Coming around in nearly total darkness, King Verojec Banarecc coughed and choked, feeling ash and debris lining his entire throat. It didn't take long for his throbbing headache to earn his attention instead, and the more he moved, the more he felt every single bruise on his battered body. After a few moments of panic, he was reasonably sure that he hadn't suffered any broken bones or serious internal injury, but his clothes were heavily damp, adhering to his skin as he moved, and he couldn't see a thing...where exactly was he?

"Your...Highness," the weak voice of one of his Guards, Vosir Gyar, addressed him from just above him as he lay on his side. He turned toward her and carefully sat up, only just able to see her faint outline from the glow of the comm pad on her wrist. She was seated and weakly breathing as if she had been exerting herself for a lengthy amount of time, and her skin was dripping wet, as well. Her arms were extended over her head, but even in the dim lighting, he could easily see just how much her entire body was trembling. It took him only a brief moment to recognize how dire their situation was: they had survived the bombing of the Banarecc Estate, but...they were sealed beneath a considerable amount of debris, and his Guard was using the Force to stop a wall that was poised to crush them.

"Vosir..."

"Are you...injured, sire?"

He shook his head, but a sharp, piercing pain stopped him. He hoped Vosir hadn't seen his grimace. "I'll be okay. Starrc?"

Vosir's eyes tracked to her right, away from him, as a flicker of grief across her face interrupted her concentration. "Dead. He absorbed most...of the initial blast. I w-was able to divert some...some of the debris, but this wall... I can tell they...they're close to finding us, sire."

Though he was saddened that his Guard Starrc Altalfi, a kind, loyal young man, had perished in the attack, his mind immediately raced to thoughts of his family, none of which were trapped with him and Vosir though they had been just behind them during the attack. "Seyiri? My children?"

Vosir shook her head faintly, visibly distraught that she couldn't allay his concern. "I...I don't know, sire, I can't - I can't tell - - "

"It's okay," he consoled her quickly, hearing the debris rumble and shift just above them as her concentration waned. "It's okay. We'll find out soon enough. What can I do to help you, Vosir?"

"It is my duty to protect you, sire - - "

"Vosir," he repeated earnestly, meeting her gaze. "What can I do to help you?"

She seemed to earnestly think a long moment and had begun to answer him when a voice penetrated the rubble from the outside, one he easily recognized.

"King Banarecc! Sir, can you hear us?"

"Yes, General Kadol! My Guard Vosir and I are under this large slab!"

A number of other muffled voices sounded from all around them as the rubble shuddered and gave way again, showering him with a thick, muddy slurry and sizable boulders that he was only just able to protect his head from. More than half a dozen of Kadol's Elite Guards seemed to have all joined in on the rescue effort at once, and as more light and dripping water began to slowly filter in after several intense minutes, Jec positioned himself just beside Vosir under the wall she still held aloft, bracing his back against the slab. He wouldn't be much help if Vosir were to lose her hold, but he had to be sure she would have the same chance of being rescued as he when the Elite Guards reached them. She deserved that much.

Feeling a rush of cold, damp air as a large gap began to form directly in front of them, Jec hardly had any time to process how quickly he was being extracted. He felt at least two pairs of hands tugging him forward at first, then more and more as he was brought out into the exposure of a heavy, unrelenting downpour. Each guard's grip was practically lifting him off the ground as they swiftly moved, and his eyes adjusted just as they passed two of his wife's Guards who had their arms extended toward the pile of rubble. They, too, were using the Force to protect him, and they concentrated long enough for Vosir to be extracted behind him, as well. General Kadol rushed towards him, intense concern written all over his face.

"Your Highness, you're wounded - - "

"Where's Seyiri? Vani, Li?"

"Safe," Kadol returned quickly. "They were rescued, completely unharmed. Your Guards saved them from any injuries, and we've already taken them out of the city."

Overwhelmed with relief, Jec gripped Kadol's shoulders as his entire body sagged, and again the Elite Guards around him effortlessly supported him where he stood. He looked around at them, meeting each of their gazes to show his appreciation, but he began to realize that every guard standing amid the remains of the Banarecc Estate with him, each of his wearied, rain-soaked rescuers, was wholly focused on him, and only him.

