Clash of Fates, Part Two
Bob DeFrank
[email protected]
Catagory: The Rebellion
Keywords: Vergere, Thrawn, Vong, Anor
Spoilers: Vision of the Future, Vector Prime, Dark Tide: Ruin,
Rogue Planet
Rating: PG-13, violence, nothing graphic
Summary: As the Battle of Endor draws near, another struggle for
the galaxy's future is at stake. Grand Admiral Thrawn and the
Yuuzhan Vong are aware of one another, and have begun a war for
control of the Unknown Regions. Thrawn and the Executor both
wage this war in their own way, but it will be the actions of a lone
Jedi Knight, a psychotic TIE fighter pilot and an innocent native of
a conquered world who will decide the outcome.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created
and owned by George Lucas, Timothy Zahn, Michael A.
Stackpole, R.A. Salvatore and Greg Bear. No money is being
made and no infringement is intended.
Author's Note: Most of this duology was written before Hero's
Trial by James Luceno was published, I therefore had only vague
ideas of Vergere?s appearence, personality and position. Some
liberties were taken, artistic license and all, and I will have to alter
the concluding chapters to place Vergere where she is at the start
of Hero's Trial. I am confident I can make it work, though, as I
faced a similar crisis when I first began this story: I was in the
middle of Chapter Two, Part One, when I read Rogue Planet by
Greg Bear, which is what put Verger in my story in the first place.
Chapter One
Sang Anor gaped his mouth open and allowed the gnullith
to snake it's tube down his throat while it's starfish limbs sealed
around his face. The air in the subterranean caverns was
supposedly clean of disease, but he was taking no chances. Nom
Anor, similarly attired, held his hand up inches away from the
coral wall. A slender tendril protruded from the living seal, it
unsheathed a needle-stinger and stabbed through the ooglith
cloaker that covered the young Vong's hand to taste his blood.
Recognizing the one before it as authorized to enter, the orifice
opened and the two Yuuzhan Vong stepped into the tunnel beyond.
The seal snapped closed almost the instant they were
through. Nothing in this place would be permitted to escape, and
the ooglith cloakers both Vong wore kept them safe from
infection. Dozens of large caves lines either side of the tunnel, all
of which were sealed with walls of clear gel, hardened until it was
strong as transparisteel.
The tunnel was lit by lumin bugs that crawled along the
high ceiling and the thermal energy given off by the crasso
fungus on the rocky floor made caverns that would have been
coated with ice instead merely chilly. The world the infidels
called Sevac III had another use than as a seed world: the
subterranean caverns in the arctic poles were idea for housing
some of the Shapers' more 'sensitive' material. Pathogens that
Sang Anor was uncomfortable keeping onboard the worldship in
their experimental stage.
If, by any chance, the hosts carrying the microscopic spores
escaped their containment the sub-zero weather and lack of life for
hundreds of miles in any direction all but guaranteed they would
not infect the coral fields growing far to the south.
The many small side-caves in the main tunnel were not
natural, but had been shaped by acids excreted from some of the
Vong's creatures. Each 'cell' was large enough to comfortably
house one being.
'Comfortable' being a subjective term.
A little over half the cells were occupied by various
sentient species, beings the Yuuzhan Vong had taken prisoner
before setting up shop on this planet. Humans, Miashku, Torgols,
a few others, each species held widely different traits, but one
common thread linked them: they were dying.
Some had disgusting boils and growths on their bodies. A
human's limbs were so twisted he could barely move, and would
have been howling in agony if his lungs weren't slowly collapsing
in his chest. Some lay on their backs and moaned in delirium
while others reeled and staggered around the room in psychotic
rages.
One fur-covered being had torn ragged gashes in it's face
and body with it's own sharp claws, striking at insects it could feel
under it's skin, and on seeing the two Yuuzhan Vong it roared and
hurled itself at the gel wall again and again, leaving bloody stains
on the surface. Neither Sang Anor nor his son paid the thing any
mind.
The Shapers had taken the ones who were already dead to
the tunnels below, and were engaged in taking them apart a little at
a time to find out if the pathogens had worked as they were
designed to.
This was no place for warriors, but Sang Anor felt slightly
relieved to get away from the worldship. Since his failed attempt
on Admiral Thrawn's life had resulted in the deaths of three
warriors including Hren Silra, one of his best operatives, his life
had become intolerably difficult. Besides all the planning for a
campaign that the future of the invasion could very well hinge on,
he had been beset with more private concerns as well.
His condolences had gone out to Hren Silra's wives and
children, with full ceremonies to make up for the inability to
recover his body. That didn't keep his door from nearly being
broken down by five very angry Yuuzhan Vong females and all
their respective children above the feenir stage demanding to be
put on a ship and sent out to avenge the death of their lord and
recover his body for proper immolation.
