Chapter 22
[=][=]
Pyria System
The lights inside the troop transport flashed red and primal music pulsed through the speaker-system. Lines of veteran soldiers and Yuuzhan Vong warriors filled the transport's jump-seats. The human members of the assault team were either bobbing their heads to the beat, or closing their eyes as they conserved their energy. The Yuuzhan Vong warriors just remained stoic, their faces betraying not the slightest hint of emotion.
"Whatcha think?" Ryza Tyreed asked the Yuuzhan Vong 'leader', Czalpak Cha, who was sitting next to her as the music's beat drowned out the hum of the transport's engines.
"Who is this?"
"Sugaan Essena, I think," Ryza answered.
"It is. They're an older band from the Mon Calamari colony Golia. Out on the Outer Rim," Kyp confirmed. "Do Yuuzhan Vong have music?"
"Not like this," Czalpak shook his head in a human-like fashion. "We have religious…hymns, I think you would say in your tongue. We have war-chants. But no 'recreation' music like this galaxy has."
"This is kind of like a war-chant," Kyp motioned to the speaker box. "Sugaan Essena was made up of veterans from the Clone Wars. They were raiders, mostly, hitting heavily armed convoys in small, fast ships. When the Empire came to power, they retired and set up on Golia. They were so successful during the war, and because they turned in their weapons for musical instruments, the Empire actually left them alone."
"They actually gave up fighting?" Another Yuuzhan Vong warrior asked incredulously.
"That's not impossible, you know," a Twi'lek commando quipped. "I can't see myself fighting for the rest of my life."
"For the Yuuzhan Vong, it is impossible," Czalpak said with a shake of his head. "You are a Warrior, Shaper, Intendant, Priest, or Shamed, each with a role in society. For the sake of our people, we had to adhere to those roles or be detrimental to our Domain and people."
"But what about during peacetime?"
"We have never known anything but war and strife."
"In a way, that's almost like our galaxy," a Jedi around Kyp's age replied. He was the one sitting by the intercom-system, the music emanating from a datapad in his hand. "We've been at war with each other for almost fifty years now."
"We've been in conflict for almost a millennium now," Czalpak answered. "And that was just during our travels through the void between galaxies. Before that we fought in a series of wars that lasted for hundreds of years, eventually culminating in the destruction of our homeworld and the rendering of much of our galaxy uninhabitable."
The Jedi's eyebrows shot up. "Okaaaay, you've definitely got us beat there."
"Anyway, Kestis, this stuff takes me way back," Corran said with a raised eyebrow and a nostalgic smile. "I remember listening to this during my pre-CorSec days."
"Our parents used to listen to Sugaan Essena before any battle. Thought I'd set the mood," the red-haired Jedi answered, motioning to the woman next to him. They were unique in that they wore dark red Jedi robes instead of the usual brown and sand-colored ones. Their faces were also painted white with red markings.
"Definitely does set the mood," Octa Ramis noted, her expression tense. She looked over to Kyp. "We sure the brainiacs have the readings right?"
"Well, if they don't, we won't be alive long enough to care," Kyp answered back.
"You suck at the whole reassuring thing," Ryza Tyreed muttered.
"It's the truth," Kyp shrugged.
"It'd really suck if that was how the Katarn Commandos go out," the leader of the elite non-Force-using soldiers, Judder Page, commented.
"In theory, the plan your people came up with should work," Nen Yim voiced. "By matching the gravimetric signature of any given vessel, they can successfully hide out in its 'wake' as it were. The brief interval between switching targets will be passed off by the yammosk as an anomaly within the standard deviation of…."
"I just want to know if this will work or not," Octa halted the shaper.
"I was confident enough that I am aboard this transport; is that an answer suitable enough for you?"
And then the call they were waiting for came over the intercom, temporarily overriding the music.
"We have the green light. Target acquired, commencing first jump in thirty seconds. Engaging stealth mode."
The music turned off, and for a moment, the only sound that could be heard was the heavy breathing of the commandos, Jedi, and Yuuzhan Vong warriors inside the transport. They felt the brief jolt as the shuttle made a micro-jump through hyperspace. Things became even tenser; a few people actually held their breath. The plan to actually get to the Worldship containing the hostages relied heavily on the calculations done by Danni Quee and the other scientists and Shapers.
They would identify one of the enemy Yuuzhan Vong cruisers on patrol, adjust their ship's engines to match its gravimetric profile, and then perform a micro-jump to appear directly under it. They would then hide in that ship's gravity shadow, look for a patrol closer to the Worldship, and repeat the process. This trick was made possible thanks to a specially-designed generator paired with a plethora of probe-droids. The droids would scan passing ships to read their gravimetric profiles, and then pass the data to the generator that transformed the transport's gravity shadow to mimic the scans.
The transport itself was a state-of-the-art, black-painted carrier that accommodated two-hundred soldiers. It wasn't a small thing. Fortunately, Yuuzhan Vong ships didn't come with windows. So long as their presence didn't upset the dovin basal aboard the ship they were using as cover, the masking technology thought up by the brainiacs should theoretically make them undetectable. Considering it was the first time they were even trying the technology, however, everything was still on the table as far as results.
"You okay, Kyp?" Ryza noticed Kyp had become a bit broody.
"Just wondering if this is how the Myrkr kiddos felt. You know, right before dropping uninvited into a Worldship."
"Unlike them, we actually have an exit strategy and a whole fleet ready to jump in if we need it," Ryza remarked.
The seconds ticked by. A few of the Jedi not accustomed to such high stakes needed the help of the meld to keep from throwing up or breaking down in panic. Ordinarily, they wouldn't have been included on the mission, but there were few Jedi in the Order who were accustomed to combat in the first place. After all, Jedi were meant to be peacekeepers, not soldiers, and most shied away from the more violent side of life. It was due to the media and politicians placing an uneven focus on the more combat-oriented Jedi—because they made for flashier stories—that the public had the impression the Jedi Order was some type of army.
The 'frontline' Jedi, the Solos and their friends, were already off-world. Saba Sebatyne had also taken another group of Jedi with her to Noquivzor. Of the two-hundred soldiers in the transport, a quarter of them were Jedi. And that was pretty much all the 'combat-able' Jedi the Order could spare for the mission. There were others in the fleet and on Borleias itself, but they were needed for security purposes.
Kyp glanced about the other Jedi in the transport and shook his head wearily. If the politicians knew that Wedge and the Jedi Order were risking so many Jedi to save Yuuzhan Vong, they'd probably be absolutely horrified. Or not. Pwoe and many in his camp did want the Jedi to go out in a blaze of glory.
"Stand by for jump, second target has been identified," the voice of Jan Ors called out over the intercom. A second jolt traveled through the ship.
"So far, so good," Waxarn Kel murmured.
"Eryl had to go through this; we can too," whispered another member of the Death Knights, Waxarn Kel's squadron, hands gripping the straps of the jumpseat in a white-knuckled grip.
