Likewise, as soon as he had the lightsaber in hand, Kyp mentally grabbed at the spinning X-wing, putting a hold on it as secure as his strong arms ever could. Closer and closer he inched, until it was in his reach, spinning about, and he grabbed on to the tail and pulled himself to the fuselage.
Still trapped between the wings, the monstrous insect lay very still.
Kyp put his lightsaber away and used this vantage point to try and examine the damaged drive, to try to think of some way he might begin repairs. What could he do?
With a sigh, followed quickly by a determined grunt, he pulled himself over the edge of the fuselage back to his cockpit. He steadied the ship with attitude jets, then began a general inventory, trying to get a fix on where he was and on the extent of the damage. His hyperdrive seemed to be working, but with no canopy, he didn't dare engage it. He reached instinctively for his emergency kit, but stopped abruptly, recognizing that, with his entire canopy gone, there was nothing to patch.
What to do? Even if there was a habitable planet around, Kyp couldn't land without his canopy, and the lifesuit would serve him for only a few hours, or perhaps for a few days if he went into his Jedi trance.
But those thoughts were for later, he told himself determinedly. Next came the real test he eased the ion drive back on-line. It fired, sputtered, and he found that only by rocking the throttle could he keep it going, and then only at low power.
He looked to the side, to the trapped and dead creature, and almost opened the wings. But then, keeping his cool, thinking ahead, Kyp understood that this alien life-form should be examined. Even if he didn't make it, those who later found his dead craft would need to see this creature.
Even if he didn't make it ...
The disturbing notion echoed over and over in his thoughts. He sat back and forced himself to relax, relax, moving past a state of consciousness, into the flow of the Force. Envisioning his ship, he moved his thoughts beyond the mechanics of the vehicle, into the realm of the philosophical, the true purpose of the various components that comprised his X-wing. And then it hit him - not the perfect solution, but one that had a chance, at least.
Working on his own, with no astromech and only a basic engineering manual to guide him, Kyp altered the power grids of the ion drive, bringing them more completely to his shielding power. Then, holding his breath, he eased it back on-line. It offered no thrust this time, but, rather, created a bubblelike shield about him, one that he hoped might allow him to survive hyperspace. He laid in a course for Dubrillion. He kept searching the records as he went, though, and soon determined that there was another possibility, a remote planet named Sernpidal.
Torn, for he knew that he would find help at Lando's, Kyp finally decided, after yet another warning sputter and flutter of power from the wounded drive, to try for the closer Sernpidal. He altered the course accordingly and engaged the hyperdrive, focusing his consciousness on that tentative ion powerplant, attentive to its every sound and pulse.
He came out of hyperspace almost immediately, just an instant before the ion drive fluctuated, dropping his shielding canopy. It came up again almost immediately, and Kyp shook his head as he considered the daunting task ahead of him. He'd have to hop and skip in short hyperspace bursts all the way to Sernpidal. And all the time, he'd have to simply hope that the ion drive didn't die altogether.
He engaged the hyperdrive again, closing his eyes and feeling the vibrations behind him, easing as he needed to, not letting those sputtering jolts of the ion drive reach a critical level. His breathing slowed, his heart pumped even slower, preserving his oxygen, but he kept enough of his consciousness to feel those vibrations, to jump out of hyperspace and then, when the ion drive was ready, jump back in, playing the controls as one might rock a tired baby.
Danni Quee sat in an icy-walled dome-shaped chamber just above the frigid water and with hundreds of meters of solid ice above her. She wore only that loose-fitting poncho, for her other garments, the horrid, fleshy creature that had enwrapped her body, and the star-shaped creature that had violated her very insides, were gone now. Despite her lack of clothing, though, Danni was not cold. Strange lichen covered the floor of the place, emitting warmth and light, and probably oxygen, she figured, because she could breathe easily in here.
Her captors were horrible beyond anything she ha/i ever seen, especially the huge tentacled brain that seemed to be guiding them, but in a strange sense they were also noble. Danni had not been tortured - yet - and had faced no intimate advances at all. She was a worthy enemy, the humanoid leader, Da'Gara, had proclaimed, on the word of Yomin Carr, and so she had been treated with a solid measure of respect.
