Never seen the appeal'a growin' up t' be honest.
—Zhavi Waverunner.
Zhavi Waverunner – also known as Grand Mentor and Chrome Aurek – was a female Human/Zabrak/Mirialan hybrid Jedi who left the Jedi Order at the age of ten following an ordeal on Wayland in which her Master Eka Ubziim was killed. Rather than contact her mother and father – Nomi and Yuri Waverunner, respectively – for help, Zhavi became a petty thief, con artist and smuggler in Coruscant's underworld, eventually buying herself a freighter to become a spacer.
Zhavi fought against the invaders during the Zakuulan invasion and, at the very beginning of the conflict, rescued a Sith Intelligence assassin – the Chiss Loreli Patek – from a quartet of Zakuulan Knights. She went on to assist several resistance groups with varying levels of success during the occupation, ending up on Sullust where she once again found herself in the company of Loreli Patek, 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 a renewed Galactic War. Zhavi went on to join the hidden Jedi colony on Ossus and was present when it was invaded invaded, suffering severe injuries at the hands of Darth Malgus. Believing Loreli had given the colony's location to Sith Intelligence, Zhavi attacked the Chiss during their meeting on Makeb, although ultimately the errant Jedi could not bring herself to strike a killing blow. Zhavi returned to the underworld of Coruscant to lose herself, becoming the sexual and business partner of Dark Jedi Yami Jaggentire, until Jaggentire's immorality forced Zhavi to kill her and wipe out her gang, after which she attempted to commit suicide using death sticks. During this attempt, a hallucinatory image of Bastila Shan appeared before Zhavi and convinced her to continue her service as a Jedi.
Emerging from the dark depths of Coruscant towards the end of 26 ATC, Zhavi discovered that her parents and younger brother – Carth Waverunner – had gone missing months earlier and was ultimately tipped off as to their location by an unexpected message from Loreli, who had traveled to the Tomb of Freedon Nadd on Dxun in an ill-advised attempt to rescue the Waverunner's from her mentor, the Sith Lord Scarlet Jhang. Forced to fight through Sith cultists and worn down by the power of the tomb, Zhavi willingly submersed herself in the dark side of the Force to rejuvenate herself, allowing her to confront Jhang, who had recognized their bond as a Force dyad and wished to exploit it. During the confrontation Loreli was grievously injured and went into shock, and would have died from her wounds if not for Zhavi intervening with the Force. Due to an ongoing security issue on nearby Onderon and issues with security measures on 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 in search of medical attention.
After ensuring Loreli received the care she needed, Zhavi had Jhang's ship modified and traveled back to Onderon, where she located and introduced herself to Anna Ahnkett, Loreli's adoptive mother. After saving her husband Ned and the youngster Ben Yunizza from the Ash'ad, Zhavi was able to secure funding from the Ahnketts to pay for Loreli's treatment and proceeded to meditate, purging the last trace of the dark side from her mind and declaring herself a Jedi Knight. On her return to Voryle, Zhavi disassembled her lightsaber and attempted to smuggle it through customs, but was caught and arrested, after which she convinced Countess Patrice LaLenna that she and her Chiss companion were the Republic Strategic Information Service agents sent to help her combat the Sith Empire's influence on the planet. Loreli awoke in the first few weeks of 27 ATC and reclaimed her former identity of Isla Ahnkett, working with a trio of hand-picked agents to form the Cobbled Terentateks street gang and secure Zhavi's release. With Zhavi serving as her chief enforcer, Isla led the gang to victory over the Empire's proxy forces on the planet, the Rabid Akks, after which she was honored with a place among the planet's nobility by the newly crowned Samantha D'callo
At the end of 27 ATC, Zhavi, along with Isla, was approached by SIS chief Frank Pad and Gray Jedi Benjamin Lambert – who Isla had worked with on Dronim Major – to become a founding member of the Republic Strategic Information Service initiative Project Petrichor, where she received the designation Wayward. The duo's first assignment took them to Voss, to the Interepreter's Retreat, where they recruited the Gormak Force-user Xadda. Through 28 ATC, Zhavi enjoyed a short-lived relationship with Kassie Kaadara and participated in assignments on Kashyyyk, Corulag and Zakuul as part of the larger Operation: Crystal Lekku, which culminated in a final battle against the forces of Darth Aivela on Jum Tarra. While Zhavi fought the Empire's forces to breach the castle, Isla and Benjamin confronted and killed Darth Aivela and recovered the so-called "Four Bound Spirits" Project Petrichor had been tasked with keeping out of Imperial hands. When Isla absconded with the orbs, it was Zhavi who – using their bond – tracked her to Voryle, where she used the orbs to reanimate the deceased Bibi Jotto, who had been killed the previous year
Towards the end of the year, Zhavi, Isla, Kassie and Damascus infiltrated an Imperial starfighter factory with the intention of destroying it. While successful, Damascus was captured and transported back to Dromund Kaas, though Isla was later able to rescue him with the help of his estranged wife Corrith. Kassie, realizing Zhavi was more invested in their relationship than she was after she took an extreme risk to extract her, ended their relationship. In late 28 ATC, Zhavi and Isla helped the crew of a modified Terminus-class destroyer – the Relinquished – overthrow their abusive Sith commander and defect to the Republic, providing Project Petrichor with a mobile command center that enabled them to expand and reorganize into the Strategic Asset Reassignment Bureau in early 29 ATC. Zhavi and Isla were the first agents deployed under the organization's new banner, responding to a request for assistance from a Chiss observatory on the edge of the galaxy, where an extra-galactic artifact had brainwashed the station personnel and attracted an entire swarm of starweirds.
Following the extermination of the starweirds, Zhavi and Isla were dispatched to capture an Imperial transport as it traveled through realspace, unaware that they were being lured into a trap set by Lord Sera 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 and winning Yummobbu's Capture the Ysalamiri wargame, the pair – having once again become 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 the intention of returning one day.
Zhavi went on to take part in ending a short-lived civil war on Voryle that saw the end of Samantha D'callo's reign and Bibi Jotto's resurrection undone, assist in the rescue of Princess Imke Ulgo and recover the valuable Bimmisaari Document on Darvannis before taking part in the conclusion of Operation: Kaasian Rose, helping to stop the experimental forces of Darth Madré above Pillio and remove the Scepter of Ragnos from the Sith Empire's control. After Darth Madré's defeat, veteran Jedi Shadow Master Magda held Benjamin and Aaellu's children hostage to force them to turn over the Celestial Orbs they had hidden on Idlanna. Zhavi was dispatched to fight against Magda's indoctrinated forces at a long abandoned Enclave on Chandrila, providing Isla the opportunity to assassinate her and preventing her plan to resurrect the Jedi who had fallen during the war.
Relocating to Copero with the intention of settling down in 30 ATC, Zhavi and Isla soon returned to service to play an integral role in the Battle of Scarif. The couple returned a month later for a vacation, during which time they invested in the spice trade run by Mister Crimson, becoming partners in a new organization called the Crimson Wave. Zhavi also presented an Esseles bird as a gift to Isla, whom the Chiss named Imani. Zhavi and Isla were later sent to investigate the lost Jedi world of Ahch-To using data recovered from Master Magda's Enclave, where Isla experienced a vision warning her of the inevitable return of the starweirds. Towards the end of the year the couple were deployed to Sullust to create an opening for Republic forces to retake the planet; utilizing a Basilisk war droid loaned to them by Clan Gharva, the couple were able to flood an Imperial facility with lava, beginning the long process of liberating the planet from the Empire. Two years later in 32 ATC, Zhavi and Isla assisted Master Urthan Reynolds on a personal trip to Endor, serving as protection while he helped his Ewok companion return home to die. That same year, Zhavi and Isla were invited to Mister Crimson's birthday party on Kymikka VI to help charm the hedonistic princess of Kymikka into supporting Crimson's distribution of spice throughout her system.
In 36 ATC, Isla accepted the services of Dashade bodyguard Retem Vok, who swore to protect Zhavi on Isla's command. Two years later, Zhavi and Isla returned to Sullust to participate in a massive Republic offensive, helping to finally end the Imperial occupation. Zhavi and Isla went on to expose senatorial candidate Beck Yuggoda's connection to the Coruscant spice trade and helped organize a party for the 40th anniversary of Nomi and Yuri Waverunner a day later, during which a conversation with Frank prompted Zhavi and Isla to travel to Dromund Kaas to try and capture his surviving child, Lord Vauk, though they were outplayed by Vauk and had to be rescued by SARB forces. In 39 ATC, Zhavi and Isla returned from Copero to see friends and relatives in Republic space, and while staying with Isla's parents on Onderon the couple were visited by the ghost of Master Synma, who had returned to complete Isla's training. Sent off with cryptic directions, Zhavi and Isla traveled to Ossus to search for answers, but were redirected to Ilum when they heard news of Ben Lambert's disappearance there. Discovering an ancient temple which concealed a network of crystal caves, Zhavi and Isla were separated, and in her isolation the Chiss experienced several visions – during which she was declared a Jedi Knight – before receiving a new lightsaber crystal.
After returning to Onderon, Zhavi proposed to Isla (who accepted) and the couple soon moved on to help defend the Janarus hypermatter refinery, protecting the installation but failing to prevent Darth Vokuur and his daughter Salila Ishtar from claiming the "Infinite Codex" buried underneath the facility and killing Jedi Master Urthan Reynolds during their escape. Shortly afterwards, Isla's biological mother asked the couple to return to Copero to assist with a secretive assignment, which they soon discovered was an attack on a research facility on Csilla belonging to one of Mitth'icini'inrokini's rivals, a scientist who was kidnapping and experimenting on Force-sensitives. In the aftermath, Isla – who had seen visions of the experiments and feared the implications – and her mother reconciled.
In 40 ATC, Zhavi and Isla joined a massive assault force for an incursion into Imperial space and were deployed along with several other boarders to take down the so-called "Dromund Forge", a space station constructed by Darth Vokuur using lost Rakatan techniques contained within the Infinite Codex. Zhavi fought her way through the labyrinth of walkways as part of several distraction teams, killing Tharah Odé in the process, and withdrew along with her allies when Isla confirmed the death of Darth Vokuur and ordered the evacuation, after which Zhavi was horrified to learn that young Acina Lambert had given her life to defeat the Sith Lord. Searching for calm after the intensity of the conflict, Zhavi and Isla returned to Odessen and ventured out into the wilds, where they worked together to forge a new lightsaber for Isla using the crystal she had acquired on Ilum. A few months after returning to Republic space, Zhavi and Isla were wed on the Gold Beaches of Corellia before returning to their life on Copero.
In 41 ATC, Isla was rushed to hospital on Talravin while en route to Coruscant via the Hydian Way due to complications with her pregnancy, necessitating a C-section to safely deliver the couple's first child, Acina Waverunner. Their droid companion Ducky was deactivated and kidnapped during the commotion, but Zhavi successfully recovered him from a scrapyard and traced his stolen data back to Imperial forces. Later, she used that information to discover the site of a test ritual engineered by an unknown Sith group and was forced to enter an interdimensional rift into Chaos, where the condemned spirit of Tharah Odé helped her seal the breach, allowing for her own redemption. The following year, the couple helped evacuate Bimimma when an Imperial dreadnought ravaged by starweirds drifted into the planet's atmosphere and crashed into the ocean.
Zhavi and Isla went on to take part in a privately funded expedition to rediscover the lost Jedi world of Shimka's Well in early 43 ATC and helped repel the Sith Empire's forces when they arrived to seize the planet and its secrets for themselves. After Isla was seriously wounded by the newly unveiled extinction forces of Darth Hamon, Zhavi defeated Shara Vhenn and dueled Darth Hamon himself, seemingly killing him through the use of Isla's Sith lanvarok. Once Hamon was dead and his fleet neutralized, the ancient being and their supposed ally Shauko betrayed Zhavi, and though Zhavi was nearly killed confronting the machine Isla arrived and interceded, killing Shauko and preventing it from recovering a Zeffo astrium from beneath the Mesa Temple. In the hidden chamber the pair also saw a vision of their unborn children in the distant future, disappearing and reappearing in nebulous circumstances that were somehow related to the starweirds. They were forced to jump back into the action almost immediately to help rescue Shen and Gretta Lambert from Darth Hamon's prototype superdreadnaught, the Hammer of Hamon, which ultimately resulted in the death of Lord Vauk, the destruction of the vessel and the capture of Shara Vhenn, Frank's granddaughter.
Several months later, Zhavi gave birth to a boy and a girl, whom the couple named Atem and Meetra Waverunner, respectively. This happy time in the couple's lives was overshadowed when, weeks later, they received word that Frank had been murdered by Shara in cold blood while she escaped custody with Darth Hamon's aid. Zhavi, supported by Isla, stood for election in the hopes of becoming the Senator for Coruscant in 44 ATC, gaining considerable public support and condemnation from the Jedi Order, who began pressuring the Galactic Senate to disband SARB in retaliation. By 45 ATC, after her successful campaign saw her elected to the senate, Zhavi was well-respected by the electorate, though Zhavi herself became increasingly frustrated with the senate humoring the Jedi Order's harassment of SARB, an issue which was continuously brought up and postponed.
Eventually, Zhavi denounced the Galactic Republic in a bold speech to the senate, criticizing the continued poor behavior of – and the senate's submission to – the Jedi Order. Zhavi resigned her post as senator during the speech and announced the founding of a new colony and Jedi Enclave on Shimka's Well, further adding to the immeasurable controversy her speech stirred up. Taking the undocumented assets and crew SARB had accumulated over the years as their own, Zhavi and Isla appointed themselves as rulers of Shimka's Well and relocated to the planet to begin a controversial new Jedi Enclave, backed by their friends and allies. With support from Farrow, in addition to Zhavi's ongoing popularity and the fact that Shimka's Well was outside Republic space and its rediscovery privately funded by Lambert, the Jedi Order and Galactic Republic could do little to prevent what would later be referred to as the Waverunner Exodus.
While serving as a Jedi General on Viizikii Minor in 54 ATC, Zhavi was responsible for stopping the execution of Malik Lambert, Diego Williams and Simone Parker at the hands of Major Castine Kausos, after they disobeyed orders to neutralize a stolen ZR-57 orbital strike bomb controlled by the radical Bondigho, losing Ping Ordo in the process. In 56 ATC, Zhavi and Isla worked alongside Elizabeth Kondarr – captain of the Relinquished – to establish a joint military and intelligence organization to defend Shimka's Well from external threats, Sith or otherwise. Commissioning weapons, armor and ships, Isla became the head of intelligence and the Advanced Strategic Operations Service was officially established. After the events on Viizikii Minor, Zhavi was able to convince both Malik and Iden Lambert to serve ASOS as commandos, though the rest of her squad chose to remain independent until several years later.
In 62 ATC, Zhavi and Isla traveled to Geonosis to rescue the Force-wielding Kaleesh gladiator Kasor Nuth and recruit her to the ranks of the Shimkan Jedi. That same year, Zhavi and Isla rescued Acina and Shen from their own ill-advised rescue mission on Sleheyron, negotiating with their old acquaintance Yummobbu to locate and intercept a Republic prison ship carrying Suiko and Sakura Artofen, who had been kidnapped as part of a black operation to apprehend their mother Sera. Acina and Atem both disappeared the following year, the former shortly after receiving a commendation for uncovering senate corruption in her role as a Sector Ranger and the latter while working with the Republic's Expeditionary Response Fleet to patrol the distant Outer Rim. Though upset and worried, the couple had foreseen their disappearances years earlier and knew they would return, in time.
As predicted, both children did indeed return – in 66 ATC – and brought with them troubling news concerning the starweirds and an extra-galactic threat, prompting a two-pronged response from Shimka's Well. Leading a Jedi strike team into the hidden Nar Shaddaa surface city known as The Under, Zhavi and Isla stopped a plot (orchestrated centuries prior) to open a sinister form of hypergate beneath the Smuggler's Moon; meanwhile Meetra and Atem joined Operation: Black Flood; an initiative involving a coalition of Mandalorian warriors – comprised of Clan Gharva, Clan Menti and a number of smaller clans – and a special Republic task force. Black Flood concluded with a number of Clan Bossim holdouts sealing themselves inside an impenetrable beskar tower, beginning a siege that would last for several years. Once the battle was over, Meetra accompanied her newfound rival Sethos Lambert to investigate Imperial fleet sightings near Kymikka VII, resulting in the duo being marooned for a time. Zhavi and Isla, wary about losing their children again, traveled to Kymikka VII and remained cloaked in orbit, listening in on Imperial communications until they were able to locate Meetra and Sethos. Joining them on the surface, Isla helped the duo confront the Imperial forces and discovered the existence of another Celestial Orb, confirming that the "Four Bound Spirits" were not a complete collection after all.
Meetra and Sethos, with Isla's help, eventually followed the stolen orb to Korriban and retrieved it from Lord Dzundro after he tried and failed to resurrect Darth Madré. Isla was also responsible for sending the pair to Tatooine to eliminate a Twin Suns slaving operation. Their mission ultimately led them to split up to investigate different leads; a Blooded Claw encampment on Scarif and a prison on Lok, which in turn led to the holiday palace of Gaddim, a Hutt businessman and prominent member of the Congress of Bandomeer. This chain of events ultimately allowed Sethos to warn Zhavi and Isla about an impending attack on Shimka's Well, ensuring the suicide vessel sent to destroy the colony was dealt with quickly, though several smaller, bomb-laden starfighters managed to slip through the atmosphere in a last-ditch effort to destroy the colony.
Only two of the starfighters were not intercepted in time for the colony shield to be activated; the first was halted before it could hit Mesa Temple by Meetra, but the second struck the temple directly, exploding and triggering a second blast in the starfighter Meetra had under her control. Although Meetra shielded herself and several older citizens from the blast, the detonation leveled Temple Mesa, killing everyone inside the temple – including Acina's fiancée Kelsie Sayaki and her pet varactyl Jewel, sending Zhavi's eldest child into a deep depression. Zhavi and Isla were forced to immediately depart from Shimka's Well when the exiled Sith Lord Darth Salvharroh took the opportunity to attack the allied world of Farrow. The couple helped stop the Sith Lord's plot to "corrupt" the Force itself, but they were unable to prevent the performance of the finalized form of the ritual Zhavi had encountered years prior on Farrow's moon Merot, resulting in the opening of a rift connecting the physical world to the Cosmic Force, forcing Benjamin – mortally wounded – to seal himself inside in order to close it and keep the Force in balance.
At the beginning of 68 ATC, Zhavi and Isla received word from Ghatooine that their son Atem had died to ensure the final defeat of Clan Bossim and their Gen'dai leader, Rakta Bossim, and that just days later their youngest daughter Meetra had given birth to a daughter of her own, Millie Lambert. Zhavi continued to serve as headmistress of the Enclave until 84 ATC when, using data acquired by Iden Lambert in the hours before her death and the destruction of Sarros, the multicultural Infinity Coalition was assembled to deal with the Zhaelor Vong. Using hypergate technology, the coalition created a gateway to the extra-galactic satellite the Chiss Ascendancy had designated EGS-KTTL-0795, known to the troops as the "Nightmare Satellite", and launched a full-scale invasion. Both Zhavi and Isla served as battlefield commanders throughout the campaign, but towards its end the couple ventured out to the heart of enemy territory of their own volition to confront the alien, brain-like entity behind the strange army they had been fighting and set a modified version of the Mass Shadow Generator. The creature attempted to seize their minds, exerting the same immense suggestive power it had used to control Gaddim, but was unable to penetrate the dyad that bound them together. Undeterred, the entity set the satellite – in actuality an enormous, organic vessel – on a collision course with the galactic barrier in a destructive attempt to forcibly enter the galaxy.
It then summoned its army of deformed warriors and starweirds to kill the Jedi, but the couple – following a shared vision – ignored the oncoming threats and focused solely on each other and everything they loved, willingly accepting death and becoming one with the Force, disappearing in a blinding light that irradiated the area, killing everything. The Infinity Coalition, already evacuating when the vessel began to move, were able to escape, and Zhavi and Isla's family and friends all sensed their passing. Instinctively, Meetra knew her mothers had succeeded in their mission and gave the command for the Mass Shadow Generator to be activated as the satellite collided with the galactic barrier, crushing the entire vessel and generating enough energy to create a fracture in the galactic barrier.
Biography[]
Early Life[]
You know as well as I do what one Jedi can offer the Republic. Think of all the good she could do – the lives she could save – if we give her the support she needs to do it.
—Yuri Waverunner, to his wife Nomi, regarding sending the infant Zhavi to the Jedi Order.
Born on Coruscant in 11 BTC, Zhavi was the first child of Republic army troopers Yuri Waverunner and Nomi Sofora-Waverunner. As the daughter of two respected military lineages, Zhavi was expected to join the Republic army from the day she born, following in her parents footsteps as was tradition.
Her childhood was a fairly normal one for the daughter of a military family, with her parents juggling their duties to raise her as best they could. It was Nomi who first discovered Zhavi's Force sensitivity when the infant levitated one of her toys, though Nomi hid this discovery from her husband out of fear that he would suggest sending Zhavi to the Jedi Order. Nomi's older sister Sophia Sofora had been sent to the Jedi Temple as a young girl, essentially robbing Nomi of her sister, who was raised to eschew all attachments by her new guardians.
Although Nomi was proud of her sister's service and her rise to the rank of Jedi Knight, she had never got over her absence and, rightly or wrongly, felt a strong bitterness towards the Jedi Order as a result.
Unfortunately for Nomi, such abilities could not be hidden forever; Yuri discovered Zhavi's abilities himself while caring for her, and just as Nomi had feared her husband was adamant that she be sent to the Jedi for training, understanding his wife's reluctance but believing their daughter would have a better, more respectable career as a member of the Jedi Order. Much as she protested, Nomi knew he was right – a single Jedi was worth far more to the Republic than a single soldier.
Eventually, she gave in and agreed on the condition that their planned second child – regardless of Force sensitivity – would never be sent to the Jedi.
Yuri and Nomi arranged for a few weeks of shared leave, allowing them to spend some time with Zhavi before taking her to the Jedi Temple in 9 BTC, believing they would likely never see their firstborn child again.
Jedi Initiate[]
Focus, Padawan! Be patient! You are rushing, and in doing so, failing. Slow down, take a breath, then try again.
—Zhavi's Jedi instructor.
Zhavi was accepted by the Jedi and taken into the Jedi Temple on Coruscant, where she was sorted into the Boma Clan by Jedi fosterers to begin her formal training when she was old enough, led by the clan's Jedi instructor.
With war in her blood, Zhavi proved to be a hardy student, always getting back up when she fell down, although from an early age her tendency to become impatient and irritable proved to be a significant hurdle, and she was often scolded for letting her emotions drive her into rushing or not thinking. Because of this, she developed a habit of throwing herself repeatedly at challenges when they arose, which often only led to her attempts becoming less and less successful as frustration and fatigue kicked in.
Zhavi enjoyed the physical training more than the mandatory academic studies, and she was often distracted during meditation sessions, finding it difficult to simply sit still and commune with the Force. Her instructor spotted, however, that Zhavi had discovered another method of meditation while trying to work out why one of the lamps in the clan's sleeping quarters kept flickering, and provided Zhavi with various mechanical items to utilize in her daily meditation sessions from then on.
During these meditations, Zhavi was better able to revise and memorize her studies, often mumbling facts she had learned during the day to herself without realizing. Her academic instruction saw a marked improvement following the change in approach.
Although Zhavi disliked political science and the various histories taught by the Jedi, she enjoyed the history of the Jedi themselves and found the lessons easier to remember than others. In particular, Zhavi was fascinated by Bastila Shan, a famed Jedi hero from the Jedi Civil War who broke the Jedi Order's rules on attachment to get married and have a child. Zhavi found her rebellious actions inspiring and clung to her as a role model through her early years, and gradually she started to wish she could see the world outside the temple up close, rather than from afar, as Bastila had.
Regardless, Zhavi continued her studies and eventually passed her Jedi Initiate Trials at the age of ten in 1 BTC, successfully reciting and explaining the Jedi Code, building a lightsaber using a crystal provided by her instructor and assisting Coruscant Security Force officers who were searching for a missing child.
She was later chosen to be the Padawan of Jedi Knight Eka Ubziim, a Barabel who was impressed by both her self-confidence and her skill after she invited the visiting Jedi to spar with her in an effort to gain attention.
Exiled Padawan[]
What? Who? You're not authorized to–"
"–Unlock the doors in the detention center!"
"I... yes, I... I'm unlocking the doors... in the detention center."
"Now seal all the doors leading to the barracks – and deactivate the life support systems.
—Zhavi to the Imperial security chief on Wayland.
For her first outing as a Padawan, Eka took Zhavi to assist a colony of Chagrian pacifists on Mindor with an assortment of menial tasks such as repair work and crop harvesting. Zhavi was not thrilled about the assignment, being much more interested in doing her part in the war, but bit her tongue regardless.
While helping the colony, they received a Republic transmission calling for reinforcements to support one of the battlegrounds on Wayland. After some careful deliberation and Zhavi's eager encouragement, Eka Ubziim withdrew them from Mindor to help stabilize the situation on Wayland.
Unfortunately, conditions on Wayland were more dire than suggested in the transmission. Once the master and pupil team arrived on the world they quickly realized they had come to support a lost cause, with the Imperials pressing against the besieged Republic defenders every hour of the day. The few reinforcements that arrived in response to the call were insufficient to turn the tide, and during one final, brutal push the Imperials finally overwhelmed the Republic's primary position in the southern hemisphere.
Tragically, Eka Ubziim was fatally wounded during the battle, and at its conclusion lay dying in Zhavi's arms until she was dragged away, kicking and screaming, by Imperial troops. Weak from battle and powerless to intervene as the commander of the attacking force approached Eka Ubziim, Zhavi watched helplessly as her master was executed in the field. Zhavi, along with the rest of the captured Republic personnel, were loaded onto shuttles in groups and transported to a nearby prison in an underground Imperial bunker.
It was shortly after arriving that Zhavi, her strength somewhat recovered during the journey, feigned fatigue during the walk to their cell, causing one of the guards in her escort to lag behind the rest of the group of prisoners to drag her back onto her feet, giving her the opportunity to attempt a Jedi mind trick without being overheard. She had half expected to fail, but in spite of her self-doubt the command was successful.
The soldier released her from her bindings and, after a slight pause, opened fire on his fellow soldiers as per her orders, creating panic and confusion as his peers reacted and giving Zhavi the opening she needed to summon her lightsaber from the guard who had confiscated it. With a Jedi Padawan suddenly free and armed right beside them in the narrow corridor, the soldiers found themselves facing an unwinnable scenario and were dispatched effortlessly.
Zhavi severed the restraints of her military companions and – once they had claimed the Imperials' weapons – the group headed for the security station in the hopes of launching an impromptu prison break.
Given the late hour and relative quiet of the prison, far removed the ongoing battlefields, Zhavi and the troops were able to move through the base largely unnoticed. The fact that they did not have far to travel to reach their destination helped ensure the alarm was not raised by the time they breached the security station, where they found the overworked security chief napping and, subsequently, the security monitors were left unmonitored as the embers of resistance turned to fire.
Zhavi used her newly discovered affinity for mind tricks to command the Imperial to unlock all of the cell doors, releasing the Republic prisoners from both the last battle and all previous engagements in the vicinity. But the distressed Padawan did not stop there; using her powers, she ordered the Imperial to seal the barracks where most of the Empire's soldiers were sound asleep for the night – then had him disable the life support systems that provided them with oxygen, suffocating the majority of the Imperial troops as they slept.
Neutralizing their ability to put down the insurrection, the liberated Republic personnel easily captured the base and imprisoned the surviving Imperials, dealing a decisive blow to the Empire's campaign on Wayland and balancing out the conflict in the area by depriving the opposing forces still in the field of a base to return to, in addition to securing a fortified bunker for their own use. Zhavi, escorted by Bao Shotti, one of the troopers she had been captured alongside, was returned to Coruscant at the Jedi Order's request.
Her reception was not that of a hero, however, with the Jedi taking a dim view of her use of mind control to murder Imperial forces while they were defenseless, a distinction Zhavi did not see the importance of.
While her actions met with approval from the soldiers on the ground and a large number of military commanders, the Jedi condemned her choices on ethical ground, confining the young Padawan to the Jedi Temple for therapy in the belief that she was traumatized and required counselling to understand why what she did was wrong before they would consider letting her resume her training as a Jedi.
Zhavi disagreed vehemently with their assessment of the situation, yet her protestations only cemented the council's decision to ground her for the foreseeable future. In her quarters, Zhavi spent many hours wrestling with her frustrations and the guilt she felt over encouraging her master to answer the call that ultimately led to his death.
In the end Zhavi was unable to tolerate the council's decision at all, deciding that if being a Jedi meant submitting to Imperial captivity and letting people suffer at their hands rather than facing hard choices, she did not want to be a Jedi. Dressing herself and gathering up what learning materials she had to hand, Zhavi disabled the lock on her door using the skills she had learned through her moving meditation, recorded a message for the council in which she angrily invoked the Right of Denial, abandoned her saber and slipped out of the temple to seek her Republic escort, Bao Shotti, the only man she believed would help her.
Although Shotti was due to be shipped back to Wayland after delivering the Padawan to the temple, he was being treated for minor injuries on the capital before returning to service. Unlike the Jedi, Bao appreciated Zhavi's efforts, pointing out that, as a Zabrak, Bao would have likely been enslaved and worked to death if he had stayed an Imperial prisoner long-term. Because of that, he considered himself indebted to the young Jedi, and when she told him she had left the Jedi Order and needed assistance Bao offered her credits to help her on her way.
Zhavi was hesitant to take the money, so Bao told her to consider it a loan instead, if it helped, a loan which Zhavi promised to pay back in time. In addition to his financial aid, Zhavi learned that Bao was the son of a family friend and had recognized her surname when she had first arrived on Wayland. From that, he had deduced that she was Yuri and Nomi's absent "Jedi daughter".
Before sending her on her way, Bao provided her with her parents' address on Coruscant, telling her they would probably like to meet their daughter now that she had left the Jedi Order behind.
Illegal Opportunities[]
It's not hard to understand kid. You take this box, you get it by the cops, you hand it over t' my buddy down on level 1313, y' get paid. Get caught, go t' prison. Don't deliver, y' lose a few organs t' compensate my losses. Not hard see?
—A Spice supplier, offering Zhavi her first illegal job.
Zhavi visited her parents' home after parting ways with Bao, nervously knocking on their door with no idea of what to expect from the man and woman who had brought her into the world.
When she finally mustered the courage to meet them, however, she found the apartment empty, with a neighbor telling the young runaway that the couple were on deployment elsewhere. Zhavi revealed who she was, prompting the neighbor to encourage her to leave her comm number with him to pass on when they returned, though Zhavi took his instead, lacking a comm of her own at the time.
With no qualifications or references and too young to work legally, Zhavi had no choice but descend into the criminal-infested lower levels of Galactic City, taking a few cash-in-hand delivery jobs until she heard some of her older peers discussing the work of a local Spice supplier who was in need of runners to transport his goods to the lower levels. Zhavi, underpaid and overworked, decided to inquire, visiting the Dealer's Den in the Old Galactic Market.
Due to her being small, Zhavi was given consideration she would not normally have received, and she was ultimately offered the job when she revealed that she was a former Jedi Padawan, the supplier believing her powers coupled with her being a child would allow her to avoid the CSF officers who were intercepting his shipments. She was given a small case of Spice as a test, with instructions to deliver it to a buyer on level 1313, after which she would be paid or have her organs taken to make up his losses, should she fail to deliver the shipment.
With her Force abilities and martial training to back her up – combined with the general lack of suspicion that children were regarded with by law-abiding beings – Zhavi was able to deliver the Spice without issue, earning herself more lucrative shipment delivery offers over time until, proving herself a capable criminal with an expanding knowledge of the Coruscanti streets and how to navigate them, Zhavi was invited to join the ranks of the Migrant Merchants' Guild in 0 ATC.
After the Sacking of Coruscant, criminal activity became all the more prevalent on Coruscant, with the CSF stretched to breaking point and unable to keep up with the increasing numbers of poor citizens turning to criminal activity to get by. Zhavi was devastated by the destruction of the Jedi temple, reading about the deaths of several masters and former classmates she had known during her time with the Order on the local news. However, unable to do anything about it, she had no choice but to carry on with her life as normal.
In 2 ATC, Zhavi had earned enough credits working for the guild to purchase a dilapidated old Hutt vessel being refurbished by a local starship mechanic, expanding her work options considerably. No longer would she need to deliver Spice by hand between the various levels of Coruscant, instead being able to deliver larger quantities from influential suppliers to wealthy buyers.
Using her connections in the Migrant Merchants Guild, Zhavi initially worked as a freelancer for the Exchange, though soon found additional contracts from the Hutt Cartel and the Pyke Syndicate, becoming a minor – but trusted – transporter of illicit cargo.
Earning a steady income from her work, Zhavi made improvements to her ship's systems and interior, furnishing it with simple domestic comforts that turned her workplace into her home. Due to the violent nature of the underworld, Zhavi made sure to continue the physical aspects of her Jedi training, adhering to a strict workout routine made possible by the home gym equipment stored aboard her ship. Over the course of her teens, Zhavi grew into an athletic and muscular young woman, improving her ability to employ Djem So with deadly effectiveness.
Of course, Zhavi – former Jedi or not – felt exposed without her lightsaber, and made a concentrated effort to locate one through the underworld, eventually purchasing a broken lightsaber incorporating Gree technology at an auction organised by the Tonvarr pirates on Nal Hutta, which she later repaired using a pink synthetic crystal purchased at another auction on Nar Shaddaa.
The Eternal Alliance[]
Invaders From Wild Space[]
I'll drop y' off at the nearest safe port. Ain't no reason we can't be civil, 'specially with wha's goin' on out there.
—Zhavi, to "Loreli Patek", after saving her from Knights of Zakuul.
By 16 ATC Zhavi, aged twenty seven, had established herself as a reliable smuggler for light cargo transportation – both legal and illegal – and had branched out from ferrying Spice to encompass a number of additional types of cargo, including passengers looking to avoid the authorities on either side and weapons intended for rebels on Imperial controlled worlds.
She had become quite adept at bypassing customs patrols and tricking scanners, learning her trade through experience and never biting off more than she could chew. Zhavi was happy taking small, low-risk jobs for which a battered old ship was good enough, living almost hand-to-mouth. During her career Zhavi developed a dependency on alcohol, becoming more and more reliant on it as the war dragged on and the Jedi death toll mounted, a statistic she felt she was actively contributing towards by having left the Jedi Order behind.
Her alcoholism had led to a number of sexual misadventures in her late teens that eventually developed into a reckless promiscuity, with Zhavi's dress sense shifting from the modest, nondescript attire of a former Jedi to a revealing style that better complemented her changing personality and behavior. Though Zhavi had an innumerable string of lovers, she never made an effort to keep in contact with any of them and actively avoided meaningful relationships, romantic or otherwise, choosing instead to keep herself isolated, often leaving her ship drifting in space when she was between jobs rather than spending time on inhabited worlds.
Zhavi's only regular acquaintance was a Mandalorian – Jacen Tasslor – who frequented her favorite bar on Darvannis, where every few months she would visit to watch some of the more highly anticipated Huttball matches, usually between the Frog-dogs and Rotworms, the Mandalorian and Zhavi's teams of choice, respectively.
Neither of them knew each other's names, even though they sat and commented on the matches at the bar together fairly often, even trading friendly punches from time to time during controversial games.
