Skywalker05, you deserve all the credit for keeping this story going!
-Sci-Fi Nerd
Chapter 5- Schism
Thass sat, calm and collected, immersed in an invisible tidal pool of the Force. He could touch the great flow of life energy at will now, and begin to use its power; he had begun to experiment with reaching out to probe others, to gain knowledge and insight.
There was much anger on his world, though. All of those Yuuzhan Vong not under Yuuzhan's wing were filled with rage and the furious lust for battle that had consumed his people. Even the Sky Bridge no longer became a symbol of peace and hope once the sun had waltzed down the horizon. Instead, it transformed into physical evidence of the gods, evidence that would encourage the mindless warriors to continue parading their bloody sacrifices and obeisance before their altars.
He felt the powerful swell in the Force moments before Yuuzhan strode deftly into the small, underground chamber which served as a sort of place of meditation for the small, select group of Force-users Yuuzhan was developing. Whenever he experienced the world consciousness like this, in both physical and Force-derived majesty, he truly felt insignificant.
"Yuuzhan," he murmured respectfully, bowing his head slightly. His brow furrowed as he fought past Yuuzhan's immense presence to catch a fleeting glimpse of his mental state. "What is wrong?"
A deep sort of resigned sadness entered Yuuzhan's eyes. "They have begun to fight among themselves as well," he whispered softly, and Thass knew exactly what he was talking about. "They argue over who should have the glory of standing beside the Vua'sa as the leader of the Yuuzhan Vong."
Thass bowed his head in grief. "Already they succumb to pride and power lust when they have just shaped what was to be a leader for them," he said sorrowfully.
Yuuzhan nodded. "I have a suspicion that if it is not decided soon, the Vua'sa will either side with one of them and kill the others, or simply kill them all. The creature has no compassion, no reverence for life."
Thass looked up at his mentor. "What are we to do about this latest development?" he asked.
"A course of action is beginning to reveal itself to me," Yuuzhan said quietly, "but I dare not act upon it unless there is no other option."
"Then what other options have we?" Thass asked slowly.
"There is another danger," Yuuzhan evaded the question. "I have detected the arrival of many new ships of machine users; too many for the Yuuzhan Vong to deal with even with the aid of their new Warmaster. Even now the swelled fleet prepares its assault."
Thass clenched his teeth. "It cannot be hopeless," he said. "Surely we cannot allow the Yuuzhan Vong to be pushed to extinction."
Yuuzhan shook his head, weariness evident in the droop of his eyes, the cast of his curled shoulders, and the heaviness of the sigh which he now exhaled. "It seems that I am being forced, against all my better judgment, to fight alongside my errant offspring," he said. "Regardless of what the Yuuzhan Vong can wreak, a plague of these unflinching mechanical horrors would unbalance the Force far more."
"Fight, Yuuzhan?" Thass asked, horrified. "But we have no weapons with which to join the battle. We have no planetary defenses."
A dry, mirthless chuckle slipped from Yuuzhan's lips. "Ah, you forget, Thass of Domain Yenek, who instructed the shapers how to build weapons and ships and defenses in the first place. I possess far greater resources than the warriors guess, even more than you yourself suspect." His eyes turned grim and faraway. "Even now, plasma launchers and dovin basal shields are being grown in secret chambers. My personal gift to the war effort will be both defenses for this planet, and a corps of my personal warriors: you and your fellow students."
"Warriors?" Thass was shocked. "But Yuuzhan, we do not fight. We have no knowledge of battle and killing."
"I am afraid," Yuuzhan told him, "that you will be forced to learn both very quickly."
High in the Citadel, Yo'gand sat with the chief intendants and Supreme Commanders of the war fleet to discuss the recent arrival of enemy ships detected by a rogue coralskipper patrol ranging out past the seventh planet. The Vua'sa bulked ominously at the end of the long, yorik coral conference table, red eyes turned in all directions to observe the gathered leaders. Many of the intendants in particular seemed wary of the Warmaster, but Yo'gand smirked at their twitches; he had an accord with the Vua'sa, and when it came time for a side to be taken, the Warmaster would stand squarely with him.
