Hidden Yuuzhan Vong Enclave

[lotvashai]

On the surface of Utapau, the locale looked much like that of any other rural area. Vast sprawling landscapes filled with the gargantuan canyons formed by sinkholes, that pock-marked the otherwise barren surface of this mineral rich region, hid within them habitats quite literally teeming with life.
Both native plants and animal life settled upon the large cliff-ledges formed over millenia by the elements, and the cavenous spaces, more common to the industrialized areas of this world. These vast caverns, with their all-consuming darkness were home to many natural predators and their prey alike, from the utterly humungous to the petite and diminuitive, everything had found it's place here, in the most unlikely of locations.

Those sentient species native to this world had learned over millenia to negotiate it's notoriously difficult terrain, by constructing huge cities that were built into the rockier parts of the sinkholes, often leading deep into the rock face it's self, intersecting with caverns and wide landing platforms for incoming and outgoing vessels, this world had played host to a fair few unsuspecting historical events over the years, yet it had remained something of a fortunate world when it came to being overlooked during the Yuuzhan Vong war.

The closest the invasion had ever come, had been attacking the neighboring world of Rutan, subjugating it's population at the end of the war, being recalled soon thereafter in order to bolster the defences around coruscant, then Yuuzhan'tar, and other, more importantly crucial, conquered systems.
Truly, had the Yuuzhan Vong considered this world, it was one of the few in this galaxy that was almost free from the blight of the natives technological monstrocities, one of the more simpler worlds to shape in order to purge such blasphemies from it's surface - or indeed it's underground.
Tactically however, it would have been a severe misjudgement, therefore, was never considered as anything other than an afterthought.

Utapau it seemed, was a world that became overlooked on many levels....

....that was precisely why the post-war Traditionalists had chosen it.

Far away from the bussling trading port cities of this peculiar world, lay a large series of networked caves and cliff-edge structures, unlike any which this world had ever seen before. All were natural and indeed all were living structures, many made from some kind of living organism, all working symbiotically together and with the worlds' own nutrient rich surfaces to create quite literally, a living settlement.

Grashals lined one huge jutting plateau of a structure, all held in place by leathery vine-like growths that tethered the plateau to the rockface, quite literally protruding from it's yorik-coral covered surface, appearing as though it had been there all along. These gangly walkways, woven from thiner strands of the same tethers, lead deep into the regions cavenous spaces, disappearing inside a gaping maw of darkness that seemed to stretch for as far as they eye could see.
The more attuned mind however, would have known better.

At the behest of the correct being, a command could be given in order to exact a reaction from the phospherous fungi that lined the caves walls, causing it to light up a brilliant and vibrant blue. The way firmly lit, a pathway leading deep into the cliffside would take you to an enclave, or rather the enclave.
For this was where the beings who had learned to call this place home, for the time being, dwelt. They were traditionalists, conquerers in their own right, born of a society that was bred for pain, torment, conquest and bringing glory to the beings that had given them life, the gods.
They were the Yuuzhan Vong, and they would take back what was rightfully theirs if it meant their utter end, for there was no greater glory than the blessed release, if attained in the correct fashion.

***

Lotva Shai stared balefully down at the messenger that had just delivered her most monotonous news - it truly could not have come at a worse time.
Standing tall and lithe in figure, clad in a winding green robeskin, that wrapped around her form in a most accentuating way, she wore a scowl of deep severity that did not so much as mar her features as it did bring several of her ritual markings into allignment with one another...as though the gods themselves had inflicted such scars upon her with the intention to amplify her severity.
She was striking for one of her caste, not simply because she was one of few members of domain Shai to actually belong to the Intendant caste, but because of her sharp demeanour. She had not begun to reach the relative end of her youth, though she had endured enough to have reached the higher-end rank of Consul, and as such commanded a healthy measure of respect.

What one did not wish to do, however, was find themselves on the receiving end of her bitterly-high strung ire. Her domain were well known for their intense fascination with the acutely painful, in particular the means by which they had all seemed to have latched onto - literally- the embrace of pain as one might use a cleansing cell, they had learned to actually enjoy pain. A concept that was considered exuberant, even by some Yuuzhan Vong standards.

"Tsaak Lian has refrained from giving his report?" She asked, voice thick with the tang of disbelief and mild anger. She knew better than to believe that an agent would simply stop reporting as regularly as they had without first encountering something that might prevent them from doing so.

"This is as it seems, consul." The attendant, who was now face down to the floor, forehead pressed against the unforgiving chitinous surface accordingly, even as Lotva Shai stepped ominously closer...he tensed.

"Agents do not simply forget to report, nor do they refrain from doing their duty...but that is, of course, assuming you are aware of standard protocol...or were you truly dropped upon your head when they tossed you into the creche?"

"Belek tiu, it was not my intention to - " The aide ceased to speak in that instant, as he felt the weight of a booted foot press perillously hard down upon the back of his neck, one twist of the ankle, either way, would surely break it if done with enough force.

"Indeed," The consul responded chidingly, as she might have done to an ill informed crecheling. Instead she remained there, exercising just enough pressure upon the attendants neck to make them feel the true threat that could be acted on, but never actually comitting to the act in entirity.
When she decided what she would do, she released him, stepping back half a pace and allowing them another few moments of silence for composure before she spoke again.

