Isla Waverunner – also known as Mitth'att'inrokini, Isla Ahnkett and her squadron callsign Chrome Besh – was a female Chiss adopted by the Ahnkett family of Onderon after her father was mortally wounded by pirates while fleeing the Chiss Ascendancy.
Shortly after being adopted, Isla was given over to the Jedi Order and trained as a Jedi Padawan. At the age of ten she and her Jedi Master – Master Rosentine Synma – were ambushed en route to a diplomatic distress call in the Outer Rim.
Master Synma was killed during the confrontation and Isla – easily subdued by the Imperial forces – was pressed into joining the Sith Empire on threat of death, becoming the secret apprentice of Lord Kim.
During this transition, she adopted the name Loreli Patek and would continue to use her new name for the entirety of her Sith career, leading the Jedi to assume Isla Ahnkett had been slain alongside her master.
Loreli was trained to specialise in stealth and assassination, learning to conceal her presence both physically and in the Force and eventually applying her abilities to assist Imperial Intelligence operations as a volunteer field agent when she became a Sith-proper, submitting to the authority of Keeper and becoming a full-time operative of Imperial Intelligence's successor organisation, Sith Intelligence, where she excelled as an assassin.
She fought against the invaders during the Zakuulan invasion and was almost killed at the very beginning of the conflict when she was cornered by a quartet of Zakuulan Knights, but was saved by Zhavi Waverunner, a self-exiled Jedi Padawan.
Loreli returned to the Empire until 20 ATC, at which point her frustration with the lack of action against Zakuul drove her to abandon her duties and seek out resistance groups. Doing so led her back into the company of Zhavi Waverunner, and the pair eventually made their way to Odessen to join the newly formed Eternal Alliance at the start of 23 ATC.
The two women developed an intense – and eventually romantic – relationship which continued beyond the destruction of the Eternal Fleet in 25 ATC, an event which saw a large portion of Alliance forces – Zhavi and Loreli included – return to their respective factions in anticipation of war.
Loreli was present on Dronim Major when the Antiquarians – a mercenary company – attacked the expedition she was working for at the behest of the Sith Empire, forcing her – under her alias Carla Jemso – to work alongside the shipwrecked former Darth Enigmus, Benjamin Lambert, to prevent the mercenaries from acquiring a mysterious artefact hidden beneath the ruins.
Later that year, the hidden Jedi colony on Ossus was invaded and the couple met on Makeb to discuss Loreli's role in the attack. Believing Loreli had given the colony's location – which she had learned from Zhavi herself – to Sith Intelligence, Zhavi attacked the Chiss, although ultimately the errant Jedi could not bring herself to strike a killing blow.
When she learned that Zhavi's family had been captured later in the year, Loreli spent months trying to find them, a search that ultimately led her to an ill-fated duel against her Sith mentor – Lord Scarlet Jhang, who had recognised their bond as a Force Dyad and wished to exploit it – in the Tomb of Freedon Nadd on Dxun towards the end of 26 ATC.
During the confrontation Loreli was grievously injured and went into shock and would have died there if not for Zhavi's intervention. Due to an ongoing security issue on nearby Onderon and complications with the ship she had stolen from Lord Jhang, Zhavi was chased out of the system and forced to set a course for the neutral world of Voryle.
Loreli awoke on Voryle several months later – in the first few weeks of 27 ATC – and reluctantly reclaimed her former identity, posing as a Jedi sent by the SIS to help combat the Empire's influence.
She allied herself with a Mikkian Countess, Patrice LaLenna, who helped her form the Cobbled Terentateks, a street gang that she led to victory over the Empire's proxy on the planet, the Rabid Akks gang, after which she was honoured with a place amongst the planet's nobility, becoming Lord Ahnkett of the Independent Nation of Voryle.
In 28 ATC, Isla, along with Zhavi, was approached by SIS chief Frank Pad and Gray Jedi Benjamin Lambert – who she had worked with Dronim Major – to become a founding member of the Republic Strategic Information Service initiative Project Petrichor, where she recieved the designation Cobalt.
Through the year Isla participated in assignments on Kashyyyk, Corulag, Felucia, Tatooine and Nar Shaddaa as part of the larger Operation: Crystal Lekku, which culminated in a final battle against the forces of Darth Aivela on Jum Tarra.
Isla personally assassinated the Sith Lord and recovered the ancient artefacts Project Petrichor had been tasked with keeping out of Imperial hands, using them to reanimate the deceased Bibi Jotto who had been killed on Voryle the previous year.
In 29 ATC Isla and Zhavi helped the crew of a modified Terminus-class destroyer – the Relinquished – overthrow their Sith commander and defect to the Republic, providing Project Petrichor with a mobile command centre that enabled them to expand and reorganise into the Strategic Asset Reassignment Bureau.
Isla and Zhavi were the first agents deployed under the organisation's new banner, responding to a request for assistance from a Chiss observatory on the edge of the galaxy, where an extra-galactic artefact had brainwashed the station personnel and attracted a swarm of starweirds.
Following the extermination of the starweirds, Zhavi and Isla were dispatched to capture an Imperial transport as it travelled through realspace, unaware that they were being lured into a trap set by Lord Artofen.
Overwhelmed and captured, the pair almost died of starvation in their cell on Dromund Tyne before they were rescued by Benjamin and his partner Aaellu, escaping back to Republic space for emergency medical treatment.
After recovering and attending the Daragon Hall Annual Charity Gala, the pair – once again a couple – journeyed to Copero to visit Isla's mother and siblings, where Isla was offered an opportunity to return home and rejoin Chiss society, albeit without Zhavi.
She rejected the invitation initially, but agreed to consider it when the terms were amended to include Zhavi and left the planet with every intention of returning one day.
Isla went on to participate in a mission on Mek-Sha and helped end a short-lived civil war on Voryle before taking part in the conclusion of Operation: Kaasian Rose, helping to stop the forces of Darth Madré above Pillio and remove the Scepter of Ragnos from the Sith Empire's control.
After Darth Madré's defeat, Jedi Shadow Master Magda held Benjamin and Aaellu's children hostage to force them to turn over the Four Bound Spirits they had hidden on Idlanna, in place of the Sceptor of Ragnos she had intended to recover.
Isla was dispatched to assassinate the Jedi Master at a long abandoned enclave on Chandrila, preventing her from completing her plan to use the orbs to resurrect Jedi who had fallen during the war. Following Magda's passing, Isla returned the orbs to Aaellu, ensuring they were once again safely hidden away on Idlanna.
Biography
Early Life
She'll spend her life in care unless someone gives her a chance. She's different, special. We should give her a chance to show it... be different, just like her.
—Mr Ahnkett, to his wife.
In 2 ATC, on the world of Copero, the Chiss scientist Mitth'icini'inrokini gave birth to her fourth child, a healthy baby girl whom she named Mitth'att'inrokini.
At just under two years of age, Mitth'att'inrokini displayed her connection to the Force by telekinetically summoning a toy to her hand, sparking a debate between her mother and father in regards as to what they would do about it.
As lesser ranking members of the Chiss Ascendancy were primarily exiled if found to be Force sensitive – with only the upper echelons of society being allowed to retain their citizenship and status on the proviso that they suppressed their powers through medical means – the subject quickly became a source of friction for the couple.
Mitth'icini'inrokini, still working on climbing up the ranks of the Chiss Ascendancy, was certain that she would eventually rise to a position from which she could shield Mitth'att'inrokini from exile.
Her father, in contrast, was unconvinced, certain his daughter would be exiled or worse, given that she was already actively using the Force – an act which was punishable by death in Chiss society.
The couple could not reach a decision on what to do, and as their impasse continued to endure through the weeks, Mitth'att'inrokini's father decided to take matters into his own hands. He took Mitth'att'inrokini from her cot in the dead of night, setting off in the family's shuttle and slipping away, heading for Republic space before anyone realised what had happened.
Sadly, his dreams of a new life in the Republic safe from the laws of the Ascendancy did not – for himself at least – come to pass; pirates set upon his vessel on the inner border of Republic space, disabling it and fatally wounding him in the process. Before they could board and salvage the exotic starship, however, a Republic counter-piracy patrol came across the scene and drove off the attackers, saving Mitth'att'inrokini from death or slavery.
They were too late to do anything for her father, but he lived long enough to tell the soldiers about his daughter, asking them to protect her from any Chiss who might come after her.
Although her name had been given, in full and in short, the soldiers elected to omit her name from the records, honouring the last wish of her father for her to be protected from her people, even if they did not understand why. To that end, she was handed over to the appropriate authorities as a nameless war orphan, and quickly transferred to the first orphanage that had room to spare, which ended up being on Onderon.
Due to her exotic nature and young age, Mr and Mrs Ahnkett took pity on the misfit during their visit and adopted her, naming her Isla Ahnkett. For a time Isla's future seemed to be secure, with new, loving parents who had longed for a child of their own and had, in Isla, found what their lives had been missing.
The Force once again changed the direction of Mitth'att'inrokini's life, however, when the infant used her Force powers for a second time, prompting another lengthy debate, this time between her adoptive parents, both of whom reluctantly – and after careful consideration – agreed that it was in Isla's best interests – if not theirs – to be sent to the Jedi Order, where she could be raised by people who understood her powers and knew how to help her.
Travelling to Coruscant to meet with representatives of the Order, the Ahnkett's bid a tearful goodbye to the young Chiss as she was taken away by the Jedi, departing for the recently discovered world of Tython on which the Jedi had built a new temple to replace the one destroyed during the Sacking of Coruscant.
The Ahnkett's tried to stay in touch with Isla even though the Jedi had made it clear they would have no further contact. Their attempts to reach her failed, however, and it would be almost twenty years before they spoke with Isla again.
A Youngling on Tython
I should say I'm annoyed you disobeyed orders, but I reckon you've put me in my place one time too many already tonight. Looks like the situation would've got real dicey if you hadn't stuck your neck out t' help... nice job in there kid.
—Isla's CSF handler, after the resolution of a hostage situation.
Isla arrived at the temple on Tython blissfully unaware of what was happening, confused but unafraid. As with all Jedi younglings, Isla was trained as part of a Jedi Initiate Clan, learning about the Jedi Code, meditation, memorising the layout of the temple and the grounds as well as learning the value of physical training.
In spite of her peers' best efforts, Isla was uncomfortable around other beings, seeking solace in isolation whenever she was able even in her earliest years at the temple. Conversely, she was a model student when it came to studying the ways and history of the Jedi Order, enjoying her time in the Jedi Archives and soaking in knowledge like a sponge.
As she grew older and progressed, she proved herself competent in the martial aspects of Jedi life too, being a capable fighter in both hand-to-hand and sabre combat, albeit with a clear preference towards the latter due to her diminutive stature. Alongside her peers, Isla inevitably reached the stage of her training where her fate would be decided; the Initiate Trials.
Being familiar with the Jedi Code and the various meanings derived from it by generations of Jedi scholars past, Isla's trials started well, with the young Chiss breezing through the tests requiring her to prove her knowledge of the Code.
For her second trial, Isla and her clan were taken to Coruscant where they were each tasked with aiding the CSF in their duties, mostly helping with simple tasks that involved no real danger or responsibility. The officer Isla was assigned to assist responded to a report of a hostage situation en route to their intended destination and ordered the Initiate to remain in the speeder while he joined his fellow officers in responding to the crisis.
Isla, now nine years old and on the cusp of biological adulthood by Chiss standards, did not see this as an acceptable order.
Even so, Isla was smart; she waited to disobey the order only when she identified an opportunity she could exploit. Smaller than the security officers, Isla realised that she could infiltrate the speeder showroom in which the hostages were being held through the ventilation systems, accessible via a maintenance access panel outside.
Sneaking out of sight, Isla opened the panel, made her way into the ventilation shaft and followed it along, using Force Stasis to immobilise a number of high-speed fans blocking her path until she reached her destination, inside the showroom.
Not one to rush into a situation, Isla listened from within the vents, eavesdropping on the hostage takers to try and get an idea of their numbers and mental states, quickly realising that they were Imperials agents, outed and forced into a desperate, futile retreat which had ended with them taking hostages to stall for time.
They knew, however, that they would not escape, and as Isla listened she realised they intended to rig the building to explode using parts from the speeders, killing them, their hostages and likely injuring many of the officers and bystanders outside.
Once she believed she had enough information, Isla used the Force to break part of the ventilation shaft further along from her position, drawing their attention long enough for her to dislodge one of the shaft's panels, drop into the room and assess the situation before the fighting started.
Fortunately, there were only three of them, and in the close confines of the office area they were in Isla was able to use her small size and speed – coupled with the fact they had not been expecting anyone to get inside so quickly – to overwhelm the unsuspecting trio, blinding one with the tip of her training blade, immobilising another with the Force and repeatedly striking the last until he was in too much pain to keep resisting.
With their suicide escape plan foiled, the Chiss proudly declared that they were under arrest, released the hostages tied up on the showroom floor and returned to the injured Imperials to bind them with the same electrical wiring they had used on their victims.
Once she had cleared the barricade blocking the entrance and escorted the hostages out, the CSF forces swarmed the building to secure it and medics descended on the group to check for injuries. The officer who Isla had been travelling with begrudgingly congratulated her, conceding that while he ought to be critical of her for disobeying instructions, he was not willing to be put in his place twice in one night.
Given her valiant efforts, the officer returned her to her clan Master and praised her "lone wolf heroics", "sly tactics" and "sheer dumb luck", stating that she made the right call – if she had not acted as she did, a lot of people would have been hurt and killed.
Pleased with herself, Isla meditated for the remainder of the trip to the capital, savouring her triumph while the other Initiates completed their individual tasks. Once the rest of her clan were finished with their own assignments, the Jedi headed back to Tython, returning to normalcy for a few weeks before the final – and most difficult – trial was scheduled to begin.
The Dark Initiate
You know that to grow is to outgrow. Our destiny lies at the top of a mountain of Jedi corpses – and anyone else who presumes to call themselves our master.
—Isla's vision of herself, immersed in the Dark Side.
For her second trial, Isla was tasked with experiencing the Dark Side of the Force, face-to-face, and overcoming it. Alongside her peers, Isla was taken to a cave far from the Jedi Temple, a site strong in ancient Dark Side energies that still lingered from the forgotten Force Wars. Their instructions were simple; head inside and face the darkness within.
Isla was not particularly thrilled with the vague objective but ventured in without question, eager to advance to the next stage of her career as a Jedi. As the younglings progressed, they began to experience visions, luring them away from each other and into the depths of the rocky labyrinth.
Before too long, Isla was alone, walking through the darkness with only the echoed dripping of water to guide her, unable to see anything so far beneath the ground.
With no way to check the time, Isla was not even sure how long she had been wandering, though as her ordeal went on she felt certain she had been lost for hours. Naturally, she began to worry, fearing that she had failed somehow; until she came across a wide cavern, filled with enormous crystal growths that illuminated the space with a dim mixture of coloured lights.
In the centre, a figure stood watching her, waiting patiently as she approached.
Initially, Isla believed it was one of her fellow students. She called out to the figure but received no answer and, when she eventually got close enough, realised she was staring into her own eyes.
Clad in dark robes and with a lightsaber on her hip, Isla's dark mirror was ominous enough at a distance. Up close, she was even more sinister, with sunken eyes and pale skin that was marked with subtle lines that Isla knew to be the result of the corrupting influence of the dark side. Her clone finally spoke as she came to a halt a short distance from her, telling her it was her destiny to embrace the dark side of the Force and that she would climb the corpses of the Jedi in her rise to power.
According to her dark alter ego, the group had entered the caves weeks ago and her peers had long since succumbed to the dark side to stay alive. Isla expressed her doubts about the claims, refusing to believe it had been that long, though lost some of her confidence when her duplicate made a beckoning motion, silently summoning the other acolytes from the shadows around her.
Their robes torn, their flesh bruised and bloody and their eyes glowing with the furious taint of the dark side, Isla raised her blade in readiness, believing that her fellow Initiates had fallen. Her mirror told her she had to embrace the dark side herself if she wanted to survive.
With that, her peers launched clumsy, aggressive attacks in unison, devolving the situation into violence. As was the case with reality, Isla was the superior duellist, more physically advanced than the other Initiates due to her alien biology and therefore afforded an unfair advantage, even though Isla herself had no idea her species matured faster than other near-Humans.
She outmanoeuvred all of them in quick succession, one after the other, and with each impact her foes burst into clouds of swirling black dust until only her dark opposite remained.
Again her clone tried to talk her into embracing the dark side, telling her that she had only reinforced what she already knew – Isla's peers were inferior. They were of similar age, but not similar ability, and the Jedi would continue to treat her as a child, ensuring she never reached her potential. As before, Isla refused to go against her training, prompting her clone to activate a red lightsaber and launch towards her.
Isla could not gain the upper hand against her clone due to their shared abilities and knowledge, yet her clone faced the same hurdle, ensuring that the duel continued for hours with neither of them able to land a blow. As time seemed to bleed out into an infinite path with no end in sight, Isla came up with an idea. She knew neither of them could win, that much was clear, and she also knew the vision could not physically hurt her, as it didn't exist in reality.
With that in mind, Isla worked towards creating an opportunity, guiding the duel in such a way that she gave her opponent an opening – then allowed her to take it, spearing the lightsaber through Isla's stomach. In doing so, however, her clone had closed the gap between them and left herself open to a counter-attack.
Doing her best to ignore the searing pain in her abdomen, Isla used the opportunity to reach up and grab the duplicate's head in her hands, jerking it violently to one side and – with the Force aiding her – breaking her neck. She too burst into a cloud of dust, leaving Isla shocked by the phantom pain she had experienced, but ultimately unharmed.
When that cloud dissipated, the crystal cave she had fought in was gone, replaced by the pitch black of the tunnels and the persistent dripping. This time, a single light source shone up from the floor beside Isla, a blue lightsaber crystal that cast enough of a glow for the Chiss to navigate a way out of the caves with, emerging less than an hour later.
She was greeted by a handful of her clan members, with more joining them in the hours that followed. By nightfall, all but one of the Initiates had returned, and the clan were escorted back to the Jedi temple, glad to have succeeded in their trial yet kept awake worrying for their missing friend.
Isla, in contrast, fell asleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow, certain that the hardest part of her Initiate trials were over.
Jedi Padawan
You are a fine student, Padawan, but you must learn patience. An eagerness to learn is admirable, yet an eagerness to learn can easily become a weakness that can endanger both you and others. That is why we preach patience, so that you don't just learn a teaching, but understand it as well.
—Jedi Master Rosentine Synma, explaining the importance of patience to Isla.
With the rest of her Initiate Trials behind her, all that remained was for Isla to construct her lightsaber.
Using instructions from the archives to guide her, Isla set about building her weapon using parts provided by the clan Master, spending several days in quiet meditation to assemble a sleek, simple lightsaber fitted with the crystal she had collected in the cave, infused with Force energy during her ritual duel against her dark reflection.
Having successfully completed all her tasks to pass her Initiate Trial, Isla was approached by one of the visiting Jedi Masters, Master Rosentine Synma, who invited her to become her Padawan and accompany her on her travels. Eager to leave Tython behind, the Chiss was already prepared to agree to any master that offered and departed with Master Synma later that evening, believing she would finally be given the tuition she felt she had been denied as an Initiate.
Unfortunately for Isla, the weeks that followed saw her Jedi training progress as slowly as ever, with lessons being staggered and cut short, or repeated, needlessly as far as Isla was concerned. Isla's time with Master Synma saw her deal with mostly diplomatic situations and disputes between civilians – and even then only as an observer to learn from her master's example.
Isla grew increasingly frustrated, and after almost a year under Master Synma – and with Isla now at her species' age of maturity – the relationship between master and student was becoming frayed, almost hostile.
Unbeknownst to both Synma and Isla, the Padawan's training was about to take an unexpected turn.
In 12 ATC, the duo were sent to assist with another diplomatic mission in the Outer Rim, unaware that information about their travel plans had reached the ears of Imperial Intelligence, prompting the organisation to seize the opportunity to eliminate a Jedi with almost no risk to Imperial assets.
En route, the Jedi's vessel was intercepted and boarded by Rattataki Sith Lord Lord Kim. Isla was easily overwhelmed, stunned and apprehended by the Imperial troopers supporting Lord Kim and restrained with stun cuffs to prevent her from intervening as Kim crossed blades with Master Synma.
Lord Kim's use of Makashi allowed him to eventually outperform Master Synma's Niman, the limited room aboard the ship preventing her from making full use of her Force powers while his form was tight and precise, ideally suited to the situation.
Powerless to assist, Isla was forced to watched as Lord Kim slipped his blade through Master Synma's defences and impaled her, striking her sternum and killing her almost instantly, leaving her Padawan shocked and distraught and fearing her own impending death.
Curiously enough, Lord Kim had other ideas; he had his men to remove Isla's shackles and ordered her to stand, detailing the situation she was in in a logical, straightforward way, pointing out the facts that were already obvious to all present. He then explained that Isla had two options he would allow her to choose between.
Firstly, she could die with her master, a swift and painless death that would honour her commitment to the Jedi Order and allow her to stay true to her ideals.
The second, was to accept Lord Kim's offer of an apprenticeship, joining the Sith Empire as a Sith apprentice under his tutelage. The Jedi would not know what fate had befallen Isla, and thus her betrayal would not be known for a time, if ever.
Isla, seeing a way out of what had previously seemed like a certain death scenario, asked if she would be held back by him, too, to which he darkly vowed to push her beyond what she believed she could achieve – and likewise vowing consequences if she could not keep up with his expectations.
Considering her options carefully, Isla was compelled to decide quickly when Lord Kim ignited his lightsaber, held it to her heart and asked her what it was to be – death, or the dark side.
Sith Acolyte
Discretion has served me well thus far, and I do not intend to deviate from my current philosophy in my training of you. The Jedi will believe you are dead along with your master and only you, these troopers and I know you live. Provided we are smart about your training, that will not change, and you will not have to waste time with slaves and thugs at the academy on Korriban.
—Lord Kim, to Loreli, shortly before ordering her to kill his troops.
Having for some time had doubts about her place in the Jedi Order and often questioning the ideals she had been raised to believe, Isla was quick to choose the dark side rather than die a Jedi, the decision – while initially weighing heavy on her conscience – being a forgone conclusion in spite of the years of teachings warning her of the dangers of the Dark Side.
Isla knelt, pledging her allegiance to the Sith Empire and to Lord Kim, as instructed, after which she was told to rise as Kim detailed his intentions regarding her training.
Most Sith acolytes were shipped off to Korriban to train at the academy, but Lord Kim wanted to train Isla personally, even before she was properly accepted as a Sith.
As only Isla, Kim and the troops who had helped him capture her knew of her existence, Lord Kim explained that he would train her in secret until the time came for her to face the trials, avoiding the backstabbing and underhanded tactics of other acolytes she would encounter if she were trained in the conventional manner.
To ensure secrecy, he stated that it was vital only the two of them retained any memory of her rebirth. To that end, he ordered her to pick up her fallen master's sabre and – once she had the blade in hand – Kim used the Force to pull the soldier's rifles from their hands, disarming them.
Lord Kim then ordered Isla to execute them, and after a moment of hesitation Isla was spurred into action when the soldiers – panicking – tried to rush for their fallen blaster rifles. Without their weapons, the soldiers were killed without a fight, ensuring her existence remained a secret and forcing Isla to commit her first murders in a single stroke.
To cement the transition, Kim decreed that Isla Ahnkett was dead and asked – that being the case – who it was standing before him, forcing Isla to invent a new persona on the spot; thus, Loreli Patek was born.
And for her first act as the Sith Acolyte Loreli Patek, Lord Kim ordered her to execute the Imperial soldiers present aboard the ship, ensuring her apprenticeship could not be leaked to Kim's rivals or Loreli's old allies. Kim used the Force to yank the troopers' blaster rifles out of their hands; Loreli's skill was not being tested, just her resolve and commitment to her new path.
Before they left, Lord Kim warned her that she should not mistake the calculated murder of Imperial troops as acceptable standard practise under his command. He considered them valuable resources, lamenting that sometimes the greatest service they could offer their Empire was to die for it, but that such an outcome should never be chosen unnecessarily.
With their business concluded, master and apprentice sent the Jedi vessel on a crash course with a local asteroid belt and set a course for the Empire's capital, the eternally dreary world of Dromund Kaas.
Sith Assassin
You are slight, lithe. Direct confrontation is not your best approach, and if you had any inclination towards specialising in mastery of the Force it would have manifested before now. No, you are like me. A duellist. An assassin. Elegant, precise and lethal. I will train you strike only once, and to master the grace and precision of Form II for when circumstance dictates you must strike a second time.
—Lord Kim, regarding Loreli's training as a Sith assassin.
After arriving on Dromund Kaas, Loreli was outfitted with a crimson lightsaber crystal to insert into Master Synma's weapon and garments more appropriate for a Sith-in-training.
Immediately, her training began, with hours of sparring and practising her Force abilities filling her days from the moment she woke in the morning until last thing at night, while her weekends were spent in meditation, focusing on the negative emotions that would allow her to channel to the dark side of the Force, a connection she struggled with due to her historically apathetic outlook.
When she made mistakes or failed to achieve the result Lord Kim was training her towards, she was struck, and with each strike she became weaker and more prone to making further mistakes, creating a cycle of beatings that increased the rate of her failures. This only made her angry, though, and – as Kim intended – pushed her to draw on the dark side for strength, allowing her to continue sharpening her skills through the persistent physcal abuse.
In time, Loreli had mastered the core abilities Lord Kim had pushed her to focus on, unusual abilities but ones that were ideal for her intended role of Sith assassin: abilities such as hiding and falsifying her presence in the Force, manipulating light and sound to render herself practically invisible, remotely disabling security cameras and even the very basics of moving through solid objects, though she found this incredibly difficult and for many years was only being able to extend the ability to her fingers for a few seconds at a time before exhausting herself.
She also became proficient in Makashi, the lightsaber form most suited to lightsaber duels, for when she was forced to engage an opponent overtly, as well as some limited training in the basics of Shien, a division of Form V well suited to deflecting blaster bolts.
In 16 ATC, Lord Kim – satisfied she was ready for service – sent Loreli – now fourteen years old – to eliminate one of his rivals in the Sphere of Mysteries, a younger Lord who had insulted and mocked Kim indirectly on multiple occasions in an attempt to undermine him.
Knowing he was in the capital after a recent, successful assignment, Loreli chose to monitor the Lord's comings and goings over the course of a week.
Through her efforts, she soon discovered that the young assassin was a braggart with a weakness for alcohol; most nights, he drank heavily at the Nexus Room, staggering home with a different woman each evening, usually Imperials who knew the value of a Force sensitive child.
Loreli exploited this habit, incapacitating an Imperial officer, hiding and binding her unconscious body in an alleyway and stealing her uniform before proceeding to enter the cantina, hiding her Force sensitivity while pretending to be interested in the Lord's wild stories.
The Lord, however, was not interested in fraternising with alien women, forcing Loreli to adapt. She waited, watching for several hours as he and a Human woman exchanged drunken flirtations, only moving late in the evening when the cantina had emptied out considerably. When the woman ventured over to the bar to order another round of drinks, Loreli tried engaging in small-talk, struggling at first due to the woman's clear dislike of aliens.
Thankfully, when Loreli moved the topic onto the Lord she had been flirting with her interest was piqued. Loreli invented a story about how the Lord had single-handedly killed almost a hundred Republic troops, and the only injury he had sustained was a small knife wound on the back of his neck.
Loreli then pointed, attempting to draw her attention to the imaginary scar and tricking her into looking away from the bar long enough for her to pour a small vial of Synox into their drinks, opting to risk poisoning both and hoping that the Imperial did not drink before her target.
She departed almost immediately, knocking out the officer from whom she had stolen the Imperial uniform a second time before unbinding her, though she kept the uniform for future use. From there, the Chiss reported back to her master, only able to settle down the following morning, when word had spread of the poisoning.
As a reward for her success and due to his good mood at having an upstart Sith put in his place, Lord Kim arranged for Loreli to finally attend the academy on Korriban a month later, a short visit that would pit her against the trials necessary to be formally recognised as a Sith and finally legitimise her as a member of the Sith Empire.
Agent of the Eternal Alliance
Rogue Asset
The current situation is not sustainable. Pretending it is not happening and continuing to scrap with the Republic out of nostalgia for happier times will not make the Eternal Empire go away.
—Loreli, to her colleagues in Sith Intelligence.
A year later in 17 ATC, galactic events took a dark turn. Loreli, now a rising star in Sith Intelligence had just been recalled from a sabotage operation on Kuat and was on her way back to Ziost to report in for reassignment when the invasion began.
Forces were being evacuated, with all sorts of outlandish claims being made from the evacuees. Irrespective of her scepticism, she did what she could to help process the evacuated slaves and military personnel and to ensure the security of the station, staying long enough that she was present when the planet was destroyed by the Sith Emperor.
Although a major loss, it was soon overshadowed by the attack on Korriban, which in turn heralded the galaxy-wide invasion by the mysterious Eternal Empire and their unstoppable armada of warships. During the war, Loreli continued to serve as an intelligence operative, being sent primarily to follow up on rumours that were pertinent to the conflict and assassinate select individuals, primarily Republic (or Republic-aligned) officials, in an effort to steer the invaders towards more vulnerable worlds to buy the Empire time.
It was after meeting a contact on one of the lesser Hutt worlds that Loreli was finally caught up in her first battle, with the Eternal Fleet descending on the relatively undefended world before the Chiss could withdraw. Relying on stealth as she always did, Loreli was able to move around the fighting taking place between the local criminals and the unified Knights of Zakuul, avoiding fighting entirely until she entered the city's spaceport.
With her own transport out of reach, Loreli accessed the terminals in the besieged spaceport and picked a suitable ship from the list of vessels currently docked inside. Unluckily, when she arrived in the hangar she had targeted, four Knights of Zakuul were present, forcing her to engage.
Despite being outnumbered Loreli managed to dismember one of the Knights, but their unorthodox tactics and her relative inexperience in lightsaber combat led to her being overwhelmed and defeated by the remaining three, who swiftly beat her into submission.
The owner of the ship, errant Jedi Zhavi Waverunner, arrived in time to save Loreli's life, dispatching all four Knights and – after a brief moral crisis – carrying the unconscious Chiss aboard her ship and departing the planet before it was locked down, an act of kindness that would have lifelong consequences for both Loreli and Zhavi.
Loreli had her wounds tended to by Waverunner and was dropped off on the first safe world, returning to work until the war ended with the surrender of the Sith Empire and Galactic Republic in 18 ATC.
Although she continued to serve dutifully for a further two years, Loreli eventually grew tired of submission, and with Lord Kim numbering among those killed by the invaders she decided to depart Imperial space in 20 ATC, chasing up rumours of resistance groups to whom she could lend her skills.
Joining the Alliance
Loreli Patek... what're the odds?
—Zhavi, to Loreli, during their reunion on Sullust.
Seeing the rise and fall of a number of doomed rebel cells over the year she spent operating independently, Loreli was prepared for the worst when she joined another such group on Sullust 21 ATC.
To her surprise, she was reunited with Waverunner a few weeks after joining the movement when the Jedi delivered a shipment of supplies to one of the group's hidden bases. Like Loreli, Zhavi had decided she could not sit on her hands while the Eternal Empire ruled unopposed, though unlike the former Imperial the group on Sullust was her first experience of resistance life.
When Loreli told her about how she was restricted to guard duty and dock work Zhavi – having had a similarly unwelcoming reception from their xenophobic Sullustan allies – sympathised and suggested Loreli join her aboard her ship, an invitation she confessed she had been hoping to receive.
After completing the unloading of Zhavi's cargo and notifying her handler that she was leaving, Loreli boarded the ship with the former Padawan and the two set off to hunt down leads, recruit new members for the Sullust resistance and steal Eternal Empire resources whenever the opportunity presented itself.
Ultimately, their efforts were wasted when the Sullust group was all but destroyed, though thankfully Zhavi and Loreli were off-world at the time and thus numbered amongst the handful of survivors.
The unlikely duo did not find another movement until 23 ATC, when word spread from Asylum of a battle that took place there, and through Zhavi's underworld contacts the duo managed to learn of – and reach – Odessen. On their arrival, they were introduced to the Eternal Alliance and the secret weapon they held that put them above other resistance groups; the colossal Gravestone.
Both women were pleased to see well-known faces from their respective factions, viewing their presence on Odessen as vindication of their decision to join, particularly for Loreli, who had been with a number of other failed movements already. Loreli was reunited with her old Sith Intelligence superior, Minister Beniko, while Zhavi got to meet the Commander of the fledgling Alliance, the famous Hero of Tython.
Home on Odessen
Zhavi and Loreli, during their time in the Eternal Alliance.
We both know emotions are irrelevant, Jedi.
—Loreli, to Zhavi, regarding their mutual attraction.
While the Alliance Commander led the charge against the forces of Zakuul, Zhavi and Loreli took to the underworld, working under the direction of Republic legend Hylo Visz, who had been tasked with coordinating the Alliance's supply lines.
Aboard Zhavi's dilapidated old ship, they helped ferry cargo and passengers to and from Odessen, providing backup or an extra pair of hands to other crews when called for. During this time, the mutual attraction the pair shared developed into something more meaningful, with the Sith and Jedi becoming increasingly comfortable fighting and living together in spite of their historically solitary lifestyles, often forced to spend days on end in the cramped interior of Zhavi's small vessel with no way to avoid one another and nobody else to talk to.
It was only natural that their friendship developed quickly in such a compressed space, and despite ongoing efforts from Loreli to remain emotionally distant from a sworn enemy, Zhavi voiced her opinions on the subject shortly before the raid on Darvannis, after a failed attempt to kiss Loreli.
Embarrassed and angry, she questioned why the Chiss was going to such great lengths to pretend she did not feel anything towards her, to which Loreli tried to claim she considered her a friend, but nothing more.
Zhavi, unconvinced, did not let the issue slide, and – under pressure – Loreli conceded that while she did care for Zhavi, how either of them felt was irrelevant as eventually the Eternal Empire would be stopped and they would go back to fighting on opposite sides of the galactic war. Undeterred, Zhavi tried to convince her it was a problem for later, but when that failed she tried a more aggressive angle, appealing to Loreli's Sith ego by claiming she was a coward.
Unfamiliar with close relationships beyond the insincere emulation of them that Sith Intelligence required of her, Loreli was unable to analyse the situation clearly enough to see that she was being provoked; riled by the accusation, she declared that she had never cowered from anything in her life and forced herself on Zhavi, not realising until later that she had been manipulated into crossing a boundary and – in doing so – had instigated a relationship beyond mere friendship.
After their first night together, the couple became almost inseparable and their ability to anticipate the actions and needs of the other developed to such a degree that their peers in the Alliance found their unconscious synchronisation slightly unsettling to witness, given that those who were not of Sith or Jedi origin had little to no experience seeing the Force in action.
For a few weeks, a rumour spread around the base that Loreli was controlling Zhavi's mind, supposedly explaining their synchronised behaviour, though this was quickly dismissed by members of the Alliance's Force enclave to whom the conspiracy theory was eventually presented.
Sana-Rae, head of the enclave, cited Zhavi and Loreli's relationship as proof that Sith and Jedi could work together as easily as with members of their respective orders, even using them as an example during a debate between two Force using members of the Alliance who had come to blows on one occasion.
Lana Beniko, Isla's former superior, also made note of their connection in Alliance personnel files, noting that their effectiveness as a team was considerably greater than their individual value – an unexpected outcome based on their respective psychological profiles. She recommended that they be considered a single unit unless individual assignments were "essential to operational successes".
Under normal circumstances the recommendation was irrelevant due to their particular role in the Alliance, but during the Assault on Odessen in 23 ATC they were deployed together in defence of the Alliance base, joining the rest of the Alliance's available troops to meet the hordes of Skytroopers head-on in the wilds outside the base.
Long Distance Relationship
Loreli and Zhavi, aboard the latter's ship.
Hey, ain't like I'm a proper Jedi. I'm a smuggler, a crook, 'n' I reckon a Sith spy won't have no problems findin' a reason t' cross paths with a crook.
—Zhavi, to Loreli, during a discussion about their future outside the Alliance.
Remaining with the Alliance after the fall of Empress Vaylin, Zhavi and Loreli saw out the fighting on Iokath, the apparent betrayal of Theron Shan during a mission to the shadow world of Umbara, the surprising events on the Chiss world of Copero and the destruction of both the Eternal Fleet and the Gravestone at the hands of the Order of Zildrog in 25 ATC.
It was only after the Alliance's naval force was decimated that many within the organisation's ranks decided it was time to return home, with large numbers taking the chance to accept pardons and leave Odessen before war between the Galactic Republic and the Sith Empire broke out again.
Knowing she may never get another chance to return home – and that if the Alliance collapsed in the aftermath she would be cast adrift – Loreli decided to take advantage of the amnesty period; bidding an agonising farewell, Zhavi and Loreli parted ways, with the Chiss returning to Dromund Kaas to resume her role as an assassin and spy for Sith Intelligence.
Zhavi, meanwhile, returned to her smuggling ways, hopeful that they would see each other again – as they had promised one another – sooner rather than later.
With war on the horizon, the Sith Empire was keen on locating and exterminating Jedi who had survived the war with Zakuul, knowing that – with the Jedi Order all but disbanded – they were exposed and vulnerable to elimination or conversion.
To that end, Loreli was assigned to investigate leads on potential Jedi targets upon her return, the perfect cover to shrug off her duties in favour of spending time with Zhavi, letting her superiors believe that the failed Jedi was still in contact with her former peers and could lead them to a hidden enclave.
Even Zhavi's aunt Sophia – herself a Jedi Master – rarely heard from her, but Loreli was confident she could keep her superiors at bay with false leads and mistruths before they ordered her to redirect her efforts elsewhere.
After several rendezvouses, Loreli insisted that she be introduced to Zhavi's parents as a way of proving that she was serious about their relationship, though Zhavi firmly dismissed the idea. Rather than let the subject go, Loreli programmed the ship to fly to Coruscant whilst the drunken Jedi slept, hoping to force the issue.
Despite Zhavi's concerns that her parents – Republic loyalists and serving veterans in the armed forces – would react very poorly, Loreli was adamant about meeting them, intent on proving her commitment to Zhavi due to the former Jedi's quiet concerns relating to how serious Loreli was taking their partnership.
Disguising herself as a Pantoran using face-paint and sunglasses, Loreli arrived on Coruscant via the lower levels, where security was somewhat lax. Zhavi guided them to the surface level and to her parents' apartment, knowing they were not currently deployed thanks to Loreli looking into the matter ahead of time.
Before they entered, the pair shared a moment of realisation as they discovered they were connected by a powerful Force bond.
Initially, the pair were greeted warmly, exchanging pleasantries and small-talk. When Loreli's species and affiliations were revealed, however, Zhavi's mother – the zealous Nomi Waverunner – was unsurprisingly enraged.
Her father Yuri was far more understanding, and made an effort to calm his wife down before suggesting they split up, with Zhavi and Nomi going one way to talk while Yuri took Loreli to the local gun range to let their more emotional other halves have it out, assuring her the choice of venue was not an omen. They agreed to meet up again later for dinner at the Waverunner's favourite restaurant, at which point they could calmly discuss any concerns or objections.
Zhavi's younger brother Carth Waverunner – a Republic Strategic Information Service agent – met them at the restaurant, invited along by Yuri to be a calming influence and an additional vote in favour of Zhavi's choice of partner. Although the dinner was understandably tense, the discussion remained civil and Nomi was convinced to accept the reality of the situation, even if she did not approve and claimed she never would.
The morning after, Zhavi was contacted by Bao Shotti, a Republic soldier she had befriended long ago when she was still a Padawan. He had received a message from his young cousin, Maeve Shotti, who claimed to be living on the dead world of Ossus at a hidden Jedi colony. Her message concerned her unhappiness as a Jedi, her feelings of isolation and homesickness and her belief that her master, Urthan Reynolds, did not understand how hard she was finding life at the colony.
Bao asked Zhavi if she could head to the colony to help her, unsure about going himself due to his lack of transport, the unknown nature of the Jedi base on Ossus and the fact that Zhavi was the only "adult-sized child" he knew. Zhavi, curious about why the Jedi were on Ossus, agreed to visit.
Loreli protested the decision and tried to appeal to Zhavi's laziness, reminding her that Ossus was an inhospitable wasteland, but was unable to discourage her from her trip. In the meantime, Zhavi volunteered Loreli for a mercenary contract as a security coordinator, hoping to show her that there was a life waiting for her outside of the extremes of the Jedi and Sith, one that was hers for the taking if she could bring herself to make one of their meetings permanent.
Treasure Hunt on Dronim Major
No offence, but it seems to me that there's three "teams" in this place right now. There's these hungry, toothy critters, there's the mercs, and there's you two. Now, whether I'm a Jedi or not, you'd have to be stupid to think I'm with the mercs – and you strike me as being brighter than that.
—Benjamin Lambert, defending himself against "Carla Jemso".
Loreli's contract was straightforward; going by her old mercenary alias "Carla Jemso", she was to head up camp security on an archaeological expedition to the unimportant world of Dronim Major, where a professor Leeroy Demmen was intending to spend two weeks studying the ancient ruins in person as part of an academic paper he was preparing for publication.
The ruins had been thoroughly explored over the decades and were well-documented already, so the expedition was not particularly well-funded, but Loreli was not overly considered with her payment, doing the job only because Zhavi wanted her to, even if she had doubts about the prospect of leaving her career in the Sith Empire behind.
After arriving on Dronim Major – a dense jungle world with no settlements or native sentients – Loreli began her work, coordinating the mercenaries hired to guard the researchers to establish and patrol a perimeter around the camp. The mercenaries, unused to taking orders, disliked Loreli immediately due to her strictness, but professor Demmen was impressed with her professionalism – when he took the time to pull himself away from his studies.
Whether through the will of the Force or by sheer bad luck on Loreli's part, a private military organisation known as the Antiquarians – ostensibly a security force for large-scale expeditions in hostile environments – had been hired to secure the ruins, locate an artefact hidden there and kill any witnesses they encountered.
Loreli's team of mercenaries were wiped out almost immediately, along with most of the researchers, though thanks to the Chiss' inability to let her guard down she reacted rapidly to the assault on the camp and managed to escape into the wilds with the professor.
Unbeknownst to Loreli and Demmen, another Force user was approaching the planet, also pursuing the lost artefact. The Antiquarians had a frigate in orbit, however, and the newcomer was shot down while attempting to land, crashing into the jungle. He survived, and as Loreli and Demmen continued to move away from the ruins to escape the mercenaries, the Force adept was heading to confront the individuals who had attempted to kill him.
Despite the adept's strength in the Force, he was unprepared for the effects of Zildrog's Breath, a chemical weapon that was able to suppress a Force user's connection to the Force – though neither the adept nor Loreli were aware that such a weapon existed at the time. His senses blinded, the adept did not sense when a pack of Mawvorr were preparing to ambush him, and though he put up an admirable fight it took Loreli – watching through the scope of her sniper rifle – opening fire to save his life.
Initially, Loreli was suspicious of the stranger, given that only archaeologists visited Dronim Major and all expeditions were notified of one another to reduce the chances of friendly fire in the jungle.
Introducing himself as Benjamin Lambert – a Green Jedi from Corellia – he explained that he had been shot down and intended to stop the Antiquarians from claiming the artefact they were searching for, believing they were acting under the orders of the Sith. Loreli was unconvinced, noting his distinctly Imperial accent, but in spite of her protests Benjamin won over professor Demmen's trust with relative ease.
Further irritating her, Benjamin convinced Demmen to agree to head back to the main temple they had worked so hard to flee from, although Loreli insisted that – since he was so confident he could defeat so many alone, even with his injuries – he lead the way while they followed in his wake. She offered to provide sniper support where possible, but made it clear Demmen's survival was what she was being paid for, pointing out that it was also his testimony that would force the Republic to launch an investigation into the Antiquarians' criminal behaviour.
Benjamin led the charge, though with his lightsaber destroyed and only a makeshift knife, stealth was essential to his survival and thus, progress was slow. The mercenaries were very well equipped, which proved to be a two-pronged factor when the trio looted rations, comm units and weapons from the scouts Benjamin was able to dispatch.
Eventually, after somehow taming a wild Fyrnock while he was out of Loreli's sight, Benjamin stormed the temple, eliminating the outer guard and discovering that a secret chamber beneath the temple had been uncovered after the expedition had been driven from the site. Loreli and Demmen caught up, and the Chiss agreed to help him investigate.
Within the chamber, where the gas had not been dispersed, the duo's respective connections to the Force were unhindered, allowing Benjamin to glimpse her Force sensitivity before she realised she needed to veil herself again.
Benjamin remarked that he was not there to judge or out her as a dark side user, revealing that he – formerly Darth Enigmus – had recently left the Empire and knew that an individual's connection to the Force was a personal thing.
Aware that she was not who she claimed, he asked her to trust him with her lightsaber – making the correct assumption that she had one concealed on her person – and create a distraction, allowing him to sneak past the mercenary guards and reach the room they were protecting, rather than fighting through them.
Doing as requested, Loreli drew enough attention to create an opening for Benjamin before retreating back outside, taking professor Demmen with her as she retreated into the jungle to find a safer position from which to observe. Five minutes later, a Rattataki Sith and the Antiquarian troops departed the site (allowing Loreli to use her datapad and rifle scope to take photographic evidence of their attack) and ten minutes later Benjamin emerged.
Once Demmen and Loreli re-joined him, he explained that the Sith could not find the artefact and had opted to leave peacefully rather than fight him over what seemed to be an empty room.
Benjamin, however, had uncovered the artefact's hiding place after the Sith's departure.
Loreli questioned where and what it was, to which Benjamin admitted that he did not understand it himself as yet. Of one thing he was certain, though; he had absorbed the artefact into his body after picking it up. He remarked that he felt as though his connection to the Force had been strengthened somehow, even if he was unsure about accepting such an unusual boon at face value.
Mystified, the trio were nonetheless content that they had been victorious in stopping the schemes of the Sith and – with the Antiquarians hastily leaving the system – were able to reassemble the camp's destroyed distress beacon within an hour. Loreli turned the images she had taken of the Sith and the Antiquarians over to Demmen, asking not to be identified when he reported their activities to the Republic, a request he agreed to.
Once the group were off-world Benjamin returned Loreli's sabre (carrying it on her behalf to spare her any scrutiny from the navy personnel who rescued them) and wished her well in her future endeavours.
Loreli, unsettled by her unexpected proximity to Republic military personnel and the strange Jedi who had seen through her deception, elected to head back to Imperial space earlier than she had originally intended, deciding to tell Zhavi what had happened on Dronim Major at a later date.
The Ossus Catalyst
Liar!
—Zhavi, to Loreli, during their duel on Makeb.
Unfortunately Imperial space did not offer the same safe harbour as it was had; Loreli's mentor in Sith Intelligence, Sith Lord Scarlet Jhang, suspected the Chiss' loyalties were divided by her affection for Waverunner, and when she returned to Sith Intelligence headquarters with no actionable intel yet again, Jhang decided to make her displeasure clear.
Using the Force to pin Loreli to the wall in full view of her colleagues, the Sith Lord reminded her that a respectable work history did not make failure any more acceptable and demanded something worthwhile in exchange for her life.
Loreli was quick to sell out the former Darth Enigmus (although she neglected to mention the artefact he had recovered from the temple on Dronim Major) and offer up his location, only for Jhang to refute her offering as his location was already known. The Chiss offered up fictional rumours of Jedi activity but Jhang was not convinced and – struggling for air through the Lord's grip – Loreli was forced to reveal the colony on Ossus out of desperation.
As it turned out, Jhang already knew exactly where the Jedi colony was located and her demands were a test of Loreli's loyalty; plans were already underway to destroy the Jedi on Ossus, Zhavi included.
To ensure she did not make any poor judgements, Jhang had the Chiss confined to Dromund Kaas until the operation was over but as soon as it was, Loreli made discreet arrangements to meet Zhavi on the dying world of Makeb, in a protected biodome on Frinn Mesa, which was operated and maintained by Galactic Solutions Industries.
Pulling some strings with old associates in Sith Intelligence, Loreli had agents within GSI insert false data concerning the mesa's possible instability that prompted a temporary evacuation of all GSI personnel, allowing Zhavi and Loreli to dock with the station and descend to the surface individually, under the pretence of being contracted geologists called in to verify the instability.
When Zhavi arrived, Loreli attempted to explain what had happened, but Zhavi was in no mood to listen.
Distraught by the losses – both of colonists and Jedi – suffered thanks to the Empire's assault, Zhavi was furious even before they started their conversation, and the more Isla spoke the angrier she became until – overwhelmed by emotion – she attacked Loreli, blaming her for the attack on the colony and the deaths that had followed.
Loreli refused to retaliate, only raising her blade to defend herself as she tried to talk her partner down, failing repeatedly until she was eventually disarmed and cornered and left at the Jedi's mercy. Zhavi drew her blade high, ready to avenge those who had died on Ossus, but found she could not bring herself to deliver a killing blow.
Instead, she took Loreli's sabre and left her there in the rain, wallowing in her loss.
Lord Jhang had achieved her aim; with Zhavi no longer a part of her life, Loreli had nothing left except her career and her loyalty to the Empire. The Chiss returned home, unaware that her mentor had been present to watch the entire exchange, poised to snatch her protégé from the jaws of death had Zhavi chosen to deliver the final strike.
Lord Jhang's Scheme
Inquisitor
A desk job...
—Loreli, regarding her advancement to Inquisitor.
Rededicating herself to Sith Intelligence, Loreli took to filling her days with work. In her free time, she spent endless hours training with her lightsaber and Force abilities, to the exclusion of all else.
Despite her renewed commitment to her work, Loreli's success in uncovering a number of internal security threats and routing out would-be terrorists earned her attention she did not want. As a reward, Loreli was reassigned from field work, promoted to the rank of Sith Inquisitor and tasked with tightening the security of the capital from treason and infiltration attempts, becoming one of many coordinating the eyes and ears of Sith Intelligence within Kaas City.
Internal security was important, but for Loreli, the promotion wasted her talent for murder and infiltration and saddled her with desk work more befitting a less physically capable Sith – or even an Imperial. She found herself coordinating agents, instead of being one, and while many Sith saw such an advancement as a step up in their career, Loreli preferred to be a pawn in the dejarik game that was Sith politics, rather than one of the players.
It did grant her a small measure of greater prestige, however, and she lived comfortably for a time, aware that her promotion meant she was one step closer to her ambition of becoming a Lord of the Sith.
As the year progressed Loreli's associates in Sith Intelligence tipped her off about the capture of Yuri, Nomi and Carth Waverunner, causing Loreli to regress somewhat; she surmised that Zhavi's entire family being captured was no coincidence, and that only Lord Jhang could be behind it. Determined to learn what she was up to and thwart her plan before she could bring harm to Zhavi or her family, Loreli devoted her every spare hour to investigating their whereabouts.
The information on their whereabouts was well classified, however, and when she uncovered information suggesting they were being held on Dxun Loreli was suspicious, as Dxun was both in Republic space and uninhabited.
Irrespective of her concerns, she compiled all the information she had into a single file and set off for the jungle moon, transmitting the data to Benjamin Lambert once she was safely out of Imperial space, along with a request that he help Zhavi to act on the information if Loreli own attempt was unsuccessful.
The Death of Inquisitor Patek
Loreli vs Lord Jhang.
Inquisitor Patek. I'm so very glad you could make it."
"After all the time and dedication you have poured into this little project of yours it would be rather graceless of me to miss the grand finale, no?
—Scarlet and Loreli, in the tomb of Freedon Nadd.
Travelling to the coordinates provided by the intelligence report on the Waverunners, Loreli set her shuttle down in front of what she assumed was the Tomb of Freedon Nadd, disembarking and entering the tomb with no resistance from the cult mentioned in the intercepted report, a group of Dark Jedi fanatics who were obsessed with worshipping and emulating the abilities of the Sith Triumvirate called the Followers of the Three.
Permitted access to the burial chamber of the ancient Sith Lord Freedon Nadd, Loreli came face-to-face with her old mentor, Lord Jhang. The Lord revealed that she had witnessed Loreli and Zhavi's confrontation on Makeb, following the Chiss with the intention of murdering Zhavi and cement Loreli's loyalty only to come up with a better idea.
Having seen first-hand how potent their Force bond was, the Sith Lord had decided she wanted that power to answer to her.
Instead of killing Waverunner to rid Loreli of the distraction, she would corrupt Zhavi using a (poetically) three-stage approach; the cultists would weaken her physically, the temple would sap away her resolve and Jhang's hostages would force Zhavi to embrace the dark side or watch her family die.
In doing so, Jhang believed she could claim two apprentices – both of whom were far more lethal together than they were as individuals.
Loreli was not tempted, unwilling to help break Zhavi just to sway her into joining the Empire, even if it would put them on the same side. She activated her sabre and engaged Lord Jhang, giving herself over to the dark side to combat her superior opponent, not truly believing she could win.
Even so, her defeat came more swiftly than she had imagined when Zhavi – trekking through the jungle towards the tomb at the time – was attacked and wounded by a Boma, and the pain from her injury was unintentionally projected through the Force bond they shared.
With the Chiss' mind open to the dark energies of the tomb she was more receptive to their neglected connection, and feeling Zhavi's pain through their bond caused her to hesitate and allowed Jhang to injury her. From there, Jhang destroyed Loreli's lightsaber and incapacitated her, locking her in a force cage alongside Zhavi's relatives.
She remained there for several hours, until Zhavi started fighting her way through the tomb to rescue the group. She sensed her former partner giving into the dark side's power, but found her attempts to communicate with Zhavi telepathically rebuffed.
By the time Zhavi reached the burial chamber, she found Lord Jhang waiting for her, just as planned. Jhang welcomed her and – after a brief exchange in which Jhang refused to stand down – the fallen Jedi sent her lightsaber flying from her belt to begin the duel.
Jhang protected herself effortlessly with a barrier and Zhavi's lightsaber returned to her hand as she closed the gap between the pair, jumping up to launch a powerful Falling Avalanche manoeuvre, which Jhang simply sidestepped before countering, changing Zhavi's offensive to a hurried defence in a second.
Initially the pace was slow, but as time marched on Zhavi quickened her attacks. In response to the more aggressive tactics Jhang became increasingly dependant on her Force abilities, using her powers to create breathing room when Zhavi forced her back by pushing her and following up with lightning.
Unfortunately, Zhavi did not realise she was being lured into a routine by her more experienced foe. Zhavi had arrogantly summed up Jhang's capabilities before she had truly seen them; Jhang disappeared as Zhavi moved to strike at her, surprising her by appearing behind her and almost killing her.
