Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts: Chapter Eleven

Tahiri comes to with a weight pressing against her chest, something fibrous tickling her nose and bands wrapped tightly around her shoulders.

She lifts her head slightly as she opens her eyes into a mass of blonde hair.

“Noelani?”

The girl makes a short grunting sound in reply. Sighing, Tahiri speaks again, a bit louder this time. “Noelani.”

Noelani bolts upright; her face a mask of fear and shock, and a short yelp echoes in the cavern. Tahiri slowly sits up, and as she does, Noelani nearly tackles her in a hug, squeezing her tightly.

“Oh, I was so worried. They told me that they had killed you, and they were going to apprentice me to a Sith. I-I killed them. I didn’t mean to, but I had to do it to protect you. Please don’t be mad at me.”

Tahiri pries the girl off of her, and holds up her hand, silently prompting her to stop her rambling.

She smiles for her. “I’m not dead, and you did wonderfully.”

Tahiri then looks around the cavern, noticing the three dead warriors. Frowning she gets up, and walks over to the nearest one.

“This one died by amphistaff. Were you using one?”

She turns to see Noelani still kneeling on the floor, her head lowered. When she replies her voice is weak. “Yes.”

“Can I ask how?”

“I asked it to form a Gaderfii, and used it like that.”

Tahiri almost asks how she managed that, but then decides it doesn’t matter. She looks around again, this time searching for her saber. Spying it against a wall, she recalls it to her hand and then snaps it to her belt.

She looks back to Noelani and notices the tattered state of her tunic; Tahiri slips off her outer cloak and puts it around the girl’s shoulders, and then helps her up.

“Come on; let’s find our way out of here.”

Walking in silence, the two girls leave the chamber, and once more find themselves in the darkness of the tunnels.

The wander through the tunnels, letting the Force guide them, hearing the occasional scratching sound of something hanging from the ceiling.

After a while, they find the tunnels lightening once more, and step into a large cavern. Bright lights shine down from above, a thin carpet of grass extends out, and the sound of a fountain is calming to them. But the most surprising thing in this cavern is the house, situated in the dead center of it. A two-story mansion, with wide open windows, everything about it looks inviting, but its very presence sends chills through Tahiri’s heart.

Slowly, cautiously, they begin opening doors, and peering in rooms. Tahiri pauses to look at the marble busts that line the hallways, as Noelani looks into yet another room. A burst of surprise and horror, draws Tahiri’s attention away from the statue, and has her dashing into the room.

It’s a well-appointed medward, complete with diagnostic station, ancient but working medical droids and a full bacta tank.

Floating in the bacta tank, is a woman around Tahiri’s age, her black hair flared out around her, partially obscuring her features, but what Tahiri can see is enough to identify her as Nelani Dinn.

Tahiri slowly walks over to the control panel on the side of the bacta tank, and pulls up Nelani’s vitals. As she is reading them, a machine hums to life, and she can hear a single retort of an electrical arc. Then the bacta fluid begins to bubble, Tahiri looks back into the tank, as she can see waves of energy fluctuating through the vicious medium, and inside Nelani is writhing.

The Force sings a song of agony.

Horrified, Tahiri ignites her saber and shoves it into the machine; the resulting explosion throws both her and Noelani backwards, and shatters the front of the tank.

The bacta flows out, carrying Nelani out of the tank. She comes to a rest in the middle of the floor, and Tahiri rushes to her side, brushing her hair out of her face.

Nelani looks up at Tahiri, pain clouding her eyes. Her voice is a hoarse whisper, “Thank you.”

“Shh. Don’t talk, we’ll get you out of here.”

Nelani gives an abbreviated shake of her head. “Not going anywhere. They made sure of that. Shira. Lumiya. Ja-”

Then the Force sings a melancholy song. A funeral dirge for one of its own.

Tahiri bows her head, and picks the dead Jedi up; she turns around, and sees Noelani behind her, unshed tears glistening in the young girl’s eyes.

Together they leave, never looking back.

-------------------------------------

Five days later, Tahiri and Noelani stand before the Master’s Council, giving a report of their mission. As Tahiri finishes talking, she wonders for a split second why Master Skywalker refuses to look at her.

Finally Master Horn looks up from a datapad. “What is your suggestion that we do next Knight Viela?”

Tahiri glances down for a moment. “We need to find out who was torturing Knight Dinn. Before she died, she made mention of some names: Shira, Lumiya and someone else. We need to know what she was talking about. We know Lumiya is a Sith, as my apprentice saw her.” Tahiri looks towards Master Katarn. “And that she is working in connection with a Force-sensitive Yuuzhan Vong. We also need to send a team to find out more about that asteroid or destroy it.”

Master Skywalker nods his head once, sharply. “We’ll look into that. But tell me Knight Veila, how do you feel about having an apprentice? When she was captured, did your first thoughts turn to rescuing her, or how best to serve the Order?”

Tahiri frowns slightly. “I feel perfectly fine teaching my apprentice. And frankly, in that scenario, I thought about rescuing her. After all, you were the one who told me that I was responsible for her.”

She sees the frown which flickers across Luke’s face and wonders about it for a moment, but then the Grand Master is speaking again. “I’m just wondering if we might have been a bit…reckless in assigning one-on-one apprentices again.”

Tahiri shakes her head. “I don’t know about that Master Skywalker, but it is done now.”

Luke sighs and nods his head. “Yes, yes it is. You are dismissed, but please stay on Ossus, the Council is working up your next mission. You will also retain possession of the Stolen Star for use as a Jedi. Please think about changing the name.”

Tahiri and Noelani bow, and then Tahiri says, “Thank you, Masters.”

---------------------------------------------------

Two weeks later finds three of the Council standing in a large chamber in an abandoned mining complex on an asteroid deep in the Outer Rim.

They are three of the most capable, powerful members. The three most skilled members of the Order at finding things and at working their way into places where they’re not really wanted. They are Corran Horn, Kyle Katarn and Luke Skywalker.

Kyle looks between the other two. “We’ve been through every tunnel of this place, and can’t find anything. Nothing like what Tahiri and Noelani described.”

Corran shakes his head. “Not exactly. Look closely at the ceiling; you’ll see where support struts used to be. I think this chamber is the one that contained the house that they saw.”

Luke sighs, turning around in a circle, his glow sending a shaft of light which plays against the various walls. “It doesn’t matter that much anymore. We know the Sith have returned. We know Lumiya is out there. I think that’s more important than what may or may not have been held here.”

Luke looks around one more time, and then shakes his head. “Let’s go.”

The three turn without saying another word, and leave the chamber, heading back to the hangar where their ships are stored.

If they had turned away at that moment in time, then they would have found part of what they were looking for. They would have seen the ghostly form of a human female, one sheathed in a dull silver suit of armor.

A Life Not His Own: Chapter 18

Anakin twists his head, looking around the small cell. Like everything else Vong, the room is a living thing, the walls pulsing slightly as if they are breathing. He struggles against the blorash Jelly which holds him tight against a bone spar which runs from floor to ceiling. Nestled on a small shelf by the door is an animal about the size of a hoojib, with short bristling fur and a glowing stomach.

The door puckers open and Anakin watches the warrior as he comes into the room. The humid air of the Vong vessel feels odd on his bare flesh after so many months of being locked behind the armor. The ice chips which are his eyes follow every movement the warrior makes.

The warrior snarls at him. “I am not allowed to kill you Jeedai. I find that a horrible restraint against my honor.”

“I’m sorry.” Anakin allows one side of his mouth to twitch in amusement, and gives an earnest bob of the head. “Really, I am.”

“You cannot mock me Infidel.”

Anakin barks a short laugh. “Yes I can, you can just be too stupid to understand when I’m mocking you.”

The warrior’s fist strikes out, catching Anakin on the side. The four spines on the warrior’s fist digs into the side of Anakin’s bare chest, and then the warrior rips his fist away. Anakin’s jaw clenches but he does not scream.

The warrior growls in frustration. “A worthy sacrifice and I’m unable to offer you to the Gods myself. What a despicable situation.”

The warrior’s other fist comes in fast, and the sound of a breaking rib echoes in the small cell, but Anakin still does not make a sound.

The warrior pulls out a small animal, and flicks his wrist. The animal unrolls itself, to a length of just over a meter, as it hardens into shape, Anakin looks at it, reminded of a baton. The warrior hefts it a few times, thumping one end into his other palm. He looks down at Anakin – towering over him – an appearance of happiness shining in his eyes. The thunk echoes in the small chamber as the warrior slaps the baton-animal onto his opened palm. “This is a louaton. Similar to the coufee, but it does not have a cutting edge.”

Then the warrior slams the louaton on the side of Anakin’s chest, just above the four gashes. As his body twists and sways with the blow, Anakin still refuses to make a sound.

The warrior snarls as he strikes again, the strike is accompanied by the crack of a breaking rib as it echoes throughout the room.

Fire flashes in the warrior’s eyes, as he puts the louaton back into a pouch on his belt. “If you will not make music for me, I will have to go visit the other Jeedai.”

Horror flashes in Anakin’s eyes, and he lets a low growl come from his throat. “Do not touch her you honorless worshiper of Yun Shuno.”

The warrior laughs as he backhands Anakin across the face. Then he strides from the room. Anakin strains to hear, to escape. He snarls in anger and frustration as he struggles against his bonds.

As the first scream reaches him, a low growl erupts in his throat, and he struggles harder against the borlash jelly which holds him fast to the bone spar.

The ship shudders, and there is no additional screams. Yet Anakin refuses to let go of his hate. He lets it burns there in his heart, the desire to make them pay for hurting Nelani a bright light within his chest. Still he struggles against his bonds, finally falling limp and exhausted.

He stares at the door for hours, waiting for the warrior to return.

