<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Roonadan<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Orbital status<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->





Onboard , the pilot , Tsaan , gave away a loud sigh of relief , as the Gallofree was given landing clearance, acknowledging over the comms, he smiled a little , pleased that the fake clearance codes had worked...

He called it through over the entire ship...they would be docking at Varleen City Spaceport in just a few minutes...

Yana was in the hold along with the various troops that had been assembled . They were going over the mission objectives, and readying themselves, Yana struggled to peer over the crowd of men gathered around their officer as he relayed their orders...

Yana Glanced at Andersan, despite being at Vinda-Corp for some time, she had not really noticed Andersan around before, yet he He certainly seemed to know what he was talking about.

Yana strained to listen , she felt so ....helpless, she wanted to do , well, something...anything...

She caught sight of Miles, who , appeared to be engrossed in his own thoughts, she walked up to him...

"...you've taken a great risk for me...."

She spoke staring down at her feet.....

"..if it wasn't for me, we all wouldn't be in this mess..."

..she glanced back up to Miles...

"..why are you doing this?..."

As Yana spoke she couldn't quite stop her voice from shaking slightly , her anxiety , her worries...

..she wouldn't stop until her children were back safe and sound in her arms...


where they should be.....

'Supreme Commander?' Isstal swivelled in his command chair.
'Sir, the superlaser is charged and ready to fire.'
'What is the largest on-scene CSA vessel?' Isstal asked. A moment passed...
'Unknown-class vessel Corporate Enforcer. She appears to be a Star Destroyer of some designation. Length confirmed at 5670 meters.'
'Target the ship and await my orders to fire.' The massive bulk of the Eclipse Super Star Destroyer turned, bringing her massive axil superlaser to bare on the CSA ship.
'Target aquired.'
'Empress status?' Another pause.
'She's in the midst of the fleet, sir.'
'Re-enforce her, two Star Destroyers. Move us forward, slowly, and prepare to fire the superlaser.'

The sound of the club slapping against the palm of the warrior's hand echoed in Leia's ears.

More than a little confused, she looked down at her now unbound wrists. Blood dripped off of her fingers to splatter in a growing puddle around her on the floor. She simply stared at the puddle, strangely unmoved.

After a moment she looked back up at the alien and squinted at him, as if searching for answers on his face. There were none to be found, except that his composure suggested he expected her to already know what was going on.

"Okay, I give up. What do you want with me?"

The Chazrach sneered at her, and then reached down to a pouch at his side. She watched him fumble in it for a moment, and then extract something and put the thing in his ear. When he finally replied to her question, he spoke in a slightly accented Basic.

"You stole my honor on the wretched, infidel infested waste you call Providence. Now I will regain it."

Leia's eyes narrowed into slits as she heard and comprehended his reply.

"You wish to fight me and kill me, then."

The Chazrach said nothing, and brought his club to bear on Leia, who involuntarily backed up a step, which prompted him to finally speak.”

"There is nowhere to run, infidel. You will fight me, and you will do it honorably. You stole my honor, and now I shall win back what is rightfully mine!”

Now it was Leia’s turn to sneer. Where she found the gall or spirit to do so, even she did not know... just yet.

“If you plan to fight me like this, you will only emphasize your cowardice and incompetence. I am unarmed, fatigued, and injured. You are rested, healthy, and you have a weapon. I hardly see that to be a fair match. The only one who stands to gain true honor as the victor is me. And we both know that isn’t going to happen.”

The Chazrach scowled at Leia.

“Your pain should only enhance your fighting capabilities, you pathetic weakling. Stop fearing it, and learn to embrace it.”

Nonetheless, in response to the rest of Leia’s remark he extended his right arm. A ropelike thing that had been wrapped around his wrist suddenly straightened and slid down his wrist and into his hand.

Leia recognized it as a small version of a Yuzzhan Vong amphistaff, it was no longer than her own arm. It hissed at her menacingly, but it’s master said something in his own language to it and stroked it, and it calmed.

The Chazrach then hefted the small staff, and threw it like a spear at the floor before Leia’s feet. It landed two or three feet in front of her, it’s razor sharp tip becoming embedded in the soft coral floor by the force of the throw. The shaft stuck up in the air bent itself invitingly towards Leia.

