As the ARC trooper led the Jedi and their droid down the natural tunnels, the smell of rotting meat and fish got worse and worse. What bothered Barriss the most was the off feeling of weightlessness as they ventured further inward, it wasn't the same sense she felt when she encountered the Vong on Balmorra, not the warrior on Cato Neimoidia, no this felt as if gravity itself was abnormal.
"You feel it too?" Mace asked.
"Yes, it feels like my weight is being dragged forward, but the further we walk, it then feels like I'm being dragged to the right." She elaborated.
The Jedi master reached down and picked at the fine pieces of dirt in the crevasse of the tree and gently let them drop from his hand. As they already predicted, the tiny objects fell, but drifted to the right of them, as if pulled by a greater force. "We must be close. How much further, trooper?"
Dogma looked over his shoulder. "Just a little further."
The six of them soon found themselves at the base of a natural cliff edge where Fives and a small squad of scouts had set up a camp in the higher levels of the settlement.
Then they looked over the cliff and down at a village, the whole settlement itself was built into the gigantic natural hollow within the tree, reaching the size of the original togruta settlement. All throughout the village were miniature sectioned areas with plants, as if designed for farming. In each section was a dark blue and black sprouting tree, covered in rocky growths and coral, there was no doubt in Barriss' mind that these were the same properties as the asteroid that delivered their Vong prisoner, they were growing ships. What she noticed more was the fact that the force itself was once again silent, she tired and tried to listen out for any calling but heard nothing. This void was stronger than anything she felt before, as if even her basic senses were becoming numb.
"Over there." Fives quietly pointed to a group of colonists wearing collars made of bone and thorn around their necks. Leading the group to the small specified fields for farming was a Yuuzhan Vong warrior armed with a leather whip, which he showed no restraint using. It was clear that he was taking delight in ushering the prisoners with brute force.
"We have to help them." Barriss attempted to rush in, but was held back by Mace.
"Patience, Offee. We have no idea how many more Vong are nearby, or how many colonists they have enslaved." The master cautioned.
"Observation: Master, there are currently thirty life forms showing the same readings as the Yuuzhan Vong captive on Balmorra. Additionally, there are two hundred and seven togruta, thirty five twi'leks, four wookies and one human." HK-47 informed the team via his scanners.
Fives looked at the droid in disbelief. "Observation? How can you possibly see that? Droids as old as you couldn't possibly have heat scanners."
Without saying a word, HK-47 grabbed Fives by his head and directed it upwards towards the ceiling of the hollow. Hundreds of feet above their heads was another enslavement camp completely upside down, hanging from the ceiling, likely there due to another gravitational disturbance.
"How is that possible? It defies all laws of physics!" Dogma said in a mixture of amazement and fear.
"Uh, Dogma. Jedi." Fives nudged his brother and pointed, followed by a cheap smirk.
"No, it does make sense." Barriss started. "Vindi took apart the Vong craft back on Balmorra and found this tar black plant inside that messed with his sensors. It looked exactly like those up there." She pointed at the numerous plants two hundred meters upwards of their location.
"So, there's plants that cause gravity to change?" Korkie then asked, unsure whether or not to believe it himself.
Barriss began to walk to wards the wall of the wooden cavern and placed her right foot against it. "I believe so... And if I'm right… then." The strained as she brought her left leg up to the wall next to the right, and just like that, she was standing on the wall.
"By the force." Mace said in shock.
Barriss looked up from where she was standing, back towards her comrades. "HK, how many Vong are on the ceiling?" She asked.
"Scanning, Master. Observation: there are twenty four Yuuzhan Vong life forms in the upwards region of this catacombs, six are on the ground level." The assassin confirmed.
"Okay then. Fives. You, HK and your scout squad line up sniper shots at the Vong on the ground. Me, Korkie and Master Plo will head upwards and use these plants to our advantage. Dogma, I want you to relay a message to Slick, tell him we're gonna need a dozen empty gunships ready to evacuate. I'm having trouble getting a signal in here so you're going to have to go on foot."
"You can count on me, Sir." The tattooed clone said with pride as he headed back the way they came in.
