Training on Echinda

[Juggerduck]

Echinda
Capital City
Sith Temple

Thid Qaal settled his modified Yorik-et transport on the docking platform near the flat-topped stone pyramid. The Yuuzhan Vong High Priest had followed the trail cut through the dense jungle canopy to reach the place. Exiting his living ship, he was immediately struck with the heat, humidity, and dense smells of the place. It seemed a perfect place for Yuuzhan Vong to be, and that was as it should be: the Vong and Graug had taken control of the planet and shaped it to their own ends

Climbing the steep, weathered stone steps, Qaal entered the temple. He came unarmed, wearing nothing but a simple belted loin cloth, his scars and bio-engineering plainly visible on his pale, mottled flesh.

"Master Dredge?" He called out, his voice echoing through the seemingly empty space. "I come for training!"

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Thid Qaal"]

"You begin to wear my patience Dredge, I did not show you Echidna and the Graug so you can sit around and play king all day. You need to go and claim my revenge"

"Would you prefer if I simply used these people and not guide them whatsoever. There would be rebellion within a week, besides I'm not as charismatic as my former self. This means I have to actually do things."

"I suppose so, but I begin to bore from this. I need some form of entertainment to continue this agony of waiting. I was stuck in the ground for years I do not wish to wait any longer than I have to."

"We could go down to the slave pits and flay the weak ones, if that will please you."

"No, we did that yesterday. I require something fresh, something new to play with."

"I'm not a psychi-" Dredge was cut off from the conversation he was having with himself when a young Yuuzhan Vong walked into the temple calling out his name and demanding training.

Who was he to demand something from him? Who did this child think he was? Dredge was about to stand from his stone throne and eat this child's heart from their chest before the little voice in the back of his head stopped him.

"Wait! This could work! I rather like the boy's sand. And I can feel the force radiating from him, take him under your wing."

Dredge gritted his teeth and the hulk of armor looked over to the young Vong who had come in demanding things from him.

"Fine, but he's got to pass the test first." Dredge said speaking to himself.

"Very well then, I suppose it's only fair."

Dredge snapped his fingers and whistled and soon a pair of very large hulking Graug (essentially gears of war locust) stepped up from the sides of his throne and drew two very jagged and angry looking blades at the man.

"Kill him." That was all the man said.

The two warriors roared and charged at the Yuuzhan Vong and brought their blades down on him waiting to see if the whelp was worthy of Dredge's training. It was a very simple test really, kill or be killed, Dredge didn't work with the weak after all.

 

[Juggerduck]

Qaal reached out to the power of the Force, the thing that fed him and stole from him in equal measure. He'd come here to learn to dominate it, to leash it, to keep it from ceaselessly singing in his ears. He certainly would not be stopped by two lesser hulks.

Channeling his anger, the Yuuzhan Vong priest grabbed the sword arm of the Graug approaching on his left and pushed telekinetically, causing the sharp-toothed creature to turn suddenly and plunge his serrated weapon into his companion. As the eyes of both Graug widened in confusion and in one case great pain.

With a prodigious, Force-enhanced leap, Thid Qaal closed the distance on the Graug. Flexing the backs of his hands, bioengineered fighting claws extended themselves from just behind his knuckles. Even as one Graug fell and the other pulled to free his sword from his partner's corpse, Qaal landed on the brute, burying both claws in his opponent's skull.

Qaal hit the floor awkwardly, tumbling from the Graug as it collapsed. Recovering from the sprawl, he pulled himself to his feet, checked to make sure neither Graug was still a threat, retracted his claws, and faced [member="Dredge"], calming his breathing.

"I come for training," he repeated.

 

[Dredge]

[member="Thid Qaal"]

"Yes you said that already." Dredge said rather casually as he inspected the talons on his iron claw.

"Someone clean Or'ack and Doz'ra off the ground before they start to stink, feed them to the ghouls." Dredge put his hand down and looked over to the barely dressed Vong.

But before he could say anything worker caste Yuuzhan Vong quickly grabbed the two large dead Graug and dragged them away leaving a smearing streak of blood across the ground. Dredge sighed as he looked down at his two dead men being taken away, and there was something in his posture that made him look almost remorseful for what had just transpired. Two of his men were dead.

"You know that's going to stain right?" Dredge said to the Vong and rubbed at the faceplate of his helmet.

"Do you know how hard it is to clean blood from stone? It's a mess, it gets in the little crevices and you have to kidnap a specialist and hold their family hostage, and of course you can't kill them because there's not a lot this part of the galaxy. It's not exactly a milk run is it?" Dredge couldn't of cared less about the two dead Graug, but his floor was important. He'd never had nice things and he really wanted to make sure they stayed nice.

