Sequel: Children of Mandalore: Red Fang ›
Children of Mandalore: Prelude to Terror
Chapter 6
CHAPTER SIX:
The Yuuzhan Vong warrior never saw it coming. Never heard the sound of the knife slicing through the humid air nor had he felt the impact of the blade on the back of his skull. There had just been a single instant where everything froze and then went black as he collapsed to the ground. The three others in his patrol group could only stare down at the weapon protruding from the back of their leader’s head in utter confusion. It wasn’t much longer when two of the three remaining warriors grabbed at the side of their necks in reaction to an unexpected pain that disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. It took less than three seconds for the nano-toxin in the expertly delivered saber darts to do their job.
The lone remaining warrior, the youngest and least deformed member of the group, began to feel an emotion that he had thought had been drummed out of him during his training as a warrior.
Fear.
Real fear began to creep in from the depths of his mind working its way forward as his two superiors fell lifelessly to the ground. He began to whip his head around searching for what had felled his superiors only to find nothing in the immediate vicinity.
Until he heard it.
A solid thunk as a large mass dropped from the trees overhead directly behind him. The young warrior cursed himself. The unnatural fear that crept over him had rooted him to the spot preventing him to turn and face the foe who had killed his fellow warriors. Then the most chilling sound he had heard in his short life began to fill his ears. A sinister sissing that seemed like its goal was to bombard his brain until it became nothing less than a thick soup.
A repetitive thud joined the sissing as the mass began to drop something large and heavy on the fermented foliage that made up the uneven terrain of the swamps that encircled the Temple of Yun-Yammka. Slowly the young warrior uncoiled the amphistaff on his arm aiming to not provoke the mass behind him before he could turn and strike. The young warrior shifted his weight to the balls of his feet, his hands gripped the amphistaff in his hands tightly, coaxing the living weapon into its rigid form.
The sissing behind him grew louder and the young warrior knew that his time had run out. He spun on the balls of his feet bringing the head of his amphistaff around at what would have been head height for most beings in the galaxy. Instead of clashing with soft flesh that the warrior had expected to strike, the head of his amphistaff shattered in an ugly, messy splat on the chest plate of the largest reptile the warrior had ever seen.
“Thiz one doez not take kindly to the stain you have made on thiz one’s armor.” the large figure hissed. With impossible speed the large reptile spun and brought a thick tail, armored with both natural scales and an added iron plating, striking it against the head of the young warrior. A stain similar to the one made by the amphistaff appeared on the tail plate as the remains of the Yuuzhan Vong head slid off the beskar plate and down onto the muddy ground at the Barabel’s feet. “Clear.” Koryn hissed.
Dyir, Ryia, Beluin, and Dawk emerged from the jungle on both sides of the foot trail the Yuuzhan Vong patrol had been guarding. Dyir walked over to the patrol leader and pulled his knife out of the back of the dead warrior’s head and cleaned it by pointing it away from him and giving it a hard shake.
“Get the bodies into the swamp. Let nature takes its course.” Ryia said as he consulted a datapad that’s sole purpose was to follow the tracking signal being emitted by Tyran. “Tyran is definitely inside that temple.”
Beluin and Koryn began dragging the dead Yuuzhan Vong into the jungle towards the deep pits in the swamp where some local wildlife would surely make a fine meal out of the corpses.
“So when we get there,” Dyir said sheathing his knife “what are we going to do if all three of them are….incapacitated?”
Ryia gave a slight shrug “We just have to hope that at least one of them is able to move under his own power.”
His voice was somber and tired. All he wanted to lay down and get some rest. He was running on nothing but shear will power at this point. He and the Mandalorians had been on the moon for almost two days at this point and most of it had been a game of hide and seek with Yuuzhan Vong patrols. The cave network had been the teams only respite, his one chance for rest but the fact that three of his friends were stuck deep in the bowels of a Yuuzhan Vong temple had kept any trace of tiredness from overcoming him.
Between Koryn, Elai and himself, the three Supercommandos had spent the better part of a day searching out the Yuuzhan Vong patrol patterns searching for weak spots in the defenses around the temple. The current stretch of swamp they had just cleared was the fourth of the five weak points that the Mandalorians had uncovered. The only thing between them and the Temple was a ten mile stretch of swamp and jungle that was patrolled by twelve Yuuzhan Vong warriors, all of whom appeared to be significantly more seasoned than the warriors they had encountered so far. Ryia had expected that though. It made sense to have your more seasoned soldiers closer to the heart of the operation instead flung out across the outer perimeters.
Beluin and Koryn reappeared out of the jungle after removing the dead Yuuzhan Vong bodies from the visible path.
“When do you think the scarheads will catch on to what we’re doing?” Beluin asked.
“If we keep moving at this pace we probably be back on the Tal’galaar before the Yuuzhan Vong even notice.” Ryia said.
“What about when we breach the Temple?” Dyir said “A team of ori’ramikade is going to be pretty hard to miss.”
“We just have to kill them before they see us.” Koryn hissed.
“That is a lot easier said that done.” Dawk said.
“I still don’t feel good about bringing her on this particular mission.” Dyir said “I understand her medical skills surpass everyone else but she has a severe handicap compared to the rest of us in combat effectiveness.”
Dawk turned her head towards Dyir “We’ve been doing this for the better part of the day, I’ve helped take down four security patrols and you still think I’m not combat ready?”
“Compared to the rest of us…yes.” Dyir sighed “It’s nothing personal just the truth.”
Dawk felt the weight of his words press down on her shoulders and for the first time since crashing onto the moon that was Katna-II, she felt like the untrained fighter she truly was.
Ryia raised his hand “Alright enough.” he started off in the direction of the largest and final security patrol that stood between his team and their true leader. “She is small enough to go unnoticed compared to the rest of us. She can get in and out of tighter spaces better than the rest of us. Her combat skill is a severe flaw but its counteracted by all the other skills she brings into to play. Chiefly her medical skills.”