"...am I the only other survivor you've found?"

General Kadol swallowed weakly as he nodded, leaving Jec in a state of shock. The Estate hadn't been fully staffed during the attack, but neither had it been completely evacuated. One of his closest friends had just been advising him and his family to leave mere moments before the attack... Elena...

"What about Master Rys'tihn, and her daughter? Have you...have you found them?"

Again Kadol shook his head, but he hardly allowed his king to absorb his response before he began to usher him toward an awaiting transport. "Sire, we should get you to safety so you can be treated - - "

"No," Jec shed Kadol's grip defiantly, stumbling briefly on rubble as he stepped away. "I am not going anywhere until we find them." He turned to the guards around him who hadn't yet moved despite his protest, all hesitant to defy their general. "Did you not hear me? Keep looking! I refuse to leave them behind!"

"Sire, please - - "

Ignoring Kadol, he continued to implore his guards passionately. "You all answer to me! You will continue to search until every single occupant of this Estate is found!" He came to a sudden realization as he saw his wife's Guards, the ones who had held the wall aloft earlier, were now supporting Vosir between them, and she was barely remaining conscious. They were Force users, well trained by Cordira Natiyr herself, and they could help. "Omic, Kenos, can you sense them? Any life signs, any trace at all?"

They visibly faltered. "We've been focused on finding you, Sire..."

"And you did. Now I need you to focus on finding Master Rys'tihn. She and Dirani weren't far from me when the charge detonated. They have to be here, somewhere very close."

The storm raged on above them, thundering angrily and somehow unleashing even more rain as Kadol and the Elite Guards all fell silent. No one dared to move, respectfully allowing Omic and Kenos to concentrate for long, agonizing moments. Jec's breath was frozen in his chest as he waited and waited, and he had even reluctantly begun to give up hope, feeling his heart wrench into a searing knot...

"I...I hear her..."

Vosir's feeble words were hardly audible over the incessant splatter of rainfall on the rubble, but Jec watched as she slowly lifted her head, staring into the flash-burned foliage that surrounded the Estate's grounds. Without hesitation, Jec immediately charged that direction, only just reaching the decimated outer boundaries of the structure when he heard it, too.

A wet, choking gasp.

He could feel his heartbeat in his throat as he stumbled across an exposed, outstretched hand and a badly broken arm below another pile of debris. Without thinking he began removing rocks by sheer force of will, and thankfully he was quickly joined by Elite Guards to move the larger boulders. It seemed to take an eternity, but finally they uncovered the two, only barely recognizable by their hair color. Dirani lay on her back, nearly drowning in the rainwater that had been falling into her open mouth as she noticeably struggled for breath. Her pure white hair was almost anything but, showing signs of burns and caked with bloody mud. Her mother Elena was face-down just beside her, though, one of her legs awkwardly angled under her and her hand resting atop Dirani's other arm...but the Jedi Master was deathly still.

The Elite Guards sprang into well-trained action around him, already creating makeshift splints to stabilize Dirani's arm, but Jec watched in horror as one guard reached over to Elena, gripping her wrist in search of a pulse only to step back a moment later shaking his head.

Jec stared unblinking, not caring how much the grit- and blood-infused rain fiercely burned as it dripped into his eyes from his forehead. Losing one of his oldest, dearest friends in such a way when he had hardly suffered more than a scratch himself was painfully incomprehensible. She was far more powerful, more extensively skilled than his Guards, but she had been unable to protect herself the way they had protected him? The more he studied her motionless body, the more he realized that the way her hand was so delicately draped over Dirani's arm was no accident. She had survived far worse, but Dirani...Dirani was no Jedi Knight, and she would have been completely defenseless in the blast.

He stumbled over his words in his rush to share his revelation. "Elena - Master Rys'tihn, she could still be alive!" Meeting Kadol's worriedly skeptical look, he continued. "She may be suppressing her own vitals to save her daughter." He returned to the guards, somehow keeping his voice from shaking as he gave his orders. "Get them both to a medical center immediately, but whatever you do, do not separate them! Do you understand? Keep them together!"

