It came on suddenly, the feeling of intense power and rage, Tahiri felt like she could take on the entire compound single-handedly. But for now, She would settle for a little more than twenty well-armed warriors.
Without conscious thought, she sprinted towards them, lightsaber blazing.
Jacen was yelling for her to stop, but the urge to kill was too powerful to resist.
Everything else around her seemed to fade away, and the only thing that made sense was plunging her deadly blade into warrior after warrior and making them bleed.
There must have been at least a dozen or more of the fully trained Yuuzhan Vong warriors trying to take her down at once, but almost instantly failing the moment they entered her killing circle.
These worthless creatures had killed her? She laughed out loud at the thought. They were weak and stupid and she planned to make each and every one of them pay for the hell she had gone through since.
When one of the warriors finally managed to rid her of her lightsaber, he gave her a nasty lip-splitting smile, thinking her to be defenseless. She gave the alien a wicked grin in return as the two circled each other warily. Without warning, Tahiri charged the alien, screaming and yelling loudly as she rammed him square in the middle of his armour. Someone of her size should have bounced right back off the muscular creature, but their were forces at work inside Tahiri's body that made her size no longer an issue. She sent the warrior flying backwards at least five meters, until he crashed into the wall made of fleshy roots. Some of the roots broke apart with the impact and began thrashing wildly, grabbing onto the source causing them pain. The living wall wrapped itself tightly around the midsection of the warrior, slowly crushing its bones and tissue. The warrior tried in vain to break free but that only made the roots grip him tighter.
Taking the amphistaff the warrior had dropped, Tahiri approached the alien, deciding to put him out of his misery for good. With a flick of her wrist she plunged the amphistaff deep into its throat and then pulled it out. The warrior started convulsing and blood poured out of through the wound and through its mouth. It was moments away from death, but the living wall continued wrapping itself around the alien, crushing it's bones until it was satisfied that the warrior was dead and then released him, landing on the hard ground with a lifeless thud.
Still charged with energy, Tahiri spin around to the sound of mock clapping. Only then did she notice Ha'rnn lying facedown on the ground, two warriors standing poised over him. He looked to be dead, but being unable to sense Tsirran through the force she couldn't be sure.
Jacen was not much better off. He was in the clutches of the living wall, his arms and feet bound together with the thickset roots. A Yuuzhan Vong stood guard over him and beside the warrior stood the green skinned woman, who was the one clapping.
"Well done, Tahiri," she congratulated her. "I needed to be sure it was you before I proceeded any further." With false sadness, she looked down at the fallen bodies. "I hadn't anticipated how strong you would be. What a mess,"
Tahiri, breathing heavily, having gotten herself back under control – at least for the moment – could not fight off the sensation that she had met this woman before.
"Who are you?" She demanded.
The female Yuuzhan Vong stood proudly. "I made you,"
Suddenly, all the bits and pieces Tahiri remembered from her time with the Yuuzhan Vong came rushing back to her more clearly then any of the nightmares she had had since her captivity. She would be lying on an examination table; dozens of strong arms would be holding her in place as she thrashed wildly in a useless effort to break free. They had held her down, and when she had begun screaming because she had felt something alien burrowing itself underneath her skin, a scaly hand had slapped her across the face. Of all those faces, there was only one she could partially recall – one that was not gruesomely scared liked the others. One that was distinctly female, that had stood by, enjoying every second of Tahiri's pain, holding in her hands an object vaguely resembling a needle with a large empty tube at the end.
I made you.
Tahiri felt her insides turn cold at the thought of what this woman had done to her.
She's the reason I'm falling apart. She's the reason I'm a freak… She's the reason I'm dying.
Clutching the amphistaff tightly, Tahiri felt herself losing control again. She tried to fight it – she really did, but her desire to kill the monster that had caused so much agony was too great. A murderous glint in her eyes, she advanced towards the female Vong, holding the dead warrior's amphistaff threateningly.