“She should be back at the cave complex with Kas instead of Elai. We could really use his tracking skills right about now.”
“Incase you haven’t noticed Dyir, you’re starting to sound an awful lot like Kial right about now.” Beluin said.
“As much as we all dislike the chakaar you have to stop and think that he may have been right about her.”
“I said enough!” Ryia yelled and opened a private channel to Dyir “If she gets killed because she was thinking more about what you said than what she was supposed to be doing I promise you that I will rip your head form your shoulders. Cut it out!”
“Yeah, you got it.” Dyir said darkly cutting the private channel.
Ryia clicked over to a private channel with Dawk “Hey keep your chin up kid, you’re a vital part of this team whether you know it or not.”
“I sure feel like it.” She said sarcastically as she fell in behind the team as they moved back into the foliage.
“Don’t let them bother you.” Ryia said “I’d take a well trained medic over a well trained soldier any day.”
“I bet you’d like to have a well trained soldier that is a well trained medic more than you would a well trained medic.” Dawk replied.
Ryia didn’t respond instantly. He was alarmed at how true her statement was. “Tyran has faith in you. That’s more than enough for me.”
“Lets hope his faith wasn’t misplaced.” Dawk whispered more to herself than anyone else.
**************
Falas Draisa couldn’t help but be impressed by the willpower of the Mandalorians in front of him, or what was left of the Mandalorian at any rate. What had once been a young, well muscled man had been reduced to a lacerated mound of well toned muscle and flesh. There was no doubt the young warrior was in agonizing pain, a day and a half of non-stop torment had seen to that.
But even more impressive was how the two other Mandalorians had simply watched and stood guard over the already broken Jeedai. The simply stood there with anger in their eyes and hatred clenching their fists. The High Commander had cut, carved, burned and beaten the human male with virtually every form of violence he was aware of and still the Mandalorian had not given up any details that would expand upon that which he already learned from the Jeedai. Either they were very dedicated to their objective of keeping the Jeedai safe or they were more ruthless and cold than Draisa had imagined.
He vowed to himself that before the Yuuzhan Vong cleansed the galaxy of the infidels and their technology he would meet the cold, ruthless skills of the Mandalorians with his own and be the last one standing. He turned his gaze over his shoulder as he headed for the exit to the room and fixed the large Mandalorian with an apraising stare. The Mandalorian held the intimidating glare.
You Mandalorian will be the first of your kind to fall at my feet. He promised himself as the portal hatch opened with a wet, meaty smack. He proceeded through the portal and out into the hallway outside. The phosphorescent lichen growing in the corners of the walls provided an eerie green light that seem to magnify the grotesqueness of every Yuuzhan Vong ritual markings and mutilations.
Kurru Ivat fell in at his commander’s side, his disfigured face twisted into a snarled mess from the anger welling up inside him.
“I did not bring this up earlier due to other important obligations,” Draisa began the discussion “But now that those are completed for the moment would you mind disclosing to me why those infidels were not stripped of their armor and those blasphemous gauntlets they used to slaughter my personal guard?!” The High Commander roared.
“My Lord, I was unaware of these so called crushgaunts. They never used them before entering this Temple.”
“The Temple of Yun-Yammka!” Draisa roared “You let not only fully armored infidels into this holy place but you allowed them to retain weapons! The Warriors are baying for the chance at combat with these Mandalorians, to prove they can best these heretical gauntlets and defeat the infidels who use them.”
“The bodies that have piled up around the Mandalorians should deter any others from attempting that.”
“Would it have stopped you when you were no more than a warrior trying to gain elevation? Draisa inquired “Because no wall of bodies would have stopped me.” Ivat conceded that point. The warrior that managed to kill one of the two Mandalorians wielding the crushgaunts would indeed gain no small amount of recognition in his caste. Draisa waved a dismissive hand “I have not the resources to allow the young and foolish to throw away their lives so needlessly.”
“You are not pleased the by surge-coral slaves?” Ivat asked “Did they not help secure the Katna-Rae system for Yun-Yammka?”
“Mindless infidels.” Draisa spat. “I would sacrifice them all to the Slayer if he would supply me with droves of warriors of my own kind.”
“A worthy sacrifice.”
“Make no mistake Kurru Ivat. You are hanging by a thin thread, one more mistake or desecration that can be traced back to you and I will personally oversee your execution.”
“To have the High Commander perform such a task would be an honor.” Ivat replied “I shall keep everything in order.”
“I have things to attend to on Katna-Major.” Draisa continued as he walked down the corridor to the hangar where his personal coral craft was situated “I will be gone for a few days at least, I want those Mandalorians broken and everything they know about the infidel fleet compiled with what the Jeedai gave us.”
“You will have a full report on your return.”
“I will not dishonor the War God by loosing his temple. You would do well to accomplish this task quickly.”
Ivat tickled the portal to his personal hangar and it opened with a skin-crawling sucking sound. Ivat watched as the blood red spidersilk cape of his superior disappeared beyond the portal.
One day Falas Draisa you will lie dead at my feet and I will be the one to take your place.
**************
Tyran had never felt so helpless.
His brother was lying no more than a meter away from him, his back turned towards the others, curled into a ball emitting a heart wrenching wheezing sound. It had taken everything he had and more to remain rooted to where he stood and to watch his younger sibling undergo the Breaking. He knew he would never forgive himself for allowing his brother to take a punishment that had been meant for him. But he had been wounded already and their plan called for at least two people for it to work.
He tried not to look at Rixa’s back. As bad as Raven’s had been, his little brother’s was worse. There was no pattern to it, just mindless slashing and hacking while his tormenters hoped the pain would drive him into revealing something significant. But Rixa had remained strong drawing on his training and the vast store of courage that dwelled within him to stave off the pain. He had not uttered a single word to the Yuuzhan Vong High Commander.
