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.”

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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.