The Final Puzzle

[Valik]

Anzat. A world filled with creatures that preyed on the life of others. The force of others. A fascinating concept both biologically and esoterically, and one that warranted study. Guests weren't generally allowed to land on Anzat, the inhabitants preferring to have them dock in one of the many space stations surrounding the planet. Valik had other plans. Taking his ship, a simple Washburn class freighter, he headed to the past the maze of blockades.

"Heart of Adventure you are approaching a restricted zone. Please alter your present course." One of the station workers hailed him. But Valik kept his flight path, and offered no reply. "Heart of Adventure there are still remnants of beasts and traps on the planet's surface fro the Old Empire. Landing is forbidden for your safety."

As if I am to fear beasts. Valik thought to himself, again ignoring their orders.

"Heart of Adventure if you land we cannot guarantee your safety, nor if anyone will come to your aid." They said as Valik reached atmosphere, a short moment before he landed onto the planet. Once on world he would begin to put on his armor, formerly Ashin Varanin's armor the Contempt, one of the few masterworks he carried that was not of his own making. Flow was put on his hip, Annulment close to his heart, as always. Lowering the loading ramp he walked out, used a little Sith Alchemy to change his facial composition, and sat down. Waiting for what would come. And they would come.

 

[Valik]

The response of the Anzati was, as expected, rather quick. A half a dozen personal speeders, with one larger speeder centering the group. The Larger speeder seated four but carried three, a driver, a man smoking a rather fat deathstick, and a third with a cannon over his shoulder. The cannon man leaned into a forward position and put his eyes on the sight. Valik extended a hand and then pulled his fingers together to make a fist, simulating a crushing motion in the Force at the head of the cannon. The barrel compressed as the Anzat fired, causing an explosion at the firing. The heavy speeder fumbled about, crashing into the landscape as the other speeders neared his proximity. They aimed with blasters, slugthrowers, but those did little to deter Valik in his armor. Sure, he was burning underneath wherever they shot him, but he would survive long enough to get through the battle.

More subtle uses of telekinesis ensued. Pushing the high movement speeders just enough that they would twist out of their intended paths. As was expected with vehicles with poor shielding and extremely high velocities, death ensued. He managed to take out three of the speeder riders before the others decided that perhaps riding on vehicles wasn't the best of ideas. One came at him with a pair of Vibroblades, the other two hung back and engaged with blasters. Valik used the Force to push the Vibrobladesman, get him out of position, then made contact with Flow, unleashing a torrent of lightning afterwards that stopped the anzati in his tracks. By the writhing on the ground it appeared that he was done. Blaster fire came, contempt heated. Pain ensued, But there were only two left. Seeing he was a Force User they began using the Force themselves, unleashing pushed to knock him backward. They were successful attempts, Valik being knocked onto his back. Slowly getting to his feet he used one hand to throw Flow and the other to charge it with lightning before it hit it's target. One impact the lightning disrupted, shocking the man enough to where he wouldn't get back up

Two down, one to go. The last anzati, a brunette woman, backpedelled with speed and purpose as she laid down blasterfire. Valik telekinetically grabbed flow and threw it at the woman's ankeles, pushing them with enough force to knock her over. Telekinetically pulling the blaster from her hand to his she shot her twice, once in the head and once in the chest. He turned and shot one of the other anzati writhing on the floor, then checked the other. He was out, going through shock, but alive. A test subject he could use. Throwing the body onto his shoulder he headed back to ship, and prepped to leave.

 

[Valik]

Deep in the recesses of hyperspace Valik enjoyed a rather peaceful ride. There were questions of course when the dock authority hailed as he left the planet and it's constant aurora's, but Valik's tone and responses told them they didn't want to pursue him. Perhaps he'd find something waiting for him outside of hyperspace, but they let him leave the planet easily enough. As was the case with all tales worth telling however, Valik's peace and quiet did not last long.


