Dark Tide: Ruin

by Michael A. Stackpole

  Ganner leaned forward, peering intently at the cadres. “The people down there have growths like the ones we saw on the slaves at Bimmiel.”

  “And like the slaves on Belkadan, but these growths are more regular.”

  Corran studied the humans and agreed with both assessments. Coral growths—generally white and smoother than he’d seen before—had come up through the humans’ flesh. The browridges and cheekbones had thickened, presumably to protect the eyes, and little horns curved up through the scalp. Bony buttons capped knuckles, while short, sharp spikes grew from elbows, wrists, and knees. From cadre to cadre these growths varied in size and location, and a couple of cadres even had bony armor plates growing on chest and back, arms and legs. The fourth cadre actually had humans who were encased in the stuff, looking almost like stormtroopers carved of ivory.

  Rade sighed. “These are the latest. The Yuuzhan Vong have been here for a month and produced two earlier cadres. They train them, then release them into sections of Pesktda that have been cleared of life. The little reptoids and some of the Yuuzhan Vong warriors are released to hunt them. Not all of the machines have been destroyed here, so we can tap into surveillance holocams and get images of the fighting there. We’ve seen some Yuuzhan Vong casualties and the cadres are getting better, which is why we think they are growing an army here. These are prototypes, and once they find one that works well, I guess they can transform anyone into a soldier.”

  Corran ran a hand over his chin, then lowered his macrobinoculars. “This answers the question of why they were content to let some of the farms go untended. They’ve herded the others together at a combine, I assume, picking produce by hand, which is more than enough to keep everyone fed and healthy. They harvest the best of the people, transform them, and work from there.”

  “That’s it. My people and I are in contact with some other resistance groups. We can stage a raid and liberate the prisoners, but we can’t stop those who have been transformed, and frankly, we can’t stop the Yuuzhan Vong from reestablishing control.”

  The frustration and weariness filling Rade’s comments tightened Corran’s chest. He glanced at the other two Jedi. “Suggestions on what we can do?”

  Jacen scratched idly at the flesh below his right eye. “I know we should do something, but our mission here is to scout out Yuuzhan Vong operations. We could attack their experimental station and destroy everything, but we don’t know if that would be a crippling blow or just a minor setback. The repercussions could be horrible, though, if the Yuuzhan Vong decide to punish the locals for something we did.”

  Ganner squatted on his haunches. Despite being dressed in a garish combat suit, he managed to keep an air of dignity about himself. “A strike at the experimental facility is a key. We ruin their work and maybe take away some samples so we can have our people working up a way to counter what the Yuuzhan Vong are doing to people here. I mean, we’re here to collect data, and samples would be hard data, and data we need.”

  Corran nodded slowly. “I think you’re both on the right track, but hitting the experimental facility isn’t going to do it. If we do that, what will the Vong know?”

  Jacen frowned. “That we were here, that we know what they’ve been up to.”

  “Right. Now, on Bimmiel we used genetic manipulation to counter the threat of their insects, so we have to assume they know we not only use machines but can manipulate the machinery of life.” Corran pointed back at the cadres. “I think it is safe to assume that the modifications done to each successive cadre builds on the work done to earlier generations. This means their experimental line will continue, unless they know we have enough data to be able to counter it. If we can obtain samples without their knowing it, we might be able to work up some sort of inoculation against what they’re doing. I mean, if these implants function like, say, warts, then preparing a body’s defenses to fight them at the first will prevent the growths from sprouting.”

  Ganner scratched at the back of his neck. “You want a covert run to kidnap a couple of cadre members from their beds?”

  “No, that will give them evidence that we’ve been here. I have another idea.” Corran smiled. “The next time they’re out there running a cadre through a war game, we’ll be there, too. We snag some of the cadre and get out, letting the warfare cover our escape and the fact that a couple of bodies are missing.”

  “Are you just choosing to ignore the fact that we’ll be on the same killing ground with Yuuzhan Vong warriors and their little surrogates?” Jacen shook his head. “Kind of heightens our chance of discovery, doesn’t it?”

