The group joined Yaim and Viqi at the entrance to the complex to witness the approaching speeders. They had hardly any time to prepare with the speed at which the unwelcome visitors approached, but Aria had to admit she was impressed by how quickly Kartan was able to throw up a near-perfect illusion of a sand dune around the entire complex. There was no time to voice this out loud however, as the riders arrived outside and began arguing over whether or not their informant was in fact, correct about the location they had been sent to. One look at them confirmed Aria and Yerbol’s fears, the Faceless had found them. 
“I DON’T think they’re here to make friends.” Aria whispered from where she crouched beside her partner. Kartan’s eyebrows knit tightly together in a frown, but the Twi’lek Master nodded in affirmation, all the while maintaining the illusion he had set up. 

Aria cursed softly as the grenade rolled through the fake sand dune and exposed their hiding place, launching the group into action. Reacting on impulse, she lifted the grenade with the Force and flung it at the resting speeders, thankfully the projectile only exploded after it hit the sand beside the bikes and thus did not injure any of the group members, instead backfiring by cutting off the Faceless assailants’ only means of quick escape. The Champion drew her lightsabers and activated them as Vaerth did the same, her apprentice’s blade a flash of yellow in the corner of Aria’s vision as the young Zabrak darted for the nearest assailant and clashed weapons with them before the Champion could instruct her otherwise.

At least she had the sense to choose an opponent who was somewhat close to her in size and avoid the large, burly Twin Suns men who had joined the Faceless before the attack had been launched. At least they could be thankful that their attackers didn’t have much of a numbers advantage over them, by one or two at most which was...negligible, especially if they considered the pair of Tuk’ata as fighting members of their group also. More or less an even playing field, in that case. Aria cast a brief glance over at the two Sith hounds to instruct them firmly, before they could sink their teeth into anyone.
“Hey, you two, play nice! We need them alive, okay?” grunts of affirmation confirmed that she had been understood, so Aria turned her attention to their opponents. 
Kartan and Yerbol stood back-to-back, exchanging blows with one of the Suns’ men and a Faceless assassin, while the other two Faceless were advancing on Vaerth to push her out of the complex and into the dunes outside. Vaerth held her ground surprisingly well, considering she had less experience, already close to besting one of her two assailants. The remaining gangster seized the opportunity to try and pick out, in their eyes, the weakest member of the group by sneaking up behind her while her attention was occupied by the other two. Fortunately for Vaerth, Aria was quickly able to intervene, landing with her back to the Zabrak and bringing her blades up into a guarded stance, deflecting the shots the thug fired from his blaster back towards him. He dodged out of the way (barely, given his larger stature), spitting profanities as he tried to advance closer. 
“Move, Vaerth. Don’t let them get in close.” Aria spoke over her shoulder to the youngster. “Just move when I do and keep your back to mine, you’ll be fine.”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Vaerth nod in response, changing her footwork to mirror Aria’s as the Champion followed techniques she had learnt from Renso in the tombs to keep the larger man from getting close enough to them to land any devastating blows. Blaster bolts, they could deflect easily, but in close quarters there was no way they could overpower him. 

“Drop the thugs! They’re Hutt muscle, they won’t be able to tell us anything useful!” she called across to her partner and Kartan. Given the state of the Twin Suns’ predecessors Aria and Yerbol had found, she doubted Manus would have clued them into his plans. 
[i]Got it.[/i] Yerbol responded through their link, catching her eye briefly from across the room. [i]Try and grab any of these Faceless before they try running off.  [/i]
Aria exhaled softly, steadying her breathing and silently hoping that Vaerth was well-versed enough in duelling techniques to hold her own without help for a while. She had been impressive so far, holding her own against the two saber-wielding Faceless while Aria parried blaster bolts from her opponent, but she could tell Vaerth was tiring and leaving her unsupported for even a moment was a large risk to take. 
“Vaerth.” She muttered, deflecting another shot which ricocheted off the sandstone wall and nailed one of the Faceless in the calf. “Are you alright?”
“F-Fine!” she responded despite losing her footing for a moment and stumbling. Aria nodded, deciding she would have to take the chance. Across the room, Yerbol, Kartan and Chwuq had dispatched the other gangster and forced the Faceless boy into a retreat back towards his comrades. But where was Taral? The Champion risked another glance around the room to locate the Tuk’ata, spotting him darting up to lunge at the Twin Suns thug from behind. This might be the best chance Aria would get to finish him off. Aria gritted her teeth and broke her position behind the youngster to close the distance between herself and the Twin Suns man, pulling his attention back to her so that he didn't see Taral until the tomb beast’s teeth had clamped down on his throat. 

A shout of alarm from Vaerth prompted Aria to spin around in time to see one of the Zabrak’s opponents catch her ankle with their foot and overbalance them, thankfully Kartan quickly leapt the remaining distance to engage the second before they could strike a killing blow. Yerbol joined Aria to face down the remaining two side by side. Without the help of the Twin Suns, the Faceless neither had the numbers or the skill advantage, which they had evidently realised as they attempted to frantically backpedal out of the complex towards their damaged speeder bikes. 
“Don't let them get away!” Kartan shouted. The group gave chase, but one of the Faceless had already managed to salvage one of the bikes and had begun trying to kick the engine into work again while his two companions caught up. Yerbol had the longest stride of all of them and with Chwuq at his side, they soon caught up to the girl at the rear of the fleeing trio. By pulling a piece of debris from the destroyed bike into her path, Yerbol tripped the girl and allowed Chwuq to leap forward and wrestle her to the ground, leaning her full weight onto her to hold her in place. 

Aria, Vaerth and Kartan came to a stop behind them, the Twi’lek scowling solemnly at the horizon where two of the Faceless had escaped.
“Dammit! They’ll be coming back with reinforcements, I’m sure.” he muttered. 
“Very likely.” Aria nodded in agreement, turning her attention back to Yerbol and their captive as she let out a high pitched shriek, struggling to try and break free from underneath the Tuk’ata’s large form.
“GET THIS THING OFF ME!” 
Chwuq simply growled at the young girl again, her teeth bared as she hissed out. 
“Staaaaaaay!” 
Aria eyed the Sith beast with a raised eyebrow, telling her. “Chwuq, let her go.” the Champion’s gaze returned to the Faceless girl. “But ONLY if you promise not to try and run, you hear? Your friends are gone now...just hear us out, okay?” 
Thankfully, she appeared to not think much of her chances of outrunning them a second time, and nodded her agreement. With a grumble of protest, Chwuq shifted the bulk of her weight off the girl’s torso and stepped away to stand at Yerbol’s side. Aria dropped into a crouch beside her as the Faceless captive sat up, mumbling a thankful sentiment while she recovered her breath.  
“Now, what can you tell us about Manus, or what he’s planning?” 
Wide-eyed, the girl shook her head once again, as she had done previously when Yerbol attempted to ask her the same questions. 
“I don’t think she’s gonna talk.” Vaerth grumbled impatiently. “This is a waste of time…” only to be hushed abruptly by Kartan. Both Champions flashed the young Zabrak a reprimanding glare too, while trying to reach a solution to persuade their informant to be well...more informative.
[i]I think Vaerth has a point...somewhat, at least.[/i] Aria sighed, reaching out to Yerbol through their bond so as not to give away the conversation to their other companions. [i]It’s no good trying to get her to talk if she’s more afraid of what Manus will do to her than she is of us...we’ve got to convince her to trust us somehow, any ideas? Or maybe we should speak to Voldon?[/i]
“Look, kid...I know you’re worried about Manus but we can protect you, in exchange for your help.