I want to thank everyone who has given me such wonderful reviews, especially psquare. To you I want to answer that yes, Tenel Ka is alive, but as the Queen Mother of Hapes cannot join the Jedi for most of their meetings, and remember that her ascension to queen was not under happy circumstances. As usual, I want to apologize for the length of time to get this chapter up, since I only get 20 minutes per day or so to write. Please stay with me, and I hope you continue to review. Thank you and enjoy.
Two weeks later
The Trickster came out of darkspace just outside what Alliance intelligence patrols had determined was the outer edge of the Vong's defensive ring around Coruscant.
Jaina sat under the cognition hood, mentally cursing politics yet again. Uncle Luke had wanted to do everything by the book, so the morning that the Jedi were going to leave, he and Kenth briefed the rest of Cal Omas' Advisory Council on the Jedi mission to find this Force-wielder.
Unfortunately, Councilor Pwoe must have had a plan waiting in the wings, because the squid-head made sure that the Jedi were not given authorization to leave. Thus began nearly a week of heavy negotiating and backroom politics by Luke and the Jedi's allies on the rest of the council, until Pwoe was finally forced to concede, but he was still able to put most of a stranglehold on Alliance military backup for the mission. Thus, the Jedi were once again on their own.
Jaina looked around the cockpit. Zekk, Jag, Tahiri, and Kyp were there with her, all wearing lightly armored combat jumpsuits. They were staring at the blue-green world ahead of them with a sense of dread.
She had been one of the few Jedi to really call Coruscant home. Most of the others had lived the majority of their lives on Yavin IV, so while the Vong's reshaping of Coruscant had hurt them as it had the rest of the galaxy, for Jaina it had special meaning. Her home was gone. Her parent's apartment was gone. She would never again walk past an entrance to the downlevels and joke about this time or the other that she and Jacen had gotten lost with Zekk just to torment poor Threepio or Chewie.
She wished she could just see the home she'd shared with Jacen and Anakin. In a distant part of her brain, Jaina wondered what had become of Jacen's collection, but that thought was quickly erased as her mind conjured a series of curses at the Vong.
"Tahiri, how are the systems holding up?" she asked seriously. The last major fight that the Trickster had been in had done the ship some serious harm, and Jaina wasn't sure if it had healed yet.
"The ship itself seems okay," replied the blond girl, "but I am worried about the villip choir. They haven't been looking healthy for a long time. I'm not sure if we'll get communications."
"That's okay," said Jaina, and her voice turned sharp, "We don't want them to see us, yet that it. Just see if you can get an audio transmission. Hopefully we can fool them long enough to get this crate on the ground."
Jag turned slightly and looked over his shoulder at his lovely wife. She was risking a lot by coming down this way. Personally, he would have preferred a stealthier approach, but Jaina's tendency to throw caution to the wind and take her chances was one of the things that he loved about her.
One of the villips tried to open itself, but failed to do so. A gargled sound came out of it, but everyone could tell that the transmission was failing. They all swallowed nervously, wondering if this plan even had a chance.
Warmaster Nas Choka entered the communications room at the behest of the subaltern in command. His command cloak trailed behind him and he shifted uncomfortably. The warmaster vonduun armor that the shapers were growing into his skin was still painful and uncomfortable, and for some reason itched terribly in the lower back. He briefly wondered if Tsavong Lah had felt this way.
He returned to his senses and looked at the subaltern. The young officer must to have had a hell of a time getting Nas Choka's attention, going through his lieutenant, then the commander, then a supreme commander, before word finally reached him as warmaster.
"Tell me why you have brought me here," he ordered simply.
"Warmaster, a coralcraft came out of darkspace far from our standard entry points. The yammosk installed on Yammka's Mount is unable to contact the pilot and all communications are useless. We believe the villips are alive on the ship, but they may have been damaged. We feared it might be infiltrators, but both we and the yammosk are unprepared to fire upon one of our own without good cause," explained the officer.
Nas Choka considered it for a moment. If it was an infiltration ship and he let it past his defenses, then he would never be able to live down the shame. But neither would he live with the shame upon firing his own ship without just cause.
"Send coralskippers out to…" he began, but a powerful hand fell on his shoulder. As he turned, he saw that it was the Lord Slayer.
"My lord, you honor me," he said quickly, saluting and giving his god a deep bow."
"Warmaster, might I be able to speak to you in private for a moment?"