It didn't take long for Fives and HK to get into position along with their four ARF troopers, all with a Yuuzhan Vong in their sights. "Remember, men. Set your weapons to arc, it's the most effective method of harming these things. We cannot risk a standard blast, even if it's a headshot." Fives commanded his squad.
Hundreds of feet up the wall, the three Jedi were crouched behind another extending rock, hiding from plain view from the majority of the Vong forces. Barriss grabbed two sets of scopes from her belt and passed one to Mace, Korkie brought his helmet antenna down as a scope himself. "I have visual on the largest group of Vong, they seem to have their own camp set up separate to the slaves." Barriss informed her fellow force users.
"How many do you make out?" Korkie asked, gathering visuals on the slaves as well as the Vong. "Hold on! I see a clone up there with one of those collars."
"A clone?" Mace asked in confusion. "Must have been a straggler from Kyshyyyk along with the wookies." He summarised before adjusting his scopes to get a clearer view of the clone in question, particularly the spot on his head where the inhibitor chip should be. "I can't see a scar through his hair, we won't know if his chip has been activated until we free the slaves."
"I guess not." Korkie cut in. "What's important now is that we save everyone we can. Fives, we have a shot lined up at the plants surrounding the Vong camp, are the snipers ready?" He said in frustration over the comm, to which the ARC trooper confirmed.
Not wanting to cause anymore tension between herself and Korkie, Barriss opened her own commlink. "Fives. Take the shot."
The echo of Czerka sniper rifles bounced off the chasm walls, alerting the higher Vong to the presence of intruders, but they were unable to form any sort of counter attack as Korkie had used an incendiary round to fire upon the black plants keeping their secluded campsite in place. As the leaves began to wither away with the heat, the plant quickly shrivelled up and died, causing the entire encampment to drop from the ceiling onto the floor below, crushing many of the huts that once housed the togruta colonists. Fives and his squad worked quickly to execute the Vong while they were already down, either injured or unconscious, there wasn't any chance to take with these monsters, they quickly took care of the majority of the Vong and gathered the ground slaves out through the way they came in.
Back up top, four Yuuzhan Vong remained, letting out a series of barks and screams as they pointed to the Jedi on the wall. Two of the Vong then gathered a couple of nearby slaves, including the clone and kept them within arms reach, if the Jedi were to try the same trick again, they'd be killing those they came here to save. All three Jedi ignited their blades ready to deflect whatever weapons the Vong might use, Barriss took out her duel bladed lightsaber to reveal a duel bright yellow blade.
Bright burning slugs of hot magma came down upon them at high speeds, almost as fast as standard blaster fire. Mace and Barriss used their blades to deflect the projectiles, only for the lightsabers to split them apart instead, creating smaller shards of magma nearly hitting either side of them. Whatever firearms the Vong were using, they were unlike anything in known history.
"Conventional means don't seem to be working!" Mace shouted as he continued to dodge the magma blasts.
Korkie lifted his rifle and returned fire. "Then don't use them!" He shouted as he shot the head off of one of the Vong warriors, causing him to let go of one of the Twi'lek slaves as she crouched in fear.
Barriss grabbed a Czerka pistol from her hip and aided Korkie in returning fire, desperately trying to find the additional black plant keeping the remaining Vong on the ceiling. Korkie then tossed a pistol to Mace who grabbed it using the force, holding the gun in one hand and his saber in the other, the Jedi master attacked using weapons he so often stood at the receiving end of. Another well placed shot had struck a Vong in the shoulder, causing immense pain and spasms throughout his body, additionally causing him to release the last slave prisoner so that the clone could gather the Twi'lek girl and run from the firefight.
"Keep firing! We can do this!" Barriss shouted with optimism. She sheathed her blade and brought up her hand to redirect another blast of flaming hot magma, as she successfully redirected the attack, a small shard broke from the projectile and slashed across her shoulder. In a fit of pained rage and frustration, she instinctively remembered what Palpatine had taught her.
