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

[freedomliveson]

Roan's malicious gait carried him up the loading ramp, allowing both Knight and former Special operations officer to glare sharp daggers at the Sith.
"You're pissed, right?" Yerbol growled underneath his breath, muscles clenching.
"Yup." Neta placed an arm around Yerbol's upper back, whispering:
"But now isn't the time or place to let him get under your skin...well, our skin." Yerbol looked into pilot's silvery blue eyes, responding in a similarly hushed tone:
"That's the problem. I don't think there ever will BE a time when we can address Roan's...nature."
"She's attached to him, Yerb. Respect that, even if you don't respect him." He groaned, prompting Neta to slap him on the back.
"Chin up, Jedi. She needs you. We're all going to need you." Yerbol's brow furrowed at the cryptic comment, Neta drifting up the ramp before he could ask her what she meant. Shrugging, he followed her into the map room/common area of the ship, where a heated Aria was imploring her father to listen. The Knight silently admired Aria's display of boldness, knowing that it couldn't have been easy to object to such a powerful figure, one that had dominated her life with his sheer presence. After her explanation and subsequent acquiescence by her father, Yerbol added:
"If you're going to help, then..." He paused, remembering what Neta had told him just a moment ago. Rephrasing, he continued:
"With your help, we've got a real shot at ending this madness. You may not have agreed with what we've done so far, but I'm glad you can see past that."
"I can echo the kiddo's logic. Roan, you may be mad as a rabid Krayt Dragon, but we're going to have to pull together on this if we're going to have a shot at pulling the Sith down. That's why we're on Nar Shaddaa in the first place. There are a few Jedi Masters that my contacts are going to extract to our location, not to mention a Sith Lord that'll be coming once we've settled on a spot." Janika peeked her head around the hall, Yerbol spotting the gesture and waving her back before he added:
"Right, a spot. Somewhere we can actually set up a base of operations without causing too much attention. Anywhere in known space would be a death sentence at this point, but Wild space...maybe, more specifically, an unsettled world in Wild Space?"
"I've heard of a couple Republic outposts that were rumored to be on the edge of Wild Space, but I could never confirm that." Neta chimed in, swinging her gaze to Roan.
"You, our jubilant Sith Master, might have some information about Wild Space, right? I mean, your Order DOES descend from the guys that are trying to commit genocide." She began to walk towards the cockpit, calling out:
"You guys hash it out. I'm going to prep for departure."

Yerbol approached the galaxy map, right hand extending to the hologram and swiping to the very edge of the galaxy, where the map stopped.
"Right, because there are no star maps of Wild space...unless you happen to know of any?" He looked to Roan, expecting the Sith to come up with something helpful.

[The Elvenqueen]

The conflict pushed aside in favour of discussing their next course of action, Aria and Roan joined Yerbol at the galaxy map in the center of the conference room. At Yerbol's question, Roan's lips curled upwards into another smirk accompanied by the assertion: "You would be surprised at the kinds of things a Sith Lord can unearth when they go digging around in old archives, Jedi." Out of a pocket in his robe (or, presumably, unless he had the ability to materialize objects out of a cargo hold with a mere flick of his wrist), Roan produced a small round orb not unsimilar to the one Aria and Yerbol had uncovered during their first encounter in the old tomb. Pressing the button to activate the map would bring to life the small map which displayed only three co-ordinates that didn't appear to match up with any systems in the currently chartered map.

Holding it up further, Roan managed to get most of the stars on the newly projected map to line up with the unchartered edges of the already existing one, confirming that it was in fact, a map of part of Wild Space.
"It's incomplete." Roan continued with a somewhat dismissive shrug of one shoulder, "But it's enough to get us co-ordinates to a place we can touch down on, and that's as close to a start as we're going to get. Since we're fumbling around in the dark without any other archives to dip into." He was still cursing Bracknell's insight at ordering both Orders' homeworlds obliterated, it would make the rest of this quite difficult for them if they had any chance of pulling this idea off.

Aria leaned forward to squint at the points on the star map, tracing across a few imaginary routes with her finger for a moment before she shrugged. "I was hoping we'd recognise that planet we ended up on but...I can't be sure." she tapped an empty space between the edge of the galaxy map and one of the points on Roan's map. "Looking at the distance between the points on this map and Taris, I'd have to GUESS it was somewhere around there, but it'd only be a guess."
They could, of course, head to the closest point to that area and find out. Glancing back at Yerbol, she quickly suggested. "Why don't Bol and I go get Neta to input the co-ordinates and we'll see when we get there? You just...stay here and try not to kill anybody, please?"

If anybody but Aria had asked, Roan might have refused. As it was, Aria seemed to have figured out that if she asked nicely enough and smiled in a certain way, her father would do anything to comply with her requests. After making a note of the co-ordinates, she grabbed the end of Yerbol's sleeve and promptly tugged him off ahead to the cockpit, wincing apologetically. Once Roan was out of earshot, she mumbled.
"I'm sorry for anything he said. I know he's...difficult to get on with." Okay, that was an understatement, but it would have to do for now. "But at least he did have something helpful." Turning to Neta, she filled the redhead in: "We've got co-ordinates that lead to somewhere in Wild Space, we figured we could head over there and scope the place out, see what we're working with." and in the meantime, she'd have to try and figure out a way to get Roan to be a bit more...amicable, to their new allies.

[freedomliveson]

Yerbol chuckled at the apology, responding:
"You don't have to worry about me, Ari. He's your father. I'll respect him for your sake, even if he won't refer to me by name for the rest of the trip." It must have been a way to de-humanize those around him. That was it. Easier to marginalize someone than actually try to understand them. Much easier. He had to be wary he didn't fall into the same trap and shove Roan into the "Evil Sith Lord" stereotype, no matter how much he acted in line with how Sith were commonly perceived.

Neta put the coordinates in and frowned.
"You weren't kidding about the coordinates being incomplete. No way am I going to try and make a hyperspace jump on something this shoddy. I might, however, be able to do a little...something..." She fiddled with the nav panel to the right of the pilot's chair, then nodded in approval.
"Alright, so with a bit of extrapolation, I've come up with what I HOPE are manageable coordinates. If we end up on the wrong side of an exploding star, just remember what I was given, ok?" Neta sat back in her chair, left hand hovering over the power systems.
"I can't believe I got myself into this." She mumbled, the gravity of the situation hitting her between the eyes like the butt of a rifle.
"Kids...once we leave known space..." She glanced up at them, a note of grave sincerity in her voice:
"I don't know what we'll find when we come back." For the first time since their meeting, Yerbol could detect anxiety emanating from the normally collected Neta. Whatever nerves had lit up in her mind seemed to calm down instantly, shaking her bright red mane as she brought the ship to life.
"Might as well not put it off."

________

The jump INTO hyperspace wasn't difficult, but the destination was going to be an "intriguing surprise that'll be revealed in about twenty four hours". Neta's sardonic comment was followed by a wish for sleep, shooing the duo away as in their initial encounter.
"Come on, I want to talk." He brought Ari into their quarters, brushing past the Padawans, who were now awkwardly staring at the newest addition to the crew.
"Before we touch down, we've got to make it clear to both the Padawans and the Acolytes that we're...well, we're not Padawans or acolytes anymore. All those distinctions, the lines we drew to separate us don't matter anymore. I don't mean for us to have some grand speech in the map room where we 'rally the troops to victory', but I think taking some time to address the younger ones would be beneficial. We've got some time. so I say we do it now." He could hear Janika squeak something to Roan, then the shuffling of hurried feet back to their quarters.
"Let me go to talk to them before your father throws them through the hull of the ship."

___________

"What do you mean we're not Padawans?" Manso griped, his aqua colored skin seeming to turn a more indignant blue.
"For the fifth time..." Yerbol ran a hand over his face, continuing:
"Guys, there IS no Jedi Order anymore."
"What about the Masters?" Janika asked, chin in her hands.
"There are a few left, yes, but if we keep the same walls of Jedi and Sith, we're not going to have a chance at making progress against the real enemy." Manso shook his head.
"They're still Sith, Yerbol. They'll stab us in the back the moment we turn around."
"And go where, Manso? The True Sith want to kill ALL Force users. Pragmatism is going to motivate them to work with us for now and then...then I don't know. I really don't know."
"What WILL happen if we actually pull this off, Yerbie? If we're successful, then...then we have to rebuild the Order, right?"
"I don't know, Jani. This is uncharted territory, for all of us. All I'm asking is that you work with us, work with me to take down the True Sith." Manso snickered.
"Don't have much of a choice, do we?"
"None of us do."

