Paneau: remote Naeron Mountains
Rys'tihn Retreat
6.0 APC

It had only been a few precious hours since the most intense moments of life had transpired, and Major Jax still wasn't sure if it had all been real. His wife Milowi now slept peacefully in the Rys'tihn Retreat's medical wing, quickly treated for her crashing systems, and though the early morning light was slowly creeping into the dimly lit room, he hadn't slept, he hadn't moved a micron from his seat beside her bed, and nothing would make him.

The stress of her prolonged confinement had sent her heart into a frenzy after her rescue, but once the Retreat's medical staff had administered the right fluids and nutrients, replenishing her frail body, she stabilized almost immediately. He had stared at her in a surreal haze for so long since, so intently studying her every minute movement. The steady rise and fall of her chest as she breathed mesmerized him easily as the silent moments passed, and though he knew she had to be so weak, so fatigued by the lengthy ordeal she'd miraculously survived, he still expected her to wake up at any moment. They'd be moving her to Dalon once they were sure she'd remain stable, which he assumed would be soon, as little as the medics had tended to her in the past hour.

As if hearing his thoughts, she slowly stirred, bringing him to his feet at her side. Closely leaning over her, he held her hand gently in his, keeping his voice low to avoid startling her as she woke.

"Sweetheart...you should be resting."

Her eyes fluttered slightly, only opening halfway, but it was her small sincere smile that put him at ease as she closed her hand around his. "I'm okay," she managed weakly, releasing a slow, contented breath. "I'll rest...you talk."

Her request surprised him. She had been held captive for two months, and that was what she wanted from him? He gave a short laugh as he searched her eyes. "You want me to talk? About what?"

"Anything," she breathed. "I just...need to hear your voice."

Moved by her words, he had to force any trace of shakiness from his response. "I don't have much to tell you," he began quietly. "I've been...recovering, too."

Milowi's expression fell as she realized what he meant. "...he hurt you?"

He nodded weakly. "They almost didn't get to me in time." Anticipating her next question, he answered it before she spoke again. "Tavyna was never harmed. My brother Eger's been taking care of her while we've been..." Overcome with emotion once more, he wavered, struggling to keep himself standing beside her. "It should've been me... Why didn't he take me?"

Saddened, Milowi briefly closed her eyes before she returned to him, squeezing his hand slightly. "He told me he was going to," she said, suddenly sounding slow and weak as she looked, "but in trying to escape him...I changed his mind for him."

"Milowi..."

"Listen," she continued with renewed strength, her eyes opening a bit more. "I wouldn't have had it...any other way, do you understand me? I was trained for this, Aurin - "

"And so was I."

He held her gaze firmly, knowing just how equally their skills and abilities were matched. His career had taken him into leadership more than actual field work, but he had been taught how to withstand torture and interrogation just as she had. He could see in her eyes that she was well aware of that fact, but...her eyes...

The longer he studied them, the more he began to notice that...something was off. She was looking at him, but...she wasn't. There was no focus, no depth, no movement...

She was sightless.

"No..."

Unable to see his reaction, she was confused. "...Aurin?"

"No... No, you can't..."

The pain of understanding washed over her face, but she didn't seem...upset at her condition. "It's okay. I'll be okay."

He could hardly breathe. "No, it's not... Milowi, we have to get you to the Dalon Medical Center, the...the doctors could help..."

Surprising him, she seemed unsure again. "...where are we now?"

"The Rys'tihn Retreat," he somehow managed to answer. "We had to stop here, you were so critical..."

What little color she had regained in a few short hours of rest suddenly drained from her face. "Are the children still here?"

"I...I don't know, I think so..."

"Aurin...he could have followed you here," she continued, unable to keep a haunted tone out of her voice. "You need to get more guards...to those children...right now."

Still reeling from the realization, he looked up to the two Royal Guards who had been posted just inside the room. They understood his implied order, but as they depressed the panel to open the door...it clicked, and nothing moved.

They had been locked inside.

He fumbled in his pocket for his comlink to reach the other Elite Guard elsewhere in the Retreat, but it, too, remained silent.

Milowi didn't have to see it to know what had happened. "...it may be too late."

Though he had begun to panic, Milowi only gripped his hand more tightly as a determined expression set on her face.

"Bring me over to the door," she ordered with hushed intensity. "I can walk you through disabling the circuit manually."

Without any other ideas, he complied, quickly scooping her up into his arms and carrying her to their only way out.

Stepping into the hallway from the children's playroom, Garran very nearly bumped into Yhren Natiyr, startling them both and making him blush.

"Yhren!" he recovered quickly, having to reposition Dirani in his arms. "You're up early."

Yhren smiled kindly, patting Dirani on the back in apology. "You are, too." She looked to Garran's side, and only seeing Derek standing beside him, she furrowed her brows. "Where's Cordira?"

