xiis.” Aria explained, in the back of her mind wondering if it was mere coincidence that it sounded so similar to “Chiss”. “They came out of Wild Space, too. We didn't even know they existed until Yerbol and I got ambushed by a group of them….but they were a lot less coordinated, weaker.”
The Xiis were getting stronger. Dread settled into her gut like a lead weight.

“Right. We should check the embassy, see if there's anybody holed up in there like the merchants from before.” Elara suggested as Bex and the others returned, announcing that the promenade appeared to be clear once more. Passing through the archway marked by the tattered flags, the group dispersed to search through the ransacked embassy, looking for any signs that could indicate where the Xiis had appeared from, or how many there were.
The embassy itself was just as deserted as the surrounding streets ( or at least no one answered them when they announced their presence despite Aria and Yerbol being sure they could sense other life forms on the other side of locked doors), without any survivors willing to come forward to give them information they needed the group had no choice but to resort to swiping an access card from one of the unfortunate corpses that had not escaped the Xiis' hate-fueled bloodlust. The card gave them clearance to access the files located on the computer systems. With help from Elara, Zora and Bex, Aria managed to pull up a complex set of blueprints or diagrams that looked rather important. Notes and markers annotated them to mark out things like "first sighting??" And "point of origin??" or other such phrases that were followed by several question marks. It appeared as though the Alliance personell had been attempting to track the movement of the Xiis through Nar Shaddaa though the streets didn't appear to be familiar to Aria at all.

When she pointed this out to the others, Yerbol appeared just as stumped as she was (like herself he had only been to the moon a few times before), but after a moment's thought Elara seemed to come up with something:
"It almost looks like a map of the infrastructure." She pointed out various places by tapping them with her index finger as she spoke. "This is the air filtration system under the promenades...further along you have the pipework and filtration connecting to the various living sectors."
"You mean like the undercity on Coruscant? Or the Works in the industrial sector?" Aria frowned as she tried to understand.
"Exactly. Looks as if they were suspecting the Xiis had come out from the lower levels...but that begs the question of how they got there in the first place." Havoc'squad leader sighed.

"Well..." Aria blew out another heavy sigh, glancing between all their companions. "Only one way to find out." Somehow she didn't like the thought of wandering right into a trap...the Xiis would likely hear them coming long before they saw any of them, but they needed to finish the investigations the embassy workers had started.

"I'm more in awe that whoever went down to where the Xiis came out of." Bex whistled after the sentiment, examining the plans himself before pointing to one of the marked locations, a simple "X" emblazoned along a string of cylindrical objects that looked like pipes.
"If this map uses the standard symbols, then this has gotta be an entrance to the sewer, right?"
"The shape of the cylinders would indicate that." Abbeth commented, his breathliator exuding a minor gasp of surprise.
"What is it?"
"Chief, that's..." He traced his finger along the cylinder with the "X", snaking down towards the bottom half of the map where seemingly randomized dots within a larger square existed.
"That's an entry point, yes, but it leads further down the moon, past even the Works and the Undercity."
"So that means...?"
"It means that whoever drew up these plans was going into uncharted territory and ran into these 'Xiis' creatures. Look at the dots? See how they're all clustered around the center of the square?"
"Like ships on a radar terminal..."
"Right...although I don't know how the scouts could have survived an encounter with the creatures. Maybe they marked pods? Where the creatures were once held and broke out of?" Yerbol nodded.
"That would make a ton of sense. We've seen stasis tubes holding the Xiis. Renso showed us..." He waved off the potentially unbelievable story about their visions before adding:
"Renso told us about the stasis tubes, that they were designed to keep them in a dormant state until they 'could be dealt with'." Bex snorted.
"Could've at least pulled the plug on em when they were asleep."
"It's a lot more complicated than that."
"How?" Zora hissed, pointing in the direction of the bloodied carnage at the entrance.
"They're dangerous, Force wielding maniacs that have super strength. What else is there to know?"
"We can have these philosophical discussions at another time." Elara snapped, glaring at Zora, who stiffened and mumbled a "Yes ma'am" before Elara continued:
"So we follow the map downward and see where it takes us. I like it when things are straightforward."

__

"Chief, more over here." The normally reserved Elara cursed at the sight Zora pointed out, Yerbol grimacing at the gory display that was becoming a normal sight in the sewer tunnels they had descended into twenty minutes ago. Uniformed Alliance guards as well as unmarked civilians(who Yerbol assumed were maintenance workers judging by the tools that were laying close to some of the bodies) lay in various positions of agony, their faces betraying the intermingling of fear and disgust that naturally followed the appearance of any Xiis. Puncture wounds, disembowelment, crushed skulls and other gruesome forms of death were present, causing an unholy stench that was worse than even the reeking battlefields of Balmorra or the cold, rotten scent of burnt flesh on a desolate plain of ice on Hoth. More than once Yerbol thought of Renso's regret about meddling in affairs beyond his control and took his searing lessons to heart. The Xiis would be(ideally) the last egotistical mistake that a Force user made. They would make sure of it.

After gingerly stepping over a downed Alliance soldier clutching a rifle to his chest, Yerbol spotted an opened grate that led at least twenty feet downward to a massive circular shaped room with a heaping pile of rubble in the center. In contrast to the rubble were the ornate etchings on the floor and walls that portrayed elaborate wisps or tendrils that wove around each other in a hypnotizing fashion.
"Gotta be the ruins." Bex grunted as he withdrew several feet of durasteel chord from a pack handed to him by Abbeth, securing the chord around the grating and ominously warning;
"Because the grate is the only thing that'll be a good anchor, it's going to shut when the last person gets down there."
"We'll find a way out, Bex." Yerbol's assurance only caused a shake of the head the burly soldier, who motioned downward.
"Let's see if we can."

The grate slammed closed as Zora made her way down the rope, Yerbol looking over the ruins with a wary eye. There were three hallways, one extending in every direction except south, said direction blocked by huge chunks of stone that he doubted they could move, even with he and Aria's combined force. The north hallway ended abruptly, but two more doorways stood to either side, inviting the curious. East and West hallways snaked down into an even darker portion of the area.
"We'll split up to cover more ground." Elara looked to the Force wielding duo and told them:
"I suggest that you two decide on who's going where. I'll split my team up." Yerbol took another glance at either hallway before pointing at the Western side.
"I'll head that way with the squad Elara assigns me. Stay in touch, ok?"

Cause we still have to go house shopping.

He took her right hand and squeezed it gently in affirmation of the statement transmitted through their bond, giving her a half smile.
"I'll head West."
"Fine. Zora, Bex, go with Yerbol. Abbeth, Aria and myself will head East. Keep your comm units open and meet back here if trouble occurs."

The trio walked forward into the darkness, which was quickly illuminated not only by the stronger blue light that Yerbol emitted from his right hand, but Abbeth's armor mounted flashlight that had a wide enough arc to see several feet ahead. Debris, cracked pottery and shards of various building materials were the only scenery until they hung a right, where a slight dripping could be heard, faint, but nearby. Zora held a finger up to her lips, motioning for Abbeth to lift his flashlight up to the darkened ceiling.
"Oh no." Yerbol whispered.

It was a trap.

With Havoc squad’s decisive analysis of the diagram in front of them, the group trudged down into the sewer tunnels, which were in no better condition than the Promenades and streets above them. The smell was almost nauseating. No worse than Korriban’s tombs or the colicoid-infested caves of Balmorra (which she had only ever seen once in her lifetime) but still enough of a stench to make Aria want to hold her breath until they got out of there. With some apprehension, she slipped past the grate behind Elara and down into the ruined structure below.
“To think this has been down here all this time and nobody really knew about it…” she muttered as she too examined their surroundings, turning in a slow circle to examine every part of the chamber they were in. “What do you think they even used it for?” she was more thinking out loud than expecting anybody to actually answer her, though of course if any of her companions had any thoughts to add to her own she would be interested to hear them.
“It’s ornate enough to have been some kind of temple or altar of some kind...don’t you think?” she added as she hesitantly made her way across to one of the walls and ran her hand over the fine indentations that had been chiselled into the stonework. The wall felt slimy, coated in a thick sticky film of something...she couldn’t quite make out its colour so couldn’t be sure whether it was stagnant water, sewer sludge or any manner of other unpleasant things. All she could tell for certain was that it wasn’t very nice, and not something she wanted to get covered in, thus abruptly stepping back and wiping her hand off on the end of her cloak.
“Ew. That’s gross.”

They could just about see to the end of the north-facing hallway, it appeared to end abruptly with a towering concrete-block wall that extended far above their heads towards the surface world.
But Nar Shaddaa was a Hutt controlled world and always had been (as far as she knew), what use would Hutts have for any kind of temple or altar? Or perhaps it hadn’t belonged to the Hutts at all, nothing she had ever heard or read suggested such ruins existed on Nar Shaddaa….so perhaps they had been built down here to be kept hidden FROM the Hutts?
She was about to present that point of enquiry to Yerbol and the others when it seemed their attentions had turned to the east and west hallways. Peering into them revealed nothing but impenetrable blackness that seemed to stretch on for quite some time in either direction. And they wanted to split up and go INTO them. Now she was usually the adventurous one out of the duo, but something about this place set her teeth on edge and she suddenly wasn’t so sure they should be down here at all. But they needed to know what they were up against and if the Xiis were down here or had some kind of base of operations, they had to find it.
Yerbol’s hand closed around hers and squeezed gently, bringing a soft smile to her features despite her apprehension. She nodded in return and released her grip to step back and join Abbeth and Elara, following up with:
You bet we do, as soon as we’ve got the upper hand on these guys.
Out loud, she continued from Elara’s caution: “We’ll see you soon, hopefully. And if you see anything that even remotely looks like a Xiis...it’s probably best to shoot first and ask questions later.” normally she wouldn’t advocate such a vicious response after their previous experiences but Zora was right about one thing...these Xiis were dangerous, they weren’t like them. Didn’t have a sense of right and wrong.