[The Elvenqueen]

Aria nodded, trailing after Yerbol to allow him to address his concerns, which she only responded to with a heavy sigh of her own. "Alright...I'll go talk to them, you talk to Janika and Manso." she took a step back out towards the other rooms where Takree and Vano were no doubt still staying, before she stopped briefly to turn to look at him. "Hey. WE did it, didn't we?" she reminded him, as a final word of encouragement. "We started out wanting to kill each other but we're friends now, right? We can get them to work together, too." anything else she wanted to say was abruptly shooed to the back of her mind at hearing Janika's squeal. Yes, intervening before this went horribly wrong was FAR more important.

______________________

She had no idea how Yerbol was doing on his side of the conversation with Janika and Manso, but she hoped it was slightly better than she was getting on with Vano. Takree, as she had expected, had been relatively easy to convince. He'd never been particularly 'Sith-like' to start with, and in this case it would work in his favour. At least she could trust him to stay in the same room with the former Padawans without swinging unnecessary punches.
"Still not happening, Aria."
She raised an eyebrow. "You want to end up like your brother?" she retorted sharply. "Because that's where this is going if you don't."
The Mirialan stiffened. "Don't bring Merak into this."
"He would have listened to me."
"Well he's NOT here, is he?"
"Va, please." Aria groaned. "I'm going to have enough trouble getting my father to agree to this, don't make it twice as hard for me."
With one last snort, Vano caved.
"I hope you know what you're doing, Saal."

She found Roan sitting cross-legged in an empty corner of the map/conference room, eyes closed in a meditative trance. Hands on her hips, Aria stopped in front of him and mumbled.
"You could at least try to PRETEND to think they're worth a moment of your time you know, Daddy." His eyes didn't open, though the Sith Lord responded with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you expecting me to acknowledge their intelligence, or the fact that they will at least make good meatshields once the disaster hits us?"
"I'm asking you to TRY not to be so insufferable. We need them to actually WANT to work with us."
"And what makes you think I want any part in this? I'm helping you because you aren't giving me a choice, just like your mother."
Jaw clenching slightly, Aria retorted, her voice quiet, before she could help herself.
"Is that why you made me kill her? Because she wouldn't listen to you and you couldn't do it yourself?"
The question was met with another smirk, one eye cracking open as he muttered dismissively. "You're disturbing my meditation; go to sleep, Aria."
_____________________

She had abandoned the conversation when it was apparent that she wasn't going to get anywhere with Roan and sought rest herself, though the twenty-four hours Neta had given as their flight time seemed to pass by all too quickly for her liking. After some slight rocking at exiting the hyperspace route, the ship settled and Neta's voice sounded over the ship-wide comm system to bring their arrival to everyone's attention. They had been dropped into a relatively stable section of space (no exploding stars, much to their relief), a few miles off ahead of them loomed a medium-sized planet whose surface seemed to shimmer with iridescent colours. Barely visible just beside it was a much duller and smaller dot, likely a moon of some sort.

The group had gathered around the viewing window to all get a look at what was before them.
"A-Are those...crystals?" Vano frowned as she squinted to try and get a closer look at the sparkling surface (not that it would have done much good at that distance). Roan seemed to be observing the same planet with particular interest.
"They very well may be." he concluded. "I'd like to get a closer look and find out."
"It might be dangerous." Aria protested carefully, glancing back over her shoulder to call: "What do you think, Neta?"

[freedomliveson]

Yerbol had been laying in bed himself when he heard Aria clamber up onto the bunk above him, more than likely to get away from the acolytes and Roan. Instead of engaging her in conversation, he stayed silent, allowing for his companion to get the well-deserved rest she needed. As a potential Sith Lord, she probably never was able to truly fall asleep. How could she? The backstabbing politics of the Sith academy were the stuff of legend and those who wanted to ascend the ladder had to always keep an eye open for potential backlash for a perceived slight or a power hungry peer who wanted to dispose of a rival. It sounded exhausting, which made Yerbol quite happy she could lay her head on a pillow without being concerned about getting stabbed in her sleep. Speaking of sleep, Yerbol managed to participate in the process himself only to be awoken a few hours later by Neta, who told the entire ship that they had landed safely in Wild Space(the undercurrent of relief in her voice was rather audible).

After a few observations, Aria asked for Neta's input, the pilot scanning the radar screen to her right before clicking her tongue off the roof of her mouth.
"Well, I'll say this much: it's going to be hard to break into that atmosphere." She pointed at the circular blips going off at random intervals above the solid dot.
"See that? Those are disturbances in the atmosphere from what I assume are the mountain ranges or whatever those huge things are below. If I take us down there, I don't know if we'll make it to the ground in one piece."
"What about the planet there?" Yerbol pointed at the speck in the distance, to which Neta shrugged.
"Can't say. Sensors can't pick up readings from that distance. We can swing around and see what's there, but it might be a worse situation than what we've got below us." The Knight glanced from the window to the radar screen once more, studying the readings as best he could before realizing aloud:
"That might serve as a really good shield between us and the Sith." Neta raised a brow.
"Honey, we'd more than likely be torn to shreds by the time we hit thirty thousand feet above land."
"Not if we help." He motioned to the group assembled.
"You've got people who can use the Force onboard."
"You don't have to remind me." Neta mumbled, prompting Yerbol to poke her right shoulder teasingly.
"Come on, spec ops, trust in what we can do. If you can get us in an initial descent, we can all collectively focus our power to form a barrier around the ship that should get us down safely."
"And what about if we want to leave, hmmm? What if some of you get injured? I don't trust the stabilizers to get me out of the atmosphere alone."
"Well...well I haven't thought that far ahead yet." Manso crept forward from his position in the very back of the group and meekly added:
"I might be able to help with that." Neta turned her eyes up to the young Twi'lek with an almost patronizing smirk.
"And how might you do that, hmm?"
"Well, if we can get on the ground, I can take a look at the secondary power systems...seems like you're wasting a lot of power needlessly."
"So what you're saying is you can manipulate power circuits? Without the proper tools?" Manso raised a hand.
"All I need are these and a few hours." The pilot groaned in disapproval, prompting Yerbol to retort:
"It's either we bet on our resourcefulness now and take comfort in the fact that anybody trying to hunt us down is going to have a difficult time finding us OR we try to find another planet to touch down on, which will make us targets in Wild Space, which I'm not comfortable with." Yerbol turned to face Aria, asking:
"Think we can do this, Ari? Or should we come up with something else?"

[The Elvenqueen]

A quiet groan of frustration escaped Aria as she took in Neta's concerns, resting her head in her hands as she grumbled quietly under her breath. After taking a moment to collect herself, she looked back up at her companions and addressed Yerbol's question. "I don't know...it IS a tricky thing to do..." she admitted, chewing her lip as she tried to consider whether there would be enough strength between the grop of them to slow the momentum of a ship of this size. "I mean, we could hit turbulents on the way down and get thrown towards outcrops and then we'd have to actually MOVE the ship back on track between us and..."
"It's doable." Roan muttered, eyes not leaving the screen readings. "Tricky, yes, but doable."
"If we work TOGETHER." Aria put in firmly. "That means no putting each other off, or any of that."
The others were quiet as the statement sunk in, each seeming to think about it from their own point of view.
"He's right, isn't he? It would give us the advantage." Takree chipped in. "No-one would follow us down there too quickly."
"We'd be making ourselves easy targets if we set up on the other planet." Roan continued. "They would assume we wouldn't be brave enough to try navigating the peaks and check there first, if they managed to track us out here."

Aria looked from the other Force users back to Neta again, who still seemed less than keen by the whole idea. Had they not taken enough risks for one trip? Probably. But they needed to give themselves the advantage somehow. She was well aware that she might be held responsible for anything that went wrong (for not being the one to step forward and say 'this is going to get us all killed'), but in the circumstances before them it seemed like an extra risk worth taking.
"I think we should try it. We could use all the extra advantages we can get right now."
"Son of a bantha!" Neta complained, throwing her hands into the air. "You're going to get us all killed. Fine...fine, but remember that I TOLD you so when we end up wrecked on the side of some giant rock formation...thing." the pilot conceded, heading back towards the cockpit to take the controls.

"Alright, well...everyone focus. We can do this, we just need to be VERY careful." Aria swallowed the lump in her throat and settled down on the floor beside the galaxy map, palms turned upwards and rested on her knees. "Get as comfortable as you can and concentrate, if any one of us loses focus we could all die, so...no pressure." a nervous chuckle escaped her again before she shook her head. Once everyone else in the room had found themselves a space to occupy, she called ahead to Neta.
"Okay, Neta, let's get this over with!"
The only reply from the former spec ops soldier was another disdainful snort, before the ship's engines whined loudly as she pulled back the throttle and put them into a descent through the patchy atmosphere. Aria kept her eyes closed, letting the Force show her where the dips and spikes in the rock clusters were rather than allowing her physical sight to distract her. She had to admit she worried about the abilities of the younger Force users, they were even more inexperienced than Aria and Yerbol and she wondered if they could deal with the pressure involved in undertaking such a task, but she had to push that aside and trust that the rest of them could use their own strengths to make up for it.

