Children of Mandalore: Prelude to Terror

CHAPTER FIVE:

　
There was no mistaking the dark feeling that had fallen on the room with the affirmation that the Jedi’s silence had given to Tyran’s question. She had been broken by the Yuuzhan Vong and had given them everything she knew about the Galactic Alliance fleet preparing to liberate Katna Major. He could easily tell that Kial was more than angry with the young Jedi apprentice but at least had the decency to keep his mouth shut for once. Tyran couldn’t blamer her though. He hadn’t done a very thorough inspection of Varos once he and his two brothers had been thrown into the nearly black room with her as other things had been higher up on his priority list at the time.

Now that he was finally able to get a look at her he was truly surprised she had lasted as long as she had. She was young, thin and pale skinned with long black that had a single violet stripe running down the right side. It was all matted and filled with dirt and clung to her skin in the humid atmosphere that seemed to go along with the living technology of the Yuuzhan Vong.

Her clothing was literally no more than dirty, bloody tatters that left very little to the imagination of what was under them. There was a myriad of lacerations, bruises and burns scattered across the entirety of her body, the most serious of which was a scorch mark under her right eye. It was a deep scarlet at its center and gradually blackened towards the outer edges. Her back resembled more of a crude dejarik board with all the intersecting lines from amphistaff whips creating a checkered pattern on her skin.

But ultimately he wasn’t surprised she had broken in the end. She wasn’t a warrior, not in the same sense that Rixa, Kial and himself were anyway. They were trained in every way of warfare, trained to be the one who came out on the winning side no matter how dirty or vicious the other side fought. Their supplemental training on Raxus Prime only reinforced their finely sharpened skills.

Raven on the other hand had spent most of her life learning how to deal with things in a peaceful manner, through negotiation and only to use acts of physical violence as an absolute final option and she had to do it with virtually no emotion. Which gave her no resolve. Tyran used his feelings to fuel his body, to make sure he accomplished the goal he had been given. His hatred of the Yuuzhan Vong had gotten him through Gyndine and his all consuming need of vengeance had gotten him through Tholatin. It would be his concern for his brother that would get him off this moon.

He turned his gaze in the direction of the Jedi. She was curled up in a corner of the room emitting a sound that made him think she was hacking up a beskad. He was certain that it was a cold fury building up inside him for what the Yuuzhan Vong had done to her that would get him through Katna Major. He pressed a button on his forearm plate and a compartment on his thigh armor opened up. He pulled a small plastoid bottle from it, the contents of which was nothing more than purified water from the stores on the Resistance. He walked over to the Jedi and kneeled down in front of her once more and handed the bottle to her. She finished her coughing fit and looked up at the bottle with tears involuntarily streaming down her face, caused by the coughing.

“Here you need this a lot more than I do.”

She tried to transition over into a sitting position and just barely managed to do that. The simple movement that should have taken her less than a second to perform made her breakout into a sweat. He gave a small shake of his head and felt something cold form in his gut, a confirmation that the rage was there. He slowly reached out with his hands, showing he meant no harm, and helped her move her body into a sitting position. He leaned her head back and pressed the bottle to her cracked lips and slowly tilted it upwards. The cool water began to trickle down the back of her throat, a soothing balm to throbbing irritated flesh. He tilted the bottle upwards a little more to allow more of the liquid to slide down her throat and she brought her hands, weak and shaky, up and grabbed hold of his hand around the bottle and began drinking.

He felt a genuine moment of pity for the girl. Reduced to the point where she could barely function on her own. She closed her eyes and continued to drink from the bottle pushing up on his hand to indicate to him to tilt the bottle some more. She closed her eyes and more tears began to spill down her face. Whether they were tears of relief or embarrassment Tyran couldn’t guess, he only knew the girl had nothing to be ashamed of. He had a sudden feeling that he was being watched and turned his head. Kial was standing over his shoulder with his arms crossed.

“You have a problem?” Tyran asked in Mando’a.

“Yeah,” Kial said replied back in the same manner “You’re taking care of a Jedi instead of your own brother.”

“The Jedi needs it more.”

“I wouldn’t waste what few supplies we have on someone who looks like she’ll be more of a burden than an asset in combat.”

