Chapter Seventeen
Receiving the crash coordinates on her datapad, Arden made her way to meet the Yuuzhan Vong carrier on foot. Before she left, Thrawn asked her to see if there were any officers with this caravan of extragalactic warriors. "If so, we can bargain for the freedom of Vergere or, if not, a standstill that will last a certain amount of time," he added. Why would I want there to be peace between the Ascendancy and their enemies? she asked herself.
And top of that, why would Thrawn want to try and bring back a Jedi Knight who had gone rogue only to aid him spy on these creatures? It didn't make sense and no one had come to Arden's rescue when the Jedi of her time had surrounded her and placed her into the Force-induced hibernation. No one had come to her aid when she was forced to helplessly watch her husband be brutally slaughtered by a weapon of the old Jedi Order. All I knew and loved, was gone in a single moment and now I'm supposed to rescue one of the descendants of the people who destroyed me? she asked both silently and aloud.
She knew what she would do instead when she encountered the Yuuzhan Vong, which was something the Jedi never did for her. If she did find an officer of the enemy forces, she would spare his life and turn him around to his own people. No one deserved to feel the pain that ate at her heart and her sanity as each day passed by except for her. When she arrived, she was impressed to see the size of what Thrawn had called a Yorik-vec assault cruiser: it was very big for a "gunship".
So it was disappointing when only seven warriors arose from its ruins, the pilot likely having been killed during the crash as the ship itself had been. Arden observed the biomechanical engineering the ship was made out of and had to admit that it did impress her. While an organic, living ship would never have the advantage of traveling at lightspeed, they were not to be trifled with. How they became pressurized enough to handle the depths of space is beyond me and baffles Thrawn she thought.
"You, human! My name is Tsavong Lah, son of Czulkang Lah of the Domain Lah, holy domain of the Warrior Caste and I demanded to know where I am," the warrior in the middle boomed. Good thing Thrawn had me research what his scientists knew of the caste system before I came here. Otherwise, this man would have lost me after he named his father for me Arden noted silently.
"Calm yourself, young warrior. You have crashed onto the plant Irkalla and I am Arden Lyn, fallen member of the Jedi Order and an exile here," she said aloud. It was partly true that she was an exile here since this was where she had been in slumber for twenty-five thousand years. Besides that, in her day, exile meant being place in that hibernation until further notice or after a certain amount of time.
However, because the warriors that defeated her didn't have time to do so, they sentenced her to sleep indefinitely though the Talisman decreed and sought otherwise. "Jedi Order? Are they the warrior caste of this area?" he asked. "We do not live by the caste in this galaxy as you do however, I must inform you that you must turn around soon as you can, go home," she answered.
"How? Our gunship is down and the pilot is at death's door!" he demanded. "You can pilot the ship, can you not? Pilot it yourself and leave your predecessor's body here for proper disposal," she replied.
"How dare you suggest that the son of a Warmaster pilot a gunship back home!" he shouted before ordering his warriors to attack. "Please do not misunderstand, we want no more trouble with your people than has already been given on the field of battle. I was simply offering a means by which this can be avoided," Arden said but too late for Tsavong to change his mind about his intent to attack. Her tone, polite as it sounded to her, was probably what had aggravated him into continuing with the attack he ordered, however.
His power of reasoning, when faced with cultures he does not understand, is relatively low. Fear and anger, I sense at the rise of his misunderstanding of my intentions. Perhaps I can use that to my advantage in the minutes yet to pass by for us all she observed. Then she withdrew her katana and used a magic projectile to slice two of the soldiers at the waist.
When a third got too close to her, she diagonally bisected him and hacked down three more. Like with Creon before, all six stood where they had been cut by her as she had thrown her scabbard into the air long enough to do the deed. Catching it with her free hand, she slowly pushed her blade back into it except for the last few inches at which point, she paused. Time seemed to pause as did she while operating her blade and even Tsavong Lah was frozen where he was as he watched helplessly.
