**Battle of Vaata**
**Chapter I**
**A liberated City**
**A Hunter’s Findings**
The soft hum of the holoprojector could barely be heard over the sound of the war room. Officers shouting orders, clerks ran to and from the room delivering massages, and there was the constant drumming of rain hitting the roof. Kai tries to ignore all of it, but it was a struggle even with the help of jedi techniques. The room was too small and was not even design for the purpose of being a commend centre for a Republic liberation force.
The building had originally been a small university and the room he was standing in use to be an assembly hall. The thought of a centre of learning having to be turn into an instrument for war left a soar taste in the mirialan’s mouth, but it was the only building able to accommodate their force. Kai looked at those gathered around the holoprojector. Most were officers of the republic army or navy, though there were a few jedi as well.
Too few. He thought bitterly.
He remembered a time when the order could have spared a few dozen of jedi to help free the world from the iron grasp of the Sith. Now the Republic would be lucky if they could receive a handful. For not the first time, Kai wonders even if the war ended in a Republic victory would there be any jedi left standing. It was a thought that had been hanging heavily on the minds of many jedi though none would voice it.
“The situation in orbit is a bit touch and go at the moment.” The holo image of Jill Halcyon said. She was a jedi knight of the Corellian sect of the order. Like most corellians that Kai have known she was as independent and stubborn as most humans from that part of the galaxy. She was also one of the Order’s best starfighter pilots, and the jedi’s attaché to the Republic’s fleet currently fighting to maintain air space on this side of the planet. “We manage to push back another of the sith’s fleet attempt to force us out of Vataa’s orbit. But we lost two fighter squadrons a bomber wing and one frigate is going to need extensive repairs.”
“That’s doesn’t sound so bad.” Said the holo of Jedi Knight Wyr Ree. He was a short creature with black and white fur and a long tail that waves lazily from side to side. He was a lurmen Kai thinks. He knew little of the small jedi, having only met him once in person during the initial stages of the liberation effort. He was currently on Vaata’s northern hemisphere. Trying to secure another opening for the Republic to land and build up a fallback point in case the other forces were push back. Hopefully they won’t need it.
“You would be correct if it wasn’t for the fact that the Republic won’t be able to reinforce us anytime soon. So, every lost we suffer counts.” Jill said.
“What of the Sith losses?” Geneal Metish Krex asked. The sullustan was the Republic’s leader of this campaign. This was the first time that Kai had ever worked with him, but he had heard of him before. A veteran of the Mandalorian War, Metish Krex had led the defence of the world of Cantao. It was said to have been a brutal, bloody battle where he, the battalion station there and the local militias were able to hold the invaders back for weeks before a relief force could be assembled.
He was heavier than most sullustans. With thick limbs and a broad chest that almost seems comical for one of his species. Half of his face had been replaced with cybernetics. A wound he received in the final days of the defence of Cantao, when the leader of the mandalorians attempted one last push against his forces before the Republic reinforcement could arrived.
“Two Derrphan-class battle ships and an Interdictor was heavily damaged before it decided to pull back to it’s side of the planet. A bloody noise to be sure but the Sith will most likely retaliate with a larger strike force, and the admiral is still concern that the Sith could receive reinforcement any day now.” Jill said.
The room became quiet then as each one of them thought of what a reinforce sith fleet could mean for their whole operation. Gaining a foothold on Vaata had been a struggle. The ships station on the planet orbit had fought tooth and nail to keep the Republic at bay. Thankfully the Force had been on their side as they were able to destroy the sith’s command ship during the battle which led the remaining one’s to retreat on the far side of the planet.
However, if the sith received enough ships to overwhelm the republic fleet then the ground forces could very well become trap and at the mercy of the Sith. They all knew that the most likely outcome then would either be to surrender or annihilation.
“What of your progress Knight Arvix?”
