And now it's time to begin the next chapter. To recap what happened last chapter, a recon force of Yuuzhan Vong warriors have revealed their presence by attacking Elaaden, leaving the allied forces reeling from the shock and confusion.
Now, they've captured one survivor from the previous battle, and are set to interrogate him. Meanwhile, the rest of the Vong force present in Andromeda are searching for the Blackwing virus, which would definitely spell horrible times for everyone. But let's dive right in, shall we?
Disclaimer: I do not own Star Wars or Mass Effect: Andromeda.
With clean up operations still ongoing down on Elaaden, the group had transferred up to the Impassive, with Drack willing and eager to keep an eye on their Yuuzhan Vong prisoner. He hadn't said much, with the exception of swearing death to the infidels for their defiance.
Drack was more than willing to punch him in the face to get him to shut up, but it didn't quite have the desired effect, as the sudden influx of pain only seemed to make the alien warrior more defiant.
Meanwhile, Ahsoka stood at the other end of the hanger along with most of the Tempest crew outside the ship itself, while Scott, Kota and Neral joined Drack and several Stormtroopers as they moved through the hanger and headed toward the Destroyer's prison area.
"So these guys have invaded your galaxy?" Peebee asked, feeling the need to clarify. "And they came from a completely different one entirely?"
"That's the gist of it, yes."
"How many galaxies are we even dealing with at this point?" Vetra asked in exasperation.
"Well, let's see." Jaal interjected, looking thoughtful. "There's the Milky Way, Andromeda, Ahsoka's galaxy and now whatever one these Yuuzhan Vong are from..." He blinked as everyone else stared at him. "Ah, that was a rhetorical question, wasn't it?"
"You're catching on." Cora said, both exasperated and amused at the same time.
"Whoever these guys are, we can't let them run loose in Andromeda." Liam said, looking over at Ahsoka. "Is there anyway you and Kota could sense and maybe even track them somehow?"
"I doubt it. We can't sense their feelings." Ahsoka sighed. "We can't even sense them in the Force. And that's not accounting for the fact that these Vong are somehow outside the Force that we can barely affect them!"
In truth, the very existence of these Yuuzhan Vong chilled Ahsoka to her core. The previous revelation regarding midichlorians among the residents of this galaxy was disturbing enough, but even they could still be sensed and affected by it.
But now these aliens, these conquerers, had apparently laid waste to her own galaxy sometime after the fall of the Empire, while she was powerless to do anything to help. Add in with their disturbing lack of connection to the Force, and she was starting to wonder if they were the reason the Force was like this.
"Hey?" Ahsoka was snapped out of her thoughts as Sara put a concerned hand on her shoulder. "You alright?"
"That obvious?" Ahsoka sighed, seeing all the concerned expressions in her direction. "With everything that's happened and if what that Vong said is true..." She trailed off, not knowing how to complete that thought.
"Could they have been lying?" Cora asked, pointing out one possibility. "Making up lies to demoralize you? If they already know about the Jedi and how you can't sense them, they could certainly use that to their advantage?"
"Maybe." Ahsoka admitted, still frowning despite her words. "Though as much as I'd like to believe that, I doubt it."
"At the moment, there's really only one way to know for sure." SAM spoke up to the gathering. "And that's if we can get this Vong warrior to talk."
...
"We know you've been responsible for the destruction of several Initiative and Angaran sites." Scott said, pacing in front of the prisoner. "And we know you've abducted several of them. Why?"
The Yuuzhan Vong warrior said nothing. He was in one of the Star Destroyer's isolation cells, strapped to a table, tilted up to an uncomfortable degree. Dangerous instruments were connected to the table, which Scott could only guess their purpose, but he doubted it was for anything pleasant.
It was a stark reminder just how ruthless the Empire could be, and what methods they would use to extract information. He didn't like the idea of having to use them on anyone, but if this alien refused to speak, they may not have a choice.
"Alright, let's try this from another perspective." Scott sighed when the Vong warrior still refused to talk. "Your compatriots mentioned that Coruscant had fallen. Why should we believe you?"
"See for yourself." That seemed to get the Vong warrior speaking, this time in what seemed like sadistic delight. "Go to the galactic capital, see what you find."
"Small problem with that." The Pathfinder replied. "We're not in their galaxy, we're in Andromeda."
"Yes, the prisoners did mention that." Scott raised an eyebrow at the mention of Vong prisoners, but let the alien keep talking anyway. "Why should I believe anything you say, infidel?"
