"That can't be it, Kaarffror. There's no one hailing us. Are you sure this is the right place?"
Helena brought up all the information on Vaynai that she could, confirming the coordinates given to them by the Jedi Council. It wasn't like the Council to screw up like this, so she immediately thought something must be wrong. Kaarffror growled out a retort back at her.
"Okay, okay, I get it," she replied defensively. "It's not your fault. But if this really is Vaynai, then where are all the people? Surely someone's noticed a pair of Jedi Coalition X-Wings coming towards them by now. We've got our transponders blaring."
Kaarffror barked a suggestion that perhaps the holonet was completely down, but Helena was able to get the connection through to the dock authorities, the real problem was –
"No one's answering. There's nothing wrong with the 'net, here. It's gotta be something else."
Kaarffror then suggested that they take the X-Wings in for a landing anyway, regardless of whether or not they'd been permitted by anyone. He argued that if no one told them they couldn't land, then there was no problem.
"I suppose that makes sense, in a wookiee kinda way."
He replied with a comment about the wookiee way being the best way.
"Alright then," Helena laughed. "Let's do it the wookiee way. Stuff the dock authorities."
Kaarffror woofed an excited affirmation, then the two Jedi punched the throttle and descended towards the surface of the mostly water world.
On their way down, they immediately noticed that the Vaynai Archipelago was an unusual rusty-brown colour.
"Shouldn't that be a bit…I dunno, greener?"
The big wookiee answered that he wasn't sure, not having ever been to Vaynai before, but he assumed that being mainly a vacation spot that it would be counter-productive for it to be brown.
"I don't sense anything too unusual in the Force though. Perhaps we can't…I don't suppose there'd be much of a population on a world like this to actually be able to sense."
Kaarffror agreed that something wasn't right, and insisted they hurry.
After another few minutes they approached the planet's only spaceport, still without any contact from anyone, and set the X-Wings down next to some dilapidated old Corellian transports.
It had been six months since Jaina Solo had appeared to Kayla Talus, Devin Rokanh, Ferry Hekla and Helena Prudal, warning them that Liina Hriyek – the Jedi Order's Keeper of First Knowledge and head of the Jedi Academy – had found out something critical to their efforts to stop the Sith Emperor. That something had been a Sith Holocron the wookiees had been hiding on Kashyyyk, deep in the Shadowlands where it couldn't do any harm. The holocron had contained information on the history of Darth Bane's Rule of Two, all the way back to the Brotherhood of Darkness. It had also mentioned Emperor Vitiate's Sith Empire, which had lasted for more than a thousand years.
What had concerned Liina was that Vitiate had remained the Emperor the entire time, or so it appeared. There was nothing specific chronicling his actual lifespan; all she could tell was that he had been born more than five thousand years before the time of Jaina Solo, and died more than fifteen-hundred years later.
Jaina's warning that Liina would be looking in the wrong place had taken a long time for the Council to decipher. It was only recently that she'd discovered the information about Vitiate and had begun to try and dig up information on him when they'd remembered Jaina's advice to search on Vaynai. Kaarffror and Helena had subsequently been despatched to Vaynai to look for 'anything pertaining to the Sith'. Helena had thought the orders were a little vague until she set foot outside the spaceport.
The entire archipelago was brown. Leaves on trees had withered and dried, falling to the dried-up dead grasses below. Even the dirt seemed catastrophically uneventful, as if it was all completely artificial. Kaarffror sniffed at the air, remarking that it had no odour at all, as if like a sterile operating room in a hospital.
"This is all wrong, very wrong," Helena agreed. "I don't even sense a single life form here, let alone see or hear one."
Kaarffror commented that the ocean had looked totally normal, and he could still sense life there, but couldn't sense anything at all from the islands either.
"Look at this place…it's like it's just had the life sucked out of it."
A whirring noise interrupted their musings, and Kaarffror pointed out a protocol droid approaching them from the dock. It made its way stiffly over to them, its chrome coverings totally filthy and dented in places.
"Good morning, I am eefour-pee-ell. Please allow me to be the first to welcome you to beautiful Vaynai. Can I be of any assistance to you?"