"Have the rest of your group locate the source of the last villip transmission, when it is discovered you will inform me, we can perhaps do something about this before the situation descends into something far worse...our location here must not be traced."

The attendant took their cue, rising and saluting sharply with fists to opposite shoulders before he turned and left Lotva Shai to her thoughts. She was sure this would not become a problem, if Tsaak Lian had been discovered during a small time recon mission, he would kill himself the first opportunity he got. All, until knowing otherwise, was well.

[K'litch Vang]

-K'litch Vang wearing an Ooglith Masquer-

Through the crowded cityscape that makes up the area surrounding the Utapau Culteral center, a large and tall blond haired human with striking blue eyes maneuvers through the pedestrians on the street. The one thing that draws attention to him is his height, which puts him taller than your typical Pau'an. His clothes look like that of an Agro-worker, If the locals had any idea that the human was not as he seems it would spell trouble for him and his mission, thank the Yun'o for Oogligh Masquers.

He scratches at the coveralls that clothe him, they feel like sin clinging to his true self. He misses the feel of his armor against his grey skin, how 'alive' it was, not this crude dead matter. Only the feel of the villip, hidden under his clothes, pressing against his side comforts him in some small way. He feels he will require a cleansing after today but that is another time and place. He isn't an immigrant farmer making his way through the streets, he is looking for something.

His mission was simple, locate the source of a villip transmission coming from a missing scout. K'litch Vang's Warmaster gave him clear orders; locate the scout or die. The villip begins to pulse a little against his skin, a sign that another villip is close. K'litch knows he will find the scout but its where his current trail is leading him that draws alarm. With every step K'litch Vang takes, he heads towards the administration district.

K'litch Vang looks around him and sees that he is in the administrative hall of the Utapuan City center. The villip pulses again and its then his senses notify him where his lost comrade is, the Security office. This was not spelling well for the hidden enclave. The scout had to be dead; or subdued perhaps? The truly important thing either way was if his cover is still intact.

K'litch Vang moves into a shadowed alley between two buildings across the street from the security office. Confident in his cover, K'litch Vang removes his villip from his coveralls and gives it a slight squeeze to contact the enclave.

"Intendant, I am afraid that the situation is a quite unfavorable." the deep tone of K'litch Vang's masquer reports. "Tracking indicates that the scout is in an Utapuan Security office. Nothing further."

[lotvashai]

Scarcely had she stepped away from her deskplinth, the thorn-backed chair tearing it's senelak spines free of her back with a wet crackle as it respositioned it's self in waiting for her return, when she noticed one of the smaller villips upon the mossy array of communications biots beginning to pulse with a shrill whine that cut the air as cleanly as any coufee.

This, she already knew, would not be good news.

She crossed the chamber with three long strides, reaching out to grasp the small creature in one claw-fingered hand, the other stroking the bony-ridge upon it's upper most point. The communication must have been pending several moments because it wasted no time at all in arranging it's mass to take on all too disgusting human features. But this was no human agent, for she had none in operation on this world and for the communication to be so swift he would have had to have been upon Utapau.

"K'litch Vang." She acknowledged with a slight incline of her head, tight knots of hair falling into minor disarray as she did so.

His news, as expected, was less than favourable, in fact, it soured her mood to the point where she literally felt herself quake with anger. Eyesacs darknening to a hue that was nigh on indigo with rage, she knew the villip would be able to do little in terms of portraying it's true intensity, but portray it to some degree, it would.

"Nothing further?" she echoed his words, utterly bemused by the fact that he had not yet taken the initiative to finding out more about this situation. But he was, after all, a warrior, she would have been forgiven for thinking they could do anything unless ordered...the same went for warriors when dealing with her own caste, seldom did they give an Intendant an inch, in the fear that they would take more than the usual mile.
And they were correct in their assumptions, if not annoyingly cautious.

"You will find out if Tsaak Lian lives, if he does, you will kill him as expediently as possible, this failure will not go unmarked on his domain, and should not be allowed to spread further...if the infidels find out about our presence here..."

She paused as it took almost all of her effort not to tremble again with anger, when she had regained control, only then did she continue.

"I need not explain the obvious, but our formations do not yet stand at full strength, the time is too crucial for us all, the gods accept no failures. "

[K'litch Vang]

"Understood," K'litch Vang sees the anger in Lotva Shai's eyes her image is conveyed through the villip; something tells him that the villip doesn't do Lotva Shai's indigo eyesacs justice. His faceal features stay put, unflinched by the apparent anger seen from the Intendant. K'litch Vang's masquered face bows to Lotva Shai as he receives his next orders. "It will be done, Intendant."

Giving the villip a slight squeeze, K'litch Vang ends the transmission and puts the villip back in its concealment. Adjusting his clothes, K'litch moves towards the Security office. He knows that he might be required to kill many infidels, this bothers him none. He is a warrior and is ready for whatever the task ahead of him may be. As his steps take him up the stairs to the Security office, K'litch watches for anything and everything, making an outline of the very room he steps into and even how many people are in it.

Its obviously a slow day as only three Pua'ans officers are in the main office area but K'litch expects more to be in the other areas of the modest building. It doesn't take long for one of the officers to notice the immensely tall human.

"Welcome stranger, may I help you?" asks the Pua'an officer.