Even though she failed to land a fatal blow the surprise was enough to force Zhavi into an awkward block, allowing Jhang to apply pressure and knock her onto her backside, keeping her pinned between her blade and the floor and at a severe disadvantage because of it. Using her left hand – which was bracing her and allowing her to stay sitting upright – Zhavi managed to quickly reach for Jhang and fire off a telekinetic push that gave her an opening to turn and scramble across the ground.
However, Jhang threw electricity at her while her back was turned, crippling the former Padawan and sending her careening along the stone floor. Loreli, meanwhile, had been trying to disable the mechanisms integral to the functioning of the force cage holding her, a process that was accelerated when she saw Zhavi being tortured.
Overloading the cage to disable the energy field, Loreli called her old lightsaber from Zhavi's side and rushed at Jhang, forcing her to break off and defend herself from the Chiss.
Zhavi got back to her feet while Jhang was preoccupied, and as Jhang tried to talk them both into surrendering rather than forcing her hand, the bond between Zhavi and Loreli began to strengthen again after Zhavi had unconsciously closed herself off from it on Makeb. Tired of listening to Jhang's threats, Zhavi drew her pistol and fired, creating an opening for Loreli. Both women descended on the Sith Lord with a level of coordination Jhang could not defend against for long.
A momentary delay gave Jhang a chance to leap aside, away from the duel, and with a brutish exertion she ripped Loreli's now-unoccupied force cage into the air and dropped it from a height, letting it fall towards the cage in which Carth was imprisoned.
Terrified her brother was about to be crushed Zhavi dashed towards the falling cage and grabbed it with the Force, slowing its descent and saving her brother just as Jhang had intended. Loreli tried to follow after her to assist and defend, but Jhang gripped her with the Force and slung her across the tomb floor, pursuing her aggressively while Zhavi was stuck manoeuvring the floating cage.
In the time it took Zhavi to put the cage down safely on the ground, Loreli had managed to lock blades with Jhang and clamp her free arm around the back of the Sith Lord's neck, holding her – trapped – and with her back to Zhavi.
But as she charged to exploit the opening the Chiss had created, Jhang altered the direction of the pressure she was applying with her blade in a last-ditch effort to break the stalemate, dragging Loreli's weapon downwards towards the floor and using the Chiss' own lightsaber blade to sever her forearm. The tip of Jhang's weapon removed her arm entirely when it passed by half a second later.
Enraged, Zhavi barrelled towards Jhang and leapt into the air, spinning to build momentum as she tore her lightwhip from her belt and lashed it at the Sith Lord. She managed to defend herself, but the whip did exactly what Zhavi had built it for; Jhang lost her grip on her weapon when the whip was retracted, stripping the sabre out from between her fingers.
To her horror, Jhang simply took Loreli's lightsaber while she stood paralysed by shock, using the Chiss' lightsaber to spitefully dismember Loreli further, removing her right leg and part of her right arm in a swift, merciless motion.
Throwing her lightsaber – which Jhang easily disabled with lightning – Zhavi began a frenzied assault on the Lord, lashing repeatedly with her whip, again and again, until Loreli's stolen blade was torn from her grasp and destroyed itself when it spun into the retreating whip.
When Jhang tried to raise her hands to defend herself, Zhavi used her natural talent for mental domination on the tired and unsuspecting Sith Lord, commanding her – simply – to "stop". Frozen, if only for a brief moment, Jhang could do nothing as Zhavi lashed her whip one last time and sent the flexible plasma wire swiping horizontally through the Sith Lord's helmet.
Blinded and with massive, irreparable brain damage, Jhang's last moments were little more than reflex, her hands rising shakily as her loyal body attempted to follow through on her final effort to protect herself until – entering a spasm – Jhang's body collapsed, joining her in death mere moments later.
Commander of the Cobbled Terentateks
Emergency Care
She's alive, but–"
"–Don't say it.
—Carth and Zhavi, regarding Loreli.
In the aftermath of her duel with Lord Jhang, Zhavi tore the force cages holding her family apart and Carth rushed to Loreli's side to check her vital signs, reporting that she was alive but explaining that she would not be for long. Nomi tried to write Loreli off until Zhavi threatened her, prompting Yuri to contribute with more helpful suggestions, instructing Carth and Nomi to scout ahead to ensure their path out was clear.
Zhavi – still fuelled by the Dark Side and refusing to lose Loreli again – began to pour her own Force energy into the bond between herself and the Chiss, cannibalising her own strength to keep her former partner from succumbing to the final draw of death.
Such was the extreme and animalistic nature of her perversion of the Force healing technique that their Force bond – already incredibly strong despite their separation – deepened immeasurably, transcending a simple bond to evolve into a much rarer phenomenon, a Force dyad.
Yuri was concerned by Zhavi's efforts, as even he – completely blind to the powers of the Force – was able to physically feel what Zhavi was doing to keep Loreli alive as she carried the mutilated woman out of the tomb. He did not dissuade her, although he did caution her, telling his daughter that he did not want to lose both of them.
Carth and Nomi – using lightsabers recovered from the fallen cultists – made sure any survivors who tried to stop the group were thwarted before Zhavi arrived, yet after the death of their leader and the volcanic emotions Zhavi was throwing off through the Force only a single assailant dared to try his hand, the rest keeping their distance.
The perimeter guard Zhavi had crept past watched as they departed, making no effort to stop the group when they reached the two ships stationed outside the temple.
Concerned that, in her enraged state, her mother's negativity might provoke her to do something she would later regret, Zhavi instructed her family to take Loreli's shuttle and return to Coruscant to make a report while she took Jhang's ship to nearby Onderon, telling them they could meet her there later.
Once aboard, she was able to get Loreli into a kolto tank, stabilising the situation somewhat – although Zhavi still had to continue sacrificing her own energy to prevent the Chiss from dying.
Worryingly, however, she soon realised that Jhang's ship had some surprise security systems, chiefly a lock on the communications system that prevented Zhavi from contacting the authorities on Onderon. With a critical Republic fleet in orbit and a crisis taking place on the surface, fighters were sent to intercept when Zhavi was unable to respond to the hails of the flight control staff on the surface.
Forced to jump, Zhavi discovered another snag; Jhang's navicomputer was only loaded with the navigational data relevant to her destinations. Those included only Dxun, the Sith capital of Dromund Kaas and – the only viable option – a neutral world called Voryle.
Evading the Onderonian fighters, Zhavi made the jump safely and managed to reach Voryle, where she was directed to one of the industrial world's security hangars.
Voryle was well-known amongst the underworld for having excessive – and incredibly invasive – security to enforce its laws on civilians being banned from carrying weapons. Thus Zhavi was subjected to the exhaustive checks despite her dire situation, though thankfully the authorities were understanding enough to rush Loreli through to the city's best hospital for emergency treatment, where she was stabilised over a number of hours, finally allowing Zhavi to rest after the ordeal.
Such an extreme and primal use of the Force had left Zhavi exhausted and with her connection to the Force weakened, a condition that would last several months before she started to recover properly.
After sleeping for a few hours in the hospital waiting room, Zhavi left Loreli in the care of the medical team and departed for Onderon, knowing she could not afford the medical bills personally but her parents – having spent most of their lives in active service – had plenty of cash and a debt to pay.
Using the last of her money, Zhavi had one of the hangar technicians disable Jhang's security systems to give her full control of the Sith Lord's stolen ship, claiming it as her own and setting off into space where she would spend time meditating, cleansing her mind of the Dark Side's influence.
Recovery on Voryle
Isla took the loss of her limbs particularly hard.
Uhh, wha- where... where am I!?"
"Shh shh shh, relax, relax. You are at Capital Borough Hospital on Voryle. You were in an accident, but you are safe now, my dear. Just relax.
—Loreli, meeting Countess Patrice LaLenna for the first time.
By the time Loreli woke up in Capital Borough Hospital, Zhavi had been arrested for trying to smuggle her lightsaber through customs and was awaiting trial which – if found guilty – would result in her execution.
Fortunately there was a backlog, meaning it would take some time before she would get as far as the courtroom, though Zhavi's predicament was initially kept from Loreli, a decision made by Mikkian Countess Patrice LaLenna – a member of the local nobility and Governing Council of Voryle – in the hopes of reducing the stress placed upon the Chiss.
A Republic ally, Countess LaLenna had lived on Voryle for most of her life, serving as a starfighter pilot in the Republic navy for several years before returning home with her husband, a Republic soldier who was discharged after suffering debilitating injuries. Her husband passed away years prior, but LaLenna continued to champion the Republic over the Empire, strongly believing in the ideals of the ancient organisation.
Since Loreli had just woken up after going through considerable physical trauma, the Countess was patient with her, doing most of the talking herself, unaware that Loreli – though groggy – was studying the alien and her present situation to work out how best to take advantage.
As she listened, she realised that LaLenna believed she and Zhavi were agents promised by the SIS, agents intended to help coordinate a proxy war that had been going on for several years already.
Roughly a year earlier, the Republic's agents and allies on the planet had been systematically eliminated during a sudden surge of support from the Empire, with their representatives – primarily the Rabid Akks street gang – striking with uncharacteristic precision and force.
Countess LaLenna was the last known supporter of the Republic, and feared that with her death the advocates of Imperial rule would be able to sway the planet into formally aligning with the Sith Empire.
Loreli – sensing an opportunity – confirmed that she and Zhavi had been sent to help as the Countess believed and introduced herself as Isla Ahnkett, knowing that any attempt to verify her identity would reveal she had been missing in action for several years, but that that was also a convincing cover for an SIS agent plucked out of the Jedi ranks.
Additionally, her Sith name would yield little – if anything – when checked against any Republic or independent databases, potentially arousing suspicion if Sith Intelligence had eyes on the database in question.
Patrice informed her that she had paid for Isla to be fitted with high-end cybernetics to replace the subpar models Zhavi had opted for, although the replacement would take time. LaLenna visited several times, informing Isla of Zhavi's situation on the final visit and providing her with an address and directions, asking that she visit her at her estate as soon as she was discharged from the hospital.
LaLenna apologised, but explained that she could no longer risk leaving her home for fear of being intercepted by members of the Rabid Akks, for whom she was a priority target.
Forming the Terentateks
Isla met with Countess LaLenna at her estate.
We shall be the Cobbled Terentateks.
—Isla Ahnkett, declaring the name of her street gang.
Three months after first being admitted to the hospital, Isla was back on her (new) feet. She was given the all clear to leave, with a later appointment scheduled for the application of synthskin to disguise her mechanical limbs.
With no money or possessions and with Zhavi still in custody, Isla had few options and so elected to visit the Countess at her estate in Yonmouth South, as requested. There, LaLenna assured her that she had a scheme in mind to secure the Jedi's release, with Isla being an essential part of her plan.
First, however, the Countess wanted Isla to familiarise herself with the city – and her new allies.
Amongst those allies, LaLenna's butler – the well-spoken Trandoshan Rissessk – would serve as Isla's adviser, confidant and guide to the city. The Countess also explained that the primary means of changing the political landscape was taking and protecting territory to convince local business leaders and figures of influence to support their work.
To that end, the Republic needed a gang of their own to enforce and defend their interests at a grass-roots levels; Countess LaLenna believed that Isla was the ideal woman to lead such an initiative.
Isla herself was unsure, self-aware enough to know she was suffering psychologically from the trauma she had experienced on Dxun and was thus unfit for field work, especially not such an important and commanding role. LaLenna disagreed, however, and insisted that she whether she was the right person for the job or not, she was the only one available to take it on.
She was not unsympathetic though, assuring Isla that she had time to recover. Zhavi's trial was still still several weeks away and LaLenna still had details to iron out before she would need Isla's assistance.
But Isla would not be leading alone in any case; aside from Rissessk, specialists had been recruited to serve as Isla's support network and officers within the gang, but while they discussed Isla meeting them, a Houk thug broke in through the front door. The Countess calmly explained that in future, Isla should be sure to close the gate behind her.
At LaLenna's suggestion, Isla vaulted over the balcony to confront the intruders and test her new limbs, dispatching the burly brute – unarmed – with relative ease. Due to the restrictions on civilians carrying firearms, the most advanced weapons available to the gangs were simple, old-fashioned slugthrowers, built illegally – more or less by hand – in the backrooms of select factories around the city.
Those were easy enough for someone in LaLenna's position to obtain, though she warned that smuggling in lightsaber components for her to construct a new weapon was on an entirely different level of difficult and – subsequently – would take longer.
Regardless, she accepted the crystal and moved through the estate to meet with an Ugnaught woman named Tixk, a seamstress who saw to the clothing needs of Voryle's high society. Tixk took Isla's measurements and started working on an outfit to help her blend in.
LaLenna explained that class was more important than race or gender on Voryle, and simply dressing like she was nobility would automatically improve her social standing and dissuade the locals from bothering her without good cause.
With their business concluded for the moment, Rissessk provided Isla with temporary clothing to replace her medical robe and escorted her to a local pub later that evening, where they were met by the three individuals who would be helping Isla lead the gang.
Bon-Yi, Bibi Jotto and Yagogg.
Bibi Jotto was the first to introduce herself, a shy but bubbly Cathar who used to serve in the Republic military until a mine caused nerve damage in her leg, making it hard for her to move with any speed. She had been brought in as a military adviser and strategist, her experience offering an advantage over the undisciplined movements of the Rabid Akks.
The heavily-tattooed ex-gangster Yagogg was the next to identify himself, a Gamorrean who had spent his life fighting and leading gangsters for the Hutt Cartel (their logo still tattooed on his face) until a near-death experience shook him to his core and caused him to rethink his life, seeking redemption for his past crimes.
He had helped the Republic's SIS take down two sizeable spice operations that were responsible for a noteworthy percentage of the drugs reaching the Core Worlds before it became too risky for him to continue sharing his intelligence.
As a result, he had been hand-picked to assist on Voryle for his intimate understanding of gang culture; he could screen unsuitable recruits and was better placed to understand the needs and motivations of their members.
Next to speak was Tabassa, a local Hutt businessman – and owner of the pub they were meeting in – who was concerned that the Empire might actually end up controlling Voryle, which would likely cost him his business – and life. He was open about the fact that money was his reason for lending his aid, but also seemed to be sincerely concerned about the social changes that becoming an Imperial world would inflict on the population.
The Hutt was offering financial support, along with advice on the strengths and weaknesses of other business leaders, potential allies and confirmed enemies alike.
Finally, and by far the most surprising individual of the group; Bon-Yi, a failed Voss Mystic, who had been brought in to help combat and research Force users on the planet, as well as identify problems within the gang via her talent for sensing emotions.
The group then turned to Isla, clearly expecting an introduction from her, too, forcing her to – reluctantly – offer up her name and her role as a Jedi. She then fabricated her background to explain her accent, claiming she had been marooned in Imperial space when she was younger and had been assisting local rebel groups within Imperial borders ever since.
Once the introductions were wrapped up Yagogg brought up the issue of a name for their prospective gang, insisting that it was an important detail that Isla should be responsible for. Although she did not see the importance – and after some suggestions from Bibi that the group immediately dismissed – Isla declared that they would be known as the Cobbled Terentateks, after the cobbled streets of Voryle and the shadowy Sithspawn, respectively.
Only Isla – and later Zhavi – were privy to the fact that the name was a homage to Isla's history as a Sith assassin.
An Elegant Weapon
Thanks to the Countess, Isla was able to build an expensive sabercane to replace the weapon lost on Dxun.
I daresay even the Prime Minister himself would be envious of such beautiful craftsmanship. You have done wonderfully, Miss Ahnkett.
—Countess LaLenna.
Thanks to the influence of the Countess, the components needed to build a new lightsaber were purchased and smuggled in through government channels, included in a shipment intended for the weapons factories and – as a result – not subject to the same customs regulations as everyone else.
Under the cover of an inspection, LaLenna recovered the components with the help of her supporters in the local police, using her position in government to bypass the compulsory searches all personnel were subjected to when leaving high security zones.
Isla spent two days constructing her new lightsaber, with Rissessk providing assistance with the more complicated metalworking process. Unlike her previous weapons, her new lightsaber was to be far more ornate than the utilitarian designs she had favoured previously, and with the Countess' fortune at her disposal Isla was offered a lavish selection of expensive material samples to choose from.
A replacement crystal was a much more difficult find, however, and as the crystals from her old weapons had been damaged on Dxun, Isla could not salvage them for use in a new lightsaber. Fortunately, LaLenna possessed a blue adegan crystal recovered from the destroyed lightsaber of a Jedi Padawan she had flown alongside and befriended during her time in the Republic navy.
Since lightsabers were as illegal as blasters on Voryle, Isla decided – at LaLenna's suggestion – to build a sabercane, working from dusk till dawn with Rissessk's aid to finish her replacement weapon.
Once finished, Isla had in her possession an ornate, aurodium-plated walking cane featuring a sculpted terentatek head to symbolise Isla's leadership of the Cobbled Terentateks. There were no visible controls on the hilt – as the weapon could only be activated via the Force – and a wafer-thin layer of neuranium lined the interior to blind security scanners to the interior workings.
The shaft of the cane was made of a red-pink gemstone coated in a transparent protective finish and sported a retractable hidden blade made of songsteel that Rissessk had helped her to create and which – like the lightsaber itself – could only be activated through a precise application of the Force.
After testing the weapon and confirming it worked without issue, LaLenna entered Isla's room and congratulated her on her success, complimenting the weapon and telling her she should get some sleep, as she had arranged for the Chiss to visit Zhavi the following afternoon.
Traumatised
Zhavi misinterpreted Isla's symptoms of PTSD as a sign that the Chiss had moved on.
It’s all right."
"No… it’s my fault Lor, it’s all my fault… what she did to you… your arms… your legs...
—Isla and Zhavi, during the latter's incarceration.
The next day, Isla travelled via carriage to the holding facility where Zhavi was imprisoned ahead of her trial. Covered in dirt and bruised from where she had clearly been hit, Isla questioned whether Zhavi had been abused by the staff, though she assured her that – after putting up a fuss during her arrest – they knew better than to enter her cell.
Isla briefed Zhavi on the situation concerning her trial and the pair traded notes on their cover as SIS agents, but was evasive when Zhavi tried to talk about more personal matters. When Zhavi pressed her hands against the energy field separating them Isla mirrored her actions and the pair shared a tender moment, after which Zhavi apologised for her behaviour on Makeb.
Sadly, Zhavi voiced her regrets about what had happened and pointed out Isla's injuries as one of them, causing the Chiss to experience a stress-induced withdrawal. She became distant and cold, and a few seconds later the guards called down the corridor to inform her her time was up.
When Zhavi repeated her old name – trying to get a response out of her before she left, Isla froze for a few moments before correcting her – stating that her name was Isla and formally wishing her well with her trial before accompanying the guards out of the cell block, leaving Zhavi – not realising Isla's sudden apathetic behaviour was a result of post-traumatic stress disorder – heartbroken.
Although Isla disliked aliens, she found Rissessk's advice to be unexpectedly helpful.
Isla returned to the estate, but – disquieted by her meeting with Zhavi – found herself unable to sleep, choosing instead to look over the trinkets LaLenna had inherited from her Jedi friend. Finding the Jedi's holocron uncooperative, she resigned herself to a long and boring night until – to her surprised – Rissessk materialised.
They briefly discussed her visit to the prison, with Isla struggling to speak on the matter. Rissessk understood, however, and assured her that everyone had to deal with trauma in their own time. At Rissessk's suggestion, Isla ventured out into the night with the simple goal of doing "what Jedi do", hoping it would calm her mind somewhat to busy herself with honest, straightforward tasks.
Initially she objected due to their previous discussions concerning secrecy, but Rissessk seemed confident that a single night of heroics would not draw suspicion. It did not take Isla long to come across someone in need of assistance, finding a young Rodian man being harassed in an alleyway.
Provoking the group into a fight, Isla dispatched them easily enough and instructed the Rodian man to keep his head down and head home.
Ten minutes later, Isla came across yet more members of the Rabid Akks openly harassing a young Lasat woman. They were rummaging through the crates she had been carrying, claiming her goods were not worth anything and that she would have to find some other means of paying.
Isla stepped forwards and pointed out that they were not on a toll road and they did not look like government representatives, drawing their attention away from their intended victim, who wisely stepped clear of the brewing confrontation. The group's apparent leader – a knife-wielding Daichyura – suggested Isla pay for the both of them, as she looked like she could stand to lose a few credits.
Naturally, Isla did not agree. Once again it took little to goad the alien into swinging for her, allowing her to easily deflect the strike with her cane. The Daichyura attempted to block with his off-hand when Isla swung her cane at him, but with thorough combat training to back her up the Chiss was far too fast, hooking her cane's hidden blade into the side of the alien's neck, dealing a grievous and fatal wound that terrified the rest of the thugs into a hasty retreat.
With Jedi and Sith training, Isla was more than a match for members of the Rabid Akks.
However, Isla had no intention of letting them leave; to maintain the privilege of anonymity, the former assassin launched into a lethal routine that left the entire group dead or dying, providing Isla with some much needed practise with both her cybernetics and cane.
Helping to gather up the fallen crates, the Lasat thanked Isla for for her intervention, introducing herself as Mynyrra and telling her that she was moving stock into her new premises, a small sweet shop, and it was only thanks to a delay at the spaceport that she was on the streets so late.
She invited Isla to stop by sometime once she was open for business, promising to thank her properly for her help and – having no intention of actually doing so – Isla assured her she would stop by when she was able.
Returning to the Countess' estate to avoid causing too much of a stir, Isla opted to explore the area a little on her way back, speculating that she could find shortcuts by avoiding the roads. It was during this excursion – while moving along a bridge used by the city's trains – that she realised the psychological trauma she had suffered was far worse than she had initially suspected.
From out of the smog a looming and familiar figure emerged, hooded and veiled by the darkness and the rain, but recognisable by his distinctive silhouette alone. At first Isla saw the similarity as simple – albeit eerie – chance, calling out to the mysterious figure to identify himself.
When he continued marching and got close enough for her to see his face clearly, the towering shadow morphed into the unmistakable visage of Darth Malgus.
Roaring the word "traitor", Malgus ignited his lightsaber and forced Isla to do the same, blocking his strike head on and collapsing from the sheer force of the impact, her blade spinning off across the tracks. Aware that it was not the real Malgus and was – most likely – a hallucination did not help calm Isla as she scrambled backwards across the ground, trying to escape his long, audible strides while reminding herself that what she was seeing was not real.
He thrust his blade downwards and speared the tip through her heart, and – real or not – the action caused unspeakable pain and forced Isla to scream out until – when she opened her eyes – the pain suddenly stopped – and the phantom of Darth Malgus had gone, confirming the spectral juggernaut was a hallucination generated by her damaged mind.
Illegal Proceedings
Ummin Cha Shyndatyriss is the most distinguished lawyer in the sector – and openly supportive of the Empire's "rule of the strong" style of governing. As long as he is leading the prosecution team, Miss Waverunner's case is little more than a formality and political statement aimed squarely at myself and the Republic.
—Countess LaLenna, to Isla, discussing the latter's target.
The following day, Countess LaLenna told Isla that a high profile lawyer had been appointed to lead the prosecution in Zhavi's smuggling case, the pro-Imperial Mon Calamari Ummin Cha Shyndatyriss, regarded as the best lawyer in the sector.
In addition, the case had also been brought forward – an unprecedented move – and they had less than a week to influence the judgement and somehow get rid of the evidence serving as the linchpin of the entire case.
LaLenna knew a sympathetic police captain who would be in the running to take over as Voryle Police Commissioner if the current Commissioner were to stand down, which LaLenna confessed was an unlikely scenario – unless something drastic happened on his watch.
Such as an important and influential lawyer – visiting the planet at the government's request – being murdered within days of arriving in the city.
LaLenna cautioned Isla against approaching from the street, as the hotel would be well guarded, while the roof would have only limited protection and the suite Shyndatyriss was staying in had a large skylight that could easily be broken by a Jedi. The Countess requested that she leave her cane behind, however, as the weapon was too distinctive and using a lightsaber would raise questions that would be better left unasked.
Regardless, she was confident – albeit reluctant – that eliminating Shyndatyriss was their best opening move.
Isla set off that evening, using the Force to cross between the city's rooftops until she reached the hotel where police troopers were stood guard out front and on the rooftop, as predicted. Though the police were armed with expensive body armour and modern blaster weaponry, Isla's speed and ability to cloak herself from sight allowed her to incapacitate them without raising the alarm.
From there, it was a simple matter for Isla to wait for Shyndatyriss to move into a good position, shatter the skylight with the Force and drop down, stabbing the Mon Calamari in the back as he tried to run. Leaping back out to make her escape across the rooftops, Isla left certain that Ummin Cha Shyndatyriss would never prosecute Zhavi – or anyone else – ever again.
The next day, on a whim, Isla changed her mind regarding Mynyrra's sweet shop, visiting the newly opened store late in the morning to see how the Lasat was getting on.
Mynyrra was thrilled that Isla had taken up her invitation and offered her whatever took her fancy in the store free of charge, though Isla – never having been one to indulge in junk food – declined; prompting the Lasat to gather up a bag of the most popular selection of sweets and chocolates, insisting that she take something for her assistance.
She admitted that she had taken a bit of a gamble opening the store, lacking any kind of financial safety net and not realising just how bad the Rabid Akks were. Nonetheless, Mynyrra cheerfully professed that she was not a quitter and was determined to make a success of things.
Isla asked why she had decided on a sweet shop of all things, given the widespread poverty in the city. Sweets and chocolates were – Mynyrra claimed – a little luxury that made life's hardships that little bit easier to bear.
Mynyrra went on to explain how her mother died when she was young and her father had always worked long hours to make sure Mynyrra had a comfortable childhood. Because of that, she did not spend much time with him. However, every weekend he would take her to their local sweet shop and the pair would sit and eat sweets and chocolate as they watched the boats sail up and down the river, at least until the shop closed.
Touched – rather unexpectedly – Isla bid Mynyrra farewell and went to see Tabassa, pressuring him into offering the optimistic young Lasat a fair loan to help her keep her business afloat until the Rabid Akks could be dealt with and the streets made safe. The Hutt was hesitant, but with Isla leading the Terentateks and his options as far as allies went being slim-to-none, he begrudgingly agreed to write up a draft for her perusal.
Tabassa warned that such businesses often struggled even in strong economic climates but Isla dismissed his warning, suggesting that if he paid her a visit at least once a month she would rule the world of sugary treats before the end of the year.
Voryle Fight Club
Good fight. Fun fight, even. Been a while since someone made me work that hard."
"Likewise. I made the mistake of thinking this street fighting would be an easy diversion when I first arrived. Suffice to say I have been appropriately... humbled."
"What can I say? It's a fine art. Took me a whole lot of beatings before I got good enough to be the one dishin' 'em out. Name's Sam, by the way. Samantha... if I were putting on airs."
"Isla Ahnkett. And this is my associate, Rissessk. A rare pleasure, Sam.
—Samantha and Isla, after their fight in the Voryle Fight Club ring.
With Shyndatyriss dead and without any leads to speak of, blame for the incident immediately fell on the head of the Police Commissioner, with pressure increasing almost hourly for him to step down – and with Countess LaLenna doing everything in her power to fan the flames.
In return for her support in his bid to become commissioner, Tommo Sanders snuck into the evidence store and disassembled Zhavi's lightsaber to to remove the crystal and wreck the internal components, ruining them beyond any hope of repair before putting it back together.
By the time Zhavi's trial began, the prosecution team had been significantly weakened and the sole piece of damming evidence on which the entire case depended was found to be inoperable, despite police technicians stating they had reassembled and activated it to confirm it was functional.
Zhavi's defence attorney demonstrated for the court that the weapon clearly did not work, and asked for it to be opened for the court's inspection, revealing that the interior was filled with wrecked pieces – and with no sign of the crystal that was essential to the weapon's functionality.
Though electronic components were heavily regulated by the government, the fact that the components Zhavi had smuggled were so badly damaged that they could never be salvaged eviscerated the prosecution's case against her.
One of the arresting officers claimed that the lightsaber had been tampered with while he was on the stand, but without proof the accusation only harmed the prosecution's case, leading it being thrown out for lack of compelling evidence, prompting the police to launch an internal investigation in the aftermath.
Unsurprisingly, Sanders – who successfully became Voryle Police Commissioner with LaLenna's support – had already erased the incriminating security recording from the evidence room and replaced it with looped footage from another point in the day, ensuring that the internal investigation he personally ordered once the trial was over would never find anything.
Although Zhavi had been found innocent, she was required to remain in police custody until the appropriate documentation had been completed, checked and signed off on, which would take a couple of days at minimum.
In the meantime, LaLenna suggested Isla take some time to relax and enjoy their triumph – encouraging her to maintain a good work/life balance, lest she forget what they were all fighting for. Isla, however, was neither used to nor comfortable with sitting idle and only slept for a few short hours each night, sleep that was disturbed by nightmares ever since Dxun.
So, faced with the prospect of being left alone with her thoughts, Isla chose to consult Rissessk on what she should do to kill time. The Trandoshan, though aged, was still a keen combat enthusiast, and ashamedly admitted to losing his monthly earnings on illegal street fights on more than one occasion.
Asked if he knew when and where the fighting would be taking place, Rissessk confessed that there was to be a gathering the following evening, down at an abandoned warehouse. Anyone could sign-up on the night and anyone could challenge whoever stepped into the ring, the only rules being no killing or maiming and when the referee called stop, the combatants stopped.
Rissessk remarked that it was actually a very civil affair most of the time, with only two or three deaths in the ring over the past fifteen years, and an additional death occurring outside the ring as a direct result of injuries sustained inside it.
Somewhat nervous, Isla remained confident that her training with both the Jedi and Sith would make her more than capable of defeating what she referred to as "unwashed and uneducated gutter rats", though Rissessk cautioned her against underestimating her opponents. When she entered, she drew a fair amount of attention at the gathering, the crowds of commoners clearly surprised and anxious at the arrival of a finely dressed woman and her butler, who they naturally assumed to be a noblewoman.
She surprised everyone when she challenged the winner of the fight that ended shortly after her arrival, shedding her elaborate gown to fight in her undershirt and stepping into the ring against a burly Nautolan, whom she defeated handily.
Following her surprise victory, the ringmaster invited in challengers to take on the newcomer, with two more muscular individuals jumping in and falling right back out again in short order, with Isla exploiting her training and agility to outmanoeuvre them all.
With three wins under her belt, an orange-skinned Twi'lek woman stepped up to challenge her. A few minutes were allocated to the placing of bets, but once the excitable build-up was done and dusted the two women began, initiating a brutal brawl between the two when it became clear Isla's opponent had considerable skill in hand-to-hand fighting.
Even with her training, Isla's skills had been somewhat dulled by her time in the hospital and her foe was physically stronger, incorporating more aggressive, unorthodox moves to eventually slam Isla to the ground – pinned and unable to break free.
The ringmaster counted her down, then announced the match in her opponent's favour.
Isla stepped out of the ring feeling embarrassed, yet the Twi'lek did not stay to take on challengers herself, choosing to follow Isla to the bar and commend her on a fight well fought. She introduced herself as Sam and ordered the Chiss a drink.
The trio chatted for a while (though neither Rissessk nor Isla were great at authentic small talk) and the Twi'lek encouraged Isla to return for a rematch when they were both fresh and at their best, flirtatiously suggesting that she would enjoy grappling with her a second time.
Isla returned to the estate to process the evening's events, finding herself looking forward to returning to the ring – and having a second chance to take down Sam, in particular – and secretly admitting to herself that she had enjoyed doing something other than work or training.
The Midnight Rose
Voryle has – I am ashamed to say – employed child labour for well over a century now, but I know many are opposed to the barbaric exploitation of minors. Liberating the workhouses will be an excellent way of gaining support, as well as saving lives."
"If they're as lightly guarded as y' reckon they are, I c'n deal with 'em easily enough. Isla, y' mentioned..."
"The Midnight Rose. The largest brothel in the west of the city. Rumour is that the madam in charge has no love for the Rabid Akks. They act in a brutish manner and the protection money they demand is extortionate; I intend to convince her that the Cobbled Terentateks can and will protect her and her... "entertainers", on far more reasonable terms. Having access to the services she offers will also help keep our future recruits contented."
"Mm. Madam Quisselle is a pragmatic woman. Cynical, but kind-hearted. If she believes you can truly push back against the Rabid Akks, I believe she will be willing to help you. Do be cautious though. Quisselle is fiercely protective of her charges, and her species are able to... "influence" the feelings of others. She will try to get what she can from you without giving anything of herself, if possible. Do not let her.
—Countess LaLenna, Zhavi and Isla, discussing their first major strikes against the Rabid Akks.
Almost a week after her charges were dropped, Zhavi was released from holding and allowed to go free, joining Isla at LaLenna's estate where she was promptly outfitted with equipment and clothing.
Unlike Isla, Zhavi insisted that she would be better off dressing like she belonged on the streets, being honest about the fact that she could not pull off acting like nobility the way her Chiss companion could.
To celebrate her release, Zhavi wanted to head out for the evening, to which Isla suggested they return to the fight club on account of the Jedi's love of brawling – and her own private desire to return. Isla watched from the side-lines, opting not to take part in the fighting that evening.
Instead, she decided to join the other gamblers by placing a wager, betting her money on Zhavi to defeat the large, muscular Krex she was up against. Mid-way through the fight, Sam crept up to stand beside Isla, trading small-talk for a few minutes before she suggested the Chiss check out the Midnight Rose, one of the city's most respected brothels.
She explained that Madam Quisselle's relationship with the Rabid Akks had never been entered into with enthusiasm and that it was only getting worse the more the Akks fortified their control of the city, making them all the bolder – and greedier.
Hinting that she was aware of Isla's activities, Samantha claimed that – if a rival gang were to rise up – they could make Madam Quisselle very happy by driving the Rabid Akks out of the borough, undoubtedly earning her favour.
Sam concluded by stating that it was a shame all the other gangs had been absorbed into the Akks' ranks, before passing along a message from someone she had apparently met en route to the fight. Someone she, naturally, did not know.
The message, scrawled on a scrap of paper, hinted at a potential ally looking to make friends with Isla, but discreetly, either to hide their affiliation or as part of some sort of trap for the Vorylian underworld's rising star.
Trap or no trap, Isla slipped away from the arena to meet the individual as requested.
By the time she arrived, she found a large Lasat man kicking a Rodian who was cowering on the floor, only stopping when he saw Isla. Oddly, he removed his hat, clutching it to his chest to offer a polite bow before introducing him as detective chief inspector Pierre Arkonjii.
Firstly, he told her he understood that Isla had stepped in to protect his daughter a short time ago and for that he considered himself indebted, sparking the realisation in Isla that Pierre was almost certainly Mynyrra's father.
Secondly, he expressed his disappointment in the government and his superiors in the police force, calling them lazy and corrupt and asking if Isla would be willing to work with him to bring justice, order and common decency back to his home – striking the Chiss as an ironic question when he planted his boot on the Rodian to force him to the ground, putting a stop to his attempt to crawl away.
Isla bluntly told DCI Arkonjii that her primary goal was to get rid of the Sith Empire and its influence, a goal he concluded was good enough for him. He then hoisted the Rodian up onto his feet, handing him a sizeable pouch of coins and patting his shoulder, telling him to keep his snout clean and reminding him he had children who needed him to keep coming home each night.
Arkonjii warned Isla to keep her eyes peeled, stating that corruption was like a cancer: it could spread outwards and upwards, not just downwards. He tipped his hat and made to leave, promising her he would be in contact in future.
The following day, Isla mentioned the Midnight Rose to Zhavi, who agreed it sounded like something worth looking in to, though she urged her to bring it up with the Countess first. LaLenna already had her own suggestion on where to start their campaign against the Rabid Akks, pointing Zhavi to the borough's workhouses and factories, where children were forced to work long hours in incredibly dangerous conditions for little more than scraps.
She admitted, however, that winning over Madam Quisselle would be a great boon.
But Quisselle was a cunning and experienced Zeltron, which concerned LaLenna. Isla's past in Sith Intelligence meant she was trained to identify and resist the influence of alien pheromones, however.
Not that she discounted the Zeltron's natural capabilities as a threat, but experience and training sapped away much of her concern. The same evening, Zhavi and Isla set off and split up, with Zhavi hitting the nearest workhouse and Isla visiting the Midnight Rose.
On entering, she was immediately set upon by Quisselle's courtesans, who tried to tempt her into indulging in the services they offered, brushing off her insistence that she speak with Madam Quisselle until it eventually became clear she could not be seduced. She was asked to wait before being led to a backroom.
Inside, Madam Quisselle greeted her and informed her that she did not cater to just anyone who asked, but admitted she could be talked into making an exception in Isla's case.
Isla politely ignored her suggestive comments and explained that she was there to make her an offer, but one which strictly concerned business. Curious, Quisselle agreed to hear her out, listening as Isla proposed an arrangement between the Cobbled Terentateks and the Midnight Rose.
Quisselle was unconvinced, pointing out that the Rabid Akks had long-since destroyed the other gangs on Voryle and – she made a point of mentioning – Isla's Republic friends and had a monopoly on all underworld activities.
She asked what made Isla and her gang any better suited to combating the Akks than the legion of dead men who preceded her; Isla responded by removing the head of her cane with the Force and activating the lightsaber hidden inside, clearly surprising the aged Zeltron, yet not as much as Isla had hoped.
Visibly tempted, if not entirely sold on the risk, Quisselle told the Chiss about a train owned by the Rabid Akks, bought and fuelled using the profits from their underworld activities. It allowed them to quickly move their troops from borough to borough and helped them rapidly deploy troops anywhere in the city.
Without the train they would have to rely on the roads to move their people around, making it all the more difficult for them to maintain control of all the boroughs if opposition arose to test their strength. Quisselle told Isla that she had to protect her courtesans from retaliation, and before she would make any risky choices that might cause them more harm than good, the Chiss needed to prove what she was made of – by destroying the train.
Initially she attempted to use her pheromones to persuade Isla to destroy the train without an agreement to ally with the Terentateks, even attempting to seduce her in an effort to avoid committing to one side or another in Voryle's upcoming gang war. Isla resisted her influence, however, and would not budge from her position, forcing Quisselle to abandon her efforts and agree to an alliance, pending the destruction of the train.
Quisselle's people heard much from the Rabid Akks who visited the brothel; through her courtesans, the Zeltron was able to tell Isla when the train would next be passing through the borough, down to the rough time and the track it would be using, one of the main cargo lines used by the corporations to pass goods around the city.
After Zhavi successfully burnt down one of the local workhouses and liberated the children working their, Isla was confident that taking the train would drum up support for their initiative.
Quisselle was expecting her to destroy it, yet even as she was given her task the Chiss had already come up with a much better idea. Living with the Countess made her a target, which would only worsen as the gang began to expand and make itself known to the Rabid Akks, and though spacious they would need more room in future, to expand their operations.
To that end, Isla was resolved to kill the Rabid Akks she encountered and capture the train; not only would it prove Isla's skills to Madam Quisselle, it would also provide the Cobbled Terentateks with a mobile headquarters that they could use to move easily and discreetly around the city.
Capture of the Rapid Akk
Isla, during her theft of the Rabbid Akks' train.
Good evening, gentleman. If you would be so kind as to disembark the train in an orderly–
—Isla, to members of the Rabid Akks, before being fired upon.
Still struggling to come to terms with the losses she suffered on Dxun, Isla kept her plan to capture the Rabid Akks hovertrain – the Rapid Akk – from Zhavi, positioning herself on a maintenance bridge above one of the elevated tracks that snaked around the borough until the train was in sight.
As it passed by, she jumped down, timing her fall so that she landed atop the rear carriage, allowing her to move through the train from one end to the other to ensure she would not be surrounded. Misjudging her landing slightly, Isla dropped down hard and attracted attention from within the carriage, drawing the Rabid Akks out onto the carriage roof.
She asked the gangsters to leave the train, fully aware that they would never do as she instructed, and before she could even finish her sentence one of the Akks pulled out a revolver, firing a shot that Isla blocked with her lightsaber.
Disarming each attacker, Isla switched off her lightsaber and used her cane blade to eliminate them, throwing each of them from the roof before descending into the train, clearing each carriage of enemies one at a time until only the driver remained, weak minded and easily enthralled by the power of the Force.
With the driver under her influence, Isla stopped off at the station in Yonmouth South, wrote out a note and paid one of the homeless children littering the streets to deliver it to Rissessk, instructing him to bring the others to the station within the hour, gathering her team aboard to present her prize. She then instructed them to begin preparing it for use as their new headquarters.
Given the dilapidated state of the train, Isla was informed that it would take some time to generate the necessary funds to both repair the mechanical faults in the outdated, second hand model and spruce up the interior, which had been treated poorly in its role as a troop and supply transport. Yagogg removed the trains transponder unit, saying they should start by replacing it to give the train a new ID signature.
In spite of the work they would need to do to bring the train up to a more respectable standard, the team were impressed with their leader's achievement, agreeing that it would serve them better as a base of operations than LaLenna's estate – as well as drawing attention away from the elderly Mikkian – in the long-run.
Sizeable carriages – and lots of them – also meant the lieutenants could live aboard the train, ensuring they were always on the move and their prize was never left unattended.
Isla instructed them to tag the bodies of the fallen with the gang's new logo, take the train out to another borough and deposit the remains, masking the location of the attack until such a time that they had the resources and personnel to ward off any retaliatory efforts. Before she left, she released the train driver from her control, only to snap his neck a moment later – silencing the only remaining witness.
Having captured the train rather than destroyed it outright, Isla was confident that Madam Quisselle would honour her agreement and ally with the Cobbled Terentateks. She returned to the Midnight Rose to find Quisselle was stood waiting to greet her at the door, whereupon she congratulated her on surpassing her most optimistic expectations.
In addition, she handed Isla the first instalment of the agreed upon protection money, stating that she expected Isla to honour her end of the arrangement.
The Chiss assured her that recruitment had already started, and that her establishment would be guarded within a matter of days. Quisselle, cautiously optimistic, invited Isla to spend the evening with her to "celebrate" their new arrangement, weaponizing her pheromones yet again. Still isolated from those around her and tired from her efforts aboard the Rapid Akk, Isla accepted the invitation and spent the night with her new ally.
Although not a business meeting, the pair spoke a great deal during the evening, leading to a discussion about the Terentateks' finances and possible sources of income to give the group more financial stability, long-term.
Quisselle considered the topic carefully and – before she left in the morning – told Isla about the Voryle Capital Bank, the bank of choice for the nobility and wealthy businessmen on Voryle. The bank manager, an overweight Neimoidian, visited the Midnight Rose regularly, choosing to venture out to the city outskirts rather than using the services of his local prostitutes so that his wife – and mistress – remained unaware of his indulgences.
Even though he paid well, Quisselle clearly detested the man, referring to him as "revolting" and mentioning how uncomfortable he made her people feel, which – as a Zeltron – she was sensitive to. Isla asked if she could arrange some one-on-one time between herself and the Neimoidian, but Quisselle was clearly concerned about being involved in interfering directly in something as high profile as theft from the planet's wealthiest bank.
She told the Chiss she would think it over; to help influence her thoughts, Isla gave her back to money she had given her for protection, saying she would consider her a partner in any operation that came out of a meeting with the bank manager, and that partners received a portion of the spoils.
Quisselle highlighted the fact that partners also tended to receive a portion of the blame, too, to which Isla retorted "only if they are caught".
The Neimoidian's Key
The manager is greedy, boorish. He ogles my girls and my boys equally, but can't tell any of them apart or even remember their names. I'm sick of him treating them like toys. Henrietta has lent you a change of clothes and taken the night off, and he'll be too busy staring at your chest to notice you're new. I trust you can use your Jedi tricks to get what you need from him without him noticing?
—Madam Quisselle, to Isla, regarding the manager of the Capital Bank of Voryle.
Madam Quisselle sent one of her courtesans to LaLenna's estate two days later, delivering a message to Isla in which she requested that she visit the Midnight Rose before they opened the evening.
After arriving, Quisselle told Isla about the bank manager's lack of respect for her staff, stating that she was sick of tolerating his behaviour – an encouraging start to the conversation. She then pointed to an outfit left out on the bar, explaining that Henrietta – the girl who had summoned her – had provided her outfit for Isla's use, taking the night off so that the Chiss could take her place "entertaining" the bank manager.
Quisselle correctly assumed that Isla could use her Force powers to take the key from him without him realising he was being robbed – which she confirmed – and though Quisselle apologised for forcing her to endure the Neimoidian's company she made it clear that she had no intention of ever asking her staff to take part in any illicit activities that went beyond what they had signed up for.
They lived the lives they did because it was required if they wanted to survive; none of them wanted to be caught up in a gang war.
Isla commended Quisselle's loyalty to her workers, confessing her respect and lamenting that in her experience, being able to rely on one's superior was a rare state of affairs, to which Quisselle responded with flirtation. Isla steered the conversation back to her objective, mentioning that she had neither the intention nor need to indulge the Neimoidian; her mind tricks would be sufficient to make him believe whatever she wished.
Armed with new knowledge, she asked if Isla could use her powers to "dissuade" him from returning again, a favour which she agreed to see to while she had his attention.
More than that, she also intended to convince him to make a generous donation on his way out, as well as to come clean and reveal all his indiscretions to his wife and mistress. Unfortunately Isla's gesture led to more flirting, forcing her to change the subject again, learning what time the Midnight Rose officially opened and what time the bank manager usually arrived.
She returned later in the day – in the early evening – and changed into her disguise to prepare herself for the Neimoidian's arrival. When he made his entrance, she understood the courtesans' collective disgust; he was loud, rude, incredibly fat and groped the staff a little too eagerly, even earning judgemental scowls from other patrons.
Guided into a private backroom by Quisselle, Isla appropriated an accent she had heard one of the other courtesans speak with – Rylothian, she believed – and teasingly invited the alien manager in, encouraging him to take a seat. She waited, only briefly, letting him get comfortable and giving him time for his mind to wander as he stared at her, just as Quisselle had described.
Then, with his subconscious mental defences lowered, she began to use the Force to gently take command of his mind.
She maintained the accent and soft, seductive tone of voice to keep him calm and avoided directness, knowing that an overt Force interrogation would make the process both more difficult and less effective long-term – or unsuccessful outright, if the situation really went badly. Keeping him calm and asking her questions discreetly would make it a lot less likely for him to recall anything odd about his visit, or shake off the lingering commands she intended to send him away with.
Isla soon learned that the bank contained vaults filled with physical treasures; some of those treasures were simply hard currency &ndahs; used by most of the population due to the planet's isolated and technophobic tendencies – while many contained material wealth of a more sophisticated nature, such as expensive ornaments, gemstones and other trinkets that would fetch high prices on the black market.
Those vaults could only be opened and closed through a physical locking system in the manager's office.
And to get in there, Isla would need his key. Handily, he kept that very key on him at all times, hanging around his neck. They key was all too easily removed and concealed elsewhere by the Chiss' nimble fingers.
Key and information in hand, she had everything she needed – she told the Neimoidian he had enjoyed the most memorable night of his life, so much so that he felt weak with exhaustion and would need to take the following day off to recover.
Additionally, she followed through on her promise to Quisselle, instructing him to make a generous donation on his way out; and that he had reached such an enlightening state of ecstasy that it had sparked an epiphany, one which made him realise the error of his ways and that – out of respect for her – he intended to tell his wife of his adulterous misdeeds and would never visit the Midnight Rose again, out of shame.
Weak minded and manipulated covertly, he staggered out of the backroom, under the illusion that his body was aching from exertion. Quisselle helped him outside where his driver was waiting, sending him on his way, very happy and very oblivious. By the time his troubles started, he would be so distracted the Midnight Rose would never cross his mind.
Quisselle thanked her as she left, remarking that she had never seen the Neimoidian look happier, quipping that Isla would have to show her exactly what she had done to him when she found herself with another free evening. Isla commented that the Force had its upside, though she was quick to change back into her usual finery, her revealing courtesan disguise doing her no favours against the city's bitter winter evenings.
She shared a drink with Quisselle out of politeness but did not loiter long enough for a second, returning to LaLenna's estate to head to bed early, knowing she had a limited window in the morning in which to execute her heist before the missing bank manager – and his missing key – whipped up an air of caution.
The Voryle Capital Bank Job
Dressed as an off-world tourist, Isla was barely noticed at Voryle Capital Bank.
Is that...? Oh, it is. Fascinating... Oh, and that is... mm, yes, I believe that is genuine Beskar.
—Isla, looking through the contents of the vault.
The next morning, Isla entered the bank early, making her way through the main entrance confidently as if she belonged there. She had considered disguising herself, but knew that the locals were fairly ignorant when it came to the species of the wider galaxy and any witnesses would claim they had seen a Pantoran.
The disinterested men and women manning the front desks did not bother the finely dressed woman as she marched through, likely assuming she had an appointment and knew where she was going or simply not caring enough to wonder.
Given the security precautions they had in place, there was little reason for them to be overly suspicious of visitors. LaLenna had told her that the bank – grand as it was – was a common stop for tourists visiting the world, so it was not uncommon for people to wander around the bank aimlessly. It was only the secure areas that were actively patrolled.
Luckily for Isla, she had been trained to hide herself from sight. With a brief application of the Force, she manipulated both light and sound to pass by the guards stationed outside the manager's office without being seen, using a simple mind trick at the last moment to slip through door without alerting them to her presence.
Once inside, she found the manager's ledger in his safe and identified the vault suggested by the Countess, one of her rivals in government and an open advocate for closer links with the Sith Empire. He had inherited his wealth from his sickly mother – to whom LaLenna had been a long-term friend – and LaLenna had long suspected he had had a hand in the disappearance of three of her past suitors – along with the public disgracing of a fourth – ensuring his mother never remarried and no man threatened the fortune she passed to him on her death.
Isla did not care much about the justification, however. He was the opposition. On that basis alone, Isla was quite happy to empty his vault of valuables.
With the twist of a single dial, his vault was unlocked and a randomised security clearance code provided on a small screen, leaving her free to pillage the contents. Before she moved on, she deleted the security camera footage and deactivated the entire system to make sure the only evidence she left behind was purely plucked from the vague memories of the people – if any existed – who noticed her.
The Chiss departed the office in the same manner she had entered and headed to the north vault wing. The guards in the bank were the tech-heavy government police troopers, well armed and armoured individuals kitted out head-to-toe in shielded, modern armour and carrying high-powered blaster carbines, forcing Isla to be stealthy to avoid detection.
Though she was equipped to fight them, if needed, and as much as she doubted they had the training to deal with Sith or Jedi, Isla knew that their equipment would prove a significant hurdle and the degree of attention an altercation in the bank would draw would be devastating.
Isla preferred to work in the shadows – that was much harder when her enemies were actively searching for her.
Regardless, she managed to avoid being spotted by the patrols, eventually ducking into the vault she intended to rob to discover a genuine treasure trove of rare artefacts.
An eclectic collection, Isla knew immediately that the relics she found would earn her a small fortune even if she could only grab one item; an aged Mandalorian helmet made out of Beskar, a statue of Sistros made of platinum, what appeared to be an authentic Rakatan mind prison, a number of rare paintings from various cultures, a beautiful vase of unknown origin, security chests literally overflowing with gemstones and – most notably to Isla – a rare Hurrikaine crystal.
More than rare antiques, the vault was filled with stacks of Vorylian credits. With the physical monetary boon plus the money they could eventually make selling the rarities to off-world collectors, Isla believed they had enough start up capital to truly launch the Cobbled Terentateks in a major way, easily possessing enough to refurbish their headquarters and arm their new recruits.
Isla pocketed the crystal for her own use, then used the controls inside the vault to summon loader droids to her location, giving them the clearance code she had received from the terminal in the manager's office.
Provided with the code only the manager could have access to, the droids obeyed her orders without consideration and started gathering up the contents of the vault for transportation to a secure loading bay at the rear of the bank, where the goods would be packaged up into secure containers for her retrieval, accessed via a second code provided by the droids. As she was leaving the secure area, one of the patrols spotted her and questioned why she was alone in the vault wing.
She feigned ignorance, claiming to be a tourist who had not realised she was somewhere she was not supposed to be.
Given that she could not have entered the wing unnoticed due to the door guards, the patrolling guards assumed their peers had slacked off; they escorted her back to the main area before giving their companions an earful, providing Isla time to escape before she could be asked any follow-up questions.
She made her way to the rear of the bank where some of Yagogg's new recruits were waiting to help her, following Isla into the loading dock when she entered her code. Security staff greeted her and directed her to input her security code into the display on each crate, authorising their release and electronically "checking out" the contents from the vault.
Once she had verified the withdrawal was genuine using her code, the guards told her the crate had been officially transferred into her care and permitted her people to begin moving them. The Terentateks carried the crates out onto the street, where they were loaded into carriages and driven away to be hidden elsewhere.
The Terentateks left the bank with the staff still completely unaware of the theft; it was almost two days later that the manager finally admitted he could not find his key and the vaults were individually checked as a precaution, leading to the discovery of the crime, the imprisonment of the bank manager and his public execution just a week later.
Due to Isla's stealthy approach, the burglary was presumed to be an inside job and the police investigation that followed primarily focused on the staff at the bank.
In the aftermath, the gang took a full inventory of their haul, twenty-five percent of which Isla delivered personally to the Midnight Rose the evening after the theft, keeping her word to Madam Quisselle regarding her sharing of the spoils. Even in the face of a considerable sum of money, Madam Quisselle's attention remained on Isla.
Insisting Isla stay for a drink, Quisselle attempted to charm Isla into bed once more. This time, however, the Chiss declined, and as she left Quisselle stated that their was a sadness in her that needed attending to. She claimed she could help, with time, but Isla did not respond and made her way out of the Midnight Rose.
The Murder of Ora Perez
Ora Perez. She was a witness in a high profile drugs case. Worked as a secretary for an accountancy firm on the other side of the city for less than a year. Bright young lass, good head on her shoulders and not a bad lookin' bit'a skirt as it goes... had everything goin' for her, really. Then bang... You know I can't even begin, to find the words, to describe how much I hate, these sewer-supping toerags polluting my city.
—DCI Arkonjii, to Isla, regarding the murder of Ora Perez.
Not all was well for Isla's allies.
Receiving a summons hand-delivered by one of the police constables working under DCI Arkonjii a few weeks after her visit to the bank, Isla was escorted to a crime scene on the edge of the borough, where Yonmouth North and Yonmouth South fed into each other.
There, she approached Arkonjii as he stood looking down on the mortal remains of a Nautolan woman, who he introduced to the Chiss as Ora Perez.