"Yes, actually, you can," Helena answered. "We're representatives of the Jedi Order. This is Kaarffror, and I'm Helena Prudal."
"Oh, my goodness!" the droid exclaimed, becoming flustered. "The Jedi Order! Yes, yes, your Order is well known, even to droids such as myself. What, may I ask, is the reason for your visit here? We don't often get Jedi visitors here on Vaynai."
Kaarffror barked a comment about Vaynai not appearing to have any visitors at all.
"Oh! That's Shyriiwook! I've never had an opportunity to use my knowledge of the wookiee languages before. Please excuse my excitement, I am well overdue for a memory wipe, you see."
"Who exactly would perform that kind of maintenance? There doesn't seem to be anyone around," Helena asked.
"That is a difficult question to answer, Jedi Prudal," the droid responded. "I can't seem to recall who I need to see about it. Actually, I don't recall how long it's been since I last had maintenance, either."
"Excuse my abruptness," Helena interrupted, eager to find out as much as she could, "but there's no one here. How long has it been like this?"
The droid hesitated for a moment, as if trying to recall information that wasn't there.
"I'm terribly sorry, Jedi Prudal. I cannot remember exactly. My earliest memory is of four days ago. It appears that I have had a recent memory wipe."
Helena looked sceptically at Kaarffror, who folded his big wookiee arms across his massive chest and reminded the droid that it had told them it was overdue for a memory wipe.
"Yes, I did say that, didn't I?" the droid answered. "Perhaps I was given an unscheduled memory wipe?"
Helena impatiently rapped her fingers against her lightsaber hilt.
"Is there anyone else we can speak to?" she asked.
"Of course, Master Jedi," the droid happily announced. "If you'll follow me, please."
E4-PL led them back to the docks and into an office, where another protocol droid was busy monitoring a set of screens.
"Excuse me, eefour-pee-gee, we have some visitors from the Jedi Order who'd like to speak to you."
E4-PG turned around and regarded them in typical droid-like nonchalance. Helena and Kaarffror shared another uncertain look before introducing themselves again.
"Hello, eefour-pee-gee, I'm Helena Prudal and this is Kaarffror. We represent the Jedi Order."
"Welcome to beautiful Vaynai, Master Jedi," the droid repeated the basic greeting it and the other droid had obviously been programmed with. "How may I assist you?"
"We'd like to know where everyone is."
The droid hesitated, just like the other one had. Kaarffror became irritated then, and hurriedly asked the droid if it had any recollection of events prior to four days ago.
"Now that you mention it, no. It appears I have suffered some form of unscheduled memory wipe. How unusual."
"So what, you're just acting out your normal duties in the absence of any sentient life forms?" Helena asked.
"Our programming dictates that we should carry out our regular duties unless we are informed otherwise," the droid responded.
"Right…" Helena said with a raised eyebrow at Kaarffror. "Thankyou for your time. We won't inhibit your duties any further."
The two Jedi made their way back out towards the main population centre, and Helena tapped a few buttons on her wrist-comm.
"Tinman," she said, addressing her X-Wing's utility droid. "Take the ship and make a run over the entire archipelago, then another over the water. We need life form scans, air quality readings and atmosphere readings."
The little droid whistled its affirmation of the order, and the two Jedi heard as the X-Wing roared into life and took off overhead.
"We'll need to use your ship, Kaarffror," Helena told him, leading the way back to the other X-Wing.
Kaarffror set the frequency to the Jedi Council chamber within the temple on Tython and set the holocom to hail. After a few moments the call was answered, and the eight Jedi Masters appeared as tiny holographic representations of themselves.
"Masters," Helena greeted them as the two of them bowed reverently.
"Hello Helena, Kaarffror," Ferry Hekla responded. "What have you found?"
"Something's wrong here," she answered. "It's like the islands are dead. It feels strange."
"Dead? What do you mean?" Runice asked.
"It's hard to describe, but it's really quite unsettling to be in the presence of. It's as if everything that lives on these islands has just been…wiped out. Not dead exactly, but not living. It's not decaying at all. It's just…void of life. That's the best I can describe it."
Kaarffror explained that everything was dry and wilted, and that the air smelt thin and sterile, as if it too lacked life.
