Jedi Dawn - Chapter 11
By Sienn (2001) 

 

Rating (for chapter):  PG-13
Protagonists: Luke/Mara
Category: Drama/Action/Angst

 

Spoilers:
See Chapter 1

 

Disclaimer:
See Chapter 1

 

Second Day Of The Peace Talks, Vong Ship Criarto, Early Morning

 

The atmosphere was icy cold while the recordings of Corellia were shown. The small holo player, the only technical device the Yuuzhan Vong had allowed to be brought onto the ship, stood in the middle of the great room they had spoken in the day before.
After the Mon Calamari admiral in charge of the New Republic fleet dispatched to Corellia had finished his descriptions and the images had vanished, a long silence lay above the room.

 

Leia felt alert, awake and angry. She had trusted the Yuuzhan Vong, had been sure that Tsavong Lah was as eager as she was to establish peace between them. Now, she wondered whether it all had been a lie or whether the Warmaster was simply testing whether the New Republic really had the power at hand to punish his race for what they had once again done.

 

The problem, Leia darkly mused, was that the New Republic DIDN'T have the might to do that just now. And when she looked over at her brother, who was visibly moved in face of this new atrocity, she didn't think he could accomplish what he had done above Ithor - not so soon again, anyway.

 

Perhaps in some weeks he would be able to summon this amount of Force energy again - but not now.

 

Nonetheless, she had to at least pretend that the New Republic could destroy the still existing Vong ships - with a little bit of luck, they would be intimidated enough by what had happened to their fleet some weeks ago to cease further movements. Not that Leia really believed they would - but she had to try.

 

"Can you give me only ONE reason not to cancel the negotiations and wipe your race out, Warmaster Lah?" she asked, her voice not betraying anything of her anxiety and worry.

 

She felt Luke's soul flinch and knew at once that he had overheard her thoughts - by accident, probably, but he had. He knew that the galaxy would rely on HIM to win the war, if it should break out again. The barely covered panic she felt settle into her brother's heart made her almost tremble.

 

Luke knew, as well as she did, that, if the war should break out again, it would come to the moment she had to ask him to repeat what he had done above Ithor. Not as his sister, but as President of the New Republic and for the sake of the whole galaxy. No matter whether it destroyed her brother. Swallowing as inconspicuously as she could, Leia focused on the Yuuzhan Vong Warmaster, holding her breath and waiting for what seemed to be inevitable.

 

To her surprise, Lah looked at her with narrowed eyes, but didn't seem to be the least bit offended, content or even surprised. On the contrary - as unbelievable as it seemed, if Leia had had to guess, she would have said Lah seemed angry.

 

"I have a reason, indeed," he growled, catching her gaze and never letting it go.

 

"That would be?" she asked, letting all the cold she felt pouring into her voice and making it as sharp as a vibro-blade.

 

"These ships are not under my command," he softly hissed, folding his hands over his stomach and leaning back into his chair, his eyes resting again on the holo player in front of him.

 

Han beside her inhaled sharply and Luke studied the Yuuzhan Vong with cold eyes: "Not under your command?" he repeated, his voice booming although he did still seem to be perfectly serene. "I think you should explain this."

 

Lah shifted in his chair to look Luke directly into the eyes and showed his teeth in a grimace that reminded Leia of the picture of a grinning devil she had once seen in a museum somewhere on Coruscant.

 

"These ships have been reported to be missing for some days now. The commander they have been dispatched to hasn't answered any of my calls. My spies are still trying to find some answers to this mystery," the Warmaster explained.

 

"How do you recognise the ships? They all look like big, coloured asteroids," Han asked, his face contorted in suspicion and his hand itching to the place where his blaster usually hung.

 

No wonder, Leia mused. It had been Han's home world that had been attacked. Even while she contemplated whether it would diminish her position in Lah's eyes if she laid her hand onto Han's to soothe him, she felt a flicker in the Force coming from Luke and brushing gently over Han's soul.

 

The tensed shoulders of her husband eased a little bit and he shot Luke a glance that was half reproachful, half grateful. A corner of Luke's mouth lifted into a gentle smile that was gone as soon as it had appeared.

 

Lah gave Han a cold stare, then gestured to the holo player: "Tell your abomination to play the records again."

 

With a dubiously perched eyebrow, Wedge bent forward and activated the device again.

 

After some seconds, Lah barked. "Hold it there!"

 

It sounded dangerous, aggressive and frightening and Wedge shied unconsciously away, but Luke had already reached out and stopped the player when Lah had opened his mouth.

 

The Warmaster pointed one of his sharp claws at a spot on the flagship, then at spots on the other ships.
"There," he said. "The markings of their domain."