They proceeded down the east hallway, using a ball of Force lightning that Aria managed to hover a few inches in front of them (with some difficulty….she had to get Yerbol to teach her the whole light orb thing at some point) and torches Elara and Abbeth carried with them. Their pace was slow, mostly because for once Aria was not content to go rushing blindly forward when there was a possibility of more collapsed entryways or Force forbid some kind of chasm that one of them could slip and fall into. Then there was the constant dripping sound to take into account, it never went away and a sound that would normally be rather insignificant was simply amplified by the empty stone passageways around them and seemed to echo all around the trio as they progressed. It had started out as simply annoying, but now it was making Aria’s head hurt. Abbeth had suggested the source as a leaky pipe of some description (they WERE in a sewer after all), but Aria wasn’t convinced. The floor seemed to be slick with some kind of liquid, but it certainly seemed thicker than just water....she didn’t want to begin to think about what else it could be. She remembered what the Xiis female had said to her on Quensu: Your Sith blood will make us strong. And how often the others seemed to declare taking various organs or body parts of their downed opponents as some sort of gruesome trophy. Did they make a habit of consuming people they defeated in battle? That was a disturbing thought. But then it seemed as if other whispers that weren’t just her recollection were creeping through the dark towards them. They took on a mocking tone, as if the Xiis knew there was no real escape for them but wanted the thrill of the chase regardless:
Run, run little Sith. Run while you still can! There is nowhere for you to go, we see you. We will find you.

In the back of her mind, it brought to life memories of similar endurance runs through the ancient Sith Lord’s tombs, starving Tuk’ata and Hssiss snapping at her heels as she floundered blindly in the dark, desperate to find the exit before those terrible jaws closed around her...except she had known, in at least some way, the layout of those tombs. There had been places to hide. Here there was none of that. Glancing sideways at her companions, she wasn’t sure if Abbeth and Elara had heard the voice, too, or if it had all been in her head. Neither gave an indication that they had heard anything.

A cold shiver crept down her spine, the Champion pausing to glance around them as she suddenly had the unnerving feeling that they were being watched. Elara and Abbeth shot her concerned looks as she wheeled around to face the darkened corners behind them, catching the sound of skittering footsteps, far too heavy to be sewer rats. Once, she thought she had caught the flicker of eyeshine at the edges of their light sources, but by the time she raised the lightning ball up to investigate further the corner was eerily empty of any form at all.
“I don’t like this.” she whispered to her two companions, clumsily groping for her connection to Yerbol to check that he, Bex and Zora were okay as well.
Bol? Aria felt his alarm seeping into her own mind almost as soon as she focused on their connection again. What….what is it? Are you okay?
She didn’t like this. Turning on her heel, she growled to Elara.
“I’ve got a BAD feeling about this. We need to go back.” She hadn’t meant to run, but any sense of caution she felt at that point was overridden by the determination to get back to Yerbol before any of the Xiis did. Sure, she could have been imagining the voice, but she wasn’t going to take that chance. They weren’t going to touch him. Not over her dead body.
I think they’re here, check behind you!

And when you're asleep, they all will run

The lyrical chant crawled through the floors, up through to Yerbol's spine, a bitter cold enveloping his entire being as he watched the lazily moving rivulets of blood drip onto the ground.
"That's just...wrong."
"On so many levels."

It was a male human devoid of all clothing, body strung up by the ankles. Gashes and bruises covered almost every square inch of the cadaver, the wounds complimented by several missing fingers and toes along with-
"They castrated him." Yerbol finally said after processing the grisly sight, saber flitting to his right hand as the chanting, which apparently Bex and Zora couldn't hear at first, resumed:

Run as fast as you can.

The faster you go, the more we chase

Zora growled, grip on her daggers tightening as Bex withdrew his blaster rifle, flashlight wobbling just enough to catch a glimpse of several red dots perched a few feet apart from each other.
"UP TOP!"

A wailing laugh filled the corridor as the respective owners of the red dots descended on the trio, scattering their formation and casting the hallway into a pitch blackness that was broken only by Bex's wildly moving flashlight and the hum of Yerbol's newly activated double saber, which was quickly moving to counter blows from what looked like quarterstaves(that weren't cutting in half on impact?), the Champion tapping into the training Renso gave the duo only a few short days ago.

Breath. Focus. All living things emanate the Force. Use it to your advantage.

Purple auras glowed around the swiftly moving bodies, three of which had Zora pinned against a wall and looked as if they were about to plunge the end of the quarterstaff-like device into her belly when Yerbol leaped into the air and slammed one end of his saber into the ground, prompting shockwwaves of energy to knock their attackers on their backs momentarily.
"Regroup and let's move! Bex, you're up, right?!"
"BARELY!"
"GOOD ENOUGH! LET'S GO!"

The squadron rounded the hallway and was greeted by more sounds of fighting in the main area they left, sprinting to the circular meeting hall only to find more Xiis locked in frenzied combat with the other detachment of Havoc and Aria, blaster bolts and streams of lightning bouncing off of debris. Behind the arriving trio were the rushed footsteps of the Xiis they had left behind. With a vehement curse, Yerbol lifted a chunk of rubble to the right of the hallway they emerged out of, channeling the Force to launch the projectile at the group of incoming marauders. It landed precisely at the entrance of said hallway, which prompted shards of rock, glass and other embedded materials to rain on the improvised battleground, howling and cursing coming from the now delayed attackers.
"STATUS?!" Elara nearly screamed as she took a few potshots at an oncoming Xiis, dodging a swipe.
"LOW ON AMMO!" Bex cried out as a Xiis' quarterstaff sliced at his chestplate, nearly demolishing the durasteel armor with far too little effort.
"WE'RE SURROUNDED, CHIEF!" Zora yelled, frantically dodging an increasingly voracious Xiis populace that appeared to have no lack of stamina. Yerbol was in the middle of deflecting another blow when he realized that their only way out might be the blocked hallway. Apparently Elara thought the same thing(or maybe Abbeth had), seeing as the Kel Dor was already sprinting in that direction, munition pack out. Although the explosives wouldn't be enough to blow through all the rubble, it might demolish a big enough hole for the others to squeeze through.
"COVER ABBETH!" Yerbol complied with Bex's command and headed towards the occupied Havoc member, swatting away Xiis as best he could.
"Tell me you're almost done!"
"Two...seconds...there." Abbeth motioned to clear the area, dashing past Xiis claws and shouts. A few moments later, an explosion shook the hall, rocking the once solid barrier loose, but also prompting several blocks from the ceiling to give way on the opposite end of the room.
"It's gonna collapse! MOVE!" Hurrying to the sliver of space that would allow each person to crawl through, the squad began to take their leave, Ari and Yerbol choosing to fend off the Xiis until there was a break for them to leave. As the last of Havoc managed to squirm through, one of the Xiis planted her foot against Yerbol's chest, sending him backwards. Gathering himself, he scanned the battleground to spot the remaining Xiis that hadn't been shot or sliced retreat slightly, parting both left and right to make way for the toned, lithe female Xiis that emerged from seemingly nowhere. She looked at the duo with a cackle, pointing at them with her index and middle fingers.
"Somehow I KNEW he would send Sith after us...or Jedi...or whatever you call yourselves now." Her ebony colored ponytail shook as she laughed again, baring her glistening teeth.
"How amusing it is to see such a divided world. So ripe for...consumption." She took a step forward, prompting Yerbol to bend his knees.
"You're so...deliciously strong. Both of you. If you were not Sith, I might have considered you for our ranks...but the stench of HIM is so strong. I couldn't get it out even if I tried." In a fraction of a second, she extended her hands, blue flames shooting from her palms. On instinct, Yerbol threw up a shield, throwing himself in front of Aria as the other Xiis began to chant:

The fire consumes

The mind will burn

And the flesh will rend

"ARI, GO!" He shot her a glare.
"NOW!" He walked forward, sweat dripping off his brow, teeth gritted as the Force wielding Xiis closed in.
"DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE HAVOC BEHIND! GO!"

Everything escalated very quickly as soon as Aria turned around and began to run back towards the chamber they had come from. She heard Elara and Abbeth sprinting after her, and then the hallway behind them exploded with a frenzy of racing footsteps as the Xiis who had been stalking them gave chase. They ran faster, just about made it to the chamber and left their pursuers behind but before they could start down the other hallway more of the blue skinned aliens appeared and they were dodging flailing claws, staffs and bladed weapons of every sort.
“Watch out!!” she bellowed out a warning as one of the creatures lunged for Elara's neck only to be swiftly cut down by a bolt of electricity from one of Aria's weapons. “Some of them have sharp teeth!” wide-eyed, Elara said nothing in reply.
YERBOL?! she called out to her partner desperately, finding the answer came when an explosion of cracked glass and other debris went off in the entryway they had fled through and cut off the first group of Xiis from reaching them. Everyone was losing stamina now, even Aria with her newfound Battlemind abilities was beginning to struggle for each next gasp of air.
“WE'RE SURROUNDED, CHIEF!” she heard Zora bellow out in response to Elara's query.
She was right. The Xiis were EVERYWHERE…seemingly crawling out of every crevice of stone. With each one they felled there were three more to take its place. They had to get out of here.
Abbeth stumbled towards the blocked hallway with Yerbol in tow as cover. Aria did her best to take out as many of the Xiis that attempted to follow them from a distance with the lightning crystal, the resulting explosion took out more and yet there were still so many….the Havoc members had all fought their way across to join them now, clustered around their only escape with Aria and Yerbol between them and the pack of aliens as they parted for the well muscled female to step forward.
Something told Aria she was the one calling all the shots, from the way her muscles were better toned than the others to the way she carried herself. Strong, with purpose. And the unwavering, self assured tone her voice took as she spoke again of Renso and the wrongs he had done to them. This isn't the way to get your revenge! Aria wanted to shout out. Renso is gone and things are very different now! But she didn't, she knew the leader wouldn't listen.

They barely managed to dodge the flames, if it hadn't been for Yerbol's shielding ability they would have been roasted alive.
Tightening her grip on her sabers, she dropped down into attack stance again only to be astounded as Yerbol demanded that she LEAVE him there with this woman and her minions.
“DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE HAVOC BEHIND! GO!”
“NO! I'M NOT LEAVING YOU HERE!” she screamed back at him. Behind the wall of debris they could hear more fighting, shouts of alarm and pain from the squad members as the remaining Xiis that had been trapped in the passageway closed in on them. They were out of ammo. Stay here with Yerbol or doom Havoc to their gruesome deaths. She wished they had brought the Tuk'ata with them instead of leaving them on the ship.

She didn't have a choice. Spitting a curse, she spun on her heel and made for the gap, shouting over the chant the Xiis had begun again.
“YOU'D BETTER BE RIGHT BEHIND ME!”
He wasn't. Subconsciously, somehow she knew that, even if she desperately wanted to believe otherwise.

