Star Wars: Skywalker's Rebellion

Chapter Seven: The Jedi Way

Cade closed his eyes tight and waited for the inevitable pain that surely followed when being digested by a plant dragon. Waiting for death to arrive wasn't really a Jedi thing to do, but Cade was out of options. And so he refused to look on as death drew nearer. He found himself thinking about Azlyn and his father and all the things he had left to sort out. He realized that he didn't want to dir, especially not now. Cade figured that there probably was no good time to die, but if there was, this was the opposite.

But death didn't come, so eventually Cade cracked an eye open. The dragon had moved Cade aside, but he was still in its grasp. The dragon was no longer focused on Cade, though, but instead on another figure standing in front of him. Wolf Sazen.

"Let the boy go," Cade's master coaxed to the dragon.

The dragon didn't seem to be in a listening mood. It hissed and moved its head toward Wolf. Wolf didn't move, but simply lifted his hand forward. Cade's bonds broke and he feel to the floor, at Shado's fret. Shado helped him up and they watched as Wolf stared down the dragon.

The dragon kept coming at Sazen, now looking angry. Cade wanted to warn Sazen to get out of the dragon's way, because Wolf didn't seem too worried. But Cade figured there was little chance that Wolf hadn't noticed the plant dragon that was about to bite his face off, so he stayed quiet.

Just as the dragon was about to swallow Sazen, he drew his lightsaber and thrust it up the creature's mouth in one swift movement. The dragon hissed and fell to the ground, laying motionless.

"That was incredible!" Shado exclaimed.

Sazen ignored him and instead marched straight up to Cade. "What were you thinking?" he growled angrily.

"Oh, so now it's my fault that a dragon attacked me?" Cade challenged.

"It wasn't a dragon," Sazen replied, his expression still angry but his eyes wandering. "It was a vine snake." His eyes refocused and he glared at Cade. "And that's not what I meant. You went off all by yourself across a strange planet without me."

"Well I didn't think you were planning on going anywhere," Cade growled back. "You seemed preoccupied, so I figured I'd finish the mission myself."

"The mission has changed!" Sazen said. "Things have gone wrong, and we don't know what to expect."

"Things always go wrong. You've heard the tales as many times as I, you know that. I was trying to figure out what to expect, and how to fix this problem while you were daydreaming."

"Daydreaming!" Sazen roared. "It's called consulting the Force, which has always been the Jedi way. How dare you mock it such. Obeying your master is also the Jedi way, if you remember."

"Well then maybe the Jedi way just isn't for me!" Cade exclaimed.

"That's—" Sazen started back with a response but stopped himself mid-rant. "Something's wrong."

"Yeah, you bet your astromech something's wrong," Cade blurted out. "We're in—"

"Shh, shh, shh," Sazen hissed quickly. He looked around, his face getting pale. Sazen drew his lightsaber and motioned for Cade and Shado to do the same. They did as told, and swung them around like a flashlight, looking for whatever the Jedi Master was sensing.

"What are you sensing, Master?" Shado whispered.

Sazen continued to look around. "Nothing," he said quietly. "That's the problem."

"Isn't that a good thing?" Cade asked.

"No," Sazen shook his head. "Not here. There's always darkness to sense here. But now... something's lurking that I can't feel. A creature that's immune to force powers. It must be the Yuuzhan Vong."

"The Vong?" Cade asked. "You mean the creatures that were bringing light to this planet? They've done a stellar job so far."

"Hush!" Sazen snapped. "When you speak of them, use their full name. Do not abbreviate. They take it as a sign of disrespect."

Cade didn't see what was so wrong about dropping the word "Yuuzhan", but apparently the creatures didn't like that. The creatures that were supposedly near them, though they still couldn't see them.

"Reveal yourselves!" Sazen said to his surroundings. Then he said something that Cade couldn't understand, in another language.

Slowly, from among the dead trees and bushes and shadows, the creatures began creeping forward. At first, Cade thought they looked like elves, but the resemblance was a stretch. The creatures had long, pointy ears, dead skin, and pointed teeth. Their noses were flattened and their eyes receded into their sockets. Their eyes glowed red and they held red staffs that looked like snakes.

"Nikk pryozz Wolf Sazen," said Wolf in another language. "Gadma dar, Yuuzhan Vong. Yenagh doa Jeedai. Eia dag lightsabers."

The creatures didn't stop, though. They just kept moving forward.

"Puul guvvuk!" Sazen shouted, and the creatures stopped moving.

"What are you saying?" asked Shado.

"I told them who I am," said Wolf. "And that you two are Jedi and have lightsabers. Then I told them to stop moving."

"Well, it worked," Shado said.

"No, I don't think it did," Cade replied. While Wolf was translating, the Vong had drawn their weapons and were standing in attack position.

"Something's wrong with them," said Wolf. "They must have been corrupted by the dark side. That's why the planet returned to its dark form. We're going to have to fight them."

Wolf, Shado, and Cade readied their lightsabers for an attack.

"Fy'y Roog! Fy'y Roog!" the Vong started chanting. Then the lead one spoke. "Taan Yun-forqana zhoi!"

And then they charged.