Sh'rip Sh'pa "Sudden Death"

[Prefect Drag'Kuhl]

The Sh'rip Sh'pa, translated into Basic as seedship, was a Yuuzhan Vong freighter that carried supplies and equipment needed for Vongforming captured worlds.

Manufacturer: Yuuzhan Vong
Model: Sh'rip Sh'pa spawn ship
Class: Capital ship

Technical specifications
Length: app. 810 meters
Hyperdrive rating: Class 3.0
Armament: Yaret-Kor (40) Dovin basals
Crew: app. 525
Passengers: app. 2,044
Cargo capacity: app. 2,460 metric tons
Consumables: 1 year


The Sudden Death was close to the central black hole. The Deep Core was home to the galaxy's oldest stars, and at it's center was a black hole surrounded by antimatter and dense star clusters. Due to the gravitational pull of the vast number of stars, local space-time was severely warped, making hyperspace travel difficult at best.

[Prefect Drag'Kuhl]

Onboard of the Sh'rip Sh'pa Sudden Death[/b] close to the central black hole

Nom Anor was sitting quietly in his chamber onboard of the Sudden Death. He had no idea how long he was already on this ship but that didn’t matter anyway so close to the core, the pupil of the galaxy. The Pupil just happened to be a very large black hole that slowly ate away the dust and debris of the universe that swirls with high-speed around it, speeding up the closer it got to the horizon.
This time bending effect was something he wanted to use to his own gain.
He had been daring enough to use infidel knowledge and heretic shaping to create a dovin basal that would just allow him that. Bend space and time to walk back in time to a point of his choosing.
The possibilities of this was just unthinkable various. He could go back and kill those in his way, the dread one, the leader of the infidels, people in the right positions that would allow shifts in the new continuity.
He had not yet tested his theory but especially shaped dweebits that would crawl to a designated place and starve to death. This allowed him to collect them, at least knowing that travelling back in time worked. What he couldn’t do yet was to choose the right date. He couldn’t think yet of a way how to tell the dweebits to announce the star date they starved.
His next step of his testing was already close by. He had tasked shapers to manipulate the brain of infidels. Those had made sure that the infidels would leave a holo message on a certain address that he had set up upon his arrival in this galaxy many years ago. It was meanwhile nearly a dead end and nobody alive knew of it. He couldn’t allow anyone to know about it since it was infidel technology.
Now it was rather useful since it dated back so long. And he still had access to it those days. He had just to wait for the shapers to deliver the first test subject.
Time.
Just a question of time.
And now it didn’t pass quickly enough.
He reached for the villip resting in a small box, wrapped in a soft glisterweb. Nom Anor turned it carefully in his hand, considering it. This villip’s brother was at the hands of his shapers who were working on the infidels. Those godless creatures were going to be his test object.
He now had to find out how strong the created dark light had to be to get to the right point of time. His head was already hurting of all the possibilities he had been thinking. What it meant to go back in time and change occurrences. How much will it effect what he didn’t want affected at all.
Finally he stroked the villip to life and it inverted, a membrane bulging out with the image of the shaper on it.
Without greetings he said, “Shaper, bring the first test object to me. The time has finally come to find out how it works.” He stroked the villip again to close the connection after waiting for the acknowledgement of the shaper.

[lotvashai]

((Posting as Random Shaper NPC))

The villip gave no outwardly verbal signs of response, but it did tilt forward on it's own axis ever so slightly, indicating that the shaper upon the other end of the connection had nodded. It would be a brief lapse of time before said Master Shaper arrived at Nom Anor's current location.

Moving silently, though far from inconspicuously, the shaper - a tall and somewhat sparsely tattooed female - padded into the room ahead of a small entourage that comprised of two lower ranking shapers and an infidel of the chadrafan species. Both lower ranking shapers had hoisted the creature from the floor so that his feet skimmed the uneven ground, hands clenched tightly about the being's upper arms, preventing him from struggling. As it was, the chadrafan's head hung low, the sparkle gone from his eyes as though he knew what was about to become of him. He said nothing, nor could he even if he had wanted to, the bony-coral seed protrusion from his throat, a sign of his imposed silence.

"The subject has been prepared as you requested, Prefect." The Master Shaper informed Nom Anor after a brief stomp of her left foot in politeness, she knew not to concern herself with too much protocol around the Prefect, he was most unorthadox at the best of times, especially in his methods, and saw no reason why they should waste time on such things as pointless and time consuming protocol.

"My initiates await your commands."

