The Millennium Falcon exited Hyperspace smoother then it had in years, all that work Leia, 3PO and he had done to his beloved ship since the end of the war had added another 30 years of life to it. He should be happy, he should be wearing an insufferable grin at his superior mechanical skills, he should be bragging how only he could do this kind of work. Leia should be making sarcastic remarks about the general history of this ship, how it always broke down at the wrong time, or his general obnoxious personality. Even Goldenrod should be putting in his own unwanted two credits in the conversation. However, they weren't, instead each was just staring out the view port at the growing body that was their target, Borleais.
Almost two weeks ago, Leia had felt something in the Force that had to do with Tahiri, their unofficial adopted 17-year-old daughter and their youngest son Anakin best friend, something happen that neither she nor Luke could describe. She had contacted Luke immediately to find out he and Mara had felt the same thing. They described it to him but he didn't understand it anymore then they did. They said it was as if the more she drew on the Force the harder it was to sense her. It wasn't like Anakin's death or anything else they had ever felt.
"Borleais Control to Millennium Falcon, come in please."
"This is the Falcon, Control." Han replied simply, he was in no mood for the normal run around.
"General Sinclair sends his greetings and wishes for you and your crew to join him at the site of the incident, Captain Solo. I am uploading the flight plan to your navigational computer now."
He felt more then saw the nod Leia gave him when she received the information.
"Thanks Control, Falcon out." He snapped the comm unit off with more force then needed. Leia didn't say anything; she just reached out and found his hand with hers. "The incident he called it."
Leia didn't say anything she just gripped his hand tighter. She didn't need to say anything; he knew what she was thinking, after thirty years being together they rarely need words anymore.
They could see the devastation long before they got to the Wraith base; hundreds of thousands of square meters of forest and grassland had been consumed in the fire that had finally burned it self-out, a fire that started almost dead center of the Wraith base.
"Maybe they found something or found them." Leia said quietly.
Han didn't trust himself to respond; a week ago, the Borleais Command had spotted the huge forest fire and sent a couple trainees in X-Wings to investigate the fire as a practices exercise. It was not a huge deal to most of the personal since the exact location of Wraith Base was classified and they hadn't known what they knew now.
Han saw a team working on a wreck to the east; he began a circling pattern to look it over. Leia gripped his hard enough to cut off his blood supply but he barely felt it. The wreck looked like a Model 47 freighter, just like the kind that disappeared from the Jedi hanger, the freighter that Tahiri used. Now it was just a burned out hunk of scarp, laying on it top, and in several large pieces.
He came out of the holding pattern and continued South to the Wraith base. He wasn't sure whom he was madder at, the Vong for being too stupid to give up, the damn Jedi for letting her join the Wraiths, Tahiri for agreeing to join them, Face for not protecting her better, or himself for not being here with her. He knew he should followed his first instinct when her heard she had returned from Zonama Sekot, he should locked her in her cabin on the Falcon and thrown away the key; come to think of it that plan would work great for Jaina and Jacen too. After Chewie, after Anakin, after all the trouble he always found himself in since he picked up Luke and Ben on Tatooine; didn't he deserve a few years without worrying about losing another member of his family?
He over flew a wrecked Vong transport but he didn't give it much of a glance, there was nothing there he wanted to see.
"Oh my," 3PO said from his customary seat behind Leia. He could hear Leia catch her breath and he felt his gut tighten. There was nothing left of the Wraith Base, just a couple beams sticking up from the ground and some lumpy piles of melted steel. Every thing else had been either blown away or turned to vapor.
He set the Falcon down next to Mara's ship the Jade Shadow, as he did a hasty shut down he saw Luke, Mara, Artoo and a general walking over to them. He saw that Luke had something in his hands, carrying it as if it was a priceless jewel.
Together, hand in hand, with Goldenrod trailing behind them, they walked down the ramp and over to where his family waited for them. The general stayed a respectable distance away from them, honoring their need for privacy. When Han got close enough he saw what Luke was carrying, Tahiri's light saber.
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The man just knew, deep in his gut, that this was the most important briefing he could or ever have given. It felt like one of those moments that the future hung on, that battles were won or lost, civilization were either built or destroyed. He knew not why he had this gut reaction but he learn to trust it no matter what. He once failed to listen to the small voice that whispered to him in the dead of the night, he fell to this awful station in life, and he would never make the same mistake twice. He had to get it right this time, he had to phrase the briefing in such a way they allowed him to explain himself, and make sure the future titled in the right direction.
"So the Abomination is dead." Nor Hur asked while pacing the command center.
"So the evidence could suggest." He answered carefully.
"Suggest?" Nor Hur said pouncing on the word as the man hoped he would. "Is the abomination dead or not?"
"It has to be dead, Commander Nor Hur," one of the priest said, "the Jedi says it is dead, they are even hold a memorial service for it, our spies in the infidels service say it is dead. Their military and Senate are launching investigations as we speak to avoid taking the blame for this, it must be dead."
