Private Those Who Know History

[Ran Serys]

2 Kilometer South of Selvaris Camp - Before Dawn

The Onyx Runner flew low. So low that when guided by Ran's hand, the ship appeared as if it glided across the vibrant, morning greens, purples, and reds of the jungle canopy. The dawn of Selvaris' twin suns bouncing off the colorful canopy was a sight that amazed Ran. Beauty beyond words. Fortunately she didn't need words as she looked to her co-pilot, the Jedi Master Efret Farr. <Beautiful> Ran signed one of the few basic signs she learned before pulling the Onyx Runner up and away from the canopy. The ship hummed with freedom as the Jedi hovered in the sky above Selvaris.

Ran took a quick glance at the data screens across her console. She confirmed their location. They were in the right place and close enough to see their final destination. "There it is." Ran announced as she pointed through the viewscreen of the Onyx Runner. "I'm surprised it still stands." She added noting the overgrowth of brush and canopy that obscured it. The "it" she referred to was a prison facility. One left to waste after the Yuuzhan Vong Invasion nearly a millennium ago.

"Master Farr," Ran began. "What was it that we were expecting to find here exactly?" The Knight asked as she aimed the Runner at a nearby clearing for landing.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

Efret's attention was drawn back into the cockpit coincidently as Ran made the sign for beautiful. The Lorrdian smiled in agreement but also in gratitude that Ran had learned at least one sign. "Very," she agreed.

She looked back out over the landscape below with Nirrah's help when Ran pointed out of the viewing screen, but only for a quick glance so that she could go back to lipreading. "So am I," Efret concurred again. "Extreme durability isn't uncommon for biot, but it is abnormal for remnants of the Yuuzhan Vong Invasion to not be...untouched, let's say." Many governments and even local groups of civilians didn't want them around, which was more than understandable.

"Heaviness," she then said to the question of expectation. Any prison camp in the galaxy was bound to hold heavy emotion whether it was active or not, but one that had been built and operated by members of one of the most violent, intolerant, and doctrinally uncompromising religions ever recorded surely had more than its fair share. "This won't be an enjoyable trip, but I'm glad you came along anyway." She had told Ran about this place and what it had been at camp days ago. Her intention hadn't been to trick Ran. "As this enclave of your grows, it will be important to develop the kind of culture you want it to have."

Efret added quickly, anticipating a question, "Yes, Jedi culture has been established for generations, but I believe that, when the Order establishes operations on another planet, we have a responsibility to not just bring those parts of our tradition there but also to allow the native ways of the planet influence us." She smiled at Ran once more, her own face full of equal parts sorrow and hope. "And the history of a collective trauma that happened at this camp is part of Selvaris."

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

Ran lowered the Onyx Runner into the clearing. It was a slow and smooth landing but the hum of the ship sent creatures and critters scattering from what they perceived as a giant mechanical unknown. Ran thought about what Efret had said. The biot. The Vong. Ran wondered how many of these creatures had been irrevocably altered all those centuries ago by the Vong and their influence. It was likely that some of these creatures would avoid the Jedi as they came to the Prison Facility, others might act with aggression and prove more territorial. Ran didn't know much about the Vong, only what the Sith had programmed her with in youth, which was strictly tactical. This history was a mystery, which is why Ran was glad Efret was with her.

"I'm glad I've come too." Ran agreed.

"While my goal is to keep the Enclave hidden away from the galaxy at large, I wouldn't want this enclave to grow ignorant of the history of this planet. I want to honor its trials," She continued. "And of course honor the history of the Order in so many ways." Ran added not meaning to sound like an afterthought, just a given.

"I'm glad to start that mission here." Ran declared. As she powered the Onyx Runner down. "Maybe you can share more about what happened at this camp as we explore." Ran suggested as she got up from her seat and made her way to the back of the ship.

Her Jedi Robes dragged behind her as she moved. It was a new sensation that bothered her only slightly and the robes were a stark difference between the spacers leathers she was accustomed to. Selvaris, too tropical for leather, made Ran take on a more typical Jedi look. She'd caught her own reflection for a moment and decided she'd put her own spin on the robes yet.