Getting nods of understanding from all the guards before they continued to work on the two women, Jec abruptly turned to Kadol, finally ready to leave with him.

"Take me to the High Commander, now. I need to know what else has happened to my city."

Flying at full speed into the middle of the battle with a diving roll and destroying two pirate bombers before skimming the valley of trees below, Cordira hardly heard Tops' frantic, shrieking cries behind her.

"Derek's the one making the mistake, Tops," she countered with a faint waver in her voice, "...not me."

He squawked and beeped in protest yet again, the umpteenth time since she'd left her remote shelter far behind after hearing Derek argue with his father over the comms. It was her fault he had returned to the air despite being grounded for missing an assignment, which had also been her fault, and regardless of her ailing state, she changed her mind once more and felt compelled to intervene.

Striker again had one last mission to complete.

Another two pirates met the wrong end of her rapid turbolaser fire, earning the complete attention of the swarm that hovered just beyond the Naeron Mountains. She immediately went on the defensive, swooping and swerving out of their reach as she desperately searched the rumbling skies for Derek's bulky hauler. She spotted a number of Salastryni fighters among the mix, and despite the fact that the enemy still far outnumbered them, she was grateful the fighting was remaining contained to the city's outskirts.

"Look! Look, it's Striker!"

"I knew it, I knew he wasn't gone - "

"We've missed you, buddy!"

"Missed? Seriously needed!"

"Valor Two, stop that stray!"

"I've got a tai - "

"Eclipse Four is down - "

"The pirate fighters are following Striker; Edgepoints and Rallyes, single out the bombers. Everybody else, focus on the fighters!"

Both Derek's and Ethan's familiar voices among the chatter made Cordira's heart skip a beat, and it momentarily cost her enough concentration for a turbolaser blast to skim her canopy. The heat instantly melted some of the transparisteel, exposing a sliver of her cockpit to the pouring rain. She could feel the frigid spray hitting her face like tiny ice shards as she threw her ship into a dive, and Tops' continued protests only added to her misery.

"Can it, Tops! You don't have to remind me!"

She spun and took a wide, banking turn to bring the pirates as far away from Dalon as she could while still keeping tabs on the other fighters. Derek's hauler couldn't be that hard to spot among the New Republic X-wings and the rest of Paneau's Edgepoints...

"Striker! You okay?"

"He won't answer you, Iafix. Never answers anyone."

"Another couple of fighters are drifting from the group - "

"We have to keep them on this side of the Naerons!"

"Cordira!" Derek's panicked voice broke through the battle's chatter over her personal comm channel. "What are you doing!"

Finally spotting his lumbering hauler as it took a spiraling nosedive after some of the pirates' fighters, she shakily answered him. "I could ask you the same." She felt an explosion rock her X-wing from behind, a not-so subtle reminder that she had more than a dozen fighters on her tail. "Derek, I heard what you said to your father, and I felt it, too... Your family needs you right now."

"And yours doesn't?"

A flurry of turbolaser fire blasted past her, all from one particularly nimble fighter that had been closing in on her since she'd arrived in the valley. She needed the Paneau and Salastryni squadrons to focus on getting rid of it, but she couldn't exactly tell them without revealing her identity. She could already sense that her reflexes were suffering as her fatigue returned in earnest, and it would only be a matter of time before she would become completely useless in this fight.

"We've been through this," she countered in between maneuvers. "I am going to do what I can until I have nothing left. There's no other way that I'll allow this to end."

A pair of Liberas crossed dangerously closely just ahead of her, preceded only milliseconds by a shrill warning from Tops as her X-wing spun out of the way without her direction. Startled, she called on the Force to soothe her nerves and hone her focus for a little while longer...

"And I told you to let us fight for you, too. I will do everything in my power to save you - "

"Derek, please! You don't have to do this!"

The sad resignation in his tone chilled her to her core. "Yes... Yes, I do."

Derek's hauler swept around in a looping roll as he bore down hard on a bomber that had split from the group, but Cordira watched as it was quickly joined by a handful more. The pirates were no longer stretching their range toward Dalon; instead, they seemed to have suddenly set their sights on a cluster of smaller cities in the other direction - cities that had no warning, no protection, and no evacuation orders.