Kai was shaken from his thoughts to look at the holographic figure standing next to Geneal Krex. Jedi Master Zez-Kai Ell was the leader of the jedi in this theatre of the war. A tall, if somewhat lanky human with a thick moustache and hair that had receded to the point that only the sides and back of his head was covered. His eyes held a kindness and patient that was rarely found in a warzone, in better times the jedi master would most likely have prefer teaching the next generation then playing at warrior.
“We were able to take the city of Dioson.” Kai said, keeping his voice clear and formal as he can. “We suffered only minor losses during the attack, however I am afraid to say we did lose some of our heavy walkers. The engineers are seeing to what can be repaired and what can be salvage.”
“And what of your padawans?” Zez-Kai Ell asks.
“Silmeria is seeing to the injured. As for Xaam, he and the onderonian commandos have moved ahead of us to scout out any potential sith counter-attacks.”
“That padawan of yours seems to spend a lot of time with the onderonians.” This voice came from the last member of the jedi knights that were gathered for the Vaata campaign. Wosin Jadtel was human of tarisian origin. Tall, slim and with an air of self-assuredness that borders on arrogance Wosin was the only other jedi led force on the continent. The plan had been that their two armies would join together when they reach the outskirts of the planet’s capital. However, Wosin had fallen behind schedule due to the Vaata’s perpetual rainfall making it difficult for his artillery and heavy vehicles to move over muddy ground.
“Is that a problem?” Kai asks, noting the accusatory tone to the man’s voice.
“Not at all.” Wosin says as he shrugs his shoulders. “I sure he and those beast riders must have a lot in common.”
Kai eyes narrows slightly at the veiled insult. And Kai had spent enough time around Wosin to know it was an insult. He had made it clear on the few occasions they have spoken that he holds beliefs that the jedi should take their numbers from the more ‘civilized’ species of the galaxy. Pointing out the those who came from cultures that were primitive or violent would be more prone to the temptations of the dark side.
It was a belief that, as far as Kai knew, only Wosin holds. But the indication that even a jedi knight could have such prejudice was disturbing.
“They have also been able to aid us in finding solid grounds for our walkers to cross without sinking into the mud.” Kai said in an even tone. “Perhaps, I should send them over and help you. I’m sure my padawan would be more than happy to assist you.”
Wison’s face darkens for a split second before returning to his usual self-assured smirk. “Thank you, Knight Arvix. But I have everything under control.”
The meeting carried after this exchange. By the end of it, Kai felt more exhausted then when he had fought alongside the troops to take the city. He left the command centre after the holo of the jedi and seniors officers faded and was replaced with the image of the green and blue ball that was Vaata. He walks pass lectures halls that have now been turn into quarters for the soldiers, many of them glad to be sleeping somewhere dry for a change. Some of them shot him a quick salute as he passes or else gave him a respectful nod.
Kai returns them, but for the most part his mind is busy thinking over the same question that had been plaguing him since coming to this world. Why are the Sith here?
The answer should be a simple one. The Sith are here because their relentless need to conquer and dominate. But that answer did not sit well with him. Vaata was a world that in the grand scheme of the war hold little to no value. It did not possess any valuable resource, manufactory industries, and the population was too small to act as a recruiting base. So why did the Sith fleet protecting this world fought as if it was the crown jewel of Darth Malak’s empire.
He could not be the only one wondering this. He knows at the very least Master Zez-Kai Ell and Geneal Krex must have already discussed this.
Something not adding up here. He thought as he exit’s the university and stood in it’s courtyard. It looks out over the city, having been built on a small earthy rise. Dioson was a small city, in fact to call it a city was somewhat misleading. It would be more accurate to call it a large town. Vaata’s ecosystem is in a constant battle with the people who had colonized it. The jungle seeking to reclaim the lands that have been paved over and built on with an aggressiveness that had surprise even the most well-travelled botanist.