The transport re-emerged from hyperspace a split second later. The jump sent them hundreds of light minutes in the amount of time it took to let out several breaths. But then the transport banked hard, pushing everyone against their seat-restraints the moment they had begun to relax.
"Hang on back there! The dovin basal aboard the cruiser sensed something off and is oscillating its profile. We're trying to stay in its shadow!"
The troops, warriors, and Jedi could only hold on as the transport dipped and swerved at unexpected intervals.
"Here's to hoping Kyle and Jaden are as good a team of pilots as they are Master and Apprentice," Corran said in a low voice.
"We really need to establish a Jedi flight-school," Kyp agreed through clenched teeth.
Not everyone was able to endure the gut-wrenching movements, and more than one person threw up. A couple had the misfortune of throwing up just as the transport swerved, causing the sick to either fly onto the nearest person, or back at them.
And then just as suddenly as the turbulence had begun, it ended.
"Thank you all for riding Insane Flyboys Limited. Remember, they're limited because their pilots' licenses are on restriction. For good reason, too." Jan Ors' voice came on the intercom a moment later. "We should be clear for the next jump in five minutes. We're several hundred kilometers out, so it will be our final shadow before we reach the DP."
"Just out of curiosity," Judder Page asked the group of mostly pale-faced Jedi. "And I probably should have asked this earlier. How many of you have done a combat drop before?"
"Have you ever heard 'Jedi' and 'combat drop' used in the same sentence before?" Kyp asked with a wry smile.
Judder surveyed the Jedi, and then shook his head ruefully. "Forget I asked."
The time passed with nerve-wracking tension, but they soon reached the drop-point. Which was, of course, when things started to go off-plan. The transport shook, but this time not from its own movements.
"That's weapon's fire," Ryza paled.
"Head's up. We've been spotted. We're switching to insertion plan Besh. Likewise, switch to ex-fil plan Besh when it's time to leave. Dropping in five, four, three, two, one... Good luck and may the Force be with you."
The back-half of the transport ejected like a metal slug from a rifle, hurling with explosive force through the vacuum of space. The front half, now free from its load, shot off in the opposite direction amidst a storm of plasma-fire. The ejection had been timed so it appeared as if the transport had been blown in two by a plasma-strike. The coralskippers focused their attention on the fleeing front half and ignored the ballistic course of the back-half entirely.
Inside the glowing metal box that housed the two-hundred soldiers, everyone gritted their teeth as the G-forces mounted. They could only pray that their mass and velocity wasn't enough to trigger the Worldship's void defense systems.
They had been assured that it wouldn't, but one never knew.
And then the annoyingly synthetic-sounding, automated warning system emphasized the danger they were in in polite, non-panicked tones. "Be advised, obstruction ahead. Brace for impact. Void-defenses have been triggered, switching from automated insertion method to remote-guidance. Warning, remote-guidance is nonfunctional, switching back to automated insertion method. Warning, structural integrity at eighty-seven percent. Any further loss may decrease survivability chances of imminent collision."
A shrieking sound rippled through their 'cargo container,' jerking everyone around violently even though they were still strapped into their seats.
"Impact in five, four…"
Everyone closed their eyes and prayed to whatever higher power they believed in.
"Three, two, one…"
And then a jarring crash from all around let them know they had entered a pressurized area. Everyone was jerked around in their restraints again. Heads would have whiplashed if not for the specially designed seats. It was almost as if the designers of the drop-pod knew just what the poor soldiers in it would have to go through. Nonetheless, everyone couldn't help but groan in pain.
Then their cargo container came to a sudden stop, the sudden absence of noise deafening.
"Well, that was fun!" Judder Page called out. He popped himself free of his harness and hit the door panel. Amazingly enough, it actually opened like it was supposed to. "Remember, we're on contingency Besh, people. That means the ride out of here is up to Red and Gold Teams. Team-Leads, protect your Shapers or we're all screwed. Green, Blue, Purple, and Silver, you're with me. Ms. Nen Yim, did we crash where we were supposed to?"
Nen Yim gingerly emerged from the wrecked insertion vehicle and gazed about the mess of coralline fragments. She grimaced and shook her head. "Not even close."
Judder held out a portable holo-emitter and projected an image of the Worldship they were now on. "Okay, how far off?"
"We were supposed to land, or crash, here," Nen Yim pointed to one spot on the image. "It's a non-vital area of the ship but it leads to the maintenance passageways. Because it is non-vital, it would be a low-priority repair. Instead, we landed here."
"Two kilometers off," Kyp noted. "Is it bad we landed here?"
"We're near one of the dovin basals," Nen Yim said. She pointed to a spot that was very close to their current location. "Here is the nearest mustering point for the warriors onboard. Here are the beast pens. I still need to connect with the ship to confirm the location of the hostages, but the only way out of this section is through the mustering point."
"And the nearest hangar?"
"On the other side of where we suspect the hostages are being held," Czalpak said, deadpan.
"We'll just grab and go then, no problem," Judder said with a grim smile.
Corran muttered, "Hopefully this Worldship is built to spec and doesn't have anything wonky with it."
"Hopefully you didn't just jinx us," Kyp muttered to the other Jedi.
"Lead the way," Judder motioned to Nen Yim.
The Shaper Adept nodded once, her eyes darting to her escort.
"Is there something wrong?"
"I just never thought I'd have Jeedai bodyguards," Nen Yim said wryly. "Much less be relieved by that fact."
"First times are fun, aren't they," Kyp quipped, holding a blaster in one hand and his lightsaber in the other. "Come on, let's go."
The two-hundred-strong force moved out with some haste, heading down the hallway indicated by the Shapers. They fully expected trouble, and were armed for a large amount of it. Yet, ten minutes later, they had yet to run into a single patrol. After coming across yet another empty stretch within the Worldship, Judder held up a fist to stop them at the entrance. They scanned the vast room ahead, but other than multiple exit and entry points, didn't see a single being moving. A look upwards revealed that the room was the bottom of a very long shaft. The interconnecting walkways above didn't show any signs of movement either.
"I thought this section of the ship was important?" Murmured one of the commandos distrustfully.
"It is," a Shaper in the group confirmed. "It would be like one of your ships losing a shield-emitter around its guns or engines, and leaving it unattended."
"Not that I'm complaining, but where are the hostiles?" a Twi'lek commando added.
"Nen Yim?" Corran asked in a low voice.
"The grotto we just passed should have been full of Shamed Ones," Nen Yim whispered, her own puzzlement evident on her face. "Ten to twenty at least. They'd be responsible for the maintenance in this area."
"There wasn't anyone in there."
"I know," Nen Yim shook her head. "That's definitely out of the ordinary. The room ahead should also be full of warriors and Shapers. The control nodules inside control the water distribution to a large portion of this vessel."
"Fleet-comm hasn't sent us any updates. Maybe the Vong here really don't know we're here," a third commando suggested.
"[Or the Vong could be jamming us.]" A Sullustan commando voiced.
Judder frowned at that suggestion. "How could they be jamming us if they didn't know we were…. coming."
