Since these two posts go hand in hand, I'll put them up in one chapter.
Part 24: Caught Red-Handed
Sheng Lah closed his eyes as his escorts told him he was in the shaper's lab. Once again, eyelids dropped, but no darkness came. Instead, there were many colors and many feelings. In the middle of everything stood a young version of the old man from his previous vision and a fortress of light built itself around the man. The man, apparently a trained Force user, was anguished and desperate to leave, but the walls of light around him were solid and unyielding toward his struggles.
Suddenly, millions of people appeared around the fortress and the structure built more of itself to encompass everyone. Sheng Lah 'squinted' to see who they were, but to no avail. Something flashed and the Jedi Knight found himself in one room within the fortress rather than everywhere at once. For some strange reason, Sheng Lah was in a five-year-old's body and on the top floor.
A trapdoor on the ceiling opened and a lambent in the room pulled in a short, teenage boy with tousled, brown hair. Sheng Lah recognized the boy as Anakin Solo upon meeting those lively, blue eyes.
The trapdoor opened again and an avian, whom the bluish gray Jedi recognized as Vergere, sailed in on her wings. The short, birdlike Jedi seemed not to notice the other occupants of the room as she took a round thing out of her feathers and threw it into the air. Tendrils grew from the seed-like thing and reached out the trapdoor. One of those arms came back with a young version of Sheng Lah's former Master attached to it and once Jacen was inside the fortress, the seed just jumped into the young Solo's body.
Sheng Lah mind began to work out a solution to the Force's puzzles when a voice jerked him back to his body.
"He is delirious. Where is the curing arm?" Screamed an unfamiliar voice.
"Do I look weak to you?" The Jedi nearly roared, scaring the wits out of whichever shaper was tending to him. The curing arm was the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of a medical cabinet, and Sheng Lah was not about to be fed any pills or nightmarish fluids.
"Ah, good, you are awake." Sheng Lah blinked before pushing himself up. He hurt all over and could swear that there was at least one thorn in his 'bed'. Either that was the worst healing session he had ever seen or he had become too accustomed to sedatives, Jedi healers, and bacta. It was a good thing the vision took the Jedi just before the operation.
"Sheng Lah, I take it you had not seen much fighting when you were with the former Supreme Commander in exile." The apparent head shaper of Domain Lah commented.
"I fought, but never against a mob." The Jedi replied. That shaper seemed to be as nosy as the above average priest! He tensed as his vision cleared and gave him a clear view of the speaker. The shaper was confirmed to be a woman and to make things less comfortable for the warrior, her face looked familiar.
"My Adept said you had broken ribs. Only a crowd of Shamed Ones or an accident can do that."
Sheng Lah sighed with relief and his flushed face faded to a lighter shade of blue. An Adept meant that this particular, unnerving woman was not all over him. Now, all he had to hope for was that the Adept was not a girl and not his age, as most Adepts would be.
"Something on your mind?" The shaper asked. Before the warrior could strangle her for being so unnerving, her totally impassive expression stopped him.
Sheng Lah realized that he was being irrational and his disguise was already slipping after only one day. Those two were shapers and he was a warrior, which meant that the divine law of the castes forever divided them. This was the Supreme Overlord's territory, not Zonama Sekot, or a Shamed One's camp, where mates were chosen without regard for caste and sometimes even species.
"One particular man in the crowd." The young Yuuzhan Vong finally thought of an honest answer that did not allude to his true identity. Glancing more at a particular eye-like creature on a shelf than the middle-aged shaper, he continued. "He tried to poison me with something like that eye implant over there."
"Intendants don't normally try to kill our warriors with poison and victims of plaerin bol poison don't live to tell the story. Are you sure that thing's it?" The shaper looked incredulous.
"Yes, I am." Sheng Lah relaxed as he told the shaper about his run-in with the Shamed Ones, and both his adrenaline level and heart rate dropped to normal.
"Looks like my day just got a whole lot more interesting." The shaper muttered. She then raised her voice and turned her eyes back toward her patient. "Only an intendant with spy ranked executor or higher can have a plaerin bol. Cut me a sample of your robeskin where the poison hit and tell me what the dishonorable one looks like. If I can confirm your statement, then the prefects have a serious crime to solve."