Still, they meant to sacrifice her.
Now she was alone, hour after hour. Every once in a while, the water would bubble and a pair of the tattooed barbarians would splash up, one keeping a weapon pointed her way, the other bringing food - squirming, eel-like creatures - and potable water. She wondered what was going on down there, in the lower depths, where the war coordinator's bulk rested, where the water was warmer because of volcanic activity. She wondered what was happening on the outside, beyond this frozen wasteland, in the galaxy that was her home. It would be conquered, Da'Gara had promised her, brought to its knees before the glory of the Yuuzhan Vong. And she would see it.
Danni got the distinct feeling that Da'Gara was hoping that she would stop being one of the infidels, as he called all the peoples of her galaxy, and see the light and truth of the Yuuzhan Vong way.
She didn't think that likely.
The water bubbled, signaling another approach. Danni looked toward it quizzically. She was expecting them - Da'Gara had told her that another worldship would dock soon, and that she could witness the glory of the arrival. Everything seemed to center on that word - glory - with the Yuuzhan Vojig. She mentally prepared herself for the expected violation by the fleshy creatures, the suit and the horrid mask.
But then she saw something she could not have anticipated, and she drew in her breath harshly as a pair of tattooed barbarians burst out of the water, dragging a battered human man between them.
Da'Gara came in next, moving to Danni as the other two threw the new prisoner roughly to the floor, his fleshy, organic enviro-suit peeling back from his body.
"Some warriors came against us," the prefect explained through the watery gurgle caused by the star-shaped mask. "Some of your best, apparently." He paused and nodded toward the limp form on the floor. "They were destroyed with ease."
Danni looked at him curiously, more for the manner in which he was speaking than for the actual words. Before this, his inflection and pronunciation had been horrible, and he had scrambled the structure of nearly every sentence, but now that wording was noticeably smoother.
"You doubt our power?" Da'Gara asked, apparently cuing in on her expression.
"You've learned our language," she replied.
The prefect turned his head sideways and tapped a finger against his ear, and Danni saw something inside it, wriggling quickly like the back end of a worm. "We have our ways, Danni Quee. You will learn."
Danni didn't doubt that, and it made the Yuuzhan Vong all the more terrible.
The prefect steeled his gaze at Danni. "He is not worthy," he said, indicating her new companion, and then, with a sudden hand motion, he set the other two into action and they leapt into the water. Da'Gara continued to stare at Danni for a long while, then slipped into the dark water behind them.
Danni ran to the human. He wore no identification, wore nothing at all other than a tight pair of shorts. He carried many fresh scars, as though Da'Gara's warriors had wounded, and then healed, him. Given the prefect's last words to her, that this one was not worthy, Danni understood what that meant.
He would be sacrificed to the war coordinator.
Danni sucked in her breath and held herself steady. She, too, had faced the war coordinator, the horrid yammosk. Its two thin and sticky inner tendrils had entwined her, pulling her
in, in, between the huge tentacles of the beast and toward those black eyes and that singular toothy maw.
But the war coordinator had not taken her, had deemed other purposes for her, which, Prefect Da'Gara had assured her, was an incredible honor - though Danni, her knees nearly buckling as she fought off a fit of fainting, had not appreciated it at all.
The war coordinator wouldn't do the same with this one, Danni believed. He would be wrapped in tentacles and brought in slowly to be devoured.
The man stirred, then blinked his eyes open slowly, in obvious pain.
"Where?" he stuttered.
"On the fourth planet," Danni replied.
"Starfighters ... rocklike," the man stammered.
"Coralskippers," Danni clarified for him, for Da'Gara had told her the literal translation of the Yuuzhan Vong name. She eased the battered man's head down gently. "Rest easy. You're safe now."
An hour or so later - Danni really couldn't begin to keep track of the time - the man woke up, with a start and a cry. "Coming through the ship!" he yelled, but then he stopped himself as he became aware of his current surroundings. He looked at Danni curiously. "The fourth planet?" he asked.
Danni nodded.
"The Helska system?"