"We were on our way to find her, actually," he answered. "Kollie and Raen are already in the dining hall for breakfast. We'll check her favorite hiding spots as we go, if you want to join us."

Though she looked a little concerned for her niece, Yhren nodded and took up stride with them, holding Derek's hand as they continued through the halls. Glad to see her again and fond of their conversations, Garran tried to lighten her mood.

"Don't worry," he offered with a grin. "She probably thinks we're still playing the same game from yesterday."

"Maybe," Yhren returned distractedly, looking all about the hall with increasing anxiety. "Isn't it a little...quiet?"

Garran shrugged. "It's early. Most of the staff isn't here unless Koril and Elena are, and they've been...busy."

"I know, but..." She eventually slowed to a halt, gently hugging Derek to her leg protectively as she spoke at a whisper. "...where are the guards?"

Looking around and listening, as well, he was beginning to feel a cold chill through his spine, the same sensation that warned him before vandals broke into his home on Bakura months ago... Yhren was right. Something was amiss.

"Maybe we should...go back..."

Yhren nodded without hesitation, and just as she began to turn with him, something bright hit her in her back, sending her to the floor in sudden pain. In his shock, it took him almost too long to recognize that it had been a blaster bolt - and the Kel Dor was running at them from the opposite end of the long hallway.

"Yhren! Yhren, get up!"

Reacting solely by reflex, Garran somehow managed to pull Yhren back onto her feet and simultaneously keep Dirani in his hold as he dragged them all around the corner with him. She was suffering, struggling to breathe in her agony, and he knew the four of them wouldn't last much longer against the Kel Dor. They had no weapons, no means of defending themselves from certain death, and there were no guards in sight to come to their aid. He desperately searched the hall for anything he could use to fight back, any kind of escape, but there was nothing...until he recognized which particular part of the Retreat they were in...and inspiration struck.

Reaching under his shirt collar, he tore his Rys'tihn Crest off his neck and slapped it to an almost unnoticeable depression in the wall. Though it seemed to take an eternity in his panic, the hidden door finally opened to the tunnel he had mistakenly explored when he had first arrived at the Retreat so long ago, triggered by his Crest he wasn't aware he'd had at the time. He now knew it hadn't been an accident that he'd found the secret tunnels the way he did...he was meant to. Ushering Derek and Dirani into it quickly, he helped Yhren down the first few steps, palming his Crest to her as he supported her by her good shoulder.

"You take this! You take this and you keep going down this tunnel until you can't go anymore, do you hear? Don't come back to the Retreat, you keep the kids safe! Go!"

Though she was rapidly losing the strength to breathe, she nodded strongly and stumbled the rest of the way down, making sure Derek and Dirani kept up with her. As he watched her disappear with them, he climbed back up into the hall and made sure the door sealed behind him. He still had nothing to combat the Kel Dor but himself...and he would do what he could.

Rounding the corner with blasters in hand, the Kel Dor came to a sudden stop, seeing only Garran in front of him. Unsure of his reaction, Garran merely stood his ground, breathing heavily from the adrenalin rush.

"Where are the others?" the Kel Dor demanded darkly, stepping towards him slowly with his blasters raised. Garran didn't move.

"What others? I'm the only one here."

"I know I hit one of you," he growled. "Where are those children!"

Emboldened with the knowledge that he had foiled the Kel Dor's plans, he almost grinned. "Maybe I made you see what I wanted you to see."

Standing just in front of him, Garran remained undeterred by the Kel Dor's powerful size. He no longer cared what would happen to him; the Rys'tihn children were safely stowed away in the tunnels, and elsewhere, Cordira could hide from her own family with little effort. Even as the Kel Dor sized him up and down, he didn't shy away.

"You are no Jedi, boy," he challenged as he holstered a blaster, freeing one of his hands. "But if you want to stand in my way like one...I'll dispose of you like the rest."

Before he could react, the Kel Dor swiftly grabbed Garran by the throat and lifted him into the air, holding him at arm's length as though he weighed nothing. His airway instantly closed, Garran struggled against him, pulling at his clawed hand to no avail. The Kel Dor's impossible grip tightened even more, and unable to draw fresh breath, Garran began to lose his strength. In his waning moments of life, he heard a familiar voice call his name, a voice he recognized at the last...as his father's.

"GARRAN!"

Cade felt his heart implode as the Kel Dor carelessly tossed his son's lifeless form to the ground, but he had little time to react as a punishing volley of blaster bolts came his way in response. He ducked behind a column for cover and drew his own blaster to return fire, but the Kel Dor persisted, relentless as he ran toward him, firing from both pistols, and turned down a connecting hallway. Cade hesitated a moment before moving from his cover, making sure he wouldn't be surprised, and though he wanted nothing more than to hold his only son, he had to follow the Kel Dor.