The exit ramp hissed as its hydraulic arm extended to the forest floor. Warbling and chittering from nearby creatures was even more clear. Selvaris was silent but very active with sound, and Ran wondered if Efret's translator extended to ambient noise. "I'll lead." Ran announced as she walked down the ramp, the crunch of her boots on the grass joining the symphony that was the forest soundscape.
The prison camp and the clearing weren't very far apart, maybe a kilometer, but they were far enough part to encounter trouble.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

"Of course."

Efret was more than happy to both share more of what took place here a millennium ago and let Ran take the lead. Well, perhaps happy was the wrong adjective for the former. Opportunities to share knowledge were sacred to her in a way, always to be taken, and this time was no different. She would recount to Ran the history that she herself was aware of, which would be grave enough, but what more understanding lay within the compound in the form of long lost memories of inmates and guards alike? They would very likely overwhelm her psychometric sensibilities if she was not careful. She was not looking forward to experiencing them.

After descending the Onyx Runner's ramp after Ran, Efret lagged behind. She knew how to listen with the Force, but chose in this moment not to reach out to hear the ambient noises of Selvaris. Listening, even to pleasant noises, could cause hearing fatique because she wasn't used to it. Plus, she could lipread, of course, but could only recognize words by bouma or mouth form as opposed to sound. Thus, she didn't have any reason beyond enjoyment to listen to anything, and, even then, it was often to gentle instrumental music or soothing environmental sounds.

"When the Yuuzhan Vong showed interest in Selvaris," she began, "there were many cities of a variety of other humanoids already here. As part of their terraforming of the planet, each was completely destroyed. The largest was called Uuprit according to Galactic Alliance documents of the time. No one knows where it is. There's always a possibility that there's nothing of it left, but its foundations, or some of them, could also be buried under a layer of biot." Efret's gaze dropped to the forest floor, paying specific attention to a patch of soil, damp and free of litter cover. Natural evolution had found a way to reclaim Selvaris as it had on other planets that the Yuuzhan Vong had touched. If the trees and bushes of today, their bioengineered creations surely had shed leaves and mass too. Perhaps, then... "There could be a layer of vongformed humus deep in the soil recording that time. It might even be sedimentary rock now."

Efret came to walk by Ran's side. She would still let the knight lead them to the facility, but she needed to be in line with Ran to lipread.

"It would be an exciting prospect if not so harrowing."

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

"The Vong sound like a terrifying foe for the Alliance of the past, and rightfully so." Ran commented looking at Efret for ease of conversation. "Clearly most of their touch has been eradicated or discarded from the surface, but still I have to wonder if the Vong and their terraforming are the reason Selvaris is mostly unoccupied. I would wager as much, even after the several hundreds of years since then." Ran continued. "What do you think?" She asked curiously.

Ran knew what she, herself, had thought. She was grateful for it. The newly formed Enclave of Selvaris was to be a hideaway from the galaxy, and on a planet like Selvaris it was easy to remain hidden. Ran wanted to keep it that way.

Dictating the pace and direction, Ran marched alongside Efret up to the entrance to the Prison Camp that was most certainly not lost. They would find out why soon enough, as they watched a gang of hulking mutated beasts come into view. They reminded Ran of ancient canines but bigger. They ate any overgrowth ravenously, shaping the organic structures and installations into pristine shape. These creatures might have kept the terraforming in check for all Ran knew, which wasn't much.

Ran veered off into the shadow of a tree, away from the eyes of the beasts, to discuss a plan of action. "While I'm capable of it, I don't consider myself much for extermination, Master Farr. Do you have any ideas on how to avoid those beasts, or even what they are?" She questioned.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

"I imagine so too," agreed the master. "Who would feel safe repopulating a cursed world besides Jedi or...Sith? Hopefully, reintroducing Light after all this time will do it good." Selvaris had suffered much during the Yuuzhan Vong war: the eradication of her previous tenants, the unnatural process of vongforming, the concentration of millions of prisoners, the ritual sacrifice of untold numbers. Her wounds might have scabbed over with natural foliage, but they were clearly still here, and some of them were even still weeping.

The beasts they encountered were striking evidence of that.

After following Ran to cover and listening to what she said, Efret gave the gang a better look. Her and Nirrah's gaze returned to Knight Serys in a few moments. She gave a nod first, turned down the volume on her vocoder, and then began to sign. "Perhaps we can climb," she mused. An organic wall stood to one side of the biot-beasts, reaching up four to five meters into the air and stretching laterally out of view away from them in the direction they wished to travel. "But perhaps the biot-wall will reject us.