Arkonjii revealed how Perez was a witness for a serious drugs case the DCI and his team had been working for months. She claimed to have seen one of the partners of the accountancy firm she worked for engaging in secret meetings, and after poking around believed she had evidence linking him to the sudden appearance of a homegrown "spice" being sold on the black market.
Clearly, there was truth in her claim: her death was meant to look like a spice overdose, all too easily done due to the toxicity of the drug. In reality it was a cocktail of poisons that had an addictive effect with no upsides for the user, compelling them to continue taking the substance without the usual highs associated with drug addiction.
One try was all it took for the substances to kick in, and it only took a few more doses after that to fatally poison the addict. Arkonjii asked for Isla's take on the state of the corpse, prompting her to point out the flayed fabric of her skirt around her knees and bruising on her arms from where she had been restrained, seemingly by someone large, which Arkonjii agreed was his assessment – though the confirmation only angered him further.
He surmised that she was approached from behind, held by her arms and pushed down onto her knees by one man, while a second administered a lethal dose of spice.
Isla agreed, adding that she likely went straight into a seizure or was otherwise incapacitated, as the mixed pool of blood and vomit she was lying in indicated her body had not been moved and since she did not seek help – a noisy pub and orochick racing den being open and nearby at the time – the drug must have taken immediate effect.
There was also blood on one side of her jumper, but no sign of any penetrative wounds on Perez's body that might have caused it. Isla noticed – thanks to her species' ability to see infrared – that there were more spots of blood nearby, leading away from the scene.
Following the trail led Isla a little over a mile away from the site of the murder, to a shadowy alley in which a Caamasi was slumped against a wall, tending to the injury – a stab wound in which Perez's pen was still stuck – that had caused the blood trail. His companion locked eyes with Isla and decided to abandon the Caamasi, clearly suspecting Isla was after them.
Wounded, the alien could do little to combat Isla, but shocked her by taking his pistol and shooting himself in the head, rather than allowing himself to be taken alive for questioning.
Isla returned to Arkonjii to report her findings, apologising that their only lead died on her watch. The DCI dismissed her apology, assuring her that they would catch those responsible next time and confessing that he took some small comfort in knowing Perez's defiance brought at least one of her killers to justice.
Warning him to be cautious – as anyone who inspired such fear in their foot soldiers that they would rather kill themselves than be caught was someone to take seriously – Isla left Arkonjii to his duties.
Manufacturing Monsters
Hey! I'm just worried about my friend, y'know? You guys are out in the open now, and the Akks are stepping up their game, majorly. Let me help huh?
—Sam, to Isla, after the latter's insistence on working alone.
A month after the successful bank heist, the Cobbled Terentateks were blossoming. Their headquarters had been beautifully refurbished, they welcomed in new members daily and they had an unshakeable control of the borough.
Zhavi, enjoying leading the gang in activities on the ground, was also branching out into attacking Rabid Akk holdings in neighbouring boroughs, giving them a buffer against any attempts by the Akks to reclaim lost ground.
While Isla was walking the streets on the outskirts of Yonmouth South, she was approached by a panicked and terrified child – one of the gangs informants – warning her of a monster killing people in a residential area just inside northern Yonmouth.
Unconvinced the cause of the commotion was actually a "monster", Isla nonetheless rushed to investigate the source of the trouble, intent on stopping it, whatever it might be.
She followed the screams to a residential back alley, wading through a tsunami of panicked residents running for their lives from – to her surprise – a creature that could be fairly described as a monster; a beast of some kind, towering over the houses and spider-like in form. Though its skin was purple, it sported asymmetrical patches of sapphire crystal growths that worried Isla.
Activating her lightsaber, Isla used the walls of the back gardens of the houses lining the alley to reach a slightly elevated position, then leapt up onto the creature's back, struggling for a time as the creature thrashed about wildly and her lightsaber bounced harmlessly from its hide. Eventually, through sustained attacks to a single point on its skull, Isla managed to plunge her blade into the monster's skull, fatally wounding it and causing it to slump down dead.
Tragically, Isla was too late to save several dozen civilians and members of the gang who had tried to protect them, their weapons proving even less effective than hers.
Of particular concern was what Isla sensed from the creature – although it did not actively use Force abilities against her, it was augmenting its senses and physical capabilities in the same way Jedi and Sith were able to.
Although the Force passed through everything to some degree – even down to the stones and grass beneath Isla's feet – most living things lacked the strength of connection required to utilise it actively, and as far as Isla knew only sentients were capable of controlling the Force. It was clear this creature had such an ability, however, which made its presence deeply troubling.
Before leaving the scene, Isla hacked the beast's head away with her lightsaber and dragged it away with the assistance of Terentateks reinforcements, escaping with it before the police could arrive and cordon off the area.
With the help of her troops, she had the head covered with a sheet and discreetly transported via carriage to one of the smaller local hospitals, where Rissessk – an accomplished hunter – joined her to study the remains and offer his assessment.
Rissessk was able to identify the creature immediately; a rare and mighty Kkorrwrot from the forested world of Kashyyyk, where his people often hunted, if not usually for such elusive and formidable prey. He confirmed just from a visual inspection that the creature's rocky growths were not natural, and as Isla helped him dissect the beast he was able to determine that the crystals had pushed up through the flesh from below, growing out of the Kkorrwrot's skull – which was made of pure crystal.
The Trandoshan found the revelation disturbing, claiming that he had have trouble believing that even the grisly experiments of the Sith could produce something so drastically altered. To replace the skeleton of the creature would surely kill it, but the prospect of it being bred to develop that way unsettled Rissessk even more.
Even with the monster dead, Isla could still sense the Force energy residing in the crystals, a macabre hint at the source of the Kkorrwrot's Force abilities.
Isla saw the Kkorrwrot attack as an indication that she needed to step up and be more proactive. The Cobbled Terentateks had made a name for themselves and started strong, but she had held back, wanting to consolidate their territory and strength before making any significant push into the other boroughs.
Now, however, the Chiss was convinced she needed to be more aggressive in her leadership; she needed, given the circumstances, to begin thinking like a gang leader, not just an intelligence operative.
Under her orders, Bon-Yi began teaching the gang members how to best defend themselves against the Force, hoping that being better educated about what a Force-using opponent could and could not do – and how best to adapt to those new parameters – would improve their odds if they ran into more of the mysterious beasts.
Helped by Bibi, Tabassa and Yagogg, Isla selected a target for her next attack, arranging a distraction that would divert the Rabid Akks away from her objective.
Bibi, having developed something of a slight crush on Isla, was worried about her, and though the Chiss dismissed her concerns as unfounded, the Cathar reached out to Samantha, telling her what she was planning and sharing her worries about Isla placing the burden entirely on her own shoulders. Sam – as a result – sent word to Isla that she wanted to meet her before she launched her attack, and when they did meet she confronted her about her isolationism.
Naturally, Isla refuted the accusation, stating that she was just being practical by leaning into her talents rather than away from them, though Sam insisted that that was not the whole truth and that she had seen Isla let her guard down when they fought, but never since. She also said she was not going to pressure her into sharing how she felt, but that she was not going to let her play the dark and brooding hero either.
The Twi'lek told her that Voryle was her home, so she was going with her to help, whether she liked it or not. Reluctantly, Isla decided it was not worth arguing with her and accepted her assistance.
Under the cover of an early morning fog, the pair crossed one of the city's main rivers, a polluted thoroughfare that was used by the waterside businesses to transport materials from one end of the city to the other. It was busy at all hours, but particularly at the start of the day, creating a glacier of vehicles that the duo used to cross the water and enter a storehouse used by the Rabid Akks.
Quietly, the pair crept around the stores and searched for clues relating to the Kkorrwrot Isla had fought, and even though they spent a fair amount of time searching, the best lead they discovered was a collection of food crates.
None of the food was fit for sentient consumption, and Sam theorised that given the state and quantity, the food might have been to feed the beast they had been keeping. She also recognised the stamp on the box, but the two women were spotted before she could say more.
Forced to fight their way out, Isla and Sam were almost overwhelmed until the Twi'lek had the bright idea of igniting a cluster of crates sporting the brand logo of a popular local vodka, using Isla's cane to smash a hole in one of the crates, shattering the bottles inside and spilling the liquid; allowing her to use a match to start a blazing inferno.
A wall of fire holding the Akk foot soldiers back, Isla and Sam jumped onto a cargo boat as it sailed past, disappearing safely down the river.
Crossing back into Yonmouth South, Isla asked Sam to tell her where the stamp she had spotted was from. Sam refused to give her the location unless she agreed to take her along, prompting Isla to once again agree with her demands simply for the sake of hurrying events along.
Spitting into her palm, Sam offered her hand to shake on it, an act which Isla commented might be a contributing factor to the widespread problems of disease throughout the city. Sam told her to shut up and retracted her hand when Isla tried to shake it without spitting on her own hand first, insisting it was part of the custom.
The Chiss did as instructed, voicing her opinion that Voryle was a strange place, though Sam suggested that Isla was growing fond of it really, before surprising her by pulling her in for a hug.
During the hug, she told Isla that whatever she was going through, it would be easier with the help and support of her friends, reminding her that people had put their trust in her and that it was discourteous not to give them that same chance.
The interaction was the first close, emotional contact Isla had had with anyone since the incident on Dxun, far more meaningful than her time with Madam Quisselle and a moment which sparked an affection for Sam, something Isla was uncomfortable with.
Swearing to herself that she would honour her agreement then avoid Sam and the distraction she posed to the best of her ability, Isla headed back to base.
Sith on Voryle
I'm so very glad they sent a Jedi for me!"
"I am not here for you. Sorry to, ahh, "burst your bubble"."
"And yet here you are. It's been far too long since I bested a Jedi."
"Looking at the state of you, I daresay you will be waiting a while.
—Artem Phond and Isla, during their confrontation at the factory.
After their incursion into Yonmouth North, the Rabid Akks lieutenant in charge of operations in the borough issued a challenge to the Cobbled Terentateks a day later, pitting him against their champion of choice. He claimed to want to avoid wasting time and money by engaging in a drawn-out back-and-forth conflict, believing a head-to-head fight would be the most efficient way of deciding things.
Zhavi, being a keen brawler, took a number of the Terentateks to the specified location, intent on meeting the challenge. Unfortunately, the lieutenant had no intention of a fair fight. Less unfortunate, though, was the fact that Yagogg had already warned that he would behave dishonourably, and so when Zhavi arrived to find the lieutenant backed up by a large group of his subordinates, she had her own troops to counter – sparking a violent gang battle that crippled the Akks in Yonmouth North.
In the meantime, Isla was on her way to meet Sam when she had her purse stolen by two Nautolan children, one distracting her while the other snatched the purse and ran. Isla pursued the boy, climbing up onto the rooftops to follow him and realising as she did that he was using the Force to move so nimbly.
Yet what the thief had not accounted for was that Isla had the Force too – before too long he reached a gap between rooftops that the Force could not help him overcome, leaving him trapped between a fall and an irate Sith assassin.
Being from a society that was harsh on criminal behaviour and operating on a world that was just as ruthless towards petty thieves, Isla took the purse when it was offered back to her in an attempt to win himself mercy. Isla was not given to merciful behaviour, however, and grabbed the child by his collar, hoisting him up and holding him over the edge of the roof.
The boy begged for his life, as did the girl – his sister – once she caught up with them both.
Isla asked why she should let him live after he had tried to steal her hard-earned money, to which the boy fairly pointed out that judging by her clothing she was obviously wealthy and would not miss a single purse of coins. Rather ironically, he then asked her if she would not steal from the rich if she had to, which amused Isla and she conceded that perhaps it was taking things further than necessary to kill him.
She set the boy back down on the roof, telling him he could work off his debt to her by helping the Cobbled Terentateks in whatever way they deemed sufficient payment for his crime. The Chiss ordered him to report to the station in Yonmouth South and described the train, instructing him to board it when it arrived and explain why he was there – including his attempt at thievery.
She also warned that if he decided not show up her enforcers would find both siblings and break their legs, scaring him into complying with her instructions.
Delayed due to the distraction, Isla quickened her pace and met with Sam as intended, who jokingly scolded her for her tardiness. According to Sam, the stamp on the crates she had recognised was from a food factory in North Yonmouth that primarily dealt in tinned meats and pies for the working classes. The meat they used was not great, but it was affordable and the workers did not know any better.
Yet, even though the meat was low quality, certain standards were still maintained by the company and meat that was not up to that standard – for whatever reason – was, historically, dumped into the river like all factory refuse on Voryle.
According to Sam, the company had stopped doing that at some point, which was why she had waited a few days before getting Isla to meet with her – she wanted to observe the factory and see if anything out of the ordinary was going on before making a move.
Unfortunately, she had not been able to ascertain where the meat was going now, as their transports moved all around the city and she could not investigate them all, but she was certain someone, somewhere, was paying to have that waste meat delivered somewhere specific.
The Fathiers used to pull the carriages the city employed in place of speeders were not fed meat, and the zoo in Capital Borough imported its own food supplies to feed the specimens held there.
Both women agreed it was a question worth looking into if they wanted to learn more about the creature Isla had defeated.
Sneaking into the factory, it did not take them long to reach the overseer's office, break in and check his ledger, revealing that the food waste was in fact being sent to Voryle Zoo, which came as a surprise to Samantha but, for better or worse, pointed them towards their next destination.
As they stepped out of the office, the overseer was waiting for them, along with a more sinister figure, an armoured warrior towering over all of them and wearing a mask that resembled a metal skull; Lightsabers hung from his waist. The overseer expressed his astonishment that the masked man had correctly predicted the arrival of thieves in his office, and his fury that they dared to meddle in his affairs.
The figure itself ignored the overseer and focused on Sam and Isla, greeting the pair and introducing itself as Artem Phond, apprentice of Darth Aivela. Isla politely introduced herself in response, asking if he intended to prevent them from leaving, which he confirmed just as civilly. She told Sam to leave, but as the Twi'lek tried to vault the railing to descend to the floor below Phond used the Force to immobilise her, compelling Isla to engage.
She pushed him to break his concentration and he was forced to release Sam, providing her with an opening to make a break for it. In doing so, Isla drew his attention and was soon gripped with the Force and slung out of the window beside her, whereupon she landed on an elevated corridor that connected the second floors of the two separate buildings of the factory.
Phond followed after her – slow and confident and incredibly physically powerful – igniting both lightsabers and prompting her to draw her own, tossing the cane aside, knowing it would be useless against the cyborg.
Utilising the overwhelming erraticism of Juyo, Phond initially took the upper hand, forcing Isla to continuously give ground and break off to escape and avoid being boxed in, gradually moving their duel to the roof. Isla could sense the constant pain that gave Phond his furious drive, but she also knew he could not maintain such a ruthless assault forever.
As such, she kept defending and ensuring she was consistently mobile, hoping to weather his barrage and let him tire himself out. In pursuit of that goal, she ascended the factory's chimney, combining the Force with her climbing skills to ascend the smoking spire in record time, knowing Phond would follow her up to the top.
Unlike Isla, however, he was too heavy and his hands too large to climb well. Instead, he leapt up after her in stages, hanging on while he found his footing before throwing himself up to the next hold, relying heavily on the Force and physical power to do so. Once they reached the top, they had very little space to manoeuvre, handing Phond an immediate advantage over Isla's use of Makashi – and trapping her in a situation that she could only escape through death or victory.
But the Chiss had a strategy in mind now that they were at the summit of the factory.
While Phond was focused on killing her, Isla dodged and deflected, using her lightweight, small frame and her massive agility advantage to weave around his heavy attacks, cutting the chimney bars they were standing on as she skirted around him.
Then, leaping up into the sky to build moment, Isla used the Force to accelerate her descent as she brought her blade down – a move she had witnessed Zhavi perform in the past – and forced him to block with both sabres, just as she had planned.
The power of her blow was easy for someone of his size and raw potential to hold, but the additional downward force was enough to cause the sections of the metal grid that she had cut to finally give way beneath Phond's weight.
Single-minded on his pursuit of her death, Phond did not see the trap coming until it was sprung and – before he could react – he plummeted down into the hollow factory chimney, meeting what Isla presumed would be a messy end when he reached the bottom. Isla climbed back down to eliminate the factory owner to keep him quiet, now that he knew her face and that she was a "Jedi", but found him dead in his office, a letter opener sticking out of his chest with a note hanging from it that invited her for a drink at the "usual place".
Annoyingly impressed by Sam's wit and effectiveness, Isla hurried out of the factory as she heard the distant sirens of the approaching police troopers' speeders.
Trouble at the Sweet Shop
The Cobbled Terentateks do no tolerant thuggery.
—Isla to Sukiel Tesh, moments before his execution.
When she returned to headquarters, Isla was unsurprised to learn that Zhavi had taken a shine to the Nautolan thieves she had recruited earlier – learning that they were named Kol and Mirris – and had already suggested training them to become Jedi, a prospect that seemed to appeal to them.
Zhavi also told Isla that she missed a fun brawl, with only a few of their people being injured due to the more cooperative fighting styles Yagogg was encouraging in the recruits. The lieutenant himself had been personally bested by the Jedi, leaving Yonmouth North particularly vulnerable to new management.
All was calm for a few days until Isla learned that someone had been harassing Mynyrra over the past few weeks, demanding money from her repeatedly until – having stood her ground time and time again – the individual had trashed her store.
Yet even in the aftermath of the attack on her livelihood, Mynyrra did not contact Isla for help, the Chiss only learning of her plight from her subordinates on the street. Though they did not know who was tormenting her, they had taken to guarding her shop since the incident, hoping to catch him the next time he turned up. Isla decided that was not good enough, however.
Making a personal appearance to confront Mynyrra about her silence on the matter, the Lasat explained that she did not want to trouble her and that she had already contacted the police. Isla knew they would never be permitted to dedicate resources to catching a petty vandal and insisted that Mynyrra provide her with a description, learning that she was looking for a dark-skinned Zabrak man with a scarred lip and face tattoos.
The confectioner was uncomfortable with Isla getting involved, but Isla scolded her both her pointless pride and making it seem that the Cobbled Terentateks did not protect the citizens within their own territory.
After Mynyrra apologised, Isla left the shop and started to ask around, learning that the thug – one Sukiel Tesh – had been spotted most regularly frequenting bars and casinos in a small area of the borough, narrowing Isla's gaze to a select number of roads and alleys.
Hiring two of Quisselle's courtesans to help her blend in, Isla spent an evening loitering on one of the main streets, strategically placed so that she had the best chance of spotting Mynyrra's tormentor.
Just as she was about to give up for the evening, the Togruta accompanying her spotted him approaching and pointed him out, veiled behind a crowd of rowdy workers singing their way to the next stop on their pub crawl. Isla paid her companions for their assistance, ignoring their attempts to refuse, and stealthily followed the Zabrak, waiting until she saw an opportunity to strike.
That opportunity came when he took a shortcut through a labyrinth of alleyways, alleyways that provided a discreet location for murder.
Calling his name both to bring him to a halt and confirm she had not got the wrong man, Isla then informed him that the Cobbled Terentateks did not tolerant thuggery in their territory. Then, with no further comment, she raised her pistol and shot him in the chest, ensuring he not die too quickly and would have time to ruminate on the behaviour that had led to his undignified end.
Yagogg's Counselling
«S'pose we're not so different, you an' me.»
—Yagogg, to Isla.
Despite the gang's string of successes, not long after the death of Sukiel Tesh Bon-Yi came to Isla to warn her that she had experienced fragments of a vision, leading her to be concerned for Yagogg's safety.
In Voss society, Mystics described their visions to Interpreters rather than making their own conclusions, causing Bon-Yi to feel somewhat conflicted, suggesting that Isla could act as an Interpreter in this instance.
Possessing a description of what Bon-Yi had seen to guide her, Isla went back out onto the streets, heading for the pub Yagogg and the other Terentateks usually visited, starting her search from there. She found the Gamorrean – the last man standing – in an alleyway not far from the pub, victims of an ambush by members of the Akks as retaliation for the loss of the lieutenant of Yonmouth North, who Zhavi had defeated previously.
Isla intercepted the attackers as they were beating Yagogg, kicking him repeatedly while he was down. Since Yagogg had indicated to Isla that he knew she was a Sith – hence his ongoing, albeit professionally discreet, dislike of her – the former Inquisitor did not hold back, summoning all the energy she could muster into frazzling the gangsters with a stream of lightning that arced between the group, causing the entire group to suffer catastrophic heart attacks.
Applying her limited medical know-how (along with the closest thing Voryle had to kolto) to patch him us as best she could, the Gamorrean offered groggy thanks, although in light of the circumstances Isla ignored his gratitude and ordered him not to speak. She helped him stagger back to headquarters, where he could be treated properly, and a few hours later – the pain from his injuries waking him – he joined Isla at the rear of train, where she always sat to smoke.
Yagogg thanked her for saving his life, saying that he had not expected that an Imperial would have his back. She corrected him and pointed out that she had left the Empire, but also made it clear that being Sith never changed who she was the same way Yagogg was not the dim-witted brute his species were often stereotyped as.
Furthermore, Isla asked if she should judge him for being a Cartel enforcer, or judge him by his actions in the present, to which he jokingly complained that she was not allowed to lecture him while he was injured.
Nonetheless, he conceded that she was right and apologised for his behaviour, taking the opportunity to ask her why she left. She summarised the story by simply stating that she had to choose between the Empire and Zhavi, and chose the latter.
The Gamorrean, more observant and thoughtful than he let on, asked why she tried her best to avoid spending any length of time with her, that being the case, leading Isla onto the story of how she betrayed Zhavi's trust and did not expect it back. Additionally, she finally opened up about how losing her limbs had affected her, along with the confusion she felt about her illogical inability to come to terms with what was – in practise – an upgrade on her biological components.
Yagogg comforted her when she became tearful, admitting that he did not know what to tell her, but that he was a good listener if ever she felt like she needed someone to talk to in future. He also assured her that, for as long as she wished to keep her past to herself, he would keep the secret to himself.
Immortal Guardian of the Laboratory
I see the Empire has been busy here..."
"Not the Empire. Darth Aivela."
"Excellent. Thank you. A name will make my hunt much simpler."
"There'll be no more hunting for you, Jedi. No more lucky escapes, no more cowardly tricks to exploit. You'll be going under the knife, just like that foul-mouthed friend of yours.
—Artem Phond and Isla, during their duel at the hidden laboratory beneath Voryle zoo.
A few days later, Zhavi disappeared while committing a "routine" burglary at one of the Rabid Akks' tobacco warehouses, prompting concern from the other officers, though they could do nothing about it without actionable information from their members on the street. Isla decided the best course of action was to continue hitting Rabid Akk holdings as per normal until a lead presented itself.
While the gang stepped up their activities and kept an ear to the ground for word of Zhavi's whereabouts, Isla journeyed to the zoo in Capital Borough, accompanied by Kol and Mirris, who insisted that both Isla and Sam were too big to get into the zoo at night and would need their help.
Sam – unsurprisingly – agreed, once again pressuring Isla to accept assistance, leading Isla to privately question whether Sam was agreeing because she thought they would be helpful or because she was determined to force Isla to spend time with other people.
As it turned out, the siblings were correct in their assessment; the zoo was sealed off well, but they managed to find an opening, too small for an adult but large enough for the young children to squeeze themselves through and get inside. Within ten minutes, the kids had unlocked a door and let Sam and Isla in, and it took them under an hour to locate a sealed off section in the lower levels.
Using the Force to shield them from the hot air, Isla sent the twins through a heat outlet to find a way to open the door.
Sam darkly commented that the heat from the vent smelt "meaty", an assessment Isla agreed with, taking it as a sign that something – or things – was living inside. Before long, they heard terrified screams from within, followed by the angry shrieks of some sort of animals and – with the children in danger – Sam pushed Isla to cut through the door with her lightsaber, creating evidence of Jedi activity that the authorities would find in the process.
Ultimately, though, it was the right call; the children jumped through the opening as soon as it was created with the long-neck of some sort of reptilian carnivore pursuing through the gap immediately after, snapping wildly, though with its larger body it could not proceed any further, allowing Isla to easily sever its head.
Another pushed its way forwards, making the same mistake as its partner, but it seemed that – for now – only two of the creatures had discovered them.
The group carried on into what they soon discovered was some sort of secret research facility, with tanks filled with animal specimens floating in what appeared to be blood. Long tunnels that looked like they were used for transportation led out from the laboratory, but before the group could investigate further they were ambushed by Artem Phond, who had evidently survived his fall down the chimney shaft.
Ordering Sam to take the kids and go, Isla held off Phond for a time before attempting to fight back, though as before the Sith's ferocity was difficult to defend against. He was both larger than her and heavily augmented both through technology and the dark side, forcing her to depend on her speed to avoid the brunt of his heavy-handed strikes, knowing that if he got hold of her she would be killed in an instant.
Their duel laid waste to the laboratory around them and spilled the contents of the tanks out onto the floor, a condition Phond tried to use against Isla when he managed to knock her to the ground, using his blades to pin her down and attempt to drown her until she managed to jar her knee between his legs, hooking her knee there to slide along the blood-slickened floor and out between his legs.
To ensure her companions had time to escape (and hoping to exploit the same advantage she had used to beat Phond before), the Chiss began to lead Phond out of the laboratory and up to the higher levels of the zoo's operations building, temporarily outrunning him until she had found a suitable location for an ambush of her own.
Using her stealth abilities, Isla hid out of sight when Phond reached her position, then launched a devastating electrical attack, hoisting him into the air as the energy damaged his implants and cybernetics and smashing him repeatedly against the walls before throwing him through a viewing window, onto the maintenance platform of a crane.
By the time she reached where he had fallen, Isla was exhausted and her energy all but spent. However, rendered defenceless by Isla's Force lightning, Phond was all but beaten. He mocked her, claiming that it was at that point that Jedi offered mercy to their foe, but Isla pointed out that opposing the Sith Empire did not make her any less a Sith than him.
In fact, she was truly free, just as the code suggested, in stark contrast with those who served the Empire. Artem chuckled, conceding that perhaps she was right, although he suggested it did not matter, as few beings ever really cared about any truth beyond the one they chose to believe; he told her that she would never be a Jedi to her friends, nor would she ever be anything but a traitor to the Sith.
Isla then attempted to torture Zhavi's location from Phond when he refused to offer it freely, but to no avail, trying for long enough that word of the fight had reached headquarters and Zhavi's ship – having been moved to a long-stay hangar in Yonmouth South – was brought in to extract the Chiss from the zoo, ostensibly transferring from a hangar in Yonmouth to a new hangar in the Capital Borough.
While en route, the stealth systems were used to momentarily disappear from the eyes of the flight control staff, allowing Isla's officers to lower the ship into position over the site of the duel with the intention of extracting Isla from the situation.
Isla used the Force to hoist the cyborg up into the air and fed him into the engine exhausts as the ship rotated into position, disintegrating him quickly but in an excruciatingly painfully manner, causing him to scream out through the Force itself. When the ship turned into a position that made the boarding ramp accessible, Bibi was stood there waiting, hand extended for Isla to jump and make her escape.
Once aboard, it took less than a minute to get out of the area, drop Isla off on another rooftop and continue on to their destination as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened, shrugging off the ship's disappearance on the scanners as a temporary glitch that flight control staff could not prove otherwise.
Because they had dropped Isla off before arriving, they disembarked and passed through security with the same number of people as they had left Yonmouth South with, allowing them to avoid further scrutiny from the authorities.
By the time Isla got back to headquarters, Sam had been and gone, leaving a surprise in Isla's carriage; the door she had cut through in the laboratory, the Twi'lek taking the time to remove it from its frame rather than leave evidence of Jedi activity.
Despite eliminating Artem Phond and discovering the Sithspawn laboratory, they had not found out where the underground tunnels led. Likewise, they still had no idea where Zhavi was being held either. Isla finally drifted off to sleep in the early hours of the morning, not feeling particularly victorious.
Murder of a Working Girl
I know her. She works for Madam Quisselle."
"Face down in a some grubby back alley. Well at least she died somewhere familiar eh? Practically at home love! Lucky girl."
"Chief Inspector... please. Same MO?"
"Same drug. Same outcome. Same sick bastard behind it by my reckonin' but no, looks like she did this to herself, poor bitch. It's spreading Isla, and like hell am I going to sit on my arse waiting for bodies to start floating down the river. I need for us to end this, and I need it done tonight.
—Isla and DCI Arkonjii, after the discovery of Kia Bhek's body.
Shortly after the incident at the zoo, Isla was summoned in the early hours of the morning to meet with DCI Arkonjii at the site of another murder that shared uncomfortable similarities to the last case she assisted with.
Upon arrival, Isla identified the victim as Kia Bhek, one of Madam Quisselle's charges, and while DCI Arkonjii confirmed the same homegrown spice as before was what killed her there were nothing to indicate she had taken the substance against her will, or that her body had been moved post-mortem.
Restrained by procedure, Arkonjii tasked Isla with investigating, beginning with potential witnesses who were in the area at Bhek's apparent time of death. After questioning several individuals through the morning, Isla eventually found someone who she sensed was hiding something; Isla opted for intimidation, learning that the woman had been at a party with Bhek, but left before her.
She claimed that everyone was doing drugs and drinking at the party and gave Isla the address, though unsurprisingly the venue was abandoned by the time the Chiss arrived and broke in.
Thankfully, she found evidence Arkonjii could use to identify a number of suppliers who might have more information. Spurred on by the discovery, Isla was optimistic about finding a more direct connection until a flaming bottle was launched into the room through a window, shattering and starting a fire.
Several more projectiles were thrown, expanding the fire into the makings of an inferno and forcing Isla to escape the building with what leads she had, consoling herself with the fact that she would not be reporting back to Arkonjii empty handed.
Invitations
I got your message what is it? What's wrong? You said you needed help? Urgently?"
"I do, but nothing's wrong. It's just a nice day."
"Pardon?"
"A nice day. For a... date that's not a date but could be a date if you wanted it to be, maybe?
—Isla and Sam, after the latter lured Isla to the Blynan Park.
Without any leads to follow up on in her own investigation, all Isla and the gang could do was continue their takeover of Rabid Akk territory in the hopes of learning more about where Zhavi was imprisoned.
To take her mind off her inability to act, Sam sent a runner to Isla requesting her urgent assistance with an unspecified problem, prompting Isla to make her way hastily to Blynan Park to meet with the Twi'lek.
When she arrived, however, Isla quickly discovered that she had been tricked and that there neither an emergency nor any problem that needed her attention. Sam had actually lured her to the park under false pretences to invite her on a date, insisting that she could not sit in her room focusing on a problem she could not fix and that – to combat her tendency to fixate and obsess – she needed to "reward" herself with pleasant company and weather.
Isla drily commented that she was arrogant to refer to herself as a "reward", with Sam quipping back that the Chiss was not as subtle at hiding her feelings as she thought she was, but that she could – if she really wanted – go back and watch the sunshine from out of her carriage window, if her company was not appreciated without a financial or material incentive.
The Chiss apologised, only to spot Sam's sly smirk, realising she was poking fun at her. She agreed to the date, but told Sam she was paying any expenses since she had rushed out without any money. The Twi'lek was happy to accept the condition.
The pair spent a few hours in the park, enjoying a picnic Samantha had prepared and discussing a variety of subjects, including literature, the future and how Sam would choose to change Voryle for the better, if she could.
Isla questioned if she thought Voryle should become a Republic world, discovering that Sam was actually just as strong an advocate of independence as most of the population, though she admitted the planet would benefit from adopting more of their policies, particularly when it came to civil rights and environmental regulations.
Before they left the park, the pair shared a kiss, then headed to the market, where Sam encouraged Isla to try things she had never tried before, which ended up including an assortment of different fruits and giving money to a child beggar.
After the market, Sam took Isla to her favourite pub, claiming she intended to test how strong Sith livers were, revealing that she had worked out some time ago that Isla was not really a Jedi. Unlike Yagogg, however, she had chosen to judge Isla on her actions rather than assuming the worst – which had paid off.
The duo remained in the pub until late evening, drinking, playing sabacc and even entertaining the other patrons towards the end of their visit, Samantha playing the piano while Isla sang, surprising her companion and herself when she discovered she was a decent singer.
Once they decided it was time to call it a day, Sam claimed she would offer to invite Isla to her place, but Isla's was far nicer. The Chiss jokingly asked why she thought they would be leaving together, given that they were only on their first date; Sam responded by claiming that just because they had been fighting and blowing up warehouses during their previous meetings did not mean they were not dates.
Charmed, as ever, Isla relented, remarking that in the balance of give and take, she seemed to always be the one giving Sam what she wanted, a fact the Twi'lek suggestively promised to make up for.
The pair spent the following hours locked in Isla's carriage, leaving only briefly to watch the sunset from the rear of the train before turning in for the "night".
But for all the distraction Sam had provided her, Isla's pleasant day was soon to be overshadowed by a more ominous invitation, quietly placed by her bedside by Bibi shortly before noon.
The Chiss awoke before Sam, opening and reading the letter, curious about the expensive paper given that poverty gripped most of the city. LaLenna was the only one who could afford such luxuries, yet she never wrote letters, favouring the more discreet services of runners. It was not from the Countess, however.
Reading down and feeling steadily more concerned as she went on, she quickly learned that she had been invited to attend an evening garden party at Prime Minister Namos D'callo's country residence, outside of the city. She woke Sam and asked for her opinion, but the Twi'lek surprised her by claiming it was highly unlikely they would try to make a move against her so openly.
Isla later consulted LaLenna – who revealed she had also been invited – and was again assured that the invitation was not a trap. It simply meant she had been noticed, and was being taken seriously enough to warrant a formal introduction. Her invitation specifically stated that it was for Isla and a companion of her choice.
LaLenna seemed uncomfortable when Isla asked if she could take Sam, though, telling her clearly that that would be unwise and not a particularly shrewd move, politically.
She reminded her that politics was a delicate game, suggesting instead that she extend the invitation to Madam Quisselle, her first, longest serving and loyalist ally outside of the Cobbled Terentateks' membership and a woman who – strange as it seemed to Isla – was highly regarded in Vorylian society, despite her profession.
Knowing when to defer to the wisdom of someone with greater expertise, Isla agreed to visit to Madam Quisselle and extend the invitation personally.
Voryle's Spice Epidemic
You must be Pierre's contact."
"Detective inspector Daphne Gho. Just to make my feelings known from the off, I don't see eye-to-eye with my DCI on this one. Roping in civilians to do our job is... well I strongly disagree, let's just leave it at that.
—Isla and Daphne Gho, DCI Arkonjii's second in command.
In the weeks preceding the garden party she had been invited to attend, Isla received a message from DCI Arkonjii instructing her to meet with one of his officers.
Isla arrived at the specified time and location and found a Bothan waiting for her, who promptly introduced herself as detective inspector Daphne Gho. She made it clear that she disapproved of Arkonjii's inclusion of Isla in police business, but behaved professionally nonetheless, explaining that Arkonjii was unavailable but would be meeting them later for a report.
Gho then revealed that the information Isla had previously uncovered had proven useful in identifying a potential spice cache secreted within the labyrinth of sewer tunnels beneath the city.
Heading down into the sewers, the duo followed their intelligence until they reached the cache, exactly where they had expected to be and – best of all – completely unguarded. Gho mused that the likelihood of anyone stumbling across the location by chance was infinitesimally low.
Thus, with their intrusion known only to themselves, the pair were able to rifle through the stockpile and the accompanying records at their leisure. They were preparing to destroy the stockpile of spice when they heard someone approach, the individual only realising that he had company when he came into view.
At Gho's insistence, Isla remained behind to destroy the cache of toxic spice while Gho pursued the criminal, separating them until Isla eventually caught up with the Bothan not far from the access point they had used to enter the sewers. Sadly, Gho had either been overpowered or snuck up upon, and by the time Isla found her she was slumped against the sewer wall, her throat cut open and her clothes soaked in blood.
Isla carried Gho out of the sewers and carefully navigated the quieter streets and back alleys to reach her rendezvous with Arkonjii without drawing too much attention, delivering the fallen officer to her superior. The hulking Lasat was understandably enraged, though thanked Isla for not leaving her down in the sewers.
After taking possession of the logs the pair had recovered, he expressed his belief that they were getting close. He promised to keep her updated once he had looked through the documents and would – if she still wanted to be involved – contact her once they had something to act on.
High Society
Sera developed an intense and focused hatred of Isla for her killing of Artem Phond.
Ahh, Ms Ahnkett, at long last. I've heard so very much about you this past year. Namos D'callo, Prime Minister of Voryle. It is a pleasure to finally put a face to the name."
"The pleasure is mine Prime Minister, and thank you for your kind invitation. Your home is quite splendid."
"Isn't it just? Oh, forgive me, where are my manners? This is Lord Sera Artofen, our esteemed guest from the Sith Empire. And you've already met my daughter, I believe, Samantha D'callo?"
"Yes. We have met.
—Namos D'callo, introducing himself and Lord Artofen to Isla.
Two weeks later, Isla was en route to the Midnight Rose to pick up Madam Quisselle prior to Namos' garden party when she suffered another hallucinatory episode. This time, however, she was assaulted by a vision of Empress Acina – in the middle of a busy street.
As before she was swiftly overwhelmed and "killed", leaving her lying in the street, momentarily crippled by pain. In the aftermath, Isla employed her stealth abilities to veil herself from sight and flee the area, nervous that word of a lightsaber-wielding individual would spread and draw police attention.
Dishevelled but physically unharmed, Isla continued on to her destination and – somewhat later than expected – she and Madam Quisselle joined Countess LaLenna and Bibi – LaLenna's chosen plus one – and set off in a carriage for Namos' estate, outside the urban sprawl of the city.
Isla noticed that Bibi seemed nervous during their journey over, while LaLenna focused on preparing her for the social dos and do nots of such events. She dismissed what she sensed from Bibi as pre-party jitters; she was socially awkward, so it came as no surprise that she was a little tense, or more so, ahead of the big event.
LaLenna led the group – being intimately familiar with the politics – and introduced the pair as they went around, describing Isla as an entrepreneur and Bibi as a distant relative of hers on her deceased Husband's side. Before long, however, the group passed through to the garden where the party was centred, approaching the man in charge of the largely pro-Imperial governing council; Prime Minister Namos D'callo, an orange-skinned Twi'lek in his late fifties.
Stood alongside him were two women, one with piercing orange eyes who stared at Isla – her hatred for Isla being as clear in the Force as it was on her face – and the second was Samantha.
LaLenna introduced Isla and the Prime Minister and despite her shock at Samantha's connection to her enemy the Chiss managed to hide the effects of Namos' low-blow from her expression. Namos introduced himself formally to Isla, claiming to have heard a lot about her before introducing Lord Sera Artofen, rhetorically – and maliciously – confirming that she already knew Samantha D'callo – the Prime Minister's daughter.
Isla – feeling betrayed – hesitated briefly, looking at Sam, but confirmed that they had met before, realising only then that Bibi and LaLenna had already known that Sam would be there – and who she was.
The two groups then moved on to continue mingling, Isla quietly – but angrily – scolding Bibi and LaLenna for keeping it from her. Bibi tried to justify herself and apologise. LaLenna told them the issue was for later as their bickering could be seen by others, if not heard.
Isla largely ignored them both for the remainder of the evening, keeping to Madam Quisselle's company and the comforting reassurances she offered before departing at the earliest opportunity. Before she left, though, Lord Artofen caught up to her privately, telling her she knew she was the one who killed Artem Phond.
Additionally, she promised Isla that her "Jedi friend" would learn the true horrors of Sith alchemy before Sera finally allowed her to die, letting her know that she was in her private lab in the Magenta Sparrow Innovations corporate embassy, safely beyond the reach of her "silly playgroup".
Once she had returned home, Isla began reviewing the territory situation in the city, planning her attack on Sera's headquarters to rescue Zhavi, stealthily or otherwise. Bibi caught up with her once she had returned from the party, apologising for not telling her about Sam, revealing that LaLenna had told her not to but would not tell her why, exactly.
Isla accepted her apology, telling her it was LaLenna – and more importantly Sam – who she was angry with, given that the deceptions were theirs, not Bibi's.
Bibi did not believe that Sam had been deceiving her – pointing out that she could not choose her father, after all – but Isla was convinced she had not mentioned it so she could get close to her and gain more information about their plans to feed it back to the Sith. She even wondered if she was the reason Zhavi had been captured.
Whatever the case, she felt humiliated and intended to confront Sam before she set off to rescue Zhavi.
The Cathar questioned if she was sure there was not a way to work things out with the Twi'lek, but Isla was set on her choice, feeling as though she had betrayed Zhavi yet again by being led astray.
Socially inept even with her friends, Bibi decided – with Isla's mind apparently set against Samantha – that it was a good time to finally act on her crush and ambush Isla with a hasty, messy kiss, all but lunging at her and telling her it was "for luck" in such a way that Isla wondered if she thought the expression concerned a literal truth, rather than a simple figure of speech.
Isla – caring for Bibi but still unable to completely shake the anti-alien mindset she had lived around for so long – brushed off her advance with humour, joking that if they tried that again, Bibi should slow down a little to help improve her aim. Embarrassed, Bibi reiterated her well-wishes, telling Isla that if she decided she wanted help, she knew where they all were before rushing out of the Chiss' carriage.
Amused – and admittedly feeling better than she had after the party – Isla turned in for the night once she had finished looking over the city blueprints. She knew she would need all the rest she could get for the eventful day that lay ahead of her.
Massacre
Isla! It's a trick! That crazy bitch is goin' after the train!
—Zhavi, to Isla, after the latter's arrival in Artofen's private laboratory.
Before setting off for Magenta Sparrow Innovations' embassy to rescue Zhavi, Isla met with Sam in the park where they had had their date, determined to make her thoughts known whether it was too late to undo her mistake or not.
Moments before she entered the park, Isla was once again set upon by a psychosis-induced hallucination, taking a more haunting image than those that had come before; her deceased mentor, replete with a seared skull from the wound that had killed her. Jhang's spectral form slammed Isla against the pillar of a gateway arch and ran her lightsaber – slowly – through the Chiss' shoulder.
She faded a moment later, leaving Isla in an even worse mood – and unaware that Samantha had witnessed the episode unfold from a distance.
Regrettably – riled up even more so by the untimely mental lapse – Isla's rage got the better of her; she slapped the Twi'lek, beginning a blistering tirade of abuse and not giving her the chance to explain herself before storming off.
Appropriately fired up, Isla proceeded to the embassy just after midday, approaching the front door – which was locked – and tapping on the glass to attract the guard's attention. When he came closer to speak, Isla used her lightsaber to kill him and shatter the glass.
Evidently she was expected, as the far more heavily armed local police officers emerged from the stairwell and elevator to stop her within seconds her arrival, opening fire immediately.
Even with their arms and armour, Isla had the skills and experience necessary to dispatch the inexperienced fighters, inciting panic and prompting several of them to drop their rifles and run. Isla soon pushed her way up to the higher levels of the embassy.
By the time she found Zhavi in Lord Artofen's private laboratory, she was badly hurt, tortured but – it seemed – not subjected to Sith alchemy as Artofen had suggest.
Even so, Artofen had left one of her Sithspawn creations – a small creature that appeared to have started life as a gorg – behind to slowly chew on Zhavi's flesh, causing her constant pain and and continuously dosing her with a mild venom, although neither the bites nor the poison inflicted any debilitating, serious damage, the intention being simply to make Zhavi suffer.
Zhavi warned Isla that she was there as bait, luring the Chiss away and keeping her preoccupied while Artofen eliminated the Cobbled Terentateks leadership, tearing the heart from the gang and plunging them into chaos to punish Isla for the grim death of Artem Phond.
Isla assured her she would deal with the situation once she got Zhavi to a hospital, but Zhavi insisted she head back immediately or it would be too late. Unshackling Zhavi from the interrogation rack, Isla begrudgingly left Zhavi and the embassy and rushed back to protect her allies from Artofen's wrath.
By the time she made it back to Yonmouth South, the borough was under siege.
Erupting from beneath the city – using the same tunnels they had discovered at the zoo – a colossal beast had begun laying waste to the area, intercepting the Cobbled Terentateks' train and hoisting it from the track. Isla rushed to assist, though the creature was so massive she had no idea how to hurt it, let alone kill it.
Regardless, she knew she had to at least try to draw the creature away from her allies.
Getting closer, Isla spotted the police, deployed in full force with hovertank support. Worryingly, the hovertanks were just as incapable of piercing the creature's hide as the police blaster rifles were. Isla's Force lightning was just as ineffective, she soon discovered, though she was not surprised.
Out of options, she attempted to try something that ran contrary to everything she had ever been taught; instead of staying hidden and unnoticed, she attempted to emulate the effect Artem Phond had involuntarily produced when he died.
Focusing on the negative emotions that had dogged her after her dismemberment at Lord Jhang's hand, Isla channelled the Force into a targeted scream, mimicking a Force call to compel the beast to focus on her, effectively entrancing it; it dropped the train – and her friends, still trapped inside – and turned to begin lumbering towards Isla, just as she had hoped.
Isla's plan began and ended with getting the monster's attention, however.
Exhausted by her demanding use of the Force, the situation looked bad for Isla until Sam arrived, grabbing her by the arm and dragging her over to one of the unoccupied tanks being used to tow the explosive ammunition that the other vehicles were firing.
Helping the Chiss clamber into the tank, Sam perched on top, using one of the police rifles to fire on the beast as it chased after them, tearing through the line of police tanks and surrounding buildings without slowing whatsoever, determined to reach the duo as they fled. Isla managed to target the creature and launch the tank's missiles all in one go, yet even that did nothing to hinder the abomination's progress.
Before long, their mighty foe had caught up with them, chomping down on the ammunition crates trailing behind the tank and hoisting them into the air.
Realising they had been caught and that Sam was in danger, Isla jammed the controls and clambered out of the tank, cutting the crates of explosives loose with her lightsaber before gathering all her strength to leap up towards the creature.
All it took was a single spark of lightning from Isla to detonate one of the missiles and cause a chain reaction, detonating the entire police troopers' stockpile – much of it exploding while still inside the creature's open mouth.
Although its hide was thick and impenetrable, its insides were as soft and vulnerable as any other creature, so when the explosives went off – the shock wave throwing Isla through the sky – the shrapnel that was projected out speared up into its skull, causing it to fall down dead, finally concluding the massacre.
Isla awoke ten minutes later – buried beneath the rubble of the ruined borough – and hurriedly navigated her way through the chaotic labyrinth of buried housing and fallen signage, struggling to stay ahead of the collapsing debris as the makeshift tunnels fell apart brick by brick around her, unable to withstand the weight pressing down from above.
Eventually she saw daylight, and as she wearily tried to drag herself through the shrinking opening, Sam appeared to drag her out just moments before her escape route vanished in a cloud of brick dust.
Though injured and exhausted, when Sam told Isla that the governing council had entered an emergency session to discuss a conditional offer of support from the Sith Empire she insisted on joining her. The condition of their assistance in destroying the beast rampaging across the city was that Voryle formally join the Empire, becoming an Imperial world. A significant advantage that would have far-reaching implications for the wider war.
There was to be a vote, during which the chamber had gone into lockdown – with all outside communication being cut to avoid any disruption of the proceedings. Sam believed her father intended to eliminate the Countess and anyone else who did not vote in favour of joining the Empire, as the law was clear that any change to the planet's vaunted independence required a unanimous vote in favour.
The Twi'lek – seeing Isla was hurt – insisted that the Chiss wait for the doctors to arrive to tend to her injuries, but Isla wanted to be present when Namos' plans were scuppered.
Impeachment of Namos D'callo
Councillors! Listen to me! My father has lied to you! The monster destroying the city was created and commanded by the Sith, all as part of my father's underhanded scheme to scare you into signing over our independence!"
"Councillors, I apologise for my daughter's appalling behaviour. Unfortunately the rebellious streak that began in her teenage years has yet to come to an end. Much to my consistent disappointment."
"The Sith beast is dead, dad, killed by a Jedi. Game's over. Loyalist volunteers are beneath the debating chamber right now, disabling the machine you planned to poison your opposition with."
"Lies! Wild conspiracy theories dreamed up by an attention-seeking child!
—Sam and Namos D'callo.
Together, the pair – reconciled in the face of such wanton devastation – sped across the city, commandeering a carriage to expedite their journey to the Debate Chamber where the discussion about the now-resolved crisis continued, those within oblivious to the fact that the danger had passed.
On the way, Sam explained that she had done some snooping after the party at her father's residence, overhearing some of his conversation with Lord Artofen.
Piecing together clues from that discussion with the attack on the city and the emergency session that had been called to coincide in almost perfect unison with the appearance of the Sithspawn, Sam had come to the conclusion that her father was going to push for Imperial support, something which he could not do without complete support from the council.
Bibi was protecting the Countess and they had both made it into the chamber safely, so she surmised that the attack had to come from inside the chamber itself.
Unfit and not the young man he once was, Namos was not capable of killing his political rivals personally (even if he started shooting, everyone would panic and flee, costing him the support of the moderates in addition to the opposition members who escaped his attempt) which had to mean he had a more elegant system in place already, one which could distinguish between friend and foe.
Having consulted the city plans Sam believed he would try to poison the councillors using the tunnels beneath the debating chamber, which were connected to the chamber itself via air vents. There was no other way that he could execute his opponents in a controlled fashion; he needed to retain authority and control to push the vote through.
Fear was vital, panic a detriment.
Whilst Isla got past the police troopers stood guard at the entrance to the underground section of the debating chamber, Sam forced her way into the emergency meeting using a rifle looted during the battle, catching the troopers at the door by surprise.
As she revealed her father's plan to the rest of the council and moved to arrest him – going up against his personal bodyguard, HK-LEU-04, a specially designed HK-series assassin droid gifted by the Sith Empire – Isla entered the tunnels, discovering another of Artofen's alchemical creations.
This time it was some form of horribly mutated parasitic spider that had glued itself to the roof and made the tunnels its hive, surrounded by eggs and with unsightly tubes stretching from its body, linking it to the ventilation systems. Knowing little about biology, never mind the biology of Sithspawn mutated from unfamiliar creatures, Isla decided to hazard a guess that the creature could release poison at Namos' command.
Not daring to get close enough to try and physically remove the monstrosity – it being awake and watching her with an unblinking gaze – Isla chose to tap into the dark side again, managing to generate lightning strong enough to burn the eggs of the Sithspawn, before targeting the beast itself.
A fleshy creature, the energy was sufficient to disintegrate it and caused it to fall from where it was attached, dissolving into a foul, gooey pulp that quickly congealed on the floor. The Chiss did not linger, satisfied that the threat was over and keen to check on Sam's progress, catching up to her in the debating chamber.
Unfortunately, Namos' use of his HK unit to stall Sam during his escape had bought him time, and although Sam had managed to best the droid, her father disappeared from the Debate Chamber before she could catch up with him – Isla and Sam agreed he would run to Lord Artofen for protection.
They also agreed they could not hope to take her on right away, given what they – and the gang – had already been through. Rest would have to come first, then after that they could focus on making a targeted strike against Namos and his Sith puppeteer.
Before anything else, however, Isla and Sam were keen to check on their friends and allies in the wake of the monster attack, hoping – desperately – that the casualties were not as severe as they feared.
If nothing else, LaLenna assured the duo that the events of the day would spur the Commissioner to find and arrest Namos, promising that she would make sure the word was spread quickly around the city, turning public opinion against the Prime Minister, the Empire and the council itself.
Voryle's independence was safe from the greedy hands of the Sith Empire. All that remained was the arrest of the disgraced Prime Minister – and the elimination of Sith Lord Sera Artofen.
Ending the Spice Trade
We got 'em Isla. We got 'em."
"And about time too.
—DCI Arkonjii and Isla, after shutting down the Vorylian spice lab.
Confirming the survival of the Cobbled Terentateks' officers, Isla was soon warned by Yagogg that the police were looking for her and advised that she lay low until the situation had blown over, assuring her that her team could take care of coordinating the rescue efforts in her absence.
Isla – angry that she had gone to such lengths to help Voryle and its people yet was still being vilified – agreed, happy to shrug off her duties for the rest of the day.
With her living quarters currently coiled up in and amongst the rest of the debris, Sam invited Isla back to her house for the night, hoping it would give them a chance to talk properly, as they had yet to do so. After Isla jokingly said that Sam had told another lie – regarding her earlier comments that Isla's home was nicer than hers – the two sat down and discussed the revelation from the party.
Sam explained that as soon as they had met, she could tell Isla was burdened by something, a burden which caused her to retreat into her own head at the expense of any relationships with the people around her. Sam had wanted to help, not just Isla but also the Terentateks, and knew that revealing her connection to Namos would ensure that Isla kept her at arm's length forevermore.
She insisted that she always intended to tell her, but her father's invitation was a sudden and unexpected move, no doubt intended to break off their relationship and stir up distrust within the gang. Sam suspected that her father had grown paranoid – perhaps encouraged or bullied by Artofen – and decided to act swiftly rather than continue to fight through conventional means.
The Cobbled Terentateks had not even secured a second city borough and even if they kept up their pace it would be several years before they could take the entire city, making Namos' bold and aggressive tactics a shock even to Sam, who thought she knew him better. Much as she still loved her father, Sam assured Isla she had no reservations about bringing him in – dead or alive – and that she was committed to her cause – and to the Chiss herself.
Convinced – and silently relieved to have been wrong about Sam – Isla accepted the explanation, cleaning herself up and tending to her injuries with the Twi'leks help. They spent the night together, waking late the next morning, whereupon they began formulating a plan of attack on the Magenta Sparrow Innovations embassy with the Terentateks officers.
Given the state of Yonmouth South, the surge in police patrols and the time required the get the gang ready for an all-out assault, the group agreed to postpone the operation until the end of the week.
In that time, Arkonjii reached out to Isla via one of his men, a junior officer who escorted Isla to a carriage in which Arkonjii was sat waiting. They set off the moment she clambered inside and Arkonjii explained that he had identified the source of the spice – the individual behind it and the location of his laboratory.
Together, Arkonjii intended for them to eliminate the "doctor" behind the spice epidemic and put an end to the creation and distribution of the toxic substance once and for all.
With his officers surrounding the factory in which the laboratory was located, Arkonjii and Isla entered together and used a combination of stealth and distraction to pass the workmen and guards swarming through the various buildings and courtyards, eventually finding the entrance to the underground facility which had once been part of the city's sewer system.
Descending into the laboratory, the crime fighting duo agreed to split up in case the doctor was well-defended, with Arkonjii approaching directly and Isla tailing him from on the pipes that ran along the walls and ceiling.
When they arrived, Arkonjii conversed with the doctor in an attempt to learn what she could about any other loose ends and to give Isla as much time as she could to get into position, knowing he was relying on her to deal with the doctor's bodyguard – a Sith.