“Then she’ll be my burden to bear.” Tyran fixed Kial with a glare that would have given even Koryn Bralor a moments hesitation. “Give me your water bottle.”

“No. I’m not wasting my water on her.”

“Give it to me or I’ll take it by force.”

“Give it to him Kial,” Rixa chimed in, his voice heavy and tired “The Jedi is the whole reason we came here in the first place. We need to make sure nothing else happens to her.”

“She betrayed the Fleet.”

“She thought we were dead, she thought her final hope of escape had gone up in a giant plume of fire and pain. Plus the Fleet has taken into account the possibility of her telling them everything she knows.” Tyran growled “Give her a break.”

Kial sighed deeply and eyed the Jedi over. He wasn’t so interested in his own chances of survival that he didn’t feel a stab of anger and sympathy for what the Yuuzhan Vong had done to her but he wasn’t thrilled that he would have to sit here and watch it happen to one of his friends.

“Does Rixa really have to be the sacrificial nerf?” he asked.

“He is already injured,” Tyran’s voice was detached “He wont be of much help in keeping the Vong away from her.” he leveled his gaze with Kial “That will be up to me and you.”

“I’ve always wanted to be a team leader,” Rixa’s voice was thick with grim sarcasm “At least now I get to pretend to be one.”

Tyran didn’t like the plan any more than Kial did. When the Yuuzhan Vong entered the room again they were sure to try and break the three of them by hurting the Jedi, a damsel in distress scenario where they would be compelled to divulge anything and everything they knew.

They weren’t going to let that happen.

Raven was curled up in the corner for a reason. When the Vong came into the room, Tyran and Kial would stand side by side and in front of Raven and use their skills in close-quarters-combat to kill any warrior that tried to approach her. They would then sell out Rixa as their leader and let him receive the Breaking.

As he tilted the bottle some more to allow the final drops of liquid to leave the bottle and enter the dried throat of the battered Jedi, Tyran hoped that he was strong enough to watch his brother endure the tortures of the Yuuzhan Vong. He pulled the bottle from her lips and crumpled it in his hand.

“Better?” he asked in Basic.

“Much.” her voice was weak still and cracked as she spoke but there was a relieved undertone to her words that hadn’t been there when the three of them had been thrown into the room with her. Her eyes didn’t have the same grim and resigned look to them either. It was amazing what a single act of kindness or compassion could do.

“That language, what is it?” she asked wiping her chin on the back of her hand.

“Mando’a.” Tyran said as he sat down in front of her while Kial leaned against the wall on Tyran’s right.

“As in Mandalorian?” she half gasped half coughed.

“The one and only.”

She stared at Tyran and Kial for a few moments “I thought you were Special Forces.”

“They don’t get anymore special than Kial here.” Rixa said making his older brother laugh.

Raven tried to smile “So who’s in charge?” she asked.

“He is.” Kial and Tyran said in unison as they pointed to Rixa.

Raven felt them lie to her and took no offense to it. They obviously had a plan of some sort and she wasn’t about to foul it up.

“How did you get the Chemsticks and water in here?”

“The Yuuzhan Vong didn’t search us.” Kial said. “They herded us into a transport but that was about as much as they wanted to handle us I guess.”

“Huh.” she breathed. The water seemed to have helped her coughing. There was a few more moments of silence. “You, um, wouldn’t have anything to eat would you?”

“Ration bars, but they’re tougher than bantha hide. Is your throat able to handle that?”

“It can’t be more painful than the last few days I’ve had.” she said “I think I can handle it.”

Tyran shrugged and opened the compartment on his thigh again and pulled out a nutrient bar and broke a small piece off and handed it to her. He let out an amused snort at the disparaged look she gave the small portion of food in his hand.

“Just start out with this and if you can get that down without too much pain I’ll give you the rest.”

She gave him a curious look as she took the small portion of bar from him and popped it into her mouth. It hurt her jaw to have to chew on the bar, he hadn’t lied to her when he said it was as tough as bantha hide. She did take notice how the bar seemed to have no taste to it. It was just a thick bar made out of a clear sticky substance that carried all the nutrients a soldier would need in the field. Even though the edges of the bar were soft they seemed to cut into the swollen flesh of her throat as she swallowed it. Tears welled up in her eyes and she closed them shut hoping the Mandalorians hadn’t seen them.

