Alien Crossfire - Ch. 8

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Vergere suddenly stopped, causing Jacen to almost stumble over her. She turned to the wall and pulled out a coufee, one of the thin blade biots which the warriors use. Without speaking, she stabbed the blade into the wall and pulled down, cutting a long vertical slice through the membrane. She pulled back the flap, and gestured him inside.

Jacen looked at her for a moment, and then stepped forward, ducking down and through the slice. As he got the rest of the way through, his mouth dropped open. He had seen something very similar to this before, when he was a young boy. Hollowtown on Centerpoint station.

The similarities were astounding. The bright ball of plasma in the center of the room, reminded him exactly of the Glowpoint. Stretching out before him were fields, he looked across the wall and could see movement on the far side of the room, miniature people carrying out arcane tasks which he could not discern.

He took another step into the room, and then another. Beneath the Glowpoint, he noticed a series of hexagonal shaped boxes, surrounded by warriors and a small lake.

He glanced off to the left, and could make out a human male, twitching as he struggled to dig a ditch. A few meters beyond him, a Bothan female followed behind him, filling in the same ditch.

Both of their faces were adorned with the white protuberances of yorik coral. Slave seeds.

He turned back to Vergere, feeling lost in the depths of her soulless black eyes. "What is this place?"

Vergere gestured towards the room behind him, the crest on top of her head flared - shifting colors to symbolize her amusement. "It’s a playground."

Jacen screwed his face up in thought, "A playground?"

She cawed a short, sharp laugh. "Yes, a playground, what else would it be?"

He turned back to look out at the room. "I-I don’t know."

Silence greeted him, and he made another circuit of the view with his eyes, before turning back to her.

"But it’s just so…so…"

"Glorious? Beautiful? Truthful?"

He glanced back out to the view, seeing the small people on the far side of the room performing some arcane task. "I was going to say devastating and inane. What is this place for?"

"Hmm. It is a playground. Here giant children learn the basis of social behaviors. To lie, cheat, to win at all costs. The taste of victory and the bittersweet lesson of defeat. The unalienable fact that there is always someone faster or smarter or better than you." She shrugged her shoulders, before continuing her speech. "What else is a playground for?"

Jacen frowned at that, and glanced over his shoulder back at the tableau behind him.

"Are you teaching the slaves out there how to be a part of Yuuzhan Vong society?"

Verger cawed another short laugh. "Oh, no. This playground is not for them. This playground is for the dhuryam."

Jacen’s tongue tripped over the odd word. "The thur-yam?"

"Our Masters have come here, and are in the process of recreating their lost homeworld."

"Like they did with Belkadan? But I don’t remember anything like this on Belkadan."

"Belkadan was an industrial park. A planet designed just to produce war material. What our Masters wish to recreate here is Home. A living planet. A singular entity, as alive, and sentient and sapient as their worldships and yammosks."

She gestured towards the honeycombs down by the lake. "And every sapient entity needs a brain. That is what the dhuryam is."

Jacen looked at her for a moment more, and then turned back towards the lake in the distance, a frown flickering over his features. "Why am I here?"

Her voice was filled with amusement. "This is your new home."

Confused, he slowly turned to face her once again.

Then with a solid thunk, a sharp pain erupted in his chest, an agony of fire and anguish. He faced forward again, and looked down and for the first time saw a long bone hook in her hand.

The same long bone hook which was currently embedded in his chest, just to the right of his sternum.

He winced. No, not the first time I saw it. I saw it when she collected me. She used the Force to blur it.

He looked up from the hook into her black eyes and coughed up a mouthful of blood. "Why…what?"

Vergere’s headcrest flickered to show her amusement again. "It came to my attention that you had been implanted with a slave seed before…but it was too easily removed, and never fully took root. So we decided to make this one just a little harder for you to reach."

She slowly pulled the hook out of his chest, and the pain and movement drew Jacen’s attention. He watched as it slid out, coated in a slime and ichor and flecks of skin and blood. It popped out, and Vergere lifted the thing close to her face, and smiled happily.

"You did a god job. Go play."

She dropped the hook, and Jacen watched it slither away into the thin blades of grass. He fell to his knees, those blades of grass scratching his legs and looked up at her. With a final smile for him, Vergere turned and hopped away, slipping out through the cut in the wall she had made.

As Jacen struggled to stand again, pain flared to life in his chest, spreading throughout his body. He could feel the slave seed taking root, spreading, becoming a part of him. Igniting every nerve it came into contact with. He growled as the fire spread through his arms, to the tips of his fingers, down his legs, even flickering over his scalp.

And wondered what new lesson he was supposed to learn from this pain.

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Anakin shifted nervously where he stood in front of Luke Skywalker. The elder Jedi sat at the desk in the office supplied to him by Booster. Finally Luke looked up from the datapad he was reading from, focusing on his nephew.

"How can I assist you, Anakin?"

