Behd yw e Znyci [Nas Kraal]

[Niysha]

Yuuzhan'tar, about a mile from the Obelisk
The air of Yuuzhan'tar was frequently split with the roars of powerful monsters and shrieking predators. This time, it was split by way of thermal engine. Kiruoum Kirdci's beaten and refurbished Qinae ship streaked through the atmosphere on a collision course with...ancestors-knew-what. Her pressure bubble held, but refused to eject, meaning she was forced to endure the inevitable crash. Her ship smashed through the jungle canopy and into the foliage below, carving a scar in the ground born from velocity and stubbornness. When the blasted thing finally came to a halt, it was only after shattering its way halfway through a boulder formation.

There wasn't a part of Kiki's body that wasn't in supernatural amounts of pain. "Aagh! Ecc dni wumdm yw la ersimdyhm nefi cytkit dnilmicfim wuhlca ur la hisdol!" The constant stream of profanity that spilled out of her lips as she crawled out of her twice-wrecked ship probably assisted her very little in maintaining anything resembling a low profile on a planet that seemed very much like her own.

...Curiously like her own, actually. Kiki blinked and looked directly up at the sky, to make sure she wasn't on Rhadamanthus. The canopy was thick, but beyond it was a single yellow-red ball of fire in the sky. No blue star. Not home. It was simply a planet that seemed extremely similar to home, and that she knew nothing about. Ironically, that was possibly the only thing more dangerous than being on Rhadamanthus: not being on Rhadamanthus, but instead someplace very similar that she had no experience with.

Kiki continued unabated. Simple survival protocol. First things first: acquire a weapon. She'd have to leave her ship behind, considering how much fuss it made...and she couldn't take her zyrthi scale. Its radiation would kill her within a minute if she didn't have proper protection. Moving to press her hand her ship's hull so it could taste her life, she spoke a single command word - "Miec." - and clopped off into the jungle as her ship's cockpit closed behind her.
[member="Nas Kraal"]

 

[Tefka]

[member="Kiruoum Kirdci"]

Nas landed on his feet not far from Kiki's position as he dropped from a tree he had been hunting in. The recent calamity of the starship crashing had scared away all the game.

He began roaring in the direction of the ship's pilot in native, guttural Yuuzhan Vong.

<WHO ARE YOU?!>

He beat his chest with his upper pair of massive arms.

<WHAT ABOMINATION COMES TO HROSHA-GUL>

 

[Niysha]

Ah, natives. How lovely.

Another convenient similarity to Rhadamanthus was that the "natives" seemed to be four-armed, tailed bipeds that spoke Yuuzhan Vong. The sheer coincidences were fascinating, but Kiruoum Kirdci didn't have time to examine them. She was apparently encroaching on someone else's territory, and that was hardly proper without an introduction. Also, she sort of wanted to keep all of her innards in, which required the facilitation of communications and termination of hostilities.

<My name is Kiruoum Kirdci,> she started back in heavily accented but fluent Yuuzhan Vong. Kiki didn't see much reason to give her full name. The creatures she had met with before - Domino and Jester - had not given their full family names upon introduction, so she had to assume that it was a practice unique to her race. <My crash was unintentional, but it will doubtlessly provide a vicious boost to the local ecosystem, after it overcomes any damage done.> Did the Vong have a word for "ecosystem?" Or was that a Qinae invention? Either one was quite possible.

Kiki raised all four of her arms, two behind her neck and two in the air with palms spread. One of these days she would be able to break herself of the habits of her species while she was traveling the stars with those who didn't understand them, but it seemed as though it would not be this day. <Did I frighten off any important prey?>
[member="Nas Kraal"]

 

[Tefka]

[member="Kiruoum Kirdci"]

<That was no Yuuzhan Vong ship>

This new... species... was strange even to the enigmatic Myrshavong. He crossed both pairs of arms, closing in on her. Kraal felt no physical threat from this woman. The Warmaster pulled in his cloak to cover the two amphistaffs that lay slithering around his torso.

<Enough small talk. Why did you crash? What are you doing in this sector?>

He paused.

<Only those who seek death come to Yuuzhan'tar.>

 

[Niysha]

Kiki stared with great interest at the snake-looking things crawling across the huge creature's chest. She'd seen images of them, low-quality due to the era in which they were taken. They were some manner of Yuuzhan Vong creature, but Qineam scholars had debated for decades whether they were pets or some manner of armament. Considering the threatening tone this one was giving off, they were likely weapons. She'd have to examine them more closely. Living weapons...the potential of combination with zyrthi crystal was simply too tantalizing to ignore.

It wasn't certain whether or not he (Kiruoum assumed it was a "he," considering the mammalian heritage and the lack of breasts) was openly threatening her, but every question deserved an answer. <This is my death. Not all those sentenced to die walk directly to their grave. Some must find it first.> Kiki had never considered herself a poet. Maybe that was a new field she should look into. <My crash wasn't intentional. My ship was already damaged before it landed here. I'm surprised it lasted as long as it did.>

Kiki relaxed a bit, leaning onto one hoof and resting a lower hand on her hip. Her voice was steady, despite the inevitability of death. Life sentences sometimes came with an acute sort of "dead man's courage." <Had I the knowledge of what this world was or the choice to avoid it, I still might have come. This is familiar to me.>
[member="Nas Kraal"]

 

[Tefka]

The Yuuzhan Vong hybrid raised an eyebrow. A hairless eyebrow.

<Familiar to you, how?>

He asked. Sweat was beginning to furrow on his brow. It was humid in the jungle.