  Ganner straightened up and rested a hand on Jacen’s shoulder. “He knows that, Jacen, but those chances are high no matter where we are on this rock. We know they’re there, but they won’t know we’re there until too late.”

  “And if they figure it out, Ganner? What then?”

  The handsome Jedi smiled coldly. “They’ll learn that as deadly as their experimental troops may seem, they’re nothing compared to a trio of Jedi.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Shedao Shai watched the gold-downed Caamasi from a high window. The New Republic’s envoy, clad only in a brief loincloth, struggled beneath the burden of carrying broken blocks of ferrocrete from one side of a courtyard to another. The task was mindless, providing for Elegos a perfect opportunity to think of nothing save the pain wracking his back and shoulders, knotting his thighs, making his feet burn. The alien had started the day standing tall, but now, as dusk came on, he hunched over his burdens and moved them along one staggered step at a time.

  The Yuuzhan Vong leader turned from the window and nodded at his subordinate. “Yes, Deign Lian, I heard you. The New Republic’s forces were able to study our shipwomb at Sernpidal. I do not find this as great a concern as you do.”

  “Master, I would ask you to reconsider all I have laid before you.” Deign Lian hid behind a mask and was bolder for it, this Shedao knew. He, too, wore a mask—one that was more terrible in aspect than that of his aide—but it concealed a face that could make Deign tremble. “Master, the ship we identified at Sernpidal was the same one that was at Garqi. Their scouting run there was aborted when we attacked, but not so at Sernpidal.”

  “Not so because we did not attack.” Shedao Shai raised his clawed left hand and slowly curled it into a fist, driving his talons into his palm. Ligaments popped deliciously, and he perceived a slight shudder running through his aide’s shoulders. “Have we determined yet how their ship was able to jump into the heart of the system? There are limitations to their capabilities, are there not?”

  “Shapers have analyzed patterns and have determined what we believe to be the parameters for their travel. We will be able to pinpoint these places in the future and defend them.”

  Shedao’s hand opened, and he ran his thumb across his bloody fingertips. The wounds in his hand had already closed, so he smeared the blood on his right shoulder and down across his chest. “Would not it be more effective for our shapers to study the infidels’ machines than to guess about or work from information that might be incomplete?”

  Deign’s eyes widened, expanding beyond the size of the mask’s holes. “Master, to do that would soil them. They would be sullied and tainted. They would have to atone for such blasphemy.”

  “Then they atone.” Shedao Shai snarled and turned back to the window. “How is it that those who create the Embrace of Pain, modify and refine it, fail to use it? How is it that they shy from those things that make us purer? They should welcome the chance to wallow in the filth of the unbelievers, because through proper atonement they will reach a closer union with the gods and win for us knowledge that will make our battle against them so much swifter.”

  “Master, if ordered, they will obey your command.”

  “You suggest that I should not give that command, Lian?”

  “Master—” Lian’s voice softened slightly. “I believe your close congress with the alien has . . . shifted your percepti
on about the infidels.”

  Shedao Shai glanced over his shoulder at his subordinate. “You are suggesting what, exactly, Deign Lian?”

  “Master, people have begun to speak of how much time you spend with this Caamasi. They speak about how you have shown him the Embrace of Pain, how you have introduced him to the Boiling Caress. You spend time with him, watching him, talking to him, teaching him about us, revealing our secrets to him.”

  “I see. And this is considered a threat?”

  “If he were to escape, Master.”

  “Could he, Lian? Could he leave this place?”

  “No, Master, we would not permit it.”

  Shedao Shai spun and closed the gap between them in two blurred steps. He grabbed his aide by the shoulders and slammed him back into a wall, cracking the panel. “We would not permit it? You would not permit it? You suppose, somehow, do you, that I would permit it? That I will somehow let him escape me? That I will somehow let him talk me into releasing him? Is this what you think?” He slammed Lian against the wall again, then let him go.