The latest reports of enemy positions appeared in blazing, sketchy relief, formulated by humming blaze bugs that moved swiftly into a massive clump to represent the now-massive enemy group of starships that arrowed slowly but inexorably towards Yuuzhan'tar.
Even Yo'gand could tell that there would be no victory for their current forces against such an immense invasion force. The tallies listed by the incoming villip transmissions indicated that more than four hundred heavy warships were present in the main body of the fleet. The Yuuzhan Vong's forces numbered less than a third of that number in their entirety.
"There is no hope," one of the intendants muttered darkly, staring at the images. "We cannot possibly defeat an armada of that magnitude, nor even attempt to buy time for a shameful evacuation of personnel."
"The odds are low," the Vua'sa rumbled from the other end of the table, "however, if we were to secure approximately two hundred more warships, we would be able to repel an offensive."
"Two hundred?" the most bold of Yo'gand's opponents, a violent and short-tempered warrior named Steng, scoffed. "And how exactly do you propose that we come up with such reinforcements. Uh, Potent One," he added hastily as the Vua'sa's eyes flashed with deadly fury.
Yo'gand entered the fray, taking a stance he knew would be popular with the more pious of the warriors and intendants, and one that might possibly influence any shapers who might hear this briefing to work more diligently. "The gods have not abandoned us, Steng," he said smoothly. "They have set before us a challenge only worthy of the glorious Yuuzhan Vong, and a challenge that we must accept!"
"Yun-Yammka is daring, Yo'gand," Steng spat back, "but even Yun-Harla could not suddenly reveal vessels for us to destroy the enemy with."
"Pray to the gods, Steng," Yo'gand returned sharply, "and even you, faithless though you are, might find reward and fulfillment." The other warrior shot to his feet, anger flaring in his face, but whatever outburst or challenge he was going to make was interrupted by a drone from the sealing membrane that closed the chamber off from the rest of the citadel.
"Come!" the growl of the Vua'sa resonated through the room, and obediently, the living seal retracted into the coral walls with a sucking noise. Through the gap stepped a group of warriors, but a group of warriors unlike any that Yo'gand had seen.
Their leader was a relatively tall Yuuzhan Vong, clad in a set of green vonduun crab armor, and boasting some variant species of amphistaff wound around his waist. The shining helmets of the small group were decorated in a manner unlike that of most warriors, styled with no ferocious symbols or significant tattoos, and cut quite simply, without scarring or lineage marks.
The entire assembly rose to their feet as the strange warriors entered and stood in loose formation before the Vua'sa. Yo'gand looked closer, and thought he saw something familiar about the lead warrior through the eyeholes of his mask, but could not quite discern his identity.
Steng spoke up first. "Who in the god's name are you, and why have you disturbed our council?" Scorn filled his voice with enough bite that Yo'gand would have leapt at him with coufee extended had the words been directed at him, but the leader did not even blink at the insult.
He reached up languidly and removed the helmet, shaking back a full mane of black hair and staring confidently back at the scarred and tattooed Steng.
"I am Thass Domain Yenek," he pronounced in a rolling confident tone that almost seemed to echo through the small chamber. "I come on behalf of Yuuzhan, bearing warriors and vessels to join the fight against the infidel machine users."
With a start, Yo'gand finally placed the leader of the warriors. Thass! Thass, an actual warrior! When the man had disappeared shortly after the commencement of the war against the machine users, Yo'gand had assumed that he was simply a coward. Now they discovered that he was somehow connected to Yun-Yuuzhan...?
No. Yo'gand smiled. Yuuzhan, not Yun-Yuuzhan. It was a difference that he saw the others were bypassing completely, shock evident on their features. Now why would that tired old relic never fail to try and interfere in the rightful path of the Yuuzhan Vong? The gods had decreed that they would be conquerors, and they would make it so.
Not everyone missed the tiny misconception that came with Thass' statement. Steng slowly grew ever grimmer in attitude, a wrathful darkness descending on his features like a slowly approaching thunderstorm. His hand grasped for an amphistaff not at his waist, for they had all left their weapons outside the membrane for safekeeping, and for safety from each other.