Surprised, Leia found she could only stare in the weapon in a state just short of shock. She had not been foolish enough to not expect the Chazrach to give her a weapon and force her to fight.

However, she had been caught completely unprepared for the wrenching decision that had now been placed before her.

To pick up the staff and fight the Chazrach would be to deviate from the ways of the Jedi. These were the ways she had devoted herself to ever since the battle of Endor. Ever since then, they had determined her actions. They had been her life, they had defined her.

But for some reason, this time the solution they offered Leia could not accept. There was something ‘else’ inside her. Something she had almost forgotten she had, yet something she ultimately could not ignore. It was not dark or evil, it simply was.

Leia stared at the staff, wondering just how long she would be able to stall for time.

I can’t fight, I can’t break the code.

But...

The mysterious ‘something’ now turned hot and fiery. It raged within the pit of Leia’s stomach.

She knew that fire. It was not dark or evil. It was the energy and spirit that had driven her through her darkest hours. She had blocked it out when she had become a Jedi, for it was her fighting spirit, and Jedi did not fight, it was not their way. It had been a matter of principle.

So it was not the way of the Jedi.

<font color=red>But it is my way...</font>

Screw principles. On the battlefield, they don't exist anyways.

The fire welled up inside her. Unconsciously her right hand twitched, and then slowly clenched into a fist, even as she only just realized she could still move it. The fire of pain seared up her arm to mix with the blazing fire of spirit within her. Leia grunted, and clenched her teeth.

My hands do work... I can fight...

But what if it means I will be making a turn for the Dark Side, like.... my father?

She shuddered at the thought, but continued to look at the staff, her gaze never wavering.

If I pick up this thing, I will have condemned myself to this battle...

My ‘lightness’ will be put in jeapordy. I may lose all I have worked for as a Jedi since Endor.

And yet, it just may be the right thing to do...

Leia shook with another moment of uncertainty.

The results don’t matter, I am what I am. I have to do it.

The pain and fatigue had dissapeared. The fire had vanquished it. Jedi principles no longer ruled Leia's mind and body, her spirit did.

With surprising fluidity, she took a single step forward, stooped down, and took hold of the staff to pull it free of the floor...

'You may fire when ready, captain.' Isstal turned to face the captain of the massive vessel.
'As you command. Superlaser control; you are clear for attack pattern Delta. Go now.'

The planet-destroying superlaser sprang forward, connecting with the CSA's command ship and tearing it apart.

Isstal nodded in grim satisfaction.
'Now you know what it feels like to play with the big boys,'

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Epiphany<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->


<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">

What is it...to live on borrowed time?


The blinding force of fire came out of nowhere and Tyscio was caught by such surprise that, for a moment, he thought himself dead. As soon as felt his breath once again, it had vanished. He was sure that on his face was the mark of fear...for it was the last act of the sane...that last defiant strike of a body refusing to die.

For in most living things, the most basic act of the subconscious is to further the continuance of life.


His senses returned...</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->


His blade dug into the face of an attacking Chazrach warrior, boring through, the smell of burning flesh halting the flow of alien blood.

No sooner that the action happened, his blade was extracted countering a downward swing of an amphistaff from another onrushing invader.

The mantra chanted by the aliens, even as they attacked, seemed to change in his mind, quite unconsciously to an old memory that was plucked from an experience.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Klain... Klain.... Klain...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">

"You will now be my apprentice. Training under me. Your life is shadowed. Taken over my the darkside it will be. Your life is the darkside and the darkside controls it. Your heart is still pure. But the darkness will soon cover it. "


Tycsio looked at the woman next to him as this pronouncement was passed, she refusing to meet his eyes....as she bore up admirably under the Sith's intense power of the force.

And then it hit him.

She is going with this pompous windbag... because of me?


Suddenly his mind was opened in a way it never had been before...</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->


Tyscio had seen death... he'd seen surrender in the eyes of those overwhelmed by odds that they had no control over.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> This destiny of the weak??

Always to be displaced... always to be conquered...

to have their will beaten down...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">Is this what it is like to live on borrowed time?


In a wave, images...impressions...memories rushed to the fore of his mind..


