A Life Not His Own: Chapter 19

Anakin awakens to the sound of the doorway slurping open, a comforting weight and warmth pressed tightly against his side, wrapped inside his arms. He opens his eyes and looks down, seeing Nelani nestled in his arms, her own wrapped tightly around him.

He looks up at the warriors standing there, waiting.

A shaper walks in, a crazed look in his eyes as his headdress wriggles slightly. Nelani makes a noise of disgust at his appearance.

“Ah, my two Jeedai specimen are awake” The shaper bends down, and touches Nelani’s chin. “I do think it would be interesting to attempt the protocols from that heretic Meezhan Kwaad upon her, but the trials are more important. You two should feel honored; you get to test the voxyn.”

“Voxyn?”

“You will see.” He turns and leaves the cell. “Bring them.”

Anakin’s joints and muscles groan as he stands, he turns and offers his hand to Nelani who uses it to help herself up. Then rather than dropping her hand, he laces his fingers with hers, and side-by-side they walk through the door.

They exit into a shaper’s laboratory. In a cage along one wall is a six-legged creature, which is drooling and straining against the restraints placed around it. The shaper’s face twists into enjoyment at the sight of the creature. Then he turns to face Anakin and Nelani.

“This is a voxyn.” Again, the half-crazed chuckle comes from him. “She hunts Jeedai.”

He nods his head, and a door opens, revealing a wide expanse of grassland. Nelani gasps and the shaper looks at her oddly. “What? Did you expect our worldships to be all corridors and cells? No, we modeled them after our worlds, and then grow buildings upon them.”

Two warriors step away from the wall, a flash of metal attracting Anakin’s attention. He focuses on their hands and sees his and Nelani’s sabers. As the warriors arrive at the portal, they cock back their arms and throw the sabers out into the grassland.

The shaper’s face twists once more into the grin. “Just so the experiment is more like real conditions, you have the chance of weapons. You have a two minute head start. The voxyn will continue to be released until you are captured or killed. Their release will occur in random numbers and increments after the initial voxyn have been released.”

The flat nonchalant way which the shaper says that catches Anakin off-guard and it takes him a second to process it. But as soon as he understands, he pulls on Nelani’s hand dragging her out through the portal and into the field.

They get twenty meters from the shaper’s laboratory, and the Force floods back to them, Anakin grins, as he stretches out his hand, calling to the lambent in his saber, calling to his saber. A flash of metal and the weapon is once more in his hand, a thump beside him, and he looks down and sees Nelani has her own saber as well.

Having a weapon in his hand makes him feel better, and he touches the Force. He can feel it coursing through him, revitalizing him, strengthening his abused muscles and body. Beside him, he can feel Nelani doing the same; he wraps her within a Force embrace, somewhat surprised at his actions.

Even more surprising is when he feels her gently caress him in return.

A roar, unlike anything either of them has heard before sounds from behind them, an ear-splitting sound which almost qualifies as a physical punch. The two grasp onto the Force, pulling it to them and run faster.

Anakin looks around, trying to get an idea on how they can survive. He sees a copse of stunted, twisted trees and runs that way. As they arrive, he tosses a glance behind him, and notices a rustling movement in the grass.

He looks at Nelani. “Into the trees.”

She uses a Force powered jump to get near the top, and as soon as he is certain that she’s settled he jumps into a neighboring tree. His eyes narrow as he watches the rustling movement come closer. Then the voxyn’s spiked head pokes out of the grass, swaying slightly from side to side. It stops its movements, and looks up into the tree, staring directly at Nelani.

The voxyn jumps forward, slamming hard against the tree, and Nelani lets out a gasp of surprise and grips the tree tighter. As it falls towards the ground, Anakin makes his move. Using the Force, he propels himself towards the voxyn, igniting his blade as he nears. As he moves past the animal, his blade cuts through it, removing the creature’s head. He lands and rolls to a stop, noticing a cloud of green smoke coming from the remains of the creature.

He looks up the tree, a twist of a smile on his lips. “Come on down, and let’s keep going, see if we can find a ship off this rock.”

A flash of movement and she drops beside him. She straightens, her smile matches his. He takes her hand, and they once more start running. His eyes start scanning around them, and he reaches out through the Force trying to find any threats.

To the left, the ground drops away into what appears to be another copse of trees. Anakin leads them that way, and they soon find themselves in a swamp, slowly wading through thigh deep water. They keep their movements slow, cautious, stilling the water displaced by their passage as much as possible with the Force.

“Reach out with the Force, search for danger, and try to feel things through the lambent in your saber.”

She gives a quick bob of the head. “Yes, Master.”

Anakin winces. “Don’t call me master. If I was good enough to be a master, we wouldn’t be here.”

Nelani stops and turns towards him. Anakin follows suit. She reaches out her hand and touches his face. “Don’t say that. I know, we both know, why we’re here. I was too weak; I was not able to defend myself, so you surrendered so that I might have that much more life.”

