Chapter 9

Abigaila woke up with a start, her dream already fading. Something had disturbed her, but she couldn't recall it. She rolled over to the nightstand to see the time. Abigaila groaned and buried her head in her arms when she saw it was three hours til dawn.

"Damn it." Abigaila groaned as she got up. No point in going back to sleep now. She glanced at Vette. 'I'll let her sleep for another hour.' She thought as she got ready. She quickly took a shower and brushed her hair, putting it into a tight braid with her bangs clipped back instead of leaving loose like usual. It was going to be a difficult day and she didn't want her hair getting in to the way. She ordered some caffa and breakfast to be brought up to her and sat down at the table in the room, getting her holo out. She made sure the transmission was secured before trying to connect her call.

"I'm fine." Cipher said when the call connected.

Abigaila chuckled and examined her sister. Cipher's hair was in a loose braid and she was wearing soft sleeping clothes. Abigaila had obviously woke her up. "I take it the others have already called, Cipher?"

"Yes." Cipher sighed. "And I got messages on my datapad from the others."

"Thought so. Are you sure you're alright? You're not hurt?" Abigaila said, starting to fret over her sister.

"Abi, I'm fine! Sheesh." Cipher shook her head, smiling slightly.

"You were nearly killed by terrorists if I'm understanding correctly!" Abigaila said.

"Not to mention mad men and possessed people..." Cipher muttered.

"What?!"

"Oops. You weren't suppose to know that part." Cipher looked away guiltily.

"You went into the Dark Temple." It wasn't a question but Cipher answered it anyways.

"Yes. That place...I'm going to be having nightmares for weeks. Just woke up from on actually. Even Kaliyo is pretty shaken up. The things in there." Cipher shuddered. "Please be careful when you and the others go in there."

"I'll try, Cipher." Abigaila said. She got up when she heard a knock at the door. She opened it to reveal a droid with her breakfast. "Thank you." She settled back in her chair.

"Where are you headed to now?" She asked.

"Balmorra. We're trying to find the Eagle or at least cut off the cell there. Didn't you see the transmission?" Cipher asked.

"No. I was asleep." Abigaila took a sip of her caffa.

"Well, somehow, after Jadus's ship was destroyed, he managed to temporarily take control of all holocommunicators and sent out a public message." Cipher explained.

Abigaila choked on her caffa. "How did he manage that?" She asked as she cleaned the caffa she had spilt.

"We have no idea." Cipher stifled a yawn. "I'm going to head back to bed. You guys be careful in there and call me or leave me a message when you'll are out of there."

"Will do. Goodnight." Abigaila said.

"Goodnight, Abi." The call disconnected. Abigaila leaned back and sighed tiredly. She finished her breakfast and checked the time. Noting that there was only ten minutes until it was time to wake Vette up, she ordered her breakfast and went to wake her up.

"Vette, it's time to wake up." Abigaila gently shook her shoulder.

"Noo." Vette groaned She rolled over onto her stomach and covered her head with her pillow.

"Vette." The Twi'lek just curled up, clutching the blanket to her.

Abigaila rolled her eyes. She grabbed the blanket and pulled if off Vette, causing her to leap up.

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" Vette exclaimed. She glared at her chuckling master.

"I haven't done that since I was a girl! I had forgotten how much fun it was to surprise people like that." Abigaila chuckled.

Vette just continued to glare at her as she got ready. She went in to the 'fresher, muttering under her breath. When she came out, she saw breakfast on the table but the warrior wasn't there.

'I wonder where she went.' Vette thought as she ate. She checked the time, surprised to see it was only an hour and a half til it was time to meet with the others.

"She could have let me sleep in an hour." Vette muttered.

"I did."

Vette whirled around to see Abigaila leaning against the doorway. "I got up an hour before I woke you up." She explained.

"Oh. Sorry." Vette said sheepishly, her face heating up with embarrassment.

"It's fine. You were not aware of this." Abigaila said. She waved her hand towards the table. "Are you done?"

Vette nodded.

"Then let's go. I've already paid our bill. I have a feeling we won't be needing this room when we're back." Abigaila said.

Vette yawned. "Great, nothing like a stroll through the jungle at dawn."

"That'll be the least of our worries." Abigaila said as they headed out of the cantina. It was lightly drizzling when they stepped out. Abigaila sighed with annoyance. 'Wonderful.' She thought as they walked to the meeting place. She spotted Nahia and Mako as she and Vette crossed the bridge.

