“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.
[i]You ready? We can still do this, just like last time.[/i] 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. [i]Be careful![/i] 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. 


[i]They’re trying to separate us! Try and stay together![/i] 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!”