Her visits to Darvannis ceased in 16 ATC when, following several devastating raids on the galaxy, the mighty Eternal Empire emerged from Wild Space and began their conquest of the galaxy. Zhavi continued working as normal, albeit with her jobs focused increasingly on preparing for and working around the invading force, with many of her criminal contacts hunkering down as the Zakuulan fleet swept through the galaxy with remarkable speed.
It was while drinking on a small moon in Hutt space that Zhavi first encountered the unstoppable Eternal Fleet and the mysterious Force-wielders known as the Knights of Zakuul. As the fleet arrived in orbit and panic swept across the world, Zhavi began making her way back to the hangar where she had left her ship, falling back on her Jedi training to remain calm while those around her flailed around chaotically.
Because of that, Zhavi took the side-streets and alleyways back to the local spaceport rather than running through the main streets as the others did, a forward-thinking strategy that allowed her to avoid the armored Knights and their legions of Skytroopers. When she finally reached the spaceport, navigating around the skirmishes between the criminal populace and the invading troops, she discovered her hangar was not as empty as she had expected.
Inside, she spotted three of the Knights of Zakuul, one close to the elevator while the other two had what appeared to be young Pantoran woman on the ground, wounded and at their mercy but not yet dead. Zhavi killed the nearest Knight – wounded and hanging back from his peers – as he spotted her to prevent him from alerting the others, allowing her to leap in and cut them down with no resistance.
Only then did she realize the woman lying wounded on the floor was not a Pantoran, but a Chiss, almost exclusively known to the rest of the galaxy as allies of the Sith Empire.
When she spotted the woman's lightsaber – clearly of Sith design – she had no doubts that she was Imperial; worse still, she was a Sith. Zhavi was forced into an uncomfortable moral crisis the likes of which she had spent almost twenty years trying to avoid: she considered killing her while she slept to spare the galaxy another Sith's cruelty, leaving her as the planet was overrun by the invading force or, much as it pained her to consider, rescuing her.
Ultimately, Zhavi's Jedi – and natural – instinct to protect the helpless kicked in; she scooped up the exotic damsel and carried her aboard her ship, ignoring the irony that the Chiss had more than likely been in the hangar to try and steal Zhavi's ship and leave her stranded.
Escaping during the chaos in orbit, her Chiss guest awoke a few hours later, with Zhavi patching up her injuries as best she could and watching over her until she came around, fearing she might react violently. When she finally opened her eyes, she took in her surroundings calmly, noticing Zhavi straight away while discreetly checking her belt for her lightsaber, at which point Zhavi chose to reveal that she knew she was a Sith and her lightsaber was safe, albeit hidden elsewhere.
The Chiss identified Zhavi as a Jedi more or less instantly, sensing her strength in the Force, yet Zhavi noted that she could not sense the Sith's presence at all, even while unconscious. Despite her reticence, the Chiss thanked Zhavi for her help, admitting that she would have died without her intervention and asking what she intended to do with her. Zhavi told her that as she was not a Jedi anymore – nor were they in Republic space – and as such she was happy to drop her off on the nearest safe world, which she did.
Handing back the Sith's lightsaber, Zhavi introduced herself properly before they parted ways, shaking the Chiss' hand and wishing her luck in the new war. The Chiss, in turn, confessed the name she had initially offered on awakening had been a false one provided by Sith Intelligence, but gave her true name as Loreli Patek before leaving to make her return to Imperial space, neither of them realizing how important an event their encounter would eventually prove to have been.
Joining the Eternal Alliance[]
Loreli Patek. What're the odds...
—Zhavi, to Loreli, during their reunion on Sullust.
Believing that the Eternal Empire was unstoppable just as much of the galaxy did, Zhavi ignored the plight of worlds suffering under their thumb once the war came to its swift conclusion in 18 ATC.
Zhavi's day to day life was largely unaffected; she had to take care to avoid Zakuulan patrols but with the war over, life for her continued as it had before, albeit with everyone else feeling a lot more miserable about the state of the galaxy. But for Zhavi, burying her head in the sand was not a long-term solution to the galaxy's suffering.
By late 20 ATC, she had heard enough about Zakuul's tyranny and decided it was time to act, since the Republic and Empire seemed content not to. She had no delusions about how meaningless her contributions would be, but concluded that doing something was better than doing nothing.
To that end, the former Jedi joined a small resistance movement on Sullust, helping to keep them supplied with munitions, food, medical supplies and, sometimes, performance enhancing combat adrenals.
Months later, while delivering supplies to one of the group's hidden bases in 21 ATC, Zhavi recognized the same exotic, alien scent that she had encountered four years earlier, prompting her to look around and spot Loreli Patek, who was watching her from nearby.
Pleasantly surprised to see a familiar face, Zhavi nonetheless questioned the Chiss' presence at the outpost. Loreli detailed her attempts to assist a number of failed resistance groups, the latest of which had scattered when the Eternal Empire stepped up the pressure on the local population. Now, she was lending her skills to the group operating on Sullust.
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 – sympathized 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 among 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.
Alliance Smugglers[]
Zhavi and Loreli began a romantic relationship 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 demanded of her, Loreli was unable to analyze 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 realizing 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 synchronization 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 rumor spread around the base that Loreli was controlling Zhavi's mind, supposedly explaining their synchronized behavior, 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 indeed deployed together in defense 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 organization'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 agonizing 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 favor 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 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 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 untimely surprise as they discovered they had developed a 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 Nomi 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 as ominous as sounded. They agreed to meet up again later for dinner at the Waverunner's favorite restaurant, at which point they could calmly discuss any concerns or objections.
Zhavi's younger brother Carth met them at the restaurant, invited along by Yuri to be a calming influence and an additional vote in favor 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 her old friend Bao Shotti, who she had kept in sporadic touch with since Wayland. 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 would likely have a better time "relating to a kid". Zhavi, curious about why the Jedi were on Ossus, agreed to investigate.
Loreli protested the decision and tried to appeal to Zhavi's laziness, reminding her that Ossus was an inhospitable wasteland incapable of sustaining life, 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.
The Ossus Catalyst[]
Liar!
—Zhavi, to Loreli, during their duel on Makeb.
Following information passed along by Bao, Zhavi arrived at Ossus and began searching for signs of the colony, an investigation which eventually led to her being hailed and directed to a landing site after identifying herself as a Jedi.
On landing, she was met by guards who took her to the colony command center, where her identity was confirmed by Jedi Master Gnost-Dural, a wise and revered member of the Jedi Order who Zhavi was thrilled to discover had survived the war with Zakuul. Gnost-Dural explained that the colony was a safe haven for the Order to breathe for a time, a place where they might center themselves, rebuild and prepare for the future.
In addition, he revealed that thanks to breakthroughs in advanced agricultural techniques, the colonists were able to grow food despite the toxic and radioactive terrain, making the colony sustainable.
Zhavi soon settled into life at the colony, providing counsel to Bao's cousin Maeve as promised but also helping with repairs to the colony's machinery using the know-how she had gained from her time as a pilot. It was during her stay at the colony that Zhavi met Tau Idair, a fellow Jedi and head of security.
Like Zhavi, Tau struggled with self-doubt, albeit in a different form, and while Tau disliked Zhavi for her decision to walk out on the Jedi Order, Zhavi privately regarded Tau as a vision of herself, if she was still a Jedi, and looked to her for her inspiration.
The impression Tau left on Zhavi was profound enough that Zhavi mimicked the design of her lightsaber while constructing a new blade to replace her old weapon, which was becoming increasingly unreliable due to irreparable structural damage.
Zhavi worked with Tau only sparingly until the Sith arrived on Ossus, being called upon to serve as one of the many Jedi defenders who kept watch around the colony, fighting against Darth Malora's mutant Geonosian warriors as they made repeated attempts to encroach upon the colony grounds.
Tragically, what started as the Sith prodding their defenses eventually turned into a full-scale attack on both the farms and the ancient library. Zhavi was among the library's defenders when Darth Malgus and his troops attacked, briefly crossing blades with the resurrected Sith Lord before she was overwhelmed and thrown against a wall by a powerful telekinetic push.
While she was seriously injured, Zhavi was spared death when she was buried by rubble, surviving until the aftermath of the conflict, at which point she was found, rescued and evacuated safely thanks to the assistance of the Alliance Commander – and the timely arrival of General Daeruun's reinforcements.
During the time she spent recovering back in Republic space, Zhavi received a message from Loreli asking if she could meet her privately when she was well enough, to discuss recent events. Zhavi agreed, but only because she was certain her lover had betrayed her – she was desperate to know why.
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 pretense of being contracted geologists called in to independently 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 it did not take long for her anger to overwhelm her; 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 prepared to execute Loreli, 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 saber and left her there in the rain, wallowing in her loss.
Unbeknownst the either of them, Sith Lord Scarlet Jhang – Loreli's mentor and architect of the couple's separation – was watching 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[]
Depression, Addiction and Alcoholism[]
While under the influence of death sticks, Zhavi spoke with a hallucinated incarnation of her childhood idol, Bastila Shan.
Every day you spend wallowing in your grief more and more pain and suffering – not unlike what you feel now – is inflicted upon the galaxy by the servants of the dark side. You are a Jedi. A defender for those who cannot defend themselves. A symbol to those who need something to inspire them. Be that defender, be that inspiration. And remember, Padawan – when you look around and see only the darkness – that a Jedi carries the light with them, always.
—"Bastila Shan", to Zhavi, during a drug-induced hallucination.
Grief-stricken by the apparent harm she had caused and the loss of Loreli, Zhavi's alcoholism worsened and she returned home to Coruscant, unaware that as she made the journey to the capital Yuri, Nomi and Carth were heading off to search for her, following a vision experienced by her – previously believed to be Force-blind – brother.
On arriving, she descended to the underbelly of the capital, drinking her credits away and descending lower and lower to find cheaper and cheaper bars, before long arriving on level 987, little more than a slum in which the poorest of the poor eked out a worthless and tragic existence.
It was shortly after arriving on level 987 that Zhavi stumbled across a rave taking place in an ancient, abandoned warehouse, where a complete lack of legal authority left normally illegal drugs as readily available as alcohol.
While trying to get the bartender's attention, Zhavi was introduced to the Twi'lek Dark Jedi Yami Jaggentire when she pulled a blaster on the bartender and told him he was being rude to their visitor from the surface, prompting him to suddenly pay attention to Zhavi.
Yami bought her a drink and introduced herself, commenting that other failed Jedi tended to get themselves killed, meaning Zhavi had to be one of the few smarter ones, like herself.
Zhavi disagreed, but learning that Yami had once been a Jedi Knight sparked immediate chemistry between the two outcasts; Yami saw Zhavi as her only potential equal down in the capital's underworld, while Zhavi took comfort in the fact she was not alone in her failure as a Jedi. Drunk and vulnerable, Zhavi was encouraged to share in Yami's supply of death sticks, after which the pair vandalized a speeder storage yard owned by a local gang "for fun".
The pair slept together that same night, initiating a short-term relationship that saw Zhavi begrudgingly assisting Yami – who she learned not long after was the leader of the dominant gang on level 987.
Lonely and with her mental faculties clouded by a druggy haze, Zhavi helped Yami wipe out her rivals to secure her hold on the level as her second-in-command, demolishing the unprepared gangsters within a matter of days, an activity Zhavi could get behind, much as she did not enjoy being a gangster herself.
Such was the brutal thoroughness of their criminal purge that word of their exploits reached the upper levels, with the issue even being brought to the attention of a Jedi Shadow, Avexiss Odé.
Before said Shadow could investigate the rumors of Dark Jedi gangsters beneath the surface of Coruscant, however, Yami's ambitions became too extreme for Zhavi to tolerate even in her weakened mental state. No longer threatened by other criminal elements, Yami turned her gang on the locals instead, ordering increasingly brutal and unnecessarily violent methods to extort credits from the subjugated masses, who were already destitute and barely able to get by.
Zhavi tried to talk Yami out of being so ruthless in her leadership, but the Twi'lek – bitter and angry at the galaxy due to how her life had turned out – would not be dissuaded. One evening, Zhavi joined Yami when she and her men went to the home of one of the families they were extorting, threatening the wife and children of a man who had snapped and fought back against the gangsters in a moment of frustration, killing them both when they tried to take his money.
Igniting her lightsaber, Zhavi threw her blade and killed a number of the gangsters in defense of the family, undermining Yami's authority in front of her minions. Yami ordered that – because of her open defiance – Zhavi would kill the family herself, and when she unsurprisingly refused Yami drew her own blade, warning her to reconsider.
At an impasse, Yami had no choice but to reluctantly attack her lover.
Mirroring Zhavi's own journey, both women had left the Order – frustrated by its rules and preference for inaction – and turned to crime to survive on the streets of the capital. Zhavi had held on to her past, however, continuing her training on her own and upholding the morals and values she had been taught as best she could, whereas Yami had abandoned everything but the infamous weapon of the Jedi.
Zhavi had aspired to be better than a Jedi; Yami aspired to escape that life entirely.
So, as they crossed blades, Zhavi realized it was a mistake to seek solace in Yami's arms, only then understanding that despite their similarities they were irrevocably different people. Zhavi overpowered and outperformed the Twi'lek, delivering a glancing blow that seared the side of her face and blinded her in one eye. Undeterred, Yami continued to lash out, forcing Zhavi to deliver a killing blow mere seconds later, impaling the Twi'lek through her abdomen.
Even more tragically for Zhavi, she could not even show Yami the small kindness of being with her when she passed away; her men opened fire the moment their leader fell to the floor, forcing Zhavi to engage them too, a battle which was eerily short.
Brief as it was, Yami had enough time to crawl away during the fighting, dying unseen elsewhere and prompting Zhavi – gripped by pain once again – to descend even further into the grim depths of Coruscant's forgotten underworld, intent on dying there in whatever final bliss she might extract from the last of Yami's stash of death sticks.
She stopped on level 447, sliding down the first alley wall she found and settling in to her last few days on a diet of death sticks and cheap whiskey, waiting until she inevitably died of an overdose or starvation. Zhavi remained where she had slumped down for five days until she misjudged a dosage and took a few too many death sticks and – in doing so – caused herself to experience particularly vivid hallucinations.
Most were inconsistent, non-nonsensical and horrifying in nature, yet in among the kaleidoscope of magical images, sensations and sounds, Zhavi's subconscious managed a last-ditch attempt to save her from death. From out of the perpetual darkness, a luminous phantom of civil war hero Bastila Shan approached, kneeling beside Zhavi and striking up a conversation.
Zhavi denounced the legendary Jedi as nothing more than a hallucination, which she conceded was true, but pointed out that just because she was a hallucination, it did not make her any less real. She criticized Zhavi's self-destructive behavior, calling her out on the undignified end that she had chosen and telling her that no Jedi deserved such a slow and sorrowful death.
Zhavi was quick to snap back that she was not a Jedi.
Bastila, however, did not agree with her assessment, telling Zhavi about how she fell to the dark side and turned her battle meditation against the Republic, but was redeemed by the love of her husband. She asked her, if she could fall to the dark side and kill her former allies, yet still return to the light, why did Zhavi – who had remained true to the light even in the deepest, quite literal darkness – feel so certain that her life no longer had any merit.
Zhavi claimed that, unlike Shan, she had nothing left to live for, but Shan again refuted her suggestion, pointing out that she had her parents and brother, and that – despite using her as an outlet for her sorrow – she had Loreli. Before Zhavi could protest, Shan raised a hand to interject, reminding her that she was – as Zhavi herself had pointed out – a creation of her own drug-addled mind, and thus arguing with her statement was pointless.
Shan went on to point out that love was what had saved her from the darkness, and that it could save Zhavi similarly, if she chose to let it. The former Jedi feared she had driven Loreli away, but Shan claimed that was just her fear holding her back. She concluded by reminding Zhavi that she was a Jedi at her core – robes or no – and that every day she spent in the undercity was another day the Sith spent spreading the same sense of loss and heartache she was presently feeling across the galaxy.
Reminding her of her duties, Bastila walked away, taking her divine illumination with her and leaving Zhavi in the dark once again, where she passed out not long after.
By the time she came around, the words of the hallucinated hero had sunk in; Zhavi considered the remainder of her death sticks, weighing up her choices momentarily, then placed them to the ground and crushed them beneath the heel of her boot. Then, she began the long journey back up to the surface.
En route, Zhavi decided to do what she could to make right what she had helped make wrong on level 987, launching a somewhat lazy assault on the holdings of Yami's former gang. Even without her leadership, they had continued to rule through terror, and while she had justified murdering gangsters during her time with Yami, she had no need to do any soul searching this time around.
With the bulk of the gangsters dead or maimed, the refugees and downtrodden citizens who called level 987 home would have no trouble resisting the thugs who survived. Zhavi continued her ascent to the surface with her guilt somewhat soothed.
Lost to depression, addiction and the temporary blindness of her lust, Zhavi had no idea she had been in the undercity for eight months until she reached the sunlit level of the surface and tried to contact her parents, calling Bao when they did not answer to ask if they knew when they would be back. Shocked to hear from her, Bao demanded to know where she had been, informing her that her parents had departed Republic space eight months earlier after Carth experienced a vision of Zhavi being killed and had never returned.
Astonished, Zhavi apologized, loosely summarizing her excuse by telling Bao she had had some "stuff" to deal with in the undercity, but assured him her next priority would be finding out what had happened to her family. It was just a few months after that she received a message forwarded by someone named Benjamin Lambert – a supposed acquaintance of Loreli's from her time on Dronim Major – who had received the message he was passing on from the Chiss just two hours earlier.
The message itself was a collection of copied segments of documentation that looked to originate from various departments in the Sith Empire – all annotated by Loreli where relevant – that indicated her parents and brother had been captured by Lord Scarlet Jhang – Loreli's mentor – while they were searching for her near Makeb and that now – after substantial dot connecting on Loreli's part – Jhang had transported her three prisoners to a location on Dxun, Onderon's jungle moon.
If Loreli's annotations were to be believed, that location was the ancient Tomb of Freedon Nadd – and the Sith Lord would have the support of a Dark Jedi cult. To make matters even worse, Loreli had forwarded the intelligence as insurance; she intended to confront the Sith Lord herself by way of an apology, promising she would rescue her family or die weakening the Sith Lord for Zhavi to finish off, hoping that in doing so she would earn the Jedi-smuggler's forgiveness.
Asking Benjamin if he could help her with some parts she needed – as well as dropping her off on Dxun – Zhavi's depression and drug dependency was gone in an instant, replaced by steely determination to journey to Dxun and finally do what Jedi were supposed to do; stop the Sith.
Rescue Mission on Dxun[]
The Jungle Juggernaut[]
Zhavi encountered a Boma while making her way to the Tomb of Freedon Nadd.
C'mon c'mon c'mon...
—Zhavi, while trying to summon her lost lightsaber.
After using the credits she had earned in Yami's gang to get her ship out of the impound lot, Zhavi left Coruscant to meet with Benjamin on Corellia, whereupon she received the parts she had requested and the pair boarded the stranger's ship – the Little Sparrow – to depart for Dxun.
En route, Zhavi changed for her destination and settled in to use the parts she had asked for to finish a half-completed lightwhip she had started building on Ossus as a side-project, believing that – as an unorthodox and rarely seen weapon – she might finally have a use for it.
Out of boredom, she had practiced with a physical whip on Ossus and so was confident she was proficient enough to wield it safely – at least in an environment where everyone in the vicinity was a hostile.
Nonetheless, she had no delusions about the difficulty of the task ahead of her. Benjamin had offered to help but – not knowing him and aware that landing a ship on Dxun would draw forces to her position – Zhavi declined. When they arrived and found a clearing, Zhavi jumped from the boarding ramp while Benjamin took the ship elsewhere to draw any scouting parties out of Zhavi's path.
Due to an ongoing storm the route Zhavi took to reach the tomb was liquid mud, cascading down a sloping series of paths sheltered only marginally from the wind and rain by eroded stone tunnels. The severity of the storm was such that she encountered few specimens of Dxun's famously aggressive wildlife, a stranded cannok being the only creature to make an attempt on her life as she passed its perch.
Eventually she reached a denser section of jungle in which she found greater shelter from the elements, although without the fierce storm to cover her she had to pay closer attention to her surroundings, aware that everything else was taking shelter there too. There was too much for her to rely on her Force senses alone, and while most of the creatures were harmless some eyed her hungrily, even if they did not act on their desire to feed.
Before long, Zhavi encountered a small clearing through which the light outside could enter and as her eyes adjusted, she began to make out the dismembered silhouette of a humanoid figure hanging – tangled by vines – from a horizontal tree branch.
Wearing an outfit that looked distinctly Sith, Zhavi assumed the figure was one of the cult members Loreli's reports had mentioned – Lord Jhang's minions during her stay on Dxun, the Followers of the Three.
Clearly dead, Zhavi was unconcerned by the figure. Above him, rather more threateningly, was a living boma, growling deeply and with a menacing glare aimed straight at Zhavi. She slowly moved to ignite her weapon but was knocked down before she could deliver a strike, the beast leaping onto her with alarming speed and pinning her down with the colossal weight of its enormous muscular form.
Instinctively, Zhavi released a potent Force scream as the boma moved to bite her throat, driving it away and leaving herself temporarily deafened by her own attack. Though she tried to crawl away in a desperate bid to put some distance between herself and the beast, it pounced again, the impact slamming her face against the ground while the weight and momentum of the attack caused her to slide through the mud.
Before she could recover, she was crippled by pain as the boma began lacerating her back with its claws, leaving her barely able to move. Due to the weight of the creature pressing down on her, her panicked attempts to keep crawling were to no avail.
Luckily, the boma bit into her shoulder and flung her through the air, freeing her and giving her the chance she needed to reach for the pistol strapped to her lower back and fire, diving aside a moment later as the boma threw itself at her with such force the tree behind her was split in half.
Once she was on her feet again she spotted her fallen lightsaber glinting in the undergrowth, yet due to its distance she was too scared to risk running to it and due to her injuries and general state of panic she knew she could not reliably summon it to her. Instead she ran and reached behind her back, where the lightsaber she had confiscated from Loreli was strapped, only to find that the boma's lashings had thrown it loose.
Rapidly running out of time and ideas, Zhavi fumbled to try and unhook the lightwhip from her belt, charging as she heard the boma thundering after her.
She was about to run by the hanging corpse of the cultist when instinct kicked in and she took a chance; instead of moving around it, she ran straight into the corpse, using her speed and the tangle of vines that trapped the figure to swing upwards, then back down again when the momentum was spent and gravity took over, causing the boma to run beneath her while she was in the air.
To her horror Zhavi staggered back and fell when she landed on the slick ground, falling onto the claw wounds criss-crossing her back and causing her body to lock up as the aggravation loosed a bolt of pain through her torso.
Robbed of the time she had bought herself from her swing, Zhavi tried to sit up as the boma – confused by her disappearance – began to turn to retrace its steps, only to realize that doing so engaged her back muscles and heated up her injuries once again, immobilizing her.
She considered rocking herself onto her side, briefly, until the boma began to charge towards her. Instead, she tried to concentrate through her pain, fear and panic and call her lightsaber to her aid. At the last moment, frustrated and angry, Zhavi managed to summon a weapon and activate it, impaling the creature before it landed on her and robbed her of air.
It was only once the boma was dead and the exiled Jedi began to recover that she realized – with a degree of grim amusement – that the blade she had called to her in her moment of need was Loreli's, not her own.
Nonetheless, Zhavi had survived the encounter, wounded and already feeling exhausted before even reaching her destination, but alive. She lingered by the body for over an hour, using kolto stims, painkillers and what little healing techniques her aunt had been able to teach her to ease the severity of – and impairment caused by – her injuries.
Zhavi spotted an opportunity during her recovery time, namely that her enemies seemed to possess a uniform, as evidenced by the corpse who had saved her from being eaten.
To improve her chances of reaching and stopping the Sith Lord, Zhavi cut down the corpse and undressed him, exchanging the jungle gear Benjamin had given her for the dead cultist's attire, albeit with some modifications on account of his missing arm.
Into the Tomb of Freedon Nadd[]
After salvaging a cultist uniform, Zhavi entered the tomb of Freedon Nadd unnoticed.
Move or die.
—Zhavi threatening one of the cult Lords.
Disguised, Zhavi continued through the jungle until she arrived at a clearing beside a lake, just beyond which sat the dark stone structure that she presumed was the Tomb of Freedon Nadd, where the companions of Meetra Surik had fought against Sith forces during the Onderon Civil War.
The Followers of the Three idolized the Sith of that era – according to Loreli's notes – and although much about the events that took place back then remained lost to time, the cult sought to emulate the powers achieved by Darths Nihilus, Sion and Traya.
If Loreli's notes were to be believed however, the cult were little more than a collection of Dark Jedi easily led by promises of power and glory, their organization being more a theatrical homage than a serious threat to anyone.
Sith Intelligence actually permitted them to continue existing, monitoring them and steering them towards Republic territory but otherwise leaving them to their own devices as a potential resource for exploitation in the future. Now, it seemed, Lord Jhang had found a purpose for them.
However their group was structured, Zhavi was not questioned as she ascended the temple ramp and approached the main door. Inside, though, she was greeted by members of the cult guarding the entrance. It was only natural that a search through the jungle would leave the cultist's clothing a little worse for wear, but it was not her torn sleeves that gave her away.
The helmet worn by the corpse had been both cracked and too small for Zhavi, the neck seal choking her slightly, prompting her to discard it and rely on the uniform's hood instead. Up close the lack of a helmet proved to be the disguise's undoing; as they asked her if there was any sign of the Jedi, one of them questioned why he did not recognize her from the cult's rituals.
Zhavi engaged, throwing Loreli's lightsaber to one of the cultists, instructing him to "catch". When he did, she activated the blade with the Force, sending the blade up his arm and through his elbow, severing the limb. She called her weapon back and used the Force to slam the shocked and wounded cultist up into the ceiling, killing him, while the other rushed her.
When her block possessed more force than expected, he was jolted back unexpectedly, leaving himself exposed and allowing Zhavi to drive the point of her blade into his chest.
With the guards dispatched Zhavi pressed deeper into the temple, discovering that the main door was sealed and venturing down one of the side corridors in search of a way to unseal it. She came across a computer terminal at the far end of the corridor, guarded by lower ranking members of the cult who bowed as she approached them, asking if everything was proceeding as planned.
Distracting the man who spoke by alluding to a problem with the terminal behind him, Zhavi was able to bisect him with both of her sabers before the fight had even started. Although she was outnumbered, she could not even sense her opponents through the oppressive heat of the dark side aura that filled the tomb, such was their limited capacity to wield the Force.
Zhavi carved through the group of neophytes with ease.
Whilst in the tomb, Zhavi encountered a Dark Jedi who sought to emulate the draining power of Darth Nihilus.
With unfettered access to the terminal, Zhavi learned that it was one of two terminals that controlled the locking mechanism of the central door. Zhavi knew the entire scenario was a trap, and deduced that the locks were intended to delay her, letting the dark side sap her energy and chip away at her resistance with every additional minute she spent wandering the tomb.
All so that she would be weaker when she finally reached Lord Jhang.
In the second chamber on the opposite side of the main thoroughfare, Zhavi discovered a lone defender. Unlike the others, he wore the same uniform Zhavi wore, a more ornamental costume than those worn by the neophytes she had killed before. Zhavi's opponent said nothing, shaking his head when she told him to move, at which point she attacked.
To her surprise, the cultist appeared to have some training and was not overwhelmed by her aggressive techniques, redirecting her dual strike into the floor before pivoting and attempting to stab her in her side. Zhavi quickly adjusted, realizing she needed to take him more seriously. Even so, as soon as she did she quickly proved to be the stronger and more competent duelist.
Unfortunately for Zhavi, her opponent had other skills to compensate for his mediocre talent with a lightsaber.
Just as she attempted to land a killing blow, the cultist employed Force drain to severely weaken her and leave her struggling to move. Initially, Zhavi had no idea what was happening, but the sensation abated as quickly as it had started when he stopped using the ability to try and finish her with his lightsaber.
She was able to grab his wrist and prevent the blade from reaching her, grappling with him and managing to throw the cultist, aiming to drop him into one of the shadowy pits that lined the corridors of the tomb.
Unfortunately he recovered and leapt off the wall, and by the time Zhavi scooped up her fallen sabers he employed the technique again, at which point she connected the dots; the Followers of the Three were dedicated to emulating the Lords of the Sith Triumvirate, one of whom was so proficient in the Force drain technique he became dependent on it.
Suddenly realizing what she was up against, Zhavi made use of the barrier ability to block his attempts to steal her energy, forcing the confrontation into a saber duel once more.
In the control booth where the terminal was located, Zhavi finally overcame her opponent, trapping him in a blade lock before using her overwhelming strength to push his blade up and out of the way, giving her the opening she needed to cut through his abdomen with both of her lightsabers.
With his death, Zhavi could finally unlock the door that led further into the temple.
Before she could reach Lord Jhang, Zhavi willingly embraced the dark side to restore her strength and give her the best chance against Lord Jhang.
Yet for all her efforts and success up until that point, the former Jedi found that even with all of the physical strength she had spent her entire adult life building and maintaining she was just as susceptible to fatigue as anyone else, no matter how valiantly she pushed onwards in pursuit of her goal.
Physically exhausted and still no closer to saving her family, Zhavi found herself drawn to a pocket of dark side energy at the rear of the control room. Knowing she would fail if she continued as she was, she instead chose to bathe in the seductive power of the tomb, believing the powerful nexus would give her the boost she needed to press on and – ultimately – defeat Lord Jhang.
A choice she knew the Jedi would never approve of – but that Zhavi knew was the only choice that could result in her victory.
Reinvigorated by the tomb once she started drawing from its power instead of wasting her energy resisting its pull, Zhavi made her way back to the central thoroughfare to progress through the main door, moving quickly and with greater determination than she had before.
Vengeance of the Dead[]
Hello Zhavi. Miss me?
—Yami Jaggentire, confronting Zhavi in the tomb.
Revitalized and empowered with the Dark Side coursing through her, Zhavi carved through the cultists with brutal speed and efficiency, each death fueling the temple which – in turn – continued to fuel her.
A second door blocked her path, forcing her to divert once again down connected corridors that led to consoles controlling the door's locking mechanism. After deactivating the final lock, Zhavi made to return to the unsealed door, only to discover her path was blocked by a familiar, mangled face.
Somehow, Yami Jaggentire stood before her, alive and consumed by the Dark Side. The damage Zhavi had done to her face was still fresh and unhealed, rotting even, as if dead or dying, and the fatal hole Zhavi had punctured through her abdomen was in a similar fetid state. The pair clashed, with Zhavi questioning how she was still alive, assessing that Yami had to be in unspeakable agony and noting her refusal to let herself die as a testament to the frightening strength of her willpower.
Although Yami put up a fierce fight driven by near-uncontrollable torment, her feral assault was no more a match for Zhavi than it had been the first time. Even less so, as power and speed took over where her already sloppy form faltered. Put on the defensive, Zhavi was eventually able to find her moment and seize the opportunity to push back.
Yami realized she was about to lose when the moment arrived and tried to back away, but in doing so she avoided a clean beheading in favor of having her throat mangled by Zhavi's blade.
Unable to breath, Yami sank to her knees, dying slowly as she tried desperately to cling to life, even though it meant unending suffering for her. Zhavi considered leaving her, certain that while her strength of will might have forestalled the consequences of a single stab wound, she did not have it in her to ignore her body's need for oxygen.
Zhavi pitied Yami, however, and euthanized the Twi'lek rather than letting her suffer. With Yami dead, Zhavi left the antechamber – confident that her old flame would not be rising from the grave again – and made her way towards the burial chamber and the Sith Lord who awaited her there.
Vanquishing a Sith Lord[]
Welcome, Padawan. So good of you to join us, at long last."
"Save it. I'm here f' my family.
—Lord Scarlet Jhang and Zhavi.
By the time Zhavi reached the burial chamber, she found Lord Jhang waiting for her, with her family and Loreli held in force cages set up at one side of the chamber. Lord Jhang welcomed Zhavi 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 maneuver, which Jhang simply sidestepped before countering, changing Zhavi's offensive to a hurried defense in a second.
In stark contrast to the cultists she had taken command of, Scarlet Jhang was properly trained and in possession of considerable skill. Each time Zhavi allowed her defense to slacken, Jhang was smart enough to see the lure for what it was, only occasionally testing her form by nipping at the bait, both duelists analyzing one another slowly and carefully. Jhang started to employ the Force partway through their duel, testing Zhavi's responsiveness to Force attacks to see how well she fared.
Likewise, Zhavi was learning too, noticing the ease with which she integrated Force powers into her form, suggesting she was Niman user and as such perhaps not the most martially-oriented of Sith Lords.
Initially the pace was slow, but as time marched on Zhavi quickened her attacks, realizing that if her assessment was correct Jhang would struggle under intense and sustained pressure in a duel. In response to the more aggressive tactics Jhang became increasingly dependent 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 realize she was being lured into a routine by her more experienced foe.
Believing the duel would continue until one of them slipped up and faltered due to fatigue or a slight miscalculation, 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 barreled 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 saber out from between her fingers.
To her horror, Jhang simply took Loreli's lightsaber while she stood paralyzed by shock, using the Chiss' weapon 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.
Starting Over[]
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.
The Ahnketts of Onderon[]
My name's Zhavi Waverunner, Jedi Knight. I'm a friend'a y' daughter, by which I mean to say–"
"–My daughter died over ten years ago young lady, now I don't know who you really are or what this all about but you need to leave before–"
"–By which I mean t' say, Mrs Ahnkett, that Isla Ahnkett wasn't killed by the Sith all those years ago as reported. She was taken prisoner.
—Zhavi and Anna Ahnkett, on Onderon.
When she arrived on Onderon and ventured out into the city of Iziz she discovered that neither her parents nor her brother had arrived to meet her yet. Zhavi decided to approach Loreli's estranged adoptive parents, Ned and Anna Ahnkett, who she knew lived in the city, believing that revealing the Chiss' survival and smoothing over the shock of her having ended up as a Sith would encourage Loreli to properly return to the Republic once she was out of the hospital.
Anna was sceptical about Zhavi's revelations, unwilling to believe her daughter had joined forces with the Empire and their evil Sith rulers, unable to imagine the context that would lead the innocent child she had given up to become one of the wicked enemies of the Republic. Zhavi explained as best she could, assuring Anna that whatever sinister image she had of Loreli – or Isla, as she had been before joining the Empire – the truth was far more complex.
Their conversation was cut short however, as Anna was in the midst of a personal crisis of her own; her husband, Ned Ahnkett, had been captured by a group of Mandalorians camped out in the jungle after attempting to rescue another captive, a young boy named Ben Yunizza. Zhavi volunteered to rescue him – and the boy – confident that the clan of outcasts would not be able to stand against a Jedi Knight, the former Padawan deciding for herself that she had earned that distinction due to her victory against Lord Jhang.
Sadly, the electronics in Zhavi's lightsaber had been fried by Lord Jhang's lightning and Isla's lightsabers had both been destroyed too, leaving Zhavi with only her lightwhip, an impractical weapon for everyday use. Yet, through chance or by design, Anna's family had Jedi history of their own, with one Ahnkett several generations past having been a Jedi. The lightsaber of said Jedi took pride of place on the mantelpiece in their home, and Anna loaned the weapon to Zhavi to use against the Mandalorians. Additionally, she provided her with her husband's old armour, preserved from his time as a royal guard in the palace.
