Part 15
Blind the eyes in the system. Don't let any yammosk know we're here. Sheng Lah commanded his personal ship as it dropped out of hyperspace around the place that used to be Coruscant's orbit. Unlike most vessels in the galaxy, Sheng Lah's Spectrum of Insight was a hybrid between the technology of the natives and the creatures of the Yuuzhan Vong. Most of the ship had originated from a seedling from Zonama Sekot, but the sole dovin basal was an offspring of one of the captured Yuuzhan Vong vessels. The Spectrum was the size of an X-Wing, perhaps slightly larger, but unlike the starfighters, the ship was packed with sensory equipment.
The Jedi disconnected himself from the biological part of the ship and reached for the mechanical controls. He did not believe the Yuuzhan Vong would have access to technological sensors to detect the presence of the Spectrum, but precautions had to be taken.
The Yuuzhan Vong Jedi froze in his surprise as he spotted a few dozen starfighters exchange fire with the coralskippers that defended the planet. The dovin basal, which worked in conjunction with the ship's hyperdrive, made the Spectrum one of the fastest ships in the galaxy, yet dozens had arrived on the battleground before Sheng Lah.
The man's first instinct was the join the fight, but knowledge of his ship's abilities forced him to remain in the distance. Unlike other privately owned ships, the Spectrum had neither weapons nor shields and most people refused to believe the ship's descriptions until they thoroughly examined the ship. Many thought that the dovin basal served as a shield generator, but its sole function was to move the ship. The ship's only defenses were agility and invisibility. While Sheng Lah, like any other Yuuzhan Vong warrior, was willing to die, he could only allow himself to die if there was a good reason. And a pointless, suicidal flight isn't a good reason.
The Yuuzhan Vong wanted to reach out with the Force, but he remembered that he was missing from all sensors and he withdrew his presence. They won't see me and if there's a Jedi besides Sil, they won't act like I'm here. Sheng thought as he withdrew into himself and adjusted the his senses so that he could see only faint shadows in the part of the Force that most Jedi used.
As the Spectrum drifted toward the planet that used to be Coruscant, Sheng Lah found himself still able to sense one of the pilots, much to his surprise. Only a Jedi can be sensed at this stage. How is that possible? This is characteristic of Master Durron, but I know he was with the Jedi Council when I left. Without reaching out, Sheng Lah carefully analyzed what the midi-chlorians in his blood told him. As he examined his feelings of the planet, he found two dim presences instead of one. The man rescanned the surface of the planet with his mind, but impossibly, the results were the same each time. At first, Sheng suspected that Sil was using Force delusions, but he ruled out the possibility, for Sil did not know of the technique and she would never use the Force to such an extent for the sake of deception.
Looks like I've walked into a rogue Jedi hangout. Sheng Lah thought when he finally accepted the possibility of a second Jedi on the planet's surface. With his Vongsense, the Yuuzhan Vong reached between the three other Jedi and used a technique he had heard of in Master Veila's crèche to eliminate all obstacles that could be felt through the Force. The Yuuzhan Vong grabbed the creatures that interfered with the Force one by one and convinced each to sleep.
Take me to the edge of the atmosphere, preferably under that X-Wing. The nearly scar-less Yuuzhan Vong reconnected with the biological components of his ship and gave a destination. The range of Sheng Lah's senses was limited whenever he used the hybrid between the Force and the Vongsense, so the he needed to be as close as he could to the three other Jedi in order to finish the process he had started.
When the young man was sure that every creature capable of clouding the Force was asleep, he adjusted his senses in order to access more of the Force. He then snatched the other three Jedi mentally. The Yuuzhan Vong became aghast with disbelief when he heard the faint voice of Ben Skywalker conversing with that of a woman, whom he had recognized as Jysella Horn after a few seconds. That old technique… It has more than one function! Either that, or I've been blasted out of the sky and I'm about to join those two in the realm of the gods.
The Yuuzhan Vong felt a wave of energy and realized that both Jysella and Ben had been giving themselves to the meld that Sheng Lah had glued together and amplified. No, I just cleared things up and they did the actual melding. The meld continued to strengthen, and Sheng Lah spotted Sil sacrificing small amounts of her powers to the meld.