"As to what they could be," she continued, "some sort of groundskeepers would be my guess." A terrifying though dawned on her, periodically making goosebumps run down her neck. "Whatever they are, let's hope they're a thousand years old. The alternative is that your enclave has neighbors that practice shaping."

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

Ran hoped the biot wall would not reject them. She didn't want to draw her lightsaber on the malformed mutant beasts which was a projection. Ran, too, was a mutant altered by darker forces. To have an attack volleyed against herself for that reason always hurt more than any other.

What didn't hurt, what frightened her more than anything was the unknown quantities at play, Efret's mention of a shaper. Ran was familiar with the category of Vong through different tactic simulations she'd been put through in her youth. She'd hope for the best case scenario. No Vong. The demonic gibbering and chittering of the beasts did little to assuage that fear.

"I am less worried about the age of these beasts, and more worried about how long it has been since their last meal," She quipped, skirting around the mention of a shaper. "Let's climb." Ran whispered as she dug her hand into the biot wall. She found a handhold first then a foothold second and on and on until she was positioned in the middle of the wall. Then the wall found a handhold, Ran's hands specifically. The biot wall, it's organic material, dug into her skin. Its grip was shallow but enough to pierce her flesh. She tried to shake it off and succeeded but vine-like tendrils wrapped her around her feet, and held her in place.

If Ran had truly believed in manifestation, she'd be cursing Efret's name. She considered it, but the woman had just made an educated guess and Ran was reckless enough to bet against it. The green skinned Jedi Guardian wasn't in a position for Efret to read her lips, so Ran nudged Efret in the force sending a feeling of mild urgency. Not exactly telepathy but enough nuance to convey she was stuck, and wanted to confirm whether Efret was in the same metaphorical boat.

Rustling on the ground beyond the wall echoed. The sounds of smaller footsteps sounded among the beasts thudding paws. The beast yowled and howled. Excitement, it seemed. Ran wondered what was going to come next. More danger, Ran would wager if she were a betting gal.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

"Let's climb."

Once Ran had moved past Efret towards the biot-wall, the master pursed her lips. She wasn't fully upset but rather concerned that her warning had seemingly not been considered. Sometimes that was part of the collaborative experience, she supposed, so she turned on her heel and paced after Ran. Even if the wall would reject them, the alterative course of action to climbing was a fight which, like Ran, Efret was not eager for. There was another option that had come to Efret, but she had not suggested it as it was to her an action of last resort.

Then again, perhaps nothing would go wrong with climbing.

That hope dissolved two meters up the wall.

Efret felt the nudge through the Force where she climbed to the side of Ran an arm's reach behind. The sensation registered more emotionally than physically. She took a hand from one of her handholds and pointed in the direction she knew Ran to be in; Nirrah looked so that she could see the Mirialan struggling.

She channeled the Force through her outstretched towards the vine nearest to her. Plant Surge would coaxed the tendril to grow longer, but would in so doing hopefully also unwind from Ran's foot. Though the Yuuzhan Vong didn't respond to such direct uses of the Force, Efret expected their biot too. They were of this galaxy, after all.

As she did this, Nirrah moved her head again and the hounds outside the wall came into view. Though she wasn't an expert in sounds for obvious reasons, she tried to make considerations to stay quiet when the moment called for stealth. By her estimation, she and Ran were far enough away from the hounds for them not the hear the jingling of the latter's jewelry, but Efret wanted to make sure.

Shit, she thought in Sign. The calls of their brethren inside the wall had attracted their attention, which had in turn alerted them to the Jedi's presence.

Ready yourself, she thought again, projecting the images of signs to Ran instinctively even though they might not be understood.

Now, she decided, was the time for her action of last resort as she felt the wall grow aggressively into the hand of hers that was still holding onto it. She closed her eyes first, then curled the fingers of her free hand towards her palm. The space between them and an unknown point beyond the wall folded under her volition, and then the two women were falling sort distances through the air onto the ground.

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

One moment she was wrapped in the biot and the next she was falling several meters. Before she could hit the ground, Ran caught herself utilizing her natural grace. It was a strange sensation to be almost teleported, but Ran understood what Efret had done. She wanted to thank her, but the time for words was gone. As they stood in the very spot the beasts had stood only a few short seconds before, Ran turned. The beasts had moved to where Ran and Efret had been.

