Tchurrokk Sen Khattazz al'Yun-Amon | Darth Mierin

[Tefka]

[member="Darth Mierin"]

Beta Testing Neuroengine Charlie

T.I.E. Naval Shipyards

30 Days After Commissioning Ceremony Of Tsavong Kraal as Voice of Sector II


Rain splattered on the hood of Tsavong's cloak as the behemoth stood at the head of the welcoming committee for the Hand of the Dark Lord. Green eyes pierced the dark misty morning, the Myrshavong elite furrowing his brow. They had been standing out here for an hour as if they had been posted on watch, the group of nearly 30 shapers and priests awaiting the arrival of Darth Mierin. The behemoth began to growl, but he knew better than to show impatience in front of his lessers. Darth Mierin was responsible for everything that Tsavong now possessed - and more importantly, was the chosen right hand of Yun-Amon's wrath.

It should be me, he thought.

But this was not the way of the One Sith. Every step in his life, the Yuuzhan Vong hybrid had been fighting against inequality for his kind. Always judged to be of secondary import, Tsavong had to fight tooth and nail for everything he was given.

And now he was a Voice of the One Sith. A non-Sith, a Yuuzhan Vong, a monster among these... sorcerers.

Several light speeders shone their lights from up ahead, apparently parking in the distance. A party of many escorts began to make their way towards Tsavong and his welcoming committee.

This must be her.

Tsavong stood silently and awaited further instruction. He was here to show Mierin the result of her heavy investment, a result he did not believe she would be displeased with.

 

[J3C0]

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]
Mierin stepped through the pouring rain as though the drops of water did not touch her.

There was no flinching against the cold, no wavering against the bite of frost that bit against her skin, no sign at all that she was uncomfortable. The troopers to her flank seemed to respect that, their white and red armor dripping, though they remained warm on the inside. Her cloak was already soaked through, after only seconds out within the pouring rain.

Gliding over to Tsavong Mierin's cold yellow eyes pierced through the rain, glowing almost as brightly as the lights of the speeders behind her.

Within mere moments she stood before the massive Yuuzhan Vong, dwarfed by his monstrous size. There was no indication of a greeting from her, she simply remained impassive. The piercings within her face twitched slightly as the cold caused an involuntary shudder to run through her.

She did not like the rain.

 

[Tefka]

A second passed as the two parties met, the towering Yuuzhan Vong staring at the group that the Hand had brought with her. He glanced back to look at his welcoming committee, weak shapers and priests they were. He moved his eyes back to Darth Mierin's troops.

He could end them all, easily. Four hands capable of clawing through durasteel, vonduun skerr-kyrric taking the brunt of the initial salvo before the Myrshavong's tail could wrap around the very last trooper's neck and squeeze the life out of them all. Tsavong'd throw a few shapers in front, using their bodies as shields as he could cut a path around the Hand in seconds. Leaving only the two of them to settle a match between two of the Dark Lord's most powerful assets.

Green eyes took a microseconds to glaze over the crimson neckline of [member="Darth Mierin"], wondering how easily her vertebrae would snap under his fingers.

A fool's folly, he thought.

Instead of inciting violence and causing conflict between the two groups, Tsavong followed proper protocol and dropped to one knee - his eyeline now just below the Hand's.

"Greetings, Darth Mierin" he said, bowing his head. He stood. "If you'll follow me, I'll show you what you came here for."

 

[J3C0]

Smart decision.

“Greetings.” Mierin answered her voice as impassive and apathetic as it had always been. The Sith Pureblood rarely, if ever showed any emotion save for when she spoke of the Dark Lord and his vision. If she did it consciously, or if she was just an extremely uninteresting person was impossible to tell.

Before more of that was discussed however she waved her hand and bade [member="Tsavong Kraal"] to show her the way. The two of them quickly made their way forward, though Mierin signaled for her troops to remain behind by the speeders.

Her eyes followed the Yuuzhan Vong as he began to move away from her, lips turning down slightly.

The creature still made her uneasy. The power he held and the abilities he brought to the One Sith were undeniable, yet his absence in the force concerned her greatly. They all did of course, the shapers around them were no different from Tsavong, and to Mierin they were an abomination that needed to be wiped out...or changed.

With a frown, she followed after the monster.

