Slipspace generator or not, they were still looking at a journey of several months to get to this Oddessen planet, which was NOT any form of good news no matter how you looked at it. Regardless, the Champions and their wards would have to make the most of it. So Aria remained largely silent as Ethan, Neta and Kira went to and fro about their travel time. As the two former persons exited towards the cockpit and the redheaded Knight apologised for crashing their expedition, Aria offered her a broad, reassuring smile.
“I think you're more comforting than you give yourself credit for, Kira. We're both glad you're here...we've been through a lot, but this is new territory even for us. Sometimes it's nice to have someone to turn to, even if the Elders don't think we need it.” Kira offered a quiet nod and retreated, leaving Yerbol to take his wife's hand and prompt her towards the viewport for what very well might have been their last glimpse of the known galaxy.
“Yeah.” she snorted sardonically as they approached the window, her brow furrowed as she stared at Alderaan, suddenly looking a lot smaller as the Commodore’s engines fired up. “Who knows when, or if we'll be seeing it again. We could, you know…die out there.” as her spouse shot her a questioning look, the Champion frowned back at him and protested: “WHAT? We could! How many times did we almost die in that temple when we first went to Quensu?” she counted them off on her fingers, “There was the ice demons, then that staircase, then the dragon-bat…thingy, AND the projection of Renso. Soooo...four. And this planet we’re heading for is even FURTHER out than the Qyaari worlds, so Force knows what we could find…” Sometimes, she found all of this rushing into danger very tiring, although she would never say it out loud, the idea of her and Yerbol disappearing off to a developed planet to do things a normal twenty-something couple would do was becoming increasingly more appealing.
“Maybe not.” Yerbol squeezed her hand reassuringly. “But we're older and better prepared this time, and we have more backup. I'm SURE we can handle anything Wild Space throws at us.”
“I hope so, Bol.”

Well, death-inducing wasn't an appropriate adjective for the first world they encountered after their first jump. Fascinating? Most definitely.
“There's….no sun?” Kytra stood with both front paws AND her nose pressed to the window of the ship as they coasted towards a planet that they wouldn't have seen at all had it not been for the Commodore’s interior lighting. Neta’s quickly spat curse was testament to that. Even Aria, normally the first to grouse about their predicaments, frowned and shouldered gently past her husband to get a look in.
“Is that even possible…?”
“Well, we're looking at it.” Kytra pointed out, looking between the older Champions. “How do you suppose… Life, sustains itself down there?”
“If there IS any life at all.” Yerbol mused.
“One way to find out.” Aria shrugged.

Neta had been hesitant to take them in closer, but with some insistent badgering from the Qyaari (“Vano would never forgive us if she found out we passed something this BIZARRE and didn't get a closer look, come on!!”), the pilot acquiesced and they found themselves stepping off of the loading ramp and onto grassy turf beneath an inky black, star-studded sky, their path illuminated by the cool, faint light of the three nearest moons. The Champions could hear, even before they moved forward, the gentle swaying of ferns in the breeze.
“How can plants survive on a planet without sunlight?” Kytra muttered, awed, as the group cautiously approached what looked like a grove of trees.
“They don't, usually.” Kira muttered warily from the rear of the expedition. “But then, that's assuming that these are NORMAL plants, maybe they don't NEED sunlight. Or it's artificially maintained.” the older Knight gestured towards the clump of fluorescent lights shining from within the vegetation. She was right, they COULD indicate a generator or a dwelling of some kind. “With generators, and shield zones. Like the Undercity on Coruscant, or Taris.”

As the Qyaari approached however, they would discover that the light was not coming from an artificial structure at all, but rather from the fern fronds THEMSELVES, as well as the creatures (an owl-like creature that had luminescent eyes and, on the ground a rodent-like counterpart whose entire fur was flecked with the same lights as it tried to blend in with the foliage so as not to become the owl-thing’s next meal).
“They’re bioluminsecent!” Aria breathed in surprise as she watched a lizard skitter halfway up the branch, set its sights on the owl, and then unfurl a large, pulsating frill as it bared its teeth and screeched in warning.
“I wonder how long this place has been here, and we haven’t even known about it…” Kytra muttered, her own eyes catching the rays of moonlight and making her appear somewhat demonic for a brief second as they reflected it away (apparently, superb felinesque night vision was another thing Aria needed to add to her list of “things she didn’t know about Selonians” - Yes, she was keeping one, though she would never tell anybody other than Yerbol lest they should scoff and think she was being ridiculous).
“Stars knows, probably a long time.” Aria admitted, thinking back to how alien and strange Zinuthra had seemed when the Qyaari had first found it. “Doesn’t seem like this was a prominent planet on the True Sith hyperspace charts, maybe even THEY didn’t know about it.” she glanced across at Yerbol, slightly regretting the decision to order the Tuk’ata to stay on the ship as she mused aloud: “Chwuq and Taral would LOVE it here…”

“As cool as all of this is, though. We better get back to the ship.”
“Do we HAVE to?” Kytra protested to Kira’s suggestion. “Five more minutes wouldn’t hurt, right?”
“You say that NOW, but when it takes us an extra three weeks or more to get to this Oddessen planet, you’ll be wishing we left sooner.”
None of the others could argue with that logic. Perhaps, when there wasn’t a galaxy-wide threat (ha, wasn’t that a pipe dream!) that they had to thwart, they could make a more leisurely return trip.

Exploring whatever they could of the midnight black surface of the planet was thrilling. From examining the multiplicity of stars that spanned across a crystalline sky to observing the bioluminescence of the creatures around them, Yerbol could feel an almost child-like joy flow through his body, excited to discover what other possibilities lay before them. While he actually felt like he was happy in their planetary exploration, there were brief flashes of thought and emotion that he knew weren’t his own, but nonetheless added to his emotional state. He would observe to his wife a few hours after they had launched back into slipspace that names were coming to the tip of his tongue that he had no familiarity with, yet had overwhelmingly positive feelings associate with them. He had wanted to call the names out, to push further into the pitch black to see where they were. Those names, just like the emotions and thoughts, vanished just as quickly as they had come. Yerbol would speculate with Aria about what he had experienced, but decided ultimately he would have to dwell on the matter more significantly when they were settled into the second leg of their journey. Their first had gone uneventful, a week of passing through the ship, playing virtual reality sims, reading and small bits of conversation. The second would prove to be a bit more revealing.

“Hey, ah, can we talk?” Yerbol had situated himself on a workbench not too far from the scorched shuttle that somehow survived Malachor and was tinkering with the hilt of his saber when Ethan had approached, the Champion looking up to find that his apprentice’s normal bravado was tempered, a look of sincerity in his eyes that Yerbol hadn’t seen in their time together. It was refreshing.
“Yeah, of course.” Ethan sat on the opposite end of the bench as Yerbol continued to adjust the emitter in the middle of the saber, cursing under his breath as it sparked.
“You would think that a saber given to you by a True Sith Lord would have a quality emitter.” A light laugh followed Yerbol’s statement, but nothing from Ethan, who sat in morose silence. After a few more moments of micro wrenches and spanners being the only sounds audible, Ethan flatly proclaimed:
“I wasn’t trying to embarrass us.” Ah, so they were going to talk about this now. Good.
“I know.”
“And I didn’t WANT to end up in that position.”
“Yep.” Ethan turned to the Champion as he continued:
“I fought alongside Alliance troopers on Quesh, ran war games on unknown outer rim moons, contributed to Alliance Spec Ops operations across the galaxy.”
“Quite the resume.”
“Which was why I got chosen to be a Champion, Yerbol. I HAVE what it takes.” Yerbol glanced over at Ethan, whose eyes were now blazing with righteous indignation.
“Never said you didn’t.”
“Then why did you treat me like a child?! You acted like my frakin dad, dragging me by the ear like a stupid teenager who went out on a bender!”
“Well…you kinda did.”
“Not the point! I deserve to be treated better than that, especially after all I’ve been through.” Yerbol let out a snort of laughter, gingerly connecting the separated hilt together until a satisfying click confirmed that the saber was indeed back together.
“So what would you have wanted me to do?”
“I dunno…just not that. I earned my spot here and I want to be treated like that is all, especially if I’m expected to be your equal someday.” A quiet sigh escaped the Champion’s lips, placing his weapon on the ground before meeting Ethan’s somewhat softened gaze.
“I’ll admit to this: I overreacted and I-“
“Exactly, see-“
“Let me finish.” The soft but firm delivery of the statement prompted the young man to comply.
“I did overreact, but allow me tell you why.” He motioned to the shuttle.
“What we did on Malachor, what we’re doing now? This isn’t something we earned the right to. I don’t want to be here, Ethan. I really don’t. You know what I’d rather be doing? Spending my days in a non life-threatening career with Aria, going out to see plays, worrying about taxes, grumbling about traffic patterns and lawn mowers going out.”
“But you’re in such an important position!”
“Not by choice, but by necessity. Yes, we’re doing important work and yes, we’ve worked very hard, but not because we wanted to BE important, but to make sure that we never have to do this again.” Ethan’s brow shot up.
“But the Qyaari trains us in combat, to fight-“
“No. The philosophy of balance that the Qyaari strive to implement isn’t to beat the galaxy and all our enemies into submission, to ‘earn’ our place. We are dedicated to bringing balance and harmony to a galaxy that desperately needs it. Once that harmony is achieved, our job is complete and we can focus our efforts elsewhere.” Afraid he wasn’t being clear enough, he added:
“I’ve said all that to enforce that your belief that you somehow deserve to be ‘treated equally’ is rooted, in my opinion, in how you perceive the position you’ve been appointed to. You believe you earned your place and now you’re one of the ‘big guns’, exempt from having to look inwardly at yourself because you’ve ‘made it’.” He shook his head.
“You haven’t ‘made it’ anywhere, Ethan; you’re just getting started on a lifelong journey of learning how to achieve harmony in the Force from within yourself and channeling that to help others. Once you take that approach, you’ll understand why I was infuriated that day and why I haven’t thought of the incident since you brought it up.” Yerbol stood up, a slight smile creasing his features:
“I’ll do my best to ensure that I don’t overreact to mistakes, but I’ll need you to meditate on what we’ve talked about. I’m hoping that’ll give you some clarity.” Ethan opened his mouth, but Yerbol held up a hand as he told him:
“I know I’m not being completely clear, but I won’t spoon feed you lessons you need to learn on your own. Meditate, think, train, then come find me when you’re ready to talk more.” Silently hoping that he had done his job effectively, Yerbol walked across the bay, clambering up the metal stairs, leaving a very befuddled apprentice.

