Note: This is part one of a three part chapter, there is most definitely more on the way. Thanks to my readers at tf.net for nominating me in the summer fan fiction awards, much appreciated! :D

CHAPTER: 15


"I have need to converse with your Master, honoured shaper." Tinuu had said as piously as he could possibly manage - under the circumstances of course- cowering low to the ground, almost on his belly in the dirt that littered floor.

He stood inside the threshold of the shaper damutek, surrounded by ichor-soaked walls that seemed to glisten and glow brighter whenever some of the gummy substance trickled down in liquid form over the phosphorous fungi that lined it's structure. His insides felt like those walls right now, he mused to himself, however he said this to the tall, lean shaper adept, it wasn't going to come out right.
That said, when he had called, she had extended one rail thin arm, the one that ended in her only remaining natural hand, and had invited him into the shaper's inner sanctum as it were. He should, in retrospect, be counting his almighty blessings, but he could not deny that he had never felt so vulnerable in all his years as he did now. The shaper could have killed him outright, in as many unthinkable ways as possible, he had been a shaper's experiment once or twice in his lifetime and he had no desire to offer himself to one again, to be in their hands was surely worse than to be in the hands of the gods. And he feared that thought immensely.

This bold request, this glistening pustule of a gift he was about to surreptitiously place in the hands of the Adept's master, was something of great value - or so he thought - to the traditionalists. But all he could do for now, was pray to Yun-Harla that this shaper Adept did not deny him egress further than this.
He had spent his entire journey here, mulling over and over the whole concept of 'traditionalism' and what it meant to be indebted to ones that wished to hark back to such arcane barbaric times - times that they had barely begun to recover from, ones that were still fresh in the minds of all Yuuzhan Vong.
His reasoning had been simple: Under the old protocols of Yuuzhan Vong society, the shaper Adept would have been well within her rights to kill him - and in some cases expected to - for Tinuu's overt lack of respect, for not knowing his true place.

So it was an expensive waste of mental energy then, when relief hit him like a tidal wave as the Adept seemed more pensive than angered. He waited, with baited breath, until she decided to respond, cutting short his suffering.

"Whom shall I say requests an audience?" She asked haughtily, jutting her chin out proudly and implying through body language as well as tone of voice, that Tinuu was almost certainly beneath her and therefore must have been a messenger for someone higher up the ranks, for no shamed one would dare to do something so audacious.

Tinuu did not care what she thought, this wasn't a blunt refusal and he wasn't about to miss this small chance, he dared, and then some.

"I am honoured Adept, the name is Tinuu." He was careful not to look up, nor so much as try to offer her a domain name. As a shamed one he belonged to no domain and was unfit to say he had even come from one.

The shaper curled her ritually split lip in the hint of a brewing, silent snarl, her disdain was palpable and evident in the awkward way her tendrils twitched and curled at the tips, cloying around her face for attention.

"You?!" She asked in disbelief, "But you are a -"

Tinuu grew bolder, cutting her words short,

"A shamed one? Believe me when I say, honoured one, that I have something of abundant interest to your masters." He didn't dare move.

The shaper's maa'it's sparkled dangerously, her expression a picture of consideration marred only by a deep rooted hatred of shamed ones, but she couldn't seriously be considering this...could she?

Tinuu continued to offer silent prayer, prostrated on the ground as he was, to Yun-Harla, hoping through every fibre of his being, that she would heed his call for aid. would answer him with something other than an ignoble and bloody death at the hands of this shaper. Surely the goddess would see the intricacies of his deception, and become entwined with his underhanded thoughts? And what a grand deception this would be if he managed to pull it off - and with it, would come a chance to tease the one with whom she had been so wrongly, falsely, twinned with for so long, Yun-Yammka.

"Very well, it would be better for you if you do indeed have with you, what you have claimed." The shaper Adept responded evenly, with a measure of superiority.

Tinuu rose slightly, but only in order to execute a most deep bow of supplication. He remained upon the floor, eyes downcast, as he heard the shaper move away, it was a little too easy to slip back into the old ways, on all counts. But at least from his floor-bound position, he could better hide the erratic shaking of his hands.