A Mon Calamari commando opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by Corran, who had sensed the man's thoughts and pre-empted him. "Don't say the obvious. Besides, we're not sure if it is or not. At least not yet."
"I didn't even say anything," the commando looked put out.
Eyes darted to the dozen-plus Yuuzhan Vong members of the group, the suspicions that one of them could have sold them out rising.
"Keep it together people," Judder murmured. "Reika, the droid."
One of the other commandos pulled out a tiny probe droid and let it fly off into the room. The droid began scanning the region, but after another few minutes, came back with a negative beep.
"It's clear."
"Ms. Nen Yim, which passageway do we take?"
"One moment," Nen Yim pointed to a set of biots in the chamber. "I need to access the qahsa there to get an accurate read on this ship."
"Do it," Judder motioned. He then gestured to his people, and the group of two-hundred formed a perimeter around the room.
Nen Yim went to the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of a computer and pulled out a cognition hood from a nearby compartment.
"How long is it going to take?" A Jedi asked.
Nen Yim simply stared at him as if he were missing a few brain-cells. "As long as it takes."
The Shaper Adept then put the hood over her head, and for a moment, everything was quiet. The seconds ticked by, slowly turning into minutes. Everyone began to get anxious despite the fact that the probe droid had been released and once against returned negative results.
Just when Judder was about to call it off, Nen Yim removed the hood.
"Got it?"
"We have a major problem," Nen Yim looked disturbed.
"Let's hear it."
"A Koros-Stronna of this size should have at least five million people onboard. Around two-million would be warriors."
"And?"
"And there are currently less than a hundred thousand people onboard, according to the ship," Nen Yim stated. "For someone of Czulkang's status, this…I can't even describe it using your language."
"So what you're saying is that this giant ship is being manned only by a skeleton crew?" Corran asked.
"If you want to use that analogy, then I'd say that it's a skeleton crew missing thirty-percent of the bones," Nen Yim confirmed. "There's barely enough people onboard to keep the ship functional. In fact, given the size of this vessel, those left won't be able to keep it functional for long just by themselves."
"Maybe the gravity pulse damaged the vessel and they evacuated the people for repairs?" Kyp offered.
"I saw the recording of the attack. It caused superficial damage and didn't hurt anything vital," Nen Yim immediately shot down that theory.
"What about the hostages?" Judder asked.
"I've located them," Nen Yim confirmed.
Judder activated the holo-emitter at her direction. "Same place?"
"No. They are being held on the command deck. According to the ship, it is also where the remaining warriors on the ship are."
"How many?"
Nen Yim's face twisted at that question. "Just Czulkang's personal bodyguards."
"And how many is that?"
"Twelve."
"Twelve?" The number was repeated incredulously by those within earshot.
"Twelve plus the Warmaster himself."
Ryza Tyreed spoke up. "I'm not one to look a gift bantha in the mouth, but…"
Kyp nodded in agreement. "Yeah, something's not right. If there are only twelve warriors on this entire station, where'd the other two-million go?"
[=][=]
Wedge Antilles stared hard at the computer monitor that showed the vital-signs of all two-hundred members of the strike team. He tucked his left hand under his right elbow as he stroked his several days' worth of beard, the only sign of his internal aggravation.
"Even if it was off target, Farseer confirms that the package landed intact," Tycho said. "We're still trying to raise Judder and the others, but we can't get through to them."
"All Jedi are alive. Nervous, a little scared and roughed up, but alive," Tekli reported, her eyes closed as she concentrated on the meld.
Mirax Terrik Horn let out a breath at that, her fingers rapping a pattern on the durasteel table, and her own gaze locked onto the vital signs for her husband. "Let's hope things stay that way."
"Jedi Madurrin says that the Yuuzhan Vong fleet is no longer in pursuit of the delivery drivers. They have resumed standard formation and patrols," Tekli continued her live update.
Just like in the Worldship above, the minutes on the surface of Borleias seemed to stretch out for painfully longer than normal.
"They haven't made contact with the enemy yet?" Wedge asked after a while.
"No contacts," Tekli reported.
"That's not…"
And then alarms blared throughout the base. "Incoming. Incoming."
Despite the alarms going off, no one really reacted.
"They've been shelling us at least twice a day for the past two weeks," Iella shook her head in annoyance and then refocused on going through her own assignments. "Can't they give it a rest?"
Tekli's eyes suddenly sprang open. "No! It's not that! They're coming! General Antilles, get every able-bodied fighter on alert!"
"You heard what she said," Wedge directed the comm-staff. "Jedi Tekli, how many?"
Tekli visibly trembled in fear. "All of them."
The artillery barrage that began hitting the base certainly underscored that statement. The previous attacks had been a few rounds of indiscriminate shelling from one direction, maybe followed by a suicidal charge that breached the perimeter and took some lives in the process. This time, it was as if artillery shells were flying in from every direction.
Several battalions' worth of artillery shells.
The entire reinforced and recently repaired command building actually shuddered and swayed from the ground-churning impacts. Ear-splitting screeches were followed by bone-jarring explosions. For those who didn't have the fortune to be in a reinforced bunker, it was as if the entire underworld had just risen up to claim the base. In an instant, huge swaths of the once-secured region were turned into raging infernos of plasma fire. Among the first hit were the ground-based hangars, the fighters and other vehicles either becoming trapped or destroyed within a matter of minutes. Other vital structures were hit; defensive bunkers, turrets, guard-towers all vanished in blazes of fire. The accuracy of each hit showed that the Yuuzhan Vong had been mapping out the locations with extreme precision.
"Do-ro'ik Vong pratte!" A thunderous roar sounded from around the entire compound.
Like a swarm of ants, Yuuzhan Vong began pouring in from all directions. The defensive walls had been reduced to rubble by the nearly ten-minute barrage of plasma shells and were easily breached. Pushing through the swirling clouds of smoke and walls of raging flame were teeming masses of extra-galactic invaders.
"Hold the line!"
"Open fire!" The defenders quickly moved to the secondary defensive lines and fallback positions and a torrent of laser fire flared outwards.
The charging warriors at the very front were mowed down, but others pushed past them with their own projectile weapons. Making things even more chaotic was that the artillery bombardment continued to land ever closer towards these secondary positions.
"We won't be able to hold the base," Wedge concluded after a brief glance at the situation. "Sound the order for the evacuation. Activate Protocol Death Trap. Have all forces move to the….north quadrant. Contact Commodore Yonka and have the fleet provide orbital support…"
Tycho joined Wedge with a shake of his head as they and the others exited the control room. "Just got word before we left, the Yuuzhan Vong fleet performed a micro jump and have engaged our forces in orbit."
"The full Yuuzhan Vong fleet?"
"Not sure, the comm-relay was hit mid-message."
"Tekli?"
The Chadra Fan was in what would have been a humorous position if the situation wasn't so serious. Mirax was holding the pint-sized healer to her chest like one would hold a stuffed-animal, enabling Tekli to remain immersed in the battle-meld. "The images I'm getting from Madurrin...suicide runs, like at Hapes. Only more effective."
