Everything escalated very quickly as soon as Aria turned around and began to run back towards the chamber they had come from. She heard Elara and Abbeth sprinting after her, and then the hallway behind them exploded with a frenzy of racing footsteps as the Xiis who had been stalking them gave chase. They ran faster, just about made it to the chamber and left their pursuers behind but before they could start down the other hallway more of the blue skinned aliens appeared and they were dodging flailing claws, staffs and bladed weapons of every sort. 
“Watch out!!” she bellowed out a warning as one of the creatures lunged for Elara's neck only to be swiftly cut down by a bolt of electricity from one of Aria's weapons. “Some of them have sharp teeth!” wide-eyed, Elara said nothing in reply. 
[i]YERBOL?![/i] she called out to her partner desperately, finding the answer came when an explosion of cracked glass and other debris went off in the entryway they had fled through and cut off the first group of Xiis from reaching them. Everyone was losing stamina now, even Aria with her newfound Battlemind abilities was beginning to struggle for each next gasp of air. 
“WE'RE SURROUNDED, CHIEF!” she heard Zora bellow out in response to Elara's query. 
She was right. The Xiis were EVERYWHERE…seemingly crawling out of every crevice of stone. With each one they felled there were three more to take its place. They had to get out of here. 
Abbeth stumbled towards the blocked hallway with Yerbol in tow as cover. Aria did her best to take out as many of the Xiis that attempted to follow them from a distance with the lightning crystal, the resulting explosion took out more and yet there were still so many….the Havoc members had all fought their way across to join them now, clustered around their only escape with Aria and Yerbol between them and the pack of aliens as they parted for the well muscled female to step forward. 
Something told Aria she was the one calling all the shots, from the way her muscles were better toned than the others to the way she carried herself. Strong, with purpose. And the unwavering, self assured tone her voice took as she spoke again of Renso and the wrongs he had done to them. This isn't the way to get your revenge! Aria wanted to shout out. Renso is gone and things are very different now! But she didn't, she knew the leader wouldn't listen. 

They barely managed to dodge the flames,  if it hadn't been for Yerbol's shielding ability they would have been roasted alive. 
Tightening her grip on her sabers, she dropped down into attack stance again only to be astounded as Yerbol demanded that she LEAVE him there with this woman and her minions. 
“DON'T YOU DARE LEAVE HAVOC BEHIND! GO!” 
“NO! I'M NOT LEAVING YOU HERE!” she screamed back at him. Behind the wall of debris they could hear more fighting,  shouts of alarm and pain from the squad members as the remaining Xiis that had been trapped in the passageway closed in on them. They were out of ammo. Stay here with Yerbol or doom Havoc to their gruesome deaths. She wished they had brought the Tuk'ata with them instead of leaving them on the ship. 

She didn't have a choice. Spitting a curse, she spun on her heel and made for the gap, shouting over the chant the Xiis had begun again. 
“YOU'D BETTER BE RIGHT BEHIND ME!”
He wasn't. Subconsciously, somehow she knew that, even if she desperately wanted to believe otherwise. 

It was a tight squeeze even for her, Aria emerging on the other side to find the squad members crowded around someone who seemed to be having trouble staying on their feet (though thankfully, was still alive).  The group of Xiis was much thinner out here, they could storm straight through them and find another entry port to climb back up to the surface. Gritting her teeth, Aria brushed past Elara, drew on her anger and let it fuel the shout that left her tired lungs. The shockwave rippled through the ruins, knocking the Xiis aside and collapsing another part of the tunnel which blocked them in. Dodging the falling debris, Aria pulled Havoc along behind her, screaming:
“RUN! [i]KARKIN[/i] RUN!” 
It was impossible to tell how long the passageway went on for, but they couldn't stop until they could see a faint sliver of light from above that indicated another grate like the one they had entered the ruins through. Fumbling blindly in the dark (in the panic, Aria had forgotten to summon a light source and they only had one torch left after the previous scuffle), Aria managed to force the grate open with a burst of energy from her palm and Bex managed to clamber through with a boost from Elara, leaning back down to help the Havoc leader get the rest of their squad through too. Once Elara was out, she reached down for Aria who hesitated to throw a glance back down the pitch black hallway. Still no Yerbol. 