"Give into your emotions, Barriss. Lightning in particular feeds on hatred and anger, the most potent weapons of the dark side. Forget what the Jedi taught you about reaching to the force, forget letting the natural energies flow through you, focus only on your raw aggression. Stretch out your fingers, and channel that anger through! Direct your pure and potent hatred towards those who awaken it within you!"
In an instant, Barriss unleashed a storm of lightning from her fingertips towards the remaining Vong, the vibrant white web of electricity splitting and individually finding it's way to their targets, frying them instantly, causing them to drop dead on the ceiling.
Windu looked upon her in shock and an emotion that he didn't show often, fear. Barriss knew that she would have to explain what she just did, and prepare herself for what confrontation would undoubtedly follow. Before anyone could speak on the subject, a loud deliberate cough caught everyone's attention.
The trio looked to the mysterious clone, who had the Twi'lek slaves protected behind him. "So, do you have a way out of here or what?" He said almost jokingly as he and the rest of the slaves made their way down the wall.
The clones worked tirelessly to remove the spike collars from the slaves, but too many already had severe injuries, the thorn and bone had dug nearly half an inch deep, causing blood loss and nausea. Fives walked up to Barriss who was busy at work healing a young male togruta, couldn't be any older than ten years old, he put on a brave face while the Jedi worked her magic and used her own energy to compensate for his. Once she was done, she turned to the ARC leader. "Yes, Fives?"
"Sir, I don't doubt that you can heal everyone here with time, but that's not something that's on our side. We have a couple of medics treating the worst of the bunch, but no one here is really in any shape to be moved." The clone admitted.
"I know." She sighed. "We'd be here for days if it were just us… Do you think the Resolute II could come in close for shorter trips?"
"Wouldn't work so well, Sir. This tree, whatever the Vong were growing here, it's rotting and dying. Bringing a large ship this close could cause the whole thing to collapse. Besides… Dogma hasn't reported back to us yet."
"It's only a short trip through the hollows. Hasn't anyone been out to check on him?" Barriss asked, visibly frustrated.
"That's why I came to talk to you first, let you know of the situation." Fives admitted.
Barriss knelt down to inspect the young boy's neck once more, partially to admire her work, but most importantly, to see that he had healed properly. She then stood back up and adressed the ARC trooper once more. "Very well, I shall stay here with the medics to do what I can. Take HK and a handful of men out to the clearing and report back ASAP."
"Yes Sir!" The fifth domino answered before heading out.
Barriss looked around the cavern, dozens of slaves were still struggling to get to their feet after being treated. She admired the clone medics at work, it was strange dealing with technology so advanced despite also being widely organic and primitive. Collars of thorn and bone? It seems almost ritualistic, perhaps this was another insight into the Yuuzhan Vong society. She continued to scan the cavern for her master, only to see him standing before a rotting pile of bodies.
She walked up to him and placed a hand on his shoulder for comfort, but he quickly dismissed it and shook it off, still disappointed in her after the events of the Resolute II. "Such cruelty, such hatred in every action they do. These aren't the actions of men simply following a tyrannical leader, these are the actions of a collective species, they all willingly chose to do this." He said through gritted teeth, his anger slowly growing.
She looked at the pile and stood in silence alongside him, noticing the one particular tiny body among the rest of the dead. Seeing death in war was nothing new to the Jedi, not even before the clone wars, people die, they aren't gone, just one with the living force. While that notion brings peace of mind to many, it's how they became one with the living force that made Barriss' stomach turn. No children should ever have to die.
The footsteps of the enslaved clone that they freed earlier caught her attention, she turned to meet him. "I just wanted to say thank you for saving us, Sir." He began.
"It is a Jedi's duty to ensure peace, trooper. I'm just glad we got here as soon as we did." She said with regret as she looked back at the pile.
"Again, I'm greatful, Master Jedi. As much as I wish you had gotten here sooner, I'll admit that I didn't think anyone in the galaxy knew about us." He continued.
Mace finally turned, hoping to get any clues on the Vong's intentions. "What's your designation, trooper? How did you end up here?"