Carefully peering around the corner he'd taken, a bolt whizzed past his face, mere millimeters from landing the Kel Dor another kill. Angrier by the moment, Cade returned fire and sprinted down the hallway, determined to stop him. Blinded by his rage, though, he wildly turned another corner and took a hard, incapacitating strike across the jaw, sending him sprawling to the floor. He tucked into the fall, though, recovering enough to roll back up onto his feet with a blaster still in hand. Forcing the Kel Dor to retreat this time, he followed him with reciprocate blaster fire. Only an extra step ahead, Cade almost had him, but somehow the Kel Dor turned and sealed a door between them, and Cade couldn't make it open for him.

"No!" he pounded furiously on the door, completely at a loss for its betrayal. He had total control over the entirety of the Retreat's security and systems, how could the Kel Dor have overwritten it!

Determining where the door led, Cade remembered an alternate route that would hopefully put him back on the Kel Dor's trail. He moved as quickly as he could, racing against the limited time he knew the Retreat's guests had left.

Though she had been treated for her injuries from the collapsing mine that night, Ri was still sore, rubbing her aching shoulders as she walked numbly down the hall from the room she'd gotten a few hours of sleep in. Her head was still pounding, but she could deal with it until they returned to Dalon with Milowi, which would hopefully be soon. She wanted something to eat before they left, so on her way to the dining hall for breakfast where she assumed everyone else would already be, she wasn't expecting to see Cordira running towards her, alone and positively frantic.

"Ri!" she cried, reaching out for her desperately. "Ri! Ri, help! Help, he's here!"

Embracing the girl as she clung to her in fear, Ri struggled to understand her. "What are you talking about, Cordira? What's wrong!"

But Cordira only continued to cry, tugging at Ri's shirt to pull her away. She was deathly afraid of something, and as Ri looked up the hallway where Cordira had come from, she saw a familiar form approaching that stole her breath.

"There's the one I've been looking for," the Kel Dor announced as he closed the distance, blaster in hand. "I didn't expect that I would see you again, though."

"Cordira, stay behind me," Ri instructed calmly as she tugged her lightsaber off her belt. "I'm not afraid of you. I fought you before, I can do it again."

"Perhaps you can," he agreed condescendingly, "but I'm more prepared this time. You won't be able to land that lightsaber blade on me, even if you were skilled enough to."

Initially confused by his statement, she looked him over and noticed the light armor he was now wearing. Would it actually repel her blade, or was he simply feigning invincibility to make her second guess herself? She couldn't afford to assume either, so she readied herself in a fighting stance, igniting her rose-bladed lightsaber for their confrontation.

"You're not taking this girl. You're not taking anyone again."

If he could have, Ri suspected he would have rolled his eyes. "It wasn't supposed to be this difficult. I had the perfect diversion arranged with that ship crash at the school, keeping all those Jedi occupied with their predictable rescue efforts. They practically hand delivered her to me, until you had to get in my way. I won't be nearly as merciful this time. Back down now, or I will kill you."

"Never."

Just as he raised his pistol to fire at her, a different round of fire sounded from behind him, halting him. He ducked and stepped behind a stone statue, firing in both directions. Ri was able to deflect the bolts from her and Cordira, and looking up the hall at the second shooter, she was surprised to see Cade Rys'tihn making his way toward them.

"Cordira, hide!" Ri told her as she covered her escape, much to the Kel Dor's surprise. Angered that he remained pinned down and that the girl was getting away from him again, he turned both his blasters on Ri, firing rapidly. Still sluggish from her mending wounds, she could only deflect every other bolt, and she knew she couldn't hold out forever. As she thought for sure she'd have to take even more injuries, the bolts stopped - Cade had tackled the Kel Dor to the ground from behind.

They fought fiercely with each other, trading a dozen kicks and punches, though the Kel Dor easily overpowered Cade after a number of severe swings. Before the Kel Dor could deliver one final blow, though, Ri saw an opportunity and took it, thrusting her lightsaber blade into a gap in the Kel Dor's armor at his knee.

Surprised, the Kel Dor roared in pain and swung wildly at her, striking her hard across the face. She landed against the wall as her lightsaber fell from her hand and clicked off. Though she desperately tried to keep her balance in case she had to fend off a second attack from the Kel Dor, another blaster bolt echoed through the hallway, and the Kel Dor cried out in agony again.

Cade had blasted through the Kel Dor's other knee.

Felled and weaponless as Cade kicked his blasters away, the Kel Dor lay on the ground in defeat, no longer able to work his legs. Cade stood over him, breathless from the exertion, but the rage and pain in his eyes was unexpected. He held his blaster on the Kel Dor, and just as he moved to fire, intent on killing him, Ri had to stop him.

"Cade! We need him alive so we can find out who's after Cordira."

Trembling with fury, Cade only stood down when a company of Royal Guards finally arrived, flooding the hallway as they quickly took over and apprehended their prisoner. Without a word to anyone, Cade turned and took off at a dead sprint, leaving Ri in dumbfounded shock as to what all had just happened.