He was vaguely aware of the sounds of muffled conversation in the chambers beyond his resting place, accompanied by the familiar suckering sounds of organic membranes irising open and closed again. And soon enough, he heard the sounds of footfalls heavily approaching his way. As gradually they drew closer and closer, like a drum beating out the sounds of his heart's last moments, Tinuu grew more tense with every beat, the knot in his gut prompting him to vomit - but he restrained that urge to near-retching. Once he spoke of what he had come to say, there was no going back, he would have committed and there were only two ways out of this situation, death, or to leave this world forever. He felt woefully ill equipped to do either.

And as booted feet crept into his field of vision, he was forced to choke back on the shameful gasp that threatened to bubble up in his throat.

"Speak, wretch, and do not waste my time." The voice of another male intoned, "My adept informs me that you have something of interest to me?"

Tinuu didn't deign to look upon the Master Shaper's visage, he did not dare! It was all he could do to keep the abhorrent tremors out of his voice as he spoke in reply,

"Not something," He began, exceedingly careful of how he contradicted the Adept's explanation, for that alone would be reason enough to kill him, "Great Master Shaper, it did not escape my attention, after an encounter with another member of the shamed, that you represent...uh...one of a few among this settlement, who..."

"I said do not waste my time." The master growled impatiently.

"Belek tiu, I am a traditionalist, and I come seeking my redemption."In doing so, I understand that the only chance of true redemption, lays deeply rooted in the true way, the way of the gods." Tinuu finished a little breathlessly.

The two shapers began to confer in whispers, during which, the extolled one managed to catch the words - "-the one I spoke of." But he could not show that he had heard this, nor could he hear what was said after this.
After a painful moment or two, the Master Shaper returned to his questioning.

"You are a shamed one, you are unworthy. What could you possibly offer to the gods that could even render you close to worthiness?!" He boomed, incredulous, "I fail to see how this is of interest to me!"

Tinuu had nothing left to lose save for his life, it was now or never-

"It is of interest to the gods, because I offer them a twin sacrifice!" He said as fast as he could manage coherently.

Only when death did not soon follow, did the extolled one realize that his words had done it, that the gods were still with him - at least for now. Had he been brave enough to risk a glance upwards, he would have seen pure incredulity paint the features and posture of the Master Shaper's self completely awry, his tendrilled headdress almost frozen in motion. So too were the Master's maa'it implanted eyes, a constant shade of brilliant azure, behind which a thousand stark surprised emotions lay encased inside his sharply slanted head.
The shaper Adept, too, seemed very surprised, but her expression lent more in credence to intrigue than shock.

Gaining control of himself, the master shaper bid the shamed one to look at him, a gaze he met with a wary stare of his own. He only had one reply.

"You will tell me more of this."

****

"Almost two cycles and nothing," Danni Quee muttered, totally exasperated.

"We should not be discouraged," This, from Tekli, who sat beside the blonde scientist amid the various strange qau polyps used for seating, in what she had been informed was usually a contemplation chamber.
With it's faintly glowing walls and it's mossy carpeted floor, she could really believe that. When one got past the scant aesthetics of the place, there really was little to contemplate but your own thoughts in depth.

They had moved their 'base of operations' to one of the priest's grashals, this one was clearly still undergoing conversion to a temple that, when finished, would house a devotional main chamber and several smaller ante chambers - or contemplation chambers - off in a circular pattern that framed the main chamber it's self. Scrubbing korsks and crustacean like creepers, were all hard at work, fusing coral to the chitinous walls and surrounding surfaces. Each creature would stop every so often to communicate with it's fellows, chirping territorially when one came too close to another's work area.

The chamber's air was thick with the scent of fresh organics, and Tekli in particular - with her large and very sensitive chadrafan nose - found the warm air to be somewhat cloying, a little overpowering. But she had set aside her discomfort out of politeness to the priest, Ibu, who had offered up this space to the Jedi and her colleague for the duration of the investigation.

"Jeedai Tekli is correct - it may be that the reason we have found no evidence of nefarious deeds in the mechanical surveillance abominations, is because the Prefect is extremely adept at covering his tracks." The tall and rather lanky priest considered aloud.