 

Leia frowned, trying hard to see anything, but she didn't succeed. Luke, Han and Wedge leaned forward, their sharp pilot eyes narrowing and tracing every single detail of the ships.

 

Finally, Luke nodded: "I see it. It's the same symbol on every ship."

 

"Yeah," Han grumbled. Wedge just nodded, then shook his head in wonderment.

 

Obviously noticing her total bewilderment, Luke turned to his sister: "Look at the colour directly above the last vent for the plasma shooters. The green is different - and in the green there is black and dark blue. It's forming a symbol - a circle with some carvings and lines in it."

 

Leia concentrated on the place Luke had described and, really, now she could make it out, too.

 

When he had made sure that his sister had seen the evidence, too, Luke again addressed Lah: "What exactly is a domain, in your society?" he asked, now projecting calm - not anger.

 

"I think you can compare it with what you call clan, or family. They are important parts of our caste system - there are mighty domains with a glorious line of warriors, domains that have raised extraordinary shapers and domains that are disgraced forever by the actions of some misfits. The domain can be traced by the name - only in some cases a domain has special physical marks. This is seldom."

 

Luke nodded: "I see. So your domain would be domain Lah?"

 

"Exactly," Lah murmured, clearly not all too comfortable with sharing such things with a human.

 

"I think the question here is obvious," Gilad Pellaeon spoke up. "To which domain belong the ships that attacked Corellia?"

 

"Domain Etis," The Warmaster answered, clicking his nails thoughtfully against the sides of his yorik-coral chair. "But, " he added,
"that won't help you any, I'm afraid."

 

"Why not?" Kre'fey asked surprised, his fur in disorder about all the turns in the talks.

 

"Because domain Etis has been extinguished long ago - almost two decades, to speak exactly. None of them survived."

 

Luke frowned: "How do you know that?"

 

Now Lah grinned in amusement at the Jedi Master: "I killed the last one of them with my own hands, Jeedai Skywalker. This domain doesn't exist anymore."

 

Again silence laid itself over the room.

 

Finally, Leia cleared her throat: "What exactly does this mean, Warmaster? Always assuming that I believe you."

 

"You will investigate this at Corellia, won't you?" Lah asked.

 

When all members of the delegation nodded, Lah rose, folded his arms before his chest and turned to Leia. "Whoever attacked your planet did it against my clear orders. This alone is a reason for what I propose to you now. Besides, by using the symbol of domain Etis, whoever leads these ships is mocking me, making the thing personal."

 

When Leia didn't reply and looked at him uncertainly, Lah smiled predatorily and added with a low, but firm voice.

 

"The Yuuzhan Vong offer a temporary alliance with the New Republic and the Jedi to find the perpetrators. We will help you with all we can, but we demand that, once they are caught, the criminals will be placed in our hands. And that we have a say in every tactical decision."

 

Leia blinked: "You're proposing a friendship?"

 

Lah nodded: "I am."

 

The Alderaanian princess contemplated this for a moment, took a look at each of her companion's faces, then nodded. "The New Republic accepts the temporary alliance and your help. Perhaps it is a way to a lasting co-operation between our people."

 

Lah looked very thoughtful and nodded: "Perhaps, Princess Leia, perhaps. We'll see how well we can adapt to each other."

 

*~~

 

Still contemplating the turn of events while he once again took the rear end of the delegation, Luke was really startled when a slender hand was laid onto his shoulder.

 

Surprised, he turned around and had to rely on all his self-control to keep from activating his lightsaber. Another petite Yuuzhan Vong female stood behind him, but it wasn't Elan. Although he had problems distinguishing between the males, the female Yuuzhan Vong were quite easy to tell apart.

 

"Master Skywalker?" the young female asked in heavily accented Basic.

 

He frowned, but nodded: "Yes, I am Master Skywalker. Who are you?"

 

The woman bowed slightly: "My name is Lonan. I'm the youngest crèche-sister of Priestess Elan."

 

"Crèche-sister?" he repeated, the word tasting strange in his mouth.

 

"Yes, closest assistant," she explained after a short pause.

 

That got Luke curious and he felt his heartbeat fasten. News about the cure for Mara?

 

"Is the Priestess back?" he asked eagerly, not paying any attention anymore whether the others were waiting for him or not.

 

Lonan shook her head: "No, I'm afraid not. But she sent me to give you this."

 

She placed a small, rocky ball into his hands. It moved slighted. Luke examined it curiously, but couldn't guess what it was. He shot the female a curious glance.

 

"It's a rapo villip - he can't take on the form of the faces, but he will alert you immediately when Priestess Elan returns and activates her own rapo villip. So you will know when she's here with the Shaper."

 

Luke looked fascinated at the tiny animal in his hand. It had changed colour and seemed to make itself comfortable between his fingers. "How will it alert me?"

