Garqi

[Elmira Val]

Deign Lian slunk away from the blood-stained feet of Shedao Shai, his head still heavy from a blow to the side. Small ngdins crawled from the edges of the wall where overlapping sheets of coral junctioned. They would eventually clean the blood spatters, leaving no physical evidence of his latest encounter with his master's wrath.

The crew of the Legacy of Torment did not give Deign Lian a passing glance, although Shedao Shai's subordinates rarely showed they were paying less attention to their work than to whomever Shai cast his grievances upon. He could feel the tension, the cold knotting of the inner atmosphere of the bridge.

The viewspider showed a forest ablazed with rays of light and smoking wrecks of vegetation; the crew had not disobeyed the will of the Commander. As of yet, no sentient beings had entered the combat zone.

"Incoming signal." reported the tactician to the far right. A flick of another display spotted an unknown number of ships.

"Enemy ships sighted on the night side of the planet, course of action requested."

[Blue but beautiful]

-Posting as Shedao Shai-

The simpering actions of Deign Lian would have insensed Shedao Shai further if he had not heard the words uttered by the tactician standing to his far right. He tensed noticably at the mention of an incoming transmission...that was usually prelude to something the infidels could not avoid. No one could avoid the inevitable.

"Enemy ships sighted on the night side of the planet, course of action requested."

As he had suspected. Weather this was the action of those they had just encountered on the surface, or a renewed effort by those in the cities as yet unconquered, he could not be sure. No, they would have detected them sooner if that was the case.
The commander could almost feel the burning gaze of Deign Lian's minor triumph boring into his back as he turned to issue orders,

"Deploy a small squadron of Yorik-et to the night side of the world, if they crack then they can be broken." The commander uttered as he turned his attention back to the viewspider, if Deign Lian was right on this he'd look a fool, and he'd be damned by the gods before that particular person made a fool of him!

[Elmira Val]

He was relieved to see his master's attention was turned elsewhere; for once it was because Shedao Shai had failed to take his actions into account...

Deign Lian walked to the far end of the bridge as the Commander's gaze was fixed on the stationary viewspider. It was more like stumbling; if he hadn't been Shai's direct subordinate, it would have deemed a few laughs. Instead, the awkward silence brought upon by his very recent humiliation remained among the crew as he approached, until Lian spoke.

"I believe these ships are merely gauging our defenses. We need to convince them that they are superior first, and attack when they believe they have won."

The tactician was staring intently at a screen, plotting the deployment vector of the dispatched ships. She had gone to this task the moment Shedao Shai ordered it, safely tucked away inside the gigantic capital ship.



Outside the atmosphere of Garqi, inside the bowels of the Sulphur Breather, the Yammosk stirred. The cavernous invocation hall it nested in was drenched in tiny droplets of fluid, making the hair of its sole attendant heavy with humidity. The creature gaved a soft rumble, stirring a stream of bubbles in the magenta-lit water. The warrior, clad in a slick black oozlith bodysuit, stopped at the crusty edge of the pool looked behind to the Yammosk. A heady pheromone overwhelmed her olfactory sense.

<I have received news from my spawning donors that their children are to be put in harm's way. Commander Shedao Shai has ordered it.>

"I will inform the captain of this ship." replied the warrior. She had not yet adjusted to speaking in the collective of pictures and odor the Yammosk's vast mind resided in.

<No, they will know when they receive their orders. Come closer.>

Without complaint or hesitation, she came to the side of the massive Yammosk, drawing close to the mass of spice-scented tentacles. They were warm to the touch as they enveloped her; a series of heating conduits fed energy to the war coordinator's massive brain.

<Others will come here when the battle reaches us. It is not soon enough. Here.>

She was offered a different tentacle this time. Like the previous one, she ran two hands roughly over it. Mufinlaf did not mind the exhausting effort as much as the first day at the post.

<You are thinking about leaving again>

"I wanted to see Garqi."

[Blue but beautiful]

-Posting as Shedao Shai-

The commander took in a deep breath of air scented of heavy organics. Exhaling just as deeply he did not shift his gaze from the viewspider, Deign Lian's insolence did not deserve acknowledgment of that kind, and even if it had he would not be the one to give it to him.

"And they will get their test, Lian" He responded tersely, "they will have that chance."

He had never been one to simply reveal all the workings of his mind, nor did he wish to divulge too much information in the presence of his direct subordinate. Shedao Shai had suspected for some time that Deign Lian's insolence was born of a natural need to progress. He could understand that much, he felt such urges himself, but what Lian lacked was the ability to see further than the end of his stubby nose. That was his opinion anyway. Become blinded by the need for glory and all was lost. For one born into a domain already streaked with greatness, it had had what Shedao Shai considered a grounding effect on him. He knew that neither side in this war knew much about the other, that was why they needed to learn. Would Deign Lian have taken that into consideration?

