Aaellu Lambert

Aaellu was a ' ' who lived on the ' world of Farrow during the reign of the '. Born to one of the largest native tribes, the peaceful Yhjanda, Aaellu was banished as a child when her  manifested, in accordance with her people's beliefs.

Without her tribe to support her, Aaellu was forced to adapt quickly to survive the wild lands of the planet, using her skills, frustration and untrained connection to the  to become a master of her environment. Over a decade after her banishment, the outcast was present when a  vessel landed in the wilds. Aaellu watched the group but didn't engage, following them up the Black Mountain of Kutahhroht to the mythical- and feared- Cursed Steel Caverns.

Hailing from primitive origins, Aaellu had no idea that the caverns were actually the ancient remains of a ' laboratory ' that crash landed on Farrow during the . Sealed for centuries, the Zakuulan forces had no qualms about breaching the blast doors to gain entry, hoping to recover items of value for their .

Aaellu followed them, treading carefully through the metal caverns until they reached the remains of the ship's bridge, triggering an ancient security system powered by the still-active secondary reactor. This security system reactivated the primary reactor to restore power to the downed ship and trigger a failsafe program that started unlocking the containment cells spread throughout the vessel. An announcement in - unintelligible to Aaellu- warned of the release of several dozen 'specimens'.

To make matters worse, a spectre appeared, dominating the minds of the Zakuulan Knights and finally prompting Aaellu to ignore her curiosity and flee the vessel; and not a moment too soon, as she passed a menagerie of monsters that were waking from their  during her escape. Before she did, however, she stumbled across a previously sealed chamber housing an ornately decorated metal rod, a rod that her ever-pushing curiosity compelled her to steal.

In the months that followed the incident, Aaellu travelled away from her home to trade trophies from her kills with a neighbouring tribe, as she did every year before the winter. When she returned, she found the landscape had changed considerably; her former tribe were now plagued by sinister, lethal beasts, and the relatively peaceful lands Aaellu had grown up exploring had become a dangerous warzone between new and old.

After escaping one of the new creatures stalking the hills, Aaellu took shelter from a particularly heavy storm in a small cave, the entrance of which was so overgrown that she didn't know it was there until she tumbled through the veil of weeds and vines. In the cave she found the buried remains of yet another ancient object, much smaller than the Black Mountains or the Cursed Steel Caverns, but clearly of similar origin. Unlike the ship, however, the box-like object was already opened, breached from within using brute force.

Against her better judgement, Aaellu settled in to sleep for the night and wait out the storm, waking again at dawn to find the raging winds and hammering rains had not abated. As she prepared to venture back out, a  slithered into the cave, making its way sluggishly into the confined space, unaware of her presence. Before it noticed her, Aaellu loosed an arrow, striking the unyielding hide to no effect and prompting it to charge at her in a rage, undeterred by the attack. She was forced to dive aside before scrambling hastily out of the the cave and into the furious storm outside.

Unsurprisingly, the creature followed.

It was too fast for Aaellu to outrun, but she'd encountered speedy creatures many times before and knew she could use the environment to her advantage. Scrambling up the nearest tree, Aaellu was temporarily out of the beast's range, giving her a chance to fire another handful of arrows before it chomped through the tree and managed to get close to her. Pressed for time, she accidentally took the rod she'd salvaged months earlier from her back, thinking it was the shaft of her spear.

When she thrust the rod towards the pouncing monster, it began to glow and Aaellu's opponent froze, landing with its muscles rigged. Aaellu ducked under the flying dead-weight, letting it pass overhead and crash down in the mud behind her, still frozen when she approached it. Unwilling to take any chances, she took her spear and sunk it deep into the creature's thick skull via its eye socket; the rod stopped glowing when the monster lay dead, leaving Aaellu- a woman from a primitive culture- with an impossibly perplexing mystery to wrap her head around.

Aaellu tested the rod repeatedly in the days that followed, using it to control the local wildlife with increasing ease. While she initially used it to immobilise her prey during hunts she later found she could make the subjects of the rod obey her commands , and in doing so she could recruit typically uncooperative predators to assist her on her hunts.