Anakin reaches up and touches the tear, as it slowly makes it way down the side of her face. “It might have been weak of me, but I couldn’t watch while someone else I knew died.”

Nelani turns away, and once more heads forward. “We all die sometime, Anakin. That’s just a fact of life.”

He shakes his head, as he begins following her. “You’re too young to be so bitter.”

“And you’re not, Lord Vader?”

Anakin suddenly stops, coldness seeping into the Force. He turns in a circle, ignoring the ripples his movements cause. His voice is a hiss. “Into the trees. Now.”

Nelani jumps, using the Force to push herself higher, and grasps a branch. She leverages herself up, her saber held at the ready, as she watches the swamp around them.

Anakin lowers himself, and backs up against the roots of the trees; his muddy head barely visible against the bark, his ice-blue eyes the only giveaway of his position.

Be still! His Force command calms Nelani, a sign that he has a plan and a purpose. She presses her body tighter against the tree, bracing herself into a position where she doesn’t need to move.
The rustle of waves lapping against her tree, and she glances down. She almost has a panic attack when she can’t see Anakin, but he opens his eyes for a briefest second, a quick glance up at her, then he closes them, and he is once more just part of the scenery. She finds herself smiling that he would be so attuned to her feelings, that he would take that second to reassure her, that he had not abandoned her.

The sound of rustling waves comes again, this time closer. She hears the guttural bark of the Yuuzhan Vong language. The warriors advancing upon them are making no attempt at hiding their presence. She seems them now, four warriors, their amphistaffs wrapped around their arms, as they stalk through the swamp.

A fifth rustle of water and Nelani focuses on it. As she watches, a snout pokes out, mean eyes, bristling head spines and sharpened teeth. A voxyn. Then the snout disappears back into the water. The only sign it is there the whisper rustle of water.

She opens herself to the Force, showing Anakin what she sees. The snout pops up out of the water again, staring straight at her. Her heart drops, as that fang-filled mouth opens. A forked-tongue flicks out of its mouth, and then it lets loose with a screeching roar.

The wave of sound slams into Nelani, and it is all she can do to remain lodged in her spot in the tree. Her ears ring, and dizziness assails her, and she can feel the sharp alarm from Anakin.

The warriors gather around the voxyn, looking up at her. The animal rushes over, and reaches up with its front two paws, pushing against her tree. The warriors advance forward, and all stand with their back towards Anakin. One pulls something from a bandolier, and throws it into the tree.

Nelani’s eyes widen as the blastbug flies towards her, she stands up, and jumps, putting a Force wall between herself and the Vong. As the warriors start pointing and screaming, the blast bug hits the wall and explodes, knocking Nelani even higher.

Barely heard over the sound of the explosion is the sound of Anakin’s saber igniting. It takes him but a second to decapitate the first warrior, and another moemnt to stab the second warrior in the throat.

Nelani falls down, grabbing at a tree limb. Her hand catches hold, and pain flares in her wounded shoulder. Her body twists, slamming her chest into a lower branch. The shock of the second impact causes her muscles to spasm, and she loses her grip on the limb, falling down through the trees, slamming into the water.

Anakin’s next slice is caught by the amphistaff of the third warrior. He flicks his blade around, stabbing behind him, and hears the fourth warrior grunt from the impact. He ducks under the slash of the third warrior’s amphistaff, and turns on the ball of his feet so that he faces the fourth warrior. He brings his blade up from beneath slicing through the weak joint where the leg meets the hip. Anakin saws his saber, and feels it tug free, slicing the leg away. The fourth warrior plunges beneath the water with a gurgle.

Nelani’s opens her eyes, her lungs burning at the need to breathe. Her head breaks the surface of the water, water sputtering from her mouth. She gains her footing, and starts to stand, when she is struck from behind, the weight of the voxyn pushing her down. Before her head crashes beneath the water she can hear her scream.

Nelani’s scream distracts him, and the warrior uses his amphistaff as a whip, the tip wrapping around Anakin’s shoulder and cutting into his back. Anakin pushes with the Force, and a wave of water washes against the warrior, toppling him over. Anakin turns to where Nelani was, and sees the voxyn’s head submerge. He opens himself to the Force, pushing at the animal. The voxyn’s head lifts back up above the water, and a stream of green bile shoots out of its mouth.

Anakin dodges, the bile slamming into the tree behind him, eating away at the bark.

The voxyn leaps towards him, and Anakin throws up a Force wall, letting the voxyn land on it, then he tips the wall and pushes, throwing the voxyn against the tree behind him. Anakin moves against the voxyn, as it opens its mouth, a gurgling noise as it prepares to spit acid at him again.

He snarls and shoves his blade forward, stabbing it deep into the back of the voxyn’s throat. Then the Force tells him to move, and he pulls back his blade and dives to the side, the sound of an amphistaff hitting the water right behind him. He surfaces and sees the voxyn thrashing about, smoke pouring from his mouth and ears.