His Teacher...

"One little realized fact escapes many, young ones....a fact that remains the same for all living things.... As long as you draw breath... as long as you are alive, you have the power to effect change.... you have the power to command your life. Let noone deceive you otherwise."</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->


Tyscio's mind burned with perceptions enforcing his every act, his every thought... his mind reeled against the mental barrier that contained his history.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Why can't I remember?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


Three more Yuuzhan Vong were coming over to him as someone shouted off to a side, swinging their blaster rifle around pulling the trigger rapidly.

Alien snarls bit at the sky as razor bugs zipped across the expanse of space that separated the Caprician defenders of Sealine City from their bloody onslaught.

His blade swung into the air, deflecting what he could. He found himself hit several times on his body.

The armor suit he was wearing was taking quite a beating, and sparks flew from several areas but Tyscio paid it no mind.

It served it's purpose..

..and would only need to do so for a little while longer..


<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">

"Klain is pure evil"...came a thought into his mind. From her?

"No." Tyscio whispered audibly. "He is afraid."</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->


Fear.. that is what he saw lingering within the hesitation of the Yuuzhan Vong advance.

The infidels were putting up a harder fight than expected.

A Yuuzhan Vong saw Tyscio's perceptive glance and hissed at the Caprician's realization and snarled out of his own shame.


The attack intensified..

The Capricians snarled back and met them head on.

Flesh met bone, bone met fire, fire met steel..


<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">

"Tyscio laughed as he used the force to draw a tree's branch within reach. As he steadied himself, "Teacher, why are not our armies filled with scores of force users. Think of what we could do? Think of what we are?"

"And just what are you, Korban?" asked his teacher looking up at him from the ground.

Tyscio jumped up reaching out to grab a higher limb. "I'm high...ulp!"

His force blocked, the branch now unreachable, he dropped.

His teacher walked over to him, leaned over and repeated to the young man in pain, "What are you, Korban?"

"I... I am muddy." he answered in a shaken voice.

"Exactly!" his teacher smiled."</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->


<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Ability is sharpened by experience. Experience benefits when ability is furthered.<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->


Tyscio's blade circled in front of him as he blocked multiple staff attacks leveled against him...


<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">

....borrowed time.....


"...strip away a your power... strip away your dramatic speeches.... strip away your grand designs...and what are you?

If you are nothing without the force, then you are certainly nothing with it."</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->


<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> WHO AM I?<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->


His gloved hand shot out grabbing an enemy staff and he pulled, swivelling his body and used the staff to block another. The alien staff hissed and attempted to bite him before he dropped it.


Whatever mental barriers in his mind were crumbling against the midichlorian's attempt to increase his perceptions and his own genetic makeup....


<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">The grand spectacle of his life invaded his mind's eye as he saw the destructive attack in his ship those many years ago....the bodies of his friends.. Calsif, Chordd, Terrin....lying mangled in the twisted wreckage.... of his plunging his lightsaber in her dying heart, a last request painfully granted.... Of his bitterly ironic look upon his travels through the Almanian wastelands only to end up here...now....</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->


The wall fell...


..and the spectacle suddenly took new meaning..


The ashes of victory..


..a victory of long, long ago..



<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Two years ago.... Almania..<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->


<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">

He laughed out loud, his voice filling the forest.


...strip away his power...strip away his grand staging...strip away all the pompous speeches.... and what is he?


Tyscio looked at the self proclaimed Sith Master and answered....

Alone.... If you are nothing with power, then you will be nothing without..


Klain's eyes narrowed in irritation as this newcomer stood laughing.... His arm stretched out to grasp him in a choke hold once more...

An anger that Tyscio had never felt before traveled through him pushing the Sith's invisible hand away.

"NEVER assume that I am not the master of my own fate!" He shouted at Klain.


....borrowed....


His hands quickly drew a blade and in one swift motion, he slit his wrists....letting the blade drop from his hand..

Blood started to drip quickly.


Iriana looked at him with shock....

Why?


Tyscio turned to her and smiled faintly, almost sleepily and whispered..

"Because I alone control my fate.... Because it is time... Because (his smile widened) 'You would have done the same for me, had you been able'."