Her use of the rod did not go unnoticed, however, and- unbeknownst to Aaellu- the Zakuulan forces that had entered the ancient vessel were tracking the rod's power signature, using it to hunt her down to try and claim the device she'd stolen. Aaellu attempted to use its power on them when they attacked, only for it to fail.

Eventually, after running from them for several weeks, Aaellu learned that in their hunt for her the Zakuulans had started sacking villages all across the area, including her former home. Survivors were captured and taken to the Black Mountain of Kutahhroht to be sacrificed to Darth Taer, a vengeful goddess who intended to consume the living to be reborn in physical form.

If she succeeded, she would consume the world before taking to the stars to devour the benevolent gods worshipped by the tribes on Farrow.

Taer led a cult from her mountain stronghold, and though she'd bolstered that cult with converts from the local tribes they were small enough that Aaellu could still travel unnoticed by herself. She began to seek out more of the metal caverns, hoping to find something to aid her fight against the dark goddess.

Mostly, Aaellu found information, learning that there were other worlds besides the one she knew, hidden far beyond the stars in the night's sky and full of wonder. She learned of the Sith and their Empire, the Republic and their Jedi defenders, and the wars that had taken place over the millennia between both groups, a war which she didn't fully understand, but wanted to seek out. If nothing else, she knew from her findings that the Sith were a plague that needed to be wiped out to protect her people.

While she found little she could use beyond the old data, she did salvage a prototype  that- with the help of an AI unit who called himself Cherek- she was able to repair to a functional- albeit hazardously so- state. Aaellu and Cherek teamed up to eliminate Darth Taer- the latter being installed into a helmet stolen from the Zakuulans-, with Cherek's knowledge and limited slicing capabilities augmenting Aaellu's growing collection of skills.

This alliance eventually brought them both to the Cursed Steel Cavern, where Aaellu engaged the body of the man housing Darth Tear's spirit. Though she was outmatched, Aaellu and Cherek were smart, luring Taer up a turbolift shaft and through the cracked guts of the ship until they reached the exterior, confronting one another on top of what Cherek had called a Derriphan-class battleship.

Cornered and in the middle of an unnatural thunderstorm, Taer was confident she had Aaellu beat, demanding she hand over the rod if she ever wanted to descend the mountain of her own volition again. Aaellu, however, had other ideas. Having become accustomed to using her own powers and fairly well-versed in modern technology by the time she returned to the cavern, the young outcast had set Taer up.

Aaellu used the Force to draw lightning from the storm in towards her, holding her bowcaster up into the air so that the weapon was struck repeatedly. Specifically, the near-limitless prototype battery was struck, attracting and absorbing the electrical energy, contained within a protective housing that prevented the energy from passing through the entire weapon. With each strike, the bowcaster was charged to an increasingly unstable level.

Taer evidently saw what was happening and rushed to strike her opponent down before she could make her move. Aaellu stopped drawing the energy from the storm and brought her bowcaster to bear against Darth Taer, firing the overloaded weapon and obliterating the dark goddess with a single, atomising shot- at point blank range. Aaellu herself was thrown back from the impact but, aside from some cracked ribs and a few light burns and bruises, she had won the day.

Unfortunately, Cherek explained that Taer was bound to the rod; if it was not destroyed, her spirit- though weakened due to Aaellu's efforts- would linger on until she was strong enough to try to return again. Thus, Aaellu had to give up her most beloved item, travelling for several weeks to cast it into the crater of an active volcano where she could be certain it was destroyed for good.

Not long after, with some help from Cherek, Aaellu launched the abandoned Zakuulan vessel and charted a course for a planet known as ', landing in the lower levels a few months before the fall of the '.

After landing, she sold her transport to a local dealer, unknowingly underselling the pristine vessel- all the more valuable given the Eternal Empire's control over the galaxy- but earning herself more money than she could realistically spend, given her limited needs. She spent over a year exploring the strange metal world with Cherek, eventually running foul of the ' gang in ', who forced her to flee through ' to the ruins of the ', where she remained in hiding until a Sith defector- Darth Enigmus- tracked her down at the request of the .

Enigmus was looking for Aaellu under the mistaken impression that she was a Jedi, due to reports of her using the Force and sporting a tattered brown robe. In his pursuit, he had contacted the Black Sun for more information on the altercation they'd had with her and agreed to help a group of their members track her down through the Works so they could kill her for the 'disrespect' she'd shown. However, on arrival, Enigmus and his two allies turned on the Black Sun, slaughtering them to a man and encouraging Aaellu to leave her hiding spot and engage in conversation.

