Aria accompanied Voldon to the medbay entrance, sighing heavily as the Elder proclaimed he felt it prudent to continue on ahead to the Senate tower post haste. Yerbol was in no condition to travel, at least not yet. She had been skeptical of Voldon contacting Junoco at first, but of course the hacker could prove useful if they needed somebody to handle all the technological jargon while they were here; they didn’t exactly have time to call Manso in and wait for the Twi’lek to arrive after all. After Voldon had disappeared out of sight again, she retreated back into the medbay to check up on Yerbol once more, drawing up a chair to perch beside the tank and remain nearby. Chwuq and Taral settled themselves at her feet, the latter perching his chin on her knee and blowing out a loud snort.
“Yerbol?”
She managed to smile, scratching the Tuk’ata’s ears soothingly. “Bol’s gonna be fine, buddy. Don’t you worry.” She tried to make conversation with Rhine and Denali, who did their best to return the sentiment, but other than commenting on the state of the streets outside or Aria providing explanation (for what felt like the umpteenth time) of what the Tuk’ata were and why they followed the pair around all the time, there wasn’t awfully much to talk about that wouldn’t have made the conversation even more awkward. Just when she thought she might die of embarrassment if she had to endure the awkward silence any longer, Taral’s head shot out of her lap and into the air as Yerbol finally stirred again and called out to her. Standing up, she moved closer to the edge of the tank and took his hands gently in her own.
“I’m right here.” she smiled in relief as she helped him to sit up further, cautioning him to be careful as he asked about how long he had been gone for. She told him a few days, then added:
“But that doesn’t matter now, what’s most important is that you’re here, and you’re safe, and I’m NEVER letting you out of my sight again.” Aria placed her free hand over his as he clung to hers tightly, and squeezed it firmly. “I thought I’d lost you.” the words stuck in her throat, effort to get out, but she felt better now that she could expel the thought permanently. He was here, he was going to be okay.
Chwuq and Taral barked and leapt excitedly, their tails lashing as they sprang up and down in their attempts to lick his face and convey their enthusiasm at his recovery. They sank back down to their former positions at her feet, allowing Aria to drop back onto the chair, though she kept a firm hold on his hand, running her thumb gently over the top as he spoke of his experiences with Illesia. She took the information in, the implication of the sheer strength lead Xiis’ power sending cold shivers of dread down her spine. If she could become that powerful by feeding on the energies of just a few people, how were they going to combat that?
Yerbol attempted to climb out of the tank, Denali and Rhine immediately racing over to stop him.
“Woah, Woah, Bol...baby, take it easy a minute.” Aria murmured, patting his hand with as much of a calm urgency as she could manage. His hand went limp in hers, the Champion’s eyes drooping shut as he once again fell asleep, accompanied by a relieved sigh from the Echani twins.
“A little reckless, isn't he?” Rhine chuckled, drawing a smirk from Aria.
“Actually, he's usually the sensible one of the two of us. He just gets passionate about protecting people and sometimes does silly things.” she had to laugh, it made her feel a little less weird about having to be the sensible one for once.
“Sounds familiar, doesn't it?” Denali shot his sister a good-natured glare. Rhine rolled her eyes and was about to reply when Yerbol began to stir again at the same time as Aria's comlink chirped at her belt.

Grabbing it, the Champion popped the device back into her ear and answered in time to receive Voldon's instructions.
“Tunnel network, got it. See you soon.” she reiterated, signing off and turning back to their newest companions. “That was Voldon, they’re badly holed up at the Senate tower, says we need to get over there right now.” her datapad made a little noise to indicate Junoco’s promised file finding its way through. “We’ve got a map to follow. Thanks, for not throwing us out, and for helping him. I really can’t thank you enough.” she flashed the Echani twins another smile before she slipped past them to send the healed up Alliance troopers back down to aid their comrades in the undercity. When she returned to help Yerbol get out of the bacta tank, Denali had disappeared back into the office again. Aria had been going to ask where he had gone when the doctor reappeared, handing her two hyperdermic injectors with the explanation of:
“Adrenal stims. It’s not much and it’s in no way a substitute for proper rest, but if you both REALLY have to fight, then they’ll give you an extra boost.” with another smirk he proclaimed that he had enough of a stock to give the two hounds one each too if they had the means to administer it to them.
“Thanks, Denali.” Aria smiled, quickly administering the stim shots for herself and Yerbol, and with some effort doing the same for Chwuq and Taral (who both shot to the other end of the room squealing as soon as the needle jabbed into their shoulder).
“The least I could do.” the medic nodded, folding his hands behind his back.
“Hey, it’s probably pretty bad up there.” Rhine chipped in as she stepped up to join them, fully kitted out in some kind of electrostaff in hand. She looked like she meant business, Aria thought, which was backed up by her asserting: “So, we’re coming with you. Your little boyscout over there is still worn out, and you three are no better even with the stims in your bloodstream.” she grinned at the pair mischievously for a moment, before it was gone and her face was once again a mask of seriousness. Aria and Yerbol could hardly argue against their help, from the sounds of the tightness in Voldon’s voice as he had spoken on the comlink they could use all the fighters they could get. And if Denali could patch up some of those who were more badly wounded, they could maybe hold their own….she hoped.

_______________________

They found that it wasn’t so much Xiis that were the main problem in getting to the tunnels Junoco had mapped out for them, but rather the local gangs. She should have been expecting it of course, after their brush up with the thugs as they left the undercity, but Aria was still somewhat perplexed to find the gangs not taking the same “cower in fear of the blue guys” approach that everyone else on the planet seemed to favour.
“It started out that way.” Rhine explained as they fended off another band of thugs, the entrance to the tunnel just around the corner. “But then once the...what are they, Xiis?” the Echani frowned at the new word but continued on after Aria nodded in affirmation, “Once the Xiis went back into the pipes they started getting a little braver. They’re used to being in charge in the undercity and once the undercity wasn’t safe anymore they had to find somewhere.” Rhine shrugged. “They had a lot of firepower, and with the Alliance forces stretched thin after the initial attacks I guess they figure it’s time for “Revolution!” and all that crap!” the Echani mercenary snorted sardonically as they weaved through the tunnel network, slowly working their way upwards towards the Senate tower. Junoco’s map was precise, and surprisingly reliable, as they re-emerged to the surface once more, they could clearly see the (somewhat battered) white structure jutting out of the ground a few feet ahead of them.

The group paused to allow Yerbol to take a quick breather, though they all took full advantage of the respite too, before they moved forward again. After Rhine and the Tuk’ata had ascertained that there were no gang sentries poised to ambush them as they broke their cover, they slipped across the small expanse of open ground and through the side-door which the map indicated had been left open for them (the main doors had been completely sealed and were inaccessible in order to deter the heavy artillery Junoco proclaimed the gangs had been carting out to try and get at the forces inside. Rhine believed him. Aria was inclined to trust the Echani woman, she seemed to know her way around battlefields in the same way that Elara and Havoc did). They found Voldon and a slightly scraggly-looking young sergeant at the head of an exhausted group of Alliance personnel, who were more than relieved to see them.
“What’s the situation?” Rhine enquired as Aria found Yerbol a chair (with some difficulty, given all the debris and discarded weapons that now littered the room after the firefight from before) to sit down on and dropped into a crouch beside him, keeping one hand rested reassuringly on his knee as she faced Voldon and the commanding officer to hear their report.
“Could be better, could be worse, ma’am.” the sergeant chirped, saluting the newly arrived troops respectfully. “We’re very glad to see some extra help, fight’s been going on for a while now and we’re nearly worn out.”
“The blast doors are holding out...for now.” Voldon grunted, his face grave.
Aria knew what he meant. If the Xiis arrived now, they would be in a spot of bother...a lot of the soldiers had very little to no ammo left, they had only six turrets and a handful of droids that were nowhere near adequate to hold off a contingent of gang fighters AND the bloodthirsty aliens who would be entirely fresh and likely capable of overpowering them all without batting an eyelid. She swallowed the lump that had begun to form in her throat and sucked in a deep breath to try and calm her own nerves, her fingers unknowingly clenching into a half fist against Yerbol’s knee. They needed a plan, and a very good one, if they were all going to get out of this.
She wished Roan was here, he would have come up with one before she could have said “we need a plan”.
She could use Renso’s teachings to keep herself fighting fit, but whether she would be able to extend the same benefits of her Battlemind ability to the other members of their group, she wasn’t certain...

An uncomfortable silence settled into the entrance hall, Yerbol not helping burst the discomfort on account of the pain that was currently residing in his ribs. He hadn't told Aria about his struggles to breath properly, but he assumed that when he had suddenly collapsed to one knee a couple of times during their battles in the sewer and gasped for air, she could figure out he was fighting a losing battle against his injuries. There was, of course, no other option than to keep plowing forward until Illesia was stopped. The details were a bit fuzzy, but thankfully Voldon was there to spark a discussion on how to proceed:
"The tower's security protocols are reactivated, so civilians are sheltered in place." A hacking, purposeful cough rang through the air, prompting a sigh from the Elder.
"Thanks to Junoco."
"Bloody right." He mumbled with a mischievous smirk, monitoring the status of the tower through his datapad.
"We've accounted for the gangs, but the Xiis...they're nowhere to be found. I would have assumed that their target was here, but they haven't announced their presence." Yerbol spoke in a coherent line of reasoning for what felt like(to him) the first time in decades:
"They will. They stick to the shadows, but when they're ready, they'll strike. That means we need to hit them first when they're not prepared to deal with us."
"And how do we find them?"
"Force them to play their hand early. In every instance we've faced off against the Xiis, they were prepared for our attacks, anticipated them really. If we can tease them out somehow-"
"We're not going to endanger her life." Voldon protested.
"But that's where Illesia is headed! If we can get to Saresh first, set up some kind of trap for her to walk into-"
"I can help with that!" Junoco raised his arm forcefully in the air, waving to emphasize his willingness.
"The system has a few things I could play around with...by my stars this place is bloody awesome! Stun grenade launchers coming out of walls? Cryo blasters hidden in cameras? I knew this was a secure location, but wasn't expecting such...firepower." Another grimace(a common expression for the Battlemaster) crossed Voldon's face as he pondered the plan.
"Unless there's something else we can do? Because other than waiting for Illesia to strike, I don't see any other option." Voldon grumbled something under his breath, his right foot tapping listlessly on the ground for a few moments before he ordered:
"Stay at the entrance. Guard it with your lives. Junoco, you're with us. We need to get to war room on the third floor." Yerbol rose shakily, allowing Aria to help straighten him out.
"I assume you can fight? You made it this far against thugs. Will the Xiis be too much for you?" The Champion walked to an exit on their left, calling out to the Elder:
"Let's hope that they can survive what I have in store for them."

____

"They're here!" A male hissed, head peering out for a moment to survey the expansive main hall before he attempted to crash through the door that separated the maintenance room from a small hallway that led straight into the open. As his shoulder was millimeters from barging in, a powerful gust of energy slammed his back into the cold marble, Illesia shaking her head.
"That only means we should take things slower."
"Hunger!" A female uttered, her teeth chattering in bloodlust.
"Use your hunger to fuel you." Illesia placed a genteel hand on the girl's shoulder, nails grazing her skin.
"To make you stronger. Powerful." The female nodded in submission.
"Wait until they head upwards, out of sight. Then kill the soldiers. Quietly." A slight snicker came from the leader's throat.
"Soon after, we'll have what we need. Soon. Oh so soon."

_____

"An inconceivable notion!" General Laer slammed both palms on the large square table that dominated the center of the room, rising to his feet, face flushed, horns almost ready to be ejected from his skull.
"And what other choice do we have, General? Allow these monsters to break down the doors of the tower and slaughter you? To leave you to the gangs that will eventually find their way in and let THEM have their way with an Alliance cabinet that was just formed? No. This is the only course of action we can take." Voldon calmly asserted, his experience in dealing with high ranking officials in crisis situations giving him a icy determination that wouldn't be broken by raised voices and ignoble sentiments. Saresh had worn a similar expression to Voldon's while the trio(and Junoco) explained the premise of their plan, staying silent until after Voldon's final justification, then choosing to speak:
"So allow me to clarify this." She motioned to the smuggler.
"This...Junoco fellow is going to use the defenses in the senate tower to thin out the numbers of these 'Xiis', seeing as they won't be expecting resistance due to their perceived victory in crippling our infrastructure. Their leader, a powerful Force user, is after my head in particular, which means that I should be in my office awaiting her arrival. Once she does, she'll be ambushed by the three of you and I'll escape using an emergency hatch, where I'll be able to wait out the death of this woman." When the Chancellor spoke the plan aloud, it seemed risky, dangerous and somewhat reckless, but it appeared that this would be the best course of action...for now.
"We're asking a lot of you, Chancellor. I'm aware of that. But I'm also very aware of the immediate threat the Xiis possess. If they kill you, they'll be coming after the rest of the Cabinet, which would throw this already new government into chaos. We need to put a stop to them now." The ten cabinet members assembled took wary glances at each other, weighing the Elder's words with non verbal communiques and a few hushed whispers. Saresh allowed them to speak before she made the decision:
"Fine. We'll go through with your plan. The Cabinet members will receive the maximum security allowable, correct? I can't be the only one who gets a safe room to hide in."
"Come now, Chancellor, don't you know your own security protocols?" Junoco asked with a chuckle, which dissipated almost instantly upon a stony gaze.
"Right, right, of course. This 'war room' is outfitted with thick shutters and miniature defense turrets along with a stun gun just below the threshold. It should be more than enough to let those bloody blue people know that they should stay away." Yerbol felt a twinge in their bond, looking to his partner and asking:

What is it? If you've got something to add to all this, go for it...or maybe I'm just reading your feelings wrong. Wouldn't be the first time.