Tyran nodded his head “Yeah that’s what I thought.” he ripped off another small piece of the bar and handed it to her “Here eat up.”

“What?” She croaked.

“You heard me,” he laughed “But I’ll help you out this time.”

“How?” she popped the second piece of bar into her mouth.

“Just relax.” he said tossing the remaining bar to Kial and raising his hands to the Jedi to show no ill intent. He changed position so he was sitting next to her. He slowly gripped his hand around her neck and felt her instantly tense under his touch. “Relax.” he said again as he started massaging her throat. “I don’t know exactly how this works but one time I when I was ten or eleven, I was in the Outer Rim on this dustbowl of a planet with my father going through training like every other kid my age. I came down with an infection in my throat, there was some swelling and whatnot. It wasn’t life threatening but I couldn’t eat solid food without feeling like my throat was being cut to bits. One day my father reached over and started massaging my throat while I was eating and the pain was greatly diminished.”

Kial rolled his eyes “You’re lucky that Aru isn’t here to see you with your hands on another women.” He said in Mando’a.

“Well this is for medical purposes.” Tyran said truthfully but with a hint of a laugh as he felt Raven swallow the nutrient bar while he massaged her throat. He let go of her “How was that?”

“Better.” she nodded “It didn’t hurt as bad as before.”

“Think you can finish the rest of it?”

She nodded “You were right about it being as tough as bantha hide,” she said “You just didn’t say anything about it tasting like it though.”

Rixa began coughing “Yeah, they take some getting used to.”

The room suddenly filled with the sickening squelching sound as the portal to the room puckered open. Instantly Tyran and Kial were on their feet forcing Raven back into the corner as far as they could before taking up positions in front of her as a barrier. Rixa managed to pull himself up to a standing position by using the yorik coral wall behind him.

Four Yuuzhan Vong warriors, heavily scarred and tattooed walked into the room with Kurru Ivat and Falas Draisa walking in the center of their formation. Draisa looked down at the Chemsticks littering the floor and snarled to the warrior next to him. The warrior reluctantly crushed each one under his foot, covering his armored limb in the glowing fluid contained in the plastoid cylinders.

Draisa turned his head towards the two Mandalorians standing in front of the Jeedai, who was cowering just as a being who had just succumbed to the Breaking should, and then turned his head towards the lone Mandalorian who was clearly putting up a front to appear like the strong soldier he thought he was. Draisa could tell that the infidel was in pain, his brow was covered in sweat and his breathing was heavy.

Such fragile and pathetic creatures. the High Commander thought as he moved into the center of the room. “Which one?”

Kurru stepped up to the side of his superior and pointed at Tyran “That one High Commander. I believe he is their leader. He was the most defiant and troublesome of the trio during transit from the incident site.”

Draisa walked over to Tyran coming to a stop at least two arm lengths away from him. He wasn’t afraid of the infidel as much as he was afraid of the taint that he carried.

“You, my subordinates say you are the leader of the strike team that nearly desecrated the Temple of Yun-Yammka.” Draisa swept his blood-red spidersilk cape away from his body making sure his physical form was fully in view. The Mandalorian he was addressing eyed him over and seemed unimpressed. Draisa sighed “Why you infidels must always play the strong silent type in the beginning has always bothered me. You all end up giving me what I want in the end.”

“Not us scarhead.” the lone Mandalorian said from behind Draisa “Especially not them, they’re just muscle.”

“And you would be the brains?” Draisa asked without turning his head away from Tyran and Kial, both of whom had their fists balled and appeared ready to strike.

“Yeah, more or less.”

“Well which is it? More or less?”

“More.”

Draisa nodded and walked back to the center of the room and turned to the warriors who had accompanied him. “Bring me the Jeedai, we’ll see how long they can watch the female suffer.” Two of the four warriors gave a quick salute and uncoiled their amphistaffs and turned towards Tyran and Kial.

The two Mandalorians began to shake their wrists and roll their necks preparing for the coming fight. The lead warrior, a large and heavily scarred Yuuzhan Vong, came to within three paces of Tyran.