He had been true to his word and had stayed with the two females throughout their investigation, offering up help and advice - with great interest - as the night's surveillance had commenced, gone through the whole duration and finally ended. Tekli and Danni had taken it in turns to view the footage throughout the night, near frame by frame to search for clues that might point to foul play. Ibu had not slept at all, but seemed none the worse for wear for it, still seeking out answers in the otherwise benign footage himself.

All in all, it had been a rather disappointing evening, with nothing to suggest that Prefect T'arlann Shoolb had anything to do with the attack on the temple of life.

"Perhaps we should review what we do have, just one last time?" Danni Suggested, running a tired hand through her wavy sand-coloured hair, "We have hardly rested since we arrived here, it is possible we missed something the first time around."

Tekli nodded in approval, the scientist had a good point, they may well be looking for the wrong sorts of things. The intendant caste, from what Ibu had told them, worshipped the trickster, who was forever cloaked in borrowed skin and shadow. If something was awry in that damutek, then it would be incredibly subtle, even the most adept of tricksters would end up tripping over their own inflated sense of confidence - if something was out of place, then it was going to be on these recordings somewhere, they just needed the right pair of eyes to observe it.

"Agreed," Tekli replied, a new found sense of confidence and energy behind her small sounding words, "we review the evidence again, if we still come up with nothing, then we are going to need to consider outside help, or new tactics."

Ibu surprised them then, by reaching forward - himself- and thumbing on the holo recording devices playback function, just as he had witnessed the Jeedai doing at various points during their vigil. At this, Tekli and Danni both looked at one another in surprise, but each flashed the other an inexorably warm smile, it was little nuances like this that they both knew could lead to this new start the Yuuzhan Vong had been promised. While Ibu's action had been made with some revulsion, he did not complain nor utter any sounds of clear discomfort, he was trying his best to get along in this galaxy - such a shame, Tekli thought, that it was so hard a concept for others to accept.
The situation, as poignant as it was, was both saddening and heart warming at the same time, so many lives had been lost or devastated on both sides of the war, now they had reached the turning point, there were those working against them, threatening to send the galaxy tumbling back into turmoil.

They could not allow this to go on further, no matter how fatigued or forlorn they felt right now, it was selfish.

"From the beginning," Ibu said, smiling slightly, before his expression relaxed and they all began to watch the scene play out before them, flickering to life in a blue haze of lines in mid air between them.

The recording began from the moment that Ibu's savant had deposited the mechanical bugs inside the damutek confines, dropping them atop a raised coral surface, probably a deskplinth, to avoid any inadvertent damage to them. Part of the savant's conversation with Prefect T'arlann Shoolb could be heard in the background, while the devices began to issue tiny barely audible whirrs as they mobilized themselves, then scuttled off the deskplinth into less conspicuous surroundings.

The view then split into two, each 'bug' going it's separate way - it was at this point, Danni remembered she had taken control of them remotely.

The first bug had scuttled it's way down to the ground and was weaving a subtle path between storage and furniture creatures, towards a sealed off chamber.

"Probably one of the damutek's private offices." Ibu informed the two females sitting opposite him.

The device secreted it's self in a vacant wall niche, able to pick up the words of conversation, still going on, between the Prefect and Savant - though as yet, there was nothing of significance spoken. It was clear to the trio that the Prefect seemed more than harassed, almost a little too keen to get rid of the Savant that had invaded his solitude at such a time. But that should be nothing of great suspicion, especially considering the events of the recent past.

The second bug had taken up position inside a higher niche, one where the slurping of a sensislug could be heard clearly, making the conversation inaudible from this viewpoint, indicating the hole was far from vacant as Danni had thought, but the view was excellent. Unless prompted, the sensislug would leave the mechanical visitor alone, more or less, so Ibu had reassured the scientist at the time, and true to form he was right.

From it's lofty vantage point, they could see T'arlann Shoolb face on, gesturing emphatically at times towards the savant, as they asked more time-procuring questions. At times, the older Yuuzhan Vong's lined face twisted into an expression of pure suspicion, but it was gone as quickly as those looks came, another sign that despite his experience, he was jittery enough to make a few mistakes. It was overtly obvious now, just how agitated the Prefect was becoming, wringing his hands and trying to back the Savant towards the exit, all the while reassuring him that his masters would get the resources they had requested.