Accompanying Voldon and Yerbol to Saresh’s office, Aria remained silent for a very large part of the exchange, her dark gaze simply moving between the speaking parties as they exchanged their own concerns. Her shoulders were stiff as she let Saresh run over the plan Voldon had put forward to her, occasionally offering a nod or a quiet murmur of acknowledgement to some of the statements. The plan relied an awful lot on the Xiis being careless enough to take the bait they would set up for them, Aria had to admit that made her very nervous. She tried to keep those feelings to herself but naturally yerbol picked up on them and enquired what was bothering her.
She paused for a moment, chewing her lip as Saresh’s cabinet members filtered past them to gather further back in the war room, behind the main line of turrets which Junoco was busy programming to target hostiles.
Aria faced Yerbol again and forced her lips to form a smile.
I don't think it's safe for you to be fighting while you're hurt. I don't want you to. I'd rather you stayed here with Junoco and the others. But she couldn't tell him that, she knew she couldn't. It wouldn't go down well, she was reasonably certain; would he be upset that she was trying to coddle him? Did he think she hadn't noticed he was struggling for every breath? Instead she fumbled for an excuse, pushing the thought to the back of her mind with a brief twinge of guilt. She hated lying to him.
“I'm just….concerned, is all. There's a lot more of them than us and if this ‘Illesia’ is really that strong....” swallowing the lump in her throat, her hands clenched into fists briefly as she mumbled, a bit quieter. “I don't know how we're going to do it….I wish my dad was here.” he'd know what to do. He ALWAYS knew what to do. At least that wasn't a complete lie either, that made her feel a bit better.

“But we don't have much of a choice, I understand that.” Half heartedly, she took his hand and squeezed it gently. “We have to find a way to do this, between the three of us.” with Voldon to help them, maybe the odds would be better. Looking towards the Battlemaster, she voiced a few more of her concerns regarding their plan as Saresh slipped away to return to her office as discussed.
“I just think we're relying an awful lot on luck. We know Illesia will come for Saresh, but what if she has other Xiis with her, if they don't all stay here trying to get into this war room? If we have to fight a group of them we'll lose any advantage from having surprise on our side, and we're going to need that to beat her. And how will we overpower somebody who can drain other people's power just by touching them?”

“Luck is never a factor.” Voldon bristled at the concept, motioning for the duo to follow behind him as he continued:
“There are two things that influence success: strategy and the Force. We’ve done our best to figure out the first and can only hope that the second guides us to our desired outcome.” They followed Saresh to her office, the Chancellor’s lekku twitching in agitation as she scanned the room.
“Where should I be?”
“Standing in the middle of the room where Illesia can directly see you. Once she enters the waiting area, Junoco will have the security shutter in place and that’s when we’ll strike.”
“What if you don’t get to her in time?” The Battlemaster smirked, prompting an apologetic chuckle from the Chancellor.
“I suppose I don’t get to question the man that killed the Emperor.”
“I served you then, Chancellor, as I will now. Just stay calm. We’ll strike from the shadows and take this threat to the Alliance out. You have my word.” Comforted by the bold words, Saresh entered her office, leaving the trio to think over their strategy.
“I can throw up a cloak for us, but I would only be able to sustain it for a few minutes at most."
"That's all we need. Once Illesia gets close, you can get the cloak up and we strike when she least expects it." Yerbol positioned himself in the lower right corner of the room, knees bent, saber hilt gripped tightly in both hands.
"All we do now is wait." As Voldon and Aria figured out their own placements, the Champion closed his eyes, focusing on his rapid heartbeat, his shallow breathing. He could feel the sweat beading on his forehead, lungs tightening.

You're letting your environment dictate how you react! YOU control your environment, not the other way around!

Those words had bounced mercilessly off the pitch black hallways of the tombs they sprinted through. Fear had been a frequent partner in those tomb sprints simply because he couldn't SEE anything. It flustered him to not know was coming and Renso knew it, seeking to morph a dread preoccupation into a source of strength. Yerbol still felt like he had to work on controlling that aspect of his mind, which was currently causing his freshly mended wounds to ache.

The unknown must BECOME the known!

The old man was right. It was just a matter of applying the lesson now. He took in a sharp breath, holding it in for a couple of moments before slowly exhaling, his mind slowly clearing. Any fear, any hesitance would cost them. Illesia had to be faced without a single doubt in his mind...

___

"RRAARRGHHH!" Another one of her brothers fell, the energy turrets quickly sliced apart by her razor sharp talons as she growled at the steel barrier that separated the war room from their grasp. It had been a minor chore to get up to this area of the tower, some of her family falling by the hand of the Alliance soldiers, but the security detail at the very top of the tower had proven to be too much for most of those who had come with her. They were down to but three, three powerful, hungry warriors that had eviscerated every single threat in the hallway, making a clear path for Illesia to deal with the supposed leader of this government.
"Do what you must...for your brothers! For your sisters! FEED ON THEIR FLESH FOR THE GLORY OF OUR PEOPLE!" They roared at Illesia's encouragement, throwing their bodies at the steel shutter as the head Xiis bounded down the hallway and into a circular room that put a Twi'lek into view, her eyes wide with terror.
"Come, darling...you and I have much to discuss." The Xiis dashed forward to her mark only to have a familiar barrier drop down right as she reached the threshold, her body slamming into the metal shutter. As she reeled backwards, Voldon released the cloak he had placed over them a few moments earlier, charging ahead and thrusting at the woman's exposed stomach. She managed to twirl out of the way, but not before the blade clipped her side, the sweet scent of burnt flesh wafting into the air along with a dramatic hiss. Her crimson eyes surveyed the room as the trio flanked her, a sensual laugh coming deeply from her throat, her eyes settling on Yerbol.
"I knew you couldn't resist for much longer, my love." He grit his teeth, anger threatening to derail his focus as he held his blade parallel to the ground in a defensive position. Illesia shot a glance and a wicked smirk at Aria, telling her:
"He was soooo tasty when we were together. I'm surprised you can keep your hands to yourself whenever he's in the room." With a cry of rage, Yerbol launched himself towards the Xiis, double bladed saber slicing through thin air as the Xiis jumped over him, planting her feet on his back and thrusting him into the ground before somersaulting onto her feet, landing a solid kick to Aria's chest as she ducked underneath a slash from Voldon.
"Come darlings! Make it more of a fight!"

Aria simply nodded in response to Voldon’s assertions as the trio positioned themselves around the room, exhaling a breath as she slunk into the corner opposite Voldon and hoped she could share his confidence. Trust in the Force, right. She could do that, they’d done it before. Her gaze flickered to the lower right corner of the room, where she knew her partner was crouched, knuckles white around the hilt of his lightsaber as he tried to calm his nerves. She could feel his anxiety, feel his heart pounding in her chest almost as if it was her own, and briefly reached out to him through their bond to provide some form of comfort.
We can do this. We’ll beat her.
She only hoped she would feel as confident when the Xiis leader burst through the doorway.
She shut her eyes for a moment, stilled her own breathing, tried to remember everything Renso had taught her. The Champion’s eyes snapped open once more as the familiar, sultry tone of the Xiis leader echoed from the room’s doorway, lifting both lightsabers into her hands as the trio dashed forward to meet her in the same moment. She lifted her chin and met Illesia’s bright crimson gaze, her teeth clenched together as she hissed:
“TRY and touch him again, I DARE you!” before she could lunge for her, however, Yerbol had let out a cry of his own and darted forward from his place across the room. Voldon darted past her, Aria moving to join him before the Xiis leader’s foot connected sharply with her chest and sent her reeling backwards, emptying her lungs of every ounce of air. Faintly, she was aware of the scuffling sounds as Saresh made her escape through the designated hatch, but Aria quickly snapped her attention back to Illesia. Saresh would have to take care of herself for now. They had a monster to kill. The Champion collided with something warm and firm as she stumbled to regain her footing, Chwuq giving a powerful headbutt that provided enough resistance against her backwards momentum for her to gather her feet underneath her once more. Conveying her thanks with a quick glance, Aria propelled herself towards the Xiis once more. Illesia’s reflexes were so much faster than they could have anticipated as she pirouetted, almost lazily, away from another of Voldon’s blows. Yerbol moved to intercept her, Aria and the tomb beasts rushing forward to cut her off from the other side…she couldn’t possibly avoid all of them, no matter how fast she was. Taral flew past her and right over the Xiis’ head as she ducked to avoid him, barely managing to twist out of the way of Aria’s blades slashing for her exposed back. One of Yerbol’s blades sliced into her shoulder, Illesia dodging again before he could do any serious damage; a brief flicker of confusion crossed the Xiis leader’s features as she took in the unfamiliar canine creatures before the wicked grin returned and she taunted her assailants once more.
“Your dogs will not save you!” she cackled as she threw both Tuk’ata back into the corner once more, strafing to the side to avoid another assault from Voldon, which put her within Aria’s range again. Gritting her teeth, the Champion lunged for their opponent again and attempted to slash for her torso. Clawed fingernails whipped past Aria’s ear as instead of dodging out of the way this time Illesia moved TOWARDS her, sharp pain radiated from her cheek as the Xiis’ nails sank into her skin. In seconds, her knees were so weak she could hardly hold her own weight, couldn’t move away as the woman’s face came closer. "None of you can match my power!"

“GRRRRRRR!” Aria saw the pupiless crimson eyes widen in shock as Chwuq surged out of the shadows and seized the Xiis’ forearm between her jaws. Aria staggered backwards, scarlet droplets scattering onto the floor from the jagged marks left in her cheek. Yerbol appeared beside her, shooting her a concerned look though she managed to smile and nod shakily.
“…’m f-fine…doesn’t hurt…that bad…” the feeling of fatigue began to subside now that she and Illesia were no longer in contact, the Xiis snarling angrily as she dislodged Chwuq from her arm and flung her backwards into her mate. Aria tried to push away the sinking feeling of dread in her stomach. Illesia was too strong; they couldn’t beat her, not like this. She couldn’t risk using the lightning crystal with the others in such close proximity, any one of them could be hit as well…Aria gritted her teeth in frustration, unable to come up with a solution and about to resign to their fate, when Roan’s voice echoed in her mind again as if in answer to her earlier prayer, admonishing her:
It’s not like you to give up so easily, Aria. Use that clever little head of yours. You have the numbers advantage and you aren’t using it! She frowned, jolted out of the potential spiral of despair as the hounds picked themselves up and paced back and forth between the Xiis and their pack, hissing furiously:
“NOT your prey! Pack is NOT your prey, female!”
That’s when the idea hit her. Sending a silent thanks to her father, wherever he was, she caught Yerbol’s attention again.
I think I’ve got an idea…that Force severing ability Renso taught you, do you think that if we could keep her distracted you could use it on her? At least enough to stop her draining our strength, so the three of us can wear her down and you and Voldon can overpower her?
She’d seen the Tuk’ata use a similar strategy once before, in the jungles on Dromund Kaas with Roan. Even the larger jungle animals had been felled using clever strategies of feinting and dodging, constantly goading them into attack to wear down their energy stores until they were too exhausted to keep it up, then they moved in for the kill. It would be a risk, but they weren’t going to win this by making half-hearted attempts and hoping for any other act of divine intervention. They had to at least attempt to out-smart her, and hope the Force would favour them with a good outcome. If they could work together with her father in that way, she was sure they would easily fall into the familiar habit with her.

Yerbol was reeling back towards the entrance of the office from an elbow to the chest, attempting to find the breath that had suddenly left him upon Illesia's decisive blow when he heard Aria's suggestion. Thankfully Voldon and the dogs were giving the head Xiis enough trouble for her to be distracted for a few moments, Yerbol weighing the suggestion's ramifications as quickly as he could.

I'll do what I can, but it's going to be difficult to keep her connection severed. It's almost as if with every hit she gets on us her communion with the Force gets stronger.

He dropped to both knees, regulating his breathing just as he did before the chaos of their battle started, eyes closing as he told his companion:

Just keep her off me. If I can get a few minutes with her focus redirected, then we might have a shot.

With all the focus he could muster, the Champion reached out into the swirling vortex of energy that occupied the dervish of a battle, stretching his mind to grasp to the strains that led to Illesia. It wasn't that difficult to find; the normal gold-yellow tendrils that symbolized the connection one had to the Force were raging around Illesia, wrapping around her body and lashing out at others simultaneously as they mirrored her movements in battle. He seized an opportunity when Voldon threw her against the shutter to Saresh's office, the split second of stillness allowing him to forcibly grasp her connection. An inexpiable surge of energy thrust through Yerbol's body as he began to rip the tendrils away from her body, shrieks of agony coming from their would-be oppressor.
"HOW DARE YOU!" She howled, wildly dashing past Voldon's attempt to stab her in the heart, her talons raised for vindictive slaughter. When she was within a few feet of the meditating Champion, a solid flash of black fur rammed itself into the oncoming Xiis' stomach, blood spurting from an already existing gash made by one of Aria's blows as she collided with the opposite wall about ten feet away. Taral grunted in approval at the effect of the gesture, glancing at Yerbol quizzically before returning to Aria's side for further instruction.
"YERBOL, GET UP!" Voldon barked, sliding towards the younger Force user, head tilted in the recovering Xiis' direction.
"NO!" Chwuq whined, the protest followed by another scream of pain from the Xiis, blood pooling on his lips before she spit the viscous fluid on the once pristine carpet.
"This power is MINE! MINE ALONE!" Voldon attempted to repress a chuckle, but couldn't, watching the Xiis get to her feet only to fall to one knee, breathing coming in labored gasps.
"Why don't people like you ever learn?" A moment of pity came and went in the Elder's mind as he added:
"The Force isn't yours. Or mine. It's ours to understand, not use."
"BANAL PHILOSOPHY!" She growled, wobbling as she stood upright, her already tattered clothing nearly rags at this point, exposing even more of her chiseled frame.
"The STRONG survive! The pathetic, the useless, the ones who will not USE their power are meaningless!" There was an even more crazed, frenzied look in her eye, as if something inside her that was on the edge of being pushed over had indeed fallen off, crashing loudly.
"I've heard that far too often." Voldon commented with a sad half-smile just as Yerbol opened his eyes, dropping to all fours, coughing violently.
"A waste! ALL OF YOU!"
"The feelings..." Yerbol clambered to his feet, the coughing wearing off as he finished:
"Mutual." Illesia's eyes darted from one attacker to the next, head swiveling to find a window obstructed by an emergency shutter. Before any of them could protest, the Xiis darted towards the window, jumping gracefully into the air arms forward, allowing her razor sharp nails to slice the metal easily as she fell down into the belly of the planet, Yerbol watching her disappearing form with bittersweet satisfaction.
"She's going to survive that." He commented with a shake of his head.
"That wouldn't surprise me. I've seen people a lot less powerful than her survive a lot worse." Voldon looked to the duo with a relieved smile.
"But for now, we can confidently say we've earned some measure of victory, eh? Well, minus the gang members who may still be attempting to enter th-"
"Nope!" Junoco's voice rang clearly through a speaker embedded discretely in a nearby wall.
"Nope, they're all taken care of!"
"And how in Force's name did that happen?"
"While you were fighting the nearly naked Xiis woman, cabinet members in here were giving all sorts of orders! Alliance Troopers have taken a number of gang members into custody and are currently patrolling the undercity! And it's all thanks to yours truly." With a roll of the eyes, Voldon instructed the smuggler to stay put before telling the two:
"You've seen enough action for one day. Both of you. I'll take care of matters here and get the rest of the Council on holocall in the war room. Go find a place to rest."