Of course, since two of the wives were yet with child they
demanded that the others bring back the perpetrators alive as well
so they could share in tearing them apart. In many ways, Yuuzhan
Vong females were even more bloodthirsty than the males.
Sang Anor had vetoed this proposal, naturally, and there
was little they could do about it aside from take up more of his
valuable time. As Executor, he had final say in all familial matters
between the Yuuzhan Vong in this galaxy, and even the priests had
to bow to his judgement. He had the authority to delay, pause or
even call off a blood-debt of any kind between families, and they?d
had no choice but to but their feud aside. But after placating this
branch of Domain Silra, there was still two other families to deal
with.
Blood feuds between families and divisions of families had
always been a problem for the Yuuzhan Vong, and had stopped
them from uniting to dominate their own galaxy for countless
centuries, despite all the efforts of the priests. In the end, it had
taken the Cremlevian Wars and the legendary Yo'gand's victory to
settle this dispute and make it clear that familial matters were
secondary to serving the Yuuzhan Vong race as a whole.
At the end of the tunnel there was another seal, which
opened and closed the same way. Beyond it was a larger series of
tunnels and chambers, and enclosed within those chambers...was a
greenhouse.
Beneath the snow-heaped surface, plants from hundreds of
worlds back in Home Galaxy thrived in climates ranging from
desert to tropic. The soil in each gel-sealed chamber was different,
as was the light they basked in, for the lumin bugs in each chamber
glowed with a different light of the spectrum just as the moss
raised the temperature to a different degree in each.
"Very impressive," the gnullith vibrated and reproduced his
voice in the air, "but are many of them are ready for use in real
conditions?"
"For the most part, I would say yes." Nom Anor walked
along the gel-sealed caves. "The gulo spores, certainly." He
indicated the plump growths at the bottom of a scum-lined pond.
"But the mwre and seeln might not take." He went on, explaining
how each of the diseases reacted on various hosts and in the
different environments the Shapers simulated. Sang Anor listened
with half his attention, cataloging and filing what he said.
A small smile crept across his hidden face as he saw Nom
Anor's eyes flash with excitement. In many ways, the young Vong
took after his mother, and that did not displease Sang Anor.
Although Lyrra Anor had been a Shaper, she was as vicious as any
warrior when her blood was up. His eyes grew distant as his wife
appeared in his mind's eye, her body a glorious masterpiece of
lacerations and tattoos. She had given him his favorite scars, and
it was in times like these he saw her in Nom Anor.
It had pleased him that his son would show such a strong
aptitude for his mother's work. Of course most Yuuzhan Vong
males are expected to be warriors, the Executor's son most of all.
Truthfully, a Yuuzhan Vong male who chose to become a Shaper
was generally considered less of a man, and so the shaping of
spores was officially just Nom Anor's hobby. Unofficially he was
probably more skilled than any Shaper in this galaxy.
Sang Anor grimaced as he realized he was close to sighing
like a smooth-skinned youngling. Instead he remembered how he
had found her three years ago and fury nearly choked him. The
Jedi had ruined his schemes more than once, and that was the least
of the hurts she had done him.
By now she had undoubtably told Grand Admiral Thrawn
everything she knew about the Yuuzhan Vong, jeaprodizing the
entire invasion. His eyes narrowed as he recalled his report to the
Overlord via his villip, at how close he had come to being feed for
the Vong creatures himself. It had taken some fast talking to
convince the Overlord that all blame lay at the feet of Sang Anor's
predecessor, the original Executor, in allowing Vergere to escape
in the first place.
Not that he had cried out his innocence and said straight-
out that it wast he other's fault, of course, that would only have
made Sang Anor appear all the more incompetent and
dishonorable. No, he had only given the bare facts, but in just the
right way and with the proper inflections and emphasis to make it
'clear' that Sang Anor himself was faultless. After which he had
put forward his plan to deal with the infidel threat, to which the
Overlord had reluctantly agreed.
Sang Anor's eyes gleamed. He could yet survive, and
more, he could gain the power and rank he craved: to be the master
of this galaxy, bowing only to the Overlord. And who knows,
perhaps become the Overlord himself one day...
"-so it is these eight that have the best chance at success."
Nom Anor finished. "Fast, large-scale infection and all but
incurable." He strode back to the Executor's side.
"I will have the Shapers prepare samples to be taken to the
worldship." Sang Anor watched with cold eyes above the starfish
arms. "You have all that is needed to replicate them onboard?"
Nom Anor nodded. "Good." Prefect Ke'Nass, along with his
supporters, had been transferred to the surface of the seed world to
begin their own important mission: quelling the primitive natives.
Sang Anor could be confident in proceeding without the Prefect's
bumbling.
He surveyed the chambers and all the many deaths they
held, and lifted his hand to clasp his son's shoulder. "We can
begin in earnest."