Nas Choka led his lord to a corner of the communications room, far from any of the other warriors or intendants that manned this post. His lord's deep brown eyes were like lambent crystals, they seemed to have a light of their own. Nas Choka could see that they were hard and merciless, but something behind that bespoke of… anticipation.
"Warmaster, that ship does indeed carry infiltrators," said the Lord Slayer, "Jedi infiltrators."
Nas Choka cursed under his breath, but the God-Before-Him continued. "You must allow that ship to land on Yuuzhan'tar."
"I hear and obey, my Lord Slayer," he answered, "but… why?"
Jacen smiled. There weren't many among the Yuuzhan Vong who would have dared to ask for an explanation, but he had worked hard to develop a level of friendly camaraderie with Nas Choka, and with that question, Jacen knew that the warmaster considered their bond very highly. Highly enough to risk a question of such magnitude.
"I have been planning for their arrival for a long time," he explained, "they have come because they have learned of the God-I-Am. They fear my power as the Lord Slayer, and as one of their former comrades. They seek to slay me. This I will not allow, but instead will sow confusion and discord by turning some or even all of them to the True Way. They will acknowledge me as the God-I-Am and proclaim the Truth."
Nas Choka looked at the Lord Slayer in awe. He had known of his lord's power and wisdom, but had rarely witnessed it first-hand. He nodded slightly.
"My Lord Slayer, your wisdom is boundless, you truly are a god among the True Gods. I will honor and worship you until my final breath."
Jacen clapped him on the shoulder and smiled. "I appreciate that, my friend. Now, I have a few other things that I require of you."
Jaina just finished putting the Trickster down in a clearing of this expansive jungle. She and the others in the cockpit joined the other Jedi.
Everyone was double-checking their weapons and supplies. Five days of nutrient supplements and hunger suppressors. Lightsabers, blaster pistols and rifles, two thermal detonators and four concussion grenades each. Tekli had spread the contents of a fully-stocked medpack between herself, Alema, and Lowie. The latter and Jag each carried a light repeating blaster to be the heavy weapons for the team. Jag had made a joke earlier that he was a pilot, what the heck was he doing as a commando?
Unlike the mission to Myrkr, there would be no meld among the young Jedi. Since then they had only managed to create melds between three or at most four Jedi at a time. Only Jacen had been able to coordinate so many minds at once. No, this time, they'd go without the meld, but would join in a series of smaller melds when they had to fight.
"Are we all good to go?" asked Jaina, looking each member of the team in the eye.
Nods and deep breaths signaled to her that the others were as ready as they would be. Taking a deep breath of her own, Jaina nodded to Tahiri, who then lowered the docking ramp.
The alien jungle was the first thing that greeted the Jedi, a riot of colors and odors completely unfamiliar to any of them. The second thing they noticed was the duracrete under their steps, and that it was the ruins of the kilometer-high towers that formed the topography of this planet.
They walked as a well-formed diamond. Zekk and Lowie were in the lead, with Kyp and Tekli on the right, Alema and Tahiri to the left, with Ganner walking slack. Jag and Jaina stayed next to each other in the center of the diamond.
In spite of their mission, the Jedi couldn't help but stare at their surroundings in awe. If they were to admit it, some of it could be called beautiful, almost inspirational. But then they would quickly remind themselves that this was the work of the Yuuzhan Vong, having annihilated a planet of one trillion inhabitants. Then their eyes would see only death in this jungle.
Tahiri kept her ears open for anything that might be said in the Yuuzhan Vong language, but there was nothing except for the sounds of the animals. Every once in a while she and Alema could see the shadowy form of what could only be a refugee, but no Yuuzhan Vong warriors, which made her slightly nervous. She sent a whisper in the Force to Jaina that they should interrogate a refugee as soon as possible.
Jacen couldn't see Garagh as the latter had only a shoulder-mounted villip, but the warrior's voice came through loud and clear.
"The Jeedai have landed and are making their way southwest," he reported, "at this rate, they would reach the Sacred Precinct in three days."
"Do you have any indication that they have detected our scouts?" asked Jacen, "I should be most annoyed to have my plans fall apart."
Unseen by his lord, Garagh still snapped his fists to opposite shoulders. "They have not seemed to notice the scouts, my lord. They seem intent on making it to the Sacred Precinct without delay. Most likely in the hopes of finding you, my Lord Slayer."