"Hmm…" Kayla thought to herself, uncrossing and recrossing her legs. "How long has it been like that for?"
"Well there's no one at all around to ask, only a few droids. The ones we encountered seemed to think that they'd had their memories wiped around four days ago, but not a scheduled memory wipe. Like they'd been tampered with."
"That's got to be it," Liina said. "Some kind of ritual, perhaps. Jaina told you that the Emperor was far more powerful than we expect, right? Maybe his power comes from stealing the life from others."
The other masters all seemed to agree somewhat, although there were still many holes in this theory.
"I've got my droid running scans at the moment, so we'll be able to see fairly shortly what kind of numbers we're dealing with," Helena told them.
"What do you sense though?" Devin asked. "I'm more interested in how the place feels."
"It's hard to tell from space," she explained. "It feels sort of normal from up high. As you get closer to the surface you start to see that there's no green on the islands at all. But it's only once you hit the ground that you really sense it properly. It's just not there. It's almost as if it's a mockery of life. Everything's colourless, even the dirt. In the Force, it just feels like…nothing. Like it doesn't exist. But the oceans and everything in 'em feel normal to me. It's just the islands."
Devin and Jens exchanged looks, making occasional humming noises.
"Well, you two get back here as soon as you're able," Jens said. "We'll get an investigation team out there and see if we can figure out a timeline. Send us the results of the scans too."
"Yes, Master," Helena bowed politely, then cut the transmission just as her droid Tinman arrived in her X-Wing.
Kaarffror woofed impatiently about wanting to get off the planet as soon as possible as it was giving him the creeps, and immediately climbed into his X-Wing, looking slightly ridiculous due to his massive frame. Helena couldn't help but laugh every time he got in it, but she still marvelled at Creo's ability to modify the snubfighter's cockpit to fit a wookiee.
"What do you think, Liina?" Kayla asked the twi'lek.
Liina's lekku twitched as the pieces began falling into place.
"Without knowing much about Sith rituals, it's not easy to tell," she began. "But let's look at the evidence. The whole planet stops responding four days ago, the same time that the droids suffered simultaneous memory loss. Kaarffror and Helena say the islands are completely void of life, from the people to the air and the ground itself. The planet Vaynai is in the same region of space as Korriban and Dromund Kaas and about as remote as you can get; it's off the main hyperlanes, and only gets small amounts of visitors as holiday-makers to boost their small population."
"Right," Ferry caught on. "No one's going to miss it. But that doesn't explain why it's only the islands that were affected. Why not the whole planet? It's not as if the people of the galaxy are going to forgive the loss of the islands as long as the sea life is unharmed."
"Maybe it was a ritual that went wrong somehow?" Devin suggested.
"Or perhaps a test ritual," Jens added. "A small, out of the way planet with very little population, condensed to within a small archipelago of islands. Like Ferry said, no one's going to miss it. Maybe it was part of a ritual, but whatever the ritual is I doubt it's been done properly. Maybe that's why Vaynai was chosen: even if it went wrong, the result wouldn't be dramatically different to success."
"What kind of ritual involves the mass annihilation of an entire population centre though?" Finnschall asked. "What possible reason could there be for that?"
"I've heard about some rituals," Runice said, "but not many. There were rumours of a ritual that could grant immense power that involved a large sacrifice, but from what I heard I think the sacrifice would need to involve Force-sensitive people. A tiny population like Vaynai's wouldn't even be worth the hassle, I would've thought."
"What would it be for though?" Ashlyn asked. "The very idea of wiping an entire planet of life would surely only be worth it if there was an immeasurable power increase of some sort attached to it."
The Council members all looked at Runice, and she self-consciously fidgeted with her red lekku.
"This is only a rumour, but maybe it was an immortality ritual," she suggested. "I wouldn't know anything about this sort of thing, but I imagine you'd need an enormous amount of Force energy to do it. Maybe Jens is right – maybe it was practise for something on a much larger scale?"
Liina nodded her agreement. "If it's the first one that's been done, maybe they just stuffed up and couldn't manage to get all the Force energy from everywhere."
The holocom unit began beeping as the results of Helena's scans arrived. Kayla used the Force to push the appropriate buttons to make the results appear on the holodisplay.
