Mara awoke with a start, a sharp pain shooting through her back as though someone had just hit her. She cried out, but her shouts were muffled by a stranger's leathery hand. She felt herself being pulled out of bed by two more pairs of strong arms. As her eyes adjusted to the pitch darkness, she sighted Jaina across the room, restrained by two burly-looking beings. One thought popped into her head: What in the galaxy is going on here? Mara's captor took his hand off her mouth and shoved her roughly to one side.
"You are now a prisoner of Yuuzhan Vong, Jeedai. Hurry and dress yourself; we'll be leaving here in five standard minutes. If you disobey us in any manner, this girl will know the true meaning of pain." He snarled viciously, gesturing at Jaina. Quickly, Mara pulled on a flightsuit and boots, then reached around for her lightsaber. The Vong whapped her wrist sharply with the tail end of his amphistaff. "You will leave your Jeedai blade-that-burns." Mara complied with uncharacteristic meekness for safety for her unborn son and her niece.
The pair was prodded out of the bedroom and into the hallway, which glowed with the eerie light of Coruscant's setting moon. Jaina glanced around as she was forced forward, taking in as many details of her home as she could. There was no telling if she would see it again. If she would live to see it again. Jaina's thoughts wandered to Zekk. What if she died without one last gaze into his eyes? The harsh light of glowrods in the corridors leading from she and Mara's suites revealed the tears gleaming on her cheeks. The Yuuzhan Vong warrior flanking her left side chortled at her obvious distress. Jaina had to use extreme self-control not to lash out and kick him in the balls. Breathe, Jaina. Calm down. She took her own advice and held her breath for a ten-count.
By the time she had salvaged her emotions, Jaina could see that she and Mara were not the only victims of this seizure. Out of other buildings, people of all ages and species were being herded into Yuuzhan Vong warships. The captives were in various stages of undress; some in pajamas, some still attired from an evening out, and some close to naked. Babies and younger children were crying for their parents, older children and adults were obeying the Vong's commands in dazed, subdued states. They had already given up hope. Jaina risked a fleeting look back at Mara, who nodded for her to face forward and act as the majority was doing. Mara and Jaina were patrolled up into the warship surrounded by a hub of prisoners.
* * * * *
"Word is they've just raided Coruscant," A petite, brown-haired human girl muttered to Zekk as she walked by, wary of the lash borne by her Yuuzhan Vong keeper. She adjusted the living basket of vibrantly colored vegetables on her head and continued to patter barefooted down the dusty road towards a building straight ahead. Zekk longed to ask her more questions, but he had no desire to face the consequences for hesitating in his work. Wild thoughts ran rampant in his mind as he knelt to tie one loosened bootlace. Gods, if Jaina or Jacen or Peckhum... he hoped fervently that they were all safe and sound; far away from Coruscant at the time of the attack. Zekk knew firsthand the horrors of Yuuzhan Vong work camps. The ten long, tiring months he had spent laboring in the toiling heat for the masochistic race of aliens had been the epitamy of hell. Zekk had seen many of the prisoners brought in die or disappear in the most gruesome of ways within just a few days of their arrival. He himself was surprised he had lasted so long. He turned his head quickly as tortured female screams reached his ears. The girl who had just informed him about the raid on Coruscant was being held down by two Shamed Ones as the overseer brandished a sword-like weapon. A crowd had begun to gather around the four, humans and Vong alike. No one was chastised for leaving their work. An execution was a worthy excuse for a break.
The weapon the overseer held in his grip quivered, eager to get its duty completed. Like all Yuuzhan Vong tools, the weapon was some sort of living creature. The overseer pulled the weapon sharply into the air, then with a swoosh! brought it down into the girl's abdomen. Scarlet blood flew in all directions as she was stabbed again and again. Chunks of torn, mangled flesh flew from the weapon-animal's blade, spattering those near enough to the fray. Zekk turned away and closed his eyes, but her agonized screeches could still be heard. He shuddered and fought the urge to vomit. How could anyone be so brutal to another living creature?
Finally, the ear-splitting cries ceased, and Zekk braved a look back. He immediately wished he hadn't. As soon as his gaze reached the spot where the girl's butchered cadaver lay in the blood-drenched soil, he saw that the perverse Yuuzhan Vong known as had used his bare hands to cleave away the tissue on her chest and wrench her heart from between her ribs. Bystanders, both men and women began to scream. Of all the atrocious murders Zekk had witnessed during his stint, there was no doubt this last one had been the worst. Unable to hold back any longer, Zekk turned and retched into a nearby clump of bushes, as many others were also doing. He was not at all surprised to see that he was not the only one who had become physically ill. Wiping the vomit from his mouth on a clean leaf, Zekk glanced back momentarily, out of morbid curiosity. The sadistic supervisor held the still-throbbing organ over his head, the girl's innocent blood trickling down his arms.
"Do'rik vong pratte!" He cried, eyes wild in his deformed skull, and he squeezed, his arm trembling, until the heart popped with a squelch! in his hand. Fluid flew out from the burst mass of tissue like water from a balloon, each droplet glinting in the sunlight. The Vong lowered his quaking arms and viciously slammed the heart into the dirt.
"That will be the penalty for any who dare defy us! Learn from this, infidels! Learn to hold your tongues!" With that, he went back to his post, and left the prisoners to dispose of the corpse of their comrade.
Although it took much effort, Zekk was able to partially throw off the shock of what he had just been forced to watch and return to his work. The dark-haired young man now prayed more fervently than ever that Jaina, Jacen, Peckhum, and any of the Solo family had been spared from the rumored Coruscant incursion. Black, oily dread began to fill his stomach at the thought of Jaina falling to the same fate as the slaughtered young woman whose body was now disfigured and left in the dirt to ferment in the sweltering, humid air. Although not 15 minutes had passed since her demise, flies and birds of prey were already rushing to devour the meat from her bones. As he once again bent to resume work, he whispered a prayer to an unknown deity.
"Please, keep Jaina away from this place." He murmured. "I don't want girl I love to end up like the girl plastered on the ground."