They continued to howl and yowl as another, another being who wasn't one of them, spoke in a language Ran had never heard before. It was gruff and simple, with a vulgar delivery. Ran looked to Efret, knowing she wouldn't hear it but still.

<Inside.> Ran signed as she turned on her heel. The biot did little to hide the prison camp entrance, and unless they wanted to meet the beasts and vulgar speech, or get stuck in the biot again, all they could do was enter. At least it was what they came there for.

The double doors whooshed open as the Jedi approached and Ran locked them behind her via its control panel. "Thank you for the save, Master Farr." Ran volunteered once they were in the clear. "We should hurry in our investigation. There was a being traveling alongside the beasts. I heard their footsteps and I don't believe they know about us yet, but they will have an idea very soon." Ran continued before training her sights on their surroundings. The prison facility appeared more than intact, it was almost clean and certainly well maintained. But by who was the question.

"Did you expect this level of ruin, or lack thereof, Master Farr?" Ran asked genuinely.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

When Ran looked knowingly to her, Efret knit her own brow. Maybe there was a surprising sound in their environment. There wasn't time to wonder what it could have been before she was instructed to go inside.

"Thank you for the save, Master Farr."

"No teeth loose, I hope," she interjected after the knight made her gratitude known. There were good reasons that Efret didn't often use that Force power.

Then, the look Efret had gotten a few moments before made sense when Ran explained what she had heard.

"An animal handler, perhaps," Efret suggested.

Perhaps she should stop using that word lest all of her predictions turn out to be correct.

In any case, if someone was out there with more sentience than the biot, they were likely not friendly. Efret didn't want to find out if it could be helped. Asking too many unnecessary questions of Ran right now would surely hasten discovery. So, instead, she glanced down to her right wrist and woke up the small screen on her leather gauntlet. She tapped on an icon, then put the screen back to sleep, and dropped her arm back to her side.

It was a bit of a reach, but maybe her speech-to-text app could translate whatever language this being used, if they had spoken at all.

"I expected overgrowth," answered the master. "Something in this picture is troubling. Where do you think we should go now?"

She'd follow wherever Ran led, but not before giving a warning. It was perhaps obvious now but still.

"Walk carefully."

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

“Let’s get to the heart of this facility.” Ran answered confidently and unflinchingly despite their recent encounter with the biot.

Making sure to walk carefully, she probed with the force further than line of sight would allow. She felt not a single presence but Efret’s and her own. That unnerved her as she continued down the labyrinthian corridors that still held the distinct extragalactic mark of the Yuuzhan Vong. The structure had little in common with those of the galaxy the Jedi called home, even after all the years since. Despite the alien element, patches, fixes, and the presence of more intergalactic building methods were present. These areas of fusion seemed much more recent than the Vong biot around them.

“Are you seeing what I’m seeing, Master Farr?” Ran questioned as she turned to her.

“I see what you’re seeing.” A voice interrupted harshly and with a strange cadence, as a woman turned down the corridor. Ran trained her gaze on the woman. She was grey skinned, and covered in purple tattoos. Her face was wrinkled yet taut. She had ears like knives, fangs for teeth, and a nose that was nigh nonexistent. “I am the one responsible for it,” The woman continued. “And I've been lenient enough as you’ve evaded my guard on your way in here. You will tell me why you intrude into my sanctum or you will die.”

Ran opened her mouth to speak, but the woman brought a clawed finger up. “Not you! Her.” The alien woman focused on Efret Farr with an intense curiosity Ran had never seen before.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

As Ran and Efret walked through the maze of hallways, Nirrah wouldn't focus on the path ahead. Here yellow-green eyes were instead trained behind Efret, so the archeologist temporarily severed her telepathic connection to her friend. Efret then switched to Force Sight, but her pace behind Ran still slowed due to its limitations compared to real sight.

For another, it was almost impossible to read lips. Objects, including beings, were translucent blue in the Force to her, and glowed to the point that few specific facial features could be made out. In fact, if she hadn't known before using Force Sight that the woman before her was Ran Serys, Efret would not have been able to come to the conclusion herself.

So, she let go of the Force and was about to ask Ran to repeat herself before the stranger accosted them.

Nirrah's head snapped back front. Her vision flowed into Efret's mind again.

