"You will need a worthy ship for the sacrifice," Lomi Plo hears Tenel Ka say from behind.
"We'll get the Tachyon Flier ready to go again and halfway there the Yuuzhan Vong will give us a living ship, lest we anger the Warmaster," Lomi replies casually.
"You've already pissed him off," Khalee Lah hisses.
"Then it doesn't matter anymore," says the Nightsister.
"Exactly," Khalee Lah grunts, and the harsh tone makes Lomi Plo flinch.
Just a blink of an eye later, the commander's thorny elbow plunges into Lomi Plo's stomach, right where the spleen is located. Freshly burst Whuffa leather strips lash her face and the warrior's twisting motion simply pries away her crooked arm with the knife. The Nightsister, taken by surprise, lets out a scream, but this scream is drowned out by the commander's war cry.
"Do-ro'ik vong pratte!"
"Now!" Augwynne calls out to Tenel Ka.
Now several things are happening at the same time. Tenel Ka feels her bonds being cut and suddenly she is holding her lightsaber in her hand again. Khalee Lah drags his clawed hand over Lomi Plo's face, which the Nightsister turns to the side so as not to be blinded. These are the same claws that inconspicuously cut through the whuffa leather strands bit by bit until the right moment came to loosen them completely. This moment of turning away is enough for Khalee Lah to grab his amphistaff, which is still curled around his waist. None of the Nightsisters dared to touch this weapon during the short time he was in their captivity. The amphistaff becomes straight and stiff, so that the warrior can use it to create enough space. Lomi Plo ignites a red blade to keep the amphistaff at bay. The weapons crackle together, but cannot immediately separate from each other.
Lomi Plo's dark eyes frantically search for support, but none is forthcoming. Instead, she hears the other Nightsisters screaming and gasping in battle, for now the cry rings out from at least thirty throats:
"Do-ro'ik vong pratte!"
The warriors, who were captured and tamed by the Nightsisters over the years, have rediscovered their former selves and rush to the commander's aid. Lomi Plo makes a Force-enhanced leap into the air - and her red blade detaches itself from Khalee Lah's amphistaff. Her jump puts her directly behind Tenel Ka, whose turquoise blade keeps two Nightsisters at bay. Lomi Plo swings out her lightsaber like a spear when a shimmering gray blade crosses her own and deflects its path. Lomi Plo freezes. She knows that gray blade. It is unique in the galaxy because of its color. She already had seen it in action on the worldship above the planet Myrkr; that was just a week ago. And she belongs to ...
"Not like that, you faithless witch!" snorts Raynar Thul. "If you're going to fight her, do it face to face. This is exactly what the Warmaster has ordered you to do. Then please stick to it!"
"Thank you, Raynar!" says Tenel Ka and turns around.
From the corner of her eye, she sees Mother Augwynne using Dathomir's magic to create a blast of wind that precisely hits the Nightsisters and throws them away after the freed Yuuzhan Vong have herded them into a now relatively manageable group from which they doggedly defend themselves. Tenel Ka's gray eyes search for Mother Kyrisa, but the Head Nightsister is nowhere to be seen, so she turns entirely on Lomi Plo.
"You can be sure, Lomi, I will find a man – even with only one arm. And it's definitely enough for a duel with someone like you!"
Lomi grimaces. "Your dashing commander will be proud of you."
Tenel Ka's gray eyes narrow. "He…"
One slash blocks Lomi Plo's red blade.
"… is …"
The blades separate again.
"… not …"
Lomi stabs Tenel Ka's knee downwards.
"… my …"
Tenel Ka jumps up, avoiding the stab to the knee. Her turquoise blade passes Lomi Plo's neck by a hair's breadth.
"Com …"
Lomi Plo suddenly changes the direction of rotation of her lightsaber and takes advantage of the fact that Tenel Ka wanted to hit her neck. The red blade approaches Tenel Ka's waist in a higher arc. Millimeters from her scale clothing, Tenel Ka's hastily drawn blade blocks Lomi Plo's attack.
"…mander!"
Gray eyes stare hatefully into dark brown ones with a red tinge. Turquoise and red stick together for a few seconds, then a series of punches and parries follow. Occasionally, the smaller Tenel Ka ducks under Lomi's red blade, then jumps over it again.
Lacking their previous weapons, the warriors have disarmed the Nightsisters, who were overwhelmed and felled by the storm, and are fighting with their daggers and bows. Pink arrows of crackling energy fly through the air to strike and stun the Sisters of the Night with their own weapons. More sisters come running out of the forest to help their distressed comrades, but Augwynne's precisely blowing windpipe catches them one after the other and sends them crashing to the ground. Every now and then a Nightsister tries a counterspell, but then at least two Yuuzhan Vong are there, binding their hands and taping their mouths as they try to speak incantations. But without saying the formulas out loud, the witches cannot perform magic.