____

Their conversation wasn’t mentioned again; in fact, Yerbol barely saw the boy except at a few meals or in the cockpit talking to Neta about who knows what. This gave the Champion hope that he was actually doing what he had asked him to do, which in turn allowed Yerbol to focus on resting in preparation for their next emergence into regular space. Six days went by with no events, Yerbol finding himself reclining on a couch next to Aria, who was talking to Kira about a host of subjects when Neta’s voice rang clear across the comm system’s speakers:
“Approaching the second set! Be ready, kids!” The party assembled in the CIC, which also featured a handy viewport on the west side of the room, Ethan positioning himself on the right hand edge of the port as they dropped into regular space to find themselves gazing at a planet which had three rings of blazing flames that wrapped around the northern, southern and middle portions of the surface. Scans done from the cockpit along with actually circling the rock confirmed that the rings were indeed continuous lines of fire that separated the planet. Oddly enough, Yerbol noted that the CIC was picking up heavy storm activity between the northern and middle portions of the planet’s surface, respectively.
“This almost reminds me of Quensu’s strange weather patterns, although these rings of fire…these can’t be natural, can they?”
“We can always try to find out.” Kira shot him a challenging smirk.
“Do we really want to take the chance of descending into a potential Malachor situation? I mean, the eternal night planet was one thing, but this…” Ethan trailed off, shrugging his shoulders before gazing at the planet once more.

Ethan seemed to be a lot quieter in the week that followed. Yerbol returned from tinkering with his saber, claiming the pair had had a productive discussion though he would not elaborate as to what that discussion entailed. Aria didn't mind too much, what happened between the other Champion and his own apprentice was none of her business unless he chose to share it with her. She was just glad they were getting along. She hoped she could build a similar rapport with Kytra, it wasn't that the Selonian was DIFFICULT to get along with in the slightest, but that the pair were so fundamentally different that Aria felt lost when it came to finding common ground between them. Kytra was quiet, logical and resourceful,while Aria preferred to react on the fly, not limiting her actions to those which had a clear explanation and (by her own admission) not always getting herself OUT of said situations.
Perhaps that was why the Council had paired them together.

To keep her own mind occupied, Aria had taken up a position in a clear part of the Commodore’s storage room to go through some saber drills. When Kytra had asked if she could watch, the Champion had thought nothing of it and jovially agreed. When she had suggested that Kytra join her for some of the drills, the Selonian had looked rather flustered and quickly declined, insisting that she was happy to just watch. Aria frowned, finding this rather strange, but chose for the moment not to comment on it and returned to her Jar’Kai drills - she had a feeling she would need to sharpen up her form mixing in the fights to come. When the Champion found that her apprentice’s rapt fascination had not disappeared even after she came to a brief rest at the end of the first series of movements, Aria frowned at the Selonian and extinguished the saber, tilting her head in confusion.
“What is it, Kytra? You’re looking like you’ve never seen a saber before in your life.”
“O-Oh.” Kytra squeaked, her back straightening. “I’m sorry, I didn’t realise...I was just, y’know, watching your technique.” her fur prickled slightly in what Aria suspected was her species’ equivalent of an embarrassed flush to the cheeks. “I-I’ve never really...used a lightsaber before. That is to say, I mean, I have on Zinuthra, at the academy. But before that I...I’d never even SEEN one, nevermind HELD it or used it, and I still haven’t quite got the hang of it.” she admitted, grimacing as she looked at her mentor. “Nowhere near as good as you. It’s so different from a combat knife, or even a vibroblade.”
Aria couldn’t help but chuckle softly, shaking her head as she beckoned the younger Qyaari to join her. “Well, there’s only one way to find out, isn’t there?” when Kytra looked a little nervous, she clarified: “Practise, Kytra. Come on, get up here.”
“Is that...safe?” the Selonian asked warily, but nonetheless got to her feet and inched towards the training mat, weapon in hand.
“With the safety on, of course it is.” the Champion tried not to roll her eyes or smile too broadly, indicating the small switch just above the activation button. Kytra followed the gesture, coughed awkwardly, and mumbled.
“....O-Oh. I didn’t know they could do that…”

Aria moved back to give her apprentice some room to establish herself, taking note of Kytra’s chosen stance and grip as the yellow blade sprang to life. She clearly showed the knowledgeable stance of a sword-fighter; her feet far enough apart to avoid being tripped over, but which might have actually impeded her in saber combat - but it was a good start.
“Your feet are a LITTLE too far apart. And your hands are too close together.” Aria instructed, dropping into her own combat stance as an example. “As you’ve already, rightly, said, a lightsaber is not a sword, even if they are similar and most of your techniques CAN be transferred. Saber duelling, generally speaking, requires a lot more finesse and quicker footwork, which is much more difficult to do if you’re standing so wide. And if you’re fighting with a single blade, then you don’t want to keep your hands too close - you might need the other one for Force attacks, especially if you’re facing off with a dual-wielding or saberstaff opponent.” with a nod of confirmation from her apprentice, and a brief moment to allow Kytra to adjust her stance, they began. It was clear that the Selonian had been entirely honest about her bladework skills...she wasn’t awful by any stretch, but it certainly required improvements. No wonder she had struggled fighting the Hssiss. Her reflexes themselves were sharp, and her ability to backpedal at an alarming speed, or jerk her blade up in time to block strikes for her jugular, were exceptional. But whenever Kytra attempted to go on the offensive, it became painfully obvious that she lacked the finer motor skills that came from many years of practise with a saber. Aria found it all too easy to trap Kytra’s blade between both of hers, or to hook her foot around the Selonian’s ankles and send her crashing down onto the mat.
“Watch your FEET!” became a sentence Aria had to repeat all too often for the two week duration of their next slipspace jump. She just hoped her attempts to be as gentle as possible had paid off and hadn’t left her apprentice TOO bruised up. Kytra didn’t seem to mind, if anything she relished the sparring time and she certainly had improved by their last session a few days earlier. She wasn’t quite skilled enough to put her mentor on the ground, but she had managed to give the Champion a rather nasty blow to the shoulder that would have severed one of her saber arms had they been in a proper duel.

The Qyaari now gathered in the CIC, frowning in bewilderment at the odd flaming rings that orbited the planet before them and debated as to whether it was safe to go any closer.
“But what if Revan and Meetra left us some sort of clue down there?” Aria pointed out. “We have to at least go and check, don't you think?”
Ethan made an uneasy noise in the back of his throat, tapping his foot against the floor as he looked between the two Champions.
“If it IS like Quensu,” Kytra mused out loud, “then wouldn't it be fair to assume that there must be variations in the air currents to create those storms? So there'd be a safe zone, in the middle there, that should be easy-ER for us to get through to the ground level?”
“What do you think, Neta?” Yerbol called to the pilot.
“Sounds like a fair shot, and a fair argument, what about you two?”
Neither of the boys looked particularly pleased with the idea, but made no protests against their descent.