The scientist did not flinch. She picked up Jacen's fallen weapon and flicked it on. Looking calming at Tahiri, she said, "Let's see how far you have come,"
She said something Tahiri didn't understand and the roots holding Jacen's right arm in place removed themselves and the warrior standing nearby grabbed onto it. The woman brought the blade dangerously close to Jacen's right arm. Jacen struggled to move his arm away, but the warrior held it firmly in place. He swallowed hard, knowing what was to come. A Jedi feels no pain, he said over and over again in his head in a vain effort to keep calm.
"You have reached the stage where you feel no pain Tahiri. I know this by the way you fought. Now show me," she said, moving the lightsaber even closer, so that it was no burning through the fibers on Jacen's sleeve, "how you react to other's pain,"
She let the blade drop another half inch and it began burning through the flesh in Jacen's arm. He tried in vain not to cry out, but the burning was excruciating. He couldn't even begin to focus on how to block it out. His cries of pain echoed throughout the corridor. The smell of his own burning flesh attacked his nostrils, making him sick to his stomach, but the scientist did not let up. Ever so slowly, she continued bringing down the blade a bit further, causing Jacen to scream louder. It got to the point where he wished she would just slice his arm off and be done with it.
"Stop it!" Tahiri screamed at her.
At Tahiri's reaction, she abruptly stopped her torture of Jacen. "How unfortunate. You still feel compassion for others. That will change in time,"
"I'll kill you," Tahiri threatened.
"I think not. Unless you want this one to die,"
Tahiri took a calming breath. She couldn't let Jacen die because of her. She had to stay in control. She had to hold on a bit longer.
"Perhaps, you wish me to torture this one some more?" The scientist said when Tahiri remained silent.
Jacen shook his head, silently telling Tahiri she should forget about him and save herself. His captors saw what he was trying to do and one of them snapped the hand that was still bound to the wall back, breaking his wrist. He stifled a cry of pain and his head lolled forward. He would have collapsed to his knees, if the binds had not been holding him in place.
The scientist regarded the look of intense pain on Jacen's face and then turned back to Tahiri, still poised with the amphistaff, a mixture of confusion and anger evident on her features. "The choice is yours,"
Tahiri did the only thing she could: she surrendered.
It was pitch black out. The moon barely casting enough light to create misleading shadows, but the group of Jedi pushed on nonetheless.
It had taken a lot longer than Anakin had anticipated to completely rid themselves of the Yuuzhan Vong warriors. But even now, as they retraced their steps, he still worried a few stragglers remained, waiting for the right moment to attack.
When they had been no longer able to hold them off at their campsite, the group had fallen back into the depths of Belkadan's forests, their pursuers not far behind. They continued leading them on, never fully engaging the alien's unless they had to. And the Yuuzhan Vong continued to pursue, not knowing all Anakin wanted to do was buy time for Jacen, Tahiri and Ha'rnn to reach the compound.
The three of them had been gone for hours, and even though they had been given the time they needed to escape to the compound, Anakin feared something terrible had happened to them.
Halfway through dodging Yuuzhan Vong and sending them on a wild womp rat chase across the planet, he had felt an incredible surge through the force. The others had been useless to stop him, as he took out nearly half the Vong party following them before collapsing to the ground feeling completely drained. He knew what had set him off. Even with dampening his link to Tahiri, he had still been able to feel the changes she was going through. It frightened him to consider the possibility that maybe they were already too late, and he wondered what would happen to himself when Tahiri finally lost it.
The attention the others had given him after his spell of rage was short lived, for soon after Jaina and Tenal Ka, collapsed to the ground, frantic and screaming, both convinced their left arms were being burnt off.
They were still a bit shaken up afterwards, when they realized it wasn't happening to them but to Jacen. After that episode, Anakin knew more then ever that they needed to get to the compound.
After that episode, Tenal Ka, who never panicked was starting to show signs that she too, thought Jacen and Tahiri were in grave danger.
A'ern, one of the Tsirran still with them announced they would reach the compound in about another mile. Anakin gritted his teeth. Another mile and they would reach Tahiri and Jacen. It was all he could do to keep himself from running the rest of the distance.
