The Heart of Our Lord--Godkillers pt 3

[Ardgal Raxis]

The Corvette pulled itself from hyperspace into real time. Ardgal stood on the bridge, watching the stars transition from streaks of teal blue into real dots before him. Creating the Godkillers had turned out to be so much harder than he had anticipated, the work that had been needed and put into this fighting force was--well challenging to say the least. Bio egineering by Doctor Mel had made them all stronger, faster, smarter, and more reactive--as well as healing faster. But there was one more thing that an elite set of anti-force user commandos needed. They needed to be cut off from the Force itself.

For that, he was going to the vong known as [member="Dredge"] who could and would help him--for a price. Many would run in fear, the boogie man held many places across the galaxy in the myths there were. Dredge seemed like this type of person. However, just as he filled this archtype, Ardgal filled the archtype of the Fearless One; the moral who did not quake at danger.

"General, we are coming in for orbit," the captain reported.

"Good," Ardgal said with a nod, "Send out a ping and request permission to land. We will mind our Ps and Qs, gentlemen. Now even more than normal."

"Of course, sir."

 

[Dredge]

Sometimes you had to look out for the little people in the Galaxy, you know don't kill it back kill it forward. That was always a good thing to do, and anyone who was ballsy enough to reach out to the Yuuzhan Vong warlord and ask for something was welcome on his little green slice of hell. The jungles of Echidna was a never ending brush with death and survival, always a bigger predator trying to eat and stay at the top of the food chain. But luckily the meeting wasn't going to be set in the depths of the jungle, it was to be held at the massive stone temples where the overlord resided.

"My lord, Raxis has arrived. He's here about the-" Two Vong worker caste approached Dredge with haste and were quickly interrupted as he lifted his hand up from their stone throne.

"What did I say about approaching me? I believe my words were that when you arrive you kneel and await for me to call for you. Yes those were my directions." the massive hulk of Yuuzhan Vong said beneath his armor's mask of shadow.

"My lord, I apologize. I offer my life in exchange for the insult I have caused." One of the Yuuzhan Vong fell to their knees as the other stood with their eyes widening realizing what had just happened.

With point of his finger a little red ball of flames shot out and pierced the standing Vong's chest forcing him back and onto the floor as dead as a doornail. The Yuuzhan Vong casually sighed as his eyes turned to the other man.

"You were saying?" He asked as if nothing had just transpired.

"Raxis is here my lord. I still offer my life to you my lord." The Vong said as they pulled a knife pressing it to their own gut.

"And they say you can't find good help anymore. That won't be necessary, send in a cleaning crew for the trash and inform Raxis I'll be waiting for him here." Dredge said with a small smile beneath his mask, he was honestly eager.

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

"Sir, we have received co-ordinates and permission to land," the captain informed Ardgal.

"Very good, sir, lead us in," Ardgal said with a nod. He could see the man was holding something back. Ardgal made it his life's mission to study his men, learn them like family and find out all they needed and more so wanted to survive. "Permission to speak freely, Captain."

"Sir, are you sure its wise to arrive here without a guard? This could be a trap. We could be lurred in and killed." the Captain said with a sense of paranoia.

Ardgal gave an appreicative nod. This young man was thinking ahead. That was good, admirable, and needed to say the least. It would come in handy later on when they were in more danger, and when things grew hotter, "I like the way your thinking, sir. However, this man rules the planet. From what I hear he is rather powerful. The entire Alpha Company would be at a loss to fend against him and any army he brings to the table. However," he set an affirming hand on his shoulder, "That's good thinking."

The ship landed with a soft murmur. The fifty godkillers climbed out wearing their uniforms and stood at attention, waiting outside the ship. Ardgal made his way, following the direction of one of the workers to the throne room. He gave a bow before [member="Dredge"], a satchel held under his arm, "It is an honor to meet you in person, Sir. Your reputation precedes you."