On more than one occassion, a warning siren would cut through the silent atmosphere as the ship rocked too close to one of the formations, Neta's stream of curses almost loud enough to drown out the shrill wailing until the group could push or pull the ship back onto the right course by manipulating the eddies in the Force. She had no idea how long it took them to get all the way down, but it seemed like lightyears later when the landing gear finally deployed and the engine noises abruptly ceased.
"We did it? HA WE DID IT!" Vano crowed jubilantly.
"I thought we were gonna die that last time for sure."
"You okay?"
"Yeah, I'm fine!" everyone's relieved exhortations seemed to melt into one, Aria opening her eyes to find everyone's faces painted with various grins of pure relief.

"Breathe, Aria!" it wasn't until a strong hand clasped around her shoulder and shook her that Aria realised she had, in fact, forgotten to breathe during the entire descent. Ducking out of Roan's grip, she sucked in a sharp breath and looked around the room for Yerbol, smiling a little herself.

It was a small step, but they'd worked together as a team to get the ship down without killing anyone else.

[freedomliveson]

Yerbol had been locked in concentration even after the landing gear had touched down and celebrations ensued, his eyes only opening when Neta's voice came over the intercom in a softer than normal pitch:
"Teach me how to do that sometime..." Her voice was a touch wobbly, but evened out near the end of the phrase. Jolted out of the intense meditative trance he had been in just a few moments ago, the first thing he was greeted by was Aria's gaze, her dark eyes dancing with a combination of joy and pride. He reached out to her, feeling for the familiar "string"(he didn't what to call it yet) of energy that connected them and tugged at it with his mind gently before communicating:
If I could hug you right now, I would. Remind me to do that when we're not in front of your father because I don't want to get electrocuted

He shot her a smile, rising to his feet to find the general atmosphere of the room coated with relief. It was hard to believe that individuals of such differing backgrounds and ideologies could come together during crisis successfully. Yerbol silently hoped their combined efforts would help spark collaboration for the sake of peaceful co-existence rather than playing the role of happy team member for the sake of survival. There was obviously much more work to be done, but for now...for now they had made a step in the right direction. And for that he was grateful.

To put his thankfulness into action, he looked to acolytes and nodded in their direction.
"You guys did really well. Thank you for your help."
"I think we did ok..." Janika muttered, the Knight chortling.
"We all did, Jani." This seemed to perk the young girl's spirits slightly, gently smiling at Manso.
"Hopefully it won't take this much effort to figure out how to navigate the planet."
"Why don't we find out?" Neta walked into the map room, activating the galaxy map before waving her left hand. The gesture replaced the star map with a flat, holographic grid that began to fill in.
"Roan, I can't begin to appreciate these upgrades you made for me." She teasingly winked at him, fully aware that he did NOT appreciate her bubbly, somewhat flirtatious nature, but put up with it due to her skill. It was rather amusing to know that she could prod a Sith Lord and get away with it.

The upgrades in question were in regards to the map that was beginning to fill in, or rather up. There were a number of triangular shapes that peaked near the ceiling of the ship with small spaces in between that had scattered circles and other broken shapes. Once the geometric map finished, Neta pointed at the triangles and informed the group:
"These are the mountains that serve as the probable cause of what you all just navigated us through. The scanners onboard can only go about two miles in any direction, so you can see that most of what surrounds us are very, very tall mountains that have naturally created valleys with a lot of plant life...as evidenced by the circles. We..." She pointed at a minuscule hexagon in the middle of the map.
"Landed in one of the valleys. Judging from what I've seen from my window, we're surrounded by forest that runs right up against the mountains, although there do seem to be some structures here...and here." There were two tiny rectangles to the right of the hexagon that stood just beyond a group of circles.
"So, we've got a few things that need to get done. For starters, I'm gonna need Manso to take a look at our systems, seeing as the shield generators fritzed out about halfway through our descent. I'll need a couple of people on the outside to take a look for damage taken to the hull and another person to look at our stock of supplies onboard and figure out how we're gonna keep us all fed and hydrated. I'm going to work on communications and getting to my contacts on secure channels to make sure they know where to send our Masters, which leads me to our last need: we're going to need a base of operations. My ship, while a lovely hunk of metal, isn't going to cut it. We'll need to sent out scouts. I'm assuming..." She looked to Yerbol.
"You're going to want to do that...and you too, right?" She made eye contact with Aria.
"Might be best if you guys and Roan head out to whatever those rectangles represent. Sound good?"

[The Elvenqueen]

Aria nodded slowly as Neta gave them an overview of the map as it filled itself in, tilting her head slightly to one side as the rectangles winked into view. Thinking back to their previous experience on a Wild Space planet, she exchanged a glance with Yerbol and murmured:
“Could be temples. There was one on the other homeworld. Or totems.”
“Only one way to find out!” Neta beamed, waving them off again. Aria wanted to protest to taking her father and his tomb beasts along with them, but realised that it was probably safer than trusting him to stay with the rest of the group. All it would take would be one wrong step on Janika or Manso's part and this could all go horribly awry. “Okay, let's go.” she agreed, nodding to the remaining individuals they would be leaving behind. “Good luck with the ship, Manso. And everyone else, Neta's in charge while we're gone, so just help her out with whatever you can.” Janika and Manso wouldn't be a problem, she was sure. Even Takree seemed relatively cooperative, volunteering to check the hull for damage. That just left Vano, who she hoped would be more amicable after their previous group effort.

With little more reason to hang around waiting, she and Roan accompanied Yerbol down the loading ramp, the Tuk’ata trailing ever-fauthfully at the Sith Lord’s heels. Following the line of the ship's hull, they could soon see the cluster of trees their pilot had indicated was shielding the rectangular formations.
“Well,” she laughed nervously, “let's go find out what killer beasts we're sharing THIS planet with.” if Roan had found the jest amusing, he didn't indicate it by the almost nonchalent grunt he responded with. Apart from the thicket they were venturing into (and a few others of the same kind dotted here and there throughout the valleys, as indicated by the geometric circles), there appeared to be very little cover on this world at all.
“It's so...open out here, I don't like it.” Aria muttered, an uncomfortable shiver passing down her spine. “Anything could see us coming from miles away.”
“But we can also see anything coming OUR way.” Roan pointed out, ducking underneath a low-hanging branch. There was no real path through the foliage, only a narrow line of trampled ground presumably made by some herd of animals passing through it frequently. But it was enough to give them a glimpse all the way to the other side, where they could just make out some kind of building.

She paused as her father held up a hand to stop her from trudging straight onwards that direction, gesturing with his eyes to the trees above their heads. Frowning in confusion at first, Aria followed his gaze to rest on the feline-like creature that crouched on the branch, its spotted golden-tan coat blending almost perfectly with the dappled light breaking through the leaves, brown eyes glistening as it watched the group below.
“YARK! YARK!” beside Roan, the two Sith hounds let out a barking alarm call, spinning around to face more of the cats as they slunk into view from either side of them.
They hissed and growled softly amongst themselves, apparently perplexed by finding these strange new creatures in their habitat, sliding down the tree trunks to drop onto the floor and encircle the group. Eyes narrowed, Roan took a step forward and pulled Aria to stand behind him next to Yerbol, whispering. “Stay behind me and don't move.” the Tuk’ata took up positions on either side of the younger duo, snarls rumbling in their throats as the felines began to move in closer. Aria responded with a squeak of alarm, unconsciously grabbing hold of Yerbol’s arm and huddling closer to him in order to comply with her father's instructions. They were just shy of the Tuk’ata’s shoulder in size, but apparently no less territorial. As the lead cat lunged forward and swiped in his direction, Roan sidestepped and stood his ground, locking eyes with it and growling back. A few more moments passed, with some snapping of teeth and more growling as the Sith hounds held the other two felines at bay. Whatever Roan was trying to do, the cat stubbornly tried to resist, hissing and snarling all the while, until the Sith Lord took another pace forward and snarled: “Away with you!”
The cat snorted and flattened it's ears, hunching over at the authoritive command, eyes flicking over the group once more before it cowered back into the safety of the trees, the rest of its family following close behind it, thick tails tucked between their legs.
“You have GOT to show us how to do that!” Aria breathed, grinning in relief and abruptly releasing her grip on Yerbol's arm with an awkward mumble of apology now that they were once again safe.

It wasn't clear whether the structure WAS in fact a temple, there were no ornately carved statues as the duo had witnessed in the last one. Roan stopped again, a silent jerk of his head sending the tomb beasts prowling off ahead of them.
“Let them go first, we don't know what else could be lurking around in there.”
A few moments later, a dark shape appeared in the doorway and made a low ‘chuffing’ grunt, apparently confirming that it was safe for the humans to venture inside. Nodding to the pair, Roan muttered. “You go and look around, see what the place is like. I'll keep watch out here.” as they passed him, the Sith Lord’s yellow eyes met Yerbol's with a glare that implied there would be furious retribution involved if anything untoward happened to his daughter while they were left to scout on their own.