___

Finding a place wasn't too difficult, seeing as the newly minted Alliance headquarters had several quarters for visiting diplomats and other important figures. Once pointed in the right direction by one of the surviving aides, the duo and their beastly companions found themselves in a well appointed suite with a king sized bed that dominated the center of the room.
"I'm just...just gonna..." He plopped onto the edge of the bed and without another word wrapped his arms around Aria's waist, head on her chest, shoulders collapsing. For all of his bravado, his idealism and his willingness to carry Aria through the hardest of times, it was he that needed the lift this time. Thankfully he knew that his lover was more than up to the task.

“Relief” was the wrong word to describe Aria’s feelings after Illesia had disappeared through the emergency shutter, because she knew the Xiis would not give up that easily, but at least (for now) it was over. Nodding in agreement with her partner, a wry smirk came to the Champion’s lips as she muttered:
“That won’t be the last we see of her, I’m sure.”
Little argument was provided when Voldon suggested that the pair got some rest, the couple instantly following up on the instructions. After a quick examination of Illesia’s exit point, Chwuq gave a satisfied snort and the two hounds trotted after their masters.
_______________________________________________________

After entering the room, Yerbol seemed to deflate as he collapsed onto the end of the bed, reaching for her and wrapping his arms around her as his words trailed off and he couldn’t finish his sentence. Returning his embrace, Aria sank down to sit beside him.
“Shhh, shh, it’s okay.” she murmured soothingly, brushing her lips gently against his forehead. “It’s over now. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.” she promised, pausing to allow some silence to pass between them while she thought over her words for a while. He needed time to process everything that had happened to him and she was more than happy to sit with him and support him in any way he needed while he did that; it was just a matter of knowing the best way to do that.
“Do you...want to talk about it?” the Champion swallowed, her gaze flicking down to meet his as she smiled gently and quickly reassured him: “You don’t HAVE to, if you’d rather just...not. But I’m just saying that I’m listening, if...if you DO want to.” a quiet sigh left her lips as she shifted a little closer to him, running her fingers gently through his hair to give him time to simply speak out his feelings if he wanted to.
Aria hardly batted an eyelid as Chwuq and Taral leapt up onto the bed to join them with anxious whines, for once there was more than enough room and they would only make more of a fuss if they weren’t allowed to offer him their own comfort in whatever silly way they thought was appropriate. “But don’t you go thinking this is going to be a regular thing!” Aria warned them after the pair had shifted up towards the pillows with the hopes that Yerbol could get some sleep after he had said anything he needed to that would allow him to recover his strength again. The Tuk’ata were content to settle by the duo’s feet after Aria had swatted them away from snuffling at Yerbol too much to ‘let him sleep without you pestering him’, and were soon snoring away too. Aria remained largely quiet as Yerbol vented out any frustrations and feelings on the past few days’ happenings, eventually speaking up again to coax the Champion into a much needed sleep, his partner keeping watch over him until she too drifted off from exhaustion of the day’s events.

Feeling somewhat fresher after a few hours’ rest, a chance to soothe their aching muscles with a warm shower and change into some clean clothes (which took some ne, the duo filtered back through the hallways into the war room to catch up with Voldon again. The Battlemaster looked far more rested too, though still frowning as if something puzzled him, when Aria and Yerbol trooped into the room.
“You look better.” he commented with a slight smile as they gathered around the holoprojector which was displaying a map of the planet’s infrastructure.
“So do you...aside from looking worried.” Aria noted, her head tilting slightly to one side. “What is it?”
“We’ve lost track of her. And with all the surveillance systems damaged or looted by the gangs there’s no way to tell where Illesia could be now, or where the Xiis might strike next.”
Aria frowned at the map for a moment, her attention then moving to the holoprojections of Ailel, Cheriss and Kira who hovered close by it. Apparently the entire Council had been trying to pinpoint a place the Xiis leader and any of her surviving minions could have fled to with no success.
“The issue is that she could be ANYWHERE.” Cheriss growled, unimpressed.
“She could even have gone off-world by now, to try and destabilize any other authority figures before they can band together to bring aid to Coruscant.” Ailel put in, her expression as severe as Voldon’s.
“Do you think she might try to come back for Saresh again?” Aria suggested, leaning a little closer. “We managed to chase her off but she didn’t get to kill the Chancellor, which is what she wanted in the first place.”
“It certainly isn’t out of the question.” the Dathomirian responded. “Where is the Chancellor? I’d make sure she’s well protected, and any other members of her Cabinet, if I were you.”

This was easier said than done with their current numbers however, there simply weren’t enough individuals with the required skillsets to shadow the number of Cabinet members.
“We can’t keep going on like this!” Aria groaned in protest, resting her head in her hands at the mere thought of trying to manage protecting that many politicians whilst trying to track down the Xiis’ whereabouts and warn any remaining government officials on other planets at the same time…. “We’ll all drop dead before we ever stop them!” she felt Yerbol’s hand close around her shoulder and squeeze it comfortingly and flashed him a smile as Cheriss spoke up again in agreement with Aria’s statement.
“She IS right, we can’t go on like this.”
“Which brings us to our earlier suggestion.” Ailel continued, facing the two Champions. “We might as well fill you both in now that you’re here.”
“Fill us in on...what?” Aria enquired carefully.
“We really can’t afford to delay any longer, this Academy on Zinuthra. We need to start setting it up, start training youngsters again.”
Aria frowned a little.
“That’s a tall order, isn’t it, Master Sparr?”
Cheriss knitted her hands together, her expression as unyielding as ever. It was unnerving.
“Perhaps yes, but if we’re going to stop these Xiis from destabilising the galaxy we need more Qyaari, ten of us can’t be in every corner of the galaxy at once.”
“Saresh would never agree to it.” the Champion protested. “Taking children for training only to throw them into the fire as soon as their training is complete? I won’t agree to that, Cheriss. It’s wrong.”

The Dathomirian growled softly in frustration.
“We don’t HAVE to ask them to fight the Xiis. Even if the youngsters stay on Zinuthra with one of the Elders to keep the mundane duties running smoothly while those of us that are more experienced handle the active fighting.” Cheriss rubbed her temples as she attempted to get Aria onto the same wavelength as she was. “Vano’s stuck in the library sorting holocrons and historical archives when she could have been out there helping you, Yerbol and Voldon. If we could get her a handful of younglings to train who were interested in archiving…similarly, if one of us Elders could stay behind in order to supervise the day to day tasks around the training facility, make sure we could process distress calls and the like, the older and more experienced Qyaari could be better spread out across the worlds the Xiis would be targeting.”
It took another moment for the light bulb to switch on in Aria’s head, but when the Champion said nothing in reply for a few moments it was clear she was starting to understand.
“So, what do you want us to do?”
“Speak to Saresh before you leave, get her approval if you can. Then we’d like all three of you back on Zinuthra, we can reach out to the Force sensitive areas set up on Taris and other planets and arrange transport out into Wild Space.”

With their course of action decided, the holocalls disconnected. Cheriss was right, with only ten Qyaari there was NO way they could manage to track Illesia’s movements and keep on her tail. It would be a risk to leave her unmonitored for any length of time; but with the current Council members and the two Champions already running ragged they were likely to slip up and not successfully be able to track Illesia’s movements anyway.
They regrouped with the Chancellor and filled her in on the discussion, the Twi’lek understandably apprehensive about the proposition. It took a lot of prodding from the Champions and Voldon, but eventually they managed to get the Chancellor to acquiesce to the idea, under the condition that they would keep her regularly updated on the training material and that they would do their best to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past two Orders.

Rhine and Denali and a meagre assortment of Alliance soldiers had survived the battle with the rest of Illesia’s Xiis contingent, which at least left Saresh and the Cabinet with some form of protection while the Qyaari were off-world.
“Be sure to put a holocall out if anything seems unusual.” Aria reassured them. “We’ll send another protective detail to help you out as soon as we’re able to.”
“Don’t worry about it, we can handle it!” Rhine reassured them with a broad grin. “We’ll make sure nothing happens to the Chancellor and her aides.”
While it was somewhat comforting, Aria only hoped they could count on Illesia and the Xiis having to lick their wounds a while too. If they mounted another attack too soon...they could be in for trouble. She tried not to think about that as she sat in one of the pilot seats of the Ice Box on their way back to Zinuthra. Instead, her mind wandered to thoughts of what setting up an actual Academy on Zinuthra would be like, and she couldn’t help but feel a small fizzle of excitement and a twinge of apprehension at the same time.
Exchanging a glance with Yerbol where he sat beside her, Aria managed a wry smirk and a half-hearted jab of:
“....You know Cheriss is going to insist that we do some of the teaching too, right?” as the last two to receive teachings directly from Renso himself, the Dathomirian Elder was always reminding them that it was “their duty to pass on their knowledge to students one day”.
“I was hoping I’d have a few grey hairs before we had to ACTUALLY do any tutoring, but then again I haven’t checked lately so I could be wrong.”

While the ramifications of Illesia's torture were still very fresh on his mind thanks to the pain that shot through his ribs, chest, back and legs every few minutes, it had been helpful to talk to Ari about the mental aspect of what she had put him through...or at least what he could express with words. He tried desperately to explain to his lover how she could dig into the recesses of your mind and create a black hole of some kind that sapped the "energy" or essence that one carried in their mind into her own. It was as if she could feed on memories, on emotions, on thoughts. He couldn't phrase everything the way he wanted to, which led to moments of him being frustrated and her calming him back down(along with the dogs sniffing at him and occasionally licking his feet). Eventually, he fell into a restless sleep, but the Champion was grateful for the rest. The whirlwind of events that occurred after their brief respite made Yerbol even more thankful that they had even GOTTEN a chance to take a breather before plunged back into the fray. So MUCH went into effect in a condensed period of time, which created a scintillating, yet taxing environment. It wasn't until they were safely aboard a small ship granted to them and in space did Yerbol feel like he could breath easy and decompress. Just him and Ari, traveling. There was a serenity to it that he savored.

That serenity also included their private discussions, which featured the subject of their being pushed into the role of instructor. He chuckled along with her, leaning back in the pilot's chair as he spoke:
"Gray hair or not, I think we've got more than enough experience to make up for our lack of age." He turned to her in the chair, counting off events with his hand:
"We stopped Bracknell, helped rebuild an ailing galaxy, re-established(in the process of, anyway) positive relations with a new government AND stand as a beacon for what setting aside differences can do." Yerbol playfully nudged Aria's shoulder with her right hand as he added:
"Heck, they could just stand us up together and go: 'If THESE two could somehow make their relationship work, we ALL have a shot.'" A flicker of somber seriousness crossed his eyes.
"And I'm so bloody happy we did make it work. Because without you, I don't know where I would be." He took her hand in his own, running a thumb over her knuckles as he continued:
"I was going to give up down there, you know. I was ready to die. Then once Voldon pulled me out of there and I saw you again, I..." The hand that once held hers was now gently planted on her cheek.
"I knew that I couldn't give up. Not ever." He leaned over the small distance between the chairs and kissed her on the lips, the gesture lingering for a few moments before he pulled away, running a hand through her hair as he told her quietly:
"I love you. And I will never give up on us. No matter what happens." He heard a slight, disapproving grunt, the Champion casting a wary glare at Chwuq, who was looking at the duo with disapproval.
"Oh stop it. Not like you don't enjoy Taral's love, you big lug."

Another grunt.

____

Once they touched down on Zinuthra, the Council mandated that they be in charge of supervising the opening of the new Academy while the Elders attended to other things that required their oversight(they weren't too specific about what they were going to do, but Yerbol assumed it was important). He did see them from time to time in the gleaming new Academy that stood proudly about half a mile away from the base of operations for the Alliance. It was a miracle to think that the massive structure had been built in three and a half months, but the dedication of those in charge of the project was unbreakable(it also helped that Matt helped in supervising most of the construction AND that Gladio Construction, the biggest construction firm in the galaxy, had sent droids galore to help). Yerbol occasionally saw one of the Elders flitting through the Temple, normally with an aide or two to send out for this or that, but for the most part those who volunteered or were enlisted to help went to either Yerbol or Aria for instruction. At first the task was slightly overwhelming, seeing as the duo had no experience in opening up an Academy before, but it wasn't too hard to figure out what furniture needed going where or helping calibrate combat simulators by testing them out or ensuring there would be enough training areas for the youngsters to use. Their role as coordinators was tiring, but exciting; as Yerbol pointed out more than once, they were in charge of ensuring that a new chapter of galactic history was written smoothly on the first page. It was also refreshing to see the younger faces pouring in from all parts of the galaxy, temporary quarters in the settlement not too far off from the base of operations housing them for now.

What was also refreshing was Yerbol's rate of recovery from his physical wounds. With a reminder from Aria practically every day, he sat in one of the Kolto tanks at the military base(which is what is basically became), allowing the mythical fluid to heal his body. His mind, too, seemed to be recovering quite nicely from the gashes Illesia had made. While he was in the tank, he managed to talk to some soldiers just back from recon missions on various worlds hunting for the seemingly dormant Xiis, the soldiers gushing about how they got to be on patrol with a "freaking Qyaari Elder!" That was when Yerbol deduced why the Elders had been gone so much: they were doing the recon work that Yerbol and Aria should've been doing. It bothered him that the Council hadn't bothered to talk to them about their decision, but then again, the duo were probably better served ensuring that the Academy had a smooth opening before they went back into battle.

Battle was a subject that Yerbol was rather keen to ensure he still had a working grasp of, especially after the past couple of weeks on Zinuthra had proven to be a healing boon; this was why the young Champion stood in one of the smaller training rooms dedicated to close quarters combat with a pair of black shorts on and nothing else, stretching out stiffness that had formed in his chest and ribcage thanks to scar tissue. He was awaiting his sparring partner, who he had challenged the night before when they had gotten into some rough housing before bed to ensure that he was "up to fighting ability". While the partner had put up some rationale for why they shouldn't do something like this the DAY before they were to present the academy to the rest of the galaxy to see, preparations were essentially complete, which meant they would be back out hunting for Illesia soon. He needed to know if he was ready.