Shai knew that if his subordinate could only keep ahold of that mind that often found decent solutions to issues such as this one, then his work would be done. That however, seemed to be the problem.

It was only now that he turned to regard Deign Lian, turning sharply enough to attempt to draw out a flinch from the smaller Yuuzhan Vong warrior. "Regard the view spider and tell me what you see," he said, this was not a request, "I see no ships large enough in capacity to incapacitate our forces, nor did we detect any when arriving in this system. They have no way to get word out, our forces saw to that when they landed upon this world."

Shedao gestured in a wide arc to the viewspider once more. The images conveyed in the creatures aqueous sac distorted only slightly, showed what appeared to be a hashed together squadron of fighters and other smaller ships alike.
"They have no choice but to make a stand."

[Elmira Val]

"Master, it is apparent the defenses of this planet are not organized; the fleet has been cobbled together recently, by their appearance." replied Deign Lian, unnerved by how quickly Shai came over.
"Unless they are sending their least capable on purpose as well."

Deign Lian expected another beating if he was wrong. On the viewspider, a swarm of yorik-et coalesced in the space surrounding the hodge-podge squadron. The Garqi ships were clearly outmatched by the more experienced Yuuzhan Vong pilots.

[Blue but beautiful]

-Posting as Shedao Shai-

The commander closed on his subordinate imposingly, eyes full of a firey dangerousness and contempt that he felt he could now afford this one before him. Especially now, considering.
"You wish to tell me what I already know?" He queried in a rather ominously light tone.

Shedao Shai curled his upper lip in the beginnings of a snarl, on the verge of tipping the balance where repremandment was concerned. He'd heard enough of this ones so called wisdom for one lifetime. Sometimes unnerving someone was almost as delicious as putting them in their place. He seemed to delight in that. How could Lian even wish to progress if he continued to state the obvious? Continued to undermine his superiors in such a blatant way? No, he'd heard enough of this outrage.

One rather effortless backhander was all it took to connect with the side of his subordinates Jaw, turning even before the slighter of the two had even hit the floor in insult. If he so much as blinked in a way Shedao considered to be insubordinate, he would kill him where he lay.
" Always two paces behind everyone else, that is why your domain insisted you be given over to me, perhaps it is time you heeded their insistence, less it lead you to ignominy."

[kazura]

Kazura stood before the life size statue of the late separatist leader and sith apprentice, the pedestal with the holocron still behind him. That would have been too easy. Too simple a thievery from the count.

"Come now you arrogant wilted old jedi trash; where could you be hiding the real one?" He brushed his fingers along his chin and kept them there in his silent thought process. His roving eyes missed not any curve or grove upon the bronze statue of the sith lord. Presumably created by one of the pathetic planets that tossed their lots in with him.

"Of course what use had you for material things count..the inspirational "jedi" that you were." he spoke as he traced his finger tips like claws over the statues face, shoulder, and then down to the item that was also statued in his hand's grasp just below his chest. His lightsaber's hilt. With a pull Kazura opened the hilt and pressed the small button upon it. Kazura turned to look behind him as the pedestal behind him split along with the glass and the now revealed to be fake holocron. Underneath an almost exact replica of the last pedestal rose with the prize atop of it which Kazura quickly snatched from the top of it. He had no time for the dramatics as the count apparently had. He placed the sith trash treasure into a bigger pocket in the inside of his lab coat; for what good all the so called secrets it may have contained. That was her problem after all.

He placed his thumb and finger on either side of his wrist as if checking something and then lowered his arm and turned toward the only door that didn't have an elevator control console next to it. Through the door he discovered an old but undamaged geonosian speeder of the counts seemingly favorite design leading down a long and dark and seemingly endless shaft probably dug out by droid workers during the war.

Kazura got atop of the speeder bike and tested the ignition. It activated! Geonosian technology as resilient as ever he thought as a faint smirk came over his lips. If his beliefs about the count were right he would soon have a way off of this planet and away from the yuuzhan vong all in a very stealth manner. All was going according to plan.

[Elmira Val]

Deign Lian kept silent as he watched the aerial bombardment; it would not do to anger Shedao Shai further. At times, he wished he could get as far away from his master as possible, but such thoughts were unbecoming of him. Shedao Shai was occupied with watching the fleet he had dispatched to destroy the one Garqi sent.