"Why should we believe anything you say?" Scott countered, before taking a deep breath before this alien could rattle him. "Look, I'm asking nicely here. If you don't talk, I'm going to call a friend of mine to come in. And he won't ask as nicely as I will."
"Spare me the empty threats." The Vong warrior drawled with a smirk.
Scott turned away in frustration, looking at the door. This wasn't working, that much was clear. This guy had more than a trace of fanaticism about him, something that would not be so easily broken. And he was frustrating his every attempt at interrogation in turn.
"I'm open to suggestions." He muttered, and SAM was quick to reply.
"Perhaps we direct our attention to their exploits and motivations." The AI suggested. "Appeal to his ego, such as it is."
"Worth a shot." Scott shrugged, then he had an idea. "And I think I know just where to start." Turning back to the Vong, the Pathfinder took a different approach.
"Alright, let's back up for a minute. Since you refuse to give us your name, then perhaps you can tell us about your history. Why do you want to conquer us? And why do you want to destroy technology so badly?"
"Because artificial machines are an abomination, a blight to the cosmos!" The Vong warrior snapped. Scott raised an eyebrow. It seemed he had touched a nerve. "Our galaxy was ravaged by droids before the Gods granted us gifts to expel them completely: Your reliance on technology and droids will be your undoing! And so we shall cleanse your technology as we did in our galaxy!"
"Wow." Scott blinked. "And I thought the Quarians tended to be overzealous in their hatred of AIs."
"Curious." SAM noted softly in Scott's earpiece. "From what historical records I can gather from the Impassive's databanks, there have been records of two extragalactic droid species in Ahsoka's galaxy called the Silentium and the Abominor. Some evidence suggests that they fought a war only to be exiled from their own galaxy."
"Guess we know who did the expelling." Scott murmured before speaking up in full. "So why did you leave your galaxy then? Why travel all the way across dark space to conquer someone else?"
"Our galaxy was ravaged by war. Thus a new one was to be our home, and we would take it by force."
...
Meanwhile, Drack, General Kota and Captain Neral watched through the cell's holocam as the Pathfinder's interrogation of the prisoner continued. And through it all, the Krogan was growing more and more frustrated.
"Patience." Kota recommended, glancing at the Krogan, who shook his head in a huff.
"Just give me five minutes alone with him, and I'll make him talk." Drack growled, glaring at the Vong. "I respect Ryder, don't get me wrong, but this is going nowhere slowly."
"I have to agree. As... enlightening, as this might be." Neral started. "We're not getting any useful information out of this thing. We still don't know how many Vong are here, and more importantly, where they are. We may need to apply more... invasive methods."
"You can't just torture him!" Kota protested, causing the Krogan and Imperial to look at him.
"Sure we can." Drack snorted. "Don't go soft on me now, General. Don't forget; my people died fighting these things. They targeted our children, for fuck's sake! I intend to ensure that doesn't happen again, and I won't appreciate it if you attempt to stand in my way."
He would, too. Kota could sense the simmering anger in the Krogan. Then again, it wasn't like the Jedi could necessarily blame him for his feelings, especially when remembering the aftermath of what the Vong had done to Elaaden.
And as much as he would often like to forget, he'd been no stranger to more... physical methods of interrogation. He'd employed them against the Empire's forces more often than he wanted to admit, and it had gotten results before.
"General, you understand that we can't afford to let these beings run around freely." Neral spoke up again, drawing Kota's blind eyes to him. "Not after what they've done. We need to identify and neutralize this threat, by any means necessary."
"And we can't afford to let them get their hands on the Blackwing virus." Kota said with a sigh. "We need to discuss it with the leadership, first."
...
It took quite a few back and forth discussions between the leaders of the allied forces, but between the hardened members of the Angaran Resistance, Kesh's own ire regarding what happened, and Kandros' reluctant agreement, the naysayers were outvoted.
Drack had offered to step in first, the old Krogan desperately wanting to take a crack at the captured Vong warrior, but Scott and Kota had pulled him away before he could. Especially since Captain Neral admitted that they had a droid who specialized in just this kind of work, to the displeasure of both Jedi.
They had known about the Imperial interrogation droids, which would be considered a crime against civilization in the Republic, and even Drack was taken aback when they described its capabilities.
But with the green light given, the IT-O interrogation droid was let loose against the alien. Having no previously recorded biological data hindered the process, but in the end, the Imperial torture machine still performed as advertised.
The only problem was that it didn't work. The Yuuzhan Vong warrior actually seemed to enjoy all the suffering being inflicted upon him. In fact, during one of the more painful tortures, it actually started laughing.
