Kiara scanned the system after she dropped out of hyperspace. Nothing showed up on her scans but just to be safe she stayed cloaked, anyway. This was just one more jump on her way to the system that she intended but she didn't want to go straight to her destination just in case she had been detected and was being followed after making her way from the last planet that held an unexpected Imperial base.
This system would be a good hiding place. Whereas this system had once been a bustling hub of the arts it was now a graveyard. The presence of so many deaths had left a disturbance in the force to make it more difficult for anyone to pick up her own force signature out of the masses. Even with the mass execution having taken place more than a year ago the imprint on the force that it had made was still quite strong.
Kiara maneuvered her ship toward one of the large rocks floating through space to land and allowed her ship to blend into the asteroid field that had only been here for a short time. She then prepared to stay for a rotation, perhaps two, before she moved on. She glanced around the ship and actually felt disconcerted by the quietness of it. She'd asked Tac to power down until she called for him, explaining that she would need to power the ship's systems down to avoid detection should anyone be nearby. To his credit, he didn't ask any questions; fully trusting his mistress. It wouldn't have been the first time that she'd been on a self-imposed mission that required stealth.
In actuality, she felt too guilty for leaving the rebel base behind, along with all whom she'd left there, whenever he would ask about Alex and if they should send a message to check on him. Asking the droid to shut down was the only way to keep herself from sending out a message to the base, to Alexsandr.
Kiara left the cockpit and went to her ship's common area that never before seemed to be too big or too quiet. Now, she sat on her couch and tried to read over her datapad and looked up every few moments; for what she didn't know. After about an hour of trying to read over the information on the pad she decided that the only thing that she could do would be to meditate and try to find her center. Her focus for the days, weeks, months, and many more, ahead.
She glanced over at the datapad where she'd been reading about the ancient force users and let out a breath before she pulled her legs up on the couch so that she could cross them under her and placed her hands on her knees. The Kwa were supposedly one of the original force users. There were a few but she'd centered on this species for her research for now. She planned to go to their home world eventually. Her first stop on her planned itinerary of force studies was one of their temples in a nearby sector. She also had other locations set aside. Most of which were known to have a temple of some kind devoted to the force at them. And she was meticulous to make sure that she steered clear of any planets that the Empire showed interest in, for the most part.
Kiara focused on the force, making herself ignore where her thoughts wanted to drift to naturally, and allowed the force to guide them. Calming her. She had to let go if she wanted to be able to fulfill her mission. She needed more control. Power without control was a liability that she couldn't afford. Not if she eventually intended to take Elios down. Because that was the only way that her friends and her chosen family would be safe from him. She will do whatever it takes to keep the man from hurting any of them again.
Kallus walked toward his quarters after his duty shift. While he was still strained when he made the trek at the end of each day, in the months since he'd been on the desert planet it had become easier to get back and forth without showing his difficulty. In the morning he was even able to do some workouts to help build up his strength; though he would pay for it in the evening. As he picked his way toward the barracks, he saw a frustratingly familiar blue Twi'lek.
"Kallus, I'm glad to see you are finally starting to look as if you've recovered from your ordeal with the Imperials," Salora said with a sweet smile as she stepped forward to slip an arm through his own. "Though I am surprised that you seemed to have returned to us alone. Should I assume that your friend, what was her name? That the Imperials got her like many of the others?"
Kallus moved his arm and willed himself not to fall from the sudden movement. He'd put in a particularly grueling workout this morning before his long shift in the control room. "I'm not sure I know who you are referring to. I had many friends, and several didn't survive Suaren."
"Yet you were able to show our Imperials adversaries that you are not a man to underestimate."
Kallus wanted to roll his eyes at the flattery that she tried to ply him with. It was always the same thing with her. Flirting and trying to stroke his ego. He wanted to but somehow, he was able to keep his eyes from taking a look at the sky as he neared the living quarters. "Was there something that you wanted?"
He knew that was the wrong question when the woman gave a coy smile as she glanced down at his body before looking back up at his face. He wondered why he wanted to cringe. After all, she was pleasant looking and, on the surface, he supposed that he should be flattered by her attention.
"I just wanted to let you know that I'm pleased to see you are well. After all, it couldn't have been easy to survive the attentions of the Moff."
"Well, thank you for your concern. I need to go now since I'm supposed to meet with Garazeb before the evening meal."
"Perhaps I'll see you then." Salora then stood up on her toes to leave a kiss on Kallus's cheek before she turned to leave.
Kallus continued toward his quarters when he paused and looked back toward where the Twi'lek had left. He then turned around and returned to Control. He wondered about something.