Klain started to laugh himself. "End your own life, hero! Do you think I really care?" he mocked.

Tyscio's eyes moved to the Sith as he staggered a bit.


"I am not doing this for you, fool.." he chuckled slowly.


"Strip away the power.... Strip away the mock airs... Stip away his grand designs.... and would he have your courage.. Look at him.. He fears what all Sith fear..... To die on some backwater planet...in some nondescript forest... alone....forgotten...." , the winds whisper..


He almost falls...


To Iriana... "join him... don't join him.... the choice is yours... But never forget that we alone answer for our actions in this life..."</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->



The line of Yuuzhan Vong has fallen and the pitifully small numbers of defenders started to move down a deserted road toward the sounds of another battle being waged.

Tyscio's gloved hand pulled a tooth from his armor and stepped on the severed body of a Yuuzhan Vong staff as he ran toward the noise.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> We alone answer for our actions in this life...


...and yet, those actions are paid for by the lives of others..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->



Chazrach had surrounded a makeshift fortification of sorts (droid and machine parts thrown together as some type, any type of barrier).

A valliant AT-ST (Caprician design) had tried to flank the Chazrach before a larger creature began to hurl some sort of plasma spheres at them (not unlike those on Providence).

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> If it were not for the creature, the AT-ST's would tear into the alien ranks enough to allow the defenders to strike back decisively.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Quick perception of the nearby rampant emotions told him that the building the makeshift fortification was protecting housed a great many civilian families attempting to find some sort of cover.

He had already seen teenagers and women also locked in hand to hand combat with the aliens, albeit unsuccessfully most of them...


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Hell, all of them..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


The military mathematics were appalling, but he'd seen enough flesh bartering to last several hundred lifetimes.


His blade snapped on and ignoring the surprised Chazrach, he ran straight through their thinning lines.

The Capricians who ran with him slammed into the alien masses but Tyscio's mind was firmly fixed on the creature.


His wrists began to burn...


<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">

....time...


Klain raised his hand once more, and Tyscio could feel the great summoning of force...


He smiled weakly... "....remember..."</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->


He swung wildly slicing the arm off a Chazrach that attempted to step into his way, a thud bug glancing off his shoulder, scratching his cheek.


The large lumbering creature had positioned itself in a small crater, probably from one of the plasma lasers from the ships that attacked overhead mere hours ago.


He took a running start and jumped, raising his saber over his head, pointing down.

The near transparent/translucent skin of the creature was secreting some kind of liquid and the motions of it tended to be laborous as it shot out another plasma sphere against the machines of the Capricians.. totally oblivious to Tyscio's presence.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Hurt?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">

And the force came....throwing him far across a great pool of water..... his blood streaming in the wind...


...his body hit the water.... and before he sunk...


"It's the Caprician way, Korban. If life's challenges cannot be met head on, what's the use in facing them.... Others will tell you all about power... but power comes and goes... .you, though... you will always be a man."</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->


Tyscio's saber cut into the creatures skin with ease as his brought his swinging motion down in front of him, putting as much physical force into the cut as possible.

A bluish/gray liquid started to escape but as Tyscio landed onto the creature, he slipped through the cut and into creature's gelatinous body. It was as if was trapped in a clear bag of gooey liquid, soft body parts squishing against him and a burning sensation starting to be felt throughout his skin.

His saber, remaining in hand swished through the liquid as frantically as he could. The very real possibility of him drowning by the body fluids and blood of the large creature impaling itself onto Tyscio's mind like a hammer.


The blade poked through skin..



<!--EZCODE HTML START--> <font color="gray">

A young Tyscio Korban looked at the older man...his mentor... his teacher..

"...and at the end of the day, when it's all over?"


The old man smiled warmly... "If, in this great galaxy of chance, you find yourself alive for one more day... do not think that it is without purpose. Finding it out.. now that's the trick..."


Slowly Tyscio's vision dimmed and he felt the water crawling over his body.... his wrists warm..</font><!--EZCODE HTML END-->



<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> The measure of things is gathered by how much people are willing to pay for it.

The ultimate price being determined by the ultimate sacrifice..

The ultimate value of something determined by how much paid...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->



<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> But what is being bought?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--><!--EZCODE BOLD END-->


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Brandt....