Greatful for at least some chance to talk to the Knight without Roan listening in, Aria dipped her head and stepped into the building. After a quick glance over their shoulders to make sure they were in fact by themselves, she whispered. “Are you okay? I didn't….I didn't hurt you, did I?” she was reasonably sure he was strong enough that her vice-like grip couldn't have done any damage, but it didn't stop her from being concerned nonetheless. While she waited for his answer, she surveyed the surrounding room that appeared to be relatively empty apart from an old terminal against the far wall at the foot of a staircase leading to the next floor, and a few dust-laden seating arrangements.
“Could be an outpost of some kind, or a watchtower for another building.” she mused out loud, recalling that Neta had located more than one rectangle on the map.

[freedomliveson]

Their mishap in the depopulated jungle confirmed two things for the Knight: he was grateful for having someone as powerful as Roan around to help them(albeit in the most grumpy manner possible) and the bond between he and Aria had grown stronger. He could feel her anxiety wrap around his mind, prompting him to act, to end the lives of the threatening felines and protect her no matter what the cost. Then again, SOME of that might have just been his own instinct kicking in. No way was he going to let something happen to her. They had gotten this far together and he would do everything in his power to ensure that they both made it out of this galactic nightmare in one piece. When the threat disappeared and they made their final approach, the Knight had a premonition that Roan could feel some of what he had, but the Sith Lord made no hint of it...until an icy glare was thrown his way before their entrance to the construct. It wasn't just enmity he felt in the gesture, but also a severe warning. Roan had alluded to their bond on Nar Shaddaa, but maybe he didn't realize just how strong was it until the same moment Yerbol did...or maybe Roan DID know and was trying not to stress the importance of Yerbol in Aria's life, which colluded with-

Aria's soft question about his well-being snapped him out of conjecturing, Yerbol patting his friend on the shoulder with an amused smile.
"No. No, you didn't. I just think that you wanted to rely on my strapping muscles to get you out of a dangerous situation." He nudged her with his elbow teasingly as they stepped into the center of the musty, square shaped room, his eyes drawing towards the terminal, then the stairs. No metal was employed in the construction of the edifice, stones and mortar being the chief materials that were used. When Yerbol made his way to the terminal, he spotted glimmering flecks in the floor and walls.
"Built maybe from rocks hewed out from those mountains of crystals? Or crystal-looking things." There was a keyboard with symbols that looked loosely like Basic, but there were lines crossing certain letters that didn't belong and other characters that Yerbol didn't understand. He extended his right hand over the keyboard, which then illuminated with a soft light intermingled with hues of green and pink which corresponded to the now brighter flecks. He fumbled with the keys, pressing a few for no immediate result.
"What if..." He pressed his hand on the terminal, channeling the Force energies around him to try and confirm his suspicions. A victorious chuckle came as the walls and floor suddenly came to life with the same color scheme as the terminal, reviving the drab interior.
"And so the terminal should be working now." On cue, the terminal screen beeped to life, the options read aloud by Yerbol:
"Create, Synthesize or Destroy." He half turned to Aria and added:
"This planet is pretty close to the Sith homeworld, right? Or somewhat in the vicinity from what I remember? That planet was used, from what we saw anyway, for proving one's worth to join the ranks of the Sith. Once proven, we got issued into an archive room where a new initiate would study, probably earn a new blade or something. Sounds familiar, right?" A small chill leaped across his spine as he continued:
"To the Jedi(and I assume the Sith), a lightsaber has to be crafted by it's owner after diligent study and practice. On Tython there were several remote stations where newly initiated Knights would go to meditate and build their custom lightsaber. This planet might be where the Sith became...well, Sith." He pressed the "Create" button in enthusiasm without thinking of the consequences, which made the wall directly opposite the entrance slide away, revealing a rectangular shaped table fashioned with the now unmistakable crystal the mountains were made of. Upon closer inspection, the table had a definitive line down the middle.
"This is spooky." He mumbled, slowly waving his hands apart from one another to split the table in half, a reddish-blue crystal levitating upwards from the unearthed crevice, hovering in mid-air.
"I've never seen a crystal like that before. It's beautiful. Mind-numbingly beautiful."

[The Elvenqueen]

Aria blew out a relieved sigh and nodded at his reassurance, snorting softly and giving him a swift nudge in return. “You sure it was your muscles and not just the fact that you smell better than a tomb beast?” she shot back at him, grinning. As they stepped carefully further into the room, the sheen on the walls became more obvious. Yerbol moved past her to fiddle with the terminal, the Knight remaining stuck for several moments while he tried to decipher the lettering and strange symbols on the keys. She hovered at his shoulder for a long while, frowning at the almost-familiar lettering.
“That’s just...odd. It’s not changing like the letters on the Sith temple did either.” They would remain perplexed for a further minute until Yerbol’s channelling of the Force would illuminate the entire room with a light that was positively awe-inspiring in its beauty.

“This is….wow.” Aria breathed, standing on her toes to peer at the screen over the Knight’s shoulder. As the room suddenly flashed full of light, the two tomb beasts, who had been snuffling about on the upper floor, squealed in surprise and came stumbling back down the staircase to land in an awkward heap at Aria’s feet. She was paying more attention to her companion’s words than the tomb beasts as they slunk back out, presumably to sulk to Roan about their aversion to blindingly bright lighting.
So, this is where the True Sith came to build their lightsabers? Looking at the crystalline structures within the walls, she felt a cold tingle worm its way down her spine as she concluded it DID seem awfully familiar...

Aria abruptly tore her gaze from the wall and looked back to Yerbol as he slammed his hand down on the button. The gesture was somewhat of a shock for Aria, since the Knight was normally the one to think things through while SHE stormed straight ahead and landed them in trouble by being reckless.
“Wait a second, WAIT A SECOND!” she squealed out loud, fumbling to grab his arm before it came down, but wasn’t quick enough to halt the process and cringed in preparation for some kind of nasty surprise to greet them as the wall swung away. The crystal table on the other side was a pleasant way to be proved wrong.
“I’ve never seen one that colour before, either.” she mumbled, quiet for a few moments as she was absorbed in admiring the way the facets of the crystal absorbed and reflected the light. Shaking her head to jolt herself out of the trance, Aria rocked back on the balls of her feet before suggesting:
“We should let my father see this. He’s an alchemist so….he plays with crystals like this a lot.” the joke was followed up with a more serious: “What I mean is he probably knows what it could do, even if we don’t know what it’s made out of.”

Once they had agreed between them to allow the Sith Lord to inspect their find, the duo left the room to join him outside again. His eyebrows furrowed together, Roan squinted at the rock as Yerbol held it up, nodding slowly. “Now that IS interesting. This could work very much in our favour, indeed.”
“What...what do you mean ‘in our favour’?” Aria asked, a note of apprehension in her tone.
Roan turned to look back towards the valley where they had left the ship and the other members of their group, clarifying:
“Lightsaber crystals, once obtained, imprint to their bearers. That’s why you can’t just pick up anyone else’s saber and use it. That makes them traceable, if we don’t switch them out for different ones, Bracknell will be able to find us. New crystals would have a slightly different signature, so even if they were similar it would buy us a little more time to prepare.” she noted his word choice of ‘will’ and not ‘may’. It seemed silly to her, but her father spent a LOT of his time studying the properties of these crystals, so he probably knew what he was talking about.

[freedomliveson]

"We pulverize the old crystals and switch them out for new ones. Right." As he examined the intricacies of the crystal, he wondered aloud:
"How many more of these unique crystals are there? Because if it's just a matter of getting a pickaxe or our sabers and hacking them off the mountainside, then we'd have an essentially unlimited supply. But then how has no one else found this..." Yerbol shook his head.
"Sorry. Let's take care of this now. There was another bigger rectangle on Neta's map that's just a bit further on from here. If we can hit that and get back to the ship, I'd call it a productive day."

___

It took a bit longer than the Knight had expected with Roan constantly deriding their(particularly his) "clumsy" attempts at the crystal replacement process, but after securing both the reddish blue(or blueish red) and another crystal that laid in the crevice of the split table, the pair managed to make the swap. Roan had cautioned them both to train with their sabers for a short period of time before using them in combat to make sure that the crystal had acclimated to the hilt and other such jargon that Yerbol could only appreciate in form, not substance. Once the sabers were completely assembled, Roan motioned for them to activate their newly crafted weapons. Stepping backwards from the father and daughter pair to give them room in case of an unexpected explosion(or something), he ignited the saber. A rush of heat flowed up his right arm, flushing his back and lower body with a connective energy that he had never felt before. To compliment the exhilarating injection of what he presumed was the Force flowing through the crystal, the red-blue column of light shimmered for a few moments before solidifying, a quiet hum confirming the mesh between saber and user.
"You can feel the power surging through your sabers, right, Ari?" His brow was raised, eyes wide with a mixture of delight and surprise.
"I feel like I could take on an entire army of Rancors and still have enough energy to spar with three Jedi Masters at full strength!" He then hastily tacked on:
"But this kind of power does need to be understood first...right?" He shot a quizzical look at Roan, but the Sith didn't have time to answer due to the comm unit Neta gave him before they left coming to life with a familiar voice:
"You three find anything interesting?" Yerbol reached for the unit hanging off his belt and replied:
"You could say that. About to head to the bigger building further into the valley."
"You might want to hurry up. I've got a big ol mass of something showing up on the weather radar. Due east of where you're at now. Just do your recon and get back. If this mystery weather is anything like the atmosphere, then...well, you get the point." Yerbol looked between the two, asking:
"Think it's worth it to keep pressing forward or should we head back?"

