The Yuuzhan Vong troops continued to pour in, until they truly did number more than fifty; seventy, perhaps. The edge of the village was now engulphed in laserfire and combat, as Ossan soldiers futiley attempted to hold off the onrushing Vong.

Gash made it to the edge of one side of the village just as a group of Yuuzhan Vong -- probably seven, though Gash had no time to count them -- began an assault on a squad of soldiers holding the remains of a small home. The Vong approached without taking cover, braving the Ossan fire. As they rushed towards the house, most of the soldiers' shots missed; they were working sporadically.

Ten meters away, the Yuuzhan Vong finally took cover behind a small amount of brush, the sheer volume of gunfire overwhealming them, even if it did not in accuracy. Thud bugs continued to sail over their heads and break against the wall outside.

Gash leapt over the edge of the home, ducking behind the wall and joining them with a nod. All around them, the sound of blasters repeated itself over and over, along with screams and the blasts of thud bugs. To their left, a blast bug errupted, showering them with dirt as it exploded, the wall shielding them from the blast itself.

"Sir!" One of the Ossan soldiers shouted, suprised to see the highest ranking officer in the Ossan Armed Forces suddenly by his side. "We're held up, here! There are -- enemies, whatever the hell they are -- on all sides, and squads in the homes to the left and right! Across the field between here and the treeline, another group of them are coming in -- we can't hold them all off!"

Gash nodded. "These are Vong, men -- we can't afford to sit back. We have to take the offensive!" As Gash stood slightly, a thud bug whizzed by his head, causing him to duck down instinctively. "They're advancing!" He turned to one of the men, who seemed to have a commlink. "Tell the men on each side to lay down indiscriminant cover fire! One of you, throw a thermal detonator, right behind their position!"

The man nodded, scarcely hearing the Rogue Jedi Master over the sounds of battle. Gash stood, bringing his lightsabers to bear and blocking one of the thud bugs. One of them primed a thermal detonator and tossed it, and as fire errupted from the ruined homes on either side of them, Gash leapt over their defense and ran towards the Vong.

The cover fire effectively distracted them, slowing them down enough to stay within the thermal detonator's blast radius. The grenade weapon exploded, sending two of the Vong flying away from it, surely dead or brutally wounded.

Gash reached the remaining five, blocking one of the amphistaffs as it came in at him. He kicked the originator of the attack in the stomach swiftly, a trained, measured motion of a soldier which had fought enough battles to know not to give up any advantage. But the Vonduun Crab Armor did not give way under the assault; it held strong, though the kick would have mortally wounded a human.

Gash brought one of his lightsabers around to the hand holding the amphistaff he'd blocked, severing it at the wrist and dropping the snake-like weapon to the ground. He stabbed out, the lightsaber striking the defenseless warrior squarely in the face, slicing through bone and tisse into brain matter. The Vong fell.

Another amphistaff swept in, as did a coufee knife, one on either side of him. Gash used a lightsaber to block each one, kicking straight out at the Vong in front of him, the blow landing on his face, sending him to the ground. A third amphistaff dropped in, slashing Gash across the back.

The Jedi Master dropped to the ground in agony as the sickeningly-sharp weapon sliced a long wound, pain shooting through him like venom. He rolled instinctively, avoiding what would've been a killing blow. He leapt to his feet again, approaching the four standing Yuuzhan Vong yet again. One attacked; Gash blocked the amphistaff, reversing his grip on his other lightsaber and stabbing it down into the neck joint on the armor of the warrior, drilling the weapon down through his collarbone and chest. He punched out with a fist that clenched his other weapon, striking the Vong in the face and sending it sailing a clear two meters away; he let his second weapon fly with it.

He turned again, slashing in a pre-emptive strike at one of the Vong. The attack struck at the creature's stomach, but the armor held. Gash struck out with his empty hand, clenching it in a fist: it was his mechanical replacement limb, and the sheer force of the attack shattered bones in the Yuuzhan Vong's chest through his armor. Claws shot out through the fingers of Gash's metallic hand, gripping into the chest of the beast.

Gash summoned the strength of the Force to complement that of his prosthetic limb, and hurled the now-dead Yuuzhan Vong at one of his comrades, the second one flying back from the impact.

The Rogue Jedi looked around him; that left two of them, one on the ground and dazed from Gash's assault. He began to fall back, an infuriated Yuuzhan Vong following him. "Attack!" Gash yelled back to the soldiers, as more Yuuzhan Vong poured out of the woods.

