Collision

[Khallesh]

“And why, pray tell, do you think that I would want to take part in this exercise?” Khallesh asked incredulously. She was sat in the Grashal where Master Shaper Jun Phaath worked.

“Because the Supreme Commander has decreed it, of course!” Jun Phaath replied. She smiled and spoke sweetly in her sing song voice, which Khallesh found made it remarkably difficult to find offence. She should have done. That had sounded remarkably line an order from a member of not just a different domain, but a different caste. Still, Khallesh had come to know that if she was delicate about being offended by the progressive shaper, they would never last a conversation.

Khallesh still grumbled some rather unsavoury words under her breath.

“Come Khallesh Val! There are Jeedai who have embraced our ways. Would you have ever imagined such a thing? Surely, even if the recipient is a trainee, imparting your knowledge to a Jeedai would bring great respect?” Jun replied. One of her junior shapers entered the room, bringing a tray of snacks and two worms containing fluids.

“Why thank you Raani,” Jun purred, as the younger shaper left the food and drink, before turning on his heel and leaving. “He’s an excellent student,” she said to Khallesh. “Wonderful hands,” she added, her expression leaving the implication clear.

Khallesh shook her head and let out an exasperated sigh. The shaper was an eccentric at best, and infidel at worst. At the same time, she appeared to be at the heart of a network of powerful Yuuzhan Vong who conspired to manipulate events and advance the Yuuzhan Vong cause in a new manner. They had been instrumental in placing Khallesh as Commander of Domain Val’s forces, replacing a distinctly traditional warrior. Were these accolades worth feeling a pawn to a power she couldn’t even see?

“Who is being trained?” Khallesh asked with a sigh, taking a handful of snacks from the table. She grasped a worm with one hand, and casually squeezed some fluids down her throat.

“We don’t even know yet. The word has been spread, but you’ll be taking a contingent of warriors to discuss the matter with some interested parties,” Jun replied. Unlike the warrior, she took her time savouring some small items of food. Khallesh recognised them as native to the Galaxy. The Shaper had previously admitted to altering her own sense to taste, to try and appreciate food like one of the galaxy’s native inhabitants. Khallesh tried not to think of Willard Jamaane, and his charming way with words over dinner.

“Fine,” Khallesh replied curtly. “I will go tomorrow.”

 

[Sifa Tirel]

[member="Khallesh"]

The Yuuzhan Vong had proven...interesting.

Initially she had seen them as snarling, guttural, and horrific beasts. Barely better than bantha's drooling all over themselves. After some observation however, Sifa had made the discovery that the species was not all that bad. The people themselves were...strange to say the least, but their culture, their beliefs, their way of operating was not too far from her own. The Nagai were a species of warriors, killers, she knew that well and she related at least somewhat to the Yuuzhan Vong.

Yet it wasn't the Vong themselves that interested her the most, rather it was their technology.

Their unique organic weapons, armor, and even daily tools were all interesting to her.

In theory it was all just plants, living organic beings that were grown and tended to in fields or green houses. As a botanist, she couldn't help but be consumed with professional curiosity when she was the unique little creatures. One in particular fascinated her, the amphistaff. The odd snake like creature that so many among the One Sith used to kill.

It was why she was here, it was why she waited for her teachers.

So she could learn more about the odd little snakes.

 

[Khallesh]

Khallesh walked amongst those who had put themselves forward to train with the Yuuzhan Vong. She looked at them in turn disparagingly. Her eyes appraised them as she looked for any reasons not to work with them. Jun’s words still lingered in her mind, but to Khallesh this still felt wrong.

After all, were the Sith clamouring to try and teach them the ways of the Force? No, they were busy throwing Yuuzhan Vong forces into each engagement with the Republic. The Dark Lord had his Hands and his Eyes and his Voice. Her people were apparently his meat shield.

Her eyes stopped as they landed on the familiar form of a pale, slender human. As far as Khallesh was concerned, the only way to know and respect someone more than to fight alongside someone, was the kill them in glorious combat.

“Sifa, Sifa Tirel,” Khallesh said as she approached. Her arachnostaff uncoiled its head from her right arm, as its tail draped around her chest. The onerous beast had somewhat softened over time. At first the creature had spent most of its time trying to kill her. Apparently something to do with the nature of the arachnid species spliced to make the new biot. Her greeting wad curt, but to Khallesh addressing an infidel by name showed great respect.

[member="Sifa Tirel"]

 

[Sifa Tirel]

[member="Khallesh"]

A voice spoke her name, the guttural flicking of the tongue that could only come from a Yuuzhan Vong. She turned on her heel, recognition dawning on her face as she realized that it was the one Sifa already knew.

They had met during the assault on the Temple of Pain.