"I am look f..for my b...borther." the disgused K'litch Vang says. stumbling over words to make himself sound like a big dumb human."I n..n..not seen him s...since ye...yesterday. He big like me, human..." Obviously deception is not a common skill of a warrior but K'litch Vang does his best to portray an infidel.

"I might know who you are speaking about." The Pua'an officer says in response quickly, he has bought the big dumb human act. Looking down at the desk, the officer produces a datapad and produces an image of the only other human known to cross paths with the security units."Is this your brother?"

The image is that of a large human with long black hair inside a cold metal cell. It is the masquer of Tsaak Lian, he is alive. At this moment Vang becomes aware of a predicament, if the authorities have already discovered Tsaak Lian's true species, they might already know that he too is not human. Vang begins to worry for a moment but notices that Lain's clothes are still on in the picture. He takes a risk...

"What h..he do this t...time?"

"He broke a pick pocket's jaw. If he had simply stopped the youth instead of assault him he would not have been in trouble." the officer replies. Vang know sees why Lain is here, the warrior side to the scout made him react quickly, something common in the field of battle but Utapau requires something more tactful. Breaking someones jaw doesn't count. "We will be releasing him shortly, unless you have the credits to facilitate his release now?"

Vang shakes his head, indicating he doesn't have the credits. Its a silent maneuver K'litch is making in dealing with Lain but instead of blatantly showing everyone he is Yuuzhan Vong, K'litch plots a secret assassination. "When h...he get out?"

"Three hours, you may come get him then." Says the officer. Vang leaves the security office and heads back to his alley across the massive street. He once again removes the villip to contact Lotva Shai.

"Honorable Intendant, Tsaak Lian is alive. He has been detained for breaking an infidel's jaw. He is being released soon and I will deal with him away from prying eyes. I will report back once the task is done."

[lotvashai]

The wait for a report on the situation was not a long one, this was better for K'litch Vang than anyone, the Consul did not like long waits, particularly when it involved something as serious as this situation here. When his dedicated villip everted again, bringing forth those hideously symmetrical human features with it, she tensed barely perceptively, awaiting the rest of the bad news.

What she heard, however, was not as bad as it might have been, and Vang's eagerness to rectify the situation as was just, was promising - perhaps she had misjudged him? Warriors, at least a few of them, had their uses, but she would have preferred to entrust assassination to one who was not so overtely careless. A member of the Intendant caste would never have been so tardy.

"Truly?" She remarked, brow ridges rising in consternation as she spoke, "He should have ended the life of that infidel and his own soon thereafter, but this would be assuming he would know the price of his own foolishness."

She narrowed her gaze slightly, baring her teeth for a silent and most irritated snarl, of all the domains to mess this up, she had not thought that it would be this one. The Lian were well know as one of the most competitive and up and coming domains among the traditionalist movement, they would literally be clambering over one another, fighting tooth and talon to acquire a mission of such importance...and even those that were not. So how one of them had managed to botch this up, she would never know, nor did they have time to contemplate.
Her mind had long been made up.

"Good, continue as you intended, leave no trace of the fool when you are complete...lest you wish to join him?"

At this notion, she felt something of an all too saccharine tone creep into her voice, but rather than being naively literal, there was a certain ominousness to it that gave birth to the barest hint of a sadistic smile, tugging at the corners of her mouth with increasing fervor.
She did not give into her urge, exercising minor control over such trivial things often gave her the reassurance that she could do likewise when the time came to do so over matters of more importance.

"One more thing." She began, "The infidels that were holding him, are you certain they suspect nothing of who he truly is....of who you are?"

She could travel relatively annonymously if she wished, and she knew of warriors who had, but it was usually their kind that gave into the random impulses to do what they believed was right - not to say it was not, but there was a time and a place for ritual and rite, and it was not during infiltration. Breaking this infidel's jaw, while it would please Yun-Yammka, had clearly turned Yun-Harla's hand against the unfortunate warrior, landing them all in grave danger of failure.

She leaned back on her heels slightly, feeling her spine click deliciously back into allignment, she had clearly been spending too much time chained to her deskplinth lately, perhaps to purge the thoughts she'd been having from her mind, duty often took the place of personal matters, but she could remember a time she had mixed the two in the past. It was a pain she had been uncertain how to embrace, and that was something that concerned her, tainted her.
Duty then, should always come first. She would be certain to intstil the same concept in her offspring's teachings then.

Placing a gnarled, spare hand over the villip, she silenced it with one simple motion of her hand upon it's top-most surface, taking K'litch Vang's features with it's suckering sounds as it reverted back to it's quiescent state. She would await his report then.
Baleful gaze sliding sidelong back at the deskplinth and it's thorn-backed chair, thick with bloodcrust, she sighed at her own reluctance, and then crossed the room to where she had come from. It was going to be one of those days.

[K'litch Vang]

Vang nods and the masquered voice responds. "The outlook is favorable that they do not suspect. For certain I am not, but I do believe if the infidels suspected me they would have tried to detain me as well."

Klitch looks out of camera for a moment to check his cover, which is still intact, and looks back. "Tsaak Lian's body will never be discovered, Intendant. I will report when the task is done."