  The Yuuzhan Vong subordinate fell to his knees, then pressed his face to the floor. “No, Master, we only fear—I fear—for your union with the gods. Your congress with this alien will change him and could change you.”

  “Is that what you truly think?”

  “Fear, Master, fear.”

  “Then master your fear.” Shedao Shai spun on his heel, took a single step away, then turned again, fast, catching Lian beginning to rise. Shedao flicked a foot out, clipping Lian in the chin. The kick spun the subordinate around and battered him against the wall a third time, then left him huddled as paint and plaster dust settled over him.

  Shedao Shai pointed a quivering finger at him. “You are not my master, I am yours. What I do to learn about the enemy is mine to do. Yours is not to question me. Yours is not to listen to the gossip of my inferiors. You are here to undertake the menial tasks that are beneath me, so I may concern myself with more important matters. If this does not suit you, I can find you a world to administer.”

  “No, Master, no!” Deign held his hands up, though whether to ward off another kick or beg forgiveness Shedao Shai could not be certain. “I meant no offense, Master, but to acquaint you with the murmurings of those who might plot against you.”

  “If there are plotters against me, Lian, you should have had them eliminated.” Shedao Shai folded his arms over his chest. “Now, go down there and send Elegos to me. I will be in the tank chamber.”

  “Yes, Master.” Deign rose slowly, sliding up the wall. “At once, Master.”

  Shedao Shai waited until Deign had staggered several steps toward the door. “One more thing.”

  “Yes, Master?”

  “Remove your mask before you speak to him.”

  “Master?” The terror in his aide’s voice had a piquant quality to it. “You cannot—”

  “I cannot?” Shedao Shai closed slowly with his trembling aide. “You will remove your mask, send Elegos to me, then install yourself in the Embrace of Pain. If you are out of it before the sun rises again, I will kill you myself.”

  “Yes, Master, as you will it.”

  Having set aside his own mask, Shedao Shai watched one of the large predatory fish swimming slowly through the watery cylinder. He’d studied the fish a lot, watching it and its fellow tear into meat, ripping away great bloody hunks. Bits of flesh slowly sank through the water when they fed, to be snapped up by the other fish. Bones tumbled to the bottom of the tank to be cleansed by snails and other small creatures. Nothing is wasted. The harvest of pain brings bounty for all, as it should be.

  He’d ordered the shapers who now oversaw the aquarium’s operation to stop feeding the fish humans or their remains. While the spectacle had been one that was amusing—as always, watching creatures deny the centrality of pain was amusing—Shedao had sensed a reduction in the nobility of the predators. Presenting them captives diminished these great hunters who could take much tougher prey in the wild. To deliver to them anything they could not recognize as prey they usually caught for themselves was to mock them.

  Shedao Shai smiled as best he could. The shapers and priests, the intendants and many of the workers—these were all classes of Yuuzhan Vong society who had become lazy. The warriors were the true hunters. They were the Yuuzhan Vong who clung most closely to the truth of the universe. And yet, he was willing to admit to himself, not all of them were faithful to that concept. Deign Lian had shied from it, and Shedao suspected that even a night in the Embrace would bring him little enlightenment.

  Elegos held himself erect as he entered the chamber. He moved fluidly, not giving in to the pain in his body. Shedao Shai could see that he hurt. The motion of his arms was restricted. He limped almost imperceptibly as if a hipbone ground in its socket with each step. Still, he does not deny the pain, but comes to embrace it. He is learning well.

  Shedao Shai turned from the fish and nodded to him. “You have worked hard today and yet accomplished nothing.”

  The Caamasi smiled slowly as if even the muscles of his face produced pain. “On the contrary, I understand even more your belief that pain is the only constant. My rational mind wishes to reject this idea, but can only do so if I disassociate myself with the reality of my physical self.”

  “You realize that is folly. Why?”

