[IC] You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

[The Elvenqueen]

She wouldn’t get the chance to enquire about what had happened with the droids, because at that point Neta breezed back out of the compound and bellowed for all of the Force users to join her in order to help the newly arriving shuttle get down to the ground easily. It was a lot trickier than their own descent had been, given that they were all standing OUTSIDE of the shuttle planetside, and had to collectively extend a barrier upwards into the air in order to shield the incoming craft from being battered to bits on the side of the crystalline mountains. Due to the difficult parameters set out before them, they could only push the barrier up about a hundred feet or so, any more The process went a lot more smoothly than Aria had been expecting, and after the sphere had dissolved out of existence they were faced with a somewhat bedraggled-looking crew of soldiers who eyed the small gathering before them warily while Neta made introductions and explained what they had managed to achieve so far.
It wasn’t until the blonde had started to speak and the thickness of her Imperial accent became clear that Aria realised the Havoc squad Bek had talked about was well...THE Havoc squad.

The squad trooped past them on Neta’s tail as the former soldier ushered them towards the compound to give them the not-so-grand tour of the place. The effort of bringing Havoc’s shuttle down to safety in their makeshift landing area may have tired the younger Force users out, but they wouldn’t get the chance to rest and recuperate just yet as they could hear the squeal of another hyperdrive breaking through the atmosphere.
“OH YOU CAN’T BE SERIOUS!”
“Who even IS that?” a few groans of complaint came from the tired youngsters. Aria didn’t blame them, she felt like joining in with their protests if it hadn’t been for the disapproving scowl her father shot in her direction that meant she kept her lips tightly sealed.
“Stop complaining and help me with the barrier!” Roan snorted, throwing the beginnings of the bubble up again with a simple flick of his wrist. Something about the look in his eyes gave away that he knew who the shuttle belonged to, as well.
If it were at all possible, this shuttle was actually EASIER to maneuver than the previous one. In fact, it almost seemed as if...as if they were getting help, from a person inside the shuttle! Whoever they were, they seemed to possess enough strength with the Force that it gave them the ability to add their own influence to the air currents in order to aid the group as they guided the ship to the ground.

The person who stepped off the shuttle as the engines cut off was so sallow in complexion that they could only have been one of the Sith survivors, the Dathomirian’s stride was somewhat haughty as she approached them, the timbre of her voice equally abrasive as her walk as she barked out. “Noctis! You good for nothing Hutt slime! I almost walked into a death trap on Coruscant, you couldn’t have warned me sooner?! I should string you up by your toes for that!”
Smirking, Roan stepped forward to meet her and responded. “The feeling’s mutual, Lash. Cut the crap, we’re the only Council members left and we don’t have time for it.”
Cheriss growled, her gaze passing over the young flock gathered behind him before she snorted at noting Yerbol, Janika and Manso among them. “You brought JEDI?”
“Allies of circumstance only, I assure you. I would have killed them if I could. They’re more able than they look, trust me.”
She stepped forward so that she was nearly nose-to-nose with her fellow Sith Lord and hissed. “I wouldn’t trust you as far as I could THROW you!” as if to enforce the point, at that moment Roan was thrust backwards a few paces, thankfully able to catch his balance again with little more than a startled grunt as Cheriss asserted: “And need I remind you from last time that is far enough!” she was more than likely capable of throwing him even further than she had, if she'd been so inclined, but apparently a few inches was enough to enforce her point.
Despite her protests however, the Dathomirian agreed to hear out their plans thus far and follow Neta and the squad back to the complex while they waited in case there were any more impending arrivals….

[freedomliveson]

Yerbol walked to Aria's side, standing next to her with his arms crossed over his chest as he fluidly synced up with their connective bond and said:

She seems just as powerful as your father is...tell me she isn't going to bring the whole building down on us. Cause she looks the type to get set off REALLY easily.

He looked down at her with a knowing smile.
"I do think it was a pretty good sign that we were able to work together like that." Janika and Manso warily crept alongside the older duo, the former saying quietly:
"I don't like that woman."
"Gives me the creeps." Manso added, Yerbol turning his attention to the younglings:
"Keep thoughts like that to yourselves, alright? We're already walking on ice about a millimeter thick. Remarks like that could make whatever idea of an alliance we have in mind fall to pieces."
"But-"
"If you have objections, we can talk about them in private when two Sith Lords aren't close enough to impale you on their sabers." That seemed to do the trick, Janika and Manso looking at each other for a moment before they mutually shrugged.
"What do we do now?" Manso asked, hands fidgeting.
"There are still a couple of more people scheduled to arrive. Why don't you and Jani to talk to Commander Dorne? I'm sure they could use some help getting set up. In fact...Manso, why don't you ask one of them to help you with the droids? One of them has GOT to know how to get past the A.I. scripts you were having trouble with."
"It would be nice to have someone more experienced to watch what I'm doing...with computers, though. You're experienced...you know what I mean." Skittering up the steps, Manso entered into the Temple, Janika following his lead, leaving the two in the now dimly illuminated circle.
"We need to take a look at those crystals when we have the chance." Yerbol walked to one of them and picked it up, turning it over in his hands.
"Don't know if we'll have the time, but soon enough..." He yawned widely, shaking his head, the full brunt of their strenuous efforts coming to bear almost all at once.
"Think I'm going to try out one of those cots Neta set up. She says bigger men than I have slept in them, so maybe I'll be able to get some rest after all."

_________________
The end of all things. The balancing of the universe created by imbalance. The perfect restoration. The harmonization of the galaxy.

Who-

Identity matters little, youngling. All will be balanced. You will contribute to that balance. Be honored.

Balance? Harmony? How?

The Force is strong with you and your companion. I could not foresee this. If only you had come into my care sooner.

Your care?! You're a genocidal maniac, a hate fueled-

You speak of matters you do not understand fully. Someday you will know. And you will pay the price for that knowledge.

I understand the outright destruction of two Orders! I understand that you want nothing but chaos! COME OUT OF THE SHADOWS AND SHOW YOURSELF!

. . . . .

__________________________

[12 hours later]

He sat up, right hand grasping his saber, teeth gritted, breath coming in heavy, angry gasps. Wild eyes scanned the room, noting the closed door, absorbing the silence. Shaking his head, he dropped his saber, head cradled in his hands as he brought his feet to the chilly floor. He sat there for a few minutes, eyes eventually cast forward, cold droplets of sweat tracing down his bare upper body.
"He knows." Startling himself by the statement, he shook himself, rising to his feet with a wobble.

__________________________

[Two hours earlier]

"We just got a warning from Neta. Says there's going to massive atmospheric turbulence and to tell you that it can be navigated with some help from the Force." Kira groaned, looking out the viewport towards the incoming planet.
"Alright big guy, how do we do this?" Voldon looked to Matt, the latter nodding.
"Mutual meditation. Should help us focus our energies enough to form a shield around the shuttle." It was a difficult undertaking, but with some careful piloting by Ed and the combined powers of two Jedi masters and a very powerful Knight, the shuttle managed to find the beacons along with two other shuttles that had to be cautiously navigated around before setting down on level ground. As Kira and the Masters walked into the facility, Neta greeted them, gesturing around them:
"Welcome to the beginnings of our little rebellion slash uprising. Masters Carnagie and Naylon along with Knight Naylon?"
"Got that right." Kira quipped, her eyes darting to a figure in the upper right hand corner of the room, a lithe, menacing figure...
"Voldon, that's-"
"Darth Noctis." Voldon grumbled, his gaze wandering to the Sith Lord before returning to Neta.
"He's cooperating?" Neta chuckled.
"Oh he is. We all are to a point. We've got a common enemy now, Master Jedis...and we'll need all the help we can get."
"Agreed." Matt added to his affirmation:
"Allow us to get our bearings and then we can meet with you all."
"We've decided to hold our general pow wow in the main hall we're in right now. Check back in with us at around..." She checked a chronometer she had strapped onto her wrist before venturing off the ship.
"Eight am? We're running on GST, which means you'll have thirteen hours to yourselves. I'll have one of the kiddos show you to your rooms."

________________

As he straightened up, he could feel a massive uptick in Force energy, as if almost the whole facility had been infused with even more of the Force. Had the Masters arrived? And where was Aria? Hopefully not getting into too much trouble without him...

[The Elvenqueen]

Aria’s gaze flickered sideways to meet Yerbol’s, the corners of her mouth turning upwards in a smirk as she answered his question.
Well, everyone at the Academy always used to say that the reason they called her Darth Lash wasn’t JUST because of the Lightwhip!
She followed up by confirming that their newest addition was indeed as powerful a Sith Lord as Roan, which would come in handy for their rebellion’s forces, but might prove the other Sith Master to be...difficult to get along with. She turned her attention towards Janika and Manso as the young duo expressed their concerns, assuring them with another snort of laughter that “As long as you stand up straight and say ‘yes ma’am’ when she tells you to do something, you’ll be fine. With any luck she’ll be so occupied with the Masters she won’t even notice the rest of us.”
She had been trying to shake it off while they greeted Cheriss and tried to wait for the other Masters but after the two had been dismissed to seek help from Havok squad, she realised that her limbs felt like they were weighted down with lead. It was difficult to tell, with the link between them as substantial as it had become, how much of the fatigue was her own and how much of it was trickling along the thread from Yerbol’s mind. Either way, it became clear to them both that when he couldn’t even lift one of the crystals off the ground without effort, they should both return to their room and rest up before their other guests arrived to the summit.