For a minute, Sheng Lah wondered why none of the other Jedi sensed him, even though he was the bridge of their mind meld. The Yuuzhan Vong closed his eyes, but instead of meeting complete darkness, he found himself surrounded by dense light. The light had the shape of a wall and although Sheng Lah could see both sides of the plane that the wall had divided, everything was blurred. A wall of light… I'm stuck in the middle of it. What is it supposed to mean?
The Yuuzhan Vong suddenly dropped to his knees as he, through Ben Skywalker and Jysella Horn, felt a fleet approach. In the midst of the discovery of the two 'dead' Jedi, Sheng Lah had forgotten his immediate assignment. The long, thick fingers of Sheng Lah's left hand flew over the technological controls of the ship as he used his other hand to open the ship's equivalents of eyes and ears. The Spectrum was fraught with the sensory equipment and Nuren Lah had even deemed the Jedi 'Praetorite from Domain Lah' once.
Almost as soon as the Spectrum of Insight started to take holos and other information of the planet and its surroundings, Sheng Lah's hands landed on the controls directly in front of him and began to encrypt the information.
"Send it to the Alliance." Sheng Lah then switched on one of the comm channels. The Alliance needed to know that both Ben Skywalker and Hotshot Horn were alive and at least one of them was in one of the starfighters near the overfed dovin basals.
-scene change-
"Reforms? You brought me all the way here to ask me that? Why that's just some minor renovations for the palace!" The princess laughed.
"Then why do you seem so angry?" The spy asked.
"Because you're wasting some valuable time."
"Is that so, Princess?" The spy's words dripped with sarcasm. "The warmistress over there will have at least my head if I tell her that. Mark my words, princess. You do not want me dead."
"Then tell her whatever she would like to hear." The princess suggested as she stole a glance at the muscular beauty with the asymmetrical hair and extensive armor.
The intendant was speechless. The advice seemed sound for the circumstances, but it came from the mouth of a Jeedai! But good advice is good advice. I can't believe I haven't thought of that simple, Hapan custom after all that time I spent with the people. Hapan custom… Sacred twins! She'd been telling me what would benefit her! I guess I just didn't climb high enough on the food chain. The man thought as he accessed what he knew of the warmistress.
"She says that the reforms are to create a new arrangement of stars and planets for this galaxy. She says that some superweapon is about to arrive in the system." The spy struggled to keep his voice steady as he concocted a story.
"Interesting. Carry on without me while I speak with my commanders." Kodachi Cha grinned maliciously as she strode off. "Foolish little girl, you have just sealed the doom of your little weapon."
"Master Shaper, may I speak with you personally?" The intendant inquired as soon as Kodachi Cha was out of sight.
"Go ahead." The shaper replied curtly.
"From what we know of these humans, is what the princess said about this so-called Yun Harla true?" The intendant inquired.
"It doesn't matter whether or not this princess was honest. All that matters is that the warmistress believes it to be true. I hope you know what you're doing. If she finds no weapons before dusk, we will be dead." The shaper snickered coldly.
"We? You must be mistaken, Great Shaper, for only I shall die." The spy disagreed.
"You think she will only release you? How naïve. We brought the recordings. We took part in this. She'll have us the yargh'un pit, too. We, including Djo, are drifting through space in the same coralskipper." Kwaad gave a rare lecture.
"Then please excuse me ignorance, Great Shaper and young Adept. I have a plan; I just don't know if you'll like it." The spy dropped his gaze as he as he spoke.
-scene change-
"Warmistress, you come in time." Supreme Commander Tsun bowed to Kodachi Cha as she entered the bridge of her personal ship and stroked the villips of her Supreme Commanders.
"Rise, Supreme Commander. What am I about to miss?" Kodachi Cha gave the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of an amused smile.
"We have captured the leader of these pests that sting our dovin basals." Tsun reported.
"Continue."
"We believe this is the Jeedai of this swarm of fire-bees. I offer to have my priest sacrifice this nuisance to Yun-Yammka."
"No, leave this Jeedai to me. Take this infidel to my ship." Kodachi Cha ordered. "In the meantime, make sure no infidel weapons enter this system."
"Sacrifice this infidel with the woman from Domain Horn when the time comes." The thoroughly tattooed woman ordered the leader of her priests.