"Unghhhh" The sound of a conscious, though drugged, anzati resounded through the halls. Valik headed back to find the man right where he left him. Strapped to an examination table with an a few more scars than he had before he got there. Implants he had put in to monitor the Anzati's vitals and record how his biology interacted with Force-based stimulus.

"Can you here me?" Valik asked, and the Anzati's head slowly rolled to look at his face, before putting up a motion of surprise.

"You're the one who landed! They didn't get you!" The anzati screamed as he attempted to bring a hand towards him, soon stopped by his restraints.

"They tried. You did too. Only survivor of the blood-suckers as it happened." Valik said casually, causing the young anzati to shake in protest.

"We don't suck blood superstitious human. We drink your soup. And I will drink yours before this is done." The nnzati threatened, his body shaking as he did so. Young test subjects were always the best test subjects. Nevermind that with his species he could be a few hundred years old, but he appeared to be no older than twenty.

"Tell me then, how will I die. How does this 'drinking soup' work?"

"Our secrets are not for your kind." He spat, and Valik grinned.

"They are not yours, or anyone's, to hide from me."

 

[Valik]

"Those blood samples I got from you were rather useful." Valik said as he came to the Anzati.

"They won't tell you what you want to know." The Anzati protested. "Better men than you have tried and failed at understanding our people. Replicating our power. You may kill me, but at the end of day you'll never be as strong as my kind."

"Bold words. Very bold words. I'll admit, the xenobiological analysis didn't reveal all I wanted to know. How your body metabolizes the Force, how you've all but stopped the aging process of your cells in the process. It's interesting, and currently elusive. I suspect I'll learn it soon enough however."

"The 'Force' is a concept for younger species. Weaker species who do not have the gift of life as we do. The gift to take life as we do. Though you may have learned to manipulate the Soup, and learned well, you will never learn to drink from it as we do."

"Have you drank from it? You're awfully young. To a human you might look eighteen, twenty, but if my estimates are right you're somewhere around 170 galactic standard years old. Barely old enough to leave home. See the galaxy. Choose your prey, hunt them down, and take the satisfaction of the kill." Valik watched as the young Anzati's will wavered, his attempting to hide shame.

"I- I have drank much soup." He declared, before Valik took an alchemically enhanced figernail and cut it across his chest, leaving a long line of blood from a cut perhaps millimeters deep.

"No you haven't. But you want to. And you will."

"I won't let you see me feed." He protested.

"You do not have a choice." Valik said, as he pulled out a small steel cylinder. "And you don't need these." A crimson blade extended before cutting through the upper part of his thighs. His legs were severed, and immediately cauterized. The young Anzati screamed in pain.

"You schutta." He cursed.

"How odd one of you would curse with a twi'lek word. Perhaps your culture is not as advanced as you thought." Valik replied as he examined his crimson blade. "And before I forget, you don't need these either." Two cuts, perhaps a centimeter to the outside of either shoulder. He screamed again in pain, and Valik turned and left him, the boy screaming and cursing as he left with threat after threat, until Valik heard the creature stop, and begin to wail. It was then Valik knew the anzati realized his predicament. He held no power here.

 

[Valik]

After hours of toiling alone in the back of Valik's ship the limbless Anzati was unceremoniously put into a box and carried into one of Valik's labs. Sure, he could have talked with the man personally, tortured him as he went along, but he fact of the matter was he wasn't a threat, and Valik wasn't going to give him time he didn't need to. He was just another test subject to be disposed of, to fuel Valik's thirst for knowledge, and things would be easier if he figured that out sooner rather than later.