  The Caamasi’s shoulders slumped slightly. “Philosophers debate whether or not we are creatures of elemental material, or if we somehow have an ethereal nature to us—something that is more than our body and its functioning. Proof of that is impossible to find, so we are left having to accept that, perhaps, we are nothing more than creatures of meat, bone, and blood. If so, we are born in pain and die in pain and know pain throughout. To deny this is to express a belief in the unprovable, which is a fraud we perpetrate upon ourselves. You do not allow yourself to be deceived in this manner.”

  Shedao Shai nodded solemnly. “You understand things better than many of my own people. And yet, you do not fully accept this to be true.”

  “You have told me you believe in gods. Are they not extracorporeal creatures? Does not their existence suggest that you may have a spiritual component to your existence?”

  “No more so than the ability of these fish to breathe water should suggest you, too, somewhere, somehow, have the capacity to do so.” Shedao Shai shrugged. “The gods are the gods. They are aspects of pain and of the universe. We can join their fellowship if we are true to reality.”

  Elegos’s head came up. “When all you are is pain you transcend your physical form?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then it would seem there is more I need to endure since I have not transcended yet.”

  “You are fatigued, and I shall let you go rest, soon.” The Yuuzhan Vong leader tapped talons against the transparisteel aquarium. “Deign Lian brought me news of events in our holdings. It seems your assessment that the New Republic would withdraw their probes in light of the failure at Garqi was incorrect. The same ship appeared at Sernpidal to see what we were doing there.”

  “Did it find out?”

  Shedao Shai refrained from granting Elegos a smile. Yes, play our little game. Don’t ask me what we are doing at Sernpidal, merely inquire if that information is no longer proprietary. “It could be they did. Our forces were misdeployed and did not stop them. They scouted the system and withdrew. There is, of course, a chance that they will fail to correctly analyze the data they collected.”

  The Caamasi cocked his head to the side. “You do not believe that.”

  “No. The leader who placed his ship where he did is too wise to make such an error.” The Yuuzhan Vong lifted his chin. “This was the same ship that helped evacuate Dubrillion and fought us at Dantooine. I believe you told me the admiral commanding it was a Bothan.”

  “I believe you asked me to confirm information you had from prisoners interrogated here.” Elegos pressed his lips together in a thin line. “I am certain that if th
e ship is yet commanded by Admiral Kre’fey, he’ll again turn up where you do not expect him.”

  “So you sought to fool me with your earlier assessment?”

  The Caamasi shook his head. “The admiral’s appearance at Sernpidal surprised me and you. I merely am predicting, on the basis of this fact, his continued unpredictability.”

  “I see.” Shedao Shai granted Elegos his smile and received a solemn nod in return. “It strikes me you are not stupid enough to believe I learn nothing of you or your people from these games we play. I have learned, such as broaching the subject of these games, something we have not spoken of before, which surprises you. I am able to surprise you, Elegos. In this same way I will surprise your Admiral Kre’fey.”

  Shedao pressed a hand against the transparisteel sheet as a large gray fish swam past. “This admiral is a Bothan. How does he compare to this Chiss admiral you mentioned? Does he study art, too, to learn about his enemies?”

  “He does not have Thrawn’s habits, but is considered highly skilled.”

  The Yuuzhan Vong’s eyes narrowed. “But he is a Bothan, a species about which much is known and much has been communicated. They are duplicitous, these Bothans. Few trust them, and many revile them. They slaughtered your people, did they not?”

  “They did some, and more of them are not to be trusted, true.” Elegos shifted his shoulders stiffly. “But to judge Admiral Kre’fey by other Bothans is a mistake you should not make.”

  “Well played, Elegos.” The Yuuzhan Vong clapped his hands together. “You force me to choose now to believe what you are telling me, or to assume you are tricking me so I will believe the opposite.”

  “If I am here to learn from you, and to teach you, then tricking you would be stupid.” The Caamasi clasped his hands behind his back. “I warn you fairly.”

  “There are those, Deign among them, who think I could be scared by your words, or influenced into acting against our best interests. They believe my time with you has tainted me.”