Even now Kai could see small green vines growing over the city’s protective walls, like long fingers feeling out for potential dangers. In better times those walls would have a current of electricity running through them to burn off any of the vegetation that attempts to climb over it. They will need to see to returning power to them otherwise they may be driven out of the city by tomorrow.
Looking beyond the wall Kai saw the tall trees and blooming tropical flowers of the jungle. Vaata is a beautiful world. He wonders if perhaps the Sith had come to this world to be closer to nature. To smell the pretty flowers, take photos of the colourful birds. Maybe Malak even comes here with a canvas and some brushes to paint.
The thought made the knight chuckles quietly. He has almost forgotten how to laugh since all of this began. It felt good and for a moment the stress of the meeting and his worrying thoughts seems to lessen. However, that question is still there. At the back of his mind. And he fears that the answer will not be one he will like.
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The world comes alive during the rain. The air is filled with the sound of beasts and the buzzing of insects. The flowers become brighter, their scents more intoxicating then they would be had they been dry. Even the earth is brought out of it’s slumber when the first touch of water falls upon it’s futile surface. In a way it reminds Xaam of his homeworld.
But it is not Kalee.
Vaata is not even a pale reflection of the deadly world he was born to. To put it simply Vaata lack teeth. It has predators of course as all worlds do. But these predators did not have the cunning or ferocity as the ones on Kalee. This disappointed him.
Xaam move in a low crouch, moving through the jungles in a way only a kaleesh could. Leaving no footprint, making no sound, sidestepping branches and avoiding scrubs. As far as the world was concern Xaamtaemash Jal Tyl did not exist. His companions also move in much the same way he did.
They were of the orderonian humans, but they prefer to call themselves beast riders. They were descended of orderonians who were exile from the great wall city of their world and forced to live among the predator filled jungles. Because of this they have become different from those who had cast them out. Tall, broad shouldered, faces that have become harden over a lifetime of fighting to survive. Many of them bore scars or injuries that marked them as hunters and warriors, and they were without fear or hesitation when it came to fighting their enemies.
But they were not kaleesh. That is not to say they were unworthy of respect. Over the cause of this campaign Xaam has come to deeply respect these men and their skills as warriors. But they were still humans and as such still suffer from the limitations of humans.
Even now he could hear one of them breathing too loudly, another had planted his boot too firmly on the soft earth and left an imprint. A snap of a twig, a cough, a rustle of a shrub, a flatten flower. These small mistakes would have earned them the scorn of their fellow hunters were they kaleesh and a quick and sudden death from one of the many beasts that stalks Kalee jungles. It was maddening to him. Made even more so because they lack the senses to see it.
He took a deep breath and allowed it to pass his lips slowly. A technique he had learnt from his early days among the jedi. It calms him, allowing him to focus on the task at hand. He ducks beneath a low hanging branch and sidestep a passing rodent that was in the middle of feeding on some small insect it had caught. Moving with the quietness and swiftness that should have been unnatural for someone of his size and bulk.
A slight movement to his left catches his eyes, he does not bother to turn his head as he already knows that it was the beast riders leader Meroth. He was shorter than his fellow commandos, but thicker of muscle. What he lacks in hair he had made up for it with an untameable beard that was as black as coal, though some silver could be seen around the chin and cheeks. Like the others he wore a camouflage-cloak which helps him blend in with the surrounding foliage and prevent discovery from lifeform scanners.
Xaam liked him. They both share a bond to the wilds and understood the weaknesses that the comfort and safety of “civilization” could bring. Much like himself, Meroth did not shy away from the dangers the jungles could bring. Not for the first time, Xaam thought of the man’s offer to visit his homeworld to face the challenges that world’s beasts. He had made the hunting of a drexl sound as dangerous as the sarvak, and his soul sings to face such a creature.
His thoughts are interrupted by a sharp, musical whistling. Learning the different bird songs the commandos use to communicate had not been difficult, having had use such similar methods himself. He turns his head slightly towards where the secretive message was coming from.
