Peering at the report over Yerbol’s shoulder, Aria’s frown only deepened as they scanned further down the page. “Mysterious disappearances” were never a good thing to begin with, and once they got to the section of the confidential report that implied Xiis had been sighted by Alliance troops on the former Empire capital world, the Champion could feel the knots beginning to form in her stomach.
“This isn’t good.” she muttered, her dark gaze flicking between her two companions. She agreed that they should find the Elders post-haste and discuss the report, equally as surprised by Voldon’s apparent materialising out of thin air. Nonetheless, the matter remained urgent and they wasted no time in hurrying to the top floor where the new Council chambers had been placed. Once again situated in the middle of the circle of chairs, the two Champions devoted their attention to Voldon as he brought them up to speed regarding the report Vano had forwarded to them. The apparent radio silence after a firefight right outside the settlement did not bode well for the scenario, either. She hadn’t even considered the possibilities of Illesia and the Xiis stooping as low as kidnapping until Malu and Matthew brought the points forward to the Council, Aria’s own expression morphing into one of horrified disbelief.
“....oh, no.” the revelation was met with stunned silence from the entire room, punctuated by Voldon’s declaration that the duo would be heading for Dromund Kaas post-haste.
As the attention turned to her once more, Cheriss nodded a little. “I could join them, yes.” she turned towards the duo again. “Although more with the intention of supporting you where you need it, of course, not that we think you can’t handle yourselves.”
Aria wasn’t going to be the one to protest to the Elder’s help. After what had happened the last time they had taken on the Xiis by themselves, she didn’t want to take the risk of NOT having powerful help to fall back on.
____________________________
The journey time to Dromund Kaas seemed painfully long, Aria spent most of it pacing back and forth along the length of the seating area of the spacecraft they ended up using (the Ice Box was too conspicuous, there was a chance Illesia would know what it looked like and would flee when she saw them land), Chwuq and Taral huddled together on one of the chairs, chuffing anxiously at her as they attempted to follow her movements until they got too dizzy to do so.
“This isn’t good.” she muttered after they had successfully steered in to land. The spaceport was eerily quiet, even if it wasn’t a capital world anymore she would have expected to see the usual signs of inhabitance. The lack of travellers milling from docking bays seemed to be the trademark of worlds that had been touched by the Xiis. As they stepped out of the main building, a small contingent of Alliance soldiers were there to greet them and give them a run-down of the situation.
The lieutenant in the front saluted the three Qyaari, his soldiers standing at attention, their eyes scanning the jungle foliage warily as if they expected a Xiis to jump out at them any moment now.
“Good to have you all with us; the settlement is just a few miles past Kaas City, used to be called “The Wall”, back in the day. There were complaints sent in to the city of residents disappearing and not returning, we sent a battalion to investigate; there was a lot of gunfire in the call we got before the line went completely dead, haven’t heard anything from them since.”
“Thank you, lieutenant. We’ll investigate, keep your men close by and if anything changes let us know.” Cheriss nodded, leaving the soldiers with the channel frequencies of their comlinks should they need it.
Turning to the Champions, the Dathomirian added. “You both have more experience with these Xiis than I do, just tell me what you need me to do.”
Chwuq and Taral were in high spirits, prancing around with their tails lashing in excitement as they moved through the familiar terrain in pursuit of the speeders the trio took from the spaceport to the settlement. The Sith beasts catching up to them again was the only sound that permeated the local ambience, the stone structures eerily quiet for something which had supposedly been heaving with inhabitants until a week or so ago when the disappearances had started.
A subtle breeze stirred the Alliance banners flapping at either side of the vast entranceway as they passed underneath it, Cheriss and Aria both casting glances around them warily. It was as if the entire settlement had been swept clean, only this time there were no presences cowering behind closed doors, no hushed mutterings of frightened survivors debating whether to risk peering outside as they passed.
“This HAS to be her doing.” Aria muttered. “Only the Xiis would pick a place clean like this.”
Cheriss frowned warily.
“But what would they DO with so many people?” Images of jagged, blood-stained fangs framed by purple lips flashed in her mind’s eye, and the Champion shuddered.
“You don’t want to know, Cheriss.”
The other side of the wall, foliage rustled. Cheriss stuck her arm out to bring Aria to a stop. A thud from somewhere close by, as if something had landed heavily, then footsteps echoing on the cobbled stone pathway that snaked through the settlement. Behind her, Aria heard the Tuk’ata growling softly.
“What is it?” she asked them without turning her head, her eyes scanning the shadows as she tried to pinpoint the direction of the sound. “Xiis?”
“Blue people, baaaaaaaaaddd.” Chwuq snarled, Taral grunted his agreement. A flash of blue shot past them from behind a building and disappeared around the corner, then another, and another. She hadn’t got a good look at them, but she was sure it was Xiis. Lifting a lightsaber from her belt, Aria inched carefully towards the building to get a closer look. The tomb beasts pattered after her, grunt-whining urgently.
Uff! Uff! She ignored them.
“Aria…” Cheriss spoke up, her tone edged with wary concern. The Xiis came out of nowhere, ramming his shoulder into her collarbone and throwing her backwards, she flew past Cheriss and Yerbol and hit the windowsill of the building across the pathway, the Champion righted herself quickly and spat out a mouthful of blood. She’d bitten through her lower lip as her head connected with the stone, nothing that required any urgent attention.
“Son of a bantha…” she muttered as another pair of Xiis disappeared around the corner in the opposite direction. Waving off a concerned Yerbol, Aria’s gaze flicked from one direction to the other, unsure which group to follow.
“I’ll go this way.” Cheriss nodded back the way they had come, you two go the other way. Keep your comlinks on, call me if you need help and I’ll do the same.” Exchanging a nod with both Champions, the Elder hurried off in pursuit of the second group. Aria and Yerbol moved after the first group, the dogs still grunting warnings as they pawed anxiously at their robes.
UFF! “Not go there. Not safe!”
“Not safe!”
“Baaaaad!”
It wasn’t an option. They had to find out what these Xiis were up to. They had to go on.
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