 

"If you have it with you always, it will alert you by vibrations. Soundlessly. Priestess Elan asks you not to show it to anyone of your kind."

 

Luke narrowed his eyes suspiciously. "Why?"

 

"Because these devices are very seldom used and sort of illegal in our society. They have a certain amount of unnatural... technical materiel in them to get data even from very far away."

 

Luke looked some moments at her, trying to find out whether she lied or not, but shrugging his thoughts away with a soundless sigh. It was for Mara.

 

Stashing the animal in a pocket of his robe, he nodded: "Thank you." He just wanted to turn away, when he caught himself and asked: "How do I care for it? What does it eat?"

 

Lonan grinned: "Don't worry, it will be fine. It eats everything that's floating in the air. Just keep it warm - body warmth is ideal."
Luke nodded again, then followed his friends.

 

Lonan grinned, turned and hurried to the private chambers of her Mistress to contact the Priestess immediately.

 

Dathomir, Some Miles Away From The Holy River Clan Fortress

 

If the situation hadn't been that serious, Mara Jade would have been enjoying herself perfectly. It seemed to have been an eternity ago that she had been able to walk such a distance without pain and tiredness. Now she had over ten miles behind her and was still able to do at least ten more.

 

Not that she would have to walk them. With a few easy equations and simple gut instinct, she had determined the course of the Yuuzhan Vong ship and was sure that she was on the right way.

 

It couldn't be far anymore, considering the relatively low pace the ship had been going on. Probably trying to fake an asteroid - Mara grinned. Bad luck for them that she had never been fooled by such simple tricks. No one, not even Luke immersed deeply in the Force, could fake the erratic descent of an asteroid plunging into a planet's atmosphere.

 

For quite some time now, Mara had been wandering over mesa, not worrying a bit about being spotted. Even if she was seen, they would take her for a witch and according to all the aliens knew, the inhabitants of Dathomir hadn't even heard about them.

 

Now, though, she stood before a relatively modest hill and contemplated whether she should first rest and then advance or move on directly. Judging that the Yuuzhan Vong were probably not going to waste any time with rest themselves, Mara proceeded toward the top of the hill.

 

For the final ten meters, she crawled until she could peek over the edge. She snorted quietly, but contented. Just as she had imagined. The aliens felt secure enough to not even bother about camouflaging themselves.

 

A single coralskipper was settled next to an elaborate building that looked like a giant nutshell. Perhaps, Mara thought sarcastically, it was REALLY a nutshell. One never knew what the Yuuzhan Vong used for housing.

 

There were no guards, as she noted. Suspiciously, Mara wondered if they could possibly know that she was here and just waited for her to walk into a trap, but she dismissed that thought immediately. They didn't need to lure her into a trap. They had a coralskipper; they could have long picked her up on the way.

 

Deciding that she could as well go forward if she was already here, Mara plotted a course behind some stones that could cover her and began her descent towards the small valley.

 

No one stopped her and Mara grinned at the lack of security. It was absolutely no problem to get behind the great building and find the air vent - after she had searched for some kind of window without success. The air vent was just fine, though, for she could see into the building and hear what was spoken there.

 

There were only two people - a Yuuzhan Vong female, petite, lanky, with black hair. And a tall Yuuzhan Vong warrior that looked all but happy.

 

'Don't tell me they are governed by women', Mara thought astonished.

 

What astonished her even more was that the two Yuuzhan Vong below were speaking Basic.

 

Now the female began. "Your attack on the infidel planet was the most stupid thing you could have done, Admiral Idao," She hissed.

 

"You said I should attack if I want to, Priestess," her counterpart growled, his hands twitching along with the amphistaff wound around his wrist.

 

"But no planets, you damutek-brain! And then with the signs of domain Etis! How dumb are you?" the female shouted, clearly loosing her patience.

 

"Now, " she continued when the Admiral didn't reply, "it is only a matter of time until Lah will have tracked this whole thing to you. And from you to me."

 

"Well, he shall come. I'm prepared to meet him," the Yuuzhan Vong named Idao barked, a murderous glint in his eyes.

 

"But I'm not. My plans aren't ready yet - my most important factor is still lacking. It would take time we now don't have anymore."

 

Idao snorted: "My job is the fighting, Priestess. Your's is the thinking. If you limp behind, then I'd suggest that you speed up your plans."

 

"I will have to do so, indeed. Now go! I can't bear to see you anymore!" The so-called priestess hissed.

 

With a low cackle, the Admiral left the chamber. Mara pressed herself against the side of the building, watching as the Yuuzhan Vong climbed over another hill. His ship was probably behind this one.