Then, as she had done with Creon during the revival of Depa Billaba, she rammed that last little bit of the blade back into the scabbard until the hilt clicked with connection to the scabbard. The upper torsos of the first two men spun off their bodies, revealing volcanoes of black blood. After that, the one who was diagonally slashed also saw the upper part slide off the lower one with blood gushing out. Lastly, the ones who had been fatally slashed fell to the ground as their lifeblood also left them, including one who had been deeply slashed across the throat.
"You've seen what I've done to your soldiers and usually I don't do this but I will renew my offer. Leave this planet in that thing you came with or you will perish just as cruelly as your men did," she warned. "And be disgraced forever in my society? Never!" he shouted before charging her with the staff that was in his hand.
His fighting skills were surprisingly good and the fact that the staff could loosen itself to coil around her blade was impressive. Nonetheless, any attempts it made to insert its deadly venom unto her face were thwarted by a sudden burst of green Force lightning. "You cannot defeat me here, not while I can call upon all the powers I need to crush you," she warned after several minutes of exchanged blows. "And I'm supposed to be afraid of a power of which my species remains outside?" he asked with laughter.
So, you're one of those species (like terentateks) that has a genetic absence in the Force and thus, immunity to most of its effects. Impressive, such species were rare even in my day which proves some things haven't changed much she observed silently. "Oh it's not the power I use that you should be afraid of: it's me you should be afraid of," she said aloud. "You said you were a 'fallen' member of your warrior clan, why should I be afraid of a 'fallen' one?" he snapped.
"Because the Jedi do not believe in killing in cold blood even when necessity demands it. I do, on the other hand and will not hesitate, as one of them would, to take your life if you push your luck," she answered. "Good, then take my life if you can!" he said before renewing his vengeful attacks on her. But she was quick to intercept this one and, through the use of her magic, enhanced her sword so that she cut off the head of the living staff-like weapon he was using.
She also took the liberty of slashing the top of his hand when he went for something else that she feared he would use against her. Knowing he could not defy her power, he kneeled down and begged her to at least make it a quick death for him. Raising her sword, she made as if to decapitate him but instead, simply slashed him near his left eye. "Go back to your people, tell them that when you came under fire, you were the only survivor and were wounded in the process of landing the ship," she ordered.
Then she withdrew her sword and walked away, glad there were no witnesses to ask her why she had chosen to spare him or encourage her to change her mind. But that didn't stop Tsavong Lah himself from asking her why she had chosen to do so when she could've killed him. "The greatest realization of courage comes not from knowing when to take a life but instead, when to spare one. I am only here for you to see because the Jedi who defeated me learned that though not before they killed the man I loved," she answered.
"You must hate them for disgracing you in that way," he stated. She shook her head at that remark and said she pitied them and their successors. "Just as I pity you for being caught in this intergalactic war that will see the consumption of countless lives before the end, Jedi included," she added. "Then why spare me if I'm going to be caught in a bloodbath that is to your distaste?" he inquired.
"Because you have a part to play in its conclusion thus destiny prevents me from destroying you. Is it a good part, might you ask? Depends on your point of view but I think you'll find it mostly agreeable with your beliefs," she explained. Tsavong smirked at that and had to admit it was good reasoning for her to spare his life when normally, it was a disgrace for him to be alive after his defeat.
"How big a part in events to come, will I play? Can you see that in the future?" he asked her before she walked more than a few steps further. "Second only to your Commander, yours will be one of the greatest though it will be tied along with that of another. One from your political caste who even now is a maverick to your traditions and customs to the point of only selfish satisfaction," she answered.
He knew exactly who that was and clenched his fist in anger that his significance would be shared by that of the most reviled of the Yuuzhan Vong politicians. If it weren't written in the undefiable pages of destiny, I'd kill that man before he has a chance to share my glory he thought savagely. But aloud he asked, "Is the significance of my destiny or your desire for revenge against the Jedi the explanation as to why you spared me?" Arden stopped in her tracks, not knowing whether or not she would want to tell him the truth but decided there was no reason why not.