With another slight bow, K'litch Vang sits outside and waits for the infidels to release Tsaak Lian so he may fulfill his assignment. He stays in his shadowed place between the buildings, keeping his line of sight on the Security office doors. It was a waiting game now, and one thing K'litch Vang is known for is his patience. The wait is filled with thoughts of the Domain Vang Worldship, his home, as he lets the shadows hold him. He isn't fond of these cold dead buildings and being surrounded by infidels that by will of the Yun'o should be dead.

His thought change to that of genocide and how much he would love to a see a Yo'gand's core happen on this blasphemes planet. The wait seemed to pass on the swift wings of death as a little over an hour passes and Tsaak Lian is walking out the door to the security office, wrapped in a dark brown poncho and wearing coveralls as well. Immediately Isaak Lian looks up and with the use of his Yuuzhan Vong eyes can clearly see K'litch Vang in the shadows, his villip must have alerted him. Lain's stern masquered face shows he knows why Vang is there.

As Lian walks towards the shadows and already known fate, he seems unaltered by his dishonorable actions. Lian appraoches Vang and doesn't say a word. He knows what is going to happen next.

"You should have killed yourself Tsaak, you showed your great disgrace to your Domain today." K'litch Vang says in disrespect, to not use the name of a Yuuzhan Vong's Domain was considered a great insult. It was less than what Tsaak Lian deserved for his actions.

"True that is, K'litch of Domain Vang." Lian says respectfully to Vang. "The Gods demand I preserve myself for the time being." Vang notices the interesting choice of words from Lian and raises an eyeridge so slightly to incur a notion of curiosity.

"Explain."

Lian reaches under his poncho and into his coveralls to produce his villip. "As I was about to take my life, the Gods told me to I had to make sure the enclave receive this information or all might be lost."

Vang seems weary of Lian at first but is still intrigued by Lian's tale. "You were successful in your mission then?"

"Completely," Tsaak Lian responds. "The layout of the Cultural Center and the number of security Forces."

This was good news, even in his disgrace Tsaak Lian fulfilled his mission. Lian hands K'litch Vang the villip, knowing this does nothing to change his fate. Vang hides the villip with the other one in his coveralls and motions for Tsaak Lian to follow him. The two begin to walk down through the levels of the Pua'an cityscape until they reach level 4, industrial processing level.

They step into a section of street that is lined with blasphemic infidel technology, machines processing ore, conveyors lifting it, a giant furness in the far back of the room smelting. It is the Yuuzhan Vong version of hell, K'litch Vang notes that he will push for a Yo'gand's core of Utapau as soon as possible.

The two make their way through the automated factory until they come to a walkway near the furness' moving smelting pots. Lian knows his time is now and choses to honor the Gods in his final moments. "For the Yun'o"

K'litch takes exception to that, seeing the show of honor as even more disrespect. With a swift move, K'lich Vang sinks his coufee into Tsaak Lian's throat and kills him quick. He pushes Lian's body into a passing smelting pots. His body falls on the raw ore going to the furness and Vang watches in silent excitement as the pot moves off and into the inferno ahead. K'litch Vang is true to his word, Lian's body never be found.

Vang produces his Villip and contacts Lotva Shai. The sounds of the machines can be heard as the masquered voice of Vang reports. "It is done, Intendant, and with favorable news. Tsaak Lain was still successful in his mission. I am returning know." Vang says before silencing his villip and heading back to the Eclave.

[lotvashai]

The news of Lian's final parting offering to their cause had come as a welcome surprise to Lotva Shai, though it would do little to bolster the warrior's reputation and indeed the lasting disgrace of his unfortunate domain...it was a misfortune she knew all too well, for her own domain had been tarnished now for a great many years.
She recalled a time when the Shai were among some of the most revered of their kind, their warriors were often considered some of the best skilled and resourceful beings among the Yuuzhan Vong - add to this their unparallelled devotion to the gods, one that was utterly complete in terms of absolution, and you would have been hard pressed to find warriors like them. It was a blood relation to the Consul herself that had made their domain legendary...and an even closer blood relation that had caused them their final and utter disgrace.
One could be forgiven for believing that this was entirely their own fault, personal vendettas were something of a problem to Lotva Shai herself, often making her lose sight of her true goals in favour of settling a score, but this disgrace had been well crafted and put into play by one of the most tactical minds their kind had ever known - and a pity for the Shai then, that it had come from direct rivals, domain Lah.

Still, recent events, and not so long ago passed ones, had brought fortune to rest at her feet once again, and if she had to haul their entire domain out of obscurity to make her peers see that the Shai had lost none of their potency, herself, then that was what she would do, even if it meant her own end.

Perhaps that was why she was here then, in the small creche allotted to her domain. Through the blister transparency she observed them, crechelings ranging from a few months old to those 12 Yuuzhan Vong years of age, it was necessary to group them all together here like this for now, just until their numbers increased, more resources became available and new crechetutors were introduced to train the young. And for the Shai, that was never too early.
The combined creche's of several domains were grouped here in the large central cavern that served as their settlements epicenter, with huge high vaulted ceilings, calcified minerals hanging from it's roof in elongated stalagtites, it was hard to tell where the shimmering yorik coral began and where the worlds mineral-rich rocks ended. This, the shapers had taken great care over, though their time here was not a permenant one by any means, one day...it would be. One day, they would have this world and several thousand more.

That day could not come soon enough for Lotva Shai...nor indeed, she supposed, the gods.
These crechelings then, would inherit bountiful rich natural worlds, freshly reshaped for them to continue on their traditions upon, free from the touch of the infidels. It was only a shame that some of them would never know what it truly was to wage war upon said blasphemous beings...