_____________

Landing on the planet didn’t provide very much further in the ways of answers regarding the rings of fire. They were so bright that they were visible from the surface, even if they were several hundred clicks away on the other side of the atmosphere. Kytra theorised that the planet gave off some sort of gas naturally, that reacted once it left the atmosphere and entered the vacuum of outside space. They would never know.

In fact, what was more interesting was what they found after navigating through the brittle, parched landscape. Being surrounded by rings of flame, it was no surprise of course that the planet’s climate was EXTREMELY hot, Aria even vouched it might be as hot as Korriban had been. Only, unlike Korriban, this planet appeared to have species of flora that could survive the harsh climates. It wasn’t much, probably mostly cacti and other grasses which could store or didn’t need much water, but indeed no less impressive than the nocturnal planet they had previously visited.

Interesting as the local vista was, however, the Qyaari scouting party (including Kira, this time) was currently gathered around a large dais like structure, with some sort of lens or emitter at its base. They had puzzled over it from a distance as they approached, and only once they had reached it did they realise that it was, in fact, another Star Map….of sorts, anyways.

That is to say, it projected an image of the planet which Vano and the others had found, confirming that it was in fact called Odessen, as well as displaying a set of “normal” map coordinates, presumably of a location which they should head to once they reached Odessen, and a voice read out a message in another language, which was also displayed as illuminated written script on the pedestal of the dais:

Tzisona, j'us shiyi timink tsosûtaiyi ki. Nu waria warmursi j'us dzu ri kûrmarsa nuka ant Odessen. Nu irwasa j'us tuti drasi dzis kam j'us waria tsosûtaiyi diyij j'us itik dzi tsiu. - Revan



“Uuuuhh….what?” Kira muttered, bemused. Her companions seemed equally confused by the message, Kytra snorting something unintelligible, while Ethan chewed his lip and Yerbol scratched his chin in the usual way that he did when he was thinking too hard. Aria’s brow knitted into a frown, as she too, tried to decipher it. There was something familiar about that language...JUST vaguely.
“That’s not very helpful.” Kytra huffed sulkily, crossing her arms over her chest. “How are we supposed to find him if we can’t understand what in Force he’s saying about where he is?”
“Who cares?” Ethan pointed out, throwing his arm out to indicate the coordinates. “We have the coordinates, why does it matter what it says?”
“'What if it says “watch out for the big pit of snakes by the front door”?!” Kytra hissed back at him. “I’m not walking into a trap because you’re too impatient to figure it out, Ethan!”
“Oh stop it, both of you. It can’t be that dramatic.” Kira cut in, stepping between the apprentices. “But she IS right, it could be important…”

Aria admittedly didn’t hear the rest of the back and forth arguments between them, for she had been so deep in thought trying to crack the meaning of the words that she had tuned their voices out completely, and almost forgot she even HAD company had Yerbol not reached out to her through their bond and prodded her gently for her input.
“Are you alright, love? You’re very quiet, that’s unusual, especially for you.”
Aria jerked herself back into awareness, nodding mutely, before a piece in her brain seemed to click into place and she blurted out suddenly:
“SITH! It’s High Sith!”
“Well, that doesn’t help us very much.” Ethan grumbled, raising an eyebrow. “Anybody here read ancient Sith? Cause I sure don’t.”

And now everyone was staring at her, for obvious (but no less annoying!) reasons.

“What?” Aria snorted, tapping her foot and raising an eyebrow at them. “JUST because I grew up on a Sith planet means I could read ancient Sith script? Seriously, guys!”
“Well, none of us can…” Kytra squeaked timidly.
“We’re wasting time!” Ethan complained in the background. “I bet Revan’s sitting there LAUGHING at us right now, what a jerk.”
Kira arched a brow back at the Champion, and demanded impatiently:
“Well, can you read it or not, shortie?”

“SHUT IT, I’M TRYING!!” the Champion huffed out a long breath through her teeth, leaning forward to squint at the lettering more closely. “Thank you….” another long pause, which was so quiet she could have sworn they were all holding their breaths too (jeez, no pressure), before Aria warily began to try and translate the message into Basic.

“Erm…. ‘Congratulations, you’ve almost….caught? Could be caught, could be...maybe, ‘found’?” she shook her head quickly to clear her thoughts and continued: “Almost caught slash found me.I will meet you at - I don’t know, but whatever it is, it MUST be those co-ordinates - on Odessen. I hope you are ready… and that’s all I’ve got, okay. My dad was way better at it than me.” Aria scowled.
“Close enough.” Kira shrugged. “So, I guess we just find this place when we get to Odessen.”
“Sure SOUNDS like he’s messing with us.” Kytra mumbled uneasily. “What if it’s a trap?”
“One way to find out, kid.”

-Three weeks later-

"Something's not right."
"Tell me about it." The red-head chewed her lip forcefully, leaning forward from the high-backed captain's chair to evaluate the characters streaming across her holo-terminal. Behind her, the observer's brow furrowed, lines etching his worry free forehead.
"I mean, if the slipspace drive is complaining about being overworked now..."
"I'm aware, Ethan." Neta replied, her curt tone silencing any other attempts for Ethan to contribute to the situation at hand. The captain took a glance out the viewport, streaking lines of hazy color darting around the ship in random patterns. Nothing LOOKED off, but then again, they were dealing with unknown territory and experimental technology.
"Take the reins."
"what?!"
"You heard me, Ethan: take the ship's controls. If the ship drops from FTL while I'm looking at the drive, I'll need someone to pilot the girl to somewhere safe." She sprung from the chair, pointing at the now vacant seat, brow raised.
"Well? Now's your chance, honey. Get crackin. I'll be on the comms giving you instructions." Ethan complied with the gesture, a slight warble in his voice as he told her quietly:
"I got this." Neta had a boot out the door when the Knight asked:
"Shouldn't we let the others know?"
"No, not yet."
"Is ther-"
"Do you really want all your pals up here looking over your shoulder and worrying? If there IS an issue, we'll let them know; for now, I'm going to take a look and we'll cross that bridge when we get there." A grimace crossed her face when suddenly the cabin jostled. The vibration was normally not a cause for alarm in hyperspace travel, but with the warning messages Neta had just read, she was officially on edge.
"I'll be in touch." Ethan gripped the double yokes, knuckles turning white, eyes cast ahead.

Neta slunk down the hatch outside the CIC, clambering down the ladder, then another that was hidden behind a false wall in the hangar before arriving at the slipspace drive. Normally the drive was as silent as a crypt, but when Neta turned from the ladder to face the cube shaped machination, minute bolts of energy sizzled and crackled across it's silvery surface.
"Crap. Crap crap crap." Muttering more obscenities under her breath, she darted to the left, eyeing the row of maintenance terminals that were aglow with the same messages that she was receiving in the cockpit. Keying in her credentials, her eyes flickering across the warnings and narrating them aloud to Ethan, who would be able to hear her through the embedded comm channel from the drive housing room to the cockpit:
"Ethan, we've got an issue. The drive's intelligence unit is saying that we're getting interference."
"Interference? We're in hyperspace!"
"Exactly. Someone or something is jamming the drive's ability to keep us on our current trajec-SON OF A BANTHA!" The screens flashed a crimson red in unison, ship suddenly jolting so hard that it drove the pilot forward, Neta jutting her hands against the edge of the terminal bank to avoid her head colliding with the computers in front of her.
"NETA! WE'RE-"
"I BLOODY KNOW! GET THE CHAMPIONS TO THE COCKPIT, TELL EM TO BRING THE SHIELDS UP!"
"WE DON'T HAVE SHIELDS! HAVING TO REROUTE ALL POWER TO THRUSTERS!"
"THEY'LL KNOW WHAT I MEAN!" The pilot muttered a silent prayer to the Force and turned to leave the room when the drive blossomed with electric white sparks and acute popping.
"NETA, WE JUST DROPPED OUT OF FTL!"
"REROUTE ALL POWER TO THE THRUSTERS AND GET THIS BIRD STRAIGHTENED OUT! I'M COMING UP!" She sprinted past the malfunctioning drive, hand gripping the bottom rung of the ladder tightly, pulling herself up as another shockwave threatened to send her sprawling to the floor if she didn't grip the rungs tight enough. She could hear Yerbol and Aria's voices squelching through now-damaged speakers as she made her way up, hoping that they would be able to help pull them all out of this situation. Neta chuckled.

It wouldn't be a Qyaari operation without near-death heroics from the kids. And her, of course.