Tracks found.
Not ours.
Not many.
Scouts?
Another whistle is heard, this time coming from Meroth’s direction.
Spread out.
Loose formation.
Do not attack.
Observe.
Xaam added his own message, however he lacks to vocal range to copy the musical whistling that the commandos used. Instead, he let out a savage roar that sounded much like the feline predators that stalks Vaata’s jungles floor.
Hunt from above.
There was no reply to his message. Since joining their squad on numerous raids and scouting mission the orderonians have come to trust him as if he had always been one of their numbers. He grabs onto the trunk of a nearby tree and pull himself up as effortlessly as if he was born to it.
He climbs to the widest, thickest branches and ran along them until he reaches the end of it. Xaam leaps from it, grabs onto an overhead branch and using his own momentum to swings onto another tree. He does this several times, outpacing the commandos below. Memories of his time as an initiate of the temple of Shrupak springs to his mind. When he and his old friend Bimaax would race across the trees surrounding temple. Those had been joyful times.
The thoughts of his past were quickly forgotten however when an all too familiar scent caught his noise. Xaam landed onto a branch and crouches down. He lifts his masked face high and sniffs. The rain may bring a world into renewed life, but it could also hinder a hunter’s senses. Thankfully, this smell was not of the natural world and so stood out from the smells of plant and animals.
The smell of polish oils drifted through the air, it was faint but trackable. Xaam began moving again, but this time he moved much like he did on the ground. Slow, deliberate steps. When he needed to jump from one tree to another, he reaches out to the force to slow his decent to prevent the branches from shaking.
He soon found the source. A group of sith troopers and a single officer wearing a rain resistant cloak over his uniform stood in a half circle around the tree. Before them, dressed in little more than dirty rags is a woman. Her thin body shivering, her hands clutching at something small against her chest, her eyes filled with an animalistic fear.
The sith stares down at the woman. They all held blaster carbine but none of them had them pointing at her. In fact, in Xaam’s eyes they all stood in a relax manner as if they did not expect any danger from her. He would have admonished such behaviour, for the prey is at it’s most dangerous when it is cornered. But, as he creeps his way closer to them the more he could see just how pitiful the woman was.
Thin to the point of be skeletal the woman’s skin was sickly pale and covered in angry red blotches. Whatever hair she may have possess had thinned and only remain in small patches across her skull. Xaam did not need either the force or his kaleesh senses to know that this woman carries an illness within her body.
“Please.” The woman said her voice barely louder than a whisper. “Please let me go. I can no longer work. I’m useless to you.”
This seems to get a derisive chuckle out of the officer. “Well, that’s too bad.”
He walks over to her, setting his carbine aside and pulling out a pistol. The woman shrinks into a tight ball as the officer comes to a stop before her, the barrel of his pistol pointing squarely at her head. “If you are useless to Lord Malak, then what’s the point of letting you live?”
His fingers tighten on the trigger while his smile broadens with sadistic glee as the woman whimpers and buries her head into the bundle of cloth she carries. She waited to hear the discharge of a blaster firing. Instead, she heard a snap-hiss and the sound of something heavy falling onto the wet ground.
When she looks up, she found the officer gone, his headless body laying beside her. A new shadow stood before, a tall inhuman creature wearing the skull of a savage beast on his head. A single blazing blade of orange light is in his hand, the rain sizzling into vapor as it falls upon it. It looks down at her with predatory eyes for the briefest moment before turning to look at the troopers surrounding the both of them. Their helmeted head looking down at the body of their leader and his killer in shock.
“If you seek for a life to claim. Then you are welcome to try to take mine.” Xaam says. His voice a threatening growl that could make even the bravest soul shudder. “Or does the courage of the Sith falters when faced with a foe capable of defending themselves?”