Armed and armoured, Zhavi set off into the wilderness to find the Mandalorians who had been harassing anyone bold enough to venture close to the outskirts of their territory. The Alliance Commander had been on Onderon hunting Darth Savik a few weeks earlier, during which time the legendary hero had all but destroyed the clan of rogues, which explained why they were hitting anyone and everyone whenever they could.
Zhavi hoped to avoid conflict altogether if she could, deciding to go with more of a "Jedi" solution rather than simply carve a bloody path through their ranks. Sneaking around the rear of their camp, Zhavi managed to lure one of the warriors out by making a noise, using her talent for dominating minds to turn him into her puppet – and a much larger distraction. When he marched out into the lake and began firing maniacally into the water, his comrades rushed out to see what the commotion was.
When he detonated a grenade, killing himself and wounding many of his comrades, Zhavi cut her way into the tents where she sensed the prisoners being held, freeing them and quietly escorting them out and down along the beach. They were spotted, but thanks to Zhavi, the duo were able to escape to the treeline, covered by the Jedi's blade.
On their return, Ned and young Ben were taken to be checked over by the medics, leaving Zhavi with a few hours spare, which she spent waiting on the bridge just outside Iziz. During her time there she reached out with her senses to take in the surrounding area and enter a deep meditation, the abundance of life and activity assisting her in scrubbing the last remnants of the Dark Side from the back of her mind, leaving her feeling whole once again.
By the time Ned and Anna arrived to meet her, Zhavi was ready to tell them everything, showing them a hologram of Isla taken while she was in her hospital bed, explaining that she needed money to help pay her bills. She spent the rest of the evening telling them Isla's entire story, from where they believed it had ended to the chapter that had led Zhavi to their door. They were shocked, understandably, yet once they overcame that initial surprise, Zhavi was pleased to discover they were willing to help their daughter, regardless of her more recent loyalties.
Having secured funding for her former lover, Zhavi took her ship and returned to Voryle, asking the Ahnketts to direct her parents to her if they ever arrived on Onderon.
Prison[]
Isla visited Zhavi in prison, where the former couple shared a brief, tender moment.
I will get you out of here as soon as I am able, you have my word.
—Isla, to Zhavi, during her imprisonment on Voryle.
In a wholly avoidable turn of fate, Zhavi returned to Voryle with her confidence bolstered by her success on Onderon and, lured into arrogance, attempted to smuggle her lightsaber through one of Voryle's invasive customs checkpoints, believing that – disassembled and scattered about her belongings – the weapon would be dismissed as spare parts.
To only Zhavi's surprise, the customs agents were far more knowledgeable about illegal weaponry than she gave them credit for. They identified the components as being used in the construction of lightsabers, confiscated them and apprehended her, transferring the Jedi to a secure cell to await trial for weapons smuggling.
Zhavi was held for several months before she finally received more information concerning her trial, being visited in prison by a Mikkian woman named Countess Patrice LaLenna who told Zhavi that she had already spoken with Loreli – who was once again going by her birth name, Isla – and paid for her medical care, apparently under the impression that both Zhavi and Isla were sent by the Republic Strategic Information Service to assist in repelling the proxies of the Sith Empire from the industrial world.
After reassuring Zhavi that Isla was recovering well, she asked for the truth behind what had happened to land Zhavi in jail, prompting her to admit that she had tried to smuggle her lightsaber onto the planet. The Countess revealed that she was working on a way of getting the charges dropped, warning her that if she failed, the penalty for smuggling was death, although she assured her she would do everything within her power to prevent that outcome.
Isla visited several weeks later – replete with cybernetic limbs to replace those she had lost on Dxun – to thank Zhavi for saving her life and promising that she would get her out of prison as soon as she could. She explained that a plan was in the works, but failing that, she would do whatever was required to ensure the Jedi's freedom.
Zhavi, expecting a more heartfelt reunion, was hurt by Isla's distant demeanour and cold professionalism. She quietly concluded that her former love interest no longer saw her in a romantic light.
Nonetheless, the Chiss had constructed a new lightsaber with the Countess' help, hidden within an ornate walking cane, and seemed certain that the plan she and the Countess had concocted would bear fruit.
Zhavi endured a tense two week wait before she was released, learning afterwards that the renowned lawyer in charge of Zhavi's prosecution had been murdered and – more vitally – the evidence of Zhavi's supposed smuggling had mysteriously vanished, humiliating the authorities. The former Jedi received a formal apology from her captors and was allowed to go free, joining Isla and her new allies at the Countess' estate.
The Cobbled Terentateks[]
Zhavi spent almost a year as a leading figure in the Cobbled Terentateks gang.
Quite the operation y've managed t' rustle up while I was doin' time.
—Zhavi, to Isla, regarding the Cobbled Terentateks.
Although freed from incarceration and part of a budding local resistance movement, Zhavi was without her weapon and placed in a scenario in which her talents for violence and destruction could not be put to effective use. While Isla led her new gang – the Cobbled Terentateks – against the Rabid Akks – the Empire's proxy on Voryle – and carried out solo operations herself, Zhavi took more of a back seat for a time.
She participated in the Voryle Fight Club at Isla's suggestion, winning several bouts while the Chiss worked on acquiring information from a local contact she had made prior to her release from prison, Samantha D'callo. The Twi'lek provided information on a nearby factory that made extensive and brutal use of child labour, and it was Zhavi who volunteered to deal with the situation while Isla worked on securing an alliance with Madam Quiselle of the Midnight Rose.
Armed with only primitive slugthrower pistols, Zhavi still had her physical might and the power of the Force to aid her in her attack, and though she was somewhat uncomfortable without her lightsaber to hand she rose to the occasion all the same, carving through the gangsters keeping the children in line.
Zhavi's emancipation of the child labourers – alongside Isla's capture of a Rabid Akks cargo train – marked the first major attack on the territory of the Rabid Akks. Following her victory she took to assisting Yagogg in policing the Cobbled Terentateks' territory, as well as leading from the front when it came to incursions into Rabid Akk territory.
She personally defeated a number of Akk lieutenants during her time on Voryle, though her brawling was brought to an end when she was lured to a tobacco warehouse and incapacitated by HK-60, who had been awaiting her arrival.
She was taken to the Vorylian branch of Magenta Sparrow Innovations – a leading electronics company owned and operated by Darth Aivela – where Aivela's apprentice Lord Sera Artofen was based while on the industrial world. Artofen gloated about her intentions to Zhavi, telling her how she would use her as bait to lure in Isla, who had killed her dear friend and ally, Artem Phond.
While Isla busied herself with saving Zhavi, Artofen intended to unleash a monstrous Sithspawn upon the city, one which would decimate the neutral world and kill Isla and the allies she had built over the course of the year.
When the time came for Sera to enact her plan, Isla arrived and fought her way through the building as intended, leaving the city and the gang exposed and without their Dark Jedi defender. Out of cruelty, Artofen left a mutated Gorg with Zhavi, commanding it to slowly bite away at her skin while she awaited rescue, though by the time the Chiss arrived the creature had dealt only superficial wounds and was dispatched easily.
Zhavi revealed Artofen's plans, warning Isla that saving her was a distraction for the Sith's true aim, but the Chiss refused to leave her until she had escorted her a safe distance from the building. With Samantha D'callo's help, the mighty, seemingly indestructable behemoth laying waste to the city was killed using a large quantity of explosives and the corrupt Prime Minister of Voryle, Namos D'callo, was exposed during an attempt to force the ruling council to pledge the planet to the Sith Empire.
The next few days were spent helping to rebuild the city, with Zhavi doing her bit to help the impoverished citizens tend to their wounds and clear out the rubble that had once been their homes. By the end of the week, the remaining forces of the Rabid Akks were consolidated outside the Magenta Sparrow building, preparing for an attack launched by the Cobbled Terentateks. Under the cover of the battle, Isla bypassed the gangsters and ascended the towering structure, where she wounded the Prime Minister and engaged Lord Artofen in a duel.
During the battle, Zhavi – still recovering and ordered to stay away – assisted her friends and allies by employing her limited knowledge of battle meditation to influence the conflict. Tragically, she was unable to sway the outcome of Isla and Artofen's duel when one of the gang's lieutenants, Bibi Jotto, attempted to intervene to protect the Chiss and prove her affections, an act which led to her being fatally wounded.
Artofen managed to flee the lost battle by playing on Isla's affection for Bibi, allowing the Sith Lord to make her exit while the Chiss attended to her dying friend. With the battle all but won, Zhavi turned the full strength of her battle meditation to Isla, strengthening her through their bond as she used the Force to alter Bibi's memories and project new ones into her mind.
Bibi succumbed to her wounds without even being aware that she was injured, yet despite the peace and contentment she felt in her final moments Zhavi sensed Isla's rage even from outside the MSI building. They had been victorious on Voryle, bittersweet as it was.
A few days after the attack on the embassy, Zhavi was called to LaLenna's estate for an unknown reason. When she arrived, she was surprised to find that, alongside LaLenna, her aunt and brother were there waiting for her. Once Isla and Samantha joined them, Zhavi's aunt Sophia explained that she had been delayed at the start of the year due to pirate activities, preventing her from arriving on Voryle at the request of 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 months earlier, which she remarked was strange, since she had only just arrived on the planet. Zhavi pointed out that LaLenna had simply assumed the SIS sent herself and Isla, they had never actually claimed to represent anyone. LaLenna, finding the mix-up amusing, said there was no harm done, and that she did not blame her for playing along given the state Isla had arrived in.
Master Sofora admitted she was surprised to see Zhavi taking responsibility, though commented that she was less surprised to discover that she was doing so via criminal activity. Regardless, she was pleased to learn she was helping the Republic once again, commending her work in driving the Empire's influence from Voryle. Zhavi was quick to point out that Isla had been the driving force behind their success, and Master Sofora remarked that she did not believe they had ever met, alluding to her uncertainty regarding the Chiss.
Zhavi was quick to defend her, 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 – which Master Sofora seemed to accept. The Jedi then explained that Zhavi and Isla had been asked to report for debriefing on Coruscant, assuring them that she and Carth would handle the recovery period on Voryle in their absence, as originally intended.
Though they agreed, both of the "Jedi" wanted to remain on-world for a few more days before they had to move 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 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 voted in to hold the position temporarily due to her neutrality in the inter-council politics. All the councillors knew her, and all were confident that she had no interest in their business. Thus, Samantha had no trouble securing the position – in spite of her objections to the nomination.
A few days of legal procedures to swear her in and the deed was done, casting doubt on Sam's relationship with Isla. Regardless of their inevitable separation, Samantha's first act as Prime Minister was to grant Isla a Lordship, officially granting her the title of Lady Isla Ahnkett of the Independent Nation of Voryle, being privy to her frustration about never attaining the rank of Sith Lord within the Empire.
Along with Yagogg, Rissessk, Tabassa, Bon-Yi and LaLenna, Sam was present to wave the Zhavi and Isla 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 can't be won through meditation or wishful thinking."
"Sounds like y' talkin' 'bout recruitin' fallen Jedi..."
"That's because I am, Miss Waverunner. Jedi have a narrow view of what 'fallen' means, and I don't care about the dictates of their religion. Anyone who wants to fight against the Imps and can handle taking orders is fit to serve the Galactic Republic as far as I'm concerned. Bet that sounds like something you would like, mmm? "Isla Ahnkett"?
"I think... that I am going to enjoy working with you.
—Frank Pad, 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 27 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, an SIS Bureau Chief who was in the process of setting up a new initiative. The team for that initiative would be comprised primarily 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.
Frank also suggested that he knew who Isla had been, although he did not state it outright.
The team itself – under the project name "Petrichor" – would be a versatile group of individuals sent to deal with various situations in small groups to extract or eliminate targets both opposing and allied, gather intelligence, retrieve objects of value, sabotage enemy installations and any other tasks that they might be uniquely well-placed to accomplish. Such as their 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 considerable scepticism – the green light, awarding Frank a token budget and a temporary office in the senate tower. He thanked Isla and Zhavi, informing them that it was because of what they had managed on Voryle 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 three of his four children had been Jedi, all of them dying over the course of the war and prompting him to want to help those who fell through the cracks, either due to the disbandment during Zakuul's reign or because they lost faith and left the Jedi Order behind. Frank's own children had struggled with the Order's methods before their ends, each of them fighting and dying alone and without support when the Order fragmented and dispersed, two falling against Zakuul during the occupation whilst the third died fighting gangsters to protect civilians on Nar Shaddaa.
Because of these losses, Frank had been trying to identify and locate lost or failed Jedi whenever he had time to spare, hoping that by offering them support the Jedi Order had failed to provide they would be both safer and more effective against the Empire. His success had been limited so far, but after recruiting his first volunteer the project had started to pick up traction, with an independent Force user being rescued from the vengeance of the Black Sun gang and another being located living on Corulag.
Now, with Isla and Zhavi on board and Frank given the go-ahead, they had the makings of a team.
Before he agreed to take them on however, he needed to test them, formally. Zhavi complained that they had already spent a year running a successful gang on an unfamiliar world, but Frank wanted to see how they did 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, and after that Frank escorted them to his real office, introducing them to their prospective Commander, an individual whom Isla and Zhavhi had already encountered in the past; Benjamin Lambert. Accompanying Benjamin was a Sith Pureblood, surprising both Zhavi and Isla initially. Strangely, though, she was introduced as Jedi Master Avexiss Odé and – even more interestingly than that – a member of the mysterious Jedi Shadows sub-group, specialised hunters of 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 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. Despite her status as a Jedi Shadow, Avexiss had very little interest in Dark Jedi, only Sith who presented a credible threat to the Republic.
Furthermore, she would not be participating in the project long-term. She was to accomplish the same goal as Zhavi and Isla – to kick-start the project and prove outliers who had no faith in (or connection to) the Jedi Order could be be just as effective, if not more so, than the Republic's traditional Force-using protectors.
First on their list of tasks was a follow-up to events on Voryle in the from of intelligence gathering on Kashyyyk.
According to information Rissessk had provided on the mutated creatures employed by Lord Artofen, the first beast Isla had encountered was a Kkorrwrot which could only be found on the Wookiee homeworld. Odé had a contact on Kashyyyk (a former Jedi named Batauww) who would meet them near his home in the city of Rwookrrorro and – with any luck – help lead them to whoever was supplying the Sith with their animal specimens.
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 wrecked Yonmouth South. Given the incredibly volatile state of Mustafar, it was deemed too dangerous for their first assignment, though Fred 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 were caught by surprise from time to time.
Zhavi, of course, was as flippant as ever, causing Isla to speak up on behalf of both of them 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 to the Sith Empire.
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 stolen ship but could not provide any additional support. Isla and Zhavi were confident, regardless, and departed that same day, arriving on Kashyyyk a few days later to a less than warm welcome.
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 platforms existed on which ships could land, indicating a degree of tolerance. What could have been a tense and fruitless visit was salvaged by the fact that the duo had an ally waiting for them when they arrived.
Batauww approached them shortly after they disembarked, welcoming them to Kashyyyk and quickly explaining that he had asked around already, telling the scouts to keep an eye on anything suspicious. One of their hunters ended up being the one to find something – without meaning to – in the depths of the Shadowlands of all places. 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 a few years earlier.
So 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 paid the forest the respect it deserved. Obviously, they 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 – as a former Jedi – not seen in Sithspawn before. 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 tolerant of the creature's interest – once they left the lift.
Strangely, they did not encounter any hostile creatures for some time, 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. However, moving and attacking with perfect synchronicity, Zhavi swung Isla by the hand, allowing her to both rise above the attacking Katarn and kick the blaster cannon of her nearest opponent, causing him to fire down into the dirt while the katarn sailed beneath her.
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, inexplicably focused on the Chiss – was the only foe remaining. As both women 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, killing it instantly and knocking it off-course.
After searching the hunters and discovering they were poachers who had managed to sneak their way onto the planet, the group 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. They had apparently destroyed several Wroshyr trees to clear a space for their activities.
Unfortunately, the scout could not get close enough to determine what those activities were. Nonetheless, the trio were confident they could put a stop to whatever they were doing.
When they finally arrived at the compound, they discovered that the poaching operation was considerably better funded than they would have guessed. The towering Wroshyr trees had been destroyed piece by piece, the wood stacked to create walls for the makeshift fortress. Durasteel transport containers littered the area, the metallic banging from within making it clear the contents were the creatures intended for exportation off-world.
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 it was built to lift up to the treetops. The ground underfoot had been dug out to accommodate an excessive holding cell 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.
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 overwhelmed 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 even. Some tried to run, and those met an even grislier end.
Stepping out from an overgrown hut, a dark-skinned Trandoshan with a cybernetic arm used the Force to choke one of the runaways, punching another using his metal arm with such force that his feet left the ground. The third and fourth were felled when the Trandoshan activated and threw a blue-bladed lightsaber to cut them apart. At first, Zhavi and Isla were unsure what his relation to the poachers was, but when they turned their senses on him they soon felt his rage and the aggression and realised he was an enemy.
He 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 power 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 did not care about Jagannath points – 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 a secondary base to be present in the treetops.
In reality, what awaited them was the burning wreckage of a hidden, 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 encounter with her brother had been on Dromund Kaas, when he had contacted her and arranged a meeting to try and convince her to return home and speak with her biological mother. She had ultimately ignored his invitation, and his presence on Kashyyyk at such a precise 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 alongside his fellows had 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.
Batauww spoke up, only to be cut off by Hendar, who apologised and explained he did not speak Shyriiwook, forcing Isla to explain the situation, including the fact that she was no longer working for the Empire, who believed her to be dead. He assured her the Chiss did not care and, thus, would not betray her secret, but did ask for a favour in return; a bioscan of the head of Tsosska, which Zhavi had brought with her to impress the chieftain of Rwookrrorro, in case they ever needed to visit Kashyyyk again. The group were happy to oblige
Hendar concluded their conversation with the same topic he and Isla had discussed when they'd last met – he reminded her that their mother wished to meet, stating it was important and that she would greatly appreciate her time. Hendar also handed her his personal information; spotting that the imperfections on the skin of her arms were different and deducing from those near imperceptible clues that she'd had them replaced with cybernetics, he suspected her inability to answer her comm was on account of her losing it in the same confrontation that took her arms, rather than due to poor manners.
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. Batauww, amused, asked her if she had not enjoyed her relaxing walk through the Shadowlands, at which point Isla commented that Zhavi was "not much of a hiker".
The group reached Rwookrrorro a few hours later, reporting the destruction of the trees and the justice visited on the ones who had destroyed them. The chieftain thanked them for protecting Kashyyyk from their "hated enemy" and wished them well on their travels, warning them to keep an eye on her new pet, Batauww explaining that tach were often troublemakers around people.
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 back on board. Not wanting to go to the effort of landing again, 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, offers mate's rates, and I'd trust her with my life. Say hello to your new buddies, Kas.
—Frank, regarding Kassie Kaadara.
Upon their return from Kashyyyk, Isla and Zhavi were debriefed and congratulated on their success. Isla noticed some tension between Commander Lambert and a woman they had not met before, another member of the team who spoke in broken Basic named Aaellu. Whatever the issue was, it was not voiced, and after Lambert explained he and Aaellu would be investigating an archaeological site on Yavin IV, Isla and Zhavi were "introduced" to their first assignment.
A Human woman entered the office, introduced by Frank as Kassie Kaadara, a Jedi Knight who had settled down on Corulag in the capital city of Curamelle, where she owned a reasonably successful bar, the Kaadara Baara. She greeted the group with enthusiasm, saying she expected they were all going to have fun working together before offering details of the assignment; a deserter from Sith Intelligence was in hiding on Corulag after slicing an Imperial mainframe to download a list containing the names of over two dozen undercover agents operating in Republic space.
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, 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 the rest of the day settling in at the cantina, whereas Isla wanted to jump straight into her work. To that end, she began asking around at a number of likely locations, trying to gleam any hints as to when or where the deserter last surfaced.
Isla joined the pair at the bar later that evening – sparing Zhavi from losing more money to Kaadara – with the Dark Jedi Damascus Lambert, a friend and adoptive brother of Benjamin who was suspicious of Project Petrichor but willing to help them investigate on Corulag, albeit more distantly. The group spent a few hours drinking before turning in for the night.
The following morning the group split into pairs, Zhavi and Kassie partnering up to interrogate the local criminals using more direct methods than Jedi were taught to employ. Sadly the usual suspects did not know anything about the Imperial turncoat, and it was Isla and Damascus' investigations that produced a lead.
Heading to Crullov City to investigate, Isla and Damascus soon located the target while he was in the process of selling his data to a 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.
Luckily, 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 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. Isla and Damascus reported back to Kassie's bar, informing their peers about the incident, ending the assignment on something of a sour note.
Kassie, not hiding her attraction to Zhavi, persuaded her fellow Jedi to remain on Corulag for a while, leaving Isla to return to Coruscant alongside Damascus, who she had convinced to trust the good intentions of Frank and Project Petrichor.
Ascendancy Tip-Off[]
Jackpot.
—Zhavi, on finding the stolen artefacts.
While the rest of the Petrichor team were off following various leads, Kassie and Zhavi remained on Corulag for a month before being given another assignment.
Surprisingly, Isla had received a tip-off from her brother in the Chiss Ascendancy and passed it along to Pad, who in turn passed the information onto Zhavi and Kassie. A rogue Chiss operative the Ascendancy had been monitoring for some time had recently attacked a Republic privateer transporting Jedi artefacts recovered from a Zakuulan storehouse, killing him and disappearing with the cargo.
According to Ascendancy intelligence he was lying low on Zakuul, celebrating his win while waiting for the heat to die down. Frank believed it was worth the risk to follow up on the lead and ordered the pair to Zakuul, knowing that their combined experiences with the galactic underworld would allow them to navigate the crime-infested heart of what was once the political centre of the galaxy.
It did not take them long to find a Chiss on Zakuul, tracking him down from the Platform 6 cantina to a meeting in Breaktown. The moment they arrived the meeting descended into chaos, with the Chiss and his contacts scattering, only concerned with saving themselves. Focused on chasing their target, the other criminals soon ceased to be an issue and left the two Jedi to do as they pleased with the Chiss.
Unfortunately, his past in the Ascendancy made him a skilled and elusive opponent; he had an escape plan ready and waiting, forcing the pair into a lengthy speeder chase through the Spire. With Kassie at the wheel, Zhavi was able to clamber onto the bonnet and leap over to the Chiss' vehicle and deal a fatal blow, allowing her to commandeer the speeder and land it safely nearby.
Once Kassie set down beside Zhavi, the duo broke open the trunk of the Chiss' vehicle together and removed the Jedi artefacts, including a number of pre-Treaty holocrons. As arranged beforehand, the Jedi delivered the artefacts to an agent on the planet, ensuring they were delivered discreetly back to Republic space, specifically to the Petrichor archives so they could be studied before being turned over to the Jedi Order.
Not wanting to make the return journey after working for most of the day, Kassie and Zhavi decided to remain on Zakuul, spending the evening enjoying the nightlife of the troubled world and heading back to Corulag the following afternoon.
War of the Four Bound Spirits[]
Assault on Darth Aivela's Castle[]
With Master Oteg's fleet keeping their naval units 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 planned herself an escape route."
"You make it sound like she's expecting us?
"Mm, an old castle well outside Imperial space where she could be attacked by 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 mission involving Benjamin and Aaellu that resulted in the recovery of the last missing piece in a collection of artefacts Isla had helped him begin on Dronim Major, the Chiss received an update from a Mandalorian informant she had recruited a month prior.
The Mandalorian – Ramira Al-Zaidi – 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 grand – and ruined – castle behind them.
The location was isolated and far from commonly travelled hyperspace routes, yet it was also exposed and outside the protection offered inside the borders 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.
With the information Frank was provided, it was not long after that that 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, troops had been redirected temporarily to support a ground attack on Aivela's castle. Zhavi 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 had discovered thanks to old archaeological scans 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 suspected 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.
Initially, everything went as planned once they launched their attack; Oteg's ships engaged the Harrower overhead while the SIS team and the Republic troops 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.
Unbeknownst to Zhavi, Isla slipped away during the fighting, cloaking herself with the Force so she could sneak past the Sith and Imperials to reach the throne room at the top of the castle, just behind Benjamin and Aaellu, intent on finding Lord Artofen and avenging the death of Bibi Jotto.
Zhavi remained unaware of the events transpiring in the higher levels of the castle until the battle against Aivela herself began, with a colossal, mutated winged beast destroying much of the throne room as it pursued an overwhelmed Aaellu, raining large chunks of debris down upon the Republic forces below.
Fortunately, Aaellu managed to land on one of the Imperial starfighters swarming around the castle and direct it towards the Harrower overhead, leading the Sithspawn into it and forcing the ship to retreat to avoid being destroyed entirely. The Sithspawn fell down dead shortly after the collision, crushing the castle's shield generator and all but ending the battle in the Republic's favour.
It was only when she saw the hypergate portal – torn from the throne room by Aviela – plummeting into the canyon that surrounded the castle that Zhavi realised Isla had snuck ahead of the fighting; diving after the portal was their target, Darth Aivela, followed closely by Benjamin and – hot on their heels – Isla.
To Zhavi's relief, all three made it through – albeit just barely – before the portal struck the canyon floor and shattered, closing the gateway.
With naval superiority and much of the castle lying in ruins, the battle was over and the remaining forces surrendered, allowing themselves to be taken into Republic custody. Zhavi was unable to enjoy their win, however, as both Isla and Benjamin's fates remained unknown.
Once the site was secured, the bulk of the Republic forces were recalled and made the return journey to the Core Worlds, the forces of Petrichor included.
Divinity[]
I saw... I saw everything. Just for a moment.
—Isla, describing the experience of holding all of the Four Bound Spirits.
En route to the Core, Benjamin made contact with the group to inform them of what had taken place after he and Isla had passed through the hypergate.
Aivela had betrayed her apprentice Sera and murdered her in cold blood to forcibly release the Bound Spirit she possessed, rejuvenating herself and increasing her power to match Benjamin's, who held the other two artefacts.
After passing through the portal the three combatants were deposited aboard Darth Aivela's company flagship, a salvaged Gage-class transport retrofitted to serve as a long-term exploration vessel. This vessel – the Outreaching Hope – was the heart of Aivela's operations, orbiting above her company headquarters down on the surface of Lok.
Knowing where the portal led gave Aivela the opportunity to catch him by surprise and gain the upper hand, flipping the situation and leaving Benjamin's chances increasingly bleak. Isla – who had veiled her presence from both combatants – was concealed behind a large artefact in Aivela's office, and as Benjamin crawled into view she offered her hand so that only he could see it.
Taking the opportunity, Benjamin had voluntarily relinquished possession of the two artefacts he carried, discreetly handing them over to the Chiss. As the Dark Lord closed in to kill her husband, believing she was victorious, Isla absorbed the orbs and assassinated Darth Aivela, stabbing her in the back.
While Benjamin was comforting his wife in her last moments, Isla quietly claimed the orbs released by Aivela's demise, leaving the former assassin in possession of reality-shaping power. Such incredible power gave Isla access to abilities far beyond her mortal capabilities, which she employed before Benjamin had a chance to talk her down, vanishing into thin air.
Benjamin had no idea where Isla had gone or what she planned to do, yet he was certain she lacked the strength hold the orbs for long before the power eviscerated her and left the artefacts exposed once again.
Due to the bond Zhavi shared with Isla, however, she already had a suspicion she knew where her rogue ex had fled to and, more importantly, why.
Sharing her feelings with the others, the group agreed to set a course for Voryle, where Zhavi suspected Isla intended to use the power of the artefacts to try and resurrect Bibi Jotto, the Cathar who had died at Lord Artofen's hands the previous year.
Using her connection to the Chiss Zhavi led the group through Voryle's streets, guiding them to the park where Isla was sat out of sight, waiting for them with the artefacts resting beside her. As the group arrived, Isla absorbed the orbs again and approached Zhavi, touching a finger to her abdomen without explaining what she was doing.
After that, she transferred the Four Bound Spirits to Benjamin, who had the raw Force potential and appropriate training and experience 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 at least 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 far less dramatic than the others had feared.
It was only later, when Zhavi found a moment to speak with Isla alone, that the Chiss explained what she had done to her in the park, revealing that her use of death sticks had caused genetic damage and left her infertile. Thanks to the orbs the damage had been healed, an act of apparent kindness that would have many far-reaching consequences for Zhavi which would not become apparent until years later.
Industrial Sabotage[]
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 armed with our array of combative advantages... I would say our objective is within reach, certainly.
—Isla, discussing the planned attack on the Imperial starfighter factory.
With Darth Aivela's ambitions halted and the orbs secure, things settled down amongst the coalition of Force wielders. Benjamin and his family retreated to grieve over the loss of Aivela – to them, a wife and mother as well as a Darth – while the others were given leave to relax and kick back a little, basking in their victory.
Isla took Damascus to Voryle, while Zhavi and Kassie made their way back to Corulag to savour their victory. Kassie showed Zhavi around the city, spending most of their leave time eating out, visiting the cinema, shopping and – when the mood struck them – taking down some of the less palatable criminal elements in the city. Towards the end of their stay, Kassie paid for the couple to spend the night at a local brothel as a surprise for Zhavi's birthday.
The following day, they received a call from Frank instructing them to prepare to get back to duty, informing them that they would need to be back on Coruscant by the end of the week.
Alongside Isla and Damascus, the team assembled in the capital where they 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, with the odds being firmly against anything less than a full attack group. However, with their lightsaber training and Force abilities the group had the potential to stealthily enter the facility and sabotage it from within under the very noses of the Imperials, escaping without the Republic needing to commit resources to a full-scale confrontation.
Kassie and Isla were sceptical while Damascus and Zhavi were eager to step up to the challenge. 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 the stolen ship of Lord Jhang 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. They 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 the alarm being sounded, revealing their presence to the facility.
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 Damascus 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 foreseen 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, starting a deadly countdown.
Zhavi and Isla escaped via one of the hangars, but Kassie was held up and implored the pair to leave her and make their escape, 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, where Kassie scolded her for reckless heroics.
Fearing the fate of their lost friend, Isla, Zhavi and Kassie returned to Coruscant in quiet despair, unable to enjoy the blow they had dealt to the Imperial war machine.
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. Let's go make us some new friends eh?
—Frank, to Zhavi and Isla, regarding a request for assistance from an Imperial crew.
With Isla keeping to herself after Damascus' capture, Zhavi was left to cope alone when Kassie ended their relationship. Kassie believed that Zhavi was getting too serious and that the pair wanted different things from the relationship, her risky behaviour at the shipyard being proof enough for her that they needed to go back to being friends.
Meanwhile, Isla launched a solo mission of her own devising to rescue Damascus from Imperial custody. The encounter was successful thanks – in part – to the arrival of Corrith Lambert, Damascus' estranged wife. Unfortunately for Isla, Damascus decided he had to give his marriage another try, if it could be salvaged.
Certain that Corrith could be trusted to keep his presence hidden from the rest of the Empire, husband and wife departed, leaving Isla to return to Republic space alone.
Towards the end of the 28 ATC, Zhavi and Isla – neither telling the other about their lost relationship – were called to a refuelling station near Denon 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 space anomalies to veil their presence and allow them to operate with minimal expense and support.
Led by a particularly merciless Sith, Corbeck and Corstle's peers had been suffering under the yoke of their commander and 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 they had a "safe" route back towards Dromund Kaas through the Zavian Abyss – a dangerous and unstable area of space – while in reality they made immediately for Republic space.
After being arrested for war crimes the SIS took the pilots into their custody, but Frank explained that only he believed their story. Thanks to his operations recent successes Frank was permitted to take the pilots and act on their intelligence as he saw fit, provided he employ only what limited resources Project Petrichor had at its disposal to do it.
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 capturing the vessel. Frank believed that not only could they recruit a sizeable crew of disgruntled Imperials, but also recover a swath of raw resources and a reliable 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 within 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 Petrichor, ensuring Zhavi and Isla – themselves inexperienced when it came to piloting starfighters – had the best support available at such short notice.
Each of them were provided with reconditioned FT-8 Star Guards while Corbeck and Corstle piloted their S-12 Blackbolts, and once they were all prepped and ready to go 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 to kill him.
Stowing her pistol, the Imperial introduced herself as Captain Elizabeth Kondarr, commanding officer aboard the Relinquished in service to Darth Madré – who had loose ties to the late Darth Aivela. She 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 and asked that that fact be taken into consideration in the treatment of her crew.
Kondarr 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 giving up her command and serving time for the crimes of a Sith.
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.
With that in mind – viewing Kondarr and her ship as a resource exclusive to Project Petrichor given the lack of support in the operation from other divisions – Frank had decided to offer her a mutually beneficial arrangement; she would continue to captain the Relinquished and her crew would remain under her command, pardoned for their past activities, but instead of attacking Republic worlds the vessel would become a mobile command centre for Project Petrichor.
Additionally, her pilots would provide off-record training to select operatives – 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 former Imperials to prove their new loyalties before official pardons were arranged, improving security and easing the often frightening and long-winded process of defecting.
Chromium Squadron[]
Attention, Chromium Squadron.
—Captain Kondarr, to the newly formed Chromium Squadron.
Over the weeks that followed, Zhavi and Isla were taught to pilot starfighters with greater effectiveness by Parkott Hend, flying a number of training exercises to hone their ability to manoeuvre and regulate their vessels' systems.
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 better equipped for their new role and the long period for which they were likely to be out in the field. The most obvious of these upgrades was the addition of chromium plating, which Kondarr remarked provided a style and uniformity that would be at home even in the Empire.
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 flightsuits 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 "remoulded" cadre of brave pilots, commanding the pilots to stand at attention and announcing their new designation; 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 squadmates, Zhavi and Isla were given letter designations instead, those designations being Chrome Aurek and Chrome Besh, respectively.
Biological Nightmares[]
What the fu–"
"–Let's... let's just keep quiet and move 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.
Through the new year period the forces of Petrichor – reorganised into the Strategic Asset Reassignment Bureau – were on call but otherwise off-duty. Isla kept to herself – still mourning her loss – and occupied her time by continuing to hone her sabre and Force skills. She also started to learn how to play the violin 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 directly for Commander Lambert for some time) 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.
It took almost a week for Isla, Vrym, Zhavi and Zhavi's droid Ducky to reach the station, being greeted with silence just as they had expected based on Mitth'icini'inrokini's report – and worryingly with no response when they hailed Gretta's ship, which was already docked at the station.
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 finding 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 up against the 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 drifted in from beyond the edge of the galaxy somehow and started emitting a signal, revealing its location and prompting the researchers to retrieve it for study. Since then they had been suffering from 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 that had followed its discovery.
Instead of a clear and concise detailing of events, they were led directly to the room containing the artefact to see it for themselves. 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 but 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 try and resist, as they were quite secure and "emancipation" would only take longer if they struggled. Isla asked what exactly she was talking about, but the Chiss only rambled about "answering the call".
Rather than listen to her uninformative ranting, 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 severely weakened and her Force energy diminished, and while Ascendancy troops likely would not be enough to stop her from reaching the controls the starweird that materialised – screaming at her from the far end of the corridor – was another matter. If legends were to be believed, Isla knew she could not take the creature on alone.
Isla overcame her initial shock and attempted to flee, only to be run down by the mythological monster on her tail. 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 far from it when she interrupted the starweird with a burst of shots that peppered its back, prompting it to howl in pain and drop Isla, giving her an opening to activate her lightsaber and cut down the monster. As they 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 brainwashed 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 she had counted six individual starweirds aboard the station – so far.