___

-30 minutes before-

Yerbol groaned gently, rolling away from where his partner normally laid, eyes opening gently to the pristine view of silver hull before half-closing again. He never thought he would miss Taris, but at least on his home planet, he could hear dogs barking in the distance, feel the breeze on his face, watch the regrowing foliage sway gently in the groves nearby. On long haul journeys he never felt this restless for a taste of home, but then again, they were thousands of lightyears away from the nearest planet in the known galaxy. Games of sabaac, pazaak and reading could only go so far to alleviate the listlessness of knowing that if anything went wrong and needed the back up of the Qyaari, they were sorely out of luck. Yes, they had been on death defying stunts before, but there was always some kind of support network that they could rely on in case things went REALLY south (which they always did). Now, they were on their own, pursuing two once thought of as dead Force users who were themselves chasing an evil "beyond recognition" and attempting to train younglings on the way. Thankfully there was more than enough down time to forget some of those responsibilities with his wife, the duo meditating, talking and just being together. This journey was, in a way, a breather for them that he hadn't expected and welcomed.
"You awake?" When he didn't get an answer, he rolled back towards the center of the bed to find an empty spot. Yerbol smirked to himself as he surveyed the spot, remembering what they had done just a few hours earlier at that exact location. It was hard to keep things like that quiet on a ship, but they managed.

The smirk grew wider as his feet connected with the floor, bellowing a yawn.
"Might as well see where she went off to." He mumbled, pants halfway up his lower body when he fell backward, the ship rocking side to side. A sickening chill swept down his spine into his legs, a knot tightening in the pit of his stomach. Something was wrong. Terribly wrong. A few moments later, Ethan called out on the main comm channel:
"GUYS! GET UP HERE!" Another rocking, this time far more violent, more insistent. Managing to clothe himself through another jolt, Yerbol made his way to the cockpit, where a visibly sweating Ethan was gesturing at the viewport window. Instead of the streaking white lines of hyperspace, there was violet colored lightning that surged around the ship intermingled with white bolts of...something that collided with the hull of the ship.
"Neta said to get the shields up!"
"That's your job!"
"I'm rerouting power to the thrusters! She said you would know what that meant!" Just then, the chaos outside gave way to the inky blank canvas of regular space, stars dotting the horizon along with...
"Unidentified ships on intercept course!" Ethan looked up at Yerbol with panic.
"Master, shields?!"
"Kytra, Aria and I will be in the CIC. Just keep us steady!"
"And land on the first rock you see!" Neta crashed through the cockpit doorway, hair a frazzled mess.
"I'll be up here to help Ethan, you just make sure we survive this in one piece!"

Just like normal.

Being so far out of range of any part of Known Space had been a nerve-wracking prospect. Even the Qyaari homeworld of Zinuthra, which had once been considered to be part of Unknown Space itself, was too far away to receive anything other than white noise on any attempts made to communicate. While it had initially been worrying, this anxiety that she felt was soon replaced by the mind-numbing boredom that came from being stuck in a confined space with not very much entertainment, for an extended period of time.

Of course, that didn’t mean that they weren’t able to find...other ways, to amuse themselves when playing cards or flicking through the same old holomovies got tiresome. That was one thing she couldn’t complain about, and the fact that they could sleep in afterwards. Or at least, as far as her mind would let her. Aria still found, even after all these years, that she operated closer to the Korriban time-schedule than she would have liked. Meaning, she was often awake at least an hour or two before her husband; today was no exception. Her eyes fluttered open to find Yerbol snoring peacefully beside her, his arm draped loosely over her torso.

Not wanting to disturb him with the light from her datapad’s screen, Aria gently wriggled out of his grip (something she’d also become rather accustomed to in the mornings), re-dressing and trooping out into the main hold of the ship, where Chwuq and Taral had commandeered one of the lounge chairs to sleep on. As she approached to join them, however, the Tuk’ata lifted their heads and began to chortle at her in a quiet, but no less insistent tone.
“Outsideee?” they prompted, headbutting into her knee as she crossed one leg over the other, balanced the datapad on her lap, and leaned across to pat their flanks soothingly.
“Yes, yes, you gotta pee, I know!” the Champion sighed. “Can’t you hold it for like, two more days? I’m sure it’s not far.”
Chwuq’s beady red eyes fixated on her, and she was rewarded with a reluctant grumble of “Yesss.” from both hounds.

“Good dogs.” She muttered absently as she began to scroll through the news feed on her datapad, though even that was becoming a challenge now - the signals were spotty at the best of times and it was good luck if she managed to get through half an article before it dropped again. Dimly, she could hear Ethan and Neta conversing in the cockpit on the level above them, but wrote it off as routine chatter and didn’t even bat an eyelid as she heard one of them clambering down the ladder that led to the slipspace room. Again, this was just a routine check-

This was not routine. She felt something in the Force shift at the same time as Yerbol awoke, the eerie sensation causing the Champion’s heart to drop into her stomach.
“...Aw, craaaaaaap!” she groaned, as seconds later, Ethan bellowed.
“GUYS! GET UP HERE!”
Here we go….
She could have almost sworn she’d jinxed it with her earlier musings. Wouldn’t be the first time.

Aria was on her feet and matching Yerbol stride for stride as they raced for the cockpit.
___________

“Oh, of course someone’s shooting at us. When are we NOT being shot at?!” the Champion hissed as her feet crossed the threshold into the cockpit. She had no idea WHO in Force would be trying to gun them down all the way out here, but neither could she honestly say she was surprised. “I don’t think we’ve had a single smooth trip in the last five years since all this started!”
They’re not in the cockpit long before she, Yerbol and Kytra are sprinting for the CIC to perform what was pretty much a standard Qyaari maneuver at this point (seriously!). The Champions and the apprentice arranged themselves in as stable of a triangle as they could manage with the way the ship was already teetering every minute or so.

Though it was easy to pick out the Selonian’s rapidly thundering heartbeat when she focused in on the Force, Aria was pleased to find her apprentice seemed to be keeping her anxiety under control to focus on the matter at hand. Between the three of them, extending a shield around the ship’s hull was doable, but required some effort. Aria had to fight the urge to wince as she felt an electric current jolt through the Force when a quadlaser beam struck one end of the shield’s surface. Ethan and Neta work frantically to keep the nose of the ship level, but they’re breaking the atmosphere of the nearest planet at an alarming speed.

Of course this would be another crash landing. As the moment of impact grew alarmingly closer, Aria couldn’t help but reflect that it may as well have been a requirement for the Qyaari job description, considering how often it seemed to occur.

WHUMP!!
Thanks to their efforts, the impact with the ground wasn’t as bone-shattering as it could have been, but it was certainly enough to throw them all off balance and induce some temporary whiplash. She cracked one eye open to survey the damage, glimpsing Neta and Ethan somewhere just off where the cockpit would have been. Kytra and Yerbol were a few feet away from her in either direction. She could hear Chwuq and Taral snuffling around in the nearby foliage and deduced that they, too, were largely unharmed by the crash.

The same could not, sadly, be said for their poor ship.
“Awww man, that’s going to take WEEKS to fix!” Neta groaned. “Poor bird!”
“You know…” Aria groused as she pulled herself into a sitting position, rubbing the sore spot on the back of her neck, “just this once...I’d like it if we could land on a LANDING PAD. Like NORMAL people!”

Despite the situation, her complaints drew a ripple of muffled laughter from her companions. Yerbol offered her his hand and she greatfully took it, letting him pull her feet back underneath her again. As the Champions dusted off their clothes and gave their companions each a quick once-over for any serious injuries (mercifully, there appeared to be none), Kytra stood up on her hind legs to squint into the sky, her nose twitching warily.
“Those don’t look like any kind of fighters I’ve ever seen.” she muttered. Ethan raised one hand over his brow to shield his eyes from the sun, chipping in.
“Kytra’s right. Those aren’t regulation X-wings, TIEs, OR Dustmakers.”

Double check both kids for a concussion. They were clearly seeing things.
“How in Force would you know that from this far awa-” Aria had begun to snap at them, taking about half a minute longer to turn to follow the Selonian’s pointing paw, and register that she was looking at a squadron of fighters in attack formation.
“Oh, shit.” the Champion cursed, “Shit, shit...run, RUN!” She’s scrambling to find a point of cover, ANYWHERE that will scramble their targeting computers so they can’t get a lock on. “INTO THOSE TREES, NOW!”

No-one argues with the suggestion, and they narrowly manage to cross into the canopy before the fighters pass overhead. At least they weren’t stupid enough to try firing blindly into dense cover (or so Aria hoped). “Force-damn it all! Can we go ONE trip without being shot at?! Just ONE, is that too much to ask?” the Champion's head hit the tree with a dull 'thunk' as she sagged against the trunk, feeling a sharp stab of pain race down her ribcage. She could only hope it was just a pulled muscle and not a broken rib.
“You don’t think they’ll circle back, do you?” Ethan frowned warily.
“They might.” Neta admitted grimly. “So, now what?”