And when he does, the warrior is not alone, Anakin watches as the five warriors enter his cell, and his eyes glitter darkly, a cold fire indicative of his rage. They are laughing to themselves, laughing at him. They pull him from the wall, and push him forward, one picking up the animal with a glowing stomach.

Anakin nods his head, understanding that that is what is keeping his Force powers at bay. He steps through the door, and sees another five warriors out there waiting for him. Before he can do anything, he is pushed from behind.

“Walk Jeedai.”

Anakin casts a glance behind him, and then strides forward, each step his hate and anger growing.

They lead him down a ramp-tongue and out onto the surface-port of a worldship. He looks up, and sees a planet hanging like a jewel above them. Anakin frowns as the warrior behind him pushes him again. He knows that he has seen that planet before, but cannot place it.

Then it comes to him. Mrykr.

--------------------------------------

Nelani raises her head, just that simple movement makes everything scream in pain once again. She tries to free her arms, but they are still stuck behind her in the blorash jelly. Across the room, she can see the small animal with a glowing stomach. A solzan one of the Vong called it. And it is the source of her current lack of powers.

She lowers her head, as the past once more flows over her.

She is lying on the ground, the Force suddenly gone from her and the wound on her shoulder tripling in pain. Through the pain and haze, she sees her Master assuming a fighting stance. Yet her heart despairs as multiple warriors and some bird-like creature emerge from the forest.

She hears the bird creature speaking, threatening her life. There is the simplicity of truth to the bird’s statements. If Lord Vader fights, there is no chance for her survival.

She wants to tell him to not worry about it. To save himself.

Yet he drops his saber, sacrificing his freedom to ensure that she lives just a little while longer. Part of her despairs over this, that they both are being captured.

Yet another, greater part of her soars. He values her that much.

The door yawns open, and Nelani is jolted out of her memories, pushed back into the present as the warrior strides in, his armor glistening sickly in the orange light from the Vong biots. She lowers her head, not wanting to see him.

Then there is a fire in her head, as he grabs her hair and yanks her head up; she grits her teeth biting back the pain which days ago would probably have been enough to incapacitate her. She wonders about this, could being exposed to pain immunize her to it? Make it more and more bearable?

Her eyes focus on the warrior, on his tattered lips, and missing nose. His exposed cheek muscles twitch, and amusement rolls over the warrior’s face.

“Jeedai, I must deliver you alive to Myrkr. But fortunately for me, that is the limits to my orders.”

He drops her head, and slams his fist into her cheek, the spiked implants on his knuckles drive through her skin, and she screams in pain as her head whips around from the force of the blow.

“What beautiful music we make together Jeedai.”

From the corner of her eye she can see him pull his fist back, and she winces, bracing herself for the impact. Then the ship shudders slightly, and the warrior drops his fist, looking towards the front of the ship. Growling he stalks from the room. The door closes behind him, and Nelani slumps against her restraints, blood from her cheek running down her face and dripping to the floor.

She lets out a little sob, wondering what is going to happen to her next, where her Master is. Ultimately she wonders if he is even still alive.

She hangs in the cell for hours, the blood on her face drying to a hardened scab even as her heart breaks more and more. Then the door opens and two warriors walk in. One picks up the solzan, the other releases her from her bonds. She collapses to the ground and the warrior who released her kicks her. She doubles over and around her stomach, her breath rushing from her, as she fights back the urge to vomit.

“Get up Jeedai!”

Nelani struggles to stand fighting back her tears, sniffling slightly. One reaches down and drags her into a standing position by her hair; once they get her to her feet they push her forward. She stumbles out of the door.

“Walk!”

She winces at the brighter light of the hallway and is pushed again from behind, ordered to not stop. She is eventually led out of the ship, and she gasps as she sees a planet hanging above them. Bright, shining and beautiful. She wonders which one it is.

Then she is pushed from behind again, and led inside the worldship, through a processing area and pushed into another, larger cell. In the corner is a human male, wearing black pants and nothing else. He is crumpled and lying in a ball curled up around himself, a wound oozing slightly on his side.

With a wet slurp the door closes behind her, and she spins that way, hearing the laughter of the guards.

She sinks to her knees, the tears she has been fighting since she was led from her other cell finally starting to fall. Through her sobs she is able to say four words, “Master where are you?”

“Nelani?”

His voice is weak, barely a whisper, but it cuts through her tears. She stands and spins in one fluid motion, dropping into a fighting stance over the screams of her battered body. She sees the man in the corner with his head lifted towards her, his ice-blue eyes staring at her, an almost smile on his lips. She cocks her head slightly, as she readjusts his age, putting him not as a man, but older than boy, a teenager about the same age as herself.

There is something familiar about him.

“Nelani.”

His whisper of her name is almost a prayer, a supplication, a reverent demand. He struggles to stand, wincing in pain from the wound to his side, and with worry she steps towards him, her natural compassion overriding her shyness. He gives up his struggle, and collapses back to the ground.

“Nelani.”

Then she recognizes him. She had been looking at his picture just a few months before Rodia. Anakin Solo.

She steps forward, closer to him. “Master?”

He barks a laugh, wincing again in pain. “Some Master I turned out to be.” He places his head back on the stone floor, and begins staring at the wall again. She moves to his side, and sits beside him, pulling his head onto her lap, and stroking his hair.

“It will be all right. We must have faith in the Force.” She hesitates for a moment, before speaking again in a low whisper. “Anakin.”

His body hitches, and she can feel tears as they start to soak into the legs of her pants. One of his arms snakes around her, clinging to her desperately. His reply is barely above a whisper. “I was so worried about you. I’m sorry I got you into this mess.”

She looks down at him, continuing to stroke his hair. “There’s nowhere else I’d rather be.”

-----------------------------------------------

The planet Coruscant, a giant ball of silver hanging in space. It is a planet covered almost exclusively with constructs of durasteel and duracrete. Millions of billions of sentients live on it.

It has the single greatest population in the galaxy, and has been the home of the galactic government for at least 25,000 years.

Throughout its long history it has changed hands between governments dozens of times. Most recently the New Republic wrested it from the hands of the Imperial Remnant. It is protected by dual layered shields, thousands of Golan II space platforms, and the Home Fleet, comprised of seven battlegroups, with each battlegroup containing an Imperial Mark II star destroyer, three Mon Calamari Dauntless-class cruisers, and a host of lesser capital ships.

The Advisory Council, in an effort to protect the heart of the New Republic, has ordered Fleet groups One, Two and Three to return to Coruscant and take up protective orbits. Each of these fleet groups is three times the size of Home Fleet.

It is the single greatest gathering of warships since the Battle of Coruscant during the Clone Wars.

And as the Yuuzhan Vong start arriving; it quickly becomes obvious that it is not enough.

Supreme Commander Sien Sovv stares at the holographic representation of the system, his chubby jowls tightened in concentration. He looks up at the humans and bothans and Mon Calamari who makes up his command staff.

“No matter what, we must keep the planetary shields up. That is our most powerful defense.”

He looks towards a communications technician. “Give me a fleet wide and planetary defense com channels.”

The technician nods her head, and punches a few keys. Then looks at him, and points a finger.

Sien nods his thanks. “Defenders of Coruscant and the New Republic, the Yuuzhan Vong are here. To those manning the planetary shields, I urge you to remain at your posts. Ensuring the shields stay up is the primary consideration, because the shields are the last, best hope for Coruscant. To all forces in orbit, if the shields go down, that is an Omega signal. Your Fleet commanders know the rendezvous point for that eventuality. Obey your commanders, and fight with everything you have. We can prevail against the Yuuzhan Vong. May the Force be with you.”

He shuts off the comlink, and looks around the group surrounding the holographic table. “May the Force be with us all.”

Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts: Chapter Ten

She hangs in the white. It stretches out as far as she can see in all directions. An endless sea of agony and pain, blistering through her neural pathways, chasing down every bit of sane, sapient thought she has.

In short she is going insane.

That is the only way that Noelani can begin to understand it. That is the only thing that she can believe. After all, the pain is everything now.

The pain of not being good enough to evade capture.

The pain of watching her Master get mortally wounded.

Even the pain of entertaining thoughts of joining her captors.

She would curl up and cry, but the Embrace which holds her, keeps her body pulled taut up off the floor, straining the muscles, trying its best to pull her joints of out socket, grinding her ankles together. The only thing she can do is allow the Embrace to pull and abuse her body, while she hangs helpless within its tentacles.

She would scream, but the pain has long since gone beyond even that simple relief. Now her throat is raw and ragged from when she was able to scream, even dreaming of speaking in anything above a whisper causes imaginary fire to flame within her throat.

Yet all of those things are not the reason she thinks she is going insane. The reason she believes she’s going insane has to deal entirely with the presence that she can sense in the Force. The presence that is slowly growing stronger, closer.

The presence that belongs to her Master.

She hears the thrum of a lightsaber coming closer, and for a second she wonders if her Master is going to kill her. If Tahiri will put her out of her misery, end the pain that she is in.

Then the Embrace twitches, pulling against her body even more, the pain she feels everywhere flares higher and greater.

And then she’s lying on the floor.

The cold stone feels wonderful against the cuts and bruises which adorn her exposed skin. As she rests there, she can feel her body pulling itself back into shape, overstressed muscles loosening, joints firmly reseating themselves into their sockets.

She struggles to stand, lifting her head slightly to see her Master.

Hope flairs in her chest.

She watches as Tahiri rushes Ulya, her blade held low, as her body is hunched slightly. Then the hope flickers away as Force lightning shoots out from Ulya’s outstretched hand slamming into Tahiri.

Noelani watches in horror as Tahiri drops to the ground, her saber rolling away with a metallic clinging sound.

Ulya advances slowly, still pouring the Force lightning into Tahiri’s shuddering frame.

Noelani stands, wondering what she can do. How she can help Tahiri.

