He had no idea how it was even possible, but there he was, holding in his arms the person whom he thought had been dead for over two months now. It was Tahiri. He had no doubts about that. Her head still came out to just above his chest and her golden hair still had that same sweet smell to it. She just felt right, that was the only way he could describe it.
Tahiri broke the embrace first, her green eyes dancing with excitement when she looked at him. "I can't believe you're here,"
Anakin, still a little dumbfounded at seeing her alive, said, "I don't understand. Tahiri I saw you – you had that amphistaff sticking out of you. You were – you…" he could not bring himself to say that one, painful word.
"I was dead," she confirmed, "but the Yuuzhan Vong brought me back. Anakin, they have ways and can do things that we can't even begin to understand," she said in a frightened voice.
He was having trouble letting it all sink in. He did not know what to say. He just stood there, staring at her like an idiot.
"I'm glad to see you're alive," spoke up Zekk, now that Anakin and her seemed to be finished their reunion, at least for the moment.
Tahiri smiled. "So am I,"
Coming back to reality, Anakin suddenly became aware of the fact that they were in a room full of Yuuzhan Vong. Instinctively, he grabbed Tahiri's arm and pulled her behind him. He started running through an escape plan in his head. It would be virtually impossible to fight their way out of there but –
"Anakin, it's not what you think," Tahiri said. "They saved my life,"
Despite her words, he looked around the room full of Vong, expecting them to attack him like they had on the ship. But each one of them remained where they were. He was growing more confused by the second. What in the galaxy was going on?
"What is this place?" Anakin asked her.
"I'll explain everything," Tahiri said, leading Anakin and Zekk out of the overcrowded building.
"They're called the Tsirran," Tahiri began, as the trio made their way through the open village. "They're what we would call cousins of the Yuuzhan Vong, but the two species are completely different.
"The Tsirran were Yuuzhan Vong at one time," she continued, "but more than a millennia ago, a band of Yuuzhan Vong claimed to have seen a vision from their god, Zhaan, telling them that if they conquered their own galaxy, the gods would reward them with another galaxy full of planets and workers to help them harvest that galaxy as their own.
"A lot of Yuuzhan Vong thought that if the gods said this then it had to be true and must be followed. But there were others that did not believe the gods would demand the sacrifice of all other beings in their galaxy in order to show them a new one. Some did not believe their even was another galaxy, and others thought that if they were true gods, then they should have the power to bring them to this new home without pointless slaughtering of life.
"The Vong were divided over the vision. Riots started, soon followed by war. In the end, the Yuuzhan Vong that refused to obey the vision, left Uulik, which is the Yuuzhan Vong home world," she explained, "and started their own colony light years away. They became the Tsirran, while the aliens that stayed on Uulik became the Yuuzhan Vong we know today.
"After the Tsirran left Uulik, the Vong began the conquest of their galaxy. They murdered billions of innocent creatures, but their own planet had become plagued with poverty and disease because of the ongoing wars. Once they had destroyed or enslaved all their other enemies, they went after the Tsirran, the only ones who posed the Vong any kind of a real challenge. The Yuuzhan Vong were very much different from the Vong that the Tsirran had known years before. They had become extremely violent and merciless. And in the end, that's how the Vong were able to win. But thousands of Tsirran managed to escape on their ships. They lived in space for more than a decade, until they finally stumbled upon this world, in our galaxy. They've lived here in secret ever since,"
Looking around, Zekk said, "what planet is this?"
"My guess would be an uncharted planet near unknown space," Tahiri said. "It was the first planet they stumbled upon when they entered this galaxy,"
"That means the Yuuzhan Vong and the Tsirran entered this galaxy from two different vector points," Anakin said. "The Vong breached this galaxy near Belkadan, which explains why they haven't discovered the Tsirran. And if this planet really is near unknown space, that explains why no one else has found them."
"They explained their whole history and coming to this galaxy to you?" Said Zekk.
She nodded. "Soon after I was rescued they told me everything,"
Anakin still needed a few more details to be cleared up. "But if they've lived here since coming to our galaxy, how did they manage to find you?"
