It had been 12 days into the voyage. "Alright, we're exiting Hyperspace. It's either get to Zonama Sekot through Realspace, or not at all." Luke explained. The vortical view of Hyperspace slowed down, and resumed to Realspace. The planet Bakura was in plain view.
"We'll stop here to resupply. It'll be a 2 day journey to the Yuuzhan Vong. Call up security." Luke explained.
Ben turned on the comboard to request permission to land. "This is Ben Skywalker of the Jade Shadow requesting permission to land."
There was a moment of silence. "I don't know. We don't really want Jedi here." the operator said.
"We just need a 2-day's worth of supplies. We'll be in and out. You won't even notice we were even there." Ben pleaded.
There was a pause that lasted 10 minutes. "Fine. Transmitting coordinates for Landing Pad Seven. We're sending a crew with supplies to meet you there. This better be as fast as you say it will be."
"Thank you." Ben said.
The Jade Shadow landed on Landing Pad 7. The crew with the supplies were still an hour or so out. "This'll be a good lesson in patience, son."
"Not that I need one." Ben remarked.
"With that attitude, you do need one."
Ben shook his head, and rolled his eyes. "You better not have done what I think you just did." Luke warned.
After about an hour of waiting, Luke and Ben greeted the loading crew. "Why do you need 2 day's worth of supplies?" One of them asked.
"We're going into the Unknown Regions." Ben innocently responded.
The crewmember furrowed his brow. "Why?"
Ben was about to respond, but his father quickly cut him off. "That information isn't important." Luke then shot his son a disapproving glance. Ben immediately understood that he shouldn't disclose that they were going to see the Yuuzhan Vong. And he didn't need to even wonder why.
The crew continued with loading up the Shadow. Luke helped direct them to the best areas to place the supplies. Ben's stomach inverted slightly when he noticed that all of the food was going to be nutripaste. Not that stuff again. He thought. He already needed to live off of it during Luke's exile, and he had hoped he'd never have to worry about it again.
Back-up fuel tanks were placed in a storage room that would be kept at cold temperatures to keep them from combusting.
Cilghal monitored Vestara and Tahiri. Once their readings showed signs of decent stability, she moved to hook up her new patient afflicted with the mystery illness, her own apprentice, Tekli. "Alright Tekli, where is the pain? The pain killers might not get rid of it, but they'll muffle it." Cilghal explained.
"The throat." Tekli struggled to say it. It was like having a sore throat, but worse. "It's hard… to swallow." She added.
Cilghal hooked her apprentice up to the IV Drip, and ran X-Rays. The tumor in Tekli was pressing against her esophagus and a little against her trachea. Cilghal shuddered at the sight. If the tumors can embed themselves in that sort of way, there's no telling what more damage they can do besides debilitating pain.
A feeding tube was placed down Tekli's throat to bypass her cramped esophagus. "Does it hurt to breathe?" Cilghal asked. The Chadra-Fan shook her head. "Alright, let me know if that changes." Cilghal got another tube, and affixed it into Tekli's mouth. "That will drain your saliva so you won't have to swallow." Cilghal explained.
Cilghal let out a disappointed sigh. She enjoyed having Tekli help around, but with her apprentice now incapacitated, she'd need to rely on her other aides more. She also wasn't sure how she'd even begin to plan caring for the vigilante assuming he was put under her care. So far, Jag was kept far from him as far as she knew, but there's no telling what he would even begin doing. Cilghal hoped that she wouldn't be the doctor in charge of Scarface if he got into another altercation with Jag.
Tahiri suddenly screamed Cilghal's name. That snapped the Mon Calamari healer out of her thoughts, and she looked over. "Vestara's in another seizure." Tahiri yelled.
Cilghal rushed to the young Jedi's side. Despite Cilghal's pleadings, Vestara never slept. Cilghal silently cursed herself for not putting Vestara to sleep earlier against her will. That way, she wouldn't be suffering like this.
After about 2 minutes, Vestara came to. Through the Force, Cilghal felt Vestara's pounding headache. She quickly used the Force to dull it. "Jedi Khai? Are you alright? Tell me what you see." Cilghal instructed.
After a few minutes of looking around, Vestara's jaw regained its strength to formulate words. She took a second to think of the words so she wouldn't stress herself. "You, Master Cilghal." There was a pause. Vestara slowly looked to her sides, taking in her surroundings. "Tahiri, my friend." Vestara looked to the other side, and saw Tekli. "Some mouse thing."
Tekli would've facepalmed after hearing Vestara, but couldn't. Cilghal at least was glad that Vestara had a basic understanding. "You had another seizure, Jedi Khai. However, it doesn't seem to be as severe as the last one." She explained.
"Is she... gonna be... alright?" Tekli asked.
Cilghal clicked her tongue. "Yes. But I'll have to check the damage report."
She brought a scanner over, and was appalled by the resulting damage to Vestara's mind. It seemed as though the nerves were so occupied that Vestara couldn't move her muscles in a more complex manner than turning her head and saying words. Cilghal took another scan for Vestara's brain. Through the Force, she could already sense that something was seriously wrong, yet already knew it wasn't deadly. At least not yet. The result confirmed Cilghal's fears. Vestara had moderate brain damage.
Something that started as debilitating pain in Vestara's legs had resulted in a detrimental lack of sleep, which ultimately led to seizures. There was no telling if they'd become life-threatening later. Cilghal needed to make a hard decision. I hope Ben will forgive me. She thought.
After the Jade Shadow was refueled and back into space, Luke piloted his late wife's craft into the Unknown Regions. "I can't believe I'm gonna see Zonama Sekot in person, for the first time." Ben remarked.