The doctor watched – amused and sure of the outcome – as his Sith minion and Pierre went head-to-head, the Sith taking her time to mock and taunt the lawman, delighting in the futility of Arkonjii's shots as they melted harmlessly against her blade. In the meantime, Isla manoeuvred herself into position on the overhead pipes.
Once she was satisfied with her approach, the assassin leapt down – slowing her descent with the Force – and slit the doctor's throat before he knew she was there. Isla stood on the desk and activated her lightsaber to attract the Sith's attention before she decided to kill Arkonjii, causing her to turn away from the seemingly helpless Lasat.
Once she had, however, he had no qualms about shooting her in the back, firing a bullet that hit her in the spine and killed her instantly, snuffing out a previously unknown thread of the Sith Empire's machinations on Voryle.
Using a radio he had requisitioned for the operation, Arkonjii ordered his officers to move in and secure the factory for a full, thorough and official investigation, giving the unlikely pair a few minutes to sit, smoke and revel in their success before Isla had to stealthily escape the factory.
Battle for Voryle
So... what'll it be then? Help your friend... or show me more of that rage?"
"You get to live, this time. But I shall find you. Whatever it takes... I shall find you."
"Mm... I'll be waiting for you, little "Jedi".
—Sera Artofen and Isla, on reaching a stalemate.
By the end of the week, Isla was anxious to finally move the Terentateks into position and deal with Artofen and Namos.
With her officers leading the gang into battle against the Rabid Akks – who had been directed to defend the entrance of the MSI building from the expected attack – Isla was able to sneak past the defenders and ascend the tower, unaware that Zhavi was influencing them all from a nearby rooftop using her limited understanding of battle meditation.
On her way to confront Lord Artofen Isla found the Prime Minister, who attempted to kill her with a blaster pistol in his panicked state and failed miserably. Isla blocked his shots with ease, then crippled him with a number of precision strikes that left him too weak to move, leaving the Chiss free to continue after Artofen.
When she reached the top of the tower, she concealed herself both visibly and in the Force, hoping to catch the Sith Lord by surprise and assassinate her, rather than risk a head-on confrontation.
Unfortunately, having watched her approach on the security cameras, she was able to correctly estimate how long it would take Isla to reach her position from the location of the last camera outside her office; as Isla crept behind her, she turned and unleashed a stream of lightning.
Fortunately, Isla was on high-alert and prepared for failure; she adapted quickly, raising her sabre to block, surrendering her invisibility and breaking into a determined jog. Once Isla closed in, Artofen was forced to drop her Force attack and activate her lightsaber to engage the Chiss directly, a school of combat which – it soon became clear – Artofen had neglected.
Driving her back up a curving stairwell and onto the mezzanine overlooking the room, Isla manoeuvred herself in such a way that Artofen had her back to the balcony.
The Chiss gained the advantage when she cut Artofen's double-blade in half and sent the two separate blades spinning out of reach, only to be disarmed herself when Artofen used the Force to shove her hand, changing their duel into a battle of Force powers, where Artofen would have the advantage.
Used to the speedy pace of combat, however, Isla responded first; she lunged at the Sith, grabbed her and pulled her up into the air with a Force-enhanced jump.
Whilst airborne, Isla spun with the aid of the Force, building up momentum to throw Artofen towards the ground level, back to where they had started their fight. As Artofen slowed her fall with the Force, Isla followed up by pushing her similarly, accelerating the descent beyond what she was expecting to slam her into the floor with a painful jolt.
Artofen was quick to get back up though, and both combatants had their weapons (half a weapon, in Artofen's case) in hand again by the time Isla landed and attacked.
Sadly, Isla's advantage was soon lost by an unexpected intrusion.
As their duel progressed back up the stairwell once again – this time leaving the mezzanine and heading to the corridor connected to it – Bibi arrived, the gang having broken through the Rabid Akks' line and pushed into the building. Fearing for Isla's safety, Bibi had taken Rissessk's sword and rushed up the tower, under the illusion that she could help.
Despite Isla's best efforts, Artofen cut a clean line through Bibi's abdomen the moment the Chiss' position prevented her from intervening, her limited lightsaber skills proving more than a match for the training offered by the Republic military.
Horrified by the sight of Bibi's fatal injury, Isla became enraged and was subsequently bolstered by the loss of her friend, intensifying her attack until both Sith swept their lightsabers in a mirrored attack, each combatant halting their blades at the last moment – right by the other's neck – a stalemate.
Artofen mocked Isla, pointing out that they could continue or she could attend to her friend. Racked with guilt for letting Bibi – the woman who had shown her kindness and affection from the moment they had met – die, Isla knew she had to let Artofen flee so she could be with the Cathar in her final moments.
Isla promised the Sith she would find her and kill her for what she had done, then – in unison – both women pulled their weapons back and circled one another, switching positions so that they could go to their respective destinations; Artofen ran down the adjacent corridor to reach her ship, docked on a private landing pad on the roof of the tower, while Isla was free to rush to Bibi's side.
Unable to do anything about Bibi's wound, Isla cradled her as she died, apologising for failing her. Bibi told Isla she loved her, prompting the Chiss to lie and tell her she felt the same, promising they would go for dinner somewhere nice once she was out of the hospital. Grief-stricken, Isla channelled the cocktail of negative emotions to exploit it for good.
Isla then combined two mind-altering techniques she had only ever used separately in the past, projecting complex illusions into her dying mind while using her vulnerable mental state to erase the events of the preceding minutes from her mind.
By removing the memory of her injury she calmed Bibi's fear, making it easier to implant false memories in her mind, fabricating a simple but comforting illusion of a happy future, one in which the Sith Empire was defeated, peace was restored to the galaxy and the pair settled down to start a life together.
Normally unthinkable due to both the invasiveness of the procedure and Isla's limited strength in the Force, the Chiss' determination, the trust Bibi placed in her, her weary, near-death state and Isla's unconscious siphoning of energy from her bond with Zhavi all worked together to make the process possible, any potential damage to the Cathar's mind from such a rushed and aggressive intrusion being irrelevant as she slipped away to become one with the Force.
Although Isla had to live with the guilt, she was comforted by the fact that Bibi died believing she had lived a long and happy life.
By the time Bibi passed away from her injury, the other officers had arrived to bear witness to their friend's departure, watching – horrified – as Isla opened her eyes.
Storming out before anyone could say any clichéd lines that she did not want to hear, Isla – her rage worsening as she went – soon came across Namos once again, slumped in the same place she had thrown him, still trying – but unable – to move.
In place of Lord Artofen, Isla decided Namos would suffer instead, unleashing her rage – and lightning – on him, electrocuting the deposed Prime Minister even after his heart gave out. She only stopped when Sam, having followed her, placed a hand on her shoulder, silently telling her that that was enough.
Isla left the embassy to find police officers and troopers waiting for her. Sam stated they should go with them, suspecting LaLenna would ensure no charges would be brought against them and that the police were merely looking for answers regarding the events that had led up to the recent disturbances, a formality they could afford to play along with.
The Chiss was still furious, however, and wanted to kill the lawmen for standing against her even now, after she had saved the city from destruction. She questioned Sam on why she should not just "burn them all" for their lack of gratitude, claiming she should have let the Empire shackle the planet and drag "these savages" up to a modern standard.
Sympathetic, Sam agreed with her about the shortcomings of Voryle; regardless, she told Isla it was her home, and reminded her of all the civilians she had helped by pushing the Rabid Akks out of just two single boroughs. Sam asked her, if they were not reason enough for Isla to stop fighting, then she should go with the officers because Sam herself was asking her to.
Tired and calmed enough by Sam that her rage was compromised by less aggressive emotions, Isla relented, letting her fury subside and leaving her with only her sadness; she broke down, tearfully hugging Sam and expressing her regrets, blaming herself for Bibi's death.
Sam pointed out that Bibi died protecting someone she cared for – and whether or not she had actually helped Isla against Artofen, Bibi had died believing that her contribution had made a difference. Submitting to the authorities, the couple were taken away in police speeders and escorted to their headquarters, where Countess LaLenna and Police Commissioner Sanders were waiting.
The pair were questioned on the events of the past few days, filling in what the police did not know to help clarify the entire situation, ensuring they could fill in a satisfactory report of the incident and release a statement to address public concerns.
Despite being in possession of illegal weapons, breaking and entering and committing brazen murder, Commissioner Sanders was willing to omit their names from the official reports due to the extreme circumstances, but suggested they treat his leniency as a second chance rather than a free pass.
Both women agreed it was best if they kept their heads down until everything had blown over, if only to give the gang and city time to heal and rebuild.
In the meantime, they returned to Sam's home for a few weeks, processing the chaos and losses they had suffered and giving Isla a chance to fully recover after such an exhausting period. Yagogg, Bon-Yi, Rissessk and Tabassa helped coordinate the rebuilding of Yonmouth South, recovering and repairing the train in the process and ensuring the families of the gangsters who had fallen in defence of the city were provided with support – emotional and monetary – to ease the transition.
Two weeks after the attack on the embassy, Isla and Sam were summoned to LaLenna's estate for an unspecified reason. When they arrived, Zhavi was already there – along with her aunt and brother.
Her aunt – Jedi Master and healer Sophia Sofora – explained that she had been delayed due to a pirate attack at the start of the year, an attack which resulted in her being marooned and preventing her from arriving on Voryle – as requested by the SIS – until a few days earlier.
Much to her surprise, Master Sofora found that the Countess had already welcomed the Jedi sent by the Republic almost a year earlier, which she remarked was strange given she had never set foot on Voryle until now. Zhavi pointed out that LaLenna had assumed the SIS sent the pair and that they had never actually claimed to represent anyone themselves.
LaLenna, clearly finding the mix-up amusing in the wake of Isla and Zhavi's victory, said there was no harm done, and that she did not blame either of them for hiding the truth of things, given the state Isla had arrived in.
Master Sofora admitted she was surprised to see Zhavi taking responsibility for a change, though commented that she was less surprised that she was doing so via criminal activity. Regardless, she was pleased to learn she was helping the Republic, commending her on cleansing Voryle of the Empire's taint.
Not one to steal someone else's thunder, Zhavi was quick to point out that Isla had been the driving force behind their successes, and Master Sofora remarked that she was surprised she had not met her during one of her trips to Tython prior to the Zakuulan invasion, alluding to her uncertainty regarding the Chiss.
Zhavi was quick to defend her secret, however, truthfully detailing her past as a Jedi but lying about the cause of her long absence from the Republic, stating she had been marooned in the Outer Rim before joining homegrown rebel groups in Imperial space. Master Sofora dryly commented that Zhavi's mother had mentioned she was dating a Sith Intelligence assassin, who was also a Chiss, but that perhaps that was simply "a different Chiss".
Whatever she knew of Isla's past, Sofora informed the group that Zhavi and Isla had been asked to report in for debriefing on Coruscant, assuring them that she and Carth would handle the recovery period on Voryle in their absence.
Though they agreed, both of the "Jedi" wanted to remain on-world for a few more days before they were pressed into moving on.
During that time, LaLenna pushed for Samantha to take her father's place as interim Prime Minister, with his co-conspirators being arrested and the rest of the council under police investigation – at the Countess' request. Due to her consistent opposition to Namos and his allies and the political vindication she was enjoying in the aftermath of his death, LaLenna's political clout had never been greater.
Strong-arming the remaining councillors, Samantha was chosen to hold the position temporarily due to her relative neutrality in inter-council politics. All the councillors knew her, and all were confident that she had no interest in ruling. Thus, Samantha had no trouble securing the position – in spite of her objections to the nomination.
A few days of legal proceedings to swear her into office was all it took to cement the arrangement, casting doubt on Sam's relationship with Isla now that she was leader of a planetary government and Isla was being sent off-world. Irrespective of her new position, Sam was not going to resign herself to being constantly professional; she invited Isla to her father's – now her's – estate, spending a final day together before the Chiss was shipped to the Republic.
At the end of their final day as a couple, she revealed that her first act as Prime Minister was to grant Isla a Lordship, officially granting her the title of Lord Ahnkett of the Independent Nation of Voryle and the associated political perks.
Usually there would be a ceremony, though Sam had rightly assumed Isla probably would not care much for the formalities and fanfare. Aside from the prestige such a title suggested, the title itself was little more than a class marker, useless outside of Vorylian society.
Normally females received the title of "Lady" as was common on other Basic-speaking worlds, but there was no fixed rule regarding assignment based on gender and so – knowing how much Isla lamented never attaining the rank of Sith Lord during her time in the Empire – Samantha decided to make an exception.
Even if it was not quite what she had always imagined, Isla was touched all the same and thanked Sam for the thoughtful gesture.
Along with Yagogg, Rissessk, Tabassa, Bon-Yi and LaLenna, Sam was present to wave the two Jedi off the following morning, not knowing when or if they would see them again.
Republic Operative
Operation: Crystal Lekku
In short, we're gathering up the active Jedi who either fell out of sync with the Order or left outright. People with all the practical skills of a Jedi, but who know that wars aren't won through meditation or wishful thinking."
"Sounds like y' talkin' 'bout recruitin' fallen Jedi..."
"That's because I am, Miss Waverunner. Jedi are zealots, and I've got no interest in letting religion dictate how we fight this war. Anyone who wants to fight against the Sith is fit to serve the Galactic Republic as far as I'm concerned. Bet that sounds like something you would like, miss "Ahnkett"?
"I think that is an idea I could get behind, certainly.
—Frank Ped, Zhavi and Isla discussing Project Petrichor.
By the time Isla and Zhavi reached the senate building, a new year had rolled in, and though neither of them expected to be starting 28 ATC in an SIS office, that was where they found themselves in the early hours of the morning after touching down on Coruscant.
They were escorted to the office of an aged Human man who introduced himself as Frank Pad, a Bureau Chief who was in the process of setting up a new initiative, for which he needed a team of agents. That team would be comprised entirely of Force users – and not just Jedi, but Dark Jedi and Force users from any and all backgrounds; anyone willing to fight for the Republic against the evils of the Empire, and beyond.
The team itself – under the project name "Petrichor" – would be a versatile group of individuals sent into various situations to extract or eliminate targets both opposing and allied, gather intelligence, retrieve objects of value, sabotage enemy installations and any other task that they might be uniquely well-placed to accomplish – such as Isla and Zhavi's successful campaign on Voryle.
In fact it was that very success that had convinced the Frank's superior to give his scheme – which had been met with a great deal of scepticism due to the Republic's historic reliance on the Jedi – the green light, awarding Frank a token budget and a temporary office in the senate tower.
Frank thanked Isla and Zhavi for their efforts, informing them that it was because of what they had managed on Voryle – with no Republic direction or direct support – that he had finally been able to prove the value of the proper integration of Force wielders into Republic society.
He went on to detail his background, revealing that all three of his children had been Jedi and all three of them had died over the course of the war against Zakuul, abandoned by their leaders when the Order scattered and left – unprepared and unsupported – to fend for themselves.
Because of those losses and the repeated destruction of the Jedi over the course of history, Frank had concluded that an alternative was needed, one that was in line with Republic law and not a power unto itself. In the aftermath of his children's deaths, Frank had been trying to identify and locate lost or failed Jedi whenever he had time to spare, hoping to recruit them before the Jedi Order could reform and rebuild.
His success had been limited by a lack of time and resources to devote to the search, but after recruiting his first volunteer the project had started to pick up traction, with a self-trained Dark Jedi being rescued from the vengeance of the Black Sun gang and a "retired" Jedi Knight being located living on Corulag.
Now, with Isla and Zhavi on board and having been given the go-ahead, they had the makings of a new department.
Before he agreed to take them on, however, he wanted to test them. Zhavi complained that they had already spent a year running a gang on an unfamiliar world, but Frank wanted to see how well they handled being under official direction, answering to a superior rather than themselves.
To that end, he offered them a conditional place on the team, which they accepted. After that, Frank escorted them to his real office, introducing them to their prospective Commander, an individual whom Isla had already worked alongside in the past; Benjamin Lambert.
Accompanying Benjamin was a Sith Pureblood who was introduced – strange as it seemed to Zhavi and Isla – as Jedi Master Avexiss Odé and – stranger still – revealed to be a member of the mysterious Jedi Shadows sub-group, specialised hunters of the artefacts and practitioners of the dark side.
Such a revelation made Isla and Zhavi understandably tense, both women concerned Isla was the target of some sort of underhanded trap. Lambert was quick to notice, assuring them Avexiss was only present as a personal favour to him due to her expertise in unusual Force-related activity and would not be joining the initiative.
Benjamin then explained that their first assignment would be a follow-up mission based on Rissessk's identification of the first mutant beast Isla had encountered, the Kkorrwrot, which could only be found on the Wookiee homeworld of Kashyyyk, which was where he was sending the pair.
Odé had a contact on Kashyyyk – a former Jedi Master named Batauww – who would meet them near his home in the city of Rwookrrorro and – with any luck – help them shed more light on the situation. Isla mentioned Darth Aivela – the Sith who Phond had named before his death – and Benjamin confirmed that both Phond and Artofen were the apprentices of Aivela, Project Petrichor's target.
While they were busy on Kashyyyk, Odé would be headed for the fiery wastelands of Mustafar, the source of the strange raptors and the enormous titan that had laid waste to South Yonmouth.
Given the incredibly volatile state of Mustafar, it was deemed too dangerous for their first assignment, but Frank warned them that that did not mean Kashyyyk would be a walk in the park. Lambert agreed, warning them that – as safe as they would be high up in the Wroshyr trees – venturing outside the city or down to the forest floor would be very dangerous, remarking that even the natives knew better than to underestimate the forest.
Zhavi, of course, took the information in stride, causing Isla to speak up and assure Frank that they would take the assignment as seriously as was warranted. They had nothing to go on, sadly, but the Wookiees knew Kashyyyk incredibly well; Lambert was certain they would be able to lead the two of them to whoever was exporting the native fauna.
Mission to the Shadowlands
Welcome to Kashyyyk!
—Batauww, to Isla and Zhavi.
Limited when it came to funding, Frank was willing to fuel up their ship but could not provide any additional support. Isla and Zhavi were confident nonetheless, departing for their destination within the hour.
When they arrived on Kashyyyk, however, their welcome was less than warm.
Thanks to the enslavement of the Wookiees at the hands of Czerka Corporation three centuries earlier, outsiders were met with suspicion at the best of times, though the presence of landing platforms suggested a degree of tolerance for outsiders.
Thankfully, Batauww approached them shortly after they disembarked and welcomed them to Kashyyyk, quickly explaining that he had asked around already and told the local scouts to keep an eye on anything suspicious in their travels. A hunter ended up being the one to discover something amiss, reporting strange behaviour from the wildlife and unusual noises down in the Shadowlands.
Normally, the Wookiees did not let just anyone descend to the forest floor, but Batauww had helped the chieftain's nephew when he was lost down in that very area several years ago.
Thus, reluctantly, the chieftain had agreed that – if Batauww vouched for the outsiders – he would allow them to take the lift, under the condition that Batauww be their escort to ensure they respected the forest. Zhavi and Isla were happy to accept the extra help, especially since neither of them were particularly at home in the wild.
It did not take the trio long to reach the lift, giving them plenty of time to discuss the precise details of what had brought them there. Zhavi showed Batauww images taken on Voryle and he expressed concern over the crystal growths, something he had not seen in Sithspawn before.
They also learned that Batauww had willingly been cut off from the Force prior to leaving the Jedi Order, though he was ominously evasive about the experience that had led him to that decision. He maintained that it was the right decision, however, and he had no regrets about leaving that life behind.
By the time they reached the Shadowlands, Isla had "befriended" one of the local critters – a Tach – who seemed intent on winning her affection and chose to ride on Zhavi's shoulder – who was much more receptive to the creature's interest – once they left the lift.
Strangely, they did not encounter any hostile creatures for over an hour, the first indication of trouble being a noise none of them had expected; blaster fire.
Chasing the sound, they charged headlong into the survivors of a Trandoshan hunting party fending off a group of Wyyyschokk, who appeared to have ambushed them from above. The four survivors were finishing off the last of the spiders when they spotted the trio, who were forced to take a defensive stance to protect Batauww, no longer in possession of the Force or a lightsaber.
Fortunately, he was a decent shot with a Bowcaster and took two of them out, reducing the incoming fire and allowing Isla and Zhavi to rush the remaining two. As they moved, a Katarn rushed out of the undergrowth to try and steal a kill in all the commotion.
Working together in a moment of perfect synchronicity, Zhavi swung Isla – the Katarn's target – by the hand, allowing her to both rise above the attacking creature and kick the blaster cannon of her nearest opponent, causing him to fire down into the dirt.
At the same time – with her weapon hand – Zhavi severed the barrel of the other Trandoshan's rifle, forcing him to draw his knife with his free hand, though she was quick enough to sever his arm and cut him down before he could land a blow. Isla, likewise, dispatched her foe without much difficulty, the unwieldy cannon proving too sluggish to reposition before she could land and strike.
With the Trandoshans defeated, the Katarn – circling back around to rush Isla again – was the only foe remaining. As both woman came together and raised their sabres in anticipation, they were beaten to the kill by an exceptional shot from Batauww, who had taken up a new position and managed to hit the creature in the side of the head just as it pounced, knocking it off-course and – more importantly – killing it instantly.
After searching the hunters' possessions and ascertaining that they were poachers who had managed to sneak their way onto the planet, the trio continued through the Shadowlands, eventually encountering a wounded Wookiee scout who told them that poachers had a compound a few miles ahead, beyond the area the Wookiees usually patrolled.
Unfortunately, the scout could not get close enough to determine what those activities were, but the trio were confident they could put a stop to what was almost certainly the poachers' base of operations.
When they finally arrived at the compound, they discovered that the poaching operation was considerably better funded than they would have guessed.
A gargantuan lift had been built, not dissimilar to the ones used by the Wookiees, though much larger and suspended by massive chains to support the unfathomable weight of the cargo – durasteel transport containers that littered the area – it was built to lift up to the treetops.
The ground underfoot had been dug out to accommodate a huge holding pen and the Trandoshans patrolled the area with an almost military discipline, so Batauww took up a position in the bushes while Zhavi and Isla calmly entered the compound, intending to negotiate if possible.
To nobody's surprise, the aliens opened fire immediately, trying to overwhelm them with blaster fire.
Thanks to their connection, the pair's effectiveness was bolstered considerably, allowing them to survive a direct onslaught that would have killed them under normal circumstances. Unfortunately, they were facing difficulty when it came to returning fire, more or less immobilised by the volume of the incoming attacks.
That quickly changed when the Trandoshans began falling, picked off one by one by Batauww, hiding somewhere out of sight beyond the treeline. They did not waste time pushing forwards as the blaster fire began to decrease, gradually defeating the bulk of the forces until the numbers were getting close to being even.
Some tried to run, and those met an even grislier end.
Stepping out from an overgrown hut, a dark-skinned Trandoshan used the Force to choke one of the runaways, punching another using his cybernetic arm with such force that he was thrown backwards through the air. The third and fourth were felled when the Trandoshan activated and threw a blue-bladed lightsaber to cut them apart.
The Trandoshan approached, threatening them for interrupting his operation and claiming that Darth Aivela had trained him and gifted him a lightsaber so that he could dominate his peers. He was providing her with worthy beasts in return for more powers in the future.
His actual strength in the Force was limited, though, and while Isla and Batauww worked on releasing the creatures from their cages Zhavi engaged the Trandoshan, trying to goad him into revealing more information – learning only that he was obsessed with earning enough Jagannath points to become the mate of the Scorekeeper – before she exploited an opening and decapitated him.
Once they had freed the creatures they took the lift up out of the poacher encampment, expecting more hostile Trandoshans to be waiting for them with their blasters ready.
In reality, what awaited them was the burning wreckage of a makeshift spaceport, a funeral pyre of dead Trandoshans and a squad of soldiers from the Chiss Expansionary Defense Force, led by Isla's brother – Mitth'endar'inrokini, known outside Chiss space by his core name Hendar.
Isla's last interaction with her brother had been while she was on Dromund Kaas, when he had contacted her and attempted to arrange a meeting. She had declined, and ignored further requests until the messages had stopped. Isla remarked that his presence on Kashyyyk at such a timely moment seemed too unlikely to be mere chance.
Anticipating her confusion, Hendar explained that he had been searching for a Dark Jedi Trandoshan by the name of Tsosska, tracking his underlings to Kashyyyk. He had identified the landing site and had – alongside his fellows – descended to attack it, landing and disembarking to execute the survivors of the aerial assault.
They had been searching the area when the lift activated, yet despite expectations a Chiss, a Human and a Wookiee ascended, not Trandoshans, a mystery he confessed he had little explanation for – nor could he explain how they had both ended up arriving on the same planet at the same location and at the same time.
Batauww spoke up only to be cut off by Hendar, who apologised and explained he did not speak Shyriiwook, though Isla was able to translate thanks to her implant and explained their purpose there, including the fact that she was no longer working for the Empire.
Hendar assured her the Chiss did not care about the Sith Empire's politics, but did ask for a favour in return for him not mentioning her presence; permission to scan the head of Tsosska to confirm his death to his superiors, which Zhavi had brought with her to impress the chieftain of Rwookrrorro, in case they ever needed to visit Kashyyyk again.
Hendar concluded their conversation with the same topic he had wanted to discuss with her years prior – he told her that their mother wished to meet, claiming it was important and that she would greatly appreciate her time. Hendar also handed her his comm details, asking that – at the very least – she remain in touch.
Bidding them farewell, the Chiss departed, and Zhavi complained that her brother would have had the common decency to offer them a ride back to Rwookrrorro, amusing Batauww.
Travelling through the treetops to save time, the group returned to Rwookrrorro several hours later, reporting the destruction of the poaching operation and the Trandoshans who had been responsible for it. The chieftain thanked them for protecting Kashyyyk from their "hated enemy" and wished them well on their travels.
Batauww warned them to keep an eye on their new companion, explaining that tach were often troublemakers around people, and although Isla threw the tach off the ship when she found it had followed them aboard, when they were finally in orbit above Kashyyyk she discovered he had somehow snuck on board once again.
Not wanting to go through the effort of landing just to return the primate, Zhavi convinced Isla to accept their new friend's presence and named him Vrym, after one of the many noises he produced.
Investigation in Curamelle
This is Kassie Kaadara. Cocky son of a Hutt, doesn't pay her debts, drinks like a Selkath... but she's got a mean right hook, a bar that sells decent whisky and I'd trust her with my life. Say hello to your new buddies, Kas.
—Frank, introducing Kassie Kaadara to the other members of Project Petrichor.
Upon their return from Kashyyyk, Zhavi and Isla were debriefed and congratulated on their success.
Isla noticed some tension between Commander Lambert and a woman that had not been at the previous meeting, another member of the team who spoke in broken Basic, introduced simply as Aaellu. Whatever the issue was it was not voiced, and after Lambert informed the group that he and Aaellu would be investigating an archaeological site on Yavin IV, Isla and Zhavi were introduced to their next mission.
A Human woman entered the office who was introduced by Frank as Kassie Kaadara, a former Jedi Knight who had settled down on Corulag – in the capital city of Curamelle – where she owned a reasonably successful bar.
Kaadara greeted the group with enthusiasm, saying she expected they were all going to have fun working together before explaining that a deserter from Sith Intelligence was in hiding on Corulag. The defector had – before leaving his post – sliced Imperial systems to download a list containing the names of over two dozen undercover agents operating in Republic space, hoping to use it to buy himself asylum.
Given the value of the data and the SIS's belief that there were already several Imperial agents on Corulag hunting down the rogue agent, Kassie had requested additional support from Frank to allow them to match the suspected Imperial presence. Their job was simple; find the defector and acquire his data before the Empire caught up with him, with a secondary objective of keeping him alive so he could be placed into protective custody.
Once the trio arrived on Corulag, Zhavi and Kassie were happy to spend what was left of the evening settling in, unlike Isla – who wanted to jump straight into her work. To that end, she began asking around at a number of well-frequented locations, trying to gleam any hint as to when or where the deserter last surfaced.
It was while questioning patrons at a local club that Isla attracted the attention of Damascus Lambert, a towering Chistori Force user who approached her outside, claiming he was looking for the same individual as the Chiss.
Isla was cautious at first, sensing the dark side and believing Damascus to be a Sith, though he soon revealed that he was Commander Lambert's "brother".
Damascus claimed he had been asked to look into the missing agent too, and when Isla asked why his name had not been mentioned at the SIS briefing he admitted to being wary of the Republic and their spies, trusting Benjamin but not his new allies, knowing that the Jedi were zealous in their pursuit of those who did not conform to their beliefs.
Hearing her own feelings echoed in his words, Isla lowered her guard and allowed Damascus to sense her own connection to the dark side, keen to earn his trust given their shared situation.
She reassured him that the man in charge seemed to be a pragmatic, realistic individual more concerned with actions than ideology, although Damascus remained sceptical, which Isla admitted was probably wise, for the time being. Nonetheless, Damascus did not hide his relief at meeting Isla and all but demanded that they work together, which she was happy to agree to.
No longer in possession of his lightsaber, Isla surrendered the lightsaber taken from Tsosska on Kashyyyk to Damascus to ensure he was not left defenceless if their search turned violent. Isla then took Damascus with her when she reported to Kassie's bar, the group ending the night together with a few drinks before turning in.
The following morning the group split into pairs to cover more ground and Isla was quick to claim Damascus as her partner for the day. Together, they followed up on local chatter, eventually crossing paths with an agent of Sith Intelligence, who Isla managed to throw in front of a passing speeder – but not before stealing his datapad, learning that he had found a lead.
Heading to Crullov City to investigate, Isla and Damascus soon located their target while he was in the process of selling his data to a local criminal group. Using Damascus' smoke grenades, Isla blinded and ambushed the participants of the meeting, rushing in to snatch the data from the deserter and sparking a fire-fight.
Isla was in and out in a matter of seconds, fleeing the smoke and making a break for it by the time the shooting started.
Unluckily, however, she was not the only one looking to steal the data; as she fled the scene, explosive charges detonated in an abandoned alley shopfront, throwing Isla off her feet, disorienting her and sending the briefcase containing the data skittering along the street, where it was easily taken by a Togruta woman.
Isla pursued her, but as she ran for her ship the woman surprised the Chiss by using the Force to throw debris in her path to stall her, ensuring she could escape with the data, foiling the Republic's efforts and infuriating Damascus and Isla.
Sadly, unable to identify or track the woman, there was little they could do. Isla and Damascus reported back to Kassie's bar, informing their peers about the incident. Kassie convinced Zhavi to remain on Corulag until they recieved new orders, while Isla convinced Damascus to join her when she reported back to Coruscant.
Felucian Errand
No reason to suspect Aivela's got a hand in this either, but even the SIS has its political elements. It'll help our little project if we start making friends – friends we may need later – now.
—Frank, regarding the ambush on Felucia.
After a disappointing debriefing directed solely at Isla, Frank moved on to greeting Damascus, saying he had hoped to have him join their team sooner rather later. He told them that their next assignment would probably be more to the Chistori's liking.
An Imperial force had stopped on the jungle world of Felucia after an engagement with Republic vessels. The Imperials had won the day, but not without cost, and were hunkering down on the fungal world while the major damage was repaired.
Republic forces could not be reassigned to eliminate the Imperials before their repairs would come to an end, prompting Frank's friends in the military to informally request the aid of his new team.
All they needed to do was travel to Felucia and attack the Empire's forces there, personnel and equipment both, to delay them as long as possible. To aid them, Benjamin had recruited an old friend and student of his, Khruukunu, a Jungle Felucian who – while hailing from a group who were forcibly relocated to another world decades earlier – was familiar with the native species and could more easily navigate the dense jungle terrain.
Even with Khruukunu assisting them, the situation was not as simple as the pair had hoped when they arrived on Felucia; they received an unwelcome reception from the natives immediately after disembarking.
The group were swarmed and during the attack Isla – who was more at home duelling with a single opponent or lunging from the shadows to ambush a target – was injured by the native's projectile attacks, only for her new ally Damascus to step in and protect her.
Much to her irritation, Isla had – before their arrival on the planet – reluctantly agreed to a bet proposed by Damascus to determine who was the better fighter, with the winner being the one who defeated the highest number of opponents.
On a more positive front, Khruukunu was able to heal the worst of Isla's injury after the confrontation and volunteered to scout ahead to seek out a path to the Imperial encampment that would avoid the more densely populated areas of Felucian territory. Their chosen route was not entirely without danger, however, and Isla and Damascus were caught out by two patrolling Felucians mounted upon ferocious rancors.
Forced to engage, the pair split off from one another, taking a rancor and its rider each.
With their training and agility giving them a sizeable advantage over the lumbering beasts, the Dark Jedi duo soon dispatched all four of their foes after a short but intense confrontation, Isla utilising the moist atmosphere to enhance her lightning attack while Damascus managed to plunge his lightsaber into the monster's skull.
Not long after, the pair caught up with Khruukunu on the edge of the Imperial camp near an enormous Sarlacc and proceeded to launch their assault, steadily battling their way through the Imperials on the surface.
Their toughest obstacle – an Imperial walker – was the final, last-ditch attempt by the Empire to repel them, but by working together the trio were able to bring the armoured vehicle down – the soldier who emerged was little threat without his toy.
To damage the ships in orbit and surpass their remit, the trio packed any and all explosive material they could recover from the encampment into two troop transports, piloted by Khruukunu and Damascus.
Isla flew alongside Khruukunu in a third vessel, landing in the hangar of one of the fleet's Gage-class transports and setting the timer on the explosives before escaping aboard Isla's ship together. They repeated the process with the ship Damascus was piloting, damaging a second vessel and leaving the system before fighters could be deployed to stop them.
Though the vessels survived the blasts they were damaged significantly enough that they were unable to escape Felucia's orbit in time before Republic reinforcements arrived, forcing the Empire to abandon both, along with significant numbers of Imperial crewmen.
On their return, their victory was soured when news reached them that Lord Dratine Rhonjenvyn – a Sith sorceress working with Darth Aivela – had murdered the pilot who had taken Benjamin and Aaellu to Hoth, an old friend of the commander's named Cerys Odé.
Cerys was also a good friend of Damascus, and her death left him understandably shaken and upset and exposed a side of the brutish alien that Isla had not anticipated.
With no further assignments pending, Frank gave the team some time off to process Cerys' death, acknowleding that while he did not know her well her upbeat outlook and kind-heartedness had been evident the moment he met her.
Isla spent their time off duty comforting Damascus, providing a supportive shoulder as best she could until the funeral arrangements had been made. She accompanied the hulking alien to the ceremony on Ryloth, where Cerys' loved ones bid her a final, tearful farewell.
Romantic Distraction
You lose little Chiss. Ha!
—Damascus, to Isla, after winning their bet.
After the funeral, Isla requested some straightforward hit-and-run work from Frank to help keep Damascus busy and his mind on something other than Cerys' passing. Frank managed to pull intelligence from other departments for them to follow up on, simple assignments which consisted of eliminating hidden Imperial safe houses in Republic space that the SIS had yet to deal with.
Damascus, having already expressed his interest in Isla, suggested another bet with more tangible stakes than the last (which Isla had won), those stakes being a date with the hulking alien if Isla did not win. Pitying him, Isla reluctantly agreed.
By the time of their last assignment – an attack on a hidden Sith assassin training facility – the pair were neck and neck, the attack being the last chance for the pair to rack up the kill count needed to win their bet.
To Isla's annoyance, Damascus put his all into winning and pipped her to the post as she defended against the last surviving attacker's strike, killing him while he was distracted by the Chiss and making her defeat all the more galling. Damascus was not humble in victory, unsurprisingly, and was quick to begin gloating about stealing a win out from under her nose.
They returned to Corulag, with Damascus booking them at a table at a restaurant less than a week later. Isla arrived at the restaurant with low expectations despite Damascus' assurance that the date would end with the consummation of their "relationship", though admitted, once seated, that she was surprised at Damascus' good taste, the restaurant not being an inexpensive choice of venue.
Although Damascus was brutish and crude more often than not, apparently lacking any kind of tact, he behaved admirably during their date, whipping out all the charm and gentlemanly etiquette of an Alderaanian nobleman.
The pair chatted over the course of their meal, sharing stories of how they left the Empire, both "choosing" to leave because of their loyalty to someone they cared for, and how neither of them really had any plans for the future, both strangers to the Republic and unsure about how they could ever truly fit in.
As the evening came to an end, Damascus insisted on walking Isla back to Kassie's bar where she was staying. En route, however, Isla was finally wooed by the aliens' charm – much to her own surprise – and kissed him, leading to a more heated interaction in one of Curamelle's side-streets. They were moved along by local police as they cleared out the drunks roaming the streets, forcing them to continue their journey back to the bar.
By the time they reached the park between the restaurant and Kassie's bar, it was late and the streets were abandoned. Riled up by their brief moment in the street, Isla paused, and when Damascus asked what was wrong (concerned she sensed something) Isla told him that she would rather go home with him than back to the spare room at Kassie's place, jokingly claiming it would be wrong of her to let him walk back to his hotel all the way from Kassie's bar on his own.
Gradually – after a passionate pit stop midway through the park – the pair made their way to the hotel where Damascus was staying, spending a long night together, falling asleep a little before dawn and waking up in the late afternoon, at which point Damascus gleefully reminded Isla that he had told her how the date would end.
She playfully assured Damascus that she had only stayed overnight out of pity, and the pair decided to get dressed and head to Kassie's bar.
A few days after their successful date, Damascus and Isla received an invitation to join Benjamin, his children and Aaellu (with whom Damascus had mentioned the commander was having an affair) on a short beach holiday for the last week of their time off.
As did Zhavi and Kassie, although unlike Isla and Damascus, the two Human women turned the offer down in favour of remaining on Corulag.
After a week sunbathing on an uninhabited world and feeling a little better after their loss, the group were ready to get back to work on whatever new initiative Frank had found for them.
Desert Iron
Put away your swords, dar'jetii. We're not blind.
—Ramira Al-Zaidi, on meeting Damascus and Isla.
Tatooine was to be their next destination, a near-lifeless desert world in the Outer Rim that – usually – held little of interest beyond petty criminal operations and moisture farms.
An old friend of Frank's had requested his aid with a personal problem on the world, however, and a small detail about the situation he needed help with had transformed the request from a simple personal favour to something much more substantial.
Frank's friend, a Colonel in the Republic military named Vanrick Taetriss, had a son named Erin Taetriss. Like his father, Erin had joined the Republic military, but unlike his father he found himself unable to stomach taking orders for very long and, it seemed, was not cut out for life as a soldier.
Repeatedly mouthing off and disobeying orders, Erin had wound up being court martialed and dishonourably discharged and since leaving the military had thrown his lot in with a group of Mandalorians, much to his father's dismay.
The Mandalorians in question were what remained of the all-but-destroyed Clan Gharva, and they had not answered the call of Mandalore the Avenger, continuing instead to live simple lives, seeking out challenging contracts and taking on new converts, such as Erin.
One of the Mandalorians was – oddly – a Chiss woman named Ramira Al-Zaidi, a Mandalorian since birth. Most importantly, Al-Zaidi was engaged to a Sith, Tharah Odé, and Tharah herself was a follower of Darth Madré – one of her most trusted apprentices in fact – so much so that Madré had adopted her and allowed the former slave to carry her family name as her own.
Frank believed – hoped – that they could use Al-Zaidi to get to Tharah, and through Tharah learn more about what Darth Aivela was up to.
When Isla and Damascus arrived at Anchorhead, they met with Rowan Delk, a local who knew the planet well and had helped the Jedi in the past, proudly claiming that he had assisted the famed Barsen'thor.
Delk had asked around before their arrival, learning that the Mandalorians had been spotted on a moisture farm belonging to the brother of one of his friends. Accompanying them, Delk led the pair out to the edge of the Dune Sea, where they met the owner of the farm.
The farmer explained that the Mandalorians had come to the planet looking for a fabled sand demon – an elusive and lethal predator that was said to be able to "glide" beneath the sand – but needed credits in the meantime, which he had offered in exchange for assistance, being more familiar with work that needed doing than the location of a creature he had no desire to ever encounter.
His problem was far more grounded in the mundane day-to-day of Tatooine life; Exchange thugs had set up in a cave a few miles away. They had been watching the moisture farm, yet so far had not done anything against any of the local settlements.
Even so, the farmer was understandably worried and wanted to make sure they never had the chance. Hiring the Mandalorians to take them out, the farmer had started worrying when the armoured warriors had not returned, fearing that they had failed and would prod the Exchange forces into finally making a move.
Grateful for the lead, Isla promised that she and Damascus would kill any Exchange thugs they encountered in their search for the Mandalorians, taking the weight from the farmer's mind. They parted ways with Delk – who directed them, but was unwilling to join them on account of an oncoming sandstorm – and headed out.
By the time they arrived at the cave the Exchange had been using as a base, the location was littered with corpses, not only Exchange members but Sand People, the primitive locals who attacked on sight.
They dispatched the locals easily enough and checked the cave, though the trail of bodies leading away from the cave made it clear the Mandalorians had fought their way out, so they were not surprised when they found the cave to be devoid of living beings.
The duo followed the bodies – one being Mandalorian – until they inevitably ran out, carrying on their search by following what faint tracks remained in the sand. Eventually, they heard the distant sound of blaster fire and rushed to find the source, locating a cave – half-buried in the sand – that was under siege.
A group of Sand People were firing into the cave – with some blaster fire being returned – yet they had significant numbers with which to press the trapped Mandalorians, no matter the casualties they suffered in the process.
Fortunately for Isla and Damascus, with the sandstorm masking their approach and the Sand People so focused on their quarry they noticed the two Dark Jedi too late to prepare a decent defence. The pair mercilessly cut through the Sand People, their skill, powers and training proving an impossible challenge for the locals, especially at close range.
Although the immediate threat was over, the duo were wary of entering the cave, keeping their lightsabers active and raised, ready to defend against the warriors in the event they mistook them for a threat.
They need not have worried, as it turned out.
Inside the cave, the three surviving Mandalorian warriors – Ramira Al-Zaidi, Erin Taetriss and a woman named Xelda Gharva – were calmly awaiting their arrival. Al-Zaidi told the pair to lower their weapons, referring to them as dar'jetii, which Isla knew enough Mando'a – from her infrequent interactions with the Mandalorians on Dromund Kaas – to recognise as the word for Sith, prompting her to question her word choice.
Al-Zaidi pointed out that real Jedi did not fight so ruthlessly or kill so many without a moment's hesitation – nor, she joked, had she ever seen a Jedi wearing black.
Regardless, she thanked them for the assistance, asking what it would cost them. Isla cut straight to the point and told her that they knew of her relationship with the Sith Tharah Odé and wanted her help gathering information on Darth Aivela, assuring her they would not compromise or harm Tharah herself.
Al-Zaidi was loyal, however, and told them as much, declining their offer.
She also told them that if anyone owed them for the assistance, it was Erin – she had quickly surmised that Erin had contacted his father to ask for help, otherwise they could not have found them, at which point Erin confessed as much, revealing that unlike most Mandalorians Clan Gharva did not use beskar, hence their difficulties with the Sand People.
Isla considered pressing the issue by force, but decided against it, suspecting that Al-Zaidi probably had a strong will – and would not take kindly to having her mind violated.
Instead, the group parted ways amicably, just without the assistance of Al-Zaidi. Isla, initially frustrated, soon considered the possibility that Tharah – being a Sith – might not be as loyal as her fiancée, and decided not to write off the Al-Zaidi angle right away.
Re-appropriated Blackmail
It is hard not to appreciate the beauty of irony at a moment like this.
—Isla, after discovering Artofen's blackmail file.
Contacting Frank once they were back in Anchorhead, Isla and Damascus learned that Tharah Odé had been living out of a rented room on Nar Shaddaa while she was working on an unknown assignment in Hutt Space. Like most Imperials and Sith visiting the world, SIS agents kept tabs on their comings and goings and were able to furnish the couple with an address to investigate once they arrived.
While Damascus created a distraction, hitting an Imperial warehouse to prompt them to call for assistance from allied forces available in the immediate area, Isla broke into Tharah's room and used a security spike to slice her personal datapad. At first, she found nothing, quickly losing hope of finding anything incriminating that would convince Ramira Al-Zaidi to turn against her lover.
Until, in a message Tharah had received earlier in the year, she found a link that connected her with a secure data storage server containing a video file. The video clearly showed Tharah engaged in sexual activity with Lord Artofen, with a timestamp confirming that it was recent, though it was clear from the footage that the Twi'lek had been an unwilling participant.
Accompanying the link was a message from Lord Artofen herself, who made no effort to hide the fact that she was using the footage as leverage to ensure Tharah's loyalty to Darth Madré did not influence her loyalty to Artofen herself.
Isla was pleased; the video was far more than she had hoped for. It went beyond simply sowing doubt in Al-Zaidi's mind and provided concrete evidence of Tharah's affair, albeit one she was pressed into.
The Chiss, wanting to guarantee the intelligence worked as they needed it to, downloaded a copy of the video to her own datapad before deleting the original message and the link therein, ensuring only Isla had the footage – which she then edited to cut out the footage suggesting Tharah was being strong-armed into the act.
With the data in hand, all that remained was to return to Tatooine, seek out the Mandalorians and show Ramira the footage. When they did, Isla's fellow Chiss launched her glass across the room and stormed out without a word, leaving the pair alone with Erin and Xelda, who explained that she had a temper, but if she was left alone a little while she would be fine.
Correctly anticipating her actions, Ramira returned a few hours later having vented her frustration on the local reek population. Begrudgingly, she thanked Isla for finding out what her wife-to-be had been up to behind her back, making it clear she understood she owed them.
Then, still furious, she asked what Isla's plan was, prompting the Dark Jedi duo to explain that all they needed from her was an eye in the enemy camp. If Ramira could play along as if she knew nothing about Tharah's affair, she could pass along information on what Darth Aivela was up to and inform them if she was planning anything noteworthy.
Ramira agreed with their request, confident she could continue to act as though she was in a loving relationship, though warned them that she would not wait forever to get Tharah back for cheating on her. Isla promised she would get her chance sooner rather than later.
Before they left, Xelda surprised the pair by presenting Isla with a gift; a lone Mandalorian vambrace, made of simple durasteel and lacking the usual plethora of gadgets that made the Mandalorians so deadly, featuring only a single retractable blade. Xelda told her the best way to kill a Sith was by attacking in ways they could not anticipate, after which she wished her good hunting.
Isla asked the group why they did not use beskar, learning that a Dark Jedi had wiped out their clan years prior in an act of revenge and the Republic confiscated the beskar of the fallen. They believed that the massacre was a positive, however, claiming their clan had become unworthy and needed to be remade.
Rather than acquiring beskar elsewhere, Clan Gharva were intent on finding their ancestral home, a colony in the far Outer Rim where their ancestors armour, tools and materials had been left, vowing never to use the legendary Mandalorian iron until they had proven their clan deserved to wear it again.
As the pair left Isla noticed that she felt a small twinge of guilt about the whole exchange and wondered if she should have left the footage unedited, as Mandalorians respected strength, something which Tharah had been proven to lack and that Ramira would surely have noticed.
Discomforted by the hint of morality creeping into her thoughts, Isla was pleased with the outcome all the same, believing that Ramira would be a useful asset in tightening the net around Darth Aivela's operations.
The Fall of Darth Aivela
With Master Oteg's fleet keeping the enemy's naval forces occupied, the rest of you will be joining our ground forces in assaulting the castle's front gate. While all eyes are on the battle, Commander Lambert will make his way through the surrounding forest to infiltrate the lower levels and make his way up to Darth Aivela herself."
"If she thinks the battle is turning against her she'll try to make a run for it. Knowing my darling wife, she's almost certainly left herself an escape route."
"You make it sound like she's expecting us?
"Mm, an old castle well outside Imperial space where she's a much easier target for Republic forces? She wants us here. We found her stronghold because she allowed it.
—Frank, Benjamin and Isla, discussing the attack on Darth Aivela's castle.
After a successful assignment in which Benjamin and Aaellu had recovered of the last missing piece in the collection of artefacts Isla had helped the commander begin on Dronim Major, the Chiss received an update from her unlikely Mandalorian ally, surprising her slightly, especially given that it had only been a matter of weeks since she had agreed to help.
Regardless, Ramira provided a name and location for where Darth Aivela was supposedly sending her forces, an uninteresting neutral world that nobody had claimed due to both its remoteness and lack of valuable resources. It was uninhabited, although once upon a time a low-tech civilisation had existed, leaving a sizeable – but mostly ruined – castle behind them.
The location struck Isla as strange. It was isolated, yet it was also exposed, outside the protection of Imperial space. Irrespective of that, Frank had agents near the area confirm there was an Imperial presence on the planet, protected by a Harrower-class dreadnought no less, hinting that whatever was happening on the surface was important.
Once the information was passed on to Frank, it was not long before Benjamin called everyone back to Coruscant to discuss a plan for dealing with Darth Aivela and retrieving the artefacts she had gathered before she could use their power for further dark deeds.
Frank, pulling in every favour he could scramble together, managed to secure the assistance of Fleet Admiral Oteg, the Jedi Master who had helped secure the release of the fabled Republic hero known as Revan from a hidden prison.
In addition, a battalion of troops from the 372nd Legion had been redirected temporarily to support a ground attack on Aivela's castle thanks to Colonel Taetriss. Isla and her peers would join that group, creating a suitably large distraction for the Dark Lord's forces to focus on while Benjamin infiltrated the castle via an underground entrance, which they were aware of thanks to old archaeological surveys performed on the planet before the Sith returned to the galaxy.
Benjamin believed Aivela would have an escape plan in the event the battle turned against her, and though he believed she would be expecting him to sneak up on her, he knew she would also believe she had stacked the deck against him sufficiently enough that she was safe.
Hearing his theory prompted Aaellu to insist she accompany him, a proposal Isla was going to make herself rather than join the others on a battlefield, a place she was ill-suited to.
She remained silent however, waiting until the group were en route to Aivela's stronghold to confide in Damascus that she intended to use her talent for stealth to bypass the enemy lines and rendezvous with Benjamin and Aaellu once they infiltrated the castle, a plan which Damascus was in favour of.
Initially, everything went as planned once they launched their attack; Oteg's ships engaged the Harrower overhead while the Petrichor team and the Republic battalion deployed on the ground. Master Avexiss Odé joined them, and amongst the troops were Yuri and Nomi Waverunner, Zhavi's parents.
Working together, the two groups gradually pushed back the Imperial defensive line, crossing the bridge to the castle and getting through the main gate.
When the opportunity presented itself, Isla disappeared from sight, cloaking herself with the Force so she could use the chaos to sneak past the Sith and Imperials and reach the throne room at the top of the castle, just behind Benjamin and Aaellu.
Darth Aivela was guarded by Lord Sera Artofen, convincing Isla she had made the right call – she would finally get the chance to avenge Bibi's murder. Not that it would be that simple, of course, namely due to the ominous figure looming over both Artofen and her master.
One of Aivela's Sithspawn creations, a colossal, mutated winged beast from the barren world of Lok, stood ready to kill for its master.
Aaellu had the most to fear; as Benjamin's new lover, his estranged wife commanded the beast to single her out. Isla was pleased, however, as when she leapt out of hiding to intercept Sera and leave Aivela to Benjamin, she was able to focus solely on her revenge rather than Aivela's seemingly unstoppable dragon.
Sera was far more powerful than she had been before and was more than a match for the frail assassin, but thanks to Isla's stealth abilities and competence with her chosen form she was able to avoid most of Sera's Force attacks and drag the confrontation out.
It was only when Benjamin and Aivela – the pair's own duel having led them out of the window – returned to the throne room that Sera took a blow – only it was not Isla who dealt it.
Darth Aivela, slowly losing her duel against her husband, chose to stab Sera in the back, death being the only way to force the artefact she had absorbed on Yavin IV out of her possession. Aivela claimed the orb and absorbed it into her own body, using the power boost it provided to wrench the small hypergate portal from where it was situated in the throne room and throw it out of the ruined throne room, down to the valley outside.
Aivela leapt after the portal to disappear through it before it struck the ground and shattered, allowing her to flee the battle and preventing anyone from following after her. Benjamin was quick to work out what she was doing, however, and dived after her just seconds later.
Isla acted on impulse, taking a gamble to do the same, taking a literal leap of faith from the top of the castle down towards the falling gateway that may or may not continue to function by the time she reached it.
Descending into the darkness of the chasm, Isla veiled herself in the Force once again, closed her eyes and hoped that – when she opened them again – she would still be the same plane of existence.
Divinity
A master of stealth, Isla was able to assassinate Darth Aivela.
I saw... I saw everything. Just for a moment.
—Isla, describing the experience of holding all of the Four Bound Spirits.
The hypergate led the three combatants to Darth Aivela's office aboard her company flagship, a salvaged Gage-class transport retrofitted to serve as a long-term exploration vessel. That vessel – the Outreaching Hope – was the heart of Aivela's operations, orbiting above her company headquarters down on the surface of the Outer Rim world of Lok.
Arriving just moments after Benjamin, Isla was alarmed to see the Darth had turned the situation around and immediately gained the upper hand, catching the commander by surprise by virtue of knowing where the portal let out.
Disarmed and beaten down, Benjamin's chances looked bleak.
As he crawled along the floor, Isla – hiding behind a large piece of decorative Gree architecture – unveiled her hand, extending it to Benjamin so that only he could see.
Taking the chance, Benjamin voluntarily relinquished possession of the two artefacts he carried, discreetly handing them over to the Chiss to prevent Aivela from taking them.
As Aivela closed in to kill her husband – believing she was victorious – Isla absorbed the orbs and circled around to ambush Aivela, stabbing her through the chest to mortally wound her. As Aivela died in Benjamin's arms, she apologised, warning him about something, though she died before she could tell him what that something was.
Distracted by his grief, Isla saw the opportunity to take the artefacts before Benjamin could, claiming all four and successfully harnessing their power, albeit temporarily.
Holding all four of the artefacts at once required a strength in the Force Isla simply did not possess, however, and even as her mind was overwhelmed by her now augmented senses and the fleeting glimpses of visions of the past, present and future she saw, Isla felt her body struggling to retain its form against the immeasurable power within.
The cybernetics installed to replace the limbs she had lost to Lord Jhang's lightsaber were infused with Force energy and Isla felt her connection to the Force strengthen as her metal appendages ceased to be simple machines.
Such incredible power at her fingertips also gave Isla access to abilities far beyond her own capabilities, and all she had to do was think about where she wanted to go to vanish into thin air, moving from the Outer Rim back to the industrial world of Voryle in a heartbeat.
Isla knew she had only minutes before the astonishing power of the orbs would disintegrate her body.