________________________
[10 hours later (approx)]

To hope that they could have an entire night’s rest undisturbed was wishful thinking, of course. While they managed to get a good several solid hours in, it was still the middle of the night when another premonition disturbed Yerbol’s dreams, as a result rousing Aria as well. She wasn’t able to hear the ENTIRE conversation, more like snippets of the exchange between the two had wormed their way into her own dreams through the link, jolting her awake about two hours prior to Yerbol waking himself. Aria sat bolt upright, stifling a yelp as the top of her head connected with the ceiling due to the force at which she was jolted awake. Groaning softly, she slid out of the bunk to find the Knight still tossing and turning in his sleep; she had contemplated shaking him awake as she rubbed the sore spot on her head, then decided against it (there were old superstitions about interrupting people’s nightmares before they were done that she felt probably applied to creepy Force-related visions, too). Instead, she slipped out of the room and headed for the main entrance to check whether there was an extra shuttle parked alongside the others yet. Though she found that wasn’t quite the case yet, the fresh air allowed her to clear her thoughts enough to recognise that the voice from the vision had been the SAME voice as the one they had heard before docking on Manaan. So whoever had begun the True Sith’s crusade was still watching them. He had talked about the same things the projection in the temple had told them. Balance, harmony and re-stabilising the Force….Did he know where they were, would he tip off Bracknell and Soto to their location? She would have to discuss these things with Yerbol later when they got the chance. The gravity of that insinuation began to sink in and made the hairs on the back of her neck prickle uncomfortably as she began to pace back and forth in the main meeting area, not wanting to wander the halls in case she disturbed any of the others from their rest.

______________________________

Only a few hours later, Neta had reappeared in the communal area and informed Aria of the incoming spacecraft as a few of the others of the group could be heard shuffling about in their quarters as well. As she was already awake, Aria volunteered to come with the redhead to greet the other Jedi Masters, in the hopes of putting a good foot forward in terms of their co-operation with the Sith representatives. It would help for them to meet someone who wasn’t as stuck-up about their (former) allegiances as her father and Master Matare. As Master Naylan and his wife entered the compound, she dipped into a formal bow she had seen Academy tutors use to greet her father or other Sith Masters when they came to check on student’s progress in training, hoping the gesture was a universal sign of respect for Masters of higher rank and that it wouldn’t have the opposite effect by offending them.
“Master Naylon, Mrs Naylon. It’s good to see you again.” she followed Kira’s gaze to see Roan situated in one corner of the room, apparently asleep himself though it was always hard for her to tell. “Everyone else is resting now, but by eight or so we’re hoping to get the meeting underway.”
Aria hadn’t returned to her bunk after showing the Jedi Masters to open quarters and bidding them a good rest, instead halting in the hallway after a few steps and propping her back up against the wall. She had meant to just take a few moments, until her legs felt like they could ACTUALLY move again, and then go back to check on Yerbol...but had ended up sliding down into a sitting position and drifting back into a dreamless sleep right there.
_______________

[13 hours later]

She was abruptly jolted awake at about eight am by Cheriss’ voice in the hallway immediately adjacent to the main room screeching:
“NOCTIS, YOU BASTARD! KEEP THOSE FILTHY DOGS OF YOURS ON A DAMN LEASH!” followed by an overly-jubilant cackle from Roan. Opening her eyes, Aria would find an agitated Kira seated alongside her husband and another older man and woman (the other Jedi Masters, no doubt) in the middle of the room. Cheriss had given Roan a wide berth to join the Jedi in the room, every pair of eyes present trained on Roan who loitered in the doorway with the tomb beasts chattering eagerly as they observed the newest additions to their ragtag group.
“You are NOT bringing those….THINGS in here!”
“I can’t help it if they would rather follow me around. They make their own decisions, Naylon.”
“LIAR! You’re telling them what to do!” the other female Jedi snapped, glowering at the Sith Lord as Roan smiled smugly and shrugged his shoulders, retorting.
“So what if I am?”
Aria groaned and pushed herself groggily to her feet, muttering to herself under her breath. “Oh, you have GOT to be karkin’ kidding me!” apparently she had slept through the start of the meeting. As expected, it had already descended into petty squabbling that had NOTHING to do with their current situation.
Fumbling for the thread that linked her mind to Yerbol's she latched onto it and called out, still laced with tiredness.
Hey, Bol...you wanna help me break this up? They're bickering already and I don't think we've even started talking about any of the important stuff.

[freedomliveson]

Matt addressed the group with as calm of a voice he could muster:
"We can deal with hounds and personal preferences about said hounds later. For right now, the fate of the galaxy might be in our hands. We can't spend time arguing." Voldon nodded, reaffirming his fellow Master's sentiment:
"Like it or not, we're all cobbled here for a purpose. These 'True Sith' have obliterated Tython and Korriban, which means we're the only chance that our Orders have." Kira still had her arms folded across her chest, the scowl that had formed upon Noctis' frustrating teasing going away slowly. As the Sith joined them in their circle of chairs, both Neta and Elara emerged from the back of the facility, their strides in sync as they clicked towards the meeting and joined, Neta apologizing:
"Sorry for not getting here sooner, but we got a late message from one of my people. Seems like our final guest is on their way and insists that we not wait for her appearance...she also said that the atmosphere would be no trouble to navigate, seeing as she's faced 'arctic' conditions before. Let's pray she's got the power she needs." Elara coughed slightly, which was to be the only sound for several moments other than the occasional shuffling of feet, a leg crossing or a silent glare shot from one Force user to another. It was Matt who decided to break the silence:
"Well, I think we ought to first talk to our True Sith 'experts'." He motioned towards Aria and a suddenly visible Yerbol, who was standing at Aria's side, the natural curls in his hair even more accentuated by his quick rising and subsequent dressing.
"Right. Let's hear what they have to say. I hear you have some rather convincing evidence to help sway us to unifying." Neta nodded to the duo, holding up a miniature holo projector that Havoc Squad allowed them to use.
"I've got your back, kiddos. Tell em what you found." Yerbol looked to Aria momentarily, then back to the improvised "council".
"Well, it started on Korriban..."

He didn't know how long it had taken to tell every shred of their story, but between the two of them telling their narrative plus presenting the data they found on the Sith homeworld, it felt like days had passed by before Yerbol was able to summarize:
"So we have what was once thought to be a dead predecessor to the Sith alive and well, infiltrating our ranks and committing genocide of all Force users. Their motivations are still unclear for the most part, but like we've explained, the two visions we've had talked about a balancing of the Force."
"Balancing...that's a term I've heard before." Matthew mused, addressing Ailel:
"There were some old datacrons we found in the Chamber of Secrets on Tython that discussed balancing the Force through different meditation techniques, but we believed that was more of an introspective balancing and not of an outward variety."
"So if these visions are accurate..." Voldon shifted in his seat.
"Then this 'balancing' really isn't a 'balancing' at all. Whatever force or being is pulling the strings wants a total eradication of the Force itself...or at least the users of the Force. But that won't stop those who are born with the ability to use the Force, now will it? What could this being want to achieve, if there is such a being? Maybe Bracknell is planting those visions to throw you off?" He looked to the Sith seated opposite from the group of Jedi, asking:
"You know Bracknell better than we do. Think he's powerful enough to lead these two in the wrong direction?"
"Wait, wait, let's go back even further." Kira gestured towards the Sith, asking:
"How on EARTH did Bracknell get this much power in the first place? I never even heard of the guy until he wormed his way to Chancellor Saresh's side on the holonet. You guys didn't see this coming?"

"Darth Jungze, I'm rather amazed at your power."
"Most are, darling." She gently patted Kandar's shoulder, then tying the cloth around her eyes a bit tighter.
"You just make yourself comfortable. I'll see what all the fuss is about."
"Of course." The comely figure of Darth Jungze strolled down the ramp, the tresses of her ebony colored robe following along behind her as she appeared in the doorway of the facility, her lips pursing.
"I see we've already started..." She whispered, choosing to hover in the doorway for a moment to hear the topic of conversation before she jumped in.

[The Elvenqueen]

With a few more disgruntled mutterings, the room appeared to settle as Yerbol reappeared at her side again, shortly followed by their appointed pilot and commander Dorne.
Aria dipped her head gratefully to Neta as she asserted that she would back up their tale, glancing sideways at Yerbol before they stepped into the center of the room together to once again recount their experiences from their first encounter on Korriban to the trials they had experienced on the True Sith homeworld. This was somehow entirely different to the time they had presented the very same evidence to the Jedi Council on Tython, instead of the quiet scorn they had been met with then, every pair of eyes in the room was trained on the holoprojector as it played back the disks they had retrieved from the tower library.

