[i]Oh yeah, I bet you're not wrong there at all.[/i] Aria nodded in agreement with her partner’s theory about the Hutts. [i]The Empire was pretty friendly with the Cartel, I had to deal with them a fair bit and take it from experience: you wave enough credits, or a lucrative enough business idea that could MAKE them a lot of money, in a Hutt’s direction and they'll do ANYTHING you ask of them.[/i] The Champion flashed a smile, looking up as Kartan introduced them to the eager youngster. “Good to meet you, Yaim.” the report about the missing scouts was, of course, very concerning and prompted a frown from Aria. 
“Maybe...Sand people are known to attack other species, but for them to come so far from one of their own settlements? That's a bit...odd, don't you think?” nonetheless, it was agreed that the two Champions should check it out. 

And here they were.
“I think Sarlacc pits are the LEAST of our worries right now!” Aria muttered, bringing one hand up to shield her eyes from the flying grains of sand whipped up off the dunes by the wind. “We’d sense a Sarlacc before we walked into one...and besides, we just have to watch the dogs and we’ll know.” the pair of Sith hounds were once again in their element now that they were back on a planet made up entirely of sand. Despite its similarities to the planet she had once called home, Aria was still scowling about as much as her partner. “Well, at least the one good thing is it’s just normal sand….don’t smirk at me like that, yes, there IS a difference!” a good-natured scowl was flashed back at him in response. “The sand on Korriban was red sand, it’s finer than this normal stuff..gets into EVERYTHING and it turns everything this Force-awful shade of pinkish-red too. And I mean EVERYTHING….makes it pretty hard trying to sneak around doing erm...things you shouldn’t be doing at that age.” her cheeks flushed red at that point, though whether it was due to embarrassment at the memories or simply the sand that lashed back against them whenever a gust of wind blew up was unclear. “But never you mind that, we’ll talk about it later if you so insist!” Aria dispelled the topic by punching Yerbol playfully in the shoulder and returning their attention to the task at hand. The blinking, red lights of the sensor was the first thing visible amongst the dunes, but as the pair of Champions approached, it was the bodies that drew their immediate attention. Moving closer to examine the carnage, Aria could immediately draw one conclusion:
“Well, it sure as shit wasn’t Sand people, I can tell you that. It’s far too clean a kill, you’ve seen how nuts they are right?” Yerbol agreed, and offered up some thoughts of his own out loud, to which she also shook her head. “No, you’re right...the sand could’ve smoothened the wounds out a bit, but it wouldn’t have wiped away ALL the blood or other marks...this had to be a saber.” 

Lips pursed together in thought, Aria nudged a black mark, two half circles, with jagged spokes protruding out of them to form a graphic of two intertwined suns (not unlike those which orbitted the very planet they were currently situated on), present on the Gammorrean’s neck. “Our Gammorrean friend here is Hutt muscle...could be Twin Suns, the Cartel will deny it profusely but anyone who’s ever had anything to do with the Hutts here on Tatooine knows they endorse the pirates as long as they get a cut of their profits.” the human and Rodian cadavers bore the same marks, so where Kartan’s missing patrol members had gone was anyone's guess...and that was perhaps the most concerning. Chwuq and Taral bounded back to join them, the female Tuk’ata gave the Gammorrean’s neck one sniff before jerking back, hackles raised as she hissed out loud.
“What do you smell, buddy?” 
“Baaaaaaaaaaaaddd.” Aria didn’t have to guess twice to know that Chwuq wasn’t simply referring to the pig-like alien’s body odour. Exchanging another look with her partner, Aria nodded once more.
“No, you’re right, this had to be the Faceless….which means we should get back and warn Kartan.” a quick glance at their immediate surroundings revealed nothing suspicious, but the Champions knew from experience that this didn’t mean there weren’t enemies hiding in the shadows. There were techniques Manus or other more advanced Force users in his network could be using to conceal their presence until the appropriate time came for them to strike. 

The Champions kept a lookout for further signs of hostiles, but the occasional muffled footsteps and barely audible whispers that halted their progress and prompted a quick perimeter search on a few occasions could have just as easily been Sand people scouts (although Aria still insisted: “this far out? Really? Who are we kidding?”), or some other creature that inhabited the dunes. The Tuk’ata were on edge as a result of Aria and Yerbol being unsettled, and that didn’t help...was there ANY way to be sure that something HAD followed them back? Arriving back at the compound, they located Kartan in conversation with a group of older Force users; Vaerth hovered close by, attempting to look busy although it was clear the youngster was trying to eavesdrop on her ‘superiors’.
“Did you find anything?” 
When the Champions reported their unfortunate discovery, Kartan’s lekku twitched in agitation. “That is worrying news indeed...we do not want to jump to conclusions, of course, but we have looked at our supply routes and there certainly may be some merit to your accusations about Manus.” 
“We may not have time to debate that, we have reason to believe Manus and his...associates may be behind your missing men. There was a Hutt bodyguard found with them, but the wounds left couldn’t have been made by an ordinary blade...and certainly not one as crude as a Gammorean knife or axe; the cuts were clean, like those made by lightsabers. The Faceless could be here right now.” 
“Now, we don’t want to be hasty, do we?” a male Zabrak stepped up to stand beside Kartan, hands held out calmly before him. “I’m not meaning to devalue your assessments of course, as Champions you have far more experience of such things than we have, hidden away here on Tatooine.” he cleared his throat. “But it would be a shame to go pointing fingers without any solid proof, wouldn’t it? You didn’t ACTUALLY see any of these Faceless, or a discarded lightsaber, did you?” 
“You’d have to be pretty terrible to lose your lightsaber.” Vaerth scoffed from behind him, earning a chiding look from the older Zabrak. 
“Check it out, would you Viqi?” Kartan requested as he faced the Champions again. “A quick perimeter search should confirm whether they were in fact followed.”
“Why WOULD they follow them? Manus already knows where we are...he was sending us supplies until a month ago…” Vaerth huffed as Viqi nodded and disappeared past the compound’s entrance.
“Maybe they were waiting for us to get here, kill two birds with one stone and all that.” Aria shrugged, uneasiness clenching a tight knot in her stomach at the thought. “Perhaps he didn’t see you as a threat before, so all he’s been doing is bribing the Hutts and their underlings to tamper with your equipment, like those sensors, to get you to send the younglings out to fix them, so that he can capture them back from you to train them for his own ends.”
Once again, Kartan’s face became grave. 
“You really think he would do such a thing?” 
Arms folded behind her back, Aria lifted her chin with a brisk nod. 
“From what Voldon has told us of Manus, and what interactions we’ve had with him ourselves since then, we have reason to believe no act is below him as long as it allows Manus to achieve his goals.”
A moment of silence fell between them as Kartan gave the matter some thought, only to be broken by Viqi’s reappearance in the entryway, back turned to the group and attention focused thoroughly on something in the dunes outside of the complex. 
“Erm...Kartan, you...MIGHT want to come and take a look at this.” as he glanced over his shoulder, Viqi’s expression remained serene and controlled as would be expected from a former Jedi, however the worry in his tone was clear.