..Leia...


Capricia...


Commonwealth....<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->



The creature burst open, his skin no longer being able to contain the damage within and Tyscio poured out with the rest of the creatures living essence.


Cheers were heard and the heavy weapons fire of the AT-ST's as explosions rocked through the Yuuzhan Vong masses.


Darkness claimed Tyscio...

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Capricia.. Antioch Front.<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->


//Eminence. The War Coordinator wishes to speak with you//


Tallien nodded slightly and gestured for the servant to exit. Taking one last glance at the lights of the downed Victory Star Destroyer, he turned toward the choir of villips.

His hand activated one creature, and has translucence formed in the shape of Tslah Vhess, he could see he was not pleased.

//War Coordinator//

//Your Leveller of Empires is worthless// the powerful Yuuzhan Vong military leader grated out, the creatures hooked within his lips, spreading slightly drawing blood.

Highly painful.

Highly admirable.

A mark (one of many) of the rank held by him.

//War Coordinator, how has the Leveller failed you?//

Tslah snarled, //Where do I start? Where are the writhing masses of infidels? Where are their pleas to their false gods for a quick and painless death?//

The contempt with which Tslah voiced "quick and painless" was not lost to Tallien.

//The Leveller is not the mindless destroyer we created for Marrrzzzuuulllloooww//

//Does it destroy?// Tslah snapped, in irritation.

//One more day in this infidel sun and the screams of these weaklings will garner the attention of even Yum-Yammka himself.//

Tslah's eyes narrowed. //A powerful boast.//


//A fact.// Tallien retorted, perfectly bored.


//Why the delay?//

//The infidels have an ability with their abominations to detect the Leveller in some forms and have but it moves in more subtler ways. We desire maximum infection before it is fully unleashed in their souls.//


//These animals have no souls!// the War Coordinator bit back. //One day, Master Shaper//


It sounded as a warning.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> The infidels must be putting up a harder fight that he realized.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

A sly smile crept across the Master Shaper's face after the villip stopped the communication.

He walked back to the wall that now showed waves of Corralskippers attacking savagely at the downed Victory Star Destroyer.

They were attempting to locate defending turbolaser placements...and more importantly, the activities of the slaves hauling captured prisoners across the desert that had once been grass.


About 50 meters away from the bow of the downed ship, the first row of impaled Caprician prisoners were placed.

They were too far away for their cries, pleas, angry retorts, or anguish to be heard... not that Tallien was interested in such displays of weakness.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Infidels do not die well..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

The arial attack against the Vinda ship, subsided and the corralskippers began to circle overhead, gathering force as a locust swarm might.


The Yuuzhan Vong wanted those aboard the ship to witness the next acts.

With each prisoner, as they were lying on their backs on the dirty, sandy ground, hands and feet run through by a razor sharp creature, a centipede-like creature was deposited on them and where they landed, they began to feed.

The screams were glorious, and the Chazrach warriors that were standing around the rows of 500 prisoners began to chant...almost a plea to their gods for acceptance of this sacrifice of unworthy creatures.

The creatures fed until all the prisoners died...slowly.. painfully.



Tallien ordered the Command ship's living weapons to focus
their attention to the downed ship.

He touched the side of his head, near his ear and then put his hand on a rather large spherical object that vibrated as he spoke.

His words were heard outside the Command Ship booming over the chant of the Chazrach. It was an impressive effect, as if God himself were deigning to speak to those trapped in the infidel ship.


"Mercenaries of Vinda Corporation. This is not your fight. You are not wanted here. To interfere with divine will is to invite divine judgement against your homes.

We accept the fact that you were lied to by the treacherous animals that inhabit this world and therefore will not punish your impudence.

Our patience will only carry you past our fury this one time. Do not try it.

Leave.

Convey to us your intentions to leave and we shall allow your people to collect your materials (abominations as they are) and your persons.

Stay and you incur not only our attention but also our wrath.

By the infidel's cries, you've seen our wrath. Stay and you shall see more."



//Masterful, Eminence!// a slave praised.

Tallien's hand shot out and his razor nails sliced the slave's throat spilling his blood upon the yorik coral floor.

