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?”
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