So, using what little time she had available, the Chiss transported herself to the cemetery where Bibi Jotto was buried, ripped her coffin out of the ground and broke it open. Then, using the divine power granted to her by the orbs, Isla revitalised Bibi's remains and tore her essence from the Netherworld of the Force, inadvertently creating a wound in the Force in the cemetery.
Relocating to the park before Bibi came around, Isla relinquished the orbs, setting them down on the grass beside her. After that, she simply waited, knowing that – with the orbs augmenting her bond with Zhavi – her allies would know where to look for her and arrive to confront her soon enough.
When they did, Isla reclaimed the orbs to use their power one last time.
Zhavi, having briefly been a death stick addict, had suffered genetic damage that had left her infertile and shortened her lifespan. With a single touch to her abdomen, Isla was able to repair that damage in an instant, an act of kindness that would – though she did not know it at the time – significantly affect her own future.
With her personal use of the orbs out of the way, she handed control of the Four Bound Spirits to Benjamin, who had the raw Force potential and appropriate control training to safely harness the energy that threatened to undo Isla from the inside out.
Though he warned he could not hold onto the orbs indefinitely, they were safe for the time being, and the group could breathe a collective sigh of relief – Aivela was defeated, the orbs were safe from the Sith and Isla's "betrayal" had turned out to be nothing of the sort.
Between Operations
Return to Voryle
It's been an eventful time in Voryle's history. Your fault, naturally.
—Samantha, to Isla, regarding the political changes on Voryle.
With Darth Aivela's ambitions halted and the orbs secure, things settled down amongst the eclectic coalition of outcasts.
Benjamin and his family retreated to grieve over the loss of Aivela – to them a wife and mother as well as a threat to be stopped – while the others were given leave to relax and kick back a little, basking in their victory.
Kassie and Zhavi returned to Corulag, while Isla took Damascus to Voryle, both to show him around the unusual world and to touch base with her friends in the city. When they arrived, it was early evening locally, prompting Isla to take Damascus to the fight club that had served as her first cultural excursion on Voryle.
Damsacus was eager to participate – not that Isla was surprised – and easily won his bout due to his considerable size and power. What did surprise her was him stepping out of the ring after just one match, and after tending to some minor injuries he had sustained the couple left the arena early.
The pair proceeded to the government palace where they were admitted to see Samantha D'callo, who had managed to use her local knowledge and apparent political savvy – along with the Countess' not inconsiderable support – to transition Voryle's government into what she was calling an "acting monarchy", a temporary change to implement new policies rapidly and without resistance – and one that made her the first queen of Voryle.
Samantha was, of course, delighted to see Isla, welcoming her back and detailing the events that had led to her coronation, assuring the Chiss that the political changes were mostly a means of accelerating Voryle's development. By pushing hardliners too hard, too fast, Samantha intended to force them into taking hasty action, at which point she would have them arrested.
She also assured her that the practical situation on Voryle had changed considerably in her absence, and that she could rest easy knowing that Voryle was far more supportive of its new ruler than any previous administration, meaning Isla and Damascus were welcome guests in the city this time around – provided they did not go around causing the wrong sort of trouble, of course.
She also "revealed" that Bibi had made a miraculous recovery from death – hinting that she was aware of Isla's involvement in her impossible resurrection – and suggested Isla should go and see her.
Due to the considerable changes to Voryle Samantha had to send the pair on their way before too long so she could get back to her many duties, encouraging Isla to check in with her gang, who had become an unofficial peacekeeping force for the planet now that the Rabid Akks had been reduced to little more than a blip on the outskirts of the city.
All too aware that she could not really avoid seeing Bibi any longer, Isla and Damascus proceeded to intercept the Black Claw to see her old friends, leaping down from a maintenance bridge and boarding to find an enthusiastic greeting waiting for her, particularly from Kol and Mirris, both of whom threw themselves at her with youthful eagerness.
Bibi and Isla spoke privately in Isla's old room, which had been preserved in case she ever returned, and the Cathar broke down in tears, thanking the Chiss profusely for saving her life. The conversation upset Isla and she apologised for costing Bibi her life, yet Bibi did not see it that way, pointing out that Isla had given her an entire lifetime of happy memories. That those memories were fiction did not make them any less valuable to her.
She also explained that Isla's actions had created an energy surge that the government's tech-detection equipment had picked up. Spaceport logs betrayed the presence of Isla's Republic allies, and after that discovery Samantha had contacted the Republic for information on what had taken place.
At first, the Republic denied any presence on Voryle beyond what Samantha already knew about, but after her conversation with Republic representatives Chief Pad had contacted Samantha directly in an attempt to quiet the situation down before word spread further than it ought to, explaining what Isla had done.
Naturally, Samantha relayed Frank's explanation to Bibi, who was in an extremely confused state when she first woke up thanks to the false memories Isla had implanted in the moments before her death.
Despite her confusion, Samantha had – along with the other gang members – helped Bibi to cope and over time she managed to recover, albeit with lingering difficulties in accepting that many of her memories were not real. Samantha and Bibi had become close since her resurrection, so much so that the Cathar now served as her chief of security, though she still lived aboard the train and retained her close connection with the Cobbled Terentateks.
After catching up with her old friends, Damascus and Isla remained on Voryle for almost a week, giving them time to unwind and enjoy what the city had to offer before the couple were recalled to Coruscant for a new assignment.
The Imperial Starfighter Factory
It is certainly an ambitious attack, given our numbers. But, with only limited ground defences in our way, the element of surprise to improve our opening hand and our advantages over conventional soldiers... I would say our objective is within reach, certainly.
—Isla, assessing the planned attack on the Imperial starfighter factory.
With the war still raging in the wider galaxy, Isla and Damascus could not remain on Voryle for long and were recalled to Coruscant to report for a new assignment a week after their arrival on Voryle. Alongside Kassie and Zhavi, the team received a proposition from Frank, who had access to intelligence exposing a starfighter construction facility belonging to the Empire, although only temporarily.
A large facility, the foursome were not the ideal choice for the mission, the odds being firmly against anything less than a full attack group, resources that simply could not be made available in time.
However, with their lightsaber training and Force abilities the group had the potential to stealthily enter the facility and sabotage it from within, escaping without the need for a full-scale assault.
Kassie and Isla were sceptical while Damascus and Zhavi were eager to step up to the challenge, and after a lengthy discussion to hammer out the details the team agreed to take the mission, setting off for Imperial space and behind enemy lines, using Lord Jhang's old ship to approach the factory undetected.
Sneaking on board via an exterior maintenance hatch, the group had little trouble at first, moving unnoticed until an unanticipated maintenance crew forced them to cross a storage hangar, leaving them exposed.
Skirting around the completed fighters, Isla and Zhavi made it further across the hangar than Damascus and Kassie, who were forced to hide as a patrol passed by. Zhavi and Isla reached another entrance to the maintenance shafts, but as they ascended Kassie and Damascus were spotted, sparking the beginning of a firefight that quickly led to a facility-wide alert.
Although Kassie got away thanks to an opening created by Damascus, the Chistori was captured as Zhavi and Isla watched from an air vent in the shaft, unable to do anything but hope that Damscus was taken alive as more and more troops filed into the hangar. They proceeded with their objective, capitalising on the distraction created by their friend's unfortunate circumstances.
Regrettably, the facility had been locked down due to the security alert, scuppering their plan to overload the station's reactor from the control room.
Kassie, being more tech minded, had planned for the complication and made her way to the reactor core to physically destroy it, causing significant damage to the reactor and destroying the capacitors that regulated power surges to and from the device.
With the capacitors down, the damaged reactor began to overload the various systems throughout the station, generating more energy than the facility could safely manage and starting a deadly countdown.
Isla and Zhavi escaped via one of the hangars, but Kassie was held up and implored the pair to make their escape and leave her, certain she was too injured and too far from the secondary rendezvous to flee the factory in time.
Zhavi leapt down from the ship and rushed back through the station to where Kassie was pinned down, carving ruthlessly through the Imperial troops and carrying her back to the ship. They escaped with minutes to spare, and once they were safely away from the factory Kassie angrily scolded Zhavi for her reckless heroics, pointing out that she could have killed them all.
Fearing for the fate of their lost friend, Isla, Zhavi and Kassie returned to Coruscant in quiet despair, unable to take much pride in the blow they had dealt to the Imperial war machine.
Rescue Mission
I have to try... I owe her that much. She is my wife, after all, you know?
—Damascus, to Isla, regarding Corrith Lambert.
The loss of Damascus fragmented the team. While Isla privately worried about the fate of her lover, Zhavi and Kassie broke up, the latter returning to Corulag believing that Waverunner's heroics were a sign that she was taking their relationship too seriously.
Separated and disconnected, the team was silent for a few weeks, keeping to themselves. Isla monitored intelligence channels, searching for any hint of Damascus' whereabouts, eventually learning that he had survived the station's destruction and was being transported to Dromund Kaas for interrogation.
Ever the type of woman to deal with things alone and not wanting to burden Zhavi so soon after her breakup, Isla set off to free Damascus on her own without notifying her superiors.
Unexpectedly, by the time she reached the Imperial base, Damascus was already in the process of being freed.
A Twi'lek Sith had destroyed the Chistori's escort in the minutes leading up to her arrival, releasing him from captivity before Isla could do so. Before the two came to blows, Damascus interrupted the pair, explaining that the Twi'lek was his estranged wife, Corrith Lambert, who had refused to join him when he left the Empire behind.
Though the Twi'lek had refused to give up her position and authority, the threat of Damascus being tortured to death in the capital had prompted her to make a choice to betray her loyalties and step in, surprising Damascus, who saw her refusal to support him as a betrayal.
She explained that she was willing to help him, but wanted him to come home to Dromund Kaas, where she could hide him while they discussed their future. Torn, Damascus agreed, asking for a moment alone with Isla, explaining to her that although he cared deeply for the Chiss, he had made a vow to his wife and felt obligated to try and honour that, now that he knew there was a chance to salvage the relationship.
Saddened, Isla knew there was little she could say or do to dissuade him and wished him well, jokingly warning him to remain safe, or she would kill him.
Parting with a friendly hug, Damascus and Corrith left for Dromund Kaas while Isla returned to Coruscant, happy that Damascus was alive and well but feeling very much alone, her teammates absent and her boyfriend – an alien who, once upon a time, she would have looked down on – abandoning her for a woman who had already failed to support him once.
Into the Zavian Abyss
This is – officially, mind you – a low-risk, high-yield situation. I have seen first-hand what valuable allies – and good friends – former Imperials can be, and I trust the pair of you implicitly. So let's go make us some new friends eh?
—Frank, to Zhavi and Isla, regarding a request for assistance from an Imperial crew.
Towards the end of the 28 ATC, Zhavi and Isla were called in to meet with Frank in relation to a distress call received days prior. On their arrival, the duo were introduced to Imperial pilots Seon Corbeck and Eleanor Corstle, the source of the "distress call", which in reality was a request for aid presented directly to the Republic by the rogue pilots.
Corbeck and Corstle were part of a squadron serving aboard the Relinquished, a specialised Gage-class transport assigned to harass Republic ships and launch hit-and-run strikes on lightly defended worlds. Their purpose was to stretch Republic resources and demoralise its citizens, using their stealth systems and nearby space anomalies to veil their presence and allow them to operate with minimal expense.
Led by a particularly merciless Sith, Corbeck and Corstle's peers were suffering under the yoke of their commander and had been forced to commit to actions more akin to terrorism than legitimate warfare. Most of their squadron had finally snapped during their last assignment and disobeyed orders to bomb a civilian settlement, for which they had all been imprisoned.
Scheduled for a public execution on their return to Dromund Kaas, Corbeck and Corstle had conspired with their captain to request Republic assistance in exchange for their stolen cargo, mostly consisting of rare metals.
The two pilots were assigned a decoy scouting mission to ensure a safe route back towards Dromund Kaas through the Zavian Abyss, a dangerous and unstable area of space but one free of Republic patrols, while in reality they made immediately for Republic space.
After being arrested for war crimes the SIS took the pilots into their custody, but were unwilling to enact Corbeck and Corstle's plan, which had led to them refusing to cooperate.
Once it became obvious the pilots were not going to compromise their position they were all but written off, and Frank's request to transfer them into his custody was granted, though it was made clear to him that he would get no additional resources for whatever he planned to do – Project Petrichor was on its own.
Knowing Isla and Zhavi worked well together and believing Isla in particular would appreciate helping other Imperials make the switch to the Republic, he offered them the task of attacking the vessel.
Frank believed that not only could they recruit a sizeable crew of disgruntled Imperials, but also recover a swath of resources and steal an Imperial vessel ideally suited as a mobile command centre from which Petrichor could operate.
Not sensing any deception from Corbeck and Corstle, Zhavi and Isla agreed to participate alongside them in an ambush in the Zavian Abyss. In addition to the veteran Imperial pilots, Frank had hand-picked the Duros ace Parkott Hend and the self-proclaimed "immortal" Quarren known only as The Reaper to join Project Petrichor, ensuring Zhavi and Isla – themselves inexperienced when it came to piloting starfighters – had the best support available at such short notice.
With each of them provided a reconditioned FT-8 Star Guard purchased from a military surplus vendor and Corbeck and Corstle piloting their S-12 Blackbolts, the unusual squadron set off on their maiden voyage, transmitting a flight plan to the Relinquished along with a fabricated story to explain their extended absence.
Once they received a response confirming the Relinquished was proceeding through the Zavian Abyss, the squadron waited patiently at the ambush site until the transport arrived, at which point they swarmed the vessel and Zhavi and Isla used the ensuing chaos to board.
Despite Zhavi being forced to eject and her ship exploding in the hangar, the pair got aboard without incident and proceeded to carve their way through the loyalists aboard the ship. Many of the Imperials laid down their weapons ahead of time, signalling that they were amongst the defectors and ensuring Zhavi and Isla did not harm them in their rush for the bridge.
On their arrival, the Sith in charge questioned how they had found his vessel, not realising until it was too late that the captain – positioned behind him – had drawn her blaster. She fired, shooting him in the back and telling him that it was her vessel, not his, before firing a second shot, killing him.
Stowing her pistol, the Rattataki introduced herself as Captain Elizabeth Kondarr, commanding officer aboard the Relinquished, in service to Darth Madré.
Kondarr thanked them for their assistance and explained she was willing to negotiate terms for their surrender, making it clear that – in the absence of their Sith commander – she would be taking full responsibility for the crimes committed by the Relinquished during her captaincy and asked that that fact be taken into consideration in the treatment of her crew.
The captain also provided a detailed inventory of the Relinquished's plundered cargo, primarily a large quantity of chromium, which Zhavi – as a long-time smuggler – was impressed by. However, the pair assured Kondarr that – since they had no official sanction – they had no intention of forcing a surrender.
Instead, they invited her to meet with Frank, explaining that – reluctant though they might have been to defect – there was an alternative to prison open to them.
Directing the Relinquished to a predetermined rendezvous point, Zhavi and Isla escorted Captain Kondarr, Corbeck and Corstle to meet with Frank, leaving them to discuss the situation with him for over an hour.
Following the meeting, Frank explained that Captain Kondarr had reached out for assistance for the sake of her crew, not out of disloyalty, but that he believed she was unlikely to betray their trust – and was smart enough to know the Empire would kill her if she ever tried to return.
A situation, he pointed out, another member of Project Petrichor had once found herself in.
With that in mind – and viewing the ship and its cargo as Project Petrichor's resources, given how support had been deliberately withheld from them – Frank had decided to offer her a mutually beneficial arrangement; she would continue to captain the Relinquished and her crew would remain under command, but instead of attacking Republic worlds the vessel would become a mobile command centre for Project Petrichor.
Additionally, her pilots would provide off-the-books training to select operates – starting with Zhavi and Isla – and accommodate outside pilots as part of their crew, starting with Parkott Hend and The Reaper.
When appropriate, Frank also intended to use the Relinquished as a "stepping stone" posting for defectors to acclimatise them during the transition before official pardons were arranged, easing the often frightening and long-winded process of defection with an environment they were more used to.
Frank confided in Zhavi and Isla that he was irritated by the behaviour of his colleagues who had dealt with Seon and Eleanor and would not be mentioning their new assets to anyone outside their bureau.
Moreover, he believed another department would only try and take the ship and crew, a theory with which Zhavi and Isla both agreed, suggesting that the support the ship could offer them would allow them to be a lot more self-reliant.
Chromium Squadron
Attention, Chromium Squadron.
—Captain Kondarr, to the newly formed Chromium Squadron.
Over the weeks that followed, Zhavi and Isla were put through an intensive starfighter training program by Parkott Hend, flying alongside their one-time wingmates on a number of training exercises to hone their ability to fly and manage their ships' systems with greater effectiveness.
While undergoing this training, the Relinquished was refurbished using the abundance of chromium hoarded during its time raiding Republic settlements, giving it a sleek, reflective appearance that distinguished it from standard Imperial vessels as well as providing the hull with additional protection against radiation and laser damage.
With Frank's blessing, Captain Kondarr upgraded the Relinquished's starfighters as well, improving them to be sturdier and introducing life support systems to better protect the pilots. The most visible of the upgrades was the addition of chromium plating, which Kondarr remarked provided a style and uniformity that would be at home even in the Empire.
Additionally, both the Relinquished and its starfighter complement were given updated transponder codes to identify them as Republic vessels, as well as being outfitted with IFF scramblers to confuse enemy targeting systems during battle.
Finally, using the last of the resources they had to hand, the crew uniforms were overhauled to remind everyone that they were no longer servants of the Sith Empire. Security personnel had chromium incorporated into their armour, and the new pilot flight suits were afforded extra armouring to reduce fatalities in crash scenarios, armouring which also sported chromium to match the Relinquished's new aesthetic.
Once the retrofit was complete, Captain Kondarr gave a speech commending her crew on their professionalism and adaptability during such an uneasy and uncertain transition, praising their faith in her leadership and promising that – as always – she would continue to act with their best interests at the forefront of her mind.
She also announced that – in keeping with their new role as agents of the Galactic Republic – the ship would be defended by a mixed crew of brave pilots, commanding the squadron to stand at attention and announcing their designation in the process; Chromium Squadron.
As Zhavi and Isla had other duties to attend to and could not fly with the squadron full-time, they adopted slightly different callsigns. Instead of being numbered like their wingmates, Zhavi and Isla were given letter designations instead, those designations being Chrome Aurek and Chrome Besh, respectively.
Operation: Kaasian Rose
Biological Nightmares
At the edge of the galaxy, Isla came face-to-face with the near-mythical starweirds.
What the fu–"
"–Let's... let's just keep quiet and proceed slowly until we know what is going on here, shall we."
"Sometimes, we really ain't as in sync as we ought t' be, y'know?
—Isla and Zhavi, after seeing the state of the Chiss Ascendancy observatory.
Over the new year period, Project Petrichor was reorganised into the Strategic Asset Reassignment Bureau, transitioning from a proof-of-concept project to a permanent division of the SIS and remaining on-call until the logistics of the transition were out of the way.
Isla kept to herself – still saddened by Damascus' return to Dromund Kaas – and occupied her time by picking up the training regimen she had mostly abandoned after leaving the Empire.
She also started to learn how to play the Chandrilan viol using HoloNet video tutorials, pausing only when a message intended for her was intercepted by Republic security techs and found its way to Frank's desk.
The message was from her brother who – like Frank – was only forwarding a message from someone else. In this instance, Isla's biological mother, Mitth'icini'inrokini.
An Ascendancy observatory intended to monitor the Intergalactic Void and study what lay beyond the mysterious hyperspace disturbance that ringed the known galaxy had dropped out of contact several months prior, yet despite repeatedly sending agents to re-establish contact the situation had remained an ominous puzzle that the Chiss Ascendancy were struggling to solve.
An agent in the area (the former Ascendancy pilot-turned-privateer Gretta Farrow, who had been working for Commander Lambert) had already been diverted to observe the facility from afar and await their arrival.
Mitth'icini'inrokini had requested that Isla investigate personally, both as a favour to her and a show of respect in the hope that she might finally visit Copero as requested. Frank approved the mission on the proviso that any non-confidential data be shared on her return, and that Isla took Zhavi with her as backup.
Isla was not thrilled about having company so soon after her break-up with Damascus but did not make an issue of it, accepting the conditions primarily to alleviate the boredom she had been experiencing with so little to do.
It took almost a week for Isla, Vrym, Zhavi and Zhavi's new droid – who had previously belonged to Kassie – Ducky to reach the station, being greeted with silence just as they had expected based on Mitth'icini'inrokini's report. Gretta's ship was already docked at the station, and was just as unresponsive when hailed.
The station's docking systems were automated so they had no trouble landing, but as they stepped through the docking tube they came across a bizarre sight; an unnatural, heavy fog hung in the air, as did thousands of tiny spores. Fleshy, alien vines had anchored themselves to every surface, twitching slightly as the pair stepped aboard the station.
They proceeded cautiously, checking the first console they encountered for any information on what had transpired to leave the station in such a poor state and found nothing but damaged electronics. While Zhavi tried to repair the terminal, Isla looked around in nearby rooms for clues, finding one of the missing Chiss.
Disturbingly, the individual in question was in an advanced state of decay after having been bound to a wall by the vines that covered the facility. It was as she inspected what was left of the corpse that Isle sensed an unfamiliar presence and responded by igniting her lightsaber, pointing it at what she soon saw was a surviving member of the Ascendancy's forces.
Though both Chiss were aiming weapons at one another, they quickly deduced they were on the same side and introduced themselves.
The Chiss explained that the original team aboard the station had discovered an artefact that had seemingly drifted in from beyond the edge of the galaxy, emitting a weak signal that revealed its location and prompting the researchers to retrieve it for study.
Since then they had suffered communication problems, followed by periodic attacks from some sort of creature that they could neither kill nor recall the appearance of after witnessing.
He seemed confused, and when Isla questioned his wellness he suggested she speak with his superior further inside the station, offering to escort them to her for a full and proper report of the situation.
When they arrived they were greeted with an unsurprising degree of calm from the Chiss forces, though even the commanding officer seemed slightly dazed when pressed for definite answers regarding the nature of the artefact and the events it had triggered.
Instead of a clear and concise detailing of events, they were led to the room containing the artefact. Without equipment they could not determine much other than its appearance; a large, glassy black sphere with faint lights moving around inside, contained beneath a shield dome. Though she could not be sure, Isla also believed she felt something strange in the Force, not from the orb precisely but all around it, like some sort of distortion field warping the air.
As the duo examined the alien device, the door behind them slammed shut and underfloor vents began to pump gas into the chamber. Over the intercom, the woman in charge instructed them not to resist, as they were quite secure and the process would only hurt more if they struggled.
Isla asked what "process" she was referring to, but the Chiss only rambled about "answering the call". Rather than listen to her nonsensical babbling, Isla used her ability to phase to leap through one of the walls and into an adjoining corridor, intent on finding the controls for the gas to switch it off before Zhavi succumbed to the effects.
Events took a much more sinister turn when she landed in the corridor, however.
Using her phase ability left her almost entirely drained of Force energy and shaking from fatigue, and while Ascendancy troops likely would not be enough to stop her from reaching the controls the starweird that screamed at her from the far end of the corridor was another matter.
A starweird, if legends were to be believed, would likely be too much for her to deal with even at full strength.
Isla was momentarily immobilised when the creature screamed but soon overcame her initial shock and attempted to flee, only to be "run" down by the mythological monster gliding after her. The creature tripped her with the Force, then grabbed her by the throat and hoisted her up into the air, leaving Isla unsure if she would be choked to death or torn apart as the spacer's tales suggested.
To her relief, it was neither.
Presumed dead, Gretta Farrow proved to be very much alive when she interrupted the starweird with a burst of shots that peppered its back, prompting it to howl out in what she assumed was pain and drop Isla, giving her an opening to activate her lightsaber and cut down the monster.
As the Chiss duo stood over the corpse, watching as it evaporated before their very eyes, Gretta revealed that the artefact was emitting a signal of some kind that slowly influenced the minds of the Ascendancy soldiers.
According to Gretta, her implant – designed to inflict pain whenever a Force user attempted to use a mind trick – was the only reason she had not been enslaved by the device, though she was in constant pain.
To make matters worse, Gretta claimed that the dead Chiss Isla had encountered when she arrived was one of many, and that the corpses slowly mutated into new starweirds. According to the smuggler, she had counted six individual starweirds aboard the station, which she had managed to elude (but only just) so far.
Both women agreed that their best bet was to destroy the orb, but to do so they would need to shut down the power supplying the shield dome protecting it – and quickly, else Zhavi and Isla would start to lose their minds too.
Gretta argued that she was good with computers and so could manage the station's systems to guide Isla through the maintenance tunnels that would take her to the reactor and, although she was unsettled by the idea, Isla agreed, noting that she could also move faster and use her lightsaber to cut through anything Gretta could not open remotely.
They quickly got to work, with Isla entering the narrow tunnels while Gretta operated a terminal she had jury-rigged into life to pull up the station schematics and guide her over the comm. Just before she reached her destination Isla caught the attention of one of the starweirds, which chased her into the vents and started a desperate race for the nearest exit.
Once she was out, she tried to make a break for it at first, stopping and turning to fight once she heard the starweird screaming not far behind her. Gretta was watching, however, and as the starweird passed through one of the doorways she activated that particular blast door, slamming it shut and cutting the creature in half, after which it dragged itself after Isla for a time before slumping down dead.
Unfortunately, Gretta's assistance had run its course; her temporary repairs to make her terminal work had burnt out, taking control away from her. She told Isla to keep going while she made for the airlock to activate the manual override systems on the station's exterior.
Isla was trying to comfort the audibly traumatised Gretta over the comm when she reached the reactor control room, only to be cut off when the connection was lost, followed by the sudden appearance of the commanding officer who had trapped Isla and Zhavi earlier.
Taking a page out of Isla's book, the Chiss phased out of the wall to stab her in the shoulder, taking a firm head start.
Armed with only a vibroknife against Isla's lightsaber, the fight seemed clear cut for a moment even with Isla's injury. That was until the Chiss woman unleashed a storm of what seemed to be black Force lightning, forcing her onto the ground, immobilised by a kind of pain she had never experienced before.
Unable to defend or escape and with the Chiss woman clearly in the thrall of something more powerful than her, Isla would have been incinerated over the next few minutes if not for the brave heroics of Vrym, who had seen lightsabers used enough to know how to activate them.
Ignored by the artefact's servant, the Tach was able to get behind the aggressor and activate Zhavi's lightsaber straight through her sternum, breaking off the attack and – after a few seconds of wild flailing – leaving her dead on the floor.
It was as she recovered that Isla felt an explosion rock the station, coinciding with Gretta's presence in the Force snapping out of her sensory awareness.
Wasting no time, Isla deactivated the station's reactor, sprinted for where Gretta had suspected Zhavi was being held captive – directly beneath the artefact chamber – and found her bound to the wall like the previous victims, struggling against the restraining vines.
The vines were easily severed by her lightsaber, and once Isla handed Zhavi's weapon back the duo were charging to the artefact chamber, cutting down the enthralled Chiss who stood in their way until they reached the entrance.
Inside, half a dozen starweirds had congregated around the orb to protect it, forming a sinister wall between the two women and their objective.
Knowing they could not hope to win against them all, the pair rushed directly for the orb. Zhavi then dropped down into a crouch before reaching the starweirds to allow Isla to use her as a springboard; Zhavi stood, launching Isla up into the air – above the ring of demonic guardians – and gave her a clear shot at the mysterious device that had caused so much chaos.
Through a final, laborious exertion, Isla launched her lightsaber and detonated the orb; the shock wave slammed Zhavi and Isla to the nearest bulkhead – knocking them both out cold – but most importantly it killed the starweirds and purged the unnerving roots that lined the interior, reducing them to a fine, ash-like powder.
With the artefact and its brainwashing capabilities neutralised, the station secured and the unsettling creatures destroyed, Isla and Zhavi were able to make a hasty retreat from the observation facility.
They spent the journey back discussing the implications of their encounter, in particular the strange distortion the orb created in the Force and what that suggested. Zhavi believed that – despite appearances – the situation was not over; for reasons she could not explain, Isla uncomfortably admitted she had a strong feeling that Zhavi was correct.
Whatever the truth, they both agreed that Gretta was a hero for her sacrifice – and her death marred their success with an undeniable air of tragedy.
Republic Pirates
You're going to die slowly, Isla Ahnkett.
—Sera Artofen, after capturing Zhavi and Isla.
After their "success" aboard the Chiss observation station, Isla and Zhavi were sent to intercept an Imperial transport while it was passing through a nebula that would necessitate travel through realspace. Their objection was simple; board the transport and take control of the bridge before they left the nebula and made the jump to hyperspace.
Using their ship's stealth systems, the duo boarded the transport easily enough and had little trouble fighting their way through the soldiers who tried to stop them reaching the bridge. Once they reached the bridge, they encountered the vessel's commanding officer, the Cathar Viktor Argon, who had his men stand down rather than try to combat the Jedi.
He told the pair that he was ready to negotiate the terms of surrender, but when Isla commended his good sense he corrected her assumption that he was referring to his crew and told her it was the Jedi's surrender he was prepared to negotiate.
Isla was amused by the man's apparent arrogance, but Zhavi – her senses stronger than Isla's – sensed the presence of Sith. Several Sith, in fact, and more than they could realistically defeat.
Unfortunately, with Sera Artofen leading the opposition, neither Isla nor Zhavi were willing to lay down their weapons and surrender, knowing the former student of Darth Aivela had a grudge against Isla for the death of Artem Phond.
Realising the transport had been bait for a trap aimed at the members of Project Petrichor, the two were nonetheless determined to fight their way out and threw themselves into battle against Lord Artofen, Tark Jaggentire, Arden Yox, Tharah Odé, Zane Lambert and an honour guard of elite soldiers led by Skyell Ottazen and his second, Kara Regent.
Tapping into their bond, the former couple put up an admirable but short-lived fight, holding off their Sith opponents and blocking the timely blaster shots that sped towards them between blows for almost a full minute before being subdued. While defending against the combined attacks of Tark, Tharah and Zane, Zhavi's left arm was severed at the shoulder, leaving Isla to face the entire group alone.
Understandably, Isla was defeated within seconds of Zhavi, unable to defend against both Zane and Sera at once; while she blocked Zane's strike, Lord Artofen struck with a surge of lightning that disarmed the Chiss and dropped her to the floor.
That did not stop the Sith Lord from continuing her attack, and as Isla tried to drag herself away she was repeatedly shocked by Sera's potent electrical attack, all while being assured that her death would not be quick and merciful.
Restrained and stripped of their possessions, Isla and Zhavi were taken to separate holding cells until the transport left the nebula and made the jump to lightspeed, its destination; a high security prison on the barren world of Dromund Tyne.
Imprisonment on Dromund Tyne
I'm... glad we'll go together.
—Isla, to Zhavi, towards the end of their imprisonment.
Stripped of their clothing, shackled and thrown into a cold, wet and disused cell, Zhavi and Isla were initially unsure about what the Empire had planned for them. They expected to be tortured and questioned, but as hours turned into days and days to weeks, they began to realise they were simply prisoners, nothing more.
During their imprisonment, Isla told Zhavi about how Damascus had ended their relationship after she rescued him and returned to Dromund Kaas with his wife, not to damage the Empire from within as she had claimed but to resume his relationship with his wife. Zhavi was initially startled that Isla had kept the truth from her, but admitted that she had been so wrapped up in her relationship with Kassie that she had neglected their friendship, albeit without meaning to.
Isla also confessed that she had experienced vivid hallucinations after her defeat on Dxun and that it – in addition to the shock of losing her limbs – had caused her to regress and close herself off to Zhavi while they were on Voryle – something Zhavi had mistook for her having fallen out of love at the time, and a rift that circumstances had made it easier to maintain in the time since they joined the SIS.
In spite of their current circumstances, both women were glad for the honest conversation, agreeing that if they ever escaped their prison they would need to work on mending their relationship.
While held on Dromund Tyne they were fed enough to prolong their lives, but not indefinitely; two months passed with no change to their situation, at which point both women were on the verge of starving to death.
Isla suffered the most, being thin and somewhat underfed even before her capture, and though they divided their food evenly Zhavi had more weight and muscle to burn before succumbing.
Through the dyad that bound them, however, Isla unconsciously drew energy from Zhavi, weakening the Jedi but extending the Chiss' life.
Such a boost proved to be vital in ensuring both women lived long enough to be rescued which – despite Isla's scepticism – they were. In the last few hours of their captivity – when the duo both knew they were reaching their end – Isla told Zhavi that she was glad she would die with her, a sentiment that was returned by the Jedi.
Thankfully, the forces of SARB had not abandoned them to their fate.
Due to the obvious risk of infiltrating an Imperial facility within the Dromund system, Benjamin Lambert led the operation to save the pair personally due to his experience, knowledge of Imperial protocols and – largely – the fact that he was still the vessel for all of the Four Bound Spirits, with Aaellu accompanying him.
Using stolen Sith disguises, Benjamin and Aaellu infiltrated the base to access the security station and determine Zhavi and Isla's location before proceeding to split up. Aaellu cleared a path to Zhavi and Isla's ship, distracting enemy forces and allowing Benjamin to sneak through to the prison block with little resistance.
Once Benjamin found the duo and helped them hobble out of their cell, they did not have to travel far before they came across Tark Jaggentire locked in a duel with Aaellu, surrounded by Imperial troops. As the trio were spotted by the troops, Benjamin used the power of the Bound Spirits to throw Tark and his men aside, giving the group some breathing room to switch things up for their escape.
Aaellu took over helping Isla and Zhavi to the ship and Benjamin hung back to protect the group from reinforcements, duelling Tark briefly before incapacitating the Twi'lek and his troops.
When they reached the hangar Aaellu cut through the blast door, helped the two women aboard and made sure they were stable before preparing to launch their vessel, ensuring they were truly ready to leave before Benjamin annihilated the reinforcements to cover their escape.
Little more than skin stretched over a pair of skeletons, Zhavi and Isla had survived nonetheless – with a newfound appreciation of life, their friends and, most of all, their relationship with one another.
Daragon Hall Charity Gala
We might be here to work but I am quite content to be a bad employee tonight.
—Isla, to Zhavi, referring to their assignment at the charity ball on Coruscant.
Isla and Zhavi spent the next two months recovering from their ordeal on Dromund Tyne, quickly regaining their strength, although in Zhavi's case the muscle mass lost would take a lot longer to fully restore.
They were both healthy enough to be discharged just over a month after their return, and – although they were still technically on leave – returned to work a month later, against the recommendation of their doctor. Frank confined them to light duties as a compromise.
To that end, Isla and Zhavi were to accompany Benjamin and Aaellu as they tackled a local issue in the capital.
A particularly cunning Coruscanti gangster had been running circles around the CSF and creating something of a backlash from the populace, who mistook the lack of success against the rapid rise in criminality as a lack of action on the part of the security force.
The gangster had done an excellent job keeping his identity a secret even from his own minions, leaving his arrest a difficult task for the already overwhelmed authorities. They had, as such, requested the aid of the SIS, which had ultimately led to a sting operation involving a local business mogul.
Said mogul had volunteered his identity and assistance to lure the gangster into a meeting, the SIS believing that with such a huge potential gain on offer their target would be willing to chance a face-to-face meeting.
A belief that had borne fruit almost a year since the operation started with the arrival of a charity gala, one of many yearly gatherings for Coruscant's social elite to fraternise, mingle and parade themselves about under the pretence of charity work.
The event was to be hosted at Daragon Hall and during the proceedings the mogul was scheduled to meet the mysterious criminal boss. Once he was approached and the identity of the target confirmed, the mogul would give a pre-arranged signal for the agents to move in.
Given the collective political and social influence of the wealthy attendees, the SIS had selected the forces of SARB to guarantee the least amount of collateral damage. They knew the target was a cunning and elusive individual, but they also had strong evidence that suggested he was equally as violent, meaning they had to move in on him with ruthless efficiency to avoid civilian casualties.
Although there was some concern about moving in during the ball, the CSF were determined to apprehend him immediately out of fear they may identify him and let him walk away only for him to prove just as elusive once they had a name and face to go with his many crimes.
So Isla, Zhavi, Aaellu and Benjamin were to attend the ball in addition to a small army of CSF officers waiting in unmarked speeders not far from Daragon Hall.
Benjamin had chosen to wear his Jedi robes to make himself more visible, hoping that – provided he kept far from the businessman at all times – a Jedi being in attendance would draw attention away from Isla and Zhavi, giving them room to work with. Aaellu – as she so often did – insisted she stay with Benjamin, giving Isla and Zhavi the opportunity to make the arrest themselves and score a win after their recent hard luck.
Although Isla disliked formal gatherings and Zhavi hated wearing dresses – particularly after being fitted with her cybernetic arm – both were glad to be busy again, taking the assignment on more as a relaxing break than anything else.
The ball was busy, as expected, with a lot of media attention outside and a lot of judging glances from the Coruscanti upper crust within, but Isla and Zhavi took the disapproval of the so-called "elite" in their stride.
They were there for little over an hour by the time their target made his appearance and the signal was given.
Isla and Zhavi went to move in, but their mogul ally got nervous and panicked, accidentally tipping off the target – who proceeded to pull out a concealed heavy blaster in response, firing at the Force users. Zhavi and Isla were forced to stay rooted between their target and the civilians in his line of fire as he made a run for it.
Benjamin leapt into his path to cut him off, forcing him to flee to the upper balcony, unaware that he was being driven that way towards Aaellu, who was returning from the restroom. Not realising she was a threat, Aaellu was able to knock him out with a powerful swipe of her elbow, ending their assignment earlier than they had expected.
After handing the gangster over to the CSF and learning that the gangsters loitering outside had been rounded up when they tried to storm into Daragon Hall with blaster rifles, the foursome decided to stay at the ball for a time and make the best of the evening.
Benjamin took the setting as an opportunity to act on a personal matter, proposing to Aaellu who – once she had composed herself – tearfully accepted. Isla and Zhavi shared a final dance, then departed to make a dinner reservation Isla had – to Zhavi's surprise – made a few days earlier.
The duo shared several glasses of wine over the course of their meal and took a bottle to go when they finally decided to stagger back to the hotel they were staying at while on Coruscant. Unsurprisingly – and as they had both been not-so-discreetly pushing for – the pair spent the night together, though they were eased to sleep by the wine before midnight and rose early the following morning as a result.
They left the hotel briefly so Zhavi could buy noodles for her "breakfast" – Isla electing for the less exotic choice of ice cream, instead – before returning to wait in the lobby for Aaellu and Benjamin, as they arranged the day before.
While they waited, Isla invited Zhavi to join her for a "holiday", in a manner of speaking.
Specifically, she invited her to join her on a trip to Copero – her homeworld – a journey that she had been putting off for several years despite her mother's biannual requests to see her. Zhavi was reluctant to fly into the heart of Chiss space given they were still both allies of the Empire and incredibly xenophobic, but knew it was important to Isla, no matter how much the Chiss contested the fact.
Because of that, Zhavi agreed to accompany Isla as backup, jokingly commenting that it would be nice to get an idea of what Isla would look like in twenty years or so.
Ever the forward thinking type, Isla's invitation – sincere though it was – also served as a way of drawing attention to an issue she had been meaning to broach for some time. As Zhavi squinted at the holographic image of Isla's last letter from her mother – projected from her comm – the Chiss took the opportunity she had deliberately orchestrated to point out that she had noticed Zhavi's eyesight was failing.
She also revealed that she had had Frank discreetly scan her months prior so she could buy her a pair of reading glasses, assuring her that admitting her eyes were failing was not a weakness and insisting she accept the glasses – and use them.
Zhavi disagreed with Isla's assessment, yet accepted the glasses and agreed to consider wearing if needed, asking Isla to remind her to tell her about the story of Master Hortath one day, when she was a little older and a little less proud.
An Invitation to Copero
Welcome home, Mitth'att'inrokini.
—Mitth'icini'inrokini, to Isla.
After contacting her brother to confirm her intention to finally visit Copero, Isla was provided with the information she would need to safely enter Chiss space and land on the world.
She was advised to follow the instructions without deviation as her visit would not be met with universal approval, and causing trouble would only worsen the situation needlessly.
Aware that being Chiss herself was no guarantee of safety, Isla was happy to comply with the instructions provided, travelling through Ascendancy territory without issue before touching down at Copero City.
When they disembarked they were greeted by Isla's brother, Mitth'endar'inrokini, who reintroduced himself to Zhavi, making the assumption that – as a drunk – she had forgotten, starting their trip with an openly disapproving tone. He went on to hint that the invitation did not extend to Zhavi, but Isla made it clear Zhavi was her partner and went wherever she went, a condition Hendar stated was acceptable.
Before they left the landing pad, Hendar asked if they were aware of Chiss law regarding Force sensitives.
Naturally, Isla had been curious enough about her origins to look into her people and confirmed they knew the rules, though for Zhavi's sake Hendar spelled them out clearly; if they were caught using the Force at all, they would be executed.
Zhavi flippantly commented that she would make sure not to get caught, to which Hendar darkly warned her that the Chiss did not share her good humour when it came to their "unfortunate genetic flaws".
The pair were given a tour of the city, during which they attracted a lot of attention from the locals – Zhavi in particular given the rarity of non-Chiss on Ascendancy worlds.
Zhavi asked about the topic specifically, prompting Hendar to reveal that a mere one percent of Csilla's population belonged to species other than Chiss; on Copero, that percentage was considerably lower. Zhavi remarked that it was a shame, since Copero was a beautiful world.
Hendar also made sure to show them one of the local bars, making a point of addressing Zhavi directly when he talked about intoxication being no excuse for anti-social or illegal behaviour on Copero as it was on other worlds. After browsing the local markets briefly, Hendar escorted the pair to the office of Syndic Mitth'icini'inrokini for their appointment.
Zhavi was told to wait outside, and when she objected the guards on the door readied their weapons, prompting Isla to relent and tell Zhavi to back down, confident she could handle the meeting herself.
Once she entered the office, she was met with the stern gaze of her unfamiliar mother, Mitth'icini'inrokini, accompanied by a much younger male Chiss. Thicinii welcomed Isla home, formally introducing herself and her son, Mitth'arron'inrokini, Isla's second brother.
Tharron seemed to be genuinely pleased to see her, but that only seemed to irritate their mother, who was cold and aloof towards her long-lost daughter. Thicinii dismissed Tharron, leaving the two women alone.
Isla questioned why her mother had been so insistent on her returning to Copero, pointing out that even without the Force she would never fit in with Chiss society after being raised in Republic space. Thicinii explained that, while what she said was true, Isla was still her daughter and her absence had always pained her.
She went on to reveal how she and Isla's father had disagreed on how best to deal with her Force sensitivity when it first manifested; Thicinii had believed they could hide her talents long enough for her to rise to a position of influence and gain the authority she needed to shield Isla from those who would see her exiled, but her father was "too sentimental" and did not want to risk Isla being executed for using the Force before she was old enough to know any better.
To save her from that fate, Isla's father had taken her and fled Ascendancy space and – Thicinii later learned – died from injuries sustained during a pirate attack on the edge of Republic space, ensuring Isla was robbed of both her parents.
The revelation caught Isla off-guard, as until that moment the circumstances surrounding her birth had been a mystery she had accepted she was never likely to solve. Learning her father had died to give her the freedom she had enjoyed all her life upset her more than she thought possible.
Past events aside, Thicinii wanted to rekindle the bond between mother and daughter and had worked her way up to a position where she had the influence to integrate Isla into Chiss society despite what Thicinii referred to as her "impurities".
Aware Isla would not agree to being medicated, Thicinii had a compromise in mind; Isla could live on Copero, away from Copero City but with the right to visit for recreational and work purposes, in exchange for biological data the Chiss could use to research combating Force sensitivity, both biologically and in a more literal sense.
Isla questioned what the benefits were for her and though it was obvious to Thicinii she indulged the question nonetheless, explaining that she would have a home amongst her own people – where she belonged – and would be of service to the Chiss Ascendancy, all while living in comfort.
She would not need to work for the Republic or fear retribution from the Empire and – if nothing else – would be reunited with her family once again.
Thicinii also mentioned that, with time and effort on her part, she could also arrange for a decent match for Isla one day, which she was understandably quick to object to, pointing out that she had already found a match in Zhavi.
Unsurprisingly her mother scoffed at her objection and dismissed Zhavi as a distraction and an embarrassment, revealing that she had monitored both Isla and Zhavi for some time and knew of Zhavi's alcoholism and petty criminality – traits which only made her more abhorrent to the Chiss when cast onto the backdrop of her Force sensitivity and her failure as a Jedi.
Isla took great offence at Thicinii's condescending summary of her partner, actually raising her voice in anger, unintentionally highlighting that she was not like her mother or the rest of the Chiss.
Furthermore, she rejected her offer, telling her mother that although the Chiss might believe themselves superior to all others, where she came from superiority was proven through actions, not through barbed words spat from behind the safety of a desk or a defence fleet.
Isla concluded that it was a mistake for her to return to Copero – a statement Thicinii agreed with – before declaring her desire to leave, as she wanted to go back to her real home, where people actually wanted her around.
Thicinii honoured her assurance of safe passage and allowed her to depart peacefully, arranging accommodation for the night and for their ship to be refuelled by morning.
When Isla left and regrouped with Zhavi outside, she shrugged off her anger as being a result of the suggestion she would aspire to be a test subject – rather than the fact her mother's cruel words and unexpected revelations had actually upset her – and insisted she would rather not talk about it until she was a little calmer.
Hendar suggested they take a walk around the city, but reminded them to be conscious of their actions.
Given the warm climate of Copero they were quite content to loiter around aimlessly for the rest of the day, enjoying the weather and ignoring the constant observations of the local population, all of whom shamelessly stared at the duo as if they were zoo specimens.
Later in the day, Isla told Zhavi the truth about the meeting and Zhavi admitted she thought the offer was pretty good – aside from the part that cut her out of the equation. The Chiss assured her that the part of her that wanted to know her family was insignificant next to the part that wanted Zhavi in her life.
As they discussed the frosty reunion, the couple were approached by a female Chiss who introduced herself as Mitth'kriss'inrokini. She seemed unusually friendly (earning the pair's suspicion) but only asked about their life in Republic space, non-invasive questions mainly concerning their quality of life rather than their secretive work for the Republic.
She asked if they were happy and asked if they felt they – in their honest opinion – made worthwhile contributions to their society, to which they both responded with affirmative answers.
Unbeknownst to them both, Kriss' questions were not idle curiosity – Syndic Mitth'icini'inrokini had tasked her with gathering more information, and it was only after she had finished her questioning that Kriss revealed the truth – along with the fact that she was Isla's younger sister.
Like Tharron, she was pleased to meet her missing sister, and informed her that – after some reflection – her mother had decided she was willing to alter the terms of her offer to allow Zhavi to accompany Isla, should she choose to remain on Copero.
Zhavi was more open to the idea of living on the tropical world than Isla, but after some encouragement from both Zhavi and Kriss, Isla agreed, admitting that it would be nice to learn more about her people and – more specifically – her biological family. She clarified, however, that she could not simply abandon her duties elsewhere, and trusted that her mother would appreciate that her transition to Copero would not be immediate.
Kriss was confident that their mother had already factored in the likelihood of a postponement – remarking that their mother would respect her sense of duty – but promised to bring it to her attention all the same.
Her offer accepted, Thicinii's instructions were for Isla and Zhavi to be shown to their prospective home, a few miles off the coast on a small, unused island that had been their mother's private residence until their arrival. They were informed that on the island – in the privacy of one another's company – they were free to make use of their Force abilities, but only there and even then, it was discouraged.
Kriss reminded both women that Thicinii was taking a calculated risk by allowing them to stay; the more people who knew they were there, the more pressure Thicinii would face to prove their presence was of benefit to the Ascendancy.
With the warnings offered and terms loosely agreed, Isla and Zhavi were taken to the island by shuttle settled in for the evening. The pair cooked dinner together, enjoying a romantic seaside meal before turning in for the night and returning to Copero City and their ship early the next morning.
Oopta Freight Solutions
Oopta Freight Solutions were struggling for a long time. Shortly after Darth Aivela's death their fortunes inexplicably turned around, and rumours of their Imperial ties began to circulate.
—Evis Odé to Isla and Kassie.
Returning to duty, Isla partnered up with Kassie Kaadara for a mission to the underworld fuelling station Mek-Sha.
Undercover agents had come across information connecting a freight company – Oopta Freight Solutions – to the Sith Empire, more specifically the forces of Darth Madré, who had laid claim to the assets of her short-lived ally Darth Aivela, with Sera Artofen's blessing, after her defeat on Jum Tarra.
Kassie and Isla were to investigate the supposed connection, starting with a tour of the local bars. Combining Isla's observational and analytical skills with Kassie's street smarts and underworld know-how, the duo managed to navigate the underworld hub without too much difficulty, with only one altercation taking place when Isla was forced to put down an aggressively amorous Rodian.
After a few hours of (mostly) discreet questioning, they had not gleamed much from the cantina patrons, but word of their interest in Oopta Freight Solutions had got out and attracted the attention of an old ally.
Ramira Al-Zaidi took up a position outside the cantina in Slugfall Harbor, revealing herself to the pair when they emerged and remarking that no matter how hard they tried, they had the faces of privileged women that stood out amongst the crowds of born-and-bred underworld scum.
That being the case, Isla asked if she could be of assistance, and Ramira admitted that she felt she still owed her for uncovering her fiancée's duplicity, adding that cutting off Tharah's ring finger during the battle at Darth Aivela's castle had been one of the most satisfying moments of her long career.
She told them to try bay one-six-seven, ominously advising them to hurry if they did not want to be beaten to their prize.
It was only when they arrived at the hangar that they understood what Ramira had been alluding to; another operative was investigating the company, and they nearly came to blows when they ran into one another. Kassie raised her pistol but the operative was unbelievably fast for a non-Force users, knocking her blaster away and winding her with a swift punch to the gut.
Rather than capitalise, however, the operative removed her helmet instead, revealing herself to be another Chiss. She introduced herself as Evis Odé, sister-in-law of Master Avexiss Odé and a friend of the Republic.
She was investigating the same lead as they were, but for a separate division of the SIS; once she had learned SARB agents were on Mek-Sha she had refrained from moving in and contacted Ramira to have her point them to her location, ensuring they could work together to achieve the best possible outcome.
The team agreed to split up, with Kassie and Evis entering the hangar directly to distract Oopta Freight Solutions' forces while Isla crept behind their lines using the overhead walkways and sabotaged the hangar controls to prevent any ships from leaving. Isla snuck aboard one of the transports to inspect their cargo, learning that they were shipping large quantities of cortosis ore.
When she tried to make her way back to her allies to provide support she encountered a Sith waiting for her on the walkway.
Although Isla knew her senses were not as perceptive as most Force users, her senses were tuned enough to sense a strangeness in the Sith's presence, an unnatural aspect to his connection that made her nervous about facing him.
Fortunately, when she did, his skill with a lightsaber proved to be limited to the very basics of Shii-Cho, giving her time to try and work out what exactly what she was sensing.
Ultimately, however, she could not make heads or tails of what she felt, and once the duel was over Isla had more questions than answers.
Isla was again held up on her return to Evis and Kassie when she received a disturbing call from Samantha; an alliance of her political opponents were – according to intelligence gathered by the Cobbled Terentateks – mobilising their supporters to take the throne by force within a matter of hours.
At Bibi's insistence, Samantha had decided it was time to reach out to Isla to ask for help in dealing with the traitors.
The Chiss assured her she would return to Voryle as soon as possible, though Samantha suspected the coup would take place before she could reach her – she asked only that Isla help stop the conspirators from undoing her work, whatever happened.
Or worse, aligning Voryle with the Sith Empire.
By the time Isla finally got back to her allies, the Oopta Freight Solutions' hangar was secure, but Kassie had been stabbed in the abdomen during the skirmish, forcing the group to make a hasty retreat – abandoning the cortosis in the process.
Once they had retreated from Mek-Sha, Kassie was delivered to the nearest Republic medical facility while Evis made her way to Coruscant to report the group's findings, confirming the tip-off, even if the purpose of the cortosis remained unknown.
With Kassie in safe hands, Isla contacted Frank to report what had happened, then wasted little time departing for Voryle with his blessing – and an assurance that he would monitor the situation and send reinforcements if needed.
Civil War on Voryle
By decree of Kind Drahm, you're both under arrest on suspicion of espionage, terrorism, conspiracy to commit acts of terror, murder and perverting the course of justice. Slowly place your weapons on the ground, keeping your hands visible at all times, then take three steps forwards. You have five seconds to comply.
—Voryle customs agents to Isla and Zhavi.
Having been on Onderon to check in on Isla's parents (and rescue their missing Tooka) while Isla was busy on Mek-Sha, Zhavi picked Isla up when she arrived via public shuttle in Coronet, joining her in her mission to Voryle.
Almost immediately after disembarking, the couple were met by customs officials who had a warrant for their arrest on trumped up charges, apparently on the orders of one "King Drahm", the individual they presumed was spearheading the coup against Samantha.
Naturally they responded with defiance, certain that – given the chaos a coup would certainly cause – the authorities would be stretched too thin to keep track of them, giving them a chance to force their way through security and disappear while holding onto their illegal weaponry, which they knew they would need during their visit if they wanted to take on the government forces now under the command of "King Drahm".
Their first port of call was Countess LaLenna's estate, where they discovered the noblewoman was under house arrest, being too influential for the new king to simply execute without stirring up a full-blown revolution.
LaLenna informed the pair that Samantha and Bibi had escaped the attack on the palace but had been forced underground, pointing them towards their next destination; the headquarters of the Cobbled Terentateks, where Rissessk was helping coordinate the resistance movement that had risen up quite literally overnight in response to Drahm's behaviour.
The Trandoshan was glad to see the couple and happy – although unsurprised – that they had returned to the city in its hour of need.
He confirmed that Samantha and Bibi had not been killed by Drahm and had escaped through a hidden emergency tunnel leading into the sewers, but pointed out that Bibi would not let Samantha resurface if she was not certain it was safe to do so; as it stood, that certainty was lacking.
Emboldened by the chaos of civil war, the Rabid Akks had taken their chance to begin rapidly pushing back into the Cobbled Terentateks' territory, knowing the gang were too busy assisting the loyalists in their fight for control to defend their holdings across all the boroughs.
With Zhavi and Isla back in the fight, Rissessk believed they could cripple the Akks with a series of fierce counter-attacks that would drive them back long enough to give their allies and the civilians some breathing room.
To that end, Rissessk paired off with Zhavi to carve a bloody path through one borough, while Isla accompanied Bon-Yi and Carth to do the same elsewhere, pushing the Akks back easily enough given that they were still limited to homemade slugthrowers.