"Actually, I'm allowing you to go because the orders I got to capture any officials of the Yuuzhan Vong are kind of pathetic anyway. Besides, while you might escape, they won't know why unless I say that there was no one worth capturing and someone would need to clear the wreckage. The premonition came before you ordered your men to attack me, leaving the devastation you see now," she said. Smiling, Tsavong admired her willingness to disobey direct orders from a higher military authority than herself.
Getting in the ship, he didn't even thank her or say goodbye before bringing his ship back to life and leaving Irkalla. She didn't think goodbyes were necessary formalities in their situation anyway and decided she would worry about enjoying the view of Irkalla instead. Besides, hostile as the climate of this place has become, it's still a wonderful view to behold when you have the time to see it she thought. Thrawn would not be expecting her back for a few days or so anyway and it was almost exactly that to get back to his facilities, a walk to be enjoyed.
Plus the Talisman nourished and warmed her body the entire way, protecting her from the harsh night winds and supplementing her need for food. And as she walked with her sword in one hand, she wondered how her apprentice was faring with Lord Maul and Savage thus far. She especially wondered about her dealings with the latter, who seemed far more brutish than anything else. Maul was cunning and efficient, his position as leader all but certain however, his brother was a different case.
For as long as she had known him, Arden had the impression that Savage was a good man turned into an animal. It was a similar origin story to Loki the Destroyer from her day and she wondered what drove him now that all sense of goodness was erased. Did he even remember who he was before he fell down the dark path, anymore? And if he did, did he care as to whether or not it would act against him in the long run?
When Arden and Xendor first discovered the powers that Savage and Maul could now take for granted, they knew the risks. They had tried their best to work around them while still using these powers to the fullest benefit possible but there were some that were unavoidable. Would Xendor have said Savage served as a good example of why they did that when they first discovered the Dark Side? Or would he have considered Savage and Maul nothing more than the accumulation of what he and Arden had discovered together and looked on them with a paternal sense of pride?
For all his strategic and military abilities, which were gifted beyond comparison at that time, he was not exactly wise nor was he diplomatic. It was for that reason that Arden had acted as his mouthpiece when they tried to gain approval to explore their new discoveries further than ever before. And despite her etiquette, formal background, and physical beauty, there was nothing she could do to persuade them from preventing the events that spiraled down to the ones that happened minutes ago. One day, whether at the end of his life or tomorrow, he will understand what I've said to him to be true and he will thank me for teaching him she said silently at the thought of Tsavong Lah.
There was nothing in the plains of Irkalla for miles around and that was what she liked for going deep into thought about anything and everything possible. But as time went by and she did nothing but walk, she found that the days she spent out there came and went almost too quickly. She wished she had spent them a little better or that she had commed in for a ride after her success. But she could do nothing about it now and decided to go ahead and proceed with her plan to deceive Thrawn.
And as if the thought of him was tainted with the Force, Thrawn was beckoned out the door of his palace to greet her. "It is good to see you back a little sooner than expected though I'm surprised you walked the entire distance. But then, the Talisman probably came as an excellent help on that account, did it not?" he said immediately. She nodded and said that she could tell him what happened merely seconds after she had been dropped off by the speeder that took her to the crash.
"Oh please do, you haven't brought back an official so I'm assuming there weren't any," he stated. It wasn't a question but something about the way he looked at her indicated that it should be answered as though it were. "There were just dumb, brutish soldiers on board the ship with one or two pilots. One of the pilots came at me and I spared the other on condition that he managed to get his ship the hell off Irkalla," she said, lying at her teeth though he didn't notice.
"No wonder I saw the ship taking off from the surface though I could've sworn it was too badly damaged for that. How is it possible for the ship to have been repaired quickly enough for the pilot to get out of there?" he asked, curious as a little child. "You can tell your scientists that their suspicions of the ships being biological in nature have been confirmed, it regenerated itself rather quickly," she answered. Though he kept his calm even when his childlike curiosity showed, Thrawn admitted surprise at that comment both by his face and by his words.