"Where were we though? Ah yes training, well you seemed to have passed the test. However before I train you lets get you armored up, I can't have you looking like that." Dredge waved his hand at one of the worker caste and soon they began to take the man's measurements.

"So what do you want to learn kiddo?" Dredge asked as he crossed his massive iron covered legs on the throne.

 

[Juggerduck]

The man's speech seemed conflicted, a lightness with an implied threat. Qaal could feel the weight emanating from the Sith like a cloak of power.

"Everything," the Vong said simply. "I am newly ascended. I have never heard the song of the Force before, and now it's deafening me. I can't move without sensing life, all life, everywhere. Someone just died on Belkadan. The Sith are warring with themselves. A planet shudders from earthquake, and sensitive quadrupeds who have never been catalogued cry out as they're swallowed. I can hear the sun burning. It's glorious and terrifying."

The Vong reached out his hand and one of the fallen Graug's swords flew into it. He tossed it aside. "This," he said by way of explanation. "But I want this." He gestured at [member="Dredge"], indicating not only his physical form, but reaching out with the Force to indicate his entire being. "Only with this can I serve Yun-Harla best."

 

[Dredge]

[member="Thid Qaal"]

"Yes that's all quite fascinating." Dredge said rather uncaring about the current affairs of the galaxy.

However when the man refused to be dressed and wanted to remain in that skimpy little cloth for the reason of serving the gods, it didn't float with the man. Not one bit, he came to him looking for training, he came to him wanting to learn and Dredge accepted it. To him the old gods were dead, they had failed him and their people who lived under the boot of the Sith. Not that this incarnation of Dredge particularly cared about the Vong, but they were the ones that tore half his face off.

So extending forth an iron covered hand, Dredge used it to extend out with the force and use it to grasp at the priests throat. And with a very deadly and cold voice he spoke clearly to the child before him.

"I care not for the gods, I care not for you, and I don't care if I kill you here and now. To our people we are heretics, we are freaks, now you came to me to learn. So you learn my way, or I'm going to get two body guards worth of fun out of you. Worship your gods on your time, but when you are with me you will do as I say when I say and you'll learn everything. This isn't Yuuzhan'tar, this is Echidna." Dredge eased off the force choke and relaxed in the throne.

"Now believe me when I say you are going to need this armor. I don't expect you to survive without it."

 

[Juggerduck]

Qaal felt the panic rise in him as his air flow was cut off and he was lifted up by the invisible hand that closed around his windpipe. In the space of a one lost breath he embraced the feeling as a good Yuuzhan Vong priest would, offering it up to Yun-Lingni, least of the Yuuzhan Vong gods, while at the same time calling upon his newfound Force sensitivity. Wrapping himself in an angry calm he waited out the armored man's tantrum. As a member of the same species, Dredge must have known he'd do so, unless the man had forgotten or simply didn't care.

Finally released, he raised his arms from his sides, allowing the workers access needed to continue measuring him, taking into account the spaces needed to accommodate his Yuuzhan Vong bio-enhancements. He looked from one to the other; neither would meet his black-eyed gaze.

"I will wear your armor, Dredge, if that is what's needed to learn," the Vong said.

Dredge did not care for the gods. That was fine, the High Priest thought. It was likely, based on what he'd discovered about the man, that the gods cared little for him either.

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Thid Qaal"]

"Glad you came around." Dredge said as he remained seated.

The Yuuzhan Vong warlord let out a sigh and knew he had to stand up now, while he really wanted to it was important that his new student knew how things were going to work. So with a slight groan the man stood up towering over seven feet tall in his armor then looked down at the priest in front of him.

"Let's go." Dredge said as he began to walk past him.

"And someone call Gary! He needs to clean the floor!" Dredge yelled back to his minions.

Dredge started to make his way down the hall of the stone temple giving his apprentice time to catch up and keep pace with the lumbering giant. While he certainly wasn't thrilled about it he was just happy the little voice was pleased and could toy with the priest.

"I don't think I got your name child, as you already seem to know I'm Dredge. However when you address me in front of the men it will be Lord Dredge, otherwise you may call me Dib'Zan, Dredge, Master, whatever you want I really don't care as long as you do it with respect." Dredge looked out the windows towards the jungle as and kept speaking.

"Tell me how you came across your force sensitivity as well."

 

[Juggerduck]

"Understood...Lord Dredge" said Qaal. "I am Thid Qaal, High Priest of Yun-Harla. I became a servant of the Force through voluntary genetic manipulation." The full story was, of course, longer in the telling, but [member="Dredge"] had already voiced his disdain for Vuuzhan Vong theology, and likely would not care about the lost books of the Trickster Goddess or how she hid Force sensitivity from Yun-Yuuzhan.