Her mysterious saviour- introducing himself as Benjamin Lambert- explained his reason for being there, but realised quickly that she wasn't a Jedi and was, in fact, a '- at least according to the standards of the '. He cautioned her about using the Force openly, and offered to teach her the basics of  so she could hide her presence from the Jedi (and, potentially, Sith), an offer she nervously accepted.

Cerys Odé, one of Benjamin's companions, helped treat some minor injuries Aaellu had sustained during her skirmish with the Black Sun, while Damascus Lambert, the third of the group, gave her his  and showed her how to use it to contact them if she ever needed help.

Eventually, she did.

Shortly after the , Aaellu's money was running low. A pickpocket had taken a chunk out of her credits- all of which she kept in her robes in the form of physical currency- and having to buy food instead of hunt for it had gradually depleted her limited profits from the sale of her salvaged Zakuulan ship. Additional costs to repair her bowcaster- the battery in which put significant strain on the standard components- only further strained her finances.

Ultimately, Aaellu had to swallow her pride and use her comlink to contact Benjamin and ask for help. Now living on ' after a brief stint as a ', Lambert was happy to help, arranging to meet her at the spaceport near the ' to pick her up and take her to his home in ', where he offered to let her stay- albeit on the couch- for as long as she liked.

Initially, the social outcast- who'd been met with hostility and general disrespect since arriving in Republic space- was sceptical of his kindness, but on meeting his children- Alucia, 'Little Ben' and Acina Lambert- warmed up to both Benjamin and her new environment. In an effort to earn her keep, Aaellu joined Benjamin on many of his escapades, learning from him directly and indirectly and generally improving her skills across the board.

While at home, Aaellu kept the children entertained with her quirky, tribal ways, acting as both a nanny and bodyguard and winning their love and affection in a few short months, just as they won hers. Alucia remained more resistant than Little Ben and his baby sister due to preexisting trauma that made it difficult for her to trust others, as well as how she felt about the absence of her mother, and the extreme differences (both in species and hygiene) between her mother and the woman she feared was trying to become her 'replacement'.

However, when the Empire struck Corellia again, Benjamin, Aaellu and the children were separated in the chaos that swept over  during their daily visit, forcing Alucia and Ben to fight on their own against the Empire for a short time. Thrust into danger again, Alucia reached out through the Force in fear, desperately calling for her father- allowing Aaellu (who was closer than Benjamin) to sense her, track her and reach back to touch her mind and reassure her that help was on the way. By the time Aaellu reached the children, Alucia's reservations about the stranger were gone.

Over the year that followed, Aaellu began to develop feelings for Benjamin. Though she felt those feelings were mutual, she didn't act on them for a considerable length of time. It was only when Benjamin confided in her regarding his worries about his wife- Darth Aivela- and her increasingly unethical experiments on behalf of the Sith Empire that their feelings were aired; at Aaellu's suggestion, the pair spent the evening interrupting criminal meetings in Coronet, distracting Benjamin from his concerns with simple vigilante work.

To conclude their evening, they spent a few hours in a bar, drinking and singing, much to amusement of the other patrons, and when they moved to head back home Aaellu- emboldened by alcohol- leapt at Benjamin, surprising him with a kiss. When they finally got home, the pair slept together, confirming Aaellu's suspicions that the former Sith returned her feelings.

Unfortunately, in the sober hours of the next morning, Benjamin expressed his regrets over breakfast, voicing his feelings of shame and guilt over betraying his marital vows, despite Lexi's absence and moral decline. Aaellu argued against cutting off their blossoming romance, but Benjamin insisted it was better for the both of them, citing the cultural differences as well as the significant age gap between the duo.

Although hurt, Aaellu was not so easily deterred. Unable to change the age gap, she took his mention of the stark differences between their cultural backgrounds as a hint. On returning home, Aaellu asked for Alucia's help her look more like a 'normal' woman, enlisting the young girl as her unwitting accomplice in her plan to win Benjamin over.

