Hoth: Blood and Ice

Galen stood near the entrance of the hanger with one of the tauntauns they'd brought back earlier in the day. The herd had settled in without much trouble. At this point, they were sleeping. One, however, was restless, moving around and crying out. So, the Paladin had brought it here to watch over it.

"It's alright. You're safe." he said soothingly as he walked with it.

Aphr had been restless for her own reasons, and being that she was still staying on her ship rather than in the barracks it meant she had a whole wide space to walk around in with nobody around, and a ton of animals. Basically it was a farm as much as a hanger now. Except she noticed movement, and had quietly made her way. It was only the voice that made her relax, at least a little.

"Are they though? Not sure we're safe, let alone animals" the little Thermal cloak shaped Twi'lek said, sitting on a nearby box and looking past Galen out of the hanger "we're nearing the eye of the storm."

"Animals do sense approaching danger." he nodded. "I'm not sure why this one is more spooked than the others. Just like us, I suppose."

He let the creature wander a bit, still watching as he sat beside Aphr. "More visions?"

There was a nod.

"The invasion begins soon. I saw the ships preparing to take off to Imperial and Republic lands. I've sent the communications up but whether they can do anything? Communicating off the planet seems to be not possible right now."

"I think the only way would be to get a ship through." he said. "But, we have some good pilots."

"And the pirates have a good shot, as the remains of two very large ships show" Aphr commented "but if they can get the message out then they can prepare for the size of these invading forces. It's incredible to think such a large empire managed to exist entirely unknown for so long."

"It's a big galaxy. Larger than we know, apparently" he nodded. "It seems impossible. An unimaginative threat we have little hope to defeat. But, there is hope. We need to cling to that."

"There is much that seems impossible right now" Aphr said with a small sigh "even with the visions. I do wonder if perhaps this Zakuul is right, maybe we do need something to guide us from these ways."

"But, who gets to decide where we should be guided?" he asked.

"You should decide yourself of course" Aphr said without hesitation "but this Zakuul doesn't seem to divide itself. Light, Dark. Everyone is together, and at least before this...whatever happened with their Emperor happened they loved and revered their Emperor. You heard what Senya said."

Aphr frowned.

"Sorry, I've had a day."

"I'm sorry. I'm just not sure what to think about all of this." he said. "There's so much we don't know. I'm worried about my family."

"I'm worried about mine, despite my sister being able to handle herself and my brother being able to handle himself" Aphr looked at Galen "because I know both of them would walk into danger, albeit for different reasons, and I would be powerless to help either of you."

He hugged her. "We're all survivors, Aphr. If anyone here can make it through this, it's the three of us."

Aphr closed her eyes, giving Galen a tight hug.

"I might have some explaining to do to Moyr though. I've been keeping the Vaylin thing from her because I believed we wanted to keep that as quiet as possible, so less people know about Senya. It means refusing to partake in a ritual this evening where Vaylin mentally got involved."

"I think she'll respect your decision, if only because it shows determination a d confidence on your part." he assured her. "I doubt it will remain a secret, regardless. So, you'll be able to tell her soon enough."

"She may have done if I wasn't the only one left standing. Being around Sith you quickly learn they jump to suspicion very fast" Aphr frowned "I didn't want to cause a disruption to the ritual and it may have been that my non-involvement did that anyway."

"She's pleased by who you've become." he told her. "She said that much to me."

"She really said that?"

Aphr looked genuinely surprised.

"When did she tell you this?"

"Not those specific words. But, I do believe that is how she feels." he said. "We went out with a few others to investigate a location they learned about. That led to a fight with a giant invisible droid."

"Well that is nice to hear. I sometimes wonder if she thinks well of me. I'm not exactly what you would think when you see a Sith after all."

Aphr shrugged.

"Not that I should care what people think of me right?"

Another pause.

"Wait...invisible...droid?"

"All I could see of it was a blur." he explained. "I'm not sure the others could see that much. It shot me in the chest with a flashbang. It did far worse to Baesal. Thethys and your sister, though. They cut it to pieces."

"So the pirates are employing invisible droids to attack us? That sounds...ominous. How would they get such advanced weaponry? I wasn't even aware there had been an attack" Aphr frowned "that's just what we need with this whole Vaylin situation."

"It's possible, but I'm not sure this had to do with the pirates." he explained. "It appears the droid was created by the gree, who generally keep to themselves. The others were given directions to its location by, I think, the droid here."

"So there's an unknown third or forth faction at work as well. Either to fight us or disrupt us. Why are all these different elements on this frozen hellhole? Couldn't they have all picked a warm planet?"

Aphr huffed.

"It's bad enough having this mess without freezing my toes off as well."

"Don't lose any toes. You'll walk funny." he teased. "You can borrow my fusion lantern, if you'd like. It will keep you a bit warmer."