The master's heart immediately sank. She hated being right sometimes. Based on all she had learned about the Yuuzhan Vong at the Academy of Jedi Archaeology, the woman before them was indeed part of the shaper caste. Her lithe form was a give away, to say nothing of the current abounding environmental evidence that made so much more sense in context. "We're here to honor the long-dead..." began the master carefully but confidently, "...though there's much more life here than we expected." There was much more she wanted to say, but she stopped herself. That was enough for now. Too much talk might anger the shaper as much or even more as too little.

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

Ran squinted at the shaper as they sucked their serrated teeth. They seemed to take umbrage with Efret as her vocoder unit put sound to sign. Ran watched the shaper's reaction intently. At first they seemed offended, but then the look transformed and the Vong woman seemed to be in deep thought.

"You worry too much about the dead to be so close to it, flawed one." The Shaper replied, half ignoring Efret and staring at the vocoder unit that sat at the base of the Lorrdian's neck. "But you shall keep your distance from death, so long as you follow me." The shaper said sternly and turned without giving the Jedi a choice.

Ran wanted to ask questions and speak her mind, but the Vong's denial of Ran had to be for a reason. She remained quiet and sure the reason would present itself. Ran locked eyes with Efret and gave a confirmation in the form of a nod and shrug as if to say I'll follow, if you do. To follow the shaper was the best way to accomplish their goals and to find out more of the Vong presence in the prison camp and beyond. Ran was curious and surprised, and could only imagine how Efret felt after finding any Vong settled on this backwater world.

They followed the shaper through several half-biological and half-constructed corridors into the heart of the camp. They entered a room, a key piece of the vong crèche, where their young were kept. There were just a few adolescents among them. All stood defiantly and curiously as they watched the Jedi walk behind the mature and feminine shaper. "This way." She turned and said to Efret before guiding the pair to the youngest vong of the crèche.

The Shaper reached into the Vong's version of a baby's cradle. The name of the Yuuzhan Vong had been so attached to capability and menace it was strange to see a version of them so vulnerable and innocent. "A question." The shaper demanded. "Do you see recognition on its face?" She asked as she snapped in the baby's ear. It did not react. There was no recognition. The Shaper wanted to make a point, but what could it have been.

Ran stared at the Vong with an intensity that outdid her usual stark expression. She wondered much about this situation. The children, the shaper, the half ruined camp. Why did the shaper share this with them?

"No recognition." She answered for the Jedi. "What shall I do with a flawed child? What can I do with a flawed child? Tell me as you are similarly flawed!" She asked and demanded of Efret. The shaper was still stern but there was an air of desperation about her. She wanted, no, needed an answer. One that might give her some comfort, if she could be given it.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

Flawed one.

If Efret had a response to the Yuuzhan Vong woman's prejudice, it wasn't evident on the master's face. That was telling considering that she was a Lorrdian and they tended not to mask the display of their emotions in their body language.

She had encountered similar reactions to her rooted in ableism while visiting local populations to learn about their cultures. A majority of them fell into two categories: ones that disdained the disabled and ones that lauded them. Of the two, the former was the most common. Rare was the society that mediated those two attitudes to see its members with disabilities as truly equal to all others in the populace—no less, no better.

Thus, she had come to expect these kinds of reactions when encountering new beings, even her peers in the Order, for its established social attitudes weren't exempt from the rule of thumb she had come to know either. It was significantly less emotionally draining to assume and accept discrimination going into most interactions than to be constantly disappointed when faced with it.

So, when Ran looked to Efret, the latter simply nodded back and followed after their host. It wasn't until the shaper began handling the baby that Efret's brow began to knit, showing the first signs, albeit restrained ones, of concern. Then, she was addressed again. Ah, so there was the reason. She looked from the baby to the woman and replied slowly, "Whatever you do with the other children."

Efret left it at that for now. She didn't know how the Yuuzhan Vong handled their young, especially their most newly born. It was difficult to imagine that Yuuzhan Vong mothers or even siblings were at all nurturing.

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

The Vong woman's brow shot up at Efret's answer and then she scowled. A moment passed as she considered the Jedi Master's answer. She was preoccupied and pensive. Slow to move and put the infant back into the cradle-like apparatus. Her gaze lingered over the squirming child before brushing its cheek in a ginger and gentle manner.