"Oh my," Kayla whispered, her hand over her mouth in shock. "That's simply unbelievable."
"I'm surprised those two could even breathe down there," Ashlyn added.
The results showed zero life forms on any of the islands – not even plant life or bacteria survived. Even the breathable air and atmosphere around the islands had been reduced to near non-existence. The results were consistent with about four days of air and atmosphere bleeding into the drained area.
"Looks pretty definitive to me," Devin said, folding his arms across his chest. "I reckon someone – probably the Sith Emperor – has come along and tried to drain the entire planet of life, but perhaps he wasn't strong enough, and could only get the archipelago."
"If that's true, even that small amount of energy he'd have received from Vaynai would increase his power dramatically. Next time, he probably won't fail," Liina added.
"And next time, he'll probably choose a more highly populated planet," Ferry said. "He's already powerful enough, if he's siphoning Force energy off he'll be pretty much unstoppable soon."
"There's a catch though," Kayla interjected. "A regular person of any species can only take so much power. That's why training is so beneficial: it introduces the new level of power in small increments so your body can get used to it. Large amounts of Force power suddenly introduced into a body will eat it away until there's nothing left. No person could withstand a power increase of the kind of magnitude we're suggesting."
"All the more reason he probably chose Vaynai for the test," Ferry stated. "He's fairly ridiculous already, so a planet like that would probably be enough for him to handle in one go, but not enough to achieve whatever it is he's aiming for eventually. I reckon we can assume he won't go straight after another planet any time soon, or he'll risk his own body. He might even go after another small one to supplement his power even more before going after a big population."
"I think she's right," Liina agreed. "If Runice is correct about this being a kind of immortality ritual, the power it must take to perform the ritual must be enormous. Going after a smaller planet first would serve two purposes then: testing the ritual's success and gaining enough power to perform a bigger one later."
"Why would the Sith Emperor do that though? He's already more powerful than any of us, or so Jaina Solo says," Jens questioned.
"Because we kicked the Sith's ass all over Tython with less than half the numbers he sent here," Ferry reminded him with her usual Mandalorian tact. "He's probably scared witless of us. He knows his power base is useless against us; in a straight fight they'd lose for sure. If solidifying his power base isn't enough, then he must be strengthening himself instead. It's an act of desperation. If he could have done this the whole time, then why wouldn't he have done it five years ago? Or ten years ago even, before any Jedi appeared."
"He probably didn't think we'd be any kind of threat until recently," Kayla answered in agreement. "You're right, Ferry. If he could do this ritual before, he would have. I doubt he's only found out about it recently though, so that must mean he's desperate. If Runice is right about the kind of Force energy necessary to perform such a ritual, then he must have initially planned to take most of the galaxy first. Since we've come along and disrupted his plans, he's got no choice now but to do it anyway."
"I'll need to go through the Sith Holocron again, I think," Liina said. "We need to know more about this immortality ritual, if it exists. Any information we can find out about it would help answer our questions."
"Ferry, perhaps it would be wise for you to go back to Korriban and seek out a Sith Force Ghost. Maybe the Sith themselves can tell us if an immortality ritual exists," Kayla suggested. "Make sure you take Cursty, Gavin and Tri'ina with you though. Korriban's far too dangerous, even if you are a Jedi Master."
"I can do that," Ferry nodded. "It'll be good for them to see Korriban anyway."
"I'll ask Crinnul and Xander to have a look through our own Jedi Holocrons and see if there's any information in there about Sith rituals," Devin announced. "It could be something the Jedi have seen before."
"Good idea," Kayla agreed. "Alright everyone, I guess we've got a starting point now. Let's see what we can dig up."
"Korriban, huh?" Cursty muttered. "Should be interesting."
"You mean hot, sandy, windy and creepy," Gavin retorted.
"Actually, Korriban is really cold, right Master Ferry?" Tri'ina added in the know-it-all, matter-of-fact voice she often employed these days when she had something she thought was interesting to say.
"Freezing, sometimes," Ferry confirmed. "And please don't call me 'Master'. I know it's what most of the others teach you to do, but don't do it around me."