In light of this, she wondered prudently, perhaps some memories should be stored in the qang qahsa's so that the young and inexperienced could learn such things, what it was to feel the heat of battle. An idea she would suggest also, when next she met with her superiors.

And along the same trail of thought, she recalled again her conversation with K'litch Vang - he would be returning soon with a full report, and she would hear that as she was eager to do so. Her being here had little more to do with concerns as to what the new generations were being taught as it was to observe the progress of her own offspring.
Azca, now of an age where he was ever increasingly mobile - much to the woe of his crechemasters - had been born under the most obscene set of circumstances imaginable, and therefore it had unsettled Lotva Shai enough to wish to follow his progress closely.

The Consul, as part of a plan to pull the imperial empire to nefarious heel, had taken up the guise of a rather important official upon the world of commenor, where she had then engaged in talks with an Imperial official and high ranking millitary officer on the small matter of weather or not the world in which she falsely represented would join their rapidly growing empire. Something both she, and the Prefect, Nom Anor, had decided must not be allowed to happen.
Unfortunately for them both, they had not counted on the emmisary posessing Jeedai abilities, thus their ruse was uncovered and the scene had exploded - sometimes quite literally - into chaos, landing the Consul their captive, and Nom Anor thought dead.

Many times she had recalled that day over the course of her captivity, allowing the anger and the bitter disdain she felt to fuel her desire to escape the abominable facility she had been placed in. At the time she had been heavily pregnant - yet another unexpected turn of events she had had to get used to - and had little choice in the matter when the time had come to give birth inside said built-thing.

Azca...as she had named the crecheling, had been tainted at birth, delivered by the most disgustingly obscene abomination she had ever had the displeasure to encounter. She had fought it of course, with every fiber of her being, but had been unable to free herself.
But her chance had come, and she had taken it.....along with the lives of several Imperial guards and wardens. She recalled the terror on their faces as she took perverse pleasure in ending them in more agony than even they - some of whom must have been torturers in past lives - had thought possible.

Upon her return to the traditionalists, she had given her son over to the priests for cleansing, unsure weather one so young would survive the arduously painful process, when he had not even been granted domain rights yet. He still had not...
The seers had told her that the portents from the gods were favourable, that a decision would be made soon and it was most likely to go in favour of giving him over to one domain or another. Though tradition demanded that Azca be given the domain name of his father...something she could not do without risk of giving away who she had truly been involved with. The dread lord knew nothing of this...not completely.

She had petitioned Yun-Harla, to hide this discrepancy from all those who pried, lest she wish to become the center of some very unwanted attention. She had devoted too much time to the cause for everything to slip through her fingers now.

Shaking her head, she focussed her attention on the scene before her, two warriors , of her own domain, were learning the basics of hand to hand combat, a lesson she herself remembered well. Her skills, however, had been less than sufficient in that particular area, her skills lay better elsewhere.
On that note she almost chuckled to herself, she would wait then for K'litch Vang's return, and his report...it would surely be an interesting one.

[K'litch Vang]

As K'litch Vang makes his way up the cold metal stairs that lead to his desired path back to the Enclave, a Pau'an maintenance worker stops him suddenly. "Excuse me, what are you doing here?"

K'litch says nothing and slips his couffee in between the Pau'an worker's ribs and directly into his heart to silence him quickly. K'litch Vang shoves the body into another passing smelting pot and continues on his way back to the enclave. It takes sometime to get back but soon is in a place that he can remove his masquer and receive a cleansing but the cleansing would have to wait, Vang has to report.

As he makes his way through the enclave, a few crechelings looks at his masquered face and their eyesacs show their distaste for the characteristics of human features. They young ones destined to become warriors know that K'litch is strong and is on Yuuzhan Vong to be looked at with respect, even with that hideous disguised face that the masquer provides him. He walks down the hall towards Lotva Shai, who sits watching two crechlings studying unarmed combat. He notes the crude technique but they have years to better themselves.

K'litch Vang stops and bows before Lotva Shai before removing his masquer and showing his true face. His ridge like brow is sharper than most other Yuuzhan Vong, almost like a semi blunted infidel sword. His eyesacs convey he is happy to be back inside the safe confines of the enclave and inside is happy as well... well, as happy as a Yuuzhan Vong can be.

"Intendant, I have returned." K'litch Vang says before producing Tsaak Lian's villip and presents it to Lotva Shai. "The information Tsaak Lian collected."

[lotvashai]

Though Lotva Shai had heard the warrior's approach, she did not turn to face him immediately, eyes still focussed on the scene playing out before her. One of the youths had managed to get a move over on his sparring partner, and according to how the other responded, would decide the fate of the other...at least, that was how it used to be done. The first youth brought his coufee round in a double handed grip, the standard move for a novice at this kind of combat, it helped stabilize their movements, allowing the blade to work at it's best against the opponent. And as expected, in bringing that weapon round to bear upon his opponent, he managed to slice several fingers off of the other youth in one fell swoop. The injured warrior snarled back a series of curses, staggering back and staring wide-eyed in disbelief at his missing digits, blood now streaming down his arm in thick, black ribbons of vitae.