The clone saluted. "Sir! RC-1207, Delta squad. During the battle of Kyshyyyk, I was separated from my men. A few of the Wookies found me and tended my wounds until I was ready to search for my brothers… When I had finally tracked them down, something was wrong… they changed. I saw them from the trees, they were executing wookie civilians, General Vos was there to try and defend them, but the village was ablaze, I don't know what happened to him or my squad after that. The entire battle had changed, General Unduli was arrested, General Yoda had executed commander Gree, the wookies that we fought to protect were suddenly declared enemies of the Republic, it didn't make any sense. I returned to the few who helped me and... Hid... among them for months until we were captured by those… things…"
The two Jedi looked at each other, it was apparent to them that this clone had no idea what has happened over the past year. It was a question of whether they tell him now among everything else that's currently happening, or to wait until they return to Balmorra.
"Barriss!" Her comm crackled and buzzed, distracting her from the dilemma.
"What is it, Fives?" She answered.
"It's-... Reso-... Sh-... -er attack!" He screamed through the distortion. Barriss didn't hesitate, she ordered Korkie and the clones to continue tending the wounded, while her and Windu headed straight for the tunnel.
Barriss and Mace rushed out onto the natural platform, only to find every gunship they came down in destroyed, clone bodies were sprawled out across the floor, blood trails leading to the wreckage of the most intact gunship revealed Slick, HK and the ARC troopers along with a handful of survivors taking cover from magma attacks.
The molten hot rounds came from several flying asteroids resembling those that were being grown inside the cavern, coral vessels using gravitational propulsion. They were in a series of dogfights with the V-19 Torrents from the Resolute II's main hanger. "Commander!" Fives shouted from under the cover of the downed ship, beckoning them over.
They quickly rushed for cover, narrowly avoiding the next wave of magma rounds from the coral ships as they passed over at an unusually impressive speed. "What happened?!" She shouted over the sound of blaster fire.
Slick opened a hologram from his wrist mounted projector. "There was another cavern in the tree higher up, hidden by the branches! A dozen of those asteroid ships came out not long after you went in! Kid, they're tearing us apart!" The general shouted back as he continued to use his pistol in an attempt to land a hit on any coral ship passing over.
Mace stood and reached out with the force as he too attempted to slow down the slaughter. He extended his fingers and tried to physically grab one of the ships as it flew over, but he couldn't feel it, even the ships were immune to force based attacks. "How are they besting our fighters? We have shields!" He yelled in anger and frustration.
"The coral ships are somehow ripping the shields right off of our fighters! I don't know how they're doing it, but their rocks and plants have the advantage!" Slick responded.
Barriss narrowed her eyes towards a V-19, visibly watching its shields being physically pulled away by the gravitational pull from the plant inside the coral ship beside it. It was as if the torrent itself was brushing against a wall and the shield was giving out trying to protect it, it must be an effect of the rapid gravity distortion. Her eyes widened at the possibility of combating such a powerful obstacle. "Slick! Call your pilots! Have them divert non critical power to their inertial dampeners!"
"What? Why?!" The general responded.
"The gravity wells are affecting the shields! Trust me!" She pleaded. The former traitor could see it in her eyes, she knew it was something worth trying, and when it came to her, all he needed was her word to trust her.
He nodded and raised his comm. "Swoop! Divert all power to inertial dampeners!"
"What? But sir-"
"Just do it!" Slick screamed.
Without further hesitation, the lead pilot did as he was instructed and diverted his power. "Shields are holding… ship is stabilised. But Sir, this is gonna take some power away from the weapons systems." He worried.
"Standard lasers and heat seeking missiles will do just fine, pilot. Now relay that order to every fighter we have!" The general ordered.
The next couple of minutes were something to behold, the brave pilots of the 617th used all of their cunning skill and maneuverability to take down the coral ships with relative ease. There were only a dozen Yuuzhan Vong vessels, but they had taken out nearly half of the aerial force not long after they arrived.
Suddenly, a deep howl echoed across the land as one final ship emerged from the higher cavern of the Great tree. A large floating whale like creature elegantly floated through the branches, causing leaves to rain down, fluttering as they did so. From its open jaw, a colony of tiny insects darted out, engulfing a nearby torrent, destroying themselves in an array of small explosions, tearing the fighter apart. As the ship descended in pieces past the landing pad, the rest of the swarm began to follow it down.