It was a tight squeeze even for her, Aria emerging on the other side to find the squad members crowded around someone who seemed to be having trouble staying on their feet (though thankfully, was still alive). The group of Xiis was much thinner out here, they could storm straight through them and find another entry port to climb back up to the surface. Gritting her teeth, Aria brushed past Elara, drew on her anger and let it fuel the shout that left her tired lungs. The shockwave rippled through the ruins, knocking the Xiis aside and collapsing another part of the tunnel which blocked them in. Dodging the falling debris, Aria pulled Havoc along behind her, screaming:
“RUN! KARKIN RUN!”
It was impossible to tell how long the passageway went on for, but they couldn't stop until they could see a faint sliver of light from above that indicated another grate like the one they had entered the ruins through. Fumbling blindly in the dark (in the panic, Aria had forgotten to summon a light source and they only had one torch left after the previous scuffle), Aria managed to force the grate open with a burst of energy from her palm and Bex managed to clamber through with a boost from Elara, leaning back down to help the Havoc leader get the rest of their squad through too. Once Elara was out, she reached down for Aria who hesitated to throw a glance back down the pitch black hallway. Still no Yerbol.

Her chest tightening, she summoned her strength and propelled herself upwards, grabbing onto Elara's wrist and letting the squad leader haul her back out into the Nar Shaddaa alleyway. Everyone was practically collapsed around her, they would need a moment to gather their strength before they could move on. Zora could hardly stand, Aria wondered if something in her leg was broken or it was just fatigue, she hoped the latter. Elara and Bex were better off but not by much, still covered in gashes and bruises of all kinds. Aria too had begun to hurt all over, her ribs throbbed in protest with each agonising breath, her hands, neck and face covered with scrapes and bruises from her struggle through the debris. Blood oozed from a gash to her shoulder.
Rapidly approaching footsteps set the group on high alert, the soldiers fumbling for their empty blasters and feebly raising their blades in anticipation of more Xiis until Chwuq and Taral burst around the corner, they had sensed the trouble after all and come looking for them.
“Yark! Yark!” they practically threw Aria to the floor again as both beasts pounced on her at once, covering her face with urgent, slobbery licks. She didn't have the strength left to push them away.
“Pack, pack...Yerbol?!” They had struggled with the concept of referring to the duo by name but still noticed someone important was missing, whining as they approached the open grating and peered into it trying to find him. Smelt that he had gone in there with them but hadn't come out.
Aria tried to sit up and pull them back before they fell in too, or they'd never get them out. Elara had to help her.
“Y-Yerbol…” she choked out, her chest tightening even further as it slowly sank in.
“I know, I know.” Elara whispered, clasping a hand around Aria's shoulder as she smiled sadly. “I'm so sorry.”

No, no no no…
Aria fumbled for the thread that connected their minds together. It was still there, but his presence on the other side was faint, exhausted. Maybe he was nearly unconscious.
YOU'RE A KARKIN IDIOT!! she wanted to scream at him, but couldn't bring herself to it, wondered if he was as afraid as she was, needed to say something else instead to at least bring him some measure of comfort, managing:
I’ll come back for you; we WILL find you! And I don't care how many of them I have to kill to get to you!
She couldn't even be sure he had heard her because she lost all contact with the link shortly after. Passed out, please let him only be unconscious.
What she did know was this: any Xiis that touched him had signed their death warrant, in their own blood.

They needed to get to a medbay or none of them would make it far. The ship’s slipspace generators could probably get them to Zinuthra again in a few hours tops, if they could hack together some field first aid to help them last the trip. With their second wind gathered, that's what they did. Elara in the lead and Aria attempting to feed strength into the weaker squad members with what little Force energy she had left (she had to splice Force energy from the tomb beasts that flanked her on either side, as much as she hated to do it without asking), they stumbled to an abandoned medical facility. None of them were particularly experienced with treating wounds, but they could do enough to bind big open wounds to stop bleeding, and Aria used the Force to heal as many minor scrapes as she could to provide them with some form of comfort over the trip. There was nothing they could do for her ribs, she said nothing to anyone and fought through the pain, Zora and the others were worse off and needed the attention more than she did. Fumbled with the holo communicator to put a call through. A small blue tinted image of Vano flickered to life, the Mirialan’s eyes widening as she took in Aria's appearance.
“Shit, Ari, you look like beast fodder! What happened?!”
“Ambushed, we barely got out...explain later...V-Va...need to get...doctors…” every syllable seemed to suck more air from her lungs than necessary, it was hard to form comprehensive sentences. Vano noticed, her voice taught with concern as she answered.
“Are you going to make it all the way back here?”
“Have to...no choice...nobody...left here...sl-slipspace g-generator…”
“Dammit I knew I should have gone with you!” Vano snarled angrily. “We'll be ready, you all get back here RIGHT NOW while you still can!” the holo cut out, Aria slumping against the cold glass of an empty kolto tank as she heard Bex (the self-appointed “look out” at the facility’s entrance) shout back.
“Chief, someone's coming!”
Chwuq and Taral snarled loudly and raced to join Bex in the doorway, their muscles tense and their tails lashing as their eyes searched for the oncoming person(s) Bex had identified.
If it was more Xiis, they were done for. Grimly, she scolded herself for thinking it could possibly be anybody else...but the Tuk'ata didn't seem to be any more alarmed than usual, surely they'd be able to tell the difference in smell. Aria liked to think they would react far more aggressively if it WAS Xiis....

The Xiis woman giggled as Yerbol's knees sank to the ground, shield flickering away to vapor before he fully collapsed. He will make such a fine delicacy.
"Carry him to the vessel." Two of her underlings brought the unconscious Yerbol to his feet, shouldering his bulk between the two before carrying out their masters orders.
"Tywan, stay here?" One of the younger in the crowd asked, eyes gleaming with a hungry expectation. She walked to the male and ran her soft fingers across his cheek.
"You will stay, Hyalwan. This planet is still teeming with life to claim, power to swallow."
"What should we do?" Another Xiis asked, the female running her tongue over her lips.
"Remember the filth you saw? That you carved to pieces?" Low growls and throaty grunts of approval came from her brethren.
"Continue until your breath leaves your body. Prove your worth in the Shasot so that you too can wield the kind of power you seek." The growls grew in volume, prompting another cackle from the woman as she walked past the array of Xiis.
"Start from the bottom, then continue to work upwards. There will be more of them. Armed. Dangerous. The perfect combination." She turned on her heel to face the procession of deathly blue figures, raising her fist.
"KILL! MAIM! DESTROY! MAKE THEM FEAR THE DAY THEY AWAKENED THE XIIS!" The planet itself seemed to shake at the proclamation, a smile forming on her lips.

It will soon be their galaxy. Just as it was always supposed to be.

________

The barking was a bit disarming. Annoying, really.

Junoco withdrew his blaster pistol as he rounded the final corner, cursing at whatever deities existed in the universe that they would allow stray animals(and their potentially homeless owners) to take residence in his base of operations; well, it wasn't HIS per se, but an abandoned medical clinic in the farthest portion of the network access corridor was an easy place to repossess. Others who stumbled onto the location were few and far between, Junoco able to chase them off with a wave of his blaster pistol and a rough phrase or two. Dogs were a nice touch, but if he threatened their lives, he knew that the owner would back off. People were so sentimental about dogs. All pets, really. It was rather aggra-

When he casually strolled to the entrance, blaster pistol in hand, he was greeted by two bears. With large teeth. No, no, not bears, hounds. Wolves? They were large, snarling and bearing their teeth in preparation to tear him to pieces. Behind the dogs were armored men and women(except one, who had lightsaber hilts dangling from her waist), all of them coated in some degree of exhaust, wounds visible.
"Sooooooo...." Junoco sheathed his pistol, wide hazel eyes betraying slight amusement along with anxiety at his new visitors.
"I'm just gonna assume that you guys aren't here to rob me? Right? Cause if you are, then I'm screwed." The dogs were still growling.
"Could one of you just...you know, have these handsome hounds back off? For a wee bit?" His wispy frame stepped backwards, the dogs in sync, stepping forward.
"I can give you guys some meds! Pain killers? Stimulants? Adrenals? Straight up drugs? I've got it all!" Probably shouldn't have mentioned the drugs.
"Just have these guys back down and I'll help you get out of here, yeah? Sound good? Free of charge, too! Not something you can get around this moon." He combed a sliver of brown hair away from his forehead(why now?!) as a large, dark-skinned guy looked over at the little black haired girl with the lightsabers.
"Ari, he's harmless. I know his type." He cast a knowing glare.
"Just out to save his own skin and nothing else. Isn't that right?"
"Heeeyy, nothing wrong with that, right? I can save your skins!" The dogs snapped.
"Right, sorry, sorry, yes, yes, I'm skeevy, an illegitimate businessman, whatever you want to call me, just let me help you so I can have my clinic back, alright?"
"Let the man through." Elara ordered.
"Thank you, thank you kindly." Junoco slipped past the dogs and the glares he was receiving from a green Mirilian with daggers in her hands and a Kel Dor that was breathing way too heavily to be appropriate for social situations before rummaging through a strong box next to a broken kolto tank.
"See? A man of my word, I am." He handed a number of bottles and other containers that contained everything he had mentioned except the illegal spice. That was to resell.
"So, there's that. Off you go, then? To better the galaxy or something like that?" A few minutes passed of waiting for their exit, but they instead chose to take his precious stash of meds and mumble a few things about a "Yerbol" and "Xiis" and other random phrases that made little sense. His curiosity got the better of him eventually, asking:
"So ah...where'd you guys come from?" No answer.
"You stink to high heaven and beyond, so the sewers, right? Bad idea going down there. Those blue guys are all over that area." Elara quirked a brow.
"You've seen them?"
"Of course! Who hasn't on this rock? A few days ago they popped out of sewer grates and manholes and vents and...well, you get the picture. They just start killing people in the streets. Hutt 'security' is a joke, so they were taken out reaaaallll quick and the gangs? The Kintan Kings, The Blood Warriors, so on and so forth, they all ran scared when those blue guys(and gals who looked very attractive if they weren't so intent on carving people's intestines out of their guts) made themselves a home here. Most of the Hutts are dead or off world, now...which!" He clapped his hands together.
"Explains why you guys are here, of course! Right, so you're 'special operations'. Alliance all the way out here...and a Jedi! Sith? Or whatever you guys yourselves now. Powerful people who use sticks of light to kill people."
"We can have her use those sticks on you right now." Zora growled.
"Hey, hey, I'm the meds guy, remember? I'm a positive force for good." A snort of derision came from Bex as Elara graciously responded:
"I can't thank you enough for your help. We'll be out of your way shortly."
"Hey, hey, take your time, but I mean, leave soon, cause I've got a client coming to meet me for some-wait." He grinned.
"If you guys are Alliance, that means you're the only ticket off this rock."
"No."
"Wait, wait, hear me out first!" He squealed, jabbing a finger into his chest.
"I, Junoco Pezingas, am a first rate smuggler slash grifter slash hacker slash anything else that requires a drop of illegitimacy. If you guys are after the blue people, I can help...like I just showed you I could."
"In exchange for transport off world?"
"Pretty much. Drop me off on Coruscant. I've got a hideaway there and you can have my services at your beck and call whenever you wish, just get me out of here!" Elara sighed, looking at her motley crew of exhausted warriors and nodded.
"We could use all the help we can get. But if you cause ANY trouble, Bex will dispose of you. Promptly."
"Right! Let me get my stuff!"