The slave made no sound which pleased Tallien greatly.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> A worthy sacrifice indeed.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


He waited for the infidels in the mercenary ship to speak.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> The staff is now tainted.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, thought Arn mournfully of the creature that had served him so well before.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Just as I am.

Everything these weaklings touch is tainted. We are right to exterminate them.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


His fist closed around the club tighter that slapped in his opposite hand.


Though disinterested, his eyes narrowed at the rage that had been building in the soft skinned creature. Their light complexion made any sort of emotions hard to find.


The hard part was trying to define <!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> which<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> emotion.

Leia made such deciding easy, though, as her lips curled into a sneer of her own.

"You snarl at inevitability.." he said, reciting a line he'd heard another Yuuzhan Vong quote from the Master Shaper.

The simpler-minded Arn, favored a more direct threat. He showed his sharpened teeth and hissed, "I shall feed on your children...."


He stepped forward, his eyes wary. The hand without the club slid behind, as he fingered a razor bug attached between scales.

He flinched in pain as he pulled a not yet matured bug off of him.

"...as I have fed on others."

Why do we scream at each other?

The VC fleet was moving forward now, their powerful weapons taking their toll on the enemy fleet.

This is what it sounds like...

Weapons blazing, the ships engaged their opponents. Laser fire was plentiful. The ammount of Death staggering.

...when Doves cry

On the bridge of his command ship, Isstal watched the frenzy. What was this all for?

Maybe I'm just like my mother...

If things couldn't be solved, who was to say that war would? Solve it, that is.

She's never satisfied

What was the problem anyway? What had Vinda done to be attacked by these... fiends?

Some things in the galaxy will never be understood.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Doing the right thing for the wrong reasons...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Leia shook her head hard, as if in an attempt to clear it.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> No... that’s not it...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Leia saw the Chazrach’s hand move behind his back and do something, forcing her to divert her full attention back to him. As her grip on the staff tightened, she thought she saw him flinch with pain.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> He shouldn’t have done that... It’s... not like them...

I think...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Leia saw the Chazrach’s muscles clench as if he were about to lunge, and out of pure instinct she dove to the side as the warrior lunged at her and lashed out with his club with a roar. She landed hard on her side with a grunt, and scrambled back to her feet.

The Chazrach was already charging again, swinging the club at her head. Leia clumsily intercepted the blow with the staff, and managed to push it away. As the Chazrach recoiled for another strike, she stabbed at his torso with the staff, forcing him to hasten his retreat in order to avoid the blow.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> One or the other of us will have to go....

Who will it be...? Me or him?

But.... I’d have to kill him, when in essence he’s done nothing wrong...

...or has he?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

The Chazrach saw Leia faulter in indecision again, and quickly lunged at her. Realizing too late that she had let her guard down, Leia tried to backpedal away from the attack, but found herself run up against a wall, with the Chazrach directly in front of her, closing fast.

His swing was low this time, at Leia’s gut. On impulse, she dropped the amphistaff and took a step forward, just in time to take the blow and be pushed back into the wall with the force of it. Her eyes bulged in pain and she let out a pained grunt, yet she retained enough self control to throw both arms around the club tightly. She let her legs drop out
from under her, and she fell hard to the ground, half twisting in mid air so that she landed on her side in an attempt to wrench the club out of the warrior’s hands. He managed to hang onto it, but just barely.

In an attempt to shake Leia free, he lashed out at her in a kick that was to be a nasty blow to the small of her back. But Leia had already made other plans, and was rolling away from him as he let the kick go. His foot swung through empty air, and he lost his balance, and his grip on the club. Leia crawled away from his thrashing limbs as he completely lost
his balance and landed flat on his back.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> I can’t.... I can’t strike.... he doesn’t know any better than to do this....

Maybe if I dissapear, he won’t follow....<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Instead of attacking, Leia threw the club at the opposite wall well out of his reach, and darted through the doorway to the hall that led back to the cell chamber, retrieving the amphistaff on the way.

She heard him roar in rage and frustration, and his heavy plodding footsteps joined her stumbling, light ones in running down the hall. He quickly caught up with her, Leia simply was not in the condition to do any physically taxing work very well.

