Crusade: Star by Star

[Jasmille Mereel]

Jasmille Mereel flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder, her icy blue eyes scanning her ship's control panel in front of her. In the cockpit window before her, blue streams enveloped her ship, the Defiance; she was currently in hyperspace, heading for the remote world of Gorsh - recent intelligence reports from Saber claimed the planet was a likely place for the Yuuzhan Vong to grow their alien technology. It was mostly a water world, ruled by Genetech for some of their droid factories to be placed on, but other than that the world was very natural. She suspected it would be an attractive planet to the scarheads.

But this was not the only reason Jasmille had been sent to scout out the remote world. No, there was something else much more intriguing in the reports Saber had received; if their source was correct - and considering who they were, she didn't doubt the truth of this report - there was a huge worldship somewhere around Gorsh. And there was a perfectly good reason why the New Republic wouldn't have found out about this worldship yet; the Gorsh system was extremely remote. Most people hadn't even heard of it, let alone visited it that much - Gorsh wasn't even ruled by the New Republic, so it made sense they wouldn't pay much attention to it. But if there happened to be a worldship in the system, she suspected the planet would be getting more attention soon enough.....

Her thoughts were interrupted by a whirring from behind her; turning, she smiled as her astromech droid, Trickster, rolled down the hall. A curious beep sounded from its dome. "Don't worry, Tricky. We're not that far away at all at this point; we should be there in no time." Another beep. "Nope, no sign of the worldship yet. Or anything else of note, for that matter. This system isn't that interesting, I must say...." A scolding beep this time, and Jasmille returned, "Yes yes, I know we're not here to sight see. Go.... check the hyperdrive or something. Make sure everything is in working order." A whistle sounded from the little droid, and it rolled away without any more "words". She smiled as she turned back to the cockpit window; Trickster had been her droid for a good ten years now, and the little companion had definitely acquired personality quirks in that time.

Lounging in her cockpit's comfortable chair, Jasmille glanced at her controls and saw that they were only about twenty minutes from their destination. Excellent. Smiling confidently, she closed her eyes for a small nap before they reached Gorsh....

And before even fives minutes had passed, alarms started screeching all throughout her ship.

Her eyes instantly popped open, her mind going alert before she even knew what was going on; she jumped up in her seat, scanning the controls in front of her to see with a start that they were being pulled out of hyperspace by.... something. Not good. Her fingers darted across the control panel, hoping to somehow fight against whatever was pulling her ship this way, but she soon realized it was a futile effort; nothing could stop it, no matter what fancy maneuvers or tricks she did.

Seconds later, the stars around her solidified once more; the Defiance was out of hyperspace now, hanging in space somewhere in the Gorsh system. She sighed, looking out the viewport -

And inhaled a sharp breath when she saw what had pulled her out of hyperspace.

Before her, a giant worldship loomed in the cockpit window; a small fleet surrounded it, and while it wasn't nearly as big a fleet as other attacking forces of the Yuuzhan Vong Jasmille had seen, it could certainly pack a punch. Two big frigate analogs and an interdictor (obviously the thing that had pulled the Defiance out of hyperspace).... plus the kriffing HUGE worldship itself.

Well, this was more important than Yuuzhan Vong growing technology on some desolate planet; she could scout that out at another time. What she had to do now was get back to the Unknown Regions to report this; hopefully the New Republic would be notified of this before the worldship left the system, but even if they weren't they'd at least have a rough location of where it would be....

Before the thought even finished, her controls starting beeping frantically, alarms all over the ship screeching. Kriff! Her ship had been locked on to, and the edge of the system was a ways away; she couldn't shoot to hyperspace now because of that interdictor, and it's not like she could fight the entire force with a simple freighter. She sighed. Well, I might as well at least try.... She kicked in the Defiance's thrusters, flying away from the Yuuzhan Vong, her ship rocking back and forth every time she was hit by enemy fire.

Worried beeps sounded from the hall - Jasmille immediately recognized it as Trickster. "I know, but there's not much I can do right now!"

She frantically worked the controls of her ship, gaining more and more distance away from the Yuuzhan Vong ships; it didn't help as much as she would've liked. She was still in range of their shots, and while the Defiance was fast, it wasn't fast enough to get away from them before something really bad happened.

The ship shook violently back and forth; that bad something had just happened. Sighing, she looked down at her scanners and saw that one of her engines had been hit critically. Not good. Without all of my engines in working order, the chances of getting away from this are not at all positive....

She could still be useful to Saber; still accomplish part of her goal. Even if I don't get away from this. Quickly, she dialed the encrypted comm frequency for Saber, then when it looked like she had gotten through she brought her lips to the speaker unit and spoke.

"This is intelligence agent Jasmille Mereel. I'm currently in the Gorsh system, but on my way to my destination I was pulled out of hyperspace by a Yuuzhan Vong interdictor." Another shaking of her ship; sparks started flying from the corner of her control panel, but remarkably, the comm unit was still working. "After my ship was pulled out of hyperspace over the planet Gartana, I saw firsthand a huge worldship with two frigate analogs and an interdictor around it."

The Defiance was hit again, this time so violent Jasmille was catapulted out of her seat; she hit her forehead on the panel in front of her, and when she rubbed the sore spot she felt a warm trickle of blood. Her eyes started clouding up with tears - she closed them, then sat back up and finished her message.

"I repeat, over the planet Gartana, there is a worldship, two frigate analogs, and an interdictor. Jasmille Mereel out." She sent the message, as satisfied as she could be.....

Then the Defiance exploded, annihilated in space. Though Jasmille Mereel wasn't able to live through the situation, her message being sent would ultimately save countless lives in the future.

[Mazul Serq]

Mazul Serq, Supreme Commander in the Yuuzhan Vong's warrior caste, arrived in the Gorsh System two days after the destruction of the Defiance. Word had been sent out that the commander of the Swift Pain, a powerful worldship of domain Tah, had died during a brief battle with the infidels in this system.

Commander Rak Tah was a brave warrior. Serq had the honor of having him under his command during the conquest of Hutt Space. However, Rak Tah had been grievously wounded in a previous battle against the infidels, and had not had the proper time to heal before the battle on Gorsh. The strain proved too much, and he collapsed dead on the deck.

"A fitting death for a commander." Serq spoke aloud.

A prefect looked over at the Supreme Commander but did not speak.

Serq was uneasy with his new adviser. He already knew much about the infidels and the Jeedai. He did not need a prefect spy to inform him of such details. Yet, the man certainly had a different perspective on things. He did not think like a warrior.

That is why they sent him. He can think like the infidels. Perhaps he will be useful.

Soon Serq would be taking over command of the Swift Pain. The worldship was more heavily armed than most, and was slated to assist in the conquest of the infidel worlds. It would be one of the few to take part in active assaults.

And one day Coruscant.

Serq only hoped that day was not too far away.