"Oh, kriff," Leon breathed as the speeder approached the Red Vong headquarters. Smoke arched upward from a brilliant fire, a rainbow of colors resulting from the metals burning. The metal city was bathed in eery lights of red and green and yellow. For the time being, the fires were limited to areas where the Triral soldiers and the Vong were battling it out. "I think we're late to the party."

"There's no time to worry about that," Erea said as she began to bring the speeder down. None of the combatants below had started to fire upon them yet, likely because neither knew if the speeder was full of reinforcements for the battle or of more enemies. Had they known the truth, the speeder would likely have been blasted from the sky. "We have to get the drive before the Triumvirates are able to find it. Does that data say anything about where the drive will be?"

Mari shrugged. "There's a lot about their leader, the Shaper. It sounds as if he's going to have the drive with him in his chambers. Here, I'll download a map to our datapads," she replied. She tapped the screen of the PDA and copied data to the two others sitting in the speeder. She passed them over to Leon and the Commander. "Looks like it's pretty far into the Vong's massive hide out."

"Oh, is it only good news, then?" Leon asked as he aimed his blaster over the edge of the speeder. He had to take out the Trirals and Vong that would assault the speeder once they inevitably discovered that Leon and his party were reinforcements for neither side of the battle.

"Not only. I hope you're ready to try that lightsaber out again, the data also says his strongest warriors are there with him as bodyguards," Mari said as she pulled her modifiable blaster rifle from her back and aimed it over the edge as well.

"What!?" Naga asked, turning to the Chiss woman. The speeder jolted and Leon fell into the back bench just in time to grab Mari's ankle before she lost her balance and began to fall over the side. Her blaster shattered against the duracrete fare below.

"Kark is wrong with you?" Leon snapped as he pulled the Chiss back into the speeder. Erea shook her head and avoided the question. "Well?"

"We're landing now. Get ready," Erea commanded. She grabbed one of her blasters as the speeder set down and the doors flew open.

Leon was the first out, firing his blaster with a volley of shots that, had not every one collided with some necessary part of the Triral soldiers approaching, could have been called wild. He caught sight of the weaponry they were carrying and tossed one to Mari to replace her broken weapon. As they ran towards the entrance he pointed towards a skirmish between the two sides. "Looks like these are plasma projectors," he said as a Triral soldier incinerated a group of Vong running towards him. They stayed dead.

Mari grinned and ran to the front of the group, firing a volley into the wall of Red Vong that stood before them, clogging the entrance. As the Red Vong cultists dissolved into dust, a path between the monsters opened and the group sprinted towards it, blaster fire exploding through the air around them. "We need to get through there!" Leon snapped as he pulled a thermal detonator from his belt. He set it on a timer and dropped it, punting it with his foot into the center of the group guarding the door. A few moments later, the intense heat of the detonator burned the monsters away to ashes. The group sprinted through and hid behind the huge durasteel doors to take cover from the wall of blaster fire that was following them.

"Can you close the doors?" Erea shouted to Mari, who was trying to access the ancient wiring of a nearby terminal node. The Chiss glanced dryly up at the woman as she cut wires. The durasteel bulkheads slammed shut. "Oh."

"Yeah, princess," Mari said sarcastically as she stood up. She shook her head. "But with those plasma projectors, I'm willing to bet that the military will break in here pretty fast once the fighting's over. We need to hurry."

Leon grinned and drew his vibrosword. "Then what are we waiting for?"

SWSWSWSWSW

The shadowy figure watched the four intruders intently on the holo screen, studying and memorizing the shapes of each one present. His fingers trembled in anticipation as he buried his fingers into the Vong Spore. The wriggling worms reached out towards their creator, their god, and crawled across his skin with the same hungry anticipation.

Four killers. Four warriors. Four soldiers. It was easily visible in the way that they carried themselves, like those who had lost too much in a short time. One, though, ran like something entirely different. It was a movement that was far too familiar to the shadowy figure, the Shaper. The fourth intruder moved like he knew a pain much deeper than that of a mere warrior. No, this one knew of betrayal that cut to the core of one's being. He had seen his closest family die, and that creates a very visible rage.

Three of the warriors were running together towards, the Shaper realized, his bunker. It would save his men the time of hunting down the Chiss and two humans and dragging them there, leaving more manpower to devote to capturing the other intruder who was heading in the opposite direction. The Shaper frowned. Towards, in fact, the other group. Their paths would cross. "Tell the Warrior Caste to attack the four at that hallway," the Shaper said. He pulled his hand from the Vong Spore, one worm clinging to his skin as he moved it, and pointed at one of the screens. "Bring all four here; we shall have new entrants into the Pain tonight!"