 

[Tefka]

[member="Darth Mierin"]

"We've successfully built the first seedship in more than a hundred generations, since before the Great War," he began to explain above the cackling thunder as they approached the massive structure. A simple p-way to the quarterdeck of the scientific vessel lay before them, beyond the ladder well. Tsavong began to climb the steps, using both pairs of arms to propel himself up faster and out of the rain. A hand reached up to disconnect his broach, leaving his cloak to float to the ground in a huge wet clump of cloth.

"A vessel of incomparable science, we've improved it's battle capabilities tremendously."

He nodded to the watch on the quarterdeck standing duty and passed him by, patting the Yuuzhan Vong on the shoulder with a giant hand.

"Two neuroengine rooms, multiple hatcheries. Qahsas to designated towards electronic warfare with Galactic Standard Technology," Tsavong continued his explanation. "We've named her the Tizo'pil Yun'tchilat, or Tizo for short. This breed will stand in the galaxy with no equal."

Tsavong began to move towards one of the neuroengine rooms, walking down a tightly confined hatchery walkway.

 

[J3C0]

Mierin followed along quietly, listening to the beasts guttural tones as it spoke.

She did not know much about the unique bio-techonology that this species used, but she knew enough to know what a seed ship was and what [member="Tsavong Kraal"] was speaking about. She nodded along, dropping her cloak only inches from his own as he began to explain more about the vessels. Neuroengines, hatcheries, yes she understood all this.

If only barely.

“Its time to maturity?” Mierin asked. The question was analogues to asking how long the ship would take to build and become operational. They were in the middle of a war after all and such a thing was absolutely critical.

 

[Tefka]

[member="Darth Mierin"]

Tsavong frowned. They were experiencing difficulties in receiving the proper logistics to support faster growth of the ship.

"It was estimated at 8 weeks in the breeding pools and four in the shipyards, but now it's looking more like twenty nine in the breeding pools and thirteen weeks in the shipyards due to labor costs and a lack of a proper logistics chain. Titan Industries, even with the wealth of Coruscant at it's disposal, is overwhelmed with the amount of projects the One Sith has placed at it's feet."

He knew the Hand wouldn't like hearing failure, but this could turn into a new opportunity to garner greater support and perhaps more subsidized money grants from the One Sith. As well as it was mostly all true.

"I'm negotiating several huge deals that should be able to cut the current production time by half, but proper shapers are hard to come by. We need more men."

 

[J3C0]

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]
Her lips turned down into a scowl, one that reflected off of some surface within the ship. Her yellow eyes cast down towards the floor for a moment as it made a squishing noise. These organic ships were somewhat strange to her, and she missed the ringing rhythmic noise of her boots against durasteel bulkheads.

“How much do you need?” She asked in that same passive voice.

She couldn't grant infinite resources of course, but as a Hand of the Dark Lord she was allocated a certain amount of digression to move things about. Of course the primary thing receiving funding currently was the creation of the Dark Blade's, that above all was deemed most important.

However, these Yuuzhan Vong ships were a rarity in the galaxy.

They were an unknown that neither the Republic, nor anyone else, had ever seen before. Their creation and use by the One Sith was something that would add an element of surprise during inevitable naval engagements, and Darth Mierin knew well the value of surprise.

 

[Tefka]

"Ten million credits," Tsavong uttered. "A small token of motivation for what the Hrosha-Gul is offering."

The party descended into the bowels of the Tizo, the behemoth leading them towards the gestation pits... the laboratories of the Yuuzhan Vong.

 

[J3C0]

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]
10 million. A paltry sum in the grand scheme of things, but still a great deal of money when one considered the myriad of other projects the One Sith were trying to find. As she followed the Yuuzhan Vong into the bowels of the ship her lips pursed slightly in thought. For a moment she weighed the consequences and the rewards for awarding such a sum to the Voice of Sector two.

“It shall be so.” She finally answered as she came to a decision.

These Yuuzhan Vong ships were an asset too great to ignore.

It was a terrible thing to fight against the unknown, and to the Republic these ships would be an unknown. They had fought against them hundreds of years ago, but such a thing would be a distant memory. No, these would be the engines of war that drove the Republic into rubble.

 

[Tefka]

[member="Darth Mierin"]

Tsavong smiled.

"Of course. Let me show you what we're dealing with."