"I’ve got a favor to ask Uncle Luke. I know I probably don’t deserve it, but I have to ask."

Luke leaned back in his chair, folding his fingers together. "Ask."

Anakin nodded his head, "I want to return to Bast Castle and retrieve Tahiri’s body."

He could feel Luke’s shock in the Force. After a moment, Luke slowly nodded his head. "I think we will both go, as soon as Jaina returns with the Jade Shadow."

Anakin nodded his head. "Thank you Uncle Luke."

A few hours later the two of them were on the main hanger deck of the Errant Venture, watching the Jade Shadow as it slipped through the magcon field. With the hiss of released pressure, the Shadow settled to the deck, and its ramp lowered. Anakin could not help as he watched Nelani come into view, an angry scowl covering her face, her feet thudding heavily on the ramp.

He could feel her frustration bubbling over in the Force, and he glanced up at his uncle, noting the calm expression on Luke’s face, Anakin turned his attention back to Nelani, watching as she bowed, a simple movement. Graceful. Then she turned to face him, her face brightening with a smile, her frustrations blowing away from her Force presence. She stepped beside him, and reached down to grasp his hand, and he gave hers a gentle squeeze.

The sounds of an argument drew his attention away from Nelani and back to the Shadow’s ramp. He could hear Jaina’s voice even though exactly what she was saying was muffled by the ship. Finally the four other girls walk down the ramp, Jaina, Tionne and the two Rar sisters.

Then a fifth figure emerged, trailing after the Rar sisters, not speaking, merely watching Numa’s lekku as they twitched in time to her discussion with Jaina.

Frowning, Anakin plucked his saber from his belt before he realized why. He could not feel the fifth person. He ignited his blade, the snap-hiss cutting through the hangar.

All activity stopped.

Anakin could feel the tightening of Nelani’s fingers on his, the pulse of peace and calm she sent his way, and then he looked up towards Luke noticing that the Jedi Master was watching him. "Put the saber down Anakin. I’m certain he does not mean us any harm."

Lu’ath, slipped around the females still standing on the ramp, and knelt before Anakin.

"I recognize that blade Master Jeedai. I am glad I am able to meet you again, that I can tell you that I took your words to heart, and have led my fellow Shamed into rebellion against our oppressors."

Anakin frowned looking at the upturned face of the Yuuzhan Vong, scared slightly at the near-religious fervor which appeared in the male’s eyes. He cast back in his thoughts, and remembered the Shamed One on Garqi. He extinguished his saber, and looked back at Luke.

"Did you know he was on board?"

Luke nodded his head.

Anakin frowned for a second, thinking things through. "This was another test. One to see if I’d attack or not."

Luke smiled at him. "Yes it was." Then the Jedi Master looked towards Lu’ath, and held his hand out to the Shamed One, helping him up from the floor. "Master Tionne will see that you receive quarters. I ask that you stay in them until I return."

Lu’ath bowed his head. "Belek tiu, Master Jeedai."

Luke started walking up the ramp, and Anakin began to follow, as Nelani’s voice cut in on his thoughts. "Can I go with you?" In his mind, he could hear the rest of her sentence: I’ve missed you.

Anakin looked towards Luke, who glanced towards them both, and gave an almost imperceptible nod of his head. "But, you need to ask your Master."

Anakin watched as Nelani rushed to Tionne, a look of hope etched on her face. The two whispered quickly to each other, and then a beaming Nelani was bounding towards them, and Anakin almost laughed at the difference in the girl from when she debarked from the Shadow.

She arrived at Anakin’s side, and once more grabbed his hand, twinning her fingers into his. He smiled at her, happy to have her by his side as he went to face his demons on Vjun.

As he went to retrieve his greatest failures.

Anakin and Nelani followed Luke down the corridor to the cockpit, and each took up a station. The thrum of the repulsors sounded through the ship, and she gently lifted off, backing away from Tionne and Jaina.

Then the starship was rolling out through the magcon field, and Anakin glorified in the cold light of the distant stars as they shone in through the viewport.

"psst"

Anakin glanced towards Nelani, cocking an eyebrow slightly in question.

"So, where are we going?"

Luke startled them by laughing; he pulled down the lever sending the yacht into hyperspace, and then turned to face them. "You wanted to come along so bad, and you forgot to ask where we’re going?"

Anakin looked at Nelani and saw the mask of indignation painted on her face. "Well, I’m just certain that where he’s going," at this point, she cocked a thumb in Anakin’s direction. "Will be more interesting than staying on the Venture."

Luke smiled at them again, as he stood up from the seat, the swirls of hyperspace, backlighting him. "Yes, I’m certain that is it. But don’t forget, we have training in an hour."

Both of the young Jedi replied in unison, "Yes, Master."

Then Luke left the cockpit, chucking as he walked down the corridor.

Anakin watched him leave, and then looked back to Nelani - just as she leaned in to press her lips against his.

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