"Yuuzhan," he sneered. "Why does he think to meddle with the true cause of the Yuuzhan Vong again? His time is past- the new order is at hand!"
Again, Thass did not flinch from the vicious words, remaining calm and placid. Yo'gand did not see how that made him a better warrior, but it was clear that it was making him a voice that was easier to listen to.
"We have brought many ships, with the promise of more to come," he said quietly, and with a strange sort of tone to his voice. Yo'gand focused more, and finally identified the wayward component from the set of Thass' features.
He was depressed, Yo'gand realized suddenly. Thass did not want to fight in a war! His opinion of the other Yuuzhan Vong shifted again, from surprising warrior to inappropriate conundrum. It was clear that he was offering to fight under orders from Yuuzhan, yet he, in his heart, did not want to. A very curious business.
However, more warriors were not to be refused.
"Steng!" Yo'gand's voice rang out sharply, and the other whipped his head around to glare at Yo'gand. "I say we welcome more fighters and ships! Were we not just discussing that very deficiency?"
A hiss like a volcano escaped Steng. "Coward!" he declared. "You doubt the courage of the Yuuzhan Vong!"
"He is correct," the Vua'sa asserted in its massive bass tone. "More ships are needed."
"Our own warmaster!" Steng shouted, playing to his audience, which Yo'gand now noticed, with some dismay, included a majority of the intendants and a good portion of the Supreme Commanders. "This beast that we have exalted is nothing more than a coward who doubts that the Yuuzhan Vong have the favor of the gods!"
A rumbling mutter rang through the chamber, and as the Vua'sa's eyes roved, Yo'gand knew it had realized the situation as well.
Steng was speaking again. "I say that the Yuuzhan Vong have no need of such cowards! The Yuuzhan Vong have no need of help from a planet tainted by cowards! The Yuuzhan Vong should have cast this place off long ago! I say we leave now, to build a pure home, a pure race of Yuuzhan Vong, where these cowards are not needed!"
When his roar was answered by a shout of assent from most of the room, Yo'gand felt, for the first time in many klekkets, fear.
Thass watched with a heavy heart as the first of the giant mataloks lifted from the many landing fields strewn over the equator of Yuuzhan'tar, carrying their burden of Yuuzhan Vong towards the black heavens above. His sadness was only deepened by the realization that it was their involvement that had brought about this catastrophe.
"Steng is a fool," a voice said from behind him, and Thass turned to see Yo'gand striding purposefully towards him. "Were it not for the fact that he has some talent at inciting a crowd, the Vua'sa would have killed him where he stood. Should have, in my opinion." The warrior stopped beside Thass, looking up into the sky, glancing at the majesty of the Sky Bridge.
"Death is not the answer," Thass answered without thinking, and immediately cursed himself roughly. Missteps were not to be lightly made at this point in time. Yuuzhan had already made it clear that for the warriors to learn anything of the Force and its ways would be a disaster, and Thass wanted no part in such an error.
Yo'gand shot him a curious look. Surprisingly, he did not seem to wish to pursue that matter, but instead asked, "Why is it that you came to enlist? You are not a true warrior."
Realizing he was skating perilously close to the edge, Thass took his time in answering. "I obey when I am commanded." He thought for a second. "The Yuuzhan Vong cannot be allowed to die." There, that sounded proper.
Yo'gand- why oh why had the man changed so?- seemed unconvinced. "Is that it?" he inquired softly. "Yuuzhan has not involved himself in the war at any point. Why then would he start now?"
"Who are you to question a being of his knowledge and power?" Thass flared, and instantly realized it was a mistake.
Yo'gand's backhanded slap knocked Thass to the stones, and he tasted blood in his cheek. He felt gingerly at the offending area, and his fingers came away wet.
Yo'gand's shadow fell across him. "Do not presume to address me as though we were still friends, Thass of Domain Yenek," he said quietly, deadly in his whisper. "I will rule the Yuuzhan Vong one day, warrior," he spat mockingly. "Pray that you are not such a conundrum to me then as you are now."
Footsteps signaled his departure, and Thass winced as he got up. A storm was brewing, and he did not think it would be pleasant riding through.