She reaches for the Force, and feels its warm embrace. She can hear a warm, masculine voice in her head. Attack. Save her.

Noelani doesn’t hesitate.

She dashes forward, interposing herself between Tahiri and Ulya, sticking her hand into the path of the lightning, grabbing hold of it. Agony sweeps up her arm, and Noelani grits her teeth. She focuses on the lightning, on how it feels in the Force, focuses on the Force itself.

And with a snarl, turns it back towards Ulya, redirecting the unnatural energies back towards their source. The blue-white lightning slams into Ulya, scribing dark lines over her armor, wrapping around her, striking her nose and face repeatedly.

In the Force Noelani can feel Ulya’s pain, then she smiles and without meaning to speaks, “This is for hurting Tahiri!”

The lightning stops with a backlash of telekinetic energy which flings both Noelani and Ulya away from one another.

Ulya sits up from the floor, and snarls something in Yuuzhan Vong. The three warriors stand, their amphistaffs uncurling in their hands.

Noelani glances around, and sees Tahiri’s lightsaber. She calls it to hand, feeling the comfortable weight of the hilt, then presses the activator, smiling at the beam of bluish-white light which spills from the emitter.

She can still feel the Force flowing all around her, purer and cleaner than she had ever felt it before. More accessible than she had ever imagined possible.

She pulls it to herself, preparing for this fight, preparing to defend her Master and herself.

And reaches out and can clearly feel each of the warriors as they advance.

She stretches slightly and can feel the other Vong on the asteroid.

Focusing back on the three advancing warriors, she sets herself, her blade held at a mid-guard, waiting for the warriors to make the first move.

Knowing exactly what it will be.

She glances towards the one on the left, and the one on the right darts forward, his amphistaff pushing in towards her exposed side. Without even looking, she twists and positions her blade in its path, knocking the amphistaff out of the way.

They snarl something in their language and Noelani just laughs.

The lightsaber sings in her hand, a symphony of changing pitches as she allows the Force to guide her hands. She is constantly moving, her blade seemingly everywhere at once. But her blade is not her only weapon - she also kicks, and hits and picks up rocks with the Force to throw at them. She uses everything and anything.

The death of one of the warriors catches her off guard. The sudden cessation of life fills her awareness - pulls at her sense of self. As she pulls the saber from his throat, the warrior crumbles to the ground and Noelani just stares at him; a look of shock on her face.

I-I killed him.

Before she can think anything more, something heavy slams into her back, sending her stumbling. She trips over the body of the warrior she had just killed, falling to the floor, Tahiri’s saber slipping from her grip, and sliding away from her.

At the Force’s prompting, she rolls to her right as the tail of an amphistaff slams into the stone floor where she had just been. She rolls some more, as the warrior lifts his blade that way, leaving a shallow scratch across her back.

She looks around for Tahiri’s saber and doesn’t see it, then a hiss attracts her attention, and she glances up to see the fallen warrior’s amphistaff. Without thinking she reaches up and grabs the snake-like weapon, and gives it a subtle flick, causing it to harden into shape.

She rolls to her back, and lifts the amphistaff just as one of the warrior’s sends his in for a killing stroke.

She smiles at the shocked expression on the warrior’s face, and then swipes his legs out from under him, dumping him to the floor.

She gains her feet, just as one of the other warriors rushes her, and she grabs for the Force again, feeling his intentions, discerning what he’s going to do. She twists away from his attack, talking to the amphistaff, telling it through the Force what she wants it to do, what shape she wants it to assume.

The amphistaff twists its neck, angling out away from Noelani as she grabs with her second hand down near the tail. She grins at the two warriors facing her; more comfortable with the amphistaff now that it has taken the shape of a Gaderfii.

The two warriors slowly advance, separating away from one another, giving each other room to attack her. Noelani falls back, allowing them to separate a bit more. She darts to the left, and uses the head of her amphistaff to knock his weapon away, and then slices the tail across the warrior’s throat.

She is prepared for the feeling of death in the Force this time, so she doesn’t hesitate as she twists and slams the head into the stomach of the remaining warrior. He grunts, and she lifts the head up, slamming it into the warrior’s jaw. She rolls the amphistaff, and as soon as its mouth rests against the warrior’s throat it bites.

She pulls the weapon away as the warrior drops to his knees, holding his neck, howling in pain as the amphistaff venom attacks his nervous system.

Breathing heavily and crying silently, Noelani shoves the tail end of the amphistaff into the warrior. Dropping the living weapon as she pulls it out. She turns around looking for Ulya and doesn’t find her at all. Frowning she stretches out with the Force, looking for her that way and can barely make out her presence quickly falling away from the asteroid.

She takes another shuddering breath and drops to her knees. She glances around again, and sees Tahiri still on the ground where the Force lightning had dropped her. She crawls over to her as quickly as she can, and rolls her over.

Horror sets in and bile fills her throat as she absently starts saying a simple mantra, repeating the phrase over and over again: “Please don’t be dead.”

Her hesitant fingers reach out and press against Tahiri’s throat and she feels the steady but weak pulse. Letting out a sob of relief, Noelani lays her head against Tahiri’s chest and just cries.

A Life Not His Own: Chapter 17

Jacen finds himself in the white of agony. It consumes him, devours his hopes and dreams.

It devours his self.

He has yet to see a single Yuuzhan Vong since his capture. He only has seen the White.

The White is all consuming, all knowing. When his voice has screamed itself ragged, until he can no longer hear it himself, when his skin feels like it is ready to flake away, and his bones rip from each socket, the White releases him.

It drops him back into the world of colors and memories, and an entirely different type of pain, as his body regains strength; his joints snap themselves back into place.

He has no idea how long he exists in the White. Be it hours, or days or years.

He doesn’t even care. All he knows is the White, and when he is within its grasp he is the White and it is him.

The first time he sees her, he has to wonder what she is doing. A bundle of feathers sitting in one corner, her fathomless eyes watching him, as his body twists back into shape as the White releases him from its agonizing embrace.

“Who, who are you?”

His voice is a bare whisper, hoarse, cracking. He does not recognize the sound of his own voice. Even though it is weak, and barely audible, she replies.

“I am Vergere. Who are you?”

Jacen runs his tongue over dry, chapped lips. “I’m Jacen.”

He struggles to sit up, and finally manages, his body screaming its protest. “What are you?”

Vergere’s head tilts to the side. “I am Vergere. What are you?”

“I am a Jedi.”

A blur of feathers. “No. To be a Jedi, you must be alive.”

“But I am alive.”

“No, no you’re not. You are dead. You’ve been dead since you landed on Yavin IV. And you are dead now.”

“No! No, that’s impossible! I’m not dead!”

Vergere shakes her head again. “My apologies, here I thought I was speaking with an adult who can see the truth of his situation. But it appears that I am merely speaking with a child, one which still wishes to cling to illusions and fallacy.”

Then Vergere jumps up, and hops towards the door. Without saying another word, she goes through, and it closes behind her, leaving Jacen alone.

“But I’m not dead.”

Then he can feel the tentacles which are wrapped around his arm begin retracting, pulling him back. The White calls for him once more. He fights it, tries to use the Force to push back the pain, but the White is inexorable, and inexhaustible.

The White comes regardless of how he fights.

Minutes pass or days. In the White it is all the same.

He is released, colors and sight assail him once more, and once more Vergere sits before him.

“Who are you?”

“Why?”

“Why what?”

“Why am I in pain? They’re not even asking me any questions.”

“All life is pain, and pain is life. That is the belief of our Masters.”

Jacen shakes his head, even though the movement sends screams through his body. “No, pain is not life, life is joy and happiness.”

Vergere opens her mouth an issues a musical chiming, an almost whistle, and Jacen feels as if she is laughing at him. “What foolishness. No, life is born in pain and dies in pain. Joy and happiness are illusions grasped onto by those to weak to see life for what it truly is.”

“And it truly is pain.”

Her beak opens wide in an approximation of a smile. “Exactly!”

Of course he has to wonder if she really is smiling. It is merely the opening of a beak, slightly wider, for all he knows it could be the feathers on her head which signify amusement for her species. As he watches those feathers, they lift slightly and twist going from silvery-blue to a blood red.

“But why am I here?”

The White begins to call for him again; a tightening of the tentacles which grasp his arms and legs.

Her smile grows ever slightly wider, becoming somewhat carnivorous. “Why to learn of course. To learn the True Way.”

Then the White has him, and attacks his defenses, pushing away his attempts to keep himself from the pain. He has mere moments to consider her last words as the white once more devours him.

---------------------------------------------------

The Errant Venture slowly slides through real-space, her giant engines pulsing in an inaudible thrum.

A flicker of pseudo-motion and a starfighter drops from hyperspace; a large burn mark runs down one side, evidence of pursuit before she made it into hyperspace. The droid who pilots it, queries for a landing spot, and permission is granted.

As it lands, the starfighter is greeted by a mix of beings, Jedi Masters all. Standing in a half-circle around the landing spot are Kam and Tionne Solusar, Cilghal, and a changed Luke Skywalker.

Where once his face would have been open and happy, it is now lined with misery and grief. Even holding his two month old son cannot change the fact that his wife is in one of the freezers down in the morgue.

As the X-Wing lands, a technician runs to her side, and climbs up, opening the cockpit. The group of masters watch as the technician speaks into a comlink and begins pulling someone out from the ship. Worry flashes in Kam’s eyes as he jumps onto the ship, and helps get Ganner out.

By the time they get him off the ship, and down to the ground, a medical crew has arrived with a stretcher. Cilghal touches his shoulder briefly, her eyes closed. After a second, her eyes pops open. “Get him into a bacta tank.”

The medic nods her head, and pushes the stretcher out of the hanger. Luke continues to stare out the hanger as the other masters look at him. After a moment, Kam turns towards the technician. “Found out what you can about where that starfighter has been, and what happened to the one that was supposed be with it.”