Tenel Ka's defense falters. The petite Jedi moves a little to the side as her foot buckles. Lomi Plo takes advantage of the weak point and aims at the Jedi's unprotected stomach, but Tenel Ka falls in exactly the opposite direction than her opponent expected. Lomi Plo's red blade hits the void - as it has so many times before, but now, in the foretaste of the hard-fought victory, the Nightsister can no longer reverse her advance in time. Tenel Ka gets back to his feet in a roll, does a cartwheel... and hits Lomi Plo hard in the head with her booted foot.
The Nightsister sinks to the ground. Blood oozes from the gash on her forehead. Tenel Ka looks around. The fighting around them has stopped and from the Yuuzhan Vong's howl of victory there is no doubt who the victor is. Raynar Thul approaches them, raises his hands and claps. Tenel Ka bends down and takes some of the Whuffa leather strips that had previously been used to tie her up, so that she can now use them to tie up her defeated opponent.
"Have you seen Mother Kyrisa?" Tenel Ka asks the fellow Jedi.
Raynar shrugs. "I think it's more important that you have your lightsaber back."
Now Tenel Ka understands. "Thank you for that too. I wouldn't have expected that anymore."
Raynar's mouth tries a half-smile, which turns out to be rather crooked due to the burns he sustained on his face. "Not every scarhead is a villain, Tenel Ka."
Welk comes out from behind the makeshift shed with a tray of filled tea glasses in both hands. "Perhaps any of you would like some cassis tea?"
"Were you making tea the whole time we were fighting?" Tenel Ka blurts out.
"Well, that's still better than running away or attacking you," comes Welk's inappropriately cheerful reply.
Tenel Ka is taking a glass from the tray. "You were already a queer customer back then on the world ship."
"Stop!" Mother Augwynne has finished her tornado and stretches out her gnarled hand in warning. "Lomi Plo is exhausted and hurt. She should have a drink first."
Tenel Ka bows her red-braided head apologetically. "How could I forget, Mother Augwynne. The injured first, of course."
She leans towards Lomi Plo. At first, she hesitates and is looking with distain upon the drink, then her face is turning into a resigned, wistful expression and she takes a sip.
"Thank you," breathes the Nightsister and closes her eyes.
Pain distorts Lomi Plo's face, already disfigured by the laceration. A stream of tea flies through the air as Welk throws the tray and the many glasses onto it and runs into the jungle. Tenel Ka and Raynar Thul raise their hands and the unleashed cassis tea hits a piece of ground where no one is. Shortly afterwards, Lomi Plo wheezes and takes her last breath.
The smell of burnt flesh wafts through the air toward the group of three.
"What the heck?" says Tenel Ka, her gaze shifting from the pool of spilled tea to the charred Nexu, which is no longer turning on the grill because none of the Yuuzhan Vong warriors cares about it anymore. "The meat is now spoiled too."
"To the Tachyon Flier before Welk does!" shouts Raynar Thul.
"Where do you want to go?"
Tenel Ka looks in the direction the question came from. Khalee Lah comes running towards them, the freed warriors behind him. Her hand immediately reaches for the lightsaber, but the commander's amphistaff curls relaxed around his hip. So Tenel Ka lets go of the grip again.
"Don't you want to go back to the commander with your people?" asks Tenel Ka, visibly annoyed.
"The warriors will also return to the garrison," assures Khalee Lah. "As for me, I'll explain it to you later. But now I want you to give me a lift on your ship, nothing more."
Tenel Ka hesitates. She can't read the Yuuzhan Vong by the Force, but the way the commander has behaved towards her on Dathomir so far means she can't leave him alone with his request now.
"But we are flying in a shameful, technological, dead ship," Tenel Ka warns the Yuuzhan Vong.
"If it even goes as far as what your people have done to it on Myrkr," adds Raynar Thul.
"That doesn't matter anymore," replies Khalee Lah wearily, "because I haven't gotten any further with my mission either."
"Well, my young friend, one mission ends and another begins," Mother Augwynne comforts him.
The warrior shakes his head. "I wouldn't know which one."
He turns to the freed Yuuzhan Vong warriors and gives orders in his language. The warriors turn away and leave him alone with the infidels. He then calls Commander Niiriit Esh and informs her of the new situation.
"So," Khalee Lah explains to the two Jedi and the witch, "The blockade around the Nightsisters' camp has been lifted and we are given safe passage from the planet."
"Thank you," Tenel Ka says simply and then immediately looks at mother Augwynne. "Should we take the speeder?"