"More effective?" Wedge tried to clarify.
Tekli's eyelids fluttered. "Think dozens of coralskippers all heading for the bridge or engine blocks, with the sole intent of colliding into them. From what Madurrin's showing me, these coralskippers have modified defenses, move faster than regular skips, but have no offensive weaponry. We've lost two cruisers so far, a third is on fire. Someone tell Sienar Fleet Systems to stop making their Star Destroyers with so obvious a target."
"The Vong are keeping the fleet out of range so we can't use the weapon on it," Iella remarked.
"Czulkang didn't get to be his age by being stupid," Wedge exhaled.
"Indeed," the elderly Yuuzhan Vong priest Qoshan confirmed. Next to him was High Priestess Ekyse, who flinched at nearly every explosion no matter how near or far it was. "He played the part of conservative commander to lull you into a sense of complacency. Then struck when you had your best fighters away."
The group emerged from the climate-controlled command bunker and out into the oppressive, muggy heat of Borleais' planet-wide jungle. The sounds of fighting increased exponentially. Shouting, blaster fire, trembling booms of various heavy munitions. It was as if the previous din had merely been at level one and had been cranked up to ten in an instant.
"Do-ro'ik Vong pratte!" A dozen warriors charged through the chaotic battlefield towards Wedge's group with amphistaffs thrust outwards.
Wedge and the others swiftly drew their blasters and opened fire. Several of the warriors hurled their amphistaffs like projectiles before falling to the concentrated blasterfire. One of those amphistaffs found its mark in one of the communication technicians. The defenders didn't have time to pick up the body, however, because their resistance had attracted the attention of many others.
"Over here!" A group of New Republic soldiers gestured at Wedge's group from behind a fallen wall.
"Your orders were to evacuate!" Wedge called out.
"Couldn't leave you, sir!"
"General, they're Vong!" Tekli yelled out in warning.
Both sides drew at the same time, a volley of blasterfire leveling the pretenders and some more of the command staff.
"Thanks." Wedge looked to the Chadra Fan healer and noticed that her expression wasn't all that good. He reminded himself that the Chadra Fan was only ten or so years older than his own children. "Jedi Tekli?"
"I'm good, sir," Tekli slurred. "Just still haven't fully recovered, and switching back and forth between the meld and Vongsense is really, really, taxing."
"Then shut it down for now."
"Sir, I can…"
"Jedi Tekli, you've done more than enough," Wedge said gently. "We're going to need your abilities in a little while, so conserve your strength."
"But…" Tekli trailed off when a mechanical voice bellowed out in the Yuuzhan Vong language, over the din.
"[We are machines! We are greater than Yuuzhan Vong!]"
"The YVH battalions can buy us the time we need," Wedge couldn't help but pat Tekli on the head. "Get some rest."
"Yes, sir," Tekli sighed, closing her eyes and entering a restorative trance despite the chaos unfurling all around them.
"Sometimes I envy you Jedi," Wedge grumbled under his breath. He looked to the survivors as a different alarm began sounding throughout the base. "Okay, let's double-time it. Those proton cores aren't going to wait to see if we're clear or not."
"Neither will the Vong," Tycho shouldered a blaster rifle and fired at another charging contingent of warriors.
"I'm almost jealous of the team we sent to the Worldship," Mirax said wryly, ducking as an amphistaff was thrown her way.
Wedge promptly blasted the thrower. "I know what you mean. If we're having this much fun down here, they're probably having a blast up there."
[=][=]
"I'm bored, are you bored?" Kyp quipped to Ryza.
"These hallways are starting to look the same," Ryza sighed.
There was definitely something about walking through a fifty-kilometer-long ship, made even longer by the twists and turns of its non-linear passageways. The fact that said ship was pretty much empty did little to break up the monotony. At first, the strike team had been on their guard, expecting something, anything to pop up. But the hallways were empty. The areas that were supposed to be full of warriors were vacant. Nen Yim had even been horrified that some of the more sensitive regions for regulating the Worldship were completely unmanned.
It wasn't that the strike-team was unaware of what was happening on Borleias, thanks to the battle-meld. But it wasn't like they had the ability to do anything about it. The decision had been made to continue the mission as planned. With the lack of any opposition, it wasn't like anyone had been against the idea.
The Jedi in the strike team who had learned Vongsense did their best to try and hone their abilities. But they discovered that with Yuuzhan Vong life all around them, they might as well be staring through opaque lenses for all the clarity they were getting.
"Contact!" A voice called out from the front of the formation.
Everyone immediately raised their weapons. Said contact was a diminutive Yuuzhan Vong, a child, who had been chasing after a small, bird-like creature. The child immediately fell back onto its backside, eyes wide in terror.
"Weapons down," Judder waved everyone off. "Ms. Nen Yim?"
Nen Yim emerged from the crowd of armored soldiers, but the child emitted a whimpering cry, got back to its feet, and fled. Nen Yim just looked helplessly at the child's retreat, before turning to face the group. "It's just a child. You have no need to worry."
"How many non-combatants are onboard this ship?" Judder asked.
"A Koros-Stohna is not a true war-ship despite its armament," Nen Yim explained. "It's a large source of resources for our people and hosts the crèches of many Domains. I am not familiar with this ship specifically, but on the one I grew up, forty-percent of the residents were non-warriors. Given how there are only a dozen or so warriors left on this ship out of the hundred-thousand, I would estimate that everyone else is a, as you classify, non-combatant."
"So the Worldship Anakin destroyed over Myrkr…." Kyp said slowly.
"The Baanu Rass was our oldest, and largest," Nen Yim said without emotion. "It was also our most populated and kept behind the frontlines for a good reason. I estimate that in addition to the millions of warriors that perished when he destroyed the vessel, he killed at least five times that many 'non-combatants'. As I have said in the past, for an Order that prides itself on being pacifist, you Jeedai seem all too skilled at initiating events that cause mass death."
The Jedi had nothing to say in response.
"There's another one of those computers, qahsa you called them, right?" Judder pointed out a cluster of biots on the wall to break the awkward silence that had followed. "Can you check to see if anything's changed?"
Nen Yim nodded once, and after another few minutes, removed the cognition hood. "The ship still says that everyone is in place. However, they are aware of our presence."
"Wait, they're just waiting for us?" A commando asked incredulously.
"Yes. The ship says that Czulkang and his personal guard haven't moved from the command deck since becoming aware of our presence. All five-hundred hostages are also present."
"Five-hundred of them, twelve warriors…" Corran frowned. "Something is definitely not right about this.
"Reika, take your group and get us a ride out of here," Judder said. "Prepare to come in guns-blazing if you have to."
"Good luck, sir," the soldier nodded. The group of two-hundred split into two groups of one hundred each, half the Jedi and allied Yuuzhan Vong disappearing with Reika's commandos.
"Jedi Horn, Jedi Durron, are you picking anything up?" Judder asked the two Jedi Masters.
"Nothing stands out." Both shook their heads.
"Okay. Ms. Nen Yim, the quickest route to the command deck?"