Neither had Tyran or Kial. They didn’t try to intervene in the Breaking. They hadn’t tried to stop it. They had done absolutely nothing.
Except keep the Jedi safe. Warrior after Warrior had entered the room at Draisa’s command to act as a barrier between himself and the two fully functional and armed Mandalorians. It appeared however that the Yuuzhan Vong longing for a good fight overrode their orders and one by one, two by two and three by three, the launched themselves at the two Mandalorians. Only twice did any of the warriors come close to wounding them with the large spike protruding from their vonduun crab armor.
The living armor was incredibly durable. Almost a living version of the beskar armor that Tyran and his Mandalorians were wearing. If it hadn’t been for the crushgaunts that him and Kial were wearing, they would not have been able to rip the spikes from the Yuuzhan Vong’s own armor and use them as highly lethal weapons. Tyran still had the two beskar blades in his gauntlets, but he wanted their existence to remain unknown the Yuuzhan Vong for as long as he could.
Rixa began coughing again, a wet, guttural sound that was only emitted by a person in extreme distress.
“This isn’t right!” Raven yelled from behind Kial and Tyran. “I’m not worth the pain he’s being submitted to. How can the two of you just sit and watch that happen? You can stop it.” she said indicating the vast pile of dead Yuuzhan Vong before them.
Kial sighed and gave a shake of his head “Not all of us were exactly thrilled to be given this job girlie. I for one didn’t feel like putting my life on the line for someone who was stupid enough to recon a Yuuzhan Vong military base on their own.”
“I wasn’t alone.” Raven retorted “I had the Force.”
“Yeah?” Kial snapped back “How did that work out for you?”
“Shut it, the both of you!” Tyran barked.
Both Kial and Rave fell silent almost instantly. Kial returned his gaze to Rixa’s curled up body. “Do you think any of the others made it?”
“We’ll find out by sunrise.” Tyran said confidently but darkly.
“Sunrise?” Kial said confused “What do you mean?”
Tyran switched back to Mando’a “Raven isn’t the only with a tracking device implanted in her body.”
Comprehension dawned on Kial’s face “You planned all this? You planned to be captured?”
“Me and Rixa did anyway. But since he’s wounded it is probably for the best that you are here.”
“Ryia is in on this plan?”
“Yes.” Tyran said “He has the receiver my tracking chip is transmitting to. It, unlike the one Raven has, is accurate to within a two meters.”
“So the team just blows a whole in the wall, kills everyone in their way and springs us from here. Is that the gist of it?”
Tyran nodded.
“You boys from out in the hills are insane.” Kial said drawing on the generalization most Mando’s had about the people who lived out in the woodlands outside of Keldabe.
Tyran shrugged “At least I came in here with a plan.”
Kial pointed at Rixa “Was that in your plan?”
Tyran chewed his bottom lip “No.”
“Hey! Can you speak Basic? If you’re going to talk about me I’d prefer you do it in a language I can understand.” Raven said settling herself into a cross-legged position and resting her back against the yorik coral wall behind her.
“We we’re discussing our escape plan.” Tyran said “And since you already broke once, I’m not divulging it to you so you can offer that information to the Yuuzhan Vong to try and stop them from hurting Rixa when they come back in for round two.”
A look of sheer horror dawned in her eyes as she looked at him “They are going to kill him can’t you see that!?” she yelled “What kind of brother are you?”
Tyran wheeled on her “I was ordered to bring you back to the Galactic Alliance. The order didn’t come from any GA Admiral or General either, it came from the Mand’alor Boba Fett himself. Whether I agree with the mission or not I have to do it and achieve every objective given to me.” Raven tried to back away from the harsh anger that enveloped his voice as it frightened her worse than sight of High Commander Draisa. “If that means some of us have to die in order to achieve those objectives then we will sacrifice our lives to complete those objectives. Whether we want to or not.”
“I don’t want others to die for me.”
“They may already have.”
**************
“I have eyes on the patrol.” Dyir whispered over the shared link as he watched a procession of Yuuzhan Vong warriors march down their patrol route.
The warriors were nearing a hastily dug minefield set up two hours prior. At first their had been some worry that the sound of explosions would echo across the jungle to the Temple and alert them that all was not well in the wild. Luck it seemed was with the Mandalorians for the moment as a particularly violent thunderstorm had rolled over the area. Claps of roaring thunder and flashes of brilliant lightning echoes down from the heavens giving the Mandalorians a natural disguise for the explosives show they were about to set off.
“The guys in weapons development are sneaky little shabuir’s.” Beluin radioed in “Thermal detonators disguised as chunks of yorik coral.” The Zabrak made a tssking sound at the deception.
“Lets hope these scarheads don’t question why chunks of yorik coral would be spread out in a symmetrical pattern.”
“Cut the chatter.” Ryia hissed. Not a soul could hear them, their helmets were insulated to the point where two people could have an outright screaming match and the only way anyone else could hear it is if they were patched into the com frequency. Despite that fact Ryia felt a natural fear seep into him that the Yuuzhan Vong might overhear their conversation. “How far are they from the redzone?” he whispered.
“Close.” Dyir said.
“Hold off on the detonation, I want them to reach the center of the pattern before we send them to their great beyond.”
“Affirmative.”
“Be careful this time, I’m out of bacta salve.” Dawk added.
“Hardy shabla har.” Dyir mocked. “Kas rigged the last explosion, and there isn’t any highly flammable liquid nearby to amplify the blast.”
Dawk didn’t reply.
Ryia was worried that the young woman’s confidence in herself, however slim it already was, had been shattered by Dyir’s comments earlier. Despite his and Kial’s feelings, Ryia felt that she was doing fine. She did have two confirmed kills under her belt.