Ran saw the small moment of affection. For all the alien stories of the Vong, they seemed surprisingly closer to the sentient species that she understood.

"I will treat the child like the others. I won't abandon them solely to our gods." The Vong confirmed. "It will be hard for them. They will struggle for competition, even now there are those in this creche that avoid it." She explained. "My people need competition. We have little as it is." She paused and took in the sight of both Jedi. She settled on Efret again. "What has taken you this far, in this life, flawed one?"

Ran felt she could almost hear the Vong sigh out of some sense of resigned frustration, but still she continued on and out of her comfort zone.

"Maybe your experience can enlighten me and maybe others."

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

Efret's eyes flit from the shaper to the other adolescents visible from where they stood after she mentioned them avoiding the deaf infant. Her expression was not judgmental but her purpose was curiosity. A few moments later, she glanced down to her wrist, where her speech-to-text app was transcribing what the shaper was saying. The software paused when the shaper did, allowing Efret to glance back up under the weight of her gaze, and begin lip reading again.

The chief curator's eyebrows rose at the shaper's question. She hadn't been asked that before, but she was more than willing to answer. A small smile formed on her face and her brow smoothed.

"The characteristics you think flaws have brought me here. I can't see or hear on my own, but neither have held me back. Other beings' attitudes have been my only barrier, especially when they refuse to accommodate me or allow me to accommodate myself. In that way, the grace of those who do has helped me get here, achieve the success I enjoy..." She stopped signing to glance over at Ran, a quiet acknowledgement that she was one of those supportive people to Efret. Her smile grew, and remained when she looked back to the shaper. "But who's really a product of only their own making?

"Your culture values competition," continued Efret, motioning to all of the Yuuzhan Vong present. "Mine values collectivism." Efret held a hand to her own heart in reference to the Lorrdian, Deaf, and Jedi cultures at once. "Perhaps we have common ground. Perhaps you all can come to think of that child as possessing something no other does. Don't focus on how they lack, but on how they understand the world in ways you can't.

"Beings like us," she motioned again to herself and where the infant lay, "we're not problems. We're solutions. Not enough cultures give us the chance to prove it."

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

As Efret spoke, their audience continued to grow just beyond the threshold of the doorway. Ran watched the young Vong that crowded the door regard Efret with an edged curiosity. They watched her hands intently and listened to the translator at work with the same level of focus.

When Efret looked to Ran, so did the others. Ran shifted her posture, and regarded Efret in turn. Ran’s smile was knowing and proud. The pride one felt when in the presence of someone they respected wholly. It went uncommunicated but Ran looked to Efret as a mentor and hoped to one day be considered a great friend to the Master, Councilor, Archaeologist, and Chief Curator of the Jedi Order.

As Efret continued, The Knight turned her attention back to the adolescent crowd who quickly averted their gaze back to Efret. Ran could tell by the look in the young’s eyes that Efret’s speech was affecting them. Ran could see it even though the Vong were foreign to her, which meant the Shaper was sure to notice.

The Shaper blinked at Efret. Several times as she made sense of what the Jedi said in comparison to who she was and who the Vong were as a species. There was a silence before she spoke again. Everyone waited with their eyes trained on her. “The child will have that chance.” The shaper announced. “The child will have that chance.” She said again, staring at the Vong adolescents at the door. The sentence appeared an invitation as the young entered the room and began to hover over the child. The oldest of the children, a young lady it seemed, reached into the apparatus and plucked the baby out. A look of surprise crossed the baby’s face as so many of its contemporaries crowded around it. It kicked and appeared to smile. Ran couldn’t help but feel as if Efret had accomplished something significant.

The Shaper leaned in closer to the Jedi for some privacy. “My people have changed much in the time we’ve been on this planet. We are isolated from our home galaxy and have received no outside communication from our own in centuries. It seems we are destined to become something new, whether it is accepted or not.” She explained and Ran wondered why.

“I demand- No,” She shook her head and reduced the harshness of her tone almost to a whisper. “I request the assistance of you and your people to help us become the new Vong.” Ran’s brow arched and her eyes went wide at the request. The shaper eyed Efret before Ran, waiting for an acceptance or denial of it.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

A smile came to Efret's face at the shaper's first words, but the Master Jedi didn't feel so much pride as relief as she watched how her words had affected this Yuuzhan Vong colony. Truthfully, she had been fully prepared for misunderstanding. She would feel the ecstatic brunt of building an unexpected bridge later; for now, she was very happy with the promise of a just future for the little, deaf one. She couldn't help but feel a little bit of kinship. Therefore, hope for it was continued hope for her.