The troopers stood there staring at the kaleesh jedi that had, to them, suddenly appeared like a wrathful jungle spirit. Xaam could not see the look of their faces behind the reflective visor, but he could tell that he had shaken them. however, this moment of paralyse came to an end as they all suddenly began bringing their blaster combines up to fire. By the time they had manage to bring their weapons halfway into firing positions, Xaam was already among them.
Channelling the force through his body Xaam charges at them like a blaster bolt. Gripping both clawed hands on the long hilt of his saberstaff he slashed upwards slicing a trooper in half a in a diagonal line before spinning and bring it down on the next trooper. He had just managed to bring his weapon up to where Xaam use to be before the blazing orange of the kaleesh’s blade slices through both of his arms. The trooper screams and fell to the ground, kneeling in the mud as his body was racked with the loss of his limbs.
This attack had taken less than five heartbeats, most enemies would have fled after seeing such a display of power and the loss of both leader and fellow warriors. To Xaam’s surprise these troopers did not, there was a moment of hesitation however which gave him the chance to activate the second blade and position himself for the barrage to come. He didn’t have to wait long.
The moment of delay ended in a flood of blaster fire. Xaam span his weapon about, deflecting only those blaster bolts that threaten his body and ignoring those he could. Behind the vengeful troopers Xaam saw the sicken woman had moved from where she was laying against the tree.
Good. He thought. Seeing his plan to distract the trooper’s attention away from her and onto himself had work. Perhaps a little too well as the sheer volume of blaster fire threaten to overcome his defences. He allows himself to fall back, bringing himself closer to a tree that stood tall behind him. The sith troopers followed, feeling they have gained an advantage over the jedi. Much like their darkside master’s their over eagerness will become their downfall.
Xaam deflected the last stream of blaster fire back at the troopers causing them to duck. A cry of pain came from one who was not quick enough, catching his own blaster bolt to the chest. Xaam uses this small window of freedom to spin around and cut through the thick trunk of the tree. He rolls to the side and a shout of alarm came from the troopers as Vaata’s gravity brought the towering tree down upon them.
The tree hit the ground with a mighty crash. Three of the sith troopers were able to escape from it’s many branches and twisting vines. The others were not so lucky, having been crashed to death or trap in such a way they there were at the mercy of anyone who could free them.
Xaam leaps onto the thick trunk of the fallen tree. Standing tall, with his saberstaff held in a loose grip. He could sense fear now. The remaining troopers willingness to fight have become shaken to the point where their need to flee threaten to overcome whatever sense of obligation they may have to their Sith masters. A part of Xaam can’t help but feel disgusted by this cowardness. But, he needed to put his warrior’s pride aside for now.
He lifted his saberstaff at the remaining three troopers, there were two on the right side of the fallen tree and one to the left. He pointed at each of them and spoke in a voice of one who knew victory was already won.
“This battle is won. To continue this fight would mean your death. Surrender and I swear upon the Gods, both greater and lesser, that I will spare you.”
The troopers look at each other, none entirely sure what to do. They knew that Xaam spoke the truth. Even with a full squad they were almost powerless to stop the kaleesh and yet they also knew what their Sith masters would do to those who have failed. Xaam could sense the sense the indecision and went to speak when suddenly, from out of the foliage of the fallen tree something was thrown into the air before him.
Xaam’s eyes widen as he recognizes the spherical device and barely made more than a dozen steps before the grenade exploded with the sound of a dying world. The kaleesh was thrown into the air as his back burns from fire and shrapnel. A roar of pain escapes his lips before he crashes on to the wet earth, tumbling through mud and shrubs until he came to a stop at the tangle of roots of another of Vaata’s mighty tree.
The pain and deafening sound of the explosion blinded him for a moment. He could smell blood in the air, he recognises it as his own. When his vision clears, he saw the fallen trunk of the tree have been shuttered apart, a few of the trap troopers beneath it managing to climb out of the wreckage. They look at him like predators who have found easy prey. Their previous uncertainty having been change now that he was injured and disoriented.