"Why not?" the little twi'lek girl asked. "It's just a sign of respect."
"I know," Ferry smiled up at her. "And I thank you for respecting me, but I'd rather be respected for being myself than for being just another Jedi Master."
Tri'ina considered this for a few moments, then looked up at Gavin.
"Is that why you don't want me to call you 'Master' as well?" she asked.
"No, I'd just rather we were friends than have a strict master-apprentice thing going on. You already know you're a Padawan, having to reiterate it whenever you speak to me seems pointless."
"I agree completely," she grinned, "Gav."
Gavin shook his head with amusement and put his arm around her shoulders as they walked.
In the six months since the Battle of Tython, both Gavin and Tri'ina had had a growth spurt. Gavin now stood at one hundred and eighty-eight centimetres tall – a full thirty-one centimetres taller than his big sister – while Tri'ina had grown ten centimetres taller than Ferry. Apart from some of the younger trainees and Kayla – who stood at a tiny one hundred and forty-eight centimetres –Ferry was now the shortest member of the Jedi Order.
Height wasn't the only change that had been made obvious recently though. Tri'ina had taken the loss of her old master pretty hard, even if she'd only had a very short time with him. Where she was once timid and totally lacking in confidence, now she was an eager young woman who was desperate to prove herself to anyone. She'd gone so far in the opposite direction that the Council had mentioned their worry that she might become arrogant.
Gavin's big change was obviously his newfound height, but with the height came some subtle shifts in his facial features that emphasised his strong jawline, giving him a more rugged, masculine look. He'd begun to draw looks from young women wherever he went, and he himself had taken notice. Ferry gave him a lot of grief for being too cocky, but she knew as well as he did that he wasn't. Being Mandalorian, the attention hadn't taken away any time from his training regimen, and even if it did he assumed the Council would understand. His biggest issue at the moment was that Tri'ina had begun to notice his looks too. He'd meant to speak with his sister about her, but hadn't had the chance recently.
He doubted she'd have much in the way of good advice these days anyway. Ever since Byz died Ferry hadn't spoken to anyone about how she felt about it at all. Gavin as well as Ferry's old master Ashlyn had both voiced their concerns about her, but whenever they tried to approach her about it she'd just smile and say she was totally fine, usually with an effortlessly sweet smile and a friendly hug.
The seeming nonchalance she displayed with respect to Byz was completely offset by her increasingly short fuse though. As the Jedi Master and Council member, Ferry was every bit as diligent, intelligent, generous and wise as she'd always been, and had taken to her new duties like a shyrack took to flight. However, on many occasions she'd been drawn into fights and squabbles of all kinds, and never backed down from a fight, verbal or physical. Gavin liked to think this was due to her Mandalorian heritage, but he knew better.
She'd also started to dress more provocatively, much to the delight of many of the soldiers and officers stationed at the Military Base. She'd turned seventeen since the Battle of Tython, and although her position within the Jedi Order dictated her demeanour most of the time, in a lot of ways she was acting more her age now than she had before she'd become a Jedi Master. Gavin assumed it was some type of reaction to losing Byz, but Ferry would never admit it. In fact, most of the time the suggestion annoyed her to the point that she would leave the room.
The rest of the Council didn't really care much how Ferry chose to dress, although they had to admit that her style had rubbed off on her Padawan Cursty a little, and that did bother them somewhat. Cursty was smart enough to know how young she was though, and both girls understood that she was simply emulating Ferry, so nobody really paid much attention to it. Kayla and Ashlyn actually thought it was cute that she wanted to be so much like her.
Given the nature of the Jedi and their abilities, most people thought that the robes Devin and Jens' wore nearly all the time was how a Jedi should look, and historically it was how they'd looked. But most people also forgot that the vast majority of the Order hadn't become Jedi until they were at least ten years old, and by then they'd had a great deal of time to get used to wearing regular street clothes and thought that the Jedi robes looked a little stereotypical and bland. This was especially true for most of the female Jedi, who felt far more comfortable wearing their own normal clothing.