Bob DeFrank
[email protected]
Catagory: The Rebellion
Keywords: Vergere, Thrawn, Vong, Anor
Spoilers: Vision of the Future, Vector Prime, Dark Tide: Ruin,
Rogue Planet
Rating: PG-13, violence, nothing graphic
Summary: As the Battle of Endor draws near, another struggle for
the galaxy's future is at stake. Grand Admiral Thrawn and the
Yuuzhan Vong are aware of one another, and have begun a war for
control of the Unknown Regions. Thrawn and the Executor both
wage this war in their own way, but it will be the actions of a lone
Jedi Knight, a psychotic TIE fighter pilot and an innocent native of
a conquered world who will decide the outcome.
Disclaimer: This story is based on characters and situations created
and owned by George Lucas, Timothy Zahn, Michael A.
Stackpole, R.A. Salvatore and Greg Bear. No money is being
made and no infringement is intended.
Author's Note: Most of this duology was written before Hero's
Trial by James Luceno was published, I therefore had only vague
ideas of Vergere?s appearence, personality and position. Some
liberties were taken, artistic license and all, and I will have to alter
the concluding chapters to place Vergere where she is at the start
of Hero's Trial. I am confident I can make it work, though, as I
faced a similar crisis when I first began this story: I was in the
middle of Chapter Two, Part One, when I read Rogue Planet by
Greg Bear, which is what put Verger in my story in the first place.
Chapter One
Sang Anor gaped his mouth open and allowed the gnullith
to snake it's tube down his throat while it's starfish limbs sealed
around his face. The air in the subterranean caverns was
supposedly clean of disease, but he was taking no chances. Nom
Anor, similarly attired, held his hand up inches away from the
coral wall. A slender tendril protruded from the living seal, it
unsheathed a needle-stinger and stabbed through the ooglith
cloaker that covered the young Vong's hand to taste his blood.
Recognizing the one before it as authorized to enter, the orifice
opened and the two Yuuzhan Vong stepped into the tunnel beyond.
The seal snapped closed almost the instant they were
through. Nothing in this place would be permitted to escape, and
the ooglith cloakers both Vong wore kept them safe from
infection. Dozens of large caves lines either side of the tunnel, all
of which were sealed with walls of clear gel, hardened until it was
strong as transparisteel.
The tunnel was lit by lumin bugs that crawled along the
high ceiling and the thermal energy given off by the crasso
fungus on the rocky floor made caverns that would have been
coated with ice instead merely chilly. The world the infidels
called Sevac III had another use than as a seed world: the
subterranean caverns in the arctic poles were idea for housing
some of the Shapers' more 'sensitive' material. Pathogens that
Sang Anor was uncomfortable keeping onboard the worldship in
their experimental stage.
If, by any chance, the hosts carrying the microscopic spores
escaped their containment the sub-zero weather and lack of life for
hundreds of miles in any direction all but guaranteed they would
not infect the coral fields growing far to the south.
The many small side-caves in the main tunnel were not
natural, but had been shaped by acids excreted from some of the
Vong's creatures. Each 'cell' was large enough to comfortably
house one being.
'Comfortable' being a subjective term.
A little over half the cells were occupied by various
sentient species, beings the Yuuzhan Vong had taken prisoner
before setting up shop on this planet. Humans, Miashku, Torgols,
a few others, each species held widely different traits, but one
common thread linked them: they were dying.
Some had disgusting boils and growths on their bodies. A
human's limbs were so twisted he could barely move, and would
have been howling in agony if his lungs weren't slowly collapsing
in his chest. Some lay on their backs and moaned in delirium
while others reeled and staggered around the room in psychotic
rages.
One fur-covered being had torn ragged gashes in it's face
and body with it's own sharp claws, striking at insects it could feel
under it's skin, and on seeing the two Yuuzhan Vong it roared and
hurled itself at the gel wall again and again, leaving bloody stains
on the surface. Neither Sang Anor nor his son paid the thing any
mind.
The Shapers had taken the ones who were already dead to
the tunnels below, and were engaged in taking them apart a little at
a time to find out if the pathogens had worked as they were
designed to.
This was no place for warriors, but Sang Anor felt slightly
relieved to get away from the worldship. Since his failed attempt
on Admiral Thrawn's life had resulted in the deaths of three
warriors including Hren Silra, one of his best operatives, his life
had become intolerably difficult. Besides all the planning for a
campaign that the future of the invasion could very well hinge on,
he had been beset with more private concerns as well.
His condolences had gone out to Hren Silra's wives and
children, with full ceremonies to make up for the inability to
recover his body. That didn't keep his door from nearly being
broken down by five very angry Yuuzhan Vong females and all
their respective children above the feenir stage demanding to be
put on a ship and sent out to avenge the death of their lord and
recover his body for proper immolation.