____

"Good to see you in one piece, Matt." Voldon clapped a hand on Matt's back, nearly causing the much smaller Master to tumble out of the shuttle seat.
"You as well." Matt coughed out, his lungs still attempting to heal themselves from the sandrot that had taken hold of his body the last few hours before he had been taken offworld, for which he was ever grateful. They had surrounded the cave and were ready to open fire when the troops(now known as Galactic Alliance soldiers) lowered their weapons, walked off peacefully and were subsequently replaced by Voldon, Kira and a man who simply called himself "Ed". This "Ed" was from the SIS and had the job of "getting the remaining Masters to a safe location". He doubted that safety was a concept they could trust in, but Voldon and Kira had both assured Matt that there was a plan in motion to not only address, but counteract the massive shifting of power in the galaxy.

He could only hope they were right.

[The Elvenqueen]

It took some more fiddling with the terminal before Aria was granted crystals of her own that she could swap into her own sabers, but once that had been achieved it was a simple (and slightly arduous) matter of following Roan’s instructions in order to replace the newer crystals into their weapons. On a few particular occasions, he would stop them mid-process and insist that they scrap the attempt and start all over again due to the young duo’s awkward attempts, during which the Sith Lord even once likened their co-ordination to what he would expect from a ‘herd of stampeding Banthas’ (though Aria had a feeling that the latest of his protests, just before they thought they had completed the process, was purely out of spite in an attempt to irritate Yerbol; she refrained from saying so out loud however).

She followed Yerbol’s lead in re-activating her weapons once the new power sources were properly situated, a visible flinch accompanying her yelp of surprise as the two blades popped back to life in unison. The beams, which had taken on a striking shade of orange-red with viridian green undertones, seemed somewhat less stable than Yerbol’s was. Even after they had settled, they would still fizzle and crackle at occasional intervals. “I don’t think they’re supposed to...do that?!” Aria squeaked, holding them out at arm’s length as if she were concerned they might backfire at any second.
“It’s nothing to worry about.” her father patted her shoulder in what could be assumed was a comforting gesture, “Just don’t swing them around like a lunatic and everything will be fine. They’ll settle eventually.” Yerbol’s jubilant implication that they would be able to best Jedi Masters in battle with the aid of their new power crystals was met with a roll of Roan’s eyes. “Oh, don’t be ridiculous-”
Thankfully, Neta interrupted anything else he may have had to say on the matter with an important announcement of her own.

Deactivating her weapons and dropping them back into the clips on her belt, Aria wandered back to the doorway to look across at the other, larger structure. “It’s not far.” she pointed out. “I think we could make it.”
The trio trudged across the small expanse of open ground to scout out the accompanying building, keeping an ear out for any signs of the impending storm from outside. It felt much larger, and more inviting, than the crystal chamber had been. It was built from the same materials, though this time ornate lighting fixtures were suspended from the ceiling which with some tinkering would come to life to give them more illumination to survey the rest of the rooms, for this structure was indeed partitioned into more than one. Some of them were bare, like the initial space in the lightsaber station, but others were filled with seats arranged neatly around intricately carved tables, or large racks of spindly-legged droids slumped against each other around a semi-rectangular shaped space of empty floor space. More terminals tucked away in the corner by the doorway presumably could be used to activate the droids in question.

“Well this is...interesting.” Aria observed slowly as they came upon yet another of the mechanical arrangements. “So it’s a...droid storage facility?”
Behind her, Roan snorted quietly (whether it was in amusement or irritation was not precisely clear) before he prompted. “Or a training ground.”
“O-Oh. Right.” Aria’s face engulfed with heat, the former acolyte looking towards her feet. “Or that.”
“You wanted a base of operations.” the Sith Lord continued, crossing his arms over his chest. “This could work. There are a lot of bare rooms, most of them would have been used for meditation, but there aren’t enough of us that we’d need all of them precisely for THAT purpose.”
“...So, we could turn the spare areas into sleeping quarters?” Aria finished, more hesitantly after her previous blunder.
“Precisely.”

In the room behind them, the two Sith hounds had begun to growl and chatter uneasily amongst themselves, indicating that the approaching weather system wasn’t far off and that perhaps returning to Neta’s ship would be advised...

[freedomliveson]

"This would definitely work." Yerbol spoke quietly to no one in particular, sticking his head through the open doorways that littered the left side of the training complex.
"You know, if the Sith used this as a training facility, that would have to mean there would be a library of some kind, right? That would specifically hold battle tactics, strategies, maybe some history we could draw on? We can train our bodies all we want, but we need to know how these guys think so we don't get slaughtered." He snorted a laugh after the sentence, knowing all too well that his former Master would be proud of his scholarly intent. He was about to ask if they were ok with exploring more of the area, but the hounds were creating a fuss. He wanted to chalk their skittishness up to being in an unfamiliar place, but the moaning gusts making their way in through the main entrance suggested otherwise.
"Right...we need to talk to the others about this. Let's get out of here."

__

They made it back to the ship safely, although the beginnings of the storm coated their clothing in a thick sleet as they made their way up the loading ramp. Once inside, Yerbol quickly changed out of his upper outerwear, his short sleeved undershirt much drier than his overshirt, which he more than happily threw into the drying unit. As he started the cycle, a jubilant exclamation surprised him so much that he jumped, hitting his head on the bathroom ceiling:
"Yes! I knew it would work!" Muttering a curse, Yerbol spotted Manso, whose brow was coated in a sheen of sweat, eyes obscured by a pair of octagonal safety glasses that covered two thirds of his face.
"What now?"
"Oh, right. While you guys were gone, I toyed around with the ships circuitry and optimized some of the connections. Neta had a powertorch and some old gloves that I used to-"
"Manso, the planet just dumped seven thousand tons of frozen water on my body. Please summarize." The teenager cleared his throat before clarifying:
"Everything works better now. Off to see the slipspace drive." He scurried away, hands rubbing together in anticipation.
"Make the best out of what you got." He muttered, chuckling at how zealous the Padawan's efforts were. It was nice to see.

Neta was staring at the terrain map of the planet when Yerbol walked into the common area, the former spec ops soldier chewing her lower lip viciously.
"Neta?" No response. He walked closer, waving a hand in front of her face, which was quickly grabbed and thrown aside.
"I'm thinking."
"About...?" Her eyes narrowed at the map, Yerbol following her line of sight to an ominous looking swirl of lines and half circles above the mountain peaks.
"The storm? It should pass just like any other, right?"
"Not for a while. Storms that generate between mountains get caught in the contradictory wind shears that the mountains naturally generate due to their high peaks. Good to know for later." Yerbol's jaw protruded slightly in surprise.
"How do you know this much about weather patterns?"
"One of the first things they teach you as a Commando is how to read and predict weather. If you know how to prepare for the environment you're in, you've got one more advantage over your enemy...which is why I'm REALLY confident the Sith are gonna have a hard time getting to the ground safely. This is a good spot for now." She asked for Roan and Aria to meet in the common area, their arrival sparking an update:
"No hull damage, we've got rations and water to get us through three weeks and I jettisoned our coordinates over black channels to my contacts, one of which has two Jedi Masters in tow. Another contact is on his way to find a group of Republic special forces and I already reached out to a smuggler I know who can get us some supplies. I did my part." She pointed at the trio.
"What about you guys?"

[freedomliveson]

"This would definitely work." Yerbol spoke quietly to no one in particular, sticking his head through the open doorways that littered the left side of the training complex.
"You know, if the Sith used this as a training facility, that would have to mean there would be a library of some kind, right? That would specifically hold battle tactics, strategies, maybe some history we could draw on? We can train our bodies all we want, but we need to know how these guys think so we don't get slaughtered." He snorted a laugh after the sentence, knowing all too well that his former Master would be proud of his scholarly intent. He was about to ask if they were ok with exploring more of the area, but the hounds were creating a fuss. He wanted to chalk their skittishness up to being in an unfamiliar place, but the moaning gusts making their way in through the main entrance suggested otherwise.
"Right...we need to talk to the others about this. Let's get out of here."