“Eye on the ball kid.” Ryia said on a private link with her while keeping an eye out on the minefield. “When we get inside I’m going to need you with me at all times.”
“Because I’m an inefficient killer?”
“Because you’re the best medic on the team and you’ll be needed, if not by the Jedi than by one of our own.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Ryia cut the channel as the first of the Yuuzhan Vong patrol walked out into the open near the trap that had been laboriously set up by the Mandalorians. Even though Ryia couldn’t see him, he could visualize Dyir tensing up and moving his thumb directly over the detonator switch. As if on cue there was a particularly monstrous clap of thunder as the bulk of the Yuuzhan Vong patrol made its way into the center of the web of the strike teams remaining thermal detonators.
“Blowing the trap.” Dyir’s voice echoed over the team frequency.
Less than twenty milliseconds later the small patch of dry land that contained the spider-web of thermal detonators erupted into a fountain of fire, mud, flesh, bone and blood. The ground shook violently beneath Ryia splashing more of the swamp gunk onto his golden armor.
Just more natural camouflage. He thought as he peered back out to the scene of devastation. The sound of the thunder had masked the sound of detonating thermal detonators perfectly and Ryia felt no concern in there being any Yuuzhan Vong reinforcements, at least not in the immediate future. Just as he had hoped the majority of the Yuuzhan Vong patrol had been swallowed by the explosion. There were only three remaining warriors who had not been killed instantly by the blast.
Ryia was no medic but he knew that the warriors writhing on the ground did not have long to live. They were all missing limbs, two of the warriors were missing more than one. They were roaring and wriggling in pain. Ryia found it oddly ironic that the warriors who so valued pain in their religious beliefs that they would react this way to wounds suffered on the battlefield.
“Start mopping up.” Ryia said as he pulled himself up off the ground and down the slopping hill towards the site of the blast.
“How do you plan on hiding these body parts?” Beluin asked.
“We could feed them to Koryn.” Dyir answered sarcastically.
The Barabel hissed, the unamused tone was perfectly clear. “Thiz one would rather eat hiz own tail.”
“Well I didn’t see anyone else offering up ideas.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore, there aren’t any patrols between us and the Temple.” Dawk said. “We just have to sneak past the guards.”
Dyir walked up to one of the writhing Yuuzhan Vong warriors. His eyes went wide as he watched the blue armored Mandalorian approach him. The warrior began to pull himself across the ground with his one remaining arm moving towards a leathery sphere that had somehow managed to not be destroyed in the blast. Beluin cut the warrior off at the other side and brought an armored boot down on the villip communicator. It disintegrated under his boot like a rotted cabbage.
“That probably won’t wash off easy.” he said scraping the remains of the communication device on the rotted stump of a nearby tree.
Dyir pointed his blaster at the warriors head “Any last words scarhead.” He was perfectly aware that the alien warrior couldn’t understand him but the defiant anger in it’s eyes said everything that needed to be said “I thought not.”
Ryia knocked the blaster down “No blasters, not yet.” He said “There isn’t anything out here to cover their very distinctive sound. Use your knife.”
Dyir slung his rifle over his back and pulled his knife from his thigh sheath “So much for quick and clean.”
**************
Raven couldn’t stand it anymore.
The pain that Rixa was emitting in the Force was too much for her to withstand any longer. She had stood behind Tyran and Kial and felt every tear and rip of Rixa’s skin as Falas Draisa whipped, stabbed and generally mutilated the mans body as if had been her own body being subjected to the horror. In essence she had gone through the Breaking right alongside the Mandalorian who had come to rescue her. She had cried, pleaded and begged the Yuuzhan Vong high commander to stop while the two other Mandalorians had just watched.
How can they just go along with this, just let this happen without any thought of stopping it? she had asked herself There is no acceptable answer for their inaction, they are just as cruel and cold as the Yuuzhan Vong themselves.
She knew better than that though. She could just as easily feel the pain and anger swelling within the two men as they were forced to watch. Still they did nothing. All for the reason of keeping her safe. A weak, useless coward who had sold out thousands of other lives just for a moment of respite from the fear and pain that had racked her own body.
She didn’t deserve the sacrifice Rixa Numeck had made. She cried for a few minutes or for a few hours. She sat huddled with her knees drawn up into her chest feeling the raw pain of Rixa and hearing the wet, wheezing noise he had been emitting ever since Draisa had stabbed him in the back and had most likely punctured a lung.
She opened herself fully to the Force and projected as strong a soothing sensation as she could in her weakened state and enveloped Rixa within the sphere she had created. If she could somehow get up and move to his side she thought she might have some chance of healing his wounds with the Force. She was by no means a gifted healer even in an unweakened state, and didn’t know if she would be effective in fixing the damage done to him. But she was certain she could at least relieve his pain.
“Stop staring at him.” Tyran said over his shoulder “It’ll only make you feel worse.”
“Not possible.” she sighed. “Bring him over here.”
“No.”
“Bring him into the corner behind me and I might be able to ease his pain and probably save his life.”
“Doesn’t look like you have much in the way of medical supplies.” Kial said.
“I have the Force.”
“Yeah did it take a vacation or simply abandon you when the Yuuzhan Vong captured you?” Kial turned his head to look at her.
She didn’t answer.
“That’s what I thought.”
She closed her eyes and focused on the green armored Mandalorian picking his Force presence out from the other seven nearby presences she felt. Preparing to grab hold of him and hurl him across the room.
Seven! She exclaimed within her mind
Her eyelids shot open. “Tyran I feel others in the Force.”
His head whipped around “How many?”
“Five and they are getting closer every second.” her voice became fearful “If they are who I think they are, then they won’t get past the Temple Guard.”
“You don’t know Ryia Devieyc.” Tyran said. For the first time since she had laid eyes upon the black-clad Mandalorian she saw and genuine happiness on his face. “We won’t be here much longer.”
