Vestara sat despondent in the galley of the Faux Harla, idly munching away on some foodstuffs as the vessel continued its hours-long voyage through hyperspace for the One Sith homeworld of Korriban. One would think that she was feeling guilty for having killed Jagged and Jaina Solo Fel, but that wasn't the way of the Sith, not even one with the merest sliver of a conscious like Vestara herself had; her time with the Skywalkers, particularly with Ben, once made her believe that she could evolve beyond the Sith need for dominance and tyranny, after all. But no, her problem lay not in the fact that she just killed her still-loved ex-boyfriend's cousin and cousin-in-law, but the worry she felt over the fact that she had lost Ben to a greedy masturbating droid like Five-U.

That, in and of itself, was embarrassing, but it wasn't driving Vestara to her current state of misery. It was the fact that if she didn't find Ben before her Masters in the One Sith, like that prissy Darth Wyyrlok, became impatient and thought that she'd become a dangerous liability rather than an essential asset to their cause, any thought of ascending to the point of dominating Wyyrlok himself would be quashed along with her life.

As it was, right now, she could do nothing but wait as the Faux Harla traveled through the blue of hyperspace, yet each and every second that she didn't have Ben only increased the chances that her life would end at the hands of the One Sith.

In between munching the food from the now late Fel couple, Vestara silently cursed herself. What was she thinking when she agreed to capture Ben? Oh, right, it was because she loved him; she wanted to see him again, have him all to herself again, and finally make him into a Sith in the way that she could never be a Jedi herself. Thanks to the latter point, it wasn't a hard sell to convince Wyyrlok that converting Ben to the ways of the dark side would greatly benefit the One Sith as a whole.

But now, because she trusted a droid that could somehow sexually stimulate itself and ejaculate artificial semen (she saw large pools of what smelled like actual semen in Five-U's quarters back aboard the medical frigate before he betrayed her), that droid took him while she slept, and for all Vestara knew, Five-U and Ben left the galaxy altogether. She compromised her entire role as a Sith Lord, a title that Ship himself conferred upon her after Abeloth was defeated for the last time, and she silently prayed to the Force that she didn't just throw her whole future, and her life, away. If she didn't find Ben soon...

The ship's proximity alarms chimed throughout its structure to let the galley-bound Vestara know that she had to get the Harla out of hyperspace as soon as possible. Without hesitation, she leaped out of her seat and rushed for the cockpit. She pulled the lever down, and the bright, thick blue streaks of hyperspace resolved themselves into the star-studded blackness of realspace. However, what dominated the foreground of the Harla's viewport was a desolate moon of a nearby planet.

And she could sense Ben's presence coming off it.

Vestara grinned evilly. She knew that this system was a hyperspace stop for Korriban, but she didn't know that she would find her target here. "I'm coming for you," she muttered.

.

After the entire surface of Reonoq had been raided by the invading Chiss flotilla, what with the smoking, blasted corpses of Killik bodies littering the planet and the Celestial Palace itself mirroring its inhabitants' permanent states, several shuttles landed all across the world, discharging Defense Force commandos, armed to the teeth with rifles and other standard armaments per troop. They all began heading to the underground sanctuaries of Reonoq through various openings and holes in the dusty grounds, one of them being a cavern leading from the interior of the Celestial Palace.

That had been several hours ago, Admiral Ar'alani thought worriedly, and since the commandos literally went underground, not a single soul within the fleet heard back from any of their ground forces.

Ar'alani was startled out of her thoughts from her command chair by one of the comm officers before her. "Admiral, an entire fleet of vessels are coming out of hyperspace from behind us!"

Before Ar'alani could even ask what kind of fleet, she instantly got her answer via the overhead sensors that now displayed a large fleet of modern-looking X-wings appearing from the flash of hyperspace. The Chiss admiral noted that none of the starfighters she could see bore any markings from the likes of the Galactic Alliance or any other known major galactic power that she was aware of.

"Ma'am, an incoming transmission from the other fleet!" one of the other comm officers announced. "Shall I patch it through."

"Do it," Ar'alani ordered promptly.

When communications were established, the voice of Grand Jedi Master Luke Skywalker asked, "Am I speaking to Admiral Ar'alani of the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force?"

"Obviously, your reputation precedes you, Master Skywalker," Ar'alani responded in Basic after tapping a control on the right armrest of her command chair. "How may we help you?"

"You are aware, Admiral," Skywalker began, "that you have essentially committed an act of war against the entire Jedi Order with the deaths of Han and Leia Organa Solo. What have you to say in your defense of the Ascendancy?"

Ar'alani sighed more in annoyance than in worry about having to fight the Jedi along with exterminating the Thuruht nest; she wasn't entirely sure that the entire nest was wiped out, as she had a thought that there were Killiks still remaining underground and now fighting her commandos. But she shoved that in the back of her mind as she said, "We regret to inform you, Master Jedi, that their deaths were, in fact, necessary, as they had attempted to defend the Killik nest of the Thuruht, which had openly declared war on the Ascendancy recently."

"And you believe that it justifies what you have done?" Skywalker asked, anger creeping into his tone.

"Of course," Ar'alani answered in a noncommittal tone.

"Then I'll only give you this one chance, Admiral," Skywalker intoned. "Leave the Reo system now, or else."

Everyone on the bridge looked at Ar'alani expectantly, hoping she wouldn't wage war with the Jedi Order.

The admiral looked unfazed as she said, "Even if I were to comply willingly, Master Skywalker, I refuse to leave behind my commandos, who are still exploring the undergrounds of Reonoq as we speak."

"We will give you a standard Reonoq day," Skywalker said. "If your commandos are not out by then..."

"I didn't say I agreed to your terms, Skywalker," Ar'alani interrupted.

"Then you would wage war on the Jedi Order?" Skywalker asked.

The entire bridge went quiet, and once again, everyone there stared at their leader in expectation. She looked at all of them in turn, contemplating her decision. On the one hand, relations between the Ascendancy and the Jedi Order had been compromised with the deaths of the Solos, as Skywalker just pointed out. On the other hand, the Order had been known to defeat such large threats like the Yuuzhan Vong, Darth Caedus, the Sith, Abeloth, and even the Killiks themselves all those years ago.

Ar'alani was aware that while the Chiss's arrogance was not unfounded in many areas, she knew to never underestimate the Jedi.

Eventually, she came to her decision.

"Yes."

"Very well."

Communications were then shut off from the other end.