SWSWSWSWSW

Leon acted before he even knew what was going on. He had weapon in hand, deflecting the incoming blows of the Red Vong stun staves that rushed towards him. It wasn't until his weapon burned through the skull of one Vong that he noticed he was even using the blue white saber he had taken from the Jedi. Erea was watching him wearily throughout the battle, her eyes fixed on the lightsaber and its petal-like trails through the air.

After just a few short moments, the attacking force was dead. "Well, damn," a new voice said, awestruck. Leon quickly turned and leveled the plasma blade at the newcomer. It was a man of about sixty, hair cut down to a soldier's cut. White and black armor of Echani make protected his flesh with artful curves and designs etched into it. His skin was a deep tan, despite his bright white hair and matching eyes. He was an Echani, at least mostly. He held a simultaneously huge and elegant blaster cannon in his right hand, a monster of a weapon. "Put that down before you hurt someone. If I wanted to kill you you would be dead already."

"I don't know if that's true," Leon retorted.

"It is," the Echani said so calmly that Leon found himself believing it as well.

"What do you want?" Erea finally asked.

"Hm?" the Echani asked. He turned towards Naga and frowned. Finally: "I'm here to get something for an employer of mine. I'm not here to fight normal people. I've collected what I need, so just let me pass and we can all get what we want."

Leon frowned, then deactivated his saber. Erea gawked at him, Mari too. "Who is he?" Leon asked.

"He works for Hutt, Queen Jool," Mari hissed. She shook her head. "Deranis the Scalpel."

"Because I'm exact, yes, yes. Can we put this behind us, now?" The blaster was not yet pointed at the group, but Leon had heard legends about how the Echani could predict the movement of their enemies, much like Jedi.

Leon glanced between the Echani and Mari. He slid his thumb up and down the activator of the lightsaber, considering his next moves. Leon was not sure how much stock to put into the supposed rumors that the Echani could predict movements in battle, but a one man strike team couldn't make it so far into the Red Vong base by being a pushover. Of course, neither were the three of them.

He could be useful. Leon nodded to himself. "Weapons down," he commanded, drawing more surprised looks from the group. "There's no point in us getting in an extra fire fight. Just tell us, Deranis, how many guards are there at the Shaper's bunker?"

The Echani frowned, making his already serious face look even angrier. "There was a Whipid and a Trandoshan outside of one door. I poisoned them both, so they should be dead by now. Other than that, I don't know," the Echani man replied. He bowed slightly to Leon. "Thank you. May our paths cross again, Sith." With that, the Echani stalked into the darkness past the group. Leon felt that the last word lent some credence to the idea that Echani can read their opponent's hearts from the mere preamble to combat was true.

"I am glad we did not kill him, but I believe it unwise to allow one connected with a Hutt to know of us. It would not do to capture the drive just to be turned over by this Queen Jool for the reward money," Erea said.

"Well, then it'll come to that. You can't expect everyone to betray you," Leon pointed out. Erea began to reply, but her words caught in her throat. "As we can tell from Blue over here, even Revan knew that."

"Blue?" the Chiss woman asked, annoyed.

"No? Okay, as we can tell from Mari, even Revan knew that," Leon explained. He buckled the lightsaber back to his hip and noticed that his hand felt oddly... incomplete without its weight. He glanced back at Marien and Erea. "Let's move. The Trirals are probably already in here and getting closer by the second." The group nodded and they all ran off together once again. Leon glanced over his shoulder as they did, sure that someone was watching them. For a moment, in the shadows, it seemed as if he was right. He thought he saw a faceless man in black staring at him from the shadows. When he slowed slightly to look more intently, however, he saw there was no one. Leon frowned, but turned and sprinted to catch up with Erea and Mari.

The shadow however did not stop watching the man running towards battle. Leon was stubbornly moral, more than a bit judgmental because of that, and clueless in the matters of the heart. Honestly, he reminded the shade of who he had been as a younger man. The black-robed man chuckled and looked down the hallway before walking down to follow Leon.

The man crossed his arms as he walked past the corpses of the Red Vong. He hadn't expected them to get more disgusting, but there they were, sickly creatures struggling to infect. He thought about slamming his boot heel into one of the more intact skulls, but decided against the futility of it. It would be a waste of his precious time.

No, he was not one to waste his time. "Well, it's weird to be on this side of things," he remarked as he began to follow Leon and his crew.

SWSWSWSWSW

Leon dodged and rolled past the crashing blows of the Vong Spore infected Wookiee and Gamorrean, both of which seemed to be engorged by the poison rushing through their veins. "You got a Wookiee and a Trandoshan to work together!?" Leon shouted at the Shaper, who hid in the shadows. Deranis had mentioned a Trandoshan, so Leon would never have dreamed that a Vongformed Wook would show up too. "Wow, if you weren't completely insane I would say you were pretty good at conflict resolution!"