-Sci-Fi Nerd
Chapter 5- Schism
Thass sat, calm and collected, immersed in an invisible tidal pool of the Force. He could touch the great flow of life energy at will now, and begin to use its power; he had begun to experiment with reaching out to probe others, to gain knowledge and insight.
There was much anger on his world, though. All of those Yuuzhan Vong not under Yuuzhan's wing were filled with rage and the furious lust for battle that had consumed his people. Even the Sky Bridge no longer became a symbol of peace and hope once the sun had waltzed down the horizon. Instead, it transformed into physical evidence of the gods, evidence that would encourage the mindless warriors to continue parading their bloody sacrifices and obeisance before their altars.
He felt the powerful swell in the Force moments before Yuuzhan strode deftly into the small, underground chamber which served as a sort of place of meditation for the small, select group of Force-users Yuuzhan was developing. Whenever he experienced the world consciousness like this, in both physical and Force-derived majesty, he truly felt insignificant.
"Yuuzhan," he murmured respectfully, bowing his head slightly. His brow furrowed as he fought past Yuuzhan's immense presence to catch a fleeting glimpse of his mental state. "What is wrong?"
A deep sort of resigned sadness entered Yuuzhan's eyes. "They have begun to fight among themselves as well," he whispered softly, and Thass knew exactly what he was talking about. "They argue over who should have the glory of standing beside the Vua'sa as the leader of the Yuuzhan Vong."
Thass bowed his head in grief. "Already they succumb to pride and power lust when they have just shaped what was to be a leader for them," he said sorrowfully.
Yuuzhan nodded. "I have a suspicion that if it is not decided soon, the Vua'sa will either side with one of them and kill the others, or simply kill them all. The creature has no compassion, no reverence for life."
Thass looked up at his mentor. "What are we to do about this latest development?" he asked.
"A course of action is beginning to reveal itself to me," Yuuzhan said quietly, "but I dare not act upon it unless there is no other option."
"Then what other options have we?" Thass asked slowly.
"There is another danger," Yuuzhan evaded the question. "I have detected the arrival of many new ships of machine users; too many for the Yuuzhan Vong to deal with even with the aid of their new Warmaster. Even now the swelled fleet prepares its assault."
Thass clenched his teeth. "It cannot be hopeless," he said. "Surely we cannot allow the Yuuzhan Vong to be pushed to extinction."
Yuuzhan shook his head, weariness evident in the droop of his eyes, the cast of his curled shoulders, and the heaviness of the sigh which he now exhaled. "It seems that I am being forced, against all my better judgment, to fight alongside my errant offspring," he said. "Regardless of what the Yuuzhan Vong can wreak, a plague of these unflinching mechanical horrors would unbalance the Force far more."
"Fight, Yuuzhan?" Thass asked, horrified. "But we have no weapons with which to join the battle. We have no planetary defenses."
A dry, mirthless chuckle slipped from Yuuzhan's lips. "Ah, you forget, Thass of Domain Yenek, who instructed the shapers how to build weapons and ships and defenses in the first place. I possess far greater resources than the warriors guess, even more than you yourself suspect." His eyes turned grim and faraway. "Even now, plasma launchers and dovin basal shields are being grown in secret chambers. My personal gift to the war effort will be both defenses for this planet, and a corps of my personal warriors: you and your fellow students."
"Warriors?" Thass was shocked. "But Yuuzhan, we do not fight. We have no knowledge of battle and killing."
"I am afraid," Yuuzhan told him, "that you will be forced to learn both very quickly."
High in the Citadel, Yo'gand sat with the chief intendants and Supreme Commanders of the war fleet to discuss the recent arrival of enemy ships detected by a rogue coralskipper patrol ranging out past the seventh planet. The Vua'sa bulked ominously at the end of the long, yorik coral conference table, red eyes turned in all directions to observe the gathered leaders. Many of the intendants in particular seemed wary of the Warmaster, but Yo'gand smirked at their twitches; he had an accord with the Vua'sa, and when it came time for a side to be taken, the Warmaster would stand squarely with him.