"Yeah, it was pretty nice. Especially since we didn't have to worry about Yuuzhan Vong ambushing us at every corner."
"How well did the Yuuzhan Vong take their exile there?"
Luke sucked air through his teeth. "Not great. And we're still dealing with splinter groups in the Outer Rim to this day. But I'm sure those who went to Zonama Sekot… at least accepted their fate. Especially Nas Choka."
"I wonder what their new society is like." Ben said. After the Sekot Accords, the "True Way", the Yuuzhan Vong religion was outlawed and banned. "I wouldn't expect anything impressive, but I wouldn't expect anything tragic either." Luke assured. It had been a long time since the last contact with the Yuuzhan Vong. He hoped it wouldn't be a sort of just-like-you-left-it scenario.
After 2 days traveling through space, the Jade Shadow arrived outside of the exosphere of the adopted Yuuzhan Vong homeworld. "Wow." Ben exclaimed. His eyes widened at the view. "I hope there'll be some form of assistance to ships arriving." Luke grumbled.
"I wouldn't count on it. They have no reason to expect visitors." Ben remarked. Luke couldn't help but agree with his son.
Soon, the comboard picked up a contact, and 2 coralskippers began approaching them. "Answer it. We might receive some help." Luke instructed. "Ul medegdekh mubajat, di pachāṇa ta ooroo." A deep, guttural voice said.
Ben looked at his father in confusion. Luke had a calm expression. "It's just their language. Try telling them that we don't understand." He instructed.
Ben turned on the transceiver. "We don't understand you."
There was a short pause. Luke took the time to slow the Jade Shadow down to at least show the coralskippers that they were going to obey. "Un… Unknown ves… vessel, identify yo… yourself." Sorrow entered Ben's mind the second the voice on the other side stumbled on the word, "vessel". Luke decided to answer it. "This is Luke Skywalker with my son Ben, of the Jade Shadow." He reported.
"What is the mean… meaning of your visit?"
"We seek Danni Quee. We just have questions that need answers."
There was another short pause. "Land… landing area three."
"Thank you."
The coralskippers guided the Shadow down to Zonama Sekot. Once the ship landed, Luke and Ben descended the ramp, and were met by a Yuuzhan Vong. "I am Sau Choka. Brother of Nas." He introduced.
"Pleased to meet you." Luke said. Without thinking, he held his hand out. Sau stared at Luke's hand for a second, then a look of realization hit him, and he shook it. Ben did the same. "Do you know where Danni Quee is?" Luke asked.
"At the moment, she is in a meeting with Nas Choka." Sau replied.
"When may we see her?" Ben asked.
"You need to see her immediately, yes?" Sau asked.
Luke nodded. "Preferably. However if she isn't available, we can talk with her at her earliest convenience."
"I'll get a raincheck on that," Sau paused, "Did I use that phrase right?"
"Yeah." Luke replied.
Sau stroked the villip on his shoulder, and it took the shape of Nas Choka after a few seconds. The sight sent shivers down Ben's spine. Sau began speaking to his brother in their native language. "How long until Luke and Ben are able to speak with Danni?" He asked.
The villip responded in their language. "We actually want to see them now." Nas Choka replied.
Sau looked back at the visiting Jedi. "They seek to see you both now." He reported in basic.
"Thank you. Where are they?" Luke asked.
As Sau led the 2 to the biotechnical building, he decided to kill some time with some small-talk. "As you can see, we've adapted to a more peaceful lifestyle." Luke and Ben noticed that many of the younger Yuuzhan Vong had cleaner skin, and bodies that didn't seem to have had broken or dislocated bones in the past. "I'm impressed." Luke remarked.
"In fact, we now call ourselves, Ur-Yuuzhan Vong as a way to signify our reconnection with our peaceful past." Sau added.
Luke and Ben felt the Force more alive on the planet. "I'm surprised that you all accepted it." Ben remarked.
A suspicious looking sorrowful expression hit Sau's face, but he quickly hid it. "Anyway, while the Warrior Caste and Supreme Overlord position were abolished, we've proclaimed my brother as the Great Prophet."
"Oh, why's that?" Luke asked.
"Zonama Sekot has taken a liking to him. As well as to me, my brother Jako, and others. We help guide our people to make sure we never return to our warrior past. But while Nas is the Great Prophet, we are the Great Seers."
"So it's just the names of positions?" Ben asked.
"If that's how you want to put it, then yes. But it's ultimately Nas who makes the final decision in order to prevent chaos."
Eventually, they made it to the Temple of Sekot. "My brother and Danni are right inside." Sau led the Skywalkers through the living mass. Tingles went up Ben's spine multiple times at the weird feeling of being inside a living being. Luke felt a little less uncomfortable, since he had experience with the biotechnology before.
The 3 walked into a room. Nas Choka sat at one end, Danni was next to him, another Ur-Yuuzhan Vong whom Luke and Ben deduced was Jako, sat on the other side of Nas. "Master Skywalker and Jedi Skywalker, please take a seat." Sau sat next to Jako, and Luke and Ben took the free chairs. At least they hoped they were chairs.
"So what is it you wanted to ask?" Danni asked.
"A mysterious illness is about. It put Vestara and Tahiri out of commission. So far, we haven't heard more from Cilghal." Luke explained.
Uneasy looks fell upon the 4 people Luke and Ben were addressing. Luke narrowed his eyes. "What are you four not telling us?"
"We didn't want to worry you," Nas Choka said at last, "But two of my brothers have attracted followers, and no longer serve the will of Zonama Sekot."