The Yuuzhan Vong warrior never saw it coming. Never heard the sound of the knife slicing through the humid air nor had he felt the impact of the blade on the back of his skull. There had just been a single instant where everything froze and then went black as he collapsed to the ground. The three others in his patrol group could only stare down at the weapon protruding from the back of their leader’s head in utter confusion. It wasn’t much longer when two of the three remaining warriors grabbed at the side of their necks in reaction to an unexpected pain that disappeared as quickly as it had arrived. It took less than three seconds for the nano-toxin in the expertly delivered saber darts to do their job.
The lone remaining warrior, the youngest and least deformed member of the group, began to feel an emotion that he had thought had been drummed out of him during his training as a warrior.
Fear.
Real fear began to creep in from the depths of his mind working its way forward as his two superiors fell lifelessly to the ground. He began to whip his head around searching for what had felled his superiors only to find nothing in the immediate vicinity.
Until he heard it.
A solid thunk as a large mass dropped from the trees overhead directly behind him. The young warrior cursed himself. The unnatural fear that crept over him had rooted him to the spot preventing him to turn and face the foe who had killed his fellow warriors. Then the most chilling sound he had heard in his short life began to fill his ears. A sinister sissing that seemed like its goal was to bombard his brain until it became nothing less than a thick soup.
A repetitive thud joined the sissing as the mass began to drop something large and heavy on the fermented foliage that made up the uneven terrain of the swamps that encircled the Temple of Yun-Yammka. Slowly the young warrior uncoiled the amphistaff on his arm aiming to not provoke the mass behind him before he could turn and strike. The young warrior shifted his weight to the balls of his feet, his hands gripped the amphistaff in his hands tightly, coaxing the living weapon into its rigid form.
The sissing behind him grew louder and the young warrior knew that his time had run out. He spun on the balls of his feet bringing the head of his amphistaff around at what would have been head height for most beings in the galaxy. Instead of clashing with soft flesh that the warrior had expected to strike, the head of his amphistaff shattered in an ugly, messy splat on the chest plate of the largest reptile the warrior had ever seen.
“Thiz one doez not take kindly to the stain you have made on thiz one’s armor.” the large figure hissed. With impossible speed the large reptile spun and brought a thick tail, armored with both natural scales and an added iron plating, striking it against the head of the young warrior. A stain similar to the one made by the amphistaff appeared on the tail plate as the remains of the Yuuzhan Vong head slid off the beskar plate and down onto the muddy ground at the Barabel’s feet. “Clear.” Koryn hissed.
Dyir, Ryia, Beluin, and Dawk emerged from the jungle on both sides of the foot trail the Yuuzhan Vong patrol had been guarding. Dyir walked over to the patrol leader and pulled his knife out of the back of the dead warrior’s head and cleaned it by pointing it away from him and giving it a hard shake.
“Get the bodies into the swamp. Let nature takes its course.” Ryia said as he consulted a datapad that’s sole purpose was to follow the tracking signal being emitted by Tyran. “Tyran is definitely inside that temple.”
Beluin and Koryn began dragging the dead Yuuzhan Vong into the jungle towards the deep pits in the swamp where some local wildlife would surely make a fine meal out of the corpses.
“So when we get there,” Dyir said sheathing his knife “what are we going to do if all three of them are….incapacitated?”
Ryia gave a slight shrug “We just have to hope that at least one of them is able to move under his own power.”
His voice was somber and tired. All he wanted to lay down and get some rest. He was running on nothing but shear will power at this point. He and the Mandalorians had been on the moon for almost two days at this point and most of it had been a game of hide and seek with Yuuzhan Vong patrols. The cave network had been the teams only respite, his one chance for rest but the fact that three of his friends were stuck deep in the bowels of a Yuuzhan Vong temple had kept any trace of tiredness from overcoming him.
Between Koryn, Elai and himself, the three Supercommandos had spent the better part of a day searching out the Yuuzhan Vong patrol patterns searching for weak spots in the defenses around the temple. The current stretch of swamp they had just cleared was the fourth of the five weak points that the Mandalorians had uncovered. The only thing between them and the Temple was a ten mile stretch of swamp and jungle that was patrolled by twelve Yuuzhan Vong warriors, all of whom appeared to be significantly more seasoned than the warriors they had encountered so far. Ryia had expected that though. It made sense to have your more seasoned soldiers closer to the heart of the operation instead flung out across the outer perimeters.
Beluin and Koryn reappeared out of the jungle after removing the dead Yuuzhan Vong bodies from the visible path.
“When do you think the scarheads will catch on to what we’re doing?” Beluin asked.
“If we keep moving at this pace we probably be back on the Tal’galaar before the Yuuzhan Vong even notice.” Ryia said.
“What about when we breach the Temple?” Dyir said “A team of ori’ramikade is going to be pretty hard to miss.”
“We just have to kill them before they see us.” Koryn hissed.
“That is a lot easier said that done.” Dawk said.
“I still don’t feel good about bringing her on this particular mission.” Dyir said “I understand her medical skills surpass everyone else but she has a severe handicap compared to the rest of us in combat effectiveness.”
Dawk turned her head towards Dyir “We’ve been doing this for the better part of the day, I’ve helped take down four security patrols and you still think I’m not combat ready?”
“Compared to the rest of us…yes.” Dyir sighed “It’s nothing personal just the truth.”
Dawk felt the weight of his words press down on her shoulders and for the first time since crashing onto the moon that was Katna-II, she felt like the untrained fighter she truly was.
Ryia raised his hand “Alright enough.” he started off in the direction of the largest and final security patrol that stood between his team and their true leader. “She is small enough to go unnoticed compared to the rest of us. She can get in and out of tighter spaces better than the rest of us. Her combat skill is a severe flaw but its counteracted by all the other skills she brings into to play. Chiefly her medical skills.”