Aria closed a hand around her lightsaber hilts in preparation as a twiggy-looking man rounded the corner, almost immediately relaxing. He wasn't dangerous, Bex was right. Nothing they couldn't handle even in their current state, and if all else failed Chwuq and Taral would make quick work of him. His hazel eyes darted to the hounds, imploring that they ask them to not eviscerate him. She waited until his weapon was holstered before she coughed out. “Down.” they skittered back to her side but were still eyeing the man warily. He apparently had drugs which they couldn't exactly turn down in their current state though his questions they could have done without (and while she was sure they DID probably smell about as attractively as a Rancor pit, she didn't appreciate him voicing that out loud). Zora suggested they kill him and be done with it, Aria almost wanted to agree but dammit her entire torso hurt, blurry black splotches danced at the edge of her field of vision. She took the offered bottle from Bex as he held it out to her and downed it in one gulp. Breathing (and talking) started to hurt less.
“Thanks.” she muttered to the brown haired man. Suddenly, as they were talking amongst themselves about what they were going to do now (going back to Zinuthra seemed to be the general consensus of their next step), the shifty man spoke up again, seeming to realise they must have come here on a ship of some kind.
“No.” Zora growled almost instantly. Elara seemed to be thinking otherwise. Despite her own apprehension, she had learned to trust Elara's judgement. The woman's strategical expertise had rivaled that of anyone she had known, including Roan at times. If Elara thought they could trust him then that's what they would do. Besides, as long as this Junoco was with them they had access to medication that could relieve their ailments, which Elara was also of ample skill to carry out. He turned out to be rather speedy at “packing his things”, probably as a result of being a smuggler and any number of the other things he had mentioned. They made their way back to the ship at a slightly quicker pace, then debated at length whether to deposit Junoco on Coruscant before returning to Zinuthra.
“He has information about what happened on Nar Shaddaa, right?” Aria pointed out, wincing as crossing her arms over her chest made her ribs throb again. “We need him to tell the Elders what he saw. What he knows about the Xiis.” she turned to Junoco before he could interrupt, explaining. “Those are ‘the blue guys’, by the way. That's what they're called.” without meaning to sound quite as condescending as it had come out. “Coruscant’s light-years away, we don't have time for that kind of detour. He comes with us to Zinuthra.”
“Hey, hey hey! You promised!” Junoco protested.
“You give us the information we need, we drop you off on Coruscant next time we head out. That's how you smugglers work right, give something get something?”
She jabbed a finger in his direction, teetering ever so slightly from the effort. “But if you even THINK about giving us false intel,” she focused as much as she could through the pain medications fuzziness that began to cloud her mind. Let his lungs tighten for a few brief seconds to remind him she could just as easily kill him with or without Havoc's help. “I will snap your neck like a toothpick while Bex holds you down and stops you escaping, got it?”
The smuggler nodded so vigorously she thought for a moment his head might pop right off his shoulders. If only she hadn't been too worried about Yerbol to find it funny. They punched in Zinuthra's coordinates and everybody crashed in the various crew quarters as they attempted to recover from their wounds. Junoco flitted between each member along with Elara (once she had slept a while) to administer medical treatment where necessary. Aria had tried insisting that she didn't need their help (or want the smuggler anywhere near her for that matter), but at some point the previous dose of medication had worn off and the pain had become so intense that she nearly passed out.
It was the closest thing she got to sleep the entire trip back. She couldn't sleep, not without Yerbol there. Her mind wandered to all manner of disturbing places, catastrophizing about what the Xiis might be doing to him. She tried to meditate and reestablish their Force link again, to reach out to him just to hear his voice, but was met with a solid wall of fuzzy unconsciousness each time she tried. Chwuq and Taral stayed with her, grunt-whining anxiously to pull her back to reality before she became too disassociated by pushing herself too far.
“Who’s Yerbol?” Junoco’s voice startled her, apparently she had been mumbling aloud along with her mental attempts to reach him. “If they are in fact a person and not a uh...a ‘what’, I guess?” Elara's glare mirrored her own.
“I told you not to bring it up.”
“None of your business, that's what!” Aria snapped sharply, rising stiffly to her feet as the ship announced their arrival on Zinuthra. She made her way towards the loading ramp after Bex, Abbeth and Zora with the tomb beasts, Elara and their new ally behind her. Vano, Cheriss, and Matthew were waiting for them in the docking area.
“What's the Loth cat dragged in?” Cheriss snorted as she eyed Junoco up and down with a flash of contempt in her eyes.
“Yerbol…?” Vano frowned, noting that the dynamic duo were down to one.
Aria tried to keep a straight face, tried to explain what had happened without her voice cracking, but it wasn't all that successful.
She shook her head, choking out. “There were so many of them….tried to get everyone out, thought he was right behind me. I lost him, I lost him…” Vano pulled her into a hug only to abruptly release her as Aria shouted out in pain.
“Think my ribs are broken...please don't do that again…”
“That's it, we're getting you to the medbay right now. Elara can fill Master Carnagie and Master Matare in on what happened.”
“I don't need to go to medbay, Va! I'm FINE! Just...aches a little.” Aria groaned in protest.

"I'll take her down there. Don't think she'll fuss at me too badly." Kira casually strolled past the party to Aria, linking an arm with hers.
"Can't exactly go get him when you've got your ribs cracked like you do." She walked her to the medbay in silence, the only form of communication passing between them was the occasional phrase ("watch the tool there" or "I cracked a rib once. Or three times."). Once they arrived, a portly medic with the Alliance logo emblazoned on her arm withdrew a portable scanner, running it over the ribs before shaking her head.
"A short soak in the Kolto tank might help with the fracture, but the pain is going to only go away with medication, I'm afraid." She walked away for a moment before returning with a bottle.
"One a day." She extended it momentarily before closing her massive fist.
"And not. Any. More."
"We get it, Pedia. No more than one." A grimace before she gave the medicine over with a defeated finality.
"Get in the tank. I wanna talk to you. And don't try to argue with me." Kira helped the younger woman into a small changing area just off the med bay, aiding in the process of getting Ari changed for the kolto tank before heading towards said tank.
"Come on...up...and...see, that wasn't too bad!" As the Champion settled into her temporary lodgings, Kira brought a nearby stool and plopped down on it, chin resting on her hand.
"It sucks, doesn't it?" She pursed her lips, looking at the ground for a moment.
"Knowing that he's out there. Knowing that you can't just...have him appear next to you, a smile on his face." She laughed wistfully, resuming eye contact with Aria.
"A lot of people don't know what happened to Voldon. They see him as the Empire Killer, the destroyer of an Eternal power." She snorted scoffingly.
"What they don't know is that the Emperor took control of his mind. Made him do awful things that I couldn't control because he had me too, wrapped around his finger. I saw more of his personal torturer squad than Voldon for those few months. I tried to reach out to him, talk him out of whatever he was doing, but I couldn't...that was when I realized something." She leaned forward and grabbed Aria's right hand with both of hers.
"They need us to keep going, Aria. No matter what they're suffering, no matter the pain, we keep going. Because sooner than later, they'll come back to us. And they'll need all the love and support we can give them. So don't be stupid. Rest up, refocus, meditate, do whatever you need to do because when you find him, he'll need you. All of you." As if responding to Kira's plea, Voldon calmly strode into the room, situating himself next to his wife.
"Are you alright?"
"She's fine, big guy. Girls like her and I know how to stay tough...isn't that right?" She winked mischievously, standing beside her husband.
"Elara gave us a report of what happened. These 'Xiis' creatures didn't give any indication where they were headed, but they had to get off world somehow. I'll commission a squadron to get on the ground with Alliance forces and clean up whatever Xiis may remain. Hopefully we can get some clue as to where they were headed." He paused.
"Can you reach out to him? At all?" When she told him the state of their bond, he grunted disapprovingly.
"Keep trying. Hopefully with enough prodding you can rouse out of whatever stupor those creatures put him in."
"What he means to say is: get rest and THEN try. Right, honeybunch?" She fluttered her eyelashes at him, prompting Voldon to acquiesce:
"Of course. That's what I meant to say. If you need to talk to any of us, we'll be around base." With that, the duo left. Other than the three medics tending to a couple of unconscious men with legs in casts, Aria was alone.

And he could feel it

____

"Ari..." He mumbled, eyes slowly opening.
"So that's the girls name. Ari...a purposefully chosen name I'm sure. The Sith were always so confident in their royal heritage." She snorted, talon like fingers gripping his chin, shaking his head gently.
"Come now. You've slept long enough."
"Where.." The blue woman's face retreated, her back turning towards him as she breathed out orders in an unknown language. Two Xiis males who stood on either side of a durasteel door nodded before withdrawing from the damp, earthy smelling room. It was illuminated by a few bulbs jutting out from the ceiling at odd angles, their respective shadows cast at jarring angles.
"Where is unimportant, my dear. The who is what I'm concerned with." She ran her fingers down his arm, his bare(!) chest down to his bellybutton, tracing slow and purposeful circles.
"Renso's stench is all over you, but it can't mask the power that you wield. You have such raw...potential." Her finger ran up to his chin, prompting Yerbol to try and raise his hands, finding that they were chained to the back of the chair. Attempting to the channel the Force got him nowhere either.
"Oh my dear, my sweetest, dearest man, you have no idea what I can do...nor what I can give you." She sat on his right leg(which was also bare minus the shorts he wore under his pants), her fingers running over his inner thigh.
"Whatever did Renso tell you about us? My curiosity grows every second."
"That you're mistakes. Horrible tragedies." She cackled, throwing an arm around his shoulders.
"In a sense, we were! Our race was a collection of insipid, spineless cave dwellers when he found us." Sighing longingly, she continued:
"And then he took us in, promised us so much more than we could ever be. We didn't know that our people would be slaughtered in the name of science, injected, poked, prodded and thrown to wild beasts to see if we could 'ascend past our primitive nature'." Cracking her neck, she rose, looming in front of him by placing both hands on his knees, their faces a foot apart. He could smell the coppery stench of blood floating from her razor sharp teeth.
"In that assumption was his biggest mistake. Our core nature, our desire, our hunger for power was the thing to harness. But instead he fed us soft, ugly teachings. Weak. Pathetic." She released her grip, blood trickling down the sides of his calves.
"I made us stronger. I helped those of us that were left. We are powerful. Strong. We weed out the spineless. Destabilize institutions."
"That's what you want to do now?" She giggled innocently.
"Of course, darling. Your government is unstable, ready to totter at a moment's notice. When we knock the sandcastle over, we will rise. Establish an order of strength. Of power. Of consumption." A throaty growl came as she walked behind him, hands once again moving over his body.
"Consumption goes beyond the taking of lives, however...as you'll see." He shifted violently in his chair to counteract the unwanted advances, prompting only a chuckle.
"You'll break. I will make sure of it. For now...prepare your mind and your body." Her mouth hovered close to his ear as she whispered:
"My name is Illesia, Yerbol. Know it. Imbibe it. Scream it to the masses."