She stepped back as the older adolescents entered the room to make more space for them by still remained near Ran.

After the shaper address just the Jedi, Efret looked and motioned to Ran. "Knight Serys is leader of the Selvaris Jedi enclave, so her say means more than mine, but I'd be happy to offer such help to you and yours." Halfway through her reply, Efret glanced back to the shaper. "I can teach you Galactic Basic Sign Language too, if you'd like. That's the language I use to communicate. By itself, there's no sound, but if you'd like an interpreting unit for them," she pointed to where the crib was, now obscured by curious youngsters, "when they grow up, I can definitely get you one."

And now that a potentially hostile situation was effectively diffused, proper introductions were necessary. "And my name is—" she began, but suddenly stopped. Though it didn't make sense that this colony would be descended from Shamed Ones, it still felt not quite culturally insensitive but inappropriate. Traditionally, Yuuzhan Vong kept slaves. Efret had yet to see any here, but she still didn't want to refer to herself as a master lest it give the wrong impression of her, and of the Jedi.

So, instead, she opted for her title as a councilmember. "I'm Efret Farr, Chief Curator of the New Jedi Order. What's your name?"

Ran Serys​

 

[Ran Serys]

After Efret referenced Ran, The Shaper made eye contact with the Jedi Knight. Neither woman flinched as their gazes met. The Shaper was the first to break the stare as Efret continued. “We will use the soundless language,” The Shaper informed. “I will be the first to learn it.” She announced, ignoring the offer of future technology.

“You have been received well, Chief Curator.” The Shaper admitted. “I am Nor Fyn, Master Shaper and Caretaker of Yol Crèche,” The Shaper turned her attention to Ran. “And you are the leader and knight, Serys?”

“Ran Serys,” The mirialan corrected matter-of-factly. “Jedi Knight and Founder of the Jedi Enclave on Selvaris.”

“I know you, or I’ve seen you. I’ve seen your village being erected.”

“Village Enclave.” Another correction.

“Mmmm.” The shaper acknowledged with a hum. Ran thought her uninterested in semantics. “We can coexist on this planet, yes?” She questioned.

“I believe so. That is our goal.” Ran replied with certainty.

“For now, that is good enough for me.” The Shaper reached her hand out for Ran to take. “A truce between our people, to be sealed in the way many in your galaxy do.” Ran took the Shaper’s hand and shook it. “Truce.” Ran agreed, continuing to keep her words to a minimum. She didn’t exactly trust the shaper and more words would make that fact difficult to hide.

“Come,” Nor Fyn requested. “We will go somewhere away from outside eyes. I’d like to learn this soundless language before my people and we will discuss the terms of this truce at length.”

Ran looked to Efret and nodded. As they followed, Ran wished she knew more Sign. If she did, she could privately air her reservations about the truce, and her mistrust of Nor Fyn. The shaper had given her no reason for mistrust but Ran’s instincts wouldn’t let her shake the feeling. The offer of a truce was good. Ran would take that, but it wouldn’t last without Efret. For some reason Nor Fyn had taken a liking to the Jedi Master and Ran knew that Efret and Sign were the best ways of keeping the Vong friendly.

Efret Farr​

 

[Efret Farr]

Ran didn't have to be fluent in Sign to communicate the gist of her hesitations to Efret; in fact, she only needed to have the feelings for the Empath to understand that they existed. When the two Jedi were in private, perhaps back at the village enclave, Efret would ask what after what fueled such feelings.

She normally used her Empathic abilities to gauge the true motivations of strangers like Nor Fyn but that was impossible with a Yuuzhan Vong, as they weren't attached to the Force. She had known this from reading so in various tomes, but to experience such a void while seeing a physical being standing before her was beyond surreal. It made her want to tune into the other empyrean sensations hanging around her own body. Actually, before speaking to Ran, she'd meditate in the village garden for a time. The urge to embrace the Force with everything she had was almost overpowering.

As she walked after Nor Fyn and alongside Ran, Efret wordlessly put a hand on Ran's upper arm. She offered the taller woman a warm smile which was meant to offer some condolence.

Ran Serys
Exit thread​