 

[Dredge]

The first thing the man would see upon entering the thrown room would be the dead Vong being dragged across the floor leaving a trail of black blood across the stone floors. It was a reminder to the man that he'd kill his own people without a second thought, so anybody like Ardgal, well they didn't even really have to think about it. But then that would just be boring, there was just no fun in it. But the man would make his little introduction on how it was nice to meet him, all lies of course.

"You know what I hate the most about stone floors?" Dredge asked from his throne.

Looking down past Ardgal to the pool of blood on the floor and drag marks the Yuuzhan Vong adorned in armor lifted up his hand slightly and tapped the side of his throne.

"You can never get the blood out of the little grooves, you have to call in an expert. And of course you aren't going to get one out here. So you have to fly one out from the outer rim and you can't just threaten to have their family killed otherwise their mind is focused on that and they end up doing a piss poor job. It's annoying you know?" Dredge said as he leaned up a bit to get a better look at the pool of blood.

"You'd think that I'd learn my lesson and put a tarp or a rug down, but when in the heat of the moment you just sort of do." Dredge would then look down at the little God and chuckle.

"That what brought you here? The heat of the moment? Not many people dare come this way, for good reason of course." Dredge then sat back in his thrown and waved his hand in a gesture for him to proceed.

"Well on with it then. What do you want?"

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal inclined his head, listening with the words. He wasn't sure what had caused the dead body to be there, but it didn't take using his cyborg implant to put two and two together; a Lord known for his criminal and rageful acts... and the monologue only confirmed it. If that could be called a monologue. He gave a soft smile, "I will remember that, for when that comes up next time."

Of course he had no intention of ever slaughtering anyone, at least not in executions like that. He had a fuse as long as the day--and in many ways longer.

The god-general folded his hands cleanly behind his back. It was an act of habit from his public speaking and his troop briefing. "I will spare you any small talk, sir, I know that your time is very precious. I am creating a special small army of Godkillers," he reached into the satchel on his side and offered a datapad with supplemental info in it, "Geared to fighting Force Users, trained in weaponry, tactics, and styles to resist them. Bio engineered to be different; stronger, faster, and smarter than the rest of the non force users," he tilted his head back slightly, "The only thing they need now is to be Force Dead. Something that only a Vong like you can do, sir."

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

Dredge listened to the man make his little bid for force dead troopers to go and fight the good fight against people like him, it was admirable and he certainly had balls to ask him to help Ardgal make a weapon that might directly be turned around and used on him. The nerve the man had, the absolutely audacity he had to walk into his kingdom and ask him to defile his people's culture to form an abomination that would defy everything sacred the gods had gifted them. He would have to reach for his sword and strike him down as soon as possible.

That was of course what a rational Yuuzhan Vong leader would of thought, Dredge on the other hand was as short fused and mad as they came.

"Alright." He said casually before adjusting his seat.

"Not like I have anything better to do." Dredge looked over to one of his workers and spoke once more.

"You there, go tell the shapers to prepare the shaping chambers." he ordered his subordinate.

"Yes My Lord." The Vong quickly left and soon Dredge's single red eye tracked back to Raxis.

Dredge smiled beneath his helmet and now the fun part was going to begin. Of course the dark lord never did anything for free, so he'd be sure to tell him what the price was.

"Give me a hand, and we'll call it even." Dredge said as he stood up.

The massive seven foot tall giant adorned in black Sith armor looked down at the small human and would of course relish in the moment that was the game he lived for.

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal had the mental speed of a super computer when he wanted to use his implant's full processing speed. He generally preferred not to use it at full power, it was distracting and tended to make him loose track of time. But here, now, he went and fired it on all cylinders. The god-general knew he didn't have any other choice, this man with all his freak reasons for wanting Ardgal's hand, was his only hope. As over used as that was....

With a calm that few could muster, let alone understand, he extended his hand. The general's Ardgal'kal, his sword shot to his hand and extended to half its length with a series of clicks. He looked without blinking at [member="Dredge"]'s amused eye. No fear. No terror. Nothing but resolve for his people who needed him to get this done. A hand was a small price to pay for them when he was more than willing to give his life.