Danni nodded again and moved to help the man sit up. "I'm Danni Quee," she began. "I came out of the ExGal station on Belkadan -" The man's sudden look of recognition stopped her.
" Spacecaster -class shuttle," he said.
Danni looked at him incredulously.
"We tracked you," the man explained. "To Helska. We came to find you."
"We?"
The man forced a smile and held out his hand. "Miko Reglia of the Dozen-and-Two Avengers," he said.
Danni took his hand, but her expression revealed that she had no idea what he was talking about.
"A squadron of ..." Miko had to pause - what, exactly, were they a squadron of? "A squadron of starfighter pilots," he explained. "Led by Jedi Kyp Durron and myself."
"You're a Jedi Knight?" Danni asked, eyes widening, a flicker of hope flashing behind them.
Miko nodded and visibly settled down, as if the reminder that he was a Jedi Knight had put him in a completely different frame of mind. "Yes," he said solemnly. "I was trained at the academy, under Luke Skywalker himself, and though my training is not yet complete - I've been doing an apprenticeship under the tutelage of Kyp Durron - I am indeed a Jedi Knight."
Danni glanced back at the water. She believed Miko's claim, and in light of that, she wondered if she had found a weakness in her enemies. Prefect Da'Gara had called this one unworthy, but how could a Jedi Knight be unworthy in the eyes of any fellow warrior? Perhaps Da'Gara and his fellows had underestimated this man, and perhaps Danni could find some way to exploit that error.
She looked back to Miko, to see him sitting calmly, eyes closed in a meditative pose.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
Miko blinked his eyes open. "Calling out," he explained. "Projecting my own thoughts and trying to sense those of any other Jedi Knight who might be in the area."
"Will it work?" Danni asked eagerly, moving closer.
Miko shrugged. "Jedi have a connection, a common understanding of the Force that brings us together."
"But will it work?" the pragmatic Danni pressed.
Again the shrug. "I don't know," he admitted. "I don't know if Kyp escaped, and I don't know how far away he, or any other Jedi, might be."
That was all the answer Danni needed. She came to the conclusion then that they couldn't depend on this mystical thought-projection. They needed their own plan.
"Who are these people?" Miko asked after a pause. "Smugglers?"
Danni burst into laughter, despite herself. Smugglers? If only it was that simple, and explainable. "Maybe they, the Yuuzhan Vong, were smugglers," she replied, "in their own galaxy."
Miko started to respond, but stopped short and stared hard at her, the implications of her words obviously hitting him.
"They're not from our galaxy," Danni explained.
"Impossible," Miko replied. "A lie they told you to keep you afraid."
"We tracked them inbound," Danni went on. "Right through the galactic rim. We thought it was an asteroid or a comet, and when we figured out where it was headed, three of us came out to investigate."
"The other two?" Miko asked, but Danni was shaking her head before he ever finished.
She thought of Bensin Tomri and Cho Badeleg then, of Bensin's horrible ending, and saw it in light of Da'Gara's words concerning this man, Miko. She didn't want to witness that scene repeated.
"What are they doing here?"
"The Yuuzhan Vong want it all," Danni explained.
Miko looked at her skeptically. "Conquest?"
"The whole galaxy."
Miko snorted. "They're in for a surprise."
"Or we are," Danni said gravely.
"How many?" Miko asked. "How many planets? How many comets, or asteroids, or whatever they might be, came in?"
"Just one," Danni answered, and she added, "so far," before Miko could respond. "Others will follow, I'm sure."
"They'll need ten thousand times this number," Miko declared.
"It's not just about numbers," Danni pointed out. "They've got ways, and weapons, we don't understand. It all seems to be based on living organisms, creatures they've trained, or bred, to serve their needs."
"Like the suits they put us in," Miko observed, and both he and Danni shivered at the memory.
Danni nodded. "They've got their ways," she said.
Miko waved his hand dismissively. "We were taking them out three to one," he explained. "And we were just flying starfighters, and most of them outdated. The alien fighters wouldn't stand up against a Star Destroyer or a battle cruiser."
"You were winning, but you did not," Danni reminded.