"That is good," said Jacen with a smile, to the confusion of Nas Choka standing next to him, "allow them to continue on their way. Ensure that no warriors or others of our people interfere with their progress. I will join you shortly."
Jacen ended the communication and turned to the warmaster, who stood at attention. He gave a lopsided Solo grin and sent a wave of easiness to his comrade.
"Warmaster? Have you assembled what I require?"
"I have, my lord. I have gathered three squads of warriors under a brenzlit of a sublieutenant. They are at your command."
"Do they understand the sacrifice they will be expected to make?" Jacen wanted to know.
Nas Choka seemed to stand a little bit taller. "My Lord Slayer, they will die a thousand deaths for the God-You-Are."
It hadn't taken long to capture one of the refugees that was hanging around. While they had been distracted by Lowie, Tahiri and Kyp had snuck around behind him and brought the struggling man to the others.
"No please! I beg of you, don't sacrifice me!" wailed the man.
"Shut up!" hissed Jaina, "We're Jedi Knights, we're not going to kill you. We need your help."
"J-Jedi? Praise the light, you've come to rescue us from the Slayer?"
Jaina looked back and forth between Jag and Kyp, both of whom shrugged. She leaned in closer to the man.
"Who is this Slayer?"
The man looked bewildered for a moment, as though he couldn't understand how anyone didn't know about the single most dangerous individual on the planet. "The Slayer is the man who serves the Yuuzhan Vong. They say he is one of their gods, with the powers of the gods at his fingertips."
"Is he… human?" she asked with a pause.
"Yes, but unlike any man I've ever seen. He is a giant, slightly taller than him," whimpered the refugee, pointing at Ganner, "and has a terrifying aura. You want to trust him, to believe all that he says, but he is always ready to sacrifice you. One time, members of the underground resistance mounted an attack against him, but his demonic powers saved him. Blaster bolts merely hit his hands, some were even reflected back at the resistance. Then the Slayer lifted rocks and debris and spun them in a deadly circle around the attackers so that they couldn't escape. When enough Vong warriors arrived they took the resistance fighters and sacrificed them in a grand ceremony."
Jag's stomach was in his throat, and it was becoming tough for him to breathe. It was clear from Jaina's flushed face and deeper breathing that she was quickly becoming enraged with this Slayer. He reached over and gently squeezed her arm in affection. Jaina recognized the gesture and began to calm herself down. An angry leader made mistakes, something that their team could not afford.
At that moment, Zekk came up to the refugee. "Do you know anything about a man named Jacen Solo?"
"The hero of the seedship?" asked the man. The others suddenly gathered closer. "I don't know about his exploits there, I was never on the seedship, but I had heard stories. But the stories all agree that he is now dead."
Jaina choked back a sob and Zekk's dark eyes suddenly burned with fury.
"How did he die?" asked Ganner.
"There are many who say that he killed by the Slayer himself," explained the refugee, "but the story conflicts whether it was in combat, or if Jacen Solo was sacrificed to the Vong's gods. There are rumors that Jacen Solo was once seen on the planet's surface, but those of us who think clearly know it's a lie. He either died on the seedship that brought the World Brain to the surface or immediately after."
No one needed to ask what the World Brain was, the creature that controlled everything about this planet had been in many of their intelligence briefings that Iella had provided them. But even if they had needed to ask, none of them could. Jacen was dead.
As they were lost in their own thoughts, the refugee suddenly scurried away. No one bothered to go after him.
The jungle did a good job of hiding the Jedi team from most observers, but most of them did not have the power of the Force.
Standing from over a kilometer away, Jacen watched as the team continued their trek through the planet's jungles. With help from the Force, Jacen had sharpened his vision enough to follow their movements for the past ten minutes and guess at their speed and direction.
He suddenly felt Garagh come up next to him, but Jacen did not acknowledge him for several moments.
"Are the warriors of the God-I-Am in position, Fearsome One?" he asked.
Garagh saluted. "They are, my Lord Slayer. Six of them now surround the group. With but an order they can attack and slay…"
"Stop there before you suffer punishment," snapped Jacen, "I have already explained to you that death is inconsequential. I need them alive."
Chastised, Garagh lowered his head in shame. He knew that he should have kept his mouth shut, but all his instincts begged for him to order an attack. But Garagh knew the consequences for disobeying his lord so directly would be… severe.