With a flick of his right hand he removed it. His face twitched for a second in pain as the appendage fell to the stone floor. He carefully wrapped the stub in gauze before offering the still warm hand, covered in his own blood. He would deal with the mental shock of that later.

"A hand for an army, a fair trade, sir," Ardgal said calmly offering it, his face breaking out in beads of cold sweat from the pain.

 

[Dredge]

Dredge watched in almost disappointment at the man's willingness to sacrifice his own hand without any drama or flare, it was kind of sad to see when a leader would sacrifice himself for the sake of his minions, well it was at least sad for Dredge. You know, cause he didn't give a shit. So with a dry chuckle the massive hulk of armor stepped down the stairs from the throne and took the hand from the clearly chemically unstable. Not that he was the most stable of people either, but details details.

"Yoink." He said as he took the hand.

Dredge would then whistle and call over one of his still living assistants to hand off the hand and send it off somewhere safe so malicious things could be done with it, you know when you made a deal with the devil and all that.

"You take all the fun out of it, no struggle no drama just pop, gone. Whatever, this way." Dredge said waving around his own hand.

The Sith Lord would escort Raxis through the stone halls of the temple watching as the blood dropped from his wound and stained his stone floors with little dribbles of blood. After all some gauze wasn't going to stop multiple veins from making him bleed out.

"SOMEONE GET A GOD DAMN RAG OVER HERE AND A NEW HAND!!" Dredge yelled out as they came to a large door.

Without any further words the Overlord pushed the door open and reveal to Ardgal his little collection of toys. At the center of the room suspended in a massive tank of fluid was a yammosk that controlled multiple Vong biots. And on the floor were large near transparent wombs with shapers walking every which way running tests on the various monsters inside the sacks.

"My lord! Welcome back! Subject Zero, she's progressing wonderfully. She's just learned how to master bladed combat and she'll be ready in two weeks top-" Dredge cut off the shaper with a single gesture of his hand.

"I'm not here for that Greg. I'm here to get this man's army force dead. Prepare the Yammosk and tables. And get our friend here a new hand. Something humanish." dredge looked over to Ardgal and gave a thumbs up.

"Yes my lord."

"Well go call your lads." Dredge said as he shooed at the handless man.

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal wasn't a doctor or super biologist like Doctor Mel was but he knew pain when he felt it and he knew when he was losing more blood than was safe. He gave a weak nod and tilted his head slightly, despite the pain. "Sorry to dissapoint, sir. I'll try harder next time I make deals with nefarious enemies of questionable intent."

At [member="Dredge"]'s request he pulled his commlink out with his good hand. It trembled and the growing sheen of sweat on it was becoming more apparent with each passing second. He thumbed it, "Bring them in." he gave a ping on his location from the device.

"Your hospitality is only second to your cruelty," Ardgal said genuinely. He wasn't sure if that would be a complement to a Sith but this Dredge seemed to be the eccentric type.

A few minutes later the fifty troops filed in, nice and organized.

"Follow this man's orders," he said motioning with his good hand. The missing one of course drew their attention. "I had an accident. Do not worry. Your lord and god is unharmed. The cause goes on."

 

[Dredge]

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

As the men marched into the shaping chambers and Dredge sighed in satisfaction for what would come, the wonderful wonderful and very painful process of Vong forming. These soldiers were apparently of the super variety, tested and resistant to pain, the perfect soldier. But what they were about to experience was going to make Raxis' gesture look like a breezy and fun walk in the park.

"Do you like music, Ardgal? I love music. It just sets the mood so perfectly, I love the score, the emotion it invokes." Dredge said as a group of shapers walked forward in a straight line towards them.

Each shaper with their specialized hand grabbed one of the God Killers and took them to a stone table bellow the Yammosk that was suspended above them. After a few minutes every god killer was strapped down the cold stone and the dawning realization would slowly come to them that this was going to hurt. Could they put them under for it? Of course, but where was the fun in that?