Leia bolted into the empty cell chamber and suddenly dropped to her knees. The Chazrach’s club whistled through the empty air that Leia’s body had been occupying only moments ago. Without hesitation, Leia thrust the amphistaff up, and into the warrior’s chest.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> He chose his own fate... I have no choice...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Arn tumbled past her and cried out with anger. Leia thought she heard pain mixed in the sound too....

He landed hard on the floor with a thud, but rebounded to his feet quickly and sprung at Leia with a series of wild, crazed swings. Yet they were slower, weaker, more clumsy than his past attacks had been, and
Leia deftly blocked them with the staff.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> It was too much to think he might actually give up...

He is out to kill... or be killed. Either I stop him or die, with many to follow...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

Leia happened to glance down at her hands, which were covered in her own blood. Her wrists continued to spurt it as well. She thought of the hostages, of the boy.... of Capricia... and shook in sudden anger.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> The vicious beast! How can he do this? How can any of them?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

She clenched her teeth and snarled at the Chazrach.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> I must kill him...them... not because they deserve to die, but because if they live, countless more will suffer and die under their wrath...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

In the back of her mind, she felt misgivings, borne of years of Jedi studies. She ignored them and pushed them out.

The Jedi intellect was not made for this. Nobody knew, or thought to know, that this was possible. New intellect had to be made. New answers had to be found for old questions.

Whether she liked it or not, Leia knew that she had found her answers.... now she had to act upon them.

She charged the Chazrach fiercly, throwing a series of slashes at him, each increasingly more powerful. He managed to block them all, but the last blow had all of Leia’s weight, and the added strength of her emotion in it, and it knocked the club out of his hands violently.

Leia did not even hesitate after disarming the soldier. Her next blow was still even more powerful than the last. It hit him in the face. The warrior’s head snapped back, and he collapsed into a world of darkness.

Not caring whether the soldier was dead or not, Leia hopped into her cell through the gash in the wall where she had been dragged out of it. She looked up to find the silloutte of the boy still up there, now looking down at her.

She moved to a section of the floor farthest away from the boy, and thrust the amphistaff into the membrane. The weapon cut through, and she opened up a large hole in the floor of the boy’s cell, then sagged to her knees to catch her breath and regain some strength. The effort that had been taken to get past the Chazrach had nearly drained her. She had recovered a little since being captured, but the Yuzzhan Vong had seen to it that her body could not tolerate much more than she was already handling.

The pain was returning now, in great waves that threatened to overtake her. She did not welcome it, and she closed her eyes against the rush, trying to battle it off just a little longer.

Finally, she found the strength to speak.

“Come on, let’s get out of here before they figure out we’re loose.”

<!--EZCODE BOLD START--> Capricia...<!--EZCODE BOLD END-->



Their troop had grown sizably in the past two days. Leantre carrying the injured man made the trek without comment surprising the man from Scipio Clan.

Throughout the walk past damaged vehicles, ruined land, and general desolation caused by the effects of war, Leantre pondered events so far....


On the outside, he spoke evenly, and firmly but inside, he felt a sharp stab of pain at the loss of Gomorran.

He remembered Kay's family, his father and he piloting a program to set up colonies within the Caprician system long ago. It was no suprise to Leantre that Kay turned out to be just as gifted in military matters. Such things ran in his family, such training in his Clan.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> He didn't want to be Regent.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END--> thought Leantre mournfully.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> All he wanted was peace..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


The invaders had come five years ago and had wrought the same amount of damage upon Capricia, destroying the fleet, but at that time Gomorran had also destroyed many of the enemy ships.

He had rammed the Caprician flagship into the Enemy Command Cruiser bringing them both down to Capricia's surface.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> By rights the boy should have died that day.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> He should have.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

But Leantre knew that Gomorran, in pain dragged himself to his family estates only to learn that his family, his wife, his two children had been killed in the fighting, his home burning.


The Kayalous Estates had become a national shrine of sorts to commemorate the stand his wife and other's had taken there.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Gomorran never quite had gotten over that..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->



<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> But what does that do to a man?


What does that do to his thinking?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


Before this second invasion, Gomorran had pushed a militarizing of Capricia fervently.

