This time when Vykk came around, multi-colored yorik coral walls surrounded him. He craned his neck down and saw that he was in the Embrace of Pain. Standing below him and waiting impatiently was a Yuuzhan Vong shaper adept. Suddenly the minishal felt much smaller. The shaper appeared to be holding a miniature Embrace of Pain in his hand. Noticing that Vykk was conscious, the shaper approached tentatively with the haar vhinic firmly in his grasp. Once the shaper disappeared from Vykk's peripheral vision, he felt six sharp needles stab into the apex of his spine. He cried out and gave a violent jerk, causing the Embrace to pull harder, almost dislocating his right shoulder.
"Are you capable of speech, infidel?" the shaper asked derisively, "I have a tizowyrm implant to translate your mongrel language."
"Yes," Vykk replied quietly.
"Do you wish an honorable death in battle, or a shameful death in the maw luur?" the shaper asked.
"I'd like to live, actually," Vykk replied sarcastically.
He was rewarded with a stabbing pain near his brain stem. It sent a rivulet of pain throughout his entire body, making a circuit through his entire nervous system. He screamed himself hoarse as he mentally begged for unconsciousness. The pain receded a full minute later, leaving him barely able to speak. The shaper's slash of a mouth curled into a malevolent smile.
"Defy me again and the haar vhinic will begin destroying sections of your brain," the shaper said coldly. "Your boldness leads me to think that you may know something of value. Speak it or face the Embrace."
"Like what?" Vykk asked disbelievingly.
As ordered, the Embrace tightened around Vykk's body. A loud pop echoed in the minishal as Vykk's shoulder fully separated. He screamed in anguish as his blood seeped from multiple wounds. A ngdin on the floor soaked up the sweat and blood that dripped from his mangled body. Reaching his breaking point, Vykk started babbling incoherently. A villip across the room recorded every garbled word. Eventually, Vykk ran out of things to say. He slumped in the Embrace, but remained conscious. The shaper collected the haar vhinic from the back of Vykk's neck and stroked the Embrace.
The Embrace released its grip and Vykk hit the floor with a wet thump. He moaned as the Embrace's tendrils slithered away and collected on the ceiling. The shaper observed Vykk for a moment before moving forward to tend to his more life-threatening wounds. The shaper was a meter away when a wall of the minishal exploded inward, showering its occupants with chunks of yorik coral. Vykk jerked his head up and was immediately sorry that he did. He could feel his heartbeat from his toes up to his forehead. Even his eyes seemed to be playing tricks on him because he thought he saw Brianna enter through the breach. He carried that image with him into oblivion.
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Brianna leapt through the hole created by her detonation pack. Her gaze roved around the room in tandem with her drawn blaster. Once she caught sight of the shaper, she planted a laser blast in the back of his head, dropping him to the floor. She quickly crossed the room to her target, pumping a half dozen more shots into his head. She gave the room another quick scan before rushing to Vykk's side. She gaped in horror at Vykk's broken body. Nearly covering him in bacta patches, she eventually stopped the bleeding. Gingerly hoisting Vykk over her shoulder, she ran back through the opening in the minishal wall. Entering a dark alley, she laid Vykk gently on the ground.
"There's no medcenter this time," she said, sniffling.
She patiently waited for her hands to stop shaking before she turned her attention to Vykk's dressings. She thoroughly cleaned and bandaged Vykk's wounds. He remained unconscious as she reset his shoulder. Satisfied that she had done all she could do, she prepared a hypo and injected Vykk with adrenaline. His eyes fluttered open and his expression turned instantly to a pained grimace.
"Bri?" Vykk asked uncertainly.
"I'm here," Brianna replied.
"Where are we?" he asked wearily.
"About a kilometer away from the ship," she answered.
"Stang. The only way I'm getting there is if you carry me," he said regretfully.
"It's okay," she reassured, "I can carry you over my left shoulder, leaving me with a clear gun hand."
"That's my girl, always thinking straight," he complimented.
"Only because I'm not drunk off my ass all the time," she chided.
"As I recall, you seem to like me better when I'm drunk," he said playfully.
She nodded. "Pants come off faster."
Vykk's chuckle rapidly turned into a hacking cough. Brianna's face paled when she saw some blood come out.
"Let's get moving," she urged.
"How about you get moving and I be the useless lump on your shoulder?" Vykk asked pointedly.
"How about instead of talking, you just stare at my ass the whole way?" Brianna suggested.
"Done and done," Vykk said, subsiding into silence.
Rolling her eyes, Brianna gently draped Vykk over her shoulder and started for the spaceport. She hadn't taken two steps before she felt a pinch.
"Hey, you can do that once we're in friendly space," she said over her shoulder.
"It was too tempting to pass up," Vykk apologized.
"Rein in your hormones and be a good dead weight," Brianna ordered.
"Yes ma'am," Vykk consented.
They were within a hundred meters of the spaceport when Brianna suddenly froze. She scrutinized her surroundings, searching for the source of her foreboding. She heard a muffled clank and hastily pointed her blaster in the general direction of the noise. What emerged from the darkness caused her mouth to fall open.
"Aves!" she shouted, "You set us up. Give me one reason I shouldn't pull this trigger," Brianna said menacingly.
"We didn't," Aves said simply.
"We?" she asked uncertainly.