"The bombers are headed to Kirodai!"

"Edgepoints, focus your fire on the lead bomber, we have to buy them time!"

"Fighters are climbing - "

" - using clouds as cover - "

" - lost another Veil - "

"Rallye Three! Your port engine - "

Though Cordira had begun to determinedly chase the fighters up into the clouds, she dove back down without hesitation, searching frantically for Ethan's X-wing. It was hard to distinguish through the rain that continued to fall from the unrelenting, far-reaching storm, but she spotted one Rallye with a trail of thick black smoke billowing behind it. She pushed her engines to full power, closing the distance between them as quickly as she could, and she could already tell that his ship was badly damaged, if not nearly completely disabled. She could hardly breathe.

"Don't worry about me, Striker," Ethan deflected earnestly. "Take care of those bombers! Hurry!"

"You can't survive another hit, Ethan! You need to land, right now!"

"I can manage," he answered his partner defiantly as she returned to his side. "I know what my limitations are."

"We got one bomber, but the others aren't far behind - "

"They're aiming for the medical center!"

"Stay on them, Edgepoints - "

"Rallyes, try to detonate the charges before they hit the ground - "

Cordira hesitated a long moment, her heart pounding furiously in her chest as she watched Ethan and Pallas continue on ahead, engaging a bomber as it unleashed round after round of its destructive payload. They flew well-practiced, synchronized circles around it, finally disposing of it in a spectacular explosion as one final charge destroyed it from the inside out. Pallas' ship took a hard right toward the next bomber, but Ethan didn't follow. He maintained the same trajectory...which was headed straight for a modest skyscraper in the center of Kirodai.

"Ethan! Pull up!"

"Controls aren't responding - that last explosion knocked them out - "

Reacting without even thinking, Cordira chased after Ethan's fighter again, her pulse racing -

"No, Striker, don't!"

- she dove underneath him, matching his speed exactly -

"Your fighter is already damaged enough!"

- lined up her S-foils with his, edging her X-wing up, up, up...

"Striker!"

Hearing the thud of the hulls just contacting each other, she pitched her nose up, barely redirecting Ethan over the building and out of harm's way, at least, for the time being. She had to roll hard to her right to avoid colliding with it, as well, but she finally released a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding. Color even drained from her vision as she gasped desperately with satisfaction, and Tops' excited hoots behind her echoed her feelings.

"Now will you land, Ethan?" Pallas asked angrily, and Cordira had never been happier to hear Ethan's weak laugh in return.

"If you insist."

But her relief was short lived as her sensor readout lit up with enemy fighters once more.

"Another bomber - "

"Fighters diving in from above - "

"Destroy the charges!"

" - aiming for the medical center again - "

"Watch your scopes!"

Despite the onslaught raining down from the pirate fighters, Cordira set her jaw, determined to protect the defenseless medical center as she turned her sights on the bomber, the last one on her screen. A number of Edgepoints and Rallyes made sweeping attacks on it, but it forged ahead, undaunted. She, too, took aim and landed a number of blasts, but this final ship appeared indestructible. Its bay doors opened, mere seconds from releasing its payload...when Cordira felt everything slow to a halt.

A calm, comforting feeling embraced her completely, putting her mind instantly at ease as she understood and came to terms with what she was supposed to do. It was as though the Force had suddenly returned to her in its entirety, enveloping her in its peaceful, tranquil presence like she'd never felt it before. She was no longer afraid, no longer in pain, as she freely gave into its will, flying her ship just below the belly of the bomber to intercept its charge mid-air, making the sacrifice she had been preparing herself for so she could spare the medical center below...

...but Derek's hauler edged just past her at the last second, and he absorbed the catastrophic blast instead. His ship exploded spectacularly above her and split into two fiery halves, the force of which completely broke one of her S-foils off at the hull. She screamed as the violence of it sent her spiraling to the ground out of control, and she hardly felt the impact as her X-wing crashed into Kirodai's surrounding forest.