Praelyx's mercenaries has been smarter than anyone else. The moment the first missile had been fired, all six of them strapped themselves into crash couches and sealed their vac suits in anticipation of a breach. All six had come through unscathed, which was more than the six in the cockpit could claim.
Tahiri and Zekk needed the most patch-up, and they had to apply some bacta salve to their wounds quickly before slipping on their helmets. By the time they were ready to go, Praelyx had already gathered his men at the port-side docking airlock they'd exit through, as the landing ramp was probably crushed and crumpled at the bottom of the ship.
There wasn't enough room for a dozen beings in bulky vac suits to crowd in the airlock vestibule, but as the gathering spilled out into the hallway, Trista was barking out orders so loudly it made the comlink in Tahiri's ear shudder.
"I'm going to need two volunteers!" The Hapan woman announced as she stood in the middle of the group. "I need people with mechanical expertise to help me scour this ship, seal the breaches, and see what we can salvage."
Two hands went up: a Snivvian and a human. Trista pointed toward the cockpit, and the two of them shouldered free of their peers and into the hallway.
"Everyone else," she announced, "Go with Taryn. She's now team leader. The Imp shuttle that shot us down should still be sitting dirtbound less than a kilo-meter away. It might be even more knocked up than us, but if it's not, do whatever you can to capture it."
"Double-check to make sure you have all weapons and equipment!" Taryn added. "Once we go through that airlock we're not coming back until we have Sinsor Khal dead or alive."
Tahiri felt a surprising confidence from Praelyx's four remaining mercenaries: three Rodians and one blue-skinned red-haired humanoid. Getting through the crash unscathed probably helped with that, because Tahiri was aching and rattled and in no way confident that her latest visit to Baanu Rass wasn't going to go as badly as all the others.
As the group filed out onto the dusty plain, Taryn and Zekk took the lead. Through the bubble of their helmets she thought she saw their lips move; they must have been speaking on a private channel. Praelyx and his four men followed next. Tahiri brought up the rear, shuffling alongside Muro. The older woman had strapped a long T-21 repeating blaster on her shoulder and she held it like she was ready to use it.
Muro was bottling up her emotions like she always did, so it was hard to get a sense of her in the Force. Keeping pace with her, Tahiri switched the comm to the woman's channel and said, "I'm sorry for dragging you into this."
"You didn't drag me into anything," Muro said, not looking at Tahiri, eyes straight ahead. "Coming down was my stupid choice."
"Still. You wouldn't be here if it wasn't for me."
"I'm here because I have my own stupid baggage against the Vong I can't let go of." She slowed and finally looked at Tahiri. "I thought I was over it. I guess not."
"Maybe I've been rubbing off on you then," Tahiri smiled apologetically.
"Maybe." Muro looked ahead again. "Well, at least Vjarna's safe. He's probably catching rack time on Mandala right now."
"That or playing sabacc with a bunch of pirates on the gunship." Tahiri smiled at the mental image of the little Bimm surrounded by so many hulking thugs and taking their money.
Muro must have had it too; she allowed a rare smile. "Revli's always been lucky like that. Always thought his luck was rubbing off one me."
"Should have brought him down then."
"Then who would clean out all those pirates?"
Tahiri chuckled and was about to say something more when her earpiece pinged with another comm request. She switched to the new freq and asked, "What is it?"
"We're going to need you up front, Tahiri," said Zekk.
"Of course. I'll be right up." She switched her freq back to Muro's and said, "Got to go play guide. Stay in the back for now. It's safer."
"Sounds good to me," Muro said, almost cheery.
As Tahiri trekked past Praelyx and his thugs she allowed herself to wonder, not for the first time, what it would be like to lead a life like Muro's: independent, free-roaming, accountable to no-one. Muro might not have been the friendliest woman but she was the weathered and durable captain of her own ship, literally and figuratively. Tahiri wouldn't mind ending up like that herself one day; at the moment it certainly seemed more appealing than any of her past iterations.
But she left Muro behind to take a place in between Zekk and Taryn. As soon as she got there and before she could say anything, the Hapan woman raised a hand, palm flat, signaling everyone to stop. She dropped to one knee, and everyone else followed.