__

They made it back to the ship safely, although the beginnings of the storm coated their clothing in a thick sleet as they made their way up the loading ramp. Once inside, Yerbol quickly changed out of his upper outerwear, his short sleeved undershirt much drier than his overshirt, which he more than happily threw into the drying unit. As he started the cycle, a jubilant exclamation surprised him so much that he jumped, hitting his head on the bathroom ceiling:
"Yes! I knew it would work!" Muttering a curse, Yerbol spotted Manso, whose brow was coated in a sheen of sweat, eyes obscured by a pair of octagonal safety glasses that covered two thirds of his face.
"What now?"
"Oh, right. While you guys were gone, I toyed around with the ships circuitry and optimized some of the connections. Neta had a powertorch and some old gloves that I used to-"
"Manso, the planet just dumped seven thousand tons of frozen water on my body. Please summarize." The teenager cleared his throat before clarifying:
"Everything works better now. Off to see the slipspace drive." He scurried away, hands rubbing together in anticipation.
"Make the best out of what you got." He muttered, chuckling at how zealous the Padawan's efforts were. It was nice to see.

Neta was staring at the terrain map of the planet when Yerbol walked into the common area, the former spec ops soldier chewing her lower lip viciously.
"Neta?" No response. He walked closer, waving a hand in front of her face, which was quickly grabbed and thrown aside.
"I'm thinking."
"About...?" Her eyes narrowed at the map, Yerbol following her line of sight to an ominous looking swirl of lines and half circles above the mountain peaks.
"The storm? It should pass just like any other, right?"
"Not for a while. Storms that generate between mountains get caught in the contradictory wind shears that the mountains naturally generate due to their high peaks. Good to know for later." Yerbol's jaw protruded slightly in surprise.
"How do you know this much about weather patterns?"
"One of the first things they teach you as a Commando is how to read and predict weather. If you know how to prepare for the environment you're in, you've got one more advantage over your enemy...which is why I'm REALLY confident the Sith are gonna have a hard time getting to the ground safely. This is a good spot for now." She asked for Roan and Aria to meet in the common area, their arrival sparking an update:
"No hull damage, we've got rations and water to get us through three weeks and I jettisoned our coordinates over black channels to my contacts, one of which has two Jedi Masters in tow. Another contact is on his way to find a group of Republic special forces and I already reached out to a smuggler I know who can get us some supplies. I did my part." She pointed at the trio.
"What about you guys?"

After regaling Neta with their short tale of excursion, the pilot smiled in relief.
"Alright, so maybe we've got a shot at actually getting them all together. For now, we ought to wait out the storm. Once it blows over, we can hoof it over there and I'll bring the ship closer." With their course of action agreed, Yerbol reached out to Aria through their bond:
Meet me back at our quarters?

Once the two were alone, he began:
"Have you felt anything different in terms of our bond? Because today, when we were in the forest and you grabbed my arm, I...I felt like I was LITERALLY inside your mind. I could feel your anxiety, your fear, the adrenaline rushing through your veins, the-" He stopped, smiling apologetically.
"I know, it sounds creepy, but that's what happened. ONE touch and I experienced what it was like to be YOU in that moment. Have you felt anything like that on your end? Because if you have, we've got the time now to meditate and try to at least start to figure out how this thing works between us."

[The Elvenqueen]

Thankfully, most of what Neta had to say to fill them in was good news (minus the part about the storm possibly lasting quite a while, of course). The ship had survived with minimal damage and it sounded like everything was going smoothly with the SIS and Imp Intelligence contacts. Aria couldn’t help but feel a little triumphant. Maybe they COULD do this. Bidding Neta a quick farewell, she accompanied Yerbol back to their room as he had asked.
As the Knight enquired about any changes she had noticed in the connection between them, Aria nodded slowly in affirmation.
“On Korriban, in the hangar a-after…” she trailed off for a moment, then picked up the train of thought again, “I could feel how angry and desperate you were. I couldn’t tell what had happened till after we got there, and then after I touched you it was like I could feel everything you did.”

It seemed as if the physical contact between them had somehow triggered the strengthening of their bond, but perhaps that was just a coincidence? She pointed this out to Yerbol, wondering whether he would have anything to add to the thought. He suggested meditating together, which seemed like as good of an idea as any. She’d meditated on her own plenty of times, but never with another person. There was only one way to find out how it would go…
“Okay…” she blew out a heavy breath, nodding again. “Okay, let’s try it.”
She patted his forearm gently, brushing past him to settle on the floor in the middle of the room.
“I’ve...not done this before.” she admitted carefully, a note of apprehension in her tone. Aria was aware that to do this, she would have to open her mind to him, which was an entirely new concept to her. It wasn’t that she was unused to having other presences touch her own, the Dark Council were infamous for invading acolyte’s minds whenever they saw fit, to search their thoughts or memories or simply to remind them that they COULD do it and there was nothing the acolytes could do about it.

She reminded herself that Yerbol wasn’t the Dark Council. This would be entirely different, and maybe that’s what frightened her so much. Taking another deep breath, Aria crossed her legs and folded her hands neatly into her lap. “Only one way to find out, right?” she chuckled softly, “I’m ready.”
It was a simple matter of focusing on the invisible thread that bound them together, and following it along until they found their minds touching again, only this time they would lower any barriers they had placed around their consciousness, to allow each other to connect more openly. There were parts of her own mind that Aria kept well-shielded still, containing memories and thoughts too personal to share with him just yet; she was sure Yerbol would have certain things he wouldn’t appreciate her poking around into either, and she was careful to give them a wide berth out of respect for his privacy. But everything else, she left open for him to explore as he saw fit: the argument with her mother over Force powers that resulted in Roan taking her to the Academy, the subsequent training sessions and taunts from the other students and tutors alike, the extra training sessions with Roan and Vano to prove them all wrong, and even, after some careful consideration on whether she SHOULD leave it open to him, the day Lysa had appeared at the Academy and thrown all Aria’s hard work off-kilter when she had drawn Bracknell’s attention to her instead, right up to the moment Aria had cornered her in Naga Sadow’s tomb and ended the quarrel between them once and for all.

The more they shared between them, the more freely the energy currents seemed to flow between them, leaving the bond between their minds as strong as it had been in those brief moments in the hangar and in the forest, even after they had withdrawn from the meditation.
“That was...strange.” Aria chuckled nervously, glancing sideways at Yerbol again. “It feels different, though. Stronger, like before...do you think, it’ll keep doing that? That we’ll be able to see into each other’s minds all the time, eventually?”

[freedomliveson]

It was a long shot, but he knew that mutual meditation was a powerful technique that he had used on a few occasions with his Master to grasp principles that he had been struggling to grasp. Although it could be invasive, jarring and outright violating to have someone else inside the mind, it could also be a powerful means of transmitting concepts and truly knowing the inner workings of the meditation partner. If they could at least try to make sense of their bond now through meditation, Yerbol believed they could use it to their advantage in the troubles he knew they would face in the very near future.

The thread that he followed to Aria's mind led him to a wide expanse of black nothingness that was occasionally punctuated by flashes of light above, then around him. Those flashes of light coagulated into actual memories, some of which were still frames of memories that Aria allowed him to see. Others were moving, fluid recollections that played in real time(well, however "real time" was perceived in this state). He felt her sharp jealousy when Lysa came to the academy, the ferocity of her desire to prove all those around her wrong, that she COULD make it not only as an academy student, but a full fledged Sith. There was anger, fury, determination, sorrow and a host of other strong emotions that were beginning to creep towards him as tendrils snaking from the memories towards his torso. The tendrils didn't actively pursue him, but instead hovered around him in a holding pattern as he moved forward. A few moments later, one of the memories cleared away to his right, Yerbol able to spot Aria in a similar location about fifty yards from his location, eyes wandering around flashes of memories in front of her. He wondered what she would think of the things she saw...the pain of seeing comrades falling under the heel of the Empire, the joy of spending his youth wandering around Tython with Lysa, the frustration of learning some of the more difficult tenets of the Order, the doubt he had in the Order that he repeatedly talked about to Master Paz, his only Master, a compassionate man that taught him discipline and mercy COULD bind together among other things. There were a few memories that he wanted to keep gated, mainly out of shame. Some traumas needed to be buried, especially from a friend who didn't need to see things he never wanted to relive again.