The Shaper responded as he had for every single one of Leon's taunting remarks – silence. The silhouette merely gazed down at him, unmoving and threatening in the dimness of the room. The shadows dancing from Leon's appropriated lightsaber did nothing to help in that regard.

Leon felt the hair on the back of his neck rise again, and he launched himself backwards, dodging the huge club that shattered the duracrete where he'd been standing. "Seriously, clubs? That's what you guys use in an era of laser swords!?" he snapped at the Gamorrean, who snarled – or oinked? – and rushed towards the soldier like a boar. Leon scoffed. "That's the best you can do?" he asked. He laughed and began to throw himself out of the way, but froze as he felt his hair rise once more. A club soared through the air he would have occupied just a second later.

That moment of hesitation, unfortunately, was more than enough for the Vongformed monster to collide with him and send him flying across the room with the sound of a crack. "My ribs... Ow..." Leon groaned to himself.

"Leon!" Mari screamed. She ran over to try and help, but was soon batted away by the roaring Wookiee. She screamed in pain and her arm bent outwards at an odd angle.

Leon growled in rage and forced himself to his feet. The world went red. "Don't touch them!" he screamed. The lightsaber flew through the air to his hand, drawing a fearful and surprised gasp from Erea. Leon did not even notice, however. He ran forward, screaming. The Gamorrean squealed with laughter and brought its weapon down to crush the human. Leon roared in response and jumped over the incoming slab of durasteel. He flipped through the air, dragging the blue saber behind him as he soared, and the light carved its way through the pig's head.

Before the husk of a sapient fell to the ground, Leon was already rushing the Wookiee. The great beast yelped in fear as Leon approached and tried to swing its huge arms in an arc to sweep the human away. Without thinking – he could barely truly comprehend what was in front of him – Leon raised his blade, first cutting off one arm and then the other. The Wookiee did not even get to yelp in pain before its head was smoking on the ground. "Leo -" Erea began, only to be cut off by the lightsaber approaching her. She jumped out of the way, barely, and rolled to her feet. "What's wrong!?"

"Traitor!" Leon screamed, not cognizant of what he was doing. "I'll kill you!"

"That's Erea!" Mari shouted from the ground. She was holding her broken arm. "Leon calm down!"

Leon roared and swiped at Erea again, who once more was barely able to move out of its path. "Leon, stop!" Erea begged as another attack came down towards her.

"LEON!"

Leon's weapon froze inches from Erea's heart. He shook his head, trying to clear the red haze from his mind. "I.. what?"

"Well, it would seem losing my Generals was worth it," the Shaper said suddenly, his first words since the group had entered. Leon turned back to the man, who had not moved since before the battle had begun, and the soldier felt another shiver run through him and he threw himself forward instinctively, his body dodging the mutant Vongspore that rained from the ceiling.

Erea and Mari were not so lucky, however. They screamed in terrible agony as the Vong Spore burrowed through their skin, muscle, and bone. It tore away, it ate at their flesh and bone. Burrowed into their core being.

Leon felt the rage rise in his throat again but stomped it down; he'd be of no use to either of them if he couldn't think. Instead he walked over tot he Shaper, who was making no noise. Leon stared down at the hooded creature. "Give me an antidote, and give me the drive."

The Shaper looked up and Leon was surprised to see a true Vong. A Yuuzhan Vong of the priestly Shaper caste. It's face was covered in the self-mutilative wounds that the Yuuzhan Vong had been known for, with its nose carved off by a saw-tooth knife. Hooks held the sapient's eyelids ever open and the tendons of the being's arms were revealed to the air within deep, jagged knife wounds. Its hideous face grinned evilly. "No."

Leon shook with rage and reached down. His fingers tightened around the Vong's throat and he lifted it into the air. He noticed its legs were gone, also self-mutilation. "You will."

"Or what?" the Vong asked. Leon froze. "Pain is god. You can do nothing to me that will not purify me!"

Leon swallowed and began to breath quickly, fearfully. When the black-gloved hand was on his shoulder, he barely even registered it. "There is no antidote, at least not one he can give you," a new voice said. Leon dropped the legless creature back into its throne and readied for battle with the newcomer. He was stopped when the third party grabbed his wrist and shoulder before forcing him down to one knee. "I'm not here to fight Leon, I'm here to help. He has the drive, so focus on that."

Leon glared up at the black-robed man, trying to catch sight of defining features. The hood covered his entire face, however. The man released Leon, and the soldier sprang up to stare at the robed man. He was silent for a while. Finally, the newcomer spoke again, "Try to reach out, feel his mind. Ever since the Vong found Zonoma Sekot they've been weak against the Force. Get him to tell you what you want by tricking his free will."

Leon growled and turned to the Vong. "Where is the drive?" he asked.

"Never..." the creature hissed back.