Nelani surfaces, gasping for breath, a shiver running through her, as her body spasms. She looks around, and sees Anakin stabbing the voxyn, and rolling away as a warrior slices at him. She pulls her saber back to her hand, and jump towards the warrior, shoving her blade into the warrior’s neck. The warrior collapses, and Nelani drops to her knees, the water lapping at her chin.

Anakin splashes over to her. “You all right?”

She looks up at him, a shiver running through her body again. “It scratched my back.”

Anakin walks around her, and sees the six long gashes on her shoulders, and frowns. He holds his hand out to her, helping her up. “Come on, we need to keep moving.”

Nelani nods her head, and they head off once more. They walk for an hour, and near a ridge. Anakin creeps up to the top of it, and looks down upon a small city. He frowns as he sees a dozen different species walking around. Then sighs as he realizes that each of the sentients wandering that city is sporting the white nodes of slavecoral.

He gazes around, and notices a small cave off to the side. He taps Nelani on the shoulder, and she looks up at him, her skin pale, and beads of sweat stand out on her forehead. He frowns, worried over the sudden onset of the fever. He gestures towards the small cave, and she nods her head.

The stand, and walk down to the city, him supporting Nelani most of the way. As they enter the streets the denizens ignore them, going about their business as if the two Jedi were a normal part of the routine.

They continue slowly, heading towards the small cave, sticking as close to the buildings as possible. Soon they come to the point where they will have to cross the main through way for the town. Anakin hesitates at the corner of the building, a frown settling on his features.

Nelani slumps against the wall, her body shivering uncontrollably. She looks at Anakin, and sees the frown. “Don’t be sad.”

Startled Anakin turns towards her. “What?”

She stretches out one of her hands, caressing his face. “Don’t be sad. Promise me?”

“I Promise. Why would I be sad?”

She lowers herself to the ground. “Because you already are.” Then she closes her eyes, as her breathing lessens.

“Nelani!”

He touches her forehead, growling at the fever she has. He reaches out with the Force, feeling the infection as it attacks her body. He pulses the Force through her, trying to expunge the virus.

He brushes the mud-caked dirt away from her face. “Don’t you dare die on me Nelani.”

Frowning as he looks around, he touches her forehead once more, submerging her into a healing trance. Then he picks up her body, cradling it against his chest, and heads towards the cave he had seen. As he nears it, he realizes that it is much bigger than he had originally guessed. With a quick glance behind him he walks into it, starting down the path into its darkened interior.

He walks down the cave, casting looks over his shoulder every few meters. Then he reaches the end and realizes that the cave is slowly being filled with the refuse of the slaves, all manner of mechanical devices.

But what attracts Anakin’s attention, what draws him, is the YV-888 light freighter, sitting there immediately before him. His face twisting into a smile for the first time since Nelani collapsed; he walks around the starship. He sees some writing on the side, and steps back to read it, Tachyon Flier. Still smiling he quickly boards the craft, laying Nelani on a blast couch in the common area.

As he walks towards the bridge, he depresses the close button for the ramp, suppressing a shout of joy as it works.

He flicks some switches, as the engines thrum to life. He glances at the consumables on board, frowning at the levels of air and fuel. Unsatisfied, he closes off the two additional decks, and pumps the air out, leaving air only in the areas where he and Nelani are.

He flicks a few switches, and pulls up the navicomputer. He inputs a course, checking to see if he would have enough fuel to get there, his smile becoming greater as he realizes he does.

He runs some diagnostics, getting clean reports for them all. Then he checks the weapons system, nodding his head happily. He turns on the main power, feeling the thrum of the main engines. He stands up, to activate the secondary generators and the air cyclers for the cockpit and common room where Nelani is. As he does so, the thrum fades, and the lights start to dim. He growls, and slams his fist against the panel, and the thrum comes back, and the lights brighten.

He returns to his seat, and activates the repulsers, slowly allowing the Flier to drift forward from the cave. He nears the edge, and hesitates a moment, unsure of what using the main sublights would do in the confines of the worldship. He looks out upon the small town, and decides it doesn’t matter, getting Nelani help is more important. He activates the main sublights, and pushes the thrust to maximum. With a roar, the Flier jumps forward, rocketing past the village. He pulls back on the flightstick, aiming the ship towards the roof. As he closes the distance, he activates the Merr-sonn torpedo array, and fires a salvo.

They detonate against the coral, and chunks rain down upon him. Anakin fires again, and more coral pings against the hull. He fires his third salvo, the explosion ripping a hole through the coral skin of the worldship, and the Flier slips through and into space.

He twists the craft around, and activates the shields. A glance at the tactical display shows a dozen skips coming up to meet him, and he heads towards deep space, waiting for the navicomputer to tell him it has a valid hyperspace jump.

The ship shakes as the lead skip opens fire, raining plasma upon the shields. With an explosion of sparks, the shields fail.

The incoming tone chimes again at the same time as the navicomputer. Anakin reaches for the hyperspace levers and as the Flier shakes with another impact, yanks them toward him.