Right on cue, both initiates stepped forward in unison, and their captive's eyes grew impossibly wide with alarm when they noticed Nom Anor. This particular one had only ever encountered shapers, now that a new, clearly higher ranking being, had been called into play, they must have known that this was no ordinary encounter - something bad was going to happen, for nothing good ever occurred around the Yuuzhan Vong.

[Prefect Drag'Kuhl]

“Drop him here, shaper,” he said unconcerned about their protocols and not keeping them. He had better to do with his time than concern himself with such trivial things. He looked at the infidel who trembled in fear. “That one is prepared and will do as we order him before he rejoins the infidels again?”
His eyes didn’t leave the creature before him, regarding him. He walked around the test subject, searching for any sign that might arise suspicions when it would reappear in the past.
“Are the dovin basal nourished and ready to have enough energy for the task ahead of it? I do not want any failure in this. Do you understand this, shaper? Have you prepared the infidel technology known as datapad. I will program it with the comlink frequency it shall call when it arrives and knows the time. I’m aware that you do not like there technology, these made things, but it is necessary to allow the victory and honour of the Yuuzhan Vong.”

[lotvashai]

Both shaper Initiates placed the defeated-looking chadrafan upon the spot the Prefect had asked, still holding onto his arms in a vice-like grip until the Master Shaper bid them to withdraw. They did so without question, but their attention and caution clearly remained focussed on the being before them all.

Proudly it was the master who spoke up in regards to her little task,

"The mind subjugation has been a success, he answers to us now, the slave seed we implanted him with has taken a firm root, if he disobeys our commands, it shall inflict him with much pain, and over an extensive ammount of time, induce death." She enthused, maa'it implanted eyes shimmering brightly in the dull light of the chamber. The vessel was a relatively new one, and as such the lichen and phospherous fungi that would normally line the vessel's walls, was not yet completely attached and embedded into the phong coral coating.

As Nom Anor continued on, the shapers listened, headdresses writhing in a mixture of interest and curiosity, this was an exciting time for all, it meant that the gods had provided them with a means by which to repent for their mistakes, they would quite literally rewrite history completely. But that was providing the experiment worked.

"My Initiates have taken the initiative to nourish the dovin basal hourly, Prefect." She explained in that droning fashion that most shapers preferred to use when explaining things to the other castes - perhaps that was why they had incurred the label of 'Shaper Drones' ?
"It's sheer mass requires constant observation, monitoring, but all of this is necessary for it's survival and in order for it to operate at maximum potential. As you will recall, our first attempts at this were....unfortunate."

And that was putting it diplomatically, the first few tests, made using several kinds of Yuuzhan Vong biot, and the occasional captive infidel, had seen the subjects vanish into oblivion, incinerate in transit, become displaced themselves, and even a few of them had turned inside out. Their latest product of countless hours of shaping, had been born of a partial success, now it was time to test it on live captives.

"The...mechanized qahsa abomination has also been prepared." She added, a look of disgust playing across her otherwise fine features, as she reached into the pouch of her oozhith and recovered the blasphemous device. It would take several arduous hours to get rid of the taint she felt, "The infidel will know how it works and has been instructed to contact us upon arrival....assuming he is able."

She felt a quiver of delight ripple through her tendrills, this was going to be a glorious day long remembered...she could already tell.

[Prefect Drag'Kuhl]

Nom Anor regarded the chadrafan and was rather satisfied with him.

“Is the seed hidden from view? The test subject shall not draw attention. It would be a warning if he is found out too early. We can not risk that. His tasks are also programmed into his memory?” His one eye regarded the shapers. He could nearly see their excitement about the current task. The possibilities were endless if this was a success. Every mistake was now to be revisited, could be corrected.

The future was his to mould and nobody could prevent it.

The infidel sensors didn’t work correctly so deep in the core, they were blinded and their vessels were rendered rather helpless in terms of navigation. The living vessels and their dovin basals had not such problems. Again the biots proved themselves superior to the made things.

“That is good thinking of your initiate, I’ll keep that in mind that they are so thoughtful to this project. I do recall, Shaper, and I do the handiwork of your cast as well.”

He nodded, “Good, the test subject has no idea how to use the superior biots of ours, we have to think low and in made thing terms for them. Those are not the smartest of beings. The gods favour us, otherwise we’d not be allowed to travel in time and correct wrongdoings of others. The gods want us to have this galaxy and they are giving us the weapons for it.”

“Your willingness to touch those made things and work in favour of the gods will be honoured by them, Shaper. Send the test subject through the portal. And prepare the next one, in case the test is not giving us the wanted results.”

He clasped his hands behind his back, intending to watch the events from the observation deck.