With Alucia's help, Aaellu upgraded from the single, tattered old outfit she'd been wearing since her exile from the tribe to a new, clean wardrobe that would allow her to look to part of a modern Republic citizen. She showered, shaved and removed the wooden beads from her hair, which Alucia then straightened for her, before helping to apply proper makeup in place of the moss-made decoration she usually wore.

Before she could spring her new look on Benjamin, he sent a message informing her that his  handler wanted them both to report in to discuss the situation with his wife and her activities, and that she should be ready to go when he landed. She boarded when the time came and joined Benjamin in the cockpit, though he didn't mention her appearance, infuriating Aaellu. Despite being complimented on her appearance by handler Frank Ped and teammate Zhavi Waverunner, Aaellu was still quietly fuming at Benjamin's lack of attention.

The pair were sent to a site on  to investigate intercepted intelligence before Darth Aivela's forces could arrive to strip the ruins of whatever they were after- presumed to be a powerful artefact of similar origin to one Benjamin had discovered on Dronim Major over a year earlier. During the flight, Aaellu finally spoke her mind, leading to an explosive argument which ended with the pair not speaking to one another by the time they arrived. When they did, they fell into a trap almost immediately, with their ship tumbling into an underground ruin when the platform they'd landed on was destroyed .

Benjamin fell with the ship, but Aaellu had already disembarked on her own out of pettiness, leaving her free to continue once she'd confirmed Benjamin was unharmed. He assured her he'd catch up, but cautioned her not to get too far ahead. Still eager to impress him, Aaellu ignored his warnings and forged ahead, dispatching a  before engaging the Sith apprentice Tavion Wyntoq in a duel, killing her.

By the time Benjamin caught up with her, Aaellu had entered the heart of the temple, where Lord Sera Artofen, Tark Jaggentire, Tharah Odé and Attrice Vhenn were present, with the glowing, Force-infused sphere that Aaellu and Benjamin had been hoping to prevent them from acquiring. While Aaellu was prepared to engage against dramatically bad odds, Benjamin arrived in time to drag her away, using the time Lord Artofen spent grappling with the power of the orb as a distraction to allow them to escape.

After venturing out away from the ruins and spotting the Sith's vessel leaving, Benjamin finally took the time to stop and scold Aaellu's reckless behaviour, an argument which descended into a lengthy attack on her attempt to change who she was by changing her appearance. Their argument was short-lived, however, when Benjamin told Aaellu how frightened he'd been when he'd realised she was trying to accomplish their task alone.

Ironically, Aaellu's attempt to impress Benjamin as a means of seduction had worked, just in an unexpected way; her being in serious danger made him realise how much he cared for her, and how his wife was no longer the woman he'd pledged himself to, though he still intended to try and save her from her own dark ambitions and blamed himself for leaving her behind to assume the position of Darth when he left the Empire- a position she wasn't ready for.

The pair kissed again, cutting the romantic moment short only due to the fact they were drenched, and standing on a cold, windy beach in the middle of the night. They returned to the ship to dry off and rest, manoeuvring the ship from where it'd fallen the following morning to return to Coruscant and report in.

Their next assignment took them to the ice world of , where they encountered a small Imperial operation tasked with capturing local wildlife to be shipped back to Imperial space for experimentation. Benjamin duelled Attrice Vhen while Aaellu- accompanied by a pair of ' she'd '- sent her troops packing, allowing them to dismantle the camp and release the creatures imprisoned there.

A blizzard picked up before they could return to their ship, forcing them to take shelter in a cave for the night, guarded by their wampa friends. During this time, Aaellu performed the Yhjanda Fertility Chant, a customary prayer of her tribe intended to earn the blessings of the fertility goddess. Unbeknownst to Aaellu, this prayer was a form of primitive  developed by the Sith who'd indirectly founded her tribe, a spell of sorts which, when recited, temporarily influenced the caster's fertility to increase the likelihood of conceiving multiple children at once, a desirable outcome in Aaellu's culture, where large families were considered prestigious.

On their return to the Republic base the following morning, they were contacted by Lord Dratine Rhonjenvyn, the master and lover of Tavion Wyntoq, the Sith Aaellu killed on Yavin IV. While they'd been attacking the Imperial operation, Dratine had infiltrated the Republic space station in orbit and captured Cerys, their pilot for the trip out to Hoth, torturing her and executing her over the comm, making sure the duo watched as she exacted her revenge.

