The Yuuzhan Vong warrior walking behind Tenal Ka shoved her roughly for no other reason then because it could

CHAPTER ELEVEN: TRAITORS

The Yuuzhan Vong warrior walking behind Tenal Ka shoved her roughly for no other reason then because it could. She stumbled briefly, but recovered before the scarred alien could get any real satisfaction out of it.

A rubber-like substance that was alive bounded her wrists tightly together. When she tried to move her hands, the substance constricted tighter, until it felt like it was cutting off the circulation there.

She and Jacen had been stripped of their parkas and gloves, but had been allowed to keep their boots. Their sabers were gone and the Yuuzhan Vong had thoroughly checked them through for other hidden weapons.

She was thankful that for this mission she had been forced to forgo her usual lizard-hide armor outfit and instead wear long pants and a shirt. She was freezing enough as it was, and she could already feel frostbite setting in on her hands and ears. Jacen looked to be in a lot worse off condition. His nose was swelling up – it was most certainly broken after the warrior had kicked him in the face, and his shoulder stuck out at an awkward angle. She saw him grimace every time he was poked in the back with the Vong's amphistaff.

She and Jacen had been led through the last couple of miles of the wilderness area, and were just now entering the mining region.

The air was murky here and had a metallic tang to it. The ground itself was a mix of asphalt, dirt and snow. There were no trees there. They had long ago been cleared away for the countless storage buildings and wooden shacks that filled the region. Syynnode miners shuffled past them, dragging empty crates towards an open mine shaft. Tenal Ka's breath caught in her throat when she saw the beings going in and out of the mine.

Humans, Bothans, Ithorians, and a number of other alien species that she could not identify were being led in and out of the mine by groups of towering Yuuzhan Vong. They had to be freezing with nothing more then a thin worker jumpsuit to cover their bodies. Some of them did not even have shoes on. But they all had attached to their skin the coral growths the Yuuzhan Vong used to control their slaves.

She felt Jacen's spike in emotion beside her, and knew he had seen the growths on the slaves as well.

The Syynnodes in front of her started chattering in their own tongue, but she did not need a translator to get the gist of what they were saying. Governor Ta'kk was approaching them from one of the buildings, a satisfied smile on his fur-covered face.

The Syynnodes stopped walking, and the Yuuzhan Vong behind she and Jacen jabbed them in the back with their amphistaffs to make sure they did the same.

"You said you wanted to see our mining operations, and here you are," the governor said smugly.

"You make me sick," Jacen spat, which earned him a cuff on the side of the head from his Vong captor, but he did not stop there. "Not only are you hiding Vong slaves, but you're using them to work your own mines,"

"And you Jedi come here, lie to our faces and use your mind tricks so you can nose around something that is none of your business."

"You cannot compare what we did to the crimes you are committing here," Tenal Ka said.

Jacen said, "how did you know we were Jedi?"

"We didn't," the governor said simply, "but when you insisted on going to see our mines, we knew we couldn't take the chance that you would see something you shouldn't. I sent out a squad of fighters to strike you down and make it look like you ship had crashed into the mountains. I was over anxious, though, and called Ulvis to tell them the tragic news before it actually happened. But they had no idea what I was talking about. They had sent no delegates to conduct a trade agreement with Rygelia.

"I decided instead to let you land and had some of my workers intercept you on your way here. I was still not positive you were Jedi until you gave yourselves away by pulling out your lightsabers. Then the Yuuzhan Vong that were hiding nearby came out to make sure you would not escape," the governor ran an appraising eye over the two Jedi. "We could use some strong new workers, especially ones that can use the force. The slaves who have no experience working in mines tend not to last too long. They don't know how to mine properly and we have frequent cave-ins as a result."

"The New Republic will stop you," Tenal Ka said boldly. "They will not stand by and let you harbor Yuuzhan Vong slaves,"

"If the New Republic didn't care enough about Rygelia to send in its own intelligence agents to investigate in the first place, what's going to make them suddenly change their mind?

Tenal Ka and Jacen did not know what to say to that.

"We destroyed your ship, so even if you do escape from here, you have nowhere to go but into the mountains. With the weather conditions, I seriously doubt you would last long enough to find a town where you could steal a ship. And the New Republic already has its hands full, so it won't waste its time searching for two missing Jedi. " Having said all he wanted to say, the governor walked away from them and back towards the building he had come from.

"Move," the Vong behind Tenal Ka ordered in basic, shoving her forward.

The remaining Syynnode workers that had come back with them, returned to their normal duties in the mines. Now it was just she and Jacen, and the three Yuuzhan Vong warriors that had brought them there.

Maybe they could attempt some sort of escape, with the odds a little more on their side now. Jacen quickly nixed the idea though, because three, armed Vong warriors against him and Tenal Ka, who had no weapons and could not even move their hands, would be a futile attempt. They would need to be patient and wait until the right opportunity presented itself.

They were being led to what appeared to be a small storage bunker. With obvious disgust, Jacen watched one of the Yuuzhan Vong punch in a code into the keypad beside the door. They removed their living binders and threw them inside the bunker. Jacen grunted in pain as he landed on his throbbing shoulder. The Vong muttered some remarks in their own language and closed the door on them.

The room was completely dark, save for the small window slit that let in enough light so they could see each other's faces. It had obviously been used to store equipment or droids at one time but the bunker was completely bare now.

