Chapter Three
Part One

Two Yuuzhan Vong warriors threw a young brunette woman into the slavery dormitory. She landed on her knees. Jag and Telma approached the woman slowly. She had various cuts and scrapes all over her body.

"Hello. What's your name?" Telma asked.

"Britna Renz," she responded with a cough.

"Where were you taken from?" Jag asked as he and Telma helped her to the closest mound of moss the slaves used as beds.

"Hydian Way."

"Can you tell us what's been going on? We haven't seen anyone who's been on the outside in awhile," Telma asked gently.

Britna let out a breath, and then told the other slaves what planets had changed hands and other details about the war. The last thing she offered was the date the day she was captured. She guessed that roughly two or three days had passed.

Jag stood up and hissed. He walked away from Britna, and leaned against one of the living walls.

"Jag?" Telma asked quietly, walking over to him.

He shook his head, "It's hard to hear how much time has transpired."

"How long have you been here?" Britna asked nervously.

Jag let out a breath, "About four years."

"Did you have a family?" she asked quietly.

"Yes, a boy. My wife was pregnant last time I saw her," Jag shook his head in frustration, "I don't know if she made it or not."

Telma eyed Jag and then turned to Britna, "You need to get some sleep while you can. The masters will be here soon."

Ani sat at the breakfast table, flimsy and drawing materials scattered around her. Davin sat next to her, concentrating on his own picture. Syal was chopping vegetables in the kitchen.

Jacen entered the room, followed by Jaina and Cem. They had just returned from the military base.

"Hi, you two. What are you up to?" Jaina asked as she placed a kiss on each child's head.

"Coloring," Ani answered.

"I made a Clawcraft," Davin said, holding up his picture, "Like what Daddy flew."

"That's right. He did," Cem said, "It looks great, Dav."

"Thanks, Uncle Cem!" Davin exclaimed.

"What are you drawing, Ani?" Jaina asked.

"Grandpa Han's ship," she said, "He said every time Davin makes an Imp ship I got to draw a Rebel one."

Jaina, Jacen, Cem and Syal burst out laughing. None of them was surprised at the statement. It sounded as if it was coming right of his mouth rather than his granddaughter's.

Ani and Davin exchanged confused looks. Sometimes adults just didn't make sense.

Britna followed Jag around the villip field, listening attentively to his instructions. Her implant on the back of her neck was sending painful pulses down her spine, making it difficult to bend over.

"It changes each day. Pay close attention to what you're doing and the handlers will usually leave you alone. They tend to rotate our group to various locations. Tomorrow we could be in the lambet fields or hauling equipment for the shapers," Jag told her as they trended through the waist-high water. "Never show any weakness."

Britna nodded, and then asked, "Are we on a planet?"

Jag nodded, "For now. I anticipate we'll be moving soon. I heard the shapers talking about a new shipment of slaves coming here. Our group is a pet project."

"What do you mean?" Britna asked as she tended to the villip next to her.

"The Vong took around two million slaves and split us into groups. Shapers are using this group to improve their implants on workers. Wherever the Shapers go, we go," Jag explained. He pointed to the various scars on his arms and face, "Most of these are from failed implants."

Britna let out a low whistle, "This one hurts like hell. How did you stand all of those?"

Jag shrugged, "You get used to it. After the first ten, the rest are a breeze. You learn to deal with the pain."

"Do they try to shape anyone? I heard about the Jedi on Yavin IV years ago," Britna asked.

"No. Occasionally though they'll throw out a new creature to mess with us," Jag responded, moving to the next villip.

"Do they torture us?" Britna asked quietly.

Jag looked up at her, "All the time. You'll get used to it."

The twenty slaves sat facing the wall, each secured with blorash jelly, in a large living transport. Six warriors stood guard. The slaves were contorted in a painful position for their species. The warriors stated they must travel in pain to atone for their infidel sins.