Yerbol hadn't spoken to his meditation partner for quite some time, allowing them both to soak in the experience before they decided it was enough(which was never spoken, but understood...yet another consequence of the strengthening bond). When Aria asked about the implications of what they had just done, he responded as he stood up, helping her up:
"I think so...I mean, in the short time we've spent together, our bond has only gotten stronger. What we just did seemed to infuse what we already have with even more energy. Here's hoping we can translate what we just did to fighting the Sith off...kinda like we did when we killed that projection in the temple?" A playful smirk came to his face.
"You gotta admit, that was wicked awesome. I can't wait to see what we can do in the future." He sighed gently, placing a hand on her shoulder, unconsciously drawing slightly closer to her as he said in a quieter tone:
"All that stuff you went through doesn't matter now. You don't have to walk around with a chip on your shoulder...not around me at least." He looked away briefly, clearing his throat, the solemnity of his voice surprising even him as he continued, resuming eye contact:
"We used to define ourselves by what we were as Jedi, as Sith, but now...now I'm choosing to look at Force users, at us, differently. From here on out, you're not a Sith trying to prove herself to some mysterious dark council and I'm not a Jedi attempting to bring some idealistic peace to the galaxy. We're two people trying to navigate a messed up galaxy and hopefully try to put it back together with a LOT of help...oh and the Force. That too." His hand dropped to her arm, shaking his head.
"Honestly, I don't know if I'm trying to motivate you or help you or..." He chuckled slightly.
"I guess after what I saw in your mind, I just realized how awful it was that we were indoctrinated by those around us, that we couldn't choose how to define ourselves, our beliefs. We have that chance now. And I'm really happy that I'm doing this with you."

[The Elvenqueen]

It was refreshing, in a sense, to look at the Jedi training regime and the associated battles and duties that came with it, from Yerbol’s point of view. It made Aria realise that there was a lot the tutors at the Academy didn’t tell them about the Jedi, because it would have affected the way they perceived them, and perhaps made them less likely to think of them as enemies. All of those teachings seemed to be falling away between them now the more they spent time together, it was almost ridiculous to think they had ever believed in them. If Yerbol had found the experience even slightly odd, he didn’t give any indication as such and seemed more excited to continue to explore what they could do with it. Some of his excitement, she was sure, was starting to rub off on her too. She smiled back at him as he touched her shoulder and echoed her thoughts out loud. Before she’d properly thought it through, Aria had stepped closer and wrapped her arms around his torso. “I’m glad we’re still together, too. I don’t think it’d be the same, if we weren’t.” A brief rush of warmth flooded her cheeks before she let go of him and stepped back. Hugs weren’t something she was used to giving or receiving, but Yerbol had made mention of it earlier, and they were standing close enough together that curiosity had gotten the better of her. Aria concluded, without saying it out loud, that she kind of liked it.
“Just...don’t get used to that.” she smirked in amusement, patting the hand he still had rested on her arm as she mumbled. “We should go check on the progress of that storm, see if it’s safe to head out yet.”

When they arrived in the map room, Neta was still there with her attention on the projection as she tapped her foot absently against the floor. “How’s it looking, Neta?” Aria cleared her throat so as to announce their presence and hopefully not frighten the former spec ops soldier.
“Looks like it’s moving off now…” the redhead answered slowly. “It’s still hovering around the higher peaks here, so it’s not safe for anyone else to come in to land just yet, but we could probably move about on the ground without getting caught in anything.”
“You said it’s not safe for anyone else to land...does that mean…?”
Neta beamed, dimples and all, as she confirmed. “You got that right, honey, our operative friends have managed to track down one, maybe more, of the Jedi Masters. I patched through co-ordinates to them and they’re on their way here now, but they might not be able to touch down for a few hours after they DO arrive.”
They didn’t have too many supplies to move, given that they’d fled known space relatively quickly with only about a month’s worth of rations and very little else in the way of equipment (minus the basic essentials, a few tools in case of an engine fault, spare clothing and the like).

They were still awaiting further contact from Kandar, their Imperial contact, as to the situation with the Sith survivors, but Neta anticipated it wouldn’t be much longer before she called in, too. Apparently Roan knew of another of the Dark Council that had also survived the mass genocide on Korriban because she’d been lucky enough to be off-world seeing to diplomatic matters at the time, though he did insist that contacting her was proving tricky at best. They would have to wait and see, and for now just work with whoever happened to show up. With Neta’s help, they managed to create makeshift sleeping areas in some of the empty ‘meditation’ rooms, Aria noting that apart from herself and Yerbol there was still enough animosity between the former Padawans and acolytes that they had insisted upon keeping themselves separate from one another.
It didn’t seem worth starting any further arguments about, so Aria simply nodded and agreed. For now, the group was small enough that it wouldn’t be a major issue, and by the time it DID become necessary she hoped they would be more comfortable around each other that protests would no longer be an issue. Roan appeared as though he was going to vocalise protests to Aria and Yerbol continuing to share a set of quarters, though she quickly cut him off with an irritated huff and a declaration of: “For Force sake, daddy, he’s not going to stab me in my sleep! And no offense, but I’d rather NOT be sleeping next to tomb beasts!” the hounds had an irritating habit of trailing after the Sith Lord like pet dogs, and naturally wherever Roan would decide to settle they wouldn’t be far off. Aria wasn’t prepared to subject herself to their offensive odour when there were more agreeable alternatives available.

While they hashed out the sleeping arrangements, Aria had left Neta to try and get a comlink channel through to the ship they were expecting to arrive any moment now and make sure they didn’t attempt to land without directions from them.
“Maybe we could set up beacons.” the suggestion from Takree was completely unexpected, though not entirely ridiculous. “Nothing permanent, obviously, or anybody could land and we don’t want that...Just something they would be able to pick up on, to show them where we got through and make it a bit easier for them.”
Aria frowned slightly, looking towards their resident expert on landings and take offs. “Could we pull something like that off, Neta? With code words...or symbols...or something that Bracknell and his allies wouldn’t understand?”

[freedomliveson]

He hadn't expected the hug, but when she wrapped her arms around him, he instinctively returned the gesture, drawing her head to his chest for a brief second. There was a quiet moment of understanding on Yerbol's part, a comprehension of something important that had occurred in their innocent display. He couldn't pin down WHAT that piece of knowledge was, but he knew he would discover what it was sooner or later. For now, he wouldn't say anything, although he had a sneaking suspicion that Aria felt it too. Whatever "it" was.

He snorted a laugh, quipping back:
"I suppose I'll just have to shake your hand from now on? Maybe shoot you a polite nod? Would that be better? Cause you know, hugs are awful things to be avoided." His teasing seemed(to him) to make her blush, his partner brushing past him with the excuse of wanting to check up on the storm.
"I'll be with you in a sec."

____

Indeed, it was seemingly only a second that he would be able to spend with her for the next several hours, their movement towards the training facility naturally separating them to different duties. Yerbol stayed onboard with Neta to help scan for a clearing that was closer to the facility, allowing the others to forge their way ahead to their new base of operations. It took some time along with swearing from both pilot and co-pilot at the gusty conditions which were wreaking havoc on the stabilizers, but they spotted an area about seventy yards away from the training facility that was clustered with trees. With some precise blaster fire from the turrets, Yerbol cleared enough of a space for the ship to land. Getting to the ship on foot wouldn't be too hard, but transporting supplies would require some deft movement("Oh please, one time I had to extract a durasteel crate filled with contraband through the wilds of Kashyyyk. This is nothing, especially for the Force...right?").

They had sleeping arrangements sorted out and the main hall would be the common area slash meeting hall, so for the first time since they had started their journey there was a relatively safe place they could hide out in, which came as a relief to the Knight, who was currently looking at the training droids with Manso to see if they could be reprogrammed for security purposes...well, it was more Manso doing all the work while Yerbol stood at the ready in case the droid decided to use it's well preserved training blade mounted on it's back to whack Manso unawares.
"Think we'll be able to get these guys up and running?" Manso had been tinkering with the back panel of one droid for about thirty minutes, mumbling to himself about compensators, gear switches and technology older than a Hutt. Yerbol needed a status update to maintain his sanity.
"Uh...well, kinda.'
"Kinda?" Manso peered at Yerbol from behind the panel.
"Yes and no?"
"Just give me the bad news." Manso sighed, standing fully upright and closing the panel before proceeding:
"So it's simple enough to activate them, but..."
"But what?"
"But their A.I. programming is totally set. I tried to reset the scripts, but there was no chance I was going to be able to do anything without ruining the droid's programming completely."
"Right, so why is that a problem?"
"Well, it might not be if they think we're their Masters." Manso gulped, pointing at the twenty or so droids that cast eerie shadows dancing in the dim lighting above.
"If their security protocols perceive us as threats, then we're done for." Yerbol grimaced, looking the droids over.
"Activate one."
"What?!"
"Just do it, Manso. I can handle one droid."

________________

"Beacons would be a smart idea, but they would need to be bright enough to see through the storm." She pursed her lips in thought, hands on her hips. The pilot stood in the entrancway, examining the muddy, sleet covered path up to the training facility with a wary eye.
"There might be a big enough clearance for a small shuttle, but the landing would have to be extremely precise. We would need some kind of cushioning on top of navigational assistance to help the shuttle land without crashing into us." Neta's eyes then widened.
"Aria, you mentioned something about crystals, how they cast a bright light...if we could maybe get some of those in a circular formation and light them up with your powers, get them to stay lit for a period of time and use those as our temporary beacons?"