"How's that?"
"It's fine," Jacen responded through clenched teeth, just as Tahiri finished bandaging his burnt arm with a piece of torn material from her own jacket.
She could not help but be reminded of the shape her own covered arms were in, but they were not nearly as grotesque and did not reek of charred flesh. It was going on three days since she had last thought about cutting herself. She mused that she seemed to be more concerned about hurting others then self-mutilation these days.
She looked up from Jacen's arm and caught his eye. She was frightened by the way he was looking at her.
"What?"
"Back there," he began uncertainly, "you know, when you killed all those Yuuzhan Vong – are you all right now?"
"Yes," she answered in a small voice, careful to avoid eye contact, knowing he would see through her lie otherwise. He could probably sense the truth anyways. And that truth was she still felt the same power coursing through her veins, threatening to take over at any second, and she wasn't sure that she'd be able to regain control if it happened again. She kept that to herself though, not wanting Jacen to be any more afraid of her then he probably already was.
He got to his feet then and started pacing by the door, holding his useless wrist close to his chest. His brow furrowed in exhausted concentration as he started looking for a way out of their cell.
Tahiri watched him closely. He looked about ready to collapse. "You should go into a healing trance for awhile. You need it,"
"I'll manage," he said, reaching out and running a hand over the living membrane that was acting as a door to their cell. "Right now, we need to concentrate on getting out of here,"
As if on cue, He heard footsteps approaching their cell from the outside. He strained his ears to hear what was being said, but the voices were speaking in Yuuzhan Vong so it didn't do much good. The talking stopped abruptly, and Jacen heard the familiar sound of the living jelly-like door opening.
Seeing what Jacen was planning, Tahiri scrambled to her feet and stood on the other side of the door, opposite him. This might be the only opportunity they got to escape, and neither of them planned to waste it.
The harsh violet light from the corridor shone inside their cell and a lone Yuuzhan Vong walked inside. It barely had time to register the two Jedi before they attacked.
Jacen threw himself at the massive warrior, distracting it enough so Tahiri to sneak up behind it. Though what she was going to do being weaponless, he had no idea. The warrior grabbed him by the scruff of his jacket and shook him lightly.
"Do you wish to get us all killed, Jedi Solo?"
The voice was almost kind, making it sound like their Tsirran companion, but the face and arms were covered in fresh scars and he donned the armour of a Yuuzhan Vong warrior.
"Ha'rnn?" Jacen said uncertainly, still being held in the air.
The alien nodded and released him.
How did you escape?" Tahiri asked him, no longer poised to attack.
"The Yuuzhan Vong do not take insults to their gods kindly,"
Ha'rnn explained to them how he had taunted the guards outside his cell with derogatory comments about their gods,until they could take it no longer and entered the cell to fight him. They were young and stupid and he had finished them off quickly, stealing one of their sets of armour and both amphistaffs before locking them away in the cell. He had managed to fool a few guards along the way to finding their cell, but any warriors who got close enough to him would be able to tell his scars were fresh.
"Nice work," Jacen said to him. "Now what?"
"I believe I know where this scientist is. If they followed standard protocol when building this facility, the laboratories should be built in the lower levels, carved out of the natural rock. The one we are looking for is called, Majj'is,"
"Well, what are we waiting for? Let's pay this Majj'is a visit," Tahiri said eagerly, reaching for one of the amphistaffs Ha'rnn held in his hand.
Despite his injuries, Jacen grabbed the weapon before she could. "I'll bring up the rear. Ha'rnn, you lead,"
He purposely kept her from getting a weapon, and Tahiri didn't need to ask for an explanation as to why. He was beginning to doubt her sanity as much as she was. She didn't think it would have done well to tell him she would be able to handle herself fine with or without a weapon.
"This way," the Tsirran said to them, leading the two Jedi out of the cell and down a deserted corridor.
"You know," said Tahiri, her tone barely above a whisper, "most people would take this opportunity to escape – but not us,"
Jacen was glad to see she still had a sense of humour. "We're not most people," he told her.