Kayla, Ashlyn and Liina hardly ever wore their Jedi robes, and actually argued that dressing in them too often placed them above the normal people they were supposed to be serving. Ferry took the concept a little too far for some people, and was often seen these days wearing revealing tops with deep, plunging necklines teamed with obscenely small shorts or skirts and tall, heeled boots. She'd become what Crinnul described as a 'massive tease, worse than a twi'lek dancing girl'. This comparison didn't bother her, and she always argued that 'if you don't like it, then don't look'.
The Military Base's Head Dock Officer, Marshal Harlon Yeallory, was Ferry's biggest critic by far. He was quite a strict officer and stuck to military protocol very closely, and although he was a strong supporter of the Jedi's stance against the Republic and the Chiss Ascendancy, he'd taken a strong dislike to the Jedi themselves and Ferry in particular. She revelled in annoying people like Yeallory though, and whenever she had to pass through the Military Base she deliberately wore the most inappropriate clothing she could find.
Today, Yeallory spotted the four Jedi approaching one of the Jedi's armoured shuttles from across the hangar and stood in plain sight, watching them with a fierce frown on his face. Ferry had decided to wear skin-tight synthleather leggings and a simple strappy singlet top today, partly because she knew the leggings would irritate Yeallory and partly because the shiny material didn't breathe at all, and would help keep her somewhat warm while on Korriban. The first part of the plan worked perfectly, and Yeallory stopped them before they boarded the shuttle.
"Master Hekla," he said flatly and without a salute, despite her military rank being that of a General. His Kuati accent was slightly watered down from years of serving on Coruscant. "I hear you're off to Korriban today."
"That's right," Ferry answered, crossing her arms. "What of it?"
He looked her up and down, his gaze resting on her now-ample chest for longer than was appropriate. Ferry could feel Gavin's anger rising to the surface and quickly nudged him with the Force to get him to settle back down. He didn't.
"You'll be cold out there," Yeallory replied, giving away nothing on his face. "I hope you aren't dressing just to annoy me, Hekla. I'd hate to have to collect your corpse from that crud-hole."
"You've met my Padawan, Cursty," she gestured towards her while flashing her sweetest fake smile at the Marshal. "She took the precaution of pre-packing the shuttle with some coats for all of us."
Yeallory sniffed, in what appeared to be an amused gesture.
"Smart girl," he said, looking straight at the twelve year-old Padawan.
Gavin's irritation boiled over then, and Ferry allowed him to blurt out whatever came to his mind first.
"You got something to say, Yeallory?"
The Marshal's eyes shifted to look at Gavin, his head staying pointed at Cursty for a few moments before it too turned to face him.
"As a matter of fact, I do," he smiled with barely concealed contempt. "As of tomorrow morning, all personnel within this facility will be required to wear military uniforms at all times." He turned to face Ferry then, looking her up and down again. "I just thought you'd like to know."
Ferry smiled sweetly at him again, playing the game as expertly as Yeallory himself.
"That's very kind of you to warn us," she said. "We appreciate it. Who, may I ask, was the originator of this new rule?"
"I fail to see how that is of any concern," he replied, his eyes cold and piercing as he stared her down. "Unless you have a problem with it, of course."
"No problem," she answered. "As a General in the Jedi Coalition though, it's my duty to know what goes on under my command. You understand. Unless you have a problem with it, of course."
Yeallory smiled insincerely, detecting his defeat, then promptly turned on his heels and stiffly walked off without replying.
"He can't do that," Gavin shook his head. "We outrank him."
Ferry gestured with her hand, pretending to brush dust off her shoulder.
"Who cares? He's just throwing his weight around."
"But you're a General," Cursty argued. "He can't tell you what to do."
Ferry smiled at her mischievously and put a hand on her shoulder.
"My dear Cursty," she chuckled. "The only uniforms we have are those Special Forces ones, and they'll annoy the crap out of him."
It was less of a uniform and more of a night club outfit, really. Although the material used to make them was the same energy-dissipating material used in the Special Forces soldiers' uniforms, Jedi weren't in any great need of head-to-toe protection, even on a battlefield. Ashlyn's version of the uniform was a short, tight-fitting sleeveless camouflage shirt and matching tight trousers.
Cursty wore the same outfit, albeit nowhere near as tight on her due to her young, skinny frame. She smiled as she remembered how inappropriate it was and how much it would irritate Yeallory.