"The lift another half kilometer in that direction," Nen Yim pointed.
"You know, even if this is a trap, I'm really happy that Czulkang isn't making us fight through millions of warriors in these wide-open passages," Octa Ramis murmured as they moved out again. "I can't imagine how Solo's team did it."
"Just out of curiosity, are we certain the hostages want to be rescued?" A commando said under his breath.
"The briefing said that the hostages were mostly kids and non-combatants. All the die-hards were sent on suicide runs to redeem their families." Another said in a low voice.
"I'm just saying, if those five-hundred Vong on the bridge are hostile, we'll be knee deep in poodoo before we even know it. I mean, this whole thing smells like a setup. Maybe one of the Vong on 'our' side had a change of heart and wanted to prove himself too."
"We'll just have to stay ready then."
"You're not going to say anything to your men?" Czalpak asked Judder. Unbeknownst to the commandos, the absolute quiet of the ship had allowed their hushed voices to carry.
"Do you have faith that every one of your people believes in our cause and didn't betray us to save their families?"
Czalpak didn't answer right away. Atheistic Yuuzhan Vong had never been heard of in the past, mainly because they were reported by their Domains or killed on the spot. Never before had atheistic Yuuzhan Vong obtained military backing for their beliefs, or lack thereof. Finally, the young warrior settled on, "It is possible that Czulkang predicted the movements of General Antilles and prepared for this. In his youth, he was an unmatched tactician both politically and on the battlefield. Nearly all the battle strategies our people use today have some roots in his teachings."
"I'm really hoping it's actually that instead of the easier explanation," Judder breathed out.
"You want Czulkang to out-think Antilles?"
"No, but the alliance between those who believe like you do and the New Republic forces is already on thin ice with all the prejudices. If it turns out that one of your people did betray us, I can't see much of a future for that alliance. Even though we need each other to win, people do stupid things if they believe the worst of others."
"That is true for the Yuuzhan Vong as well," Czalpak answered. "It is only General Antilles' fame that has convinced many to follow him. His decision to rescue the others shows his dedication. But it is clear that not all believe as he does. Though we do not blame your people, it will be hard for us to remain allies if there is no trust."
"Agreed."
At the front of the formation, Kyp and Nen Yim were having a different discussion. "The command deck, you mentioned in the briefing that every Worldship's is different?"
"It's among the first parts of the ship to grow," Nen Yim confirmed. "And depending on the…proclivities of the shapers involved, it can be a reflection of their eccentricities. On the Koros-Strohna where I grew up, the command deck was divided into dozens of rooms, each with a specific purpose. I know of another that was simply one big room. The qahsa I've accessed was too low in clearance to provide any details."
"Is there a qahsa nearby with high enough clearance?"
"Not unless your definition of nearby is…wait, let me do a conversion…five, carry the eight…three kilometers from here."
"There has to be a faster way to move from one part of this ship to the next," Kyp frowned.
"These passageways are wide and tall for a reason," Nen Yim gestured to the dimensions of the corridor. "Ordinarily, you'd see a variety of creatures transporting people all about. Main corridors such as this one are even grown to allowing flying creatures to ferry passengers to smaller hubs."
Behind the both of them, a commando moved up to Corran. "Any word on how the attack on the planet is going?"
Corran focused for a moment. "They're still in the thick of things, but in an organized retreat. Same with the fleet. I'd have to go deeper into the meld to get more details."
The light conversation continued the rest of the way to the large lift. In fact, the organic device was so big, it could have easily accommodated three to four X-wing fighters and still have room for a couple of Hutts.
"So this leads to the command deck?" Judder shined his light up the darkened lift shaft.
"According to the ship, yes."
"Reika, we're almost at the destination, sit-rep," Judder said into his comlink.
Only silence answered.
"They're still en route," the older Kestis Jedi provided.
"Since when did the Vong have the ability to jam our comm-frequencies?" a commando asked with a frown.
"We'll ask the Warmaster when we meet him," Judder remarked. "Weapons hot, but check your aim. Only fire at the guys firing at you. Ten'ba, droid."
A Duros commando unleashed a similar probe-droid up the shaft. Judder held out his holo-emitter and it projected what the droid was seeing. The droid cleared the top of the lift and did a scan of the immediate area. The floor was just as dark as the shaft. The only thing it picked up was a set of large, coralline doors just beyond an enclosed atrium. The doors were as wide as the lift, obviously capable of letting whatever was on the gigantic platform into the room beyond.
Judder nodded to Nen Yim, who stroked the nerve cluster that would activate the lift. The team ascended in silence and was greeted by the floating probe-droid. There really was no cover to speak of, so most of the team went prone, Jedi interspacing themselves to provide as much cover as they could. They abandoned the meld and slipped into Vongsense in preparation for whatever conflict was ahead. Nen Yim and the shapers in the group took cover in the lift, while Czalpak and the handful of other Yuuzhan Vong warriors with him gripped their amphistaffs in anticipation.
Judder saw that everyone was ready and then stroked the door controls. For a moment, nothing happened, and then the doors slid open. At first, the room beyond was also dark. But then, lights flared into existence all over. The sight that greeted the group was not one they had anticipated at all.
The command deck was a wide open field with three coralline platforms jutting out into it from upper levels. The hostages were all in the center of the room. Czulkang's twelve bodyguards were split up evenly on the three extended platforms. These guards heavily resembled the elite forces that the Fleet of Yun-Yammka had deployed on Hapes. They were towering masses of muscle and menace, covered completely from head to toe in jagged-looking armor. That was to be expected.
What wasn't expected were the hundreds of people holding blaster rifles and other weapons indigenous to the galaxy, surrounding the hostages and aiming their weapons at the now open door. Because the Jedi had been in Vongsense, they had completely missed this mass of armed people. These people were human, Duros, Twi'lek, Wequay, and other species from across the galaxy. The armor and uniforms they wore were a mixed patchwork of colors and types. But they all had one thing in common; an emblem depicting a human hand clasping a Yuuzhan Vong hand appeared somewhere on their outfits.
"Peace Brigade," Kyp said coldly. Seeing the traitors from their own galaxy, the members of the New Republic Special Forces and Jedi could only glare in disdain.
A single platform extended out from an upper level directly opposite the turbolift, and a lone, imposing figure walked out into the glaring lights. He was heavily scarred and wrinkled, yet his gaze was sharp, without any age-induced cloudiness to it.
He made a motion towards one of the warriors on an elevated platform, and the warrior stroked a nerve cluster. Membranes on the flooring closest to the lift withdrew and several four-legged lizard-like creatures in cages were lifted up into view. The Jedi recognized the creatures as their connection to the Force disappeared.
"Ysalamir." Corran murmured.
"Greetings, Jeedai," Czulkang intoned in a soft voice that nevertheless carried across the vast room. "Put down your weapons, and your lives will be spared. Resist and not only will you die, but so will those you came to rescue."
"And the others?" Corran called out. His experience with Yuuzhan Vong left him more than wary about accepting any of their offers.
