Dagobah Slip Stream
Part Fifteen
Cas left her room in civilian dress. So that if she took off her Lightsaber no one would suspect her for a Jedi. And, on an impulse, she grabbed a speeder bike. More specifically, a Dagobah Speedracer 2-60.
Zii had probably brought it. That girl had a need for speed and a restless spirit. They used to ride these special speeders back home at night when they couldn't sleep and they could talk Briin into letting them out.
They had designed the little buggers together. Zii built the aerodynamic frame and programmed the on board computer to detect obstacles in its path so they could fly them at high speeds. While, Cas had designed the high-speed repulsor engines to fill it in and directional controls.
Cas rode it out in a random direction until she could no longer hear the sounds a another Yuuzahn Vong attack that had begun when she had been too far away to be of any help anyway. Once she was the only sound that surrounded her were those of forest creatures and her engines, she stopped. She put down the kickstands, deactivated the engine and climbed off.
Cas wondered in the forest a long time, and every few moments she would spot a Vong warrior. But they never seemed willing to move in.
Finally she'd had enough and sat on the bank of a river. She guessed she was at least twelve kilometers outside the kill zone. By all rights the Vong should be swarming her. It was a puzzle.
She sighed as she sat. She crossed her legs, laid her 'saber out in front of her and draped her arms on her legs.
She began going through the mental exercises that would gain her access to the powers of gauntlet on the battlefield. Allowing the gauntlet to become more like a temporary symbiot than a separate tool.
But a few moments later something bothered her. It bothered her enough to bring her out of her trance.
She looked up as she opened her eyes and saw them. Standing about half a meter in front of her were four blue/gray figures. She looked up and up and up to see four mutilated faces staring at her intensely.
One was tall and thin with a slithering, snake like headdress in place of hair. He, at least she thought it was a he, had eight fingers on one hand and no nose. There were marks on his face, indicating the house or Domain, he belonged to, but she couldn't place it.
The next one was tall, and if the other one was male he was too, but he was stronger, bulkier, really. He was probably a warrior of some kind, but he had no weapons. In his shoulders marks were it looked like someone had inserted hooks of some kind, but they were rotting.
She frowned, that was singular. She looked at the willowy guy and his eight-fingered hand was rotting, too. She could smell it.
She looked at the two behind them. They were female. They had Domain markings on their faces and they were missing their noses.
She looked at the one closest to her, the warrior. He was kneeling in front of her, studying her with wide-eyed wonder.
She smiled at him, uncertainly, then allowed confusion to cross her face as she frowned.
He touched his chest. "Vua Shai." He said it slowly, annunciating every syllable, like he wasn't sure she could understand or that he wasn't sure of his words. "Commander." She gave an exaggerated nod.
"Vo Kwaad." He pointed to the tall willowy man. "Master Shaper." She nodded again. Vua gave a small twist of lips, she guessed it was meant to be a smile.
"Slee," Slee nodded. Her face was comparatively clear of markings but the rest of her body was not so fortunate. "Priestess. Yun-Harla."
He motioned to the other woman behind them. She had no markings except some kind of framing tattoo around her face "Uul," Uul nodded.
He didn't give any position for her.
What did that mean? She suddenly wished she had paid more attention to the scholars before taking this whole thing on. Cas nodded again.
He touched her deactivated Lightsaber. "Jeedai?" He asked confused.
She didn't doubt any Yuuzhan Vong warrior could recognize the Jedi's weapon of choice.
But the handle on hers would be too long, that was probably what would throw him off. Well, until she turned it on at least. But It should look wrong to him, it would be too long for the blades he was used to seeing.
That was because her blade was really two placed butt to butt. The style was ungainly, but it made you become a master of your weapon or risk seriously hurting yourself in battle. All the Masters of Balance carried that kind of blade. It was a statement.
She nodded. "Lady Cas Shik'rican." She placed her hand on her own chest. "Jedi Knight."
The Shaper stepped forward and said something quickly in an odd animal like sounding language.
She let her eyebrows furrow. She didn't understand. "Can you understand me?" She asked.
They all nodded, a little uncertainly. "Think what you want me to hear."
The shaper looked confused. She tapped her head. "Loudly. Scream in your head."
He asked one word and shrugged. She didn't need a tizowyrm to understand him meaning. He had asked why.
"I, Jedi. Hear thoughts. Maybe, Understand."
He nodded and closed his eyes.
She always wondered why non-Force users thought the needed to close their eyes to concentrate. But she shrugged that off and opened her mind.
There was an almost angry buzzing at the edge of her perceptions. She reached for it, grabbed hold and dug. She felt her physical body give way to her Force-body. Her muscles became limp and her eyes unfocused. She couldn't reach it.
She even lost all but a tangent connection to the physical world for a moment. But she still couldn't reach it.
She armed her gauntlet and heard the women gasp as it exploded to its larger form with the hiss of blue static electricity. She ignored them.
She tapped the gauntlet's greater Force-access. She dug further. Grasping for the man's thoughts. But it wasn't working.
She slowly started bringing herself back to her body. Her body tensed and she blinked her eyes back into focus. She was sweating, panting.
The Vong were all watching her carefully. Almost curiously, questioningly. She shook her head and frowned.
It was a real frown, one of frustration. She had hoped the Republic Jedi had been wrong. That they hadn't had enough training to know how to find the Vong in the world around them. But if that was true, then Master Kyl had no better trained her, then Master Skywalker (whose knowledge was considered incomplete) had trained them. She would think on that later.
The three Vong were looking at the Shaper. He was whispering to them, gesturing to her gauntlet.
The women looked frightened at his first gesture, but the warrior nodded bravely. Vua Shai moved toward her beside Vo Kwaad, boldly. Slee and Uul followed more tentatively.
Vo Kwaad used a blade like fixation on his eight-fingered hand to cut the palm of his other hand. He then turned and cut Vua Shai's palm, then Slee's, then Uul's. They all looked at each other than held their hands out, palm down, over her gauntlet.
Curiously, she let them.
The first drop hit her gauntlet and it was like she had received a blow to the chest. The next and the world lost most of its color. Another and she lost the grays and blues that were left her. A fourth and her heart leapt.
More came and her body couldn't take it. She fell backwards from her seated position. Her body convulsed. Every nerve screamed. He muscles throbbed. Her mind felt like it would burst. And She fought with all she had not to give them all voice.