When he got back to the main control room, he ignored the questions as to why he was back so soon after he'd just left for the evening. Instead, he went over to one of the men, an insectoid whose species he couldn't recall at the moment, who served as an intelligence officer at the base.
"D'wyza, can you do me a favor. Who is the one who vetted Salora? Where was she before she joined the cell back on Suaren?"
The man spoke into his translator to respond, "It may take a minute to pull that up. May I ask why?"
"Just a feeling. I learned a long time ago to follow my gut." Kallus pulled up a chair next to the man while he waited for the findings.
The insectoid nodded and punched up the data without questioning more. Much of his work over the years had been assisted by trusting his own instincts. "Let's see... Before Suaren she was assigned to the cell that worked out of the Yosk system."
"The same cell that was attacked less than two weeks after setting up the base?"
The other man tilted his head at the human. "Yes."
"What about before then?"
More taps on the computer were made as the officer complied with the request. "The Proxa asteroid belt's cell."
"Another cell that had the unfortunate luck of being raided. How soon after our Twi'lek arrived was that?"
"Looks like a month."
"Either this woman has incredibly unfortunate luck or there is something really sinister going on here." Kallus then urged, "And the original reference? Who inducted her into the ranks of being a rebel?"
"The computer says that it was Ta'al Vaush but..."
"But what?"
"The date that is on here is after he was executed by the Imperials back on Jakus VI."
Kallus narrowed his eyes. "Who would have been in charge of vetting her?"
D'wyza scanned the file in front of him and noticed that the man who signed off on the background check had been the victim of an engine failure right about the same time Salora joined the Rebellion.
"At this point, I hardly consider that a coincidence." Kallus stared at the computer screen and read the rest of the report that was on file. "Let's call a meeting so we can decide how best to go forward with this."
The insectoid nodded and started to call up the leaders of the cell to inform them that a meeting was being called. It went without saying that if a meeting was being called at this time in the evening that they needed to come to the main building as inconspicuous as possible. Kallus then asked for the man to join him in the meeting with the higher ranked individuals. Since he had been who had just pulled the woman's file up then he may as well as join them since he knew more than they did at the moment.
When Rex, Wolffe, Hera, Kanan, and Zeb arrived they only waited a few more minutes for the rest of the leadership team of the cell to show up. Seeing that the baby wasn't with Hera, Kallus suspected that he'd been left with Sabine. The mother didn't trust many with her child yet and a meeting like this wouldn't exactly be the kind of place for a baby. Kallus had to say, given what he was about to tell the others, such caution was wise.
"Kallus, what's wrong? You've never called a meeting like this, especially right at mealtime." Zeb tried to kid his friend though he saw that the man didn't even crack a smile.
"Kallus?" Kanan asked with expectation. "Now that we're all here, care to fill us in?"
"I believe I have found our Imperial spy." Kallus nodded to D'wyza to pull up Salora's file. The insectoid had highlighted the bases, dates that the woman joined them, as well as their attacks. In addition, he'd marked the untimely death of the man who had been given the task to vet her before being brought to any of the rebel bases. "As you can see, Salora is either the unluckiest woman in the galaxy or she's been guiding the Empire to the cells that she's been assigned to."
Hera frowned. "How were you able to put this together?"
"It was something that she said earlier when she was trying to flirt with me. She mentioned how I was lucky to have had survived the Moff's attentions. The thing is, I never told her nor anyone else on this base, just who had been my interrogator. Nor are many ranked high enough to pull up any of the reports that would have been referenced. Salora doesn't meet that qualification. All she should have known was that there was a Star Destroyer in orbit when she left out on her transport. Not all Star Destroyers have Moffs on them. In fact, most do not."
"Which means that she slipped when she mentioned it earlier," Hera was angry as she spoke. The woman was responsible for so many deaths. And now with her on base that meant that everyone here was in danger, too. Including her son. "So, what are we going to do about it?"
"Right now, we have a lot of speculation but no real proof," Kallus said with a shake of his head. "But... She won't know that."
"So now we just need to bring her in and make it where she isn't suspicious when she comes so that she doesn't instead try to make a run for it," Kanan thought aloud.
"Shoot, that'd be simple enough." Zeb then gave a knowing look toward the blond across the room and chuckled. "All we'll need will be for Kallus to stop playing hard to get."
"Now wait just a minute!" Kallus could barely endure the woman's attempts at trying to flirt with and seduce him as it was when she found him without the rest of his friends.
"Well, we all have seen how she seems to have her eye on you," Hera said in support of Zeb's suggestion.
"You have got to be kidding," rolling his eyes as he let out a groan.