When she walked out, he closed his eyes, tugging at the weak strands of their bond. He struggled to find the strands over the miles that separated them, but eventually he mustered enough strength to call out:

I don't know where I am, but I know it's somewhere deep underground...somewhere. Find me, baby. Please.

When the medic mentioned a dunk in the kolto tank, Aria’s eyes rolled up towards the ceiling and she gave an exasperated groan. “Is this really necessary…? I hate kolto tanks-” she tried to protest (Something about ‘spent months in one the last time and never got the taste out of my mouth’ though the redhead Knight took no notice of it as such), Kira was already pulling her towards the changing room before she could say much else in protest and she hardly had the strength left to put up much of a fight in the first place. Despite her grumblings, once she’d sunk down into the kolto it did seem to ease the ache a little. Thankfully with only her ribs damaged she could get away with simply submerging her torso into the tank and leaving most of her upper body out of the kolto by clinging onto the side. Aria was surprised to hear Kira voice her exact thoughts, silent for a moment as she recounted her time apart from Voldon when the Battlemaster had been away fighting the Emperor. For a moment she was silent, blinking until she finally found the words.
“I had no idea…” at that moment the man in question entered the room as well, prompting her attention as she answered his question:
“I can still feel him, yeah. Cause of the Force bond or...whatever it's called. I tried calling out to him but he isn't answering me right now...” the words stuck in her throat like chunks of rotten meat. “I think...he's just unconscious. I-I like to think...and...and hope that it'd feel different if he was dead.”
With a nod and a few words of encouragement, the couple left her in the medbay which prompted Aria to let go of the side of the tank and let herself float lazily for a while so she could rest and recover her strength. She had tried to reach out to her partner again a few times during her talk with Kira and been met with the same dead end, but was jolted from her partially-sleeping state when she suddenly felt his mind fumbling for the threads between their consciousness. At first, she thought she had been imagining it until his voice spoke too:
I don't know where I am...find me, baby. Please.
Bol?! I'm here! We’ll find you, babe, I promise. Hang in there. You don't...there's nothing around you? She prompted, desperate to find something that they could work on. Nothing you can hear or...or smell?
He was still very disoriented and barely able to maintain their link, thus not able to tell her much but Aria did her best to reassure him that they were on their way to find him no matter what it took. Now that she knew he was DEFINITELY alive, Aria didn't want to let him go at all. But she had to, if they were going to figure out where he had been taken. Underground. That was something, right? She wished she could have hugged him, or provided some better form of comfort than just words.
We'll find you. She repeated, pausing for a moment before she quickly added before he withdrew again. Hey, I love you, and I'm coming to get you. Soon.

Pedia returned to give her a quick check over about forty five minutes later, giving her approval to leave the medbay under caution that she was to take the medication “EXACTLY as instructed!”; Aria waved the medic off with a distracted promise, unable to clamber out of the tank and get redressed in her usual attire fast enough. Should have been resting, she knew that. But she had to tell them. They had to get to him, and fast. She’d never heard him sound so broken and desperate, and it HURT to hear the defeat in his voice. They had to get to him before they broke him so badly that he gave up. She didn’t know what she would do if that happened…
Doorway after doorway flew past her as she searched the complex for Voldon or Kira, not even stopping as she heard a few startled exclamations of her name from Cheriss and Ailel as she stuck her head through to find neither of the other two Council members with them. After passing a few more rooms, she finally located Voldon again, Cheriss and Ailel in tow as they tried to get her to sit down.
“Not now, not now!” she waved the other two Masters away frantically. “I got through to him! He said...he said he was underground somewhere. He wasn’t sure where but definitely underground!”
“Underground?” Cheriss frowned as she took Aria by the arm firmly and guided her into a chair at the side of the room. Aria nodded again in confirmation, prompting Ailel to ask whether Aria thought she might be able to reach Yerbol again and get some more information from him. She wasn’t sure, but it was worth a try. Or perhaps, Cheriss suggested at length, if they meditated together Aria could attempt to transfer some of the images she had gotten from Yerbol to them so they could try and help her figure out where the other Champion had been taken.
“If it was underground...it narrows down our options a bit.” Ailel pointed out as they settled down in a group, Cheriss insisting that Aria remained where she was in the chair so as not to aggravate her newly healed ribs. With a half hearted smirk, the Champion complied, frowning in concentration.
“What do you mean...narrows down options?”
“Well, there aren’t as many worlds with an underground network.” Ailel clarified. “And assuming it isn’t still Nar Shaddaa…”
“That would be too easy. I doubt they’d stay on a world where they know we think they are.”
“Exactly. So if we eliminate Nar Shaddaa that leaves Taris, Coruscant, possibly somewhere underneath the palace on Alderaan.”
“....It sounds busy, too busy for Alderaan.” Cheriss interjected as Aria managed to recall a somewhat fuzzy image of the surroundings Yerbol had projected to her when he’d synched up their bond again for that brief moment of time.
Ailel frowned as she listened more closely as well, nodding slowly. “Possibly even too much foot traffic for Taris.”
“Yerbol would have known it if it was Taris.” Aria interrupted quickly, fighting to keep her heart from hammering so fast. “His parents live there, we were there not too long ago. Even if he’s underground he’d recognise some of the sounds or...or something.”
“That’s a very bold assumption to make, Aria.” Cheriss pointed out carefully.
“We don’t have time to check everywhere, he needs our help NOW!”
“Don’t get yourself all upset, now, look...why don’t we send some of the Alliance crews to investigate Taris and Nar Shaddaa again and we can check Coruscant?” the Dathomirian suggested, somehow trying to take a tactical approach while at the same time being mindful of the urgency Aria kept insisting upon. Even if none of them fully understood the origins or the purpose of the Force bond that existed between the two Champions, Aria had come to trust it as a reliable source of information. The Masters, while still skeptical, could hardly argue with a potential lead when they had so little to go on already and the possibility of time running out for Yerbol sooner rather than later…
“PLEASE Cheriss, I don’t care if it’s a dead end. I’ve got to go and look for him. If something happens to him I…” Aria couldn’t even bear to think of the awful things the Xiis might be doing to them, or what she might do if she lost him.

"You're right, Cheriss. Searches on multiple fronts would be the best option. I have a feeling that if the Xiis did appear on Coruscant, someone would've caught onto their scent. It would be difficult to miss them by the description you provided. Alderaan too would be a difficult to place to hide, but Taris..." He grunted disapprovingly at the lack of solid evidence they had.
"Alliance troops won't be able to hold their own against the Xiis without our help. I say that three on the Council should go, one to each planet. With Matt training the younglings and new Knights plus the recovering Masters Malu was able to salvage, we can accompany the Alliance squadrons. I'll inform Saresh about our plans."

The now expanded hangar was on high alert, mechanics, pilots and technicians scurrying between shuttles and fighters in order to comply with the issued commands by Elara. Entering the hangar were Aliel, Cheriss and Voldon, each having already decided on where to go after discussion with Saresh. The Chancellor promised she would send whatever soldiers she could, although she warned of civil unrest in the underbelly of Coruscant that popped up very recently, reports of street gangs consolidating and forming into larger syndicates for an unknown cause. Being the most seasoned on the battlefield, Voldon nominated himself to go to Coruscant. He had to justify his position to his fellow Elders, but eventually they acquiesced and headed towards Taris and Alderaan. He insisted Aria come with him as well, for "back up" he said. The former Battlemaster would follow up on his insistence on bringing Aria with him on the shuttle ride there, telling her:
"I think he's on Coruscant." When she asked how he knew, a half-smile formed on his face.
"Call it a gut feeling, a premonition of the Force or what have you, but I just...know." He shifted in his seat uncomfortably after the statement.
"I prefer to deal with concrete facts, but the Force works however it will. We must learn to conform to that. A lesson that I must continue to learn." They could hear Junoco snoring in the back of the shuttle, prompting an eyeroll from Voldon. The smuggler had also implored them to take him to Coruscant and "let him find his own way", but with a little cajoling, he was convinced to help them navigate the sprawling network of Coruscant's infrastructure in exchange for a hefty sum of credits and certain crimes expunged from his record. Voldon only hoped that the smuggler could be faithful to their agreement.