When Benjamin and Aaellu returned to the station, they used their position in the SIS to claim her charred body and take her away with them, ensuring she received a proper funeral not long after. Cerys' death prompted the entire team to take a short vacation, with Aaellu, Benjamin and the kids joined by Isla Ahnkett and Damascus Lambert for a week on a tropical beach, far from the concerns of the wider galaxy.

On their return to service, Aaellu and Benjamin met with a representative of the , who had requested assistance from the Republic, but refused to discuss details until a suitable 'Black Bisector' was found. Deeming the pair acceptable for whatever reason, the ' representative explained- albeit in the typically mind-boggling fashion of her species- that the ancient research vessel ' (a ship that famously visited  for combat testing purposes several years earlier) had transmitted a request for assistance to repel some sort of infection.

Aaellu and Benjamin wasted no time travelling out to the coordinates of the ship, finding it drifting aimlessly through space. Without any prompting, the Gray Secant transmitted landing information to their ship's navicomputer, overriding it and causing them to dock. Once aboard they encountered Imperial soldiers employing Gree technology stripped from the ship, though they made their way through them easily enough.

They were slowed down considerably when they came up against , a huge Gree combat testing droid, yet even that couldn't stop their progress permanently and- together- they disabled the droid to end the scenario and gain access to more of the ship, following the Imperial forces until they encountered Attrice Vhenn for the third time. Benjamin was immobilised by a Gree stasis weapon fired by the Sith, forcing Aaellu to duel the  alone.

Although she struggled, Aaellu's determination eventually won out against Attrice's personal ambition and rage. Aaellu managed to get behind Attrice and stab her through the chest, ending the Imperial threat and allowing them to claim the prize the Imperials had been after, hidden in the heart of the ship; an ancient Gree starmap.

Using that map, Aaellu and Benjamin travelled to a lost solar system in Wild Space, finding something remarkable the moment they jumped into the system. Their destination was a swampy world with only one structure showing up on the Sparrow's scanners, some sort of temple. That wasn't particularly unexpected.

What was unexpected was the state of the moons orbiting the world; one was colliding with another in a cataclysmic fashion, a collision that was so large it would easily wipe out the system, if not for the fact the collision was frozen in time, held in an impossible form of stasis. Benjamin surmised that the temple on the surface was somehow responsible for pausing the destruction of the system, meaning that they needed to be ready to make a hasty retreat at a moment's notice.

They landed near the temple and set off to explore, using the starmap they'd taken from the Gray Secant to unlock a door leading to the inner chamber of the temple. Once inside, they descended several miles below ground using an anti-gravity well, falling swiftly but safely to a large, pitch black room filled with ankle-high water.

Before they could explore their new surroundings, however, the temple's droid guardian revealed itself, a colossal mechanical snake that emerged from the water and immediately attacked. Utilising  in combination with the water, the pair subdued the droid, revealing the power source for the temple- another of the mysterious, Force-infused orbs. Benjamin claimed the orb, causing it to vanish as it was absorbed into his system, and immediately triggering violent tremors.

Although they'd expected it, the sudden time pressure prompted the pair to begin a mad dash for the exit. With no other guardians in the temple their journey back to the ship was as easy as their journey into the temple, save for one small snag.

For whatever reason, they'd drawn the attention of a , a Jedi Shadow who'd followed them to the lost world and waited for them to return before ambushing them. He demanded that they hand over whatever they'd found or he'd take it by force, and Benjamin immediately engaged, unwilling to hand the sphere to the Jedi and not having the time to try and talk him down.

Aaellu stayed out of the fight, knowing the Shadow was more experienced than she could handle, though Benjamin had little trouble besting his melee-heavy opponent, executing him to ensure he couldn't sabotage their escape. With just minutes to board their ship and escape the blast radius, the pair sprinted out of the temple and across the swamp, clambering aboard the Little Sparrow, jumping blindly out of the vicinity to escape the destruction of the three planets.