"Truly, you have helped my people in more way than one today. You will be remembered as a heroine of the Chiss Ascendancy even if you yourself are not Chiss," he said. "I live only to help those that the Jedi could or would not even look at in their time of greatest need," she replied. Because you are more useful to me as an ally than as an enemy, I'll allow you that bit of false news to put in she thought but didn't say.
"There will be a feast and a celebration held in your honor in two days, preparations beginning within the hour. You have done well for us whether or not you know it to be true, yourself," he said. Indeed I have done a great thing in the present moment for your people, Grand Admiral Thrawn. But unlike you, I am cursed with the knowledge that the events to come will cost more lives than all major wars to have come before combined she noted to herself.
After being left alone by her own command and Thrawn's eagerness to begin preparations for her honorable celebration and banquet, she went for the portrait of her husband again. It had been weeks since she had seen it, weeks filled with training Depa Billaba in the powers she now possessed. Weeks spent distracting herself from the grievances of the past that needed to be answered to once again. Once again, she found herself caressing the realistic recreation of her husband's face as though it would somehow bring back the real thing if she did it long enough.
Bit by bit, I'm moving to avenge you, my dearest love. Soon, the Jedi will pay for what they've done to you, to us, and I will make them see how cruel a woman's love can be she vowed. A tear of bittersweet happiness and rage flowed from her eyes, something far beyond her control when in the presence of any vestige of her husband's spectre. Indeed, she would make the Jedi see how cruel a woman's love for a man can be before they beg her to end their lives, an end she'd deliver.
With Maul, Savage, Death Watch, Black Sun, Thrawn, and now the Pyke Family assisting, her revenge was all but assured. But then she began to wonder: what if none of these 'allies' were the deliverers of her vengeance? What if its future success lied not with these rogue agencies but with the Yuuzhan Vong, instead? They had powers that the Jedi would undoubtedly fail to detect until several worlds had fallen to the grasp of these extragalactic beings who were absent in the Force.
And as her wheels turned in that direction, she wondered if she should begin slowly persuading Thrawn to open up his defenses and let them into the known galaxy. She would do so through the Force and subtly enough so that he wouldn't notice her intrusions into his mind. Plus, when he finally relented and initiated it, she could plant the idea of forming a pincer around his enemy's forces. He would then wipe them out and at first, she would let him have his fun rebuilding the galaxy he would profess to rule.
And when he had done that, she would take it from him and rule with Depa as her second in command. Any Jedi who remained in the aftermath of all that would be crawling as slaves before her feet. And any Sith, Maul and Savage excluded, who were caught would also be forced to grovel if they hoped for a chance to survive in her new world. By then, my revenge will be complete and any Sith and Jedi I capture will be merely toys to play with until I tire she told herself.
It was a brilliant, foolhardy plan and due to the subtleties of her intrusions into Thrawn's mind, he wouldn't notice her until she was ready to truly break him. She would reveal that the ideas he professed to invent were actually of her device and signs that he was succumbing to her manipulations. Once all that was revealed and she gloated for a little over her victory, she would personally execute him or else have Depa do it if she could not stop laughing in exclaimed victory. But there was one problem: why kill Thrawn when he was much more beneficial alive than dead no matter what?
She easily answered this question for herself by saying that she would only kill him if he became more of a liability than an asset. Until then, she would keep him around, serve him, and even give her powers to his cause whenever called to do so by him. She would adhere to the more easily practiced rules of the Jedi Order but would slowly integrate more agreeable Sith principles into her moral code. It was better to see the Force as a gray sort of power rather than one that had black and white powers.
And as her husband so scrutinously pointed out after months of endless work on these new powers, the only 'good' or 'evil' the Force had was power and the wisdom to use it properly. Improper usages of the Force consisted of examples that fit the Maul brothers and the mysterious Lord Sidious very well. The Jedi Order, in its entire existence, was also a fine testament to the improper use of power. Nonetheless, both had guidelines that were to be both respected and adhered to whenever and wherever possible.
Arden would see to their integration in the New Order she was creating with Depa. But what would she name this new Order, she wondered? Then she thought of it: Lynism after herself. It was a good name and it would serve her well once she completed her conquest of the universe's properties.