Once the Akks had been sufficiently muzzled, the lieutenants returned to coordinating their side of the civil war while Isla and Zhavi descended into the sewers to locate and secure the queen and her bodyguard.
Aided by the Force – and with Isla's intimate past with the recently crowned monarch providing her a useful familiarity with her presence in the Force – the seemingly impossible search through the underground labyrinth only took most of the night rather than most of the week.
And that was fortunate, as Samantha and Bibi were fleeing from one of Lord Artofen's leftover Sithspawn that had escaped beneath the city at some point, a starving Drakag that Isla and Zhavi were able to dispatch without too much trouble.
Briefly exchanging pleasantries and their gratitude, Samantha and Bibi expressed their concerns that a protracted civil war would destroy Voryle irreparably and provide both criminal factions and the Empire a window through which to inject their poisonous influence into the city.
Painful though it was, Samantha asked her friends if the Republic would be willing to offer support, and if they could do so without the queen betraying her people by paying for said support with her people's neutrality. Isla was unconvinced, but Zhavi suspected she knew someone who would be willing to help without condition; her parents.
Returning the queen and her bodyguard to the Cobbled Terentateks' headquarters, Zhavi had Samantha record a message requesting Republic assistance, which she then forwarded directly to Frank, who in turn relayed it to Zhavi's mother Nomi along with a formal request for support.
Knowing her mother as well as she did, Zhavi was banking on her acting first and seeking permission when it was too late for Republic command to say no or to leverage the situation to their advantage.
While she would be reprimanded severely for leading her men to a neutral world without consent from her superiors, that reprimand would not be particularly severe if she helped prevent the world's weapon shipments being redirected away from the Republic to be enjoyed exclusively by the Empire.
Nomi arrived a few days later with a small but well-trained and well-equipped group of volunteers from her battalion who landed with the help of the loyalist troops who had managed to temporarily secure the command centre for the orbital defence platforms.
They wasted little time on pleasantries and took immediate command of the resistance, intent on pushing into the palace to kill Drahm and end the conflict before it could develop into a full scale civil war.
With no standing army Drahm's forces were restricted to the police (many of whom were divided between the loyalists and the usurper's forces) with their high-end weapons and armour, yet against Republic soldiers – who had military weapons and training in their corner – they were little more than bandits.
Joined by the Cobbled Terentateks, loyalist defectors from the police, the civilian resistance movement and the synchronised efficiency of Isla and Zhavi, Nomi led her troops in an assault on the palace, paving the way for the two Force wielders to move in and arrest him on behalf of the legitimate monarch.
To their shock, Drahm was not guarded by more of his home-grown traitors.
Instead, he was protected by Sith similar to the one Isla had encountered on Mek-Sha, with something inexplicably different about the way they felt in the Force. These troops were something more refined, however, clad in full suits of black armour that – the couple soon realised – were made using cortosis, compensating for their limited skills with a lightsaber by making them resistant to conventional killing or disarming blows.
Even the strongest armour had its weak points, though; together Isla and Zhavi were able to exploit the gaps in their opponents' armour, outperforming and dispatching them both.
Without his Sith guardians Drahm was left defenceless, and though he begged for his life Zhavi ignored him.
Calmly, Zhavi impaled the self-proclaimed king who had tried to murder her friends, bringing an irrevocable end to Voryle's political instability and leaving the staunchly neutral population with a deeper appreciation of the Republic who had once again saved their world from the machinations of the Sith Empire.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, the Empire attempted a parting blow after Drahm's death; a Sith assassin was sent to the Cobbled Terentateks' headquarters, intent on murdering Samantha while her Jedi defenders were preoccupied. Fleeing to the roof of the train, Samantha was trapped until Rissessk caught up with the pair and intervened, dodging an attack and grabbing the Sith's weapon.
Tragically, aged as he was and unable to match the augmenting abilities available to the Sith, Rissessk knew he could not grapple with his opponent for long. Instead of trying and risking failure – which would lead to Samantha's death too – he surprised the Sith by turning the double-bladed weapon and activating it, sacrificing himself but ensuring that the Sith died with him.
Samantha fired a shot that sent the Sith flying off the roof and rushed to Rissessk's side, holding him as he succumbed to his injury, with Bibi arriving in time for the two to say their goodbyes. Isla and Zhavi found out about Rissessk's death later in the day, and both were saddened that they had not been present to save him.
Worse still was another matter that Bibi wished to discuss with the two Jedi.
A local asylum had been overrun by its patients and the entire complex locked down, leaving the authorities precious few options for dealing with the situation that did not involve storming the building, a course of action that Samantha was concerned would inevitably lead to a number of deaths.
Isla and Zhavi agreed to break in and secure the facility without killing the inmates, heading to the asylum with an ominous warning from Bibi that there was "something sinister" at the heart of the incident that they should not take lightly.
Once inside, both women sensed a wrongness in the air that matched Bibi's assertion and – incapacitating the maddened patients they encountered as they went – soon realised that the situation was more serious than a simple uprising of the mentally impaired.
Zhavi encountered reanimated corpses in the morgue, and when the couple regrouped at the lecture hall in the centre of the asylum they found two more guarding a man who appeared to be one of the facility's doctors. He differed, however, in that he was suffering from the visibly corrupting effects of the dark side, his skin cracked and pale and his eyes burning a fiery orange.
The Jedi were even more disturbed when the doctor slowly applauded their arrival, identifying them immediately as Jedi and welcoming them with a distorted voice.
Confused, Isla and Zhavi eventually realised – from his comments – that the entity inhabiting the doctor was what remained of Artem Phond, the Sith Isla had killed above the zoo years earlier, though they had no idea how he was clinging to the physical world or why he had only manifested now, so long after his death.
Oblivious to his situation as he seemed to be, he was nonetheless a threat that needed to be contained, and after dispatching his undead guardians Isla and Zhavi had little trouble restraining the unarmed doctor, who despite being possessed by Artem did not seem to have inherited any of his Sith abilities.
Upon securing the asylum, the couple called in the police to handle the situation and returned to Samantha and Bibi, sensing tension between them when they did. Bibi, against Samantha's wishes, revealed their speculation that her resurrection was the cause of the high number of patients admitted to the asylum – which backed onto the cemetery where she been laid to rest – in recent years.
Bibi believed that she had to die to undo the damage before more people got hurt, while Samantha refused to entertain the notion, unwilling to lose Bibi over what she saw as baseless speculation. Isla and Zhavi, neither of them well-versed in such things, reached out to Commander lambert for his assistance in dealing with the matter.
Arriving a few days later, Benjamin studied the cemetery and agreed with Bibi's assessment; he pointed out that it was impossible to be sure if Bibi's death would fix the wound in the Force created by Isla's use of the Four Bound Spirits to pull her from the Netherworld of the Force, but he knew of no other way that might.
Having brought the ancient orbs with him, Benjamin told the group he was willing to reverse what Isla did, but it had to be Bibi's choice to go through with it and advised her to think on it carefully, as there could be no guarantee. Bibi had already made her decision, however.
The group bid Bibi farewell at the cemetery, but before allowing her to go through with it Samantha arrived with a pastor, finally agreeing to marry the Cathar. Previously, Samantha had avoided the issue, not wishing to compromise her position as queen by marrying a commoner, something which the Vorylian aristocracy would be strongly against.
In light of recent events, however, she no longer cared, and the pair participated in a simple, brief ceremony to make their relationship a legal and binding one. Using the orbs, Benjamin then reversed the process that had restored Bibi to life, numbing her with the Force to ensure the transition was painless and returning her remains to her coffin – reburied after her resurrection – once it was over, marking the final death of Bibi D'callo.
Distraught, Samantha abdicated her position as queen to Countess LaLenna, ignoring all calls for her to reconsider. Instead, she declared her intention to leave Voryle behind her and venture out into the wider galaxy, leaving all of the memories that haunted her behind.
Isla and Zhavi stayed with her in the week leading up to her departure and had Benjamin send them a Kusak pup from his facility on Lok to keep Samantha company on her travels. When the time came, the couple waved the Twi'lek off as she launched her new ship – the Eternal Sovreign – and left Voryle's atmosphere for the first time.
Hit and Run
Darth Madré didn't do this... that vile witch Magda's the only one who could have set this up.
—Aaellu, speaking on the attack on Benjamin.
Gradual as their progress in uncovering the schemes of Darth Madré was, the forces of SARB were pleased with their recent successes and were optimistic about the future. Sadly, all that changed within a week of their victory on Voryle, in tragic fashion.
An unusual but seemingly harmless request had been directed to Frank's desk from elsewhere within the Republic hierarchy, a request for Benjamin to oversee a cargo delivery at the spaceport on Coruscant. Bizarre though it was the former Darth accepted the request in the hopes that it might have some as-yet-unseen benefits to the relationship between SARB and the various other agencies of the Republic.
Once the delivery was underway, however, a more sinister motive became apparent.
A civilian flying an illegally modified speeder left the designated lanes overhead and swooped down to the pedestrian area outside the spaceport near the senate plaza. The modifications were such that the usual sounds of the speeder's movements were greatly reduced, giving Benjamin little time to react when it hurtled into him at incredible speed, colliding with him and leaving him in critical condition.
The scene was quickly secured by a CSF officer &ncash; whom the Force user had pushed aside in the brief moment he had to react, saving his life – and Benjamin was rushed to hospital for urgent medical care, during which time he was placed in a medically-induced coma to try and stabilise his condition. Thankfully, this proved to be beneficial, though Benjamin remained in intensive care.
Isla and Zhavi rushed to Coruscant after hearing the news, believing it to be the work of Darth Madré. Aaellu, understandably distraught about the attack, was in the midst of a Force-augmented rage when the couple arrived and once had calmed her down, she pointed the finger at a Jedi Master named Magda.
She explained that she and Benjamin had crossed paths with Master Magda and her followers a short time ago, all of whom belonged to a sect of Jedi Shadows who were pursuing a Sith artefact known as the Scepter of Ragnos.
A Sith assassin they had encountered during their own search had tricked them into raiding one of the Jedi's hidden encampments, but on realising their mistake they had attempted to disengage. The Jedi, however, were unwilling to let them compromise the secrecy of their operations, forcing Aaellu and Benjamin to kill the Jedi Shadows in self-defence.
Rather than admit her followers were at fault, the aged Master Magda had contacted Benjamin personally to threaten him and warn him that he had made an enemy of the Jedi.
Aaellu was certain the speeder crash – committed by a law-abiding citizen with no memory of the incident, who Benjamin had somehow been unable to sense the intentions of and with no connections that could explain his apparent access to the illegal speeder modifications used for the attack – was orchestrated by the Jedi Master and her agents in retaliation over the loss of her operatives.
Benjamin suspected Madré now held the scepter, however, and as eager as Aaellu was to kill Master Magda the Dark Lord's activities had become more overt, with several attacks on minor border worlds being carried out by a legion of her new "Ascension troopers".
These new troopers were accompanied by intelligent and ruthless beast companions that bore an alarming resemblance to the crystalline Sithspawn conceived and manufactured by the late Darth Aivela – and her apprentice, Darth Artofen.
Aaellu briefly returned home to support Benjamin's children, while Avexiss Odé returned from her work in Imperial territory to guard him while he was in hospital, knowing Master Magda and believing she was ruthless enough to murder Benjamin in his sleep if given the chance.
She also warned the group that she had been investigating Madré's activities from within the Empire, and had heard that the scepter was reportedly able to harness the ambient Force energy at any Force-strong location and redistribute it elsewhere – such as into Force-blind soldiers.
Given Isla and Zhavi's encounter on Voryle and the sudden emergence of Madré's new breed of Sith servants, they suspected Avexiss' gossip was – disturbingly – accurate intelligence on the Dark Lord's schemes.
Princess Imke Ulgo of Alderaan
This way princess!
—Zhavi, to Imke Ulgo.
Two weeks after the attempt on Benjamin's life, Zhavi and Isla were assigned to protect an Alderaanian noble, as a bodyguard and decoy respectively.
Initially the identity of the noble was a closely guarded secret, but once the pair reported to Alderaan they were briefed about the situation in person and learned that the noble had been the target of several assassination and kidnap attempts already.
When they learned her identity, they understood why there was so much commotion; the noble was Princess Imke Ulgo, the – until recently – secret daughter of the deposed usurper Bouris Ulgo.
Although Ulgo's reign had been widely condemned as illegitimate, Imke Ulgo was still regarded as a threat by many members of the other Alderaanian houses, and she was still widely addressed as "princess" by those who knew her.
Unfortunately, thanks to her father and his troops, revelations of Imke's existence had generated enough anger amongst Alderaanians that her life was in constant danger, even from members of houses whose leadership had pledged to help the young woman.
Worse still were the attempts by the remaining forces of House Ulgo to kidnap the princess in the hopes of legitimising their activities, further fuelling the rage of those who believed she should be punished for her father's crimes and saw the kidnapping attempts as an effort to "rescue" her.
As she would never be safe on Alderaan, Imke had elected to leave to escape persecution and the dark shadow cast by her father's reign, accepting an invitation from a businessman on Chandrila – who was a well-respected philosopher, patron of many charities at home and abroad and a patriotic supporter of the Galactic Republic – to relocate and work with him on his charitable endeavours.
In spite of her father's removal from the throne, Imke had been left a considerable sum of credits and heirlooms to ensure she was well looked after in the event of her father's death. Imke had chosen to donate the heirlooms to the archives of House Alde; it was Imke – and the credits she had at her disposal – who needed transportation.
Given that none of the houses could guarantee their people would not attempt to harm her, House Organa allowed the Republic to temporarily lock down Pallista Spaceport while they made the necessary preparations, lessening the chance of infiltrators getting aboard the corvette the princess would be travelling aboard.
Nonetheless, the Republic expected that assassins would already be onboard the vessel and so only the highest ranking Republic personnel involved in the operation were aware of Zhavi and Isla's role.
Being of similar physiques, Isla took Imke's place in her quarters while the princess herself was disguised as an engineer and – alongside Zhavi, disguised similarly – hidden on the engineering deck.
Short as the journey was, when the attack came it quickly became evident that the Republic would not reach Chandrila; the assassin was not alone, and he did not hail from Alderaan either.
Isla was the one to raise the alarm when the assassin killed the guards posted outside her quarters and began cutting through the door with a lightsaber. Once inside, she revealed her deception, angering the Sith not only because he had been tricked but also because he recognised her.
When his face shifted to reveal he was in fact a Clawdite, Isla was able to piece together the facts and recognise him as well.
Cell Bassol, an assassin working for Sith Intelligence and a former colleague, had no qualms about taking time away from his mission to eliminate a traitor and launched into action. Meanwhile, Imperial infiltrators revealed themselves, having replaced an entire platoon of Republic troops at some point prior to the corvette's departure, prompting the captain of the ship to send a distress signal and sabotage the ship's controls before the bridge was captured.
Massacring the crew without hesitation or remorse, Zhavi was forced to disobey her orders and reveal herself as a Jedi to defend Imke and the engineers and, in doing so, allowed the Imperials to identify their target. Regrettably, Zhavi's focused defence of Imke prevented her from keeping the engineers alive – or from protecting the volatile components housed in the engineering deck.
Regardless, while Isla dispatched her former comrade Zhavi and Imke were able to evade the Imperial agents and reach the port side hangar, boarding a shuttle whilst under fire and escaping to the safety provided by Republic reinforcements deployed from Chandrila in response to the distress call.
Isla remained trapped aboard the doomed vessel, however, and was forced to take drastic action to ensure she survived.
Coordinating with Zhavi via comms, Isla directed the reinforcing corvette into position outside the window of her borrowed quarters and ordered them to send a medical team to the starboard hangar in preparation.
Then, once she was confident everything was in place, Isla used a blaster rifle taken from one of the fallen Republic soldiers to destroy the damaged window, causing her to be sucked out into space at high speed due to the rapid decompression.
Projected like a slugthrower round, Isla travelled between ships rapidly, narrowly missing the beginning of a series of explosions that culminated in the princess' vessel being engulfed in a short-lived cloud of fire. Even so, the Chiss started to succumb to the effects of vacuum exposure just as rapidly, and by the time she passed through the hangar's forcefield she had passed out.
Thankfully Zhavi was there waiting alongside the medical team as the corvette's artificial gravity took hold and sent her plummeting – head-first – towards the deck, ensuring she was intercepted before she could sustain any further injuries.
Following a brief observation period, Isla was released from the medbay and Zhavi remarked on both the bravery and uncharacteristic boldness of her plan, commending her for a job well done.
Once the ship arrived safely at their destination, Imke thanked the couple, wished them well and promised they would be welcomed as friends if they ever decided to visit Chandrila. Transferring to the custody of a local security team, Imke than departed for the planet's surface via shuttle.
Pondering the odds of them – of all people – befriending yet another member of a planet's nobility given their respective backgrounds, Zhavi and Isla remained aboard the ship as it made its return journey to Coruscant.
Assault on the Crystal Nest
Alright, listen up 'cause I've not got time to tell you this twice; Madré's forces have just been spotted entering the Commenor system. I want you en route inside of ten minutes. Additional operatives will be joining you there, then after that... make 'em pay.
—Frank, regarding Madré's attack on Commenor.
It was only days after the attempt on Benjamin's life that Darth Madré's ships arrived in the Commenor system, intent on conquering Commenor for the Empire. With Petrichor forces on standby, they were quick to respond, with Isla and Zhavi attending a short holo-briefing from aboard their ship, during which Frank informed them of the attack and ordered them to head to Commenor immediately, where the rest of their team would be gathering in preparation for an assault on the incoming vessels.
When they arrived, they were quickly directed to a landing platform where the assault team was gathering. Led by Aaellu, the couple were joined by Khruukunu, Kassie, Evis and Ah'rek Odé, Avexiss' older brother, who was also a Jedi Master, which Zhavi found comforting.
The team boarded a shuttle and launched, cutting through the conflict in orbit and heading straight for the vessel identified as the command ship, a Gage-class transport called the Crystal Nest that showed external signs of modification, signifying it was special in some unknown way. As they drew closer, Aaellu began to sense the frenzied minds of animals imprisoned aboard, hinting that the Imperial intended to drop a large amount of the Aivela-Artofen Sithspawn onto the surface once the Republic fleet was sufficiently weakened.
Thus began the race against time; the Petrichor team burst out of the shuttle the moment it crashed down in the command ship's hangar, carving a molten path through the helpless guards who stood between them and the door.
Fast as they were, the commanding officer in the security station had been briefed on the possibility of Jedi boarders and had specific orders to vent the hangar immediately if they managed to land. It was only thanks to his brief moral dilemma and the timely intervention of a conflicted Ascension Trooper that the Petrichor team survived Madré's contingency orders at all, and when they left the hangar they found themselves face-to-face with the traitor who'd saved their lives, a Twi'lek woman wearing Imperial armour.
Aaellu was about to cut her down when Isla intervened, sensing that the woman was not hostile and felt overwhelmingly conflicted. The woman, Kara Regent, told them she'd shot the hangar control room crew, and now didn't know what to do, claiming she'd made a snap decision to help them that'd made sure she couldn't return. Isla said she could prove her loyalty by helping, but Aaellu refused to work with her, threatening her before splitting off from the group to rush for the bridge.
Ah'rek invited Kara to join him, and the rest of the team split off, Kassie and Evis joining Ah'rek and Kara while Isla and Zhavi took Khruukunu with them. The latter group made for the engineering deck to sabotage the vessel while the former aimed to tackle the comm centre, only to accidentally stumble across one of the transport's laboratories, where they discovered a crop of modified Hssiss growing in incubation tanks.
Meanwhile, Aaellu thundered towards the bridge. For a while Aaellu did not report in at all, but when she did she announced that the ship's Sith commanders Arden Yox and Zane Lambert had been removed from command, being dead and incapacitated, respectively. She also reported that a Harrower-class dreadnought had jumped into the system and shuttles were headed for the Crystal Nest.
Darth Madré's Last Stand
This time I'll deliver the final blow myself!
—Lord Artofen, during her duel with Isla.
The shuttles soon arrived, loosing reinforcements onto the ship to cage the Petrichor forces. At the head of this new wave was Lord Sera Artofen, Lord Tharah Odé, Lord Tark Jaggentire and, most terrifyingly, Yami Jaggentire, a Dark Jedi who Zhavi had had a brief affair with on Coruscant before striking her down. She'd survived that through sheer will alone, defying death until Zhavi had arrived on Dxun, at which point she was again defeated, this time for good.
That she had been revived somehow hinted at the true potential of the Scepter of Ragnos, but Isla had greater concerns, namely Sera Artofen's laser-like focus on murdering her. Artofen was, in all respects, a superior combatant, with a Force potential that had multiplied tenfold through her alchemical experiments since their first meeting on Voryle, leaving Isla hard-pressed just to survive against her overwhelming abilities.
Meanwhile, as the Petrichor forces engaged Madré's strongest Sith, Aaellu fought the Dark Lord herself on the bridge of the Crystal Nest, besting her Jurgoran bodyguards before engaging the elder Pureblood in a destructive final battle that eventually spread out through the viewing window and onto the ship's hull. Due to the earlier sabotage, the ship began to collapse around the group during their duels, suspending the confrontation when all of the combatants were tossed around and badly beaten.
As Kassie helped Khruukunu get to his feet and move to leave, Tharah – the only one who got back up in a timely fashion – stabbed the wounded Felucian in the back, dealing him a mortal blow that sent Zhavi into a blind fury, so much so that she physically charged the Twi'lek and gouged her eyes out with her thumbs before she had any time to react, leaving the Lord blinded and screaming. Khruukunu died in Zhavi's arms despite her attempts to heal him, and even though the transport was both disintegrating and descending with equal speed, Zhavi refused to leave him to go down with the ship, carrying him out despite her own injuries.
The Petrichor team escaped the wreckage before it plummeted into Commenor's ocean, detonating moments later when the reactor core was finally overcome by its damage and taking the menagerie of Sithspawn still sealed inside with it. Aaellu also escaped the crash in time, regrouping with the team at a pre-agreed rendezvous point a few miles down the coast to confirm that Darth Madré was dead and the Scepter of Ragnos had been recovered. Aaellu declared that she had no intention of turning the artefact in, however, stating that she had no faith in the Jedi or the Republic to hold onto such a powerful relic without losing it, neglecting it or abusing it.
Unwilling to destroy something so precious and ancient regardless of the deadly potential it possessed, Aaellu used the Force to throw it out to sea instead, where it would remain hidden for several thousand years, awaiting the day fate called it out of from the depths for one final conflict.
Shadows of the Jedi
You will turn the artefacts Mister Lambert recovered over to the custody of the Jedi Order. If you do not, I will begin executions. Starting with the young woman. Then the boy. Then the girl. Then the infant.
—Master Magda.
Within an hour of their victory, Aaellu received a call from someone unexpected; Jedi Master Magda. The elderly Jedi Shadow revealed that she was aware of Aaellu's actions on Commenor, and expressed her disgust at her blatant defiance of the Jedi Order's 'right' to the Scepter of Ragnos. Despite the loss, Magda had learned the scepter's fate by torturing the information out of Frank, and in doing so had learned of the Four Bound Spirits.
She went on to tell her that Frank had given her the location of Aaellu and Benjamin's home, then widened the hologram to reveal her hostages; Alucia, Ben and Acina Lambert, along with their babysitter Sarna Ordina. Magda instructed her to turn over the artefacts or she would kill all four of hostages, one by one, a demand with which Aaellu was forced to comply. She told Magda that the artefacts were on Farrow's moon, where her home was located, but that Benjamin had protected them to prevent them from simply being taken.
To that end, Aaellu promised to return home and guide Magda to the orbs personally.
With an agreement reached and the call ended, Isla and Zhavi broke their silence to protest, reminding her that the orbs would give Magda powers that would make her unstoppable, a power she clearly wasn't fit to possess. Aaellu assured them she didn't intend to let the Jedi win so easily, but also made it clear that if it came to a choice between giving her the orbs or letting her children be murdered, she would readily present the artefacts.
However, she had a plan in mind. A small hypergate created using technology salvaged by the Empire on Oricon connected Aaellu and Benjamin's apartment in Tyrena with their home on Farrow's moon. Aaellu would go through first to lead Magda to the orbs, after which Isla would follow and assess the situation stealthily before briefing Zhavi and bringing her through to deal with the guards Magda would not doubt leave behind to watch the children.
Once Aaellu had confirmation that the children were safe, she could avenge Benjamin and remove the threat Magda posed permanently.
The group wasted no time departing for Corellia, nervously enacting Aaellu's plan, leaving Isla and Zhavi with an awkward, seemingly endless. Once the fifteen minutes agreed upon had elapsed, Isla veiled herself from sight and stepped through the hypergate portal, instantly moving from Corellia to Wild Space, to the private residence of Benjamin and Aaellu.
Once inside, Isla located the children and their guardian and took note of their captors and the room layout before reporting back to explain it to Zhavi on Corellia. Satisfied they were as ready as they could be, the duo went through the portal together. Isla continued to employ her stealth ability, while Zhavi made use of the Chiss' unneeded stealth field generator to hide, albeit imperfectly.
Isla moved first, positioning herself behind one of the Jedi before Zhavi followed, being spotted as she got close due to the generator's imperfect cover and her inability to hide her presence as Isla could. The Jedi focused on Zhavi, as intended, moving their lightsaber blades to point them at her in warning and prompting her to reveal herself, creating a distraction. Isla ignited her blade through one of the Jedi, allowing Zhavi to attack the second with the Force.
Having got the children clear of the immediate danger, Isla and Zhavi rushed the guard before he could get back to his feet, easily overwhelming him with their combined strength. As they untied the children and reassured them that they were safe from harm, Aaellu contacted them, warning them that Magda had claimed the artefacts from their hiding place and disappeared, leaving the fate of the galaxy and the balance of power in the hands of a single, zealous old Jedi.
Isla, Zhavi and Aaellu regrouped at the house, contacting the rest of Petrichor to warn them about what was coming.
Lost Enclave
It was a noble attempt, Master Magda. But you know well that there is no death..."
"Only... the Force...
—Isla and Magda, in the latter's final moments.
When the group contacted Frank – and after a furious Aaellu had scolded him for giving away their secrets to the Jedi – they were provided with a potential lead. Frank had immediately begun researching Master Magda after Petrichor forces had first crossed paths with her, and thanks to her more cooperative Jedi peers he had access to her personnel record, from which he believed he had discerned Magda's whereabouts.
Recent intelligence suggested she had made repeated trips to Chandrila, and according to her file she started her career at an ancient enclave located on Chandrila that had since been abandoned. Isla agreed with Frank's assessment that she would likely retreat there before putting the orbs to use for whatever nefarious scheme she had in mind.
They all agreed they needed to act quickly, but likewise they all knew that with all four of the orbs in her possession even Aaellu – the strongest amongst them – could be destroyed with the mere flick of Magda's wrist. Even attacking together with all of their allies would be insignificant. Magda was, quite literally, unstoppable.
Which prompted Isla to propose a smarter strategy.
Having the orbs augmenting her Force abilities meant Isla's skill at hiding her presence in the Force would be diminished if she tried to sneak up on Magda, but with a sufficient distraction she was confident the Jedi Master would not notice her presence, and as she didn't know of Isla she wouldn't be expecting her. Frank was sure he could call in a few favours to gather up Republic military forces to join them for an attack on the enclave too, though admitted that there would be consequences later, as using the military to deal with Magda would be considered wasteful during wartime, especially given that the only crime they could realistically tie her to was the attempt on Benjamin's life.
Nonetheless the team knew that the orbs needed to be sealed away again, or at the very least taken out of the hands of an extremist like Master Magda, consequences be damned. Without a better plan, the group agreed to converge on Chandrila and launch a ground assault on the enclave, giving Magda a larger threat to focus her senses on. Her followers were designated priority targets; injured or killed, they would further distract their master's focus and improve Isla's odds.
Zhavi was the only one to object, making little effort to hide that she didn't want to risk Isla's life and reminding them that, if caught, Isla would not be able to retaliate or defend herself at all. She would simply die. Isla took Zhavi aside and did her best to comfort her, reminding her that, once upon a time, she had tried to convince Isla to leave the Sith Empire believing she could redeem her. Now, Isla had an opportunity to do just that.
Isla arrived on Chandrila several hours before the rest of the Republic forces arrived, travelling to the enclave's location on foot and waiting, hidden, nearby until the battle commenced. Unexpectedly, Magda and her Shadows had somehow acquired the support of the local garrison, but given how prominently the Jedi Master's presence was to Isla, even from afar, she suspected the forces were readying for battle against their will, compelled to fight against their comrades thanks to the power of the artefacts.
Thankfully, the battle was to be short-lived.
Sneaking into the enclave, Isla was able to locate Master Magda and finally discover why she'd been so fixated on acquiring the Scepter of Ragnos – and then the orbs once the scepter was out of her reach. Gathered in the ruins in their hundreds were the mortal remains of Jedi of all ranks who had fallen over the decades since the Sith Empire had returned, their bodies ceremonially bound in white cloth with their lightsabers resting atop in a grim memorial.
While her forces held off the attackers outside, Magda meditated at the heart of her macabre collection of bodies, slowly connecting with the residual Force energy held in the bones of each fallen Jedi, spreading her own presence outwards so that she could use the orbs to restore their lives in unison and rebuild the Jedi Order in a single, defining moment. Isla could not blame her, having done the same once herself, but with Magda at the helm Isla knew the new Jedi Order she was spawn would only be even more regimented, militant and zealous than the last.
Ignoring her own prejudice against the Jedi and their archaic ways, Isla knew that Magda – whatever her intentions – was not a suitable host for the orbs. Not only was she fanatical, but she was also visibly disintegrating, just as Isla had been when she tried to harness the immeasurable power the Four Bond Spirits imbued on whoever tried to contain them.
Fortunately her struggle to hold the orbs only added to her distractions; Isla crept behind her and ran her through with her lightsaber, dealing a fatal blow and leaving Magda with a few moments to comprehend the fact that her plan would never come to pass. Isla pitied her as she lay dying in her arms, and commended the sentiment she'd fought for, but reminded her that her plan would go directly against the beliefs of her own order – specifically their belief that there was no death, only the Force.
As Master Magda took her last breath, the orbs left her body and reacquired a physical form, leaving Isla little choice but to claim them one last time and use them to teleport back to Farrow's moon as the possessed troops outside laid down their arms.
Aaellu had remained with her children at her home in Wild Space, unwilling to leave them so soon after their ordeal, although she had maintained constant contact with Frank to monitor the battle from afar. Their plan for the aftermath was virtually non-existent, but as the strongest Force user in their group by far aside from their leader, Aaellu was the only potential candidate to act as host for the orbs until Benjamin recovered and could seal them away again.
So Isla transferred the orbs to her care and, despite a brief moment of uncertainty as Aaellu struggled to get the rebellious energy under control, the Four Bound Spirits were once again contained and safely out of the hands of those who would abuse their power, ensuring the shared obsession with resurrecting the dead both factions had latched on to had come to a conclusive and welcome end.
End of an Era
The Lambert Wedding
I approve of some of those ideas. I disapprove of many, and I am outright forbidding some. Chief amongst them the strippers and the... excitable headgear."
"This is gonna be a lousy hen party...
—Isla and Zhavi discussing ideas for Aaellu's bachelorette party.
Darth Madré's defeat once again thwarted the biological weaponry pioneered by Darth Aivela, and Master Magda's death was mourned by the oblivious Jedi Order as a tragic morality lesson on how even the wisest could fall from grace, none knowing the real reason she'd been marked for death. With the most dire threats to the galaxy averted, Project Petrichor had, for the time being, become an unnecessary asset for active operations, Frank ceasing any and all operations for the foreseeable future.
For directing forces to Chandrila, where the exact nature of the short civil war between friendly forces still had not been determined, Frank faced a significant backlash from the Director of the SIS due to the friction the incident had caused between the military and the intelligence agency. Even though the Director had been briefed on the situation in full, the explanation – though trusted – was not one the military would believe or accept, and thus Frank had volunteered to resign and take the brunt of the fallout to spare the Director.
In part, this decision was also driven by his run-in with Master Magda. Her ruthless interrogation had highlighted that he was too old to continue and that it was time for him to enjoy his retirement while someone younger and more fit for the rigours of duty took over. Added to his own shortcomings, Frank was plagued by guilt over endangering the lives of Benjamin and Aaellu's children, the former not only being a work colleague for some time but also, to Frank, a personal friend.
Both Aaellu and Benjamin – once he was well enough to receive visitors – had written off the incident as part of the job, with Aaellu even apologising for giving him a hard time about it in the immediate aftermath. Neither wanted him to leave his post, especially not on their account, but despite protestations from the couple and the other members of Project Petrichor, Frank was insistent that it was time to pass the torch.
Sad as it was for the team, there was an upside; Frank would continue to serve while he trained up his replacement, Zhavi's younger brother Carth Waverunner, a friendly and familiar face that would ensure the change in leadership was as smooth as possible.
Two months after Benjamin was attacked, he was finally discharged from hospital and a firm date was set for his and Aaellu's wedding. Aaellu invited Isla and Zhavi to help her plan the wedding, as her people celebrated love and commitment somewhat differently and did not really have "marriage" in the same way the wider galaxy did. Isla was less than enthusiastic but, out of politeness and feeling that she would need to reign in whatever her eager girlfriend had in mind, agreed to help her friend, having to talk Zhavi out of some of her more crass bachelorette party ideas within a day of volunteering their time.
They also decided that perhaps it was time they started building a life for themselves rather than living out of a ship between missions. Lord Artofen was still alive but after aligning herself with two failed initiatives using the same technological advances she had helped create, Isla suspected support for schemes would be minimal for years to come, ensuring that the threats to the Republic remained mundane enough for the military, SIS and Jedi to work with without ongoing Petrichor support.
Thus, Isla suggested they contact her mother about transferring to Copero, a suggestion Zhavi cheerfully agreed with, though she reminded her they had additional details to iron out, including the promise they had made to Kol and Mirris. Before doing anything about relocating, they agreed it was high time they made a move to start keeping their word regarding training for the pair, and while en route to the colony on Farrow to visit the soon-to-be-married couple they stopped by Voryle to pick up the children, both of whom were thrilled about the prospect of simply leaving Voryle and going into space.
When they arrived on Farrow Benjamin shared his plans for the colony, an expensive and ambitious plan that involved transitioning Magenta Sparrow Innovations from a corporate entity into a government one, using the money and resources of the company to forge the infrastructure needed to develop Farrow from a dependant colony into a flourishing, self-supporting world without raping the planets natural resources and upsetting the local ecosystem, including Aaellu's tribal brethren.
Naturally, as good friends of Lambert's, he told them they would always be welcome on Farrow, and encouraged them to stay a while and begin training their young wards, providing them with the lightsabers of the late Master Magda for use in their instruction and asking them to redeem the weapons.
It had been three months since Magda's attack when the day of the wedding finally arrived, with family, friends, allies and citizens of Farrow arriving en masse to celebrate the union of Aaellu and Benjamin Lambert. Isla and Zhavi had all but single-handedly arranged the occasion to spare Aaellu the stress, and had decided – in light of all the danger the couple faced regularly – to hold the ceremony on Farrow, Aaellu's home world and a world from which their new home could be seen orbiting overhead.
They also leaned heavily into a nature-theme to reflect Aaellu's past as a local tribeswoman and the couple's shared inclination towards connecting with the natural world through the Force, made all the more evident by the number of their animal companions who were in attendance at the wedding, much to the worry of many of the guests. The ceremony took place beside a small lake and beneath the branches of one of the local trees, a large breed whose leaves were bio-luminescent and so began to glow as the sun went down.
After the ceremony, conducted by Master Ah'rek, was concluded, the group were led to Farrow's town hall, where the reception was held and Zhavi's contributions to the day's planning were more evident, but not unwelcome. Isla spent most of the night dancing with Zhavi and intercepting whenever the twins attempted to sneakily acquire alcohol from the other guests. Eventually, the couple ended up sitting down outside the party where she and the children talked about their ideas for the future until, inevitably, the night caught up with the twins.
Not wanting to wake them, Isla and Zhavi remained where they were until they too succumbed to their combination of tiredness and alcohol.
Personnel Reallocation
Let me be the first to officially welcome you to the team, Kara. You're clearly fitting in well already and I don't doubt that before long, the Republic will feel like it's always been your home.
—Ah'rek Odé to Kara Regent after the approval of her assignment to Project Petrichor.
Towards the end of the year Isla and Zhavi were assisting the Republic in a minor capacity, tackling small threats to free up the military and local law enforcement on the various Republic worlds, who were perpetually busy with the war going on.
Over the course of these engagements, Zhavi managed to convince Isla to accept a wager over who could defeat more opponents, proposing the idea at the opportune moment when the Chiss was in the best and most receptive of moods, suckering her in to a bet that – based on past history – she was certain to lose.
Which she did, to neither Zhavi's surprise nor Isla's. As a result, she was forced to accept the losing conditions and receive a tattoo of Zhavi's choosing; a humorous – but crude – pair of sentences strategically placed on her backside. During the tattooing process she lamented that she would never understand why she kept allowing herself to accept such obviously one-sided wagers from her criminal girlfriend, to which Zhavi responded by saying it was one of her most lovable traits.
To be a good sport Zhavi also decided to get a tattoo so Isla was not suffering the discomfort alone. Unlike Isla's tattoo, however, Zhavi kept her choice secret until it was completed. When she showed Isla the finished design – a stylised love heart near her collarbone that incorporated Isla's name into the image – the Chiss actually cried for the first time since Voryle, and for the first time ever publicly, prompting her to teasingly call the Jedi a "heartless bastard" for eliciting such a response.
Insisting that they move on from her "emotional leakage" – a phrase which extracted one of Zhavi's trademark innuendos – the pair were stuck on what to do to kill time, as they had a gathering arranged for later that evening, a farewell party of sorts before they left Republic space to begin their life on Copero. They decided, at Isla's suggestion for a change, to loiter in a bar for the next few hours, numbing the ache of their new body art until the time came to return to their hotel to get ready.
Later that evening, they ventured out to a local nightclub, arriving early to make sure they were there when the newest Petrichor recruits showed up. Ah'rek was joining them permanently as their new field commander, replacing Benjamin who was on indefinite leave, and bringing with him his husband, Harlem Minstyngar. Kassie, Carth and even Damascus (who had smuggled himself out of Imperial space especially) were also attending, but Isla and Zhavi were most concerned about the youngest recruit.
Kara Regent, the Twi'lek who saved them on the Crystal Nest, had finally had her citizenship approved and processed after months of bureaucracy. She had been nervous about defecting, which being treated with suspicion and held in an immigration detainment centre for supposed defectors had only exacerbated. On top of her whole life being thrown up in the air and being marked for death by her former comrades and superiors, Kara had also been one of the troopers "gifted" the power of the Force from the Scepter of Ragnos.
She had been the lover of Zane Lambert, Benjamin's nephew, which was how she had ended up being selected for "ascension", but after Arden Yox had revealed Zane's ongoing affair with him she had felt conflicted, ultimately deciding that she believed what Yox had told her and was not going to stand for it.
Suffice to say, her frame of mind had been poor of late, hence Isla and Zhavi's desire to be there waiting when she arrived. Zhavi was concerned she would not show up at all, but Isla suspected the opposite; as a former Imperial, she would arrive early too. A prediction that proved to be accurate.
Thanks to her bond with Zhavi, Isla found herself hugging Kara as her partner did, an increasingly irritating side-effect of their deep link to one another that they had started experiencing the more time they shared together. On the upside, however, Kara's anxiety began to fade dramatically after the greeting, and as the others arrived and the group started drinking Kara began to let her guard down and start bonding with her new teammates, grateful for their collective welcoming attitude and their advice on her newfound Force powers.
After Kassie and Damascus offered to walk Kara back to her hotel room, Isla and Zhavi (having started drinking several hours before the others) decided it was time to stagger to bed after Zhavi threw up in the bathroom. To their confusion, when they woke the next morning they received a visitor, the Bothan Jedi Master Kutri O'a, who claimed the Force had called him to them to assist them in making a holocron, though admitted the Force had "been vague" on which of them needed to make the device.
Given their unique connection, Isla asked – Zhavi suffering a hangover that left her disinterested in anything other than her recovery – if they could make a holocron together, and though Master O'a muttered for a time about the complexity he eventually replied by saying that it was possible, albeit unconventional, though conceded – to the sound of Zhavi retching in the bathroom – that they were indeed unconventional. Isla suggested they meet him later in the afternoon to give herself and Zhavi a chance to get their bearings.
When they did, he tried to help them meditate to achieve what he called a Susheer State, but both women found it difficult to focus thanks to the silence Master O'a had sought out for their meditation spot. The chirpy Jedi Master adapted fast, though, and instead took them to a rooftop adjacent to a busy skylane, where the erratic sounds of city life allowed the pair to calm their minds and achieve the soothing clarity they needed to begin the creation of their shared holocron.
To help with the process, Master O'a asked the pair a series of questions to which he needed their response. Due to their higher mental state at the time, the differences in their answers were filtered down to a core, singular response that both had unconsciously agreed to, allowing the creation of a holocron with two gatekeepers that argued with one another, exchanged ideas with one another and ultimately reached agreements and conclusions with one another, just as Isla and Zhavi did themselves.
The pair thanked Master O'a, asking if he wanted to stay in their room overnight given how late it was by the time they had finished, but the quirky Bothan politely declined, claiming that the Force had told him he needed to be on the ocean floor of Dac in twelve hours before complaining about how the Force did not seem to be concerned with how heavy Bothan fur got when wet.
Surprised, baffled, amused and touched all at once, the couple walked Master O'a to the spaceport before bidding him farewell, thankful for the rather poetic gift he had given them to take into their new life on Copero.
Forests of Endor
This is a personal matter. One of friendship. I know the two of you will understand that better than anyone else.
—Urthan Reynolds, to Isla and Zhavi, shortly before inviting them to accompany him to Endor.
In 32 ATC, Isla and Zhavi were contacted by Master Urthan Reynolds with a request for assistance with a personal errand that had the potential to be dangerous.
A powerful Jedi Master with decades of experience, Master Reynolds nonetheless believed that additional forces would be required to ensure a safe journey, yet was reluctant to involve less controversial Jedi given the personal nature of the trip he had planned. Reynolds had consulted the knowledgeable Jedi Master Gnost-Dural; Isla and Zhavi's names had been given as ideal – albeit unorthodox – candidates.
They agreed to assist the aging Cathar, picking him up on Tatooine – along with his short, furry companion – before setting off for a location provided by the Jedi Master, an Outer Rim world called Endor.
Master Reynolds explained that his mysterious companion was from a short-lived species who lived a primitive lifestyle and knew nothing of the wider galaxy, save for what they learned from the occasional crash survivor. Reynolds' friend had managed to stow away aboard a crashed vessel after the owner managed to repair the ship and take off, pursuing a female who had departed years earlier in the hopes of winning her affection.
He had never found her, sadly, and after journeying alongside Master Reynolds for many years he wished to return to his home planet to live out his final days. Despite the low-tech nature of the world, it was home to many fierce predators, thus the need for a larger group. Master Reynolds requested that the couple avoid lethal force unless they could not avoid it.
A request they had to heed within an hour of landing on the planet.
While making their way through the untamed forests the group were surrounding by the natives they were there to locate, armed with slings and spears and openly hostile. They did not attack, thankfully, and the ensuing standoff provided Master Reynolds' companion with an opportunity to talk his diminutive friends down, diffusing the situation and earning them an escort.
Less than two hours later, the group arrived at a lakeside stilt village that was home to the Gondula tribe. They learned – shortly after arriving – that the locals were having issues with the forest being destroyed by off-worlders. None of the primitive people could understand the destruction, but Zhavi and Isla suspected – from descriptions of the fiery devastation – that the invaders were clearing the land for either an outpost or a landing zone.
Irrespective of the reason why, the couple set out later in the evening to eliminate the group, discovering that they were a small band of gun-runners who were setting up a storehouse by burning sections of the forest to create a number of clearings large enough to house weapons caches, but too small for travelling ships to use as landing sites, ensuring the caches would not be uncovered accidentally.
A problem they would not have to worry about by the time Isla and Zhavi had finished with them, treating themselves to the weapons intended for the secret caches to sell to the Republic once they left Endor.
Several days later, Reynolds' companion began to deteriorate rapidly. Knowing he had only hours left to live, he asked his Jedi friend to escort him out to where he used to play as an adolescent, wishing to be laid to rest there where his fondest memories were born. Zhavi and Isla escorted the duo, though the trek out was peaceful.
The return journey was more eventful; the trio came face to face with a large, territorial hanadak who attempted to assert its dominance. Zhavi, not being one to stand down, made her own display, augmenting her scream through the Force to pacify the creature and force it into submission.
On their return to the village, they learned that the hanadak was known as "Bombarr" by the natives, a particularly fierce specimen who had been displaced by the gun runners and had taken to claiming new territory much closer to the lake village, enraged by the deaths of its mate and young. The locals believed that Zhavi's show of strength would prompt Bombarr to move elsewhere, further from the village.
Whether he did or did not leave, Bombarr was a local – natural – issue for the natives to deal with themselves, in their own way. Master Reynolds suggested it was time for the group to leave Endor, an idea Isla and Zhavi were more than willing to get behind.
Once they boarded their ship to leave they soon found that they had been followed; Bombarr had clambered up the boarding ramp and was looking around the ship's interior, far more docile than before. Zhavi activated her lightsaber when Bombarr moved through into the lounge, but when the hanadak's submissive behaviour made it clear there was no hostile intent, Zhavi used the Force to read the creature's mind.
Although scattered and basic, Bombarr's thoughts were easy enough to discern. Zhavi realised that the hulking primate wanted to accompany Zhavi, her display of dominance having had a profound affect on the creature's previously territorial behaviour. Isla and Master Reynolds were sceptical about the idea, though Isla knew Zhavi would do as she pleased and Reynolds' conceded that it was their ship, not his.
Zhavi – silently enjoying the prospect of a muscular animal bodyguard – used the Force to communicate her acceptance of Bombarr's desire to follow, summoning him into the cockpit to watch as they raised the boarding ramp and ascended through the trees and up out of the atmosphere.
Renewed Ambitions of the Sith
39 ATC
So, pool or beach?
—Zhavi, to Isla.
Isla and Zhavi lived on Copero for an entire decade, raising the Nautolan twins they had formally adopted and training them to use the Force. As part of the agreement that allowed them to call Copero their home, Isla was subjected to regular drugs tests to improve the effectiveness and strength of the Force-suppressing medication the higher ranking Chiss used to smother their connection, her assistance proving invaluable in reducing side effects and fine-tuning the effectiveness of the drugs.
In addition, her duties had been expanded once her value had been proven to those who objected to her presence in Chiss space, with the law against using the Force being waived during controlled and heavily monitored sessions so that Isla could train members of the CEDF to combat the use of Force powers and lightsabers, better preparing them for hostile encounters with both Sith and Jedi. Fewer operatives, but still a large enough number to keep her busy, also benefited from her lessons on resisting the mental abilities of a strong-willed Force user.
She was also employed to teach advanced lessons to a select few, during which Zhavi was often permitted to assist to compensate for Isla's lack of raw power, or when a squad needed to run scenarios that included the common master/apprentice match-up. Isla's relationship with her biological family had improved considerably during her time on Copero, too, with the young woman coming to respect her mother and love her siblings, who had been strangers to her a decade earlier.
Isla often spent time with her siblings outside of work hours and despite their initial, condescending attitude towards Zhavi, the Jedi accompanied her more often than not and had, Isla believed, earned a degree of respect for her combat prowess, word of which had spread not long after her first scenario. They also seemed to have accepted, despite being far beyond what Chiss considered a suitable match, that Isla loved Zhavi and was made better for being with her than without.
Even members of the Ascendancy outside of her family interacted with the couple, and though many gave them a wide birth just as many were respectful and polite, knowing that Isla and Zhavi – abhorrent as their connection to the Force was in Chiss society – had willingly elected to live on a world where they were shunned and considered inferior to benefit the Chiss Ascendancy with their knowledge. A fact the Chiss were too logical to disregard the value of in a galaxy torn apart by war between two Force-wielding factions.
Obviously many voices, both near and far, were open about their disapproval of their presence on a Chiss world and many attempts were made to frame and eject them, but with Isla's mother being a savvy politician and their work for the Chiss Ascendancy proving to have practical uses on multiple fronts, the couple's position remained secure.
Towards the end of the decade, after the twins had left home to find their own lives in the wider galaxy, Isla had started to bring up the idea of getting married, an idea Zhavi had been resistant to for fear of angering Mitth'icini'inrokini. As much as Isla's mother had accepted Zhavi was there to stay, the idea of telling her the pair were intent on marrying terrified Zhavi, so much so that by the time the tenth anniversary of their relocation to Copero arrived she had rejected three proposals of marriage from Isla, rejections that always led to a few weeks of angry silence and – the hardest aspect for Zhavi – celibacy.
When their adoptive daughter returned home and announced she was pregnant – and sensed the flicker of irritation from Isla – the subject was raised again, with both their children joining Isla in telling Zhavi she could not keep putting it off forever.
Zhavi finally caved after the three-pronged attack, and when the pair were alone by the pool she quietly agreed to marry Isla – and have the baby she knew she would ask for next, pointing out that it was the baby announcement that set her off, a reaction she had had earlier in the year when they received a message from Carth announcing he and Bon-Yi were expecting, which Isla almost denied before stopping herself, claiming there was no point arguing against her own case.
Zhavi added that if she was going to make an enemy of her mother she might as well do it in one chunk of bad news rather than drawing it out over time, to which Isla rightly pointed out that ten years had been long enough a wait.
A few days after they settled the marriage (and inevitable baby) debate, Isla and Zhavi were contacted by Master Gnost-Dural, who had been working in tandem with the forces of Project Petrichor – even lending them official Jedi support – to deal with a Sith threat that he could not discuss over an unsecured channel. He asked if they would be willing to return to assist, and though Zhavi could not say yes fast enough Isla questioned why a leading Jedi Master was contacting them instead of members of Petrichor.
The revered master claimed that, quite simply, he was sentimental, and liked to catch up with other Jedi – past and present – every once in a while. He then recounted his memories of meeting both women as young Jedi when he sensed Isla did not believe him, asking the Chiss if that was enough for her to be sure he was telling the truth. She apologised for being distrustful, even though she followed up by blaming Zhavi's influence for her expressions being so scrutable in recent years.
Zhavi assured him they would be on Coruscant soon, by the start of the following week at the very latest.
Rakatan Descent
So, the Republic claim they have no idea what is down there, but what about you? Exotic Force devilry was always your forté. Any idea what might be down there?"
"Not a bloody one. Sorry. Rakatan... stuff, I suppose?
—Isla and Benjamin.
Although the couple arrived on Coruscant a little later than anticipated due to pirate activity on their route towards the Core, Isla and Zhavi arrived not long after they were scheduled to. They met with General Daeruun, Master Gnost-Dural and Master Ah'rek (via holo) aboard the Gav Daragon, where they were briefed about a discovery beneath one of the active fronts in the war against the Empire.
This discovery was Rakatan in origin, a large underground vault that was reportedly some sort of ancient shelter housing thousands of sleeping Rakata, similar to the vaults uncovered on Belsavis, though intended for hibernation rather than incarceration, and in much worse shape. Reports indicated that the facility was running on minimal power which was why it hadn't been picked up by any kind of planetary scans beforehand, and though the Rakata held in stasis were all believed to be long dead the forces of the Empire were worryingly eager to get inside.
A number of Jedi and Republic troops had already disappeared and Master Gnost-Dural wanted to avoid further losses, admitting that under normal circumstances he would avoid mixing Jedi and Petrichor forces to avoid any potential conflict of interest. This time, however, they needed to go in hard and strong, as the dreaded Darth Vokuur – a Sith diplomat who had proven to be a surprisingly painful thorn in the Republic's side when it came to cross-faction political jousts – was deploying his forces to plunder the vault, indicating that the dark collector believed valuable antiquities of practical use were up for grabs.
The Republic was determined to ensure whatever Rakatan secrets lay inside were either buried or salvaged before the Empire could claim them.
Despite the time pressure and the mounting losses, however, Isla and Zhavi were going in as support in case the situation took a turn for the worst. The current, younger crop of Petrichor agents were heading in initially, and while Isla was quite content with that Zhavi – now in her mid-forties – felt ever so slightly irritated that she was now viewed as support rather than being the first through the door.
After the briefing Isla reminded Zhavi that she didn't like working, to which Zhavi retorted that fighting wasn't really working. The duo were left to loiter on the ship for a few hours as the rest of the Republic forces finished all of the necessary last-minute checks and preparations, which included the arrival of two familiar faces.
Shortly before the ship was set to make its jump into hyperspace, they finally spotted the two presences they'd felt arrive aboard the Gave Daragon half an hour earlier, Benjamin and Aaellu, fresh out of a briefing of their own. They watched as Benjamin gifted Gnost-Dural a Jedi holocron from his collection, then waited until Aaellu spotted them, pointed them out to Benjamin and the couple walked over.
The group exchanged hugs and Isla asked Aaellu how the kids – their total standing at nine including the trio from Benjamin's previous marriage – were getting on while Zhavi poked fun at Benjamin for looking a little smaller than when she'd last seen him, giving her a chance to show off her biceps.
Isla asked if Benjamin had any idea what to expect, but admitted that he didn't as the Rakatan complex sounded more like some sort of doomsday shelter than anything of theirs discovered previously. He confessed that his appreciation for the potential historical discoveries was overshadowed by his concern, as his eldest children Alucia and Ben were two of the Republic agents going in, as was Aaellu, although he was confident he didn't have to worry about her.
Zhavi and Isla assured him they would be ready to save the day if needed, reminding him that he had trained both of them himself and that – last time Isla had seen them – they were both shaping up nicely as sabre-duellists. Benjamin agreed, jokingly warning Zhavi to be careful, as Alucia's Djem So was starting to rival hers in terms of power, a claim Zhavi humorously dismissed.
Their conversation was interrupted by a ship-wide alert warning them that they were setting off, prompting the Lambert's to part ways with Zhavi and Isla for a while, the couple understandably wanting to catch up with their children before they reached the objective. Within a few slow hours the ship dropped out of hyperspace in orbit above their destination, deploying a number of troop transports to reinforce the campaign on the planet below before the Petrichor groups deployed.
When Isla and Zhavi caught up with Benjamin at the command centre just inside the top level of the facility, the mission had already started, with Benjamin coordinating the various groups' movements from a reactivated security terminal. Aaellu had found one of the lost Jedi and used her psychometry on his remains to learn that there was a mutated patrol beast roaming the halls, a Terentatek at one point but now more akin to the images taken of the Primal Destroyer released and slain on Belsavis over fifteen years earlier.