With Benjamin and Darth Aivela holding two of the four orbs each, the team came together to form a plan of attack against the Dark Lord to demolish her operations once and for all and claim the final two orbs. Aaellu- at her own insistence- accompanied Benjamin in infiltrating the ruined castle Aivela's forces had set up in, moving through the Sithspawn-ridden forest and swimming through a submerged cave network to approach undetected while Republic forces led by  engaged the fleet of Darth Madré, Darth Aivela's tenuous ally.

While making their way through the frozen cave network, Aaellu was drawn towards a crystal grotto, where she discovered a ' that ' with her the moment she touched it. Unfamiliar with the wider mysteries of the Force, Aaellu wasn't sure what to make of the crystal, but Benjamin- having spent his life studying the Force- understood what had happened, congratulating her on her discovery, explaining that such a bond between a Force sensitive and a crystal was exceedingly rare.

Unfortunately, her new crystal was of little use to their present situation. The pair proceeded with their mission, locating the forgotten underside of the castle and dispatching the  blocking their path. Once inside, they encountered another roadblock in the form of Tark Jaggentire, Tharah Odé, Kara Regent and Skyell Ottazen. Aaellu and Benjamin divided up, intending to surprise their foes by attacking in a manner they weren't expecting.

Aaellu attacked Skyell and Kara directly, easily disarming the two soldiers, who stood little chance in direct conflict with a powerful Force user. Meanwhile, Benjamin engaged Tark and Tharah simultaneously, and though outnumbered managed to deliver a debilitating slash across Tharah's chest that left Tark to face the former Darth alone.

Before long, Benjamin gained the upper hand and put Tark on the defensive. Their duel didn't reach a proper conclusion, however, as Aaellu drew Tark's attention, holding her lightsaber to Skyell's throat. Caught up in the heat of the moment, Tark's emotions had been exposed- as had his relationship with Skyell. Faced with a choice between continuing a duel he was losing at the cost of his lover's life or surrendering to ensure they both lived, Tark reluctantly deactivated and handed over his weapon, which Benjamin destroyed, along with Tharah's and the defeated Imperials.

Master Oteg contacted the pair shortly after the confrontation, warning them that he'd pulled his ships out for fear of losing them. Until they could disable the shield protecting the castle- and the gun emplacements firing on the Republic ships- the duo and the ground forces pushing through the main gate would be on their own.

As they ascended the castle spire, they found Dratine Rhonjenvyn waiting for them, eager to quench her thirst for vengeance, accentuated by the death of her second lover, Attrice Vhenn, at Aaellu's hand aboard the Gray Secant just weeks earlier.

At Benjamin's insistence, Aaellu held back, lacking the training to combat the techniques the powerful  had at her disposal. Dratine almost immediately turned to said powers, reaching for him with ', which he combated with ', dispelling the dark energy and forcing her into a lightsaber duel. Able to play to his strengths, Benjamin quickly defeated Dratine, disarming her by slowly sliding his lightsaber into the Sith Lord's shoulder.

Even though Benjamin was no longer a Sith, he wasn't a Jedi either. Subsequently, he was quite content to exact his revenge on Dratine in a truly creative and cruel manner; with Aaellu's help, Benjamin used the  ability to control the plant life in one of the castle's old gardens, summoning up binding vines and roots from the soil, threading around Dratine to hold her captive.

Once in place, the roots bored into her skin and forced their way down her throat, creating a sinister, symbiotic relationship between the helpless Sith Lord and the local fauna. At their command, Dratine was dragged down by the vines, disappearing beneath the soil where she would remain imprisoned for the rest of her days, unable to escape but kept alive by the nutrients and oxygen provided by her organic cage. With that final, conclusive act, Aaellu and Benjamin ensured Cerys' murder had been avenged.

Darth Aivela was defenceless, her followers defeated. All that remained was for Aaellu and Benjamin to reach the castle throne room and defeat the Dark Lord.

By the time they arrived, Aivela was ready and waiting for them, and not as defenceless as they'd anticipated. Aside from her apprentice and partner in biological crime, Lord Artofen, Darth Aivela was accompanied by one of the largest of her alchemical monstrosities, a mutated ' from the barren world of '.

After a brief exchange that saw Aivela refuse to surrender without a fight, Aaellu and Benjamin moved to engage, with Aaellu taking on Sera (and the occasional attack from Aivela's dragon) while Benjamin and his wife crossed blades. Sera was stronger in the Force than Aaellu due to her implants and possession of the orb she'd found on Yavin IV, but lacked her talent with a lightsaber, evening out the playing field somewhat, despite the ominous patience of the Kimogila.