There was a moment of silence where even the hounds at the doorway didn’t stir, before Matthew’s question broke the silence. Ailel nodded in agreement with her comrades, leaning forward slightly in her seat as she seemed to study the young duo before them. “Indeed. While I don’t doubt the troubles you two have faced, it seems an awfully inefficient if not hypocritical final goal to have; there are so many Force users in the galaxy there is surely no way he could kill all of them. And it does not eliminate the chance of more being born at a later date after the so-called purge is complete, either. Are you certain Bracknell isn’t the orchestrator of the whole thing?”
Aria met the Jedi Master’s gaze and gave another firm nod. “With all due respect, ma’am, I would know Bracknell’s voice when I heard it. The voice in the visions was different, neither of us had ever heard it before.”
In answer to Kira’s question, Roan offered:
“Like many of the Dark Council, Bracknell is certainly privy to a great source of power honed over years of training. It’s not surprising that he would be able to put such talents to use in order to bend those of weaker will within the Galactic Senate to his cause.” a smirk coloured the Sith Lord’s face as he continued, in a somewhat smug tone. “It’s been done before on many occasions, even to some of your own Masters, if you recall. I won’t mention names, though some of you wouldn’t be old enough to recall a relative of your late Grand Master.”
Oh, please, don’t irk them. Aria fought the urge to roll her eyes at her father’s outward display of scorn towards the Jedi members of the meeting and silently hoped they wouldn’t decide to settle this by whipping their sabers out later.
Cheriss cut into the conversation at that point, continuing along the original trajectory by explaining.
“Lord Bracknell’s skillset lies within tactics and planning, it’s quite possible that he has been plotting such an uprising for some time without the knowledge of the other Sith Masters. He was always one to speak very little, though when he did his words were often well thought of by most. There were some of us,” a glance was exchanged with the other Sith beside her, “who suspected that his motives may have been his own, but he covered his tracks well and there was never anything to provide solid proof on the matter.”

Heads would turn from the current speaker back to the doorway as the hounds waiting there yelped excitedly to announce a new presence, to discover the Miraluka who stood in the doorway. She didn’t appear to react in any way to the pair of tomb beasts bouncing around her, but regardless they were making such a fuss of the newcomer that it became difficult to hear anyone speaking.
“Down.” a softly spoken command from Roan brought both Tuk’ata’s backsides back to the floor with quiet grunts of affirmation. Another minute or so of silence was punctuated with Ailel clearing her throat and speaking to Aria and Yerbol again.
“HOW he did it is of little importance now, whether it IS Bracknell behind the whole series of events or not. We need to know what they plan to do next if we’re going to have any chance of counteracting it.” resting her chin on her palm, she brought forward another query for the duo. “This library that you visited, you said it was full of archives and scrolls, yes?”
After they had nodded, the Jedi Master continued: “It may be worth us re-visiting this world to access more of the archives, perhaps try to find a name, or an outline of teachings, that could have been extrapolated to lead to this goal of mass genocide.”

[freedomliveson]

"That's a risky proposition. If there were projections and a guardian beast when these two went to the temple, who knows what may be waiting for us when we set down? What if Bracknell has forces on the ground right now and is waiting for us to follow through on that course of action?" Voldon shook his head at Matt's objection.
"We can speculate all we want, Matt, but sooner or later we'll be found out. Bracknell and Saresh have their Galactic Alliance combing every inch of space for Force users and-"
"But what if we're ALREADY found out? The visions these two have been given feature someone or something that KNOWS we're here. Who's to say that whatever that presence is hasn't contacted Bracknell and has forces ready for us?"
"We can't rely on their visions, Matt. We both know how speculative and unreliable they are. I agree with Ailel; we need to go to this seemingly abandoned world and try to find out what Bracknell's true motivations are."
"I like this kind of talk. Heroic and brazen. How wonderfully idealistic it is." Jungze had crept towards the circle and slotted herself in a seat next to Neta, her head turning to examine both sides, a teasing smile forming on her lips.
"Yet I believe what we're forgetting here is our two little ones." She motioned towards them.
"Darlings, I must say, from what I've already sensed you two are the keys to all of this." The Darth chuckled before looking to Roan.
"Roan, you must've it sensed it by now? And Cheriss, maybe this flew over your head, but our two little birds are linked by a very strong bond." Voldon's brow shot up.
"This is the first I've heard of this. A bond? How can you be sure?" Jungze giggled, pointing to the cloth.
"It's sort of a thing my people know how to do, Voldon. We sense things, read the minds of others..." She trailed off with a teasing smile before turning her head to the duo in the center of the circle.
"Now then, your bond is already deliciously strong, but when was it created?" Yerbol rubbed the back of his neck, hesitant to answer due to-
"Oh come now, child. We're past the point of hiding these kinds of things."
"Well, we think it formed when we killed a projection."
"Mmhmm. Of course. During the battle or after?" Yerbol thought for a moment.
"I felt something very different during." She nodded.
"And you made quick work of the projection because you were both in sync, were you not? Like nothing could ever break your newfound synergy?"
"Pretty much, yes." Another giggle, Jungze addressing the group:
"You all really haven't figured it out yet? My word, I'm glad I decided to drop by." She leaned forward as he continued:
"Their bond was created in the act of battling a manifestation of Force energy that was tied not only to the planet, but to a being. That being's energy is inexorably tied to theirs now."
"What?" Kira was genuinely dumbfounded.
"You all know that a Force bond can be created when two or more people share an experience that they BOTH feel is traumatic or significant in some way. But it isn't enough to share the experience. The bond is cemented when the...bondee's, shall we call them, absorb the essence of the experience(each experience creates ripples in the Force, but again, you all should know that)."
"Simply this." Voldon curtly responded, Matt quickly adding:
"I know where you're going with this. When they battled the projection, they were so engaged, so focused within the Force that the energy of the experience linked them together-"
"And because that experience was tied to the projection which was tied to something else, they forged a connection with the ultimate source of that projection. Therefore, the visions they're seeing are very real and need to be taken as such. The homeworld might have answers to those visions as well." Neta and Elara gave each other mystified shrugs before turning their attention to Matt, who spoke:
"So if we bring these two with us to the homeworld, we could not only stop Bracknell, but find out who's pulling the strings. That would be worth the risk, although I'm not comfortable throwing these two into more danger."
"Believe me, Master Carnagie, I've seen what they can do. They're more than capable of helping you all piece this thing together."
"So are we in agreement, then? To this 'homeworld'?"

[The Elvenqueen]

Aria eyed the newest Darth stonily, her jaw tightening as she growled softly. “I’m NOT little-!”
“Aria.” Roan shot her a warning scowl, to which Aria huffed and reined herself in, realising that she had almost fallen into the trap of petty bickering as well. The Miraluka seemed to have a frightening level of knowledge about their Force bond, which started as a surprise to Aria though the more she spoke of her people’s abilities, the more it seemed to make sense. Miraluka’s natural ability with Force sight did mean they could pick up on anomalies very quickly.
“Wait, wait...so you’re saying that it’s a THREE way bond?” the idea that she and Yerbol were ALSO tied to this other person who had started the genocidal movement was a new concept. One, she realised with a jolt, that might be worth exploring further.
The Jedi delegates were more than shocked to hear of the link between the pair, exchanging dumbfounded glances as they tried to make sense of the newly presented info. Even the normally stoic Cheriss sat abruptly forward in her chair to squint more closely at them, lips pursed together before she muttered.
“Force bonds…? Now that IS interesting…I had assumed the energy came from something located in the biome of the planet; but it was you two all along?” the Dathomirian raised a brow. “For something so strong to form so quickly…”
Aria shuffled closer to Yerbol by an inch or so, suddenly very uncomfortable with the way they were being stared at by EVERYONE in the room like they’d sprouted extra heads. To try and move the topic onward, Aria asked the Miraluka a question of her own. “So...so if we went back to the homeworld, we’d be able to pick up the connection to the third person, and try to follow it back to find him?”

“That might be a bit ambitious, but we certainly may be able to discover more about this mystery man’s motives.” Roan put in, scratching his chin in thought. “I wouldn’t recommend we all go, if we ARE being watched then so many strong presences may spook them into an aggressive counter-response.”
“Then...Aria, is it? And Yerbol, should both join the party travelling back to the homeworld. If their bond is as strong as the Miraluka claims it is, then it would be unwise to separate the pair either.” Ailel frowned. “If nothing else, it may cause them considerable discomfort; Force forbid should anything happen to the other while they were away, a lot of the records we had in the Chamber of Secrets and the archives are purely speculation but it may still be fatal for the other if one of them were to-”
“NO.” Roan growled, stiffening. “No. Aria stays here.”
“That’s hardly practical, Noctis-” the Jedi Master insisted, only to be cut off instantaneously again by the irate Sith Lord.
“You are NOT putting my daughter in their line of fire while you pander after your ridiculous quest for knowledge that may or may not even exist!”
"I hardly think that's your place to decide, Noctis. The fate of the entire galaxy is at stake here and they could-"
"I am her FATHER, Sparr, the GALAXY is not my concern!"
And thus the summit descended into another round of back-and-forth defamation of the various Master’s characters, morals and motivations, with poor Neta and Elara left to exchange bemused glances with one another as they tried to follow the argument from one Force user to the next. The only ones not joining in, it seemed, were Voldon and Jungze, the former currently sitting with his head in his hands after a failed attempt to calm his wife at his side while the latter simply sat back in her seat and scowled in a condescending manner.

Aria and Yerbol seemed to have been forgotten in the heated discussion that had now ensued, stuck in the middle of the whole fiasco and having to contemplate exactly how they would defuse this one. Every time either of the duo attempted to speak and call attention back to the matter at hand, none of the Masters seemed to pay them much mind. When it was clear after several minutes of squabbling that it WASN’T going to calm down on its own, Aria gritted her teeth and reached towards Yerbol’s mind, announcing in a somewhat clipped tone: I’m going to scream again. Block your ears, and if you can try and do something for Neta and Dorne.
She communicated a similar warning to the aforementioned pair by mouthing the words, waiting for another few breaths to give them time to react before she bellowed out: “SHUT IT!!!”

