Last time: Dracul turned Kopesh and Cien against each other and they nearly killed each other. However, Kopesh was killed and then... brought back to life by Dracul.

Now: Sasha, Viran, and Kyr return home to prepare for what is to come.

Chapter 11- She's Coming

The Shadow Runner traveled through hyperspace, back to Artemis, back to the Xiv household. Shortly after Cien had contacted Sasha and they agreed to trust her for the time being, they decided to return home. Kyr placed a call to Oppie, Kitsu and Illara to let them know about the information they had received. Apparently, Oppie was already back from his journey which Sasha and Viran were thrilled to hear about. Kitsu and Illara said they were going to wrap up their job and be there soon after Sasha and the others were due to return. But in the end, they all agreed that this was troubling news and that they would need to band together on this.

Now they had only another hour before they were due to arrive. Kyr was cleaning his armor in the lounge. He had noticed that the red dust from the Sith world had dirtied his armor. So now he was polishing his plates with a serious focus. Viran went to rest in the back as he still needed to recover from the dark side's effects on his mind. She had recovered faster than him, but she also was forced by both men to rest immediately after they left too. So now Sasha and Tac were hanging out in the cockpit, keeping an eye on the ship systems as it flew through hyperspace.

Sasha. I'm heading to you. A familiar voice rang through her head. Sasha straightened up in her seat and looked around. She recognized it to be Cien's voice.

But what did she mean by 'I'm heading to you'? Suddenly it clicked. Something must have happened with Dracul... something bad she feared. But how did she know where to go?

Sasha sat there thinking over what Cien meant and how she was going to figure out where to find them. So closing her eyes, Sasha entered into the mindspace and reached out to Cien.

"Cien?" Sasha called into the darkness. But she got no response. Something told her that Cien could hear her, but why she wasn't answering was actually really concerning. "I hear you. I'll be waiting." She assured the Sith. Something she never thought she would have to do.

After another few minutes of waiting for Cien's response, Sasha left the mindspace, a frown plastered on her face. Tac whistled worriedly at her. She didn't need a translation to understand what he just said.

"This is bad, Tac," Sasha told him. "Really bad. We will need to tell the others. We are going to have company when we get back."

Kyr brought the Shadow into its usual berth at Haven, landing in the garage next to various other ships the Xiv clan had left behind. The hangar was built to accommodate a huge party of ships, for when all the family had gathered, and when all the family had been much larger. He powered down the ship and sat back for a second before getting up out of the pilots seat. He felt weary. He was excited for the coming battle, to see action again, but he had to admit he wasn't sure what their chances were of defeating this guy. Or of all of them making it out alive. He grimaced under his buy'ce, trying to ward off a sinking feeling that he might be left alone again.

He got up, heading for the lounge, and came around the corner. Viran was not happy that Cien was on her way. "Hey kids, we're home." He said as he passed into the lounge, Tac trailing behind him. Sasha and Viran were quietly talking.

"Alright, thanks," Viran responded. "We will be right there."

Viran then turned his gaze back to Sasha. There was a tension in the air between them ever since Sasha had revealed that Cien was on her way to Haven. Well they weren't sure if that was exactly where Cien was headed. They just knew that she was headed their way. Sasha had even been trying to get a hold of her through their mindspace link, but she was getting no response each time. Which admittedly worried Sasha, even if she wouldn't say it out loud. They had to guess that Cien was probably tracking Sasha just like the first time they met. But they would soon have all the answers if Cien actually did show up.

"Look, I'm sorry about all of this," Viran voiced after a second of silence once the Mandalorian was off the ship. "It's just… you know how I feel about her."

"I know," Sasha said, her gaze low to the floor. "And I know you are worried about me too. But I know that if anything happens to me, you'll be there to save me. I just…" She took a deep breath, looked him straight in the eyes, and grabbed his hands. "I need you to have my back on this one. At least until we have all the information and Dracul is dealt with, okay?"

Viran couldn't help but smile. "I've always got your back." He then leaned forward and gave her a soothing kiss. They held the kiss for a long moment before pulling away and resting their foreheads against each other. "I love you," he whispered.

"I know," Sasha whispered back with a smile.

From the foot of the ramp, they could hear Tac's loud beeping at them. They both chuckled and headed for the ramp where the impatient droid sat waiting.

Kyr and Oppie were standing at the foot of the ramp talking. Kyr had his bucket off, munching on a cookie. As the two young Jedi walked down the ramp, Kyr left, wandering off into the house to get another snack. Oppie looked up as Sasha and Viran started down the ramp, and held a cookie wrapped in a napkin out for each of them. "Hey guys." He said. "We have company coming?" He inquired.

Sasha and Viran grabbed a cookie from him. A smile grew on Sasha's face as she unwrapped the cookie and took a bite of it. "Op… how dare you give me my one true weakness," she said dramatically as she took another bite.

"And yeah, we are expecting company, but I don't know if you'd call it friendly," Viran responded as he took a bite of his. If Sasha hadn't been eating a cookie, she might have shot a glare at him, but she was too entranced by the sugary goodness.

"We'll handle it." Oppie said with a shrug, "we always do."

Viran nodded as he took a bite of his. Sasha finished her cookie and brushed the crumbs off her hands before looking at Oppie. "So how did your mission go?"

Oppie smiled. "You remember that temple I was going to?" He asked.

"Yeah," Sasha and Viran said at the same time.

"It ended up being where Master Redika had taken his trials. I'm a knight now." He said with a grin.

"What? No way! Congrats!" Sasha cheered as she wrapped Oppie up in a congratulatory hug.

"Yeah, seriously! That's awesome, Op!" Viran congratulated. "Was it hard?"

"Kind of." Op said in a distant way, a shadow of a grimace passed over his face, "I won't spoil it for when you guys have to take your trials there." He said with a smile.

Sasha pulled away, grinning from ear to ear. "I never thought it would be possible without the Jedi Order around, but now I am so excited to finally finish our training towards being Jedi Knights."

"For real, though! This is so cool, Op," Viran said with a grin as patted Oppie's shoulder.

"Master Redika was there, in the end." Oppie continued, "he was the one who told me I passed." Oppie grimaced again, "He also showed me a vision of Dracul's plan. He showed me Coruscant being attacked." He said, worriedly.

Sasha and Viran frowned before sharing a look. They then looked back to Oppie.

"Tell him," VIran urged Sasha.

"The last planet we stopped at had a Sith Temple on it," Sasha said carefully. "There we were given this horrible vision of what might be the future, but… it was really unclear. All we know was that Dracul had something to do with it." Sasha lowered her gaze to the ground. "There was so much death in that vision."

"We'll stop it." Oppie said, with determination in his voice. "Come on, you guys have had a long trip, let's go inside and get dinner started."

Sasha looked up and nodded. Viran chuckled. "Look at him. He becomes a knight and now he is just oozing confidence and inspiration," Viran complemented, but also slightly joked at. "We're proud of you, Op," he added sincerely.

"Hey, I'll be dragging you there soon enough. Sport." Oppie said with a grin as he turned to head off to the kitchen.

Viran's jaw dropped, shocked. Sasha tried to stifle a laugh behind her hand as she clasped it to her mouth. It didn't work. Small bursts of laughter escaped from her. She followed after Oppie, leaving Viran still standing there dumbfounded a moment longer.

"Hey!" Viran called as he raced after them.

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