The Champions and their companions made it into the cover of the forest, but weren’t granted reprieve from their pursuers for very long. As they tried to pinpoint exactly WHERE they had landed - even Neta and Ethan didn’t know and they had been in the cockpit with the Navcomputer shortly before the crash! - they were rudely interrupted by a battalion of strange-looking droids dropping through the canopy and moving to surround them.
"Halt in the name of Arcann, Emperor of the Eternal Order." they declared as they moved in unison, shrinking the circle around the group and, for the moment, cutting off any means of their escape.
“I’m sorry, WHO?” Aria raised an eyebrow dubiously. It wasn’t a name she could recall ever hearing from the Empire, the only organisation she’d ever known to call their leader “Emperor”. The droids didn’t seem to take their ignorance on the matter particularly well, suddenly raising their weapons to point them at the group.
Aria mirrored her partner’s response in drawing her own sabers, though unlike Ethan chose to remain standing where she was for the time being. Chwuq and Taral dutifully flanked their masters, the spines on their backs rattling warningly at the droids as they emitted low, hissing snarls. The young Knight ignored his mentor’s warnings not to attack, and swiftly paid the price for it as he was...knocked unconscious?
These weren’t like any other droids she’d ever seen. Aria didn’t like this. Not. At. All.
Yerbol offered a solution in the form of trying one of their newer techniques. Sure, it was unpolished and they’d only tried it a few times...but right now, it was the best option they had. These were no ordinary combat droids with rusty chassis and barely-functioning AI systems. They were pristine, probably regularly oiled and maintained by whoever this Eternal Order Emperor person was.
“What about Ethan?!” Kytra squeaked in response to Yerbol’s order, looking at the unconscious apprentice.
“I’ve got him!” Neta muttered, hauling Ethan back onto his feet and steadying the young man until he was capable of supporting himself enough to run after them.
“Just GO!” Aria snapped, nodding in confirmation to Yerbol as she centered her focus in the Force and called up her lightning. As the bright green bolts sprung to life on Yerbol’s saber blades, crackling as they followed the flow of energy from the conducting crystal in the hilt, Kytra bolted for the best opening she could find.
The Selonian was small enough to duck between two of the droids’ arms and bolt further into the thick of the forest, thus diverting enough of their attention to allow Neta to follow close behind her, dragging a half-conscious Ethan behind whilst Yerbol leapt towards the droids at the front of the circle to prevent them from going after the others. Aria threw her own sabers in an arc to cover her husband’s back, the weapon slicing off one droid’s leg and clipping another across its midsection before it could raise its blaster to fire at the other Champion.
The lightning took care of the rest of them. Whether it had shorted their circuits out completely, or simply overloaded them enough to cause their targeting computers to malfunction momentarily, Aria wasn’t sure, but neither she nor Yerbol wanted to stick around long enough to find out.
Let’s get out of here!
Her husband wordlessly nodded his agreement, and both Champions took off at a run after their companions. It didn’t take them long, especially with Force-enhanced speed, to catch up to Neta, Ethan and the Tuk’ata, but….
“Where’s Kytra?!” she hollered, noting her apprentice’s absence.
“Up here!” Kytra chirped in answer. Aria glanced upwards towards the sound of the Selonian’s voice to find her leaping rather nimbly from one tree to the next. Apparently she was part flying squirrel too, who knew. Kytra glanced behind them to check for pursuers, then scurried down the next trunk to join them on the ground again. “I thought it might confuse them a little bit, give them more than one group to have to aim at and all.”
“Fair thinking.” Aria nodded, letting out an agitated breath of her own. “But I don’t think it’s over yet. They’ll be up and after us again before you know it.”
“So now what do we do...we can’t run forever!” Neta pointed out. “We don’t even know WHERE we’re running to!”
With the immediate threat having passed, they made the executive decision to stop and catch their breaths back (it was, after all, rather difficult to have a discussion while you were running for your life).
“Well, I suppose...step one is find somewhere to hide and lie low where they’re not going to find us. Droids or no droids.” Aria pointed out.
“Well, who knows where we are.” Neta shrugged. “But maybe there’s some sort of old building system we could duck into. We’d need to take a look around without being spotted, though.”
“I can do that.” Kytra offered, raising a paw. “These trees aren’t too high.” - she said, despite the fact that they were many, many feet tall - “I reckon I could climb up past the canopy and get a look around!”
“I don’t know, Kytra….” Aria muttered warily, though the Selonian paid her mentor’s warnings no mind and was already nimbly leaping from branch to branch. “...Nevermind, I guess.” the Champion finished with a huff of her own. The scuffling sounds of Kytra's claws against the bark gradually faded away as she scuttled further up, the Champions exchanging worried glances with one another as they waited.
“Are you alright, Ethan?” Aria coughed.
“What were you thinking?” Yerbol added on, his expression a mixture of concern and sternness. The apprentice ducked his head sheepishly, but offered no verbal answer to either of their questions. He didn't appear to have any noticeable injuries, but without a proper medscanner it was hard to know for certain.
“Master Aria, Master Yerbol!” Kytra's alarmed voice cut into Aria's train of thought, “Someone's coming this way!” the Selonian popped back down into their view, her paws thudding onto the ground as she sprang down to join the rest of the group. Chwuq and Taral's heads shot upwards moments later as they caught a scent on the breeze - that itself was comforting, it meant whoever this was was a REAL person and not whatever was left of those droids (or indeed MORE of them). Aria's brow furrowed and the Champion drew her sabers once more, holding them defensively as two masked figures stepped into the clearing with them.
They were attire that was suspiciously similar to the garb the Faceless had chosen, but unlike them made no move to attack the group. Instead, they stood side by side in silence, watching...surveying.
“Who are you?” Aria asked bravely. The one on the left tilted her head to one side, and then spoke, her voice dignified and well-pronounced.
“Come with us if you want to live.” it live the only statement that was spoken, before the pair turned as if to leave again...or to lead them away.
That didn't even answer her question! But Aria knew better than to ignore a potential olive branch now, so kept her mouth shut and exchanged a glance with Yerbol and Neta. They didn't exactly have many other options, and if these people lived here then they may know places to hide...
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