Their landing sequence was unfortunately familiar, but once again they managed to escape with their lives and bodies mostly intact. As Yerbol helped his wife to her feet, he couldn't suppress a chuckle at her anguish regarding their routine crash-landings.
"I'm sure at this point we should write it into the Qyaari Code. Champions can NEVER land on a planet without some kind of grand entrance or massive crash. Just not how we roll." Neta swore a couple of times before letting them know that they would be grounded for a while.
"For the sake of our own skins, I hope we can actually stay alive long enough to fix her. I don't know if that'll be possible, though." Ethan wisely observed, looking to his Master as he asked:
"Could you somehow shield us from any incoming fire while Neta and I worked on the ship?"
"I doubt the barrier would hold under a barrage of turbo-laser fire for an hour, let alone the timeframe that you both would need to get the ship operational."
"If there's one thing I've learned from my time in the field, kids..." Neta was fully upright now in the CIC, a blaster rifle slung across her back and pistol casually dangling from a holster on her leggings.
"It's that we're not gonna get anything solved just sitting here talking about it. We have to move."
"Agreed. If we were intercepted, they'll want to finish the job. Grab your gear, Knights: we're on foot until further notice."

The squadron managed to worm their way out of the ship through an emergency hatch accessible by way of the hangar, Yerbol letting out a low whistle as he saw the ship leaning to the left so much that it looked like it would tip over. It's once flawless exterior was scorched and pockmarked with enemy fire, Ethan observing aloud that the turrets on the belly of the ship were probably crushed in the landing, leaving them with little defensive capability "even if they COULD make it out alive".

There's that optimistic spirit Ethan was known for.

Yerbol and Ethan were shaken from their evaluation of the ship by Kytra's observation of the sky, the rest of the party following her lead as well as Aria's timely suggestion to run from the green and purple bolts that rained from the battle ships screaming overhead. Ducking underneath the interlacing canopy that the nearby trees provided, Neta asked a question that Yerbol was considering the moment they had forcefully entered this part of the unknown galactic frontier.
"Well, what did the Nav computer tell you before we were summarily dropped from FTL?"
"We were on pace towards the coordinates for Odessen...maybe a few clicks out?"
"So maybe we're on a nearby moon?" Ethan offered.
"Potentially. Hard to judge with our limited knowledge of the place, bu-" Yerbol's thought was interrupted by the whine of engines above their position, forms dropping through the canopy and landing on their now visibly robotic feet, glowing yellow orbs for eyes surveying the newcomers.
"Halt in the name of Arcann, Emperor of the Eternal Order."
"Eternal Order?" The question by Ethan seemed to prompt the droids to withdraw their blaster rifles, Yerbol cracking his saber to life only to survey their surroundings and find they were encircled by at least twenty droids, rifles trained on them with accurate precision.
"You are to be detained and questioned by our forces. Please drop your weapons or we will use force to obtain your cooperation."
"They're just droids, right?! Come on, we can take em!"
"Ethan, don't-" With a flash of light, Ethan threw his saber in a circular arc, running forward only to be jolted onto the ground by a swift retort from a droid's left arm. Piercing bolts of energy had flown through the air, incapacitating the young man instantly. The reflex of that droid to take down a Knight was..alarming. Yerbol reached out with the Force towards the droids, trying to survey-

His blood ran cold. Something was wrong. Horribly wrong. They needed to get out of this situation and fast.

Ari, we can take them out with lightning reflecting off of my saber, but there's gonna be more reinforcements. We take out this wave and we run further into the forest. Something is off here and we need time to evaluate our next move.

"We will commence with a show of force in sixty seconds." That should be plenty of time.
"NETA, KYTRA, DUCK AND RUN! WE'LL BE RIGHT BEHIND YOU!" Yerbol began to twirl his saber from right to left, looking to his partner.
"Light em up!" They had only done this technique a couple of times in the past with moderate success, but in a situation like this, moderate success was better than absolute failure.

So he hoped.

____

"You sent droids after them? Brother, why not have me there?" Vaylin pouted slightly, Arcann grimacing at the gesture (though his sibling couldn't see thanks to the metallic mask that covered half of his face).
"The droids will be a good preliminary test. I assume they've never countered our...enhanced combat droids before."
"But you don't necessarily know that, do you?"
"No. But that is why this is a test. If they survive, I give you full reign to bring them to me." He paused, then added with a glare:
"Alive." Vaylin clicked her tongue off the roof of her mouth, then conceded:
"Fine, brother. I'll do as you ask." For now.

The Champions and their companions made it into the cover of the forest, but weren’t granted reprieve from their pursuers for very long. As they tried to pinpoint exactly WHERE they had landed - even Neta and Ethan didn’t know and they had been in the cockpit with the Navcomputer shortly before the crash! - they were rudely interrupted by a battalion of strange-looking droids dropping through the canopy and moving to surround them.
"Halt in the name of Arcann, Emperor of the Eternal Order." they declared as they moved in unison, shrinking the circle around the group and, for the moment, cutting off any means of their escape.
“I’m sorry, WHO?” Aria raised an eyebrow dubiously. It wasn’t a name she could recall ever hearing from the Empire, the only organisation she’d ever known to call their leader “Emperor”. The droids didn’t seem to take their ignorance on the matter particularly well, suddenly raising their weapons to point them at the group.

Aria mirrored her partner’s response in drawing her own sabers, though unlike Ethan chose to remain standing where she was for the time being. Chwuq and Taral dutifully flanked their masters, the spines on their backs rattling warningly at the droids as they emitted low, hissing snarls. The young Knight ignored his mentor’s warnings not to attack, and swiftly paid the price for it as he was...knocked unconscious?

These weren’t like any other droids she’d ever seen. Aria didn’t like this. Not. At. All.

Yerbol offered a solution in the form of trying one of their newer techniques. Sure, it was unpolished and they’d only tried it a few times...but right now, it was the best option they had. These were no ordinary combat droids with rusty chassis and barely-functioning AI systems. They were pristine, probably regularly oiled and maintained by whoever this Eternal Order Emperor person was.

“What about Ethan?!” Kytra squeaked in response to Yerbol’s order, looking at the unconscious apprentice.
“I’ve got him!” Neta muttered, hauling Ethan back onto his feet and steadying the young man until he was capable of supporting himself enough to run after them.
“Just GO!” Aria snapped, nodding in confirmation to Yerbol as she centered her focus in the Force and called up her lightning. As the bright green bolts sprung to life on Yerbol’s saber blades, crackling as they followed the flow of energy from the conducting crystal in the hilt, Kytra bolted for the best opening she could find.

The Selonian was small enough to duck between two of the droids’ arms and bolt further into the thick of the forest, thus diverting enough of their attention to allow Neta to follow close behind her, dragging a half-conscious Ethan behind whilst Yerbol leapt towards the droids at the front of the circle to prevent them from going after the others. Aria threw her own sabers in an arc to cover her husband’s back, the weapon slicing off one droid’s leg and clipping another across its midsection before it could raise its blaster to fire at the other Champion.

The lightning took care of the rest of them. Whether it had shorted their circuits out completely, or simply overloaded them enough to cause their targeting computers to malfunction momentarily, Aria wasn’t sure, but neither she nor Yerbol wanted to stick around long enough to find out.

Let’s get out of here!

Her husband wordlessly nodded his agreement, and both Champions took off at a run after their companions. It didn’t take them long, especially with Force-enhanced speed, to catch up to Neta, Ethan and the Tuk’ata, but….

“Where’s Kytra?!” she hollered, noting her apprentice’s absence.
“Up here!” Kytra chirped in answer. Aria glanced upwards towards the sound of the Selonian’s voice to find her leaping rather nimbly from one tree to the next. Apparently she was part flying squirrel too, who knew. Kytra glanced behind them to check for pursuers, then scurried down the next trunk to join them on the ground again. “I thought it might confuse them a little bit, give them more than one group to have to aim at and all.”
“Fair thinking.” Aria nodded, letting out an agitated breath of her own. “But I don’t think it’s over yet. They’ll be up and after us again before you know it.”

“So now what do we do...we can’t run forever!” Neta pointed out. “We don’t even know WHERE we’re running to!”
With the immediate threat having passed, they made the executive decision to stop and catch their breaths back (it was, after all, rather difficult to have a discussion while you were running for your life).
“Well, I suppose...step one is find somewhere to hide and lie low where they’re not going to find us. Droids or no droids.” Aria pointed out.
“Well, who knows where we are.” Neta shrugged. “But maybe there’s some sort of old building system we could duck into. We’d need to take a look around without being spotted, though.”
“I can do that.” Kytra offered, raising a paw. “These trees aren’t too high.” - she said, despite the fact that they were many, many feet tall - “I reckon I could climb up past the canopy and get a look around!”