Knowing it was moving around the maze of corridors gave Ben and Alucia a heads-up they wouldn't have had with Aaellu's talent, but they were keeping busy all the same. Ben in particular, as he and his Jedi teammate – a Padawan on the verge of knighthood named Saria Minstyngar – had encountered an Imperial reclamation service squad, replete with a double wardroid escort. Alucia, accompanied by Kara, had uncovered a functioning elevator that would take them down to the next level of the facility, marking the furthest documented point charted for Republic forces so far.
As soon as they descended they were forced to engage a force that they claimed was comprised of surviving, hostile Rakata, and though Alucia described them as 'manic' she reported that they'd also used the Force. She queried that via the comm, asking her father to confirm that the Rakata all lost their Force powers if she recalled correctly. He confirmed it, but theorised that the facility might've been used to try and ride out the decline of their Force sensitivity in the hope that researchers elsewhere would awaken them with a cure later.
He added that their odd behaviour might be due to the power loss in the facility. Most of the chambers were offline entirely, but with low power the stasis technology might've only partially held, keeping them alive but awake, a state that would undoubtedly lead them to madness. Isla cautioned her not to disregard them as a threat no matter their mental state, as a lunatic wielding a blade was still a person wielding a blade.
Alucia's response was to greet her 'aunt' and ask how she'd been, to which Isla begrudgingly answered before reminding her of the casualty numbers so far.
After dispatching the IRS team Ben and Saria had raced to catch up with Alucia and Kara, locating another elevator elsewhere, providing a more complete map as their scanners sent back data but also keeping the two groups separate, making sure Benjamin – helpless to actually protect his children – was constantly on edge. As the trio monitored the situation, directing other squads of Republic troops to secure strategic points in the labyrinth, Ben and Saria slowly started to overtake Alucia and Kara, meeting with less resistance from the deranged inhabitants.
They stopped reporting in entirely after a while, a worrying development that went unnoticed when Kara and Alucia reported that their path was blocked by a Sith Lord. Benjamin told his daughter to remain calm and work together with Kara to overcome their opponent. Alucia stressed, however, that her hesitance wasn't due to facing a Sith Lord, it was due to who that Sith Lord.
With her fear palpable through the Force even from afar, Alucia reported that the Sith Lord facing them down wore the face of her father. Zhavi was confused, asking if Benjamin had a brother in the Empire, but he ignored her, asking for Alucia to clarify. Kara responded, but as soon as she started speaking the sound of igniting lightsabers cut them off, prompting Benjamin to direct Aaellu to their position.
After a long period of silence, Benjamin received a call from Darth Vokuur himself informing him that his son and Jedi companion had attempted to kill him and failed. However, Vokuur had left them alive – albeit trapped and with their trackers destroyed – to be rescued, on the condition that Benjamin recall his forces and allow Vokuur to walk out with whatever he'd claimed. He added that the stone walls of the facility were built by the Rakata to withstand the extreme heat of the magma surrounding the structure; a structure that may have been compromised during his duel with Ben and Saria.
Benjamin understood the threat, and asked what assurances Vokuur was offering in exchange for the location of his son. The Dark Lord merely offered his word, citing his well-documented career as proof of his trustworthiness. Left with little choice, Benjamin agreed to let Vokuur escape.
Once the call was concluded Isla offered to pursue Vokuur quietly and ambush him after he'd transmitted the team's location, but Benjamin refused, not willing to take the risk and – more importantly – being a man of his word, trusting that Vokuur lived up to his reputation as a man clever enough to have no use for lies.
As promised, they received a location before long. Benjamin forwarded the coordinates to one of the many chambers in the depths of the facility – which was slowly filling up with magma – to Aaellu, whose battle with the Sith Lord who looked like Benjamin had ended with her victory. She managed to unshackle Ben and Saria and together the trio were able to climb around the facility walls, safely avoiding the rising pool of magma that had spread to cover the floor of the lowest level.
After that, Benjamin ordered a full withdrawal of Republic forces to the surface, leaving whatever remaining secrets to be incinerated as the rest of the facility was consumed by molten rock.
When Ben and Saria finally returned to the command centre Benjamin scolded them fiercely for disobeying his standing order not to engage Darth Vokuur until given the go-ahead. Although Ben protested his decision, still adamant he could have taken Vokuur with a different approach, Benjamin dismissed him, telling him he needed some time out to reflect on his 'hero complex' and humiliating him in front of his friends, family and colleagues.
Once the operation was complete, Isla and Zhavi decided to take a shuttle to Onderon to visit Isla's parents while they were back in Republic space, leaving the others to return to Coruscant to deliver the bad news in person.
Jedi Knight
Visitations From Beyond the Grave
M– Master?"
"Hello again, Padawan.
—Isla and the spirit of Master Rosentine Synma.
On Onderon, Isla and Zhavi were reunited with the former's parents, who were unsurprisingly thrilled to see their daughter and daughter-in-law. Zhavi in particular enjoyed visiting the Ahnketts, describing them as her 'favourite in-laws' thanks to her tenuous relationship with the Chiss of Copero.
They remained on Onderon for a few days, and had intended to stay indefinitely until they were next called to service, certain that Darth Vokuur would make another move sooner rather than later. Unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, their visit was cut short by an unexpected visitation from one of Isla's oldest associates.
While walking through the markets of Iziz one evening, Isla felt something drawing her out just beyond the city wall, prompting the couple to investigate. When they arrived on the bridge crossing the river just outside the main gate, that feeling of being drawn out vanished in an instant, leaving the duo confused and ready to turn back and dismiss the sensation until an image began to take shape before them.
That image was of Rosentine Synma, the Iktotchi Jedi Master who'd briefly trained Isla after taking her on as her Padawan. Their time together had been short and, for Isla, it had been a period of frustration, with her species' early maturation age and Synma's steady teaching methods becoming increasingly at odds with each other. Isla's Sith master Lord Kim had murdered Rosentine Synma and claimed Isla as his own student, but despite her frustration towards the Jedi Isla had always felt a degree of sadness over her demise.
Now, she stood before her as a spectre from beyond. Isla was, unlike her as it was, lost for words.
Synma greeted the Chiss warmly, exchanging brief pleasantries and complimenting her on how far she'd come since their last meeting, wryly admitting that it was not the way she'd intended, but was glad it'd worked out regardless. Isla attempted to console her regarding her murder, but Synma cut her off with a wave of her hand, reminding her that there was no death, only the Force, and that she was at peace within said Force.
At that, Zhavi chimed in to ask why, then, had she appeared now, over twenty years after her death, which Synma conceded was a fair question. She explained that she obeyed the will of the Force, a will which had guided her back to Isla to help complete her training. Synma added that the Jedi trials were normally more streamlined and controlled, but that in times of hardship and war the Force arranged the trials without the input of the Jedi Council.
Isla was quick to state that she had not been a Jedi since the day Master Synma died, but the soft-spoken Iktotchi disagreed, saying that although she lost her way – wandering alone through the dark for many years – Jedi were not their title. Being a Jedi was a spiritual calling beholden to none but the Force itself, an idea Isla openly voiced her distaste for, but that Synma found amusing for reasons she didn't explain. She concluded by saying that no matter what Isla wore, no matter what she felt or how many lives she took, in her heart she was a Jedi, and it was that self-acceptance that Synma had been sent to guide her to.
Cryptically, she told her to leave Onderon and follow her destiny to 'find the heart of the Jedi' – then faded back into the Force, leaving the couple with a frustratingly vague objective. They said a reluctant farewell to Anna and Ned the following morning and took a public shuttle back to Coruscant to pick up their ship, launching into space where they found themselves at a loss regarding their destination.
Zhavi volunteered Tython initially, driven by Synma's instruction to find 'the heart of the Jedi, although Isla felt certain that was the wrong choice and both women were in agreement that feeling was more relevant than logic when it came to Jedi business. She then, somewhat reluctantly, suggested Ossus, something of a flashpoint in their personal and romantic lives and the event that ultimately triggered Isla's departure from the Sith Empire.
Neither of them were particularly keen to revisit the site (literally in Zhavi's case, as she'd fought there during Darth Maglus' attack on the colony) yet Isla felt increasingly confident that Ossus was where they needed to go the more she considered it. They set a course and settled in nervously to await their arrival at the ancient Jedi stronghold.
Dusk on Ossus
Historical relevance aside, this was a truly awful location to establish a colony."
"Mhm no kiddin', already got sand up m' bloody–"
"–Yes, thank you, I had gathered that from the constant fidgeting.
—Isla and Zhavi on Ossus.
The duo touched down near the abandoned colony when they finally arrived on Ossus, arriving in the late hours of the evening but determined to venture out regardless, following their noses with no particular destination in mind.
Eventually, their aimless wandering led them to stumble across a small shrine of sorts, tucked away atop in a small cave at the top of a cliff-side staircase. The shrine itself sported a root-like growth that Zhavi had heard people claim was part of the legendary Jedi Master Ood Bnar, slumbering beneath the surface of the planet. Isla attempted to connect with the growth to confirm the rumours Zhavi had relayed, and though there was little response she was eventually granted a momentary glimpse of a temple buried beneath decades of ice and a howling blizzard.
Before she could tell Zhavi what she'd seen the Jedi sensed someone approaching, prompting them to ready their weapons as Sith assassins appeared at the shrine entrance. Zhavi asked what they were doing on Ossus, only to be met with aggression, beginning a duel that gradually spilled out onto the staircase.
Using their bond, they were able to fight as a single entity and easily outmanoeuvred the assassins, tricking them into believing two separate duels were taking place while, in truth, Isla and Zhavi were simply luring each combatant into a position that would allow the other to catch them by surprise.
Isla turned her back on her foe to lunge under Zhavi's arm and spear her opponent through the chest as he prepared an overhead strike, while Zhavi moved similarly, drawing her sabre back over her head to blindly impale Isla's foe as he tried to capitalise on both women's backs being turned, killing him instantly when the blade penetrated his forehead.
In the immediate aftermath Isla forgot about the icy world she'd seen through the veil of the Force and focused on searching the assassins for intelligence, learning from a datapad that they were using Ossus as a temporary encampment while they awaited further orders. Even though the pair had no idea what orders they would receive, they decided to evict them from Ossus.
To that end, they had Ducky pilot the ship to drop them off outside the ruins of the ancient library, where the Sith had set up camp.
As they ventured through, Isla pointed out that there was a strange energy in the air, which Zhavi claimed was the physical effect of the restlessness of the spirits of Jedi who'd fallen in the library. She couldn't explain how she knew, however, but she was confident they were smothering the senses of the Sith trespassers to smother the Jedi's approach.
In the central room at the heart of the library, the couple finally spotted the Sith, still unaware of their presence and all but defenceless. The duo rushed them, annihilating the group even more quickly than the pair they'd fought earlier, with three of the five masked figures being cut down before they could activate their sabres. The remaining two adapted quickly but could do little against the experience and unified tactics of the senior killers, quickly faltering and falling.
As they checked the corpses for any more indication as to what they were doing or where else they might be hiding, they received a message forwarded from Carth, informing them that the their nephew Ben had disappeared battling Imperial forces on Ilum. Based on reports from SIS agents embedded within the Empire, Sera Artofen – now a Darth – was also on Ilum and had been attacked by a 'Jedi assassin', leading to her disappearance as well.
This news from Ilum reminded Isla that she had seen a buried temple on a snowy world, which she now believed had to be a Jedi temple on Ilum, speculating that perhaps Master Synma had been guiding them to rescue Ben and finally defeat Sera Artofen. Zhavi admitted she liked that plan, yet she also claimed she'd been a Jedi long enough to know that patience was a big deal; she withdrew two plastic boxes from her bag and handed one to Isla.
She then took a seat by the library entrance and opened her lunchbox, gesturing for Isla to do the same before they rushed off to Ilum.
Trial of Ice
You could be where I stand now; feared, worshipped, obeyed. A Lord of the Sith. Instead... here you are. Scrambling around in the cold following the instructions of a master long-dead, while your disobedient lover freezes to death alone in a blizzard on this dead Jedi world, leaving you with nothing but the unfulfilled promises of marriage and motherhood. To see myself so broken and pathetic... it physically sickens me.
—Isla's vision of herself, had she chosen to path of the Dark Side.
With conflict between the Jedi and Sith ongoing on Ilum, Isla and Zhavi were fortunate that their ship's stealth systems were still competitive with modern technologies, allowing them to touch down away from the conflict without drawing attention.
Ilum was littered with Jedi ruins from different eras, but the one Isla had seen was frozen over and disused, further from the warzones that'd uncovered – and wrecked – the other sites. After over an hour spent meditating aboard the ship Isla had been unable to sense anything that might guide her to their destination, and when they landed they only did so to preserve their dwindling fuel supply.
As it turned out, Zhavi was the unknowing vessel the Force had chosen to guide Isla – her choice of landing location put them down a short walk from the ice-encrusted temple the Chiss had glimpsed on Ossus, one which their on-board scanners hadn't picked up through the blizzard until they were almost on the ground.
The pair braved the weather to reach the temple, discovering that the main entrance was frozen solid, so much so that it would take hours to cut through the ice with lightsabers and, even if they did, they risked causing the ice sheet reaching up the length of the temple exterior to become unstable and collapse on them. Not to mention the extreme cold limited the time they could spend outside before they needed to either get in or turn back, forcing them to look for another way through.
Zhavi proposed climbing the ice, which Isla initially rejected as idiotic until it became clear that the only possible route in might be found in the large gap in the ice further up the temple exterior. The couple returned to their ship to warm up and raid their supplies for climbing equipment, finding no high-tech solutions, only a number of old climbing axes Benjamin had fashioned out of scrap metal decades earlier when Isla first encountered him on Dronim Major.
Isla had actually thrown them out years earlier when cleaning up the ship, but Zhavi had saved them from being discarded, not that she could remember why.
So with a means of ascending the tower of ice in hand, Zhavi and Isla made for the temple again with Isla leading the climb due to her superior dexterity and lighter build. She also had more experience of general climbing, her time as an assassin teaching her to make good use of the environment to infiltrate and exfiltrate a location rapidly and in a manner that prevented effective pursuit.
Unfortunately, that meant she was just out of reach when part of the wall of ice cracked and gave way, taking Zhavi down with it and swallowing her up into the whiteness of the blizzard. Isla was concerned for Zhavi, naturally, but through their bond she knew she was unharmed and, with the section of ice she'd used to climb up now sitting at the foot of the temple, Isla had no choice but to press onwards.
Eventually, she found her way into the temple and to the frozen entrance that would lead her further inside. Using the Force, Isla opened the hatch that allowed focused sunlight into the chamber and manipulated the crystal chandelier overhead to align the light properly through the secondary crystals which in turn directed the heat towards the wall of ice, quickly melting the obstacle and clearing the path ahead.
Once inside, Isla realised there was no larger temple, only winding caves of ice, snow and crystal. She attempted to take one of the crystals she found but found that when she tried to pull it loose, it was immobile. Again she tried with the same result, and a third time with success – until the crystal dissolved into powder and dispersed with the breeze.
Isla quickly realised that something – the Force, maybe – protected the crystals, though her attempts to retrieve one was for the benefit of the child she and Zhavi planned to bring into the world, a gift for when she was old enough to build and wield a lightsaber. She resigned herself to looking elsewhere another time and began wandering the caves in search or anything that seemed important or valuable – or that looked like a way back outside.
Ironically, Isla was completely unaware that she was in fact trapped for the time being, and as she searched deeper and deeper – moving further and further from where she thought she was heading – the first thing she encountered was herself.
Like the inexplicable clone of Benjamin that Alucia and Kara had encountered in the Rakatan facility, Isla was face-to-face with what she had to assume was some sort of genetic copy. Yet the Chiss was an identical copy of the same age, not a child version sharing her DNA, which to Isla's knowledge was impossible. What was clear was that she was immersed in the Dark Side, her presence bristling with a cocktail of barely contained passions ranging from righteous fury to the most sordid expression of lust, her skin cracked and pale from the fatal corruption ravaging her body.
The clone ignited her weapon – identical to Isla's own – and recalled how she had constructed it while on Voryle. She claimed that her original blade was destroyed when she helped her lover to overthrow her master and claim the title of Lord, but that after helping the Empire conquer Voryle she built the commemorative blade out of the spoils pilfered from their new vassal state. She then asked Isla what she'd achieved in her reality, listing her defeat at Jhang's hand, her failure to claim Voryle's industry for the Republic and her decade of subservience to the family who resented her power, a family she claimed served her in her shadowy reality.
Isla voiced her assessment that her clone was only vision, to which said vision mocked her for being intellectually slower than her dark counterpart too. She told Isla she could have had what she had now if she'd only embraced the Dark Side and done what she wanted instead of pandering to Zhavi's sentimentality. In addition, she claimed that – in her phantom reality – Zhavi's resistance was such that when she fell to the Dark Side, she fell far, becoming obsessed with Isla to the point of worship, her dark and ravenous queen who catered to her every whim.
The true Isla dismissed the fantasy as being a fleeting daydream she'd had years ago, just as the clone was little more than a fleeting daydream as well. Temporary, and no match for her. To prove it, and being unwilling to listen to more of the phantoms efforts to undermine her self-belief, Isla activated her own sabre and the two fought a fierce duel that pit their skills – equal in potential but diverging in direction – against one another until, eventually, a slight scratch Isla had sustained from the edge of her opponent's lightsaber hilt began to show signs of the poison that'd entered her bloodstream.
Her dark copy chuckled and mocked her, reminding her that once upon a time she wielded poisons as well as her current crop of weapons. Without them, the dark clone claimed she had proven just one example of her newfound weakness before reengaging. Isla claimed that the fact she didn't need poisons any more showed how far she'd come, but eventually, as the poison sapped her strength, she was overpowered. Managing to get behind her and clamp an arm across her throat, the dark clone had Isla trapped, ending their confrontation by activating her lightsaber through the Chiss' stomach.
Only then did the phantom vanish, leaving Isla physically unharmed but unable to move for some time. Although the wound was not really there the pain of being stabbed lingered for some time, forcing her to struggle for hours on the icy floor until she was strong enough to carry on.
By the Will of the Force
Then... what was all of this in aid of? What does it mean?"
"It means what you've always known; though you no longer wear the trappings of the order, the Force sees you clearly, Isla Waverunner, Jedi Knight.
—Isla's vision of a redeemed Lord Jhang.
Isla continued to wander the unmarked tunnels that wound through the ice, shivering and feeling as though her connection to the Force had been weakened further than it already was, as if losing the duel to the phantom had permanently scarred her on a spiritual level.
Nonetheless she was determined to push forwards and find a way back to Zhavi, quietly concerned that the vision might have been offering a modicum of truth.
She did find Zhavi before long, just not the Zhavi she wanted to find. Scantily clad as she often was, the Zhavi Isla encountered in the cave stood in her path dressed in black and with a red lightsaber in-hand, her face ruined by corruption just as in the previous vision. This vision was less talkative, however, mocking Isla by pointing out that if she couldn't defeat herself, what hope did she have against her.
Then she threw herself at her, beginning a relentless and rage-fuelled assault that Isla stood little hope of overcoming. Not that she tried anyway; Isla knew it was another phantom, but even so she wasn't eager to go through the experience of killing the woman she loved, even a dark imitation. The dark mirror of Zhavi eventually swung her foot to trip Isla, and only then did she see an opening, reaching up from the floor instinctively to re-activate her lightsaber up through the phantom's throat.
For a few moments she choked painfully, her expression awash with shock and horror, then toppled, falling to the floor and slowly fading away in Isla's arms. She reminded Isla that not everything could be saved, no matter how important, before she vanished completely, leaving Isla even more concerned about the fate of her partner.
She tried to push herself harder, feeling slightly rejuvenated after defeating the vision of Zhavi, and when she saw the next spectre she didn't stop moving as she approached, swearing at the vision of Lord Jhang, throwing her sabre and telling her to get out of the way. The spectre caught the blade by its tip, absorbing the blade before catching the hilt at the emitter-end. Isla responded by trying to attack with Force lightning, only to discover she could no longer conjure it.
That was when the vision finally spoke, handing the lightsaber back to the Chiss and explaining that while Jedi could summon lightning with the right training or emotional precision, Isla had learned the ability from the Sith. Without the negative emotions required, she no longer had access to that ability. Isla questioned that statement, claiming she'd never had problems before, to which Jhang pointed out that the cave had changed her.
In facing her past and seeing the future that might have been, she now truly understood the implications of her choice on Dxun; Voryle was free, Zhavi stood by her side as her lover and protector, her family both in blood and bond loved her and she had a life filled with friends. She had seen what would become of herself and Zhavi as 'Lords of the Sith', and that lingering bitterness over losing her place in the Empire had faded away when she found the reality of that dark future was not as she'd once seen it.
Now, the wounds she suffered on Dxun had truly healed, finally, and with that small thought of what might have been extinguished from her mind Isla was a Dark Jedi no longer.
Isla, irritated, questioned what the point of it all was, angered by the thought of Zhavi's life being in danger just so she could gain a little insight into things that could no longer happen. Jhang told her that it meant she was a Jedi Knight, regardless of how she was perceived by the wider galaxy, something the spectre claimed she'd known deep down anyway.
To signify her journey, the spectre handed her a yellow lightsaber crystal and told her it was time she returned to the galaxy, directing her to the end of the tunnel where she would find the way out. Before she faded, Isla asked Jhang what fate had befallen the real Lord Jhang, to which the vision simply said 'damnation', although admitted that damnation wasn't necessarily eternal.
Saddened, but satisfied that she had made the choices that would allow her to avoid her old mentor's fate, Isla made her way to the end of the tunnel, finding only a dead end. When she turned around, the cave behind her rumbled and collapsed, sealing her in but breaching the ice in the tunnel, revealing an underwater path.
Isla delayed as long as she could before nervously taking a breath and beginning a panicked swim through pitch black water for wherever the next air pocket might be. It was only once she was too far in to turn back that she started to think even the Force wasn't going to let her hold her breath long enough.
And she wasn't wrong; however far she'd swam, however close she was to a way out, Isla was no longer able to stop herself from trying to breath. She instinctively opened her mouth to gasp for air and, with that, fell unconscious as her body shut down.
Early Warning
I don't know if I feel any better. It seems like a lot of work just for... this.
—Isla, referring to her lightsaber crystal.
Unbeknownst to Isla, Zhavi had survived her fall unharmed and started searching for the Chiss. What had been hours for Isla had been less than one for Zhavi, and as she drifted helplessly Zhavi was powering through the icy waters to drag her out, having sensed her from the exit pool outside the temple.
Though she revived her and helped her back to the warmth of the their ship, Isla awoke unsettled by what she'd experienced in the submerged tunnel.
During her brief slumber, she'd seen images, glimpses of what she feared might be the future; medical tanks in which she'd seen herself, Zhavi and an infant wired into monitoring stations, Sera Artofen mercilessly butchering Republic marines, Sith vessels bombarding the Core Worlds and, at the heart of this sinister future, a nebulous Dark Side entity. Although she could not say whether any, some or all of it was going to happen or not, she feared it all nonetheless.
Zhavi sensed her feelings easily through their bond but knew that Isla didn't want to discuss the details. Instead Zhavi asked whether she'd found anything on Ben's whereabouts, or Artofen's, to which Isla sadly revealed that she'd learned nothing about either of them. She told her about her vision of Jhang, however, and Zhavi made no effort to hide how pleased she was to learn of Isla's spiritual promotion and her total abandonment of the Dark Side.
Feeling somewhat vulnerable after her premonitions, Isla told Zhavi she wanted to go back home. When Zhavi said it would be nice to get back to Copero and Isla protested a little too strongly, Zhavi finally asked her what she'd seen that had scared her so much, prompting Isla to mention the images of the laboratory tanks she'd seen. She felt that Copero was unsafe for them now and insisted they stay away, at least for a while, instead wanting to remain on Onderon for the foreseeable future.
Having always been suspicious of the Chiss and with no objections of her own, Zhavi agreed and set course for Onderon, revealing that they'd received a request for help from Ned and Anna while on Ilum anyway. It wasn't urgent, but local authorities were investigating an apparent poisoning of the city's main water source. Isla mused that solving a mundane mystery was just what she needed after her unpleasant introduction to Ilum.
Smuggler's Cache
The source of the poison's been traced to a specific location, but there's not much call for aquatic probes here and the palace have said it's too dangerous to send in divers. You girls think you can handle it?
—Ned Ahnkett.
When they returned to Onderon Ned and Anna told them about what had been happening in their absence; several dozen cases of mild poisoning had been reported in Iziz, and after narrowing down the causes the authorities had tested the city's water supply and discovered it contained chemicals that – while not lethal – caused sickness in most living beings. Usually impurities and other toxins were cleaned out of the water automatically, but the chemicals in question were exotic and Iziz's water purification centres weren't designed to tackle them.
As a result the city's water had been shut off temporarily while solutions were being worked on. The source of the poison had been traced to an underground cave network, yet without the right kind of probe droid to survey the caves and with the situation being deemed too dangerous for divers there was little progress to be made until proper equipment was brought it.
Isla and Zhavi, as Jedi, could act independently, however, and were both accustomed to danger and able to resist toxins that would debilitate normal beings. Zhavi asked if there was a bounty, for which Isla punched her arm, then agreed to help, heading to the palace to request the data they'd need before setting off.
When she returned, they took Ned's speeder out through the jungle to the lake where Zhavi had fought the rogue Mandalorians years earlier. From the lake, they had the closest possible access point to the network of tunnels beneath the jungle, a small labyrinth which Isla had partially memorised during the ride over in no small part due to her last tunnel-related adventure.
Taking a breath, the duo dived down into the lake and soon found the narrow entrance to the adjoining caves, entering and carefully navigating the gloomy path by the light of Zhavi's lightsaber, which unlike Isla's weapon included a bifurcating cyclical-ignition pulse that allowed it to function normally whilst submerged.
Before long, they came across signs of the poison in the water, and after following the strange cloud of purple dust they discovered a smuggler's cache in one of the larger caves. One of the many crates hidden there had been damaged and started leaking its contents out into the water, a spice Zhavi identified as Pyros Jingle Sand. Unable to remove the crates by hand, they chose instead to take the leaking crate with them and report the location of the others to Republic authorities, which they did as soon as they reached the surface of the lake again.
Republic forces moved in to discreetly secure the lake in case the smuggler's returned before the spice could be confiscated, while the leaking container was escorted to Iziz to be utilised in their emergency countermeasures for the worst-hit patients. Zhavi and Isla, meanwhile, decided to dry off in the sun.
As they settled down on the sand, Zhavi revealed that the watertight rucksack she had borrowed from Isla's father wasn't just to protect the Chiss' lightsaber from water damage, but also to protect a picnic blanket and the meal she'd prepared with Anna's help while Isla was gathering information at the palace. Isla was suspicious, asking Zhavi what she had done to warrant the effort she was making, but her partner dismissed her question, reminding her that she had every right to surprise her girlfriend when they had time to themselves.
In truth, Isla was right; Zhavi was up to something.
After their meal, she led Isla to a nearby cliff-face overlooking a large swath of jungle and the setting sun in the far off distance. Satisfied with the setting, Zhavi sunk to one knee, pulled out a ring box and – as Isla realised, to her shock, what was going on – asked the Chiss to marry her, presenting her with a rose gold ring featuring sculpted flowers around the band. Following a breathless (and tearful) rant concerning Zhavi's repeated rejection of her previous proposals only to go and choreograph a perfectly romantic one of her own, Isla finally confirmed she would, of course, marry Zhavi, telling her it was 'about bloody time'.
The pair watched the sun sink lower on the horizon for a time, but left before dark, when they were sufficiently dry. Zhavi told Isla her parents had said they'd be at the cantina to buy them a drink if they were successful, yet when they arrived and Zhavi led Isla to one of the function rooms, Isla soon discovered another surprise waiting; the door opened to admit them, at which point her parents and a large swath of her friends yelled 'congratulations', firing off confetti poppers and unveiled a hand-painted banner.
Almost in tears again, Isla exchanged hugs with her parents and friends and settled in to mingle, remarking that ever since she'd come back to the Republic life – and the people that, together, formed hers – continued to find new ways to catch her by surprise, a fact she was incredibly thankful for.
Isla had news of her own, however, and though he couldn't be there in person, Benjamin, over the holo, encouraged her to announce it while everyone was together.
She revealed that, after Ilum, she had contacted Benjamin about her desire to leave Copero and live elsewhere for the foreseeable future, omitting her true reason for wanting to move. He, in turn, had offered up his apartment in Tyrena, as with the colony on Farrow now including schools in its ever growing selection of modern services he no longer needed a home in the Core.
Furthermore, the apartment had been redecorated at Isla's direction, and though she had initially believed Benjamin had paid for the work with the expectation he would be reimbursed at a later date, he told the couple that they could consider both the apartment and the renovations an early wedding present. Isla tried to protest, but Benjamin dismissed her objections, telling them that they had been good friends to him and that it wasn't as though losing the apartment would leave him destitute.
The party continued long into the night, and the happy couple departed Onderon a few days later to visit their new apartment at the top level of the Tyrena Heights building. Both women were surprised that the upper section of the tower was touched by the Force, the prolonged presence of Benjamin, Aaellu and his children (and the strong emotions that family relationships generated) having left a residual Force energy soaked into the underlying structure.
Other than that, the apartment was alien to them. Completely refurbished, the light Republic colour scheme had been replaced by a darker and more elegant aesthetic. The jungle of plant life Aaellu and Benjamin had filled their home with was gone, opening up the apartment considerably into a spacious open-plan living space. Isla told Zhavi to remember coasters and plates, explaining that the lack of a wall between the kitchen and the living room did not mean they were one and the same.
Sadly, the couple were unaware of events unfolding elsewhere that would leave them with only a few days to christen their new home before duty called them back to war once again.
Precision Strikes
Defence of the Janarus Hypermatter Refinery
Whatever Vokuur's people are up to, I doubt it's as straightforward as destroying the refinery. Your job is to get into Imperial territory and find out what they're really after.
—Benjamin briefing the Petrichor team.
Within days of leaving Onderon Isla and Zhavi were summoned to Coruscant to regroup with the rest of Project Petrichor personnel and ship out in response to an attack that had been launched on Agamar. A small force of Imperials had landed at the Janarus Hypermatter Refinery situated on the planet, an important fuelling resource that Republic command believed the Sith Empire intended to destroy to buy themselves time to shore up defences against their ever-encroaching enemy.
The Imperial forces had been deployed from a Harrower-class dreadnought that covered their descent to the surface, then departed, leaving the forces stranded on the edge of the shielded facility. Normally an attack on such a valuable resource would elicit a proper naval response, but given the size of the Imperial ground forces reinforcements had been held back, albeit on alert.
They couldn't take the facility with the numbers they had and the small area they'd holed up in didn't grant them any kind of access or control over the wider facility; the fuel reserves were safe, as was the refinery itself, leaving the enemy activities a mystery, but one the Republic believed they had in hand. Ah'rek, Carth and Benjamin speculated that the target wasn't the refinery at all, or if it was the attack would be unconventional.
Given that Darth Vokuur's Harrower had delivered the troops to Agamar the group were uneasy about ignoring the threat. Vokuur was known to be a powerful Sith and collector of ancient Force-related artefacts, leaving the possibility of some sort of sorcery-based attack open.
To cover that possibility Petrichor had received permission to join the forces at Agamar, who were currently holding position waiting for the Imperials to make a move, knowing they were trapped and couldn't hold out forever. Leading the team, Zhavi and Isla joined the briefing on Agamar before taking a shuttle planet-side, where they intended to navigate an abandoned mine that pre-dated the construction of the refinery.
Through that mine, they would be able to reach the section of the facility currently occupied by the Imperial forces. All they had to do was cut through the cap sealing the mine entrance off from the rest of the facility and they would have bypassed the Imperial front.
Despite Isla's complaints about how this was the third occasion in fewer months that she'd been forcing herself through narrow cave tunnels, she approved of the plan by and large and, to everyone's relief, the mine proved to be stable enough for the group to pass through without incident.
Once inside, they carved out an early lead over the opposing troops thanks to their unpredictable route, quickly reaching the heart of their suspicious operation only to find they had more distance to cover than they could have predicted. The Imperials had drilled a massive hole through the floor, reaching down further than any of the team could see. None of the soldiers knew the reason they were drilling, however, just that Darth Vokuur himself had descended the shaft personally, presenting both a concerning revelation and self-explanatory opportunity.
Though they attempted to contact command, jamming equipment spread out across the Imperial-controlled section of the facility blocked their efforts. One of the Petrichor agents returned to the mine to head back and report their findings, two remained at the top of the shaft to seal the drilling room and guard the exit and those that remained rappelled down the shaft after Vokuur.
Near the bottom, they realised they were dropping into yet another Rakatan facility, hidden since the reign of the Infinite Empire, no doubt discovered by Vokuur using information he had acquired from the Rakatan Descent. Cleverly, to avoid detection by Republic equipment, he'd employed the services of a duracrete slug, genetically modified to an enormous size, to bore through the stone between the refinery and the hidden sanctuary. Undoubtedly one of Artofen's creations, but now dead regardless.
Splitting off into groups, the team moved through the forking corridors of the facility to try and locate Darth Vokuur with the aim of stalling him as best they could until allied forces could push through the Imperial forces and secure the drill site, cutting off his escape.
Isla accompanied Petrichor's most unlikely candidate, a Jawa Force user, while Zhavi protected Alucia. As in the Rakatan Descent, the team encountered the sad legacy of the Infinite Empire; Rakata whose minds and bodies had decayed due to damaged stasis chambers, devolving into madness that manifested in unreasonable aggression.
While Zhavi and Alucia found Vokuur and were forced to attack him to try and prevent the taking of a Rakatan artefact, Isla and her diminutive companion were set upon by Vokuur's daughter, Lord Salila Ishtar, a Sith assassin just as Isla had once been. The two fought for a time, but the Chiss knew Ishtar wasn't trying to kill her and was only stalling to buy her father time.
When stalling was no longer necessary, she used the Force to split the wall of the facility, causing a tsunami of trapped water to pour into the ancient corridors and give her a chance to flee the confrontation. All of the teams were en route to the exit when the water swept through the facility and washed them there, the rising water level gradually lifting them back up the refinery on the surface.
Once they were back above ground and Republic forces had all but secured the lost sections of the installation, Alucia called through to her father to warn him that Vokuur had slipped past the soldiers retaking the facility and got away with an artefact, some sort of golden pyramid that resembled a Sith holocron.
Although they were unable to stop Vokuur from escaping the system when his vessel and its escort returned, a backup plan was in place to intercept the Dark Lord on his way through hyperspace, with Republic vessels blocking his route using a Valor-class specially upgraded for interdiction. Led by Master Ah'rek, Master Urthan Reynolds, his Padawan Saria, Kassie and Harlem, a joint Petrichor-Jedi strike team intended to board Vokuur's flagship, capture or kill the Dark Lord and recover the artefact.
Sadly, as they helped secure the refinery and check for any potential surprises left by the Imperials, the Petrichor forces on Agamar received word that Darth Vokuur had already abandoned his flagship in case his fleet were intercepted, being aboard one of the smaller transports which got away, artefact included. Even more tragically was the news that – although his flagship had been disabled and Lord Tark Jaggentire captured in the Darth's place – Master Reynolds had died lowering the Harrower's shields, being executed by means of decapitation over an open broadcast transmitted by Lord Ishtar.
The silver lining of the failed attempt to capture Darth Vokuur was that Tark Jaggentire, the sacrificial pawn in command of the Dark Lord's flagship, had some awareness of his plans. Given their lack of leads, Benjamin chose to extract the knowledge from the uncooperative Twi'lek by force, painfully wrenching what he knew from his mind to learn that Vokuur believed the relic he had claimed held the secrets of the Infinite Empire.
Not the locations of forgotten weapons or installations, but the collective knowledge of the Infinite Empire, an archive supposedly containing the techniques they'd used to build their Force-attuned technology that had allowed them to enslave the galaxy.
Whatever the truth, the Republic forces returned to the Core disheartened by their defeat and grieving the loss of the elderly Cathar master.
Ascendancy Politics
You know I would not ask for help– especially your help– unless I truly needed it."
"Oh, how very charming.
—Mitth'icini'inrokini and Isla.
In the weeks following the skirmish at Agamar, Isla and Zhavi spent their days anticipating the next call to arms, training hard to hone their skills as much as possible after the death of Master Reynolds. Both had been shaken by the loss, not on a personal level as they barely knew him, but by the very public spectacle Lord Ishtar had made of his death. It reminded them that victory wasn't guaranteed.
Seeing Saria so distraught in the aftermath had only driven the point home further.
So when Isla received a call from her mother saying she needed her to return to Copero but wouldn't say why, she was somewhat resistant to the idea. Icini wouldn't take no for an answer, however, and was almost pleading, pointing out that she would not be asking for help unless she really had to, which Isla commented on but knew to be an accurate statement nonetheless.
She asked her mother to promise she wasn't doing anything that went against Zhavi or Isla's best interests, and the subtle signs of confusion she let slip were enough to convince Isla the vision she had on Ilum wasn't warning her of this particular visit. The absence of a child like the one she'd foresaw in the tank also eased her concerns, though she still feared the Chiss intended to turn on her at some point.
Regardless, she felt sure her mother wasn't planning to act against her, Icini in fact claiming her request was indirectly beneficial to her and the entire Ascendancy, she just couldn't say what she needed to say over such a vast distance. Reluctantly, the couple agreed to return.
Once they were back on Copero they were rushed to Icini's office without delay, quickly learning that the Syndic needed help dealing with a particularly troublesome political rival on Csilla, a doctor who shared her interest in the study of Force users, but with much more savage methods and ideas. Although his ideas alone did not earn him much in the way of support, he was supposedly excellent at manoeuvring potential allies in such a way that they ended up needing either his support or his discretion, favours he courted expertly to get his way.
Isla was relieved that her mother was not involved in her vision, a relief she didn't hide, prompting Zhavi to explain that she'd seen a vision through the Force that showed the couple – and presumably their own child – held in specimen tanks, sparking the fear that they would be betrayed.
Icini was hurt, they both sensed, but didn't let it show, though Hendar, Tharran and Krisss all voiced their objections to the insinuation, claiming that though they were all loyal to the Chiss Ascendancy they would neither take part in, nor neglect to warn her of, any operation that involved trapping and experimenting on either Isla, Zhavi or their friends and allies. Icini sharply added that Isla had spent too long listening to Republic mythology during her time away, explaining that she wanted her help to eliminate the doctor before he could leverage the favours he'd earned to force his ideas on the citizens Icini was trying to 'help'.
Much as it bothered her that the Chiss held the views they did on Force sensitivity, her mother's solutions were much more palatable than the doctor's were implied to be. She had seen a future in which he got his way, but feared that assisting her mother might get her captured, fulfilling her vision in a different way.
She shared this concern with her family, and after a lengthy discussion came to the rather grim conclusion that they could do nothing to guarantee they weren't captured other than to have suicide chips implanted in their arms until the mission was over. That way, if they didn't return, Icini could activate the chips to remotely euthanise them rather than allow them to be used in whatever horrifying experiments the wicked doctor had in mind.
There was some good news thankfully, in that her three siblings would be joining the couple to help deal with the doctor, both as support and to assist with any obstacles that required a more intimate understanding of Chiss society. It would be difficult, though, and almost impossible if not for the stealth systems employed by the couple's ship, which with some slight modifications and upgrades would not be all that far off cutting edge, just as they'd been when they first stole the vessel.
Once that was done, the team didn't delay. Loading up their equipment, they headed for Csilla the moment the final checks had been performed on the vessel's improved systems, arriving a few hours later and descending to the coordinates of the doctor's laboratory.
Descending undetected, the group were able to surprise the security staff, cutting their way in through the facility wall and demolishing the opposing forces, who were understandably surprised to find themselves under attack by two Jedi Knights, even more so when they realised those Jedi had Chiss support.
Though unfortunate, the group had orders to kill everyone they encountered and scrub all security footage when the doctor was dealt with. Leaving witnesses not only jeopardised the couple's safety in Ascendancy space, but would also come with severe ramifications for Isla's siblings and mother, who had no other home to flee to if they worst should happen.
So, reluctantly, the pair ensured every blow was a killing strike, wiping out everyone they encountered until they reached the security station, at which point they were able to slice into the life support systems and bypass their safety protocols to turn them against the doctor's staff, leaving only the doctor himself – sealed within his secure laboratory – to contend with.
Once cornered, he warned that he had already sent a transmission informing the rest of Csilla what was happening, urging the group to surrender, appealing to their Jedi sensibilities by warning them that the lives of their Chiss allies would be better protected if they laid down their weapons and submitted to Ascendancy law. When they refused, he appealed to Isla's siblings instead, claiming that the research he was performing would allow the Chiss to rid themselves of imperfections and that experimenting on Jedi would allow him to expedite the search for a 'cure'.
Hendar responded by firing at him, prompting the doctor to respond by drawing his own blaster. Wounded and with his reflexes slowed by age, Isla leapt for him and severed the barrel of his weapon before he could take aim, the force of the strike spinning him slightly, at which point Zhavi calmly strode forwards and whipped her blade through his lower back, severing his spine. Kriss fired a shot that connected with his temple, ensuring he was dead by the time he sunk to the floor.
A number of Chiss citizens – presumably Force sensitives – were being held in the laboratory, and though they expected reinforcements were coming as promised, the group agreed it was worth the risk to extract them, if only to expose the illegal experiments and sully the carefully manufactured reputation of the doctor in case their activities were traced to Mitt'icini'inrokini.
While Isla and Zhavi used the Force to transport the kolto tanks to their ship, Kriss, Hendar and Tharron began sabotaging the facility's reactor systems to trigger a power build up that would quickly mount up and cause a detonation, erasing the physical evidence that proved lightsabers were employed in the attack. Unfortunately, by the time they were ready to leave, Chiss fighters arrived and opened fire on the ship, chasing them away from the doomed laboratory.
Unable to get a lock on the stealth vessel, they were forced to rely on line of sight to attack and, albeit after a few excellent shots found their mark, Zhavi and Isla's ship was soon able to break through the atmosphere and outrun the Csillan fighters. The group agreed that, for the foreseeable future, they would be wise to avoid taking the ship out of the hangar, with Isla suggesting it might be a good time for a paint job to throw off the pilots, just in case they were able to visually ID them at a later date.
Mitth'icini'inrokini dismissed the others after praising their efforts collectively, waiting until they were gone before embracing her daughter and thanking her for her assistance, stating that although they held different views on what it meant to command the Force, she believed they had found a reasonable middle ground. She also confessed that the doctor's slow rise to prominence had terrified her, finally allowing her to understand what Isla's father had feared so strongly that he'd abandoned everything to escape it.
Additionally, according to Icini, the fact that Isla hadn't returned home to Copero – due to her vision, unbeknownst the Icini at the time – had made her realise that she missed her daughter after having her around for so many years, and although she was ashamed at her personal motivation she was adamant that eliminating the doctor was, nonetheless, the proper thing to do, remarking that his methods were sadistic, inefficient and unneeded, and that as such they were beneath the Chiss people.
The recovered test subjects saved from their grim fate were kept sedated until they could be discreetly delivered elsewhere, to be found by forces who had no connection with House Inrokini and thus didn't need to worry about being implicated in an unauthorised stealth attack on a Csillan installation. Isla later speculated with Zhavi that perhaps the vision that stopped her coming cancelled itself out the moment she had it, prompting the realisation that pushed her mother to act.
Zhavi, meanwhile, suggested that the vision wasn't even about Isla and Zhavi at all, and that perhaps what she had seen had been a personalised metaphor warning of the plight of her fellow Chiss. Whatever the truth, they both agreed that for all its faults, the Chiss Ascendancy were above kidnapping and experimenting on their citizens and the couple were happy to have ensured the status quo was maintained.
Emperor Vokuur's Reign
Calm Before the Storm
What is it? What's going on?"
"The Empire's made a full retreat, well back from the front. According to word on the street and some of the more naive politicians, the war is nearly over.
—Isla and Benjamin.
By the end of the year, Isla and Zhavi had finally heard news that their nephew Ben was alive and well on the molten Imperial world Som Galla, a largely inhospitable planet that supported a number of island communities who were best known for creating beautiful marble structures and sculptures, earning the world and its many islands their unofficial title, the artisan isles.
The planet already had a near-Human population whose ancient religious ways centred on devotion to the Sith, regarding them as wise, divine beings who represented the pinnacle of organic life, and so the Empire had never needed to deploy anything more than a token force when their fleet reached the system, primarily for shipping orders off-world. Most in the Empire disregarded it as an insignificant world, while those that regarded it more favourably did so purely out of an appreciation for its artistic contributions.
It was on this world that Ben had been situated since his attempt to assassinate Sera Artofen, and according to a report from Acina Lambert both her brother and the Dark Lord were living on the fiery planet of their own free will. Ben was, despite everyone's assumption, not a prisoner at all; he was a guest.
His stay would not last as long as his family feared, however. The Empire suddenly withdrew from every conflict it was involved in and retreated beyond their own borders, leading many to believe the war was all but over and leaving the Republic free to liberate the abandoned worlds, pushing the front line ever closer to the heart of Imperial space. One such abandoned world was Som Galla, and after Benjamin had forwarded information on Darth Artofen's presence there the Republic prioritised the liberation of the world for the sole purpose of finally capturing the elusive alchemist.
The native Som Gallans had limited technology and resources and could do little to resist the Republic's military might, but even so, everyone from privates to admirals were surprised when they were met with not a single instance of resistance from the population, although the natives very clearly resented the Republic's arrival.
Darth Artofen was located and arrested, also without resisting, though Isla and Zhavi were both shocked to hear that Ben had been arrested with her – not rescued – after trying to stop Republic troops from detaining Artofen, making him the only being on the planet to actively oppose Republic troops. As a gesture of respect for the senior Lambert, and since he hadn't actually harmed any Republic personnel, Ben was released into his father's custody without charge.
Although he'd set off to kill Artofen to impress his father and prove his worthiness, their reunion upon his return was tense and hostile. Isla and Zhavi, present but silent, listened as the two men argued, Ben protesting Artofen's imprisonment while the elder Lambert reminded him that she was an enemy of the Republic guilty of an endless list of crimes against their people, a fact he couldn't change.
Isla and Zhavi waded into the debate to try and help, assuring their nephew that – though attractive and alluring – Artofen was a Dark Lord of the Sith and hadn't achieved that lofty title without knowing how to manipulate and use people for her own benefit. They warned that she would have betrayed him in a heartbeat the moment it became convenient to do so, a claim that Ben angrily refuted. He pointed to her final order to the people of Som Galla not to resist the Republic forces as evidence of her true nature, which Benjamin conceded was a noble act, one that he promised to highlight when it came to her defence.
Ben was not satisfied with such a small concession, however, and eventually stormed off, leaving his father somewhat saddened, to which Zhavi reminded him that it was better for them to fall out with one another than for Artofen to have killed him, or tortured him into embracing the Dark Side.
It was a month later – after Artofen's sentence was sped through the courts and she was secured aboard a Republic prison vessel bound for the high security wing of the Belsavis facility – that Isla was forwarded a disturbing report that Ben had abused his friendship with Saria (who was assigned to the ship as its Jedi escort) to surprise and incapacitate her before boarding the vessel in her place. From there, he'd proceeded to release Artofen and destroy the ship, killing several dozen members of the Republic navy directly, and indirectly, through Artofen.
Were she to encounter her nephew in the future, Isla – and the rest of the Petrichor team – were expected to arrest or eliminate him as an enemy of the Galactic Republic. Isla confessed to Zhavi that she wouldn't be able to bring herself to do either, and though Zhavi agreed, she dismissed the scenario as unlikely, reminding her that Ben was – albeit maybe not in this particular instance – intelligent, enough so that he would likely disappear and avoid the Republic entirely.
Eve of the End
Alright, some of you know each other, some of you are strangers, but all of you know why we're here, so let's skip straight to the stuff that matters. Sooner we get this done, the sooner we can grab some beers and start polishing our medals.
—Benjamin opening the Petrichor war council.
Just under a year after the Empire withdrew its forces, intelligence from within Sith space gathered and corroborated by a number of agents and informants within the Sith Empire – including Damascus, Darsun and, unexpectedly, Darth Hamon – revealed that Darth Vokuur had claimed the throne and declared himself Emperor of the Sith.
The Sith withdrawal, viewed by many as a sign that the Sith were on the verge of defeat and were digging in to defend the Seat of The Empire, was in fact a strategic – and temporary – one, ordered with the aim of securing a construction site far from the front line. That construction site, if reports were to believed, was home to the functioning core of a massive space station drawing materials from a star with which it was already building new ships and wardroids to be employed in an unprecedented counter-attack against the Republic.
Though intelligence only revealed the station's function, a handful of individuals in the Republic suspected it was more than a simply factory. From its description, the Rakatan holocron taken from Agamar and Darth Vokuur's new role as Emperor, Republic command – with input from the Jedi Council and Benjamin, representing both Petrichor and the colony of Farrow – believed that Darth Vokuur had found the means through which the ancient Rakata were able to build the Star Forge used by Darth Revan and Darth Malak.
To what extent the Sith were able to replicate the station's capabilities was unknown, but after much deliberation it was decided that a preemptive strike was vital to ensure the station's destruction before it could be completed and its assembly lines activated. A massive gathering of forces was prepared, with the army and navy being brought in from almost every field in which they were currently serving. The Jedi, too, dedicated a large swath of their renewed numbers to the cause, and a number of briefings were held in the days prior to the attack, outlining the strategy for what was to be a bloody – hopefully brief – clash.
Petrichor, likewise, were to be included in the Republic force, joining the Jedi strike teams who had the unenviable task of boarding the station. None were ordered, but many volunteered.
In the hours leading up to the battle, Benjamin summoned the forces and allies of Petrichor for their briefing. General Daeruun attended via holo along with Fleet Admiral Oteg to ensure all of the strikes teams understood their role in the fight ahead, as did the Supreme Chancellor, who was offering what motivational support she could from a command centre on Coruscant. Ben surprised everyone by reaching out to pledge his support too, promising that no matter what personal issues might have come between him, his friends, family and the Republic, Ben was willing to play his part.
Even Mitth'icini'inrokini made a point of being in attendance, pledging a volunteer group of skilled pilots to help destroy the station against the wishes of the wider Chiss Ascendancy. From behind enemy lines, Darsun, Damascus and his wife Corrith all attended via holo, along with the begrudging Darth Hamon, who was less concerned about the threat to the Republic and more interested in killing his long-time political rival, Vokuur.
Once assembled, the group wasted no time starting the briefing.
According to a firsthand account by Darsun, alongside rumours supposedly filtering down from members of the Dark Council and the staff aboard the station, Vokuur had become immeasurably powerful seemingly overnight, claiming the throne with relative ease in front of the entire council. His personality had shifted considerably too, the Nautolan becoming reclusive and quiet, even with his daughter. Torem Odé – one of Benjamin's less visible Sith allies who had managed to get away during the Imperial withdrawal – and Darsun, her father-in-law, both attributed that shift to an ancient Force wielder having seized his body, a claim that was questioned by almost everyone in attendance.
Darsun, however, spoke directly to Benjamin, claiming that the Governor of Farrow already knew about the spirit that now ruled the Empire through what was left of Darth Vokuur. Benjamin, quickly understanding what his old mentor was referring to, revealed to the group that after claiming the first of the Four Bound Spirits on Dronim Major, he'd shared his body with a benign spirit, an ancient shaman and guardian of the orbs. Said guardian had bound his own essence to one the orbs so that he might protect it in death as he had in life, but there was a second spirit who'd sought the orbs in life, and used his considerable power to resist the draw of Chaos for millennia.
Benjamin had never encountered that spirit and the orbs – along with the benign presence – were now safely hidden, veiled behind layers of impenetrable security created using the power of the artefacts themselves. According to Darsun the dark spirit had been poisoning the minds of everyone it reached out to over the years, including Benjamin's deceased wife Lexi, who'd been corrupted by the Dark Side thanks to the whispers of the entity she'd unwittingly released, a fact she'd alluded to – but couldn't fully express – in her dying moments.
Now, with the orbs out of reach, the spirit had been searching for alternate methods of cementing its own will on the galaxy and found one through Vokuur. With the Rakatan holocron in his possession, the newly empowered Vokuur had access to a wealth of forgotten knowledge, one of the few remaining repositories of Rakatan Force lore that hadn't been lost or destroyed since the fall of the Infinite Empire.
Replicating the Star Forge was just the beginning – unless the Republic stopped him before he could bring that mysterious fallen Empire back from the annals of history.
To that end, the forces of Petrichor would be split into strike teams and flown through the battle to the partially constructed station, using the unfinished exterior as a means of boarding without the concern of hangar security. Benjamin conceded that there was no guarantee everyone's vessels would survive the journey there, but if they did, they were to fight their way through the station to the control centre at its heart.
Meanwhile, six 'broadcast' teams (one of which included Isla) would attempt to use the distraction created by the strike teams to reach the station's communications hub. Darsun, as a senior Darth, had volunteered to be one of the defenders serving as the last line of defence against boarding action, and would transmit the station's schematics internally, to the communications hub, once the battle started.
From there, the team that reached the communications hub first would then transmit that data out of the station on an open channel, providing the Republic forces a detailed blueprint to inform their attacks on the station once the vessels hosting its remote shield generator systems were all destroyed.
The station was the primary target; it had to be destroyed at all costs. Darth Vokuur's death was a secondary objective, and was in no way a higher priority than the station, much as Darth Hamon felt otherwise. Benjamin would be remaining behind to join other Jedi whose job was to bolster allied forces to improve their chances, but everyone else would be assigned to a team for the assault, unless they wished to back out beforehand. After fielding some questions and listening to a short, encouraging speech from the Supreme Chancellor, Benjamin dismissed the team and left them to spend the hours before the battle as they chose.
Isla, painfully aware of the scope of the battle, suggested to Zhavi that they just cut and run, pointing out that they were just two Jedi and wouldn't tip the scales either way and that they'd given the Republic plenty over the years already. Zhavi shot the suggestion down immediately, but knew Isla's fear through their bond and did her best to comfort her, assuring her that as long as there was breath in her body, she would always fight her way back to Isla's side.
Battle of the Dromund Forge
Don't get any ideas. You're only alive because much as I'd love to I can't kill you without hurting him. We're allies until Vokuur is dead, but not a moment longer.
—Darth Artofen, to Isla.
With all Republic forces reporting their readiness for battle, the fleet prepared to jump to lightspeed. En route, Isla discovered that Bibi had left Voryle to join the fight, leaving the Chiss horrified that yet another of her loved one was about to rush into the fire.
