Return: Chapter 10

Nom Anor awoke to the sound of a slight organic creek of the door to his quarters. His one eye open and alert, he instantly sat up in his cot and saw a shadowed figure, wrapped in the darkness of the night, at the open doorway. The figure stood still there for a moment before rushing Nom Anor.

The former Prefect of Yuuzhan'tar immediately swung out of bed and scurried for his cabinet at the closest corner of the room. He hurriedly opened the topmost drawer and took out an implement by its handle; his trusty garden dagger that Sekot didn't seem to mind him keeping, especially with attacks like these occurring upon him. Without hesitation, he took out the dagger and swung it at his attacker. The mysterious figure ducked beneath the slash, but Nom Anor didn't lose momentum as he knelt his attacker up the jaw amidst the latter's dodge.

The figure stumbled back from the blow, and Nom Anor took advantage of the moment. He punched his free hand across the attacker's face just to make sure he would have a harder time recovering before the former Prefect thrust his dagger at the figure's chest. But in lieu of impaling the attacker, the blade glanced off, as if hitting armor. Two seconds later, the attacker recovered from the hit across the face and yanked the dagger out of Nom Anor's hand. Acting with instinct, with the knowledge that his attacker had his most valuable weapon, Nom Anor actually punched his attacker's weapon hand and sent it skittering somewhere in the room.

The attacker then tackled Nom Anor back against the wall behind him, pinning him there by holding up his wrists. But the former Prefect then headbutted the figure before kicking his opponent in his left knee, nearly crippling him as the latter stumbled back again. Nom Anor then tackled his foe down to the ground on his back, but the other Yuuzhan Vong began to wrestle his opponent as he soon got Nom Anor on his back. The figure then wasted no time as he began punching his victim in the face repeatedly.

But even in the blows, as the attacker began tiring from giving out all the blows, Nom Anor had just enough time to avoid one of the blows to his face, resulting in the attacker smacking his hand against the hard floor of Nom Anor's quarters. The proper occupant of the room then grabbed that hand with both of his arms, wrapping it up in his grip, and used his own momentum to roll his opponent back onto his back. Nom Anor then gave his foe three punches to the face before pushing off of him and stomping him in the head before rushing for the room's illumination switch.

When the room was illuminated, Nom Anor saw that his attacker, who was currently pushing himself to his feet, was Maal Lah.

Great, Nom Anor managed to think, another relative of Tsavong.

That was all Nom Anor had to think before Maal Lah began rushing up to him again with a warrior's battle cry. The former Prefect ducked out of the way to his left and scurried for his dagger, which, thanks to the room's lights, he could see was in a corner of the room. He jumped the last meter and landed on his belly to grab its handle before rolling onto his back and kicking out both feet against Lah's chest. Maal stumbled back a couple of steps, but otherwise, he wasn't even winded.

Armor, Nom Anor realized as he pushed himself up to one leg. I wonder where he got that from on this planet.

Before Nom Anor could fully stand up, however, Lah kicked him up the jaw and sent the former Prefect stumbling back, albeit dagger still in hand. When the latter recovered, he moved to strike at Lah's face with his blade, but the former warrior grabbed Nom Anor's weapon wrist, and the two of them then struggled in place as they began wrestling each other for ownership of the dagger.

Eventually, Nom Anor broke the struggle as he shoved against Lah, and the two of them were sent scurrying over to a nearby window. They began to spin each other around before the virtual dance ended with Nom Anor tripping back against the window and falling through it. But he still had a grip on Lah, so the former warrior joined him in the descent, during which they both lost the dagger.

In the short few seconds afforded to him within that fall, Nom Anor managed to wrestle Lah so that he could act as his shield against the impact of the ground. The move worked, and it was Lah who cushioned the blow upon landing with Nom Anor on top of him.

Nom Anor then took a moment to himself before he pushed himself off of Lah's form, and his one eye widened as he saw that his opponent's face was impaled by the blade of his garden dagger from the back of the head; it looked as if the blade had acted as a new nose for the now-dead Yuuzhan Vong.

The former Prefect then looked around, and immediately saw Jacen Solo, Onimi, and a Hutt, whom he recognized as Randa Besadii Diori-he guessed that this Randa was also from another reality, as he viewed the original Randa's death on Duro by Priestess Vaecta's hand so many years ago-standing there in shock at having witnessed him and Lah fall from his grashal.

"Let me guess," Solo said. "Yet another former warrior out to get you?"

"Do I even need to confirm that?" Nom Anor retorted.

"It doesn't seem like it's safe when you're living alone then, Nommy," Onimi said. "Wanna live with us from now on?"

"What?" Jacen, Randa, and Nom Anor all asked in unison.

"Yeah, sure, I can take the couch, and with my Force-Yuuzhan Vong senses, I can sense if anyone is invading, and Nom Anor can take my place with Jacen in our quarters," Onimi said. "What do you think, Jacen?"

Jacen looked from Onimi to Nom Anor, then back to Onimi and sighed. "Well, since this seems like a legitimate problem that Nom Anor is facing, Onimi, I guess I could accommodate him."

"Awesome," Onimi said before turning back to Nom Anor. "So you coming with us."

Nom Anor hesitated before saying, "Does this mean I still need to have lunch with you tomorrow?"

"And breakfast and dinner, yes," Onimi said with a nod. "You owe us that much."

"Do I not have a say in this matter?" Randa asked.

"No, you don't," Onimi said.