Qaal fell into step behind the towering Sith, preparing himself for what lay ahead.

 

[Dredge]

[member="Thid Qaal"]

"Fascinating." Dredge said in a very uncaring tone.

They walked along the path and the man had a method for training his students, a way of weeding out weakness so that only strength and hatred remained. But rather than subject the young Yuuzhan Vong to what he had endured, he was going to give him the skittles version and lay it out for the kid. After all, he had sought him out for training, and he was going to get it.

"I'm going to kill you Thid Qaal, High Priest of Yun Harla." Dredge said with a pause as they walked along.

"Every single day that you spend training under me I'm going to try and kill you in various ways. It might be poison in your food, it might be smothering you as you sleep, pitting you to the ghouls for dinner, killer bugs, drowning, electrocution. I could go on but you get the gist I'm sure." he said in a low tone.

"But with every attempt, with every time you remain alive you will learn and grow stronger. I will of course teach you the finer elements of control, but through survival you will gain focus and clarity to use your powers under stress and pain. Know that I hate you, and that I hate the very gods you worship. But I will help you because there are not many like us, we are unique and through the powers we gain we can control those beneath us."

"Do you understand and accept my terms of training?" Dredge asked the boy as he looked down at him.

Stopping in front of a large wooden door the Vong turned and awaited an answer from the young man.

 

[Juggerduck]

Bombast and swagger, thought Qaal. This was the way of the Sith? Fine. He would not die. He would stay alive, not because he thought that it would matter to the Sith Lord if he perished, but specifically because he knew it would not matter to him a bit.

"I accept your terms, Lord Dredge," the Vong growled politely. Even as the words exited his mouth he heightened his Force sensitivity, knowing that the moment he spoke his life was in peril. Qaal cared little for his hatred, and even less about his hatred of the gods. He would learn what Dredge would teach, regardless. This was all a game to Yun-Harla, and Thid Qaal would make certain she was entertained.

[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Thid Qaal"]

"Lovely." Dredge said with a grin that showed his fangs from beneath the shroud of darkness of his helmet.

"First lesson it is then, you need to learn how to do basic movements through the force, push, pull, crush, the things that will save your miserable life." Dredge then stepped so that his back was to the large wooden door.

"I want you to hit me as hard as you can with the force." Dredge said to the man.

"Picture it. Gather your hatred, your anger, every bit of pain you have felt in your life, but of course not physical. Every bit of emotional pain you have held in your life, take it and channel it into a blast, take command of your hatred and let it empower you."

Standing there he looked down at the shorter man and awaited his response, hopefully he wasn't too weak with the force and they could make a capable warrior out of him.

 

[Juggerduck]

It was no problem for Thid Qaal to focus his pain. While part of him embraced it as fully as any lover, ever since his escalation the Force had sung to him, non-stop, relentless. The Force was a feedback loop, doubling and redoubling upon itself, threatening to drown his other senses. It wasn't a matter of holding them in, his focus was on not letting it out all the time. So when [member="Dredge"] instructed him to let go, he planted his feet on the ground, centered his weight, and opened fully to the feelings, to the maelstrom around and within him. He pulled back with the Force like an archer with a longbow, and released it, the supercharged air hurtling forward like a tornado around an invisible fist.

 

[Dredge]

[member="Thid Qaal"]

Like water passing over a mountain stone the wave of force energy the Vong threw at Dredge did next to nothing, it caused him to lean back a bit but with the force augmenting his strength he wanted to make Thid feel weak, he wanted him to tap open his potential and the only way to do that was to get angry.

"Is that all you have child!? Maybe I was wrong about you, maybe I should have my ghouls sink their teeth into you and turn you into one of them." Dredge took a few steps forward as he spoke.

"Then that way you can be my pretty little pet, and I can train you to go to the temple of your God and convert my sermon of plague upon their flesh. Live the rest of your miserable lives as my dogs!" Dredge looked down at the man and bared his fangs.

"USE YOUR HATRED!!! DO IT!! HIT ME YOU WEAKLING!!" Dredge yelled at the man and looked over to one of his servants passing behind them in the halls.

"YOU!! GET THE GHOULS!! WE HAVE A VOLUNTEER WHO WISHES TO JOIN THEM!" his head turned back to the young man and his teeth flashed in a sick grin that he was deadly serious if he didn't get it right this time, if he didn't tap into his anger and hate.