Yerbol had told Aria to meet him here at one o clock and it was now one ten...where had she gone off to?

Yerbol’s self-confidence in their capabilities as potential instructors was comforting, drawing a warm smile from the fellow Champion. “Mhm, I suppose you’re right. Sometimes I forget how many important things we’ve done together...or at least, they don’t seem like that much for a while.” she chuckled softly, the smile fading somewhat as she leaned into his touch against her cheek.
“When I couldn’t get through to you after you told me you were underground I...I thought I was going to lose you.” she admitted, not quite sure how else to put it. He leaned over and kissed her, a content hum leaving the Champion as she returned the gesture, the duo breaking apart as they were met with a disapproving grumble.
“I love you, too.” Aria murmured, the corner of her mouth twitching as she cast a glance in the hound’s direction. “She’s probably just jealous because she’s not getting any attention, you know how she sulks.”
___________________________

While everything they had remembered on Zinuthra was in fact still in its place as they had left it, the large new Academy building was a sight to behold. Perhaps what was even weirder was the fact that the duo were charged with overseeing all the preparations in the facility. They barely saw anything of most of the Elders, though Aria did glimpse both Kira and Malu once or twice on her forays to make sure various furniture was placed in the correct room. She could hardly complain, they were kept far too busy for that; when she wasn’t helping greet the potential new student body, stacking chairs or placing beds in sleeping quarters, she was making sure Yerbol made his daily trips to the medbay for a Kolto soak to ensure his wounds healed up properly, or spending time helping Vano with the archives while she caught up with her adoptive sister. The Elders seemed quite evasive whenever Aria DID try to enquire about the role that had been assigned to the duo, and it wasn’t long before the Champion suspected they were hiding something, though she could never get a straight answer out of any of them.
Presently, she was confronting her adopted sister in the library, determined to GET an answer and this was the reason for her being late to their agreed meeting time.
“I KNOW you’re hiding something from us and I’m tired of everybody dodging around the answer! Va, WHAT is going on and why are we moving furniture around when we should be out there helping track the Xiis?” Aria demanded, hands on her hips as she narrowed her eyes suspiciously at the other Qyaari.
The Mirialan sighed heavily, pressing her index fingers to her temple for a brief moment before she decided that (knowing Aria as well as she did) it was probably better to just give her the truth.
“Alright! You REALLY want to know? The Elders are worried about Yerbol. I know he’s healing well, but they didn’t want to send him out there before he’s had a chance to...to put himself back together. Physically AND mentally. They didn’t want to separate you and send you on recon without him either.”
Aria blinked, dumbfounded.
“So you’ve had us moving furniture around?!”
“Don’t tell me you haven’t noticed he hasn’t been right in the head since you got back!” Vano snapped back, then withdrew, her expression softening as Aria’s jaw slackened.
“He’s not CRAZY, Va!” she didn’t, however, make any attempt to protest that she hadn’t been worried about her lover’s mental state for a time. “There’s nothing wrong with him.” the Champion scoffed, lifting her chin.
“Maybe not now, but if you’d gone charging out there sabers blazing without giving him chance to heal, you and I both know what would have happened.” the Mirialan smiled apologetically, patting Aria’s shoulder gently. She informed the Mirialan of their planned practise bout, and shared her optimism that she felt her partner’s skills would be more than up to snuff again.Though she nodded, the Mirialan also spoke a quick caution:
“Ari….I know you love him and you want him to be happy, but if he’s NOT ready, you need to be honest with him.”
Then, with a glance at the datapad she had set down on the shelf behind her, she grinned and shooed the Champion off.
“Now go on, your little lovebird’s probably wondering where you’ve gotten to.”
It wasn’t until that moment that Aria realised she was ten minutes late, cursed and hurried away to change into an outfit that would be more practical for a sparring match, if a little under-handed on her part due to its clingy nature. She had spent so much of her time wearing robes ever since they had begun the skirmish with Bracknell, it was oddly refreshing to be back in the synthleather jumpsuit. Made her feel more like..Aria again, although she had to admit she had changed a lot since then, arguably for the better.

As she stepped into the room, Yerbol’s gaze flicked over her attire once and he shot her a questioning, if exasperated, look that only made her flutter her eyelashes “innocently” in return.
“I never promised to fight fair, did I?” she shot back at him, stretching lazily. “I missed this outfit, actually, much less extra fabric flapping around to slow me down.” she chuckled teasingly as she circled closer. “Besides, it wouldn’t be fair for me to get an eyeful and not give you anything to look at would it now?” she dodged sideways as he lunged for her. “Hey, I never said ‘go’!”
Though in a way she was comforted by his lashing out, it provided some reassurance that he was back to his usual self despite the ordeals Illesia had put him through. They hadn’t discussed the sparring match in much detail the previous night, but perhaps that too was for the better. The spontaneity would make it a better judge of his current combat prowess, which was the whole purpose for the match in the first place. Hand to hand it was. Aria sidestepped as his hand flew past her left ear again, striking out as her partner lost his balance from the force of the swing and managing to connect a foot with his ribs, though it didn’t unbalance him for long. Aria had thought about letting him win for the sake of his pride, but was mindful of Vano’s warning. No, she couldn’t pull her punches if she wanted to make sure he was REALLY ready to get back out there. After a few flurries of exchanged blows, dodges and parries, any worry the Champion might have had about her partner’s combat capabilities were quickly dissipated. Ducking past a blow to her shoulder, she swept her leg out with the intent to trip him up, but was instead surprised when his hand flashed out to grab her by the ankle and threw her backwards so that she landed on her back, staring up at the ceiling.
Laughing out loud, she sat up to find her partner also grinning broadly back at her. It would seem their trains of thought had been similar.
“Well, this looks familiar, doesn’t it?” She smirked at him as she dusted herself off. "Thanks for not twisting my ankle this time."
“Not made of glass, right?” he quipped back at her.

After several more minutes of sparring, they were both too exhausted to take another step and called it even. As they returned to their assigned quarters to freshen up again before meeting with the gathered younglings (Cheriss had indeed dropped that bombshell on them the morning before; not only were they to be present at the opening of the new academy but they were apparently to be the instructors for the first class, too), Yerbol confessed his reasoning behind suggesting the sparring match in the first place and Aria was somewhat surprised to discover he had suspected the same thing as she did. They’d laughed it off again, and the subject turned towards their potential students as they made their way down to the main atrium at a leisurely stroll.
“Tell me you’re as nervous as I am.” she pleaded softly, snorting with laughter as he raised an eyebrow at her. “Well, I’ve never BEEN a teacher before.” she clarified, biting her lip. “I mean, what if they don’t take me seriously? LOOK at me!” Aria made a quick sweeping gesture to indicate her petite stature, trying not to laugh yet again. “I’m practically their height!” which was perhaps, a slight exaggeration, unless there happened to be a few slightly older children there of course. There was nothing to stipulate anyone had to be below a certain age in order to train, as they couldn’t afford to be too picky and the Elders seemed keen to acknowledge that the Jedi’s previous thoughts on students being unable to properly absorb teachings once they passed a certain age may have been slightly flawed.
Yerbol had much encouragement to offer her as to her “more than adequate skillset” and “patience she didn’t even know she had” (he was good at that), and if all else failed they could always put unruly pupils in their place with a menial punishment or two; which lifted the Champion’s spirits a bit.
“Maybe.” she concluded with a shrug as they rounded the corner towards the atrium, “Although I’m PRETTY sure stringing them up by their toes in that creepy temple down the road until they acknowledged their bad behaviour would be frowned upon as “unorthodox” by Saresh and the Alliance Cabinet.”

Aria flashed him a sharp-toothed grin as her lover snorted and rolled his eyes.
“And before you ask, yes, my father DID do that to me once, though it was Tulak Horde’s tomb...I was eight and I got a little too sassy for his liking. Took me nearly two days to get myself down; Vano said it’s hilarious when it isn’t happening to you...though I never did get to be on the other end of the stick since I never had younger siblings.”

It was true that her jumpsuit left little to the imagination, which was totally fine by him. He, of course, hadn't noticed how flattering it was the first time he saw her in it, but now he welcomed the apparel with open arms.
"Just because you can show off your curves doesn't mean I'm going to take it easy on you." With a mischievous glint in his eye, the Champion charged attempted to grapple her to the ground only for Aria to dodge gracefully out of the way. Well, so much for the element of surprise. After dodging a blow himself, he proclaimed with a confident grin:
"I want of all of your effort today! Cause I'm giving you all of mine!"

As their sparring progressed, Yerbol couldn't help but feel his connection to the Force rekindling itself. With every parry, dodge and attempted pin, his movements grew more fluid and precise, reflexes kicking in with lightning quickness. He also had to believe that their bond was helping in some way, even if they were training against each other and Aria was doing all she could be unpredictable; although the leg sweep that came close to planting him on the ground was one he saw coming a few seconds earlier. She had a way of tensing her hips before she tried a strenuous move, sinking them lower to the ground in preparation. Spotting the tell, he grabbed the leg and upended her onto the cushioned mat. They shared a moment of familiarity, Yerbol telling his partner:
"Not made of glass, right? Now come on and let me finish this off so we can be presentable."

They fought hard, the duo eventually finding themselves on the training room floor, struggling to immobilize the other in one form of hold or another. A few more minutes of this ensued before Yerbol, coated in a sheen of perspiration, unstuck himself off his lover and threw his arms up in the air, thumbs sticking up.
"Ok...we're good..." He propped himself onto his elbows, breathing heavily.
"I think...we ought to...shower..eh?"

____

After showering in their appointed quarters at the very top of the wide cylindrical building that was deemed the "main building" (for now, anyway) and changing into more fitting attire for their new students to see them in, they took an elevator down to the ground level and passed through a couple of hallways that were specifically intended to lead towards the atrium without attracting too much attention(the elevator they took was designated for those who taught at the Academy and the Elders, so naturally it would be embedded near the back of the ground floor). During their walk, Aria slightly squealed about her nervousness and alluded to her height, to which Yerbol responded with a reassuring pat on the shoulder:
"You're going to be fine. I don't care how you view yourself, honey; you've got what it takes. Tenacity, patience, kindness and experience to boot. Besides, I'll be right next to you with no bloody clue on what to do either! So at least we're in this together." That bring up a point he would have to address with the Elders: how were they supposed to start training? What curriculum would be employed to ensure adequate progression? What kind of a schedule would the younglings be on? A wave of anxiety swept through the newly minted Qyaari as they closed in on the breath-taking main atrium. A fountain dominated the center of the room carved from stones brought in from the mountains nearby, allowing it to glisten in the sunlight that casually streamed from the massive glass("Blaster-proof!" Matt vehemently suggested) skylight. The open air entrance allowed the duo to see familiar forms standing with their backs towards them. As the duo drew alongside the fully assembled Council, Matt looked to the teachers with approval:
"You look ready to go." He clapped Yerbol on the back in reassurance as Voldon took a sideward glance.
"Not bad. Hope that translates to your teaching ability." A half-smirk formed on the normally grave face of the former Battle Master before he added:
"The younglings will be arriving soon. We'll present ourselves, each of us will give a small dedication to the Academy and then we let them in." Matt quickly followed up with:
"We already had their datapads issued to them, right?" When he received an affirmative answer, he once again the new instructors:
"They all have their own datpads that syncs with the A.I. we got installed courtesy of Manso and other technological geniuses. All the students will have quarters assigned automatically, given a map and other basic information about the Academy, including their daily schedule." Yerbol looked quizzically at the Elder, who clarified:
"Just like you two had a training schedule, so will the younglings. With our lack of available Knights and Champions to teach, we drew up a basic schedule for them to follow. A lot of study on new teachings uploaded to their datapad and accessible in the library. We tried to make it work to where you two can teach classes together, but there will be times where you'll be paired with one of the few Knights we have on hand or you'll be by yourself. In any case, just guide them along according to the standards we uploaded for each class section." So it wasn't just recon work they were doing. They basically drew up plans for an entire curriculum in the span of two weeks. An admirable feat indeed.
"Don't worry, darlings." Malu came behind them, placing a hand on both of their shoulders.
"One of us will be floating around to ensure that everything's going according to plan. But something tells me you won't be needing us to watch your every step." Voldon then said to no one in particular:
"We're ready. Bring them up." He nodded to the assembled group.
"They're coming. Any last words before they arrive should be said now. I doubt we'll be able to get a free moment for a while once the Academy is opened."

As they met up with the rest of the Elders, they all had various points of further encouragement to offer to the duo, Aria shooting them all a grateful smile. The news that there actually WAS some form of curriculum planned out was very comforting. Like Yerbol, she couldn’t help but feel a bit of admiration that the Elders had managed to continuously run recon missions AND arrange to have a teaching plan written up, and datapads distributed to every student, before the Academy had even opened. The Champions had a lot of learning to do if they were going to live up to that standard.
“Any last words before they arrive should be said now.” At Voldon’s suggestion, Aria couldn’t help but groan softly.
“Can’t we send them back? I’ve changed my mind.”
This brought a chuckle from both Ailel and Cheriss, the former shaking her head in amusement as she insisted.
“Come now, Aria. You might find you enjoy teaching.”
Cheriss too, shot the duo a smile and murmured.
“As Malu said, we’ll be around if you need us. Though you’re more than capable of handling a gaggle of younglings without our help.”
Aria hoped they were right. She wished they’d known about the planned material beforehand, so they could have had a chance to look over it and familiarise themselves with some of the content before having to ACTUALLY instruct on any of it.
I suggest we get a quick glance over what they’ve written up while they’re settling into their quarters. She put forward quietly to Yerbol before the group of students stepped into the room.

Voldon’s last comment had not been an exaggeration, the academy indeed did require a gargantuan amount of their spare time, the days seemed to blur into one as they spent close to a week flitting from one class to the next, some practical and others more lecture-based, and when they weren’t teaching they spent most of their time sparring themselves in order to keep their own skills up to snuff. There was hardly any spare moment to do anything other than freshen up, eat or sleep. Aria found herself wondering how the instructors at the Korriban Academy ever managed it. Despite their initial misgivings, the Champions threw themselves into the role of instructors with as much enthusiasm as they could muster, and found they rather enjoyed it once they got into a proper routine again. While the “house rules” were less strict than they had been at both the previous Orders’ teaching establishments, time constraints did have to be placed on the lengths of lessons to ensure that everything remained running as smoothly as possible. The students didn’t seem to mind, and most were amicable and eager to learn from the two Champions, though a few tried their luck during the initial sessions due to the pair’s reluctance to be too hard on them from the outset. They soon learned that was a mistake, as naturally their pupils would attempt to push any boundaries their tutors set.
A few days into their lecturing sessions, however, and they soon found their stride. Perhaps a by-product of being the daughter of a high-ranking Senator and a Sith Lord, Aria was capable of barking at them like a drill sergeant (where called for, of course, it turned out to be particularly helpful during practical lightsaber drills where the duo walked the pupils through the most basic movements of the first two forms...with any luck they wouldn’t be needing those skills for anything other than practise sparring or defending themselves against Riika cats should any get too close to the outdoor training areas) as well as being encouraging and quietly understanding towards the less confident students.