Five Yuuzhan Vong dead, and how many more to go? Gash wondered. Fighting continued to rage all around the village... how could they win this?

Laser fire errupted from the wrecked houses as soldiers leapt from them, and two more Vong fell. But more swarmed forward, and behind their position and to the left, Gash watched more of them slip behind their position, attacking inner positions in the village.

Over seventy of the blue glowbugs had descended on the red ones. Though some of the blue disappeared, the red continued to become more and more cloystered into the village -- a deadly, inflexible position. All of the Yuuzhan Vong troops were now in position; they would see how long the Jeedai could hold out.

A villip beside Zeralin Lah purred, and he stroked it. The face formed in it was that of Gorak Domain Lah, a subordinate within Zeralin Lah's domain. The Yuuzahn Vong spoke, and his Lord nodded slowly.

"Bring a small squad and assist, Gorak Lah. Do not commit an excessive force, yet; leave the rest in reserve. No more than ten warriors."

Even though Kate downed two Vong, more came at her. She felt her entire body grow weak from blocking, parrying, and what few blows her attackers landed. The blur of her blades began to fade.

A glow bug landed a few feet behind her, but she had little time to react to it. She had two Vong comming at her in a classic pincer movement. Alright, you wanna a peice of me, bring it she thought. She waited until the right moment and flipped forward just before the Vong amphistaffs came in. They missed, but each warrior hit the other. This was her time to turn the tables. She spun and before the two had time to react, brought one end of her lightsaber around in a forward arc, catching the Vong on the right behind the neck and severing his head, and catching the other right between the eyes, temporarily throwing him off guard before she brought the other end of her lightsaber(for it has two blades) around in a forward arc and severed the others head.

" And you call yourselves warriors.." she said, but about that time, a blow from an incomming amphi staff hit her in the left arm, causing her to let out a suprised yelp.

Lightning spat forth, burning and charring everything in its path. My vision was coloured in red, and it was hard for me to tell why, but right now I didn't care. I could feel the hate and anger filling up in me as the torrents of lightning bit into Yuuzhan Vong warriors. A sadistic smile crossed my face, and I laughed a mocking laughter. A droplet of blood leaked down from my nose, and across my lips.

Kamon's voice was what brought me back into consciousness. I blinked, and the lightning stopped. I could smell the think iron of blood and burning flesh. I looked down at my hands only to find them burnt and bleeding, and they hurt like hell. I rose my eyes to Kamon's and I could tell that he was surprised at what he saw.

I would be too, if I was him.

"I am fine, Kamon. Thank you for your concern, but I can take care of myself I seems." I let out a small self-deprecating laugh and then turned back to the dead bodies in front of me. there was one that was still moving. Having only lost an arm, he was probably going into shock and would die a slow and agonizing death. I formed my hand into a claw, and felt the Force building in me.

The Vong rose form the ground, not putting up much resistance. His hand, though it was mangled, was scratching at his throat and my hand, which was wrapped around it. His fingers were scratching the flesh of my hand, making my skin cut which made it bleed and he let let out little squeals of anger. His face was more tattooed then most others, and he was certainly more scarred. He must have been a higher rank or a crappy fighter.

My eyes bore into his, and I ground my teeth together. He was not wear his Crabshell Armour anymore, and I pressed my other hand against his chest. I could feel his heart beating fast, and I knew that he probably wasn't scared to die, he was pissed that he was so helpless. I focused the Force around the hand on his chest, and felt it begin to heat up. I watched his eyes convulse as the lightning blasted through the already decimated flesh of his rib cage.

Turning back to Kamon, I let the warrior's body fall to the ground, "We should get moving."

Kamon nodded, but he was concerned. This wasn't like Jacen. He wasn't cruel. What was going on?

"Jacen, you don't have to be so cruel when killing them. Just kill them. Don't make them suffer. They enjoy pain. It is best not to let them feel it."

A Vong lept out of a tree behind Jace. Kamon's hand came up and he fired a blast of Spark of the Lightside into the creatures face.

"Let's go."

Gash's fallen lightsaber zipped back into his hand, and he clipped it at his waist. He hesitated, then rushed towards one of the broken houses which served as shelter on the edge of the city. One of the Vong stepped towards him, and was sent to his grave with a backhand slash across the face; another, with a stab to the armpit, and a kick so forceful it sent him flying. Never, did the Jedi Master cease running.

Within the house, the squad continued to lay down fire on the Yuuzhan Vong, who approached steadily. Some had even made their way past the outermost defenses.