The tech nods his head and Kam jumps down from the X-Wing, and steps closer to Luke. “Luke?”

Without a word, Luke turns away and leaves the hanger. A moment later Tionne comes up and slips her hand into Kam and lays her head on his shoulder. Kam looks down at her, for a moment, a frown pulling down on his features. Then he looks once more towards Luke’s back as the leader of the Jedi Order leaves the hanger, his head lowered, and shoulders slumped.

Tionne’s musical voice sounds from beside him. “Do you think he’s going to be all right?”

Kam gives a quick shake of the head. “I wish I knew.

A few minutes later, the technician comes over to Kam with a datapad. “Master Solusar?”

“Yes?” Kam turns to face the tech.

“Here’re the recordings from the X-Wing and the astromech.”

Kam takes the datapad from the young man. “Thank you, Timor.”

Then the technician leaves. Together Kam and Tionne go to a nearby conference room, and plug the datapad into the display system.

The faces slack, they watch the fight between Jacen and Ganner and the Vong. Tionne cringes back and into Kam as the creature lying on top of Jacen explodes. Then they watch as Jacen gets Ganner back into the X-Wing, and orders the astromech to take Ganner to the Errant Venture. The final scene before the X-Wing leaves atmosphere is of Jacen falling off his own craft, and two Yuuzhan Vong walking towards him.

The screen goes dark, and Tionne hitches a nearly silent sob. Kam gives her hand a gentle squeeze, then leans in and kisses the temple closest to him. “I must go see Master Skywalker about this.”

Tionne nods her head, and wipes away a tear with her hand. “I know, and I’ve got lessons to attend to.”

Kam spares a single glance for his wife before leaving the room, and heading towards Master Skywalker’s quarters.

He arrives, and his finger hesitates over pressing the buzzer for admittance. If Ben is sleeping, that would awaken him. Instead Kam probes Luke with the Force, letting the Master know that he wishes to speak with him.

A few moments later the door slides open, and Luke is standing there, his eyes bloodshot, more lines carved into his face, and it appears as if he had not shaved in three days.

“May I come in?”

Luke steps aside, and Kam enters the darkened quarters. In the corner he sees a deactivated nanny droid standing next to a crib. Luke motions for Kam to enter a secondary room which Luke uses as an office.

“What do you need Kam?”

Kam hands him the datapad. “I have more bad news Master.”

Luke looks up from the datapad, a haunted expression on his face. “HA!” A short bark of a laugh. “It appears that bad news is the only type for us these days. Anakin has fallen, Mara is dead, and a third of the Jedi I have no idea what they’re doing. And Kyp, well Kyp apparently used Jaina to destroy a civilian Vong facility. So tell me, what bad news do you bring?”

Kam glances at the wall, and squeezes the bridge of his nose between his fingers. He hesitates a moment, then finally looks up at Luke. “I’m sorry Master, but it appears that Jacen was captured.”

Luke slumps even further into his seat.

“Why?”

Kam shakes his head. “I don’t have an answer for that Luke. But we all know that Lah has been demanding that he be turned over since Duro.”

Luke turns away, placing his head on the desk, then he lifts his hand and quickly balls it into a fist and smashes it down up on the desk. Kam turns his attention to the far bulkhead.

“What about Anakin? Are we going to give up on him?”

Luke shakes his head. “I felt him trying to save Mara you know.”

Startled Kam turns from his inspection of the far bulkhead to once more look at Luke. “No, I didn’t know that.”

“I can only hope that means he’s coming back to us. It’s a large galaxy, I doubt we’d be able to find him if he doesn’t want to be found. His shields are too powerful; I can barely sense him out there. If Tahiri were alive, she might have been able to find him.”

Kam shakes his head. “If Tahiri were alive, I don’t think we’d have this problem.”

Luke lets out another short, sharp bitter laugh. “I wonder if this is why the Old Jedi Order forbad attachments. That the uncontrolled grief when the one we’re attached to dies is too easy to give into, to easy of a path to the Dark.”

Kam shrugs. “Maybe, but we don’t forbid attachments. And frankly, the love which these attachments bring is so much more important and necessary to us, than stopping the possibility of uncontrolled grief.”

“Is it Kam? Would you still feel this way if Tionne died?”

Kam’s face hardens as he considers the question. “Maybe not right at the time of her death, but right now, and probably after I have grieved I would. Attachments make us whole, they complete us as people. Could you imagine not having been married to Mara?”

Luke rubs his face. “I know you’re right. Intellectually. But right now it’s hard to find that emotionally.”

Kam smiles at the Jedi Master. “I can understand that perfectly Master.” He hesitates for a moment, and then changes the subject of conversation. “What do you think about the girl who has been seen around Anakin on a few of these reported sightings?”

Luke places his fist in front of his mouth as he thinks. Then he gives a brief shake of the head. “I don’t know Kam. We just have to wait to see if he comes home to us before we can find out about her. Now if you’ll excuse me I need to contact my sister. I need to tell her that Jacen has been captured.”

“I understand. If you need anything Luke, don’t hesitate to call me or Tionne. In fact, why not let Tionne and I take Ben off your hands for a few hours later today. Give you a few hours uninterrupted rest time.”

Luke looks up at Kam, the circles under his haunted eyes, deep and harsh, the pain in them unbanished by the shallow smile on his lips. “Thank you Kam, and I’ll call you for that when he wakes from his nap.”

Kam stands and gives the Master a short bow before leaving the room.

Luke watches the door for a moment, and then pulls the holonet transceiver closer to him.

Kam walks slowly and silently down the hall towards the infirmary. He arrives and goes to stand before the bacta tank where Ganner floats. Cilghal walks over and nods her head.

Kam turns to her and forces a smile to his face. “Can you tell me what happened to him?”

She shakes her head. “He was suffering from a dozen different retroviruses, each of which appeared designed to kill baseline humans. I recognized another seven dozen which were dormant, and were apparently designed to destroy Mon Calamari, Wookies, Duros, and a host of other races. Each of whom are represented within the Jedi. One of the wounds contained a flesh eating bacteria, and there was damage to his ear drums from some kind of sonic assault.”

Kam’s mouth tightens as he turns back to Ganner. “Will he survive?”

“I’m not sure. He is in a healing trance and we’ve got him in some of the purest bacta that the Vratix can produce.”

Kam bows slightly. “Thank you Cilghal. I guess we just have to trust in the Force.”

Cilgha’s barbels twitch. “Yes, that is all we can do.”

Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts: Chapter Nine

Tahiri is settled into a deep healing trance, her body working overtime trying to knit the wound in her stomach. But that is a secondary concern to the young Jedi; her focus is outwards, scouring the universe searching for her lost apprentice.

A chiming noise drags her from the trance, and she opens her eyes, to see the timer on the navicomp nearing zero. She reaches forward, and grabs a hold of the levers, and as soon as the timer ends, she pushes forward, and watches as the hyperspace tunnel collapses revealing a wide expanse of stars.

The system appears to be dead, an asteroid hanging a few kilometers off the port bow, dark and deserted. She punches a few buttons on the onboard computer, and it reveals that this system used to be home of a mining complex, one located on that asteroid.

Tahiri frowns, wondering why Jacen would have come here after visiting Lorrd.

Then pain from Noelani blossoms in the Force, a ripping agony which causes Tahiri to hunch over in her seat. The pain lessens and her breathing evens out as she slowly reopens her eyes. Straightening in her seat, she realizes that she has arrived at the right place. Yet she still wonders the relationship between Jacen, this asteroid and the Yuuzhan Vong hunting pack.

“I guess I won’t get any answers out here.”

Applying power to the engines, she heads towards the asteroid, slowly circling it, until she comes to a hanger. She sends a universal query, and the hanger doors slowly unroll. Frowning, she edges forward into the darkened hanger.

The doors close behind her, and lights come up, revealing a Uumufalh gunship nestled off to the side.

She lands, and confidently walks down the ramp. As she reaches the bottom pain erupts in her skull again, and she has to grab onto the ramp strut.

Grimacing, she straightens, and continues walking, entering the abandoned mining complex through the hanger door.

Tahiri slowly searches through the building, trying to find her apprentice, the flickers of pain subsiding.

She pushes open yet another door, gaining entrance to yet another room. This time all the lights are off, and an expectation hangs in the Force. Tahiri slowly pulls her saber from her belt, and steps forward, her free hand reaching out, brushing the wall, searching for a lightswitch.

Her fingers touch the controls, and she quickly jabs them. Dim lights flicker on, and Tahiri finds an empty room. Frowning, she continues through the room, and pulls open the other door.

And her danger sense goes off, allowing her to duck as a thud bug comes flying out of the darkness beyond. Tahiri drops to the ground in a tumble, rolling forward, surprised that the cool tile of the complex has given way to the rough hewn stone of a mine.

She pulls her roll up short, quickly lifting herself into a half-crouch, her stomach screaming from the abuse. She shifts herself behind some rocks, hoping they provide some cover.

Her eyes slowly adjust to the dim light, and she pokes her head out from her barely adequate cover, looking for the Yuuzhan Vong who threw the thud bug.

She spies him, standing just on the far side of the still open doorway, his eyes still light-dazzled.

Grinning, Tahiri gestures with the Force, causing a pebble on the far side of him to shift. The warrior’s response is instantaneous, as he spins towards the sound.

Tahiri comes out from behind her cover, and pushes her body to close the distance between them in seconds. She shoves her saber against his chin and activates it. The resulting snap-hiss echoes loudly in the mine and Tahiri curses.

She shuts the blade down, as the warrior crumples in a lifeless heap. She bends down, checking the warrior for domain marks.

A warrior emerges from the darkness, standing straight and tall in his voondum crab armor. Tahiri recognizes him as the one who stabbed her.