As promised, they would frequently catch glimpses of the Elders as one or two of them hovered in the doorway of a training room to check on their progress, but none of them made any comments unless first invited to do so. Aside from enlisting Cheriss’ help to recall the attention of a particularly over-excited gaggle of six (or so)-year-olds, by the time the first week was drawing to a close Aria was confident enough that she no longer felt like they NEEDED to be there “just in case something went wrong”, and rather as though they were a welcome break from the monotony of the various drills and texts they had the students studying. The young pupils were always keen to interact with the Elders, and despite the fact that they complained about having “no time and other places to be” (due to STILL attempting to track Illesia and the Xiis’ movements throughout the galaxy), the Elders always found a few minutes to offer their own words of wisdom or stern reminders for the youngsters to listen to their teachers at all times.
The Champions had been so busy with their tutoring roles that they very nearly weren’t involved with tracking the Xiis at all; sparring sessions and lectures alike required meticulous planning or they quickly went down the drain and got WAY out of hand, which Aria found out the hard way one day after she pushed lesson planning aside in order to spend the time in one of the war rooms with Vano tracking holomaps and other records of possible Xiis sightings. She had tried to improvise the next morning’s lesson on the spot, and the students had almost instantly overwhelmed the already tired Champion. She had to call in Yerbol and Cheriss from across the hall for backup, and the Dathomirian had made a comment about her father turning in his grave if he could have been aware of her poor planning skills. The pair had laughed about that thought later that night before settling down to sleep.
Thankfully, the Tuk’ata were able to come and go throughout the facility as they pleased and so they didn’t have to worry about Chwuq and Taral becoming overly restless due to not getting enough exercise, they could easily take themselves for a romp through the jungles if they felt the need to. They became a little complacent about not seeing Aria and Yerbol enough, and once barged in during one of Aria’s meditation classes, which had been fun to defuse although it HAD given Aria an idea for making their next endurance training session a bit more interesting by getting the Sith hounds involved. Yerbol had been a bit apprehensive about encouraging them to chase the younglings due to the possibility of their hunting instincts kicking in again and something going horribly wrong, but with careful reminders that it was meant as a GAME and that nobody was to get hurt or they would be appropriately disciplined, Chwuq and Taral seemed to quite enjoy having the opportunity to wrestle any of the slower runners to the ground until Aria or Yerbol called them off. Not having their faces slobbered all over by the large beasts seemed to be adequate motivation for the class’ pupils to try their best at traversing the obstacles in a timely manner, too, rendering the strategy a reasonable success.

After the initial success of the Academy’s first week however, the duo were enjoying a much-deserved respite on one of the plush couches situated in the window bay of the Academy’s library while the students milled about the shelves and computer terminals doing independent research on Kator’s Philosophy (which they had of course named after Renso). The students were relatively confident on their own and would develop much needed cognitive thinking and reasoning by having to work together to research and deconstruct the scenarios that the Champions had spent the best part of last night and the early morning constructing for them. Whenever they weren’t providing some careful encouragement to a stumped pupil, they would exchange idle chatter with Vano as the Mirialan hung about nearby to offer her aid, or simply enjoy the vistas outside of the large full-length window they were seated in front of whilst trying not to fall asleep. Just as she was about to nod off again, Aria was jerked awake by the Mirialan’s voice beckoning them over from a nearby terminal.
“Uuhh...you guys MIGHT want to come and take a look at this. Cheriss just sent me a news report that’s circulating out of Dromund Kaas and it looks pretty suspicious.”
Aria exchanged a glance with her partner. Things had been quiet since their last encounter with Illesia on Coruscant, too quiet. Like the calm before the storm...perhaps that storm was about to break….

Yeah...yeah we should do that. I have a feeling we'll need to, you know, be prepared.

__

Preparation, as the young Champion learned, amounted to nothing until the theory was put into practice. While his instruction at the Jedi Academy tried to teach this lesson, much of what the former Order taught got condensed into jumbled theory that got debated at roundtable discussions while the galaxy burned around them. Ironically, the Sith took the very opposite approach it seemed, which was(in his opinion) to take action first without fully weighing the consequences. He had to fight the urge to lean one way or another in their first week of lessons, correcting himself and sometimes contradicting an earlier statement with something he presented later in a lecture. The balancing act got easier after the first couple of days, however, especially with more study on his own in the wee hours of the night. He would leave his lover's side after tossing and turning those initial two days, sitting in an overstuffed chair that overlooked the tranquil wilderness and voraciously reading not only what the Elders had put together, but also other assorted materials that Vano had generously sent to him after sending a pleading message to their unofficial chronicler. He felt like he reached a turning point during one of he and Aria's joint lectures, wherein he was able to fully explore the aspect of harmonizing with the Force instead of using it as a weapon. When he saw the student's eyes light up after Aria supplemented his point and jotting down notes on his datapad, the ball of stress that had formed within his gut finally unwound. It didn't hurt that Malu was present at the lecture, a small smile creasing her features when the moment of clarity finally arrived. Coincidentally, after that particular day, the Elders stopped popping by as often; in fact, on the fourth and fifth days of their new found professor-ship, they were nowhere to be found in his ventures.

There were, however, more variables to deal with even though the Elders were not providing their support that allowed stress to remain. Wrangling different age groups together was a chore, especially when the class consisted of five teenagers and ten younglings under the age of eleven. Thankfully he not only had Aria to bark with him at the children to get them in line, but there were about twelve or so newly appointed Knights that were assigned to the classes as apprentice instructors under Yerbol and Aria, Janika among them(Manso had become more absorbed than ever in aiding on the technological side of things, so his Qyaaari training was falling by the wayside.) They were indeed helpful, many of them grateful for the opportunity to have structure and order. Most, if not all, were former Padawans or Acolytes that were used to having guidance. Some of them pointed out how difficult it was to NOT have a singular purpose at an introductory luncheon hosted in the dining hall, many recounting their near death experiences at the hands of Alliance troops or Bracknell's personal hit squads consisting of Force wielding mercenaries disguised as "normal people". Their discussions made Yerbol all the more grateful that they had stopped Bracknell and also raised a red flag in his mind about Soto, seeing as they had heard little to no news about the former Jedi Master. Sooner or later they would have to return to Coruscant where she was being held to see if she could be rehabilitated. Hopefully she would still be in her cell. The thought of Soto AND Illesia free was a chilling one that he refused to entertain.

On their seventh day, the instructional duo finally found some relative peace in allowing this particular group of students to do some independent study that was occasionally punctuated by a question from one student or another along with admonishing certain young people to stop playing Attack of the Rakata, a role playing game that most of them thoroughly enjoyed playing on their datapads when they had free time...or when they just didn't want to work. Once the students were properly pointed in the right direction, Aria and Yerbol were able to look out onto the serene jungle. He would every so often entertain small talk with Vano or his partner, but the latter seemed content with taking sneaky rest breaks which he wouldn't disturb, instead choosing to occupy himself with addressing messages from students about some of the harder concepts they had to present in a lesson THEY taught in a couple of weeks. As he sent yet another reply, Vano alerted them of a questionable news report.
"Send it to my datapad, Vano." The message was blank in terms of Cheriss' thoughts, but there was a link that took him to a news report detailing several disappearances in and around the Force-user settlement on Dromund Kaas. The investigative journalist writing the story proclaimed that "Alliance and Dromund Kaas security personnel are baffled by the sudden rash of disappearances, but assure those planet-side that everything will be resolved soon." There was also an attachment in the message which, when opened, revealed a one page report with the words "CONFIDENTIAL-URGENT" bolded in red at the top with a circular seal in the upper right corner indicating authenticity(He had gotten familiar with looking at confidential documentation during their "cyber warfare" with Bracknell's twisted version of the Alliance). What followed was a two paragraph explanation of mysterious disappearances occurring within a two mile radius of the settlement with unsuccessful search and rescue operations. There was also a note from the reporting Alliance lieutenant that there were reports of "shadowy figures" darting through the jungles during Alliance patrols that soldiers kept insisting were the Xiis. With a request for further advisement, the report ended.
"If Cheriss sent this, then the rest of the Elders must know more." Yerol mused quietly, concern filling his features.
"We'll need to find one of them."
"Done." Voldon's sudden declaration nearly sent Yerbol clattering to the ground in surprise, the Champion turning around to find the Elder's face even more serious than usual.
"Come with me. Both of you. Vano, watch the students. We'll send Janika and Yoruba up here to help out in a moment."

Voldon was silent the entire way up to the fifteenth floor of the complex, which was an entire area dedicated for the Elders, including a twenty by thirty foot room with panoramic windows with an even prettier view of the jungle than they had at the library. There were several comfortable chairs seated in a circle, all of which were filled by the Council members. Once Voldon took his place, he spoke:
"That report was forwarded from Dromund Kaas Alliance headquarters two days ago. Within the past few hours, we've received word of a small firefight that occurred outside the settlement along with concerns about how silent the communication from settlement to Alliance headquarters planetside has become." He paused, allowing for Malu to jump in:
"My abilities to sense life are limited by miles, but I don't think it's much of a stretch to assume that the Xiis want something from the settlement...or someone?"
"Or multiple somoenes." Matt whispered in a moment of clarity, looking to the standing duo before them.
"You mentioned to us that Illesia has some kind of 'Force draining' ability, yes?" Yerbol's heart sank as he nodded slowly.
"Then that would mean that the settlement would've been an excellent feasting ground for her and the minions that follow." A heavy silence fell on the group for a few moments before Voldon broke it:
"We're sending you to Dromund Kaas with one of us in tow." Voldon looked to Cheriss with a knowing glance before verbalizing the thought:
"Are you still willing to go, Cheriss? Or do you want one of us to go in your stead?"

Peering at the report over Yerbol’s shoulder, Aria’s frown only deepened as they scanned further down the page. “Mysterious disappearances” were never a good thing to begin with, and once they got to the section of the confidential report that implied Xiis had been sighted by Alliance troops on the former Empire capital world, the Champion could feel the knots beginning to form in her stomach.
“This isn’t good.” she muttered, her dark gaze flicking between her two companions. She agreed that they should find the Elders post-haste and discuss the report, equally as surprised by Voldon’s apparent materialising out of thin air. Nonetheless, the matter remained urgent and they wasted no time in hurrying to the top floor where the new Council chambers had been placed. Once again situated in the middle of the circle of chairs, the two Champions devoted their attention to Voldon as he brought them up to speed regarding the report Vano had forwarded to them. The apparent radio silence after a firefight right outside the settlement did not bode well for the scenario, either. She hadn’t even considered the possibilities of Illesia and the Xiis stooping as low as kidnapping until Malu and Matthew brought the points forward to the Council, Aria’s own expression morphing into one of horrified disbelief.
“....oh, no.” the revelation was met with stunned silence from the entire room, punctuated by Voldon’s declaration that the duo would be heading for Dromund Kaas post-haste.
As the attention turned to her once more, Cheriss nodded a little. “I could join them, yes.” she turned towards the duo again. “Although more with the intention of supporting you where you need it, of course, not that we think you can’t handle yourselves.”

Aria wasn’t going to be the one to protest to the Elder’s help. After what had happened the last time they had taken on the Xiis by themselves, she didn’t want to take the risk of NOT having powerful help to fall back on.
____________________________

The journey time to Dromund Kaas seemed painfully long, Aria spent most of it pacing back and forth along the length of the seating area of the spacecraft they ended up using (the Ice Box was too conspicuous, there was a chance Illesia would know what it looked like and would flee when she saw them land), Chwuq and Taral huddled together on one of the chairs, chuffing anxiously at her as they attempted to follow her movements until they got too dizzy to do so.
“This isn’t good.” she muttered after they had successfully steered in to land. The spaceport was eerily quiet, even if it wasn’t a capital world anymore she would have expected to see the usual signs of inhabitance. The lack of travellers milling from docking bays seemed to be the trademark of worlds that had been touched by the Xiis. As they stepped out of the main building, a small contingent of Alliance soldiers were there to greet them and give them a run-down of the situation.
The lieutenant in the front saluted the three Qyaari, his soldiers standing at attention, their eyes scanning the jungle foliage warily as if they expected a Xiis to jump out at them any moment now.
“Good to have you all with us; the settlement is just a few miles past Kaas City, used to be called “The Wall”, back in the day. There were complaints sent in to the city of residents disappearing and not returning, we sent a battalion to investigate; there was a lot of gunfire in the call we got before the line went completely dead, haven’t heard anything from them since.”
“Thank you, lieutenant. We’ll investigate, keep your men close by and if anything changes let us know.” Cheriss nodded, leaving the soldiers with the channel frequencies of their comlinks should they need it.
Turning to the Champions, the Dathomirian added. “You both have more experience with these Xiis than I do, just tell me what you need me to do.”

Chwuq and Taral were in high spirits, prancing around with their tails lashing in excitement as they moved through the familiar terrain in pursuit of the speeders the trio took from the spaceport to the settlement. The Sith beasts catching up to them again was the only sound that permeated the local ambience, the stone structures eerily quiet for something which had supposedly been heaving with inhabitants until a week or so ago when the disappearances had started.
A subtle breeze stirred the Alliance banners flapping at either side of the vast entranceway as they passed underneath it, Cheriss and Aria both casting glances around them warily. It was as if the entire settlement had been swept clean, only this time there were no presences cowering behind closed doors, no hushed mutterings of frightened survivors debating whether to risk peering outside as they passed.
“This HAS to be her doing.” Aria muttered. “Only the Xiis would pick a place clean like this.”
Cheriss frowned warily.
“But what would they DO with so many people?” Images of jagged, blood-stained fangs framed by purple lips flashed in her mind’s eye, and the Champion shuddered.
“You don’t want to know, Cheriss.”