Xaam’s hand closes around a saberstaff that wasn’t there, having been lost by the grenade’s explosion. He whispers a curse and try to stand, a simple feat made impossible as the world continues to spin. Pulling himself up on the roots, he climbs up until he was on his feet and facing his enemies as equals.
Even without a weapon and injured as he was, Xaam believes he would still be able to kill at least two of them before being killed himself. Even without a weapon a kaleesh was still a potent foe to face no matter how many or how well armed. He brought his fist ups, the acts making his legs wobble slightly.
The troopers laugh slightly at the display before them but kept their distance. The three who Xaam had offered the chance to surrender step forward and level their blasters for a final volley.
“Come then.” He said, staring defiantly at his killers. “Give me a death worthy of a god.”
The three trooper’s fingers tighten on their combine’s triggers.
The high pitch sound of blaster discharges echo through the jungle and the helmets of the three troopers cracked open like eggs. The air suddenly being filled with the smell of burning flesh and hair as they fell to the ground in crumple heaps. The remaining troopers turn to where the shots came from and must have been horrified to see a full squad of orderonians commandos appearing out of the jungles in much the same manner as the kaleesh.
“Hands up boys.” Meroth says smiling as he pointed his blaster at the remaining sith troopers. “Unless you want to know what hot laser taste likes.”
The troopers obeyed without hesitation. Rising their arms skyward and falling to their knees. While the rest of the orderonians began to bound their hands behind their backs and ensure they were unarmed, Meroth walks over to Xaam and look him up and down.
“You look like drexl dung.” He said.
“And yet.” Xaam says as he fought to remain on his feet despite the weakening of his legs. “I still look better then you.”
Meroth laughed and called for the medic to see to Xaam’s wounds. However, Xaam waved the medic away for a moment much to their annoyance.
“We need to find the woman first.”
“Woman?” Meroth asks.
“There was a woman the sith were about to murder. She escaped during the battle. She couldn’t have gotten far, she is suffering some kind of illness.”
“Alright then, me boys and I will look for her. But you got to let Jala take a look at you. That’s a lot of blood coming from your back, and I don’t want that master of yours getting angry with me because I let you bleed out.”
Xaam wanted to refuse. To tell Meroth that he had suffered far greater wounds then this. But, he knew that would be his pride talking. He nods and allow the medic to guide him down into a sitting position so he could work on his back.
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It didn’t take long for them to find the sickly woman, she had only managed to get no fewer than a hundred steps before collapsing to the ground. She was dead. Her eyes staring lifelessly at the roots of the surrounding trees while her hands still grasp the bundle of torn cloth. There were no clear wounds on her body, so the only conclusion was that whatever sickness had affected her body had finally claimed her.
Meroth shook his head at the sight. He had seen his fair share of death before, but seeing a civilian and more importantly a woman was always harder for him. kneeling beside the body, he looks her over and questions began to rise to the surface. Where did she come from? What was she doing here? And why did the Sith send a full squad after her.
He gently rolls her over. Being careful to be as respectful as he was able to. She must have been a beauty once, before whatever happened to her cause her cheeks to hollowed and her lips to thinned. Her pale green eyes reminding him of his own daughter’s making him more than a little uncomfortable. He pushed such thoughts away and pulls the package from her skeletal fingers.
As he did so he felt an odd sensation from it. Almost as if whatever was warped up within was vibrating. Confused, Meroth began to unwrap the cloth, the shimmer of blackness unveiled itself in his hand and it took him a moment to realize what it was he is holding.
He quickly places it back on the woman’s body and backed away, rubbing his hands over his shirt as if he had touched something filthy. He called for the comm officer to transmit a message back to base.
“Tell them that we’re coming home, and that the Jedi are going to see what we have found.”
Author’s note: Special thanks to Psych3 Out and NelDurac for use of their characters in this story. Hope I was able to bring them to life and made them as badass as my own character. May the Force be with you, always.