The entire room went eerily silent as the windows trembled in their frames. One of them may have even cracked slightly.
“With all due respect, daddy, I’m twenty years old and I can make my own decisions.” Aria continued in a quieter pitch once attention was back on the duo again. “We’re GOING.”
Roan snorted and bristled, as if to make another protest before Cheriss silenced him with a roll of her eyes.
“Just go with them, then, if you’re going to do nothing but sulk about it the entire time they’re gone!”

[freedomliveson]

He was a bit surprised that Aria was going to try and scream the summit into submission, but it was a better option than standing there while a bunch of the old guard whittled each other away with verbal insults. Walking to the rear of both non-Force users, he threw up a protective sphere(which naturally covered Jungze as well due to her placement), which prompted the trio to look up at the young Knight.
"She's going to scream. This is going to be for your protection."
"A Force Scream at such a young age? Mmm...looking forward to the display."
"That makes one of us." Neta grumbled, her hands instinctively going to her ears. Elara followed suit just as Aria exploited the gargantuan amount of Force energy to let out an even more powerful shriek than the previous ones, Yerbol's barrier rippling violently at the display.
"Delicious." Jungze whispered, the corners of her mouth turning up in a wicked smirk as the room went silent. After Aria's vehement insistence on their going and Roan's subsequent giving in, Voldon added:
"Then I go as well."
"As will I." Matt added, Kira snorting a laugh.
"Is this a 'Master's only' trip or am I coming, too?" Voldon looked down at his wife with a smirk.
"If you so choose, darling, come along."
"Wait, wait." Neta stood up before continuing:
"We're going to need some of you to stay behind. If we get into any trouble with insane Force users that work for Bracknell, we'll need the back up." Matt nodded in agreement.
"A fair point. It would also be good to have a calming presence for the younger ones. They'll need the support. I volunteer to stay behind."
"Really, Matt? And pass up an opportunity to do field work?"
"I think it'd be nice to have a break from 'field work'. Ever since Tattoine, I've wanted some time to catch my breath. This is the perfect opportunity."
"Right then, so decide on who else is staying."

___

Decisions were made quickly and after some last minute preparations, the shuttle was loaded with those who wanted to see the homeworld. Their pilot was going to be the Mirilian, Zora, from Havoc Squad, seeing as Neta felt it best if she stayed on the ground and coordinated whatever she could from their new command center. Yerbol would serve as co-pilot, which had him in the front of the shuttle that Jungze insisted they take(Kandar made herself a home quickly with Neta's insistence in the base) along with Zora. Once the duo got them into the atmosphere, the masters who accompanied them did the rest, helping them steer out of the atmosphere safely and into space. Using the star maps and old coordinates from their first trip there, they found the planet within the hour and landed in a much calmer environment than they had left. The clearing that Yerbol and Aria had identified on their first journey there would be their landing place, seeing as that was the only place they remembered was safe to land at. As they touched down, Zora commented:
"This place...this place is weird. Volcanoes next to glaciers next to tropical forests? It's like someone splattered a biology textbook on land."
"Weird doesn't even begin to encompass what's here." Yerbol flicked the switch for the loading ramp before telling Zora:
"Just stay in touch with me." He pointed to the minuscule earpiece that Elara had given he, Zora and the rest of the landing party to stay in contact in case of separation.
"Roger that."

_______

It was difficult to retrace their steps at first, seeing as a fresh layer of frost covered the once humid and dense jungle they had sifted their way through, but after several minutes of discussion, they found their way on the correct path, which was only validated by their arrival at the cavernous tower with steps embedded on the rockface.
"Just have to climb the-" Howls and shrieks pierced through the once calm environs, the air growing even colder.
"Wonderful. Somehow I knew they were going to show up." Sabers snapped to life as four of the corpse-like creatures bounded towards them, mouths foaming with anticipation.
"They don't look so bad. I've seen collicoids worse than this." Voldon quipped, crouching into an offensive position.
"Don't underestimate them, Master Voldon. They're...powerful."
"As powerful as us?" Jungze guffawed, her violet saber held in one hand as another was extended forward.
"Maybe you two had trouble on your own, but come now, give us oldies a bit of credit." As a creature leaped into the air to deliver a would-be slash at the neck, Jungze threw a powerful burst of dark energy from her fingertips, the attacker soaring several feet backwards before landing to the ground with a sickening crack.
"Let's deal with this distraction as quickly as possible. So much more is to be done."

[The Elvenqueen]

Arriving back on the True Sith homeworld, they were greeted with an entirely different weather system, which caused some measure of confusion. “It was warmer, before.” Aria mumbled, taking in the coating of frost as the pair tried to find the path they had followed to the tower beforehand. It took some time (and a lot of metaphorically scratching their heads) for them to gain their bearings again but soon after they were back on track and the tower was in sight. The blizzard that had swept through since their last visit had chilled the atmosphere made it a bit harder to anticipate the approach of the tower’s guardians until their piercing cries filled the air.
The older Force users didn’t seem too perturbed by the creature’s despite Yerbol’s cautioning.
“What, them?” Roan snorted. “They don’t look so bad.” Jungze quickly dispatched one of them with a flick of her wrist, a second falling victim to the bolts of energy flung from Roan’s own hand while Voldon dispatched the other two.
“We should be careful.” Aria mumbled as they stepped over the threshold. “Last time we were here, the place was full of illusion traps. Just watch your step, who knows what could happen if we set one of them off.” Of course she felt uncomfortable about giving instructions out to people who had been throwing Force energy around since before she was born, but the last thing they needed was for any of them to be injured or worse, killed.

The place seemed just as quiet and deserted as it had been the first time, which meant their only obstacle to getting to the archive chamber was to pick out the notched staircases they had used beforehand, and to fight off any more of the ice beasts that decided they wanted to come back for another go. After a few more encounters, even the tower guardians seemed to concede that the group’s power was too much even for them.
“That’s right, you’d better run!” Aria crowed after the skinny figures as they retreated. Maybe now they could progress uninterrupted. The group reached the final staircase up to the top of the tower, whereby the Tuk’ata suddenly balked and refused to go any further onwards despite any commands barked at them from Roan. The hounds growled softly and curled back their lips, tails twitching as they crouched in place and refused to move another inch. Frustrated, the Sith Lord instructed them to wait there ‘if it so pleased them’ and keep watch for more of the ice beasts while the Force users progressed onwards. They had thought nothing of the gesture, Roan chalking it up to the difference in the energies on this planet making them uneasy.

In retrospect, that should have been their first warning that something wasn’t quite right. Regardless, they had paid it no mind and stuck stubbornly to their mission objective.

As they reached the library, Aria began to wander off ahead to the shelves she and Yerbol had found the other holodisks on originally, while Roan and the others seemed more interested in examining the room as a whole beforehand.
“Well, this explains where the oaf gets his pompous dress sense from.” Roan snorted as he took in the extravagant decor. “It’s no less overbearing here.”
While Aria agreed that Bracknell’s fashion choices did make him look rather ridiculous, she shook her head at her father and quickly steered him back to their search for documents which could provide them with tactics or other plans they could turn against the True Sith movement and use in their favour. There were enough of them now that they could split off and search several rows and sections at once, which made the search a lot less daunting, but no less tedious. Aria wasn’t sure how long they had been up there, but it had been long enough for her to be bored stiff already.
Found anything useful yet? she muttered to Yerbol, who she could sense was nearby though she couldn’t see him despite her attempts to stand on her toes and peer through gaps in the shelves to try and locate him. None of the older Force users had shouted anything out yet either, presumably absorbed in whatever texts they had come across.
I’ve got some stuff on their old government structure, which is about as interesting as the history of the Galactic Senate, she chuckled sarcastically, but was forced to admit I guess it COULD come in handy, might tell us how they arrange their chain of command, right?

[freedomliveson]

Please, it's way more interesting than sifting through old genealogies that were apparently meticulously kept by the Sith for reasons we're still trying to figure out.

"No, reasons you're STILL trying to figure out." Jungze shot Yerbol a smirk from one of the highbacked chairs that were strewn about the main library. Yerbol was about to protest to her continual reading of his mind when she cut him off mid-thought:
"Oh pish posh, darling, you'll have no more sass from me. I just find the banter you two share reminiscent of how my husband and I used to interact." A slight flush of pink came to Yerbol's cheeks as he buried his head back into the holodisks, Jungze chuckling softly as she steered the subject back to a more relevant avenue:
"The records were preserved as a way to trace lineage. From what I've been able to pick out, it seemed like these 'True Sith' wanted to maintain familial legacies not unlike the older Jedi."
"I read about that somewhere, that in the beginning of the Order, it was necessary to trace family heritage in order to keep track of who maintained the traditions of the Order and who didn't. That was...that was on Tython sometime."
"I'm surprised that they let you read such scandalous material."
"That's because, unlike the Sith, we're not afraid to tell our students of past necessities." Voldon appeared at the head of their row, a half smile framing his face.
"Keeping things hidden from the young isn't just a Sith practice, now is it?" Jungze shot back, a similar expression forming.
"Let's debate some other time. Noctis found something that we all need to see."