The other side of the wall, foliage rustled. Cheriss stuck her arm out to bring Aria to a stop. A thud from somewhere close by, as if something had landed heavily, then footsteps echoing on the cobbled stone pathway that snaked through the settlement. Behind her, Aria heard the Tuk’ata growling softly.
“What is it?” she asked them without turning her head, her eyes scanning the shadows as she tried to pinpoint the direction of the sound. “Xiis?”
“Blue people, baaaaaaaaaddd.” Chwuq snarled, Taral grunted his agreement. A flash of blue shot past them from behind a building and disappeared around the corner, then another, and another. She hadn’t got a good look at them, but she was sure it was Xiis. Lifting a lightsaber from her belt, Aria inched carefully towards the building to get a closer look. The tomb beasts pattered after her, grunt-whining urgently.
Uff! Uff! She ignored them.
“Aria…” Cheriss spoke up, her tone edged with wary concern. The Xiis came out of nowhere, ramming his shoulder into her collarbone and throwing her backwards, she flew past Cheriss and Yerbol and hit the windowsill of the building across the pathway, the Champion righted herself quickly and spat out a mouthful of blood. She’d bitten through her lower lip as her head connected with the stone, nothing that required any urgent attention.
“Son of a bantha…” she muttered as another pair of Xiis disappeared around the corner in the opposite direction. Waving off a concerned Yerbol, Aria’s gaze flicked from one direction to the other, unsure which group to follow.
“I’ll go this way.” Cheriss nodded back the way they had come, you two go the other way. Keep your comlinks on, call me if you need help and I’ll do the same.” Exchanging a nod with both Champions, the Elder hurried off in pursuit of the second group. Aria and Yerbol moved after the first group, the dogs still grunting warnings as they pawed anxiously at their robes.
UFF! “Not go there. Not safe!”
“Not safe!”
“Baaaaad!”

It wasn’t an option. They had to find out what these Xiis were up to. They had to go on.

While Aria paced for the nearly ten hour shuttle ride, Yerbol chose to concentrate on meditating, seeing as if he didn't at least try to focus on balancing(a term that the both of them had become very familiar with over the past few weeks) his focus, he would be a nervous wreck and wouldn't be of any help to his lover or the Elder that accompanied them. He would break out of his trance every couple of hours to take a sip of water or place a reassuring hand on Aria's back or hip before scratching behind the respective ears of their hounds, the physically imposing beasts melting into cathar pups when he indulged them in the gesture("You guys are such big babies...if babies could disembowel a sentient life form in a matter of milliseconds.")

When the ship touched down in the hangar, a sickening jolt of sorrow caroused through his mind. It felt like there was a gaping wound on the planet that hadn't been patched up. This was further emphasized by the lack of a populace in the hangar bay minus the group of Alliance soldiers that greeted them, their Imperial accents not able to hide the level of concern they held for the residents of the settlement. After they mounted speeders and zoomed along the desolate path winding through the shadowy jungle, they arrived at the settlement. Once off their bikes, Yerbol was quick to point out:
"No guards." He peered into the thick cover of jungle that ominously stood next to the settlement, eyes moving from the ground to the treetops, noting that some of the trees extended nearly to the top of the stone walls. He didn't know much about the beasts on the world, but he was aware that those he had heard of and looked up in the Jedi archives were notorious for being able to sense those who used the Force, desiring to feed on them whenever possible. Could the Xiis have some manipulated the wildlife to clamber up trees and somehow get into the settlement?

His theory was quickly put to rest based on the evidence or lack thereof as the trio made their cautious trek into the seemingly abandoned complex. Small, stout buildings not higher than two stories were spaced apart just enough to allow alleyways that were pitch black; in fact, all the illumination that they had was the moonlight casting a pale glow on their surroundings. Exterior light fixtures were extinguished and there were no lights visible from the interior of any building, prompting Yerbol to once again summon blue light from the palm of his hand to guide them on the cobblestone path. As they went deeper into the settlement, rustling could be heard from the exterior. He discounted it as the wind, but when flashes of blue darted past them and around a corner, the once trivial noises took on much more significance. As he drew his saber, Aria was driven back by one of the Xiis, who disappeared just as quickly as he had materialized, the gesture more than likely a goad to follow the lower tier Xiis into some kind of trap Illesia had for them. The dogs confirmed this notion after Cheriss left their company, urgently warning about them about the danger they were about to face.
"Flank us. Now." Yerbol commanded, the hounds whining in protest momentarily before they complied with the directive, Chwuq on his left and Taral on Aria's right. He looked to his companion with steely determination as he told her:
"Whatever they have planned has got to revolve around the people they've taken. After my little...odyssey with Illesia, I know she'll want them alive. We have to rescue them first. No matter what." He stared forward, adding:
"They can't go through what I did...and we're going to make sure they don't."

It was difficult to keep pace with the group they decided to track, but their leaping from building to building was visible enough in the dim lighting to see that they were headed to the rear of the settlement, their bounding eventually leading them to the exit. A massive steel gate, which once served as a barrier, had a gigantic hole in the middle of it, streaks of dried blood on the gate and path sloping downward into a maze of dense trees and foliage.
"Of course it would be a jungle." He quipped, remembering their initial adventure in the wilderness of Quensu.
"You know this terrain better than I do, so take point. I've got your back."

Once in the wilderness, they could hear the tree tops swaying above them, the occasional whispered laugh or indecipherable phrase floating through the air, yet there was never a full on assault, which was disarming, Yerbol's senses on high alert for any change from the non-violent approach the Xiis were taking. After a few minutes of heading straight, he sighted two limp forms laying against a tree that, upon closer examination, were mangled almost beyond recongition. Their skulls were bashed in, entrails strewn around the base of the tree in an almost ceremonial manner. Judging from the bodies, they were
"Young." Yerbol swallowed hard, looking at the short legs and narrow waists before spotting another gory display at a tree further down.
"Illesia's way of marking her territory, I'm sure." He shook his head as they progressed further.
"Showing us that she's willing to do anything to satisfy her lust for power." His right hand began to tremble, stopping a moment to regain control of the seething emotions that threatened to derail his focus before continuing ahead in silence, bodies continuing to show up every few hundred feet in similar condition to that of the first two discovered.

They finally reached a rockface that hosted at least a twenty foot opening. Torches were mounted on the cave walls, dull orange flames barely illuminating the path ahead. A voice floated from inside, taunting, menacing:
"Come in, love. You can bring your other woman in here too if you wish. I can handle a little competition." Suddenly a number of Xiis dropped in from above, encircling them. There were ten, maybe twelve of them, all of their hands stained with blood.
"GO! INSIDE! NOW!" One shouted, pointing emphatically at the opening.

Let's see what she's up to. We can save our strength for her by not engaging these guys.

They complied with the directive, following the linear cave path into a central, circular chamber that held a raised stone platform in the center. On the platform was a large rectangular shaped table made of marble, ornate designs carved on the sides that looked strangely familiar and might've been more discernible if it wasn't for the rivulets of blood coming from the body laying on its surface. Behind the table stood Illesia, her mouth dripping crimson. Upon seeing the duo, she grinned, baring her teeth.
"So good to see you again." She strutted casually to the front of the table, motioning to the chamber.
"Especially here of all places." The head Xiis pointed to a path that lay behind her.
"Because this will be the beginning. The start of something that should've begun long ago."
"You're not going to win, Illesia!" She let out a giggle, lips licking the blood off her mouth as she responded:
"With every pathetic user of the Force I drain, my strength grows and so does the strength of my people, some of which were preserved in this very chamber." She blew out a sigh, inching towards the Champions as she spoke:
"Renso and the others who toyed with us didn't expect us capable of subterfuge, of striking back, but we did...yet we were drained from their continued experimentation. In order to ensure our survival, a number of us fled to formerly inhabited Sith planets like this one and used their devices against them. I was stopped by Renso, but the Five...they're here. And they can't wait to Feast on your sumptuous power."
"The Five?"
"Five leaders, tribunals that led our resistance against the Sith. I was their herald, their arm, their might. They will bring into existence the chaos necessary to weed out the weak, to purge the insignificant and allow the strong to claim what is rightfully theirs." Illesia's powerful leg muscles twitched, her body convulsing momentarily before she let out a cackle.
"They come!"

Aria knew the likelihood of them walking right into a trap was EXTREMELY high, and the dogs seemed to confirm this, but as Yerbol spoke of what Illesia might do to the people they had captured, she knew that turning back and leaving them in the hands of the Xiis was not an option.
“We have to get them out of there.” she agreed as they began to pursue the shapes through the settlement until they reached the gate at the other side. Yerbol stopped again to allow Aria to take the lead, a Tuk’ata flanking them on either side as they moved back into the jungle once more. Even the wilderness was eerily devoid of life forms, there should have been birds, small rodents, packs of vine cats on the prowl and other large creatures besides that, but apart from the insects Aria could see no sign of any of the native fauna. As they rounded the corner and came upon the first of Illesia's gruesome offerings, they discovered why. Of course, nothing would want to come anywhere near the totems, they'd probably moved off to other hunting grounds where they didn't feel as threatened. Aria was stunned into silence by the display, her jaw stiffening as she tried to swallow the sour taste left in her mouth.
“Did they leave ANY of them alive?” the Champion muttered as they followed the trail of gore to the mouth of the cave where they were set upon by the large group of waiting Xiis.
Aria nodded her agreement, shooting the dogs a penetrative glare that warned them not to attack. Yerbol was right, though Chwuq was reluctant to comply at first and gnashed her teeth furiously at one of the Xiis that made the mistake of trying to kick her forward after her masters.

They were herded inside by their captors, Aria regarding Illesia through half-narrowed eyes as the lead Xiis moved around the stone platform and came towards them.
“Why the younglings?” the Champion hissed through her teeth. “You're going to pay for that!”
Illesia cackled gleefully at their insinuations, her crimson eyes flicking back towards the dark tunnel behind the marble altar. The hairs on the back of Aria's neck stood on end as the footsteps echoed towards them, slow and methodical. They felt the slight shift in the Force as the Five stepped into the chamber, from their appearance three men and two women. The other Xiis who had forced them into the cave abruptly retreated with complacent whimpers, only Illesia remained where she stood. Piercing crimson eyes bored right into her skull as the Five looked the duo over, the front most of the men licking his lips as he spoke to Illesia:
“You were right, my dear...they ARE strong.”
His voice had such a gravity to it, a way of pulling you in and keeping you there, Aria found herself unable to tear her attention from him for a moment, her feet seeming to inch further towards them of their own accord without her meaning them to, until a familiar voice broke into her thoughts and jolted the sense back into her with a sharp reprimand:
DON’T look them in the eye!
Shaking herself free of whatever influence the Five may have been exerting on them, Aria dropped her gaze to the floor and swallowed the lump that had begun to form in her throat, communicating the same warning to Yerbol through their bond, in case he hadn’t heard Roan’s voice as well.
It’s like they pull you in...and you can’t stop them. Is that what Illesia did to you? She shuddered a little at the thought. Only these Xiis seemed even MORE influential than Illesia, which was disconcerting.
“Yes,” spoke up one of the women in agreement with her comrade. “They will do nicely. Then our strength will return fully.” As one, the five Xiis began to advance towards them, Aria and Yerbol backing away as they attempted to keep the distance between them. Throwing her glance back towards the exit tunnel, Aria saw the Xiis from before had formed a barricade of sorts...there’d be no going back that way without fighting through them first. The Champion’s grip on her lightsabers tightened till her knuckles went white. No. Running away wasn’t an option.
We’ve got to stop them somehow. There was no telling the horrors the Five could unleash on other worlds, if they managed to get to the spaceport...Yerbol nodded, as if he had realised the same thing. Squaring her jaw, Aria dropped into an attack stance and prepared to do whatever they had to in order to stop the Five from leaving this chamber. With visceral snarls, the dogs prowled forward as well, just as keen to sink their teeth into their opponents as the Xiis were themselves.
“They don’t leave the chamber.” Aria murmured, the Tuk’ata affirming the instruction with a grunt and a swish of their tails.

Once the Xiis had pressed forward further, she realised this may have been easier said than done. The duo tried to fight side-by-side and employ some of their usual paired fighting tactics, Yerbol aiming high with long strokes of his double-bladed saber while Aria tried to sweep below and knock them off balance. Though they were unpolished from years spent in stasis pods, the Five were just as physically strong and fast as Illesia and before she knew what had happened, Aria found one of the men had sneakily managed to drive her away from Yerbol and back her into a corner. She tried to fumble for the comlink and alert Cheriss to their predicament, but the Xiis’ arm shot out to grab her wrist in an iron grip before she could hit the button.
His other hand plucked the comm unit right out of her ear and flung it off into the shadows at the other end of the chamber, his crimson eyes glittering with bloodlust as he leaned in to purr softly:
“Now now, you won’t be needing THAT, my dear.”
The Champion could smell the metallic tang of blood on his teeth as the Xiis’ face hovered inches from hers, shuddering uncomfortably as his fingertips brushed from her ear down her neck. Aria jerked away sharply before he had a chance to go any further, hissing through her teeth.
“It’s impolite to put your hands on a lady without asking in this part of the galaxy!”
A well-aimed kick to the stomach staggered him backwards enough for Aria to duck underneath one of his arms only to dart right towards the flailing claws of one of the females. They advanced slowly, taking the occasional swipe at her as they herded her back and forth between them. Eerie, delighted laughter bounced off the walls each time Aria leapt out of the reach of one and into the waiting arms of the other, their crimson eyes watching her with an unnaturally predatory satisfaction. They were toying with her, like a Loth cat played with a womp rat. Each time she tried to move in one direction, one of the pair would block the exit and force her back into the corner, biding their time while she wasted energy ducking and feinting in futile attempts at escape. Spotting her predicament, Chwuq surged across the chamber from her place at Yerbol's side, seized the man's shoulder in her guillotine-like jaws and shook it until the bone crunched under the strain. Letting out a howl of agony, the Xiis spun around and prised his arm free of her jaws, lifting the canine into the air and throwing her clear. The Tuk’ata thumped against the backmost wall of the chamber and didn’t seem to stir when she hit the floor. Aria didn’t have time to check, not till this was over. She could only hope that whatever injuries Chwuq had suffered, she could hold out until they could get to her.