“She should be back at the cave complex with Kas instead of Elai. We could really use his tracking skills right about now.”
“Incase you haven’t noticed Dyir, you’re starting to sound an awful lot like Kial right about now.” Beluin said.
“As much as we all dislike the chakaar you have to stop and think that he may have been right about her.”
“I said enough!” Ryia yelled and opened a private channel to Dyir “If she gets killed because she was thinking more about what you said than what she was supposed to be doing I promise you that I will rip your head form your shoulders. Cut it out!”
“Yeah, you got it.” Dyir said darkly cutting the private channel.
Ryia clicked over to a private channel with Dawk “Hey keep your chin up kid, you’re a vital part of this team whether you know it or not.”
“I sure feel like it.” She said sarcastically as she fell in behind the team as they moved back into the foliage.
“Don’t let them bother you.” Ryia said “I’d take a well trained medic over a well trained soldier any day.”
“I bet you’d like to have a well trained soldier that is a well trained medic more than you would a well trained medic.” Dawk replied.
Ryia didn’t respond instantly. He was alarmed at how true her statement was. “Tyran has faith in you. That’s more than enough for me.”
“Lets hope his faith wasn’t misplaced.” Dawk whispered more to herself than anyone else.
**************
Falas Draisa couldn’t help but be impressed by the willpower of the Mandalorians in front of him, or what was left of the Mandalorian at any rate. What had once been a young, well muscled man had been reduced to a lacerated mound of well toned muscle and flesh. There was no doubt the young warrior was in agonizing pain, a day and a half of non-stop torment had seen to that.
But even more impressive was how the two other Mandalorians had simply watched and stood guard over the already broken Jeedai. The simply stood there with anger in their eyes and hatred clenching their fists. The High Commander had cut, carved, burned and beaten the human male with virtually every form of violence he was aware of and still the Mandalorian had not given up any details that would expand upon that which he already learned from the Jeedai. Either they were very dedicated to their objective of keeping the Jeedai safe or they were more ruthless and cold than Draisa had imagined.
He vowed to himself that before the Yuuzhan Vong cleansed the galaxy of the infidels and their technology he would meet the cold, ruthless skills of the Mandalorians with his own and be the last one standing. He turned his gaze over his shoulder as he headed for the exit to the room and fixed the large Mandalorian with an apraising stare. The Mandalorian held the intimidating glare.
You Mandalorian will be the first of your kind to fall at my feet. He promised himself as the portal hatch opened with a wet, meaty smack. He proceeded through the portal and out into the hallway outside. The phosphorescent lichen growing in the corners of the walls provided an eerie green light that seem to magnify the grotesqueness of every Yuuzhan Vong ritual markings and mutilations.
Kurru Ivat fell in at his commander’s side, his disfigured face twisted into a snarled mess from the anger welling up inside him.
“I did not bring this up earlier due to other important obligations,” Draisa began the discussion “But now that those are completed for the moment would you mind disclosing to me why those infidels were not stripped of their armor and those blasphemous gauntlets they used to slaughter my personal guard?!” The High Commander roared.
“My Lord, I was unaware of these so called crushgaunts. They never used them before entering this Temple.”
“The Temple of Yun-Yammka!” Draisa roared “You let not only fully armored infidels into this holy place but you allowed them to retain weapons! The Warriors are baying for the chance at combat with these Mandalorians, to prove they can best these heretical gauntlets and defeat the infidels who use them.”
“The bodies that have piled up around the Mandalorians should deter any others from attempting that.”
“Would it have stopped you when you were no more than a warrior trying to gain elevation? Draisa inquired “Because no wall of bodies would have stopped me.” Ivat conceded that point. The warrior that managed to kill one of the two Mandalorians wielding the crushgaunts would indeed gain no small amount of recognition in his caste. Draisa waved a dismissive hand “I have not the resources to allow the young and foolish to throw away their lives so needlessly.”
“You are not pleased the by surge-coral slaves?” Ivat asked “Did they not help secure the Katna-Rae system for Yun-Yammka?”
“Mindless infidels.” Draisa spat. “I would sacrifice them all to the Slayer if he would supply me with droves of warriors of my own kind.”
“A worthy sacrifice.”
“Make no mistake Kurru Ivat. You are hanging by a thin thread, one more mistake or desecration that can be traced back to you and I will personally oversee your execution.”
“To have the High Commander perform such a task would be an honor.” Ivat replied “I shall keep everything in order.”
“I have things to attend to on Katna-Major.” Draisa continued as he walked down the corridor to the hangar where his personal coral craft was situated “I will be gone for a few days at least, I want those Mandalorians broken and everything they know about the infidel fleet compiled with what the Jeedai gave us.”
“You will have a full report on your return.”
“I will not dishonor the War God by loosing his temple. You would do well to accomplish this task quickly.”
Ivat tickled the portal to his personal hangar and it opened with a skin-crawling sucking sound. Ivat watched as the blood red spidersilk cape of his superior disappeared beyond the portal.
One day Falas Draisa you will lie dead at my feet and I will be the one to take your place.
**************
Tyran had never felt so helpless.
His brother was lying no more than a meter away from him, his back turned towards the others, curled into a ball emitting a heart wrenching wheezing sound. It had taken everything he had and more to remain rooted to where he stood and to watch his younger sibling undergo the Breaking. He knew he would never forgive himself for allowing his brother to take a punishment that had been meant for him. But he had been wounded already and their plan called for at least two people for it to work.
He tried not to look at Rixa’s back. As bad as Raven’s had been, his little brother’s was worse. There was no pattern to it, just mindless slashing and hacking while his tormenters hoped the pain would drive him into revealing something significant. But Rixa had remained strong drawing on his training and the vast store of courage that dwelled within him to stave off the pain. He had not uttered a single word to the Yuuzhan Vong High Commander.
