**Unknown Planet**
*Planet surface outside of village Topamoki*

"Ughh..." Alara attempted to pick herself up from the cold, hard ground she somehow wound up on. Her eyes flickered open to see a dark, forest setting around her. It must be something like 22:00 by now. She wiped blood and dirt off of her face by lifting her right arm to do the dirty work, and sat up with crossed legs. Her Sephi ears flicked in multiple directions and angles as the Battlemaster tried to find out where she ended up.

*This planet does not look familiar. At all. Am I in the Unknown Region somewhere?*

She looked around to find her ARC 170 Starfighter smashed into smithereens behind where she sat. It didn't look like any of the machinery survived. Even the window, which she must have smashed through upon impact of the planet, was shattered into smithereens. The Quaestor immediately tapped her forehead. Sure enough, a lovely sized slice was left behind by the blast. She felt sore all over the place, especially on her elbows, chest, and knees which were scraped up in all sorts of wonderful cuts.

*Fwec. If this scars I'm going to look like some sort of abstract art pictograph.* Alara snarled to herself.

She spat out some more blood from her swollen tongue and instinctively reached for her datapad on her left wrist. Unfortunately, only half of the screen remained attached to the strap. A gasp shook Alara to her core. She immediately ran to her starfighter in attempts to find her droid she named Baxter. He was no where to be found. Then her memory slapped her hard with twinges of guilt and stupidity as she realized she had left him behind to protect her tusked cat, Artemis. The half-Sephi kicked the ground in frustration as her ears fluttered with anger that boiled underneath her skin. She crossed her arms roughly and tapped each arm with her index fingers as she bit onto her lower lip to think of a plan. No ship. No droid. No datapad. She was officially alone.

Well, not quite...

The snap of a twig tickled her Sephi ears. Alara quickly spun around, clicked her sabers off of their belt clips, and ignited their plasma to light the scene. In front of her stood two small, furry creatures. They must have been no more than 4 feet high, and appeared to be a feline-like humanoid. Not quite like Zygerrians, as they were vibrantly colored in hues of green and blue, and were more kitten-like than anything. The creatures began to meow to eachother in gasps and tones of worry as they pointed to the figure before them. Alara immediately turned off her sabers.

"Sorry about that, can't be too careful in such a time as this. I mean you no harm." Alara lifted each finger slowly off of its assigned lightsaber hilt and allowed them to slip to the ground. She kept her hands up and stepped forward. The creatures cooed in fearful tones and stepped backwards. Instinctively, the Quaestor knelt down to meet safer eye contact and tried her best to hush them.

"There there, I mean you no harm. Safe. Okay."

One teal-colored feline blinked its large childlike eyes and tried to mouth the words Alara had just spoken: "Saaaayyffff. Okkaaaiiiee."

"Yes, very good." She held a thumbs up at the creature and flashed a smile. Suddenly the creatures looked at her in a different light and began jumping up and down with joy.

"Aeeeeta! Aayyeeetta!" Each kitten jumped with glee as they shook eachother in amazement.

"A...ayeeta? What?" Alara tried to figure out what was going on. She looked at her thumb. *Did I just send them a signal of sorts in their language? Or are they just happy to know I mean them no harm?*

"Ayeeta! Ayeeta!" One violet creature stepped forward with a thumbs up signal and suddenly bowed down before the half-Sephi. The five other creatures also in attendance immediately bowed as well and raised their hands from the sky to her feet chanting those words over and over again.

"Well... I guess I can get used to this." Alara giggled slightly. She sat on the ground in front of them and suddenly gave into the urge to kiss each of their foreheads.

*Looks like I'm an Empress of sorts, now.*

This should just push it over :) thanks again for the heads up!

Tee hee ;D

In all seriousness though, I'll tell the story...

**Tipoca II Medical Outpost **
*Excidium Summit Chambers*

"Rumors of a war have been spreading, but apparently the newest rumor includes information on the Grand Master pushing off attempting to find us." Braecen Kaeth sighed. He placed his fists on the metallic long boardroom table ahead of him and shook his head. He lifted his eyes to see the newly named Quaestor, his apprentice, biting her lip at the information she was just given.

Alara couldn't help but copy his imagery and shake her head as well. "What do you think caused this? Last I checked, he was absolutely riveting at us. He destroyed our entire system for Palpatine's sake. Why would he put off our impending doom and dare to give us extra time to gather resources to fight back?"

"Could be literally anything. Maybe they're making clones, and ran out of DNA. Or perhaps they needed to stop for fuel." Braecen chuckled slightly in attempts to lighten the situation. "Either way, it is troubling. We need to take advantage of this time and ready our forces. I will get to work on preparing our fleet. But I want *you* to figure out what is going on." The Proconsul pointed across the table and turned to leave the room.

"You're sending **me** for a scout's mission? What of my new House? Shouldn't I be at the helm with them?" Alara scoffed and stood up from her chair. "Are you really audacious enough to put one of our best fighters on a Neophyte's mission?"

The Elder turned around and glared at his apprentice in frustration. "The reason I am sending *you* after the Grand Master is exactly as you stated. You are one of our best fighters. If the Grand Master were to discover our plans and your snooping, I know you'd make it home faster than a Neophyte would. Get your ass into your ship and take a look."

Alara gulped her frustration, paused for a moment, and nodded. "Aye. Understood, m'Lord."