"He's bald, pale, and really pathetic, even for a Shamed One. I don't know why he does this, but he wears an ooglith masquer that make him look like his face is rotting off his bones." Sheng Lah described the man as he tore a hole in his robeskin and handed the dead piece to the shaper.
The strange, eight-fingered shaper then passed the skin and gave some orders to the domain's resident initiates.
"Master Kwaad?" The female shaper answered the child's summon and exited into an uneven corridor. As the shaper brushed aside a stray tentacle, she carefully avoided the spot on her nose that would drive away her disguise.
"We ran the tests and here are the results. Adept Yal Yim said they're right and we should call you." One round-faced child spoke for the group. The shaper swore a thousand curses as she read the reports. Her Adept and Initiates were all competent shapers and the instruments were notoriously accurate, which meant that Yu'Shaa was none other than that snake-tongued Prefect Anor.
"I will choose a course of action at the reflection pool. This is serious." The shaper promptly left for the location she named, with her robes swirling about her as she strode down the worldship's corridors.
The shaper had put her anger into her steps and soon found herself at the desired location. The water and scenery before her was calm and serene, totally contrasting the shaper's inner turmoil. All those secrets she was forced to keep for the last few decades and the multiple lives she had led were all turning on her with coufees aimed at her exposed, vulnerable back.
Most Master Shapers would contact Saeth Kwaad and the Supreme Overlord about news like that, but she, because of who she was behind the common face that her masquer portrayed, could not. The former was too unstable and once he recognized her voice, he would break down in public and beg her for advice. Besides, he was younger, less experienced, and in the office only because she was too big of a coward to face her problems. Even the very thought of the younger shaper and all the wrong she had done him tormented her soul
Normally, the Supreme Overlord could be approached about such treachery, but from the information of Jysella's other spies, he seemed to heretical and eccentric to be trusted. Even if he was the ordinary Overlord, that particular shaper could not approach him and expect to live, for Shimrra had seen her enough to be able to recognize her voice. The shaper channeled her storm of emotions into a random rock and kicked it as far as she could.
Tears streamed down the woman's face and she covered it with her hands to hide her weakness. Why did she have to be a secret spy for the Shamed Ones? Why did she have to secretly steal the cultures that infected the planet's dovin basals? Secrets, secrets… May the gods devour them for all eternity! The shaper stomped her foot on the floor, not caring what she might squash.
It was not that the woman was unused to keeping information to herself; she had done it when she worked with Nen Yim in Shimrra's secret damutek However, she had limits and what she had bottled up had been building pressure and threatening to explode.
Why am I even thinking about telling Shimrra? The shaper suddenly began to wonder. She was the Trickster's student's informant and occasionally Jysella Horn's eight-fingered hand, not Shimrra's shaper like the rest of the lot. Had she been pretending for so long that she had deceived herself?
Damn it to all the enemies of the gods and the Jeedai! The shaper thought as she uncovered half of her warm, soaked face and punched a wall with her eight-fingered hand. She gave the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of a grin as she heard the desired cracking of knuckles. It wasn't the secrets that corroded her insides like sulfuric acid; those secrets were mere catalysts and her un-Yuuzhan Vong-like fear of death was the real culprit. She had been learning too much self-preservation from those Jeedai.
But that meant I serve both the Jeedai and the gods, doesn't it? The shaper wondered as she observed her own thoughts. If that was the case, then she was forced to choose between her upbringing and the facts that were stuck before her nose. After all, one could not be a member of two domains at the same time. The shaper began to feel nauseated as her many worlds began to swirl into one. The woman needed to regurgitate the contents of her stomach and then report to Taan, for rumor had it that the Jedi Knight was captured.
Part 25
"Goodbye, old hag. Looks like we got worthier ones to pay attention to." Sla Tsun taunted Nuren Lah as she turned her worldship towards an alliance ship at the edge of Coruscanti atmosphere.