Luckily, Isla Ahnkett had been deployed with the ground forces, using her talent for  to sneak behind enemy lines and reach the throne room to support the infiltrating couple. Isla- the woman who'd duelled and killed Sera's close friend Artem Phond a year earlier- proved to be a far more tempting target for Sera, leaving Aaellu to take on the dragon, who seemed to be more interested in killing her than Benjamin or Isla.

Aaellu suspected Darth Aivela- through whatever means she was using the command the creature- had specifically ordered the creature to target her due to her relationship with Benjamin, a thought which only spurred Aaellu on to fight harder. Forced to retreat for the most part due to the Kimogila being impervious to her lightsaber, Aaellu eventually had to leap from the spire to avoid a deluge of acid spat by the dragon. She used the Force to guide her descent and accelerate, intercepting one of the  defending the castle.

With transportation underfoot, Aaellu clung onto the ship as it ascended to try and shake her off. She used the Force to accelerate the ship and lock it's course, making the dragon follow her up towards Darth Madré's . Just before the starfighter struck the dreadnought's shields, Aaellu let go, falling back down towards the castle and the approaching dragon.

Channelling all the energy she could muster and activating a Gree energy shield she acquired during her time on the Gray Secant, Aaellu enveloped the  while projecting herself downward at lethal speed with her lightsabers leading her descent, directly towards the open mouth of the Kimogila. Though it spat acid towards her, the energy and Force shielding protecting her were sufficient enough to nullify the effects; Aaellu shot down the creature's throat, carving through it's internal organs to fatally injure Aivela's oversized pet.

The Kimogila collided with Madré's vessel, significantly damaging it and prompting her to command the vessel to retreat, abandoning Darth Aivela and her forces. Although the castle still had shielding and anti-aircraft weaponry protecting it, the dying monster fell after Aaellu's attack, crashing down and damaging the shielding. Seeing the shield had failed, Oteg commanded his vessels to reengage, eliminating the castle's turrets and the threat they posed.

With the beast felled, all Aaellu had to do was blindly navigate her way out of the creature's innards, staggering out of its lifeless maw just in time to watch as Aivela, Benjamin and Isla fell from the ruined castle summit, into a  torn from the throne room and thrown into free-fall, a last-ditch attempt by Darth Aivela to escape her inevitable capture. Unbeknownst the Aaellu, Aivela had betrayed her apprentice and stabbed her from behind to take the orb she'd absorbed, the artefacts being bonded to whoever held them until voluntarily surrendered or until they died.

The trio disappeared through the hypergate before the arch shattered against the canyon floor, disabling it, and Aaellu could do nothing except wait to hear where the group had been transported to, and who survived the confrontation.

Eventually, Benjamin contacted the SIS, allowing the team to regroup to discuss the outcome of his duel with Darth Aivela. Although she'd gained the upper hand by ambushing Benjamin, he'd managed to transfer the orbs to Isla, allowing her to finish off the battle-weary Aivela, who died in her estranged husband's arms. To everyone's horror, Isla had seized Aivela's orbs, meaning she held all four- and with them, unlimited power. She'd , leaving the fate of the orbs- and the galaxy- unknown.

Zhavi, through her bond with Isla, believed she knew where she was, and with no other leads the team set off to find her. When they did, she was sat waiting for them in a quiet area of a local park, the orbs orbiting her like planets around a star. She apologised for leaving without explanation, explaining that the orbs were an overwhelming boon to her senses and powers, a boon she needed time to process, away from any distractions. Before she parted with the orbs, she decided that it was only fair she claim a reward for her assistance.

That reward was the resurrection of her friend, Bibi Jotto, who'd died at the hands of Lord Artofen while trying to help Isla bring her to justice. Using the orbs, she regenerated Bibi's body and separated her essence from the Force, leaving her dazed and confused but alive once more.