Neither had Tyran or Kial. They didn’t try to intervene in the Breaking. They hadn’t tried to stop it. They had done absolutely nothing.
Except keep the Jedi safe. Warrior after Warrior had entered the room at Draisa’s command to act as a barrier between himself and the two fully functional and armed Mandalorians. It appeared however that the Yuuzhan Vong longing for a good fight overrode their orders and one by one, two by two and three by three, the launched themselves at the two Mandalorians. Only twice did any of the warriors come close to wounding them with the large spike protruding from their vonduun crab armor.
The living armor was incredibly durable. Almost a living version of the beskar armor that Tyran and his Mandalorians were wearing. If it hadn’t been for the crushgaunts that him and Kial were wearing, they would not have been able to rip the spikes from the Yuuzhan Vong’s own armor and use them as highly lethal weapons. Tyran still had the two beskar blades in his gauntlets, but he wanted their existence to remain unknown the Yuuzhan Vong for as long as he could.
Rixa began coughing again, a wet, guttural sound that was only emitted by a person in extreme distress.
“This isn’t right!” Raven yelled from behind Kial and Tyran. “I’m not worth the pain he’s being submitted to. How can the two of you just sit and watch that happen? You can stop it.” she said indicating the vast pile of dead Yuuzhan Vong before them.
Kial sighed and gave a shake of his head “Not all of us were exactly thrilled to be given this job girlie. I for one didn’t feel like putting my life on the line for someone who was stupid enough to recon a Yuuzhan Vong military base on their own.”
“I wasn’t alone.” Raven retorted “I had the Force.”
“Yeah?” Kial snapped back “How did that work out for you?”
“Shut it, the both of you!” Tyran barked.
Both Kial and Rave fell silent almost instantly. Kial returned his gaze to Rixa’s curled up body. “Do you think any of the others made it?”
“We’ll find out by sunrise.” Tyran said confidently but darkly.
“Sunrise?” Kial said confused “What do you mean?”
Tyran switched back to Mando’a “Raven isn’t the only with a tracking device implanted in her body.”
Comprehension dawned on Kial’s face “You planned all this? You planned to be captured?”
“Me and Rixa did anyway. But since he’s wounded it is probably for the best that you are here.”
“Ryia is in on this plan?”
“Yes.” Tyran said “He has the receiver my tracking chip is transmitting to. It, unlike the one Raven has, is accurate to within a two meters.”
“So the team just blows a whole in the wall, kills everyone in their way and springs us from here. Is that the gist of it?”
Tyran nodded.
“You boys from out in the hills are insane.” Kial said drawing on the generalization most Mando’s had about the people who lived out in the woodlands outside of Keldabe.
Tyran shrugged “At least I came in here with a plan.”
Kial pointed at Rixa “Was that in your plan?”
Tyran chewed his bottom lip “No.”
“Hey! Can you speak Basic? If you’re going to talk about me I’d prefer you do it in a language I can understand.” Raven said settling herself into a cross-legged position and resting her back against the yorik coral wall behind her.
“We we’re discussing our escape plan.” Tyran said “And since you already broke once, I’m not divulging it to you so you can offer that information to the Yuuzhan Vong to try and stop them from hurting Rixa when they come back in for round two.”
A look of sheer horror dawned in her eyes as she looked at him “They are going to kill him can’t you see that!?” she yelled “What kind of brother are you?”
Tyran wheeled on her “I was ordered to bring you back to the Galactic Alliance. The order didn’t come from any GA Admiral or General either, it came from the Mand’alor Boba Fett himself. Whether I agree with the mission or not I have to do it and achieve every objective given to me.” Raven tried to back away from the harsh anger that enveloped his voice as it frightened her worse than sight of High Commander Draisa. “If that means some of us have to die in order to achieve those objectives then we will sacrifice our lives to complete those objectives. Whether we want to or not.”
“I don’t want others to die for me.”
“They may already have.”
**************
“I have eyes on the patrol.” Dyir whispered over the shared link as he watched a procession of Yuuzhan Vong warriors march down their patrol route.
The warriors were nearing a hastily dug minefield set up two hours prior. At first their had been some worry that the sound of explosions would echo across the jungle to the Temple and alert them that all was not well in the wild. Luck it seemed was with the Mandalorians for the moment as a particularly violent thunderstorm had rolled over the area. Claps of roaring thunder and flashes of brilliant lightning echoes down from the heavens giving the Mandalorians a natural disguise for the explosives show they were about to set off.
“The guys in weapons development are sneaky little shabuir’s.” Beluin radioed in “Thermal detonators disguised as chunks of yorik coral.” The Zabrak made a tssking sound at the deception.
“Lets hope these scarheads don’t question why chunks of yorik coral would be spread out in a symmetrical pattern.”
“Cut the chatter.” Ryia hissed. Not a soul could hear them, their helmets were insulated to the point where two people could have an outright screaming match and the only way anyone else could hear it is if they were patched into the com frequency. Despite that fact Ryia felt a natural fear seep into him that the Yuuzhan Vong might overhear their conversation. “How far are they from the redzone?” he whispered.
“Close.” Dyir said.
“Hold off on the detonation, I want them to reach the center of the pattern before we send them to their great beyond.”
“Affirmative.”
“Be careful this time, I’m out of bacta salve.” Dawk added.
“Hardy shabla har.” Dyir mocked. “Kas rigged the last explosion, and there isn’t any highly flammable liquid nearby to amplify the blast.”
Dawk didn’t reply.
Ryia was worried that the young woman’s confidence in herself, however slim it already was, had been shattered by Dyir’s comments earlier. Despite his and Kial’s feelings, Ryia felt that she was doing fine. She did have two confirmed kills under her belt.
“Eye on the ball kid.” Ryia said on a private link with her while keeping an eye out on the minefield. “When we get inside I’m going to need you with me at all times.”