Both women agreed that their best bet was to destroy the orb in the hopes of reversing the brainwashing, 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, to which 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, 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 drew 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. A few moments later, the visibly possessed Chiss commander suddenly appeared, taking a page out of Isla's book and phasing 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 – not Force sensitive as far as Isla could discern – unleashed a storm of what seemed to be black Force lightning, forcing her onto the ground, immobilised with a pain she had never experienced before.
Unable to defend or escape and with the Chiss woman clearly in the thrall of something powerful enough to maintain the attack, Isla would have been incinerated over the next few minutes if not for the brave heroics of her companion, Vrym having 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 borrowed 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 – not far from the artefact chamber – and found her bound to the wall like the previous victims, struggling against the restraining vines. The vines were easy to cut with a lightsaber, and once Isla handed back her partner's weapon the duo soon began charging back towards the artefact chamber, cutting down the enthralled Chiss who stood in their way until they reached the entrance.
Inside, a dozen starweirds had congregated around the orb to protect it. Knowing they could not hope to win against them all, the pair rushed directly for the orb. Zhavi dropped down into a crouch to allow Isla to use her as a springboard from which to leap into the air above the surrounding, demonic horde, and give 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's mind-controlling abilities neutralised (if not understood or contained), the station secured and the horrors of the void destroyed, Isla and Zhavi were able to make a hasty retreat from the observation facility. They spent the journey back discussing Isla's speculation about whether they had been fighting in some sort of different dimension or not and Zhavi's grim idea that, perhaps, starweirds all came from similar artefacts, and that maybe it was just one of many.
Whatever the truth, they both agreed that Gretta was a hero, and her death marred their success with an undeniable air of tragedy. Taking Gretta's ship with them, Isla and Zhavi made separate reports – for the Chiss Ascendancy and Frank, respectively – on the return journey, unsure if anyone would ever believe them.
Republic Pirates[]
You're going to die slowly, Isla Ahnkett.
—Sera Artofen.
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 objective 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. 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 prepared to negotiate terms of surrender, but when Isla commended his leadership he corrected her assumption that he was referring to his crew, and told her it was her surrender he was ready 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 – alive, despite Isla witnessing her death at Aivela's hand a year prior – 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 the pair – Isla in particular. Realising the transport had been bait for a trap aimed at Petrichor forces, the two had little choice but to try and fight their way out, throwing themselves into battle against Lord Artofen and her servants; 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 unique bond, the former couple put up an admirable but short-lived fight, holding off their Sith opponents and blocking the timely shots 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.
Predictably, Isla was overwhelmed and 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.
Victory did not stop the Sith Lord from continuing her attack, however, and as Isla tried to drag herself over to Zhavi she was repeatedly shocked by Sera's potent electrical torments, all while being assured that her death would be neither quick nor 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 they had had the 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 admitted to Zhavi that she was glad she would die with her, a sentiment that was returned by the Jedi.
Luckily, the forces of SARB had not abandoned them to their fate.
Due to the obvious risk of attacking 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 quietly 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.
Galactic City Ball[]
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 with 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 to complete 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 ball, one of many yearly gatherings for Coruscant's social elite to fraternise, mingle and parade themselves under the pretence of charity work. The event was to be hosted by 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 indicators 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 – who were forced to stay rooted between their target and the civilians – 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 put her primitive past to good use by scaling the wall to reach the upper level, even though she was wearing a ballgown.
Focused on the three pursuers as he was, he did not notice Aaellu until she was right in front of him and it was too late for him to do anything. Aaellu knocked him out with a single, 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 – happily accepted. Isla and Zhavi shared a final dance, then departed to make the dinner reservation Isla had – to Zhavi's surprise – booked 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-secretly 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 arranged. While they waited, Isla invited Zhavi to join her for a "holiday", in a manner of speaking.
Specifically, she invited her to join her in visiting Copero – her homeworld – a journey that she had been putting off for several years despite her mother's continued 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 its importance to her, 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 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, but accepted the glasses and agreed to consider wearing them when 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 meet with the approval of all, and causing trouble would only worsen the situation needlessly.
Aware that being Chiss herself was no guarantee of safety, Isla was happy to do as instructed, 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. Isla confirmed they knew the rules, but for Zhavi's sake Hendar reiterated them 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 were not Chiss, and on Copero that percentage was far lower. Zhavi remarked that it was a shame, since Copero was beautiful.
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 younger Chiss man. Thicini 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. Thicini 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 elsewhere. Thicini 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; Thicini 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 – Thicini later learned – died from his injuries after 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 enjoyed upset her more than she thought possible.
Past events aside, Thicini 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 Thicini referred to as her "genetic impurities". She made Isla an offer; she 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 do research into 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 Thicini she indulged the question nonetheless, explaining that she would have a home with her 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.
Thicini 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 was romantically involved with Zhavi.
Unsurprisingly, her mother scoffed at her objection, however, 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 Thicini's condescending summary of her partner, actually raising her voice and allowing her anger to show, deliberately 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 Thicini agreed with – before declaring her desire to leave, as she wanted to go back to her real home, where she was actually wanted.
Thicini 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. Isla later 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 unpleasant 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 Isla, 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, Thicini'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 only if truly necessary. Kriss reminded both women that Thicini was taking a calculated risk by allowing them to stay; the more people who knew they were there, the more pressure Thicini would face to prove their presence was of benefit to the Ascendancy – or remove them from Chiss space should she fail.
With the warnings offered and terms loosely agreed, Isla and Zhavi were taken to the island by shuttle and left to settle in for the night. The pair cooked dinner together, enjoying a romantic seaside meal before turning in for the night and leaving for their ship early the next morning.
The Wandering Feline[]
C'mere y' slippery son of a...
—Zhavi, to the Ahnketts' pet tooka.
Returning to duty, Isla partnered up with Kassie Kaadara for a mission to the underworld fuelling station Mek-Sha to investigate links between Oopta Freight Solutions and the venerated Darth Madré. Meanwhile, Zhavi returned to Onderon with Vrym to check in on her prospective in-laws.
Greeted warmly by the Ahnketts, Zhavi soon learned they had yet another – though far less serious – problem on their hands. Their pet tooka had wandered off, and while it was a common occurrence he had been gone for far longer than normal. Suspecting something was amiss, the Ahnketts had enlisted the help of the city guard, who went through security footage to follow the wandering feline's journey several days prior.
They discovered that – contrary to his normal behaviour – their beloved companion had wandered out of the city towards the jungle, forcing Zhavi to do the same. The tooka was chipped, fortunately, but the transmitter was quite basic and the signal it emitted could only be picked up at short range.
Searching the area outside Iziz, Zhavi was annoyed to discover the first ping on her scanner when near the entrance to the lair of the Untamed, a cult that had long been an irritant to the people of Onderon and who had little patience for outsiders. Zhavi quietly made her way inside, using the Force to help her avoid being noticed when she ducked into cover to avoid patrolling cultists.
Thankfully, she managed to find the elusive pet – who was also hiding from the cultists and their beasts – and after a discreet and frustrating chase Zhavi was able to grab her target and sneak back out of the lair, returning to Iziz without incident.
After spending some time with the reunited Ahnkett household and enjoying a late lunch on the bridge into the city with Vrym, Zhavi turned in for the night, waking early the next morning to fly to Coronet, where Isla and Kassie had agreed to meet her once their assignment on Mek-Sha was over.
Civil War on Voryle[]
By decree of Kind Drahm, you're both under arrest on suspicion of espionage, terrorism and conspiracy to commit acts of terror. Drop your weapons immediately, keep your hands visible at all times and take three steps forwards.
—Voryle customs agents to Isla and Zhavi.
Arriving via public shuttle a few hours after Zhavi, Isla explained that Kassie had been stabbed during their assignment, but that the wound had been dealt by a physical blade rather than a lightsaber and – as such – she would make a full recovery over the next few weeks.
While Isla offered details about the mission she was far more concerned by a message she had received in the aftermath; an unsettled request for assistance from Queen D'callo of Voryle. Fond of the friends they had made on Voryle if not of the industrial world itself, Zhavi and Isla informed Frank of their intentions and headed for Voryle without further delay.
Almost immediately after disembarking, the couple were met by customs officials who had a warrant for their arrest on trumped up charges of terrorism and espionage, apparently on the orders of one "Drahm", whom they gathered was the source of Samantha's concern.
Naturally they responded with defiance, certain that – given the chaos – the authorities would be stretched too thin to keep track of them, giving them the 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 controlled by 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. She informed the pair that Samantha and Bibi had escaped the attack on the palace but had been forced underground, pointing them towards the place they had already planned to visit next; the headquarters of the Cobbled Terentateks, where Rissessk was helping coordinate the resistance to the change in regime.
The Trandoshan was glad to see the couple, stating he knew they would return in their hour of need. He confirmed that Samantha and Bibi had not been killed by Drahm – a secret he was eager to suppress – and had escaped through a hidden 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 to do the same elsewhere, pushing the Akks back easily enough given that they were still limited to the homemade firearms Isla and Zhavi had been restricted to during their earlier stay on the archaic world.
Once the Akks had been muzzled, the lieutenants returned to the civil war while Isla and Zhavi descended into the sewers to locate and secure the Queen and her bodyguard. With the Force to aid them and Isla's intimate past with the recently crowned monarch giving her a useful familiarity with her presence, 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 her mother, who she knew was stationed relatively close to the industrial world.
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, by which point her actions would – hopefully – prove to be more beneficial than not. While she would definitely 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.
To make her job easier, Zhavi also sent a message to Frank, asking for him to do whatever he could to make sure Nomi's troops could get to Voryle without senseless delays.
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 forces, who managed to secure the command centre for the orbital defense platforms. They wasted little time on pleasantries and gathered their forces in the city, intent on pushing into the palace to kill Drahm and end the conflict before it could develop into a protracted 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 off-world forces who were not restricted by the same arms laws as the population of Voryle they were little more than bandits; joined by the Cobbled Terentateks, loyalist defectors from the police and the synchronised efficiency of Isla and Zhavi, Nomi led her forces 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 else, however, clad in full suits of black armour that – the couple soon realised – were made using cortosis, compensating for their limited lightsaber ability by making them resistant to conventional killing or disarming blows.
Even the strongest armour had weak points, however, and together Isla and Zhavi were able to exploit the gaps in the armour of their opponents, dispatching both.
Without his Sith guardians, Drahm was left defenceless, and though he begged for his life Zhavi ignored him. While discussing the implications of the unusual new breed of Sith with Isla.
Calmly, Zhavi impaled the self-proclaimed king who had tried to murder her friends, bringing an irrevocable end to Voryle's political instability and – unbeknownst to the pair – ensuring Queen D'callo would reign over the planet for the rest of her life – and with a deeper appreciation of the Republic who had once again saved her world from the machinations of the Sith Empire.
Hit and Run[]
Darth Madré didn't do this... that vile witch Magda's the only one who could have set this up.
—Aaellu, regarding 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 rest 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 above 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 a near-death state.
The scene was quickly secured by a CSF captain &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 successful, though Benjamin remained in a serious condition.
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. When they managed to calm her down, she disagreed about the culprit's identity and instead 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 only for the Jedi to insist on eliminating them to maintain the secrecy of their outpost, forcing Aaellu and Benjamin to kill the Jedi Shadows.
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 or connections that would explained his apparent access to the illegal speeder modifications used for the attack – was the Jedi Master's retaliation for the loss of her operatives.
Benjamin suspected Madré now held the scepter, however, and as eager as Aaellu was to kill 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", accompanied by intelligent and ruthless beast companions that bore an alarming resemblance to the crystalline Sithspawn conceived and manufactured by Darths Aivela and Artofen.
Aaellu briefly returned home to comfort Benjamin's children, while Avexiss returned from her duties to guard him while he was in hospital, knowing Master Magda and believing she was ruthless enough to kill 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 learned 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 with Madré's new Sith on Voryle, they suspected Avexiss' gossip was – sadly – accurate intelligence on the Dark Lord's activities.
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 – previously – 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 while others addressed her as "Princess" as a courtesy. 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 wished 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, accepting an invitation from a businessman on Chandrila – who was well-respected as a patriotic supporter of the Galactic Republic, a keen advocate of philosophical debates and a supporter of many charities at home and away – 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 alone who needed transporting.
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 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.
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 of a distress signal before the bridge was captured.
Massacring the ship's crew without hesitation or remorse, Zhavi was forced to 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 before departing for the planet's surface via shuttle.
Pondering the odds of them – of all people – befriending a second member of royalty 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 Jinata system. I want you en route inside of ten minutes. Additional operatives will be joining you there. That withered shrew wants to put on a show; let's give 'er one.
—Frank, regarding Madré's incursion into the Jinata system.
Three weeks after the attempt on Commander Lambert's life, Darth Madré's fleet arrived in the Jinata system, intent on sacking Vardos with her army of artificially-infused Sith warriors to sow fear across the Republic and demonstrate her power to the rest of the Sith Empire.
With SARB forces on standby after the attack on Benjamin, they were quick to respond, with Isla and Zhavi attending a short briefing from aboard their ship via holo, during which Frank informed them of the attack and ordered them to head to Pillio immediately, where the rest of their team would be gathering in preparation for an assault on the incoming vessels, hoping to delay the fleet long enough for reinforcements to arrive before they could deploy troops on Vardos.
When they arrived, they were quickly directed to a landing platform where members of the assault team were gathering. Led by Aaellu, the couple were joined by Khruukunu, Kassie, and Evis and Ah'rek Odé, Avexiss' older brother and sister-in-law, respectively.
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 SARB 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 board. It was only thanks to his brief moral dilemma and the timely intervention of a conflicted Ascension Trooper that the SARB team survived Madré's contingency orders at all, and when they left the hangar they found themselves face-to-face with the traitor who had 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 had shot the hangar control room crew, and now did not know what to do, claiming she had made a snap decision to help them that had made it impossible for her to stay in the Empire.
Isla said she could win herself Republic support by assisting them, 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 instead, 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 communications 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 SARB forces. At the head of this new wave was Darth Artofen, Lord Tharah Odé, Lord Tark Jaggentire and – disturbingly – Yami Jaggentire, Zhavi's former Dark Jedi lover that she had killed twice already.
Meanwhile, as the SARB forces engaged Madré's strongest devotees, 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, the vessel having descended into the atmosphere of Pillio to survive the numerous hull breaches and damage to the life support system.
Due to the team's earlier sabotage, the ship was slowly collapsing in on itself, suspending the confrontation between SARB and their Sith foes when all of the combatants were tossed around and badly beaten by the violent descent.
As Kassie helped Khruukunu get to his feet and move to leave, Tharah – the only one who got back onto her feet 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 SARB team escaped the wreckage before it plummeted into Pillio'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 – killed during a duel on Pillio's surface – 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 outright abusing it.
Unwilling to destroy something so precious and ancient regardless of the deadly potential it possessed, however, Aaellu took the Scepter of Ragnos off-world, heading to Commenor without her allies' knowledge.
Once there, she threw the artefact 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, to Aaellu.
Several hours later, after Aaellu returned to her allies on Pillio, Zhavi and Isla were present when she received a call from someone unexpected; Jedi Master Magda. The elderly Jedi Shadow revealed that she was aware of Aaellu's actions – at least vaguely – and expressed her disgust at her blatant defiance of the Jedi Order's "right" to the Scepter of Ragnos.
Magda had learned the artefact'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 on Idlanna, then widened the hologram to reveal her hostages; Alucia, Ben and Acina Lambert, along with their aunt, 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 hidden on Idlanna, but that Benjamin had protected them to prevent them from simply being taken by would-be thieves or treasure hunters.
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 was not fit to possess. Aaellu assured them she did not 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 no 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 wait. 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 hidden 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 relay 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 once 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 and their aunt 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 SARB 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, no matter the circumstances – they were provided with a potential lead. Frank had immediately begun researching Master Magda after SARB 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 might have discerned Magda's whereabouts.
Intelligence suggested she made regular trips to Chandrila and had been doing so for several years, 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 most powerful of the team in Lambert's absence – 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 – if risky – 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 did not know of Isla she would not 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 employing the military to deal with Magda would raise eyebrows, 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, their pain 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 did not 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 he privately, reminding her that – once upon a time – she had tried to convince Isla to leave the Sith Empire, believing she could be redeemed.
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 prominent 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 had 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 upon them 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, era-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. If not something more sinister entirely.
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 using her mastery of stealth, then 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 had fought for. She reminded her, however, that her plan would go directly against the beliefs of her own order – specifically their belief that there was no death, only the Force.
Taking comfort in the Jedi Code in her last moments of life, Master Magda died, causing the orbs to emerge from her body and reacquire their physical forms, leaving Isla little choice but to claim them one last time and use them to transport herself back to Farrow's moon as the possessed troops outside laid down their arms, unsure about where they were or how they got there.
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.
Thus, 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.
SARB forces, being on-site at the time of the incident, were the first to comb over the forgotten enclave, discovering a number of secrets hidden away from the Jedi Order by Master Magda over her long career. One of those secrets was the location of the lost world of Ahch-To, one of the earliest Jedi settlements. The coordinates were kept secret and secured on SARB's central data archive aboard the Relinquished.
The Lambert Wedding[]
I approve of some of those ideas. I disapprove of many, and I am outright forbidding some. Chief amongst them being the strippers and the excitable headwear."
"Already know this is gonna be one lousy 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, who accepted the modified truth presented to them by the SIS – Magda had hoped to restore her Jedi comrades using the Scepter of Ragnos, which had been destroyed by Padawan Ahnkett on behalf of the SIS.
Magda's scheme – and her use of mind control on Republic personnel – were seen as a tragic morality lesson on how even the wisest could fall to the sinister draw of the Dark Side. With the most dire and immediate threats to the Republic averted, SARB found itself with a temporary lack of suitable assignments to take on. Frank dismissed the team, placing them on indefinite leave until such a time that they were needed.
Despite the success of their operations against both Madré and Magda, the friendly fire that took place on Chandrila caused a degree of backlash between high ranking military officials and the Director of the SIS. Although the issues were relatively minor, Frank came under pressure from his superior, who felt SARB risked alienating their allies if they continued to act so overtly. Frank volunteered to step down to satisfy the more irascible military figures.
Primarily, Frank's decision was driven by his run-in with Master Magda. Her ruthless interrogation had highlighted that he was past his prime and that it was high time he stepped down to enjoy his retirement while someone younger and more fit for the rigours of duty took over.
Additionally, Frank was plagued by guilt over endangering the lives of Benjamin and Aaellu's children, the former not only being a work colleague but, for some time by that point, a good 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 such 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, other members of Project Petrichor and even the Director of the SIS, 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, and that replacement was to be Carth Waverunner, who Frank had hand-picked for the role due to his field experience, diplomatic talent and his proven management abilities.
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 a more eager Zhavi had in mind – agreed to help her friend, having to talk her girlfriend out of some of her more "crass" bachelorette party ideas almost immediately after they had accepted the task.
They also decided that perhaps it was time they started building a life for themselves outside of their work lives. 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 her schemes would be minimal for years to come, ensuring that the threats to the Republic would remain mundane enough for the military, SIS and Jedi to work with without ongoing SARB support.
Thus, Isla suggested they contact her mother about finally 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 on Voryle. 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 planet's 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, asking them to make sure the weapons were redeemed.
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, 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 – as planned.
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 became obvious, though 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.
Relocation to Copero[]
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 in a more conventional Jedi fashion to free up the military and local law enforcement on various Republic worlds, who were perpetually busy with the ongoing war.
Over the course of these engagements, Zhavi managed to goad Isla into accepting a wager concerning who could defeat more Imperial opponents, proposing the idea at an opportune moment when the Chiss was in a more receptive mood, suckering her in to a bet that – based on past history – she was likely to lose.
Which she did – to neither Zhavi nor Isla's surprise – and consequently, she was forced to accept the loss condition; a tattoo of Zhavi's choosing.
Consistent as ever, Zhavi chose a humorous – if crude – pair of sentences strategically placed on her backside. As a show of solidarity, Zhavi also decided to get a new tattoo, keeping her choice hidden until it was finished.
When she showed Isla the finished design – a stylised love heart near her collarbone that incorporated Isla's name – the Chiss actually cried publicly for the first time, prompting her to teasingly call the Jedi a "heartless bastard" for eliciting such a response.
As the couple had arranged to meet their colleagues at a nightclub later in the evening, they decided to loiter in one of Tyrena's many bars until the time came to return to their hotel and change for their rendezvous.
Arriving early to make sure they were there when the newest SARB recruits showed up, Zhavi and Isla were joined by Ah'rek – who was joining SARB permanently as the new commander – and his husband, Harlem Minstyngar.
Kassie, Carth and even Damascus (who had smuggled himself out of Imperial space especially) also attended, though Isla and Zhavi were mostly concerned about the youngest recruit.
Kara Regent, the Twi'lek who saved their lives aboard the Crystal Nest, had finally had her citizenship approved and processed after a few months of bureaucracy. She had been nervous about defecting, and despite serving aboard the Relinquished temporarily the transition had remained an uncertain and stressful one.
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 in the months before her betrayal – Benjamin's nephew – which was how she had ended up being selected for "ascension", but after the late Arden Yox had revealed his ongoing affair with Zane Kara reached her breaking point, ultimately deciding that she did not want her new life as a Sith.
Suffice to say her state of mind had not been well since then, 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 as well. A prediction that proved to be accurate.
Zhavi greeted Kara with a hug, and it was only after Isla greeted her similarly – quite without thinking – that she realised her bond with Zhavi was influencing her own behaviour and mannerisms, as it was only a few years earlier that such a gesture was outside of her comfort zone, even with Zhavi.
On the upside, however, Kara's anxiety began to fade dramatically after the pair greeted her, and as the others arrived and the group started drinking Kara began to let her guard down and started bonding with her new teammates, grateful for their collective positivity and their helpful advice on her new and confusing abilities.
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.
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. He admitted, though, that 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 theoretically possible, albeit unconventional, though conceded – to the sound of Zhavi retching in the bathroom – that they were indeed unconventional Jedi.
Isla suggested they meet him later in the afternoon to give herself and Zhavi a chance to get their bearings, a suggestion he agreed with.
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 that would influence the creation process.
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 themselves did.
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 timely gift he had given them to take into their new life on Copero.
Liberation of Scarif[]
Beautiful planet. Shame 'bout the natives though.
—Zhavi, regarding Scarif and the occupying Imperial force.
In 30 ATC Zhavi and Isla returned to Republic space and bought an apartment on Coruscant, preferring to have their own place to stay rather than relying on hotels whenever they returned to visit family and friends. Around the same time, Kassie Kaadara was participating in the Bloodrush Cup on Scarif, an Outer Rim world that was home to a small Hutt-sponsored mining operation.
Sadly, Kassie crashed during the deadly race and her body could not be found, leading the organisers to declare that she numbered amongst the long list of dead racers who preceded her.
Before their departure for Copero, Zhavi left her Vectron Opus in Kassie's care, and Kassie had – not surprisingly – modified the speeder extensively, so much so that she had been using it as her backup vehicle in case her own racer was taken out of commission.
Aware her life could easily end on shorter notice than most, Kassie had been responsible enough to make sure all her affairs were in order. So, after her death, the remains of the speeder – salvaged by her brother, who was present for the race – were passed along to Zhavi, who used what was left of the chassis to finish construction on a new lightsaber and a complementary shoto.
Although the couple were heartbroken to hear of their friend's demise, they considered the matter closed until – six months later – they received a request from Carth to assist with an operation against the Empire on Scarif.
Previously occupied by a small force of criminals, the Empire had discovered Scarif not long after the conclusion of the Bloodrush Cup and sent in a force to seize the mining complex for themselves. Since then the facility had been expanded to meet the demands of the Empire's naval requirements, leading to the Republic's decision to intervene before they could expand their operation further.
Hoping to use a minimal amount of resources for the attack, the Republic sent Zhavi and Isla in ahead of the navy, updating their vessel's stealth systems to allow them to be smuggled onto the surface undetected.
Equipped with suitable disguises, the couple were to reach the installation, quietly raid the armoury for explosive charges and plant them on strategic targets around the facility, chiefly the shield generator and anti-air emplacements.
At first the plan went without a hitch, with Isla making her way stealthily across the base and setting several charges while Zhavi and Ducky bluffed their way into the communications room to send the confirmation code to the Republic fleet on standby nearby – then they cut off communications entirely to prevent the Empire raising the alarm when the battle began.
Their intrusion had not gone unnoticed, however, and Isla was intercepted by Lord Ahmed Dzundro, sparking a short confrontation that ended with Isla being incapacitated and secured, immobilised alongside the explosives she had planted.
After failing to report in, Zhavi made her way back into the base to look for her and was likewise intercepted by Dzundro, who explained the situation and demanded the detonator, agreeing not to stand in her way if she did, an offer that was punctuated by the arrival of the Republic fleet.
Despite the damage it would do to the fleet, Zhavi could not bring herself to kill Isla for the sake of the mission; she handed over the detonator, and true to his word Dzundro departed without raising a hand to her. He did, however, wave in his troops to surround her.
Dispatching the soldiers easily enough, Zhavi rushed back to the shield generator as the battle began overhead, desperate to save Isla but almost as desperate to save the fleet she had betrayed. Isla was where Dzundro had left her, and after she apologised for the mishap Ducky interjected to pitch an alternate plan of action.
The facility housed a small army of ground forces to repel pirates and raiders who might try their luck against the Empire, and to aid them in that the Imperials had a number of walkers at their disposal. Additionally, they possessed several bombers that were yet to be deployed, as the Republic could not penetrate the facility's shield.
Racing to one of the hangars, Ducky sliced his way into one of the bombers and the group split up again. While Zhavi – inside the shield dome – circled around for a bombing run on the shield generator building, Isla and Ducky commandeered a walker to begin taking out the turret emplacements one by one.
Within minutes the tide seemed to be turning in their favour, with the shield falling and several Republic dropships making it to the surface to deploy troops.
Yet even with Ducky's quick-thinking evening the odds the situation was still dire; Isla's walker was brought down and the fleet had taken severe damage before the turrets were destroyed, losing several dropships and leaving their ground forces much thinner than expected.
That was until unexpected reinforcements arrived from elsewhere on the planet, a small army of insectoids lead by a familiar face – the late Kassie Kaadara, who had been taken in and nursed back to health by spacefaring Killiks, subsequently joining their hive mind after months of pheromone exposure.
As a Force wielder with an unshakeable sense of right and wrong, Kassie's will had influenced the Killiks' collective consciousness, reshaping it enough that they willingly exposed themselves to aid the Republic and help rid Scarif of the Empire's corruption.
Pursuing Dzundro[]
We are not afraid, Zhavi Waverunner. The Kind feel joy. A child of the nest will be loved.
—"Kassie Kaadara", to Zhavi and Isla.
The tide of the battle turned rapidly, allowing Zhavi to split away from the rest of the Republic's forces to pursue Lord Dzundro, who had departed in his shuttle but had not left the planet. Instead, he had flown to another island a few miles from the Imperial mining complex for reasons unknown.
Whatever they were, Zhavi intended to soothe her guilty conscious by preventing his escape.
Stealing a speeder and riding out until she was close enough to swim for a stealthy approach, Zhavi made her way onto the island via a rocky and unyielding beach which backed onto a dense patch of jungle. Navigating through that jungle, Zhavi did not have to look hard to spot the mansion on the more open northern side of the island.
An old structure built using stone and wood instead of durasteel, the building evidently predated the Imperial occupation but sported a few modern conveniences of Imperial design – most notably, a long range transmitter.
Zhavi knew she would be too late to stop Dzundro from reporting back to the Empire and that Imperial reinforcements would likely arrive before too long. Instead of rushing for the transmitter, Zhavi committed to cleaning up as many Imperials as she could, beginning with the soldiers patrolling the ground and swiftly moving on to one of Darth Madré's surviving Ascension troopers drawn outside by the commotion.
After the Ascension trooper was disarmed and killed, Dzundro emerged to confront Zhavi personally. She gave him the opportunity to surrender, but unsurprisingly he did not take it, opting to try and kill her before withdrawing to Dromund Kaas.
During the duel Zhavi learned that the Empire had no intention of returning to Scarif, not even to wipe out the vulnerable Republic fleet. A ship would be arriving, but only to extract Dzundro.
In an effort to help thin out the enemy numbers Isla had commandeered one of the remaining Imperial ships and launched a bombing run on the island, temporarily interrupting the duel and giving Dzundro an opportunity to run for the shore. Initially Zhavi was unsure what he hoped to achieve, but when they reached an old wooden dock she spotted a Fury-class interceptor descending at speed.
Leaping up with timing only a trained Force-user could manage, Dzundro slipped out of Zhavi's grasp, ascending into Isla's sights. Unfortunately, her efforts were doomed from the start; the Fury was a superior vessel, and Isla's sluggish bomber was easily outrun.
Isla landed a few minutes later and the couple shared a relieved moment together before calling for a pickup back to the smouldering Imperial complex.
Upon their return, they had the opportunity to speak with Kassie, learning the truth of their old friend's accident and her new life amongst the insectoid aliens. Zhavi, having been closer to Kassie than Isla, was saddened by her fate, but Kassie – sensing her sadness – assured her she was happy, recalling her dissatisfaction with her previous life.
Observant by nature, Isla spotted that Kassie was pregnant and asked what would become of the baby. Kassie admitted it was an unusual situation, and that the nest had no memory of it happening before.
Nonetheless, Kassie seemed calm and confident about the prospect of a child born within the nest and reassured them both that the child would be loved by the Killiks.
That being the case, Kassie and her new family did have a problem that weighed on their mind, however; they resided on Scarif as the result of a crash landing following their departure from Alderaan, but the planet's volcanic nature and the high average temperatures that resulted were not to the Killik's liking. Even living out of the sun in the caves they had occupied, the temperatures were uncomfortably high.
On behalf of the Ukunuku nest, Kassie requested Zhavi's help emigrating to a more suitable world.
Zhavi questioned their intentions – along with why they left Alderaan in the first place – and was assured that they did not wish to expand their nest with more Joiners.
Kassie had been grievously wounded and needed help and, thus, was an exception to their claim, otherwise the nest preferred to remain hidden from the rest of the galaxy, their memories of the violence on Alderaan leaving its mark on their collective psyche. They wanted to find a new home where the war would not harm them.
Hesitant, yet finding herself struggling to say no to her old friend and the alien warriors who had aided them, Zhavi and Isla agreed to help them, speculating that Benjamin would be able to offer advice – or better yet, actual assistance with the relocation.
In the meantime, Zhavi and Isla slipped away from Republic forces while they were busy wrapping up on Scarif, deciding to spend a day or two relaxing on the tropical world before facing Carth's inevitable questions about their flawed performance.
Criminal Enterprise[]
Damn fine place you got here girl. Startin' to see what you had in mind when you called me out here. Place is lush.
—Mister Crimson, to Zhavi, after landing on Scarif.
Two months after the liberation of Scarif, Zhavi had largely come to terms with the fact that she would never be a proper Jedi, whether she was part of the Jedi Order or separate from it. She was determined to follow her own conscience to make the galaxy a better place regardless, although in the meantime she intended to take a break with the woman she loved – and two young Nautolans who deserved a holiday.
Travelling to Voryle to pick up Mirris and Kol – who were spending time with the Cobbled Terentateks while Zhavi and Isla were back in the Republic's service – for a surprise trip, the group made their way to Scarif, where Zhavi had a surprise ready for Isla, too.
Before they disembarked, she unveiling a caged bird that had been confiscated from the cargo hold of an illegal arms dealer taken down by the SIS. As there was every chance it would simply be euthanised, Carth had used his authority to release it from evidence and after mentioned it in passing during a call with Zhavi, the Jedi had offered to take it off his hands.
Isla was initially shocked into wordlessness by the unusual – and unwanted – gift but quickly took to the curious creature, connecting with him through the Force. She decided to call him Imani.
Although a holiday, Zhavi and Isla traded off time training the twins in the basic aspects of feeling and channelling the Force while they started working on repairs to the old mansion Lord Dzundro had fled to during the liberation.
The couple assigned their HK unit, Teedoo and Vrym to watch the twins in the afternoon while they sat at the dock, drinking and admiring the view while debating the realistic possibility of properly retiring. Unbeknownst to Isla, Zhavi had called Mister Crimson to meet them on Scarif, and it was only when his shuttle descended into view that the couple moved from their perch to greet him.
Having expanded his spice trade considerably over the past few years with Zhavi's help, Mister Crimson was finding Nar Shaddaa increasingly restricting, with his success attracting rivals, thieves and increased taxation from the Hutts. Although that was nothing unusual for the Smuggler's Moon, Mister Crimson preferred his dealings to be smooth, uneventful and unnoticed.
Fluctuations in his incoming and outgoing numbers was causes him a degree of stress, and Zhavi believed relocation was the solution. Out of the way but closer to Zhavi and Isla's new home on Copero, she had proposed that the pair work together to turn his homegrown operation into a formal enterprise based on Scarif.
Offering a sizeable chunk of the couple's savings to cover the start-up capital, Mister Crimson was immediately tempted, but had reservations about taking so much of Zhavi and Isla's money. Zhavi knew that Mister Crimson was – despite being a career criminal – an upfront and honest man, which was one of the reasons she had continued working with him for so long.
So, by the time he reached Scarif, Zhavi had already charmed Mister Crimson into a formal business partnership, a revelation which surprised Isla. Zhavi explained – openly, in front of Mister Crimson – that her experience on Scarif had made her realise that she would never be the ideal, squeaky-clean Republic hero the Jedi painted themselves as; accepting that allowed her to be truer to herself than she had ever been before.
Much of her life had been spent as a criminal – if she could be a part time Jedi, she could be a part time criminal too.
Additionally, Zhavi felt that the relative safety of the particular brand of spice peddled by Mister Crimson made her involvement a non-issue, as many millions – herself included – participated in safe recreational drug use and continued to be productive members of society.
Zhavi had already been supplying Mister Crimson for years; investing to ensure she could take care of Isla, the kids and everyone else she cared about well into the future was a plan Zhavi had few qualms about.
With a few of his loyal lieutenants and his husband, Mister Crimson began unloading supplies with the help of Zhavi and Isla, the plan being to rebuild the mansion and use it as the headquarters of a new organisation; the Crimson Wave.
Isla assisted in scanning the island's geography using specialised seeker droids, mapping the entire area and discovering a cave hidden behind a waterfall and – worryingly – a mature boma prowling the area.
By late afternoon – after confining the kids to the beach and mansion area – she had acquired a small amount of Lilac Sand from Mister Crimson's supply, pulling Zhavi away from the rebuilding efforts to spend some time alone together in the cave she had uncovered earlier.
The couple fell asleep on the beach that night and in the morning, after a late breakfast with Mirris and Kol, set off to track down the boma before it found them.
When they finally located the creature, it attempted to rush them from the undergrowth, pinning Zhavi down as the juvenile boma on Dxun had done years prior. Zhavi had become stronger since then, however, and managed to wrestle herself free, disorienting the creature by punching it repeatedly before – when it tried to flee – using the Force to crush the creature's muscles around its skeleton, disabling it and allowing her to finish it off without any trouble.
Afterwards, the couple elected to leave Mister Crimson and his men to their new operation, spending a week on Scarif switching between training the kids to utilise their Force sensitivity and napping in the sun.
Ahch-To and the Mirror Cave[]
Any time we do Jedi-related stuff we end up in dumps like this. Don't recall any line in the Code sayin' Jedi can't live on a world tha's actually nice.