Try to imagine your average person. That person is part of the force, so at least piece of them exists on multiple planes of existence at once. Now someone who is force dead only exists on a singular plane of existence, there is no force, there's only flesh and blood. Complete disconnection from reality and existence itself, so in order to do that they had to be torn apart on a molecular level, it would be the single most excruciating thing they would ever experience. To be torn from existence itself.

"Any final words before the music begins?"

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal watched as his brave soldiers laid themselves upon the alter to be destroyed--and reborn once more. Just as he had been. The difference is that he had no choice, these men volunteered. He had been ravaged as a victim, a tortured man at the hands of Vong. But like these men, he had arisen new, a god. The god they had shaped him into being. It was now his job to make demigods, sub deities worthy to serve him. This was their final passage into the santcuum of the godkillers.

"Soldiers," he said, his voice ringing out loud and clear. The blood from the price he paid still soaked through the gauze and dripped on the floor. He was shaking, tremoring. It was hard to focus with the pain shooting through his body but he would do it. He had been through worse, "You have already transcended what it means to be human. To be mortals, normal, of common flesh. But now you will become so much more. I have endured, take heart for I over came and you shall too.

"Let it strengthen your soul, let it fuel you as Iron, ardent, hot and powerful. Do not let yourselves quake or quiver. You will emerge victorious. You too shall rise as the phoenix. Stand strong and become my godkillers."

He looked to [member="Dredge"] and gave a nod, "Go ahead."

 

[Dredge]

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

Taking a moment of silence Dredge sniffled his nose and put a solemn and warm hand on Ardgal's shoulder as a sign of comfort as to what was to come. The sight of his men screaming and enduring pain would be emotionally traumatizing and Dredge understood that.

"That was beautiful, Ardgal. Brings a tear to my eye." Dredge paused for a moment then lowered his head.

"ALRIGHT BABY HIT THE SWITCH AND LETS GET THIS GOING!!! WOOOOOO!!!!" Dredge shouted as he lifted up his hands into the air in a celebratory motion.

And as he did that so did the shapers, but instead of a wave of happiness and celebration it was the shaper hand attached to their wrist that lifted into the air, it's various blades shining in the light. That's when they came down and the room filled with screams of pain and splashes of blood hitting the stone floor.

"MUSIC!!" Dredge yelled over to a nearby stage where a curtain opened up to show a group of various aliens chained to instruments with Yuuzhan Vong singer starting up a song.

Eccentric was a bit of an understatement when it came to Dredge, the man was downright mad and he showed it by his various antics of boredom that he did enjoy. But back to the task at hand as the Yuuzhan Vong overlord did his thing the shapers were hard at work introducing force dead biots and coral into the bodies of the god killers, placing in new organs, hearts, livers, everything to give them that extra edge and force dead ability. It was a painful process but in the end they'd be better for it. Besides they were all mad scientists, wouldn't right to not add an extra heart or kidney here or there.

As for Dredge he looked over to Ardgal to see he was bleeding pretty badly. So it was time for him to step in. With an assistant shaper running over to him holding a human hand, Dredge took it in his own and smiled.

"Hope you enjoy a little pain yourself. This is only going to hurt a lot."

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

From the siege on Geonosis where they had to cut through the bugger for every inch of ground and hold it from the counter assaults, to ambushes on Felucia where he had hold his Sargent's head together with one hand and shoot with the other--Ardgal had seen many dark and deranged things. He had seen his own cousins from the Alpha Company shot down, cut to pieces, and burned to death--among worse things. Being a mercenary came with a built in edgemaster.

However this--this display of blood, gore, screams, and deathless endless pain was something he had never seen before on a paralleled level. It drew his mind off the pain of missing a hand. It made him forget for a moment who and where he was--it was shocking, in as much of a sense as it could truly be. The worst part was he sent them there. He knew they were doing this out of devotion to his ideals, nothing more and nothing less. He would carry these screams to the grave.

Ardgal gave a weak smile, the color had drained from his face not only from what he was witnessing but the bloodloss as well. It was making him a little weak now, even with his Fierrerro rapid healing genes, it was taking a toll on him. He unwrapped the stub and offered its bloody end, "A good warrior is carved from stone through pain, sir, as my predecessor liked to say."