The old woman nods. "And you would definitely like to have your ship back too."
"Jaina would definitely like it back."
They run to the old YV-888 Corellian freighter. Raynar Thul opens the hatch.
"Stop!" shouts Tenel Ka. "The twins!"
The Jedi runs to the canopy under which mother Kyrisa was sitting with the gray twin babies just an hour ago, but there is no trace of the two infants either.
"She must have escaped with the children," says Raynar Thul.
"Some of the Nightsisters always survive," adds mother Augwynne.
"Didn't Lomi Plo say earlier: get the Tachyon Flier ready for take-off again?" Tenel Ka asks Raynar Thul skeptically. "Doesn't that mean the ship is broken?"
Raynar grins. "I told the Nightsisters that, but in the meantime I quietly repaired the old freighter - for this very moment."
They reach the boarding ramp and Raynar Thul starts the Tachyon Flier. As soon as the ship takes off, Khalee Lah covers his long, pointed ears.
"Now don't act like that, young man," Mother Augwynne admonishes him. "My Ubrikkian speeder is even louder."
"Yeah, I heard that," Khalee Lah growls.
"Where do you actually want to go now?" asks Tenel Ka Raynar.
"Back to Coruscant to Luke Skywalker, of course," says the blonde Jedi, pulling up the Tachyon Flier.
"Coruscant has fallen and is in the possession of the enemy," Tenel Ka informs him, and Raynar visibly pales. "You have to…" she remembers that the enemy is listening in and she falls silent.
"I'll be fine, thanks," Raynar Thul says diplomatically.
They drop Mother Augwynne off in the speeder in front of the Clan of the Singing Mountain settlement and Raynar Thul says goodbye and gets back into the Tachyon Flier.
Tenel Ka runs through the jungle with Khalee Lah looking for her ship. "Kriff, I parked the Trickster at that prominent rock, right over there. But the rock is no longer there."
She draws a circle and another - but no Trickster anywhere.
"The rock there looks freshly struck," says Khalee Lah. "The ship is certainly not far away."
They reach the spot and there Tenel Ka sees the presents. The Trickster is much larger than before and her mouth is still chewing, very slowly but with immense pleasure.
"The ship truly ate the entire rock bare while I was away," murmurs the Jedi. "How far do you actually want to fly with me and where should I drop you off?"
Khalee Lah's expression becomes serious. "Just until we get to hyperspace, then I'll leave you."
"But why is that?" Tenel Ka wonders.
"I have already brought enough disgrace to my domain," the warrior admits to the Jedi. "I was unable to capture Jaina Solo for the twin sacrifice our Warmaster so desperately needs."
"Why does Tsavong Lah need a twin sacrifice?" Tenel Ka wonders.
"He sacrificed his left forearm to the gods so that the gods would give us Coruscant – your former capital," reveals Khalee Lah. "And to further secure our victory, Tsavong Lah promised the gods your Jeedai twins that they should fight each other and one should be killed, as is our custom."
"But that didn't happen," says Tenel Ka tonelessly.
"No, that didn't happen," Khalee Lah repeats. "And I can no longer offer you as a warrior sacrifice, because by throwing the thud bug you saved my already forfeited life by giving me hope of salvation from this shameful slavery of the Nightsisters. I therefore owe you this botched life of mine and it would be against good manners for me to offer you up as a sacrifice after this noble deed."
Tenel Ka's gray eyes widen in horror. "You wanted to capture me for a warrior sacrifice, like Tsavong Lah wanted Lomi Plo to do earlier? But the priest back then on Hapes said something different!"
"In fact, I had suggested to Harrar that I should spare you, hoping to win you over to our side," his gaze falls on the stump of her left arm, "since you reject nefarious technology as an arm replacement. But on Dathomir I realized that you will always be a Jeedai. So at least let me end my ignoble life on this living ship and you will see how a warrior of the Yuuzhan Vong knows how to die to clear the name of his domain and that of his father from the shame he has already brought upon both. "
With these words, Khalee Lah takes his amphistaff and holds his head with its fangs directly in front of his scarred face.
Tenel Ka takes a step back from Khalee Lah. "Of your father?"
"Tsavong Lah."
"No!" Tenel Ka exclaims. "Come on board and we'll talk about it more."
Khalee Lah lowers the amphistaff again and wraps it around his waist again. He then follows Tenel Ka aboard the Trickster.
The Yuuzhan Vong watches in disbelief as the human woman puts on the cognition hood and starts the ship. After Tenel Ka has initiated the jump into hyperspace unmolested by the cordon of Yuuzhan Vong ships around Dathomir, she removes the cognition hood again and turns to the warrior.