Kanan walked over and put an arm across the other man's shoulders as he snickered. "Look on the bright side. It will be the last time you'll have to put up with her flirtation."
"I can't believe that I'm going to do this."
Zeb snickered, "But you have too strong of a sense of duty to not."
When Kallus glared at him it caused him to laugh even harder. Which then caused Kanan to join him.
Kiara operated her ship's controls as she dropped out of hyperspace. She'd spent the last few months hopping from one system to another. The first temple that she had planned to visit was overrun with Imperials, so she had slipped out of the system without them ever knowing that she had been there. She figured that she needed to concentrate on places outside of the Core or Mid-rim worlds. She set course for a location that she doubted that she'd find the Empire's lackeys and it had taken her more than a week to reach this most recent location.
The Sith had wiped out a large portion of the population of the inhabitants on the planet's surface back during the Clone Wars. Kiara knew that there were still a few small villages but the largest, strongest, tribe was eliminated years ago.
She set a course for where her information showed that there had once been a temple on the surface. Luckily, it wasn't even on the same continent as the settlements that remained on the planet. Even so, she decided to keep the cloak on until she landed the ship. Then she'd power down not just the ship but the cloak, as well, to allow the crystals to cool down while she investigated the planet's temple.
Once the landing procedures were completed, she went back to where Tac was at after he'd powered down the last time. She smiled at the cheerful droid's reaction to being powered back up. He never seemed to be upset no matter how long he'd been powered down each time that she then reactivated him. Instead, he always asked her how she was and if there was anything that he could do for her.
"We've landed on a planet, and I plan to hike into the forest. I probably won't be back for a couple of days."
"Then I shall keep watch over the ship," the droid spun around to confirm before adding, "And since we are still alone, I shall scan and monitor the area and will alert you to any approach of natives or anyone else who may show up while you are on your... hike."
"What would I do without you, Tac?"
"You are quite capable. I'm sure you would be fine. But that doesn't mean that I won't perform my duties to the best of my abilities."
"I never doubted otherwise."
Kiara then grabbed her bag that she'd packed and left the ship. She took a moment to orient herself then headed into the forest. Or would this be considered more of a jungle? She had a blaster on her hip and used a vibro-blade to help cut her path through the underbrush and walked for about an hour before she caught sight of stone that were clearly cut, indicating an ancient temple rather than a natural occurrence in nature. When she got to the base of the large, stone pyramid she planned to sit on the ground for a rest break.
As she approached the temple, she sensed something just before she felt the ground begin to shake under her feet. She jumped to one side as she watched a large, massive worm with many rows of teeth explode out from below the dirt. It zeroed in on her and she pulled her blaster out, but the bolts seemed to have little to no effect on the creature. When it started to undulate in her direction, she turned to try to run but knew that the thing was much faster than she was. She instinctively made another jump and rolled to watch as the monster moved forward to bite where she had just been.
She didn't sense any intelligence, so it appeared that it was only responding on its baser instincts. That meant that there was no reasoning with it. It was either kill it or be killed. Kiara stretched out her feelings with the force and imagined an invisible hand large enough to wrap around the massive cross between a worm and snake that towered over her. As it moved to once more bite where she was standing, she took her imaginary hand and squeezed. And kept squeezing until the monster stopped moving and hung limply from the hold that she held on to it with the force.
Sighing, she released the creature. She stretched out her senses and tried to use the force to see if she could sense any more of the massive animal, but she didn't sense anything. Nor did she sense anybody else, so she at least was able to relax on that front.
When she was sufficiently rested, she started to make her way around the temple while trying to find a way in. A door. She stopped looking with her eyes and instead just allowed her feet to have a mind of their own. When she did, she came across a vine-laden door. She used her blade to start hacking the vines away and once that was done, she put a hand to the stone and tried to find the way to open the door. When she felt a stone wiggle ever so slightly under her hand she pressed it with more force, triggering the door to move in response.
Kiara dug out her light from her bag and stepped inside the door frame. With the light from the outside at her back it was difficult to make out much in the darkness. She took a moment to gather her nerve before she decided to go further. Going on digs with hundreds of colleagues was one thing. Going into an ancient temple completely alone was quite another.
Finding her resolve, she took a step then another until she was about halfway down the entrance hall. She felt a force prick on the back of her neck which caused her to pause. She didn't question it, she just stepped to the side nearer to the wall and then continued down the hall. When she'd been walking into the darkened, ancient temple for more than a quarter of an hour she entered into a large antechamber wrapped in shadows since her small light couldn't illuminate much of the room. She took her time looking along the walls as she stepped further in but stopped when she heard an airy, whispered voice.