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

Dredge would return to the show with the shapers in a bit, for now he had a hand to fix. Taking it in his hands he shoved it against the bloody stump where the previous one was and began to laugh manically. As he did so power surged through his body and pure dark side energy ran through the hand and it burned. Like literal fire pouring into the man's body the dark side of the force fused the hand to Ardgal's body and kept it attached there. Good as new, but with one little- well two little things. The first one was the massive amounts of Dark Side corruption flowing through the hand, it's appearance was even that of near zombie like purplish flesh with veins poking out of its gaunt flesh. But that was mild compared to the other, it was trying to kill him.

The hand corrupted by the darkside sprung up on Ardgal and would attempt to wrap itself around his throat to choke him to death.

"I LOVE MY JOB!!" Dredge yelled out as he took that celebratory pose once more.

"Don't worry that'll wear off in a day." Dredge said casually as he looked back briefly at the man.

Back on the shaping chamber floor things were going great. No one had died yet and the shapers were still introducing various biots. This was a process after all, adding these force dead organs and biots wasn't going to make them dead to the force instantly. What would happen was that the small injections of Yorik coral and various biots would slowly kill the midichorians in their blood until it completely removed their body from the force. Once the procedure was complete they'd need at least a week before the biots did their job in completion.

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

Ardgal felt the pain tear through him anew just when he was getting used to the pain of the hand being gone. He felt his knees buckle, it took all his will to stay upright. His vision blurred for a second and when he blinked back to see--he felt a hand wrapped around his throat. His years of training kicked in as well as his will to survive. That's a fancy way of saying he did what any human who wanted to live would do and he began to back-peddle away. But of course, his own hand was choking him and he couldn't.

The general felt himself pressed against a wall with a slam. His head buzzed and his vision blurred for a second, but there was no time for pity, he was choking himself. His free hand gripped the other on the meaty flesh between the thumb and the rest of the hand, a pressure point on humans the writer has indeed used before to get out of chokeholds. Twisting it, he pulled the hand away and managed a free gulp of air. But this demented hand was lurched back for his throat and gripped the general's trachea tighter. There was a pun in here somewhere about being killed by the Hand of God but the writer wasn't so banal to throw it at your lovely eyes.

Instead, he directed the choked general to grip at the wrist, on the soft part where the metacarpals met the wrist. It too was a pressure point, and extremely painful. With every bit of pseudo-sci fi strength he managed to pull it away, but it was still a fight to keep it in place.

"Thanks, I will make a note of it, sir," Ardgal managed between pants.

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

With band now in full swing the mad overlord was almost cartoonish as be bobbed up and down like an old time hollownet cartoon wolf to the beat of the snare and violin. As if he was going to sell Ardgal nefarious wares while flicking a coin and jumbling a toothpick around in his mouth. It had been a while since he left the palace and the last time he did so it was to face down a Jedi master and release a beaten and broken woman to him.

So it was safe to say all that alone time wasn't all that good for him.

"LOOK ON THE BRIGHTSIDE! YOU GOT A STORY FOR THE DINNER TABLE!" Dredge yelled excited and giddy as he surgeons continued their jobs.

The process was still coming along smoothly and the shapers were twisting flesh and carving small sigils into skin for the fun of it. Unnecessary torture on the side was always a good thing. But as for the actual details Dredge could slowly feel the force start to leave the men on the tables, that part of their existence being scrubbed from the cosmos. So as blood and and the occasional organ hit the floor it was time to start the gran finale of the process.

Which involved the big brainy thing up above. The Yammosk would start to lower down its massive tentacles from its tank and the shapers would gradually and gently grasp at them to put over a few rows of tables. The idea was for the Yammosk to interact with the biots planted in them, amplify their strength through what could be considered as a high form of Vong battle meditation.

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

"I suppose s--" Ardgal began his reply but he lost his grip on the rogue hand and it attacked him anew with murderous intent.