Her chest tightening, she summoned her strength and propelled herself upwards, grabbing onto Elara's wrist and letting the squad leader haul her back out into the Nar Shaddaa alleyway. Everyone was practically collapsed around her, they would need a moment to gather their strength before they could move on. Zora could hardly stand, Aria wondered if something in her leg was broken or it was just fatigue, she hoped the latter. Elara and Bex were better off but not by much, still covered in gashes and bruises of all kinds. Aria too had begun to hurt all over, her ribs throbbed in protest with each agonising breath, her hands, neck and face covered with scrapes and bruises from her struggle through the debris.  Blood oozed from a gash to her shoulder.
Rapidly approaching footsteps set the group on high alert, the soldiers fumbling for their empty blasters and feebly raising their blades in anticipation of more Xiis until Chwuq and Taral burst around the corner, they had sensed the trouble after all and come looking for them.
“Yark! Yark!” they practically threw Aria to the floor again as both beasts pounced on her at once, covering her face with urgent, slobbery licks. She didn't have the strength left to push them away. 
“Pack, pack...Yerbol?!” They had struggled with the concept of referring to the duo by name but still noticed someone important was missing, whining as they approached the open grating and peered into it trying to find him. Smelt that he had gone in there with them but hadn't come out.
Aria tried to sit up and pull them back before they fell in too, or they'd never get them out. Elara had to help her. 
“Y-Yerbol…” she choked out, her chest tightening even further as it slowly sank in.
“I know, I know.” Elara whispered, clasping a hand around Aria's shoulder as she smiled sadly. “I'm so sorry.”

No, no no no…
Aria fumbled for the thread that connected their minds together. It was still there, but his presence on the other side was faint, exhausted. Maybe he was nearly unconscious.
YOU'RE A [i]KARKIN[/i] IDIOT!! she wanted to scream at him, but couldn't bring herself to it, wondered if he was as afraid as she was, needed to say something else instead to at least bring him some measure of comfort, managing: 
[i][i]I’ll come back for you; we WILL find you! And I don't care how many of them I have to kill to get to you! [/i][/i]
She couldn't even be sure he had heard her because she lost all contact with the link shortly after. Passed out, please let him only be unconscious. 
What she did know was this: any Xiis that touched him had signed their death warrant, in their own blood.

They needed to get to a medbay or none of them would make it far. The ship’s slipspace generators could probably get them to Zinuthra again in a few hours tops, if they could hack together some field first aid to help them last the trip. With their second wind gathered, that's what they did. Elara in the lead and Aria attempting to feed strength into the weaker squad members with what little Force energy she had left (she had to splice Force energy from the tomb beasts that flanked her on either side, as much as she hated to do it without asking), they stumbled to an abandoned medical facility. None of them were particularly experienced with treating wounds, but they could do enough to bind big open wounds to stop bleeding, and Aria used the Force to heal as many minor scrapes as she could to provide them with some form of comfort over the trip. There was nothing they could do for her ribs, she said nothing to anyone and fought through the pain, Zora and the others were worse off and needed the attention more than she did. Fumbled with the holo communicator to put a call through. A small blue tinted image of Vano flickered to life, the Mirialan’s eyes widening as she took in Aria's appearance.
“Shit, Ari, you look like beast fodder! What happened?!” 
“Ambushed, we barely got out...explain later...V-Va...need to get...doctors…” every syllable seemed to suck more air from her lungs than necessary, it was hard to form comprehensive sentences. Vano noticed, her voice taught with concern as she answered. 
“Are you going to make it all the way back here?” 
“Have to...no choice...nobody...left here...sl-slipspace g-generator…” 
“Dammit I knew I should have gone with you!” Vano snarled angrily. “We'll be ready, you all get back here RIGHT NOW while you still can!” the holo cut out, Aria slumping against the cold glass of an empty kolto tank as she heard Bex (the self-appointed “look out” at the facility’s entrance) shout back.
“Chief, someone's coming!”
Chwuq and Taral snarled loudly and raced to join Bex in the doorway, their muscles tense and their tails lashing as their eyes searched for the oncoming person(s) Bex had identified. 
If it was more Xiis, they were done for. Grimly, she scolded herself for thinking it could possibly be anybody else...but the Tuk'ata didn't seem to be any more alarmed than usual, surely they'd be able to tell the difference in smell. Aria liked to think they would react far more aggressively if it WAS Xiis....