Of course, since two of the wives were yet with child they
demanded that the others bring back the perpetrators alive as well
so they could share in tearing them apart. In many ways, Yuuzhan
Vong females were even more bloodthirsty than the males.
Sang Anor had vetoed this proposal, naturally, and there
was little they could do about it aside from take up more of his
valuable time. As Executor, he had final say in all familial matters
between the Yuuzhan Vong in this galaxy, and even the priests had
to bow to his judgement. He had the authority to delay, pause or
even call off a blood-debt of any kind between families, and they?d
had no choice but to but their feud aside. But after placating this
branch of Domain Silra, there was still two other families to deal
with.
Blood feuds between families and divisions of families had
always been a problem for the Yuuzhan Vong, and had stopped
them from uniting to dominate their own galaxy for countless
centuries, despite all the efforts of the priests. In the end, it had
taken the Cremlevian Wars and the legendary Yo'gand's victory to
settle this dispute and make it clear that familial matters were
secondary to serving the Yuuzhan Vong race as a whole.
At the end of the tunnel there was another seal, which
opened and closed the same way. Beyond it was a larger series of
tunnels and chambers, and enclosed within those chambers...was a
greenhouse.
Beneath the snow-heaped surface, plants from hundreds of
worlds back in Home Galaxy thrived in climates ranging from
desert to tropic. The soil in each gel-sealed chamber was different,
as was the light they basked in, for the lumin bugs in each chamber
glowed with a different light of the spectrum just as the moss
raised the temperature to a different degree in each.
"Very impressive," the gnullith vibrated and reproduced his
voice in the air, "but are many of them are ready for use in real
conditions?"
"For the most part, I would say yes." Nom Anor walked
along the gel-sealed caves. "The gulo spores, certainly." He
indicated the plump growths at the bottom of a scum-lined pond.
"But the mwre and seeln might not take." He went on, explaining
how each of the diseases reacted on various hosts and in the
different environments the Shapers simulated. Sang Anor listened
with half his attention, cataloging and filing what he said.
A small smile crept across his hidden face as he saw Nom
Anor's eyes flash with excitement. In many ways, the young Vong
took after his mother, and that did not displease Sang Anor.
Although Lyrra Anor had been a Shaper, she was as vicious as any
warrior when her blood was up. His eyes grew distant as his wife
appeared in his mind's eye, her body a glorious masterpiece of
lacerations and tattoos. She had given him his favorite scars, and
it was in times like these he saw her in Nom Anor.
It had pleased him that his son would show such a strong
aptitude for his mother's work. Of course most Yuuzhan Vong
males are expected to be warriors, the Executor's son most of all.
Truthfully, a Yuuzhan Vong male who chose to become a Shaper
was generally considered less of a man, and so the shaping of
spores was officially just Nom Anor's hobby. Unofficially he was
probably more skilled than any Shaper in this galaxy.
Sang Anor grimaced as he realized he was close to sighing
like a smooth-skinned youngling. Instead he remembered how he
had found her three years ago and fury nearly choked him. The
Jedi had ruined his schemes more than once, and that was the least
of the hurts she had done him.
By now she had undoubtably told Grand Admiral Thrawn
everything she knew about the Yuuzhan Vong, jeaprodizing the
entire invasion. His eyes narrowed as he recalled his report to the
Overlord via his villip, at how close he had come to being feed for
the Vong creatures himself. It had taken some fast talking to
convince the Overlord that all blame lay at the feet of Sang Anor's
predecessor, the original Executor, in allowing Vergere to escape
in the first place.
Not that he had cried out his innocence and said straight-
out that it wast he other's fault, of course, that would only have
made Sang Anor appear all the more incompetent and
dishonorable. No, he had only given the bare facts, but in just the
right way and with the proper inflections and emphasis to make it
'clear' that Sang Anor himself was faultless. After which he had
put forward his plan to deal with the infidel threat, to which the
Overlord had reluctantly agreed.
Sang Anor's eyes gleamed. He could yet survive, and
more, he could gain the power and rank he craved: to be the master
of this galaxy, bowing only to the Overlord. And who knows,
perhaps become the Overlord himself one day...
"-so it is these eight that have the best chance at success."
Nom Anor finished. "Fast, large-scale infection and all but
incurable." He strode back to the Executor's side.
"I will have the Shapers prepare samples to be taken to the
worldship." Sang Anor watched with cold eyes above the starfish
arms. "You have all that is needed to replicate them onboard?"
Nom Anor nodded. "Good." Prefect Ke'Nass, along with his
supporters, had been transferred to the surface of the seed world to
begin their own important mission: quelling the primitive natives.
Sang Anor could be confident in proceeding without the Prefect's
bumbling.
He surveyed the chambers and all the many deaths they
held, and lifted his hand to clasp his son's shoulder. "We can
begin in earnest."