Oh thank the Force

____

Moving past the library led to a few branching corridors that one could see the end of, doorways littered at random spots. Entering through the first one on the right led into an ancient looking "computer room", terminals lining the west and east sides of the room with a massive screen mounted right across from the entrance. The screen was illuminated with a dull blue light, columns of white text almost filling the entire surface.
"What the..." was all Yerbol could muster, Voldon filling in the details as he went to the monitor and pointed:
"Roan managed to activate some of the terminals and fed the information loaded onto them here. See this?" It was a list of names, a few of them awfully familiar.
"We believe this to be a list of those working with and or for the True Sith. We don't know if they're force users or not, but to have the assistant chancellor's name on here with a number of important Republic delegates right below isn't happenstance." Jungze shook her head, clicking her tongue off the roof of her mouth.
"One would think that with all of Bracknell's planning, he wouldn't be so stupid as to have such a damning piece of evidence."
"Well, to be fair, it's just a list of names. Out of context, it could just be a random compilation of data." Yerbol suggested, Jungze acknowledging his point with a nod, Voldon adding:
"With this list, we can at least know who the Sith are so we can strike at them when the time comes. Did any of you find other relevant info?"
"Genealogies." Yerbol shrugged as he contributed his finding.
"Selling yourself short there, darling." She gently patted him on the shoulder before pointing back to the library:
"That library has mounds of information about True Sith lineage, about who began the Order in the first place. We need to take that information back with us so we can further study...well, lineage and government structure, isn't that right, Aria? Why don't you tell them about a man named Renso Kator that you glossed over in your documents, hmm?"

________________

Soto pursed her lips, curled dark blonde hair shimmering in the ship's fluorescent lighting as she stared down at the world she had called home for so many months. It was strange to feel it so empty, so desolate. But they had been trained, been given so much power that had to be used. They couldn't maintain their silence for much longer than they had, to allow the galaxy to exist in the imbalanced state it had been stewing in for any duration longer than necessary. The command deck panel flashed with a notification that a shuttle had left, Jean grimacing. She had wanted to go with him, to fight together alongside her Master, but knew better than to questions an order from him. He would do this on his own...and do a blasted good job. As he always did.

[The Elvenqueen]

Aria blinked, dumbfounded, at the Miraluka woman for a moment before Jungze’s prompting seemed to register and she fumbled to remember the things she had read that pertained to that name. “Renso Kator, apparently the first of the True Sith to show any real ability to manipulate the Force properly, he formed the very first of their Councils and began to document all the archives in the rest of the library.” she recounted, frowning with some effort, “He had quite a substantial following though not everyone agreed with his ideals and eventually opposing Masters began to challenge his teachings. Didn’t seem all that important to me.” she shrugged again, though apparently Jungze disagreed. “I mean, it’s just like everything else right? Ideologies come and go. Renso’s ideas died out eventually and got replaced with new ones.”
Roan turned his head to glance back at them again.
“Or DID they?”
“....Of course they did!” Aria protested, “His name’s never mentioned again! If he was THAT important don’t you think they’d have remembered to pen his name in?!”

Her protests were met with an amused chuckle from the Sith Lord, who shook his head slowly as he gestured in Yerbol’s direction. “Not necessarily. Perhaps his name had been forgotten by then, but a cult following of that magnitude wouldn’t just vanish completely from existence. There may have been a few of his disciples that continued to try and spread his beliefs, the conflict between them could have led to the start of the genealogies the boy found. Either side could have begun a project like that as an attempt to invalidate the other.”
Aria blinked again, shifting her weight uneasily as she looked between the older Masters, arms crossed over her chest.
“You...you’ve lost me.” she admitted. Roan snorted again and waved a hand dismissively, directing their attention back towards the list on the screen. “Don’t you see that it’s all linked?”
“No...no, I really don’t…” Aria mumbled, exchanging a dumbfounded glance with Yerbol.
“We could probably look back through the lineage records and see if any of the names on the list trace back to this Renso and the original Sith Council. I highly doubt anyone else would have listened to their nonsensical babbling enough to ACTUALLY form a movement like this in order to reinstate their control of the galaxy.”
So Force users Bracknell and Soto, had been picked out in order to carry on the original founder’s teachings about the Force.
Even without eyes, Aria could feel Jungze’s gaze burning into her as she spoke again.
“So...so the voice that spoke in our visions about reshaping the Force, doesn’t want to REMOVE Force users entirely, they just want to...bring Renso’s ideas back?”
“Exactly. But to do that, they have to make sure there aren’t any old Jedi or Sith Masters left that could quash their movement again before it started.” Roan finished, eyes back on the screen again. “Very damn clever, if you ask me.”

They concluded that they should take the list back to their newly arranged base of operations and let Neta and the other operatives see it. They had contacts within the Senate and known galaxy, they had to track these people down and put an end to this before it could take off.

__________________

Bracknell let out a breath as the small shuttle descended towards the homeworld. They had been orbiting the planet in the hopes that the two youngsters may return to look for more information, and had been presented with more than they bargained for when they had trooped down with several of the escaped Masters in tow. But The Master’s instructions had been clear. They were to watch and wait, see what the bright little birds uncovered for themselves.

The line had been drawn when they still seemed set on putting an end to their plans rather than seeing the reason in them. Now he had to do only one thing, ensure they didn’t leave the planet with that list.

[freedomliveson]

As they wormed their way back through the maze of corridors and rooms towards the ship, Yerbol had to ask to the entire party:
"I'm still stuck as to why they would just leave their base of operations so vulnerable...and why they would have documentation like this just sitting in plain sight. And I know, I know that a lot of this could be dismissed as psychobabble from fanatics who believe they were given 'insight' into the workings of the galaxy, but still...someone would HAVE to listen. Master Shan, Master Bakarn, they believed that these Sith were still around and a viable threat."
"That they did." They were descending a particularly tricky set of circular steps, prompting Voldon to stop for a moment and traverse a gap in the stairs before he continued:
"But they were a minority in the Council. Most believed that it was a red herring, something to distract us from the immediate pressures of war. I scoffed at the idea personally, but then...then events transpired that changed my direction."
"That doesn't answer the boy's question, Voldon." Voldon shot a glare back at Jungze, adding:
"I was getting to that."
"Whatever you say, darling." Grunting, he addressed Yerbol once more:
"I got curious when Satele and Syo started their research. Kira and I traveled to some of the rumored worlds where the True Sith had once occupied and found a number of relics and holodiscs that, although incomplete, held records of access that were recent. That's why we were on Nar Shaddaa in the Temple ruins. One of the older discs we found on Tattoine pointed to Nar Shaddaa as another rallying point for Sith. We didn't find much, but piecing it all together now...now it makes sense. But no one would listen to us. I suppose these disciples of the True Sith took advantage of our bloody war to hide in the shadows. They were in plain sight, but they knew we were too consumed by trying to kill each other. Too little, too late." He curtly ended, jaw tightening.
"To be fair to the Jedi, we didn't believe in the rumors either...well, I knew of a few confirmed sites of historical relevance, but nothing concrete. This is all new to us...and these are supposedly our ancestors."
"Did you just apologize for Sith ignorance?" Voldon asked with genuine surprise, prompting Jungze to laugh as they found themselves on the ground level.
"Not Sith ignorance, darling. Other's ignorance. A genuine Sith sheds herself of ignorance long before they can ascend to true power...or himself." She looked at Roan with a grin before they emerged outside, the sun(or suns?) shining in full strength, melting some of the frost that had greeted them. In place of the frosty atmosphere was a familiar figure standing near the base of the steps leading up to where the group stood.
"Bracknell..." Yerbol gripped his saber tightly in one hand.
"Varian! How wonderful to see you." Jungze had her saber already activated, her feet firmly planted on the ground, Voldon following suit just as four eerily similar figures shimmered into existence, two flanking both his left and right sides respectively.
"Ari, it's the same projection..." All four of the red skinned projections smiled maliciously, chin tendrils vibrating as they simultaneously withdrew their sabers.
"That's all you came with, Bracknell? You have an army at your disposal and you summon projections?" Voldon snickered in derision.
"Going to have to do better than that if you want to intimidate me."

[The Elvenqueen]

“No, indeed.” Roan grunted. “Much like your Council I suppose, our own dismissed any speculations on such matters as senseless raving of crackpots who had long since lost their minds because of their obsession with such research.” he supplemented Jungze’s comment with a glance towards the other Darth, though any other discussion on the matter would have to be dismissed as they were confronted with Bracknell standing at the foot of the last staircase.
Aria swallowed as she took in Yerbol’s mutter about the projection, nodding stiffly as her eyes didn’t leave the red-tendrilled alien, drawing her sabers to her hands.
“Don’t underestimate them.” She warned as she caught Voldon’s sneer about the capabilities of the illusions. “The projections are more powerful than they look.” before her father or Jungze could protest again, she added. “Easily on par with your skills, and fully mobile so yes, they ARE dangerous.”
“Hmph.” Roan grunted, spinning his lightsaber into a ready position. “We shall see, then.”

Bracknell’s features cracked into a knowing smile as he regarded the group before him. “The projections will be enough, why waste resources needlessly, after all? This won’t take long.” perhaps he was underestimating their impromptu abilities to work together as a team, or perhaps he was hoping that the only pair who COULD work cohesively would be forced apart by their respective elders and thus leave the whole group vulnerable. “Let’s get this over with, shall we? I have places to be and execution orders to sign.” Bracknell drawled, flinging a burst of energy towards the cluster of Force users as the four projections lunged forward in unison to try and segregate them off as they scattered to avoid his attack.