"Only because they found some way to get our shields down," Miko started to say, but he stopped, his words hanging ominously in the air.
"Don't underestimate them," Danni scolded, and she wondered then if she might have found the reason that Da'Gara apparently held little respect for Miko. "They've got tools and weapons and technology foreign to our sensibilities. Weapons we might not easily be able to counter. They're confident, and they seem to know us better than we know them."
Miko started to climb to his feet, unsteadily, and Danni moved to support him. A moment later, he gently pushed her away, then went into a dancelike routine of slow and deliberate balancing motions. When he finished a few moments later, he seemed to have found his center. "We have to get off planet," he said, glancing all around and, finally, up at the encasing ice.
"It's hundreds of meters thick," Danni remarked.
"We have to find a way," Miko said, his tone full of determination. "I don't know if any of the others got away, but someone has to get back to inform the New Republic. Let's see what these aliens - what'd you call them, the Yuuzhan Vong? - can do against some real firepower."
Danni nodded resolutely, bolstered by the offered strength of the Jedi Knight, and hoping, hoping, that Prefect Da'Gara had indeed underestimated him.
"We lost more than a dozen," Da'Gara admitted, and the eyes on Nom Anor's villip narrowed dangerously. "But when we discovered their weaknesses and used the dovin basals to counter their blocking energy shields, the battle turned our way," he quickly added. "We can beat them now, one to one, one to ten."
"How many?" the executor asked.
"Eleven enemies were destroyed," Da'Gara reported. "A twelfth was forced down, and though two escaped, the grutchins were in swift pursuit. We believe those last two enemies were destroyed."
"You believe?" Nom Anor echoed skeptically.
"They jumped past lightspeed, what they call hyperdrive," Da'Gara explained. "Still, at last sighting, several grutchins were attached before the jump, and many more went in pursuit. They could not have survived."
Nom Anor gave a long pause that Da'Gara didn't dare
interrupt. The prefect understood the problems here. Even releasing the grutchins had been taking a huge chance, for unlike many of the Yuuzhan Vong's bred creatures, grutchins were not rational, thinking, or even trained beasts. They were instruments of destruction, living weapons, and once released, they could not be controlled or recalled. Those that had not made the jump piggybacked on the enemy starfighters or in immediate pursuit, but had stayed in the region with the coralskippers, had been destroyed - it was too risky to try and capture a mature grutchin. That loss was not significant, for the insectoids bred and matured quickly, and those lost would soon enough be replaced. Of more concern were the many that got away. Likely they had destroyed the starfighters and were now running free in the galaxy. They couldn't reproduce, for they had no queens, but grutchins were aggressive creatures and would continue to seek out and attack other ships in the region. Soon enough they might draw the attention of the New Republic, turn the eyes of the enemy to this sector of the galaxy's Outer Rim, and that could bode ill for the Praetorite Vong.
That's what had Nom Anor concerned, and rightly so, Da'Gara knew, but still, what other choice had his warriors? They could not chase the enemy through a lightspeed jump, after all, for the dovin basals fronting the coralskippers, sensitive as they were, could not hold any lock on enemy ships through such a ride.
"Your new prisoner," Nom Anor prompted. "You believe him to be Jedi."
Now Da'Gara fully relaxed, pleased to relay this grand information. "He is, Executor."
"Take care with that one," Nom Anor warned.
"He is with the woman," Da'Gara replied. "There is no escape."
"You have begun the breaking?"
"We use the woman against him," Da'Gara confirmed. "We have told her that he is unworthy, as we have told him. We will execute him a thousand times in his mind, if that is what we must do. And when he is within the grasp of the war coordinator, pulled toward the great maw and expecting death, his willpower will ebb."
Nom Anor's villip echoed his chuckle. Da'Gara knew exactly how the executor felt. The breaking was a common procedure used against captured enemies of the Yuuzhan Vong, mental torture over physical torment, a shaving away of the sensibilities and determination until the unfortunate prisoner was left broken on the floor, sobbing like a baby, his mind snapped from a succession of expected horrors, of promised, terrible deaths.
Star Wars The New Jedi Order - Vector Prime - Book 1 Page 20