"Infidel, did you not just tell us that they believed that someone purposely detonated a weapon to destroy their base?" One of the more intelligent warriors asked.
"Yes, a due to large destruction and background radiation they believe a photon torpedo was detonated on ground level. Due to the high explosive power of these torpedoes, there are safe guards against this happening. The only way such device could have gone off after the X-Wing was destroyed was to manually trigger the explosion."
"And the Slayer did report that the warriors with him made all their crafts unusable." Nor Hur said in a thought full voice, "but they also reported finding a unknown craft North of the base, crashed and destroyed. The Slayer had killed every infidel and all their lifeless creatures at the base before it returned to the base. Who was flying the craft?"
"Unknown, they never found any bodies at the crash site."
"They would have been consumed by the fire it caused or the fire caused by the explosion, just like many of our brave warriors were bodies were consumed."
"True, no Yuuzhan Vong warrior or weapons, save the ship, were located; the fires were very intense and burned for many days before burning its self out."
"And none of the Wraiths had been located at this time or contacted any outside help, correct?"
"Yes, Commander."
"The Abomination's weapon was found was it not? And it was found with the kind of damage that suggested it was destroyed by our weapons?"
"Yes Commander."
"Oh glory to Yum-Yuuzhan, we may report that the Abomination is destroyed." The priest said in a joyful tone.
"The reports could be interpreted in that manner." The man felt an amphistaff wrap around his next and was forced to his feet, the commander stared into his eyes as the air was slowly being cut off. He made no sound, made no move to resist; he just stared back at Nor Hur defiantly.
"What do you know?"
"Nothing my lord, except a gut feeling that she is still among the living."
"A gut feeling we can remove from you Infidel," one of the warriors said but Nor Hur held up his hand to silence the warrior.
"Why do you believe the Abomination is still alive?"
"With her traveled the four oldest and deadliest Wraiths, who have survived worst attacks then the one the Slayer could have used against them. Also our spies said a gift was sent to the Abomination for the anti god and was picked up by the leader, 'Face', who was returning at the same time as the Abomination. We do not know what it was or how it could help her but we must assume nothing. Until we see the lifeless husk we must assume that she still breathes."
Nor Hur released him and he fell to the floor, trying not to make it too noticeable that he was having hard time breathing. Nor Hur paced around the chamber, no one dare to interrupt his thinking. After a long time he turned to the priest and told him to report that, the Abomination was dead.
"However," he said turning back to the man, " if any scent, no matter how faint or how old, is discovered of any surviving members of these Wraith are found you will instruct your lackeys to hunt down this scent."
"Yes my lord." He hoped he did enough; it would be a disaster if they found out she was still alive by her showing up at the wrong time or wrong place. He already fell once from his destiny, and the universe sometimes granted a second chance but never a third.
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"So it has been three weeks now and no sign of any of the Wraiths." Admiral Traest Kre'fey asked to the five officers that were in his spacious office on Denon. In many ways, he enjoyed his position of Supreme Commander of Galactic Alliance Armed Forces. He has implemented some changes in the structure of the military to make sure all branches were able to work together, getting rid of some of the red tape that tied his hands early in the war against the Yuuzhan Vong, and streamline a lot of the fat. The war took care of a lot of that since the useless and incompetent commanders and equipment were usually destroyed quickly. His legacy would be one of strength and security and a truly prepared force to safe guard the GA. They would never face the embarrassment that they had suffered during the war, being caught off guard and ill prepared.
Of course that was the bad side of this job, getting the military to change at all was taking up a large portion of his wake hours. There were still too many commanders who clung to the old thinking, that the system was not has broken as he was claiming. Well a person only had to look at the past 4 years to know that answer. He was quietly rotating any one who was as moss bound as swamp moss out to retirement or garrison duty in the Hutt Space. There were one or two commands out there that he privately referred to as 'sarlacc', bases or ships that he could lose without affecting his overall plans to rid the galaxy of the Yuuzhan Vong.
There were a few Senators he would love to drop in one of those pits, but they were elected and beyond his reach. He knew of a few Senator that were part of the "Vong Free" movement, a group he had secretly set up and was running that were making those offending senators sweat. He hoped that in a year or so the group would be large enough, have enough power so he could launch his all out attack against the Yuuzhan Vong. The ones left in the old Hutt territory was doing 90% of his work for him, their consent raids and attacks were fueling the fire against Cal and the Jedi for going to soft on the Yuuzhan Vong after the war. After he was done with them, he could take the war to Zonama Sekot and then he could retire.
"No sir, if they are still alive they would have contacted someone by now, a member of their family if no one else." One of his aids told him.
"Why would they avoid contact anyways? Our agent said they were looking for Peace Brigade members not anyone from us."
"True," Traest said leading back in his chair, the worst thing about this position was the entire endless meeting with his staff, with the Senate, other commanders, and diplomatic meeting with other military forces out there. He tried to console himself with the thought that this was just another form or warfare, but he had to admit that sometimes he missed the trill of battle.