“I don’t know, Kytra….” Aria muttered warily, though the Selonian paid her mentor’s warnings no mind and was already nimbly leaping from branch to branch. “...Nevermind, I guess.” the Champion finished with a huff of her own. The scuffling sounds of Kytra's claws against the bark gradually faded away as she scuttled further up, the Champions exchanging worried glances with one another as they waited.
“Are you alright, Ethan?” Aria coughed.
“What were you thinking?” Yerbol added on, his expression a mixture of concern and sternness. The apprentice ducked his head sheepishly, but offered no verbal answer to either of their questions. He didn't appear to have any noticeable injuries, but without a proper medscanner it was hard to know for certain.

“Master Aria, Master Yerbol!” Kytra's alarmed voice cut into Aria's train of thought, “Someone's coming this way!” the Selonian popped back down into their view, her paws thudding onto the ground as she sprang down to join the rest of the group. Chwuq and Taral's heads shot upwards moments later as they caught a scent on the breeze - that itself was comforting, it meant whoever this was was a REAL person and not whatever was left of those droids (or indeed MORE of them). Aria's brow furrowed and the Champion drew her sabers once more, holding them defensively as two masked figures stepped into the clearing with them.

They were attire that was suspiciously similar to the garb the Faceless had chosen, but unlike them made no move to attack the group. Instead, they stood side by side in silence, watching...surveying.
“Who are you?” Aria asked bravely. The one on the left tilted her head to one side, and then spoke, her voice dignified and well-pronounced.
“Come with us if you want to live.” it live the only statement that was spoken, before the pair turned as if to leave again...or to lead them away.

That didn't even answer her question! But Aria knew better than to ignore a potential olive branch now, so kept her mouth shut and exchanged a glance with Yerbol and Neta. They didn't exactly have many other options, and if these people lived here then they may know places to hide...

Yerbol's feet sunk into the once-rigid earth, steeling himself as a tremendous amount of energy surged through his saber and out towards their attackers in jagged arcs that resulted in several chassis explosions and sparks haphazardly flinging through the air, coming dangerously close to setting the nearby foliage and trees ablaze. The Champion spun his head backwards at Aria's exclamation, nodding in agreement before ramming his way through the rear guard of now electrified droids, throwing blaster rifles and robotic appendages aside as the party descended deeper into the wilderness.

Once they caught their breath, Kytra managed to act as an effective watchman, informing them of their visitors garbed in ominously familiar attire. Instead of launching an assault, a woman (presumably based on the way her armor was structured) told them to follow, the duo spinning on their heels and running back the way they came, which was, of course, further into the forest.
"Son of a bantha herder..." He muttered, turning to meet the gaze of his wife and Neta, both women oddly silent.
"You know we have to follow them." Neta's jaw flared for a moment, upper lip curling before she spat out:
"Kronging planet already tried to kill us once and we might be walking into another trap. What other choice do we have, though, eh?" She patted the pistol on her hip.
"I got your back, kids. Let's move out."
"They look like those Faceless assassins we faced just a few weeks ago." Yerbol's brow shot up.
"You fought the Faceless?"
"I was sent to clean up the stragglers on Voss-Ka after the Gormak were defeated. Even without their leader, they were..." He shuddered, hands balling into fists.
"They were unsettling, to say the least. But we don't KNOW that this pair have the same motives as Manus does; to be fair, we ARE thousands of lightyears away. We follow them, keep our guard up and be ready to navigate another fight if we need to." With another glance at the party, they all began their trek behind the duo of potential saviors.

It was difficult at times to keep up with the pair, seeing as their swift navigation of the twisting paths in the forest left the party scrambling to keep up. Yerbol could tell that Kytra would have an easier time following from above, but those on the ground were running into trees (not him, of course. Trees just suddenly appeared when he was walking.), swearing after pulling their legs out of needle-ridden foliage and slipping on slick, viscous slime oozing from the ground in random places. The forest almost made Malachor's surface more appealing. At one point, Yerbol found himself face up staring at the thick canopy above, thankful for the glimmers of light that filtered through the cracks, yet angry at the fifth fall he had taken. When a hand thrust forward to help him, he didn't object, taking it and muttering thanks when he saw that the hand belonged to a young man with ashen blonde hair and crystalline blue eyes with an almost violet tint. He had a striking profile, one that Yerbol had never seen in their party of the galaxy.
"This is a difficult forest to get through if you don't know the way." He motioned to the woman who stood at the precipice of a cliff, mask still remaining.
"We are almost there."
"Where are you leading us?"
"Home." When the party arrived at the cliff, Yerbol's jaw dropped, Ethan's eyes widening as they surveyed the scene below.

The valley that stretched out in front was about half a mile of crisscrossing streams, foliage and trees with four stone, square buildings at each corner of the valley, roofs supported by barely visible pillars. In the center of the valley stood a circular shaped building with two towers flanking it that barely peeked over the trees dotting the serene area.
"This looks..." Yerbol cleared his throat, looking away for a moment, eyes glistening as he resumed his gaze.
"Tython." Neta said quietly, putting a hand on Yerbol's back.
"Tython? What is Tython?" The young man asked, eyes trained on the party with stark curiosity.
"It was home. For a time." Yerbol smiled, the gesture lingering.
"Your home looks like ours and this is favorable in your eyes. Good. Master Revan will be pleased."

What?

"Wha-what did you say?" Ethan managed to eek out, ruddy face going three shades more pale than normal.
"Master Revan." The woman, who now removed her mast to reveal a similar profile to the young man, the only difference her hair color being a shimmering ebony.
"He felt you coming and knew you would come here. We were told to escort you and keep you safe from Arcann until he can return from his latest expedition." Arcann? Expedition? REVAN?
"When will Master Revan return?" Yerbol asked, trying to suppress a quiver in his voice.
"He told us that it would be several days, but time has passed to where he should return tomorrow." She gestured towards the sun on the horizon.
"The day grows shorter. Come, allow us to show you to where you can wait."

There was a snaking path cleft into the side of the cliff that they managed to follow, albeit precariously. Once the party was on firmer footing, they were led to the stone building on the lower right hand corner of the valley. The building itself was supported by previously seen pillars, but upon closer inspection there were elaborate patterns etched into the granite, an auburn colored tapestry wrapped around each column which allowed the viewer to admire both the inscribed pattern and quality of tapestry. Escorted through the wide, rectangular entrance-way, the party could note the torches burning brightly in each corner of the room along with several different hallways that branched out in various directions. The main area was bleak, furnished with only two weapons racks where blades of various sizes dangled loosely and water purifiers that stood next to each rack, respectively.
"This is our training complex that also houses some of our Order."
"Order?"
"Yes, the Order of the Heralds. Master Revan asked us to allow him to explain much to you himself, so please forgive us if we do not give you the information you seek as of yet." The woman looked away from her companion back towards the central building, gaze set as the young man continued:
"Please follow the hallway there, to the right, to find quarters for yourselves. Adequate supplies have been provided for you. Master Revan also request that the meditation chamber and training area be available to you until he returned, so please make use of them if desired." After pointing out the location of both (one of which they were standing in), the young man added in a bit sharper of a tone:
"Master Revan does implore you to not leave this area until he has spoken with you. While my sister and I have interacted with you, others have not and will not until Master Revan has spoken to you. Please respect his wishes. If you need anything, either myself or my sister will be at the entrance of this building." His tone softened when he added:
"I am Desunama, or Desun for short. This is my sister, Kyla. Until our next discussion, we bid you farewell." The duo walked to the entrance, leaving the party with far too many questions unanswered. Silence permeated the air for several moments before Ethan said with a befuddled grin:
"Well, that was a lot of information. Anyone else confused? Confused? Dazed? Anyone?" Yerbol chuckled.
"I think what we need to do right now is take their advice. They've given us a place to stay and enough incentive to stick around until we get more answers." He told the party quietly.
"Obey their wishes. We don't need to upset the only people so far who have taken an interest in keeping us alive."

Aria met her husband's gaze for only a brief moment, then looked away again as she watched the two beings disappear back into the forest. Neta was the first one to break the awkward silence, proclaiming that really, they had no choice but to follow them. Aria grunted in agreement, falling into step behind the pilot.
“Neta’s right, if we stay here then we’re gonna get caught by whoever was behind those droids anyways...Besides, I think if they were gonna kill us they would have done it already.” she pointed out.

That assessment was, of course, up for debate once they started the trek through the forest after them. There wasn’t a single inch of pathway that wasn’t choked with brambles or thorns of some kind, and Aria felt as if every time she turned her back (or laughed) at Yerbol, she stepped right into something herself and almost ended up flat on her face on the ground. The Tuk’ata were no better off, the spines on their backs easily becoming entangled with the spiny tendrils despite their best attempts to lie them flat, much to their loudly-expressed distaste.
“I take it back -” Aria huffed as she yanked her ankle out of yet another sinkhole, “The bastards ARE trying to kill us, with THORNS - Owwww!” the Champion spat another expletive as she walked face-first into yet another fracking tree, she’d be glad to be done with this fracking planet already!