"Okay... that's just creepy." Scott shivered at the sight of the broken alien simply laughing like that.
"I-I am starting to believe you're telling the truth." The Vong stated abruptly, talking directly to the droid. "Pain is embraced by the Yuuzhan Vong. You humans would break at such pain, but for us? This is meditation. Your galaxy already knows that, yet you... you didn't know."
"Then you know what we've told you is true." Scott walked into the room again, this time trailed by Kota and Drack. "You're not in familiar space anymore-"
"Is this the part where I'm supposed to agree to help you?" The Vong spat, chuckling in response. "All this means is that another galaxy will be conquered in the name of the Gods. You will all fall like the rest."
"That's not going to happen." Kota said, his voice calm yet hard as his blind eyes gazed at the Vong.
"Jedi." The warrior was no longer smiling as he gazed at the old Jedi General. "You are a blight among the universe. A blight we shall extinguish from the cosmos!"
"Man, these guys must really hate you." Drack commented, glancing at Kota. "You should have seen the way they reacted to Ahsoka. They really had it in for her."
"Why do you guys hate the Jedi so much?" Scott couldn't help but ask. "What did they do to you?"
"This conversation is over." Was all the warrior said in response, seeming to lose most of his fire and preferring to just glare at Kota. After a little more prodding, it was clear that the warrior wasn't talking anymore, causing the trio to leave the cell in frustration.
"What the hell was that all about?" Neral asked, having watched the whole interrogation from the holocams.
"There's definitely something he's not telling us." Drack growled.
"And it undoubtedly has something to do with why the Force can't affect them." Kota muttered. "They're clearly not stupid, and if they know of the Jedi, then they would already know of that effect."
"And they're definitely not going to tell us of their own free will." That was the Imperial doctor Pershing, walking up with a datapad. "I wish you'd have let me do a more thorough examination before you started this interrogation."
"What do you mean?" Scott asked.
"These creatures, these Yuuzhan Vong, have nervous systems that are extremely resistant to pain." The doctor explained. "Which is why your attempts at torturing him didn't work."
"In other words, we're right back to square one." Scott sighed, shaking his head in frustration. "Alright, we should probably head back to the Nexus, figure out our strategy for dealing with these guys if they strike again."
"Agreed." Kota nodded. "We're clearly going to need to rework our strategies for dealing with their presence here."
"You do that." Neral responded. "The Impassive is going to keep patrolling allied space. And when you get back, tell the Initiative leaders that I would appreciate if they could deploy any naval forces they can spare."
"I'll be sure to pass the message along." Scott nodded.
...
Meanwhile, far from the Impassive and Elaaden, an asteroid shaped living vessel floated through the void of space. It wasn't alone for long, as eventually two others floated alongside it.
Like living tongues, tubes of organic material detached from the vessels and connected to each other, forming a vague triangle of the three Yuuzhan Vong scout ships. With their safety kept through secrecy, the commanders of the three vessels all met up to discuss what happened and what their next objective was.
"We have still been unable to contact the fleet or any of our brethren." One of the commanders confirmed. "As reluctant as I am to admit it, I think our prisoners might be telling the truth about being in the wrong galaxy."
"If that's true, then it's a grave complication." The second one said. "Without support from the fleet, we will be hunted down and exterminated. We do not have the firepower to take on a Star Destroyer."
"If it is true." The third said dismissively. "Then we don't need to. All we need to do is get access to the Blackwing virus and use it against them."
"We still need to find it." The first commander pointed out. "It's most likely in the hands of the Imperials at this point, and I doubt they'll make it easy for us to get."
"Perhaps." The third and senior commander made a dismissive gesture. "It still won't matter in the long run."
"It does." The second one retorted, slamming his fist against the organic table. "Especially if there are Jedi involved. We don't have the numbers to sustain any large scale attack against them."
"Then we don't attack." The senior officer said. "Our prisoners have given us useful details regarding security, and the way to get aboard their Nexus. All we need is the proper infiltration." He turned to one of the other officers. "In the meantime, there's also something else we need to investigate."
"What is it?"
"These 'Jardaan' structures are a blight on the cosmos and must be destroyed like all other technology." The senior officer shook his head. "But first, we need to know more about them. One of you will go to a nearby bunker and investigate."
And I think this is where we're going to end this chapter for now. Not a lot happening there, I'll admit. I added the Yuuzhan Vong on a whim, and their story will probably be brief, but it's a bit early to tell right now.
Still, I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and reviews are always welcome.