_____

"They're gonna slaughter ALL of us!" The Nikto slammed a fist on the counter for emphasis, two Twi'lek behind the bar nodding in approval.
"Better believe it." The female Twi'lek spoke, her lekku twitching in agitation as she looked at the array of furniture stacked against the entrance of their once hidden safehouse.
"You hear from the Marauders?"
"All gone. Nuie, Kew, Latana...murdered in the street."
"Shades?"
"Zun went underground when the blue guys crashed his human trafficking ring. Told him he was stupid for leaning on that operation for all his cashflow." The Nikto groaned, placing his head on the counter momentarily.
"So we're the only ones left?"
"Pretty much!" The male Twi'lek said with a sadistic smile.
"BUT, the Justicars. Those guys are still around. Actually put out a bounty on the blue girl." The trio shuddered.
"You see her?" The Nikto asked.
"No...but the holos say it all, right?" Muffled screams came from beyond the door, some of the furniture in the makeshift barricade rustling as the fortified door was dented.
"Get to the sewer hatch!" The furniture scattered in several directions, door flying inward as agile blue forms flitted into the safehouse, cackling as they bounded onto the fleeing thugs, howls of agony floating into the mostly deserted streets. Illesia surveyed the bloody mess with an approving glance as she asked one of the stouter males:
"This is the location you were given?"
"Yes. Here." She patted him on the cheek.
"Excellent." Strolling past her underlings and the gore, she ripped the doors off of two standing lockers.
"Bring her to me." A Xiis came from outside, dragging a female Zabrak to Illesia's feet, the former's mouth bleeding from a very recent blow.
"Can you talk?" The Zabrak looked away, prompting Illesia's right knee to jam into her chin, tears and blood flinging into the air before illesia grabbed the woman's cheeks.
"Do you wish to now?" She nodded slightly.
"Good. See there? Can you use them?"
"Y..e..ssss.." She coughed up a clot of blood.
"Take them and follow these two to where these need to be placed. If you deviate from their company, I'll have them rip your eyes out and feed them to you. A fair proposition, no?" She giggled innocently as the Zabrak was dragged away, Illesia clenching her hands into fists, savoring her newly infused power.
"Ohhh Yerbol. Thank you, my love. Thank you."

_____

"It's our worst nightmare realized...basically." Coruscant Security chief Listra sardonically quipped, pointing at the holographic projection of Coruscant's massive undercity.
"See all the pinpoints? Those are REPORTED gunfights by our people. Civvys are calling in by the second for help and trying to give us even more reports of straight up genocide." There were a massive amount of small specks clustered around various points in the undercity.
"Have your people reported what they're seeing?"
"Other than 'the blue guys'? No. They have mentioned groups consisting of gang members from a number of rival factions fighting off 'blue guys' AND them, which is an interesting development. We've also heard loose reports from civilians about tremors, which of course is strange, because the last time I checked, Coruscant doesn't get earthquakes." Voldon looked at the map for a moment before telling the Security chief:
"Have your men retreat. We'll head in without support."
"You're serious?"
"A large squadron of soldiers would draw too much attention. If we find ourselves in trouble, we'll call in for reinforcements."
"Your funeral."

Before very long, Aria had bundled into a shuttle to accompany Voldon to Coruscant (Chwuq and Taral faithfully in tow, of course….she wasn’t going to make the mistake of leaving them behind again. Their keener senses would hopefully stop any Xiis catching them off guard again once they hit the ground). She wasn't sure if Voldon’s reassurance that he was sure Yerbol was present on the capital world was a comfort to her or not. Since he had spoken to her when she had been in the medbay, Aria had been unable to contact Yerbol directly again. Their bond was more accessible, and as they touched down on Coruscant she found that it was a lot less difficult to find and connect to. He really could be here.
She backed up Voldon’s insistence on he and Aria venturing further in without the assistance of a military squad. It would tip the Xiis off to their approach much too easily. Besides, they could handle this...or, that’s what she kept telling herself. She hoped when it came down to it, she would have the resolve to REALLY do whatever it took in order to get Yerbol back. Junoco accompanied them momentarily, in order to hack into a locked-down computer terminal and transfer a map of the undercity (which was surprisingly well hidden, though easily accessible for someone of the smuggler’s skill set) to both of their datapads. His help had been well worth the removal of the petty crimes from his record, Aria thought, after Junoco escorted them down to the former territory of the Justicar gang, which he insisted provided the best route down into the area below the planet’s “ground level”, and then bid them farewell (but not without urging that “his help was only a holocall away, should they ever need it again”).

Aria noted the streets had begun to look not too dissimilar to those on Nar Shaddaa...at least that meant they were on the right track. The Tuk’ata slunk off to scout ahead, Aria turning towards Voldon to voice the thoughts she had been turning over in her mind on the trip over there. The Champion sighed heavily, her teeth scraping her bottom lip. She wasn’t sure he wasn’t going to like what she had to say:
“We’re going to have to kill them. The Xiis.” before he could interrupt, she held up a hand to quiet him and continued. “And this isn’t just because this is personal now, it’s not because of Yerbol or because I’m not thinking clearly, so please don’t try to give me that as an argument, Master Naylon. This is about what Renso told us...showed us, about the Xiis. What I’VE seen. The only way I can see us being able to stop them is if we kill them. They’re not like us, they don’t HAVE a moral compass or a sense of right and wrong, they can’t be reasoned with. All they want to do is kill and destroy, everything in their path. And I know violence shouldn’t be the first solution we go to, but I just….don’t see any other way for this to work out. If we DON’T kill them they’re just going to get stronger.” she turned to face the approaching tomb beasts as they trotted back, tails held tentatively aloft although the spiny crests that ran along their backs and shoulders rattled loudly to betray their unease. Dropping to one knee, Aria scratched both under their chins gently, in the place they both liked, murmuring.
“Can you smell him? Feel him, too? Is he here?”
Two pairs of crimson eyes stared back at her, white teeth (after MANY rounds of brushing over the months they had spent on Taris!) glinting back at her for a moment as the Tuk’ata chuffed softly back at her. Noses twitched as they trotted a few paces ahead and snuffled about the ground and the various corpses, looking for a trail. Aria straightened, turning back to Voldon now that he had some time to digest the point she had put forward. “Of course, if...if you still think there’s a better way to go about it, you’re far more experienced than I am.” a wry smile painted her features, stretched thin from worry. “But that’s just what I think, and I’d be lying if I said I wouldn’t get any satisfaction out of it.” She knew she should know better, but she couldn’t help it.

“Uff! Uff!” Aria’s head jerked sideways to find Taral staring back at them, jerking his head towards an access port. Scraping sounds could be heard from inside, had Chwuq gone in already, or was something else already in there? Her hand closed around a lightsaber hilt, nodding towards Voldon as both Force users cautiously approached.
“UFF!” Taral grunted again, tail swishing once before it settled parallel with the ground again, ears and muzzle twitching to point towards the opening.
This way. Smells go this way.
She wasn’t even sure how she had started learning to understand what they said when they didn’t have the words in Basic, perhaps they were repressed memories from when she had been younger...Roan had tried to teach her, once. Or perhaps the defeated Sith Lord was somehow still imparting his knowledge of the Tuk’ata’s body language and vocalizations to her. Could he be watching over them right now?
Yerbol HAD said he was underground…Out loud, she responded to Taral:
“Alright, if you’re sure. Where’s Chwuq?” A soft bark behind her sounded familiar, the second hound looping back to join her mate when she realised he had stopped. Still gripping her saber, Aria used Taral’s shoulder as a stepping platform to help her up and into the access port, shuffling forward an inch or so before she tried to turn around to check on the others behind her.
“Hrrrmph!” a loud exhale, followed by an uneasy growl, and Taral nudged her thigh with his nose. He was small enough to fit, barely, as the open space drastically decreased only a few feet into the opening. If Aria moved mere inches further in, her own head would brush the ceiling.
“Bit of a tight squeeze…” she squinted ahead into the gloom, hoping it would be like the sewer ruins, “Should open up further down though, and let us stand up again.” It had to, right? If the Xiis were down here, and holding Yerbol captive.
Voldon managed to cram himself in as well, with Chwuq close behind him, and with careful trepidation they inched further in.

Thankfully, it did open out a lot more. At least enough that she and Voldon could stop and sit mostly upright (the Battlemaster was considerably taller than she was, and had to duck down a little to avoid hitting his head). The musty smell of damp earth wafted through their surroundings, the occasional “drip” of a droplet falling from the ceiling or the scuffle of movement somewhere further below permeating the silence.
“It FEELS like we’re in the right place.” Aria whispered to the Battlemaster. “He said it was underground, and it smelled earthy. I could smell what he was smelling, just barely.” she patted the Tuk’ata’s flanks. “Besides, their noses are better than ours and if they think they can smell something...they’re usually right.”
Bol, can you hear me? Or...or sense us? Nothing. We’re coming. Me, Voldon and the dogs. They found a tunnel, we’re coming to get you.
Please, let this be the right one… she was pleading, hoping for some kind of sign that they were on the right track before they went any further down...

Something was prodding at his temples, a soft reminder that he was still alive after Illesia had finished with him. His wrists, trembling with weakness, attempted to separate the bronze shackles, but to no avail. The prodding continued, Yerbol groaning in a vain attempt to make the annoyance cease. He wanted nothing more than to allow the comfortable darkness to envelop him. The pain was non-existent there.

They found a tunnel, we’re coming to get you.

They? Who? The sentence sounded like it belonged in a context, but the latter wasn't there. He knew that voice though. It was the only thing that kept him from breaking entirely. A reminder of what he wanted to keep living for, even when he told her what that malignant witch had done to him. He didn't know if she would forgive him for the weakness. The darkness forgave everything. Welcomed him. She'd be better off without him. Without him. Yes. It made sense. He closed his eyes once more, sighing contently as he slipped into the velvet-smooth blackness.

Yes. Without him.

___

"Have to be in an access tunnel of some kind. Probably to a drainage system or monitoring system." He then added rather flatly:
"I spent a lot of time in underbellies. And don't ask me to elaborate." Voldon looked down at the Tuk'ata, who were smelling every square inch of the square shaped area they were in. While the small grate had gotten them to this wider opening, there didn't look like there was any other promising way to go other than forward into an even smaller passage. Aria didn't look she would fit, which meant that neither he nor the Tuk'ata had a chance. To their left and right were solid walls, the former being the direction he chose. Placing a hand on the wall, he channeled a small amount of Force energy, prompting the once solid wall to bend backwards, stones dislodging from a few points to reveal dim rays of light that looked like glowing beacons in comparison to the darkness that they were wading through.

Ah.

"Hold on." The former Battlemaster gently brushed the beasts aside, their tails swishing rapidly in anticipation of finding the other part of their pack.
"Be ready. Don't know if there are any traps the Xiis might have planted." The wall that once stood in their way was, within a few moments, a pile of fallen stones. Stepping over the remains granted the party access to a more illuminated hallway that was about as wide as the square area they were in before. There was an iron door at the end of the hallway, which branched left and right. Above them was grating that served as a walkway above them.
"Must be how they're navigating through the undercity." Voldon mused as they approached the door, dodging viscous fluid dripping lazily from the grating above. One of the hounds suddenly lifted his(or her? He couldn't tell with these two) head into the air, sniffing intently before emitting an excited yelp, sprinting forward with their packmate towards the door at the end of the hall, clawing at it before one decided to headbutt the door, leaving a massive dent.
"Save your strength." Voldon patted the head of the more zealous one before using the same destructive process that he used on the wall, except instead of disassembling the metal, it fell forward, creaking in protest. After dodging the door, the Tuk'ata bounded inside and nudged the lifeless form strapped to a wooden chair, blood staining the metal floor. Years of seeing men and women in similar situations conditioned Voldon for Yerbol's state, but he wasn't sure Aria would have the same cool-headedness. Quickly turning, he grabbed Aria by both shoulders firmly.
"Let me treat him first. I can hopefully get him to his feet and we can patch him up on the way there. Search for an exit and get back here as soon as you do." As he let go, he added firmly:
"And that wasn't a request."