The battle, Gash could tell, had taken its toll upon this squad; one of the men lay dead, his throat slashed by an amphistaff; another, his head caved in by a thud bug. One of the men lay dying, with a wound that almost made Gash recoil in horror; the majority of his chest, and some of his neck and face had been burned away from an acid blast, leaving the skin raw, bleeding, and covered with open sores. The others, it seemed, had left him there.

"You!" Gash shouted over the sound of laserfire. The other soldiers turned around. "Look at this man! He is still alive, and you turn your back on him?"

One man shakily said, "There... was nothing we could do."

Gash shook his head. "Coward. You'll be punished for this." He looked down at the soldier, and place his hand on the revolting wound, a repulsive sensation. He felt the Force flow through him, and said, "Your wound healed, you pain mine, soldier." From where he'd placed his hand, skin began to mend itself; the wave of healing stretched to the edge of the wound, and then it was gone. The other soldiers were astounded, as was the man himself. "Get up," Gash said. "You're not wounded."

The other men turned back to firing.

The young man sat up, grabbing his weapon. "Thank you, sir,"
He said, most humbly. "I don't know how to repay you."

"What's your name?"

"Ikliz Klain."

"From Asthentia?" That much, in fact, had been obvious, from the young man's blazingly white hair, the mark of any true Son of Asthentia.

"Yes."

Gash motioned him to come with him, and waved a hand at the soldier's waist. Ikliz's comm immediately came loose and floated into the Rogue Jedi Master's hand. "All soldiers, fall back from perimeter defenses into the village! Thermal detonators at the ready to bomb the abandoned positions on my mark!"

The soldiers in front of him, as well as those all around the village, began to hoist their rifles and rush back from their positions. "Come with me," Gash said to Ikliz, and the man did so.

As they rushed from the ruined building, Gash observed the soldiers running back from their own shelters, and when he deemed that they'd gone far enough, he shouted into the comm, "Thermal detonators away!"

The small spherical devices flew through the air, landing in and around the burned-out homes the soldiers had just seconds ago occupied. "Duck!" Shouted Gash, and Ikliz did so, though the Jedi did not. Suddenly, a great explosion rose up from all around the village, in a roughly spherical form; screams of dying Vong echoed throughout the entirety of the settlement, several of them flying high above the ground before reuniting with the cold earth for one, last time.

Gash and Ikliz rushed inwards, towards the centre of the city. The ships which had ferried them onto the planet loomed only a hundred meters away, when the Jedi stopped them both. He sensed something, and within seconds, a scream was heard, verifying what he thought. Gash rushed towards a nearby hut -- one of the few which were intact -- and Ikliz followed.

The Jedi Master rushed to the wall of the hut, conscious still of the fighting going on very near to him, the sound of blasters very present. He looked through the window, seeing a Yuuzhan Vong patrol inside.

"I saw them come in. Get ready," Gash said.

"Shouldn't we use thermal detonators?"

"There are Ossan soldiers in there!" Gash said. "No, come on. We'll take them ourselves."

They rushed in the open door, and saw a horrific scene; six Yuuzhan Vong, and four Ossan soldiers, with three Ossans lying dead on the ground. The Vong seemed to be making a game of it; they'd forced the soldiers to stand, taken away their weapons, and were stabbing them multiple times. Those who were still alive were bleeding badly, obviously beaten; one more fell to the ground, clucting a fatal chest wound from an amphistaff, before the bastards turned to greet their uninvited guests.

"Open fire!" Gash shouted, and Ikliz did so. Immediately, the Jedi Master pulled from his waist his second lightsaber, slashing out at the first of them; the blow caught the Vong at the neck joint in his armor, dropping him to the ground decapitated.

Gash turned, kicking another of the Vong under his arm as he attempted to slash down with his amphistaff; the blow resounded with a clear 'pop', the sound of the arm dislocating. He shoved one of his lightsabers into the opening under the arm, as the Vong screamed in agony.

The Jedi Master could feel the simmering rage boiling up inside of him, as he looked at the beaten soldiers. The Yuuzhan Vong were sadistic, brutal killers; sickening. One of them fell to Ikliz's fire, shot in the face. The others were quite occupied, being shot by him. Gash gripped his lightsaber with both hand, charging another of them; he slashed down at the Vong's chest, a blow which bounced off the Vonduun Crab Armor he wore.