Reluctant to give away such incredibly power, Isla mused that the orbs could end the war in a matter of hours. Benjamin pointed out that life wasn't supposed to work that way and that, even if she decimated one faction, ideological differences would always surface again in the future. He went on to suggest that they could change the future of the galaxy by uniting the extremes of the Jedi and the Sith and forging a better, more reasonable path for people to walk, but that to do that the galaxy needed people from both sides of the spectrum of light and dark.

If she used the orbs to destroy the Empire- or the Republic- she would only ensure that extremism of one kind or another dominated the galaxy for the next few centuries. To conclude, Benjamin also pointed out that Isla's body was disintegrating, unable to contain the power she was wielding for an extended period. With Zhavi and Aaellu's encouragement, along with Benjamin's philosophical offerings, Isla agreed that the orbs should be sealed away from the galaxy. For her last act of divine intervention, Isla approached Zhavi, touching her abdomen to heal the genetic damage done by her past addiction to .

She then handed the spheres over to Benjamin, who absorbed all four orbs and- after a brief struggle with the unimaginable energy infused within him by the artefacts- managed to safely contain the power due to his preexisting strength in the Force, although he voiced his concerns that even he would not be able to hold onto the orbs forever. They would need to find a way to hide the orbs again, or destroy them, to ensure they never fell into the hands of the Jedi or Sith.

In the meantime, the threat of Darth Aivela and her experiments was over.

Within the weeks that followed Aivela's funeral, Aaellu and Benjamin took some time away from the war, retreating to one Farrow's three moons, using the spheres as Isla had to travel instantaneously. The moon itself was barren and lifeless, the remnant of an ancient collision, but with the four spheres at his disposal, Benjamin had the power to alter that. Once they'd landed, the orbs were able to transform the desolate world into a thriving, tropical paradise, their own private haven away from the grim realities of a galaxy at war.

Unexpectedly, during the height of an intimate moment, the power of the orbs activated without Benjamin's direction, tapping into the couple's Force bond, which was augmented by the passions of the pair. Through that bond, the energy of the orbs flowed in a loop, passing into Aaellu and back into Benjamin, temporarily infusing both of them with limitless power. Unbeknownst to the couple, harnessing that power increased a being's connection to the Force, permanently. Aaellu, twelve weeks pregnant at the time, was no exception- nor were her unborn children.

In addition to exploiting their bond, the orbs also empowered it to such a degree that their minds and presence in the Force- albeit temporarily- became a single entity. Each experienced the physical sensations and emotions of the other, as well as the immediate sharing of their memories. For Benjamin, this experience was merely informative and pleasant, but for Aaellu it was empowering, granting her decades of additional experience in an instant, though she would remain unaware of her newfound abilities until later.

The couple remained on Farrow's moon for a week before returning to Corellia.

A few weeks after their return the couple took Little Ben, Alucia and Acina to  for a change of scenery during their sparring. By pure chance, while the youngsters practised their lightsaber forms along the ', a wounded ' staggered into view, drawing their attention and concern and prompting Little Ben to employ his limited skill in  to ease his pain. Seeing an opportunity, Benjamin and Aaellu- with Acina- used the Force to render themselves invisible, forcing the children to deal with the injured man themselves.

Using his local knowledge to guide them, the children escorted him to the ', encountering a ' along the way. As they prepared to engage the creature, Alucia stopped her brother, instead trying to calm the creature into letting them pass, struggling at first but eventually confusing the creature enough that it decided they weren't worth the trouble.

When they reached the Shrine and turned the commando over to the care of his peers, Aaellu and Benjamin revealed themselves, commending them on a job well done. Little Ben asked the Voss if they could watch  work on the injured commando, which the patient himself welcomed, grateful to have been saved by the young outsiders.

Later, they visited , where they had lunch and explored the local market stalls. In the afternoon, they returned home in the same manner they'd arrived, moving from Voss to Tyrena in an instant. Aaellu and Alucia went shopping together while Benjamin, Little Ben and Acina stayed at home, with the family coming together in the evening to watch a movie, falling asleep where they sat after a long day.

Fast asleep as they were, the family were unaware that they were being watched by the late Darth Aivela, freed of the corrupting influence of the Dark Side but unable to move on after death. Although she was saddened by her loss, Lexi was happy they had each other and could move on from her death. She watched them sleep for a time before leaving, resolving to watch over them for as long as she had the strength to hold her ultimate fate at bay.