"No..."
"Come on, Yerbol, fight it."
"No..I can't...'
"Knock it off. I can't have one of the first Champions get beat. Not like this." When Yerbol hesitantly opened his eyes, he saw Voldon seated across from him, legs folded, hands clasped together in a meditative position. There was a green aura permeating the room, surrounding the younger Force user. He felt...better. Not healed. But better.
"How...how..."
"Keep quiet. You need your strength." Yerbol groggily watched Voldon rise, standing next to him as he helped him out. A shriek of agony came as Yerbol could feel the immense pain in his seemingly broken body.
"You've probably got multiple broken ribs, broken ankle...not to mention multiple lacerations, bruising and probably internal bleeding from the looks of the purple spots on your abdomen." Voldon shot him a teasing glance.
"I've seen worse."
"Shut...shut up..." The Elder chuckled as he brought Yerbol into the hallway.
"Ari..."
"She's here, son. Just give it a couple of minutes."

It took them moments after Voldon had collapsed the wall in their path, to find the other door, Chwuq yelping frantically as she charged straight for it and tried to knock it down with her sheer strength. A Tuk’ata-shaped dent was all that was left to show for it, the female hound staggering backwards in an almost drunken fashion as she gave a disoriented grunt-whine.
He’s here! He’s here! This door! Apparently her disorientation didn’t last long, because as soon as the door caved in she and Taral leapt past Voldon and sprinted into the room, yelping and whimpering anxiously as they presumably ran straight towards Yerbol. Aria couldn’t see, of course, as most of Voldon’s form blocked her view further into the room. The Battlemaster turned suddenly and grabbed her by the shoulders, which startled Aria somewhat, and demanded firmly that she find them a way out of there.
“N-No...No, I want to see him first!” she tried to protest, though Voldon gave her a stony look and muttered.
“That wasn’t a request.”
Ordinarily, she would have pushed right past him and ignored his instructions. But this was Voldon, the Battlemaster never asked for anything without good reason and she had learnt to trust him. Swallowing the lump in her throat, she nodded and turned away at a brisk run down one of the branching hallways to look for a way back up. They’d come down in an access shaft, there had to be others besides that one. Or a maintenance lift of some kind, that would be even better. From what she could feel through their link, Yerbol wasn’t at his strongest, it might be asking a lot from him to expect him to climb through such a narrow space.
Had to be something somewhere....her senses were on high alert for any sign or sound of movement. There could still be traps, but nothing so far. Just the drip, drip, drip of water off the tunnel ceiling. She nearly ran headlong into the control panel as she rounded the corner, the breath rushing from her lungs as her torso connected with the big square panel jutting out of the floor. Her feet slipped on the puddles that had begun to pool from the leaks in the ceiling, but by dropping her sabers back to her belt she managed to grab onto the panel and steady herself. Looking at it more closely, she would discover it contained a grimy switch that seemed to be marked for “UP” and “DOWN” (from the arrows pointing in such directions); on a hunch she flicked it towards the down-pointing arrow and with a shuddering groan the elevator lurched to a stop and opened out in front of her. If her hunch was correct, this would get them back to the surface, it didn’t look as if the Xiis had even touched it, much less tampered with it, since they had arrived on Coruscant.

She had been halfway down the hallway to rejoin Voldon when she heard him scream. Her heart leapt straight into her mouth, adrenaline rushing through her system as she sprinted towards the sound, stopping abruptly as Voldon came back into view, a familiar if badly bruised and battered figure half hunched over beside him. She had wanted to run straight over, throw her arms around him and never let him go ever again, but abruptly stopped herself as she took in the state of his injuries.
“F-Found a maintenance elevator...be easier to get back up that way, less climbing.” she choked out in Voldon’s direction, her tongue sticking to the roof of her mouth momentarily as she inched carefully closer to him. The two Tuk’ata whined, also keeping their distance as they seemed to understand or sense Yerbol’s fragile state. Hesitantly, she reached out towards him, but recoiled as he flinched away before she had even touched him.
“Shhh, it’s me.” she murmured soothingly, standing as still as she could manage. Tears burned in her eyes as she tried to keep her voice steady, mindful of her earlier talk with Kira. Had to keep it together, for him, to keep him together. “It’s me, baby...I’m here, you’re safe now. They’re not gonna touch you again.”

Yerbol took a sideward glance at his lover and managed to form a smile, bloodshot eyes widening a bit.
"Not...with y..ou..around...they...won..'t.."
"You found an exit point, yes? Then we move." With Aria in the lead, they made their way to the elevator and found themselves in another sector of the undercity, the familiar sight of smokestacks and run down tenements giving Voldon some comfort in knowing they weren't too far off from getting Yerbol to a med bay.
"Keep in front and make sure the hounds stay at the rear...unless you want to lug him around yourself."

Their trek was far too quiet, an eerie silence threatening to break at any moment with hostility. There were groans from the creaky foundations of building, the occasional group of homeless or other unsavory characters that were hurrying from one alleyway to the next, casting glances mixed with curiosity and fear at the party before ducking out of view. Thankfully there were street lamps that illuminated the walkways they followed, Voldon occasionally stopping not only to have Yerbol rest, but to check his nav unit and ensure they were on the right path. A couple of times the Elder thought he heard a howl or a scream in the distance, but dismissed the noises as part of the already seedy underbelly of the capital world. Near the end of their journey, they arrived at a sloping ramp that led down towards an elevated walkway that curved east towards the security office. From their vantage point, they were able to see the chaos that was currently unfolding on the walkway.
"Bloody thugs." Security personnel at the entrance to the undercity were hiding behind cover, popping out to deliver blaster fire to a group of thugs on the side of the walkway closest to the party of Force users.
"Taking advantage of the ch-" The street lamp bulbs fizzled and popped, the entire undercity consumed in a disconcerting darkness. Thankfully a couple of moments later, the bulbs came back on, but at extremely lower brightness than before, a dull, hazy orange glow serving as the only illumination. Voldon could feel a rippling in the Force, like someone had a thrown a meteor in a lake and they were beginning to feel the effects. Before Voldon attempted to give orders, the walkways shuddered and rocked, smoke billowing from underneath them. Acrid scents wafted around them, intermingling with the blood and refuse that were already present, creating an atmosphere Voldon was all too familiar with.
"Aria, clear a path for us! I'll do what I can to shield you, but take those thugs out, NOW! Get those hounds out in front as well!" With his free hand, Voldon gestured upwards, bringing a light blue sphere into existence that took shape around them.
"Move in sync with the shield!" He barked as he plodded down the ramp, teeth clenched as his physical strength began to wane from carrying Yerbol so great a distance. They would have to carve the thugs up as quickly as possible. There was no other option.

___

"What on Ryloth's name is going on?!" Saresh stormed out of her pitch black office, emergency lighting casting a red glow on the reception area located just outside where she had been working a couple of seconds ago. Two aides burst into the room, one of them blurting out:
"The undercity just lost ninety percent of it's primary power!" The other aide added:
"The upper city lost sixty percent and-"
"Get General Laer and Major Zem in the war room NOW!" A massive Zabrack pushed aside the aides, unbuttoning the top collar of his Republic uniform as he told the Chancellor:
"We're already on it. Security personnel are being sent to the undercity and additional troopers are being called in from barracks planetside to patrol both upper and lower cities."
"Laer, what-"
"I don't know, Tyne, but we're going to find out." Saresh gave a confident nod before responding:
"Then assemble the Cabinet together in the war room."

___

"This is it." Jarrick stepped away from the access tunnel, gesturing to it dramatically with a relieved smile cast in his employer's direction.
"And this will grant us access to this 'tower'?"
"Absolutely. With all the transitions in power, these tunnels got forgotten about. It'll lead you into the maintenance rooms, which are only a couple of flights of stairs up to the main hall. We've tried getting up there ourselves, but ah...well, you don't care, do you?"
"Correct. But I am veerryy grateful for your help." Illesia calmly placed a hand on Jarrick's cheek.
"And I always show my appreciation." She sunk her fingernails into Jarrick's cheek, his eyes rolling back into his head as Illesia took her other hand and jammed her talons into his chest, breathing in deeply before exhaling, dropping the body to the ground as she wiped the residue on her black leggings.
"That will never grow old." She giggled innocently, looking to her compatriots, who were grinning with malevolent intent.
"Come. Power awaits."

Aria didn't like the silence. Not at all. It was too...foreboding. The intermittent sounds of blaster fire as they approached the walkway leading back into more civilised population was all too noticeable. The Champion frowned at the group of thugs, stepping forward in front of Yerbol as the lights all went out, the walkway pitched and rolled violently. Only the safety railing and a firm shove from Taral as she teetered towards him kept Aria from falling over the edge. Blinking, she beckoned the Sith hounds forward with a jerk of her chin towards the group of thugs who still didn't seem to have noticed them. Both were reluctant to leave their stations protecting Yerbol, but with complacent grunt-whines, obeyed as the group moved forward, keeping the shimmering blue outline of Voldon's shield just ahead of them.
The Tuk'ata fell on the thugs in seconds, teeth and claws shredding through any being that got within their range. Any that escaped the flurry from the beasts were swiftly sliced down by Aria's lightsabers. They made it to the other side of the walkway in a matter of minutes, the stunned security officers rising from their cover to give the disheveled Qyaari a respectful salute.
“Much appreciated, ma'am and er…” The middle-aged lieutenant in charge eyed the Tuk'ata with some trepidation, though the beasts paid him no mind and dropped back once more to snuffle at Yerbol in concern.
“Don't worry about them.” Aria reassured him with a tight-lipped smile. “But if it's not too much trouble, could you point us to the nearest medbay? My partner’s hurt.” she didn't have to gesture at Yerbol twice for the man to nod and hastily give them directions.