Having observed enough to know what the next stage of proceedings would be, the Consul turned now to face the still-masquered visage of K'litch Vang, expression unreadable, she acknowledged his arrival with a curt and simple nod.
She accepted the villip he held out for her to take, and ushered the warrior to one side, placing the villip down on the nearest surface available, then coaxed it into awakening. As the creature everted it brought forth the images that it's bearer had transferred to it via chilab before his untimely demise. The layout of the built-things seen was so linear and sharp angled, a custom favoured by many on this gods forsaken rock, that Lotva Shai could not help but curl a frayed lip in disgust...truly, how could infidels abide living in such squallid and shameful places? And then the sense of irony struck her, they were, in essence, doing likewise. Many of the structures within the caves of the settlement were ruins of those used by utan people decades ago, but they had vacated this sector due to the inhospitable climate in the region, it's less than temperate terrain - both things a little worldshaping had brought to heel. If only the infidels would see further than the end of their own disgustingly mishapen noses, then they would truly know the potential the true way could bring them...but that, she supposed, was precisely why they were infidels, they didn't see.

As the images played out upon the animorphous surface of the villip, she tore her gaze away but for a moment, casting her azure eyes towards K'litch Vang once more, "You have done well." she enthused, "Perhaps this mission has not been the utter failure we first expected, this will please the Dread One inexorably."

clasping her talloned hands at the small of her back, she went back to watching the images - this time portraying a series of far spun corridoors of the security built-things, it would not take long to negotiate all the heavily armed areas, overwhelm the personnel and take the next sector without much hinderence if the layouts were studied closely, though some warriors might be reluctant to out of fear of tainting, she knew that such things were necessary for the effort, and the gods would forgive all if they were victorious. Yun-Harla would rejoice with her twin, this was one deception the Infidels would not see coming.

But that all depended on the supreme Overlord, and Lotva Shai had not heard from him for quite some time, not since the initial order to set up this enclave had been given, he had his attentions focussed elsewhere it seemed, and this had unsettled the Intendant somewhat, though for what reason exactly, she couldn't be sure.

"We should move swiftly, the sooner we can subdue this worlds populace the better, but it would be more prudent to cut them off from the rest of the galaxy, ensure that no communication escapes, we cannot afford these infidels to get word of our existance here to others...as far as the Jeedai are concerned, we disbanded, diminished."

She glanced, distracted, momentarily over one shoulder, and where once the two warriors had been sparring, now stood only one....wasteful to the last, but these small signs were encouraging, she had yet to see if her own offspring would show such positive signs of glory.

[K'litch Vang]

K'litch Vang stays silent like a good warrior does when an Intendant is taking in information. When Lotva Shai congratulates him on a job well done, K'litch Vang bows his head slightly. To him it was all in a days work. Then the Intendant mentions moving quickly and K'litch speaks. "How would you wish it done, honorable Intendant?"

K'litch Vang's mind begins to think of the numerous ways to bring about silence to this evil world.
Bombing the planet's main com station, detonating some organic explosives on the Promenade at the same time a bomb destroys the Administration building, total and utter chaos. The Gods would be pleased indeed, but K'litch Vang remembers that he is a warrior and must take orders from his superiors. He continues to stand in silence, waiting for the Intendant to speak.

[lotvashai]

Seemingly shoved from her reverie by those words, the Consul smiled wryly at K'litch Vang, an action that brought little warmth to her otherwise severe features, as she gestured uncaringly with one hand, suggesting the nature by which this was brought about was of little consequence.

"By provocation," She said a little too cryptically, "I think the time has come to try a new tactic...one our former Warmaster might have favoured, had he not been so foolish in it's execution."

At her back, she could hear the faint sounds of footfalls approaching, by the sounds of things they had noticed the little exchange up ahead, and this she could tell by the ever so subtle way they slowed their pace, almost dissipating entirely when no acknowledgement of their approach was given.
Lotva Shai, though she, herself, had begun to pace, pensively flexing those cruel, sinewous fingers of hers as she did so, still did not turn to face the approaching company. Instead, she focussed her attention acutely back on the warrior with whom she was conversing, Azure eyes bright with the many sadistically prudent thoughts that raced through her mind.

"They are expecting us to be the antagonists, this has been proven time and time again since our initial invasion, would you not agree?"

She wasn't really searching for an answer, he did not bear the mark of tactician, nor would she have asked him for tactical advice....as a worshipper of Yun-Harla, she was expected to know deceptions within deceptions well, and political tactics were, after all, an Intendant's speciality. Her bungled past would provide her with all that she needed to complete the plan...or so she supposed anyway.

"If the local governing body of this world were to find out about our existance here, there would be an outcry...with a none too gentle push in the right direction, they may even attempt to solve the problem themselves." He would undoubtedly be thinking her mad here, but she had anticipated this and would hear little of any grievances he might offer her.

"If Yun-Harla were to turn her hand to this affair, which undoubtedly she will if the portents are correct, then word of how the Yuuzhan-Vong became 'victims' of a species- insighted war here, would eventually reach the ears of those whom have caused us the greatest of problems in the past."

Eyeing him but for a second, she wondered if he would comprehend what she was trying to do here - of course, it went against everything the warrior caste stood for, many of them still operated under the pantheon instilled in them by Tsavong Lah, but that was not what would be most useful here, in fact, quite the opposite, warriors lives were a resource, and as an Intendant, she knew well the uses for valuable resources when she saw them. Squandering opportunities was not what Lotva Shai was about. Besides, the warriors would get what they desired eventually, but patience - as the infidels said - was a virtue.