—Zhavi, to Isla, regarding the climate of Ahch-To.
Eager to keep Zhavi and Isla involved with SARB as long as possible, Carth tempted the couple with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.
Master Magda's defeat had unveiled a small cache of hidden secrets that had been left largely unexplored since its recovery from her enclave on Chandrila.
Now that the information had been thoroughly looked over, however, Carth invited the couple to be the first modern Jedi to set foot on the lost world of Ahch-To, before he gifted the information to the Jedi Order and the wider Republic government.
Curious, Zhavi and Isla agreed, setting course for the forgotten planet and – after some careful manoeuvring – touching down on a small island.
They discovered a short species of alien caretakers who maintained the old village located on the island, and though the locals did not seem overly thrilled to see them they did not object to their presence either, leaving the couple to explore uninterrupted.
Unfortunately, even with Ducky's scanning capabilities assisting their search for relics and information of value, they found little, even within what remained of the ancient Jedi temple. After splitting up to cover more ground, Isla discovered a dark side nexus beneath what appeared to be an overgrown well.
As a Dark Jedi, she decided she was best qualified of the couple to investigate and – despite Vrym's objections – jumped down into the darkness. Landing unharmed in a small cave, Isla was initially confused, finding nothing of immediate interest save for a reflective surface on one of the cave walls.
Approaching the mirror wall caused the rest of the cave to fade into darkness, yet Isla felt compelled to continue towards it while Vrym retreated, his instincts overriding his loyalty, leaving her standing staring at her own reflection alone, surrounded by shadows.
It was as she studied her own image that the dark side aura pulsed aggressively, and Isla's reflection twisted into the visage of a starweird. Such was the entrancing nature of the mirror that Isla was caught completely off-guard, yet she could even in her revulsion she could not draw herself away.
Then, snapping her out of her trance, the monstrous vision physically reached out of the mirror and gripped her throat.
The starweird screamed in her face, causing her ears to ring painfully in the aftermath, and before Isla could muster up the will to try and fight her way free the reaching arm pulled her towards the wall, smashing her head against it and knocking her out.
When she awoke the light had returned to the cave and the starweird had disappeared, leaving behind a cave that was seemingly mundane. Vrym, powerlessly standing over her for however long she had been unconscious, urged her to get up so they could leave.
Before they did, Isla glanced back to look at the reflective wall, believing what she had seen was little more than a spiteful hallucination produced by the lingering taint of the dark side, as was common on worlds like Korriban and Ziost. Seeing the blood and bruising on her forehead from where she had struck the wall caused her to think twice, however.
Zhavi, meanwhile, had continued scanning with Ducky, weathering the fierce storm that had swept over the island while Isla was in the cave. When Isla had failed to answer her comm she had become concerned, but once the Chiss departed the cave she contacted Zhavi herself, learning that they had been separated for almost five hours – far longer than Isla had believed.
Sharing what they had learned – or in Zhavi's case, what she had not learned – with one another, Zhavi and Isla concluded that their previous encounter with the starweird was probably not going to be their last – something which both women confessed they had known – on some instinctive level – ever since they had escaped the Chiss observatory.
They were also forced to concede – after a day of searching – that Ahch-To was not the treasure trove they had hoped it would be.
Finding a collection of ancient Jedi books tucked away inside a hollowed-out Uneti tree that the Jedi had seemingly used as a library, the pair were content that the historians of the Order, if no one else, would have something to fawn over when they visited the planet.
Zhavi wanted to leave the books behind and had had Ducky scan the contents so they had a copy of the texts to sift through for valuable information once they left the planet, and Isla agreed they were of no value to either themselves or the SIS and should be left for the Order to find.
Despite what felt like a disappointing journey the couple decided to spend the night in one of the small stone huts spread throughout the village, deciding to "live as the old Jedi lived" for a single night before returning to the comforts of modern civilisation the following morning.
Mission to Sullust[]
I don't like it, but the boss says she's yours, so she's yours. For now. Don't land her in a lava river.
—Erin Taetriss, to Zhavi, regarding Clan Gharva's Basilisk war droid.
Before Zhavi and Isla made their return to Copero, Carth invited them to lead an operation against the Empire's forces on Sullust, using their brief history with the planet and the importance of the world as leverage to press them into lending their aid.
Having been occupied by the Empire – and the Eternal Empire, briefly – for many years, the enemy was well-entrenched, but intelligence gathered by SIS agents highlighted an opportunity to crack their defences and secure a landing site from which to launch a ground campaign to liberate the planet.
Clan Gharva, SARB's reluctant Mandalorian allies, had acquired a wrecked Basilisk war droid and restored it to full functionality thanks to Erin Taetriss, the former Republic soldier who Isla had encountered on Tatooine during Operation: Crystal Lekku. The rare and legendary machine was a key part of Carth's plan for Sullust.
Sand from Scarif had found its way into Zhavi's cybernetic arm and was causing periodic glitches, so as a prerequisite for helping she insisted Carth arrange for its replacement with something more resilient. Once that was done, the couple met up with Taetriss on Nar Shaddaa to take the Basilisk off his hands.
Although the clan were not happy about handing over their prized possession, it was only temporary; Zhavi would use the Basilisk to get past the anti-air defences and penetrate the base under the cover of an approaching meteor shower while Ducky would pilot the Whisper, using its stealth systems to sneak onto the planet's surface and drop Isla off, drawing forces away from Zhavi's position.
Initially everything went as planned and – once inside – Isla used the chaos Zhavi was causing to eliminate the Moff in charge of Imperial operations on Sullust. Troop numbers inside the base had been grossly underestimated, however, and the couple were forced to improvise to disable the defences in time for the arrival of the Republic fleet.
Rather than disabling them from the control centre Zhavi made use of thermal detonators looted from the dead to destroy a section of the underground base's outer wall by throwing the explosives down a thermal exhaust port, causing the heat sink protecting the geothermal energy collectors to become overwhelmed.
Unable to dissipate heat faster than it was building up, the facility's systems started overheating and vital components soon began to melt, which in turn caused the heat shielding to fail, exacerbating the issue irrevocably and creating widespread breaches in the deepest areas of the base within a matter of minutes.
Even on the higher levels, Zhavi and Isla had to sprint for the surface to escape the rising flood of molten rock.
Zhavi encountered a highly trained breed of Imperial soldier she had never seen before on her way up, delaying her enough that the metal walkway she was standing on almost melted enough for her to sink through it.
Thankfully, however, both women managed to get out safely with only minor injuries, though without the Basilisk. The couple agreed that it was definitely part of Carth's job to inform the Mandalorians of that fact, not theirs, and once the Republic had begun landing troops and established a staging area the couple left the planet, content that they had done their part.
Forests of Endor[]
This is a personal matter. One of friendship. I am told that 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.
Two years later 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 other Jedi given the personal nature of his planned excursion.
Reynolds had consulted the knowledgeable Jedi Master Gnost-Dural for advice, and 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 the slither of information implied by vessels that crashed on their world.
Reynolds' friend had managed to stow away aboard a crashed vessel after the owner survived impact and was able to repair the ship and take off, pursuing a female who had departed years earlier in the hopes of winning her affection and becoming her mate.
He had never found her, sadly, and after journeying alongside Master Reynolds for many years he had been content not to, though now 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, hence Master Reynolds' desire for a larger group. The Jedi Master also 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 surrounded 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 – or both.
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 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 on once they left Endor.
Several days later, Reynolds' companion's health 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 had been born. Zhavi and Isla escorted the duo, though the trek out was peaceful.
The return journey was more eventful, however; the trio came face to face with a large, territorial hanadak who attempted to assert his 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 – and 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 and calm presence 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 – displaced and alone – 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 her, summoning him into the cockpit to watch as they raised the boarding ramp and ascended through the trees and up out of the atmosphere.
Mister Crimson's Birthday Party[]
Zhavi, baby! Damn, y' really squeezed into that thing... And who-? Ahhh! If it ain't y' beautiful better half. The one true picture of elegance as always, miss Isla.
—Mister Crimson welcoming Zhavi and Isla to his birthday celebration.
In the weeks after their journey to Endor, Zhavi, Isla, Ducky and Bombarr accepted an invitation from Mister Crimson to attend a three-day birthday celebration he was throwing on the neutral of Upepwa.
Crimson's chosen venue was a castle built out of ice at the planet's frozen southern pole, which was property of the government and available for hire to only the very wealthy. Although he could afford it, the expense was a considerable investment – and as always his actions were wiser than a cursory glance might have suggested.
Amongst the wealthy names on the guestlist was the princess of Upepwa, invited by Mister Crimson in the hopes of wooing her into a business arrangement that would allow him to expand his operations considerably. Notoriously fickle and hedonistic, the princess cared little for politics and was by all accounts a spoilt and overprivileged woman, and it was that self-interest that Mister Crimson hoped to exploit.
In addition to providing additional security, Zhavi had been invited to assist in assessing the princess – and if necessary, stepping in to help sweet talk her into working with their organisation.
With so much money riding on the event's success, Mister Crimson personally greeted the couple once they arrived at the castle, his nervousness radiating through the Force despite his cool demeanour. Once the group had exchanged pleasantries Zhavi and Isla merged with the crowds, leaving Mister Crimson to get on with his work behind the scenes until the princess arrived.
Shortly before her ship touched down, Isla sensed something was amiss, which surprised the couple as Zhavi was stronger in the Force and normally far more receptive to sensory warnings. Nonetheless, they decided to keep their eyes open for anything out of the ordinary.
When the princess finally arrived – fashionably late, as Mister Crimson had correctly predicted – Zhavi and Isla accompanied Mister Crimson to welcome her, taking a knee and listening to their conversation until the royal VIP moved on.
Less than thirty minutes later, a small bomb was detonated inside the ice palace, killing a member of the princess' security detail, enraging the overprivileged royal and seemingly ending any hopes of an alliance. On investigating the scene, Isla and Zhavi were able to ascertain from the remnants of the bomb that it was homemade, but clearly assembled by a professional.
Thanks to the security footage they were able to identify the bomber and track his movements until he disappeared, descending to the lower levels of the castle, which had been abandoned and sealed off over a decade earlier.
With no cameras in the lower levels, the couple were forced to descend and search for the bomber while Mister Crimson's hired security covered the potential exits, all while trying to keep the situation under wraps to avoid alarming the other guests.
Unable to hide for long from two Jedi, the bomber attacked the couple with a vibrosword only to be almost immediately outmanoeuvred and disarmed.
At blade point, he revealed that his target was the princess, but that the reason for the attack was unrelated to Mister Crimson's interests.
He refused to reveal who his employer was, but thanks to Zhavi's talent for dominating minds he revealed not only the name of the king's political rivals who had sent him but also the presence of another two assassins. Having been kept in the dark about his peers, he was able to tell them that one assailant was female and the other male, but nothing more.
Once free of his mental domination – and while Zhavi and Isla were discussing the likely methods of the second and third attackers – the would-be assassin withdrew a concealed blade and attempted to slash Zhavi, forcing Isla to stab him in the chest, killing him.
On their return to the main area of the castle, the duo sat down in one of the quieter bar areas to discuss what they had learned, ensuring that security staff remained alert before making their way to their room for the night.
The following morning, while moving through the palace, the princess was once again targeted by her father's opponents.
An Aqualish assassin attempted to rush her, quickly bypassing her inexperienced guards and almost succeeding in killing her, if not for the timely intervention of Isla, who gave the princess an opening to retreat to safety and quickly eliminated the threat.
In doing so, Isla had earned herself a degree of approval from the princess, yet having seen the second attempt on her life happening up close, the princess took it far more personally than the bomb blast and unleashed a flood of abuse towards Mister Crimson.
Over the course of the next few hours, the couple watched the guests closely but were unable to identify the final assassin.
Isla suggested that perhaps the last assassin was hiding amongst the staff Mister Crimson had hired, rather than posing as a guest. Expanding their list of potential suspects, Isla decided she could rule out the bartender – a Chiss – with a call to her sister in the Ascendancy.
To her surprise, she discovered the Chiss was wanted by the Ascendancy for murdering his comrades and stealing the ship he was serving on. The couple had spent a fair amount of time at the bar since they had arrived and several hours in his company as a consequence, yet they had failed to detect any nervousness or anxiety or even a hint of deception during their conversations.
When Isla returned to the bar to confront him, Mister Crimson and the princess were present, the latter having calmed down enough to sit down and talk with her host. They were about to accept drinks provided by the Chiss until Isla launched herself towards them, sliding along the bar to sweep the glasses aside – and in doing so, tipping the Chiss off.
Pursuing him, Isla soon discovered that he was not only the assassin, but Force-sensitive and armed with a stolen lightsaber. Fortunately Zhavi sensed enough about Isla's situation to anticipate her needs, cutting off the assassin and beginning a short duel, during which it became obvious that while he might have acquired a lightsaber, he had little skill in using one; Zhavi managed to lock his arms and run her weapon through his chest, finally eliminating the threat to the princess' life.
Sadly, Mister Crimson's negotiations had already been thoroughly soured, the princess leveraging his failings to make unreasonable demands.
Once Zhavi and Isla returned to report their success, the princess approached Isla, grasping her face and examining her in a demeaning fashion. She mockingly told Mister Crimson she would agree to his proposals if he provided Isla as "entertainment", expecting that one or both of them would refuse.
However, when Mister Crimson pointed out that Zhavi and Isla were a couple, the princess "permitted" Zhavi to join them, aware of how much Mister Crimson wanted to make a deal and enjoying the power she held over the group.
Given Zhavi's more adventurous sexual past, Isla surprised everyone by accepting the condition, ensuring the deal would go ahead as the princess would not risk losing face by backing down.
With most of the day gone already, Zhavi and Isla arranged to fulfil their part of the arrangement on the final evening of the event.
On the third day, the couple were free to enjoy the festivities as guests and – in the evening – attended a dance that marked the end of the celebration, reporting to the princess' room afterwards, where they spent the night.
The couple left late the following morning, seeing the princess off out of politeness before discussing business with Mister Crimson, who thanked them for their help and enthused about how the princess had already assigned a liaison to begin working out the details of their new business arrangement.
In addition to having the princess' ear, his vessels would also have free access in and out of the system through the princess' misuse of the royal seal, opening up a sizeable new market that would allow him to expand his operation tenfold.
Promising to repay them for going the extra mile, somehow, Mister Crimson waved the couple off as they returned to their ship and departed Upepwa, believing they were done with the planet and the system.
Liberation of Sullust[]
Sullust is becoming a morale issue as much as anything else. I'm pulling in everyone, even Ben and Aaellu... and you guys, I hope?
—Carth Waverunner requesting Isla and Zhavi's aid against Imperial forces on Sullust.
In 38 ATC, six years after assisting with the Republic's initial strike on the planet, Isla and Zhavi returned to Republic space at Carth's request, meeting with him at a SARB safehouse where he put forth his case to enlist their help with the war effort on Sullust.
The Sith Empire had been clinging tightly to the world since the liberation campaign began, knowing that losing it would be a severe morale boost to Imperial forces and mark a low point in their ongoing fight against the Galactic Republic.
Their success at holding their ground was becoming a point of controversy within the Republic, with the public losing faith in the Jedi and the military, who seemed incapable of pushing the Empire off the fiery world. Pressure to bring an end to the conflict was being felt keenly at every level of the campaign.
To expedite the process, Carth was sending in all SARB personnel, even calling on Benjamin and Aaellu who – despite their retirement – agreed to return to Republic space and participate in operations on Sullust.
Somewhat resentful of the pressure, Zhavi and Isla felt compelled to join the initiative and reluctantly agreed to rendezvous with SARB forces, who had already been deployed to a number of adjacent zones contested by the forces of the 372nd Legion.
Zhavi and Isla were assigned to separate areas of activity due to their differing specialities, with Zhavi charging into one of the more heavily contested zones while Isla was assigned to a lighter area, providing support to Aaellu and the troops she was fighting alongside.
Deploying through a storm of turbolaser fire, Zhavi landed in the midst of a battle, joining Republic troops and her old ally Damascus to bring an end to the fighting. Setting up a new forward operations base, Republic commanders scheduled a conference call to discuss their next attack, inviting Zhavi into the discussion due to her experience fighting the Sith Empire.
They all agreed that their first order of business was to destroy the Imperial anti-air turrets, a heavily fortified facility not far from their new base that Zhavi and Damascus – accompanied by 372nd Legion troops, including Zhavi's mother – soon set out to demolish, allowing supplies and troops stuck in orbit to descend and allowing a resurgence in the strength for the local forces.
Over the days that followed, Kara, Ah'rek and Harlem liberated a prisoner of war camp and Benjamin led Clan Gharva in uprooting the entrenched Imperial forces at Shyrack Base, taking on the ruthless members of Clan Bossim and losing Ramira Al-Zaidi after she sacrificed herself to ensure a Republic victory.
With the Republic suddenly gaining considerable ground, Imperial forces in the area were recalled to the Eye of Ragnos, a huge base outfitted with a powerful electrostatic gun, similar to – but with significantly wider range than – the weapon once used to keep the population of New Adasta under control.
Zhavi – as the closest Jedi commander the Eye of Ragnos – led a desperate charge of 372nd Legion troops to reach the tower before the Imperials could lock it down, with an eye to preventing the weapon's activation. Supported briefly by the Relinquished before anti-air turrets forced the ship to retreat, Zhavi and a handful of Republic troops managed to get into the tower before the Imperials raised the shields.
Inside, Zhavi and her troops fought their way to the command centre with merciless efficiency, overcoming scores of Imperial troops and droids until – with all her men dead – Zhavi a room adjacent to her destination.
There, the Jedi Knight encountered the commanding officer and his Sith master, who employed the Force suppressing gas Isla had encountered years before during her encounter with the Antiquarians on Dronim Major, learning that her foes were servants of a Sith named Darth Hamon.
Forced to rely on her physical skills, Zhavi was nonetheless able to utilise her smothered precognition to defend against the Imperial soldiers summoned into the room to deal with her. After besting them, the Sith intervened to eliminate her himself, but as the effects of the gas wore off Zhavi began to recover, quickly turning the tide against the Sith Inquisitor.
Realising the odds were not in their favour, the Imperial officer ran through to the room where the superweapon's systems were housed, determined to activate the device and take the Republic forces down with him.
Zhavi, however, was able to catch her opponent by surprise, utilising a variation of Force lightning taught to her by Benjamin to kill her opponent with a torrent of white electricity.
With the Sith dead, Zhavi rushed after the Imperial and launched her lightsaber through the air, cutting him in half and securing the room, albeit temporarily. Unable to leave the room to lower the shields, Zhavi was forced to hold her position until the Republic could breach the facility's defences and provide reinforcements.
For three days and nights, Zhavi stood guard over the control room, defeating an onslaught of Imperial troops who attempted to retake the command centre again and again. Hundreds of soldiers died attempting to take the position, yet Zhavi held it, surviving blasters, explosives, gas, droids and sheer numbers to ensure that the weapon was never used.
Zhavi's physical and mental resolve was assisted from the outside by Isla, who used their connection to channel energy to Zhavi, a drip-feed of strength that kept her going when she was at breaking point.
When the tower was finally breached, Isla and Benjamin were among the first of the Republic forces to enter, quickly locating Zhavi in the control room and allowing her to get some much needed rest.
For her heroic stand against the Sith Empire's doomsday weapon, Zhavi was awarded the Cross of Glory when the Republic achieved victory on Sullust two months later, with Republic media outlets spreading word of her incredible achievement across Republic space, dubbing her the "Undying Knight" and "Champion of Sullust", titles which Zhavi cheerfully adopted for her own use.
A title she had not expected to receive was the one given to her by the Jedi council several weeks later, when she was unexpectedly summoned to speak with them on Coruscant. On arrival, she was informed that, in light of her actions on Sullust, she was to be offered the rank of Jedi Master, surprising both Isla and Zhavi.
Although she accepted, Zhavi suspected there was more to the advancement than what the council was telling her, a suspicion that Carth was able to validate somewhat, revealing that the Republic military had been pressuring the Jedi council to promote her for morale purposes.
Knowing the council were reluctant only made Zhavi's promotion all the more amusing to her, however, and when Isla suggested that maybe the recognition would lead to a more mature, responsible version of the woman everyone had gotten used to, Zhavi simply laughed.
Personal Errands[]
Police Work[]
Bye bye Beck, careful not t' drop the soap!
—Zhavi, to Beck Yuggoda, during his arrest.
A few months later Zhavi and Isla were staying on Coruscant for two parties they were due to attend when they were contacted by Carth, who directed them to a bounty posting for a Togrutan smuggler who was on the run after murdering three CSF officers.
Of particular note was that the Togruta – identified as Natasha Butler – was the same woman who had foiled Isla and Damascus on Corulag a decade earlier, making off with a list of Imperial operatives embedded within Republic space.
Carth, shrewd as ever, knew the Chiss would be interested in being the one to bring her to justice.
Equipped with Zhavi's lightwhip, Isla descended to the lower levels and spent several days tracking the desperate Togruta, eventually catching up with her and sparking a pursuit when the cop-killer – being Force sensitive – picked up on that fact that Isla was following her.
Even with the Force assisting her, however, Butler was run down, overpowered and left dangling from a maintenance catwalk, tied up with Isla's borrowed lightwhip until the CSF arrived to take her into custody.
The bounty collected and with one less murderer on the streets of Coruscant, the couple celebrated with a day of pampering and spending their unexpected boon frivolously in the innumerable shopping malls littered across the Republic capital.
A little drunk, the couple visited a hairdresser's and Zhavi was able to convince Isla to have her hair dyed for the first time, switching from her natural jet black to snow white in time for a garden party they were due to attend that evening.
Before the party began the couple went for dinner at an expensive restaurant and headed to the event immediately after, where they were personally greeted by their Sullustan host Beck Yuggoda. Yuggoda was a senatorial candidate competing for Coruscant's seat and – unsurprisingly – was on the warpath in the run up to the election, trying to make himself as visible as possible to the citizens of Galactic City.
Zhavi – the "Champion of Sullust" or the "Undying Knight", as she had become known thanks to Republic news outlets – had been invited due to the fame she had acquired due to her heroics during the liberation of Sullust, a major victory that marked a turning point in the war in the public's collective consciousness and earned SARB a great deal of goodwill in the Republic.
Although the organisation had evolved from being barely tolerated to holding considerable prestige amongst the SIS, military and senate, the wider public simply saw Zhavi as a Jedi Knight, indistinguishable from her more conservative peers, which disappointed Isla. Zhavi herself was emboldened by the recognition and the admiration it won her, though, and it was thanks to Carth's manipulations that she – alongside her plus one – had ended up in a position to assist the Republic further.
The SIS suspected – thanks to a tip provided anonymously by Mister Crimson's people – Yuggoda was involved in the distribution of Lilac Sand on Coruscant, using the proceeds to fund his expensive senatorial campaign, but due to his political connections and a woeful lack of evidence they had were unable to open an investigation. Zhavi and Isla would use the party as cover for an off-record investigation.
Unconventional wherever she went, Isla drew attention immediately. Not to be outdone, Zhavi wore a particularly revealing dress that clashed with the more refined and tasteful styles worn by the other attendees, ensuring the couple rubbed almost everyone in attendance the wrong way with their presence alone.
As the evening progressed and the shock they had generated tapered off, the couple slipped away from the main event and began discreetly searching for evidence. Eventually – after slicing their way into several sealed rooms – the couple discovered a logbook that provided sufficient evidence for them to call in the CSF.
Their mission complete, the couple settled in on the balcony, enjoying the view of Coruscant's glittering night time skyline until CSF officers arrived to arrest Yuggoda and secure the evidence of his drug dealing. Zhavi and Isla made sure they were present for the arrest, revealing their part and mocking him as he furiously struggled against his captors.
Naturally the evening was cut short as the mansion became a crime scene, but Isla and Zhavi abused their SIS clearance to remain, idling for an hour in a large, decorative atrium now that there was nobody there to tell them they could not.
On the way back to their apartment, they stopped off at a bakery to pick up a cake they had ordered for the second party they were due to attend the following evening, picking up another cake while they were there "as a snack" before returning home for a quiet night in.
Nomi and Yuri's 40th Anniversary Party[]
Something's wrong with Frank...
—Zhavi, to Isla, regarding Frank Pad.
Rising early, the couple got dressed and split off, with Isla picking up Nomi, Yuri, Kol and Mirris – whom Nomi and Yuri had taken to Onderon to visit (and pick up) the Ahnketts – while Zhavi ran a few last minute errands.
Once the two families were together they headed out for lunch at the Waverunner's favourite restaurant and spent several hours wandering through one of Coruscant's parks discussing a variety of subjects, the Waverunners and the Ahnketts surprising their respective children by getting on very well.
By late afternoon the group made their way to Nomi and Yuri's apartment, where they were ambushed with a "surprise" party organised by Bao Shotti and a select few of their friends in the military. Benjamin and Aaellu were in Republic space at the time and so decided to stop by, as did Frank, who had befriended the Waverunners since his retirement.
During the gathering, Isla and Zhavi both sensed unusually strong emotions in Frank and decided to investigate.
Isla managed to catch him alone and convince him to reveal what was bothering him, discovering that one of Frank's children – all three having reportedly died during the Eternal Empire's occupation – was still alive – and had recently been promoted to the rank of Sith Lord under Darth Hamon.
Carth had become aware of the truth of Frank's son's survival when he took over his role as the head of SARB but had kept the secret to himself out of respect, continuing to monitor intelligence reports until the opportunity to capture him alive arose.
Distressed by the news, Frank admitted that although he had written his son off as a lost cause he still desperately wished he could save his only surviving child.
Learning that he was on Dromund Kaas celebrating his success, Zhavi and Isla agreed between themselves that they would risk travelling to the Imperial capital to incapacitate and extract the newly anointed Sith Lord and give the aging Frank some much needed closure, before it was too late.
Infiltrating Dromund Kaas[]
So this is where all you Imps crawl out from huh? Sure explains a lot.
—Zhavi, to Isla, after exiting the Dromund Kaas spaceport.
With Carth's assistance and their ship's stealth systems, Isla and Zhavi were able avoid Imperial patrols as they journeyed through Sith space and land on Dromund Kaas using access codes acquired by SIS agents embedded within the Empire.
Although Isla had been away from the Imperial capital for many years, Kaas City had not changed much and – disguised as "Lord Vhazi" and her apprentice "Lisa Kapet", names Zhavi insisted were acceptable despite Isla's protestations – the couple had little trouble reaching the heart of the city to begin their inquiries.
Questioning the intoxicated patrons of the Nexus Room, Zhavi and Isla were eventually directed to a location outside the city where the newly anointed Lord Vauk supposedly trained, though Isla was almost certain it was a trap.
With little else to go on, however, the couple decided it was worth the risk and departed the cantina, only to be held up by a Sith duo who mistook the Jedi's veiled presences as an indication that they were both weak; spoiling for a fight, the pair quickly fabricated a reason to confront the couple.
Isla, knowing the Sith better than Zhavi, made sure to wait until their foes struck first, goading the Sith and taking care not to instigate the fight themselves. Once the first strike had been made, however, the couple were free to retaliate in self-defence, making short work of the pair and – they hoped – making it clear to onlookers that they were better left alone.
Once they arrived at the coordinates they had been given by the cantina patron, their suspicions were confirmed when a Sith assassin emerged from the gloom. Instead of attacking, he extended an invitation from his master – one Lord Traguum – who was at odds with Vauk and wished him removed.
Rather than expose them as Jedi infiltrators, he offered assistance; in exchange for their removal of Vauk, either by killing or capturing him, Traguum would provide them with the means of reaching him. Zhavi and Isla – cautiously – accepted.
True to his word, Traguum provided the pair with docking codes and coordinates and set them after his rival, sending them to fight through security personnel aboard a small cargo transport. Before they even reached the bridge, the couple sensed something was amiss, noting the meagre resistance they were facing en route.
Once on the bridge, they realised why; Traguum had been outmanoeuvred, and – as his pawns – so had they.
Instead of finding Frank's wayward son, they found Lord Traguum waiting for them, revealing that he had boarded after them in the belief that they would kill Lord Vauk and – weakened from the fight – he would eliminate them. Sadly, for both parties, Vauk was aware of Traguum's schemes, and while he set a small force of defenders against the Jedi to stall them he left Traguum's path to the bridge wide open.
In doing so, he had ensured the Jedi and their benefactor crossed paths at almost the same time while he simply slipped away and boarded Traguum's shuttle, flew over to the vessel under Traguum's command and seized it for himself.
Enraged by his defeat, Traguum attempted to kill Isla and Zhavi before making his escape, believing he might still salvage something from his botched scheme.
Unfazed from their confrontation with the security personnel, the pair were able to hold off and ultimately dispatch the Sith Lord before Vauk destroyed the bridge, escaping their predicament thanks to the timely arrival of Republic vessels sent – unofficially – by Carth, who had – along with other divisions of the SIS – been monitoring developments in Imperial space closely.
Retreating safely, Zhavi and Isla were nonetheless disappointed by the outcome given the high personal stakes.
Frank had joined the crew sent to extract them, however, and while he voiced his disapproval of their actions he did express his gratitude to them for making such a dangerous attempt on his behalf, even if the situation had turned against them.
Firmly, Frank told them not to pursue the matter further as doing so put them in considerable danger, something which he would not abide; his son had made his choice, and though that choice saddened him saving his son was not as important as Zhavi and Isla's continued survival.
Despite their reluctance to accept their failure as the final word on the issue, they agreed to respect Frank's wishes.
Return to War[]
Call to Arms[]
So, pool or beach?
—Zhavi, to Isla.
By 39 ATC, Isla and Zhavi had been living on Copero for an entire decade.
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 identifying and 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.
Operatives on Copero also benefited from her lessons on resisting the mental abilities of a strong-willed Force user.
Additionally, Isla was employed to teach advanced lessons to a specially selected handful of agents every few months, sessions which Zhavi was permitted to join in with 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.
The Chiss' 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 training scenario.
They also seemed to have accepted – despite being a far cry from what Chiss considered a suitable match – that Isla loved Zhavi and was all the happier 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.
A fact the Chiss were too logical to disregard the value of in a galaxy torn apart by a war waged between two Force-wielding factions.
Obviously many voices across the Chiss Ascendancy 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 only became increasingly secure as the years went on.
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 Mirris 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 get it all over with in one go rather than drawing it out over time, to which Isla argued that ten years had been long enough a wait.
A few days after they settled the marriage and baby debate, Isla and Zhavi were contacted by Master Gnost-Dural, who had been working in tandem with the forces of SARB – 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 the Republic space 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 SARB.
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.
Isla apologised for being distrustful – though she followed up by blaming Zhavi's influence for her expressions being so scrutable in recent years. Glad of the break, the couple assured him they would be on Coruscant 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 forte. 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, as he was unavailable for the operation at the time) 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 had not 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 eager to get inside, suggesting they knew – or at least suspected – something the Republic did not.
A number of Jedi and Republic troops had already entered the facility and fallen out of contact and Master Gnost-Dural wanted to avoid further losses, admitting that under normal circumstances he would avoid mixing Jedi and SARB forces to avoid any potential conflict that might negatively impact their (thus-far) peaceful coexistence.
Now, though, they needed to go in hard and strong, as the reviled 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 SARB agents were heading in initially, and while Isla was quite content with that Zhavi – now fifty years of age – 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 did not like working, to which Zhavi retorted that fighting was not 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 had felt arrive aboard the Gav 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 and pointed them out to Benjamin, after which the couple made their way over.
The group exchanged hugs and Isla asked Aaellu how the kids – their current 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 had last seen him, giving her a chance to show off her biceps.
Isla asked if Benjamin had any idea what to expect, though he admitted that he did not, able only to tell her that descriptions of the Rakatan complex sounded more like some sort of doomsday shelter than anything discovered previously.
Benjamin also confessed that his appreciation for the potential historical discoveries was overshadowed by his concern, as Alucia and Ben – his eldest children – were two of the Republic agents going in, as was Aaellu, although he was confident he did not 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 wider campaign on the planet below before the SARB group 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 twenty-seven years earlier.
Knowing it was moving around the maze of corridors gave Ben and Alucia a heads-up they would not 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 war droid 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 by Republic forces so far.
As soon as they descended they were forced to engage a group that they claimed was comprised of surviving Rakata, and though Alucia described them as "manic" she reported that they had also used the Force. She queried that via the comm, confirming with her father that the Rakata had lost their Force powers, but Benjamin theorised that the facility might have 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 have only partially held up, keeping them alive but awake, a state that would undoubtedly lead them to madness after long enough. Isla cautioned her not to disregard them as a threat no matter their mental state, as a lunatic wielding a blade was still wielding a blade.
Alucia's response was to greet her "auntie" and ask how she had 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 which provided a more complete map thanks to their scanning equipment, which they were using to map the area. Unfortunately mapping the facility required that the two groups remain distant from one another, ensuring 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 behind them, 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, although the worrying development 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 was not due to facing a Sith Lord, it was due to who that Sith Lord was.
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 both his son and his Jedi companion had attempted to kill him and failed. However, Vokuur had left them alive – albeit trapped and with their scanners destroyed – to be rescued, on the condition that Benjamin recall his forces and allow Vokuur to walk out with whatever he had 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 had 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 that he never had to lie.
As promised, they received a transmission with Ben and Saria's location a short while after Vokuur was granted passage out of the facility.
Benjamin forwarded the coordinates of 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 secrets remained 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 unless given the go-ahead.
Although Saria was apologetic and accepted responsibility for not following orders, Ben protested his decision, still adamant he could have taken Vokuur down with a different approach. In response, Benjamin suspended him from service for a month, telling him he needed some time out to reflect on his "hero complex", humiliating him in front of his friends, family and colleagues.
Once the operation was complete, Isla and Zhavi – the latter still sulking about about being relegated to backup – 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.
The Cobalt 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 after so long. Zhavi in particular enjoyed visiting the Ahnketts, describing them as her "favorite in-laws" thanks to her tenuous relationship with the Chiss of Copero.
They remained on Onderon for a few days, intending to stay indefinitely until they were next called to service, certain that Darth Vokuur would make another move sooner rather than later.
Strangely, though, their visit was cut short by an unexpected visitation from one of Isla's oldest associates.
Whilst walking through the markets of Iziz one evening, Isla felt something drawing her out just beyond the city wall, prompting the couple to investigate. But 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.
As they turned back, dismissing the sensation, an image began to take shape ahead of them, materializing to form the familiar features of Rosentine Synma, the S'kytri Jedi Master under whom Isla had briefly served as a 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 cautious teaching methods becoming increasingly difficult to reconcile. 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 uncharacteristically lost for words.
Synma greeted the Chiss warmly, exchanging brief pleasantries and complimenting her on how far she had come since their last meeting, wryly admitting that it was not the path she had had in mind when she took her on as her student, but that she was glad that things had seemingly 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 it.
At that, Zhavi chimed in to ask why, then, had she appeared to them, over twenty years after her death. Conceding it was a fair question, Synma explained that she obeyed the will of the Force, a will which had guided her back to Isla to 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 often provided trials of its own.
Isla was quick to state that she had not been a Jedi since the day Master Synma died, but the soft-spoken S'kytri 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 – Synma claimed – and they were beholden to none but the Force itself.
Isla was quick to point out that no living Jedi would agree with her, but Synma found her assessment amusing for reasons she did not explain. She concluded by saying that no matter how Isla dressed, no matter what she felt or how many lives she took, she had always possessed the heart of a Jedi – and it was that self-acceptance that Synma had been sent to guide her towards.