Gash gritted his dead, screaming with rage, an act which suprised even himself. He slashed down again and again at the suprised Vong, until his armor gave way and the lightsaber blazed through it into the flesh beneath. The Jedi pulled the lightsaber out, sweeping the Yuuzhan Vong's feet from underneath him, and leaping onto him; on his knees, he stabbed the weak point in the brute's armor over and over, no less than size times, until the flash-fried warrior's blood boiled out his mouth.

Another two of the soldiers fell, shot dead through their armor. The last of them rushed from the hut.

"He's getting away!" Shouted Ikliz.

Gash followed the creature out the hut, rushing out back into the sunlight. It was nowhere to be seen. The Jedi scanned the area -- until his eyes fell upon one of the mounds of corpses. He ran over to it, clipping his lightsaber at his belt. Hiding behind the thing, was a panting, fearful Yuuzhan Vong.

It turned its head, looking at Gash with wide-eyed horror. It began to get up, but he closed the distance between them and pushed the evil creature back down with all of his might. He leapt upon the Vong, straddling it.

"I thought you liked pain?!" He yelled. "Come on, take your punishment like a man! Enjoy it!" Gash's mind flashed back to the beaten soldiers; to the scenes of slaughter thoughout the camp. And right in front of him, now, lay a pile of human bodies; the gazeless stares of a mother, a father, a son and a daughter returned his look.

Gash gritted his teeth, and began to beat the Yuuzhan Vong. Punching it in the face over and over, the Jedi screamed at the thing, boiling with rage. "Where's your mother fucking masochism now!?" Gash yelled down into the thing's face. "Where is it, you mother fucker!? Scream for your god, you bastard!"

Blood flowed freely from the Yuuzhan Vong's mouth and inhuman nose, its eyes blackened already, its breathing shallow. The force of the blows rained down upon it was brutal, and Gash continued for minutes on end. The warrior cried out in pain, begged in its evil tongue for the Jeedai to stop, screamed in agony.

Finally, he stopped, the bruised and battered Yuuzhan Vong's cries beginning to cease. Gash put his hands around the warrior's neck, applying pressure. "Why?" He yelled. "Why would you do this?" He pulled the Yuuzhan Vong to its feet by its neck, thrusting it forward and forcing it to stare at the pile of bodies.

"What sort of monster are you?! Look at what you've done!" Gash gritted his teeth again, screaming into the Vong's ear. "I want you to die seeing what you've done, looking at the horror you've wrought! I want you to die knowing that I will do the same thing to your family, and everyone you've ever known! Do you understand me? I'll kill every last one of you!"

With one last scream of rage, Gash squeezed down on the Vong's neck, the Force easily giving him the strength to end the creature's life. His fingers drove through skin and sinew, blood pouring onto his hands, and he tore the beast's windpipe from his neck, the ragged, bloody piece of flesh coming free in his hand. He threw it to the ground with the corpse, and spit on it.

Gash panted, his chest heaving. He looked down at the pool of blood at his feet, and the corpse, and he knew the feeling that was about to wash over him; the shame, at what he'd done.

It didn't come. Only emptiness.

He realized that the sound of blasters had ceased, and the battle was won. Weakly, he brought the comm to his mouth, saying, "All units report in. Hostile's eliminated?"

"Squad Alpha, Roger."

"Squad Beta, Roger."

"Squad Charlie here. Roger that, Talon."

The rest of the units all affirmed the same. The fight was over.

"Report to the village centre, at the landing craft." Gash turned, walking away from the dead Vong.

What was this doing to him?

Kate heard the call over the com, she was glad, having downed four Vong and taken a rather nasty beating herself she decided to find Gash. She blows from the staffs had taken their toll on her, two bite marks left a trail of blood slowly trickling down her arm from her shoulder. She knew that if the poison was not drained from her system soon, she'd go into a coma for a while before dying.

" Gash? Where are you?" she said stumbling over dead bodies and burning stumps of what were the houses. Soon she found him, smiling weakly she said," Hey...Jiren." her hand dropped her lightsaber as her hand went to her shoulder.

Ade-Ay was exhausted. There were so many of them. He couldn't believe what he had gone through. His jacket was torn right down the arm. His clothing was tattered, and to top it all off his face had a huge gouge along the side right down to his neck. Once arrives with the others, he would heal it. He was too busy trying to find his way back. He sensed many in all directions of him but more to the center of the town where he was already headed.

Ade-Ay arrived shortly after the transmission by Master Jiren. He began to heal up his one major wound on his face before it became worse. It hurt like hell.