“You’re supposed to be dead, Jeedai.”

Tahiri’s lips twitch. “Not the first time for that.”

In one smooth motion, she stands, ignites her saber and darts forward, her blade angled away from her body, as she slashes upwards. Her movements are so fast that she appears as a blur, yet the warrior still is able to catch her saber on his amphistaff.

She sees the sneer on his face.

She smiles.

And then slams the coufee she took from the dead warrior into his throat, giving it a savage twist and then yanking it back out.

In his shock, he drops his amphistaff, and Tahiri swings her saber horizontally, taking off his head entirely.

She drops to her knees, the adrenaline of the fight wearing off, her body making itself known to her again, the embers of pain from her stomach wound once more a full conflagration. She hesitantly touches her stomach, and feels the wetness seeping through the bacta patch.

She hunkers down beside the warrior, digging through his belt pouches, and finally pulls out a pale green rectangular pad several centimeters thick. Pulling her tunic out from under her belt, she pulls off the bloodied bacta patch and tosses it to the side. Then she peels a piece off of the pad, and lays it across her stomach wound, not quite covering it. She retrieves another piece, and lays it on the wound as well.

She closes her eyes and smiles brightly as she can feel the cilia of the animal wriggling into the wound, knitting the skin together.

She drops her shirt and stands, slowly walking further into the mines.

She quickly leaves behind the light from the open doorway, going forward in the inky darkness, that curious echo and expectation still throbbing in the Force. The further into the mines she gets, the stronger the feelings grow.

She notices a lightening in the darkness; a dim, diffuse glow coming from somewhere up ahead. Tahiri slows down, creeping forward.

Tahiri rounds a corner, and pulls up short. There strapped into an Embrace of Pain is Noelani. Her head is bowed, her long blonde hair is streaked with crimson highlights - dried blood - and is hanging down covering her face, pooling on the stone floor.

Tahiri snarls a curse, and ignites her saber, sending it flying into the Embrace’s brain.

The animal twitches, and Noelani’s pain flares for a second, before the tentacles unravels and drop the young girl to the floor.

While Tahiri calls her saber back to her hand she belatedly notices a female Yuuzhan Vong and three other warriors within the chamber. The three males are in a back corner, each eating something from an extended stomach. The female is closer, standing only a few meters away from Noelani.

All of them staring at her.

The female grins, her face stretching maliciously.

With a quick hand gesture to the others, she plucks a slug from her belt, one a little longer and thinner than a fully engorged ngidn, and gives it a squeeze.

To Tahiri’s horror a shaft of crimson plasma ignites from the end of the slug.

Tahiri ignites her saber, and lifts it into a mid guard. She takes a step forward, looking the warrior female up and down, wondering where she came from.

Instinctively, Tahiri reaches for the Force, preparing herself for a saber fight. And as another surprise, she can feel the female warrior.

She pauses in her advance.

“Who are you?”

“I am Ulya Tu. And I will destroy you.”

A half-memory flashes through her mind; Anakin telling her about his vision, his vision of a dark version of herself, given over fully to her Yuuzhan Vong heritage and enslaved to her hate and fear.

A possible future where she had embraced the darkest parts of both her Jedi and her Yuuzhan Vong heritages.

As she watches Ulya, she realizes that this is what she could have become.

She looks over at Noelani, and sees the young blonde stirring.

She grins, and darts forward, lowering her body slightly, attacking.

And then the Force cries out in warning as lightning slams into her. The force of the impact drives her to the ground, crushing her down. Her saber skitters out of her hand, rolling away from her towards a far wall.

She doesn’t even have time to scream.

A Life Not His Own: Chapter 16

Tsavong Lah stars at the representation of the Forces which surround the infidel capital of Coruscant. Someone walks into the room, and Tsavong looks up seeing a face from his past. A smile stretches the scars on his cheeks. “Harrar. It is good of you to come.”

The Yuuzhan Vong priest walks the rest of the way in, a smile on his face.

“I bring you a present Warmaster.”

Interested, Tsavong Lah’s head tilts slightly. “And what would that be Priest?”

Harrar nods his head, and the door opens again, with two warriors dragging in an unconscious infidel. They drop him at the warmaster’s feet and then retreat from the room.

Tsavong’s grin widens as he sees Jacen Solo at his feet. “Ah, the Solo whelp.”

Harrar nods his head, and from the corner of his eye can see Nom Anor and the avian familiar Vergere whispering together.

Tsavong looks up at Harrar. “You have done well my friend.”

Harrar turns to leave the bridge, as Tsavong Lah’s familiar hops forward, followed closely by Nom Anor.

Nom Anor steps forward. “Warmaster. We have a plan.”

Tsavong Lah growls at Nom Anor. “Recently not all of your plans have gone smoothly, Executor. Why should I listen to this one?”

Vergere bobs her head. “What if he could convince Solo to perform the twin sacrifice himself? Imagine it, after we reshape Coruscant into the Homeworld, we have Jacen Solo slay his twin sister, and pronounce to the galaxy that the only way is the True Way.”

A light appears in Tsavong Lah’s eyes, as he nods his head. “Yes! I like this.”

He turns towards Nom Anor. “I approve this plan, take the Solo whelp and make him understand the True Way.” He then turns back towards Vergere. “How goes your plan to capture this Jeedai who is destroying our training facilities?”

Vergere bobs her head, the crest of feathers, lifting shifting from red to silver. “The pieces are in place, and the Master Shaper on the Baanu Raas, has sent me his newest biot which I believe shall be a great help in his capture.”

Tsavong Lah strokes his claws down his chin. “Good. I want that Jeedai captured and on his way to the Baanu Raas prior to implementation of this plan concerning Solo.”

Verger’s feather crest flattens, and she bobs her head. “I obey, Warmaster.”

-------------------------------------------

Anakin stands under the trees on the mountainside overlooking the Yuuzhan Vong facility on the planet. A brisk wind blows against him, playing with his cape as it flaps out behind him. He allows calm to flow into him, the metronome of his breathing an easy way to soothe this thoughts into a meditative state. Something about this bothers him. Something in the Force tells that all is not as it seems.

Beside him, he can feel Nelani, a spring-wire in the Force, her excitement is infectious. The more he watches her Force presence, the more excited he gets about the mission, the further from his mind that worry flies.

He wonders if she truly understands that she could very well die down there.

He wonders if he truly understands that himself.

He hears a low growl, and turns around before he realizes that it was himself who was growling. He refuses to let someone else that he loves die.

Anakin frowns at his line of thinking. He loves Tahiri, yet it has been over a year since her death, and they had not even kissed, but he loved her nonetheless, they completed one another. Why then is he thinking this way of Nelani? He glances at her, his eyes traveling over the tightly-fitted, navy colored body armor she is wearing. Her form has filled out over the year since he plucked her off Lorrd, no longer is she the skinny, gangly teen, used by the resistance there to crawl through places to tight for an adult. Even though her armor covers her body, Anakin’s mind supplies images of her in nothing but a training outfit, with sweat glistening over her exposed skin as she runs through her katas for the hundredth time. He glances at her black hair which is pulled up into a simple braid, tucked back up under itself.

Silently he wishes that he could run his hands through her hair.

Before that thought can continue he clamps down on it. She is his apprentice, his helper in his vengeance, not a love interest.

Yet he can’t get the feel of her hug out of his mind.

She feels his attention, and lowers the macrobinoculars from her face to look at him. “Master?”

He gives a quick shake of the head, not trusting himself to speak, and walks back towards the ship, wondering once again if his vengeance is worth this. He glances again towards his apprentice, who has once more taken up her surveillance of the enemy, and wonders if her soul is a price that he can pay for his revenge.

He starts up the speeder bikes, and pushes them out of the ship, where they hover. Nelani hearing them leaves her surveillance and comes over.

“Any last orders Master?”

“Just stay close; I don’t want us to get separated.”

She smiles coyly. “I obey Master.”

Anakin nods his head, and curses his weakness that her smile can cause his stomach to flutter like that. Only Tahiri’s should. He gives his head another quick shake, trying to dispel these thoughts about Nelani as he mounts his speeder bike. A quick glance towards her shows she is already on her own, and is quietly checking the weapons she is bringing along with her.

As he watches her, she finishes her checks, and lifts her head to him, giving a quick nod. With that, he faces forward and punches the throttle, shooting the speederbike through the woods, and towards the Vong compound.

He can feel the wind tugging at his cape, and almost wishes that he had removed his helmet, longing for the feel of the wind on his face and in his hair. Then he focuses once more on his mission. On his revenge.

He glances towards Nelani, and sees her braid flapping in the wind, as she crouches over the controls of her speeder. He looks down at the console, and sees that they have neared the shaper compound.

As he slows his speederbike down, a large creature leaps at him, and his danger sense goes off as it collides with him. He can hear a short yip of pain and shock, and assumes one has attacked Nelani as well.

Anakin’s eyes narrow as he recognizes the garrals from Wayland, and remembers that they are attracted to the sound of repulsors. With an effort he lifts the animal up and tosses it away from him.

It lands on its feet, and begins running back towards him. Anakin sets himself, and as it jumps towards him, he flicks his saber up slicing through the animal, which lands in two halves on either side of him. Turning he looks to Nelani, just in time to see her white blade come out of the garrals’s head.

She heaves the animal off, and he holds out a hand to help her up, which she grasps, while once more giving him that coy smile.

Anakin walks over to the animal he killed, and then realizes that he hadn’t let go of Nelani’s hand. Feeling a blush creep up his cheeks, he is suddenly glad that he has the helmet on and drops her hand as he kneels down beside the beast. Looking at it, Anakin realizes that he was not entirely correct about the creature; while it appeared to be based on garrals it had enough differences that it was not the same creature.

He glances up at Nelani, whose face is slightly red. “This animal has been shaped. It is a good bet the Vong know we are here.”