Wide-eyed with panic, Aria was desperately trying to evade her captors and rejoin Yerbol when the sentinels at the entrance/exit passageway were suddenly propelled into the marble altar, a familiar figure appearing in their place.
“Tsk Tsk, six against three...that's not a fair fight is it?” Cheriss clucked disapprovingly, another blast of energy from her palm sending one of the Five blundering straight into Taral’s jaws (furious at his mate’s injured state, the hound who was normally the more reserved of the two fell on the Xiis with a vengeance unlike any other).
“Cheriss! Force, are we glad to see you!” Aria gasped, dodging another swipe of a clawed hand and striking out in retaliation with a lightsaber. The Dathomirian grinned back at her, advancing further into the room whilst firing bolts of energy from her fingertips.
“A little birdy told me he had a feeling you needed the help.”
Aria had thought Yerbol had managed to call her on the comlink at first, until she glimpsed another shadowy shape flitting from the passageway into the main chamber, a column of dark energy rippling through the air as it landed between the two Xiis that had been hounding her.
“TOUCH either one of them again and we'll see just who ends up adding to the body count.” Roan rumbled. With the pair momentarily stunned, Aria went on the offensive and managed to clip the man across the collarbone before he lunged and threw her backwards with such force that she continued to skid backwards a few inches after her feet had hit solid ground again. Blasts of energy came at her from both sides from Illesia and one of the Five, only to bounce off the barrier Roan threw up in front of her as a shield. Knowing that they had the backup they needed fed a new kind of vigor into Aria's tiring limbs, allowing her to spring back into action despite the cramped space.

With a broken shoulderblade, the male Xiis was much less mobile than previously and made the task of overpowering him seem less impossible than previously. Roan’s appearance seemed to have distracted the two Xiis, the aliens currently more occupied with trying to take swings at the Force apparition, who seemed to take great joy in the perplexed looks on their faces as each of their lunges simply passed straight through him.
“You really aren’t very clever, are you?” the former Sith Lord proclaimed, grin splitting his features. “You can’t kill someone who’s already dead!” taking advantage of their presently stunned state, Aria lunged and managed to run the man through the chest with her lightsaber, stepping back to find his companion had been struck down by a burst of energy from Roan. With two of the Five dispatched, the Champion spun around to rejoin Yerbol and Cheriss who had dispatched the other three between them as well. Taral had left Yerbol’s side to dash across to Chwuq, whimpering and pawing frantically at her side. Illesia, Aria noted, was nowhere to be seen.

“Illesia got away…” she muttered, exchanging a concerned look with her partner and the Elder Qyaari.

An immense weight filled the cave, threatening to crush every ounce of strength he was attempting to muster in preparation to dispatch(or so he thought) the supposed harbingers of chaos that Illesia had brought back to life. It was his gaze. The piercing, all knowing black hole that simultaneously destroyed one's self-will and sapped any kind of resistance one could put up to the ravenous hunger that emanated from it. He was all too familiar with this leeching of power, which allowed him the leisure of averting eye contact, about to warn Aria when she suddenly tilted her downward and headed backwards in the direction of the exit. It was odd that she knew how to counteract the initial blow from the Five, but he wouldn't question the intuition, instead affirming her sentiment that they couldn't allow the Five to leave the cave. If they were set loose on the galaxy, the doomsday scenario Bracknell would have enacted those months ago looked optimistic.
"They'll get nowhere." He looked to Aria with a nod, quickly going on the offensive with their array of attacks that normally were effective on the first go around, but the Five displayed their genetic engineering and training from the True Sith, easily side stepping and dodging attacks while managing to get in a few quick swipes right before Yerbol could throw up a blade in return. Within seemingly mere moments, they were separated, Yerbol cornered by three of the Five, their eyes flashing in malevolent lust. Thankfully Taral and Chwuq were nearby to get in a few bites and scratches, Taral going so far as to completely tear one of the Five's shins right out of her skin, allowing Yerbol to finish one of the would-be chaos bringers quite easily. It didn't take long for Chwuq to gallantly stomp across the room to help Aria out, but surprisingly it didn't hinder his battle with the remaining Five; in fact, it felt easier, his blows coming closer and closer to fruition. However, Yerbol misjudged a blow and slashed too fast, allowing one of the men to pirouette away before slamming his shoulder into Yerbol's chest, knocking him backwards while the other came at his neck, talons ready to dig into the Champion's jugular. He managed to throw a current of energy at the oncoming Xiis, but not before the first attacker sliced at his midsection, three jagged slashes marking Yerbol's abdomen. With the second attacker already back on her feet and the other Xiis onlookers blocking the exit, it seemed like their graves would be dug in this cave.

That was until Cheriss came.

He couldn't help but laugh at the almost comical flailing the Xiis underlings participated in as their blue forms made sickening cracks against the marble altar, Cheriss proclaiming that she had received a tip on their whereabouts before joining Yerbol's side to thwart the other two members of the Five. He wanted to check on Aria, but the thunderous threats uttered in an all too familiar voice made Yerbol look over at the rippling mass of dark energy for just a moment, which gave one of the Five the time he needed to leap into the air and deliver a thundering blow to his chest. Cheriss scowled at the Champion's lack of focus before delivering a burst of lightning at the attacker, his body going limp as it dropped to the ground. With no other support, the last member of the Five standing hissed, teeth bared in one final act of defiance as she dashed forward, Yerbol intercepting her and ducking under her reach as he ran her through with one of his blades, withdrawing it to allow the body to crumple to the cave floor.
"Distracted at a time like this?" Cheriss asked as she clucked disapprovingly at his wounds.
"You saw that, right?! All that black energy just floating in to help us? Did you summon something?"
"I don't think I was ever strong enough to control that man. No one was."
"Man? Wha-" As Ari rejoined them, he saw that the energy had form...
"Ro...Roan?" With a nod, the form disappeared, leaving the trio alone with nothing but corpses and the hounds.
"I mean, am I the only..." Aria's statement brought him back once again to their current state of affairs. Swearing under his breath, he examined the chamber in vain before saying:
"She's bound to be off world by now, especially with this being the last..well, really, the only plan she had. With the Five gone, where else could she go?"

Her fingers traced across his chest, her lips at his ear

Home...jealous...so jealous of home...so jealous of home...

He grit his teeth, the memories of he and Illesia's "evening" together flooding back at a time when he desperately wanted to push them out, yet they pulsed through his mind:

Home is...never me...never...I...jealous of your home...

"Home...jealous of home..." He mumbled to himself, ignorant of the blood dribbling down his tattered shirt as he paced, fingers massaging his temples.
"HOME!" He pointed upward.
"Illesia's going back to where Renso first planted them. She's obsessed with it, wants to go back and 'reclaim it' for themselves. She was so insistent on that point. To make a home for her people, like they had before...like we have now." He rubbed the back of his neck in agitation, not able to look Aria in the eye as he mumbled:
"When she went into my mind...I saw some of hers." That's all he could allow himself to say. There was much about that evening that he hadn't told Aria about simply because he couldn't come up with the words. In time he knew they would come, but for now...
"Renso must've known where the home planet was...think we can find some stuff in the archives?"

Making her way across to Yerbol and Cheriss, the Champion glanced quickly over her partner to find that his most serious injuries appeared to be the gash marks on his chest.
“Stay still, you're bleeding.” she murmured urgently as he began pacing and muttering though at first she could make no sense of what he was saying without his explanation. “O-Oh.” for a brief moment, she felt a flash of pity for Illesia, it must have been hard for her not having a place to call home, somewhere to feel safe….
Then she remembered all the terrible things the Xiis had done, to Yerbol and to those younglings, and squashed that thought like an ant. She didn't deserve anyone's pity. Yerbol averted his gaze and mumbled something about sharing some of Illesia's memories, she could tell he was withholding information but didn't press him for it, however much she wanted to.
Instead, she glanced over the first statement and focused on his suggestion.
“It's as good a place to start as any.” the Champion agreed, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder and squeezing gently.
It's okay...You don't HAVE to explain anything to me that you'd rather not, you know that right? She managed a smile, and hoped it would help him feel a bit better. Drawing back again to give him a bit of space, she turned to check on Chwuq, who was still on her side while her mate nudged her frantically to try and get her back on her feet. Frowning in concern, Aria moved across to her and knelt beside the beast, who to her relief, opened her eyes and glanced towards her.
“Come on, up you get. Don’t make me carry you, you big baby.” the Champion quipped, patting the hound’s flank. Chwuq thumped her tail weakly but still refused to move at first, drawing an amused chuckle from Roan who lingered only briefly to check on his old friend as well.
“You have grown soft, my friend.” the Tuk’ata growled crossly and champed her teeth at him in retort, the Sith Lord’s apparition disappearing with one final nod at the duo once he was satisfied that Chwuq was indeed able of getting up again and none of the trio needed his assistance any further. With some encouragement from Aria and Taral, the injured tomb beast managed to haul herself back to her feet, snorted, and shook the loose shards of stone from her pelt, unharmed apart from a few clumps of missing fur, a gash or two and the fact that she refused to put weight on the foreleg which had hit the wall first, leaving her with a pronounced limp.

Aria had tried to put her hands on it to examine it and determine what was damaged (please don't let it be a broken bone…) but was warned away by a low growl.
“Hurts.” Chwuq huffed, licking her lips rapidly.
“I know.” the Champion scratched under her chin soothingly. “Don't worry, we'll get you fixed up when we get back, then it won't hurt anymore.”
Before heading back towards the settlement again, the trio made a quick search of the rest of the tunnel network and stumbled upon a small group of bedraggled Force users who had not yet been consumed by the Five. Apparently the Qyaari had interrupted that process when they had arrived and Illesia had called them away. They were gaunt-faced and rather badly wounded but their eyes brightened immediately at the assurance that the Five had been dealt with. The Qyaari accompanied them to the med center back at the settlement, where their own injuries could be treated as well; Yerbol's wounds required a few shots of kolto and some antiseptic salve held in place with bandages for a day or so, Aria had a few bruises and a gash of her own to her left shoulder that required similar attention, and Chwuq turned out to have dislocated her shoulder which was a simple matter of coaxing the Tuk’ata to allow a medic close enough to pop it back into place (“For Force sake, just man up and do it already, I'm more likely to get bitten since I'm the one sitting by her head!”). After filling the Alliance lieutenant in on their findings, the group departed Dromund Kaas and made their way back to Zinuthra to search the archives. Aria spent a large majority of the time meditating this time around as she tried to discern any clues she could from their former experiences with Renso without questioning Yerbol too much about his experiences with Illesia (even though the information might have been useful, she didn't want to seem like she was probing for information he wasn't ready to share with her).

She had very little to show for her efforts by the time they landed, only images of towering glaciers that stretched as far as the eye could see, but no clue as to where or why which meant it wasn't particularly useful. She decided to keep it to herself until she could make more sense of it. When they arrived back at Zinuthra again, Cheriss disappeared back into the Council chamber to inform the rest of the Elders of the events that had taken place on Dromund Kaas while the two Champions made their way to the archives on the second floor to comb through what remained of the True Sith texts Renso had left them with. As the place Renso had initially steered them towards when they had met with him, they began with Nuncata. The files were well hidden and somewhat tricky to find (likely due to the backlash Renso and his associates suffered when the experiments went wrong) but thankfully had been kept hidden away. They could glance over the initial documentation of the experiments and their results due to their first-hand knowledge of the events from Renso, allowing the duo to instead split up and skim over records to discover what had happened and where the Xiis had gone after the project had been disbanded and shut down.

Presently, Aria sat on the edge of one of the chairs situated in the corner across from the windows, one leg crossed over the other and a datapad perched on her knee as she scrolled through the texts which Vano had managed to digitize, for better storage purposes, after a very time-consuming and painstaking process (or so the Mirialan liked to remind everyone: “while you guys were out having fun beating people up, I’ve been bored to death reading all of Renso’s old archives and organising them so you better appreciate that!”). She had been about to scroll right past it after glancing over it twice and thinking not much of it, but she couldn’t ignore the visions that kept returning whenever she saw mention of the “safe place for the Xiis to be left, away from the rest of society” (or other such similar word choices). Raising a hand, she beckoned Yerbol over again.
“I think I’ve got something; Renso made notes of where they sent the Xiis after they lost control of them” Clearing her throat, the Champion read aloud:

“In order to protect ourselves from the threat the Xiis possessed, we had no choice but to take them to a place where in time they would become nothing more than a bad memory to the elders, where no-one else would ever find them or remember them. It’s inhospitable, it would be surprising indeed if any of them managed to survive the ice that has had its grip on the landscape for centuries now.” her mouth curved upwards in a wry smirk. “If only they’d thought of the possibility, huh?” she commented, scanning further down to try and find a name of some description. “Chufion Prime, we believe it is called. Not that it matters, I am ordering all records of it on our galaxy maps to be erased after this log entry, we cannot risk anyone else stumbling upon our mistake. I only hope that with time the ice will erase the last traces of them, perhaps then I will finally be free of this horror I have created.” the two Champions exchanged a somber glance for a moment, before Aria opened the planet database on the datapad and attempted to figure out how they were going to find out the co-ordinates so they could travel there.
“That’s got to be it, right? But if he erased all the data…”
Nothing, of course, was a match for the diligent duo and the eagle-eyed (for someone who was missing one, especially) Mirialan archivist who seemed to have a talent for finding information that others wished to keep hidden.The duo had begun by flagging up every planet in the vicinity of Wild Space they could find that documented frigid temperatures, but couldn’t come close to finding one cold enough to be covered in the vast expanses of ice that Aria had seen in her visions...which Yerbol with some reluctance later also confirmed he had seen in Illesia’s memories. After hours of fruitless searching in a similar manner, the Champions had thrown in the towel and implored for Vano’s help.
“Did it ever occur to you, my dearest Ari and Yerbol,” she had taken great delight in reminding them with a satisfied grin on her face, “that you might not looking for a planet?”
The pair had stared at her, dumbfounded, exchanged a glance and stared at her again.
“...I’m sorry?”
“Well, you’re looking for a place that’s uninhabitable to most beings but that would still provide some kind of living space to those who could specialise to it. THINK, a moon like Pantora, or Endor.”
Aria groaned softly and pressed her forehead into her palm. OF COURSE it could have been an ice moon.
“Do you know where we might find one? One that Renso tried to keep hidden?”
“Ari, you underestimate how boring it gets in here without company. Of course I know where it is. You could have asked me two hours ago and Id’ve told you.”
With a little more pleading, the Mirialan had left them with the information they needed, which only left the matter of planning the journey, and more importantly how they would deal with anything the moon had to throw at them once they touched down (including tracking down and dealing with Illesia, of course, should that opportunity present itself).