"At least that little freak is dead, not soon enough for me." A heavy set general said, and then quickly amended that statement, "I mean …"
"Don't worry about me General, what ever that thing was the Tahiri that my brother had loved died a long time ago."
Traest looked over at the window at Jaina Solo, she had been standing there quietly since this briefing had begun. Traest knew that she was still affect by the death of Tahiri and was upset at the reaction of her family and friends were when they found out.
"Colonel Solo, you know if there had been …"
She turned around, he could see that she had been crying but she looked in control and her voice was strong.
"I understand Supreme Commander, believe me if I thought for a second that we could save Tahiri I would never gone along with this. However, even Sekot couldn't undo the damage those damn shapers had did to her. She was beyond anyone's ability to help her. However, we had to do it, if she decided to join the Yuuzhan Vong if my brother vision of her came true, we could lose everything. She was growing unstable everyone could see it. Hell our own man reported how strange she was, how she pulled jokes and … that is not Tahiri we killed." She turned back to the window shaking her head, "we did what we had to do, I don't like it but I accept it. Some day my parents, uncle, and aunt will agree, we did the best thing for her, we released her. In addition, we have been warned that if she should accidentally be exposed to Alpha Red, she could make it possible for humans and near humans to become infected. We did what we had to do."
"Very well," Traest said after a very lengthy pause, "perhaps we should move on then …" Yes, we did the right thing, Jedi or not, she was a Yuuzhan Vong and the war won't be finished until ever last one of them was gone.
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"Is it true? Is the one who was shaped dead?" War master Nas Choka asked Danni, he had asked this question three times so far, as if he was hoping her answer would be different if he asked enough times.
"Yes, it appears that Tahiri was killed during an attack by the rogues." She replied simply.
"How does this affect the great Sekot plans?" Harrar asked quietly from his position next to the War master.
"Sekot is meditating on that question as we speak, when Sekot has an answer Sekot will let us know."
"What answer could there be," Master Shaper Kwaad snorted from her position opposite of Harrar. She was one of the leading voices against Tahiri and using her in any manner other then as a lesson to others at the danger of playing god. Master Shaper Kwaad, in Danni opinion, had a long way to go in learning the lessons of Sekot. She was to wrap up in the old ways. "Sekot has said that only Tahiri could bring the two cultures together in peace. She was supposed to be the 'voice'."
"Tahiri was not to be the 'voice'," Danni corrected, stamping down her annoyances with the shaper, "she was supposed to lead all to Sekot, I am the 'voice'."
"My apologies," the shaper said with a smile that mocked more then invite, "however the question remains, who will lead the non-believers to the glory of Sekot if not the Jedi-who-was-shaped?"
Oh how I wish I could see into your soul Master Kwaad, I am sure I would see an evil as dark as the space around us! If only we still had shamed statues, I am sure I could find someone to help your implants go bad.
It seems that Master Kwaad is not the only one who still wishes for days gone by. An immensely powerful and amused voice said to her.
Sekot I apologies.
No need Danni, while I still am unable to see the cousins of mine as I see all of those from our galaxy, I can still tell when one is not as sincere as one should be. Gratefully her way of thinking is dying out and the new way is getting a strong hold on many of the Yuuzhan Vong. In that way the lost of Tahiri is a terrible blow to us, for she and she alone, seemed to be able to see more then the eyes could see.
There is Jacen Solo.
Yes but like me, he has an incomplete vision. However to complete our goals we may have no choice but ask for his assistance. Many would follow him down the true path and he would be acceptable leader to the new way.
Yes, Sekot I agree; except, are you truly sure Tahiri is gone?
No, I am not, which is puzzling to me. That is why I wish to meditate further before we make any decisions. After all, they will come to us for help and direction. Our way shall lead them here, our peace and security from all the evil that exists out there. We are the Force and therefore the true way.
Of course Sekot, I believe you. With that, she felt Sekot, not go away but return to Sekot's meditation. Danni became aware of the three leaders staring at her, she realized that, once again, her discussion with Sekot was longer then she had thought. Sekot operated on a different time scale then she did, what seem as seconds could turn out to be hours.
"Sekot wish to remind you of what we here and the Ferroans to the north are preparing for. We are all working towards the day that Sekot has seen in Sekot's vision. When all will seek out to embrace what we already have, peace, security, where no one or nothings is without and all is respected and loved. Where evil is not destroyed or fought against but simply dismissed as a part of the universe. While the lost of Tahiri is a blow, it has not destroyed that vision. They will come, on their own and in their own time, we don't force but we accept." She then bowed her head, "Sekot is the true way." The Yuuzhan Vong repeated her words and walked out the simple dwelling. Danni went to her sleeping quarters to meditate on her own; Sekot was the true way, the only way and she waited anxiously for all to finally see it for them selves.