To their relief, they glimpsed sunlight a few paces ahead as they finally found their way out of the dense foliage and found themselves on a cliff overlooking a cluster of buildings. The view was...breathtaking, to say the least. She hadn’t seen this much green outside of the Qyaari homeworld in many, many years. It took Aria a little longer than Neta and Yerbol to recognise the similarities to the former Jedi world, but when they brought it to light she stepped up to stand at her husband’s other side and laid a hand gently on his arm in reassurance.

“I’m sorry….did you say R-Revan?!” the Champion had to do a double-take to stare at the strangers in shock, unsure if she had heard them right…
Yerbol cut in with a question of his own, and Aria was thankful for his timing because she wasn’t entirely sure she could have found the words to form another response if they had spoken to her again. After a few more basic pleasantries were exchanged, including the names of their rescuers, before the Qyaari party were sharply chastised not to leave the current vicinity of the buildings they had been shown around.

For a long time after Ethan voiced his opinion, no-one spoke. Aria tried, a few times, but found she was so confused by the whole ordeal that no sound came out whenever she opened her mouth. It wasn’t until Chwuq plopped herself down beside the Champion, staring at the door which Desun and Kyla had exited through, that she found herself able to respond when the Tuk’ata grumbled a single word:
“Weird.”
“Ha! They are a little weird, aren’t they?” Aria agreed, patting the hound between the ears.
Kytra’s ears twitched as she considered Ethan’s question, responding slowly. “Y-Yeaaahh, just a little.” she looked to the two older Champions, an expression of skepticism painted across her features. “How do we know they’re really working for Revan and aren’t just lying. Or worse...they’re crazy and they don’t even really know who Revan is but they thought it sounded cool so they went with it!”

“I’d agree with you, Kytra, if Yerbol and I hadn’t once met with a True Sith Master who was even older than Revan.” Aria sighed, running a hand through her hair. “Yerbol’s right, we’re going to have to take a chance right now, and trust them.”
Kytra seemed no less pleased with the idea, grumbling uneasily under her breath and averting her gaze. “They might be lying, they might not. We won’t know for sure until ‘Revan’ gets back.”
“If he’s even Revan.” Kytra pointed out matter-of-factly. “They didn’t call themselves ‘Revanites’, that’s what his followers were called, right?”
“That was kinda sketchy.” Neta agreed absently.
“They haven’t killed us yet.” Aria countered.
“I don’t know, Master,” Kytra blinked dubiously, “that whole ‘don’t leave this designated area until he comes back or else’ thing sounded like a threat to me?”

_______________________

There was little reason to tempt fate, however, and the group later dispersed to mill about the training area whilst they waited. Aria hovered on the sidelines with Yerbol, casting a glance that was equal parts concerned and curious. “...Are you okay?” after giving him enough time to respond and voice any concerns vis-a-vis their current situation, the shorter Champion let out a dry laugh of her own and followed up with:
“I’m still trying to decide whether we’ve REALLY found Revan and the Exile and some kind of top-secret cult that they’ve created, or if we crash-landed on some crazy planet who think they’re following him as some sort of deified saviour when in actuality he’s a delusional old hermit who fancied he had a shot at convincing them to do what he wanted.”
The one consolation was that they had gotten brief glimpses of Revan during the visions they’d received on Lehon, so at least (she hoped) they would know whether the man really was him, as soon as they saw him. Didn’t make the entire concept of possibly coming face-to-face with a Galactic hero any less terrifying, but what could they do. She shrugged to herself. “I guess we’ll know the truth soon enough, once we meet him, eh? Either he IS the Revan we’re looking for, or he ISN’T and maybe he knows where the real Revan is.”

Or the real Revan really was dead and this was all a weird hallucination brought on by the high speed crash. If so, they were royally screwed. She didn’t say that last one out loud, but she knew her partner would catch onto the train of thought. Before they could further debate their next move, a light tap on the doorframe drew the Champions’ attention to Desun, who stood in the entryway with his sister hovering a few paces down the hallway over his shoulder.
“Master Revan has arrived, he’s ready to speak with you now.”
“Right.” Aria swallowed, willing her voice not to tremble as much as she felt like it should. “Thank you. We’ll, be right out.”
So, who’s the meatshield this time, you or me?

Although waiting was something Yerbol had gotten very familiar with on their journey to parts unknown, he had to sit down against a nearby wall of the training area they had been led to and close his eyes for a few moments to recenter himself. He didn't want to jump to conclusions nor did he want to set a poor example for the younger ones around them. Kytra was already assuming malicious intent from the duo, Ethan not helping assuage her fears by commenting right after her question:
"No, Kytra, you're right: that was a threat, plain and simple."
"Don't do anything stupid, Ethan." Neta warned, emerging from the nearest hallway on their left.
"How did you-"
"Go down this hallway without you noticing? Please, kid, that was nothing." She flicked a loose strand of hair dangling in front of her left eye as she continued, her voice lowering:
"From what I could see, lots of datacrons, holologs, saber and blaster parts arranged on tables. Looks like they're trying to assemble weapons for themselves."
"Other than sabers? That's weird."
"Not really. Just because these guys can supposedly use the Force (which we haven't seen as of yet, by the way) doesn't mean they wouldn't want a sidearm to get them out of a sticky situation. Trust me, Ethan: you want to know how to use a blaster."
"I second that." Yerbol chimed in, looking to his apprentice with a half-smirk.
"Might have a chance to work that into your training." Ethan responded with a scowl, shaking his head as he muttered something about going down another hallway when Aria asked Yerbol he was alright.
"I suppose." He blew out a sigh.
"I mean, if you consider that we might be meeting one of the most legendary figures in the entire galaxy and we're in a completely unknown section of said galaxy without any reference point as to how to deal with 'Arcann' or those droids..." He trailed off, an involuntary shudder shooting through his body.
"I sensed something in those droids, Ari...something just...wrong." He looked to her with his mouth open to say more, but then shook his head when he spotted Kytra coming closer to where they sat.

I'll tell you later. Don't need to spout my speculation aloud and make the apprentices even more nervous.

Aria then chimed in her with own thoughts, Yerbol nodding along while sidling a bit closer to where their shoulders touched (well, her head touched his shoulder). Even when she stopped speaking out loud, Yerbol could feel her thoughts chaotically bouncing across her mind, the Champion feeling the exact same way.

Thankfully their speculation would soon be over thanks to Desu telling them that they were ready to have an audience with Revan.

Wait, didn't we agree when we got married that you were the shield? You're small and spunky; harder to hit. I'm a much bigger liability.

He shot her a teasing smile, rising as extended a hand to help his partner.
"We got this, sweetheart. I know we do."
"Here's hoping." Ethan muttered as he passed the couple, his brows furrowed in a semi-permanent look of concern.
"Optimism, my apprentice, optimism."
"What if I don't feel like having it?" Yerbol shot him a brief glance before resuming his gaze straight ahead.
"Then being a Champion is going to suck. Big time."

___

The party was led to the temple in the center of the valley, spires seeming to just barely touch the sky. It was off-putting to see this miniaturized version of the Jedi Temple, but in a strange way, it gave Yerbol hope that the Force had guided them to the right place. Almost as if the Force was reminding him personally that even if Tython had been decimated, the best ideals of the Jedi Order were somehow alive and being used to harmonize users with the Force.

This was, of course, optimism.

"Right this way." The main area of the temple looked similar to the training area they had just left, but the content was different. Instead of weapon racks and water purifiers, there were potted plants, worn couches and chairs, bookshelves and the occasional end table with books stacked on top. Some couches were occupied by young men and women who looked just a few years younger than the Champions, their gazes soft and curious.

The party was escorted to a set of stone steps that was directly opposite of the entranceway, then curved left to the second floor, which was U-shaped and overlooked the first floor, a stone barrier of about four feet preventing any kind of accidental falling. Several doors were visible, but the party entered the first one on their right. Inside were two computer terminals up against the left hand wall hooked into a large monitor mounted above the terminals, various streams of data flickering across the screen. More bookshelves, datacrons and the like were scattered across the room on various pieces of furniture, but the main attraction was a figure at least six inches taller than Yerbol, dark red eyes staring piercingly at the new guests. Three small tendrils jutted from his (?) chin, one of which wiggled slightly in their direction before a heavy, gravely tainted voice came from the figure's mouth:
"Thank you, Desu and Kyla. You are now dismissed."
"Of course." With that, the duo left.

Silence.