Like some sort of sick Jim Carrey comedy routine, he leaned back trying to dodge his own assault. Twisting and stumbling he tried to avoid what in his mind he nicknamed the Claw. He was scared of the Claw. It was hungry for blood. The struggle power was real, like Hillary and Trump's attempts to stay relevant to the general populace in the American Presidential Race. Or the struggle of every man to understand what he did wrong so he could apologize for it.

At a loss with what else to do, Ardgal gripped his wrist and with precise twist dislocated it. He winced in severe pain as it let out a wet pop. But, of course, that wasn't enough to stop the Claw. Nothing can stop the Claw. He let his palm give a precise whack to his shoulder, dislocating it as well. It was also painful but it was enough to render his arm submissable. The general doubled over, panting. It was safe to say he was having a rough day. A pretty rough, lousy work day. But those were occupational hazards, deal with the devil and all.

"Yes, I suppose you are right, sir," Ardgal said at last. "Your generosity in choosing a determined hand is greatly appreciated, sir."

Spoiler

Spoiler

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

With the Yammosk tentacles coming down from the tank the shapers would grasp onto them and let the beast go to work while the band continued to play on and Dredge did his little happy dance. He really was eccentric when he was bored, but cross him and that could change in a heartbeat. But enough of that. With the Yammosk linking into the force dead injections of coral and biots within the god killers it would amplify its strength so that they would catch on faster and the body wouldn't treat it like a foreign host to try and remove it from the system.

"You know you need to relax! Take a load off and just let things happen!" Dredge said as he snapped his fingers.

A shaper would approach the god general and inject his hand with a mystery cocktail causing his hand to go numb. It would lay there limp and unable to move and while Dredge could of done that at anytime he honestly enjoyed the show for a few minutes.

"We're nearing the final steps of the procedure, your boys will be out soon." Dredge smiled under his helmet and looked over to the display of pained soldiers and smiling shapers.

 

[Ardgal Raxis]

The numbing relief finally brought Ardgal's hand into submission. He let out a sigh of relief through his nose. Honestly he had no idea how much longer he could have kept fighting that thing attached to his body. That only left another option, and he wasn't too keen on chopping his hand off again.

"Thank you, sir, I will take that under advisement," he said with a polite nod of his head.

He couldn't help but wonder if this fellow was this way all the time, but either way he wasn't too surprised this guy didn't get out much. After all, if any other being had been--well, this way, he would have probably exiled them too. What did surprise him was how alive the rest of the natives to this planet were, all things considered. He was sure there was a lot of work place turn over, some violence, and things like that going on around here. Meh, oh well.

The first good news of the day, Ardgal thought to himself when he heard that his troops were all but done with their shaping. This was turning out to be better than he had anticipated, and happening faster than he had anticipated. Even with the near death experience or two, it was all working out just fine. Quite swimmingly, as one could say.

"Will you require any monetary compensation, or will the hand alone be payment enough to cover this?" Ardgal asked, wanting to tie up some loose ends before they finished up.

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Ardgal Raxis"]

With the procedure wrapping up the Yuuzhan Vong overlord snapped his fingers and the band went quiet, the shapers finished up, and everything went deadly silent. To the point where everything was dead calm and you could hear a pin drop. As everything was silent Dredge turned around to face the general, towering over him with his black armor.

"Oh Raxis my dear dear sweet little naive Mandalorian, you've already paid for it. Now go and call your medical teams. Your men are done." Dredge then snapped his fingers once more and everyone began to exit the shaping chambers leaving the suspended Yammosk and Ardgal's men.

Dredge while completely Insane wasn't someone who was to be taken lightly. He had his games and they were what made his existence worth living. And he was far far far from done playing games with the general. In fact he had practically signed his own death warrant so to speak, but that wasn't important at the moment, they'd get to it down the line.

"If you want to stay for dinner you're welcome to. WE'RE ORDING ATRISIAN!!" His voice shifted to a high pitched glee before walking over towards the exit.