"But the Warmaster spoke to you on Dathomir as if you were some warrior, not his son!" exclaims Tenel Ka. "How can a father be so heartless and just leave you to the Nightsisters like that?"
"We Yuuzhan Vong are raised in crèches as soon as we are born and usually see our birth parents for the first time when we are adults."
"No wonder your people are so willing to send their sons and daughters to their deaths." Tenel Ka didn't mean that to be hurtful, but she can clearly see that the warrior in front of her sees this as a strength rather than a flaw.
"It would also be seen as a weakness for Tsavong Lah to favor his only son in any way over other warriors of his rank," explains Khalee Lah.
"That is again very commendable," admits Tenel Ka. "But why didn't you tell me before that he was your father?"
"I wanted to impress you with my own achievements, not my family background."
Tenel Ka nods. "I can understand that well. And while we're talking about it: your father's restraint gave you the opportunity to free yourself from the Nightsisters' grasp. And you mustn't forget that you also freed your brothers there on Dathomir, so what if that's not an achievement?"
"I think Mother Augwynne has already hinted at that," Khalee Lah murmurs.
"And besides, you distracted the Nightsisters so much with your war cry that I was able to free myself too. So your scream indirectly freed me too. What did you call out?"
"Do-ro'ik vong pratte," says Khalee Lah, more calmly than he has ever uttered these words in his language.
Tenel Ka's gray eyes gain shine. "And I want to thank you for that, Khalee Lah. And if you now escort the Princess of Hapes safely back to her second home, then you will have also saved the diplomatic relations between Hapes and the Yuuzhan Vong." She puts her index finger to her neck. "And until then, you can't kill yourself!"
"I vow this, by the honor of my domain and by the gods!"
"And since Harrar said two days ago on Hapes in the presence of my grandmother that Jaina would be given the position of God Avatar anyway, perhaps the Warmaster will think similarly."
"The position of God Avatar can be obtained posthumously," Khalee Lah argues, "but come to think of it, Priest Harrar told me anyway that he would be the one to look after Jaina while I... inquire about your whereabouts."
"Whatever the priest meant," Tenel Ka says, sudden concern in her voice. "But if it puts your mind at ease, I'm sure Jaina will fully understand if I give the Trickster back to my rescuer so that you can claim a third mission success."
Khalee Lah raises his clawed hand defensively. "As much as I would be happy if the ship were called Ksstarr again like it was before, I also don't want it to come back into the possession of Nom Anor, who, as an extremely shady intendant, allowed your Jeedai to take possession of it at the world ship. And what's more, Nom Anor would pass this off as his success, not mine."
"Well, if you think so…" Tenel Ka thinks for a moment, "then I will go to bed now and you should do the same."
She assigns the commander a cabin to sleep in, then she also goes to rest.
When the Trickster finally lands back on Hapes, there is another living ship in a strictly cordoned off area. It looks like a black gemstone and Tenel Ka already knows it - at least from the outside.
As the entry hatch of the Trickster opens, Tenel Ka and Khalee Lah see Prince Isolder, Ta'a Chume and Jaina Solo as a welcoming committee down on the landing deck.
"I hereby bring back your daughter to you," says Khalee Lah to Prince Isolder, "and your granddaughter, Queen Mother," he adds, clearly feeling the displeasure on the face behind the red veil at this deferral.
"It's nice that you're back," Isolder greets his only child before turning to her companion. "Thank you."
"And you certainly want your ship back," Khalee Lah tells Jaina Solo.
The young Solo grins. "Thank you. A small advance, considering that there are still many planets that also want to return to us."
The entrance hatch of the second organic ship opens and in the oval of the entrance Khalee Lah sees Priest Harrar, next to him a bodyguard in flashy green and yellow Vonduun crab armor. Harrar simply bows his head in greeting as the bodyguard goes to Khalee Lah to escort him back to the ship.
Tenel Ka looks after the two Yuuzhan Vong. The woman is extremely strong and only half a head shorter than the two meter tall Khalee Lah.
"A beautiful couple, isn't it, my child?" Ta'a Chume says to her granddaughter as Harrar's ship is already taking off.
Tenel Ka tilts her head and looks at her grandmother with a decidedly dismissive look. "Certainly better than other options that came to the table four days ago."
The unsuspecting Isolder puts a comforting hand on his daughter's shoulder. "We should go back to the palace now."
"And I should get going too," says Jaina Solo. "The enemy doesn't sleep and I see," she winks at Tenel Ka, "you also gave my ship enough to eat along the way so that the Trickster will survive the flight to Mon Cal."
Tenel Ka hugs her friend. "See you on Mon Cal."