[lotvashai]

"No Prefect, the seed is hidden well below the neckline of the robeskin he wears, barely visible through the subject's body hair." She assured him, indicating a small nub or coral that barely stuck out, raising the fabric about his collar bone level.

The shaper gave no outward sign of weather she approved of his dabbling in her shapers arts or not, it wasn't wise to do so with one's such as he, she knew well of how a person could go missing rather quickly when angering the perfidious Intendant caste, and as such, she proferred to keep her opinions on the matter very much to herself.

She extended a claw-fingered hand towards the subject, and the furry little being backpeddled some out of instinct rather than abject fear this time around. With a little tut, the master shaper shook her head begrudgingly, and the Initiates were quick to right the wrongs their test subject was creating, this wouldn't do. But she would prefer not to activate the slave seed now, as in doing so she would possibly risk the biot becoming damaged in transition between this time and the next.

"Your approval pleases me, Prefect." She responded with glimmering maa'it's, her tone was genuine enough, it was a joy to be in on a project such as this, something beyond her wildest dreams, where she could shape something truly worthy of the gods...

The two initiates hauled the chadrafan forward, lifting his legs clear of the floor again, this time, he did not attempt to shrink back in fear, nor escape. The dovin basal was being prepared for the tasks ahead of it, and all going well, this time, the subject would arrive on the other side of that particular gravatic singularity, completely intact. It had been interesting to see how many took the pressure, first starting with small organisms and various bits of plantlife, all of it very much alive on the outset, however, it didn't always arrive that way, and had been increasingly hard to track accurately.

"At your word then." The master shaper prompted, the initates would not move until it was given by the prefect himself, but she had work to do.

Approaching the dovin basal carefully, she procured a small signal villip - the creatures mentally linked kin - from her robeskin, and began to coax the villip into awakening, this in turn sent the pulse out to the dovin basal, instantaneously causing it to act on the purpose for which it had been created. All would need to stand back, well back, in a moment or so, and there was great risk to the two initiates that held the test subject, but they had known this from the start, and would gladly give their lives to the cause.

[Prefect Drag'Kuhl]

He regarded the seed and nods as he notices that the pelt of the infidel covers it nicely up. “Nice handiwork, shaper,” he approved of the seed. He stepped back again, letting the initiates make the last preparation on the chadrafan. Those beings looked rather funny and when he encountered them the first time he was stunned how they could even survive with their inability to stay concentrated over a longer period of time.
The test subject was dragged into the gravatic chamber. The initiates had the honour to guide it toward the dovin basal, should the creature generate it’s singularity too early it would also suck in the two initiates.
“You can begin,” Nom Anor was standing behind the safety line, the observation deck. He wasn’t crazy enough to watch everything close by. “Drop him through time and space.” He had to grin at those words. He was so close. Soon he can return to the galaxy, in glory. The gods were smiling upon him.
Eagerly he was standing there, surpressing the urge to jump in anticipation. This was his project, his creation. And he was so close it being working to his use.

[lotvashai]

Both initiates did as ordered, swinging the diminuitive chadrafan forward, then back again, and finally forwards one more time before letting go of his arms completely.

Soundlessly the small furry being flew through the short space of air between the initiates and the dovin basal, headed straight for the gravatic hole the creature had opened up by it's own natural body contractions. The blackhole gaped momentarily wide, like some giant gaping maw out of nowhere, pulling the infidel in with such force, a sudden sucking of air caused all present to subconsciously wince as the dovin basal issued a high-pitched whine of a noise. It was a matter of seconds before the infidel was taken in completely - though this time, the subject was not turned inside out, his insides did not boil and sizzle away, this time, he vanished from sight completely.

The master shaper stroked the trigger villip again, and the dovin basal ceased it's gravatic anomaly creating, returning to an intert and highly quiescent state. Now all the small group need do was wait the several tense moments it would take for them to either receive word that their little experiment had worked, or spend yet another eternity waiting for some sign that the experiment had, at least, been a partial success.

Headdress coiling with rythmic delight, she set her sparkling eyes upon Nom Anor, who was positioned by the signal villip, the kin to the one that the chadrafan had been gifted in order to communicate back to them - the message would be received as a kind of organic recording only, due to the immense distances it had to travel...but any sign was a good sign, the Master shaper knew, it meant that they were on the right path.

She kept quiet, eyes fixed upon the signal villip in anticipation - it seemed as if whole cycles were passing, and they were still motionless....was this what it was like to transcend time? They had already discovered the means to transcend space after all. This what what had inspired this mission to begin with...that and this world was rich with potential.

Then it happened...and the master nearly jumped right out of her own oozhith. The villip had begun to pulse for attention.

"It responds!" She hissed excitedly, waiting for Nom Anor to answer the call.