"The soldiers will be spared. The traitors will be put to death," Czulkang answered in short sentences.
"As Jedi, we cannot abandon those with us to their deaths," Corran replied.
"You might be willing to die for them. Do the soldiers with you feel the same?"
"We are," Judder spoke for the rest.
"I knew of this rescue attempt because more than one of them told my people," Czulkang spoke, his voice not modulated in the slightest. "Does your answer stay the same?"
At Czulkang's statement, some of the commandos once again glanced at Czalpak, Nen Yim, and the others.
"We have no reason to trust anything you say," Corran cut through the doubt. "If you are attempting to sow discord between us, it will not work."
"I tire of this. Supreme Commander Rinmek, prove the worth of the men you command."
"Yes, oh Great One!" A heavy-set man at the rear of the Peace Brigade formation replied in true sycophant style. "Men, take aim!"
The commandos, Jedi, and allied Yuuzhan Vong all tensed up as the several hundred blasters were aimed in their direction.
And then the flooring shook violently from a concussive blast from somewhere beneath it. This caused the Peace Brigade force to stagger from the impact.
"Pop-smoke! Open fire!" Judder roared.
The nearly eighty commandos all activated smoke grenades and lobbed them into the command deck proper, using the smoke screen to conceal themselves.. They then fired on the ysalamir cages. To add to the chaos, both Kestis Jedi activated their datapads, cranked the volume all the way up, and hurled the datapads into the mix as well. The heavy beat that had been playing in the assault shuttle blared out.
Blasterfire poured out from the commandos' weapons and accurately hit their targets. The commandos weren't affected by the smoke thanks to a HUD each wore over one eye. The same couldn't be said by the Peace Brigade forces that fired blindly wherever they could. The smoke flashed red and yellow as blaster and plasma bolts sizzled by in a ferocious volley. Some of the Peace Brigade members tried to take hostages, but were picked off by Judder Page's people. Yet, there were hundreds of them compared to the number of commandos, and their counterfire increased in volume as they recovered.
Lightsaber blades flared to life to block some of the Peace Brigade lucky shots. The twelve members of Czulkang's personal bodyguard force leaped down into the fray and immediately sought out those blades. These warriors immediately proved why they had been picked to be bodyguards of the famed Warmaster. Despite their size, they were wickedly fast. The twenty-five Jedi had all switched back to regular Force-senses to combat the Peace Brigade and block the blaster fire. Because of the smoke, they hadn't seen these elites join the fight.
The first time they became aware of them was when their numbers were nearly halved at the very first engagement. Like wraiths appearing from out of nowhere, these elite guards darted to the most distracted of the Jedi. All twelve warriors struck with eerie synchronization. Ten Jedi were cut down before they even realized the threat. The remaining two dodged at the last second. In retaliation, the commandos managed to gun down three of the elite, but the damage had been done.
All the while the music blared out over the din, switching to a new, but no less intense, head-banging track.
"Behind you!" Kyp whirled around and used the Force to throw Ryza to the side as a giant-sized coufee sliced through the air.
"Kyp!" Ryza's own eyes grew wide. There were several blasterbolts heading towards her, but at the same time, two shadows had emerged from the illuminated clouds of smoke behind the person who had just saved her life. Without even hesitating, she hurled her lightsaber at Kyp and gritted her teeth as the bolts of red struck her. Through his bond with his squadmate, Kyp immediately snagged the lightsaber and activated it and his own blade, blocking two of the muscular elites with millimeters to spare.
Another elite bodyguard fell to the torrent of blasterfire.
Another Jedi vanished violently from the meld.
The commandos weren't entirely unscathed either as the sheer volume of blaster and plasma bolts sent their way meant that the law of averages was beginning to catch up. With the Jedi now distracted by the elite warriors, the commandos no longer had any real cover. Then Czulkang's bodyguards also tried to take out the commandos the Jedi had been covering with mixed success. A dozen commandos were already dead, with dozens more injured. Still the rest fought on.
One of the elite warriors appeared behind the commando who had been voicing his doubts about their alliance with the Yuuzhan Vong. The man heard the approach and spun around, but his assault rifle was knocked from his hand and he himself was backhanded. He was punched again, the spiky gauntlet on the elite's fist doing a fair bit of damage, and then was tossed to the ground. Before the elite could impale him, however, Czalpak lunged out of the swirling smoke and took out the elite warrior's legs. The two grappled for a bit before the warrior kicked Czalpak hard, sending the smaller Yuuzhan Vong skidding across the deck. The commando drew his side-arm and fired. The weapon didn't have the stopping power to get through the elite warrior's armor, but it did draw his attention. The elite spun back to the commando and stalked forward, his sword-like coufee held up at the ready. And then Czalpak dove back between the elite's legs, the commando's assault rifle in hand. Aiming upwards, the blaster discharged once, and the elite warrior stiffened and looked down at Czalpak almost in disbelief. The commando fired his pistol again, this time hitting the warrior in his hand. Czalpak fired a second time at the same location, and the massive Yuuzhan Vong swayed. The commando fired once more, his bolt catching the warrior between the thin eye-slat in the armor that protected the elite's head. Finally the massive Yuuzhan Vong toppled to the ground.
"Thanks," the commando breathed out, his face bloodied from the gauntleted-punch.
"You'd do the same for me," Czalpak quipped in exhaustion.
The commando glanced at the dead elite and chuckled dryly. "Yeah. Let's not do this again, though."
"Agreed."
Another elite warrior collapsed to blasterfire. And then two more were taken down by Jedi. The Kestis siblings were tag-teaming another one, the green flames and esoteric abilities they had inherited from their mother helping them take on a target that was nearly a half-meter taller than them.
"I have the hostages!" Nen Yim shouted into a comlink. "Where do you want us to take them!?"
Corran tested the re-established meld. "East wall! The other team's secured us a ride out of here!"
A shadow appeared behind Corran, but the experienced Jedi Master felt his Force-senses tingle and he rolled to the side as the largest of Czulkang's bodyguards slashed at him.
"Well aren't you big and ugly," Corran said, eyeing the warrior. "I really feel sorry for your mother."
"You're really using a 'your mother' insult?" Octa Ramis, engaged with another bodyguard, asked as she passed by. Her saber flashed as it blocked repeated strikes from her own assailant. Corran briefly sent her a message through the Force.
"It's not like he can understand me," Corran slashed at Octa's attacker. Her attacker, caught off-guard, was forced to change his attack into a hasty block. At the same time, Corran's opponent stabbed at Corran, but Octa's saber intercepted that blow.
"I know, but can't you come up with something more original? I'm asking for all those who can understand it and hear it. And your guy's too big, switch back!"
Corran and Octa once again coordinated their lightsaber strikes, attacking and blocking for one another. Eerily enough, the towering warriors showed a similar coordination and adapted to the two Jedi's tactics. Rather than go for their original targets, both attacked the others' at the same time. Corran's lightsaber was locked up, and Octa used that opportunity to stab one of the warriors. To her shock, the warrior didn't even flinch. Instead, he grabbed both her wrists with one of his large hands, and headbutted the Chev woman with the crown of his ridge helmet making full-contact. If Octa hadn't pulled back at the last second, her skull would have been crushed from the blow.