It was too late to talk her down, however, and before long the teams were in position, ready for the moment they left hyperspace and the battle for what had been (erroneously) dubbed the 'Dromund Forge' began.
Isla was accompanying Torem Odé, a veteran Sith Lord and wife of the Pureblooded Jedi Shadow Avexiss Odé, in an attempt to reach the communications centre from which they hoped to transmit the technical readouts of the Dromund Forge to the surrounding fleet. Thanks to the ongoing battle, which Isla had some insight into due to her close bond with Zhavi, the duo had little trouble reaching their destination swiftly, both women being competent practitioners of the Force cloak technique.
When they arrived, the technical readouts were gradually being transmitted from a local terminal just as promised, but the duo received concerning news that Vokuur was aware of Darsun' treachery and had sent a small army of forces to stop him. Torem left Isla at the terminal while she hurried to her fellow Sith's location, intent on supporting him or at the very least delaying reinforcements headed for his position.
While at the terminal, Isla's mind was drawn to the battle by Zhavi's drive and determination, and when she focused more closely on their link she sensed that Zhavi was facing Tharah Odé, the adoptive daughter of Darsun Odé's late sister, Darth Madré. More importantly, the woman who'd slain Khruukunu by stabbing him while his back was turned only to have her eyes gouged out in retaliation.
Zhavi outperformed the Twi'lek, however, fatally wounding her before the demoralised Lord killed herself by stepping off the edge of a walkway, leaving Isla to focus on a new problem on her end. Imperial technicians were remotely locking down Isla's terminal to prevent her transmission.
To complicate the situation even further, the terminal began to whirr and scream as it was overloaded. Isla ran for the exit to get clear of the blast, only to be thrown in her direction of travel as the detonation clipped her, sending her skidding out to the central walkway where she only just managed to grab a hold of the ledge, leaving her hanging out into the vast, hollow core of the partially constructed factory.
Before she could pull herself up, a patrolling Sith wardroid staggered into view and pointed its blaster cannons at her, forcing her to quickly make the difficult choice between a quick and painless death or the risk of falling out into empty space if she couldn't grab something during the fall.
Just as soon as the problem was posed, however, the wardroid was eviscerated by a crimson lightsaber blade, collapsing on the spot until it was pushed over Isla's head and into the abyss below. Replacing it, Isla was mortified to see Sera Artofen scowling hatefully down at her.
But despite everything, Artofen shut off her lightsaber, clipped it to her belt and offered her hand to the Chiss, an offer which Isla accepted with a considerable degree of confusion. Her mortal enemy told her that she was helping for Ben's sake, not anyone else's, and that once Vokuur was defeated their truce was over and she would be leaving.
Isla questioned why she'd do that just for Ben, to which she snarled the answer that Sith feel emotion more keenly than anyone, including love, reminding her that the reason she hated Isla so much was that she'd murdered her dearest friend on Voryle and asking her if – with that in mind – it was truly so shocking that she would act out of love to protect as well as avenge. Such was the fire with which she barked her retort that Isla had no doubt that she really did love the man who'd initially set out to kill her, sensing it vividly through the Force even with so much else going on.
Apologising for doubting her sincerity, Isla cautiously suggested they press on to the command centre to make sure neither of them lost anyone else, to which Sera agreed.
Though confident they stood a chance against Vokuur by working together, both women were concerned that nobody else knew the original plan had been scuppered. Together, they fought through more of the new line of wardroids produced by the Dromund Forge and their Sith handlers, fighting together despite their mutual hatred and inching ever closer to the command centre. Having seen the schematics before the terminal was overloaded, Isla had a rough understanding of the layout of the station, but no way to transmit that knowledge to the fleet.
Without hard data, she was forced to stop and meditate, communicating with Zhavi through their bond to convey the images she'd seen and allow her fianceé to guide the rest of her team to Vokuur's location, alerting them to the destruction of the communications hub. Unfortunately such meditation required her to sit down and leave herself vulnerable, during which time Artofen had left her side, replaced by Torem at an unspecified point, who reported that Darsun had been overwhelmed and killed in the data centre.
Unbeknownst to both Isla and Torem, several members of Republic strike initiative had reached Vokuur. A number of Jedi, who were slain by the Dark Lord, followed later by Aaellu and Acina Lambert. By the time Isla reached the command centre, a tearful Aaellu was carrying Acina away in her arms, seemingly having forgotten the overarching mission in her grief.
Isla passed her, restraining her own sadness at seeing her niece hanging limp in her mother's arms, and proceeded to shut down the shields using the station's master control terminal before transmitting verbal instructions over an open comm channel, pointing out where the station's key systems were housed, for lack of a transmittable technical readout. With that done, Isla disabled the signal jammer that had been preventing communications between Republic forces and activated a station-wide broadcast, warning her friends and allies of what was happening and telling them to evacuate immediately.
As she left, she retrieved the Infinite Codex abandoned beside Vokuur's shrivelled corpse and dithered at Artofen's side, considering whether or not to leave her to go down with the station after her part in the fight against Vokuur had left her so weak she was struggling to even stand. In the end, the Jedi in Isla convinced her to save Artofen, if only to pay her back for her earlier assistance. As she helped her up and pulled her arm over her shoulder, she told Artofen they were even.
Isla and Artofen reached the nearest hangar with only minutes to spare, squeezing into one of the new starfighters produced by the collapsing factory and awkwardly launching into the frenzy outside.
When the station finally exploded, the starfighter was caught in the blast, leaving it badly damaged and careening off into space without power. Yet with the Republic fleet only just starting to turn to make their retreat out of the system, Isla was able to call to Zhavi through their bond and act as a beacon to guide her – and by extension her pilot, Florence Carter – to their location, who expertly extricated them from the battlefield with the help of magnetic clamps before making a swift but bumpy landing in the nearest available hangar, well in time for the Republic fleet's jump to hyperspace.
Balance on Odessen
Back where it all started...
—Isla, regarding Odessen.
The battle of the Dromund Forge had ended with a decisive victory for the Galactic Republic, but at great cost. In addition to the thousands of lives lost on both sides, Darsun Odé had made a heroic last stand to hold the data centre. Corrith Lambert was murdered in cold blood during her use of battle meditation by Lord Ishtar, while Zhavi's aunt Sophia had died protecting Aaellu and Avexiss from the nebulous dark magic of Lord Dratine, allowing the prolific sorceress to be defeated for good when Aaellu severed her connection to the Force.
But most tragically of all was the death of fourteen year old Acina Lambert who, guided by one of her many visions, had sacrificed herself against the ancient spectre inhabiting Vokuur to protect her friends and family from the alternate version of events she'd foreseen, saving many lives at the cost of her own.
Unsettled by so much death – deaths they felt keenly through the Force – Isla and Zhavi left shortly after the Republic's retreat, leaving the wider Republic forces to enjoy the aftermath; while they sought out a peaceful location to reflect in isolation. Zhavi, unbeknownst to Isla, already had a destination in mind, having been collecting materials for her partner to use in the creation of a new lightsaber to house the crystal she acquired on Ilum for some time.
She revealed her collection once they'd landed at the base on Odessen, and after spending some time looking around what had once been the heart of the revolution against the Eternal Empire, the couple ventured out into the wilds of Odessen for a location that would lend itself to sabre construction.
Though they wandered aimlessly without a destination, crossing paths with a number of shade stalkers as they did, the Force guided the duo to the same cave the Alliance Commander explored years earlier, whereupon they discovered the stone forge used to craft the weapon that dethroned Emperor Arcann. Zhavi handed the materials she'd been secretly gathering to Isla, telling her she would stand guard until she was done. Isla grabbed her arm, however, pulling her back and reminding her that they were inseparably bonded through the Force; her new weapon should reflect that.
So, working in unison, the couple used the Force to begin construction of the final lightsaber Isla would ever wield.
The blade itself was an amalgamation of various concepts and materials, including spikes around the emitter – as featured by her first Sith sabre – but with a shielded emitter, representing her role as a Jedi and how she was now a shield against the Sith. Copper alloy from the most prestigious of Voryle's innumerable factories was used to create the casing, while Isla's crystal necklace – fashioned by using the remains of the crystals from her previous lightsabers – was disassembled and reassembled one final time to create decorative veins inset along the length of the curving hilt.
Part of the process in constructing the lightsaber was to pour Force energy into the crystal, creating a link between wielder and blade. Normally, that energy was supplied by a single Force user alone. However, in sharing the moment with Zhavi, Isla's lightsaber was highly charged by the time it was completed, creating an unusual, pulsing blade, although the effect seemed to be almost entirely cosmetic. The only notable effect was that the lightsaber had a more pronounced Force signature, making it easy to detect even to an untrained Force sensitive.
On seeing the blade, Isla felt at peace, sharing that sensation with Zhavi. Both women decided they needed to return home to comfort their friends and family and help them find a similar sense of peace, as well as help with the arrangements for Acina's funeral.
The Waverunner Wedding
If I've got a reason t' exist or a callin' or a destiny or... whatever, it's you, babe. Always was, always will be, from now till the end'a time.
—Zhavi, to Isla, on their wedding day.
In the wake of the sombre aftermath of the destruction of the Dromund Forge, Acina was given a touching sendoff on Coruscant, with not only friends and family in attendance, but also many Republic and Jedi defenders arriving to pay tribute. A starfighter flyby took place, and Acina's name featured on a memorial placed in the senate building, alongside the other fallen heroes.
Believing it would help distract the grieving family and provide a more uplifting occasion to help everyone process the traumatic events, Isla and Zhavi brought the date of their wedding forward, making the arrangements in record time.
The ceremony itself took place on a beach in sight of Tyrena, an event that was open to any who wished to attend, though most of the attendees were friends and family. Both brides were given away by their fathers in a modern twist on the tradition, Yuri giving away Zhavi and Ned, Isla, while Master Oteg conducted the ceremony to formally marry the couple. Mitth'icini'inrokini and Isla's siblings also attended using temporary diplomatic immunity, as did the Cobbled Terentateks. Even Sera and Ben, smuggled into Republic space and onto Corellia with Captain Carter's help, were present, albeit while hiding their identities.
Isla took Zhavi's family name, as the Waverunners were a respected military lineage in the Republic and the Ahnkett name wasn't Isla's by birth, which by her own admission gave her less of a connection with it. Zhavi suggested a double-barrelled name, but Isla wanted to take the Waverunner name as her own, as it marked the first time she was able to willingly embrace a new identity. Once the ceremony was complete, a reception was held in Tyrena before the newlyweds returned to Copero with Zhavi's new in-laws to begin their honeymoon.
Threats in the Shadows
Birth of Acina Waverunner
I'm goin' t' kill every last one of you.
—Zhavi, to the junkyard thugs.
In the first month of 39 ATC, Isla and Zhavi left Copero for a final trip to Republic space before the birth of their first child, carried by Isla. While en route, Isla began to suffer from unexpected pains, followed by significant bleeding that caused the couple to fear for the health of their baby.
Cutting their journey to Corellia short, the couple redirected to nearby Talravin for emergency medical attention. Isla's condition deteriorated rapidly as they disembarked, yet with medics waiting for them as they descended the boarding ramp she was seen to immediately, being rushed to a local hospital where Zhavi learned that – due to Isla's unusually small body and the larger size of the baby – she needed surgery, as a natural delivery would likely kill both mother and child.
Thankfully the surgery itself was straightforward and performed without complication, although as with most occasions in the couple's lives there were complications, just not relating to their immediate situation. Zhavi received a panicked message from Ducky while she was in the hospital, telling her that someone had boarded the ship, taking advantage of the fact that Zhavi – in her rush – had neglected to secure the vessel.
Leaving Bombarr to protect Isla and the baby, Zhavi fled the hospital immediately.
By the time she arrived Ducky was long gone, though thanks to her SIS credentials Zhavi was able to commandeer the services of local security forces to do her bidding, serving as her eyes and helping to guide her after the suspected droidnapper. Unfortunately even with additional resources at her command Zhavi caught the thief too late to rescue Ducky.
In no mood for niceties, Zhavi beat the Kaleesh criminal severely until he confessed that his boss had sent him after the droid, though he didn't know why. Pointing her to a junkyard outside the city, Zhavi crushed the thug's kneecap to immobilise him and called the authorities to pick him up while she proceeded to the junkyard, accompanied by Vrym.
The junkyard itself was a fortress of refuse packed into position by a thick metal mesh, creating an enclosed base of operations for what was evidently a criminal group. Impatient, Zhavi chose to create her own entrance into the junkyard, leaping onto the roof of the makeshift bunker and smashing through with the aid of the Force. Inside, she discovered a fiery underworld of molten metal and rivers of hyperdrive plasma, as well as a number of workers who – it seemed – were ready and willing to kill the Jedi, confirming they were more than simple labourers.
With decades of experience, a fierce command of the Force and in a terrible mood, Zhavi decimated the thugs with horrifying ease, murdering her way to the Ugnaught foreman who attempted to kill her using droids he'd built from salvaged components. Zhavi dispatched the droids and disarmed the foreman, strangling him until he revealed that he'd been contacted by an anonymous individual who wanted him to steal Ducky and download the data held in his memory.
He told her Ducky was in the compactor room with the other scrap, and Zhavi decided to give him a chance to live by turning her back on him, knowing that as she moved to leave he would make a cowardly attempt on her life. When he did, Zhavi was ready, disarming him again and kicking him into a viscous waterfall of molten metal, killing him.
By the time she began searching the compactor room, Ducky was seconds from being crushed, only surviving thanks to the combined heroics of Zhavi and Vrym, who dived after the droid and created a line to reach the helpless droid and snatch him from the jaws of the crushing rollers.
The trio returned to the hospital soaked by rain and sweat and covered in dirt and mechanical fluids, tired but alive and unharmed and – to their shared joy – greeted by the sight of Isla, now awake, holding the newest addition to the Waverunner family.
Zhavi asked if Isla had decided on a name, and Ducky projected an image of the late Acina Lambert – a tribute to their beloved niece while also keeping up the Waverunner tradition of naming at least one child in each generation after a Republic hero. Thus, Acina Waverunner entered the galaxy.
The strange little family remained in the hospital for a few days – during which time Zhavi was thanked for uncovering the criminal leanings of the junkyard crew – before resuming their journey to Corellia.
Neither of them could completely disregard the mystery aggressor, however, and with Ducky having traced the foreman's transmission Zhavi made it clear she intended to follow the trail before too long.
Evacuation of Bimimma
Not again...
—Isla, on seeing evidence of starweirds.
In 42 ATC Zhavi was pregnant with the couple's second child, although in contrast to Isla's pregnancy Zhavi took the extra load in her stride and made a point of keeping herself busy. Isla insisted they avoid any form of danger, an insistence which led them to the agricultural world of Bimimma, where Queen D'callo of Voryle and Bibi were visiting following a large investment in the colony.
On Bimimma, Zhavi assisted the locals in digging the foundations of an extension to the colony while Isla looked after Acina, transporting tools and controlling a cargo sled for the movement of soil. A few weeks into their stay on the uneventful world the colony's proximity alarms began blaring.
Initially, the residents feared pirates or an invading Imperial fleet, but it soon became apparent that it was neither. Ducky – connected to the colony's systems – projected a hologram of the object that had triggered the alarm; a drifting Harrower-class dreadnought, little more than debris but on a collision course for Bimimma.
A distress call was transmitted and responded to immediately by Republic forces, a fleet being promised within a matter of hours to intercept the derelict before it reached the planet. However, Ducky calculated that in the time it would take the nearest fleet to arrive the wreck would be too close to the planet to avoid a collision.
Once the wreckage was destroyed it would litter the planet with debris, avoiding an apocalyptic scenario but raining down an unpredictable hailstorm of destruction on their evacuation efforts. Ducky suggested that if the ship was redirected to fall into the ocean, the colonists would have more time to evacuate and the colony could be rebuilt in the aftermath, once the seawater receded.
Zhavi agreed, though even she had to admit that redirecting a falling dreadnought was beyond her power alone. Contacting Master Gnost-Dural, Zhavi was informed that Petrichor forces were close enough to reach Bimimma in time and that they would be rerouted immediately.
Meanwhile, Isla took a scout ship out to the Harrower and boarded it to investigate what had transpired aboard the vessel to send it hurtling towards a Republic agricultural world – and whether it was intentional.
Unbelievably, Isla's list of possibilities failed to accommodate the horrifying reality that she encountered shortly after securing her vessel; the ship was riddled with the same fleshy vines she and Zhavi had encountered aboard the Ascendancy observatory, leaving Isla to conclude that starweirds had struck again and prompting her to make a speedy departure for fear that the spectral beings might still be present aboard the dreadnought.
By the time Isla returned to the colony the Petrichor forces had arrived and were preparing to set out to reach a strategic location from which they would attempt to steer the falling vessel.
Isla and Acina left the planet aboard their ship to wait out the collision, leaving Zhavi and her team to alter the trajectory of the dreadnought as it broke through the atmosphere. Doing so created a tsunami, though the group were prepared for it, fleeing on speeders and boarding Florence Carter's freighter on the move, riding up the boarding ramp shortly before the wave caught up with them.
Personality and Traits
Are all Chiss so... tedious?"
"One can hope.
—Zhavi and Isla.
From an early age, Isla was a serious, pragmatic individual who dedicated herself to her duties and training, often at the expense of her free time. She was driven to prove herself, and took any failure to excel as a serious issue that needed to be resolved promptly. This created friction between Isla and the rest of the Jedi Order, who preached patience and staggered learning, which infuriated the young Chiss.
To aggravate her further, Chiss biology was relatively unknown to the Republic and their Jedi defenders; Isla learned faster than her fellow initiates, but wasn't able to advance, which made her very resentful towards her peers. Isla was never one to openly display her feelings though, learning early on that the Jedi would lecture her if she displayed negative emotions like anger. It was the threat of such scoldings that encouraged Isla to subconsciously develop her ability to shrink her presence in the Force.
Isla displayed a lack of empathy with most people she encountered, her resentment towards the Jedi leading her to become distrustful of others until they proved themselves a friend, such as when Zhavi saved her from execution at the hands of the Knights of Zakuul. Once she established a friendship, however, Isla was loyal and willing to lend aid when required, although she was willing to withhold assistance if she believed it would be to the benefit of the friend in question.
After joining the Sith, Isla's apathy towards strangers was exacerbated with the removal of the moral code of her old order to restraint her. She was willing to kill on command and had little regard for the lives she took. Despite her coldness, she maintained a strict personal code of pragmatism, just as she had as a Jedi, and often spared the lives of enemy forces when their deaths offered no strategic advantage.
Unlike many of her newfound peers in the Sith Empire, Isla did not view her connection to the Force as a mark of superiority over Imperial personnel. While it was true she took a dim view of her less able peers during her time as a Jedi, she was much more tolerant of less talented and gifted individuals than herself when their weaknesses did not hold her back, and was often mocked for the respect she showed to those who were not themselves Sith.
In fact, Isla favoured the company of non-Sith. She enjoyed competition – and strove to be the best she could be in all she did – but believed the Sith tendency to betray and murder one another was a significant cultural failing, one which was both impractical and chipped away at the so-called 'freedom' they all believed the Dark Side offered them. Over time, this belief developed into a similar breed of resentment she'd felt towards the Jedi; instead of being personally held back, she was aligned with a group who were collectively holding the entire Empire back.
After breaking up with Zhavi on Makeb, Isla displayed a certain ambitiousness and naivety when she focused on her career, channelling all her sadness and anger into pushing herself to new limits, showcasing her determination in a way that she felt sure would result in her promotion to Lord before long.
As time went by and the closest she got to Lord was a reassignment to internal security as a Sith Inquisitor, Isla became increasingly disenfranchised and bitter, not only about being passed over for Lordship but also due to being removed from field work in favour of a role that was primarily focused on coordinating other operatives, a task she hated. She became increasingly aggressive in her methods, torturing more than one suspect to death after they'd already revealed what she wanted to know.
The Chiss remained loyal to those she cared for, however. When Zhavi's family were captured, Isla attempted to rescue them the moment she knew of their location, willing to sacrifice both her career and life at the hands of Lord Jhang simply to prove her sincerity to Zhavi posthumously.
Isla's personality shifted slightly after her near-death experience on Dxun. Over the year that followed she became less confident in her abilities and more fearful of injury, experiencing a form of psychosis relating to her newfound reliance on cybernetic appendages that caused her to experience vivid hallucinations that came to her without warning. This psychological disturbance pushed her into a state of quiet depressing, and she isolated herself more than ever as a result.
She eventually recovered thanks to the persistence of her friends on Voryle. Bibi Jotto's kindness helped soothe her loneliness, while the assistance of her allies and her relationship with Samantha D'callo gradually helped ease her back into trusting people again, helping her recover from the trauma she'd experienced on Dxun.
In spite of her being closed-off, Isla clearly felt a strong sense of justice, as exemplified by her temporary theft of the Four Bound Spirits to – at great personal risk – restore Bibi Jotto to life.
Isla eventually became more trusting of everyone during her time in the SIS. Initially she was suspicious of her Replublic 'allies', but after being rescued from an Imperial prison on Dromund Tyne found comfort in the fact she could rely on others when she failed. This increasing appreciation for her friends and loved ones was strengthened when she began training Kol and Mirris, the role of mentor to the youngsters making Isla more hopeful about her own future.
By the time Zhavi proposed to Isla, she felt at home for the first time in her life. She had friends, a fiancée and a good work-life balance that she enjoyed. This manifested as a more merciful approach in her work, the Chiss often striking to maim instead of kill during her confrontations, though she was oblivious to the change in inclination herself.
She also became less formal in her mannerisms, and though she remained articulate and well-spoken her tone softened to a more conversational one, a change that Zhavi remarked made her seem less uptight. Even after reconnecting with her biological family on Copero, Isla retained her individuality, finding her own mannerisms uncomfortably similar to those of her people, whom she found to be arrogant and condescending.
Isla could also become self-destructively angry at times, such as when her birth mother tried to strong-arm her into breaking off her relationship with Zhavi to marry a suitor of her choosing, insulting Waverunner in the process. Isla activated her lightsaber and threatened to throw her mother out of her office window, despite being in the heart of Chiss territory and surrounded by members of the Ascendancy.
In her later years, after becoming a mother, Isla became less concerned about the galaxy she lived in, her concerns focused primarily on her children and loved ones, for whom – in the case of the former – she felt endless worry. She never lost her instincts from her Sith Intelligence career, though, and thoroughly investigated everyone her children interacted with regularly, building up a collection of intelligence files to use against anyone who acted against her family.
By the time she reached old age, Isla had adopted Zhavi's laid-back approach to life and took most things in her stride, preferring to ignore galactic news and remain largely disconnected from the wider galaxy, her only interests being enjoying her retirement and spending time with those she cared about.
Physical Appearance
Sith are getting smaller these days. You're all skin and bones! There's nothing to grab a hold of."
"A problem that will never concern you, you have my word.
—Damascus and Isla.
Like most Chiss, Isla had striking red eyes devoid of visible pupils, cobalt blue skin and jet black hair, making her immediately recognisable as a member of the enigmatic species. She sported a number of freckles around the top of her nose and had a strong jawline. Due to her species' active metabolism Isla had difficulty putting on weight and was naturally skinny too, giving her a thin, borderline skeletal appearance that was accentuated by her general lack of muscle and often led her enemies to underestimate the threat she posed.
Isla was also slightly shorter than the average for her species, standing at 1.6 meters in height. The Chiss also sported several tattoos at Zhavi's insistence, the former Jedi having adorned her own body with several comical and suggestive tattoos. The first was innocent enough; a small love heart with Zhavi's name written in Aurebesh inside, matching the one Zhavi had with her name. Isla's second tattoo was on the inside of her right thigh and depicted a bright red lipstick print ringed with the words 'Zhavi was here', a choice made by Zhavi herself as the price of Isla losing one of their bets.
Likewise, her last tattoo was another consequence of wagering against the seasoned gambler, Aurebesh letters on her backside with the words 'restricted' and 'no entry' on opposing sides. It was this tattoo that prompted Isla to rule out further bets with Zhavi for a long time, only agreeing to resume their friendly competitions on the condition they didn't require her to suffer another of Zhavi's lewd tattoo ideas if she lost.
Isla also had a large number of freckles around her shoulders and upper arms, though many of these were lost when her arms were severed by Lord Jhang and replaced with synthskin covered cybernetics, creating a slightly visible divide between her organic flesh and the synthetic replacement. This mark of machinery ceased to be a problem when the Four Bound Spirits restored her organic limbs, however.
After giving birth to her first child, Isla's general body shape changed slightly, the Chiss putting on a little weight and her hips remaining slightly wider than they'd been pre-pregnancy, which led her to feel self-conscious for a time until she was reassured by Zhavi. Isla frequently changed her hairstyle, generally preferring longer styles yet periodically sporting shorter cuts. She never dyed her hair, however, despite Zhavi's repeated attempts to convince her.
Relationships
Lord Kim
Understood."
"Understood...?"
"Understood master.
—Lord Kim and Isla.
Lord Kim was Isla's first long-term master. After killing her Jedi Master and offering her a way to live by joining the Sith, Lord Kim trained Isla to be his personal assassin, teaching her most of the core abilities she would eventually come to master over the course of her life. Isla quickly came to hate Lord Kim due to his brutal methods, her training being relentless and unforgiving, with the young Chiss being struck every time she failed and forced to repeat whatever she was learning until she got it right.
Obviously, being hit after each failure did little to increase her odds, often leading to Isla collapsing from exhaustion, furthering her resentment. Irrespective of her feelings towards the man, Isla's mastery of obscure Force powers such as the Phase and Cloak techniques would serve her well for the rest of her life, both protecting her and allowing her to surprise her enemies and overcome them in situations where she might otherwise have met her end.
When Lord Kim was killed during the fight against the invading forces of Zakuul, however, Isla was more than happy to be rid of him. During her time on Voryle, while suffering from hallucinations brought on by her psychosis, Lord Kim was one of the phantoms she encountered, though she dismissed his presence, believing him beneath her concern by that time.
Lord Scarlet Jhang
Either she joins us or she dies here... your choice, apprentice. Everything, or nothing.
—Scarlet Jhang, threatening Isla.
During her time in Sith Intelligence both before and after her stint in the Eternal Alliance, Isla reported to the Sith Lord Scarlet Jhang, a respected veteran who had risen to power after eliminating her own family without leaving any evidence of her actions, prompting her invitation to the organisation, where she quickly rose to a prominent position.
Seeing Isla's unique skill set and obvious potential as an apprentice, Lord Jhang began monitoring her performance with a view to take her on a student if she proved herself capable enough for her liking. She offered Isla advice from time to time, and Isla respected her intellect and cunning, although she was wary of her intentions, seeing Jhang as the type of woman who couldn't stop scheming even when off-duty. After her return from the Alliance, Jhang openly expressed her interest in taking on Isla as her pupil, a guaranteed career-building move that Isla was looking forward to.
Sadly, Jhang was aware of the relationship she'd developed with Zhavi Waverunner during her time in the Alliance and wanted to ensure Isla's loyalty wasn't divided. Isla believed she could deceive Lord Jhang, but the accomplished manipulator wasn't fooled, and after repeatedly fabricating false intelligence 'acquired' during her time in Waverunner's company, Jhang tortured her and demanded real information, forcing Isla to reveal the location of the Jedi colony on Ossus, a secret entrusted to her by her Jedi lover – but one that Sith Intelligence already knew and were preparing to act on.
After the invasion of Ossus, Isla met with Zhavi to try and smooth things over only for the Jedi to attack and defeat her. Unbeknownst to both of them, Jhang was cloaked behind Zhavi, preparing to step in and execute her if she tried to deal a killing blow, yet when Zhavi couldn't she formulated a new plan to corrupt the former Jedi using Isla and claim both of them as her disciples, believing the strength of their Force bond would massively improve her own prospects.
Jhang moved to work on an off-world operation after the event, keeping her distance from Isla to leave her isolated. Having lost the woman she loved to the Sith Lord's machinations, Isla's respect for Lord Jhang turned to resentment, then anger, and finally hatred. Once she learned that Zhavi's parents and brother had been captured in neutral space, she immediately suspected Jhang, and after several months she finally confronted her on Dxun. Despite being bested, Isla broke free of her force cage to help Zhavi when she arrived and lost a portion of all four of her limbs in the process.
The wounds dealt by Jhang were so severe Isla almost died from them, and even though she survived it took her the best part of a year to recover from the trauma of having all her limbs replaced with cybernetics. While suffering from cyber-psychosis, Isla experienced a hallucination of Lord Jhang which caused her significant distress, highlighting just how affected the young Chiss was by the actions of her old mentor.
Zhavi Waverunner
Zhavi Waverunner, Jedi Knight and petty criminal.
I love you, Zhavi. For reasons I couldn't even begin to describe, and others that make no sense even to me.
—Isla, to Zhavi.
Isla first met Zhavi when the Eternal Empire attacked the known galaxy. She attempted to steal a ship to escape a world under siege, unaware that it belonged to Zhavi, only to be bested by a trio of Knights of Zakuul who would have killed her, if not for Waverunner's timely intervention. Zhavi didn't realise at the time that she was initiating a chain of events that would irrevocably change the direction of both of their lives.
They met again shortly before joining the Eternal Alliance and began working together, since Isla trusted Zhavi after she'd saved her life. The two became close, eventually developing a strong Force bond and beginning a romantic relationship that continued in secret after the pair left the Alliance's employ, only ending after the invasion of Ossus, when Zhavi believed Isla had betrayed her trust.
However the rift between them was largely healed when Isla put her life at risk to rescue Zhavi's family from Lord Jhang, an act of loyalty that cost her her limbs and traumatised her. Though Zhavi forgave her, the trauma from her injuries led to Isla distancing herself from everyone, which Zhavi mistook as disinterest in resuming their relationship. They began to see other people, though remained friends. Even when both women were dating others, Isla cared enough about her former lover to risk her own health by using the Four Bound Spirits to heal Zhavi's infertility.
When the pair were both single again at the same time, they were captured raiding an Imperial vessel, lured into a trap that saw them imprisoned on Dromund Tyne and left to starve to death in their cell. During this time Isla confided in Zhavi that she had miscarried, a revelation that proved to be a significant, as Zhavi felt that it was her fault – if she'd not given up on Isla, it would never have happened.
Once they'd been rescued and had time to recover, Zhavi and Isla's relationship was given a kick-start during an uncover mission to a high society charity ball on Coruscant, a setting conducive to romance. The duo spent the evening together, followed by the rest of the night. In the morning, Isla handed over a pair of reading glasses she'd ordered, being the only one who'd noticed Zhavi's eyesight was failing.
The pair would remain together from that night onwards, their relationship going from strength to strength until they eventually married, settled down and had three children of their own, defying the expectations of both the Jedi Order and Chiss Ascendancy.
Bibi Jotto
Bibi Jotto, Republic soldier-turned-SIS agent.
Good morning Isla! You're looking very beautiful today. Well, I mean, um, not beautiful, just nice, pretty– not that I'm saying you're not beautiful, you are, of course, but, um...
—Bibi, to Isla.
Isla first met Bibi Jotto after leaving the hospital on Voryle, the Cathar being sent by the Republic as an adviser on military matters. Bibi was instantly taken with Isla, greeting her with the same bubbly optimism she showed everyone and though, initially, Isla was distrustful of everyone – including Bibi – her constant warmth and admiration slowly wore down Isla's scepticism.
In spite of her shyness, Bibi eventually confessed her attraction to Isla. Unfortunately, despite her fondness for the Cathar, Isla was fresh from years of living in the Empire, leaving her unable to entertain the idea of becoming romantically involved with a Cathar, an alien species she'd only ever really seen as slaves. She cared enough about Bibi not to mention her lingering xenophobia, however, and brushed off the topic without directly rejecting the young woman.
Bibi continued to support Isla regardless, even going as far as to give Samantha D'callo the benefit of the doubt when Isla believed the Twi'lek had lied to her about her identity. When Isla committed to ending her relationship with the Twi'lek, though, Bibi kissed her, telling her it was for good luck in her upcoming mission. Sadly, any potential between the two was lost when Bibi was killed by Sera Artofen.
Such was Isla's guilt surrounding her death that she sapped Force energy from the people around her to fuel the fabrication of memories she wanted to implant in Bibi's dying mind, risking her own life by pushing herself beyond her physical limitations, all to make sure that Bibi died believing she'd led a full, happy life.
This did not alleviate Isla's guilt, as significant a gesture as it was, and when Isla saw the opportunity to save Bibi using the Four Bound Spirits almost a year later, she didn't hesitate for a moment before stealing them from under the nose of her allies.
Even after abusing the power of the orbs for personal use, Isla could not bring herself to face the resurrected Bibi Jotto, leaving her as she woke up next to her own headstone and only daring to visit over a month later, by which point Bibi had resumed her old life and become close with Samantha, now the ruler of Voryle.
Seeing Bibi alive and having moved on with her life – and after receiving such a heartfelt reception on her return – Isla was finally able to release her guilt and move on herself, remaining a good friend of Bibi's well into her twilight years.
Samantha D'callo
You need t' start trusting the people who're trying t' help you.
—Samantha, to Isla.
First meeting as opponents in the Voryle fight club arena, Isla and Samantha struck up an unlikely friendship following their bout, with the striking Twi'lek drawing the Chiss' eye. Samantha was one of the few people to discern that Isla was the leader of the Cobbled Terentateks and diagnose her cyber-psychosis despite having no formal medical training.
Aware of her condition, Samantha made extra effort to support Isla as she and her gang steadily rose to prominence on Voryle, often guiding her to potential allies and sources of income using her extensive local knowledge. Isla owed a significant portion of her success to Samantha's help, in fact, and even once the gang was well established Samantha continued to be a trusted friend and confidant, forcing Isla to accept her aid on more than one occasion rather than allow her to run operations solo.
Samantha also held a romantic interest in Isla, just as the Chiss herself did. She eventually tricked Isla into showing up for a date, which ultimately initiated a more intimate relationship, albeit not for very long, as Isla received an invitation to the Prime Minister's dinner party, where she learned that Samantha had withheld her relationship with the tyrannical opponent of Isla and her gang, the Twi'lek being his only daughter.
Though this revelation created a rift, leaving Isla hurt, Samantha was sympathetic, intending to give her space to process the new information.
This window would be short-lived, it turned out, as the following day Isla was forced to face off against an enormous Sithspawn unleashed by the Empire against the city and her subordinates. Samantha didn't hesitate to join her in the battle, assisting her in bringing down the behemoth before the pair rushed off to foil the Prime Minister's plot to assassinate his uncooperative peers.
This reconciliation between the couple was to be bittersweet, as not long after their reunion Bibi Jotto was killed, traumatising Isla, and Samantha was selected to serve as an interim Prime Minister until a proper replacement was elected.
The pair had one final day together before Isla and Zhavi were recalled to Coruscant, providing an unavoidable, unspoken end to any hopes the pair had of a long-term relationship. However, Isla and Samantha remained good friends well into the future, attending one another's weddings and Isla even saving Samantha from a coup intended to remove her from government.
Damascus Lambert
Most kills wins?
—Damascus, to Isla.
Damascus became a trusted friend of Isla's not long after their first encounter on Corulag, the pair's similar backgrounds serving as a solid foundation of trust between the two. Isla quickly earned Damascus' respect by gifting him the spare lightsaber she'd taken from the Trandoshan poachers' leader to replace his lost weapon. Damascus also flirted aggressively with Isla from their first meeting onwards, making no effort to conceal his attraction.
This overt pursuit of her affections hastened the development of their friendship, as Isla found his directness and easygoing nature similar to that of the soldiers whose company she preferred during her time in the Empire. Damascus tried to convince Isla to join him on a date several times while they worked on Corulag, though Isla brushed off his advances initially, still ever so slightly held back by her xenophobia; while she had grown accustomed to near-Humans, Damascus was a Chistori, a far more alien species.
Nonetheless, believing her own skills superior, Isla accepted Damascus' proposal that she accept his invitation on the condition she kill more enemies than him, promising her that if he lost he would never again chase her affection.
Before the bet was concluded, Isla comforted Damascus after an old friend of his – Cerys Odé – was murdered by a Sith, support that strengthened their friendship. In the time afterwards, the bet time limit was up and Damascus snatched a narrow lead, compelling Isla to accompany the Chistori on a date, expecting a pleasant evening but little else.
She was pleasantly surprised, however, by Damascus' courteous and charming demeanour, and by the end of the evening the duo's relationship changed from friendly to romantic. Isla came to care deeply for Damascus, though secretly she knew she could never love him, the species barrier being a little too much for her to ever fully overcome. Regardless of that fact, Isla was willing to risk her life for Damascus, returning to Imperial space when he was captured.
Damascus was rescued by his estranged wife, Corrith Lambert, just minutes before Isla arrived, and after a discussion with his wife decided his marriage was salvageable, to his – somewhat conflicted – surprise. The hulking alien explained his conflicted state of mind to Isla and, though she was sad to lose his company, she encouraged him to explore the possibility of reconciliation with his wife, wanting him to be happy and knowing their relationship could never have lasted forever.
Shortly after parting ways, Isla miscarried in the early weeks of her pregnancy, a fact she concealed from everyone but Zhavi, believing that sharing the knowledge with Damascus would only cause him pain and possibly repercussions in his marriage.
Despite their separation and some awkwardness in the time after, Isla and Damascus went on to be firm friends, the Chistori among the first individuals Isla called on when she required help or support and ultimately the man who would become godfather to her children.
Benjamin Lambert
Benjamin Lambert, Force scholar and businessman.
If you're willing to listen, I'm willing to talk. But only when you're ready. The Sith chase after knowledge in a mad dash for power and the Jedi guard their teachings jealously, denying them to anyone who doesn't meet their specific, narrow standards. My approach is different. I'll teach you whatever you want to learn, then I'll teach you why you never needed to learn it at all.
—Benjamin Lambert, regarding training Isla on an informal basis.
First encountering Benjamin Lambert on Dronim Major while posing as a mercenary, Isla initially viewed the man as a threat, though came to respect him slightly when he revealed that he knew she was a Sith but didn't unveil her identity to her employer or the authorities.
That respect only went so far – Isla offered up her encounter with the former Darth Enigmus to Lord Jhang when she tortured her for information on the whereabouts of surviving Jedi, readily betraying his location to spare herself further suffering.
Their relationship would change in time, however, as after rejoining the Republic under a new name she crossed paths with Benjamin once again, being recruited into Project Petrichor, in which he served as the commander. Once again, Lambert kept Isla's secrets to himself, although Frank Ped – the man in overall charge of the project – had worked out who she was by piecing together intelligence reports.
At first, Isla had little involvement with Lambert outside of mission briefings, and though she assisted him in his battle against Darth Aivela by engaging Sera Artofen the pair were work colleagues at best.
This changed after Isla and Zhavi were captured and detained in Imperial space. Benjamin and his partner Aaellu led the rescue personally, in spite of the considerable risk required to launch a prison break in the Dromund System.
Isla had already respected him as a superior and admired his strengths and skills but only after nearly dying of starvation did she truly appreciate him as an individual, his quiet kindness and willingness to put himself in the line of fire for others fostering a sense of obligation in the Chiss.
This shift in her opinion pushed Isla to train harder, her strong work ethic becoming less about self respect and more about proving herself worthy of her superior's respect. After her rescue, she also realised that for all her experience she had ceased training after rejoining the Republic. To rectify her lapse in routine she asked Benjamin if he could provide training for both herself and Zhavi, a request he agreed to, albeit after cautioning her that his training methods differed from both the Sith and Jedi.
A truth Isla soon learned was not inaccurate; Benjamin always seemed to know the right time to use positive or negative methods, provoking her defiance when she succumbed to self-pity or hopelessness and calming her when she grew frustrated and disenfranchised, mixing the kindly techniques of the Jedi with the aggressive do-or-die methods of the Sith.
Isla came to see Benjamin as something of a father figure, always seeking his advice on difficult issues, questions about the nature of the Force or ruminations on the wider galaxy.
By the time Benjamin established the Arbiters of Farrow City – an elite Force sensitive police force – Isla was one of the first individuals to pass the incredibly difficult trials that determined the psychological readiness of a Force user to serve as an Arbiter, a spiritual test that required a deep understanding and acceptance of oneself and one's life to pass.
Zhavi, in contrast, failed, despite being stronger both physically and in the Force, which Isla quietly cited as a testament to Lambert's training.
Isla kept in regular contact with Benjamin during his time as Governor of Farrow, being one of many to pay tribute when he was trapped in a Force rift that held him in suspended animation, imprisoning him for a length of time that would extend far beyond the lifespan of the Chiss. Though she never saw him again, she often thought of him when she visited Farrow, even building a statue to commemorate his life.
Powers and abilities
Lightsaber Training
Unlike you, my beloved partner in crime, I've always favoured class and elegance over repeatedly smashing at my opponent like an infuriated Wookiee.
—Isla comparing her Makashi with Zhavi's Djem So.
Isla Waverunner was primarily trained in wielding a lightsaber by the sly and deceptive Sith Lord, Lord Kim. As her master favoured stealth and subterfuge over direct confrontation, he relied on a form more fitting for one-on-one engagements and, as Isla's existence was kept hidden from the rest of the Empire for some time, this preference was forced on Isla through necessity, the young Chiss training to become proficient in Form II, or Makashi.
Although she became a competent sabre duellist, Isla never had any natural inclination towards lightsaber combat and her specialisation in sabre duelling led her suffer a particular weakness against blaster-wielding opponents. This prompted her to research and practise the Shien variant of Form V after Lord Kim's demise to ensure she could defend herself when her stealthy tactics fell short, a decision prompted significantly by the sudden emergence of the Eternal Alliance and its endless legions of mechanical Skytroopers.
After befriending Zhavi Isla improved her use of Form II, learning to better compensate for its weaknesses against Zhavi's use of Form V's Djem So during their spars. She also picked up a number of signature, power-heavy movements from Zhavi, movements she sporadically injected into her own style in an attempt to diversify her form and make it more her own. Regrettably, Isla was small and skinny and so lacked the physical strength to truly exploit Djem So's powerful blows, relegating the techniques she learned from Zhavi to little more than diversionary moves.
Once Isla left the Empire she was pushed to alter her fighting style to accommodate the required use of her new sabercane, incorporating the bladed shaft of the cane in combination with her standard Makashi style. She developed her own makeshift form that mixed Makashi with elements of Jar'Kai and hand-to-hand combat, albeit in a somewhat loose manner. By the time she departed Voryle Isla had grown accustomed to fighting with her cane, the utility it provided (both in combat and out) and the unfamiliarity it forced her foes to deal with outweighing the drawbacks and helping to further compensate for Isla's limitations.
When she began training under Benjamin Lambert, Isla suddenly had access to a teacher who had mastered the art of lightsaber combat, allowing her to learn the basics of every lightsaber form for academic purposes, while also studying Form III, Soresu, more intensely, a form that Lambert himself favoured and recommended to her on account of her slight frame and lack of physical power. Within a decade, Isla had become proficient in the practical use of Soresu, using it almost as often as she did her favoured form, Makashi.
Benjamin's knowledge of the forms also allowed her to tighten up her version of Makashi, perfecting it to the best of her ability before abandoning it in favour of exclusive use of Soresu, the form she would go on to use for the rest of her life.
As a homage to her fondness for the duelling form, Isla's final lightsaber design still included the curved grip commonly used by Makashi duellists.
Force Powers
What is it they say? 'Out of sight, out of mind'?
—Isla remarking on her stealth abilities.
As a prospective Sith assassin, Isla's training focused heavily on mastering obscure Force powers that would allow her to conceal herself from the Empire's enemies and strike from the shadows, which was no easy task given her lack of raw Force potential. Initially, Lord Kim's training was almost exclusively focused on perfecting the essentials of the Force Cloak ability, though once she was able to consistently replicate her application of the technique her training moved on to understanding the core methods that would allow her to disguise and hide her presence in the Force.
Once she'd become competent in the use of both abilities, Lord Kim began training her to use the more complex Phase ability, although Isla lacked the raw potential to ever make full use of the power's exhaustive energy requirements. For almost a decade the most she could manage was to employ it for one or two seconds, depleting her personal Force reservoir to achieve such an outcome and making it almost impossible for her to gain any practical use of it.
Isla researched the method of performing Force lightning during the reign of the Eternal Empire, teaching herself the basics of the power but struggling to use it effectively due to her shallow immersion in the Dark Side and her general lack of powerful, driving passion, in addition to her natural shortcomings.
After experiencing love and loss due to her involvement with Zhavi, Isla's ability to use lightning improved, strengthening her connection to the Dark Side. She was also capable of using the Force instinctively when desperate, granting her access to techniques she could not replicate normally. Though rare, a prominent example of her usage of this more raw approach to the Force was her sapping residual Force energy from those around her when she needed additional power to fill Bibi Jotto's mind with a complicated combination of the Memory Rub and Mind Trick techniques.
When her relationship with Zhavi was renewed and their bond began to grow stronger once again, Isla gradually learned to tap into that bond to allow the pooling of their resources, granting her the ability to use Zhavi's energy as her own. This trick allowed her to use the Force for longer periods, and her phase ability could be employed for longer and more regularly before she tired.
In her twilight years Isla's Force powers became more fluid and accessible thanks to her brief fusion with the entire collection of artefacts that made up the Four Bound Spirits. Despite this, she still leaned heavily on the natural affinity of her wife and remained relatively limited on a personal level for the rest of her life.
Other Abilities
Y' ever thought 'bout sellin' them models'a yours?
—Zhavi, referring to Isla's sculptures.
Alongside her martial training, Isla also possessed other skills that helped her accomplish her goals and overcome her limited Force potential. As an assassin, Isla had an extensive knowledge of a variety of poisons that she could deploy discreetly, or even more overtly, during combat, allowing her to surprise an unsuspecting opponent or kill a target without being noticed.
She also had a good grasp of modern blaster weaponry – though she rarely resorted to using such weapons – and various forms of technological devices, in particular surveillance and slicing equipment, although her slicing ability was limited. Isla was also a talented sculptor, the only hobby she dedicated time and effort to during her time as a Sith, developing her understanding to be able to work with a variety of differing materials, beginning with clay and moving on to metal and woodwork, using the Force in place of her hands.
Isla was also required to develop the ability to lie convincingly, training with Sith Intelligence to mimic mannerisms she observed and copy accents that would allow her to deceive non-Imperials during her work outside of Imperial space. This training came in useful when she returned to Republic space, giving her the ability to move amongst the Jedi without drawing suspicion.
As with most intelligence and military assets, Isla received training in Echani martial arts from Sith Intelligence, becoming familiar with hand-to-hand combat to supplement her arsenal. Isla also received limited training in a handful of Teräs Käsi moves towards the end of her Sith career, though her training was cut short when her instructor became unavailable. It was only when Isla was in her early forties that she finally completed her Teräs Käsi training, mostly as an academic pursuit.
Despite this training, however, Isla disapproved of hand-to-hand fighting, considering it 'base' and referring to it as a 'thug's form', a viewpoint that derived from her long use of Form II, a form which required elegance and precision over brute strength and feral strikes. Thus, she only ever used it when pressed. Regardless, she claimed later in life that the training itself was worthwhile for the mental and physical discipline it encouraged.
By the time she reached her late fifties, Isla had learned to speak Cheunh fluently, though other Chiss often noted that she was not a native speaker. In addition to Cheunh, Isla also understood enough Huttese to have a conversation and a very small amount of Binary. For all other languages she relied on her translation implant.
Equipment and Weapons
Lightsabers
The hilt is curved to improve precision and flexibility. It also looks rather elegant, as you can see.
—Isla discussing the design of her lightsaber.
Like all Sith and Jedi, Isla wielded a lightsaber. Her first lightsaber was a simple, black, slightly bulky design featuring three 'talons' near the emitter. It sported a gentle curve to lend itself better to Isla's use of Form II, but was slightly too large for the Chiss' slender hands. Isla's first lightsaber sported a purple synthetic crystal.
Her second lightsaber was built to replace her first after Isla was defeated in a duel by Zhavi, who confiscated the weapon out of spite. Isla spent considerable time forging a replacement synthetic crystal, channelling her newfound sadness and despair at her separation from Zhavi into the formation of a purple crystal.
Unlike her first lightsaber, the second was devoid of aesthetic elements and considerably thinner. It was crafted using a black metal and lacked a proper casing, leaving the internal components exposed in several places, although this did not affect the function of the weapon in combat. Like her first blade, her second lightsaber also featured a Makashi curve.
When Isla confronted Lord Scarlet Jhang on Dxun and fell in battle against her, her second lightsaber was destroyed, leading to her reacquiring her original lightsaber from Zhavi temporarily before that too was destroyed by the Sith Lord. The unusable remains of both crystals were fashioned into a necklace in the weeks that followed their destruction.
After her recovery on Voryle, Isla was given unlimited access to an array of expensive resources to build a new weapon by Countess LaLenna, but due to the illegality of weapons (and the severe punishments for those who violated the law) on Voryle was forced to create a sabercane rather than a standard blade. The shaft of this sabercane was decorated with a pink-red gemstone with an aurodium base and two narrow bands spaced along it, also fashioned from aurodium. It also featured a retractable blade near the base, and like the lightsaber itself it could only be activated with the Force.
The hilt itself was fashioned from aurodium as well, featuring the distinctive curve that had become standard for Isla's designs and sculpted into the fearsome visage of a Terentatek, something of a private joke and symbolic link to the life she had been forced to give up that did not go entirely unnoticed by her new allies. Isla's new weapon initially sported a blue crystal gifted to her by Countess LaLenna – passed down through her family – but was later replaced with a Hurrikaine crystal the Chiss had stolen while robbing one the vaults at Voryle Capital Bank.
Around a decade later, Isla created her final lightsaber after a journey instigated by the spirit of her long-dead master led her to the Jedi temple on Ilum, where she acquired a yellow crystal from an ominous vision of Scarlet Jhang. Unlike her previous weapons, Isla's final blade was a genuine, spiritual extension of herself, built by both her hand and Zhavi's, signifying the irrevocable bond between the two.
The result was a curved weapon made with Vorylian copper inlaid with decorative patterns made using the crystals from her first two lightsabers, recovered from the necklace they had been fashioned into on Voryle, emulating the decoration on the Alliance Commander's lightsaber. Around the emitter, the four sharp-angled prongs that her first Sith lightsaber had featured made a reappearance while at the heart of those prongs were smooth, curving walls of metal; the claws represented her time as a Sith, the emitter shroud the metaphorical shield against them.
Due to the unusual two-man method of construction, Isla's new weapon was "charged" with the Force, making it easy to detect even for weak Force sensitives. Those with more tuned perceptions had little trouble sensing the weapon's connection to the couple and, when activated, the yellow blade pulsed with ripples of energy, though it neither improved nor worsened the blade's capabilities.
In contrast with her previous builds, Isla's old lightsaber was still perfectly usable, so she kept it for its sentimental (and material) value, but after her trip to Odessen Isla wielded her yellow-bladed lightsaber up until her death, passing it – and her sabrecane – on to her children.
Equipment
Going for an overt-as-covert approach I see...
—Frank Ped's sarcastic take on Isla's fashion choices.
As an assassin, Isla carried a small pouch of potent poisons that she occasionally used when direct action was too risky or too overt. She often carried a small virboknife for covert attacks, as well as a holdout pistol on assignments that took her into the criminal underworld. Isla was also equipped with a stealth field generator, for use in situations where cloaking herself with the Force was unsustainable over a longer period. When viable, Isla sometimes carried dioxis grenades and security spike tunnelers. While on Voryle, Isla also carried an ornate pocket watch.
Due to the diversity of the galaxy outside Imperial space, Isla received an implant from Sith Intelligence that automatically translated whatever language it detected that was not Basic. Being a Sith, Isla was afforded the more advanced model, meaning the implant could pick up and translate whatever languages her own hearing could detect, no matter how faint, as well as being able to decipher dozens of languages at once for crowded environments.
Isla favoured light clothing as standard, only occasionally sporting armoured robes and even then her use of armour was always minimal. She dressed in a neat, crisp Imperial style, believing that a smart and professional appearance was important to convince others she was a woman to be taken seriously. Isla's clothing was usually tailored to her exact measurements, accentuating her slim figure, and more often than not she favoured sensible, dark colours, primarily black, as was common amongst Sith.
Even after defecting to the Republic, Isla continued to dress in the dark, sleek style commonly associated with members of the Empire, often going as far as to wear her old Sith garments, such as her Inquisitor's uniform (albeit with the Imperial logo removed), enjoying the fear it sowed in the minds of passersby. Through Zhavi's influence, Isla gradually started to wear more common civilian clothing the longer she was in the Republic for the sake of fitting in, although her clothing still retained hints of an Imperial aesthetic.
While on Voryle, Isla was outfitted with expensive formal wear to help her pass as part of the planet's upper classes. She kept the outfit even after departing the planet as a souvenir, and as her fashions shifted away from an Imperial style over the years she began to favour the similarly conservative attire common across all of Voryle's social classes.
Isla periodically donned Jedi robes sewn for her by Zhavi when interactions with Republic personnel was likely, primarily to avoid creating issues for her partner. She found these robes physically comfortable, but unflattering, and saw her wearing of Jedi garments as somewhat sacrilegious. This changed in her later years, however, the work she undertook for Petrichor being – in Isla's mind – a form of political redemption, despite her continued use of the Dark Side.
One thing that did not change over Isla's life was her preference for clothing that kept her well covered, in stark contrast with Zhavi, who often wore clothing that left little to the imagination.
Appearances
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Behind the Scenes
Isla Ahnkett was initially created as a roleplay character on the Darth Malgus EU server of Star Wars: The Old Republic before being expanded into a fully-fledged fan-fiction character developed through stories outside of a roleplay environment.
Much of the character's aesthetic draws inspiration from the behaviour and movements of the protagonists of the Assassin's Creed franchise, with a heavy emphasis on stealth and quiet lethality.
The Chiss' outfit while on Voryle and the sabercane she builds there – along with the planet Voryle itself – are an overt homage to Evie Frye and the game in which she features, Assassin's Creed Syndicate.
Isla's physical appearance is based on that of Stranger Things actress Natalia Dyer.
This article – and all related articles – assumes that the Hero of Tython became the Alliance Commander and aligned with the Galactic Republic at the start of the Third Galactic War, starting with the Invasion of Ossus. However, it also assumes that – as the choice was not a light side/dark side decision – the Commander honoured his/her alliance with the Sith Empire during the War on Iokath, rather than double-crossing an ally.
As a result, this article assumes Empress Acina survived the events on Iokath while Jace Malcom died attempting to control the superweapon.