Jacen sat up on the cold metal floor, rubbing his numb hands together in an effort to get the feeling back in them.

Tenal Ka crouched down beside him, taking notice not for the first time at the awkward angle his shoulder was sticking out at. "Your shoulder is dislocated," she said.

"Tell me something I didn't know,"

"I will have to put it back in place," she stated matter of factly.

Jacen groaned. "I had a feeling you we going to say that,"

Placing one hand on his injured shoulder and the other on the upper part of his chest, she said, "I will count to three and then put it back in place,"

Jacen nodded his head. He could already feel the beads of sweat forming on his face, even though he was freezing. He gritted his teeth together, waiting for the inevitable.

"One – "

He tried to relax his body, but found every muscle in his body was as stiff as sullustan leather.

"Two – "

Jacen was unable to keep himself from crying out, as the sickening sound of a bone popping back into place echoed throughout the room. He didn't think it was possible but his left shoulder actually hurt more now then before Tenal Ka had put it back into place.

When he felt recovered enough to trust his voice, he said, "I should have known you were going to do that,"

"How does it feel?"

"Don't ask," Jacen said, speaking through clenched teeth. He tried to block out the searing pain coursing through his shoulder, but he was unable to concentrate long enough to accomplish anything.

"It will get better," she said, sensing his obvious discomfort.

"That's good to know,"

"Why do you think the Yuuzhan Vong are working with the Syynnodes?" Tenal Ka said, trying to get his mind off of the pain.

"I don't know," he said, "but it doesn't make any sense. The Vong hate technology but here they are helping the Syynnodes mine the metals that will be used to create space cruisers and buildings like the ones we saw outside. The moment the Vong landed here they could have struck another major blow to the New Republic by wiping out another one of its sources for metals."

"They must have some sort of agreement,"

"Right," he said, the pain in his shoulder had subsided considerably now, "like the Vong aren't going to wipe out the planet after they've gotten what they wanted from the Syynnode."

"They are foolish to ally themselves with the Yuuzhan Vong," said Tenal Ka, "and even more so if they believe the Yuuzhan Vong will not betray them in the end. They have shown us no evidence that they can be bargained with,"

"And I don't think the Syynnodes made them have a sudden change of heart," Jacen said dryly.

"I noticed there were no worker droids outside," Tenal Ka observed.

"I noticed that too," said Jacen. Worker droids would be essential to any mining operation. They could be used to dig in the parts of the mines that are unstable without worrying about the loss of life, and they could carry a much larger load of mined metals then any human. "I guess the Vong weren't willing to lower their standards enough to permit the use of droids,"

From outside the door of the bunker, their force enhanced hearing allowed them to hear voices conversing in Yuuzhan Vong outside.

The door swung open and in walked two Yuuzhan Vong warriors armed with amphistaffs. They looked similar to the ones that had brought them there originally, with their faces all cut up and tattooed.

Jacen and Tenal Ka got to their feet.

"You will come with us," the one on the left said, gesturing with his amphistaff at Tenal Ka.

Jacen stood protectively in front of her. "You're not taking her anywhere," he said in his most authoritative voice.

The Vong spared him no more then a contempt glance before shoving him aside. The warrior towered over Tenal Ka, who readied herself in a fighting stance.

"Are you deaf, infidel?" The Vong snarled at her.

Tenal Ka remained silent, simply sizing up her opponent. With nothing but her bare hands, fighting against a creature this large and armed would be extremely difficult. But this would be the perfect opportunity for her and Jacen to try to escape. The odds would not get any better then this.

The Vong closest to her reared back its amphistaff and prepared to strike her with it.

Without thinking, Jacen charged the alien and jumped on its back. He grabbed at its neck, furiously trying to twist it so it would snap. When that did not work, he wrapped his hands around its thick, muscular neck in an effort to strangle it.

The Yuuzhan Vong was not standing around letting Jacen do that. He roared a bloodthirsty war cry, and swung his body back and forth, trying to throw the Jedi off of him. Jacen clung on tightly, though, refusing to let go. The warrior reached into a pouch on his waist and removed a blue, gooey-looking jelly substance. He slapped it against Jacen's back.

Jacen let go of his hold on the immediately, dropping to the floor, withering in agony. He clawed at the jelly substance clinging to his back, but it stubbornly refused to come off. It felt like all the nerves in his body were on fire.

The Vong warrior stood over him repulsed by the way Jacen fought against the pain. He placed a scaly foot on Jacen's to stomach to stop him from squirming. Jacen clenched his teeth together to keep from screaming out in pain.

The second warrior saw the look of horror on Tenal Ka's face, and said, "you will come with us now, or this one dies,"

She watched the warrior place the poisoned end of its amphistaff near Jacen's face. Jacen was barely conscious by that point, and did not even notice the fanged mouth on the weapon open wide to spray him with its venom.

"I will go with you," Tenal Ka said, accepting their ultimatum, and saying it loud enough so both warriors would hear her.

She let the warrior nearest her grab her by the arms and drag her towards the door. The other one removed its weapon from Jacen's face and backed away from him. Jacen's body had stopped moving altogether now, and the only way she could tell that he was still alive was by the rhythmic up and down movement of his chest.

She did not know what they had done to him or how badly he was hurt, but there was nothing she could do for him now. Tenal Ka was forced to let the Vong take her to what she was certain would be a much more agonizing experience then what Jacen had just endured.