They entered the first neuroengine room.

"This is the Neuroengine. A housing of several choirs. They sing, Hand. You can hear them. Listen." He paused. There was a silent humming. "Dovin basals mature quite quickly, and are our greatest defense... and weapon. Gravity wells. Interdiction. And shields. All wrapped into one small organic."

He rubbed one particular dovin basal as he passed.

"But they are hungry, so hungry. And the Tizo houses several hundred."

 

[J3C0]

Mierin nodded along. She chose not to touch any of the strange devices, thinking that would be a tad...much for her. Instead she simply listened as the Vong spoke, and despite herself she found it rather interesting. Dovin Basals really were rather unique, so much in one little creature, a tight little package.

“Have any attempts been made to interface...” She paused for a moment, searching for the right words “Any of this, with galactic norm technology?”

The question was an important one.

Could Dovin Basals be used on starships designed by the rest of the galaxy? Could Yuuzhan Vong biotechnology and regular technology be somehow interfaced with one another? She shuttered to think about what a ship could do with both an organic regenerating hull, and one made of regular durasteel.
[member="Tsavong Kraal"]

 

[Tefka]

[member="Darth Mierin"]

"The technology is experimental at best," Tsavong sighed. "So far the organics are rejecting the alloys as viral infections. It was assumed this would happened and we planned for it, but sadly, no attempts have been successful in working around the issue." The Warmaster didn't like disappointing the Hand, because the Dark Lord siphoned money to Tsavong through her. And well.. she didn't have to give it out. So her opinion was of grave importance. "But I assure you, Hand of the Dark Lord, that we are working diligently in progressing the science and technology to that end. I understand that the time and training it would take for all of your forces to utilize this technology are prices we cannot yet pay, and timeliness is of the essence. We do have a war to win, after all." He shrugged. There was nothing to be done but await the Shaper Caste's solution to the whole mess. If there was one.

"Follow me," he uttered to everyone, proceeding from the neuroengine room to the Hatchling Nest. "It's time you saw the dweebits."

He motioned in the next room to several vast pods of creatures that glowed a solid lime green.

"Terraformers, these microbials are capable - en masse - of transforming the atmosphere of entire celestial bodies. Where there is life, the dweebit alters. Where there is none, the dweebit adapts and provides."

 

[J3C0]

Mierin frowned for a moment, but nodded.

The news was disappointing. The melding of the two technologies would have been a fantastic advantage. The use of a ship with both Dovin Basals and regular shield generators? Such a thing would be impossible to destroy, or perhaps even touch. Letting out a sigh along with a shake of her head Mierin showed her disappointment, though it was exaggerated in truth.

Silently she followed along to the seedships breeding pods, taking on a look of slight disgust as she spotted the thousands of creatures stirring and chirping within the pools. Her frown was evident as she looked within, though this time it was not out of displeasure.

“Have they been tested?” Mierin of course knew of the Yuuzhan Vong war, but only very little like most people.

She wanted to know the effects of the dweebits first hand, or rather hear the word of [member="Tsavong Kraal"] that they did indeed work as they were supposed to.

 

[Tefka]

[member="Darth Mierin"]

"On a minor scale, yes." He bellowed, turning around to face the Hand. "But they have not been proven on a massive battlefield or in a large enough atmospheric space. Obviously we could test them here on Coruscant, but I fear the blowback would be... severe. Sadly, in our short time schedule, we have not been granted the resources or the target to test them en masse. However, they have seen several combat situations in the Unknown Regions, in Chiss space. They performed as desired. My only concern is their life span and breeding schedule - if they do not breed quickly enough, any attempt to terraform on a planetary scale will be short lived as the species will die off. However, in laboratory tests here in the Underworld, they perform admirably in the Section A testing of reproductive habits."

Tsavong smiled again, poking one of the pods. "Such a small wonder, such terrible power."

"On a personnel level, they can also be employed in melee or ranged combat. However, with ranged combat, they will not seek out the enemy such as our thud bug or razor bug analogs will. They merely... consume the surrounding habitat, without aim nor precision. They're chaotic and cannot be controlled, only unleashed. They do not possess the mental capacity for it, though our Yammosks - if employed in conjunction with - have the means to direct the chaos on a massive scale. Which means orbital bombing and dropping of the seed pods is a viable alternative to merely unleashing them on the ground."