The staircase was narrow and it made avoiding the energy blast problematic for them, even their best attempts to throw up a barrier to deflect it away wouldn’t be fast enough to absorb all of it and those nearest to the front would take the full brunt of it, knocked off their footing and sent stumbling into those that were behind them. Luckily for those that slipped off the edge of the staircase, the fall to the floor wasn’t far enough to leave any kind of lasting damage beyond winding them slightly. Aria straightened up, throwing a quick glance around to get a sense of where everyone else was before she was face to face with one of the projections. Placing one foot behind the other, she rocked her weight back and met its stare confidently. “Don’t look so smug, we killed you once, we can do it again.” she let out a breath, shutting her eyes as she recalled what Jungze had explained about the bond before: that it had formed in the moment the pair had been so focused on the Force energies around them in order to defeat the threat before them. There must be a way to exploit that energy again, even if they weren’t side by side and had to fight different projections simultaneously. She grasped at the link forged between their minds and spoke to Yerbol briefly.
You ready? We can still do this, just like last time. she wasn’t sure whether their exact same tactics would work so well, but in theory they could keep observations on the projections’ fighting styles and use signals through their bond to adjust their own moves. Aria could hardly see Yerbol, barely catching a glimpse of his red-blue saber somewhere nearer to the middle of the chamber, near Jungze and Bracknell; she would have to rely on their link. Be careful! she squeaked out, jumping backwards as a lightsaber slashed towards her torso, the projection striking with swift, quick blows as it forced Aria into a retreat even further away from Yerbol and the others. She could feel the tendril between them becoming even more tense the further apart they became, hissing out an angry breath from between her teeth Aria twisted to avoid another thrust and ducked through the projection’s arm to lunge back towards the trio. Out of the corner of her eye, she glimpsed Roan and Kira trapped in the corner between the staircase and the far wall as two of the projections closed in on them, and Voldon moving with calm determination to come to their aid while Bracknell threw more energy at the Battlemaster in an attempt to halt his progress.

They’re trying to separate us! Try and stay together! Aria shouted out to Yerbol, latching onto the thread between them and refusing to lose her focus on the channels flowing between them. As crazy as it may have sounded, that seemed to relax the tension slightly and return it to relative normality. Comforted that it wasn’t in imminent danger of severing or otherwise causing either of them immediate harm, Aria lunged forward to aim a powerful blow towards the chest of her own attacker, snarling.
“Nice try, but you can’t throw us off that easily!” her blade glanced off the edge of the illusion’s own weapon, forcing her to disengage and move back to find another opening.
“You underestimate our capabilities!” the projection chided with a voluminous cackle. “You know nothing of the things we can do with Bracknell’s help!”
“We’re not afraid of him, and we’re certainly not afraid of you!” Aria snarled back, darting in for another blow. Bracknell wasn’t powerful enough to get the better of all of them, even with eerie Sith apparitions on his side. Or so she thought.
“Not yet, you’re not.” the Sith sneered, tendrils quivering as he laughed maliciously. “But YOU will be!”

[freedomliveson]

Aria's commands were heard, but not necessarily complied with due to one of the projections locking onto Yerbol's presence and relentlessly attacking through whatever barrier, parry or other related power that the young Knight summoned. It wasn't long before another projection came to the first one's aid, dashing ahead with crackles of lightning flashing towards Yerbol with no protection in between him and a swift death via electrocution. At the very last second, a purple hue of energy shot up in front of the Knight, lightning that once was aimed at Yerbol cast back towards the originator. Jungze and Voldon swiftly flanked the Knight, parrying a few strikes before delivering some of their own, Jungze protesting:
"This one is mine! Help Voldon deal with the other one!" A sickening, wounded cry bounced off the chamber walls as Voldon stood over the fallen projection with a triumphant smirk.
"One down! We need to-"
"VOLDON! HELP!"
"KIRA!" Voldon spotted both Noctis and his wife cornered by two of the projections, the Battlemaster making his way towards them only to be struck in the side by a powerful gust of wind, knocking the breath out of him momentarily. Bracknell chuckled, both hands thrust forward as he projected more energy towards Voldon.
"We need to-"
"GET TO ARIA NOW!" Jungze commanded sharply, hopping over a low sweep from her attacker before locking sabers with it, her teeth bared in a determined snarl.
"But-"
"BRACKNELL WANTS YOU BOTH DEAD BEFORE US! HELP HER! NOW!" Voldon had thrown up a barrier to thwart Bracknell's attempts at slowing him down while slowly forging ahead to Kira and Roan, two projections giving them all they could handle while Aria fought her own opponent nearby.

Wait. Weren't there four?

He shook the loose thought from his mind, charging ahead to Aria's attacker and slamming his elbow in the projection's lower back, staggering it forward.
"Just like before, right?!" He yelled excitedly, feeling the tension in their bond loosening as the duo harmonized their movements. The projection's eyes went wide as Yerbol jammed his saber into the projection's upper body while Aria swept underneath and slashed at the mid-line, their sabers withdrawing at the same fraction of a second.
"That was even better than last time...I could get used to this." Not wanting to bask in glory for TOO long, he turned his attention to Kira, Roan AND Voldon, who had already cut down one of the projections, leaving two remaining along with Bracknell, who was ominously boring holes into the young duo's skulls with his sickly yellow eyes. Even with Jungze flanking from Bracknell's left, he still was locked onto the pair, Yerbol feeling an uncomfortable warmth snaking through his blood. A few seconds later, a smile cracked his pallid features as he threw Jungze back against a wall with a simple motion of his index finger, the projections once assailing the trio nearby melting into air. The walls quaked, the floors began to crack and the once sun-kissed climate turned very, very warm. Boiling.
"You're outnumbered, Bracknell! You can surrender now or we can roll your severed head down the alleys of Coruscant!" Voldon boldly shouted, saber pointing at the Sith Lord, who seemed unaffected by the threat.
"What's he doing?" Kira wiped newly accumulated sweat off her brow as Jungze hissed:
"Those two aren't going to die here, Varian. No matter how much you try to control their fate." Jungze had alluded to Bracknell's supposed preoccupation with the duo a few minutes earlier, but other than being annoying thorns in his side, what did they represent? They were nothing...or so he thought.

[The Elvenqueen]

Aria nodded breathlessly as Yerbol made a reappearance at her side, flashing a briefly triumphant grin his way though they didn’t have time to celebrate their joined effort at taking down that projection as Bracknell threw Jungze aside and turned his attention fully onto the duo.
Hot. It was getting so hot. Swiping the back of a wrist over her brow to clear the trickle of sweat that had begun to form there before it could drip into her eyes. She made the mistake of glancing in Bracknell’s direction to find the former Sith Lord’s gaze boring into her own and holding her in place. She tried to break the eye contact between them but Bracknell was more powerful and it didn’t seem to matter how much she willed her head to move, to look away, she simply couldn’t get it to move.
“I’m interested to know what he sees in you.” Bracknell mused out loud, his voice dripping with venom. “You’re still weak, too attached to the past and influenced by your own fear!”

Aria flinched as a familiar voice echoed through every recess of her mind, one she hadn’t heard in four years and that she thought she would never hear again.
“Ari, you don’t have to do this…” she twitched visibly, as if trying to dismiss the voice, the flickering projection of the woman standing between herself and Bracknell, hands held out in front of her as she pleaded frantically. It was the heat...the heat playing tricks on her...or, was Bracknell doing this?
Roan stiffened as the illusion appeared, growling as he shouted across the room in an attempt to get Aria’s attention off the manifestation of her memories.
“Aria! It’s NOT real! IT’S NOT REAL!”
Out of the corner of her eye, Aria could see her father’s mouth moving but no words were coming out, her attention entirely focused on the figure and her words. “M-Mom...mom!” Aria stepped forward, reaching towards the illusion and clasping around a wrist that felt so solid and so...real that she was convinced it really WAS her mother standing in front of her, even though rationally she should have been able to dismiss it as a mind trick. Whether it was the heat or some other influence Bracknell had over her mind in that moment Aria couldn’t process that what she was seeing was in fact an illusion of a long buried memory; all she wanted was to talk to her again. To...to stop this from getting out of control before it all-
Suddenly the woman let out a piercing scream and jerked out of Aria’s grip, losing her footing as she cried out:
“Ari please...don’t do this….no, I’m your MOTHER! I’M YOUR MOTHER!”
“No! NO! MOM!” Aria wailed, tears misting her eyes as she frantically grabbed for the imaginary weapon that would have arced towards the woman’s chest as she delivered the killing blow-
“THAT’S ENOUGH!” Roan bellowed, drawing back his arm, dark purple energy crackling to life in the center of his palm. The energy formed into a thin spear-like pillar which he flung straight across the room and into the center of the projection, causing it to break up into puffs of smoke with another desperate scream. Bracknell spat a curse as the energy spear connected with the ground inches from his feet, throwing him backwards into the staircase where he landed with a resounding thump and remained still.

Aria was still staring at the place the projection of her mother had been seconds before, her lightsabers clattering unceremoniously to the floor as her shaking hands lost their grip on them.
“Aria!” she didn’t respond when Roan called her name again, the tears trickled down over her cheeks; she tried to form words to respond though all that came out at first was a pitiful whimper as she fought back more tears. Her legs were slowly turning to jelly and before long they couldn’t hold her up any longer and she dropped like a deadweight towards the floor.
“Aria!” Roan had caught her and gathered her up into his arms before Yerbol could so much as take a step in Aria’s direction, shushing her quietly as Aria let out another high-pitched squeal and curled herself up into a tight ball against her father’s chest. “It’s okay, it’s gone.” he whispered. “It’s over.” tearing his gaze from Bracknell’s unconscious form, pushing away the overwhelming urge to dismember the little worm while he had the chance and instead snarling back at the others.
“Let’s get out of here! We’ve got what we came for!”