The vac suit she'd brought with her from Red Kiss was much better than the hand-me-down Tahiri had borrowed from Mandala. She wore a band tight around her forehead that dropped a thin translucent visor over her eyes. Tahiri watched the tiny lights of the heads-up-display inside the visor flickered, showing Taryn something of what lay ahead.
"That shuttle is still grounded," she announced. "I count two people moving around outside."
Suddenly Praelyx was there, on his knees beside her. "What kind of damage did we do?"
"I don't think we cracked it open, which is welcome in retrospect." Taryn's eyes narrowed as she watched something else flash across her visor. "I see someone inside the cockpit also."
"Probably the rodder that shot us down," said Zekk.
"That means he can man the guns again," Tahiri said. "We need to scatter and encircle the shuttle on all sides."
"Agreed," Taryn nodded. "Zekk, stay with me. We'll go around to the left. Captain Praelyx, take our other Jedi and head for the right. Take two of your soldiers too."
"What about Captain Muro and the others?" asked Tahiri.
"Have them approach straight ahead, slowly. That kind of shuttle was designed to deploy in combat zones, which means its anti-personnel cannons have a full range of fire."
"Lovely," Zekk grunted.
"I'm hoping we did some damage, enough to knock the targeting systems out of sync or destroy a few turrets entirely." Taryn bit her lip in a rare show of agitation. "There's only one way to find out."
Praelyx checked his heavy T-21 blasted and said, "Let's get started, then."
After Praelyx gave his men initial instructions, the group spread out in total comm silence. Tahiri and the Yuuzhan Vong walked in a long arc around the parked shuttle with their helpers, a pair of Rodians with long-range sniper rifles. She couldn't help but be reminded of Jovan Drark, the Rodian Jedi and who'd been the strike team's sharpshooter on the mission to kill the voyxn queen, and had been either the second or third to die; she could no longer remember.
The plain around the shaper laboratory was a dusty, lightly-undulating expanse, as it had been even before the hull breach had opened it to the vacuum. The glow of Myrkr fell through the giant chasm over their heads, casting the entire field in an eerie shade of green.
She tried to reach out to get a feel on Praelyx. Zekk clearly stilled viewed him with suspicion, but Tahiri was more fascinated than anything else. On Zonoma Sekot she'd seen all kinds of ways individual Yuuzhan Vong from every caste reacted to the end of the war and the collapse of their civilization, but she'd never seen one walk away from everything he'd ever been as casually as Praelyx. In a way it made her jealous.
Right now she felt only cool determination coming from the captain, which made sense under the circum-stances. It had been over five years since she'd had opportunity to use her Vongsense, the vague telepathy she'd learned to channel after her time in the Yavin 4 shaper laboratory. It was like the Force, but not, and she could never open herself to both senses at once. It was as though they existed on totally different frequencies of her perception. The same had been true for Jacen's Vongsense, and the dim connection Anakin had felt through the Yuuzhan Vong lambent crystal in his lightsaber. She'd always felt that if she could channel both Vongsense and the Force at once, it would make her feel less bifurcated, more whole.
A hand tapped her shoulder, jarring her out of her thoughts. Praelyx tapped his helmet and leaned close so his transparisteel bulb touched hers.
"We'll move in on the Hapan's signal. Have your lightsaber ready." The vibration of his voice passed from his helmet to hers, giving it a hollow, tinny sound.
Without moving her helmet she glanced at the assault shuttle. Given the distance and the dim green light, it was still hard to make out any people moving around outside, and she had to reach out with the Force to sense their presence.
"I've heard Jedi can catch laser blasts with those." Praelyx pointed at her weapon. "I'll need you to provide cover."
"Did you ever fight Jedi, back in the war?" She knew it wasn't the time, but she couldn't help herself.
The captain shook his head. "I told you, I was assigned to the conquest of Hutt Space. Not many Jedi there."
"So you never saw a one?"
He snorted. "Does that surprise you?"
"Well, I saw plenty of your kind during the war."
"And why do you assume they're my kind?"