[Prefect Drag'Kuhl]

Nom Anor steepled his fingers in joy. It worked! The infidel just travelled in time.
He turned to the villip and stroked it to life. He was excited at least to say. His the possibilities now seemed endless. Every mistake could now be corrected, every failure a success.
The gods smiled upon him. The gods loved him.
He had known that for long already, his ways and doings allowed him to be still alive and working on the invasion while others died either in honour or shame.
His name wasn’t worth much, mostly connected with heresy and still he was here.
He couldn't wait till the small creature woke up and delivered it's message the villip was unable to accurately recreate the features of an infidel, particularly one as diminutive as the chadrafan, but his voice it could portray well enough to be understood.
"I have arrived, intact, and await a sign that my signal has been received."
"Signal received, what is your time, where did you arrive," he wanted to know form the being
"Time? You mean the date, correct?" He stopped as if for one dreaded moment, he was about to ask someone, but soon reappeared with a hideously abominable hand held datapad, "26ABY, this news report was taken this morning, It details the invasion of the Vo - of the Yuuzhan Vong, stating which worlds have fallen."
"Report more clearly, I have to know the exact moment you appeared not just the year. Send the report" he orders, angered by the correction of this test subject.
The subject appears to be in an insurmountable amount of pain for several moments, gritting his teeth and the villip portraying the rippling of his fur in discomfort, he then speaks once more, recovering his composure less quickly than before. "The date is that of when I left....only several years ago, the year I stated....the time....night...cycle...on the world Tython!"
Pleased he smiled, total success. This worked. Now there would only be the need of the time setting. But that was not yet important, what was archived was good enough for the time being. "You did well," he said and then closed the connection, leaving the being to it's own.
"Shapers you did well, I am more than pleased," Nom Anor said to the shaper and the initiates. "We can now proceed."
The master shaper was almost less composed than her initiates, this was an exciting time for all, they had come to the turning point, just when it seemed that the traditionalist order was a fading light in the dark, they were going to rekindle the raging fire that it should have always been, because the infidels weren't going to know what hit them from beyond.

[Prefect Drag'Kuhl]

The time had approached, it was now his turn to do something. He would be going through the portal and back in time. It only allowed him to go back in time and the place was kind of given.
The place was carefully chosen since he knew all the movements and vessels and their location at any point of the past. He hadn’t gained his position for nothing. The Praetorite Vong disaster couldn’t be changed without other adjustments to the dovin basal but that was not really necessary. The time frame allowed to avoid the disaster of Ithor. The infidels shall not be allowed to develop the usage of the Bafforr pollen and the resulting weapon Alpha Red.
And of course his painful one, Lotva Shai should not end up with the disgrace of Shedao Shai. The commander of the Yuuzhan Vong forces till the battle of Ithor where he was killed by Corran Horn, the infidel Jeedai, loaded his domain with shame. Outliving the battle would mean a change of the war. It would be interesting to see how the ripples of time would affect the future.
The ooglith masquer crawled up his skin, penetrating each single pore of it. The pain was exquisite as Lotva Shai would say. His opinion was slightly different but then his opinion was his and not to share.
When the masquer was attached he wrapped his cloak tightly around himself.
He left his chamber and walked briskly to the chamber of travel. The shaper and the initiates had returned as well. Nom Anor indicated them to activate the dovin basal when it was ready. He had his weapon attached to his belt and forearm.

[Prefect Drag'Kuhl]

Nom Anor felt a strong gravity pull on him which sickened him. It was like being squeezed and pulled apart at the same time. Darkness surrounded him and unseen hands that tore on him mercilessly.
Then he reappeared.
He found himself on the planet Thyton itself. It was nightcycle so the street was deserted. The Prefect got up from the dirt and hurried into the shadows. It would do not any good if he was seen here, the galaxy had not yet an idea about the Yuuzhan Vong. But he also knew that a vessel was waiting here, it would bring him back to the galaxy and allow him to work.
His first destination would be Ithor.
Domain Shai should not suffer the blame that brought Domain Lah to it.

[lotvashai]

DATE: 25.3 ABYLOCATION: Kor Chokk vessel 'Legacy of Torment'



Looming in full view of the celestial world of Ithor, the Yuuzhan Vong clustership, Legacy of Torment, clung to the skies above the bountoful world like the threat it truly was. Surrounded by several other, smaller warvessels, it's interwoven clusters of what could have been mistaken for other vessels of Yuuzhan Vong origin, gave the Kor Chokk the appearence of something of a mish-mash, several relics stuck together for the purpose.
This was partially the truth, of course, but the whole thing seemed far more sinister, due to the nature of it's presence here.