"Some of the Tsirran have mutilated themselves to look like Yuuzhan Vong, in order to infiltrate war ships and bases on worlds that they have taken over. When they brought me to one of the ships, there was two Tsirran stationed on the same section that I was in. They got in touch with their other contacts onboard, and managed to get me off the ship when I was in the middle of being transferred to another ship," she explained to them. "They made it look like my transport exploded after they had gotten me off it. Then they brought me here, after the Vong had thought we had died in a faulty transport coralskipper,"
Anakin was still suspicious. "But why would they risk blowing their cover to save a human? A Jedi human? We all know how much would the Vong would love to have our heads served on a platter to them,"
"They've been learning about the Jedi and all other beings since they came here. They think we're the ones powerful enough to help them defeat the Vong before they finish destroying our galaxy like they did their own,"
"So, this is about revenge for them, is that it?" Zekk said.
"In a way, yes," Tahiri slowly admitted, "but the Vong destroyed their home and most of the Tsirran with it,"
Anakin wanted to say it sounded like she agreed with the idea of revenge, but he really did not want to start a fight with her so soon, so instead he said, "would they help us fight them?"
"Yes," Tahiri responded immediately, "they've just been waiting for the right time to reveal themselves to the rest of the galaxy,"
If these Tsirran had originally been Yuuzhan Vong, then they obviously knew how to fight – which they had shown Anakin and Zekk earlier, but could they trust them? They were related to Yuuzhan Vong, and the Yuuzhan Vong had proven to be many things, not the least of them being untrustworthy. Sure, they had saved Tahiri, but that could have just been part of a much larger plan to help them gain the trust of the Jedi. Then they would make their move and turn on the unsuspecting Jedi Knights.
He definitely wasn't about to get his hopes up in believing the Tsirran could actually help them get rid of the Vong for good. He knew that when something seemed too good to be true, it usually was.
"Why did they attack us?" Zekk asked.
"When they saw your ship, they couldn't take the chance that you might be working for the Yuuzhan Vong or you would tell people that what you had seen. They used a sort of tractor beam to hold your ship to make sure you wouldn't get away and then they brought you down here. They were going to kill you, but when they saw Anakin's lightsaber, they decided to bring you to the high council. All that remains of it is the one elder Vong you saw, Eus-ai Raak,"
Zekk said, "well, I'm sure glad they had a change of heart and decided not to kill us,"
Anakin looked over at Tahiri. "They really rescued you, huh?"
"After the Vong brought me back to life, they healed me to what I am now," she said.
"Tahiri, if I had known – "
"I know," she interrupted him, reading his thoughts.
Zekk was lost, but Tahiri and Anakin seemed to understand each other just fine speaking in partial sentences. Maybe it was time he left them alone. They didn't need him hanging around when they probably had a lot of catching up to do.
"I think I'm gonna head back to the quarters you showed me," he said to them. "It's been a long day and Anakin and I have lots of work to do on the Rod tomorrow,"
They said goodnight to Zekk, and then he started down the path in the opposite direction from them.
"The Tsirran are sorry about what they did to his ship," Tahiri said as the two of them walked along, "but they didn't know you were friends,"
"It's not like they made Zekk's ship look any worse. The boarding ramp looked like it was going to fall off anyways,"
Tahiri laughed, but it was more of a tense laugh, as if she were uncomfortable with being alone with him.
"How did you and Zekk meet up?" She said, her voice full of interest. "Did he finally go back to the Academy?"
"No, he hasn't gone back there yet," Anakin said. "We just sorta ran into each other,"
He sounded like he was holding something back, but Tahiri did not question him further.
"So, uh, do you like it here?" What was wrong with him? Why was he having such a hard time making conversation with her?
"I do," she replied, "I mean it's not home, but they've done everything they could to make me feel welcome,"
"Do you trust them?"
"Yes," she answered without hesitation. She looked up at him. "You don't, do you?"
"They did save you from the Vong. I guess that's good enough for me,"
"I know what I told you is a lot to swallow. It took me awhile to really believe any of it,"
He felt their hands brush against one another's as they walk.
"I really missed you," she said in a quiet voice and stopped walking.
"I missed you too,"
She reached for his hand but Anakin pulled it back at the last second.
"What is it?"
"It's nothing," he assured her, "I'm just tired. Like Zekk said, it's been a long day. I think I'm going try and get some sleep," it was a pretty lame excuse considering they hadn't seen each other in so long, but he just needed some time to himself for awhile. Time to let everything sink in.
"That's okay," Tahiri said, not letting her disappoint show. "We can talk tomorrow,"
Anakin nodded his head in silent agreement. "Goodnight, Tahiri,"
"Goodnight, Anakin,"