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 – keeping their reason for leaving to themselves – 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, led by Synma's instruction to find the "heart of the Jedi", yet Isla felt certain that was the wrong choice and both women were in agreement that feelings were 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 had 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 mulled over the idea.
The couple set a course before settling into a nervous wait, unsure what they would find when they finally reached the ancient Jedi stronghold.
Dusk on Ossus[]
Historical relevance aside, this was a truly awful location to establish a colony."
"Mhm, yeah. No kiddin'. Already got sand up m' bloody–"
"–Yes, thank you. I had already gathered, what with the constant fidgeting.
—Isla and Zhavi on Ossus.
The duo touched down near the abandoned colony when they finally reached 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 something akin to a shrine, tucked away in a small rocky crevice at the top of a crumbling cliff-side staircase. The shrine itself sported a root-like growth that Zhavi had heard people claim – during her time on the planet – 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 no response from the growth itself the Chiss experienced a momentary glimpse of an ancient Jedi temple, buried beneath decades of ice and veiled by a howling blizzard.
Before she could tell Zhavi what she had 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 immediate aggression, beginning a chaotic duel that gradually spilled out onto the worn staircase that led up to the shrine.
Using their link, the couple 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 coordinating with one another, luring each combatant into a position that allowed the Jedi to switch targets without warning and catch them by surprise in perfect unison.
In the immediate aftermath, Isla forgot about the icy world she had seen through 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. Isla and Zhavi decided to evict them from Ossus before those orders arrived.
To that end, they returned to their ship and flew to the ruins of the ancient library, where the Sith had set up their 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 had fallen in the library.
Zhavi could not explain how she knew – feeling it was the truth, rather than knowing it in a conventional manner – but she was confident they were smothering the senses of the Sith trespassers to mask 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 not suspecting they were about to attacked. The duo rushed them, annihilating the group even more quickly than the pair they had 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 veteran Jedi, quickly faltering and falling. Like Isla had been, the assassins were trained to ambush a target, not engage them directly.
As they checked the corpses for any more information that might be worth pursuing, they received a message forwarded from Carth informing them that the their "nephew" Ben Lambert 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 – learning of Ben and Artofen's altercation – 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 bring an end to Sera Artofen.
Zhavi admitted she liked the thought, though cautioned that she had been a Jedi long enough to know that patience was a "big deal" when it came to visions; she withdrew two plastic boxes from her bag and handed one to Isla.
Taking a seat at the library entrance, the couple had lunch before heading back to their ship and making their way to Ilum.
Trial of Ice[]
Couldn't've seen a vision'a somewhere with an elevator, huh?
—Zhavi, referring to the ancient Jedi temple on Ilum.
With conflict between the Jedi and Sith ongoing on Ilum, Isla and Zhavi were fortunate that their ship's stealth systems were still competitive enough against standard issue scanning equipment, 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 had wrecked the other sites. After more than 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 to her destination – her choice of landing location put them down a short walk from the ice-encrusted temple the Chiss had glimpsed on Ossus, placing them close enough for their onboard scanners to finally cut through the interference and pick up the structure.
The pair braved the weather to reach the temple's exterior, discovering that the main entrance was frozen solid, so much so that it would take hours to cut through the ice even with a lightsaber.
Even if they could survive outside for that long, cutting into the ice at the foot of the temple risked causing the ice sheet reaching up the length of the exterior to become unstable and collapse on them. The couple began looking for another way inside.
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 cliff side, which was visible from below.
Returning to their ship to warm up and raid their supplies for equipment they could use, the couple were discouraged when they found nothing modern in their arsenal. Only a number of old climbing axes were present, fashioned by Benjamin years earlier on Dronim Major.
Curiously, Isla had thrown them out before the couple relocated to Copero – not understanding how they had even wound up in her possession – but Zhavi had saved them from being discarded, though she could not remember her motivation for doing so.
So, with a means of ascending the tower of ice in hand, Zhavi and Isla made for the temple again.
Isla – lighter and having been trained to climb to aid her effectiveness as an assassin – led the climb, with Zhavi trailing a short way behind her.
Unfortunately, the gap between them left Isla 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.
Zhavi used the Force to protect herself from the fall, throwing herself outwards as she descended to clear the falling ice. Via their connection, Zhavi was able to let Isla know she was unharmed, but with the ice having broken away Zhavi could no longer accompany her partner into the temple – and Isla had no safe route back down to the ground.
Chilling Insights[]
I don't know if I feel any better. Seems like we put in a lot of work just for... this.
—Isla, referring to her lightsaber crystal.
Zhavi began searching the surrounding area for an alternate route into the temple shortly after her fall from the temple's outer wall.
Zhavi was not surprised to find the temple completely enclosed beneath Ilum's snow and ice, yet with something blocking her connection to Isla she refused to simply give up, searching until she found a cave, accessible through a narrow crawlspace. Once inside, she was disappointed to realise that the cave was a dead end.
However, sheltering from the wind for a few moments, Zhavi noticed the floor of the cave was made of a thin sheet of ice rather than stone. A crack in the floor drew her attention downwards, and for a moment she was worried that the ice might break entirely. Beneath that crack, however, she spotted Isla's blurred form drifting unconscious in the water.
Leaping into action, Zhavi smashed through the ice with the aid of the Force jumped into the freezing water to pull Isla to the surface, alarmed by the situation and wondering how exactly Isla had ended up there while she revived her.
Once she started breathing again, Zhavi hurried her back to the warmth of the their ship, remaining by her side until she awoke half an hour later, unsettled by what she had experienced in the submerged tunnel – and believing she had been wandering, lost, for several hours, rather than the thirty minutes that had actually passed since their separation.
During her brief slumber, she had seen images, glimpses of what she feared might be the future: medical tanks in which she had seen herself, Zhavi and an infant wired into monitoring stations, Sera Artofen mercilessly butchering Republic marines, new Sith vessels bombarding the Core Worlds and – at the heart of this sinister future – a nebulous yet evil entity intent on consuming the galaxy.
Although she could not say whether any, some or all of it was going to happen or not, she feared what she had seen nonetheless. Zhavi sensed her feelings easily through their bond but knew that Isla did not want to discuss the details.
Instead Zhavi asked whether she had found anything on Ben's whereabouts – or Artofen's – to which Isla sadly revealed that she had learned nothing about either of them. Isla revealed she had experienced a series of visions within the crystal caves behind the temple, visions which were unpleasant but ultimately culminated in her "promotion" to the rank of Jedi Knight, a revelation which thrilled Zhavi.
Feeling somewhat vulnerable after her premonitions, Isla told Zhavi she wanted to go back home, but when Zhavi agreed it would be nice to get back to the warmth of Copero Isla protested immediately. Zhavi questioned what she had seen that made her unwilling to return to Chiss space, leading to Isla detailing her vision of the couple in laboratory tanks.
Feeling that Copero was unsafe for them, Isla insisted they stay away – at least for a while – and instead wanted 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 a course for Onderon, revealing that they had received a request for help from Ned and Anna while on Ilum anyway. It was not 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 foray into the realm of the spiritual.
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 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 were not designed to tackle them. As a result, the city's water had been shut off temporarily while authorities investigated the situation.
The source of the poison had been traced to an underground cave network beneath the jungle, 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 – before agreeing to help, heading to the palace to request the navigational data they would need to track the poison.
When she returned, they took Ned's speeder out through the jungle to the lake where Zhavi had fought the rogue Mandalorians over a decade 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.
Equipped with diving gear, the duo swam down to the lakebed 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 a strange cloud of dust to its source, 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 all 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 an opening through which they could surface.
Republic forces moved in to discreetly secure the access points 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 patients who had been afflicted the worst.
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 was not just to protect the Chiss' lightsaber from water damage as they travelled, but also to protect a picnic blanket and the meal she had prepared with Anna's help whilst Isla was gathering information at the palace.
Isla was suspicious, asking Zhavi what she had done, but her partner dismissed the accusation, reminding her that she had every right to surprise her girlfriend if the mood struck her.
After their meal, Zhavi led Isla to a nearby cliff-face overlooking a large swath of jungle bathed by the light of the setting sun, where Isla's suspicions that Zhavi was up to something were confirmed.
Satisfied with the location, Zhavi sunk to one knee, pulled out a ring box and – to Isla's shock – asked the Chiss to marry her, presenting her with a rose gold ring featuring sculpted flowers.
Following a breathless (and tearful) rant concerning Zhavi's repeatedly rejecting her proposals only to then go and choreograph a perfect proposal herself, Isla finally confirmed she would – unsurprisingly – marry Zhavi, telling her it was "about bloody time".
The pair watched the sun sink further beneath the horizon for a time, but left before dark to avoid getting entangled with Onderon's infamously dangerous wildlife.
Zhavi told Isla her parents had said they would 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, the Chiss soon discovered another surprise waiting; the door opened to admit them, at which point her parents and a large swath of her friends jumped out, firing off confetti poppers and unveiling a hand-painted "congratulations" banner.
Almost in tears again, Isla exchanged hugs with her friends and family and settled in to mingle, remarking that ever since she had come back to the Republic, life – and the people in it – 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 could not be there in person, Benjamin, attending via 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. 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 as soon as Isla had a moment to transfer the funds, 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 was not as though he would miss the money.
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 in Tyrena.
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 that better suited the new occupants. 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.
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.
Defence of the Janarus Hypermatter Refinery[]
Whatever Vokuur's people are up to, I doubt it's got anything to do with that refinery. Your job is to get into the Imperial-held section of the facility and find out what this is really about – and quickly.
—Benjamin briefing the SARB team.
Within days of leaving Onderon Isla and Zhavi were summoned to Coruscant to regroup with the rest of the SARB personnel and ship out in response to an Imperial attack on Agamar.
An Imperial task force had breached the orbital defences and landed at the Janarus hypermatter refinery situated on the surface, an important fuelling resource that Republic command believed the Sith Empire intended to destroy in a hit-and-run attack to slow down the Republic offensive and buy themselves time to shore up their defences.
The Imperial forces had been deployed from a Harrower-class dreadnought that covered their run to the surface before withdrawing from the system, leaving the Imperial troops stranded on the outer edge of the shielded facility.
Normally an attack on such a valuable resource would elicit a full-scale naval response, but given the size of the Imperial ground forces reinforcements had been held back, albeit while remaining on high alert.
They could not take the facility with the numbers they had and the small area they had holed up in did not grant them any kind of access or control over the wider facility; the fuel reserves were safe, as were the key sections of the refinery itself, leaving the enemy's intentions a mystery.
However, Ah'rek, Carth and Benjamin speculated that perhaps the target was not the refinery at all.
Given that it was Darth Vokuur's Harrower that had delivered the troops to Agamar Republic command was uneasy about leaving the situation in the hands of the facility's troops. Vokuur was known to be a powerful Sith and collector of ancient Force-related artefacts, making the possibility of unconventional tactics or objectives highly likely.
To cover that possibility, SARB had received permission to join Republic forces at Agamar, who were holding position waiting for the Imperials to make a move, believing that they were trapped and would eventually be forced to surrender.
Leading a team, Zhavi and Isla joined the briefing above Agamar before taking a shuttle planet-side, where they intended to navigate an abandoned web of mining tunnels that pre-dated the construction of the refinery.
Despite Isla's complaints about how this was the third occasion in a single month that she had 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.
Thanks to the forgotten tunnels, they were able to reach the section of the facility occupied by Imperial forces, cutting through the cap sealing the mine entrance off from the refinery and bypassing the Imperial defensive line.
Once inside, they carved out an early lead over the opposing troops thanks to their unexpected point of attack, quickly reaching the heart of the suspicious Imperial operation only to find they had more distance to cover than they had anticipated; the Imperials had somehow 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 when questioned, however, just that Darth Vokuur himself had accompanied the task force and had descended the shaft personally, 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 SARB agents returned to the mine to make the journey back to update Republic command rather than waste time hunting down the jammers, while two remained at the top of the shaft to seal the drilling room and guard the exit. Those that remained rappelled down the shaft to pursue Vokuur.
Near the bottom, they realised they were dropping into yet another Rakatan facility, lost since the reign of the Infinite Empire and no doubt rediscovered by Vokuur using information he had acquired from the Rakatan Descent.
Cleverly, to avoid detection by Republic sensors, he had employed the services of a duracrete slug, modified to grow to an enormous size and bore through the stone between the refinery and the hidden sanctuary. Undoubtedly the work of Sith alchemy, but now dead at the bottom of the shaft, 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 launch an attack on the Imperial lines and secure the drill site, cutting off his escape.
Isla accompanied SARB'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 as blind aggression.
While Zhavi and Alucia found Vokuur and were forced to attack him to try – unsuccessfully – to 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 working for Sith Intelligence, just as Isla had years earlier.
The two fought for a time, but the Chiss knew Ishtar was not trying to kill her and was only stalling to buy her father time. When stalling was no longer necessary, she used pre-laid detonite 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 drill site as the water swept through the facility, catching up with them and washing them to their destination, after which the rising water level gradually lifted the team back up to the refinery on the surface.
Once they were back above ground and Republic forces had all but secured the lost sections of the installation, the team received a call – the jammers having been located and shut down – from Benjamin, informing them that Vokuur had slipped past the soldiers retaking the facility somehow and managed to leave the planet aboard a stolen Republic shuttle.
Although they were unable to stop Vokuur from escaping the system when his dreadnought and its escort returned, a backup plan was in place to intercept the Sith Lord on his way through hyperspace, with Republic vessels blocking his route using a rarely-seen model of Valor-class specially upgraded for interdiction.
Led by Master Ah'rek, Master Urthan Reynolds, his Padawan Saria, Kassie and Harlem, a joint SARB-Jedi strike team intended to board Vokuur's flagship, capture or kill the Sith Lord and recover the artefact.
Sadly, as they helped secure the refinery and check for any potential surprises left by the Imperials, the SARB forces on Agamar received word that Darth Vokuur had already abandoned his flagship in case his fleet was intercepted, being aboard one of the smaller transports that escaped the ambush – along with the artefact.
Even more tragically was the news that – although Vokuur's 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 left in command of the Sith Lord's flagship – had some awareness of his master's 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, a process which left him brain dead. Lambert's harsh methods were not in vain, however, as he managed to learn that Vokuur believed the relic he had claimed held the secrets of Rakatan technology.
Not the locations of forgotten weapons caches or yet more long-lost installations, but the collective knowledge of the Infinite Empire, an archive supposedly containing the techniques they had used to build the Force-based technology with which they had once enslaved the galaxy.
Whatever the truth, the SARB agents and Republic reinforcements 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."
"You flatter me, mother, as always.
—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 ensure their skills were as sharp as could be after the execution of Master Reynolds.
Both had been shaken by his death; not on a personal level as they barely knew him, but by the very public spectacle Lord Ishtar had made of his demise. It reminded them that victory – and survival – was not guaranteed.
Seeing his student Saria so distraught in the aftermath had only driven the point home further and so, when Isla received a call from her mother saying she needed her to return to Copero but would not say why, the couple were somewhat resistant to the idea.
Icini would not take no for an answer, however, and was almost – by her own typically expressionless standards – pleading, pointing out that she would not be asking for their help unless she really had to, which Isla – vaguely insulting as she found that statement – knew to be true.
She asked her mother to promise she was not 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 had not been warning her of this particular visit – or at the very least was not a warning of duplicity on her mother's part.
The absence of a child like the one she had foresaw in her vision on Ilum also eased her concerns somewhat, though she still feared the Chiss intended to turn on her at some point.
Regardless, she felt sure that her mother was not planning to act against her, with Icini actually claiming her request was indirectly beneficial to her and the entire Ascendancy, she just could not say what she needed to say over such a vast distance.
Reluctantly, Zhavi voiced the same opinion Isla held herself; they had no tangible reason to distrust her and could not live their lives in fear of the future, concerning as her vision was. The couple agreed to return to Copero and set off later that day.
Once they were back on the tropical world they were discreetly 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 ambitions.
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 secure his personal agenda.
Isla was relieved that her mother and siblings were not involved in her vision, a relief she did not hide, which prompted Zhavi to explain to Isla's biological family that she had experienced 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 – both Zhavi and Isla sensed clearly – but did not let it show, though Hendar, Tharran and Kriss 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 had earned to force his ideas on the citizens Icini was trying to "help" with the clinical trials Isla had been assisting with.
Much as it bothered her that the Chiss held the views they did on Force sensitivity, her mother's "solution" to the Force was 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 were not captured other than to have suicide chips implanted until the mission was over.
That way, if they did not 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 technology. Isla was touched not only by their willingness to risk accompanying her, but also by the revelation that her siblings had insisted on it.
Heart-warming as it was, the mission itself would be difficult, and near enough impossible to even attempt if not for the stealth systems employed by the couple's ship, which with some slight modifications and a number of key upgrades would not be all that far off cutting edge, just as they had been when they vessel was first commissioned by the Sith Empire decades prior.
Once the upgrades were completed and the team had loaded their equipment aboard, they set off for Csilla, arriving a few hours later and descending to the coordinates of the doctor's isolated laboratory.
Descending undetected, the group were able to surprise the security staff, cutting their way in through the facility roof using a thermal bore 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 native help.
Though unfortunate, the group had orders to kill every member of staff in the facility 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 evidence of their attack was left behind.
Thus, reluctantly, the pair struck to kill and even took to executing disarmed members of the security staff, wiping out everyone they encountered until they reached the security station.
Once there, Kriss sliced into the life support systems and bypassed their safety protocols, depriving most of the airtight base of oxygen to ensure any survivors hiding out of sight were killed, 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 and 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 forever – and that experimenting on live Jedi specimens would allow him to expedite the search for a "cure".
With his reflexes slowed by age, Isla leapt for him and severed the barrel of his weapon when he tried to shoot her. The energy imparted from the strike spun 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 that he was dead by the time he hit 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 back to Mitt'icini'inrokini.
While Isla and Zhavi used the Force to transport the kolto tanks to their ship rather than risk removing the patients, Kriss, Hendar and Tharron began setting up thermal imploders around key sections of the facility, erasing any physical evidence when the fuel stores for the heating systems caught light.
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 vessel thanks to its various stealth systems, the fighters were forced to rely on line of sight to attack and so – albeit after a few excellent shots found their mark – the team had little trouble reaching the atmosphere and outrunning 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.
After praising their collective effort, Mitth'icini'inrokini dismissed everyone but Isla, 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 was still her daughter.
She also confessed that the doctor's gradual rise to prominence had terrified her, allowing her to finally understand her late husband's perspective when he decided to sacrifice everything to get Isla out of Chiss space.
Additionally, Icini claimed that Isla's long absence from Copero had made her realise that she missed her daughter after having her around for so many years, and although she was ashamed she had ordered an attack on her own people – especially for personal reasons – she was adamant that eliminating the doctor was, nonetheless, the proper thing to do.
She remarked that his methods were sadistic, inefficient and unneeded, and that as such they were beneath the Chiss people – a comment that Isla knew amused Zhavi, who was eavesdropping on the entire conversation by thanks to the connection between them.
Isla took the opportunity to inform her mother that she and Zhavi were engaged and intended to have a child together, capitalising on the frankness of the moment to break the news.
Icini was surprised at first, but she congratulated Isla and expressed her happiness, even offering to see what she could do in regards to enlisting the aid of Ascendancy genetic engineers to help the couple conceive, although Isla dismissed the idea.
The recovered test subjects saved from their grim fate in the laboratory were kept sedated until they could be discreetly delivered elsewhere, to be found by forces who had no connection with House Inrokini and thus did not 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 returning to Copero cancelled itself out the moment she saw it by prompting her mother's realisation and spurring her into a pre-emptive strike.
Zhavi, meanwhile, suggested that the vision was not 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, either in the present or in the future.
Whatever the truth, they both agreed that – for all its faults – kidnapping and experimenting on their citizens was behaviour beneath the Chiss Ascendancy, just as Icini had said, and the couple were happy to have ensured the status quo was maintained, optimistic that one day things would be better for those born with the power of the Force.
Operation: Black Forge[]
Imperial Withdrawal[]
What is it? What's going on?"
"The Empire's forces are retreating en masse. Word on the street is that the war is over.
—Isla and Benjamin.
By the end of the year, Isla and Zhavi had finally heard news that the missing member of the Lambert family was alive and well on the Imperial world Som Galla, a volcanic planet that supported a number of island communities who were best known for creating beautiful marble structures and sculptures, earning the world its unofficial name, "the artisan isles".
The planet already had a near-Human population whose culture centred on veneration of the Force and the Sith, regarding them as demi-gods and the pinnacle of organic life.
As such, the Empire had never needed to deploy anything more than a token force when their fleets first reached the system decades earlier, and what little presence the Empire maintained was primarily reduced to shipping orders off-world, as the planet held little strategic value.
Most in the Empire disregarded it as a worthless backwater without no useful resources or sizeable landmasses that made it worthy of colonising, while those that looked upon it more favourably did so purely out of an appreciation for its artistic contributions.
It was on this unremarkable world that Ben Lambert had been living since his attempt to assassinate Sera Artofen – and according to a report from Acina Lambert, both her brother and the evasive Sith Lord were living on the fiery planet of their own free will. Ben was, despite what everyone had presumed, not a prisoner at all; he was a guest.
Even so, his time on the Sith world would not last as long as his family feared.
Without warning, the Empire made the sudden and unexpected decision to withdraw from every theatre of war, pulling back their forces and retreating behind their borders, leading many to believe the war was all but over. Emboldened, the Republic advanced and liberated many of the worlds abandoned by the Empire – pushing the front line ever closer to the heart of Imperial space.
One such abandoned world was Som Galla; 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 who called the gloomy world home.
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 presence on their world.
Darth Artofen was located at her residence and arrested – also without resisting, which was considered incredibly strange by everyone involved.
Isla and Zhavi were both shocked to hear that Ben had been arrested alongside Artofen – not rescued, as hoped – after trying to stop Republic troops from detaining the Sith Lord, making him – a SARB operative – the only being on the planet to actively oppose Republic troops.
As a gesture of respect for the senior Lambert – and since he had not actually gone as far as to harm any Republic personnel – Ben was released into his father's custody without charge.
Although he had 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 were present, but remained silent for the most part, listening as Ben protested against 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 Benjamin could not change no matter how much his son implored him to.
Isla and Zhavi waded into the debate to try and help, assuring their "nephew" that – while she might have been attractive and alluring to the untrained eye – Artofen was a Darth of the Sith Empire and had not achieved that lofty title without knowing how to scheme, murder, manipulate and exploit 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 and most unlike her.
Although he promised to highlight when it came to her legal defence, the younger Ben Lambert was not satisfied with such a small concession and angrily stormed off, leaving his father somewhat saddened. 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, taking her clearance codes to board the vessel in her place.
From there, he had proceeded to release Artofen and destroy the ship, killing members of the Republic navy – and indirectly killing the many troops who died at Artofen's hands.
Were she to encounter her nephew in the future, Isla – and the rest of SARB's forces – were expected to arrest or eliminate him as an enemy of the Galactic Republic.
Isla confessed to Zhavi that she would not be able to bring herself to do either, and although Zhavi agreed she dismissed the scenario as unlikely, reminding her that Ben was – albeit maybe not in this particular instance – intelligent enough that he would likely disappear and avoid the Republic entirely.
Darth Vokuur's Secret[]
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 all grab a cold one and start polishing our medals.
—Benjamin opening the SARB war council.
Just under a year after the Empire withdrew its forces – in 40 ATC – intelligence from within Sith space gathered and corroborated by a number of agents and informants within the Sith Empire – including Damascus, Darsun Odé and, unexpectedly, the famously patriotic Darth Hamon – revealed that Darth Vokuur had rallied many of the Empire's top military leaders – Imperial and Sith alike – into abandoning their posts to rally to him.
Such was the confidence he had inspired that the Dark Council had no choice but to officially support his plans or risk being openly undermined, leading to a power struggle that could quickly devolve into civil war at a time when the Sith Empire could ill-afford division.
The Sith withdrawal, viewed by many across the Republic 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 functional core of a massive space station drawing raw materials and energy from a local star, with which it had already begun building new ships, blasters and wardroids to be employed in an unprecedented counter-attack against the Republic.
Though intelligence only revealed the station's function, most high-ranking Republic officials who were aware of the reports suspected it was more than a simple factory.
Indeed, from the factory's description, coupled with the knowledge that Darth Vokuur had taken a Rakatan holocron from Agamar, Republic military leaders soon came to the conclusion 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 – construction methods he was putting to use for the glory of the Sith Empire.
To what extent the Sith were able to replicate the station's capabilities was unknown, but after much deliberation it was decided that a pre-emptive 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 series of briefings were held in the days prior to the attack, outlining the strategy for what was to be a bloody – but hopefully brief – clash.
SARB, likewise, were to be included in the Republic attack force, joining the Jedi strike teams who had the unenviable task of boarding the station. None were ordered, but many answered the call for volunteers.
In the hours leading up to the battle, Benjamin summoned all SARB personnel for a final 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 an emergency 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 still stood against the Empire.
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, who were – as ever – hedging their bets.
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, even at the Sith Empire's expense.
Once assembled, the group wasted no time starting the briefing.
According to a first-hand account by Benjamin's former master Darsun Odé, alongside rumours supposedly filtering down from high ranking Sith and the staff aboard the station, Vokuur had become immeasurably powerful seemingly overnight. His personality had shifted considerably too, the Nautolan becoming reclusive and quiet, even with his daughter.
Torem – one of Benjamin's less visible Sith allies who had managed to get away during the Imperial withdrawal – and Darsun both attributed that shift to an ancient Force wielder having seized his body, a claim that was questioned by almost everyone in attendance due to the seemingly baseless nature of the assertion.
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 had shared his body with a benign spirit, an ancient shaman and guardian of the orbs named Akum Fta Q'arryb.
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 had sought the orbs in life and used his considerable power to resist the draw of Chaos for millennia, refusing to give up his quest for ultimate power.
Benjamin had never encountered that spirit and the orbs – along with the benign presence – were now safely hidden, veiled behind layers of near-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 had been corrupted by the dark side thanks to the whispers of the entity she had unwittingly released; a fact she had alluded to – but could not fully express – in her dying moments.
Now, with the orbs out of reach, the spirit had been searching for alternate methods of enforcing its will upon the galaxy and found one such method in Darth Vokuur. With the Rakatan holocron in his possession, Darsun believed Darth Vokuur's use as a puppet had been exhausted and the entity had taken his body as his own.
With access to one of the few – if not the only – remaining repositories of Rakatan Force lore that had not been lost or destroyed since the fall of the Infinite Empire, replicating the Star Forge was just the beginning – unless the Republic could stop the entity before it cemented its hold over the Sith Empire.
To that end, the forces of SARB 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" would attempt to use the distraction created by the strike teams to reach the station's communications hub, entering at separate locations to maximise their chances of reaching their destination.
Darsun, as a senior Darth, had volunteered to be one of Vokuur's 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 be able to freely transmit that data to allied vessels, providing Republic forces with 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. Second was the recovery or destruction of the Rakatan holocron.
Darth Vokuur's capture or – more likely – death was given as a tertiary 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.
Fielding some questions before listening to a short motivational speech from the Supreme Chancellor, Benjamin dismissed the team and left them to spend the hours before the battle relaxing or preparing as they so desired.
Isla, painfully aware of the scale of the battle that would soon unfold, suggested to Zhavi that they just cut and run after the briefing ended, pointing out that they were just two people who would not tip the scales either way and that they had given the Republic plenty over the years already.
Zhavi shot the suggestion down immediately, but sympathised with Isla's fear. She did her 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, though her words did little to diminish her concerns.
Battle of the Dromund Forge[]
Forward!
—Zhavi, to her assault team.
With all Republic forces reporting their readiness for battle, the fleet prepared to begin a series of pre-determined lightspeed jumps that would take them around the Stygian Caldera that protected Imperial space, bypassing Imperial territory by utilising a smuggler's route through the far side of the nebula that would take them to the construction site, just beyond the edge of the Nfolgai system.
When the fleet dropped out of hyperspace for the final time, the battle for what had become known as the "Dromund Forge" began.
While Isla was partnered with Torem to make up one of the broadcast teams intent on capturing the communications hub, Zhavi was charged with leading one of the boarding parties, one of twenty-seven assault groups who would be drawing enemy forces away from the broadcast teams.
Although their purpose was to provide cover for their allies, Zhavi and her team were determined to push as hard into the factory as they could manage.
Riding through the killing fields aboard the freighter of Republic privateer Florence Carter, Zhavi's team – comprised of Harlem, Kara, Alucia, Acina and a squad of special forces troops – managed to survive the chaos and crash land in one of the hangars.
Wasting no time, the team descended the boarding ramp with Zhavi at the lead and quickly secured their landing site before pressing forward, venturing deeper into the guts of the unfinished station where they soon came into contact with a group of Sith warriors guarding the junction that connected the exterior hangars to the factory proper.
Tharah Odé – the Twi'lek Lord Zhavi had blinded years ago – led the group, and as the most experienced and powerful of the Sith defenders, Zhavi took it upon herself to confront her, allowing her friends to deal with the lesser Sith while she and Tharah fought alone.
With cybernetic eyes replacing the ones stolen by Zhavi and over a decade of additional experience, Tharah proved to be an exceptionally skilled opponent, matching Zhavi's moves with flawless precision.
Zhavi attempted to goad Tharah – to provoke her into making a mistake – but found her entirely unresponsive, and as they fought Zhavi began to sense something had shattered her resolve in the time since their last encounter.
Eventually, through sheer fatigue, Tharah began to slow until Zhavi was able to land a killing blow, bringing both combatants to a sudden halt when they realised it was over.
Disturbingly, Tharah showed no emotion when she looked down at the glowing wound across her abdomen and when she stepped backwards, letting herself fall into the bottomless chasm beneath the walkway, Zhavi suddenly felt a pang of guilt over her actions, though could do nothing about it.
Zhavi continued fighting her way forward until she was caught off-guard by the death of her aunt Sofia elsewhere on the station, a shock which momentarily slowed her team down when they were forced to step in to defend her until she recovered.
Not long after Sofia was killed, Isla contacted Zhavi to warn her that Imperial technicians had remotely overloaded the terminals in the communications hub, Torem had left to reinforce Darsun – who had been outed as a traitor and was being overwhelmed – and that Sera Artofen was aboard the station and had actually saved Isla's life.
Zhavi and Isla concluded that the only way to ensure a Republic victory would be to locate and secure the command centre, which would make a confrontation with Darth Vokuur inevitable. Relaying their new orders to all the boarding parties, Zhavi and her team resumed fighting their way forward, now aware that the fate of the galaxy might very well depend on them reaching the command centre.
Before they could arrive, however, the station's schematics and the identities of the Imperial ships shielded the station were broadcast to the entire Republic fleet and Isla – speaking over the station's internal communications system – announced that Darth Vokuur was dead and ordered all Republic personnel to retreat and regroup with the fleet.
Nervous about following the order without taking Isla with her, Zhavi nonetheless obeyed the command and led her team back to the hangar where Captain Carter was waiting to extract them. Deftly navigating the carnage that had ensued during their time aboard the station, Florence managed to get aboard one of the Republic vessels without taking irreparable damage.
Five minutes later, a voice over the intercom announced the imminent jump to lightspeed and Zhavi waited nervously as the ship left the battle, unable to ascertain whether Isla would be amongst the thousands of casualties the Republic had taken during the battle until the fleet was safely out of Imperial territory.
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 but ultimately wasted last stand to hold the data centre and ensure the station schematics could be transmitted to the communications hub.
Corrith Lambert was murdered in cold blood by Salila Ishtar while strengthening her allies on the station through her use of battle meditation, 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 stopped for good when Aaellu and Avexiss severed her connection to the Force.
But most tragically of all was the death of fourteen year old Acina Lambert who &ndahs; 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 had foreseen, saving thousands of lives at the cost of her own.
Unsettled by so much death – deaths they felt keenly through the Force – Isla and Zhavi left the fleet shortly after the Republic's retreat from Imperial space, seeking out a peaceful spot to reflect on recent events in relative isolation.
Zhavi, unbeknownst to Isla, already had a destination in mind, having been secretly collecting materials for her partner to use in the creation of a new lightsaber to house the crystal she had acquired on Ilum for some time.
She revealed her collection once they had landed at the old Eternal Alliance base on Odessen and – after spending some time looking around and reminiscing in what had once been the heart of the revolution against the Eternal Empire – the couple eventually ventured out into the wilds on foot, searching 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 on their way) the Force guided the duo to the same cave the Alliance Commander had explored years earlier, to the stone forge used to craft the weapon that had been wielded to dethrone Emperor Arcann.
Zhavi handed the materials she had collected to Isla, telling her she would stand guard until she was done. Isla grabbed her arm before she could step away, however, pulling her back and reminding her that they were inseparably bonded through the Force; they were no longer individual entities, and so Isla could not build the lightsaber alone.
So – working in unison – the couple began to meditate, using the Force to begin construction of the last lightsaber Isla would ever wield.
The blade itself was an amalgamation of various design concepts and materials, including spikes – as featured by her first Sith sabre – protruding from a shielded emitter. While the spikes represented her past as a Sith and her ongoing lethality as an assassin, the shielded design reflected her role as a protector.
Copper alloy from the most prestigious of Voryle's innumerable factories was utilised to create the casing, while Isla's necklace – fashioned using the remains of the crystals from her previous lightsabers – was disassembled and reassembled one final time to create decorative, jewelled veins inset along the length of the curving hilt.
Part of the process in constructing the lightsaber involving directing Force energy into the crystal, creating a strong link between wielder and blade so that the two were bonded. Normally, that energy was supplied by the creator of the weapon alone.
However in sharing the moment with Zhavi, Isla's lightsaber crystal was charged with the Force energy of two Jedi, resulting in an unusual, pulsing blade when the weapon was activated – though the resulting effect was almost entirely cosmetic. The only notable distinction was that the lightsaber had a more pronounced Force signature, making it easier to detect through the Force.
By the time the blade was finished and activated, the Jedi had reacquired a sense of inner calm and – though still saddened by recent events – both Zhavi and Isla had soothed the wounds of their recent losses somewhat.
With Isla's new sabre completed, the couple decided it was time for them to return home to comfort their friends and family and help guide them towards a similar sense of peace.
Starting A Family[]
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 send-off on Coruscant, with not only friends and family in attendance, but also many Republic and Jedi defenders arriving to pay tribute to the child hero who had stood against the dark side and won.
A starfighter flyby took place at the ceremony and Acina's name was prominently featured on a memorial placed in the senate building, alongside the names of all those who died in the battle.
Believing it would help distract the grieving Lambert family and provide a more uplifting occasion to help everyone move past the traumatic events, Isla and Zhavi brought the date of their wedding forward, leveraging their participation in the destruction of the Dromund Forge to avoid the usually lengthy wait for a venue.
The ceremony itself took place on Corellia's legendary Gold Beaches not far from the couple's home in Tyrena, an event that was open to any who wished to attend, though naturally seating at the heart of ceremony was reserved for friends and family.
Both brides were given away by their fathers in a modern twist on the old tradition, while Master Oteg agreed to officiate the ceremony in a friendly, informal capacity.
As Jedi were forbidden to marry or form attachments, Oteg could not formally approve of their wedding, but being less severe than many of his fellow masters, noting that their status as a dyad in the Force provided an exceptional circumstance and knowing the couple fairly well on a personal level, Oteg admitted that he was – off record – happy for them both.