It was difficult to believe that Vano could be THIS adept at pulling information from archives that required constant translating and deciphering, seeing as she had little experience with the language or culture of the True Sith, but it was apparent that her naturally quick wit and sharp intellect was exactly where it belonged. After the brilliant Mirilian gave the duo their marching orders, Yerbol left Aria to deal with gathering any supplies for their journey while he went back to their ship in order to program the coordinates and figure out their best point of entry. During the walk to the ship and subsequent entrance, he was shadowed by Taral, who wouldn't let the Champion out of his sight no matter how times Yerbol told the hound that he would be fine and "wouldn't it be better to hang out with the women?" All of his protests were met with a shake of the head and a snort, the beast padding alongside in defiance. It wasn't until they got to the cockpit that Yerbol addressed the hound since his final protest a few hundred yards back:
"I don't need your help inputting coordinates, bud. I'll be fine, honest!" Another snort.
"Taral..." He collapsed into the pilot's chair, inputting coordinates that Vano had sent to their nav panel with his left hand while his right was nudged by Taral's snout onto his head, indicating that the ferocious monster wanted his head scratched.
"We spoil you far too much. You should be out hunting bad guys and tearing weaklings in half." A half-hearted chuckle came out of his tired throat as he complied with the beast's not so subtle directive, left hand returning to his lap with business finished. Taral snorted again.
"You honestly can feel that?" A brief nod of the head.
"I sorely underestimate how much you can sense." He blew out a sigh, looking into the watery eyes of his once feral companion before staring out the viewing glass.
"I haven't told her anything because I'm bloody scared." Taral's head came forward to rest on Yerbol's right thigh.
"I'm terrified that she'll think less of me. I mean, I'm supposed to be the strong idealist, right? That one that's unflappable, the one that can give HER strength and I...I feel like I've been ripped apart. Whatever Illesia did shook me so hard. Still does."
"Bad?" Taral throatily grunted.
"Yeah, bad. She made me doubt myself. Not that I haven't done that before, but this was different. She threatened my existence, the core of who I am." His left hand scrunched into a fist.
"Her talons just DUG into my mind, manipulating memories, causing me to doubt who I was loyal to, who I could trust, who I couldn't and...for a while, even my feelings for Ari." The fist tightened.
"I didn't want to see her again. Ari, I mean. Illesia dominated not only my mind, but my heart and she almost..." He chuckled briefly.
"Sucked the ability to feel out of my being? Does that make sense?" Taral stayed quiet.
"I guess not, but that's the only way I could describe it. There was only a hunger for her. It was primal. Disgusting. And I have no clue how I'm supposed to tell her about this." He looked down at Taral.
"And no, it's not what you're thinking. No matter what that she-devil did to me, I would never betray Ari like that. Didn't seem like Illesia was too concerned about breaking my body, but breaking the very core of who I am." There was a familiar presence he felt unmask itself behind him, someone who he hadn't intended to have hear these declarations. Taral withdrew, allowing Yerbol to face her with chagrin.
"I ah...Taral's a good listener." He laughed nervously, looking at the ground as he cleared his throat.
"I know you haven't asked about what happened and I was going to tell you, but...well, I didn't want you to think less of me." Drawing a bit closer, he took one of her hands in his.
"That I was somehow inferior or couldn't hold my own against the kind of power I know we're going to come across sometime in the future...well, near future with Illesia coming up." He approached her, slipping his arms around her waist.
"But I can promise you this: that whatever she did to me, whatever scars I have...they're going to only motivate me to keep going. I'm not backing away from this fight or any of them for that matter. We fight together. Right?"

Yerbol suggested that they split off, so Aria could collect supplies for the (undoubtedly long) journey ahead of them while he programmed the co-ordinates into the navcomputer. She figured he wouldn’t ask for time apart if he didn’t feel like he needed it, so Aria agreed and the two Champions peeled apart as Yerbol headed back to the ship and Aria instead made her own way through the academy to pick up rations (ugh, food in a bag again, how she hated it….), an assortment of medical supplies “just in case”: medpacs, extra kolto injections, bandages, and (by twisting Pedia’s arm a bit and promising to only use it if ABSOLUTELY necessary) some painkillers, as well as some spare clothes which they were bound to need if they wanted to be at their best when they faced Illesia. The Champion had been so focused on worrying that she would forget to ‘pack’ something important that it took her until they left the medical bay to realise that only one of the dogs was trailing after her. This was unusual, since both of them were normally stuck to her side like glue and in fact appeared to hate being apart from one another, casting a questioning glance back at Chwuq as they headed through the main atrium and enquiring as to the whereabouts of her mate.
The larger hound simply snorted and replied with an anxious whine.
“Yerbol.”
“Oh I get it, leave the boys to have some guy time, huh?” the Champion tried to make light of it, but her resolve was crumbling somewhat. Chwuq could tell, she knew that. Setting down the things she had been carrying, Aria paused to plop down onto the ground with a heavy sigh. Dutifully, Chwuq wriggled into her lap and bumped her head underneath Aria's chin, which hurt a little but Aria simply smiled and scratched between her ears.
“Daddy was right you know, you HAVE gone soft. You aren't supposed to like cuddles.”
A soft snarl of protest implied that both Tuk’ata were still just as capable of tearing something limb from limb if they perceived it as a threat to their pack leaders. “Just between us girls, though, Chwuq...I am worried about him.” the Tuk’ata responded with an empathetic grunt and another headbutt that nearly broke her jaw.
“I just wish he'd...TALK to me, you know? I know it was difficult for him and it's not easy for him to remember what happened but I can't….I can't HELP him if he doesn't talk to me.” there was only so much she could pick up on through their Force bond without prying into his mind of her own accord, and that felt too much like invading her lover’s privacy for Aria to be comfortable with.

“You sad….Yerbol hurt?” Chwuq whined questioningly.
“In here, maybe. Yeah. And I can't help him feel better if he's not ready to tell me what's hurting.” Aria tapped the beast between the eyes gently, which only seemed to confuse Chwuq more. They were intelligent enough to pick up on Yerbol's worries but of course not able to offer Aria any more solution than she could come up with on her own. With a strained laugh, Aria patted her flanks and prompted them to leave the academy and return to the ship. Dropping the supplies in the cargo hold, she frowned as she thought she heard Yerbol's voice from the cockpit and wondered for a moment who he was talking to, though it didn't take much to figure out the topic of the conversation.
“I don't want her to think less of me….” she shouldn't have eavesdropped, she knew that, but somehow Aria couldn't help herself. Maybe, if she could catch even a snippet of the things he hadn't yet told her, she could try to help. Trying to be as quiet as she could (which was met with stern growls and huffs of protest from Chwuq, who seemed not to approve of this “sneaking around and hiding from one’s mate”), Aria inched closer to the cockpit and listened in as Yerbol confided in his furry companion.

She found she couldn't hide her presence from him for very long. Certainly, the longer she listened to what he had to say, the more she just wanted to offer him any form of comfort she could. Apparently she had not done a very good job of keeping up the charade (or perhaps Taral had smelt her coming and tipped him off) because at that moment Yerbol turned to face her with an embarrassed smile.
“Hey, I'm not judging. “ she mumbled, sidling into the cockpit as Taral brushed past her to leave the duo with some privacy.
“How could I ever think less of you?” the Champion muttered in answer to his statement, stepping slightly closer as he moved towards her and wrapped his arms around her. “I think you were very brave for holding on long enough for us to find you, for trying to help me even after everything she did to you.” Aria sighed softly, stretching up on her toes to press her forehead to his. “And I will NEVER be angry at you for doing what you had to, no matter what it was. And...you can talk to me, about anything. Or not talk at all, if you just need me to be here while you get angry or cry or...do whatever you need to to help you cope. I'm here to help you in whatever way you need me to, that's what people do when they love each other.” she promised.

Another smile pulled at her features, Aria closing the distance between them to place a gentle kiss on his lips.
“Together.” she promised quietly. “And this time she isn't going to get away. We'll get her, and then when it's all over we can go somewhere relaxing and just try to forget it ever happened.” she let the contact between them linger for a few more moments before stepping away to announce that she and Chwuq had successfully retrieved enough supplies for the several hour journey. With the navcomputer programmed, they could spend most of their time trying to prepare for the inevitable confrontation with Illesia. This involved a lot of mutual meditation as well as discussions (often including their beastly Companions who would no doubt offer their assistance when the time came) where they would reflect upon what they knew of Illesia's abilities and fighting style and try to come up with how they would get the better of her between them.
“I remember my father telling me once that beings who fed on Force presences or life essence aren't always as invincible as they seem.” Aria had hesitantly spoken up about halfway through their travel time as they moved to check their progress in the cockpit once more.
“That while it is their greatest strength it can also be their greatest weakness, because once you start taking energy like that you can't stop, or it weakens you considerably.” the Champion chewed her lip thoughtfully as she recalled Renso’s concepts of the Force being a living thing in and of itself, as far of a stretch as it was there was a possibility they could tip the balance in their favour simply by the fact that they treated the Force with respect rather than treating it as a power source to be siphoned as they saw fit. This was going to be difficult, no doubt Illesia had chosen this moon because it could bring a great source of power to her. “We have to find a way of cutting her off from that ability to siphon energy, from what you've mentioned it seems as though she relies on it, her other abilities may not be as strong so if we could find a way to tip whatever energies are on that moon to OUR favour instead of hers, she might be weak enough for us to finish her off.”
Until they arrived and could take stock of their surroundings first hand, of course, it would be nothing but speculation...

Her reassurances was all he needed to break into a smile, the Champion quickly firing the engines on the ship and throttling into the atmosphere as he and Aria discussed their supply situation and their plans to occupy their journey, which would mainly shape up into the form of meditation and discussion about how to take down Illesia. They reviewed their previous encounters with her, attempting to identify any kind of weakness she had. Yerbol had run into several dead ends with his own ideas before Ari suggested an elaboration on what he attempted to do to her on Coruscant.
"Severing her connection would work, yeah. I tried to do something like that on Coruscant when we fought her last time. It was a strange feeling, surreal almost, to be able to control someone's connection to the Force. I was able to weaken her slightly, which I guess was enough for us to scare her off...of course, I wasn't one hundred percent. Maybe now we'll have a chance to actually use all those abilities Renso taught us to their fullest potential." A thought jumped to the forefront of his mind.
"Isn't it interesting that Renso taught us techniques that bend the Force? I mean, ok, think about the Jedi. It was all about restriction, total self-control. They wanted the Force to control their actions. So MUCH of what I heard when I was a student was that the Force was supposed to be our guide, not the other way around. Then..." A slight chuckle as he pointed to Aria.
"There was what you had to put up with. Domination. The Force was a weapon that was only a tool to satisfy a desire for total power. Renso had us toeing that line the entire time we were there." He laid himself on the ship's cold floor.
"Bloody sad that Illesia had to be the result of Renso mastering his knowledge of Force. I guess, in a way, our knowledge came from Illesia and the Xiis' creation." He shuddered.
"Gives me the willies." Shaking off the philosophical tangent, he carried on with the topic at hand:
"Right, so we touch down and if we focus our energy, channel it all in her direction, then-" He snapped his fingers.
"AH! Right. So we've two choices..." His left arm shot upward.
"We could try to overload her with both the energy on the planet(like you said) and channel whatever we can from our own link to the Force into hers. Sure she feeds on energy, but even she must have a limit. Right?" Grimacing, his other arm went vertical.
"Or we could sever her connection entirely. That would mean one of us could keep her distracted while the other cuts off every possible link to the Force she has." As his arms flopped back down, he popped up into a seated position, the grimace still there.
"I suppose we'll try to figure out what avenue we take when we touch down, eh? Get a feel for the planet." There were still a couple of hours left to go, which gave the duo one last chance to meditate and draw on the Force to give them as much strength as possible. They would need it.

Chuffon Prime's landscape was far too similar to that of a certain snow planet that Yerbol couldn't stand.
"Not a word. Not. A. Word." He shot his partner a glare as they skirted over the ground at a low enough elevation that would allow them visibility.
"Now to find out where she could be..." There were a few mountain ranges that bore no importance to the terrain scanner, the same results showing up when they surveyed a row of glaciers a few yards off from a large plain of snow.
"That vision we had...the eyes that glowed out of glaciers...that formation we saw didn't look like this one, but something similar." A few more minutes of searching revealed an odd formation of glaciers that featured extremely high peaks flanking a spherical middle that couldn't have been more than twenty feet off the ground.
"Soooomething tells me that we found where we need to be."

After touching down, they emerged onto a sweeping plain that stretched out seemingly into infinity in all other directions except for the strange glacial formation in question. There was a narrow opening in the ice about three feet wide that, when seen at a much closer distance, gave just enough of a view into-
"Pitch black, not see through or opaque even. Gotta be it." With some forceful swings from their blades, they were able to carve out a wider entrance and barreled into the darkness. Their footsteps echoed off the ceilings and walls, the floor beneath stiff and dry. With some illumination from his right hand, they saw the dull grey durasteel that composed the hallway(or tunnel) that they currently occupied. There were no other paths to take other than straight ahead, which naturally sloped downward a few feet before leveling off. A few hundred more feet of walking ushered them into a small rectangular room that was illuminated by dull yellow lanterns mounted on all four sides of the room. Across from them were a set of pods, most of which were scuff-free and managed to gleam even in the lighting. There was one, however, with shattered glass where the viewport would have been.
"So you finally came." A voice floated from the damaged pod, Illesia's crimson eyes flashing with intent.
"I didn't think it would take you THIS long to find me." Blue hands gripped either side of the opening, shards of glass piercing her hands as she casually hoisted herself out.
"Renso's disciples." She clicked her tongue off the roof of her mouth, arms folding over her chest.
"That's what he wanted us to become. Learners. Leeches. Hanging off his every word, feeding on whatever he gave us before plucked off and thrown into the galaxy where we could perpetuate his stupidity." Her leg muscles flexed in agitation.
"I believed him once, long ago. Even through the constant 'tests' and 'trials' he said would make us stronger. It wasn't until he drove home one single point that I realized he was a sham." Illesia took a step forward.
"He told me that I was supposed to be a force for harmony. For balance." A jaded chuckle.
"And then he would make us fight to near death. To 'hone our skills'. He would have us hunt for beasts in darkened tombs only to tell us that our 'savage nature' needed to be tamed even more to succeed. The utter hypocrisy." Her arms extended outward, teeth exposed as she grinned.
"And I look forward to making sure that nothing he stood for will remain."