Braecen's shoulders raised in a sigh and he turned to the Battlemaster once more, "My apologies. The rapid changes appear to be getting to me. I want to keep an eye on you in your new position, but I also need your skill. You served the Battle Team Tacitus Athanasius for many moons. We need that skill and your survival instincts on this."

Alara raised her head to meet eye contact with her Proconsul and smiled slightly. "Thank you, M'lord. I'll not fail you."

"I know you won't. You have a whole House depending on your success." Braecen returned the smile. "Congratulations."

"I'm here because of you, ya know. Because of that, I'll bring them success they deserve. I'll be back in a few hours." Alara assured him. The Elder nodded in return, and headed out the door. Her eyes immediately went to her datapad sitting on her left wrist and the Sith began sending off requests for her ship and droid to be ready. Before she could think or speak another word aloud, she headed towards the transport bay.

**Amongst Space**
*Below the Grandmaster's Major Starship*

Alara's ARC-170 Starfighter hung low underneath the Grandmaster's starship, ready to allow its owner to reach the garbage chute.

*It's just after 19:00 hours, here's hoping the dinner rush is over and there aren't any dianogas to deal with,* she scoffed to herself.

"You're not going to need my assistance, are you Lady Deathbane?" her assassin droid, nicknamed as Baxter, spoke with a hint of dread.

"No, Baxter. You're only a droid equipped for perfect situations like this, so you're *obviously* not eligible for such a mission." Alara rolled her eyes and began to prepare herself to enter the garbage chute.

"Okay perfect! I'll go sit over here and keep watch then." Baxter indicated a sound of joy in his vocal components and clapped his hands while returning to his co-pilot seat.

"You're so helpful, you know that?" Alara called from the starfighter's top exit.

"I'm programmed to know of my capability, yes! I'll keep watch and ensure the baddies don't find us here." he answered and clicked in his seat belt as if sealing Alara's lonesome fate.

The Battlemaster let out a sigh and made her way up the garbage chute, dreading what may be ahead of her. The half-Sephi remembered to incorporate traction soles and gloves into her costume to ensure that she would not slip too far down the piping to her doom. She climbed in successfully, closed the latch, and let out a gulp as she made her way up the tunnel, dodging a few times due to quick supper dishes and wrappers. Once she made it to a horizontal surface, her legs were much relieved. The Quaestor couldn't help but wipe off her brow with an elbow as she checked her datapad. Braecen was supposed to upload the starship's blueprints. A slight moment of anxiety sucked the air out of her lungs, but released when she realized she did indeed receive the message.

*Path says go left at the fork. Let's do this, 'Lara."

She headed down the path as directed and ended up at the Grand Master's garbage chute after several twists and turns within the chutes. She could already hear his voice from behind the walls as she drew closer.

"... You know what, Marick? I gotta say. That was the best night I've had in a long time. Thank you for convincing me to go." Pravus laughed and flopped into what must have been his desk chair. Alara peered through a small corner that was curled in the metal chute door and listened carefully. She could see Wally leaning on a sofa, laughing and looking directly at his superior. When Alara turned her eyes to his left, she spotted someone that made her heart sink. Wyndel: Her first love, and the Voice's younger brother.

*What is this pathetic no-callin-back-two-timing-fwecball doing here?* Alara growled in the precincts of her mind.

"I'm glad to hear it, my Lord! When Wyndel told me of this place, I knew I had to bring you there myself. It may be a bar of... the unusual sort... but it's so much fun and the waitresses know how to treat you right." The Voice laughed with a hearty laugh and patted his brother on the back.

*That better not be the place I think it is...*

"Where did you learn about such a place anyway, brother?" Marick asked his younger sibling.

"Well... I came upon it on one of my... how you put it, excursions. A friendly blonde brought me there on accident in her attempts to encourage me to a one night stand." Wyndel spoke earnestly. He smiled slightly, but his eyes told the tale that he felt a sting of nostalgia at his words that left his lips.

*Damn it. It is the place I'm thinking of. So this idiot still has feelings for me then.* Alara smiled to herself mischeviously, then shook it off to continue listening.

"Oh my... Was she any good at least?" Pravus chuckled as he took a sip of Corellian wine that was sitting at the desk before him. With a quick laugh, he took a swig, threw his empty glass, and chugged from the bottle instead.

"You know what they say about blondes. It's always good." Wyndel chuckled. He opened his jacket to pull out his own swig of whiskey in a can.

"Well I for one would like to find Mr. Grand Master here a blonde to try for himself! What say you, Pravus? Shall we continue the gallavanting?!" Marick giggled and stepped towards Pravus with his eyebrow pointing to the ceiling.

Pravus finished chugging his wine, sighed in refreshment, and smirked up at his fellow Dark Council member. "And put off the war any longer?"

Marick hesitated, then nodded. "Well I know my wife might be angry, but it's none of her business when it comes to matters with the Grand---"

"OF COURSE we shall! Where are we in the galaxy right now? Let's head to one with more and more babes! I'm tired of war planning, and this exhaustion won't leave me for another few evenings with blondes and Twi'leks! Let's go now!"

*I think I've heard enough of this.* Alara quickly swung around and headed back to her starfighter. As she slid down the tunnels and chute paths to return to her ship, she quickly typed on her datapad to her Proconsul:

"No need to worry about Pravus. He's busy hunting for the next Miss Grand Master for the night. And the next. And the next. It's time to get our forces ready.

-Alara"