Threat was palpable, particularly when behind that threat sat the advange vanguard of several thousand Yuuzhan Vong warriors, each with the bloody mindedness of the other and the will to dominate, conquer and divide what lay in store for them down on world. More over, the vessel and fleet commander, a one Shedao Domain Shai, had a personal interest in this particular world, not simply because of it's strategic value and what he had come to learn of the potentially deadly baffor pollen, and indeed the interest of his direct subordinate in destroying this world. But because this was a matter of personal honour.

Throughout it's vast network of hallways and spiraling ramps, it's crew toiled relentlessly, preparing for the attack that was surely to be made on this alien world, they would raise it to the ground, then remake it in the gods honour, the threat of Ithor would be no more whichever way fate swung, of course, the same could not be said for their commander, who seemed all too ready to throw everything away, reputation included, in order to reacquire a domain relic.

[Prefect Drag'Kuhl]

DATE: 25.3 ABY
LOCATION: Vessel Blade of Anguish

Nom Anor had reappeared in the hidden clustership deep in the core. The cloaker hid parts of his features so that he was not recognizable as the man he was. For this trip he used the name Kshatra Lah. Lotva domain Shai would hurt him badly for that.
He strode through the corridors of the huge clustership toward the closest vessel chamber. He would take a Yorik-Vec to race toward Ithor for his task. In his bladder flasks he had stored the mix of toxins used to destroy the planet that would have managed to bring down the Yuuzhan Vong at the beginning of the war.
And it was also the turning point for domain Shai. Shedao Shai had been duelling Corran Horn and lost. The domain never recovered fully from this blow.
Finally he reached the grow chamber of the vessels.
He gestured to one of the attendants who hurried to him, recognizing the rank insignia. “Prefect?” he asked.
“I will take a Yorik-Vec, I’m on a secret mission and you are not supposed to have seen me, understood?” he told the youngling with authority in his voice.
He snapped to attention, “Yes Prefect, the young vessel Striking Blade is fed and can be taken out right away.” The youngling indicated a close by vessel.
Nom Anor nodded without another word and strode to the vessel. He boarded it and went to the cockpit sitting down and pulling the cognitive hood over.
Striking Blade rose immediately and he manoeuvred it out of the chamber.



LOCATION: Orbit of Ithor

The Striking Blade reverted to normal space. Nom Anor hoped that he would not be recognized by the Legacy of Torment, nor by the three heavy cruisers and eight light cruises as well as the countless yorik-trema. He let the small vessel race down into the atmosphere. He had during the dark space travel already prepared the toxins and had placed them in the very small cargo hold. The Striking Blade descended down, deeper and deeper into the rich atmosphere. Nom Anor ordered the vessel to open the cargo hold and started to ascend again. The movement pushed the package out of the hold and it immediately started to spray it content into the humid air.
A menace grin played on his split lips.
This was Ithor’s end before the time.
It would cause confusion so much was sure but it would spare Shedao Shai hopefully. The rest was up to the Commander of the domain Shai, he would have to face domain Lah and Lian. The battle fleet had to far better then under Lian’s command against the Remnant and the Republic.
The small vessel broke orbit just a couple minutes after it had dove through the clouds. Nom Anor could see through the small viewlenses that fire was starting to consume the surface, ragging fiercely and hot.
Too bad he could not take the honour of the destruction of Ithor on himself.
Striking Blade left the planet behind it and he directed it back to dark space.
Nobody had to know he was there.

[lotvashai]

Forced to abandon the honour duel between himself and Corran Horn, Shedao Shai turned his attentions to his underhanded subordinate, Deign Lian, who's plans to obliterate the world of Ithor, thus killing all chance of the infidels gaining the upper hand on them with that baffor pollen, had been carried out without his order to do so. The pain that Lian suffered at the hands of his commander was legendary among the Yuuzhan Vong, and only strengthened the Shai further as a domain when this became common knowledge.

The warmaster, Tsavong Lah, was forced to review his opinion of the Shai, and while these beings were his own domains direct rivals, he could not discount the fact that the destruction of Ithor had not been the strategy he had presumed Shedao Shai would take, thus effectively doing the Yuuzhan Vong a service, rather than hinderance for personal gain.

However, Commander Shai was forced to reevaluate the debacle for his grandfathers bones, and it was unknown if these were ever recovered or not.
One thing was certain however, thanks to the immediate destruction of Ithor, the galaxies stores of Baffor pollen were reduced considerably. So rare it was almost nigh on impossible to procure, the research into Alpha red was pushed back, with the possibility of being abandonned for good.