The Elvenqueen

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Haha definitely going to be one of those "I didn't sign up for this" moments somewhere down the line for him, right? XD

Post achieved xP

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Aria closed a hand around her lightsaber hilts in preparation as a twiggy-looking man rounded the corner, almost immediately relaxing. He wasn't dangerous, Bex was right. Nothing they couldn't handle even in their current state, and if all else failed Chwuq and Taral would make quick work of him. His hazel eyes darted to the hounds, imploring that they ask them to not eviscerate him. She waited until his weapon was holstered before she coughed out. “Down.” they skittered back to her side but were still eyeing the man warily. He apparently had drugs which they couldn't exactly turn down in their current state though his questions they could have done without (and while she was sure they DID probably smell about as attractively as a Rancor pit, she didn't appreciate him voicing that out loud). Zora suggested they kill him and be done with it, Aria almost wanted to agree but dammit her entire torso hurt, blurry black splotches danced at the edge of her field of vision. She took the offered bottle from Bex as he held it out to her and downed it in one gulp. Breathing (and talking) started to hurt less.
“Thanks.” she muttered to the brown haired man. Suddenly, as they were talking amongst themselves about what they were going to do now (going back to Zinuthra seemed to be the general consensus of their next step), the shifty man spoke up again, seeming to realise they must have come here on a ship of some kind.
“No.” Zora growled almost instantly. Elara seemed to be thinking otherwise. Despite her own apprehension, she had learned to trust Elara's judgement. The woman's strategical expertise had rivaled that of anyone she had known, including Roan at times. If Elara thought they could trust him then that's what they would do. Besides, as long as this Junoco was with them they had access to medication that could relieve their ailments, which Elara was also of ample skill to carry out. He turned out to be rather speedy at “packing his things”, probably as a result of being a smuggler and any number of the other things he had mentioned. They made their way back to the ship at a slightly quicker pace, then debated at length whether to deposit Junoco on Coruscant before returning to Zinuthra.
“He has information about what happened on Nar Shaddaa, right?” Aria pointed out, wincing as crossing her arms over her chest made her ribs throb again. “We need him to tell the Elders what he saw. What he knows about the Xiis.” she turned to Junoco before he could interrupt, explaining. “Those are ‘the blue guys’, by the way. That's what they're called.” without meaning to sound quite as condescending as it had come out. “Coruscant’s light-years away, we don't have time for that kind of detour. He comes with us to Zinuthra.”
“Hey, hey hey! You promised!” Junoco protested.
“You give us the information we need, we drop you off on Coruscant next time we head out. That's how you smugglers work right, give something get something?”
She jabbed a finger in his direction, teetering ever so slightly from the effort. “But if you even THINK about giving us false intel,” she focused as much as she could through the pain medications fuzziness that began to cloud her mind. Let his lungs tighten for a few brief seconds to remind him she could just as easily kill him with or without Havoc's help. “I will snap your neck like a toothpick while Bex holds you down and stops you escaping, got it?”
The smuggler nodded so vigorously she thought for a moment his head might pop right off his shoulders. If only she hadn't been too worried about Yerbol to find it funny. They punched in Zinuthra's coordinates and everybody crashed in the various crew quarters as they attempted to recover from their wounds. Junoco flitted between each member along with Elara (once she had slept a while) to administer medical treatment where necessary. Aria had tried insisting that she didn't need their help (or want the smuggler anywhere near her for that matter), but at some point the previous dose of medication had worn off and the pain had become so intense that she nearly passed out.
It was the closest thing she got to sleep the entire trip back. She couldn't sleep, not without Yerbol there. Her mind wandered to all manner of disturbing places, catastrophizing about what the Xiis might be doing to him. She tried to meditate and reestablish their Force link again, to reach out to him just to hear his voice, but was met with a solid wall of fuzzy unconsciousness each time she tried. Chwuq and Taral stayed with her, grunt-whining anxiously to pull her back to reality before she became too disassociated by pushing herself too far.
“Who’s Yerbol?” Junoco’s voice startled her, apparently she had been mumbling aloud along with her mental attempts to reach him. “If they are in fact a person and not a uh...a ‘what’, I guess?” Elara's glare mirrored her own.
“I told you not to bring it up.”
“None of your business, that's what!” Aria snapped sharply, rising stiffly to her feet as the ship announced their arrival on Zinuthra. She made her way towards the loading ramp after Bex, Abbeth and Zora with the tomb beasts, Elara and their new ally behind her. Vano, Cheriss, and Matthew were waiting for them in the docking area.
“What's the Loth cat dragged in?” Cheriss snorted as she eyed Junoco up and down with a flash of contempt in her eyes.
“Yerbol…?” Vano frowned, noting that the dynamic duo were down to one.
Aria tried to keep a straight face, tried to explain what had happened without her voice cracking, but it wasn't all that successful.
She shook her head, choking out. “There were so many of them….tried to get everyone out, thought he was right behind me. I lost him, I lost him…” Vano pulled her into a hug only to abruptly release her as Aria shouted out in pain.
“Think my ribs are broken...please don't do that again…”
“That's it, we're getting you to the medbay right now. Elara can fill Master Carnagie and Master Matare in on what happened.”
“I don't need to go to medbay, Va! I'm FINE! Just...aches a little.” Aria groaned in protest.

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Figured so since Zinuthra was closer but wanted to double check :Point right then, sorry matey you drew the short straw there depending how you look at it XD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Oh, also...was Junoco coming with them to Zinuthra or...? XD

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Bwahahahahahaha I like this guy already! (Totally imagining him as David Tennant from now on XD) and yep, think we did say Zinuthra hehe

I shall get them back over there then! :P

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Oh good haha xD

Thank Force for that, Elara haha and I look forward to it as always :P

Music Appreciation Thread

@Heat 7/10 struggled to understand the lyrics because the beat was louder than the singer, but man I do like it. Not usually into stuff this heavy but the beat is jammin' :)

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Ended up being a kinda long one, sorry ;A; xD

You better ruuuuunnn, Illesia, cause Ari is hella angry and she's coming for you as soon as she can actually breathe slash walk again XD

Hopefully that was believable enough as well, I don't imagine there are chances of any doctors being left alive so they'd have to Macguyver (hope I'm not the only one who remembers that dude...does that make me old? o.o) it and get back to Zinuthra or something with their new buddy's help?

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

You never see it coming[Freedomliveson/The Elvenqueen]

Sweet, sounds good! I shall look forward to meeting our new NPC as well XD