Telma glanced to her right at Britna. Her face was varying shades of blue and purple from the various bruises she'd acquired during her captivity. Her arms were locked behind her. Telma could see dried blood crusted around the woman's wrists from an amphistaff. One of the warriors had toyed with her before take-off. A shaper had thrown some type of living substance on her wrists to keep her from bleeding to death.

Jagged sat on the other side of Britna, eyes closed. He and Telma had been imprisoned the longest. Telma had to admire the man; he refused to give up. He'd told her little of his past, but she didn't need to ask. She knew who he was. She knew he had been a Colonel in the Chiss military. She knew he had married Jedi Knight Jaina Solo. She knew he had two children with her, the boy and an unborn daughter. They had never met, but Telma had been a member of a medical team on one of the many bases Jag had been stationed on.

Telma had lost her family long ago, save for one niece. Her niece, Luna, was heard last running a supply ship on the Outer Rim. Telma had hoped to meet with her to celebrate her lifeday, but was captured instead. Telma was the only Twi'lek slave at the moment. A few others had come and perished. Jag had commented that it was her own stubbornness that kept her alive. Telma had to agree. She'd seen a lot in the galaxy, but nothing like the Yuuzhan Vong. She refused to let them kill her, especially when she knew she could revolt in her own way. She worked to make the slaves stronger and unyielding to their masters. She and Jagged had formed some type of leadership team together, playing out each other's strengths to guarantee survival. Neither were naïve enough to think they would actually find freedom again, but to give up was against their nature.

Telma sat motionless as the living transport made the jump to hyperspace. She did not know where they were going. She'd lost track of the number of transfers she'd undertaken over the years. It was just another world, another ship to toil on until she died.
They were all the same.

Emergency klaxons rang through the air of the main command center on Csilla. Military personnel rained in from various departments, rushing to battle stations.

"What do we have?" General Baron Soontir Fel asked as he approached a Chiss officer.

"Sir, a Yuuzhan Vong frigate has entered the edge of our systems. They show no sign of attack." He stated.

"Send the Red Squadron to investigate. Take no hostile action unless they initiate it," Soontir ordered. A-Wings designed to be hard to see in space.

"I want visual as soon as possible. Have the Ace and Spike Squadrons on stand-by," Soontir ordered.

It was a tense ten minutes as everyone waited for a clear transmission of the Vong vessel. Jaina and Jacen, who had appeared shortly after the alarms sounded, stood at a terminal to the side of the room, staring intently at the screen.

There was a pop of static and then Red Three transmitted a projected image of the vessel. It was the size of a Victory-class Star Destroyer. It didn't appear to have coralskippers clinging to it, although at least twenty of them were acting as a guard.

"Jacen?" Jaina asked.

Jacen studied the image, and then replied, "It's a Shaper transport vessel."

Jaina nodded, and then turned to relay the information to Soontir. She made it halfway across the room before a spike of pain lanced through her. She froze, eyes growing wide. She dropped the comlink in her hand, not noticing as it clattered on the floor.

"Jaina?" Jacen asked as he rushed over to her, "Jaina, what's wrong? Are the kids okay?"

Soontir moved to stand next to her, waiting worriedly for her response. She suddenly blinked, and then stared at Soontir.

"I have to go. Now." Jaina turned and ran from the room.

Jacen looked at Soontir, confused and then said, "I'll keep an eye on her, sir."

Jacen then turned and ran out the door to catch up with his sister, leaving a bewildered Soontir in his wake.

"Jaina, what is going on?" Jacen asked. He had finally caught up to Jaina inside a small armored freighter owned by the Galactic Alliance. She was in the cockpit, flipping switches and going through the pre-flight as fast as possible.

"Sit down and strap in she ordered, "I need your help."

"With what?" Jacen asked as he strapped into the co-pilot's chair.

Jaina ignored him. She toggled on the comm unit, "General Fel, we need to capture that vessel, not destroy it."

"Jaina, what is on that ship?" Fel asked.

"Your son."