Before she could find an answer, Taryn Zel's voice whispered in her ear. "All groups check in."
"Group Two ready," Praelyx said quickly, glancing at either side to see his Rodian snipers laying on their bellies, rifle-barrels resting on ridge-crests.
"Group Three ready," came the voice of the blue-skinned humanoid, Harkum.
Tahiri unhooked her lightsaber from her belt and readied to ignite it. Once it came on, she knew, she'd become a beacon for whatever cannons the assault shuttle could bring on her.
Then Taryn said, "Go!"
Tahiri and Praelyx ran ahead, as fast as they could in their bulky vac suits. Her lightsaber sprung to life in her hand, curiously soundless in the vacuum. Behind them, the two Rodians opened fire. Laser-blasts flashed past the two runners, and Tahiri watched their bright lances converge on a man in a vac suit she hadn't even seen, standing with his back against the shuttle. He dropped in an instant; Tahiri and Praelyx kept running.
For a long, hopeful moment she thought they were safe, that the shuttle's defensive turrets were dead, and that all they'd have to do was bust open the shuttle airlock and ride home on it.
And of course, just as she thought that, the cannons on the boxy shuttle's corners swung to life and began raking laserfire across the plain. Tahiri stopped and threw up her lightsaber; she caught one blast and was instantly staggered back by the sheer kinetic force of the heavy cannon shot. Praelyx dropped to his knee behind her and fired two shots from his T-21, aiming for the weapon emplacements. It was a long range to the target and his shots went wide. Tahiri barely registered the guns going off on the shuttle's other side, probably firing at Zekk and Taryn; it took all her energy to concentrate on each blast and deflect it as it came to her.
She saw sparks flash on one of the turrets as some laser shots- probably from the Rodians- hit home. The turret's mechanisms sputtered and she saw the long gun barrel stutter as it tried to turn and track her.
The momentary elation she felt vanished when the remaining turret sprayed laser blasts far to her right; she saw the flash of an explosion and felt one of the Rodians wink out in the Force.
Suddenly it all came back: Jovan Drark impaled by an amphistaff, Eryl Besa catching a thud bug across the face, all the frenzy and death and horror of the first Myrkr mission. In her fear and anger she found energy, and without shouting warning to Praelyx she ran forward. The remaining turret spun to track her but she ran fast, using the Force to propel her past natural human speed, accelerating each leap through the dying worldship's low gravity. At the same time the two shooters behind her kept firing at the turrets in hopes of crippling them.
Tahiri had a better plan. When she got close enough she dropped low and rolled through the dust, bringing her so close to the assault shuttle that she was inside the turrets' firing range. Lightsaber still ignited, she leaped up and shearing the active cannon barrel straight off. One more stab, straight up and through, killed the turret for good, neatly severing its connection to the gunnery computer.
After that, it was easy to come up alongside the already-crippled turret and do the same.
She felt triumph surge through her and raced around the outside of the shuttle, eager to take out the other turrets and claim her victory. As she crossed beneath the shuttle's cockpit she was tempted to hurl her saber through the transparisteel viewport, shattering it and opening the shuttle and its pilot to the vacuum.
Then she felt another life wink out, someone from Muro's group- not the captain, one of Praelyx's men. The sudden pain, and its sudden disappearance, shocked Tahiri back to her senses. She ran around to the other side of the shuttle and immediately hurled her saber into the air. It pinwheeled through the empty vacuum, slicing the barrel clean off one turret, and with an extra Force-push she tore open the second turret too.
The lightsaber spun back in her hand, smacking into her palm. She griped it with both hands and spun on the defenseless shuttle, eager to cleave open its hull and spill its guts into space.
"Tahiri, stop!" Zekk's voice resounded in her ear.
She stopped and turned around. He was coming up behind her, lightsaber bobbing as he ran. Panting, he repeated, "Stop, Tahiri. Just wait."
She realized she was panting from exertion. She lowered her weapon to her side but didn't deactivate it.
"All shuttle defenses are down," Tahiri said. "We can go in any time."
"Exactly," Taryn said sternly as she came up behind Zekk. "There's no cause to rush."