They continued on in silence after that, following Ha'rnn through deserted hallway after deserted hallway. The lack of personnel in these areas had to mean Ha'rnn was taking them through the part of the base that was only used in emergencies. It would probably take longer to reach the lab, but this way they might actually make it there in one piece.
"Down here," Ha'rnn said and began the descent down a crudely made set of stairs, carved out of dirt and rock.
The instant her foot made contact with the first step, Tahiri found all her senses leave her. She clutched tightly to the dirt caked wall to keep herself from tripping the rest of the way. Voices were in her head, screaming things she didn't understand. She was clutching the sides of her head and gasping for breath, squeezing her eyes shut in a futile effort to get rid of the ear-piercing screams. She felt two strong hands shake her after several moments and forced her eyes open to find herself staring at an equally distraught Jacen.
"What's happening?" She asked weakly.
"I don't know," he said, frowning. "Just try and block it out,"
"I can't," she cried.
"Try,"
She did, but the sensation grew worse with each step she took. By the time they made it to the cavern bottom, she and Jacen were both mentally exhausted. She thought the screaming in her head had let up, but she soon realized she was hearing the voices out loud now. She forced herself to continue, preparing to face whatever was the source of the noise.
They walked into an open cavern and what Tahiri saw made her voice catch in her throat. She, Jacen and Ha'rnn stood in the middle of the room, surrounded by hundreds upon hundreds of cages with creatures inside banging themselves against the bars and screaming at the top of the lungs. Their primitive and psychotic behaviour is what took Tahiri a few extra moments to realize some of those creatures were human and most of the others she recognized what species they belonged to.
A feeling of dread welling up inside her, Tahiri strayed away from the others and moved closer to one of the cages.
"Tahiri, be careful," Jacen called to her.
She didn't seem to hear him. She continued walking until she close enough to fully see one of the humans locked inside. The girl inside couldn't have been more than a few years older than her, but there was something so primordial about her she barely looked human anymore. Her clothes were in rags and her long hair was matted to her forehead. But it was the eyes hidden behind the caked mud and dirt that caught Tahiri's attention. They had a look in them that caused Tahiri to look at her with the same horror she had seen her friends look at her with in recent days.
"She's me," Tahiri managed to choke out.
"That's not you," Jacen said from behind her.
Give it a bit more time and she would be one of those things thrashing wildly in a cage. At one point they had been normal, but the Yuuzhan Vong had changed them for their own purposes, like they had done to her. Now, most of them showed barely any signs of their humanity or native alien race.
That was why she had been brought back. Her sudden understanding hit her like a slab of a duracrete. They had wanted a lab rat, and who better then a Jedi if they could manage to bring her back. It disgusted her and made her want to burn the entire compound down and take every Yuuzhan Vong with it, even if that meant sacrificing herself in the process.
"Tahiri, we have to get going," Jacen said gently. When she still didn't move, he added, "there's nothing you can do for them. Their too far gone to be saved,"
Reluctantly, she let Jacen lead her back to the path and out of the cavern. The scream's getting more distant the further they moved ahead.
At last they reached a set of doors made of a transparent membrane. The trio pushed inside and found themselves in a laboratory. Several examination tables lined one side of the room, with living instruments piled together beside them. There were tanks with living things squirming inside stacked up against one wall.
The two Yuuzhan Vong inside looked up in surprise at the intruders. The female scientist from before, Majj'is, lunged for one of the sharp pointed instruments, but got only half a step before Ha'rnn grabbed her and slammed her up against a tank with a bleak, four-eyed creature swimming around inside a murky coloured substance.
The woman's assistant went to run but a look at Jacen's amphistaff aimed in her direction kept her still.
"You will help us," Ha'rnn ordered. "This one is dying," he said, indicating to Tahiri. "You will fix her,"
The molting skinned woman let out a cold, heartless laugh. "You foolish creatures. You waste your lives to reverse the ba'kl scul when it cannot be done. She will die like the others in time,"