"Blast it! Why can't they make lightsabers with blasters attached to them," Corran gritted out, his saber still tied up. He needed both hands to withstand the twin-pressure of the two warriors, or he would have reached for his own blaster and used it.
"I'm fine, thank you," Octa retorted, bleeding profusely from her forehead. She made a gesture, and her lightsaber, still embedded within the warrior, zipped upwards and cleaved a third of the warrior from the rest of his body.
The pressure lessened, Corran deactivated his lightsaber, causing the giant sword to slice forward unexpectedly. Corran twisted his body to avoid the strike and reactivated his saber, removing the warrior's head. "I knew that. Knew you've had worse. You run with Durron's crew after all."
Another explosion, but this time a breach appeared on the eastern side of the command deck. Instead of the vacuum of space, however, the other half of the assault team poured in.
"Come on!"
The influx of new fighters, no matter how small, turned the tide of the battle. The Peace Brigade forces found themselves flanked and began falling at a much faster rate. The addition of twenty-five more combat-able Jedi also decreased the pressure on the others, allowing them to move more freely. Meanwhile, Nen Yim and the other allied Yuuzhan Vong began herding the shell-shocked hostages towards the hole in the wall.
But then, the Yuuzhan Vong allied to Czulkang received reinforcements as well. An actual airlock on the opposite side of the room cycled, and with a roar, regular warriors came pouring in. The datapads that had been playing the music were crushed under this rush of feet. Even the smoke from the seventy-plus smoke grenades began to clear.
"Go! Go! Go!" Judder called out, sending the surviving members of his commando team towards the evac point. As he tapped the shoulder of another commando to send him along, another shadow appeared in the fading smoke. Judder turned around, but was knocked unconscious with a single blow.
"Keep moving," Kyp yelled out to the nearby Jedi from his half of the strike team. He was carrying Ryza in his arms with the utmost of care.
"You can put me down, I can walk," Ryza protested weakly, her breathing labored.
"As your CO, I'm ordering you to shut up," Kyp retorted.
"Yes, sir," Ryza muttered, looking away from him.
"We can't stay here for much longer! Vong ships are inbound!" Called out the leader of the evac-half of the team.
Yuuzhan Vong weaponry began to join the fray, blast and razor-bugs whistling through the air. The Jedi became hard-pressed to hold off the added storm of projectiles as they covered the retreat.
"Where's Judder!?" The commando Reika yelled out to another commando.
"Don't know, sir! He was right behind me!"
"Lift off in thirty seconds! Leave now or find your own way out!"
One after another, Jedi began to pile in.
Then Czulkang made an appearance, an amphistaff in each hand. With strength that belied his age, he hurled both amphistaffs like a champion athlete. The last two Jedi trying to board were impaled straight through the heart and collapsed centimeters away from the hatch.
"No!" Cried out the younger of the two Kestis siblings. She lurched upwards and tried to reach her brother, but the others quickly held her back. "No! Let me go!"
The hatch closed as she tearfully looked outwards and she slumped downwards, unconscious.
The only sound that could be heard was their pilot contacting the others. "This is Birthday Bash with all the invitees aboard. Requesting a grand reception so we can make it to the party in one piece. We are in the heavy freighter tagged with Peace Brigade IFF."
"Copy Birthday Bash, this is Welcoming Committee. We'll roll out the red carpet. The birthday boy is busy at the moment, but they'll probably say great job on getting the guests."
"Requesting medical and security teams to meet us. We lost a whole lot of people and have a host more injured."
"Understood, Birthday Bash. We're sorry for your losses. Welcome back."
[=][=]
The buzzing 'zap' sounds of the automated turrets unloading streams of white hot bolts of plasma sounded from all around as the defenders of the Borleias base contracted their defensive lines and ceded the base to the seemingly endless waves of warriors. The several battalions of YVH-droids put up a stalwart resistance, allowing the living members of the New Republic to retreat to the northern quadrant of the base with as few losses as possible.
"Two minutes," a Rutian Twi'lek tech relayed to Wedge.
Wedge nodded at the make-shift outdoor command center. The base had been built in the Imperial-era, which meant that it had come equipped with its own failsafes. Namely, each quadrant had a proton-core-based self-destruct system buried underneath it. "Tycho?"
"Everyone capable of making it out has gotten here," Tycho responded from the communications pit.
Wedge exhaled, not even flinching when a razor bug flew by his head with centimeters to spare. "Okay. And the transports?"
"Fueled and filling with our people," Iella reported.
The automated turrets let loose as the Yuuzhan Vong once again tried to push into the northern quadrant.
"Sir! We're getting reports that the Yuuzhan Vong are pulling out from the other sections of the base!"
Wedge frowned. "Clarify."
"It's confirmed," another communications technician reported. "They are evacuating the south, east, and western quadrants. It's a simultaneous, coordinated maneuver. We didn't realize it at first because they left a token force to keep up the pressure."
"Farseer reports that they are pulling back out of range of the base's blast radius and heading in this direction."
"Abort the self-destruct," Wedge directed immediately.
The Twi'lek technician, however, shook her head. "The abort-sequence was aborted. There's no stopping it now, sir."
"Blasted Imperial protocols!"
"Danni, do we know how they've managed to coordinate their retreat so efficiently? I thought they needed a yammosk for that."
"We just picked one up when we got the reports of the organized retreat. Czulkang's people have somehow landed a planetary yammosk and are directing the forces involved in the battle through it," Danni Quee called out from another area. "We didn't detect it now because they're actually tapped into the planet's gravity field."
"Can we jam it?"
"We don't have a jammer with a signal strong enough to negate a planet's gravity field." Danni said with a shake of her head. "It's something we haven't seen before."
"Great. Any word on orbital support?" Wedge turned to another technician.
"They're still tied up with suicide waves."
"We just got a report from Birthday Bash, mission was successful!"
"At least something is going right," Wedge grumbled under his breath.
A rumbling began shaking the ground, the southern quadrant the first to explode in dramatic fashion. A giant fireball erupted into the air, the shockwave whooshing through the area with a powerful concussive force. It was negated a split second later as both the eastern and western portions of the base likewise went up in giant mushroom clouds. The shockwaves canceled each other out, but reduced anything between them into dust.
But Wedge was no longer focused on that. Their eye-in-the-sky, so to speak, was relaying real-time information to several holo-monitors that had been set up. The Yuuzhan Vong had withdrawn, and now the millions of them that had besieged the base were about to converge on their location.
"Okay, we've done all we can here. Get to your transports. We'll have the YVHs cover our retreat to Site Besh."
A concentrated whistling sound in the air had everyone look upwards. The same artillery fire that had decimated the other sections of the base was now being concentrated on the northern quadrant. Bright balls of plasma rose up from the forests all around them.
