"I'll take her down there. Don't think she'll fuss at me too badly." Kira casually strolled past the party to Aria, linking an arm with hers.
"Can't exactly go get him when you've got your ribs cracked like you do." She walked her to the medbay in silence, the only form of communication passing between them was the occasional phrase ("watch the tool there" or "I cracked a rib once. Or three times."). Once they arrived, a portly medic with the Alliance logo emblazoned on her arm withdrew a portable scanner, running it over the ribs before shaking her head.
"A short soak in the Kolto tank might help with the fracture, but the pain is going to only go away with medication, I'm afraid." She walked away for a moment before returning with a bottle.
"One a day." She extended it momentarily before closing her massive fist.
"And not. Any. More." 
"We get it, Pedia. No more than one." A grimace before she gave the medicine over with a defeated finality. 
"Get in the tank. I wanna talk to you. And don't try to argue with me." Kira helped the younger woman into a small changing area just off the med bay, aiding in the process of getting Ari changed for the kolto tank before heading towards said tank. 
"Come on...up...and...see, that wasn't too bad!" As the Champion settled into her temporary lodgings, Kira brought a nearby stool and plopped down on it, chin resting on her hand. 
"It sucks, doesn't it?" She pursed her lips, looking at the ground for a moment.
"Knowing that he's out there. Knowing that you can't just...have him appear next to you, a smile on his face." She laughed wistfully, resuming eye contact with Aria. 
"A lot of people don't know what happened to Voldon. They see him as the Empire Killer, the destroyer of an Eternal power." She snorted scoffingly.
"What they don't know is that the Emperor took control of his mind. Made him do awful things that I couldn't control because he had me too, wrapped around his finger. I saw more of his personal torturer squad than Voldon for those few months. I tried to reach out to him, talk him out of whatever he was doing, but I couldn't...that was when I realized something." She leaned forward and grabbed Aria's right hand with both of hers. 
"They need us to keep going, Aria. No matter what they're suffering, no matter the pain, we keep going. Because sooner than later, they'll come back to us. And they'll need all the love and support we can give them. So don't be stupid. Rest up, refocus, meditate, do whatever you need to do because when you find him, he'll need you. All of you." As if responding to Kira's plea, Voldon calmly strode into the room, situating himself next to his wife. 
"Are you alright?" 
"She's fine, big guy. Girls like her and I know how to stay tough...isn't that right?" She winked mischievously, standing beside her husband. 
"Elara gave us a report of what happened. These 'Xiis' creatures didn't give any indication where they were headed, but they had to get off world somehow. I'll commission a squadron to get on the ground with Alliance forces and clean up whatever Xiis may remain. Hopefully we can get some clue as to where they were headed." He paused. 
"Can you reach out to him? At all?" When she told him the state of their bond, he grunted disapprovingly. 
"Keep trying. Hopefully with enough prodding you can rouse out of whatever stupor those creatures put him in."
"What he means to say is: get rest and THEN try. Right, honeybunch?" She fluttered her eyelashes at him, prompting Voldon to acquiesce: 
"Of course. That's what I meant to say. If you need to talk to any of us, we'll be around base." With that, the duo left. Other than the three medics tending to a couple of unconscious men with legs in casts, Aria was alone. 

And he could feel it 

____

"Ari..." He mumbled, eyes slowly opening. 
"So that's the girls name. Ari...a purposefully chosen name I'm sure. The Sith were always so confident in their royal heritage." She snorted, talon like fingers gripping his chin, shaking his head gently.
"Come now. You've slept long enough." 
"Where.." The blue woman's face retreated, her back turning towards him as she breathed out orders in an unknown language. Two Xiis males who stood on either side of a durasteel door nodded before withdrawing from the damp, earthy smelling room. It was illuminated by a few bulbs jutting out from the ceiling at odd angles, their respective shadows cast at jarring angles. 
"Where is unimportant, my dear. The who is what I'm concerned with." She ran her fingers down his arm, his bare(!) chest down to his bellybutton, tracing slow and purposeful circles. 
"Renso's stench is all over you, but it can't mask the power that you wield. You have such raw...potential." Her finger ran up to his chin, prompting Yerbol to try and raise his hands, finding that they were chained to the back of the chair. Attempting to the channel the Force got him nowhere either.
"Oh my dear, my sweetest, dearest man, you have no idea what I can do...nor what I can give you." She sat on his right leg(which was also bare minus the shorts he wore under his pants), her fingers running over his inner thigh.
"Whatever did Renso tell you about us? My curiosity grows every second."
"That you're mistakes. Horrible tragedies." She cackled, throwing an arm around his shoulders. 
"In a sense, we were! Our race was a collection of insipid, spineless cave dwellers when he found us." Sighing longingly, she continued:
"And then he took us in, promised us so much more than we could ever be. We didn't know that our people would be slaughtered in the name of science, injected, poked, prodded and thrown to wild beasts to see if we could 'ascend past our primitive nature'." Cracking her neck, she rose, looming in front of him by placing both hands on his knees, their faces a foot apart. He could smell the coppery stench of blood floating from her razor sharp teeth.
"In that assumption was his biggest mistake. Our core nature, our desire, our hunger for power was the thing to harness. But instead he fed us soft, ugly teachings. Weak. Pathetic." She released her grip, blood trickling down the sides of his calves. 
"I made us stronger. I helped those of us that were left. We are powerful. Strong. We weed out the spineless. Destabilize institutions."
"That's what you want to do now?" She giggled innocently.
"Of course, darling. Your government is unstable, ready to totter at a moment's notice. When we knock the sandcastle over, we will rise. Establish an order of strength. Of power. Of consumption." A throaty growl came as she walked behind him, hands once again moving over his body. 
"Consumption goes beyond the taking of lives, however...as you'll see." He shifted violently in his chair to counteract the unwanted advances, prompting only a chuckle.
"You'll break. I will make sure of it. For now...prepare your mind and your body." Her mouth hovered close to his ear as she whispered:
"My name is Illesia, Yerbol. Know it. Imbibe it. Scream it to the masses."

When she walked out, he closed his eyes, tugging at the weak strands of their bond. He struggled to find the strands over the miles that separated them, but eventually he mustered enough strength to call out:

[i]I don't know where I am, but I know it's somewhere deep underground...somewhere. Find me, baby. Please.[/i]