Then, a question:
"So ah...are you Revan?" Ethan squeaked out, Yerbol shooting the boy a menacing glare. Thankfully the figure took the comment with a raspy chuckle.
"No. Lord Revan asked me to greet you here and answer your initial questions before he arrived. He was delayed once more." Another few moments of silence before the figure added:
"I assume you have questions, but let me talk for a few moments. I believe I can answer some of them just from my introductory remarks." A clearing of the throat before it continued:
"You are on the planet Odessa, the capital world of this part of the galaxy. Your ship was intercepted by a man named Arcann, who has been set up as ruler of the government that rules entitled the Eternal Empire. The droids you encountered were a part of his militia." No one else commented, so the figure continued:
"Although my Master will explain more, I will tell you that we are the Order of the Heralds, a group of Force Users who are dedicated to bringing balance to the Force, 'heralding' (if you will) a new way of seeing the Force. My Master tells me that you are already familiar with this concept."
"Yes...yes we are."
"Very well. As for why I am here, my name is Yuno, First Apprentice of Master Revan for the past twenty years."
"Has he only been here twenty years? That you know of?" Yuno's tendrils twitched.
"Master Revan is not very forthcoming with information regarding how long he has been in this part of the galaxy. There is much he has not shared with any of us about his dealings in other corners of the galaxy, but before your arrival, he told me that many answers would come soon to questions we have all had since following him." Just then, the door to the room slid open, Yuno bowing stiffly at the waist.
"Master, I am happy to see you return. These are the guests you informed us of. They have been taken care of per your request."

Aria huffed out a nervous breath and took his offered hand, squeezing it gently in her own as she murmured.
“I hope you’re right…” Cause who knows, he could still have a bee in his bonnet and decide he wants to kill us all himself, or something. But the apprentices didn’t need to hear that sort of worrying, they were on edge enough already as it was. “You’d better learn to have some optimism, Ethan, or you’re going to be in trouble later.” Aria chuckled, shooting the apprentice a good-natured smirk as they followed Desu and Kyla through the winding hallways of the complex and out into the valley.
____________

“There’s so many of them…” Kytra muttered nervously under her breath, her fur prickling as the group continued to follow the pair into the temple.
“Just ignore them.” Aria murmured softly, catching the youngster's eye and offering a reassuring smile of her own, “I’m sure they’re just curious. We must look rather strange to them.”
Desu and Kyla escorted the Qyaari to a library of sorts, before they were quickly dismissed by the young man that was waiting for them there. It was less of a shock to the two Champions to see that he was a True Sith than it was for their apprentices, but even Aria had to admit she was...surprised. They hadn’t seen another since the time they’d spent with Renso, so to discover that there were perhaps others of their old Master’s species still in the galaxy was...comforting, in a way.

Even Chwuq and Taral snorted in surprise as they took in the figure, their ears standing fully upright on their heads before they averted their gaze from his, crouching low to the floor almost as if they were….bowing?
“Ratintias an j'us, Ari iw ri Soti Wo.” the female rumbled in a harsh, guttural tongue which Aria recognised as High Sith, though she could only make out a few of the words, enough to tell it was a greeting of some sort.
The man quirked a browstalk in surprise as he took in the hounds, then a slight smile spread over his features as he returned it.
“Diâ an j'us, tijani akima.”


What followed was a stretch of incredibly awkward silence, as each of the persons in the room simply stared at one another, neither party appearing sure of how to proceed further, until Ethan became brave enough to squeak out a question of his own. Aria, too, shot the boy a warning scowl, the Champion’s face impassive and unreadable as she listened to Yuno’s explanations. Any further questions from her companions were interrupted, however, as the door behind them slid open once again and a cloaked figure strode inside. Chwuq and Taral rumbled uneasily, their piercing red gaze tracking the man as he crossed the room to stand beside the Sith man, their back spines rattling lightly in warning.
He paid them no more than a passing glance, his attention instead on Yuno.
“Excellent, thank you, Yuno.” the man answered in a voice that was silky smooth in comparison to his apprentice. As he turned to face them, he lowered the hood of his cloak to reveal a familiar (from their visions, at least), pale face framed by well-tousled dark brown hair and a full beard. Honey yellow eyes - which roved from one member of the Qyaari party to the next, giving the impression that he was already analysing each of them.

More silence. Then, Revan spoke.
“I’m sure you all know who I am. So, tell me, who are YOU?” he quirked an eyebrow curiously. “Why would a Sith and three Jedi come to seek me out, together no less?”
Kytra bristled defensively at being misaligned, hissing.
“We’re not Jedi, we’re Qyaari!”
Before Ethan could open his mouth to jump to Kytra’s defence, Aria shot both youngsters one of her infamous “shut your mouth right now before I do it for you” glares, instantly causing her apprentice to shrink backwards with a muted squeak of apology. Turning back to him, Aria met the man’s gaze calmly and answered.
“Yes, sir. We know who you are.” willing her voice not to quiver, she continued. “But what my apprentice MEANS to say is, I’m not Sith, and they’re not Jedi, not anymore.”
“The red marks on your face say otherwise.” A pointed smirk danced across Revan’s features as he indicated them with a pointing finger.
“Well, they don’t exactly, you know, wash out.” Aria groused, instinctively bringing a hand up to cover the marks that extended from her jawline over her chin.
“Touche.” He chuckled in amusement, crossing his arms as he returned his attention to the group as a whole. “Then, if you’re not Sith or Jedi, mind explaining who you ARE?”

It took a few moments for Aria and Yerbol to bring Revan and Yuno up to speed on the happenings within the known galaxy over the last six years, but once they had, silence once again fell over the room.
“And what led you to the clues we left, to bring you here?” Revan asked eventually.
“When we were on Voss, we spoke to their Mystics and they told us you may need the help.” Yerbol supplied, as his wife nodded in agreement.
“Although admittedly, we’re not really sure what,” she gestured at their current surroundings, “all of this, is...for.”
“And what’s it got to do with Arcann? Who is he? What’s the Eternal Empire?” Kytra blurted out a flurry of questions all at once. “And why are they trying to kill us?!”
“Kytra!” Aria hissed, skewering her apprentice with another “hush” look out of the corner of her eye. “Though, that would be nice to know, sir. Who IS Arcann and what’s his deal?”

He took several long moments, during which he frowned the entire time as if he were very confused by the whole ordeal, before he spoke again.
“To...cut a long story incredibly short,” Revan sighed, running a hand up through his hair, “Arcann is the son of a man you might have known as ‘The Emperor’.” he made quotation marks around the title, though his lip curled upwards slightly at the mention of the other man. Aria’s eyes widened in surprise, and Yerbol glanced sideways at his spouse questioningly.
He didn’t HAVE children, as far as the Dark Council knew. In fact, the Emperor had been all but absent for decades before the war with Bracknell and Soto…
Do you think he’s lying? Yerbol asked her, keeping his face as neutral as possible to avoid looking suspicious.
I don’t know. Aria admitted, Why WOULD he lie about something like that?

As if he had somehow sensed their conversation (had he? Or was Revan just THAT GOOD at reading body language that he could tell, even when they were trying to make sure he couldn’t?), Revan continued.
“Oh, yes, I thought that too. Two decades ago, when the visions began, I came here to Wild Space expecting to find the Emperor himself amassing an army of dark forces to assuage the Core Worlds again. Instead, I found Arcann, and the Eternal Empire, which his father built and which he took over after the Emperor’s passing. It’s been lying here in wait for all these years. He...caught me by surprise, I spent a few years locked up in carbonite until one of my former apprentices, Meetra Surik, managed to find me. Since then, we’ve been collecting followers to form the Heralds, the last line standing between the Eternal Empire and the known galaxy. Because I don’t need to tell you the kind of destruction Arcann is going to wreak if he gets through to it.”

Kytra tilted her head to one side curiously.
“What exactly is so dangerous about Arcann, in particular? You know, aside from his father having been a tyrant and all.”
“The kind of power the Emperor had was...something else.” Aria murmured softly. “Most of the Sith never saw his face, not once, and yet he was still able to keep all of us under his control without even setting foot on Korriban or Dromund Kaas for decades.”
“It’s not even that complicated.” Revan coughed, gesturing towards Yuno, who blinked once, and then turned to cross the short distance to one of the terminals. A few typed commands later, and Yuno had brought up a holographic image of a Fleet the likes of which the Qyaari had never seen before. There must have been THOUSANDS of ships there, designs eerily similar to the fighters which had almost been the end of their party earlier in the day.

“Arcann has technology at his disposal that most of us can only DREAM of. He calls it the Eternal Fleet. They’re faster and deadlier than any fleet we’ve ever faced before...and he can mass-produce them at an impossible speed.”
“Do you know how he’s doing it?” Aria’s brow furrowed in concern.
“I have...suspicions.” Revan confirmed. “However, at the present moment, we have a slightly more pressing problem.”
“Isn’t there always?”
“Right now, Arcann’s holding General Surik hostage. Which means, he’s got leverage, against the Heralds. And against ME. I’m not worried about her cracking, she’s been through worse, however, leaving her there isn’t an option. I think I may have tracked down where he’s taken her, but to rescue her, Yuno and I may need your help.”

Out of the frying pan, into the fire, eh darling?