Aves made a nearly invisible gesture and six heavily armed men stepped from the shadows. Brianna's eyes widened slightly and she lowered her blaster.
"Fine," she said, holstering her weapon, "What are you doing here?"
"Karrde never abandons his people," Aves replied.
"Decent of him. When did you find out Graym was a traitor?" she asked harshly.
"When he took our Skipray without asking," he answered.
"Can you help us get to our ship?" she asked.
"That's why we're here," Aves confirmed, "Just hand off Vykk to Habec and we can get going."
Brianna reluctantly complied. She spent the next few seconds unkinking her shoulder. Satisfied that Brianna was ready, Aves motioned his men forward. They encountered no major obstacles on their way to the spaceport. They arrived to find it heavily guarded by Peace Brigade thugs. Aves made a complicated motion with his hands and two of his men veered off from the main group to find optimal sniper positions. Aves waited one minute for the snipers to get in position then signaled for the rest of his men to open fire.
Four Brigaders dropped to the ground while the remaining sixteen woke up to the threat and returned fire. Habec carefully laid Vykk in a secluded niche then turned to join the fight only to fall backwards with a smoking hole in his chest. Aves retaliated by pumping several shots into a barrel of fuel which exploded spectacularly, taking out three more Brigaders in a rain of fire and shrapnel. One Brigader decided to bring some cohesion to his group, getting the attention of four other Brigaders and pointing agitatedly at the position of one of Aves' snipers. The sniper pegged two of them before succumbing to their massed fire while the other sniper eliminated the rest. Another of Aves' men slumped to the ground dead as they took out three more Brigaders.
Facing more even odds, two of Aves' men grew sloppy with their shots and were rewarded with merciless deaths. Luckily, they had had the good sense to take an equal number of Brigaders with them. Vykk slumbered in his hidey-hole while Aves, Brianna and the lone sniper continued the battle. One Brigader exposed himself long enough to receive a shot to the chest from Brianna. Unfortunately, the Brigader's grenade reached its target. It exploded next to the sniper, flinging him off the rooftop to plummet to his death. Aves and Brianna picked off two more, causing the final Brigader to abandon his post and flee into Naboo's labyrinthine streets.
Brianna ran to Vykk, heaving him off the ground and onto her shoulder. Rushing back to Aves side, they ran together for the spaceport entrance. They burst into the main hangar, continuing their mad dash until they arrived at the Lightfinger's entrance ramp. Brianna awkwardly keyed in the entry code and carried Vykk up the ramp once it lowered. She secured him in the Lightfinger's tiny medical bay then rushed to help Aves in the cockpit.
"How close are we to liftoff?" Brianna asked breathlessly.
"Three minutes," Aves replied.
"I'm lowering the underside swivel blaster and setting it to fire at any movement," Brianna said.
"A Solo-style swivel blaster? You two just get better and better," Aves quipped.
Brianna smiled at the compliment as she finished the startup procedures. Without delay, Aves fired up the repulsors and sent the Lightfinger screaming out of the hangar. The Lightfinger clawed for space as its occupants held on for dear life. Clearing the atmosphere, Brianna set the navicomputer to calculate a safe route to Mon Calamari.
"Cancel that," Aves ordered, "Just plot a light-year-long jump in any direction."
"Good idea," Brianna agreed.
"Come on, spit it out," Aves urged the navicomputer, "One more min – oh sithspit!"
The source of Aves' outraged surprise was a full Yuuzhan Vong battle group bearing down on them. Something about their formation niggled at him as he commenced evasive maneuvers.
"Wait. That's not a patrol; it's an invasion fleet!" Aves exclaimed, "And there's the defenders a few thousand klicks away. Looks like they're getting hit hard, but it leaves us free to slip out unnoticed."
"Spoke too soon," Brianna said as a Yorik-Vec and two squads of coralskippers peeled off in pursuit.
"Emperor's black bones!" Aves cursed as he threw the Lightfinger into a steep dive.
Suddenly, an Interdictor Cruiser emerged from hyperspace with a pair of Dreadnaughts and began powering up its gravity well projectors. Alerted to the threat at their flank, the Yuuzhan Vong sent a quarter of their force to annihilate the Interdictor. The fleet opposing the defenders retained a slight edge in firepower, enough to keep them at bay. Aves stared blankly out the cockpit viewport for a moment before hanging his head in defeat.
"Minions of Xendor! How the mradhe muck are we supposed to kriffing get out of here!" Brianna blasphemed.
At that moment, an Imperial Star Destroyer and two Bothan Assault Cruisers emerged from hyperspace. They opened fire on the approaching Yuuzhan Vong flotilla at point blank range. Two enemy ships instantly flared into incandescence. Taking advantage of the enemy's surprise, they took a moment to raise their shields then went back on the offensive. Geysers of yorik coral sprang from the enemy ships as they suicidally flung themselves at one of the Bothan Assault Cruisers.
"A bit sloppy, but you don't really need to be perfect with the Thrawn Pincer," Aves commented.
"Mind helping me get us out of here?" Brianna asked impatiently.
"Keep your shirt on," Aves replied exasperatedly as he accelerated to maximum sublight.
"We're clear of the Interdictor's gravity well and we have a course. Go!" she urged.
The beleaguered Bothan Assault Cruiser exploded behind them as Aves pulled back the hyperdrive levers, launching the Lightfinger into hyperspace.