While the Anzati would stew in his own cell Valik attended to another prisoner. A human from Val'halla, a traitor that Lucien Cordel had gifted him. Thus his life would serve science rather than face the metaphorical executioner's ax. Not that serving science was really preferred in the prisoner's case, but Valik highly preferred the man's altered fate. The human male was unconscious, drugs flowing through his system, and strapped to an examination table like so many others. Valik took a quick blood sample. Midi-chlorian count was estimated at just under 2400. A bit below average for a human, indicating no ability to manipulate the Force, nor any sensitivity in detecting it or having an unusual streak of 'luck' as many scoundrels called it. He would be a perfect control. Valik began to filter drugs out of the man so he could achieve consciousness, and began to have his droids feed him a more regular diet. He would need strength, to fill what another lacked.

~

It was another five days before Valik returned to his lab. He entered one of the cells, inhabited by a lone anzati, deprive of limbs, food, and any sort of interaction with the outside world for nearly a week. It was then Valik saw what an arm and legless man attempting to jump in surprise looked like. Valik's cells were very well kept. There were no flickering lights, ticking sensors, static feeding times, anything to indicate to the man just how long he had been in there.

"What are you going to do to me? Why am I here? Why are you here? Are you real?" He said, and Valik almost frowned. The man wasn't breaking, he was broken. This was far too easy. With a sigh in his voice he raised his hand, telekinetically lifting the limbless Anzati and carrying him with him, as if with some invisible crane.

"What are you doing? Where are we going?" He asked frantically, but Valik was in no mood to play games. When a target was too easy to break, it simply took all the fun out of things. Opening another door the armless anzati would see a human strapped to a table. The Anzati would then be telekinetically moved until he laid atop the human, both creatures being confused and frantically trying to figure out what was going on. Valik turned around and left, the door shutting behind him. Screams of confusion and panic continued as he left, but he let them be. The anzati would figure out what he needed to do soon enough. Whether it came through reason, or gut instinct.

 

[Valik]

It didn't take long for Anzati to figure out what he was supposed to do. Took him a little longer to actually do it, but he eventually gave in to his more primal desires. With the IME attached under the Anzati's skin he was able to monitor the anzati's bodily functions during the entire process, watching and learning just how his midi-chlorians reacted to the fuel. How excess energy was dispersed. How energy of the Force was put into his metabolism. He had monitored and studied Forcivore's before, but it was quite interesting that the process of the Anzati was nowhere near the same as say, a tuk'ata or a terentatek. It seemed that theory of Sithspawn feeding off the Force being based on the Anzati was debunked.

The limbless anzati was soon moved back to cell, isolated and alone. There he'd wait for another two days before Valik took him out again, carrying the man telekinetically to his next meal.

"I won't do it this time." He said as they crossed non-descript hallways, passing door after door.

"I'll be stronger. You won't get the satisfaction of watching me eat." He said, his body noticeably shaking. As always Valik kept his mouth shut and his face devoid of any expression. The Anzati's mind was fracturing, there was no point in giving him any reassurances now. Finally one of the cell doors opened, and the Anzati was shown a short brown furred creature. Another rebel from Val'halla of the H'drachi species. Strong with the Force, this H'drachi had a midi-chlorian count of over five thousand. Not an excessively high count, but a high count regardless, and certainly high enough to be trained as a Jedi or Sith. Valik heard a deep breath from the anzati, almost salivating.

"It has much Soup." The Anzati said, their way of saying 'strong in the Force'. Pathetic creature wouldn't have survived in the old Sith Empire if he thought that was strong. "But, I won't drink it." He resolved himself. "But, the creature does tast- No. I will not." It protested as Valik laid it atop the unconscious H'drachi. It held it's willpower for a few moments before Valik left the room, the Alchemist feeling the extinguishing of a presence just as the Anzati left his sight.

 

[Valik]

In another three days time Valik decided that it was time to conduct test number three. Test number two, while enlightening, wasn't nearly as revealing as test number one. While the energy absorbed was exponentially higher than that of the non-force sensitive there weren't any other alterations. The feeding process was still the same, the metabolizing method was the same, and it was still all remarkably efficient. Other than the actual amount of energy metabolized nothing changed. This time Valik brought the Anzati, silent as he was, carying his with a droid rather than his own telekinetic might. They soon found the door he wished The Anzati practically salivated when he saw the cameloid body strapped to the table. As per normal Valik laid the anzat's chest atop the other being's chest, then held there for a moment, watching the Anzati.