"Dishonorable trash born of the worst insults to thousand-armed Yun Yammka and of the Jeedai Force, you run from a fight with an equal to pick on one much weaker than yourself." The old, former Supreme Commander growled. She then turned to her officers. "After the worldship of Domain Tsun."
"Milady, you're breaking away! We will escort you!" Offered the captain of another ship in her fleet.
"No. Stay where you are. I will fight honorably, one on one." Just what did that high-born whoever-it-was think? She was not a beautiful, young queen charging into battle with banners waving in the air.
"Yes, ma'am." The other ship obeyed and distances between Nuren Lah's ship and the nearest Alliance ship became astronomical.
"We're entering the atmosphere." Reported one of the officers.
"I don't care. Protect Master Solo and teach that ooglith masquer a lesson about being a real Yuuzhan Vong." The aging Yuuzhan Vong growled as her ship continued to pelt the worldship with fire.
Sheng Lah soon grew impatient with the neighborhood Master Shaper and wandered out of the lab.
"Crèche-brother, we must arm ourselves for battle." An unarmed warrior around the Jedi Knight's age greeted him. Things were better than Sheng Lah had expected, for his enemies just gave information to a rather inconspicuous Jedi spy in their ranks.
"Then let us. We shouldn't keep the enemy waiting." The Jedi Knight bared his fangs in his best imitation of a bloodthirsty grin. Acting was not in the Jedi job description, and yet lives depended on a Knight's ability to fool observers because a certain Jedi was amongst those who are equipped and trained to play a Yuuzhan Vong warrior. Luckily for the Alliance, Nuren Lah allowed her son to converse with her in only Yuuzhan Vong.
"Crèche-brother, you must be Sheng Lah." When Sheng Lah replied with a mere nod, the other man continued. "Those renegades really don't care much for hair, do they? Well, when we're armed and armored, you're to see the hair-shaper and then the Supreme Commander."
"But I deserve no such honor." The Jedi was shocked. The hair part, he had expected, for his mother and her ex-warrior friends had often commented on the way it dangled at his eyebrows, but a Supreme Commander wanting his presence? That cannot be good.
"We're here." The warrior said as soon as the pair exited the worldship. Judging from the sunlight that shone on the glittering creatures, the Jedi knew he was detained in the shaper's lab for at least eight hours. As Sheng Lah fitted vonduun crab armor over his torso, he heard a creature's distant, musical howl. The short, stout warrior continued. "Nothing better than a trumpit to wake us up and prepare us for battle."
However, Sheng Lah instinctively knew that something was out of the ordinary about the supposedly common wake-up call. He closed his earthen brown eyes momentarily and stretched out with his senses. The touch of a hundred Jedi told the Yuuzhan Vong that he had reached into the Force rather than his Vongsense. In the distance, he 'saw' his former Master and a flood of relief.
Nom Anor is the Prophet… Place of Bones…
"Get your boots on. We haven't much time. Kodachi Cha wants us up and she wants us up now." The shorter warrior shouted. Sheng Lah pulled out of his trance and realized that throughout the whole experience, he wore nothing more than a pair of robeskin socks on his feet. He quickly stuffed his feet into a pair of vonduun snail boots and forced the creatures to adjust to his feet as he stormed inside.
A rumble in the yorik coral floor spoke of lift-off and a wild idea suddenly sprung into Sheng Lah's head. The Jedi Knight resisted the idea of impulsive action without forethought, but something within him kept on destroying his resistance. He was determined not to have the same weakness as his lightsaber's first owner.
"The Supreme Commander's on the top level. I look forward to seeing your prowess in battle, crèche-brother." The shorter warrior bade his goodbye before running off.
Sheng Lah assessed his surroundings with both the Force and then his Vongsense. That was not hasty decision at all and he had everything to gain from what he was about to do, for his people had damaged Coruscant so much that a few more were inconsequential. However, a worldship, especially one as powerful as Domain Lah, could easily shift the balance of a battle such as the one in the skies above Coruscant. He reached into his Vongsense and located the ship's brain, dovin basals, and yammosks. All five of the creatures dozed off, leaving the ship flightless, weapon-less, and defenseless. Unfortunately for Sheng Lah, the action took a toll and he was drained to the point where he could not use his once-formidable Vongsense again in at least a few hours.