"He has serious issues, that bloke," Gavin commented to his sister, watching Yeallory disappear into his office. "He spends more time than anyone else checking you out, then makes up some rubbish about a pretend rule he can't even enforce in order to get you to cover up."
"He shouldn't be here," Tri'ina said suddenly. "He's up to something."
"I don't trust him either, but he's just a creep. I doubt he's dangerous," Cursty countered.
"He is dangerous," Tri'ina insisted. "He has full control of the docks, and he hates Jedi."
Ferry realised in the moment that Tri'ina had finished her sentence that Yeallory had known they were going to Korriban.
"How did he know?" she said under her breath.
"Know?" Cursty asked. "Know what?"
Gavin caught on to his big sister's thought pattern immediately.
"He knows about Korriban…" he muttered, then glanced at the shuttle.
"Spast!" Ferry cursed, then began yelling at everyone nearby. "Get away from the shuttle! MOVE!"
Tri'ina and Cursty took cover behind some cargo containers and began using the Force to plant a sense of urgency in everyone's mind, causing the soldiers, pilots and officers to fall into their well-practised evacuation drills. Once they were all clear of the shuttle, the two girls bolted towards it and began searching for explosives as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, Ferry and Gavin sprinted towards Yeallory's office, where the traitorous Marshal was exiting hastily, holding a repeating blaster and belt full of incendiary grenades.
"Yeallory!" Gavin yelled futilely.
The Marshal fired off a few shots, all going quite wide. Ferry and Gavin ignited their lightsabers and took off after him again as he ran towards a back exit which led to the Military Facility's training grounds. He reached the door and hammered the switch with his palm, only to find a platoon of Coalition soldiers pointing their blaster rifles at his face.
Gavin lifted Yeallory off the ground by his throat using the Force while the soldiers disarmed him. Ferry deactivated her lightsabers and approached the Marshal as he wheezed and gasped, desperate for air. Gavin released his grip and Yeallory landed on his feet, inhaling great gulps of air before Ferry heaved her right fist hard into his solar plexus, emptying his lungs again. Yeallory doubled over on the ground just as Cursty and Tri'ina arrived.
"This is some pretty advanced tech," Tri'ina advised. "We're lucky we disarmed it in time, or this whole place and the temple would have gone up."
"You really weren't mucking around, were you buster?" Cursty said, pointing an accusing finger at Yeallory.
He spat at her, a medium-sized gob of saliva landing on her right boot.
"Eww!" Cursty grimaced, then kicked him in the chest as hard as she could.
Yeallory's eyes almost popped out of his head as the young Jedi's saliva-stained boot struck home, breaking a rib.
"Disgusting!" she complained, removing the boot and wiping the gob of spit off onto Yeallory's uniform.
The soldiers started laughing as Yeallory tried to get to his feet. The front-most soldier – a captain, judging by his epaulets – planted the business end of his blaster rifle on the back of Yeallory's head, making the Marshal freeze in that position.
"I don't think I heard the Commander say you could get up, slime-ball. How about you guys?"
"No, sir," another soldier agreed. "I didn't hear a thing."
"Nothing," a third answered. "I think we'd know if Commander Lellynd said that."
Yeallory cursed loudly. "I get the point," he squeaked, unable to talk properly due to his injury. "Beeogola Nechaska!"
The soldier captain roughly forced Yeallory's head down to the ground with his blaster.
"That's no way to speak to a young lady," he said as he set his weapon to stun and fired.
Yeallory's body slumped limply as he fell unconscious and the soldiers lowered their weapons.
"I never liked that guy," Ferry smirked. "Fancy telling me what I can and can't wear."
The soldiers immediately started nodding and voicing their agreement. Gavin rolled his eyes and took off towards the shuttle. Tri'ina handed the captain the disarmed explosive.
"Careful with that, Captain," she warned him. "My lekku twitch just thinking about how dangerous that thing is."
"Don't worry about a thing, Commander Aschiert," he smiled reassuringly at her. "We'll take good care of it. You guys go and head off to wherever you're needed." He grinned conspiratorially at Cursty then. "Yeallory's coming with us for a nice, long interrogation with General Arriah."