 

She already wanted to follow him when she heard the female's voice again. Curious, Mara peeked again into the strange building. A villip sat before the woman, formed into the head of another, rather young-looking Yuuzhan Vong female.

 

"Lonan, report," the Priestess hissed, nervously tapping her right foot onto the floor.

 

The face on the villip, Lonan obviously, smiled. "Skywalker has received the rapo, Mistress."

 

The tensed face of the Priestess exploded into a ferocious smile. Mara gripped the edges of the air vent harder and leaned forward, totally unconsciously, her heart contracting painfully at the mention of her husband's name. These aliens were plotting against Luke!

 

"Excellent. Has he already left the Criarto?"

 

"Yes, Mistress."

 

"Wonderful. Wait some hours until the rapo reports that he is alone. Then we make our move. Have you instructed the Peace Brigadiers that Idao gave to us?"

 

"Yes. They weren't co-operative at first, but I found means to get them to do what we want. Two of Idao's men will accompany them to supervise the move. Though they will be surprised that it will happen so soon."

 

The Priestess frowned: "Believe me, I didn't want it that way. But I have no other choice. Idao's attack on the infidel planet makes it too dangerous for me to return to Lah's ship. Send the signal to Mezhan Kwaad, then see to it that you accompany the Peace Brigadiers. And do every preparation Kwaad told you to. Once we have the Jeedai, we have to hurry. It won't take Lah too long to figure out who is behind all this and when he has discovered my treachery, I want to have Skywalker at my disposal, is that clear?"

 

"Perfectly clear, Mistress." Lonan bowed and cut the connection.

 

"Good," Elan purred, then proceeded also towards the exit. "It becomes interesting," she murmured.

 

And then it happened. Mara, finally becoming totally aware that they were talking about KIDNAPPING Luke, pressed her fingernails in an attack of anger into the building. With a deep howl, the thing began to move.

 

The Priestess spun around and, for some seconds, looked Mara straight in the eyes. Enraged, she cried into a tiny villip into her hands.

 

Cursing, Mara had already begun to run back atop the hill she had come from, when the Yuuzhan Vong warrior appeared some ten meters to her right, grinning widely.

 

Noting how long his amphistaff was, Mara had no other choice as to fight him. Echoing his cruel smile, Mara activated her lightsaber, delighted by its deep, familiar hum. Her first fight in perfect condition for almost a year now. The Vong would soon wish to never have met her.

 

Idao's eyes widened in surprise. "Jeedai!" he hissed, grinning more broadly, then he uncurled his amphistaff.

 

Coruscant, Skywalker Apartment, Some Hours After The Return From The Criarto

 

Luke stretched his arms and finally shut the data pad down. The last few hours, he had sent various messages to his Jedi Knights, giving them new missions. Together with Wedge, he had gotten Rogue Squadron together and some veterans to accompany them to Corellia.

 

The delegation and its reinforcements, together with the Criarto, would leave the next morning for Corellia to investigate the raid on the planet. It seemed to indicate another few days without much sleep - not that he thought he could sleep anyway.

 

Glancing for at least the thousandth time at the strange, little villip in front of him, he sighed. He hoped the Priestess would return with news before tomorrow morning. He wouldn't be able to bear another postponing of a possible cure for Mara.

 

Shaking his head, he took the little animal into his hand, watched its regular movements for some time, then stashed it back into his pocket. It would best stay there while he cleaned up the mess of data disks he had left behind in his living room.

 

*~~

 

On the ship Criarto, Lonan had been carefully tracking every move of the Jeedai through the transmission of the rapo and when the tiny, sophisticated animal reported it had been once again stashed into the tunic pocket, she gave the signal for it to finally do what was its nature. Grinning, she patted the second villip on the table to inform her personal coralskipper about the impending take-off.

 

*~~

 

Luke didn't get the slightest warning from the Force. In the few seconds that were left to him, he didn't even come around to understand what had happened to him.

 

With a sharp hiss Luke didn't hear, the rapo, not even slightly related to a villip, catapulted its sharp spikes into the flesh of the human's left thigh and injected its poison.

 

With a low groan, the Jedi Master crumpled to the floor and didn't move anymore.

 

Thus, he wasn't aware of the persons sneaking into his apartment and dragging his inert form with them.

 

*~~
 
The docking and the exchange of the precious good went on in total silence and astonishing speed at the night side of one of Coruscant's moons and none of the infidels' sensors was able to track it down.

 

Aboard her personal coralskipper, Lonan smiled and ordered the ship to go to what the infidels called hyperspace. In the small compartment in the back of the ship, where the lights were shut down, guarded by two warriors, lay a still figure.

 

Lonan hummed in satisfaction - she had fulfilled her mistress's orders. Priestess Elan would be extraordinarily pleased.

| To Be Continued | - Next chapter NC-12

 

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