Most of the Jedi Order who were aware of the ceremony did not speak out against it either, however, as the couple's achievements over the last decade had earned them considerable respect and admiration from all corners of the Republic.
Mitth'icini'inrokini and Isla's siblings also attended using temporary diplomatic immunity granted at Isla and Zhavi's request, as did the leadership of the Cobbled Terentateks and the former queen of Voryle herself, accompanied by her new boss Mister Crimson. Even Sera and Ben – smuggled into Republic space and onto Corellia with Captain Carter's help – were present, albeit with their faces concealed as they had not been granted immunity.
Isla took Zhavi's family name, as the Waverunners were a respected military lineage in the Republic and the Ahnkett name was not Isla's by birth, which by her own admission lessened her attachment to it. Zhavi suggested a double-barrelled name as a compromise, but Isla wanted to take the Waverunner name, as it marked the first time she was able to willingly embrace a new identity rather than having one chosen for her.
Once the ceremony was complete a reception was held in Tyrena, with Zhavi and Isla returning to Copero to begin their honeymoon the following morning.
Birth of Acina Waverunner[]
Zhavi in the junkyard.
You stole the wrong bitch's droid!
—Zhavi, to the junkyard thugs.
Towards the end of 41 ATC, Isla and Zhavi left Copero for a final trip to Republic space before the birth of their first child, being carried by Isla. While en route, however, 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 descended, though with medics waiting for them as they disembarked she was rushed to a local hospital immediately, where Zhavi learned that – due to Isla's unusually small frame and the larger size of the child – the baby was coming early.
Isla needed emergency 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, albeit of another kind. Zhavi received a panicked message from Ducky while she was waiting to hear from the surgeons, telling her that someone had boarded their ship, taking advantage of the fact that Zhavi – in her rush – had neglected to secure the vessel.
Leaving Bombarr to guard Isla and the baby, Zhavi fled the hospital immediately.
By the time she arrived Ducky was gone, though thanks to her SIS credentials Zhavi was able to commandeer the services of local security forces, who served as her eyes and helped 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 he was only a courier and that it was his boss who wanted the droid, though he had not been told 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 an increasingly agitated Vrym.
The junkyard itself was a dense fortress of crushed metal held in position by thick durasteel mesh, creating an enclosed base for what was evidently a criminal operation. In no mood for negotiating with criminals, Zhavi created 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 had clearly assembled from salvaged parts.
Zhavi obliterated the droids and disarmed the foreman, strangling him until he revealed that he had been contacted by an anonymous individual who wanted him to steal Ducky and download the data held in his memory, a seemingly simple task that earned him an eyewatering number of credits.
He told her Ducky was in the compactor room with the other scrap, and Zhavi decided to give him a chance to live by testing his character.
Turning her back on him, Zhavi made her way out of the room expecting that he would try to shoot her in the back. When he did, Zhavi was ready, disarming and kicking him into a viscous waterfall of molten metal, which quickly ended his life.
By the time she began searching the compactor room, Ducky was seconds away 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, sweat and mechanical fluids, tired but alive and unharmed and – to their 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 joined the galaxy.
The unorthodox family remained in the hospital for a few days – during which time Zhavi regaled both Isla and the local authorities about the illegal goings-on uncovered at the junkyard – before resuming their journey to Corellia, deciding to remain in Republic space for a month or two before heading home.
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 when the time was right.
Evacuation of Bimimma[]
Not again...
—Isla, on seeing evidence of starweird activity.
In late 42 ATC Zhavi was pregnant with the couple's second and third 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 Samantha D'callo was visiting on behalf of Mister Crimson, who had invested 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 moving soil using a cargo sled. A few weeks into their stay on the uneventful world the colony's orbital proximity alarms began blaring, however.
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 wrecked Harrower-class dreadnought that had dropped out of hyperspace and was now drifting, lifeless and 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. Unfortunately, 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.
By the time the fleet arrived, destroying the dreadnought 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 could be 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 although no Jedi were stationed nearby, a handful of SARB agents 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 ensnared by the same fleshy vines she and Zhavi had encountered aboard the Ascendancy observatory, leaving Isla to conclude that starweirds had struck yet 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 SARB 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, using the Force to drag the vessel down so that it crashed into the ocean instead of the land.
Doing so created a tsunami, though the group were prepared for it, fleeing on speeders and riding up the boarding ramp of Florence Carter's freighter shortly before the wave caught up with them.
The colony was resettled a day later and work recommenced as before, but Zhavi and Isla did not join the colonists in returning to Bimimma, choosing instead to move on while SARB personnel and a larger Republic team were brought in to investigate the wreckage in the hopes of discovering more about the concerning – and repeated – aggression of the near-mythical starweirds.
The Lost Fortress of Shimka[]
Shimka's Well Enclave[]
Zhavi and Isla, with Vrym, Ducky and Acina, around the time of the rediscovery of Shimka's Well.
Huh... sunshine, green grass, gentle rivers, no mutant Geo's. We sure this is a Jedi world?
—Zhavi, after setting foot on Shimka's Well for the first time.
In the first few weeks of 43 ATC, Zhavi and Isla participated in an expedition to locate a lost world settled by a number of Jedi explorers centuries earlier.
The expedition – funded by the government of Farrow rather than the recovering Jedi Order – made use of Master Magda's cache of ancient secrets and led the team to a vast nebula beyond the Republic's borders. Deep within the gaseous veil, the expedition rediscovered the world and its Jedi settlement, the fabled "Lost Fortress of Shimka".
Surrounded by endless ocean and man-made waterfalls, Shimka's Well consisted of a number of islands separated by shallow rivers. Most of the islands were occupied by various types of stone structures – basic, yet expertly crafted – while the main temple was situated on a solitary, elevated island that appeared to be inaccessible by land.
Due to the unknown stability of Temple Mesa and the limited open space available in which a ship could be set down, the expedition members agreed to land on the central island, a location which would allow for easy exploration of the surrounding points of interest.
Life signs on the planet suggested a healthy abundance of local fauna, though scans made it clear that the old stone structures were abandoned – the Jedi no longer had a presence on the planet, as predicted.
On landing, the Force-wielders at the head of the expedition – Zhavi, Isla, Aaellu, Alucia, Ah'rek, Kara, Gretta and Shen Lambert and Master Oteg, the latter having been invited by Governor Lambert – disembarked to secure the landing site, a large stone courtyard overlooked by an enormous sculpture of an unknown Twi'lek Jedi holding his lightsaber aloft.
Zhavi and Isla were particularly surprised by the planet, having been expecting an unpleasant world like Ilum or Ossus but instead finding Shimka's Well possessed a hot, watery climate. Once the troops had finished offloading equipment and supplies and secured a perimeter, Zhavi and Isla elected to venture out to the closest structure while their allies continued setting up the their base of operations.
At first, the couple found no evidence of recent activity and nothing out of the ordinary. However, after reaching the top of a stone staircase that spiraled around a small hillside, the duo were faced with a narrow, mossy bridge, on which stood an ancient guardian droid – one which greeted them with immediate hostility.
Although the droid had some surprising methods of attack unlike any droid the couple had encountered before, Isla was able to dispatch it alone with relative ease, avoiding the droid's beam weapon before cutting the machine in half.
Reporting the presence of the droids – which Isla believed to be Zeffonian in origin, a mysterious long-dead species she had learned about from Governor Lambert – to the rest of the group, the couple continued onwards, eager to discover what the machine had been guarding.
To their surprise, the structure across the bridge was not particularly noteworthy; a storehouse for tools and supplies used by Grand Master Shimka and his band of errant Jedi artisans.
Fortunately, the discovery was of interest to the wider expedition, and though Isla and Zhavi were not overly excited by the mundane contents they did discover a unique variation of the common Jedi holocrons, one which activated on their arrival and produced a recording of Grand Master Shimka himself.
The recording recognized that they were newcomers to the world and welcomed them, explaining that they were currently standing inside a storehouse, as they had already surmised. Thankfully, the device was in good working order and was able to provide them with detailed information on the other structures in Shimka's Well, giving the expedition a better idea of what awaited them at each location.
Zhavi and Isla returned to the expedition's base camp and joined their peers for lunch, over the course of which they discussed what the couple had found so far and discussed their thoughts on what the expedition should focus on first. They also traded theories on the abundance of memory moths present throughout Shimka's Well, which both Oteg and Ah'rek had encountered before on the world of New Holstice.
While the majority of the group remained at camp to keep their landing site secure and coordinate the troops and researchers under their command, Alucia and Kara were permitted to venture out to explore the Communion Hall, which housed the similarly named Communion Chamber. Zhavi and Isla, likewise, were permitted to continue exploring, heading to a location referred to in Shimka's chronicle as the Artisan's Retreat.
The Artisan's Retreat[]
Looks like some kinda... mould?
—Zhavi, to Isla, regarding Shimka's Loom.
Crossing the river via a series of sunken stones sat just beneath the surface, Zhavi and Isla made their way to the Artisan's Retreat without issue, an air-conditioned bunker accessible only by water and protected by an energy gate which – they soo discovered – only responded to the will of an individual attuned to the light.
Fortunately, that was not an issue for the Waverunners.
Once inside, the pair slowly made their way along the sloping entry corridor and down into the heart of the structure, whereupon they found a vast library that seemed – after briefly skimming through the nearest stack of holobooks – to relate to the specific techniques – trialled, failed and successful alike – employed by the Jedi artisans in their varied crafts.
To the couple's surprise, they were not alone in the library; while few in number, droids of an alien design – yet dissimilar from the Zeffonian machine they had encountered earlier – patrolled the area with an eerie silence. Stranger still was the peculiar Force sensitivity of the machines.
Although Zhavi and Isla suspected they were some form of defence droid designed for repelling thieves, Dark Jedi and Sith, they were not optimistic about the droids welcoming them into the library with open arms, and after jumping down to confront the unorthodox guardians the couple's suspicions were confirmed.
Activating lightsabers, the droids attacked the couple without hesitation or negotiation.
Zhavi and Isla attempted to talk their way out of the confrontation, hoping that – active – the machines would be able to help the expedition instead of hindering it, though it soon became evident that the droids were intent on killing them.
Forced to disable them, the couple were perplexed by their Force sensitivity, noting that – like organic beings – they could sense their lives slip away through the Force as they "died".
On reaching the back chamber of the Artisan's Retreat Zhavi and Isla encountered another of the bizarre Jedi droids. Unlike the others, however, this droid spoke to them rather than attacking, apologising for the behaviour of its peers and claiming that it had been so long that their minds had atrophied until they were unable to distinguish between friend and foe.
The droid introduced itself as Shauko and explained that she – like her deceased peers – was part of a group of Jedi known as Eternal Watchers, followers of Shimka who chose to transfer their consciousnesses to a mechanical frame instead of becoming one with the Force when their bodies began to fail.
By doing so, they were able to continue serving as protectors of Shimka's Well long after their bodies turned to dust.
Sadly, as Shauko had explained already, the unforeseen cost was the addling of their minds over time, leading to their indiscriminate hostility towards even their fellow Jedi. Fortunately, the transition to their droid hosts hampered their Force abilities; they were not strong enough to open the gates and were thus confined to their assigned areas.
That restriction extended to Shauko, yet with Zhavi and Isla's entry into the Artisan's Retreat she was finally able to move around Shimka's Well once more, promising to help the Jedi and their expedition with her first-hand knowledge of the enclave. Shauko departed for the entrance, but not before introducing the couple to the artefact in the chamber, Shimka's Loom, one of the many hidden treasures of the artisans of Shimka's Well.
Once Shauko had left – promising to meet them at a bunker to the south – Isla approached the artefact, insisting that Zhavi stay back so as not endanger their unborn children. It activated automatically as she moved into range, prompting her to pause while the device automatically scanned her proportions and memories in a matter of moments.
That information was then used to begin fashioning a tailormade Jedi robe, specifically tailored to her physical capabilities and fighting style.
With the Artisan's Retreat secured and fully explored, the pair remained for a while at Isla's insistence, giving her time to indulge her curiosity regarding the ancient Jedi and their unique sculpting techniques.
Archeological Rivalry[]
Reckon they're jus' sightseein'?
—Zhavi, to Isla, regarding the Empire's arrival on Shimka.
By the time couple left the Artisan's Retreat night had fallen across Shimka's Well, giving the Waverunners reason to pause, taking a few moments for themselves to admire the dense array of stars that lit up the sky before heading back to camp.
While admiring the view however, Zhavi and Isla were noticed by an unexpected enemy.
Although they sensed the creatures before they attacked, they were nonetheless surprised when a group of large, skittering crustaceans swarmed their position, swarming en masse with ruthless – but reckless – determination.
Zhavi and Isla managed to retreat to one of the many lodging areas used by the former occupants of the Jedi stronghold, where they were able to hunker down for the night to escape the crustaceans' onslaught. Contacting their friends at base camp, they learned that the threat was widespread, though the camp was adequately defended and had been able to repel the attackers thus far.
Worryingly, they had been unable to reach Alucia and Kara since the attacks began, however.
The following morning the couple left the lodging area under the cover of daylight, surmising that the crustaceans were nocturnal in nature. Sadly, as that threat vanished another emerged to replace it in the form of an Imperial shuttle, passing overhead as it made its way to a landing site elsewhere.
Following shortly after were a number of Imperial fighters – their crimson coloration marking them as servants of the warlord Darth Hamon – who deviated from their route to open fire at the couple.
Lacking any kind of cover, the couple were left with little choice but to begin running, crossing a series of old wooden bridges strung between several rocky mesas. The mesas were just as exposed – and with the fighters circling around for another run – the Waverunners were forced to risk jumping from their perch, dropping down into a small pool at the foot of one of the rocky spires.
More determined than expected, a number of transports were diverted to their location, dropping off Mandalorian mercenaries, though Zhavi and Isla were able to hold them off them without too much difficulty and make their way to the bunker as planned.
Once inside, Zhavi threatened Shauko, demanding to know both why she did not warn them about the crustaceans and how the Sith Empire had found them so quickly given that their expedition launched from Republic space. Shauko protested that – like her peers – her own memory was fading over time and many details she used to know had simply been forgotten.
As for the presence of the Empire, Shauko claimed to have no idea how they had found the planet's location, as Shimka's Well was protected by the nebula that blanketed the region, making it almost impossible to find the world by chance. Given that the expedition was the only anomaly, Shauko speculated that they had been compromised by a double agent before or after arriving.
Isla admitted that the arrival of the Sith Empire so soon after they themselves had set down on the planet did suggest they were tipped off before the expedition even arrived, though how, she could not imagine.
When Imperial forces caught up with the Jedi in the bunker, the trio fought their way out together and reactivated the barrier to secure the site against the Sith, regrouping with their allies – who had left camp to assist them – shortly thereafter.
With the brief skirmish over and Alucia and Kara located safe and sound, the team returned to camp to prepare for the inevitable battle awaiting them now that the Sith Empire had arrived to stake its claim to Shimka's Well, bringing with them the Hammer of Hamon, Darth Hamon's superdreadnought.
Zhavi and Isla spent some time alone while the expedition monitored Imperial activity, and when it became clear the Imperials were not about to take any direct action the couple decided it was worth the risk to continue exploring, believing that they might potentially find devices they could employ in the expedition's defence.
Gatekeeper's Bay[]
Why do our misadventures always involve forming inevitably lengthy friendships with unwashed specimens of the local fauna?
—Isla, to Zhavi, before riding the Kzirruk to the Sleeping City.
Taking one of the many abandoned wooden rowboats strewn across the islands' shores, Zhavi and Isla journeyed out towards an island south of the expedition camp, confident they would not be detected by the Imperials due to their low-tech means of travel.
On arrival, they soon noticed the location's architecture differed from the other sites and was distinctly less developed. It was also inhabited, which they discovered after passing through the bay and disembarking at the dock where they were greeted by the residents of the island.
Expecting hostility as was often the case, the Waverunners were surprised when the residents welcomed them to Gatekeeper's Bay, recognising them as Jedi thanks to their weapons and revealing that they had been awaiting the return of the Jedi for centuries.
When Zhavi pressed them for an explanation, they told the couple that Grand Master Shimka had predicted that the Jedi would one day return to the world after the Jedi Master and his students passed away. Before his death, he had arranged for the location of the planet to be erased from the Jedi archives.
Doing so ensured the knowledge stored on the planet was protected during a period of darkness Shimka and his fellow Jedi had foreseen, allowing future generations to rediscover the world, the civilian population who had once served the Jedi and the cache of knowledge and relics they had left behind.
Said civilians lived a simple life in Gatekeeper's Bay, steering clear of the old Jedi land as instructed – and believing the ravenous crustaceans were left by the Jedi to ensure their instructions were obeyed and their secrets protected.
Thanks to the residents of Gatekeeper's Bay the couple learned of the Sleeping City, the name the locals gave to a large built-up island nearby in which their ancestors once lived. To keep them safe, the last of the Jedi moved the residents to what eventually became Gatekeeper's Bay before they finally became one with the Force.
Since then, the civilians had long looked forward to returning and hoped that Zhavi and Isla's appearance signalled that their time in exile was over.
With that in mind, the residents suggested they see the city for themselves and offered them the use of their Kzirruk, a winged mount that had been domesticated by the people of Gatekeeper's Bay in a time long before their arrival on the island.
In spite of Isla's reservations, the creatures responded well to the couple and allowed them ride them out of Gatekeeper's Bay without protestation or incident, making the short journey across the water and over the high stone walls of the abandoned city.
Battle of the Sleeping City[]
It would appear Darth Hamon has been keeping himself busy...
—Isla, to Zhavi, after first encountering Darth Hamon's "Extinction" forces.
Thanks to their flying mounts, Zhavi and Isla made their way into the aptly named "Sleeping City" with no trouble at all, finding it as quiet and abandoned as expected.
Detached from the other islands, the nocturnal crustaceans were unable to reach the city and the Waverunners were able to wander around freely through the sheltered stone streets.
Like the bunkers they had encountered previously, separate districts had been sealed off by Force-powered energy barriers after the city's evacuation, and while they lowered the barriers to pass through they decided – with the Empire setting up a base of operations just a few miles north of the city – to reseal the gates behind them.
As a residential island, there was little in the way of ancient knowledge and no artefacts that were of value beyond their historical relevance.
Yet, as they strolled idly through the starlit streets, the couple noticed the strong connection to the Force the area held, much like the rest of Shimka's Well, but far more concentrated in the city.
Zhavi mused on how wonderful it must have been to live within a city so touched by the Force, remarking that it was a shame that Shimka and his Jedi did not chose to integrate fully with the civilian population, believing that he "almost got it right" by having the Jedi and civilians live side by side.
Isla suggested that, perhaps, someone would pick up the gauntlet Shimka had thrown, one day, and kickstart an era where Jedi no longer lived in isolation, detached from reality and the people they sought to defend.
Disappointingly, their discussion was cut short not long after they reached the city's central plaza.
Deploying from dropships overhead, Imperial troops began to pour down into the city, sporting new armour and accompanied by a tall, formidable new model of droid. Naturally, Zhavi and Isla engaged the Imperials without hesitation.
The couple immediately realised their new opponents were not only skilled in the use of the electrostaves they carried, but also attuned to the Force. As a consequence, they were able to prove a worthy match for a Jedi, which suggested Darth Hamon was changing tactics, investing in better troops for a quality over quantity approach, a stark contrast from previous generations.
Unsurprisingly, the troops were no match for the Waverunner; Zhavi and Isla dispatched the elite troops they encountered in the plaza without exerting themselves all that much more than usual.
What the couple had not yet realised was that the droid – watching and waiting on the periphery while the troops fought the Jedi – was the real Jedi-killer amongst them. Analysing their fighting styles to better its chances of eliminating them – and transmitting that data to other droids in the vicinity as it did – gave the droid an impressive head start when it finally leapt into action.
Able to engage in friendly fire if it calculated the loss to be tactically insignificant, the couple were surprised when it launched a small bombardment from a shoulder-mounted cannon that forced the Jedi to break off from their respective opponents and leap out of the epicentre, catching only the edge of the blast as they jumped into the air.
Immediately after firing the droid launched up to where Isla had landed on the upper level of the plaza, having determined that she was the weaker fighter of the two and electing to single her out for elimination first.
Separated from Zhavi temporarily, the droid moved with lethal efficiency to eliminate the Chiss while it had the advantage, correctly anticipating her weaknesses and exploiting them; disarming her with blunt force, hoisting her up into the air by her throat and managing to puncture one of her lungs with a fierce wrist blade before Zhavi caught up to the droid and destroyed it in a single, angry strike.
With Isla seriously injured, Zhavi was forced to switch off her lightsaber and resort to stealth to get her wife out of the city and back into Republic-controlled territory for medical attention.
Due to Shimka's Well's strong connection to the Force – and specifically, the light – the memory moths that lit up the air aided Zhavi in bypassing the troops that were sweeping through the labyrinth, assembling to create lines to direct the Jedi in their escape.
By the time they reached the dock – the Republic landing zone visible across the wide river ahead – the Imperials had spotted them and were moving in on their position.
Zhavi set Isla down behind cover and hurriedly attempted to heal her with the Force, only to abandon her attempt when the Imperials reached their position. Leaving Isla out of sight, Zhavi took up her sabre again and charged into battle, determined to hold off the enemy until reinforcements arrived.
Thankfully, the Imperial incursion into the Sleeping City had not gone unnoticed.
Even before Isla had been injured, members of the expedition – alongside SARB and Republic military personnel who had arrived earlier in the day in response to the arrival of Darth Hamon's forces – had been preparing to launch an offensive to prevent the Sith from capturing a stronghold so close to their camp.
Under the cover of the attacking ships and the deployment of Republic soldiers and their SARB allies, Zhavi and Isla were able to take a rowboat back to the central island.
Once ashore, Zhavi carried Isla back to the Republic base, stabilising her condition through a combination of kolto and Force techniques learned from her late aunt to ensure that Isla would – with continuous kolto treatments and plenty of rest – make a full recovery.
The Fall of Darth Hamon[]
Should I fall in battle, my forces have orders to withdraw without further action against your expedition or Republic forces. In return, you will accept the same condition, should I prove the stronger. May the blood of one embolden the many."
"Alright, yeah. Reasonable enough. Deal.
—Darth Hamon and Zhavi.
Successful as the allied forces were in repelling the Imperials and forcing them to temporarily retreat from the Sleeping City, many expeditionary and Republic troops were killed in the conflict, including one of SARB's Force adepts, who died confronting the daughter of Attrice Vhenn, Shara, for possession of an artefact recovered from the town hall of the Sleeping City.
Leaving Isla to recover at the expedition's base camp, Zhavi led a strike team to the main Jedi temple on the northernmost mesa, which had been captured by the Empire in the early hours of the morning and was now – according to sensor readings – quite active.
Trusting her allies to combat the Imperial forces holding the various structures on the mesa, Zhavi rushed ahead to the main temple, believing Darth Hamon would be there to personally relinquish the temple of its treasures.
Predictably, Hamon's apprentice had been posted outside the temple's main door to ensure her master was not interrupted and stood ready for Zhavi when she arrived.
Eager to avenge the death of one of her former SARB colleagues, Zhavi did not spend much of her patience trying to talk Shara down, giving her a single chance to surrender before rushing her.
Talented but far less experienced than her Jedi opponent, Shara put up a short but admirable fight before Zhavi overwhelmed and disarmed her. Rather than kill the young woman, however, Zhavi punched her repeatedly, beating her badly to keep her from intervening yet allowing her to come out of the duel with her life.
Inside the temple, Zhavi discovered Darth Hamon waiting for her with the artefact Shara had recovered.
The enemies exchanged pleasantries and briefly discussed the impressive feats of the Jedi of Shimka's Well, during which Hamon confessed the dire situation of the Empire meant he was more interested in the foundations below the Enclave rather than the brilliant inventions hidden within it.
He asked Zhavi if she had any inkling of what lay beneath them, and – recalling the first enemy she and Isla had encountered a few days prior – she correctly guessed that he was referring to the Zeffo.
Furthermore, he revealed to Zhavi that the artefact Shara had taken from the Sleeping City was a key that unlocked a Force-sealed stone situated at the far end of the chamber. In that stone lay the access panel for Shimka's Well – the true "well", a circular chasm in the floor of the temple that served as the only entrance to the ancient Zeffo ruins hidden beneath the Enclave.
Rather than continue their discussion Hamon ignited his weapon, pointing it at Zhavi from afar and offering a less violent alternative to an all-out war for the planet and its secrets; they would duel, and the loser's forces would withdraw without further violence, sparing the lives of the thousands of men and women on both sides who would surely die.
Zhavi agreed, knowing that although Darth Hamon was a Sith, he followed his own code of honour that meant betraying his word – regardless of who he gave it to – was anathema to him.
Contacting her allies at base camp to ensure they knew of the condition and to insist they respect it, Zhavi and Hamon settled into a tense stand-off.
Most of the confrontation was spent analysing one another's stances, the way they held their sabre and shifted their weight as they circled, each of them knowing that their knowledge and experience would be put to the test in a matter of moments.
The two enemies then locked blades, clashing in a brief but fierce duel in which Hamon used his species' larger size and natural power to his advantage. Eventually, he managed to disarm Zhavi and moved to strike a killing blow, only for Zhavi to employ the Mandalorian vambrace – given to Isla by Xelda Gharva decades earlier – that she had borrowed from Isla after their escape from the Sleeping City.
Thanks to the retractable wrist blade, Zhavi was able to catch Hamon by surprise, thrusting the blade into his chest and snatching a last minute victory.
Mortally wounded, Hamon deactivated his lightsaber and held it out for Zhavi to take as her "prize", telling her that he could not have asked for a more worthy opponent – nor a finer death. As he began to slump, Zhavi swept in to catch him, holding him as he grew weaker.
To the end, Hamon was proud of his service, telling Zhavi he had given everything he had to the Empire and that he hoped he would be remembered. Pitying and respecting him in equal measure, Zhavi assured him that if the Empire persisted, it would remember his might – and if it did not, the Republic would remember his honour.
Hamon chuckled and clutched Zhavi's hand, grateful, and fell unconscious – presumed dead – a moment later.
Beneath Shimka's Well[]
You were right to distrust me. Hindsight is clearer than foresight, no? The timeless tale of the Jedi and the Sith..."
"If y' gonna monologue, mind waitin' till after y've killed me?
—Shauko and Zhavi, after the former's betrayal.
Victorious over Darth Hamon and with his Extinction units removed from the Temple Mesa, Zhavi believed the threat to Shimka's Well was all but dealt with until she was gripped by dark Force energy, immobilised by a cloud of black mist.
It was then that Shauko revealed her presence in the chamber, emerging from where she had been hiding to take the key and thank Zhavi for helping her escape from her prison in the Artisan's Retreat.
She explained that she had come to Shimka's Well centuries ago but had been unable to retrieve what she was after before the Jedi locked everything down in preparation for their physical deaths, forcing her to make use of the artisan's machinery to transfer her consciousness into a droid shell to ensure she would – eventually – be able to carry on her mission.
Once the Artisan's Retreat was locked down, however, Shauko had been trapped, unable to disable the barrier due to her dark nature.
Although she did not reveal what she was after precisely, Zhavi witnessed her usage of the artefact to unlock the stone box, granting her access to the controls for the sealed well in the centre of the temple.
Once it was open, she disappeared down the shaft, leaving Zhavi alone – still bound by Shauko's dark power – for several minutes before she was able to shrug off the weakening power of the dark side.
Zhavi pursued as soon as she could, jumping down after Shauko into the Zeffonian ruins buried deep beneath the Jedi stronghold. It was only after navigating her way through the narrow confines of the underground ruins that Zhavi realised Shauko had sensed she was following.
Once she arrived in the final chamber, Shauko was there waiting, irritated by the Jedi's persistence but admitting she was happy Zhavi had caught up with her as quickly as she had, stating she could afford to delay her mission a little longer if it meant she got to enjoy the thrill of killing a Jedi "one last time".
Lethal as she usually was, Zhavi had fought her way through Imperial forces, Shara and Darth Hamon, and started to feel the weight of fatigue early on in her duel against Shauko, a problem the mechanical Dark Jedi did not share. Possessing considerable skill with a lightsaber, Shauko was able to match Zhavi long enough for her weariness to impact her performance, allowing the droid to best her.
Taunting her once she was disarmed, Shauko was oblivious to the mistake she was making until she finally moved to execute Zhavi, a strike that was intercepted by Isla when she arrived in the chamber, emerged from stealth and leapt into the fray, blocking the killing blow.
With Shauko's attention on Isla, the Chiss lured her across the chamber until they were at a safe distance from where Zhavi lay. Then – using her mastery of stealth – Isla vanished from sight again, breaking off the duel until she reappeared behind the Dark Jedi, deactivating her with a fatal stab to the back.
Denying Shauko the courtesy of listening to her final words, Isla moved back to Zhavi's side to help her get up on her feet and the pair started making a move towards the exit.
It was only once Shauko had finally succumbed to her wound that a set of predetermined conditions were met; with the dark side of the Force cleansed from the chamber, the couple were shown a vision in which they saw glimpses of the future, images and voices that they somehow knew belonged to their own unborn children.
Like a dream, the details were unclear, yet from what they saw they understood that their children would become involved with the starweirds that the couple had encountered previously, and that the experience would change them somehow. They would return – reborn – and in doing so pave the way for a final confrontation, the outcome of which the vision – unsurprisingly – did not show.
Once complete, the vision transitioned into a second image, a message left behind by the ancient Zeffo who had constructed the temple they were standing in. The message warned them of the threat presented by the starweirds and cryptically spoke of "finding the way to the edge of infinity" when the time was right.
After the images faded and the chamber returned to normal, a Zeffonian artefact was revealed – the couple took it, triggering a security system that began flooding the forgotten temple. In poor health but with no other choice, the duo ran through the crumbling ruins with the water at their heels.
Thankfully, the temple was not particularly large and Isla had had the foresight to memorise the route back to the Jedi temple above, allowing them to reach the bottom of the well before the water caught up with them. When it did, the Waverunners used the rising water to float to the top.
With their tasks complete for the time being the couple sat down to enjoy a moment's rest, watching as Governor Lambert arrived aboard the Outreaching Hope to provide orbital support, its impressive shields preventing Darth Hamon's dreadnought from firing on Shimka's Well.
Fall of the Hammer[]
Grab my hand.
—Frank, to Lord Vauk.
Oblivious to the wider conflict, Zhavi and Isla only became aware of the ongoing situation with the Empire when they were contacted by Aaellu, who informed them that Master Ah'rek had given his life to shield Republic forces in the Sleeping City from orbital bombardment after the Imperial forces betrayed Hamon's agreement.
On a more personal note, Zhavi's elderly mother Nomi had launched a suicide attack on the Imperial dreadnought, crashing a shuttle filled with explosives into one of the hangars.
In doing so, Nomi had caused enough damage to the vessel's power distribution systems to force the crew to stop the bombardment and redirect energy to more vital areas, such as shields and life support.
Additionally, several hangars and the ships within had been caught by the blast, with many more being temporarily cut off due to structural damage on the periphery of the blast. Combined with the arrival of the Outreaching Hope, the Imperial dreadnought was temporarily toothless; while still a formidable vessel, it had – until the crew could make repairs, at least – no means of resuming its attack on Shimka's Well.
Gretta and Shen Lambert had followed after Nomi, using the distraction she had created to board the dreadnought – without consulting anyone else – and make for the hyperdrive, intent on preventing the ship from fleeing.
Aaellu, knowing her children were capable but fearing for their safety aboard such a massive vessel, asked the couple to follow them and help them complete their mission and return unharmed, stressing the importance of the latter over the former.
Tired but unwilling to sit on the side-lines while they were needed, the couple regrouped with Republic forces in the Sleeping City to prepare for their new assignment, fuelling up on caf and kolto before taking a shuttle up into orbit for their next confrontation with the Empire.
Once aboard the dreadnought, the couple made their way to the hyperdrive room through a combination of stealth and surprise, exploiting the chaos Nomi had triggered within the Imperial's prized weapon of war to avoid fighting when they could and ruthlessly overwhelming their enemies when they could not.
Although they did not encounter Gretta or Shen en route, they were able to successfully reach the hyperdrive room and destroy the hyperdrive's systems using the Force.
Unfortunately, the ship was able to begin its jump into hyperspace moments before the hyperdrive was taken offline, and while it was almost immediately ripped back out of hyperspace – damaging the vessel even further – it had travelled far enough to be well out of range of the turbolasers on the Republic vessels called in to combat it.
To make matters worse, Zhavi and Isla were intercepted in the hyperdrive room by a Sith Lord they recognised from an encounter years earlier; Lord Vauk, the only surviving child of Frank Pad.
Though outnumbered, Vauk was fresh while Zhavi and Isla had had little time to recover since they first touched down on Shimka's Well.
As such – with Isla's injury still healing – Vauk was able to incapacitate the Chiss with Force attacks early on in the duel, leaving Zhavi alone against the Sith Lord.
Fatigued by her ordeals against Shauko and Hamon, the duel quickly turned against Zhavi and she was eventually brought to the ground, Vauk looming over her, sabre seconds from plunging down to deliver a killing blow. Before he could make his move, however, a blaster bolt burned through his chest, causing him to topple and almost fall into the guts of the hyperdrive room, saved only by his quick reflexes.
Nonetheless, having sustained a serious injury Lord Vauk lacked the strength to pull himself up to safety without assistance.
By the time Zhavi dragged herself up off the floor, she realised it was Frank who had opened fire and saved her life and worked out that he must have followed them onto the dreadnought shortly after they launched from Shimka's Well.
Desperate to save his only surviving child, Frank offered his hand to Vauk, insisting it was not too late and begging him to leave with him.
Tragically, Vauk refused, instead using his last moments to reveal that Hamon's apprentice Shara Vhenn was his daughter. Vauk asked his estranged father to rescue her, as the commanding officer of the dreadnought had imprisoned her for treason when she confronted him about the bombardment.
With his last request delivered, Vauk willingly let go of the walkway, choosing to fall and accept certain death rather than face capture.
With no reason to stay and the damaged dreadnought on a crash trajectory with an uninhabited desert moon, Zhavi, Isla and Frank began making their way out of the ship, the aging SIS chief himself being the one to insist that they make their escape, painfully aware that the trio had no chance of reaching Shara in the detention centre and escaping in time.
Reluctantly, Zhavi and Isla agreed, already conscious of the fact they still had not found Gretta and Shen, who – unbeknownst to the elder Jedi – were already in the process of escaping the doomed vessel via an escape pod.
The trio managed to reach the shuttle they arrived on and docked with the Republic vessels who had followed in pursuit of the dreadnought, believing they had failed and would have to report the deaths of Gretta and Shen to Aaellu.
Following the dreadnought's relatively gentle crash landing on the desert moon, Republic forces were optimistic about finding survivors.
Shuttles were sent to search the surface and detected blaster fire near the crash site, making it highly likely that Gretta and Shen were still alive and making a fighting retreat from the surviving Imperials.
Assisted by air support provided by the shuttles, Gretta and Shen were located and rescued by Republic forces, exhausted but unharmed – and accompanied by their unexpected ally, Shara Vhenn.
Despite betraying the Empire after the Imperial commanders disregarded Hamon's arrangement with Zhavi and helping Gretta and Shen to disable the ship's shields when they could not reach the hyperdrive, Vhenn was arrested after boarding the Republic frigate in line with Republic policy. She was then transferred into Isla's custody, at the latter's request.