"They're like the bugs on Cato Neimoidia!" Mace concluded as he darted his eyes across every dismantled gunship, searching for something.
"They're coming! Everyone, to the tunnel!" Barriss commanded, igniting her double-edged blade should she need to fight the bugs head on.
HK-47 threw a small grenade into the air above them, engulfing the open space in flames, creating a cover for the group to dart to the opening. "Information: Incendiary attacks are quite effective against insectiod lifeforms."
Barriss, HK and the clones had made their way to the tunnel entrance, the heat from the grenade causing them all to sweat. Barriss looked back for Windu, who had remained atop the downed gunship fuel tank. "Master!" She called for him.
Windu said nothing, instead he waited for the fires to fade away, revealing the swarm getting closer and closer. He then reached down towards the fuel tank and gripped his hand shut tight a few inches away, using the force to crush the metal casing, creating a leak upwards, then with a swish of his lightsaber, he set the gas alight, creating a steady flow of fire upwards towards the swarm, killing them instantly in a display of sparkling lights and loud pops and bangs.
"That blast won't hold them off for long. How are our pilots doing?" The master turned to Slick.
Slick placed his finger on the side of his helmet. "Swoop! What's left up there?"
"Two craft! That whale thing and a coral ship- Scratch that, just the whale! By the way, heads up down there, looks like the coral one is heading your way!"
Sure enough, the coral skipper crashed right in the center of the landing pad, mostly intact. What looked to be the cockpit had cracked and popped open, shrouding the floor in smoke as a Yuuzhan Vong warrior climbed out of his pod, his armour cracked and damaged like his vessel. He looked to the group and immediately stumbled to his feet but quickly regained his footing, then he ran straight towards HK-47.
The clones raised their blasters and began opening fire in a combination of bright blue electric lights, firing wave after wave of arc rounds into the Vong's chest, he dropped to his knees to deal with the pain. While he was down, Mace used the force to propel himself forward at an immense speed and raised his blade to the creature's neck, slicing it clean through.
"As soon as that whale is dealt with, prepare that body for recovery." He ordered as they were all suddenly caught off guard by the agonising sound of the aforementioned creature being struck by multiple missiles, tearing it apart mid-air, the last of the insects escaping the lifeless body in all directions.
"Observation: Master Jedi, the whale creature has been 'dealt with'. Can we please leave this vermin filled tree?"
Ignoring the droids blatant attempt at humour, Barriss walked straight up to Slick. "Get every able bodied person you can to help with moving the colonists and call in the remaining gunships." She ordered.
Then, seemingly out of nowhere, another Vong warrior jumped down from the trees onto the landing pad. This one was wearing the same crab shell armour as the rest of his kind, but with various additions and modifications, a set of tusks grafted onto his jaw, skulls of unknown creatures decorating his shoulders and a cloak covered in scales and feathers. He let out a mighty roar as he threw small berry sized orbs towards the crew in the tunnel opening, the orbs stuck to the inner walls of the tree tunnel and began to inflate, sealing the entrance entirely in a black, sticky substance, blocking Mace and Barriss outside to face the Vong on their own.
"Je'dai" He hissed.
Mace ignited his blade and held it out, pointing towards the warrior. "You know us, Vong?"
The creature growled and stomped where he stood, visibly kept himself from lashing out. "I am Yuuzhan Vong, Je'dai! Your clan are powerful, but small in number. It will bring me great pleasure to be the first of my kind to slay one of yours." He hissed as he reached behind his back and pulled out a small hammer axe carved from bones and encrusted with teeth on the blunt side.
Barriss then ignited her own blade. "You won't stop at one."
The Vong smiled and immediately threw more black orbs towards the pair as they jumped out of the way. Regaining their footing, both Jedi darted towards the Vong with their blades drawn back for a joint slashing motion, but the Vong raised his axe to stop the blades. Whatever creature the weapon was made from was strong enough to block lightsaber attacks. He then grabbed a large mushroom from his belt and threw it towards Mace.