Again, nothing remarkable that they had not noticed before, and Danni issued an exasperated sigh, when all of a sudden, Tekli issued a squeak of a word so loudly and high pitched, that the blonde woman nearly jumped clear out of her own skin, pitching forward slightly on her qau polyp seat.

"There!" Tekli exclaimed again, now more animated than ever, "Look! That is the third time in as many moments he has looked towards that chamber."

Danni, now recovered from her embarrassing start, shuffled sidelong towards the chadrafan to view the image from the same key perspective.

"He is anxious, yet he never enters the chamber." Danni said, not quite understanding the significance as yet. It had been a very long night.

"I noted it as one for a closer inspection," She added.

Tekli nodded and pointed a fuzz-flecked finger into the centre of the image again,

"We might not need to." She admonished in a cryptic tone that was filled with a sudden sense of hope.

Her hand, still outstretched, moved to prompt the device to skip through the footage until it got to the very end. She then paused on what appeared to be a moment of static interference.

"I noticed that at the end of this sequence, as the holorecorder goes offline, there is a brief moment of static-" Tekli added.

Danni nodded, such static was typical, "Yes, it will automatically cut the transmission once it's datachip becomes full or it gets too far out of range to send the surveillance feed. It's a memory saving mechanism, these were only designed for light one time usage." She said.

"Right, but it is what we managed to catch at the end, during that burst of static that caught my eye." Tekli enthused, at which point both Danni and Ibu leaned in, all ears.

The chadrafan leaned forward and started the playback of the recording once more, the brief moment of static was all white noise and then what appeared to be a sudden break in the static, a sort of 'blip' of something too fast for the average human or Yuuzhan vong eye to see. The static continued for a moment, then the feed went to quiescence as the recording ended completely.

Ibu, clearly had no idea what he had just seen, but remained respectfully silent, even as Danni began shaking her head slightly, indicating that she, too, was just as confused. With that in mind, Tekli pressed on,

"I will slow it down this time," She said, tinkering with the device for a few moments, small hands moving deftly over the controls before sitting back to watch the static and blip play over again, this time frame by agonizingly slow frame. The static was still there, though this time in silence, fizzling across the projection like a snowstorm on Hoth. But in the place where the tiny blip in the static storm had been, was a singular frame of pure image.

Danni's jaw nearly dropped wide open, how had she managed to miss that? And more to the point, why had she not thought to do something so simple herself?! The thought caused her to cringe painfully in acute embarrassment and she felt her cheeks flush red. Tekli smiled reassuringly at her, sensing her discomfort in the force.

"We are all tired, even I was uncertain about having seen this image when I first noticed that break in the static. The angle almost makes it appear like the same main chamber we saw throughout the primary recording." She said, and Danni frowned in consternation, looking deeper into the image with an intense gaze.

"Something must have blown our bugs off course."

Ibu's eyes were still fixated upon the image, as yet he had said nothing on the new revelation and Danni surmised that he, too, was probably wondering why he had not noticed the blip of an image either.

"It was only when I noticed the faint markings beside the membrane porthole's frame, that I realized the view had changed - and not only angles, but the surveillance feed picks this image up from an entirely different chamber all together."

True enough, in the early parts of the recording, the coral frame was pockmarked with carvings hewn into the surface, indicating which chamber was which - or perhaps who's chamber it was, though Ibu had not signified that he recognized it as such, he seemed more fixated on something else aside from the excited revelations of the two females occupying the chamber with him.
To make matters all the more curious, they had an exceedingly good angle on the surveillance image. A good wide-angled view of that gaping maw of a porthole, with a bank of what looked like Villips beyond it's fleshy threshold.

"A communications room?" Danni inquired, unsure if it made sense to have one in such a place.

Ibu merely nodded, still uttering no words to the contrary. But something about his incredulous expression told both women that it was a little more than an expression simply born of surprise.

Tekli reached out to gently place a fuzzy hand upon the priest's forearm, watching as his dark gaze shifted from the static image to look upon her, now not so distantly.

"Ibu?" the Jedi asked in a voice so small and softly spoken, it was like a warm sekotan breeze in it's gentleness.