She gives a quick nod of her head. “So should we abort the mission?”

Anakin looks over her suit, telling himself that he is looking for any holes or cuts in her armor. “Are you hurt?”

She stretches her arms. “Just bruises. Its claws didn’t break the suit.”

“Good, let’s walk the rest of the way to the compound. It should only be about forty meters that way.” Anakin begins walking in the direction indicated, a small knot of concern sitting in the back of his head.

They continue to advance, that worry in the back of his mind staying there.

“Master?”

Anakin glances back at her, and notices as she is looking left and right. “Yes, Nelani?”

She turns her attention onto him, her eyes wide and filled with fear. “There’s something coming.”

Anakin nods his head. “I know. I’m expecting it.”

Nelani’s rocks back slightly, surprise replacing the fear on her face. “Oh.”

Anakin chuckles and turns back around, just as a crab-like leg steps out of the forest. He pulls his blade as a second one appears, and mutters a curse as the creatures hauls itself from the woods.

Nelani lets out a short scream of fear at the sight of the creature, a reaction Anakin can understand all to well. He can feel his own eyes widen slightly, as he looks at the creature which rests its bloated body on four crab-like legs, and where arms used to be, long slivers of armored bone extended out. The head which resembles a rodian’s looks at them without intelligence, and where a rodian has head-spines, this creature has half-meter long quills.

“Calm yourself Nelani. Let the Force flow through you.”

Anakin can hear the fear still in her voice. “Is that-that thing what you were expecting?”

He chuckles slightly. “Not quite what I was expecting.”

The creature lowers its head, and one of the quills shoots out, striking Anakin’s armor and shattering there. Anakin looks down and sees a small dent in the armor where he was struck, as he ignites his saber.

A second snap-hiss tells him that Nelani has turned her saber on as well, and they both attack, a flurry of strikes and ripostes, all of which are blocked and parried by the curves of armored bone.

The creature knocks Nelani backwards, and lowers its head. With a small puffing noise, a quill shots out and strikes Nelani, breaking through her armor and implanting in her arm. She screams out a curse, and Anakin growls.

He grabs for the Force, pulling it to him, and then strikes out at the creature. Pouring dark lightning into and through it, as it lays unmoving, he reaches out with the Force again, and rips the creature apart.

His chest is heaving and his armor is splattered with gore as he stands over the things remains. He turns around and rushes to Nelani’s side.

“Let me see.”

Nelani holds out her arm, and Anakin mutters a curse. Standing he walks over to the creatures head and looks closer at the quill, noting the hooked end. He curses again as he returns to her side.

“We need to push it all the way through.”

Her eyes widen slightly as she nods her head in understanding.

“Help me get your suit off.”

Then he breaks the portion of the quill which sticks out of her arm.

Gently the take the top portion of her suit off, and Anakin tries his best to keep his attention off the halter top she has on underneath her armor.

“I want you to shut feeling off to your arm, can you do that?”

Nelani nods her head, and closes her eyes, and Anakin can feel the Force start flowing around her. “I can’t feel the arm any longer Master.”

“Good. Now I’m going to count to five, and push it through, do you understand?”

“Yes Master.”

“One. Two. Three.”

Anakin uses the Force to push the quill the rest of the way through her arm, and she cries out in pain. As he reaches around to pull it through, he finishes his countdown. “Four. Five.”

Her eyes pop open, accusation flaring in them. “You did it on three Master.”

Anakin laughs and nods his head. “I know.”

“You lied to me.”

“No I did not. I told you that I was going to count to five and that I was going to push it through. I did both.”

Her eyes narrow, a pout forming on her lips.

As he helps her get back into her armor, he gasps out loud. Nelani suddenly gasps as well, and grasps her arm, crumpling to the ground and starting to whimper with pain. His eyes narrows as realization comes to him.

The Force is no longer with him.

He stands up, and pulls out his saber. He ignites his weapon as the first warrior steps out from the forest.

He utters a curse when the fifteenth comes out.

An odd creature hops out of the forest following the warriors. She does not appear to be Yuuzhan Vong, but is covered in short blue feathers, and has reverse articulated legs. She spreads her beak wide, an approximation of a smile, as the crest of feathers on the top of her head lift, and shift from orange to blue. In her hands she holds a small animal with a glowing stomach.

“Welcome young Jedi. Please put your weapons down and come with us. We do not wish you to kill your wounded companion.”

Anakin growls and grips his saber tighter. He pushes his right foot forward setting himself into an attack position, the rage and hate building within him. He moves the saber hilt so it’s on the same level as his shoulder, aimed towards his right knee, his elbow cocked in the air above him.

The avian speaks again. “Think Jedi! Do you wish for the young one there to be killed? Is that what you are after? Is your vengeance against these warriors worth her life? Remember, o servant of life, her life is not your own to sell in your quest for revenge.”

That statement stabs to the heart of Anakin’s confusion over the past few months. His concerns over dragging Nelani into the Dark along with him flare to life in his mind once again. “If I come with you, you’ll let her go?”

She caws a laugh. “Of course not little Jedi, she comes with us or she dies. The choice is yours.”

Anakin’s mouth compresses into a thin line, and he glances down at Nelani, who is looking up at him with fear in her eyes, shaking her head.

Her voice attracts his attention again. “Choose and act, little Jedi.”

Anakin extinguishes his saber and dropping it, falls to his knees.

Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts: Chapter Eight

Noelani struggles in the arms of the two bulky warriors, kicking as they drag her forward so she has a good view of the fight between her Master and the largest of the Yuuzhan Vong warriors.

Then the unthinkable happens. With a grunt, the warrior shoves his amphistaff into Tahiri’s stomach. She can feel the scream burning the back of her throat.

Then the dream dissolves, reality slamming back into her with the force of a Yuuzhan Vong gauntlet.

Noelani whimpers slightly, the taste of blood filling her mouth.

Awareness of the rest of her body comes slowly. Her legs splayed out before her, feet fastened to the floor by lumps of blorash jelly, with another glob of it holding down her arms between her thighs, covering them from elbow to wrist. Her back strains, aching from being forced to hold the curve for so many hours.

Strong fingers grip her jaw, squeezing it harshly and lifting her face up. She tries to pull her face away, but the Vong before her refuses to let her go. She relents, and looks up into the face of a female warrior. Tattoos sketched across her face, her nostrils turned into tatters that flap with every draw of breath, her canine teeth replaced with larger versions, a strip of flesh removed from her cheek, the muscles beneath glistening sickly.

Noelani wants to scream at the horrific sight before her, but instead grabs control of her emotions and speaks in an almost calm voice.

“What do you want?”

“It’s not what I want with you. It’s what my Mistress wants with you.”

Noelani tries to get her chin out of the Vong’s hand again, when she is unable to do so, the woman warrior laughs.

“Your fire is good. You could have a lot of anger. Give into it. Join me; with you by my side we could defeat my Mistress.”

Noelani squeezes her eyes shut, refusing to look at the warrior any longer. “My Master will save me.”

The Vong thrusts Noelani’s face away, one of the warrior’s claws digging into her chin, leaving behind a thin long gash.

Noelani has to fight back tears.

“That’s a shame. Especially since your Master is dead. The commander of my troops killed her.”

Noelani shakes her head, and screams. “No! I don’t believe you!”

A new voice laughs from out of the darkness and Noelani gaps as a human woman walks out from the depths of the shadows, her silver body armor gleaming in the dim lights.

“Welcome to my home, little Noelani. I am Lumiya. Dark Lady of the Sith. And you will be my new apprentice.”

“No! I won’t.”

Lumiya smiles at her. “Good, your anger serves you well. But your defiance I can’t allow.”

Lumiya makes a subtle gesture, and Noelani shivers as the spine of a thin cold blade slides up her back, and with a jerk and a ripping sound, her tunic falls open, revealing her bare back to the cold air of the cave.

Fear settles around her, driving out her anger and despair. “What’s happening?”

Lumiya smiles again – a cold, heartless gesture. “You’re being punished.”

Then fire wraps itself around her back, ending on her throat next to her cheek. A lash of energy which burns and activates all of the nearby pain receptors in her back at the same time.

Noelani screams.

Lumiya hunkers down. “It’s a nuerowhip. Pure energy – leaves no marks or cuts behind. I’m being nice to you; Ulya wished to whip you with her amphistaff.”

Noelani can do nothing but pant, the pain still burning across her back. Then the fire wraps around her again, this time starting at her mid back and writhing across and over her shoulders, crossing across her sternum.

Noelani screams again.

Lumiya walks away, her armored heels clapping on the rough-hewn stone beneath them. The lines of fire and pain being laid out across her back in time with those steps.

She doesn’t have time to scream anymore.

She is reduced to crying and cringing, her jaws locked tight against the pain. She struggles through it, struggles to keep herself from giving her captors the satisfaction of her screams.

Finally it is over.

She shivers; the muscles in her back quivering in pain. The muscles in her shoulders and legs aching from her attempts to pull herself free from the blorash jelly.

She struggles to raise her head, and looks around, seeing the female warrior – Ulya, Lumiya called her - walks around to stand in front of her.

Ulya smiles, and her fist cocks back and slams into Noelani’s temple.

Pain blossoms out from where she was hit.

And darkness quickly follows.

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Tahiri pushes her way into the security office; Lieutenant Samren is seated behind his desk, a stack of flimsies spread out in front of him. He looks up at her abrupt entrance, and a smile flickers on his face.

“Jedi Veila, a pleasure to see you again.”

Tahiri drops into the seat, her hand wrapping protectively around her wound. “I need a transport, a fast one. My apprentice was kidnapped.”

Samren bobs his head once, and stands up quickly. “We just recently impounded a smuggler’s yacht. A Clone Wars vintage, J-type star skiff. Minimum crew is one, but it can hold more people. She’s old, but still works beautifully.”