Jacen let the leader of the Slayers stew for a few moments. Garagh was a loyal soldier and his sense of failing to obey his commander would be enough punishment. Jacen beckoned to the sublieutenant of the warriors, a young male who had been stupid on the battlefield but not cowardly enough to be condemned as a Shamed One.
"Lead your squads towards the Jedi infiltrators," ordered Jacen, "Through my powers as the God-I-Am I shall direct you. You must not allow the Jedi to have a hint of this deception. You and your warriors must act completely surprised by the encounter. You must not fail me."
The young warrior saluted crisply. "We shall honor your orders, Lord Slayer."
Jacen nodded and dismissed him, then watched as the warriors walked into the jungles, towards the Jedi team. He turned to Garagh.
"Come with me, my friend. I wish to be there when we take the Jedi infidels."
Zekk and Lowie were once again in the lead. It was hard for them to believe that of all their little group of adventurers from when they were younger, they were the only two left. Sure, Jaina was with them, but she was about as distant as if she was in another star system. Jacen was dead and Tenel Ka was now the Queen Mother of Hapes, not the sort who can go adventuring anymore.
"You know, Lowie," said Zekk quietly, "I know it's of the Dark Side, but for once in my life, I think I could look forward to really killing someone. I want that Hutt slime of a Slayer to feel my lightsaber burn a hole in his chest."
Only if I can rip his hood off and hold him still for you, harned the ginger-furred Wookiee.
Zekk managed a grin at his old friend. "I wouldn't have it any other way, old buddy."
"Cut the chatter, you two," hissed Jaina, "You're likely to get us…"
She never finished the sentence, because as they rounded the bend they came across three full squads of Yuuzhan Vong warriors. Both sides stood still in shock and surprise for several moments.
But it was the Vong who recovered first, letting loose with a hail of thud bugs. The Jedi dove for cover as Lowie and Jag let loose with their repeating blasters, mowing down nearly ten of the warriors. Ganner and Kyp leapt forward, sulfurous and crimson lightsabers glowing as they charged the main line of the warriors. Moments later Alema and Tahiri had joined them as the others kept up fire from their blasters, cutting a pathway through the warriors.
As soon as path opened up, Zekk and Lowie covered diminutive Tekli through the hole as Jag and Jaina followed. The latter had pulled out her own violet lightsaber as she joined the others.
"We're through!" yelled Jag as he unleashed a torrent of blaster fire at the left flank of the Vong's line, "Let's get out of here!"
Jaina and Tahiri were the first off the line, followed by Alema. Kyp and Ganner remained on the line, having whittled the warriors down to about a squad.
"Let's go, Ganner," ordered Kyp.
Another hail of blaster fire forced the warriors to back up, giving the two older Jedi the breathing space to move. They ran with the Force at their backs.
Suddenly Ganner screamed in pain. Kyp managed to stop in his tracks a few meters further on. A razor bug had torn through the outside of Ganner's leg, and the large man couldn't put any weight on it.
"Get out of here, Kyp!" yelled Ganner.
"We can get you out," insisted Kyp, ready to make a run for it.
"Kyp! We need to go, now!" came Jaina's yell over the sound of blaster fire.
Kyp wasn't about to leave one of his old students in this condition, but he saw a look of resignation come into Ganner's eyes.
"Go on, old friend," insisted Ganner, "May the Force be with you."
Kyp nodded once then ran to rejoin the others. As they watched Ganner close his eyes in meditation, they turned on their heels and fled into the jungles.
Ganner could feel the warriors running towards him. He was unimportant to them now, he was a defeated enemy. They wanted the rest of the team. That was fine.
It meant they would have to go through him first.
When the nearest one was in range, Ganner rose on his good leg and took the warrior's head off with one strike. Two more warriors came at him, but Ganner surrendered to the Force, letting it wash away his pain and guide his actions. He remembered Jacen always saying how a true Jedi should give himself to the Force, something so much grander than anyone could comprehend, and Ganner could tell just how right he'd been.
He hardly noticed as his first cut hit under the arm at the weak point of the vonduun armor and then reversed to impale the second. Two more warriors approached, and Ganner's sulfurous yellow blade struck them down moments later.
Cut. Thrust. Parry. Parry. Cut. Slice.
Such were the only thoughts that occupied Ganner's mind as he struck down the warriors that approached him.
Suddenly, there were no more enemies to fight. Ganner brought his mind back to the present and saw that he was surrounded by a host of dead warriors. Movement off to the side drew his attention.