It had been an interesting experience, the two of them had fought together against a Traitor of the One Sith, a man that had thought himself all sorts of glorious but had ended their engagement running away with his tail tucked between his legs. It had been the first step in gaining her own knighthood, and it had garnered her some respect among the Sith.

Partly, it was why she was allowed to be here.

"Khallesh." She greeted the woman with a hint of warmth to her tone.

 

[Khallesh]

Subcommander Trunack Dourn shot Khallesh a sidelong glance as he saw her address Sifa. As strong as Trunack was, he was not the sharpest amphistaff on the polyp, and in Khalleshes opinion not well suited to command. Instead of addressing him, she turned to one of her own subcommanders and said in her native tongue: "[This one looks small, but she fights like a voxyn!]" she commented.

"You are one of those interested in learning?" Khallesh asked. Having stirred at its masters interest, the arachnostaff returned to its passive state, head lying flat against the outside of her upper arm.

 

[Sifa Tirel]

[member="Khallesh"]

She eyed the odd creature on the womans arm, watching it move about as her ears perked to the guttural tones of the Yuuzhan Vong language.

Sifa attempted to understand, but found herself horribly lost as soon as the first word was uttered. Unlike with some other languages there seemed to be no common parameters, no equality that she could hunt down. Her lips turned down for a fraction of a second, displeasure at not being able to understand what the woman had said.

Her head shook away from the conversation, in time for Khallesh to regard her once more. "Yes."

The smiled returned to her face. Their interaction at the Temple had been odd, but it had been interesting, and more importantly it had been a learning experience. "The weapons your people use, they intrigue me."

 

[Khallesh]

[member="Sifa Tirel"]

Khallesh followed Sifa’s gaze to her staff. So symbiotic was their relationship now, that as Khallesh took a half step back into a stance, the arachnostaff wound around her arm and into her hand. Khallesh assumed that a warrior who was intrigued by something, was concerned with its form and function, rather than the science behind it.

“Far more adaptable than any metal weapon or light saber, the amphistaff may take any form,” she said. Every muscle under complete control, she shifted between several stances. With each shift, weapon altered position too. First it was a spear, then quarterstaff, then whip. Finally, its head slithered around her forearm and several feet of tail curved into an equivalent to a scimitar. Any five year old Yuuzhan Vong warrior could maintain complete balance between basic forms, for Khallesh it was effortless.

 

[Sifa Tirel]

[member="Khallesh"]

The weapon was different, not quite the ones she had seen before.

"Yes." She had to agree, though mostly because she was fascinated with the things. Lightsabers were perhaps one of the most useful tools in the entire galaxy. They served as weapons of war and tools of piece, but amphistaffs...they were alive. They could think, act on their own, they were more than just weapons, they were something that a warrior could use to expand their field of batter and come into their own.

"I would like one." She stated matter of factly. "Do they grow? Like plants?"

She was unfamiliar with the process, though she had heard rumors of it being as such.

 

[Khallesh]

"I would like one." She stated matter of factly. "Do they grow? Like plants?"

Khallesh furrowed her brow. "They are..." she thought on the appropriate words, "immobile at first, growing in groups. You would have to ask a Shaper for the specific details of whether that counts as a plant."

She was not so unfamiliar with the expressions and body language of humans to miss Sifa's intrigue. Being curious about other cultures was something drilled out of the warriors of Domain Val from a young age, yet Khallesh Val had seen first hand that more progressive domains took more of an interest in the native denizens of the Galaxy. A visual memory flashed across her mind. Willard Jamaane laughing with a glass of wine in his hand. She was dressed in a simple robeskin. Quiet music played in the background as the elite enjoyed their meals at the exclusive restaurant. With a sudden hot flash of anger, she dismissed the thought.

"It is not easy to tame an amphistaff. You will need to learn the appropriate hand gestures that they are designed to respond to. They respond to our language as well, so you will need to learn several phrases at least. The arachnostaff I use is even less willing to bond with an owner and you would need to be altered by one of our shapers to give an immunity to their potent venom," Khallesh said. As she spoke she had her staff sit motionless, so that she could hold its wicked stinger out for Sifa to see. It had taken her weeks to convince the creature to stop trying to kill her, and even longer before it would obey her commands without fail. Even though she was now discussing providing knowledge of the Warrior Caste to an outsider, it did not offend her sensibilities as much as she expected. Either she was softening to outsiders, or having fought alongside one of their kind was enough to overcome her prejudice. She wasn't entirely sure. Being tainted by infidel culture was normally something that required thorough and painful cleansing to ensure a Yuuzhan Vong was kept pure. Thinking on how Jun Phaath had altered her own glands to taste food as a human did, Khallesh now found this requirement rather fundamentalist and not entirely sensible. After all, one had to understand an enemy, to truly undermine their strategy.