“Move or die.” the warrior hissed in harsh basic.

Tyran neither moved or replied to the Yuuzhan Vong threat. The larger warrior snarled to his counterpart and they moved towards Tyran and Kial prepared to forcibly move them out of the way. Tyran planted his large palms on the chest plate of the large warriors vonduun crab armor and gave a hard shove, pushing the warrior back several paces. Eyes flashing with a golden rage the warrior rushed towards Tyran striking out with his rigid amphistaff. Tyran brought his left arm up and the venomous fangs of the living weapon shattered as they tried to clamp down onto the unrelenting beskar iron his forearm plate was made of. As the staff transformed from its rigid state into its pliable, whip like form, Tyran wrapped it around his forearm and pulled the warrior still holding it closer to him so they were nearly face to face.

“Getting the Jedi won’t be so easy.” he snarled at the warrior as he released the damaged amphistaff allowing the warrior to back off a few paces.

If there was one thing Tyran could be certain of it was that the warrior he had just insulted would most definitely plan on exacting immediate retribution. He was pleased to see that the warrior met his expectations and proceeded to toss the damaged amphistaff aside and rush him, howling with rage. Tyran planted his feet as the warrior leaned into his rush planning on impaling him with one of the many spikes that protruded from the shoulders of his vonduun crab armor. When the warrior closed to within a half meter of him, Tyran balled his right hand into a fist and sent it flying upwards in a picture perfect uppercut that caught the warrior’s lowered head square on the bridge of its nose.

The Yuuzhan Vong warrior was rocked into a standing position by the blow before he’s feet left the ground by a noticeable distance. He came crashing down on his back, a fist sized hole now occupied where there had once been an already severely disfigured face. A silence fell on the room as Draisa and Ivat stared down at the two dead warriors they had sent to retrieve the Jedi. The smaller of the two warriors that had decided to engage Kial was lying in a crumpled heap at the Mandalorian’s feet, a spike from the warriors own armor protruding from his throat. Tyran and Kial shared a meaningful glance with each other for a few seconds and grinned as they took in the confused and angry glares of the other Yuuzhan Vong in the room.

“Crushgaunts.” Tyran said flatly to the High Commander as he gave the dead warrior at his feet a hard kick that sent the body scuttling across the yorik coral floor. It came to a halt almost directly between the two forces.

“Impressive.” Draisa said his voice sour and devoid of anything that came close to being truly impressed. “You weren’t removed of your weapons before being brought into the Temple?”

“I’d talk to your head of security about that.” Tyran said “But don’t think that we’ll be giving these up without a fight.”

“Is that a challenge!?” Ivat roared stepping forward towards Tyran.

“Remain where you are.” Draisa barked at his subordinate “We shall have a discussion about why these infidels were not properly searched before entering the Temple of the Slayer God.”

“Yes High Commander.” Ivat said falling back in line behind Draisa.

Draisa sighed as he turned to face Rixa “The Jeedai is of no more use to us and I am not going to throw away my warriors to try and pry her away from her…guardians.” He turned his gaze to Kurru “Strip him of his armor.”

“High Commander what if he wears these…..crushgaunts.” Ivat struggled with the word “He will dispatch all who approach him.”

“No, I think not.” Draisa said “He is wounded and weak. I would wager that one of the underlings would be able to restrain him in his current state.”

Rixa blinked sweat from his eyes “Only one way to find out scarhead.”

Draisa moved across the room with blinding speed and before Rixa could react the heavily armored fist of the Yuuzhan Vong High Commander slammed into the side of his face. Motes of white light sparkled across his vision and the blow opened up a deep cut on the side of his head. Rixa Numeck crumpled to the floor in a helpless heap. Draisa turned a lipless smile on Tyran and Kial.

“I have heard that Mandalorians are supposed to be an honorable people. Would you truly leave one of your own, a member who is obviously of your own domain, to suffer for the likes of the Jeedai? Someone who volunteered information on your entire infidel fleet.”

“That information may not be what you hope it is.” Tyran growled using all his willpower to remain in front of the Jedi “This Jedi has been out of touch, things change.”

“We will see Mandalorian,” Draisa’s voice dripped venom “We will see.”