The Jedi Knight struggled to stay afoot as the massive worldship crashed into the underlying buildings and flora. The 'doors' of the Yuuzhan Vong equivalent of a turbolift hissed open and the tall, bluish-gray Jedi was surprised to find a heavily-scarred, obviously high-ranking man before him.
"Your timing is perfect, my young fighter. I would say more to the famous missing person, but all I can do for now is ask that you run to Kodachi Cha's command tower and report our failure. That shaper was right, this ship is too old to live on." The apparent Supreme Commander in charge of Domain Lah spoke gravelly. The old man's voice was sad with a hint of anger and outrage.
"It will be done, your highness." The younger Yuuzhan Vong gave the respectful bow and swept his gaze around the 'bridge' before taking the 'turbolift' down. As the Jedi Knight strode out of one of the portals to the outside world, he reached into the Force.
Once again, the vision took hold of him and as Sheng Lah physically walked through a portal, his Force presence broke through the wall of light that the old man from his visions could not.
Sheng Lah looked up into the sky despite the health hazard in staring at a strong sun and saw three ships. The first was a battered Alliance ship and a touch in the Force told the Yuuzhan Vong that his former Master was stuck in the ship. Sheng Lah reached out and the Jedi Master cordially welcomed his former student into the mind meld.
The battle plan is almost back on track. I need some troops and a few Jedi to meet me here. I'm expected at Kodachi Cha's command tower. Sheng Lah was not certain if his words carried through the distance, but he felt an affirmative from the Jedi Master.
The second ship in the sky was a worldship of unknown origin and much to the Jedi Knight's horror, the last was the bulky Sekotian command ship that chose Nuren Lah. The worldship chased after the battered Alliance ship and practically ignored the Sekotian ship at its tail.
The clear, blue sky rippled as the Sekotian flagship's dovin basals protected the Alliance ship from the worldship's fire until the hulk of durasteel that headed the line disappeared into one of the planet's new bodies of water. Then the large, tentacled worldship turned and began to pelt the oddly shaped Sekotian ship with plasma. The first few volleys either met dovin basal-generated singularities or splashed against shields, but they eventually began to eat away at the target's hull. Carrion eaters joined the fray at the worst possible moment and devoured the metal like beetles on a leaf.
The greenish yellow worldship began to stir from amidst its pile of debris and its plasma-spouting mouths suddenly came alive. The Jedi Knight longed to keep his domain's worldship grounded and asleep, but his energy was too depleted. He watched in horror as the Sekotian ship, separated from any reinforcements and half scrapped, came crashing into the planet. A dovin basal-aided blast shot from one of the large ports and devoured the Sekotian ship's bridge.
"NOOOOO!" The enraged Sheng Lah screamed as his mother's ship disappeared in a phantasmogangic shower of flames and projectiles. Nuren Lah had taught him to be true to his blood, and now his blood, his domain, had just destroyed her. She had tried to teach him Yuuzhan Vong warrior honor, and yet it was some bastard's lack of it that sent her, along with at least a hundred good soldiers, to their pointless deaths. His dark blood threatened to reach its boiling point and with little conscious thought, the Jedi Knight reached for his lightsaber. Much to his frustration, the blade refused to ignite.
Before the large, strong hand of Sheng Lah could unravel his amphistaff, a bodiless head rained down at his feet.
"Jeri." The Yuuzhan Vong Jedi recognized his fallen friend and collected the head from the floor of rubble. The face, though charred, told Sheng Lah enough to calm him down. He always would be a Yuuzhan Vong amongst foreigners and as one, he could not afford to massacre.
"Sir?" Someone interrupted the dark-skinned warrior before he could follow his thoughts to conclusion. A dozen soldiers, half as many Jedi, and ten speeders came faster then he could ever have expected.
"Kodachi Cha's command tower is north-east of here." Sheng Lah directed as he plopped down in an empty seat behind one of the troopers.
Next: Something that I've been waiting to put up since last November