The latest reports of enemy positions appeared in blazing, sketchy relief, formulated by humming blaze bugs that moved swiftly into a massive clump to represent the now-massive enemy group of starships that arrowed slowly but inexorably towards Yuuzhan'tar.
Even Yo'gand could tell that there would be no victory for their current forces against such an immense invasion force. The tallies listed by the incoming villip transmissions indicated that more than four hundred heavy warships were present in the main body of the fleet. The Yuuzhan Vong's forces numbered less than a third of that number in their entirety.
"There is no hope," one of the intendants muttered darkly, staring at the images. "We cannot possibly defeat an armada of that magnitude, nor even attempt to buy time for a shameful evacuation of personnel."
"The odds are low," the Vua'sa rumbled from the other end of the table, "however, if we were to secure approximately two hundred more warships, we would be able to repel an offensive."
"Two hundred?" the most bold of Yo'gand's opponents, a violent and short-tempered warrior named Steng, scoffed. "And how exactly do you propose that we come up with such reinforcements. Uh, Potent One," he added hastily as the Vua'sa's eyes flashed with deadly fury.
Yo'gand entered the fray, taking a stance he knew would be popular with the more pious of the warriors and intendants, and one that might possibly influence any shapers who might hear this briefing to work more diligently. "The gods have not abandoned us, Steng," he said smoothly. "They have set before us a challenge only worthy of the glorious Yuuzhan Vong, and a challenge that we must accept!"
"Yun-Yammka is daring, Yo'gand," Steng spat back, "but even Yun-Harla could not suddenly reveal vessels for us to destroy the enemy with."
"Pray to the gods, Steng," Yo'gand returned sharply, "and even you, faithless though you are, might find reward and fulfillment." The other warrior shot to his feet, anger flaring in his face, but whatever outburst or challenge he was going to make was interrupted by a drone from the sealing membrane that closed the chamber off from the rest of the citadel.
"Come!" the growl of the Vua'sa resonated through the room, and obediently, the living seal retracted into the coral walls with a sucking noise. Through the gap stepped a group of warriors, but a group of warriors unlike any that Yo'gand had seen.
Their leader was a relatively tall Yuuzhan Vong, clad in a set of green vonduun crab armor, and boasting some variant species of amphistaff wound around his waist. The shining helmets of the small group were decorated in a manner unlike that of most warriors, styled with no ferocious symbols or significant tattoos, and cut quite simply, without scarring or lineage marks.
The entire assembly rose to their feet as the strange warriors entered and stood in loose formation before the Vua'sa. Yo'gand looked closer, and thought he saw something familiar about the lead warrior through the eyeholes of his mask, but could not quite discern his identity.
Steng spoke up first. "Who in the god's name are you, and why have you disturbed our council?" Scorn filled his voice with enough bite that Yo'gand would have leapt at him with coufee extended had the words been directed at him, but the leader did not even blink at the insult.
He reached up languidly and removed the helmet, shaking back a full mane of black hair and staring confidently back at the scarred and tattooed Steng.
"I am Thass Domain Yenek," he pronounced in a rolling confident tone that almost seemed to echo through the small chamber. "I come on behalf of Yuuzhan, bearing warriors and vessels to join the fight against the infidel machine users."
With a start, Yo'gand finally placed the leader of the warriors. Thass! Thass, an actual warrior! When the man had disappeared shortly after the commencement of the war against the machine users, Yo'gand had assumed that he was simply a coward. Now they discovered that he was somehow connected to Yun-Yuuzhan...?
No. Yo'gand smiled. Yuuzhan, not Yun-Yuuzhan. It was a difference that he saw the others were bypassing completely, shock evident on their features. Now why would that tired old relic never fail to try and interfere in the rightful path of the Yuuzhan Vong? The gods had decreed that they would be conquerors, and they would make it so.
Not everyone missed the tiny misconception that came with Thass' statement. Steng slowly grew ever grimmer in attitude, a wrathful darkness descending on his features like a slowly approaching thunderstorm. His hand grasped for an amphistaff not at his waist, for they had all left their weapons outside the membrane for safekeeping, and for safety from each other.