"Wait. The Soup. I know it's there but I don't feel it. What have you done?" The Anzati screamed, confused. "How did you take away his soup? How could you take away his soup?" He questioned. An incorrect assertion but one he supposed was a natural conclusion for one who didn't know what a Ysalamiri was, or what it did. The Force was utterly unreachable inside the cell. Valik could not sense the Anzati, the Anzati could not feel the 'Soup' of the H'drachi, and the H'drachi couldn't touch the Force itself. Valik watched on as the Anzati extended the proboscises from it's face, and attempted to drain energy from the H'drach.

But nothing happened. The H'drachi still breathed, albeit unconciously. The Force did not travel from one being to another, nor travel anywhere. It was empty, just as empty as he expected it to be. Valik began to turn around and leave, eliciting cries from the Anzati.

"No, don't leave. I can drink him, I can. Just give me time!" He yelled, but Valik knew the truth, and there was no point in wasting anymore of his time.

 

[Valik]

Valik eventually returned to the armless anzati, having a droid pick up the Ysalamiri and take it out of the room. Tentacles emerged from the face of the anzati in a crazed desperation, but Valik pulled the Anzati away from the H'drachi, taking him away from the 'Soup' he so desperately desired.

"No! No! I can almost taste him. Let me feed, let me feed!" He cried, and Valik gave no heed. It was a wonder the anzati spoke at all anymore, considering Valik's response was always the same. Silence.


"I can still be useful to you! I can feed on new things, stronger things, different things. Just let me at them." He said as Valik took him across the hall, to a new cell. Inside was a man who, centuries ago, was considered one of the best bounty hunters in the galaxy. Or rather, his original template was. A Jango Fett clone, altered with a little Vongshaping in order to attain a status that was colloquially called 'Force Dead'. An inability to be affected directly by midi-chlorians. Valik had an idea of how that happened, and an idea of how to counter it, but he would check those later. For now he was satisfied watching the Anzati feed, and monitoring it's affects.

"I- I- Something wrong with this one." The Anzati said after a moment of examining the unconscious Fett clone. "It is alive, but I cannot feel it's Soup. It is . . . unnatural."

Finally he says something intelligent. Valik thought to himself.

"Keep trying." Valik said, the first words he's spoken to the Anzati since he was on his ship, back when he wasn't limbless.

"O- Okay." The Anzati replied, stuttering at first but becoming more confident. Meanwhile Valik closed his eyes, brought his hands together, and felt out at the Force "Dead" creature. Sure, the Yuuzhan Vong and their Vong-shaped instruments couldn't be sensed with the Force, but that didn't mean they didn't have Midi-Chlorians. Everything that lived had Midi-Chlorians, the question was how did they react with their environment. The Yinchorri had developed a resistance to Mental Suggestion via the Force due their Midi-Chlorians refusing to be affected through mental suggestion. Valik suspected the Yuuzhan Vong were quite the same, except their adaptation covered their entire bodies. But if the midi-chlorians themselves could be manipulated, forced to bend to the will of another, to allow the individual to become susceptible to the Force-

"He's- He's changing. I can feel him now." The Anzati said, as the sound of proboscises extending and Anzati consumption began to fill the room. Valik himself could not hear the action however, as his mind was deeply entranced in the art of Midi-Chlorian Manipulation. It was only when he began to feel the loss of the Force in the 'Force Dead' clone that he realized what the Anzait had done. With a gasp Valik stopped and opened his eyes, breathing deeply as he examined his surrounding, ensuring he was where he thought he was.

"I, I did it. I drank his Soup." The Anzati said with a bit of pride, and Valik walked out of the cell locking it behind him. There were no protests from the Anzati this time as Valik headed to rest, his energy spent for the day.