The footfalls at her back had ceased now, and a polite stomp of a booted foot informed her that their new company awaited to be addressed.
Pivoting on one spurred heel, the Consul turned to face a tall, young creche attendant, holding an all-too petulently wriggling crecheling under one arm. To anyone else the scene would have been humerous, the child was too young to know the difference between right and wrong after all, but in Lotva Shai's opinion, you never could start too young.

"Was the seers reports favourable?" The consul asked of the Attendant expectantly, scowling at the fact the child was doing literally everything in it's power to get the other female to put him down, which wasn't much...considering he did not have teeth yet.

"It was, Consul. They informed me that he is almost completely free of the taint." The Attendant replied, watching closely as Lotva Shai studied the crecheling with an analytical eye.

Responsively, the youth reached out with stubby little arms outstretched towards her, when the Consul drew near. It was all she could do not to recoil...attachment was not favourable in this fashion.
However, she did take her son off the Attendant's hands for a moment, which seemed to settle him.

"I would have him free of the infidels stench before he is required to begin his training...even if I must do this myself, perhaps the embrace of pain could enlighten him?"

The Attendant showed no outward sign that this was somewhat extreme considering the child's age, perhaps out of having dealt with domain Shai for so long, perhaps out of fear of rebuke.

"I will inquire, Consul." She responded, now glancing at K'litch Vang curiously for a moment.

[K'litch Vang]

"You mean to expose ourselves and allow the infidel's fear to insight chaos and bring the Jeedai?" K'litch Vang asks with an underlying curiousness that is displayed in his eyesacs. He did understand that an all out attack by the Yuuzhan Vong traditionalists would only bolster the reputation that his people were nothing more than terrorists looking to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies. Even with the deep overwhelming urge kill every infidel he crosses paths with, K'litch Vang keeps them subdued. For a warrior, K'litch Vang keeps his emotions in check... something not seen in most warriors.

"I agree completely..." K'litch Vang says of the antagonistic perception of the Yuuzhan Vong."...infidels only see us as such Even such with our loyalist brethren."

Granted Lotva Shai perceived plan goes against how K'litch Vang would like to proceed, there was a reason she was the Intendant and he a warrior. He knows he'll have his chance to kill many infidels soon, but his warrior instincts tell him to strike them hard and fast now rather than later. However, he understands that at this time, they don't have a Force to do that with.

K'litch Vang stands in silence as he watches the exchange between Lotva Shai and the Attendant who returned Azca to Lotva Shai after a cleansing ritual, that in itself reminds him he is in need of a cleansing to remove the stench of the infidels off his grey skin. He looks as Lotva Shai interacts with Azca, her body language and silence. The infidel taint on Azca was not enough to completely drive Lotva Shai away, a sign in K'litch Vang's eyes that Azca was still his mother's world, and sign of attachment? Maybe, but its not K'litches place to say.

As the Attendant leaves, K'litch Vang locks an unforgiving gaze with the Attendant as she looks at him curiously. When she is out of sight Vang looks back to Lotva Shai, still wondering why the Attendant would eyeball him so, he hadn't forgotten to take off the masquer, but its of little importance right now.

"Where shall we start, Consul?"

[lotvashai]

As if noticing K'litch Vang's critical gaze burning into her back, she turned again to fix him with a curious glance, one that hardened instantly into a glare of scruitiny when she thought that she had seen more than the usual ammount of curiosity in his expression. She chpse not to deign it with a response however, choosing instead to continue on their prior line of conversation.

"Indeed, in revealing our presence here we will awaken in them the fears that have plagued this galaxy since our arrival here in the first instance - only this time they will be doing precisely what we expect them to." She nodded as if for emphasis, and then digressed,

"We should strike at their heart, their community center, there will be an oucry from the people to their so called government, who will be pressured into doing something about us."

This was, of course, providing that the infidels infastructure was as she remembered it, and she could see no reason why it would not be. And the warriors would not be alone in their tasks, if one wanted something doing correctly, very often she had learned you needed to do it yourself, or at least have a hand in it.

"For instance, it would be a shame if we were to lay claim to something that they hold dear...or better yet, lay waste to it, would it not?" Her tone left little doubt about her true intentions, though it was dripping with arcane sarcasm profound, and she wasn't about to let that little facade drop, even when the crecheling in her arms began to wriggle again, discontentedly.

The barest flicker of a frown played across her asymmetrically lined features, and she lifted Azca up and slightly away from her, holding him beneath his arms for support. Then she canted her head slightly, pensively.

"Tell me, do you also agree with the priests? Is it possible for one so young to overcome the taint of the infidels or the abominable without the use of the embrace of pain?"

It was shaky ground for any subordinate to be walking, answering that question on any level, she could have killed him simply by deigning to answer if he so wished, but she'd seen his critical stare and knew what it meant - he was questioning her attachment, not that it was any of his business but a weakness was always seen as just that, a weakness.
It was not unheard of to become attached to ones young, but at such a level it was uncommon among those not privelidged enough to be among the elite. This child had yet to prove himself worthy of being ranked, acknowledged, proven in the eyes of the gods, no less. Until that happened, it was down to those entrusted with his care and discipline to prepare him for such a journey.