Another half dozen warriors approached slowly, cautiously. They wore no armor, just sleeveless tunics and skirts in a deep blood red color. They were also shorter than most of the Vong warriors he had faced. Ganner shook his head, the pain in his leg was getting worse.
Then came the worst. A figure in coarse, off-white hooded robes approached him. This was the Slayer that General Antilles had warned them about. How could he have been so close? He must have known they were here. He'd ambushed them!
"Welcome to Yuuzhan'tar, Ganner Rhysode," said the Slayer.
Ganner's eyes narrowed. The voice was deep, and for some reason he thought that it should be higher, more upbeat, cheerier.
"Surrender your lightsaber," ordered the mysterious Slayer, and Ganner almost handed his weapon over. Seeing him hesitate, the man continued. "If you surrender your weapon then you will come to no more harm. I would hate to have to send a Jedi to the True Gods without a proper sacrificial ceremony, but I will if I must."
"Eat bantha dung," snarled Ganner, readying himself for another assault.
The Slayer shook his head slowly, but Ganner still couldn't see the face beneath the hood.
"I'm sorry you feel that way, Ganner."
The man turned to one of the warriors standing next to him and gave some orders. To Ganner, it sounded something like cough hack snarl.
The warrior then turned to the others and gave the same order. Instantly three warriors rushed Ganner.
His parry blocked the amphistaff of one of them, but they moved too fast for him to block any of the others, and the blades sunk into his left side and the meat of his right thigh.
Now with both legs injured, Ganner sank to his knees. The poison of the amphistaffs burned in the wounds. Instantly he realized that this was not normal poison. Had the Vong modified their weapons to be even more lethal? Did they know the Jedi had, thanks to Mara Jade Skywalker, developed methods to purge themselves of amphistaff toxin even though they couldn't sense it within them?
Distracted by his thoughts, Ganner missed the other two warriors that attacked, one slashed across his upper chest and the other pierced his right arm.
Then as he tried to move and defend himself from another warrior, yet one more came from behind, piercing the right side of his chest and hit him over the head. Ganner fell to one side, unable to comprehend just how fast these warriors were.
The Slayer bellowed something unintelligible. Immediately, all the warriors bowed their heads and began to back away from Ganner as the Slayer approached him.
Ganner knew that this man would finish him off himself. The glory would go to him.
Well, at least I gave the others enough time to escape, thought Ganner. He may not have been a hero, but giving the others their chance was good enough, he realized.
Slowly, the Slayer knelt down next to him. Ganner watched in amazement as the man pushed his hood back, and Ganner found himself looking into the face of a ghost.
"But, you're dead."
Jacen's face was older, more mature, and half-hidden by a beard, but those brandy brown eyes that held such compassion were unmistakable. Jacen's eyes began to water.
"Not anymore, Ganner, and if you're smart, you won't have to die in the first place."
Jacen then brought his hands to his eyes and dabbed away his tears, then brought his hands to Ganner's chest wound. Jacen did this a few more times, placing his hands on the worst of Ganner's wounds until he realized that the injuries began to hurt less, and the burning from the amphistaff poison decreased.
Slowly, the realization of who was next to him began to dawn of Ganner. "Jacen…? What are you doing here?"
The young man smiled and stood up, then turned to the warriors, and snarled out a series of orders to the warriors.
Unable to accept where his thoughts were taking him, Ganner reached for his lightsaber with the Force, brought it into the air and activated the blade.
One of the warriors roared something and put himself in between the lightsaber and Jacen. But before Ganner could do anything with the weapon, a mind vastly stronger than his own wrenched the lightsaber from his Force grasp.
An amphistaff blade suddenly rested against Ganner's throat.
"Let me kill this coward for you, my lord," said the warrior in Basic. Clearly, the warrior wanted Ganner to know what it was he intended.
My lord? wondered Ganner, Sithspawn, what have they done to Jacen?
"No," said Jacen simply, "Do not bother soiling yourselves with his blasphemous weapon, I will keep it. We will bring this pathetic infidel Jedi back to the Citadel of Overlord Shimrra. There, we shall hang him in the Embrace of Pain and convert him to the true way."
Two of the warriors lifted Ganner between them, and had he been thinking, he would have realized just one of them would have been more than strong enough. Ganner's mind was filled with only one thought:
Jacen Solo is a Traitor.