"Yuuzhan," he sneered. "Why does he think to meddle with the true cause of the Yuuzhan Vong again? His time is past- the new order is at hand!"
Again, Thass did not flinch from the vicious words, remaining calm and placid. Yo'gand did not see how that made him a better warrior, but it was clear that it was making him a voice that was easier to listen to.
"We have brought many ships, with the promise of more to come," he said quietly, and with a strange sort of tone to his voice. Yo'gand focused more, and finally identified the wayward component from the set of Thass' features.
He was depressed, Yo'gand realized suddenly. Thass did not want to fight in a war! His opinion of the other Yuuzhan Vong shifted again, from surprising warrior to inappropriate conundrum. It was clear that he was offering to fight under orders from Yuuzhan, yet he, in his heart, did not want to. A very curious business.
However, more warriors were not to be refused.
"Steng!" Yo'gand's voice rang out sharply, and the other whipped his head around to glare at Yo'gand. "I say we welcome more fighters and ships! Were we not just discussing that very deficiency?"
A hiss like a volcano escaped Steng. "Coward!" he declared. "You doubt the courage of the Yuuzhan Vong!"
"He is correct," the Vua'sa asserted in its massive bass tone. "More ships are needed."
"Our own warmaster!" Steng shouted, playing to his audience, which Yo'gand now noticed, with some dismay, included a majority of the intendants and a good portion of the Supreme Commanders. "This beast that we have exalted is nothing more than a coward who doubts that the Yuuzhan Vong have the favor of the gods!"
A rumbling mutter rang through the chamber, and as the Vua'sa's eyes roved, Yo'gand knew it had realized the situation as well.
Steng was speaking again. "I say that the Yuuzhan Vong have no need of such cowards! The Yuuzhan Vong have no need of help from a planet tainted by cowards! The Yuuzhan Vong should have cast this place off long ago! I say we leave now, to build a pure home, a pure race of Yuuzhan Vong, where these cowards are not needed!"
When his roar was answered by a shout of assent from most of the room, Yo'gand felt, for the first time in many klekkets, fear.
Thass watched with a heavy heart as the first of the giant mataloks lifted from the many landing fields strewn over the equator of Yuuzhan'tar, carrying their burden of Yuuzhan Vong towards the black heavens above. His sadness was only deepened by the realization that it was their involvement that had brought about this catastrophe.
"Steng is a fool," a voice said from behind him, and Thass turned to see Yo'gand striding purposefully towards him. "Were it not for the fact that he has some talent at inciting a crowd, the Vua'sa would have killed him where he stood. Should have, in my opinion." The warrior stopped beside Thass, looking up into the sky, glancing at the majesty of the Sky Bridge.
"Death is not the answer," Thass answered without thinking, and immediately cursed himself roughly. Missteps were not to be lightly made at this point in time. Yuuzhan had already made it clear that for the warriors to learn anything of the Force and its ways would be a disaster, and Thass wanted no part in such an error.
Yo'gand shot him a curious look. Surprisingly, he did not seem to wish to pursue that matter, but instead asked, "Why is it that you came to enlist? You are not a true warrior."
Realizing he was skating perilously close to the edge, Thass took his time in answering. "I obey when I am commanded." He thought for a second. "The Yuuzhan Vong cannot be allowed to die." There, that sounded proper.
Yo'gand- why oh why had the man changed so?- seemed unconvinced. "Is that it?" he inquired softly. "Yuuzhan has not involved himself in the war at any point. Why then would he start now?"
"Who are you to question a being of his knowledge and power?" Thass flared, and instantly realized it was a mistake.
Yo'gand's backhanded slap knocked Thass to the stones, and he tasted blood in his cheek. He felt gingerly at the offending area, and his fingers came away wet.
Yo'gand's shadow fell across him. "Do not presume to address me as though we were still friends, Thass of Domain Yenek," he said quietly, deadly in his whisper. "I will rule the Yuuzhan Vong one day, warrior," he spat mockingly. "Pray that you are not such a conundrum to me then as you are now."
Footsteps signaled his departure, and Thass winced as he got up. A storm was brewing, and he did not think it would be pleasant riding through.