The Jedi slashed the fungal growth in half to defend himself, but left himself exposed the the millions of microscopic spores encased within the mushroom which made their way into his nostrils and eyes. Mace stepped back and closed his eyes shut and began to vigorously cough, trying to gather his bearings while Barriss defended herself from another swing form the Vong's axe.
The decorated berserker kicked the mirialan girl back after locking blades, bruising her stomach, she coughed as he did so but quickly inhaled and braced herself for the landing on her back. She rolled backwards, using the momentum to regain her footing and prepare for the Vong's next attack, only for another one of the suicide insects to fly and explode near the right side of her face. The Vong smiled through clenched teeth watching the Jedi struggle with his superior strength and technology, but when the smoke cleared to reveal the shredded skin on Barriss' cheek, her body was already quickly regenerating the muscle and skin right before his eyes.
"Impossible…" He let out in a mixture of amazement and frustration.
Barriss raised her blade once more and ignited the second side. "You'll find that the Jedi have many abilities some might consider to be impossible." She almost smirked. It certainly wasn't the time or the place to goad the enemy, but given the nature of the Vong, anything that would throw him out of focus would be beneficial to the battle.
The Vong lowered his axe before addressing the girl. "You have remarkable abilities, Je'dai. I am Nom Anor, and I wish to know the name of the creature who's abilities will greatly benefit my people."
Barriss didn't change from her defensive stance, she narrowed her eyes at Anor, desperately looking for any weakness in his armour to strike. "Your people will be disappointed when you return empty handed." She said coldly.
Anor also looked at the Jedi to plan his next attack, until his eyes darted to the Jedi master only just regaining his eyesight, slowly rising to his feet. He let out another obvious visible smile and rushed towards Windu, swinging the hammer end of his weapon towards the Jedi's face, knocking him back onto the floor once again. He rolled unconscious multiple times until he finally slowed and rolled onto his back, revealing the dark purple and black bruise on his cheek covered in blood.
"Master!" Barriss screamed as she ran towards the two. As Anor raised his axe to bring down onto his neck in a killing blow, Barriss extended her fingertips and unleashed a storm of rage fueled lightning, bringing the Vong to his knees, dropping his weapon just shy of Windu's head.
He turned to his enemy and laughed. "More Je'dai witchcraft." He spat as he ran towards her again, lifting his head up high so that his tusks might pierce her skin.
Barriss used her newfound abilities to enrich her blade in a blanket of electricity as she used the force to speedily step to the side and bring her lightsaber upwards, cutting Anor's right tusk clean off, shocking him in the process. He dropped to his knees once again and let out a pained roar. "Argh! You'll pay for that, demon!"
Another bolt of lightning knocked him to the floor, still conscious, but practically immobile. Barriss then turned to Windu and used the force to gently lift his body from the ground, she then used her blade to cut through the black tar blocking the tunnel, Dogma was on the other side waiting for them. "Sir!" He stood to attention.
"Where is Slick?" She asked bluntly.
"He's prepping everyone for transport. What happened out there?" He asked as he looked to the second Vong on the floor behind her.
"Ambush. How long until the gunships get here?"
"They're here now." The ARC announced as he pointed to the four remaining gunships landing on the pad.
The ground crews worked tirelessly to get everyone back to the Resolute II, everyone was able to be evacuated within the hour, all that remained was Anor, tied up in the middle of the landing pad, recovering from the loss of his tusk.
"Barriss, What do we do with him?" Fives asked Slick, both with their weapons raised. Anor's ears physically twitched at hearing the Jedi's name for the first time.
"Suggestion: Execution." HK offered as he too raised his weapon.
"No." Barriss said defiantly, all eyes were drawn to her, including Anor's. "We're going to release him." She then turned to the Yuuzhan Vong with everyone watching in confusion. "So, when you return to your people, you're going to give them a message. This galaxy is protected."
She then signaled for the gunships to depart, leaving Nom Anor alone with an unarmed V-19 Torrent. A further insult to his species, forcing him to use the metal machines to retreat.
"Barriss..." He said to himself.