The other viewspider showed the last of the mechanical behemoths on the ground sparking, smaller ones thrown into disarray. Deign Lian would not question the whereabouts of their propagator for fear of saying the wrong thing and provoking Shai's explosive temper.

The yorik-et swarmed around the infidel ships, destroying some immediately. Deign Lian was surprised to see some of the scrap fighters could stand on their own, but reckoned in time they would be destroyed.

He retreated from Shai's view before he could question him further.


Mufinlaf watched in fascination as the Yammosk broadcast the image of the space battle. The enemy ships were being picked off and were veering off in flight as if their pilots wished escape their imminent fate. It was amusing how unwilling they were to die.

The Yammosk on the other hemisphere of Garqi did not wish its dovin basal children to die.

The attendants of the Yammosk were paying attention too, reading the telepathic signals it sent through the conductive walls. They were analyzing the data of the battle far away from the destruction. The Yammosk noted each one, coiling each in its tendrils, amplifying the signal.

The insides of the Sulphur Breather had shifted so that the bridge viewed the Yammosk room through a clear screen. The crew exchanged tactical data with the Yuuzhan Vong on the other side.

Mufinlaf took a que to leave the chamber; her shift as Yammosk attender had ended. The black eyes stared back, questioning her, but the Yammosk did not object.

The atmosphere drastically changed outside the pool chamber. The warmth was sapped out of the air, and a sickening diorientation seized Mufinlaf's neurons. The feeling needed accustoming to, she thought. Ahead, the black window of the bridge framed the vast expanse of the airless chasm around Garqi. She had not accustomed to seeing stars yet, even after weeks in orbit.

[kazura]

Few if any of the lights lining the ceilings and the bottom of the walls remained light along the way through this seemingly endless tunnel. Kazura remained focused on the path, occasionally having to swerve around a few fallen chunks of the ceiling and walls. It was a menial task for his mechanical mind however and it could also focus upon other matters. The messages he received from the old CIS croids had all but become static deep down here but he doubted any of them would be operational to say anything.

It had been 3 hours at least when daylight made itself visable pouring intothe large circular cavern where in the middle was what he had counted on being here. A ship! He slowed the geonosian speeder and turned it on it's side as it slowed

"Finally." he spoke as he stepped off of the geonosian speeder. Leaving it on just in case. The ship was a Punworcca 116; and interstellar sloop another piece of geonosian craftmanship but this one had it's own little customization on it that drew Kazura closer. An undispatched solar sail built in front of it. There was no mistaking now who was meant to fly this ship.

Kazura stepped up the open ramp on the ship's side and stepped to the cockpit. The pilot droid surprisingly had remained operational but the unoiled and rusted by the sound it made moving it's head. It struggled to speak "Intr..Intruder you will leave this ves."

"Out of my way you piece of scrap." Kazura did not let it finish. Grasping the droid's neck to it's surprise liftting it out of it's chair and with a motion of his free hand pulled upward on the old droids head. Severing old circuits, wires and connections until it's eyes went black at which point Kazura simply tossed it aside like the junk it was.

Now in the aviator's chair. Kazura checked to see if the ship would actually activate. Success! Of course there was the matter for the activation codes. Also of no worry...Kazura around from the chair and lifted up the severed head of the droid pilot. The tip of Kazura's finger split. Synthetic blood and flesh breaking aside for the tendril like data gathering device that found a port directly into the dead droid's computer core. Images of times with it's old master made Kazura sneer faintly as he dug through the trash to the important data. It only took 3 seconds. Kazura tossed the useless head off to the side. The data probe slide back down into the finger. The bleeding could stop from a small internal injection of batca into the system but that was starting to get low so instead he opted for the other method.

The small flame of a miniature tourch tool in his labcoat sealed the wound preventing anymore blood loss. It was an odd sensation to read the nerve signatures that connected up into his internal system. Was this pain? He hoped so..

That dealt with he started his work. Activating the late counts ship and flying up through the hole above. Coming out at what was the entrance of a volcano. Signals of other ships came from not too far away from where he had been It seemed that a few straggler decided to take the battle to the yuuzhan vong. Did they perceive the droids attack as some kind of help had come for them. The fools. He smiled as the ship broke the atmosphere. At least they would keep the yuuzhan trash busy..and he was pleased that the "other" signal of had not gone dead. Kazura wasted no time in plotting a hyperspace course. The solar sails shot outward to pull the ship rather than relying on sublight engines as any conventional ship would.

"Enjoy your murder yuuzhan vong. I'll be watching closely from here on out." Kazura spoke as the hyperspace jump had been plotted. If sound could travel through space any might have heard his laughter.