When he got close enough, Tahiri could see the expression on Zekk's face. It was stern and disapproving, and she knew why. She'd drawn on her fear and anger during that attack, just like Jacen- like Caedus- had trained her to do. Just like Zekk had learned too, at the Shadow Academy, when he was much younger. It had been easy then and it was easier now; it had gotten the job done and saved lives. She wanted to rebuke Zekk verbally but for now she just closed herself off from him in the Force.
"Good work, Jedi," Praelyx said as he rounded the shuttle's nose. "I've waited a long time to see your kind in action. I wasn't disappointed."
Being congratulated by the Yuuzhan Vong, not scolded by a Jedi, gave Tahiri a twinge of conscience, but before she would ponder what that said about her, Taryn went right up to the main airlock. She seemed to ponder it while Muro and Harkum came to meet them; then she reached out and, almost politely, rapped her knuckles on the hatch.
After thirty seconds she knocked again. They waited for almost a minute more before Praelyx looked to Zekk and said, "I know you can open doors on my ship. How about airlocks?"
Zekk pursed his lips. "The mechanism for these should be pretty simply, actually."
"Then use your magic and get us inside."
Zekk glanced at Taryn, who nodded approval. He walked straight up to the hatch and placed both gloved palms flat on the durasteel. He closed his eyes and Tahiri could feel him reach out with the Force to sense the heavy locking mechanisms that sealed the door in place. Growing up in the underworld of Coruscant, Zekk had been a scrapper, a tinkerer, a boy who knew his way around foreign machinery. Clearly he'd carried that skill with him here; Tahiri couldn't help but feel impressed as the outer airlock hatch swung open, revealing the sealed vestibule.
"Well," Zekk said, "Halfway there."
"Very impressive," Taryn positively cooed as she squeezed his arm. It was hard to tell in this light, but it looked like Zekk actually blushed.
They clambered into the vestibule and manually closed the airlock behind them. Once they were sealed from the outside, Zekk started work on the second door. That time Taryn and Harkum stood behind him, blasters aimed and ready to fire past his flanks and drop the Imperial who was waiting on the other side.
Zekk opened the door a crack at first, and the hissing sound of equalizing air pressure filled the chamber. Tahiri stretched out with the Force and sensed the ship's sole remaining crew member in the cockpit, not waiting for them in the cabin.
She shared the sensation with Zekk, and he greeted it with a silent nod. Then he give the door one last shove with the Force and it slid aside.
He went in first, lightsaber held high. The Taryn and Harkum followed. Then spun around the corner and went quickly for the cockpit. Tahiri spotted the head and shoulders of the pilot right before he raised his gun to spray red laser blasts in their direction.
Zekk deflected shots into the ceiling and Taryn dropped low. She sent out a single blue stun-shot that caught the pilot in the chest. He immediately went limp in his chair; his gun spilled from his hand and clattered to the floor.
"Excellent," said the Hapan woman as she popped to her feet. "Take that man in the back and bind him. We'll have plenty of questions when he wakes up."
Praelyx went right for the comm station. "Right now I'd like to tell my crew that I'm not, in fact, dead."
"Bet they're raiding your room for stuff right now, Boss," said Harkum as he stuffed his pistol into his belt and unsealed his helmet.
"Not yet. Harn knows how to keep them in line." The Yuuzhan Vong popped off his helmet and set it on the console. He worked the controls practiced with ease.
"What about the two you lost?" Zekk asked from over his shoulder.
"Neevo's out there now," said Harkum. "He'll bring them inside."
Tahiri took off her helmet and looked at Muro while Praelyx, Zekk, and Taryn all crowded around the controls. She sidled next to the older woman and said, "That was a close one.
"You did good," Muro nodded. "Without you we would have lost more."
She wished someone would tell that to Zekk, but they could argue about that later. Up in the cockpit, Praelyx started saying, "Wayward Soldier, please respond. This is your captain. Soldier, respond."
After a second a crackling voice replied, "Good to hear from you, sir."