Tahiri nods her head, and passes over a credit chit. “The Jedi Order is purchasing it.”

Samren hesitates, looking as if he is about to argue. But he stares at her for a moment longer, and then just nods his head, running through the transaction. He digs through a pile of datapads, and pulls out one, plugging it into a specialized component of his terminal. A few moments later, he passes the pad to Tahiri.

“You’re now the proud owner of the Stolen Star. Enjoy, Jedi Veila.”

Tahiri nods her head, and follows Samren out to the impound hanger. He pushes open the door, and there before her is a white star ship with a tear-drop shaped hull and sweep-backed wings extending from the bow. She grins slightly, as she slowly walks around the craft, stopping at the aft egress hatch; she confidently walks forward, and looks around.

Samren pokes his head in. “She should be stocked with consumables and fuel.”

Tahiri walks out from the medical suite, and glances up the short ladder to the cockpit. “Thank you, Lieutenant. May the Force be with you.”

Samren nods his head, and retreats down the hatch. Tahiri hits the close button, and climbs the ladder, settling into the pilot’s station.

Familiarizing herself with the controls, she pulls out the datapad, bringing up the filed flight plan of Jacen’s shuttle when they left the planet. Wincing slightly, she activates the repulsors, and slowly lifts the ship up off the hanger floor.

She inches forward, and with a squeal of metal, rips through a portion of the hangar door. A little different than flying an x-wing.

She sits up a bit straighter, and looks over at that wing, noting the cosmetic damage done. Grimacing slightly, she continues forward slowly, until the thirty-meter-long starship is out of the hanger entirely. Tahiri looks around, and then punches the throttle. The ion engines roar to life, and the Stolen Star rockets upwards, quickly breaking atmosphere. The comm snaps to life, with Lorrdian Ground Control demanding her to turn around and land.

She ignores them, and enters in her course into the navicomputer. As soon as the indicator turns green she pulls down on the levers, and the stars elongate, as the powerful engines propel the ship into hyperspace.

A Life Not His Own: Chapter 15

Jacen frowns down at the three bodies arrayed between himself and Ganner, and then looks up at Ganner, a frown touching his face. “Why do they always fight?”

Ganner kicks the corpse of one of the Vong warriors. “Because that is all they know.”

“Surely fighting can’t be the only thing they know. They have to have some sort of redeeming quality.”

Ganner steps over the body walking towards the door. Jacen looks down at the warrior for a minute more, and then follows. After a moment, Ganner glances back to reply, “If they do, I have yet to see it.”

“So that means it doesn’t exist?”

Ganner shrugs. “As far as I’m concerned it does.”

“Sentient creatures can’t have a single, overarching dominate trait like that. There has to be something.”

Ganner sighs. “Listen Jacen, it doesn’t matter. We are duty bound to protect the people of this galaxy. They fight every time they see us. If that is all they know or not, doesn’t matter, because it is all they deign to show us. At that point we can both fulfill our duty and protect ourselves and the beings of this galaxy.” Ganner shrugs again, a subtle rolling of the shoulders. “Or we can let them kill us. That’s the reality of the situation and no amount of sitting on our thumbs trying to think up a redeeming quality for these monsters is going to change that.”

Jacen’s face twists up in thought as he considers Ganner’s point. He nods his head, as Ganner does have a valid thought, but something still does not feel right to Jacen about it. Jacen is certain that violence is never the answer. They arrive at the hanger where their two X-Wings are stored, and look at one another. Finally Ganner breaks the silence. “So, where do you think we should go next?”

Jacen leans up against his fighter, looking at the older Knight. “I’ve been thinking about that, and one of the places we know the Vong have been, but we’ve not visited yet is Yavin IV.”

Ganner looks thoughtful for a moment, his knuckle absent mindedly rubbing the scar on his face. Then quickly nods his head. “Let’s try it, the worst that happens is we waste two days getting there.”

Jacen barks a short laugh as they each climb into their fighters. Within moments, they have launched their craft, and entered hyperspace on their way to Yavin. Two days later they arrive without incident. They perform a quick probe of the system, and don’t see any Yuuzhan Vong activity in the immediate area. Maintaining com silence, they land in a field a short distance from the site of the old temple.

As they step out into the warm humid air, Jacen looks around at the odd plant life which is spreading throughout the area. Twin feelings of coming home and loss batter at him. So many things about the planet still seem the same to him. The smells, the sounds, the forest. It is as much his home as the steel canyons of Coruscant. Yet it has been changed irrevocably. Gone is the Jedi Temple, in its place a dying Vong building. Here where a forest at one time stood, is a cultivated field, filled with odd plants.

“Looks like the Vong, picked up camp and left after we got the trainees out of here.”

Jacen nods his head, feeling a niggle in the Force. He closes his eyes and stretches out, feeling the familiar presence of grief and rage. “Yes, the Vong left, and apparently so did Anakin.”

“How do you know?”

“I get an echo of him being here.”

“Are you sure that’s not from training or when he rescued the students?”

Jacne nods his head. “Yes, I’m sure. Most of the echoes have been washed away, bleached by the Vong’s presence. But there’s one echo that’s brighter, shinier…newer.”

“Do we know how long ago?”

Jacen shakes his head as he bends down, touching an odd looking plant that he has never seen before. “Not exactly. One, two, maybe even three months ago.” He plucks a leaf, and looks up at Ganner. “Do you recognize this plant?”

Ganner looks down at it for a second. “I don’t remember it during training, but botany was never my strong suit. It could be Vong.”

Jacen frowns as the niggle in the Force grows more pronounced, a sense of impending doom comes crashing down around him. He looks left and right and then glances at Ganner who is holding his saber in his hand now. “You feel it to?”

An ear-splitting howl-skreech erupts from the forest, and Ganner and Jacen both drops their weapons to cover their ears, unprepared for the sonic assault.

As the sound fades, the two Jedi call their weapons back to their hands, and turn towards the forest, just in time to see a nightmare walk out.

It has six legs, and a long whip-like tail, which is covered with long tapered spikes. The flank and neck are covered by green scales, and the head opens into a wide mouth, filled with sharp teeth. As the animal drools, the spittle lands on the ground, causing little puffs of smoke to drift up.

They take two steps back, and the animal continues to advance. A moment later, it is followed from the forest by two warriors and a shaper. Jacen glances at Ganner, a sickening knot settling in his stomach.

“Any ideas?”

Ganner ignites his saber and holds it up by his head. “Just one.”

Then he rushes forward, swinging low at the animal. Muttering a curse, Jacen advances as well, and then he jumps over the creature and Ganner and slams his saber against the amphistaff of one of the warriors.

He twists his saber around the amphistaff, and shoves it up into the armpit of the warrior, who twitches and falls to the ground. Gesturing with the Force, he sends a tree limb slamming against the other warrior and the shaper.

A scream for Ganner attracts his attention, and he sees the older Knight being impaled by one of the long spikes on the tail, which snaps off as the creature yanks its tail back.

Jacen reaches out with the Force trying to get the creature to calm down, to not attack them. Instead the creature turns its head towards him, and lets out another howl. Jacen falls to his knees dropping his saber again as his hands go to his ears.

The creature runs towards him, and jumps the last five meters, crashing into Jacen’s shoulders, its long claws slicing through his body armor and into his flesh. The scent of buring armor assaults his nose, and Jacen opens his eyes to see the saliva from the creature burning holes into his suit. He reaches out with one hand and grabs the creature’s neck, keeping the fangs away from his neck and face. With his other hand he grabs a detonator.

Then with a growl, he shoves the detonator down the animal’s throat, on what he hoped was a two-second delay.

After the two seconds, Jacen opens his eyes, and sees a long strand of saliva coming towards his face; he wrenches his head to the side, as the spit lands on his cheek, and screams at the pain of an acid burn.

Then the creature explodes. Burning chunks of the animal shower both him and Ganner, and a fume of noxious gases appears. Jacen stops breathing and rolls over, trying to get away from the cloud. He stands and rushes to Ganner’s side and can feel his vision going black. Grabbing Ganner he starts dragging him towards the X-Wings.

He puts Ganner into a healing trance, and works him into the cockpit of his X-Wing. As soon as the hatch is sealed, Jacen turns towards Ganner’s R7 unit.

“Take him back to the Errant Venture.”

The droid tootles in reply, and Jacen slides off the X-Wing which quickly launches. Jacen hobbles over towards his X-Wing, and opens the canopy. A wave of dizziness washes over him as he tries to get into the fighter, and he slips off, slamming into the ground, the air rushes from him in a great gasp.

Barely able to breathe, he lifts his hand and a wave of vertigo once more strikes him as he tries to stand. He collapses to his chest again, and the last thing he sees before the darkness closes in on him is the advancing shaper and warrior.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Yal Paath holds the second creature to come out of the Baanu Raas’ shaper facilities. This secondary by-product of his heresy is not as striking physically as the voxyn, but it brings a smile to Yal’s face anyways.

He caresses a ridge of spines, and the animal sits up, and a small glow appears from his stomach region. He doesn’t feel, sense, or taste any change.

But then he didn’t expect to.

This animal is to keep captured Jeedai where they are placed.

He looks towards where he has four of the latest batch of cloned voxyn, and smiles as they appear to be going crazy over the field effect produced by this creature, which is a shaping of a sessile tree dweller from the planet below. Infidels captured on the planet, tell the story that that tree dweller, the ysalamari strips the Jeedai of their powers. Yal can only hope that he has replicated this effect in his new invention.

Wiping his hand down the spins again, the glowing disappears. He hands the creature to one of his adepts. “Deliver the solzan to those on Rodia, so it can aid in the trap to capture Jeedai there.”

“I obey Master Shaper.” With that the adept turns and leaves the chamber as Yal Paath’s face once more stretches into a sinister grin. He wonders to himself if heresy should be so much fun.