"And someone find their spotters!" Wedge snapped out as they began evacuating their positions.
"Wedge, time for you to go," Mirax called out from the entrance of the Pulsar Skate.
"Seconded," Tycho pushed his long-time friend towards the Skate. "Come on, we need you alive to win this."
The artillery bombardment began to land all around them, the noise drowning out everything else. The last transports rose up under the heavy fire. Fortunately, all of them avoided the clichéd fate of getting hit in the engine block or cockpit, and managed to maneuver between the barrage to escape the northern quadrant of the base.
Wedge released a breath when Tycho's own transport got clear.
"Here we go," Mirax remarked, gunning the Skate's engines. The Baudo-class star yacht swerved and zipped around the blasts of plasma. The intensity of the bombardment only seemed to increase with every passing second. "It's almost like they know you're in my ship."
"I wouldn't be surprised if they did," Wedge said from the co-pilot's chair. He held up his comlink and transmitted the destruct sequence to the last part of the base.
And then, while the others had avoided the clichéd 'last-ship-out' ending, the Pulsar Skate ran smack into it. But it wasn't from an artillery barrage. Several dozen blast bugs launched from the surface of the planet, and a good number of them slammed into the ascending vessel. One blast bug might not have done any significant damage, but dozens definitely had a cumulative effect.
"Blast it!" Mirax yelled, red lights blinking on a variety of instruments in front of her.
Wedge gripped the controls for the co-pilot even as their ship dipped violently. "Starboard engine bank is out. Losing power to the aft engine bank."
"Re-route the power through the auxiliary controls!" Mirax gripped the steering yoke in a white-knuckled grip as she struggled to keep the ship stable.
"Those are out too," Wedge said after trying to flip a couple of switches.
"This is the last time I agree to be your taxi driver," Mirax cursed.
"Can we reach Site Besh?"
"I can try and get us as close as possible," Mirax shook her head. "Port engine bank is losing power too. They must have hit the power-regulator."
"As close as you can then. I'd rather not fight my way through an army of Yuuzhan Vong."
"Yes, sir, general," Mirax quipped.
The Pulsar Skate, flames crackling along a good portion of its length, shed bits and pieces of itself as it screamed through the atmosphere. The two people inside did their best to keep the ship angled in a controlled manner, but with the engines dying, gravity began having a much stronger effect on the ship than the occupants would have liked.
A thunderous boom echoed out from the Borleias jungle as the Skate made impact. Tree parts and dirt were thrown high into the air, and the surrounding wildlife fled in all directions. In the far distance, the northern quadrant of the base went up in a massive fireball.
And then, for the longest time, everything was still.
[=][=]
Warmaster Czulkang calmly surveyed the blood-soaked command deck, his expression betraying no emotion despite the fact that the Jedi had successfully rescued the hostages. The Peace Brigade members who had survived had taken the place of the captives in the middle of the room, Yuuzhan Vong warriors surrounding them. The dead all remained where they had fallen, no efforts being made to clean up the mess.
"Warmaster, the Jeedai have escaped back to the planet."
Czulkang nodded once to show that he had heard, and the intendant backed away. The seconds ticked by in silence, the Warmaster not saying a word, the Peace Brigade survivors trembling in terror, the remaining Yuuzhan Vong standing stoically.
"Great One, the Executor has arrived. He requests an audience."
Again Czulkang silently inclined his head.
Minutes later, the Executor arrived with an escort of his own hulking bodyguards and attendants. Nom Anor gazed about the battlefield in curious amusement, then clicked his tongue and continued towards Czulkang.
"Warmaster, you do your reputation justice once more."
"The mission was a success," Czulkang said evenly. "Seventeen Jeedai fell here."
"Three by your hand alone, I heard," Nom Anor nodded. "Our shapers will be pleased. How goes the attack on the New Republic base?"
"They were forced to abandon it. As I predicted, they attempted to use the same ploy they deployed on Yuuzhan'tar. They destroyed the base themselves with acceptable casualties on our side."
"And how long until you have full control of the system?"
"Until their superweapon is destroyed, unknown," Czulkang shook his head. "There are too many variables in play. Once it is destroyed, within two months at most."
"Then make its destruction your top priority," Nom Anor directed, causing several of Czulkang's people to tense in anger. They had served with Czulkang for the longest time and didn't appreciate the Executor's dictation of orders. "The Supreme One himself is said to be growing tired of this stalemate. The New Republic forces continue to regroup, and my agents can only keep their government divided for so long. Once they declare elections for their next leaders, they will once again become united."
"Their superweapon is just one variable," Czulkang spoke in subtle protest. "They will anticipate that we will focus on it."
"Then it is a good thing you are the one in command," Nom Anor's eyes narrowed. "These are orders from Shimrra himself. Are you questioning them?"
"Of course not."
"Good."
"What of the reports of Jeedai being active on Palanhi, Sif-Uwana, and Noquivzor?"
"They are not your concern," Nom Anor shook his head. "In fact, because they are so isolated from the rest, they provide us a perfect opportunity to test some of our newest weapons. You just focus on achieving victory here."
"As Shimrra commands, may he live eternal," Czulkang replied in rote.
Nom Anor gestured to the corpses on the ground. "Have the Jeedai bodies brought to my ship. Any other survivors are for you to deal with as you see fit."
"It will be done."
Nom Anor took one last look around the command deck, then he and his followers left.
"Assemble the commanders," Czulkang ordered in an even voice, not looking at his subordinates. "We have received our orders from Shimrra himself."
"Warmaster, what of the Peace Brigade?"
"They fought as ordered. Killed enemies. Died as expected. Find a ship for them and take them to Ylesia."
"Yes, Great One."
"Any surviving New Republic forces are to be sent to our labor camp on Selvaris. The dead Jedi are to be sent to the Executor's ship. The rest of the dead are to be fed to our war-beasts."
His underlings did as ordered.
Czulkang stepped onto an organic lift and ascendeded to the control room. Stroking a nerve cluster, a membrane withdrew, providing him with an unobstructed view of the stars. In the very distance, a small fleck of light shimmered. The fleck was Borleias. The aged, veteran warrior knew that as small as the world was, its importance couldn't be underestimated.
"This war will be won or lost here." Just what war he was referring to, even he didn't know for sure. He was fighting the New Republic, yes. But he was also battling against himself, the ravages of age and time. He'd either lose both or become a legend that would transcend time itself.
"Warmaster?"
Czulkang shook himself from his thoughts and made a dismissive motion with one hand. "Carry on with your duties. I want a report on the situation on the planet as well as the readiness of our fleets. We have orders and we will carry them out. For the Yuuzhan Vong. For the Yun'o."
[=][=]
A\N: Good news and bad news...good news is that there's still two more chapters to be posted...bad news is that I'm losing my motivation to write this story. If I don't make any progress with the next couple of chapters before October, it's highly likely I'll be removing this story like all my others or at the very least abandon it indefinitely. I know where I want the story to go, even have the next story arc plotted out in my head, but I just can't seem to find the drive to get it down.