He slapped on Yuuzhan Vong's hand who reached out towards a seedpod.

"Only their Father may interact. One wrong move and we get eaten."

 

[J3C0]

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]
Mierin remained silent once again.

There was no real reason for her to speak, she simply listened to the Yuuzhan Vong, educated herself in their technology. She would never be a shaper of course, she would never be anything close, but at least she would know the basis of the technologies, she would be able to use and utilize them. They disgusted her to no end, these strange organic life forms that were so capable of destruction. Yet they amazed her at the same time, and she saw their potential in the delivery of deaths.

That was the important thing.

“So these Dweebits capable of terraforming a deadworld? A planet with only rock and mountains?” An idea began to form in the Hand of the Dark Lord, a thought that could perhaps allow them a full scale test of this weapon. The Dark Lord would certainly allow it. The planet she had in mind was near to their first home, Rake, a barren world of nothing that would make the perfect testing ground.

A smile appeared on her face.

 

[Tefka]

[member="Darth Mierin"]

"Yes. A dead and barren world could be given new life by a properly trained and grown batch of dweebits. But the work involved, the resources involved, and the payment involved would be extensive indeed." He smiled. Tsavong knew he had caught the Hand's eye on this particular issue, and having something that she wanted meant more subsidization. More subsidization meant more money, and more government backing meant a prosperous future for the Titan of Industry. The Yuuzhan Vong's giddiness was becoming quite apparent.

"Do you have a particular subject in mind?" He prodded further, wanting to know what the Hand was currently thinking. "A particular platform for testing that the Tizo might... be tested on, might indulge in undertaking? Testing these contraptions would be a huge step forward in the actual involvement and evolution of the program. As I have stated before, all of this has thus far been preliminary. If you have a target in mind, a military target, then name the target"

He smiled again.

"And I can assure you of a 97% atmospheric correction. Dweebits, in their current form, are very evolved and accurate."

 

[J3C0]

[member="Tsavong Kraal"]
“I do have a target in mind.” Mierin said quietly as she looked down into the vats.

“There is a world within the Prakith system, it is named Rake. The world is barren mostly, a few small settlements, though they are of no matter.” She didn't really care about Rake's civilian population, only a few hundred thousand. When the planet was remade it could be resettled. “We will test your dweebits there.”

Rake could be remade, the deweebits could be tested. The barren world would be remade, its image could be reshaped and made into something new. She was eager to see exactly what the Dweebits did to the world. Would it become a tropical paradise? Or a hellish reflection of a world like Felucia.

She smiled.

Either would do.

 

[Tefka]

[member="Darth Mierin"]

"I do not have the resources to produce enough dweebits, at this current time, to terraform an entire world. However... a city..."

He eyed the Hand and amusingly grinned. He knew the Hand of the Dark Lord had only come to see the ship, hadn't come to do much else - and he knew she was a busy person. But this was an opportunity for business that he couldn't pass up, that Tsavong couldn't ignore. The Yuuzhan Vong needed to make this leap of faith, to see if the One Sith would further embrace his kind and his people. To see if they would take that extra step together - melding the two cultures, the One Sith adopting the Yuuzhan Vong for their own.

Tsavong needed to know he could trust Mierin, that she would uphold her end of the bargain to honor Titan Industries. To do that, he had to show her this. He had to give her what she wanted.

And what she wanted was a planet reformed in her image.

"I can leave at a moment's notice if you wish to test this, Lady Mierin. It would be an honor."

 

[J3C0]

Mierin waited for a moment, her eyes scanning the dweebit breeding pools. She frowned. One city? That was all? She supposed that for now it would have to do, the rest of the world would come eventually. This test was the important thing, and she would see it done.

“Very well.” She said, her voice once again remaining neutral.

She would see this done. The Dweebits would be tested and Rake's primary settlement would be changed. This would be the destiny of all those resisted the One Sith. They would be changed, altered to fit the image that the One Sith demanded of them. Her lips thinned slightly, and she turned away from the breeding pools.

“We leave immediately.” There was no choice on his part. “I will make the necessary arrangements on my part.”

There was really nothing to it. All she had to do was inform Darth Junra of what was about to happen. She was the voice of this sector, and thus needed to be kept appraised of the situation.
[member="Tsavong Kraal"]