Next block down and on the right. It seemed so much further and by the time they glimpsed the white washed walls that were common for medcenters all over the galaxy, Aria was concerned that both Voldon and Yerbol might pass out. Yerbol from his injuries and the Elder from the sheer amount of power he expended in order to keep the other Champion on his feet. Gingerly taking hold of him by the wrist, it was difficult to find a way to place her hand that didn't brush over one of the many bruises or open wounds that covered his body, Aria guided Yerbol to lie down on one of the gurneys and tried not to cringe every time he flinched when she touched him. Voldon all but collapsed beside him, Aria turning as she heard Chwuq growl softly.

“Hey! You can't bring those mutts in here!” shouted a man's voice, its owner stepping out of the office the two tomb beasts were facing and striding quickly towards them. Chwuq and Taral snarled again and loped forward to intercept, only to scatter with startled yelps as a second person flew through the office doorway, some kind of staff in hand, and gave both hounds a sharp clout to the muzzle. The stench of singed fur wafted back towards the trio, the hounds whining pitifully as they glared daggers at the woman who had struck them and tried to slink back to join Aria again.
Purple electricity crackled along the length of the staff that she grasped in both hands, bright violet eyes narrowed to slits as she hissed at the dogs:
“You want another?! Any of you run at him again and I'll bash your skulls in!” of course, neither Yerbol nor Voldon were in the position to be making any sort of aggressive advances.

Perhaps what was most disconcerting was that Aria could hardly tell the two newcomers apart. Both had the same chalk white hair and skin, the same violet eyes framed by sharp, angular cheekbones, and they were nearly the same height, maybe five foot five or so....the only difference being that the woman (or so Aria guessed from the tone of her voice) had her hair hanging down around her shoulders and was dressed in silver and white robes, while the man's hair was slicked back from his face in a small, neat ponytail at the back of his head and he was dressed in the classic medic scrubs, a doctor’s symbol above his heart on the pale green jerkin.

Aria almost sighed out loud in relief. A doctor. If only she could persuade them they were friendly….
Dropping her sabers back to her belt, Aria took a step forward and had to leap sideways to dodge the end of the electrostaff that swung right for her head.
“I said stay back, or I promise you I'll knock your bloody block off!”
The Tuk'ata gave angry barks and lunged for the woman, only to be sent flying back into the gurney with another hefty whack from the staff.
“They're not dangerous, and neither are we.”
“THEY WERE GOING TO TEAR HIS THROAT OUT HOW IS THAT NOT BLOODY DANGEROUS?!”
Undeterred, Aria ignored her threats and stepped carefully forward again, hands held outward. She peered past her at the man, who seemed a bit more amicable than his companion.
“They're just protecting us!” the Champion placated, dodging another swing. “Please! You're a doctor? We need help, my partner’s very hurt!”

“Grrr.” the Tuk'ata slunk back up beside her, eyeing the pair of newcomers warily as the man stepped forward, placing a firm hand on the woman's shoulder and forcing her to lower her weapon.
“Yes, I can see that.” His voice was far less threatening, she felt a lot more hopeful as he moved carefully closer, his gaze darting to Chwuq and Taral.
“Let him through, guys.” Aria ordered, the beasts complying with confused grunts. The medic moved past them to examine Yerbol, pulling a scanner from the bag at his waist and pointing it at the Champion as he ‘tsk’d softly in concern and shook his head.
“Let me guess, you ran into the Chiss-looking guys down there?”
“Yeah.” Aria croaked, warily keeping watch on the woman from the corner of her eye. She didn't move, watching the medic work in stony silence. “Can you help him?”
“It's bad.” the medic whistled, plucking out a bottle and a syringe with a needle attached as he drew up some fluid, which was then injected into Yerbol's arm (painkiller, he explained when Aria questioned what the liquid was). “All his ribs are cracked and he's got a lot of internal hemorrhaging; hell...I'm surprised you got him all the way over here.”
Voldon snorted, prompting Aria to shoot him a thin, but grateful smile as she proclaimed.
“The Force can be very helpful.”
“Well, a soak in the bacta tank is definitely in order...if you and your Force can get him that far.”
“They might bring them here you know.” the woman spoke up. “The Chiss things. You're going to get us both killed one of these days, helping everybody who looks sad enough the way you do.”
The man rolled his eyes and beckoned for Aria to help Yerbol across the room to the tanks, admonishing his sibling:
“Oh don't be ridiculous! If they wanted to kill us they would have done it already. Don't you see they're all carrying lightsabers?” as Aria gently coaxed her lover back to his feet and supported him on the way to the bacta tank, he added with a reassuring and calm smile:
“The name's Denali, take no notice of my sister Rhine...she's all bark and no bite.”
“Aria. This is Yerbol, and Voldon. And the dogs are Chwuq and Taral.” she introduced their battered party as they helped Yerbol up and into the healing tank between them.
“Well, welcome to the hell formerly known as Coruscant.” Denali chuckled dryly, Rhine adding on as the Tuk'ata warily approached in order to keep close to their pack members.
“Although from the looks of you all, you've been there and back already.”

"And you live as if hell were continually at your doorstep." Voldon shot back with a half teasing smile at the on edge Twi'lek.
"Which is a good mentality to have when your planet is under siege." The Elder rose from the bed and onto his feet, joints popping as he rolled his shoulders and kicked his legs out.
"Age." He mumbled bitterly before he walked to Yerbol's side, the younger Force user's eyes closed, his chest rising and falling far too slowly for his liking. Then again, he was alive. That was a victory.
"Ari, come." He brought her to the entrance of the med bay, looking out at the crimson emergency lit hallway before telling her:
"I'm going ahead to the Senate tower. I have a feeling that they'll need all the help they can get. Stay with Yerbol until he gets better and then join me at the soonest possible moment. Send any Alliance forces that pass by to the undercity. I'm sure that the security chief could use all the help they can get." As his left foot exited the medbay, he swiveled around to ask:
"The hacker, Junoco. Give me his contact information. His offer for assistance might be called in." After receiving the information necessary, he nodded a goodbye before stalking back into the darkness, which was punctuated every so often by a distant shout or the firing of a blaster rifle. Two Alliance battalions passed by the med by, one leaving a couple of soldiers behind to guard the place out of both concern for the citizenry and preserving a place to help nurse their own back to health if needed. Other than those two squadrons, however, there was no other activity, leaving a chilling, empty silence to sink into the bones of those who were wrapped in it. Conversation was sparse for a while, but about forty minutes after Voldon's departure, Yerbol's eyes opened.
"Where..." A Twi'lek came to his side and cautioned him to not move too quickly nor expend energy until the bacta had "taken full effect". Upon looking down at his slightly mended body, fragments of recent events floated through his mind. Her torture, the way she dug her fingernails into his back every time she took a small piece of him, the rescue, Ari...
"Ari?" He called for her, taking her hand in his own as he looked into her dark eyes with momentous relief, his own icy blue irises returned to their normal, healthy state.
"How long has it been? I mean since they took me." When he was informed that it had only been a couple of days at most, he chuckled, then promptly winced at the pain that shot through his abdomen and up his ribcage.
"It felt like time had just forgotten about me. Years could've passed and I wouldn't have even noticed." Cautiously he sat up even further in the tank, still holding onto Aria's hand firmly.
"Illesia has that effect on people." He grimaced, gripping her hand even tighter as he brought it up to his lips, kissing it gently before releasing.
"She wanted me to forget about who I was and wholly give everything to her. I kept refusing, so she kept digging." He motioned to the wounds on his back and chest.
"She can...take your very essence from you." He shook his head and rephrased:
"Remember how Renso talked to us about the Force? How it can be manipulated, even taken from other people? I think he knew that from his experiments on the Xiis. All that talk about consumption and devouring and power...Illesia embodies that. That's why the other Xiis follow her. I think. Because the other Xiis don't seem to..." A sudden wave of light-headedness prompted him to lay back, but he continued to speak:
"can't use the Force. She can, though, Ari. To the point where she can just suck the living energies out of a person. If she keeps up at her current rate, she could become more powerful than the Elders, more powerful than even Renso or your father or...well, maybe even Revan himself." Yerbol attempted to leave the tank, but was shooed back in by those who surrounded him.
"No, don't you get it?! She's out there RIGHT NOW and without us fighting her she's going to slaughter this world without a second thought! I NEED to get out there, I NEED to-" Another bout of light-headedness and he was back to almost prone.
"I can't...can't let her..." His eyes closed once more, slipping into a needed sleep that according to Denali he needed to at least function in the capacity necessary for their occupation. Pushing him any further would only be a risk, the doctor proclaimed.

___

"This isn't good." Junoco ran a shaky hand through his mussed ash brown hair before typing furiously on the datapad he had brought, Voldon slicing another thug to pieces at the entrance of the tower before responding peevishly:
"What?!"
"Security protocols on the Senate defense systems are out."
"HOW?"
"I don't know, I don't know! It's going to take me a bit of time to restore turret control, so give me a bloody second or two!"
"You've got sixty." Voldon spat a stream of blood onto the ground before wiping his mouth from the solid blow to the face he had received from one of the grunts that had decided to storm the Senate tower. The Xiis were indeed a problem, but another had spawned from their inflicted chaos: street gangs that once were rivals bonding together to overtake a fragile government. It was bound to happen sooner or later, but for it to occur now was...unfortunate timing. Thankfully Voldon had retrieved Junoco and gotten him to the Senate tower just in time to help Alliance forces repel a host of gang members that were unloading military grade firepower on the defenseless symbol of their new government. While this first wave was gone, there were small shuttles dropping even more thugs at the opposite end of the walkway that connected the tower to the spaceport.
"HURRY UP."
"Not helping! Not helping!" Junoco frantically hammered away for another few seconds before throwing his hands up into the air, datapad nearly crashing to the ground.
"HA! HA!" Whirring and clicking could be heard from beneath the entrance, six mechanized laser turrets popping up to deliver suppressing fire against the incoming vagrants.
"Droids are coming up next!" He shouted gleefully as the surviving Alliance troops fell back inside.
"Seal the entrance."
"Already on it!" Junoco complied with Voldon's command, heavy metal shutters slamming into place.
"Good. Sergeant, can you make do with guarding the entrance?" A red headed man no more than the age of twenty six nodded, smiling in relief.
"Excellent. This should be over soon." Voldon withdrew his comm unit and rang for Aria, telling the Champion:
"You two need to get to the tower now. Junoco is sending you coordinates to a network of tunnels that'll have you here fast. Stick to the shadows. There's a lot of traffic on the main thoroughfares."