[freedomliveson]

When the vision appeared(or projection? Or Force ghost?), Yerbol wanted to take the opportunity to sever Bracknell's head from his body, seeing as he was remaining still in an assumed posture of concentration, but then something stole the wind out of him, knocking him to his knees, eyes misting with the beginnings of tears. He reached out to Aria while she was speaking to the projection, who she quickly identified as her mother. Feelings of elation, euphoria swept through him, but then all too quickly it was replaced by something bubbling upwards, something dreadful that he could never get rid of, even though he could see her trying every single day of her life to repress it.

Guilt.

Fragments of events passed before his eyes, a gruesome tapestry of events unfolding centimeters at a time. The calls of those in the chamber to Aria, the continual attempts to break through the impregnable wall of Force energy that Bracknell had put up around him...all of this was lost in the realization that she had killed her mother, blade cutting through her chest mercilessly. Gutting anguish smothered his senses, permeating his being and-

Suddenly it was over. Voldon was at Yerbol's side helping him to his feet as the Battlemaster gestured to Bracknell:
"And we're going to leave him like this?! How long would it take for-" The temple grounds shook again, this time more violently, chunks of rock from the chamber walls collapsing to the ground. A wall of projections, crimson and armed with double bladed sabers, stood around the body, collective upper lips curled upwards in a challenging sneer.
"WE DON'T HAVE THE BLOODY TIME TO ARGUE! WE'RE LEAVING!" Voldon cursed bitterly as he took one last glare at their now protected fallen enemy and muttered:
"Come on, Yerbol, get your feet moving."
"Right, right." He quietly responded, moving with the group towards the exit. As they made their hasty retreat, the sky above was laced with an orange-crimson hue, clouds billowing in anger, thunder clapping in chaotic intervals and even above all of that, some could hear the whine of jet engine.
"Crap." Kira pointed at the streaking shuttle headed in their direction.
"Wonderful. Reinforcements at a time like this." Thankfully the group had made it to their own shuttle, Yerbol sliding into the passenger seat as Zora made preparations for take-off, exclaiming as she shook her head:
"You people sure know how to tick off an entire planet! It's gonna be a bumpy ride out of here!"

Although Zora's prophecy had come true, they managed to get off world, zooming towards the base without noticing the Imperial cruiser on the other side of the planet that didn't come after them.
"Master Soto, that is a confirmed order of no-go on pursuing the target?" Soto's cloak ruffled as she made her way off the command deck, calling out as she left:
"Confirmed! Stay in orbit until Lord Bracknell and I return." She hadn't seen Varian pull a stunt like that since the day he had introduced her to the powers of the Master. Whatever had happened down there, she was sure that they could recover from this minor setback. After all, the galaxy was theirs now. No one could threaten that position.

No one.

__________________

[three hours later]

"Manipulation of the weather? The planetary atmosphere itself? That is a technique only a handful of Masters have EVER accomplished, let alone sustained." Voldon stood in the common area with a flask of water brought to him by one of the younglings, who had been tasked to organize the supply drop that had come from in a smuggler who swore up and down that the warnings he was given by Neta were crazy, that it was calmer than any planet he had been on. Strangely enough, the atmosphere was rather calm when they had arrived a few hours ago. After the group had dispersed, Voldon found himself in an oddly pleasant discourse with Darth Jungze, who took the liberty of snacking on glazed peanuts while leaning back in a chair, holodisks and other materials retrieved from the planet laying at her feet in a chaotic order.
"Well, think about it, Voldon: the atmosphere here was dreadful, but calm on the other planet we were on. After Bracknell's stunt, the atmosphere there is wild while ours is smooth? Something tells me that these two planets, maybe even all planets in this system are linked somehow by the Force."
"That's...a radical notion."
"And are we not living in radical times? If Bracknell can manipulate the minds and hearts of so many in both Republic and Empire space, could it be so much of a stretch to imply that he could manipulate weather?"
"But for weather patterns to be linked? I've never heard of such a thing."
"Neither have I, but I've seen stranger things happen when there's a strong concentration of Force energies on multiple worlds." Voldon joined her in sitting as he responded:
"I'm curious to know where this master of Bracknell is."
"That's what I was sifting through before you interrupted me." He snorted a laugh as he took a sip of water.
"Well, anything conclusive?"
"Somewhat. Let's wait for the rest of our party to decompress. Peanut?"

________________

Yerbol hadn't said anything to Roan or Aria when they returned, allowing Roan to carry her off and presumably talk her through what happened. While he had WANTED to be there for her, something told him to stay away for a while, to let them hash things out. After about three hours or so(some of which was spent rejoicing at Neta's new haul of supplies), he found Roan outside his room.
"Can I see her now?"

[The Elvenqueen]

The group had whirled chaotically back into the base some hours later, Roan breezing past Ailel without so much as a grunt of affirmation which left the Jedi Master more than puzzled until Voldon and Kira came forward to fill them in on what had occurred during their encounter with Bracknell. A few glances were cast in the direction the Sith Lord had disappeared in before attentions were directed back to unloading the supplies that had just come in and trying to decipher the information their scouting party had returned with.

____________________

Aria had remained completely silent throughout the trip back, her eyes screwed tightly shut as she struggled internally to block out the memories that had begun resurfacing the moment Bracknell had summoned the likeness of her mother. She was hardly aware of how much time had passed or indeed where they were until Roan stopped moving and set her down again, Aria opening her eyes to find herself sitting on one of the cots back in her quarters at their base. Sniffing, she swiped the back of a hand over her eyes to clear the fresh flow of tears out of them before looking back up at her father.
“Wh-What was….HOW d-did he d-do that?” Roan didn’t answer straight away, his face stony and unmoving as he seemed to ponder the explanation before he spoke very quietly.
“He was there in the Council chamber when your trials were set. He would have known.” he leaned back against the wall, studying his daughter carefully as he continued. “If he’s in contact with this man who’s guiding the True Sith’s actions and he somehow had access to your memories, he’s perfectly capable of using his power to recall a Force ghost back into our realm for that time.” his eyes narrowed slightly, Roan muttered. “I was under the impression that you had come to terms with it long ago. I’m amazed that you kept this hidden from me, from the entire Council, for four years.”
“You didn’t give me a choice!” Aria choked out, slumping back against the wall, “You told me there weren’t any other options!”
“And there were not.” her father answered in a perfectly level tone. “The trials are a test of your loyalty to the Sith, Aria, it wouldn’t be a valid assessment if you weren’t faced with a choice between someone of importance to you and the instructions of your Masters.”
“I wouldn’t expect you to understand.” she scoffed. “Did you even care about her at all? Was it that easy to just agree to it?”
“Then perhaps I misjudged whether you REALLY were ready to commit yourself to the Dark Council.” Roan grunted, shaking his head. “I recommended that they put you up to the trials because I thought you understood that if you wanted to be one of us your loyalty to the Sith Code had to come above EVERYTHING else. Even those you are most attached to.”
“You weren’t there!” Aria hissed, chin settled on her knees as she rocked forward slightly, then slumped back once again. “You didn’t have to watch the light fade out of her eyes.
Sighing, Roan pulled a hand through his hair in agitation. This was something Aria would have to find her own way through, to find some way to accept what she had done to whatever end goal she chose, even if it wouldn’t be the same conclusion he had made long ago when he had chosen to devote himself to the Dark Council and their teachings. For whatever reason, he was forced to come to terms with the fact that Aria was not comfortable discussing the topic with him and that there might have been another among their group better suited to the job.
___________________

As he shut the door, he was faced with an awkwardly fidgeting Yerbol who peered expectantly over the Sith Lord’s shoulder and mumbled.
“Can I see her now?”
Roan looked between the Jedi Knight and the door once more before he shrugged carefully.
“I highly doubt I could stop you if you were that determined to speak to her, could I, boy?” he grunted. “As much as I hate to acknowledge it, she may be more willing to talk to you than I.” the Sith Lord crossed his arms over his chest and scowled down at Yerbol sternly. “However, I will strongly caution you to reserve any righteous indignation you may feel about her actions for later. She’s very...fragile, right now.” with that said, Roan shuffled a few steps to the side to allow Yerbol access to the door, lingering only long enough to ensure Aria made no vehement protests to Yerbol’s entering the room. When no such sign came, he disappeared back down the hallway to rejoin the rest of the group and give the duo some measure of privacy.