The priest, clearly shucking free of his invisible mind-restraints, extended one gnarled finger back towards the floating, abominable representation he saw before him. Jabbing the digits clawed tip into the lowest extremity of the image, he indicated something with a slight motion of his other hand, then caught himself, the Jeedai would be unaware of such sign language, he should have been more mindful of that.

Where Ibu's index finger continued to point, was positioned the outline of a roughly spherical blob of darkness about the circumference of his finger-tip.

"What in the name of-" Danni had begun, but cut short when the priest had removed his finger from the still projection.

Slowly intrigue and curiosity gave way to the realization that what they were all looking at, was in fact the outline of yet another villip. But this villip was not supported, nor sitting on, a coral stand like the others, it had been toppled or knocked free of it's holdings and was laying horizontally on the chamber floor.
'Knocked or thrown' the blonde scientist thought to herself, noting the barely visible spatter trail of sap-like fluid that was only really made visible by the bright streaks of glimmering shine the chambers light created, reflected from it's surface on the otherwise pristine floor. The trail was such, that it was all splayed out in one direction, indicating the biot's possible trajectory, it was clear enough that whatever had sent the villip sprawling, had done so with some force.

However, the moment Ibu had removed his hand from the image, it became clear to all that the villip in question was actually open unlike any of those upon the stands, replicating a hideously scarred and mutilated visage of a Yuuzhan Vong warrior - one that seemed to stare eerily out of the recording at the trio as they studied it.

Only now did Ibu break his self imposed silence, "I know that one, I know his face." He intoned, voice strained with shock and stark disbelief, "That is Commander Niv Lah."

The priest's posture had stiffened and he appeared anxiously cautious, and Tekli had to wonder if this revelation had more personal ramifications for Ibu.

Danni Quee, methodical in her ways - as every good scientist should be - spoke up where Tekli might have not. And for this the Jedi was somewhat thankful.

"Niv Lah? He is of importance to you?"

Ibu's head snapped round so fast, that it appeared as if he had been struck by an invisible belt of a backhanding and Tekli saw in his eyes that he almost looked hurt - or perhaps she was misreading the situation? With no means to sense Ibu through the force, she found herself somewhat at a loss for interpreting the emotions of a species whom were so diversely different, that they still had much to learn about them.
She was a healer, but she knew ways of repelling the Yuuzhan Vong and as such prepared to step in, should things get out of hand. The Chadrafan did not relish that thought in the slightest, the Yuuzhan Vong of old were an extreme and intensely severe species, wading into a dispute between a Yuuzhan Vong and her counterpart here, was risking the lives of all present.
Size might matter not, but Tekli highly doubted that she would be able to prevent Ibu from harming Danni if he really wanted to. However, it seemed she would not need to step in, and Ibu was full of more surprises yet.

He stood, long robes brushing the floor, looming imposingly over the very image that had caused his sudden change in demeanour and clasped both hands in front of himself.

"I was the Priest assigned to the contingent of Warriors that Niv Lah commanded." I know him well." He began to explain, his manner far from calm and Tekli noted that although he tried to project the appearance of a calm being, one that was well in control of his own thoughts and feelings, his clasped hands were near-white in pallid contrast at the knuckles to the rest of his natural, greyish whorl-adorned skin.

"He was well revered among his caste and domain, he bound the loyalties of many warriors to his command and bore the mantle of commander well."

The two women, somewhat more settled than they had been previously, now rose also while the priest continued to tell his short tale.

"His influence over many is great, not even the disgrace to his domain, caused by the fall of Tsavong Lah, swayed that influence- he was exiled with many of his warriors to the lands nearest the edge of Zonama's scorched hemisphere, where a settlement such as this one is now located."

Ibu now looked on in shared dismay and foreboding-feeling as all present began to comprehend the possibilities that this turn of events could eventually turn into if left unchecked.

"I take it that Lah wasn't too taken with the whole integration of castes thing either?" Danni asked Ibu, who canted his head slightly to one side in momentary confusion.

"If by that question you mean to suggest that Niv Lah would support an act of open rebellion against his extolled oppressors, then you are correct." He replied.