"I thought we were going to be the first ones here." Abigaila said. There was still an hour left before they had needed to be there.

"This one woke me up with her pacing." Mako pointed her thumb to Nahia.

Abigaila looked at Nahia for an explanation. "I couldn't sleep." Nahia said, crossing her arms and shrugging.

Abigaila looked her sister with concern. Nahia had always been an insomniac. Very few things could get Nahia to sleep more than a few hours and none of them were currently available other than stims and she ahted those.

"Will you be alright?" Abigaila asked.

Nahia waved her hand, unconcerned. "I'll be fine. If I need to I can use a stim to keep me awake til I can sleep."

Abigaila remained unconvinced, but was distracted by the arrival of Synoya and Khem.

"I guess we'll be leaving now?" Vette asked after greetings were exchanged.

"Yep." Abigaila said.

"I'll clear the way." Synoya said.

"Wait, what?" Nahia asked. Synoya and Khem had vanished.

"Apparently she went the assassin route." Abigaila said. The others looked at her with confusion. Abigaila explained that it was specialized training available for an inquisitor.

"Oh ok." Mako said. "Let's get going."

The group continued through the expansion, spotting destroyed droids and the occasional glimpse of Synoya and Khem. They found the pair waiting for them at the Imperial barricade. The sun had The group continued through the outpost, stopping in front of the cave.

"Is this where we're suppose to through?" Vette asked.

Mako pulled out a holo map. "Yep. Through this cave and another tunnel. Then we'll go through this valley like are to the next outpost." She said, tracing their path with her finger.

"There is dark and chaotic energy here." Synoya murmured as they walked through the cave. They could hear the cries of the people up ahead.

"They feel very hostile." Abigaila said. She activated her lightsaber when she spotted a group of the possessed around the bend. The others readied their weapons.

"Be careful with your shots. Don't need any accidental shootings." Abigaila said.

She leaped right in, quickly impaling one of the men. She saw the flash of lightning and heard the shots from the blasters. The fight was quickly over, the lack of weapons and armor making the men no match for them. They met no other resistance until they reached the other tunnel where they repeated the process. It was raining heavily when they reached the end of the tunnel.

"Should we continue? The rain will only slow us down and make it more dangerous than it needs to be." Synoya asked.

"I think we should wait for it to lighten enough for us to see more clearly." Abigaila said.

The others nodded their agreement, all sitting down against the wall except for Khem, who seemed to stand watch. Everyone was quiet, the sound of the rain was the only sound to be heard. After what seemed to be forever, the rain lightened enough to a light drizzle. They quickly set out, reaching the outpost quickly.

"This is our last time for supplies and such, so make sure you don't need anything." Nahia said.

Everyone did a quick inventory check before leaving the safety of the outpost, encountering a mob soon after. There were people everywhere, all having gone mad or were possessed. They practically left a trail of bodies on their way up to the Temple with how many people there were.

"This place gives me the creeps." Vette said as they walked up the steps. The Temple loomed in the distance, dark and imposing. Everyone could feel the dark energy in the air, it was so strong. Upon entering the Temple, they were attacked by a trio of soldiers. Nahia activated her jetpack and rained rockets at them, killing them before anyone could react. She and Mako searched the soldiers, pulling out three tags.

"Part of the bounty." Nahia explained as she straightened from her crouch.

"Alrighty.." Vette said. She jumped when she heard the crackling of lightning, turning around to see a body sparking with electricity behind them.

"The fool tried to jump us." Synoya said.

"Hey, does anyone know where we're suppose to go?" Vette asked.

Synoya pulled out a map. "Well, we're right next to my objective." She said, pointing at a glowing mark in the chamber they were next to. "So we'll be off." She and Khem headed towards the chamber.

"Be careful!" Nahia called after them.

"I will!" Synoya called back.

"You go ahead, Abi." Nahia told her sister.

"You sure? The Ravager can wait. It hasn't moved in who knows how long. I highly doubt it's gonna start now." Abigaila said.

"Yeah. We just need two more tags and the badge from the commander guy than me and Mako will leave. Don't wanna miss the melee." Nahia said.

"Ok. You be careful and message me when you leave or have left." Abigaila said, fixing her sister with a stern look.

"Alrighty." They went looking for more troopers, leaving Abigaila and Vette.

"Time to go find the Ravager thingy?" Vette asked.

Abigaila sighed. "Yep."

Finally got it finished! Sorry that it is kinda boring. This seems to be more of a filler chapter really. I'll add more of the good stuff in the next chapter.