-------------------------------------------------------------


Lu’ath bows himself before the group of Nausians, and the human wearing the tattered brown robes, which cover his entire face and arms, exposing not a single bit of flesh.

To Lu’ath this is perfectly reasonable. It makes sense. The Jeedai are warriors, and as such should be dressed in the armor of a warrior, without an inch of skin exposed. Also, his limited contact with the Jeedai was with Lord Vader, and his plassteele mask and armor.

He raises himself and smiles.

“Thank you for meeting with me honored Jeedai.”

The robed Jeedai takes a step back, and crosses his arms over his chest.

“What exactly do you want Vong?”

Lu’ath smiles at the Jeedai[i/]. “To join your battle. I am a preist of the newest Yuuzhan Vong sect. We are the ones who have gathered together because the [i]Jeedai shall set us free. We eschew the marks of escalation, and work to bring the truth of the Force to all of the Yuuzhan Vong.”

“So you worship the Jedi?”

“Yes, Honored One.”

The Jeedai places a hand over where his face should be, a shudder rocking through him. After a moment, he looks towards Yu’ath once again. “I must meditate on this. But regardless of what happens here remember that the Jedi are not gods to be worshiped.”

“I understand, Honored One. Belek Tiu.”

The Jeedai turns towards one of the Nossaurians who stand around Yu’ath. “Plett, take our friend here and show him to one of the unused barracks. He is to stay under guard until we have decided what to do with him.”

Plett growls and barks something in his native language which the Jeedai pays close attention to. After a moment, he shakes his head slightly. “No Plett, death is not always the best thing to give to a Vong. If what he says is true, his worth is much greater alive than dead.”

Plett growls in obedience, and gestures for Yu’ath to follow him. Yu’ath bows once again to the Jeedai and then turns and follows the Nosuarian from the room.

---------------------------------------------

It is midnight at Bast Castle.

Anakin walks into the med-center of Bast Castle, brushing past the medical droids as they float in silence. They are used to his visits, and have long stopped asking if he needs assistance.

He walks to a door on the back wall, and raises his hand to the admittance plate set in the wall beside it. He hesitates, as always wary of entering. Of seeing her.

He jabs the plate and the door shoots open with the usual suddenness of Imperial engineering. Anakin stares into the darkened room for a moment, and then steps in. As he enters soft lights come on along the edge of the room, revealing the bacta tank sitting in the center of the room.

Anakin steps forward and the tank’s interior lights activate as Tahiri floats within the tank.

He glances at the monitor built into the side of the tank, and sees the familiar readings there. No heartbeat. No respiration. No brain activity. To every medical sensor in the galaxy, she is dead.

And in the Force, she is dead.

Anakin lifts his hand and places it against the side of the tank, wishing once again she would come alive. That she would open those beautiful green eyes and call him dummy one more time.

He drops his hand.

“I miss you, ‘Ri.”

He glances down at her toes as they float off of the bottom of the tank, suspended in the vicious bacta.

“We’re going to Rodia in the morning. The Vong are shaping something there, something from the Rodians. They must be stopped.”

He slowly walks around the tank, stopping once more as he stands before her.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to save you.”

He looks up at her face, tracing the lines of it with his eyes. Then he lowers his head and walks out of the room.

Greater Than the Sum of Their Parts: Chapter Seven

Tahiri and Noelani step off the transport, the light breeze ruffling their hair, as they both gaze around the spaceport. A man in a security uniform is briskly walking towards them. He stops a few paces away, and gives a half-bow.

He is a heavyset human, with brown hair, and a long mustache drooping on either side of his mouth. Attached to his collar are the pips indicating his rank as a lieutenant.

“Master Jedi! It is a pleasure to greet you. Are you here to replace Nelani Dinn? My name is Neav Samran.”

Tahiri shakes her head. “Sadly no, we’re here to investigate her disappearance. I am Tahiri Veila and this is my apprentice, Noelani Darklighter.”

“Ah. Well I’m afraid that our small planet will not be of much use to you then. We were visited by Jacen Solo and Ben Skywalker, and they assisted us with a few situations before finally leaving the planet, taking Jedi Dinn with them.”

From the corner of her eye, Tahiri notices as Noelani tilts her head slightly. And then before she can stop her, Noelani is speaking. “How do you know all of this? Were you with them? Do you know where they went?”

Tahiri quickly raises her hand, and Noelani quiets down, a blush coming to her cheeks. Tahiri gives her a mental hug through the Force, before turning her attention back to Samran.

“My apprentice asks some valid questions. How do you know all of this?”

Samran gestures towards the security office of the spaceport, and Tahiri begins walking that way, with the lieutenant falling in line beside her, and Noelani a few steps behind.

“I was there for the situations that Jedi Solo assisted us with. Jedi Skywalker even saved my life when a Y-Wing exploded. I was there for a lot of their conversations – and I saw when all three of them boarded a transport and left for space. Unfortunately, I am unaware of where they went.”

They enter the security office, and Tahiri gestures to one of the seats. Noelani drops herself in it, her eyes wide as she looks around the cluttered room. Tahiri herself stands in front of the desk, which Samran has sat behind. She smiles down at him.

“Can you get me any information which Jedi Solo, Skywalker or Dinn viewed or accessed during the time that Jedi Solo was here?”

The security officer nods his head quickly. “I’ll get that request into our information department. It might take a day or two though.”

“That’s fine. We have a few other leads we need to check out before we’re through here. Thank you for your time.”

Samran quickly stands, giving them another half-bow. “It is my pleasure Master Jedi.”

Tahiri smiles for him again, a smile she knows makes an impression on men, and turns away, walking through the door. Noelani quickly stands and follows. As soon as they’re outside, she steps up beside Tahiri, her head bowed slightly.

“I’m sorry I just blurted out my questions, Master.”

Tahiri wraps an arm around the girl’s shoulders, hugging her close as they walk towards the street. “It’s perfectly fine. Your questions were good ones.” Then she lets out a little chuckle. “You just don’t need to ask them all at once.”

----------------------------------------------

Pilk Shai hunkers down in the shadows in the alley outside of the entrance to the college. The arched gateway is just a few dozen meters away and he watches it, waiting for the return of the Jeedai.

His trained eye is able to pick out the other members of his hunting party as they lounge around within plain view of the entry way. He grins, excited at the prospect of fighting against the Jeedai again.

A breeze blows from the direction of the college. He sniffs the air, and can smell the Jeedai. He smiles, and makes a subtle hand signal, and watches as it is passed through the others of his party.

Next he can hear the soft murmurs of their voices, then the elder Jeedai’s laughter. Pilk can feel his heart rate increase, and his grin grows larger.

The Jeedai step out through the archway, walking beyond it and Pilk steps out of the shadows throwing a blastbug at the archway. It connects and detonates, causing the massive stone arch to crumble in a heap blocking the Jeedai’s escape back into the college.

The two girls turn and look at the crumbled pile of stone, and Pilk jumps forward. “Do-ro’ik vong pratte!”

The five other members of his hunting party rush forward as well, all brandishing their amphistaffs. Pilk watches as the two Jeedai turn around until they end up facing Pilk.

The elder Jeedai snarls slightly. “What do you want?”

Pilk laughs. “Tchurokk Yun'tchila, Jeedai.”

She snarls and jumps forward, her lightsaber igniting as she comes in to attack. Pilk snaps his amphistaff up, catching her blade, and twisting it down and around.

His fist snaps out, and slams against her jaw. As she stumbles backwards, he makes a quick hand gesture, and two of his warriors move forward, intent on capturing the younger Jeedai girl.

He comes in once more, swinging his amphistaff in a downward arch in towards the elder Jeedai. She catches his amphistaff on her blade, and then she swings in another attack.

Pilk parries, and then stabs forward, impaling her on his blade. He grins at the sheer shock that flickers across her face. He twists his amphistaff, reveling in her grunt of pain, and then yanks it back out.

Her hands clasp onto her stomach, and she falls down to her knees. He glances to the side, and sees his other warriors holding the younger Jeedai. He sees the horror on her face, and gestures for them to take her away.

They walk away, and he turns back to the elder girl. For a moment, he admires the way her pain contorts her face, the brightness of the thick blood as it bubbles out from her wound, rolling over her hands.

“Rrush'hok ichnar vinim'hok.”

She spits on him. He ignores it, and he turns away, heading in the direction of his warriors. He is happy in the knowledge that Ulya will enjoy breaking the young infidel.

------------------------------------

Tahiri can feel the burning in her stomach. A rolling pain washing over her in multiple waves. She glances up and sees the Yuuzhan Vong warrior walking away from her, following the other warriors who have taken Noelani.

In the Force she can feel the girl’s fear and concern.

In her heart she can feel the despair and utter sense of failure.

Noelani, her apprentice, yanked away from her. Dragged away in bonds. Tahiri struggles to stand, finally getting to her feet. She staggers forward, heading in the direction which the warriors traveled.

She gets another dozen meters, and then the world turns dark.

She reawakens, the pain still settled firmly in her stomach. A painful ember, as much failure as the wound she can still feel. Tahiri opens her eyes, and looks up to see the soft blue ceiling tiles of a medical center.

She sits up, and the ember of her pain flares into a raging inferno. A scream erupts from her lips, an exclamation of intense pain.

“Hu-carjen tok!”

An elderly male human rushes to her side, gripping her arm tightly. “Rest easy, Jedi Veila. Your stomach is not fully healed yet.”

She looks at him, and feels a lance of pain driving through her skull. A second scream erupts from her lips, an exclamation of intense pain, but this time it is a pain which does not belong to her body.

“Noelani!”

Tahiri shrugs her arm away from the medic, and slides her feet off the bed. When the medic tries to grab her arm again, she uses the Force to fling him against the far wall, and stalks out of the room.