 

[Juggerduck]

Qaal felt himself fill with fury, both at himself and at this Sith Lord who mocked him. He had been raised in the service of the Trickster, not Yun-Yammka, god of War. The desire for unbridled warfare had not been bred into him. Added to that was the unceasing din of the Force trying to unravel him like a thread in a skein.

"Tchurrokk sen khattazz Yun-Harla!" bellowed Qaal, ("Behold the avatar of Yun-Harla!") striking with all of his being. He would wipe the grin from Dredge's maw or burn himself out with the effort.


[member="Dredge"]

 

[Dredge]

[member="Thid Qaal"]

Dredge felt the anger swell in the boy and could taste the fury on his tongue, it was quite delectable. What the apprentice was throwing his way the overlord could of countered easily enough, however this exercise wasn't about what Dredge could do, it was about his new student. So allowing himself to take the brunt of the hit the wave of energy crashed into him causing him to be pushed backwards in a stagger that made him slam into the wooden door hard.

The man laughed a bit as the moment passed and it wasn't one of "this pathetic weakling." It was a laugh of genuinely being pleased by the results of what had happened.

"Much better, you will fit in around just fine." Dredge smiled then opened the door behind him.

"This is where you will stay, the more powerful you will become the more you will be allowed to take for yourself." Dredge said as he stepped aside.

The room was dark, cold, and smelled of mold. A barren room of stone with a pile of rags and a blanket lay in the corner, he knew a minimalist like himself would probably be ok with it. But dredge would soon break him of that, and he would learn avarice and rage.

 

[Juggerduck]

Qaal looked around the room. It was clearly meant to break his spirit. The Vong snarled, but said nothing.

"Will you also keep me half-starved and cold?" he asked. "If so, I would point out that a lack of protein and proper nourishment will make me weaker, not stronger, as will sleep deprivation. If that's all you offer, I'll take my leave before I get to that point." Apprentice he was, but he was also a Yuuzhan Vong High Priest, and would not be treated like a pet, to be beaten into fearful obedience, by anyone. Not even a Sith Master.

Having brought no possessions with him, the Vong looked at [member="Dredge"], not yet entering the cell. "I have nothing with me, nothing to do. If you so order, I'll enter this cell, but I'd rather have a task, or go to your library if you have one, or perform some other duty suited for an apprentice. It is, of course, your decision, Master."

 

[Dredge]

[member="Thid Qaal"]

"I wasn't planning on it, but now that you mention it. I just might, but I'm afraid I have some news for you little one." The armored overlord said as he bent down a bit.

"Your gods mean nothing here, you have entered my apprenticeship. The only way you leave is by graduation or death, either of which is fine by me. So welcome to your room, go out and take what you want for it. If you want a bed, take it, if you want food, take it, and if you want slaves to lay with at night go into the city and take them for your own desires. I will not hand you trinkets to make you weak and complacent, take what belongs to the strong!" Dredge snarled and stood back up.

"Training starts tomorrow."

Time Skip to early morning.

The red sun of Echidna rose in the morning sky and blood was spattered everywhere across the stone floor of a small arena. Blood of various sacrifices Dredge's subjects had made to their gods for the days games. Sitting in his throne with the best seat in the house Dredge had his apprentice sit with him by his side on a smaller chair. The two were overlooking the first attraction to come out, a group of Graug Warriors and their war beasts such as tamed Nexu.

"You have power my apprentice, now you must learn to focus it. Do you see that Nexu down there?" he said pointing towards the beast that was snarling to get free and sink it's fangs into something.

"It's being held captive by that collar around its neck, I want you to feel it. Find it through the force then release it upon its master. Do this and we'll move on to the day's lesson on controlling and working the finer elements of the force." Dredge said as he adjusted himself into his seat.

"Extend your senses, think of the collar and only the collar, drown out everything else." the man said with a fairly calm voice.

 

[Juggerduck]

Qaal sighted the Nexu. With the song of the Force ringing through his very being it was a matter of an instant to locate the creature's signature and pinpoint the lock, but the Force kept feeding him data from everywhere at once; all time and space seemed to call out to him at once. Expressions of power were easy; tap into the Force, focus the emotions, and release the pent-up energy. This though, this delicate manipulation, was something else. He could feel a headache building behind his eyes. It was like trying to play a solo on a seven-string hallisket when you were only trained to beat a thunder drum.

The Yuuzhan Vong shook his head. "The Force is too loud in my head, Master," he confessed. "I've no experience with...fine-tuning. How do I eliminate the noise?" His question was sincere, and if [member="Dredge"] were attuned to his pupil's emotions he would detect the desire to improve tinged with the frustration of needing to ask for help.