_____________________

"Wild Space." Bex flatly commented, not able to find the correct words to grasp the gravity of their latest operation. He turned to face Zora, her olive green complexion seeming to turn a tad lighter as they barreled towards the coordinates they had been forwarded by Bek, who didn't have to use much of his famous persuasive acrobatics to get them to at least listen his proposal.
"We're sure these are the right coordinates?" Abbeth asked, looming in the doorway to the cockpit, his normally placid demeanor laced with a hopeful anxiety.
"Yeah...yeah, we're good." Zora responded, hand on the throttle as she guided the ship even closer. Boots clicking in a measured stride came echoing towards the gathering, a woman of about five seven with blonde hair tied back in a severe bun appearing, hazel-blue eyes examining the planet from the viewing window.
"I don't like this, Chief." Bex grumbled.
"Neither do I, Bex, but what choice do we have?" Her Imperial accent made the question even more severe than she had intended, but wouldn't apologize for the tone or their change in direction. They wouldn't stand idly by while the rest of the galaxy burned. Not if she were still around.
"Send a communique to the comm unit number we received. Let them know we'll be there shortly."

[The Elvenqueen]

Yerbol had stayed with Manso to monitor the young Twi’lek’s progress with the old training droids, Aria occasionally glancing towards the doorway they had disappeared through, though the stronger emotional link between herself and Yerbol would let her know fairly promptly if anything untoward happened. There was so much else to organise, that she didn’t really have the time to be concerned about whether they would have the chance to interact again for many hours. Their current topic of discussion was Takree’s beacon idea, Aria turning her attention back to Neta as the pilot asked her a question.
“Crystals...of course!” she smacked her forehead with her palm, glancing over her shoulder at her father. “We could do that...right? They’d reflect light?”
Roan’s eyebrows pulled together in a thoughtful frown as he seemed to consider their chances with the idea, before he nodded slowly.
“...Yes, I think so. There’s a chance we could get them to absorb enough Force energy to make them reflective. We’d need enough crystals to cover a large enough area, though.”
Aria nodded slightly, waving Vano and Takree over. “Alright, take Vano and Takree with you and see what kinds of crystals you can pull up. The bigger the better, I would assume.” she looked to Roan again, “Though daddy knows what he’s doing so...if he says you should be looking for something, then just look for it.” the trio were dismissed with their ‘marching orders’, leaving just Aria, Janika and Neta in the main foyer. “Janika and I can head out and scope out the best area to put the beacons while they’re gone….think you can show us the kind of formations we’d need to use?”
It was probably a stupid question to ask. Of course Neta knew how to arrange a beacon formation. The former spec ops was all too eager to put her knowledge to good use, drawing some (overly detailed) diagrams to illustrate her explanations and yet Aria and Janika still struggled with confusing one placement area from the other, much to Neta’s frustration. They were still trying to lay out indents for the crystals to rest in when the others returned with a suitable supply of crystals to find Neta gently scolding the two young girls for getting her directions wrong AGAIN.
“Hey, if you think you can do a better job than us why don’t YOU lay them out?” Aria snapped, then quickly placated the harsh statement with. “I’m sorry Neta, but this is REALLY confusing, could you just slow down and take it one rock at a time?”
“Well, we could all help now that we’re back with the crystals.” Takree shrugged, sidestepping past Aria and Janika to crouch down and plop one of the rocks he had been carrying into the small dip in the ground.

It did make the task somewhat easier. Roan and Vano, being the two oldest of the group and thus most experienced with Force manipulation, could manipulate the facets to enhance their reflective properties, while the four younger ones planted them in the correct formation under Neta’s directions. Once she was satisfied with their work, the redhead excused herself and returned to the communal area to monitor communication channels (and the weather systems); which was just as well because at that precise moment a call came through on the comlink which she had to attend to.

Not fancying being outside in the mud and sleet while they waited to see if the crystals would do as they expected, Aria had been hovering closer to the complex’s main entranceway when she felt a sudden surge of surprise from Yerbol and heard the Knight and Manso shouting from one of the training rooms. Frowning, she whipped her head around to glance back inside, hoping that wasn’t spelling more trouble for them...

[freedomliveson]

"ACK!"
"GET BACK, GET BACK!" The droid let out a synthetic growl, blade in hand as it trudged forward towards Manso, who had already been shocked by the sparks that had bit into him when he activated the droid. In a smooth motion, the Knight dashed forward, stabbing the droid through the back. A squawk bounced off the walls, then a grinding sound, then nothing, prompting Yerbol to sheathe his saber and check on the young Twi'lek, whose hands and legs were visibly shaking.
"You ok?"
"Yeah, yeah...well, my fingers sting a bit from the sparks, but nothing else is hurt or severed or injured or anything." He sunk against a wall, arms at his sides.
"I think I'm just gonna go back to my room for a while and not look another droid for a significant amount of time."
"Good idea. If you can get some rest now, I'd suggest you do it. I have a feeling we're going to get some visitors that'll require all of us at attention."
"Oooooof course." Manso shook his head, about to leave when Yerbol stopped him by placing a hand on his shoulder.
"You're doing great, Manso. Thanks for the help. Not your fault that you couldn't activate a droid that could be thousands of years old." The Twi'lek snickered, mumbling a thank you before leaving. Yerbol followed suit a moment later, deciding to check on the status of the party members who had been in the main hall. When he arrived, Neta was in the middle of giving orders over a comm link:
"Atmosphere is going to get VERY bumpy when you get within sixty thousand feet. Advise that you put maximum power into stabilizers and shield. Might be able to get you some help." A tinny voice could be heard in response:
"Roger that. Setting coordinates to-" White noise engulfed the channel, prompting Neta to swear hastily and turn to Yerbol, eyes locking with his before making contact with Aria.
"We're going to need your help again. I'm betting that the storm is going to kick the winds up even harder, which means they're not going to survive unless we get out there and make sure that they don't crash into the side of a mountain." Jogging outside, Yerbol motioned for Aria to follow, Neta calling out:
"IF YOU CAN USE THE FORCE, GET YOUR CARCASS OUTSIDE! WE'VE GOT A SHUTTLE INCOMING!"

The group of Force Users assembled in a similar pattern as before, channeling their mutual energies together to form a protective sphere that extended about one hundred feet up(Roan was the one who suggested the idea, seeing as it would be impossible to shield the shuttle so far up in the air. He was also the one who quickly taught them how to summon the sphere using their collective powers). Yerbol breathed deeply, calming his mind, allowing the Force to use him rather than him attempting to control it. The meditative technique, which was normally effective, seemed to be enhanced even more by the presence of the crystals, which not only were activated as gleaming beacons, but were emitting trails of multicolored vapor that wafted within the sphere before settling in different areas of the circle. These tufts of energy then extended towards each of the Force users, wrapping around them in a loose, protective circle that tightened every few seconds. Yerbol would've been fascinated with the display if it wasn't for the absolute focus he was channeling, shutting out the now present whine of engines, the musty scent of hyperdrive wafting into the sphere, the clicking of landing gear setting down in the clearing and the eventual cheers of relief from Neta and the younglings. It wasn't until he felt the energies of the sphere dissolve that he opened his eyes to find a group of four looking around cautiously at their new environment. A blonde who stood just ahead of the rest was approached by Neta, whose face scrunched in confusion for a moment before she nodded.
"You're Elara Dorne, aren't you?" Elara winced.
"That normally isn't followed by anything good." Neta chuckled, shaking the other woman's hand.
"Netanya Orso, former Spec Ops number two seven five two." A large, dark-skinned male whistled.
"You're THAT Orso?" She glowed from the compliment.
"If by THAT Orso you mean the one who was part of the first commando units to break the siege of Belsavis, you betcha." A Kel Dor nodded in approval, the green skinned Mirilian breaking from the topic at hand by asking:
"So what, are you guys the resistance Bek was talking about?"
"In a sense. We're in the very, very beginning stages." The Mirilian snorted, which earned her a glare from Elara, who then turned to address the group with a pleasant smile.
"I'm Elara Dorne, the commanding officer of Havoc Squad. Bex is the large one behind me, Abbeth is our munitions expert and the cynical one there is Zora. We're looking forward to hearing what you all have to say regarding our current political upheaval. Is there a place we can set up shop?"
"Yeah, come on, I'll show you."

Havoc Squad was given a large room near the back of the facility that was more than likely a meditation chamber given the circular design, but the members didn't seem to care, instead bringing out their equipment and other such paraphernalia from their shuttle. A formal assessment of their situation would be given, according to Neta, when the other contacts arrived. She assured them all that they would be here within the next day or so, which seemed to calm Zora's obvious reticence about their situation. It was just now a matter of waiting...

That was the easy part.