Leon laughed once and lowered his saber. He reached out with his hand and grabbed the Vong by his ponytail. Yanking on the hair, Leon brought the Shaper's face near his own until he could almost feel the writhing tendrils of the Vong's mind, a parasite much like its creations. "Where is the drive?"

The Vong gasped and shook. Leon didn't know what was happening, and he was incredibly confused by what came next. "It is in the armrest of the chair."

Leon frowned, but let go of the Shaper's hair and checked if he was telling the truth. Leon couldn't contain his joy when he took the drive out and pocketed it. "What..?" he laughed in disbelief. He began to ask the Vong about an antidote, but was cut off by a sudden pressure on his arm. The blue saber rushed forward and through the chest of the Vong. The alien to the galaxy gurgled in fear and pain as the life left its body. Leon dropped the body and jumped at the robed man in rage. "I could've gotten the antidote out of him!"

"There isn't one. The strain's too new," the robed man simply replied as he nimbly sidestepped every one of Leon's attacks. He moved forward as Leon attacked again and grabbed his wrist. Leon gasped in pain as his wrist was twisted to the side and his stolen saber clattered against the ground. "Lucky for you, they can be saved." The robed man turned and dragged his new student towards Erea and Mari.

"Let me go!" Leon snapped, trying to get free of the newcomer's durasteel grasp even as he was half-dragged towards his friends. The man finally let go when the two of them were less than a meter from Leon's two infected friends groaning in agony.

"Heal them," the hooded man demanded. He pointed down at the women.

"How!? Who are you?" Leon asked. The man shook his head and pointed again. Leon growled in anger. "Tell me something."

The robed man looked up and sighed. His hood stayed atop his head. "You're going to heal them the same way you got crazy over there to do what you wanted," the man said as he returned his gaze to Leon. "The Force."

Leon breathed heavily and looked down at Erea then Mari. "But I'm no Sith or Knight."

"Yet," the man responded calmly. He held his hand out, waiting for something. It took Leon a moment, a precious moment of terrible agony for his friends, to figure out that the man wanted his hand. "Hm... her arm... it might have to go. We'll cross that bridge if we come to it. For now..." The man dragged Leon down until he could place his arms on Erea and Mari's shoulders.

"What do I do?" Leon asked, desperate for instruction.

The man in the robes shrugged and walked towards the door. "Save 'em or die. Looks like you've only got ten minutes or so before they die or are driven completely insane. Don't waste that time chasin' after me." And then he disappeared.

Leon looked down at the woman, who were groaning – and occasionally screaming – in agony. "I'm going to fix this," he assured, though he was unsure if they could hear them through the mind numbing pain. "Just let me try to figure it out."

SWSWSWSWSW

The hooded figure watched closely as Leon continued to fail. "Maybe he isn't as smart as I gave him credit for," the man mumbled to himself. He crossed his arms, shook his head, and sighed. "Well, looks like those two are dead."

"No... NO!" Leon screamed. The figure looked up, interested as electricity sparked through the air. The two women screamed in pain as the white lightning was channeled from their friend's grip and into their bodies. The Spores infecting them seemed to scream in pain as well, as if they were being murdered too. After a few moments, they wilted away. The human woman was fine, the other... Her bones had been healed, but in the wrong position. Once the women came to, they'd come to the same conclusion as the hooded man had – the arm would have to go. And once they got to Ruusan, the Chiss would likely be able to get a new arm before entering the Academy.

Of course, that all relied entirely upon the Echani now.

SWSWSWSWSW

"DAMMIT!" Admiral Taas screamed. He threw the holopad from his desk at the wall and it shattered. Shards of plasteel stuck from the dented wall. He collapsed into his desk chair and slammed his fist onto the table. "Kriff."

Ana was silent as the admiral hissed and growled to himself. "They escaped with the drive," Van finally murmured. He sighed and let his head fall to the desk. "I... That – "

"I am aware, Van. The drive is incredibly important," Ana replied from the hologram.

"Than why have we let the Sith get it?" Van asked, raising his head. "The Triumvirate's existence could depend on the data that lies within that drive. I don't want to know what could happen if we do not get it."

Ana looked down and shook her head. "There's a more interesting development I have been looking into."

"You've been diverting your time and resources from the drive?" Van asked. He looked up with tired, angry eyes.

"Van this could potentially be far more important than the drive," Ana said simply, her eyes boring earnestly into the Admiral's. They were quiet for a while.

Van finally broke the silence. "Fine. I trust you on this one. What do you need?"

Ana breathed a sigh of relief. "Don't worry. I have a plan all ready to go. We'll see if I'm right, and if not I can find a way to get a copy of the drive eventually."

Van sighed shakily. "What is it? That you're wondering?"

Ana shook her head. "I'll let you know when I know," she replied, and the line went dead.