Danni smiled slightly, running a hand through her hair again, a little embarrassed,

"Let's not get ahead of ourselves just yet, but I confess, I was coming to a conclusion much the same." She admitted, a little abashed.

"Jeedai Tekli" Ibu started, turning to face the diminutive Jedi, "If T'arlann Shoolb has anything to do with the destruction of the temple, then his contact with Niv Lah cannot be coincidence, nor can it bode well for any of us."

There was a sense of urgency about the priest now and he gestured emphatically with both lean hands, even as he continued.

"The disaster that occurred at the temple of Unity could happen in all settlements, unless someone tears this conspiracy against our peace here, out by the roots!"

As much as she wanted to reassure Ibu that this would go no further than it already had, that this was not the case, the more a trickle of danger, in the deeper depths of the force, told her she was woefully wrong. They had to do something now.
Turning to Danni Quee with a painfully concerned look worn upon her features, the Chadrafan spoke in as strong a voice as she could manage.

"This is one lead we cannot afford not to follow up, but word of our findings must not leave these walls. Mass panic among the loyal may well spur these rebels into acting sooner and far more drastically than they have already."

She then fixed Ibu with her wide-eyed gaze, and the priest found himself somewhat mesmerized by the fact he could see his own face reflected and bulbously distorted in those dark orbs.

"Ibu, gather your most trusted, a handful, no more. We may need their eyes and ears about the settlements."

The priest looked as though he were about to ask just what the 'Jeedai' intended to do with all those extra eyes and ears, but merely nodded in resolute response - now was not the time for questions. This came as much to the relief of both Danni and Tekli.

"And you?" Danni asked her Chadrafan companion, voice laced with concern.

Tekli offered a sad and regretful smile in return, "I think the time has come to speak with Sekot once again."

*****

Sleep; it was restorative and rejuvenating in so many ways, often enabling one to explore their thoughts in a world away from, and inaccessible to, all. And in ways that held little or no bearing on reality too. A being truly lost themselves within sleep's velvety grasp, or was it that they found their true selves?
The inner sanctum as it were.

Some saw sleep and the remarkable dreams they found within the depths of their dogmatic minds, as divine. Dreams became far more than simple reinterpretations of thoughts, manifesting themselves into 'visions' implanted into their minds of the honoured, by the gods themselves.

They were, of course, fools to believe sleep was anything more than restorative. Pain was the only true means with which to truly communicate with the gods, and in the absence of sleep, T'arlann Shoolb truly felt pain.

Fatigue brought on by the nervous tension of never knowing what was going on, not having slept in what felt like a ket, it had worn him down. He was old, he knew. He had lost his edge, the edge sharp as any coufee blade, the one that each young member of his caste was imbued with from the moment they left the creche. It drove them to strive for success, for advancement...and he had found it way back when.

He had grown slothful, he realized, he should do something about that. Mere rank, it seemed, was not enough anymore - particularly when the infrastructure of society was in such disarray, no one would show him the respect he deserved, he would have to assert himself all over again.
Yes - he was tired.

This Yem-Zi knew how to try his patience, and right now the old Prefect would have loved nothing better than to wring the life from that brenzlits scrawny neck.
He took little comfort from the thought as another, shameful pang of tiredness mixed with tension caused his tendons to ache, strain. He would not taint himself by giving into his fatigue, not while he still drew breath, and that faux Intendant, Yem-Zi, was still out there, incriminating them both with his careless actions.
He would need to bring that ignot to heel.

And so it was with this in mind, that he did not slump back upon the inviting moss of his nestbunk, which resided in silence and disuse at the far side of his chamber. The Grashal's main chamber was quieter than usual, he'd noticed. By now he would have been hearing the irksome and grating tones of his shamed grashal-mates, had this been a cycle or two before.
T'arlann Shoolb supposed that this was the case, because of the females' departure. Sae's death, while a surprise, was hardly bad news to the Prefect, one less annoyance for him and one less blight on the galaxy as far as he was concerned.

What he could hear, were the voiced of two males, probably those shamed twins, deep in muffled discussion. Good, let them amuse themselves aimlessly, he was going to need some time away from them when Yem-Zi decided to return his communiqué.

TBC