"Right back at you, Harn," Praelyx shot a confident look around the shuttle. "We ran into some problems landing but we've secured the Imperial shuttle."
"What about the package?"
"Elsewhere. We'll still have to search the worldship. This could take time. How are things in orbit?"
"Skies are clear."
"Good. Hold position for now. We'll be in touch." He switched off the link and looked at Taryn. "Any-thing else?"
The woman considered for a moment, then shook her head. "Trista will contact my personal comm when she needs to."
Muro said, "I'd like to wing a message to my ship. I want to give my first officer an update."
"I'm sure Harn will pass the word."
"I also want to warn him we made need pickup," Muro took a step for the comm system.
"Very well," Praelyx stepped aside obligingly and let the other captain hunch over the comm console. As she worked he asked Taryn, "Well, how does it look? Will this ship get us out of here?"
"All systems look optimal."
"So your weapons didn't make a dent?"
"No, but I don't mind that right now. We'll learn more when our pilot wakes up."
"I don't want to wait for that," said Zekk. "Whoever else is on this worldship, they've probably been warned we're coming. We should leave a guard or two on the shuttle and head for the shapers' lab."
"Agreed," Tahiri said, though she had no desire at all to go there.
"All right, I'll come with," said Harkum. "We'll leave Neevo here. He can watch his boys' bodies and handle the, ah, questioning of the Imp when he wakes up."
As Muro stepped away from the comm console, Tahiri told her, "You should probably stay here too. It will be safer."
To her surprise, the older woman shook her head. "No. I didn't come all this way to babysit a knocked-out Imperial.
"We have no idea what we might face in there," Tahiri said, looking to the others for support, but she got none. "We also have no idea how many troopers the Imperials have running around."
"All the more reason to bring another person."
Tahiri fought a scowl and reached out with the Force to get a sense of Muro's mindset. As usual, the woman was hard to read, but she radiated a stony resolve.
Praelyx decided the matter by announcing, "The more the merrier. Now come on, let's get going."
Just as quickly as they'd boarded the secured the shuttle, they made final checks, re-sealed their suits, and cycled through the airlock. Tahiri and Zekk were the first two to step outside. The Rodian Neevo was there, dragging the bodies by their feet across the plain. Tahiri wished she could have stayed to help him, but she knew none of them had enough time. There was no doubt Khal was somewhere inside the cracked-open worldship, developing his weapon as Caedus had requested.
Zekk put a palm on her shoulder, surprising her. Tahiri jerked under his hand and looked up at him.
"I'm fine," she said defensively.
"I didn't come here to judge you, Tahiri," said Zekk.
She glanced at her wrist controls to make sure she and Zekk were on a secure channel. "I did what I had to. We could have had even more dead."
"I know. I also know how easy it is to justify using your anger as power."
"That was a long time ago for you."
"It doesn't make a difference."
She wanted to say it did. For as long as she could remember, Zekk had been one of the most straight-and-narrow Jedi she'd known. His brush with the dark side as a youth had left him with a lingering conservativ-ism; it was why he'd been adamant against using any-thing touched by the dark side during their first trip to this worldship and it was why she felt so wary of him now.
"I know how easy it is," Zekk said. "Just yesterday I used my anger over everything that's happened recently to pry into a prisoner's mind."
"Then you should understand."
"I understand why I have to keep that part of myself in check. You should too. Promise me you won't do that again, Tahiri, please."
She fought a scowl. Another promise was the last thing she wanted to make here, in this worldship where she'd already broken her most important one.
Suddenly Praelyx's voice rang in both their ears, saying, "Let's go, Jedi. No time to waste."
They turned and saw the Yuuzhan Vong, the freighter pilot, and the Hapan woman staring at them expect-antly.
Taryn said, "The captain's right. Who wants to lead the way to the shaper lab?"
"I'll do it," Tahiri said.
"Then lead the way."
She turned from Zekk and took the head of the column. It was natural she'd act as guide here; after all, she'd already walked his barren path with Caedus just months ago.
She felt some foreboding as she walked it yet again, but mostly she was just thankful to Taryn, thankful that she hadn't been forced to make one more promise she couldn't keep.