“Because I’m an inefficient killer?”
“Because you’re the best medic on the team and you’ll be needed, if not by the Jedi than by one of our own.”
“I hope you’re right.”
Ryia cut the channel as the first of the Yuuzhan Vong patrol walked out into the open near the trap that had been laboriously set up by the Mandalorians. Even though Ryia couldn’t see him, he could visualize Dyir tensing up and moving his thumb directly over the detonator switch. As if on cue there was a particularly monstrous clap of thunder as the bulk of the Yuuzhan Vong patrol made its way into the center of the web of the strike teams remaining thermal detonators.
“Blowing the trap.” Dyir’s voice echoed over the team frequency.
Less than twenty milliseconds later the small patch of dry land that contained the spider-web of thermal detonators erupted into a fountain of fire, mud, flesh, bone and blood. The ground shook violently beneath Ryia splashing more of the swamp gunk onto his golden armor.
Just more natural camouflage. He thought as he peered back out to the scene of devastation. The sound of the thunder had masked the sound of detonating thermal detonators perfectly and Ryia felt no concern in there being any Yuuzhan Vong reinforcements, at least not in the immediate future. Just as he had hoped the majority of the Yuuzhan Vong patrol had been swallowed by the explosion. There were only three remaining warriors who had not been killed instantly by the blast.
Ryia was no medic but he knew that the warriors writhing on the ground did not have long to live. They were all missing limbs, two of the warriors were missing more than one. They were roaring and wriggling in pain. Ryia found it oddly ironic that the warriors who so valued pain in their religious beliefs that they would react this way to wounds suffered on the battlefield.
“Start mopping up.” Ryia said as he pulled himself up off the ground and down the slopping hill towards the site of the blast.
“How do you plan on hiding these body parts?” Beluin asked.
“We could feed them to Koryn.” Dyir answered sarcastically.
The Barabel hissed, the unamused tone was perfectly clear. “Thiz one would rather eat hiz own tail.”
“Well I didn’t see anyone else offering up ideas.”
“It doesn’t matter anymore, there aren’t any patrols between us and the Temple.” Dawk said. “We just have to sneak past the guards.”
Dyir walked up to one of the writhing Yuuzhan Vong warriors. His eyes went wide as he watched the blue armored Mandalorian approach him. The warrior began to pull himself across the ground with his one remaining arm moving towards a leathery sphere that had somehow managed to not be destroyed in the blast. Beluin cut the warrior off at the other side and brought an armored boot down on the villip communicator. It disintegrated under his boot like a rotted cabbage.
“That probably won’t wash off easy.” he said scraping the remains of the communication device on the rotted stump of a nearby tree.
Dyir pointed his blaster at the warriors head “Any last words scarhead.” He was perfectly aware that the alien warrior couldn’t understand him but the defiant anger in it’s eyes said everything that needed to be said “I thought not.”
Ryia knocked the blaster down “No blasters, not yet.” He said “There isn’t anything out here to cover their very distinctive sound. Use your knife.”
Dyir slung his rifle over his back and pulled his knife from his thigh sheath “So much for quick and clean.”
**************
Raven couldn’t stand it anymore.
The pain that Rixa was emitting in the Force was too much for her to withstand any longer. She had stood behind Tyran and Kial and felt every tear and rip of Rixa’s skin as Falas Draisa whipped, stabbed and generally mutilated the mans body as if had been her own body being subjected to the horror. In essence she had gone through the Breaking right alongside the Mandalorian who had come to rescue her. She had cried, pleaded and begged the Yuuzhan Vong high commander to stop while the two other Mandalorians had just watched.
How can they just go along with this, just let this happen without any thought of stopping it? she had asked herself There is no acceptable answer for their inaction, they are just as cruel and cold as the Yuuzhan Vong themselves.
She knew better than that though. She could just as easily feel the pain and anger swelling within the two men as they were forced to watch. Still they did nothing. All for the reason of keeping her safe. A weak, useless coward who had sold out thousands of other lives just for a moment of respite from the fear and pain that had racked her own body.
She didn’t deserve the sacrifice Rixa Numeck had made. She cried for a few minutes or for a few hours. She sat huddled with her knees drawn up into her chest feeling the raw pain of Rixa and hearing the wet, wheezing noise he had been emitting ever since Draisa had stabbed him in the back and had most likely punctured a lung.
She opened herself fully to the Force and projected as strong a soothing sensation as she could in her weakened state and enveloped Rixa within the sphere she had created. If she could somehow get up and move to his side she thought she might have some chance of healing his wounds with the Force. She was by no means a gifted healer even in an unweakened state, and didn’t know if she would be effective in fixing the damage done to him. But she was certain she could at least relieve his pain.
“Stop staring at him.” Tyran said over his shoulder “It’ll only make you feel worse.”
“Not possible.” she sighed. “Bring him over here.”
“No.”
“Bring him into the corner behind me and I might be able to ease his pain and probably save his life.”
“Doesn’t look like you have much in the way of medical supplies.” Kial said.
“I have the Force.”
“Yeah did it take a vacation or simply abandon you when the Yuuzhan Vong captured you?” Kial turned his head to look at her.
She didn’t answer.
“That’s what I thought.”
She closed her eyes and focused on the green armored Mandalorian picking his Force presence out from the other seven nearby presences she felt. Preparing to grab hold of him and hurl him across the room.
Seven! She exclaimed within her mind
Her eyelids shot open. “Tyran I feel others in the Force.”
His head whipped around “How many?”
“Five and they are getting closer every second.” her voice became fearful “If they are who I think they are, then they won’t get past the Temple Guard.”
“You don’t know Ryia Devieyc.” Tyran said. For the first time since she had laid eyes upon the black-clad Mandalorian she saw and genuine happiness on his face. “We won’t be here much longer.”