Gash sat on the edge of the landing plank of one of the Marauder Corvettes, staring out over the desolate landscape of the village. Where once there'd only been smouldering ashes, the fires had been rekindled, and new blood smeared the ground -- Vong and Ossan.

He should have known it all along.

The Yuuzhan Vong. Gash had done his research; he knew what they were, what they'd done. He knew of their first invasion, one which almost felled Coruscant; of their second resurgence, of the Praetorite Vong and their new warmaster. Could it be that they'd returned again?

Come once more to menace the galaxy? Or just an isolated group of renegades, desperately clinging to existence? No, Gash decided, that could not be it. The assault was too organized, too lethal, for a desparate enemy. Desperate men, whether human, Vong, or otherwise, fought the same way; with reckless abandon.

Kasien trudged up from the left, blaster rifle clutched in his hand. "You alright?" He asked, eying Gash's unusually slouching posture.

"Yeah. Only a scratch," Gash said, already feeling the wound on his back knitting together at least somewhat; it was a case of healer, heal thyself. It was much easier for Gash to heal others than it was for him to heal himself; his own theories on that mystery involved the unselfish nature of light side techniques. If they were intended for use upon oneself, they would be no more benevolent than those used for destuction.

"We lost a lot of men," Kasien said somberly. "More than we killed. Probably a third, though we're still getting casualty reports in."

"Jedi, too." Gash said, staring at the ground. "I can feel it. Bring the wounded and dead into the centre of this village; set up a makeshift hospital of some sort."

"Already doing it." Kasien gestured to their right, where, between the massive landing craft, two large white tents had been erected, and wounded were being carried, carted, and hoisted inside. "One step ahead of you. The government contacted us a few minutes ago, on a comm channel; they told us to get out, again."

Gash's jaw nearly dropped at that statement; after the blood they'd just shed for the world, they still ordered their departure. "Yeah," was all he said.

It was then that Katie Toran, obviously wounded, struggled forward towards the interior of the village. "Hey... Jiren," she said, her lightsaber falling to the ground, and her hand clutching her wounded shoulder.

"Shit," Gash swore, leaping off the plank. He pulled her hand from her shoulder, examining the wound it had been hiding; small chunks of flesh were missing from it, removed by the vicious bites of an amphistaff. The poison within her was invisible to the Force, but the damage done was not; he could sense it burning away both muscle and the blood vessels that carried it.

The Jedi Master put his hand over the bloodied wounds, allowing the Force to seep within them; he felt its healing power begin to circulate through the cuts, through the blood vessels and torn muscles. The alleiviation was instantaneously apparent on Katie's face, but one problem was obvious to Gash; he could not directly destroy a poison he couldn't feel.

Instead, he boldstered her immune system, feeling the white blood cells in her body multiply on his command, driven by the energy he let flow from him. Soon, the damage being done was lessened, the poison being effectively combated.

"You'll be okay," Gash said to her, as reassuringly as he could. He gestured to her shoulder, adding, "Those scars will never heal, though."

He turned, looking across the area; more Jedi and troops had flowed in, and now milled about nonchalantly. The look on their faces was unmistakable; it was fear, both at what they'd seen, and what they knew was not over. For many of them, Gash knew, it was their first experience in combat, and it was painful at best, life-alteringly horrific at worst.

Gash nodded and smiled one more time to Katie, and leapt up onto the only speaking platform in reach; the plank of the Marauder Corvette.

"Jedi, Ossans!" He shouted, getting their attention. His voice flowed across the village easily, borne by the power of the Force. Their faces, ashen with grief mixed with pain mixed with fear, turned their faithful gazes towards him; it broke his heart that he had no answers to offer them. "You've seen the enemy, now, and their strength. They are the Yuuzhan Vong, invisible in the Force, which is why we didn't know until now. This..." Gash paused. "This won't get any easier. The Vereshian government still doesn't want us here, and I'm sure that the Vong are going to use everything they can to stop us. They have no compassion, and no respect for our lives or the lives of innocents.

"The sort of battle we are about to fight will be every bit as horrific as what you've seen. More so. If any of you wish to leave... say so, now, and we'll find your transportation out."

Kamon and Jace trotted in just as Gash was finishing. He did catch the part about leaving. Thats when he spoke.

"We wont leave, Gash. Not with a planet in such dire need. It's against our nature. Besides, I think somethings up with the government. Jace and I will head there if you want."

He looked at Kate and noticed some scars on her shoulder. His eyebrows raised in an expression of sadness. He walked over to her.

"Amphistaff bite?"