Returning to the main temple on Shimka's Well, Isla questioned Shara briefly about the events that had transpired aboard the dreadnought, learning that she killed the Sith who ordered the bombardment but had been caught off-guard by the admiral commanding the ship, leading to her incarceration until Gretta and Shen released her from her cell.
When asked why she turned on her peers, she replied that it was the "honourable" thing to do, as her master had taught her.
Isla detailed the circumstances surrounding the death of Shara's father once her own questions had been answered, revealing Shara's link to the Republic and – specifically – the leader of the SIS team that had killed her mother years earlier.
Believing she was trustworthy just as Darth Hamon had been, Isla transferred Shara to the custody of her grandfather, explaining that Frank had lost all three of his children and she would not be responsible for him losing his grandchild too.
Zhavi and Isla chose to remain on Shimka's Well long enough to see out Zhavi's pregnancy (leaving only briefly to pick up Acina), coordinating the ongoing excavation of the lost settlement and liaising with the Jedi Order for the purpose of sharing information recovered from the world.
Isla put her years of sculpting to good use, constructing statues of Ah'rek and Nomi – which were erected in the Sleeping City – during their stay to ensure their sacrifices would be remembered across the generations.
Towards the end of Zhavi's pregnancy, Governor Lambert suggested the couple re-establish the enclave at Shimka's Well. Given their experiences of life as Jedi both within and without the Jedi Order, their knowledge of the dark side and overcoming it as well as their understanding of the value of love and friendship, Lambert believed the couple would make the ideal figureheads for a new chapter in the Jedi Order's history.
Both women were unconvinced at first, but having taken a liking to the cosy paradise and spending much of the year leading the resettlement already, Zhavi and Isla eventually agreed to consider Lambert's idea on the condition that he stay involved, Zhavi claiming that as it was his "dumb idea" he should be around for them to point the finger at if it went badly.
Regardless of what they intended to do in the future, the Waverunners decided they wanted to stay on Shimka's Well for the time being anyway.
Several months after the Sith Empire were driven from the planet, Zhavi gave birth to twins, a boy and a girl, who the couple named Meetra and Atem, the latter being a name of Sith origin chosen by Isla while the former was taken from Meetra Surik, a Jedi hero who fought in the Mandalorian Wars and founded the modern Jedi Order.
Grand Mentor of Shimka's Well[]
Denouncing the Jedi Order[]
It's clear t' me now that the morals, the values, of the Republic can be discarded whenever it's convenient. That ain't good enough f' me. So with that in mind, I'd like t' take this opportunity t' formally resign as a member of the Galactic Senate. From today onwards, I'll be devotin' my time t' my family – an' the new Jedi Enclave I intend t' open on the independent world of Shimka's Well, where Jedi'll be held t' the same law as everyone else.
—Zhavi Waverunner addressing the Galactic Senate in 45 ATC.
In 44 ATC the serving senator of Coruscant stood down from the position due to ongoing health problems, opening up the role to a new wave of prospective candidates.
To the surprise of the Jedi Order, the public and even those close to her, Zhavi Waverunner made the decision to enter her name as a potential candidate to replace the outgoing senator, beginning an election campaign with the help of a number of sponsors who jumped at the opportunity to associate themselves with a Jedi war hero.
Using her reputation, her tough upbringing in the Coruscanti underworld and her straight-to-the-point manner to sway voters, Zhavi proved to be enormously popular and polls correctly predicted a comfortable victory for the Jedi, which she achieved towards the end of the year.
As promised in her campaign, Zhavi championed a reduction in military funding – which proved controversial, if only because of her military lineage – in favour of reinvigorating Coruscanti infrastructure, increasing the number of CSF personnel and supporting local businesses.
Additionally, Zhavi was one of many outspoken senators pushing for higher taxes on large corporations, many of whom had made considerable profits as a direct consequence of decades of galaxy-wide warfare.
Assisted by Isla, Zhavi also pioneered the "Green Gizka" initiative, an incentive scheme that businesses could opt into to donate two percent of each sale they made to local charities helping the impoverished and homeless to get back on their feet. Any business that opted in were entitled to display the Green Gizka logo on their packaging to indicate their participation in the scheme.
The initiative proved to be popular with the citizens of Coruscant and – thanks to Zhavi and her team working hard to market the moral value of the scheme – sales of those who opted in increased as the public became increasingly conscious of the idea, leading to previously sceptical businesses joining the initiative in the hopes of seeing a surge in their own sales.
Unfortunately, the Jedi Order demanded a formal senate inquiry into the Strategic Asset Reassignment Bureau during Zhavi's election campaign, which was widely regarded as a retaliatory move in response to her decision to run for public office.
Towards the end of 45 ATC, the debate about whether SARB should be disbanded or not had been ongoing for several months, with dozens of sessions taking place in the senate during that period detailing every minute detail about the organisation, its members, past activities, witness testimonies and endless speeches from members of the Jedi Order expressing their concerns and recommendations.
Zhavi herself delivered a speech in the Grand Convocation Chamber on the day of the vote, reminding her peers of the values of the Galactic Republic and how those values could not be allowed to be dictated by the religious convictions of the Jedi Order, as doing so compromised everything the Republic stood for; diversity, tolerance and unity.
While the session was in recess ahead of the vote, Zhavi and Isla were approached in the Grand Concourse by Master Gnost-Dural, who expressed his apologies for the unpleasant direction recent events had taken. He told the couple that he had attempted to calm the Jedi council, but that Zhavi's decision to involve herself in politics was too much for them to ignore, leading to him being outvoted.
Nonetheless, he made it clear the circumstances were not the direction he would have chosen to take personally; although he was duty bound to stand with the council, he wanted both women to know that he had a great deal of respect for them – and that their years of service against the forces of the dark side was not something that could be easily overshadowed by their differing perspectives.
Zhavi and Isla expressed their own regrets that they had to be in opposition to the Jedi Order; they believed in what the ancient organisation stood for at its core, yet they were unable to reconcile with its methodology.
Both parties voiced their hope that – one day – things might be different, but with the wounds of war still fresh and with the Sith still lingering on the Republic's periphery, Gnost-Dural speculated that fear of the unknown made many Jedi wary of new ideas. Zhavi quoted the Jedi Code in response, reminding the Kel-Dor, "there is no ignorance, there is knowledge", an unspoken point which he acknowledged with a nod.
Wishing each other well, Zhavi and Isla continued on their way and Gnost-Dural left to join the other Jedi, both parties returning to the chamber when the session resumed. After several hours of further discussion, the Jedi representatives requested a rescheduling of the vote, claiming to be waiting on additional witnesses who wished to speak on the matter.
Zhavi and Isla were both astonished when their request was granted, angering Zhavi and prompting her to address the senate with an impromptu speech.
In said speech, Zhavi scolded the Jedi for what she called a "targeted harassment campaign" and reminded her fellow senators that the Sith were always spawned from within the ranks of the Jedi Order – the Dark Jedi exiles, Exar Kun, Revan and Malak. All had been Jedi and all had gone on to cause immense suffering to the Republic and the wider galaxy.
She claimed it was not only wrong, but insulting that the Jedi would presume to judge others and question their place in the Republic when it was the Jedi Order itself whose place – and privileged existence – ought to be questioned. Furthermore, Zhavi called out the senate itself for entertaining the Jedi's vendetta in the first place, calling the entire spectacle a mockery of the Republic no matter the outcome.
Having already caused a great deal of unrest in the chamber, Zhavi opted to take the opportunity to truly punctuate her anger; she declared that she no longer believed in the Republic – claiming its willingness to discard its morals and values for political convenience was unacceptable – and intended to step down from her position with immediate effect.
Most controversial, however, was her decision to finally act on Benjamin's suggestion; Zhavi declared her intention to open a new Jedi Enclave and lead Shimka's Well as an independent colony, a statement which sparked fury from many members of the senate.
Departing the chamber together, Zhavi and Isla were contacted via comm by Master Gnost-Dural on behalf of the Jedi council and asked to report to the council chamber for an audience in one hour's time – a particularly short window which gave the couple a clear warning about what was coming.
Once there, the couple were heavily chastised by the majority of the Jedi council members, who saw Zhavi's speech as heretical.
The council stated that they had been more than lenient with the duo over the years, but claimed that they had gone too far with their recent behaviour and, moreover, had no right to Shimka's Well as it was a Jedi world. They also warned that they did not – and would not – approve her plan to begin a new Enclave.
Zhavi responded by warning them that if they wanted the planet, they would have to be prepared to take it by force, as it was not in Republic space and she would not be turning over control to the order. One of the masters rose from his seat, warning that what the couple proposed was treason and that they would not be allowed to proceed
Gnost-Dural insisted the master retake his seat, however, at which point Zhavi mocked him for his threats, stating that he had shown his true colours; arrogance, the Jedi's failing since time immemorial.
Despite the overt hostility to her declaration of independence from the Jedi Order, Zhavi assured the council that they would be welcome as guests of the colony if they so desired and that – regardless of what they might believe – neither she nor Isla enjoyed butting heads with the council.
They simply could not tolerate the corruption that dogged the Jedi Order and would not stand to see their friends and allies harassed and persecuted without provocation.
Zhavi warned them, however, that they would not enjoy the same special privileges the Republic afforded them while on Shimka's Well; the law was to be obeyed by all, Jedi and civilians alike.
Declaring that both sides had said all there was to say and that heated words and thinly-veiled threats served no one, Gnost-Dural called the meeting to a close, dismissing the call of one of the masters for Zhavi and Isla to turn in their lightsabers. Gnost-Dural and Master Oteg wished the couple well and bade that the Force be with them, a sentiment they returned before they left the chamber.
On their way out of the temple, a number of Jedi approached them to express sympathies, praise their stance or scold them, but it was when they reached the entrance that they encountered eleven Jedi who were awaiting their arrival. These Jedi – varied in rank – informed the couple that they wished to join them on Shimka's Well.
All of them believed the Jedi Order had become too political, the Jedi themselves straying from their true calling as keepers of the peace, and while some simply wished to serve in a more neutral capacity others aspired to the lifestyle that Zhavi and Isla had forged for themselves, believing in their more progressive vision of what exactly it meant to be a Jedi.
Zhavi warned them that her plans were a spur of the moment decision, not something she had thought out, yet the group expressed their faith in her resolve, remarking that a determination to change things was all they needed.
Unbeknownst to Zhavi, Carth had gathered all SARB personnel for an emergency meeting following his sister's speech, during which the group came to the consensus that it would be better for them to "jump" before they were "pushed".
As SARB had been deliberately underfunded and left to solve its own resource issues during its formative years, most of its assets were stolen, salvaged or otherwise obtained without relying on funding from the Strategic Information Service.
Thus, with the Republic having no real claim to the undocumented resources used by the bureau, Carth contacted Captain Kondarr and put his suggestion to her; SARB would disband and its members would relocate to Shimka's Well, taking the Relinquished and all the resources aboard as their own.
Kondarr had agreed, putting the plan to her crew and giving them a chance to voice their thoughts before she committed them to a course of action.
Predictably, some were nervous and unsure about the moral gray area they were operating in, yet as almost all of them were ex-Imperial they were not particularly impressed or reassured by the Jedi's targeting of them.
Kondarr's proposal was – after some discussion – met with almost universal approval.
Although the captain made it clear that anyone who wanted no part in the relocation could be escorted to Coruscant – and in doing so avoid being implicated in the taking of the ship – none of her crew chose to take the offer.
By the time Zhavi and Isla had returned to Shimka's Well, the Relinquished was waiting in orbit above the planet and the forces of SARB stood ready to assist with the formation of a new order of Jedi.
Legacy of Peace[]
Still feels weird bein' here.
—Zhavi, after disembarking on Som Galla in 61 ATC.
By 61 ATC, eighteen years after the rediscovery of Shimka's Well, Zhavi and Isla had successfully established and maintained the colony on Shimka's Well, with Zhavi leading the Enclave and Isla heading the city council as governess.
Having devised and implemented a module-style approach to Jedi training, Zhavi and Isla's Enclave had proven successful over the years, integrating Force users into normal society just as they had set out to do.
Force-sensitive children learned alongside their non-sensitive peers in addition to learning to safely control their abilities, while the role of Jedi was offered as a further education option rather than being a compulsory life choice thrust upon an individual without their consent.
Implants to prevent the abuse of the mind-altering powers of the Force were offered to all citizens free of charge, and while not compulsory many jobs required an applicant to be fitted with an implant to ensure they could not be compromised and unwillingly abuse their position.
Like Master Shimka before her, Zhavi directed the Enclave's focus towards the study of the various crafts of the Jedi artisans, rather than emphasizing conflict as a primary role for the students to aspire to, emphasizing that the Jedi of Shimka's Well were not warriors.
Basic combat techniques – encompassing blaster training and the operation of related technologies – were taught for the purpose of self-defense and protecting the innocent should the need arise, but dedicated combat training was taken up at a student's own volition. This effectively discouraged combat training while also encouraging the more dedicated students to sacrifice their own time to learn to fight.
Zhavi herself opted not to train combat classes at all, choosing instead to teach a lightsaber construction module, though her time was primarily spent organizing the running of the Enclave in her role as "Grand Mentor", an informal term of address stemming from her refusal to take up the title of Grand Master.
Believing that rigid formality was one of the Jedi Order's many flaws, Zhavi emphasized a friendly and informal environment at the Enclave and – to that end – abolished the use of all titles, save one.
Upon graduating, a Jedi trainee was issued with a Shimkan warrant badge and elevated to the rank of Jedi Knight; this was the only title formally recognized within the Enclave, though unlike in the mainstream Jedi Order the position was regarded as a qualification rather than a rank and covered a broad spectrum of ability.
Students were encouraged to take on additional modules after graduation, allowing them to specialist in whatever fields of study they felt called to them.
Lightsaber construction was the most common post-graduate module as the construction of a lightsaber was not required – nor expected – for a student to graduate. Zhavi often used her role as the module's teacher to dispel the excitement surrounding the weapon, instilling a greater respect for the lethal blades in others while discouraging some students from building one entirely.
With the old enclave fully explored and restored to working order, the site once again became the source of marvelous new inventions and works of art that employed crafting techniques unique to the artisans of Shimka's Well, combining common crafts such as sculpting and sewing with the Force to fashion items with remarkable qualities.
Zhavi had advanced her tailoring skills beyond what was possible without the Force, while Isla was the enclave's foremost sculptor, primarily working with clay, though she had expanded her craft in the years since her arrival at Shimka's Well and had even – after considerable arm-twisting from Zhavi – taken to teaching a popular module of her own.
Unfortunately for the Waverunners their duty to those who called Shimka's Well home – in addition to raising three children – kept them from devoting more time to their more artistic pursuits.
Further adding to their burdens was the shipping company Isla had set up to accommodate the colony's import/export needs, which necessitated regular off-world trips in order to maintain uninterrupted business between trading partners, often for several weeks at a time to encompass family visits and periodic meetings with the mainstream Jedi Order.
Officially the meetings were to retain diplomatic ties between the Jedi Order and Zhavi's independent Enclave, though in reality they were mostly informal occasions that allowed both parties to step away from their busy schedules to catch up.
Master Gnost-Dural's initial worries about their Enclave had developed into a genuine interest in their work, and so the couple looked forward to their meetings with the elderly Kel Dor.
A number of years after the Battle of the Dromund Forge, the couple had received an invitation from Ben and Sera Artofen – the former having taken Sera's name after their marriage – to visit the volcanic world of Som Galla.
The unexpected couple had taken up the informal position of joint rulers of the Sith-worshiping population, declaring the world's independence from the Sith Empire after Darth Vokuur's death, which had prompted the Republic to reluctantly leave the planet – which had no more than half a dozen unarmed ships and no army – alone in the years since.
The Som Gallans held an annual festival celebrating the Sith, with celebrants from across the islands flooding to the capital to spend frivolously at the markets, partake in the various activities on offer and watch the fireworks display that marked the beginning of the week's festivities.
It was this unusual flavor of carnival that Isla and Zhavi had been invited to and – strange as it seemed – their attendance had become an ongoing tradition in the years since they were first welcomed to the world.
Traditionally the carnival involved the wearing of clothing and costumes inspired by the Sith of old and applying makeup reminiscent of the tattoos common among members of the most recent incarnation of the Sith Empire, making it an even stranger event for Zhavi and Isla.
Acina, Atem and Meetra were naturally too young to share in their discomfort, but over the years the couple had become slightly more at ease with what they realized was a cultural tradition, rather than a true adoration of the Sith.
Given the difficult relationship between Isla and Sera in the past, the couple had made it a tradition of their own to arrive later than arranged, guaranteeing that Benjamin and Aaellu – who also visited during the carnival – were always present on Som Galla by the time they arrived.
In spite of their old grudges, however, Isla and Sera had developed a mutual respect for each other after saving one another's lives aboard the Dromund Forge, and over the years the carnival had grown into a tradition shared between the families, evolving into a busy gathering as more and more family members joined in on the surprising tradition.
Just as she did every year, Zhavi fought and bested Mariko, Suiko and Sakura Artofen at their request, testing their lightsaber skills and remarking that they had all improved significantly over the year.
Isla and Zhavi never stayed on the planet for too long, though they extended their visit that year as they had arrived several days late, finalizing the sale of their Tyrena apartment to Sarna Ordina.
Rescue on Sleheyron[]
Yummobbu. Lookin' just as stunnin' as I remember. Y' don't look a day over seven-hundred.
—Zhavi, to Yummobbu, after breaking into her throne room.
In 62 ATC, Shen Lambert received a message from Mariko Artofen alerting him to the presence of a Jedi who was attempting to rally the locals to rebel against the Artofens' unofficial rule.
Mariko had fallen out of favour with her mother for becoming romantically entangled with Shen, to whom she was – albeit distantly – related, and as such command of the world had been awarded to Suiko while Ben and Sera were attending to business off-world.
Suiko had ignored Mariko's advice, resulting in the pair walking into a trap; Mariko managed to send a message to Shen before she was captured.
Rather than inform his parents – who, like Sera and Ben, strongly disapproved of his connection Mariko – Shen enlisted the help of the more open-minded Acina Waverunner and departed for Som Galla, contacting the intruding Jedi and using Acina's Sector Ranger ID to convince him she was there to take the Artofens into Republic custody.
In doing so, the duo learned that both Suiko and Mariko had already been captured and sold to the Hutts, hiding the Republic's illegal intrusion on an independent world by informing Republic command of the Dark Jedi's imprisonment on Sleheyron, allowing them to buy her from the Hutts and thereby avoid being implicated in her capture.
The Jedi also proudly revealed that the intention behind Suiko's capture was to force her mother Sera Artofen into surrendering herself to the Republic, relying on her affection for her daughter to finally bring her to justice.
Unbeknownst to Shen and Acina, however, Zhavi and Isla were tipped off by an informant within the Strategic Information Service and guessed that Acina had gotten involved when she would not answer her comm.
By the time the couple reached Sleheyron to investigate, Acina and Shen were in the belly of the grand palace of the Hutt slaver Yummobbu, an old business contact of Zhavi's and through whom the Republic intended to buy Suiko and Mariko Artofen.
While Ducky sliced the controls for the trapdoor in Yummobbu's throne room, allowing Isla to drop down and eliminate the overfed k'lor'slug threatening to eviscerate the youngsters, Zhavi greeted the influential Hutt as an old friend, complimenting her and winning an apology for the "confusion" surrounding the entire incident.
Suddenly aware that Suiko and Mariko were associates of Zhavi and her family, Yummobbu did not hesitate to betray her arrangement with the Republic. She provided the family with the tracking data they would need to follow her ships, who had already delivered the sisters and were in the process of escorting the Republic prison ship out of Hutt space.
She also agreed to "forgive" Acina and Shen for their "rudeness", but warned that she would expect Zhavi to come visit her more often in return, to which Zhavi responded by admitting she had neglected her friends from the underworld in recent years.
Though Yummobbu would not order her men to open fire on a Republic vessel given the potential ramifications, she did order them to return to Sleheyron without intervening once the Waverunners arrived – which they did, allowing them to dock with the prison ship and ensure that – even if the prison ship jumped to hyperspace – Suiko and Mariko's Republic captors could not escape.
However the crew made no effort to make the jump the lightspeed, instead holding steady while the captain left the bridge to meet Zhavi and her family to discuss the problem face-to-face.
The captain – adamant that he had the moral high ground despite the illegality of the operation – refused to back down and hand the sisters over initially, but after a lengthy back-and-forth and a tense standoff, he conceded that Zhavi had the forces – and the clear intention – to take the prisoners whether he agreed or not.
Rather than risk his crew and his ship, he allowed Suiko and Mariko – both heavily drugged and secured, exactly as their mother had been decades earlier – to be transferred into their custody, but made it clear to Zhavi that, with the war tapering off and the Sith Empire retreating further and further from the Core Worlds, "patriots" would soon start "bringing rogue elements into line".
Zhavi took the threat in her stride, though, and suggested that if that was the case, he would be wise to stop breaking the law before those patriots decided they had would no longer turn a blind eye to military corruption.
Once the Artofens were safely aboard their ship, the opposing parties went their separate ways without bloodshed, returning to Shimka's Well. Acina – exhausted from the work Yummobbu had tricked them into doing, the subsequent chase through Sleheyron's sewers and the fight through the palace – retired for the journey, falling asleep within minutes of setting her head down.
Zhavi and Isla, sensing the emotions between Shen and Mariko first-hand, remained in the cockpit for the duration of the journey, deciding to allow the youngsters some privacy.
As pleased as the couple were to have rescued the Artofens without direct action against the Republic, the fact that elements of the Republic were orchestrating illegal kidnappings with the help of the Jedi Order was an unsettling development in their relationship with the Galactic Republic.
During the journey back, the couple composed two messages, one for the attention of the Republic military and one for Master Gnost-Dural, both messages expressing their disappointment while also making it clear that – as Shimka's Well had a formal alliance with Som Galla – any further action against the world would be considered an attack on Shimka's Well and the colony of Farrow, who made up a third of that alliance.
Isla jokingly mused if they were on the wrong side – rescuing Dark Jedi from Republic custody with the help of a Hutt crime lord who had serious money invested in the slave trade – but Zhavi reiterated what they both knew; morality was never as simple as "light" and "dark".
The Cyborg and the Mandalorian[]
Y'll be using these sabres f' the duel, t' show off what our best've been workin' on. Nice broad sweeps folks. Wanna see those colours whirlin' good 'n' proper.
—Zhavi, to Sethos and Meetra, before the display duel.
In 63 ATC both Acina and Atem were marked as MIA – presumed dead – during separate assignments that took place around the same time.
While Atem was presumed to be amongst the casualties sustained by the Expeditionary Response Fleet after an ill-fated investigation into one of its lost patrols, the circumstances surrounding Acina's disappearance were far murkier.
In spite of two of their children being presumed dead, Zhavi and Isla remained in good spirits; they both recalled the vision they had experienced beneath Shimka's Well, and although they worried for their children they knew they would return when they were fated to.
Nonetheless, they hoped that they would not have to wait long.
It was during the first day of the Enclave's annual Wisdom Week event – an annual cultural exchange that saw Shimka's Well play host to visitors from other Force-using groups and interested parties – in 66 ATC that Acina and Atem returned from their adventures elsewhere.
The day began unremarkably, with Isla and Zhavi rising early to ensure that everything was in order for the opening of the Wisdom Week event and that they were on-hand if anything required their attention at the last minute. Zhavi stopped by the central island to catch the last few minutes of Meetra's lightsaber training class and remind her that she had volunteered to take part in a display bout on the temple mesa at midday.
Prior to the display bout, Zhavi introduced Meetra to Sethos Lambert, one of Benjamin and Aaellu's children and a powerful Force-user against whom Meetra would be sparring.
The bout itself was to be a demonstration of both the standard of the training provided at the Enclave – Meetra being the Enclave's star duellist – and the work of the artisans, with lightsabers employing unique synthetic crystals being used for the performance.
Attempting to flirt with Sethos to distract him before the match, Meetra was rebuffed and chastised for her promiscuity and quickly found herself the victim of her own underhanded tactics, her pride and confidence having taken a hit.
Spurred on by her determination to humiliate him publicly in retaliation, Meetra was – to her horror – bested handily by Sethos – as Zhavi and Isla, spectating nearby, had planned – and in doing so was forced to face a new challenge that would truly test her; accepting that she could not always be better than those around her.
Daughter of the Nightmare City[]
We're glad you're home sweetheart."
"Not that we were worried. We'd already seen you comin'."
"But we're still relieved to see you safe and sound all the same. Welcome home.
—Isla and Zhavi to Acina, after her return to Shimka's Well.
Leaving Meetra to mull over her defeat once the duel was over, Zhavi and Isla ventured out to their favoured training ground and engaged in their weekly practise duel, knowing that – as always, thanks to the ever-deepening fusion of their presences – the duel would result in a stalemate.
However, their encounter was interrupted by the unscheduled arrival of a small civilian craft, aboard which was Acina and her girlfriend Kelsie Sayaki. Meetra was present to greet her sister and immediately escorted her to where Zhavi and Isla were sparring, breaking up their unwinnable duel with the "revelation" of Acina's survival.
Zhavi and Isla welcomed their daughter home, revealing the admittedly hazy details of their vision to Acina, who agreed that – vague or not – their description of their vision fit loosely with the events she had been through.
Before making any effort to explain her disappearance, Acina introduced Kelsie to her parents and asked where Atem was, as she would rather wait for them all to be together so she only had to tell the story once.
Disappearing at the same time, neither sibling was aware the other was missing, and Acina was disheartened to hear her younger brother might be dead.
Isla promised that he would return very soon, however; their disappearances were linked, their return to Shimka's Well would be no different.
Acina explained that she was investigating a new lead on the senate corruption case she had closed and received a medal for in the weeks before her disappearance, believing she had been misled and that the senator imprisoned as a result of her investigation – who had killed himself shortly before his trial – was innocent.
Unfortunately, Acina's partner Ganner was killed in pursuit of their lead on Sleheyron while Acina herself was incapacitated, waking up aboard a slave shuttle, and though she managed to free herself and climb onto the roof, doing so activated an automated purge protocol that incinerated the other slaves still inside.
Acina was then shot in the head by a security escort she had been unaware was following the shuttle, plummeting to the cityscape below and waking up three months later in an isolated city known as "the Under", her fatal injuries repaired by beyond-bleeding-edge cybernetic implants.
In the years that followed Acina and her new friends earned a living as mercenaries, unable to escape the Under, access to which was restricted by the corporations who ran the city.
Eventually Acina was able to access the control server and discover that the technology common within the Under was designed by an unknown group residing beyond the edge of the galaxy.
Said group were using the cybernetic technology to generate mental instability; those who succumbed to psychosis were captured by law enforcement agents and sent to processing centres, where their minds were uploaded to a prison database.
Inside the database, the insane minds remained conscious and interacted and entangled with one another, deepening the mental anguish of the prisoners and twisting the Force around the prison.
Once enough minds were collected and the disturbance was strong enough, the group intended to somehow tap into the madness to power a form of hypergate technology that would allow them to bypass the hyperspace disturbance that barred travel in and out of the galaxy.
Acina warned that the threat was still down there as she had elected not to deal with it herself; she would not risk leaving Kelsie alone in a place she referred to as a "city of nightmares".
Instead, the couple had used the access codes retrieved from the control server to leave the city, learning afterwards that the Under was secreted away beneath Nar Shaddaa, down near the true surface of the planet.
When Zhavi questioned why she could no longer sense the Force in Acina, her eldest daughter explained that the control server uploaded the minds of those who accessed it as a security measure, disconnecting a user from their body to kill them before injecting them with nanotechnology to revive them, transforming their body into an organic-machine hybrid.
Primarily intended to prevent unauthorised access by Jedi, who the mysterious group viewed as a threat, the benefits provided by the process came at a cost; Acina was no longer able to wield the Force.
More shockingly, the Force no longer moved through her at all – which concerned Zhavi, Isla and Meetra, as all life was touched by the Force to some degree or another.
Zhavi and Isla asked Acina to join them – alone – for a walk, hoping to go over the specific details concerning the extragalactic group who were attempting to enter the galaxy, and tasked Meetra with introducing Kelsie to Shimka's Well.
As the group began to split off, Isla stopped Kelsie briefly to thank her for supporting her daughter in her time of need.
During Acina's debriefing, Zhavi and Isla noticed a Mandalorian vessel coming in to land; with no reason for Mandalorians to visit Shimka's Well, they suspected that Atem was aboard the vessel.
Once Acina had provided every detail she could recall about her time in the darkest depths of the lost underbelly of the Smuggler's Moon, Zhavi and Isla escorted Acina back towards Temple Mesa, knowing that she would be happy to see her brother alive and well.
Son of Clan Gharva[]
My boy, the Mandalorian... startin' t' understand what y' grandma went through when she found out I was smugglin'.
—Zhavi, to Atem, after learning of his joining of Clan Gharva.
Upon their arrival at Temple Mesa, Zhavi and Isla's suspicions were confirmed; Atem had been aboard the shuttle, although when he and his companion disembarked he was unrecognisable, clad head to toe in Mandalorian armour.
Unlike Acina, however, his presence in the Force remained intact, and as Meetra led the group to greet him he removed his helmet, revealing his identity to everyone.
Atem introduced his partner, Josie Gharva, and explained that it was thanks to her that he survived the destruction of the Expeditionary Response Fleet. Josie risked her own safety to act against the cult who had conscripted her clan to fight for them – the Abyssal Screams – by capturing Atem alive, rather than executing him along with the rest of the crew, as ordered.
He also revealed that Bao Shotti, a distant relative and lifelong friend of Zhavi's, had been killed despite reaching an escape pod when the cultists tracked down each and every pod, ensuring nobody survived the ambush.
Atem was incapacitated and woke up in the camp of Clan Gharva, where he was outfitted with Beskar and blasters to allow him to blend in with the clan.
Following his survival, Josie personally oversaw an ongoing and brutal training regime designed to harden him into a Mandalorian warrior in the hope of using him to help free not just Josie's clan, but the numerous other clans who were living under the thumb of the Abyssal Screams and their Mandalorian allies, Clan Bossim.
A group of mercenary pretenders who called themselves the Gilded Brotherhood were the target of Josie and Atem's first strikes, but due to the trouble their actions caused for her clan the pair were exiled by the clan's alor and forced to live in isolation in the hills.
For a while they stopped trying to resist Clan Bossim's rule, but after Atem killed a trio of Gilded Brotherhood thugs like-minded members of Clan Gharva sought them out to join them, including the clan's armourer, which revitalised their plans for a revolution.
After contracting locals to construct the foundations of a new settlement, Josie and Atem managed to recruit the warriors of Clan Menti to aid them.
By the end of 64 ATC Clan Menti had claimed the Brotherhood's primary weapon – a hoverbarge – without the assistance of the other clans, an act which convinced Clan Gharva to finally commit to the uprising.
It was only after they defeated the Brotherhood and went after Clan Bossim – who retreated rather than fight the combined forces rallying against them – that they discovered the Abyssal Screams were more than simply a cult.
Josie and Atem travelled to the planet the cultists had claimed as their base of operations at the heart of the system to scout out the location for their impending invasion, only to discover the once temperate farming world had been decimated.
On landing, Atem quickly discerned that the wasteland was not only the result of the dark side, but remained unbelievably strong with it too, so much so that even Josie could feel the effects.
It was a few weeks after that that they had decided to bolster their defences, and a few days more before Atem and Josie convinced the clans they needed Republic and Jedi support to combat the threat posed by the Abyssal Screams, whatever that threat was.
In spite of the sinister implications of a second hive of dark activity in a completely separate part of the galaxy, Zhavi and Isla were relieved to have Atem home, and for the first time since the disappearance of both Atem and Acina the couple were able to relax; no matter what threats required their attention, their children were all home.
Zhavi arranged a holoconference with her military and Jedi contacts in the Republic and summoned her children, their partners and Sethos – to Meetra's irritation – when the meeting began.
Once everyone was present, Zhavi provided an in-depth explanation of the threat posed by the starweirds she and Isla had encountered multiple times over the course of their careers, expressing her belief that the foe Clans Gharva and Menti were facing was tied to the starweirds in some way.
Irrespective of their differing levels of scepticism, the Republic leaders agreed that the data Josie and Atem had provided was evidence enough of something sinister taking place and the destruction of the Expeditionary Response Fleet made it a Republic issue.
They agreed to send the 3rd and 5th fleets to assist the Mandalorians along with a group of hand-picked Jedi Knights – with the expectation that Josie would join the operation to ensure interactions with the clans went smoothly.
Josie had no intention of not being involved regardless of what the Republic wanted, and as her partner Atem pledged his support to the Republic's response too.
In addition to Atem, Zhavi volunteered a group of experienced Shimkan Jedi to assist, though claimed she and Isla were unable to leave the Enclave for the time being.
Nonetheless, the Republic were satisfied with the proposed force and assured Zhavi they would be in touch with regular updates leading up to the launch of the operation. Once the call was over, Acina asked Zhavi why she made no mention of the Under.
The Grand Mentor explained that, while the technology in the Under would offer untold benefits to the galaxy, it would also unleash new terrors while the galaxy was still recovering from decades of war.
She asked Acina if she could honestly say she believed the galaxy would be a better place if the advancements she had encountered there became widespread, to which Acina admitted the capabilities of the technology had often unsettled her during her time in the Under.
Zhavi had no intention of letting the situation beneath Nar Shaddaa continue undisturbed, however, and knew they could rely on a select group of allies to deal with the issue confidentially, without anyone else catching wind of the city's existence.
Once Atem, Josie and Meetra joined the Republic assault group and set off to take on the Abyssal Screams, the senior Waverunners and a team of trusted operatives would descend beneath Nar Shaddaa's lowest levels to eliminate the corporate leaders who controlled the hidden city, erasing all information relating to the creation of the hyper-advanced extragalactic technology and freeing the tortured souls trapped in the digital asylum.
Purge of the Under[]
Yeah I'm a city gal, but somethin' 'bout this place rubs me wrong.
—Zhavi, regarding the Under.
Four months later – joined by a team of skilled Jedi Knights and Darsun Lambert, who had ended up stuck in the Under before Acina yet chose to settle there rather than escape – Isla and Zhavi used the information provided by Acina to locate the hidden entrance to the Under.
Once inside, the team wasted no time hunting down the corporate conspirators linked to the extragalactic invaders, eliminating them all without mercy to ensure their reign over the Under – and their assistance in fulfilling the city's sinister purpose – was brought to an end.
With the corrupt leaders of the Under removed, the team regrouped at the secret entrance to the underground section of the city and began their exploration, quickly confirming that something sinister was going on when they entered a vast series of caverns formed from crystalline structures that were strong in the dark side of the Force.
The team fought through advanced security droids as they made their way through the caverns, eventually locating the hypergate they had come to destroy. Already active, the portal provided a gateway to an unknown location, yet was too small to admit anything of any notable size.
Acina, who located the gate first, was grabbed by an alien arm that reached through the gateway but escaped unharmed thanks to the intervention of her team. When Isla and Zhavi arrived they were able to identify the severed arm as belonging to a starweird, just as they had suspected.
Together, Zhavi and Isla destroyed the database housing the tormented minds of those captured over the centuries, removing the hypergate's power source to shut it down before wrecking the machinery.
Conflicted about what to do about the Under itself, the team eventually came to a consensus; they would change the access codes and leave the city intact, isolated from galactic society to keep the dangerous technology contained, but now free of the poisonous influence of the mysterious invaders.
Appearances[]
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