His opinion wasn't so much valued as it would be carefully considered in a certain light - she was as analytical and dogmatic as they came, never adverse to hearing the alternative, but far less likely to believe in it if it differed from her own beliefs.

Azca, clearly oblivious to all that was transpiring between them, continued his happy little onslaught by kicking his legs up and trying to gain purchase on Lotva Shai's shoulders. His forehead looked woefully shameful, she noted then, no domain marking had been applied as yet, for it was not known if he would live to see that day - most true caste were marked at birth...and he too had been marked alright, but not in the way that was right.
But were she to give him a domain name...which one would she give? In doing so, all those she had worked amongst for decades would know the lengths she had gone to to secure the relative freedom they had now...all that work gone with one simple action. Especially when the Supreme One found out.

[K'litch Vang]

K'litch Vang knows he has draw some kind of scorn from Lotva Shai, she saw the look in his eyes and that was all tht was needed. Lotva Shai's question following her discovery of K'litch Vang's observation puts the warrior on notice, his eyes saw much.

"I agree with the will of the Yun'o, honorable Consul." K'litch Vang replies to the matter of the Embrace of Pain. "If that crechling is truly the offspring of a member of Domain Shai it should survive. If the Gods will it, they will take the crechling if it can't withstand the purification. If he survives and is purified, it will show the the Yun'o have great plans for him."

Philosophy is not a strong suit when it comes to warriors; they believe in the rush of battle, the warmth of enemy blood washing over them and seeking honor. There was a brain inside K'litch Vang's head, surly the sign of a not so typical warrior. This either made him a warrior to be praised and suspected, regardless of loyalties.

As Azca squirms and fights against his mother for better position, K'litch Vang stands in silence. He knew the circumstances surrounding Lotva Shai and her crechling; the tainting of Azca at the hands of Imperial agents, even rumors of the forbidden love that bore the crecheling. In his place as a warrior, it was not his place to comment on such conjecture; he was meant to spread the will of the Yun'o, not give into gossip.

The Consul's penetrating gaze doesn't shake the warrior in the slightest, he knows his death will be swift or slow, depending on the Intendant's mood, if she so chooses. That is when he looks at the image of the Cultural Center and flutters his eyesacs as he thinks of something simple yet effective. "A single Yorik-et will more than succeed in the mission of laying to waste that abominable structure."

[lotvashai]

She knew the rumours, for she had heard them too many times to count, usurping and backstabbery were common place among her caste and even praised in some successful instances, it was the sign that Yun-Harla favoured that person, whoever they may be, if just for a little while. There had been a time, Lotva Shai lamented, when she had considered that person to be her, that the cloaked goddess had smiled down upon her cause - and perhaps she had for a while, but fickle in nature and twice as spiteful when scorned, the trickster had shown her true nature soon enough, turning her hand against the Consul and ousting her for all it was worth.

And Lotva Shai could only take that as any Yuuzhan Vong should, a challenge.
Whatever the lowlier of her caste might say, or think for that matter, she was confident that none knew the actual truth. She had always maintained the same story when it came to Azca's parentage, and in a certain point of view, it wasn't as forbidden as her rivals might have liked to think. He was not an intercaste child, in fact, the little one's father had ranked higher than she before he had disappeared into obscurity, was thought dead. And now he was considered so again...

That stung her, she realized, in ways she couldn't even begin to comprehend yet, almost as though she had discovered the one kind of pain she didn't know how to embrace - but that did not mean she could not, she would endure, it was what she had been born to do, and had done so up until this point. She could bring all this back from the brink. And it would never cool her ire long enough to tear her attention away from matters at hand.

"It would." She acknowledged K'litch Vang's suggestion as she lowered the crecheling again, this time he actually seemed to settle, but did throw the occasional curious stare in the warriors direction - another thing she'd have to stamp out of she wanted him to learn his place in their society and survive long enough to do their domain proud. Staring out superiors - even unintentionally, was never a good idea. With that in mind, she turned Azca's head to one side for encouragement. Then continued without faltering or a second glance.

"A tsik vai would lend more credence to the belief that we were, in fact, perhaps trapped here." She explained, adding yet another layer to this already multi-faceted plan, "If they believe that the problem is contained on world, or at least containable, they are less likely to send the rest of the sector into a blind panic. Either way, the world will be ours and when the Jeedai arrive, we can kill two Vua'sa with the same amphistaff."

Those kinds of musings made her feel twistedly happy inside, as was apparent on her expression, lips spread wide into a near-satisfied smirk that she felt as though she hadn't worn in almost a generation...genuinely anyway.

"Prior to all of this, however, infiltrators should be sent to key places on world, when they are sufficiently emplaced in the relevant organizations, then we take the offensive. By the time that aid arrives, we will have long since tightened our grip on the world."

She watched him carefully, trying to guage his take on all this, though why his superiors had sent him, exactly, she was unsure, she had taken him on as any Intendant would, a resource - that was what they dealt in best aside from espionage and general day to day matters of commerce - but there was always another side to things in matters such as this, always something hidden from sight. She just had to work out which way to twist it to find out.

"Speak freely" she encouraged him, a slight whisp of a purr lacing her tones temptingly, almost daring him to do so, "So long as it is the truth, it cannot anger me."