[freedomliveson]

He wanted to protest to Roan's stereotyping, but now was an inappropriate time to stick up for his moral character. Instead of giving into his first desire, he filtered into their quarters to find Aria sitting up on her cot, knees drawn against her body, hugging herself. Without a word, he gently placed himself next to her, draping an arm around her shoulders and pulling her a bit closer to him. He didn't speak for a while, allowing the meaningful silence between them to settle before he spoke:
"I remember when I first joined a squadron of Republic troopers as a Knight. I was supposed to serve as support, following the lead of a veteran Sargent named McCoy(Don't remember this first name). McCoy and his troopers were being dropped into the middle of a contested zone on Ilum to secure some sort of generator that the Imperials had captured and was important to the war effort. You know, the usual war time schpeal to get the men motivated to dehumanize the enemy." He shifted his weight on the cot a bit as he continued:
"So we drop down on Ilum, ok? And it's freezing. I mean, to the point where I thought my blood was going to turn into ice. It's dark, quiet, no one around for miles except us and the assumed imperials a few clicks away on a sweeping plain with no cover minus some cliffs coated in ice flanking us on either side. So basically we're screwed if we get ambushed, right? But whatever, we know that the generator isn't too far off, so we plod along and get to the coordinates, which lead us right to the opening of a cave. Go inside the cave, spot the generator and wouldn't you know it, Imperial troopers drop in right behind us and ambush us, taking out nearly half the squadron in a few seconds. We find cover and I'm doing all I can to hold them off, but more keep pouring into the cave, ok? More and more of them, rifles just pouring fire over our heads. It's just three of us left now, McCoy, a private named Jensen and me. Jensen got hit pretty bad in the leg and McCoy had some scorch marks on his chestplate and we're just sitting there, letting them get closer. Probably fifteen of them now? Twenty? I don't know, I lost count." The hand not on Aria's shoulder played absent mindedly with the hem of his shirt.
"So McCoy points to the generator, which is further down into the cave and says that we can cause a cave in if we destroy it. He says he's got a flash grenade, one flash grenade left and that if I can get Jensen out when he lets off the grenade, he can do the rest. I wasn't about to leave him, no way was I about to leave him, but he didn't give me a choice. He pulled the pin and told me to..." He chortled grimly.
"Told me to 'just use the Force! You Jedi do that, right?!' as the grenade hit the ground. I pull Jensen up, throw a barrier between us and I start running, screaming my lungs out cause if I'm gonna die, I'm gonna go out loud. Grenade goes off and I'm blinded, but I'm running, I just keep running until my legs collapsed underneath me and I go skidding across the ice, Jensen not too far behind. Once I come to, I look back and the cave entrance is gone, buried by blocks of ice." He shook his head.
"I felt, no, correction, still feel guilty about leaving him behind. I feel like I killed him by leaving him there. I know that in the heat of things, his logic made sense, but I had a choice. I could've stuck by him, helped him out and maybe we all would've made it." He looked down into Aria's hazel eyes as he continued:
"I'm not gonna pretend to know exactly what you're going through and I'm not saying that my experience is nowhere near yours, but in some small way, I understand what you're feeling." In a gesture that even surprised him, he kissed her forehead softly, looking ahead, allowing silence to permeate the room for another small period of time.
"You don't have to talk to me about it...but I'm listening if you want to."

[The Elvenqueen]

Aria didn’t glance sideways as Yerbol plopped down wordlessly beside her and put his arm around her, only scooting closer slightly and dropping her head to rest gently in the curve between his neck and shoulder as the Knight began recounting his own first experience with a squadron of Republic troopers on Ilum. She didn’t say anything during the entire tale, simply listening to his words and nodding slightly into his shoulder in understanding. Even as he finished his story, Aria didn’t reply straight away, the silence settling heavily onto the room before it was punctuated by Yerbol whispering.
“You don’t have to talk to me about it….but I’m listening if you want to.”
It was then that she finally worked up the courage to peek up at him through her eyelashes and meet his gaze, mumbling.
“Shouldn’t have done it….I should’ve tried to run, then. But I was neck deep in the politics and the backstabbing and…” she looked down again in shame, her hand clenched into a half fist around her knee, the synthleather fabric bunching even tighter in her grip, “I was a coward and I was too afraid of what they would do to me if they ever caught me.” She sniffed quietly, shaking her head weakly.
“My mother didn’t deserve to die like that. She was a good person...you know, for a politician.” the statement was accompanied by a half-hearted giggle, Aria shifting unconsciously a little closer to Yerbol. She hadn’t thought she would find this hugging thing comforting at all, having not really had much experience with them since she had been a very young child, but she was pleasantly surprised to admit to herself that she did kind of like it.

“Sometimes I wonder how he does it. Act like it didn’t matter at all.” of course she couldn’t speak on Roan’s behalf and Aria had no way of knowing how her father REALLY felt without looking into his mind, which was forbidden territory. He had never let her in nor had she looked for any reason to ask, despite being curious. “I begged him to change their mind. To...to pick somebody else. ANYBODY else but her, and he just...stood there and did nothing.” Aria’s bottom lip trembled temporarily as she fought down more tears that briefly threatened to reappear. “I’d killed enough times before, other acolytes, tomb beasts, Republic prisoners, but I hadn’t felt that physically sick since the first time I ever did it. I saw her face every time I closed my eyes at night for four years. Thought I’d got rid of it by now but I guess all I really did was push it down and try to forget about it.”
She lifted her head from the place against his chest to crane her head back and look at Yerbol again, searching his eyes carefully as if to confirm what she was feeling through their Force link.
“I...I should have told you, I’m sorry…I didn’t know how to, and I thought that you’d hate me, if I did.” Aria sighed, slowly beginning to uncurl from the ball she’d huddled herself into against him. “I wouldn’t blame you, if you did. I’d hate me too.” she concluded in a quiet whisper, despite knowing that he probably didn’t (there was no telling how much they could hide from one another now, with their bond continuing to strengthen with each passing day). “She was my mother and I killed her.”

After a few more moments of silence, her attention returned to the door and she reluctantly extricated herself from Yerbol’s embrace to place her feet gingerly on the floor. “Guess we should go and see what the others have managed to figure out from those holodisks, huh?” As much as she wanted nothing but to stay there and let him hold her while she just gave in to the pent up emotions Bracknell had brought back to the surface, they didn’t have time to waste so she could wallow in self-pity. They had a radical movement to quash before the crackpots destroyed the known galaxy. Before they left the room again, Aria turned her head to smile at him, a faint flush of colour appearing in her face. “Thanks, Bol. For...everything. I never really said it before, but it means a lot more to me that I have someone like you as a friend than I could ever really tell you.”

[freedomliveson]

Yerbol held her close to him as she recounted her memories of her mother, the apathy of her father and the overall turbulence of her emotions when it came to the subject. Guilt, sorrow, anguish, remorse and a whole other host of feelings whipped around her mind, Yerbol feeling the weight on Ari's shoulders along with aforementioned emotions, albeit surely not as strongly as she did. It was difficult to share the burden of her past sin(s) on his shoulders, but not because he didn't want to; it was that it almost physically pained him to know that she of all people was put into a position where her loyalty would be judged based on assassinating a family member(who, Yerbol assumed, had some sort of political affiliation with a group or person that the Dark Council wanted out of the picture? It didn't seem out of character.)

After her profession and a few more moments of quiet, she left his side and returned him back to the present. A wise move considering that they might've thrown a bit of a wrench into Bracknell's plan, giving them some time to discuss how they were going to strike back at Bracknell's new order. He didn't want to leave, but there would be a lot of time to talk after the galaxy was put back into order...or some semblance of it anyway. As he reached the door, Aria flashed a smile, a genuine, beautiful smile that almost made his knees wobble(stop that!). Her sentiment was returned quickly:
"That's a two way street. Without you here, I'd be...well, I'd be a wreck. You've helped me in so many ways and I'm very, very grateful for you, too." He patted her on the back, sighing as he used his other hand to open the door.
"I have a feeling we're going to walk into a meeting they already started. We're forming a habit of doing that."

____

"Roan, that's rather brilliant if you ask me. And I don't compliment you very often." Jungze shot Roan a smirk, pointing at a massive square projection in the center of the room, said projection emitting from a very tiny rectangular device in the center of the main area. On the "screen" were, upon close inspection, names that were connected with lines and arrows that pointed in various directions. These genealogies took up the left hand side of the screen while the right had a large column of text pulled from one of the holodisks jammed into the projector at an awkward angle. Assembled in front of the screen were the Masters and Lords along with Neta and Elara(lords in their own right). As the younger duo joined the crowd, Jungze followed up on her comment:
"Since we've all gotten our bearings since our excursion, I believe it would be best to brief you all on the information we found." She stepped forward and pointed at the right side of the screen.
"With some help from Roan, we cracked some of the more difficult language that the True Sith employed in their writings. While they did indeed in write in Basic, there were phrases that I wasn't familiar with. Language troubles aside, allow me to read you what self-proclaimed historian of the True Sith Junoco Mane had to say about government within the Order:

While there have always been competing factions jockeying for power, the Council has always stayed true to ensuring that the most practical, realistic issues are dealt with. Eight Council members always reside, with each having equal voice. When a decision is proposed, communal with the Force along with sometimes heated discussion ensues before a mutual consensus is made. In dire circumstances when action is required, each Council member reserves the right to act as they see fit as long as their actions only further the goals of harmonization across the galaxy.

Does the tone sound familiar at all?" Yerbol quickly piped up:
"Sounds like a textbook, almost like a primer for up and coming members of the Order."
"Precisely. What we took back with us were the last remaining chapters of a treatise entitled 'Order for the Initiate'. It appears that they were to study this material intensively along with other information in the library you two stumbled upon."
"That lines up with the theory you two proposed earlier about the temple being a training ground for new Force users." After validating the duo's suppositions when they first regaled the makeshift "Council" with their story, Voldon added:
"We know that there was indeed a Council, that Council being formed by a man named Renso Kator. There's a section...here." He walked next to Jungze and swiped downward to reveal a different block of text.
"You can read it for yourselves, but in summary, Kator was one of the first documented True Sith Masters. He formed much of the teachings of the Order and carried them forward until...well, I'll have Roan explain how this ties to the genealogies."