Family's were issued government arms, powerful weapons previously only held by the armies.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> But what happens when the armies fail?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->, was Kay's answering question to those who condemned the policy.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Perhaps Capricia would have faired better if the civilians had the means to defend themselves effectively during the first invasion without resorting to savage means?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


Leantre thought about that.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> But where do you draw the line?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


The House Parliament was gaining power for the opposing the Clan policy of militarization and Martial Law. Leantre had seen enough of Jorrum Gerrard's theatrics to know that the man had a following.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> This second invasion justified Clan policy but we could have done without such justifications.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Sometimes a man prays as hard as he can to be wrong.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Sometimes being right is the curse that damns us all..<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->




***


The rather gruff Scipio Clan member had led them threw several small towns and Leantre found the broken remains of companies and took command of them.

Discipline was shattered and he would have to work hard to restore it.

The army remains were shamed at their failure on the battery line and the panicking population had already killed some out of fear and rage as the shadow of the alien armies was cast over city after city.

Leantre had gotten hold of a communications panel and issued a general retreat of all cities, townships, estates in a several hundred mile radius of all major cities. The Yuuzhan Vong would soon come after them.

Some cities refused the order, preferring to stand and fight.

Leantre could not fault them and deep within himself he cried for those about to die.

And die they would.

The cold exterior of Leantre, though, appreciated their sacrifice because each and every one of the population's futile stands slowed the enemy that much more.

Bought time for Leantre to reshape the military fragments that were rapidly collecting in his group that had grown in their race for the Highlands.

They cobbled together any and all ground transportation they could, repaired damaged power cells, hell walked on foot when necessary but the group stayed together.

It was not the smartest of moves, but they had gotten far enough away to prevent outright destruction if discovered by a flying enemy craft.


They were headed for Thessonia, not a large city but one strategically situated between travel routes, both ground and air.


From Thessonia, they could push into the Highlands, but Leantre was starting to get a bad feeling about the growing strong point.

With each new addition to his group, his army would grow but so would his knowledge of the situation happening around them. Information was their lifeline.

Most of it was not good.


The fleet has been lost, it seems and a shortage of fighters was becoming readily evident. He kept his own council about that bit of information.


However, with the release of the Yuuzhan Vong virus, many civilians were becoming infected, and though no effects of the virus displayed themselves, many were ostracized, quarantined or, in a few instances, outright killed out of fear.

If reports were to be believed, the Highlands would not take infected individuals into their walls.


The Yuuzhan Vong's insideous plot was becoming more and more realized in Leantre's mind the more he thought about it.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Divide and conquer<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Our own fears will hurt us just as much as their weapons would.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


Also, there were rumors that a good portion of other armies from the major cities were also in retreat (for the Antioch Front was not the only battle site) and would cross over in to Thessonia.


Leantre had to be there when they did cross over.

Already there were rumors of the Clan Leader's death, that the main army was smashed beyone repair and there was one rumor that the Capricians had already surrendered.

The Comm Network was a mess.

With Yuuzhan Vong and their Chazrach slaves destroying any machinery they came across, the chance for anything reliable inside the battle zones (which were rapidly growing in size from the major city locations) a mere dream.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> What about Vinda Corporation?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->

In the haste and flight for survival, the Corporation's forces had been forgotten.


Their group had chanced on downed Vinda Corp, fighters and an occassional pilot. Some had to be rescued from the overzealous efforts of either Yuuzhan Vong trapped and isolated from their forces or a suspicious Caprician population.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Things are bad indeed.<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


The pilots were welcomed into their group and the Caprician soldiers and pilots that accompanied them swapped stories and their own take on the war with Vinda employees.

A lot of questions were asked about Seth Vinda himself.


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Did the man really eat babies?<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


Leantre grinned at that naive question probably put out on the holonet by a rival company or whatnot.



Leantre's force stopped to rest when Thessonia was spotted and it was confirmed that it had not been attacked..


<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Yet...<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


He checked on the injured man that Gomorran had saved in the hospital division of their force and the man was sleeping soundly.

<!--EZCODE ITALIC START--> Sweet Clans, we have so many injured!<!--EZCODE ITALIC END-->


He wondered how full the Thessonia's hospitals would be..