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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 4048222" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 562: Survivors“The Vong call them Vagh Rodiek,” Obrack Loro explained, his gravely voice an amazingly comforting sound for Adria. Just seeing him alive was wonderful enough, but to hear him talk and actually prove that it wasn’t a hallucination was even better. Of course, the situation didn’t exactly match that happy sentiment.    They were within the small building that Adria had seen from a distance. It was an old farm home, apparently. Two small, barely furnished rooms and strong walls. The latter was the important part, as it was a good, safe place to hide from the Vong and those Vagh Rodiek monsters. Though it was out in the open in the fields of red grass, an easy target. That was bothering Adria, but the others all seemed to be confident in their safety.    The others were the same group that had killed the two Vagh Rodiek that had nearly ended Adria’s life. An older human who claimed to be from Alderaan, a younger human with a Corellian accent, five different Rodians, all armed to the snout, and Loro, the lone Mon Calamari of the group.    One of the Rodians tilted his head and then waved a long-fingered hand in the air as he spoke in the distinct nasally voice that all of his species seemed to have, “The Vong shape our people. Alter the genetic code and combine it with their own beasts. They make these Vagh Rodiek from our clan mates, human. The monsters once like us.”    That was a terrifying thought, but it made sense. Beyond the crab legs and huge scythe-like arms was the upper body of a Rodian, though it was armoured and the usually soft spines on the back of their skulls were altered into vicious looking spikes. By this point in the war, it was well known that the Yuuzhan Vong were experts in genetics. It was how they bred and created all of their technology. But the very idea of them ‘shaping’ an existing species into a monster like those things outside...? That was something new.    But there was something else bothering her, and Adria brushed a strand of her red hair out of her eye before looking across the table to Loro, “I still don’t understand all of this. How did you survive? How did you end up here? All of you! Blast it, why do the Vong just let you live out here in this little house right out in the open? It doesn’t make sense!”    “We are prey for their monsters,” it was the Rodian, leaning against the far wall, who answered one of the questions. He then motioned to the four other Rodians standing next to him, “We were on hunt together. My brother, nephew, and two sons. It was the first hunt for my youngest, but Vong found us. We wake in field not far from here, see Rodia in the sky above and know we were moved up here but not why. Then monsters come. Had no weapons anymore, so we ran. Found this building and two humans. They help us and use blasters to bring down beasts.”    The older human, sitting at the head of the table to Adria’s left, nodded, “Same for us. My nephew and I were transporting medical supplies and our ship was caught in an ambush. But the Vong didn’t kill us for some reason. Found ourselves here and when we saw ‘skips flying overhead we went for cover. Found this place and it was pretty damn well filled with blasters and rations. Even rigged me up an old comm device to send a distress signal on an Old Republic frequency.”    A hint of a smile tugged at Adria’s features, “My commander picked that signal up while we were scouting the system.”    “What happened?” it was Loro that asked, and there was an obvious concern in his voice, “We saw a few trails of fire in the sky an hour or so back but figured it was just the Vong.”    The smile on Adria’s face was gone after that sentence and she couldn’t help a sigh, “We were ambushed. This moon was housing more Coralskippers than I’ve ever seen. A few of the squadron got out of system but when it was clear the rest of us were just going to die if we kept flying in circles up there, the Commodore ordered us down here. Said he picked up your signal, too. It was a rough landing...Rea’s back a couple kilometers with him and another two of our rooks. He’s lucky to be alive...barely survived the ride down.”    Loro’s mouth opened and then closed a few times. He wasn’t at a loss for words, rather taking in the moisture in the air as best he could. After a few moments, he spoke up again, “Seems rash for the Commodore.”    Adria nodded, but then realized something, “It was that or die. At least down here we had a chance to survive. That and he said he had a feeling like there was something important down here.”    “Your commander smart,” the Rodian cut in again, “This more than test moon for Vagh Rodiek. Vong Shapers create their monsters on this moon. Shapers set up camp north of here.”    Shaking his large, red-orange head, Loro looked over his shoulder to the green-skinned Rodian, “Eettair, there are nine of us right now. If we can get to my old commander that adds only three more since he’s injured and likely not up for a fight.”    “One more,” Adria corrected, “The two rooks are in pretty bad shape, too.”    “Right,” Loro nodded, then turned back to Eettair, “That’s still nine against all of those Shapers, at least three dozen warriors, and who knows how many more of those Vagh Rodiek. We don’t stand a chance.”    Eettair shook his head, “Ten.”    “Nine,” this time, Loro’s voice carried a weight to it, “We aren’t leaving three injured people without protection.”    “Rather find a way to hit those damned Vong than keep hiding in this place while they have time to make more of those things to throw at us,” finally, the young human spoke. He was standing behind Adria, cleaning an older model blaster rifle.    The older human shook his head, looking past Adria to the young man, “Just ‘cause you can shook a blaster doesn’t mean you can fight a horde of Vong warriors, Val. I ain’t seeing you dead, either. Your mother would kill me if I came back without ya.”    The young man was about to speak up when Loro put an end to the dissent by standing up loudly and saying, “Its not important right now. We have people not far from here that are injured and need to get here for safety. Lets get them to safety and we can worry about what we do next after.”    There was an annoyed sound from behind Adria, but it was obvious that Val wasn’t arguing. The older man was getting to his feet, too. Even the Rodians were retrieving blasters, though as Adria got to her feet, she noticed that Eettair hadn’t moved.    When Loro noticed this too, the Rodai started to speak before he could get yelled at, “We go north to Vong. Four enough to bring back injured. It been more than a week since we last see Vong base.”    “So now its five against an army?” obviously annoying, Loro pointed a finger, as best as a Mon Calamari could considering his hands were fins, at the Rodian, “Getting yourselves killed isn’t going to do any of us any good at all.”    Eettair shook his head, “We no fight. First part of hunt is scouting. Fish no understand hunt, but I forgive. We check perimeter, get numbers on Vong defense, then return to plan attack.”    Letting out a heavy, slightly gurgled sigh, Loro threw his hands in the air, “We aren’t attacking that base, dammit! But fine! Go! But you’re on your own, all of you. If we actually find a way off this rock, we aren’t waiting for your green backsides.”    The snort that Eettair made was more like a low pitched screech, “We no wait for you either, fish.”    With that, the Rodians left.    Adria looked to the two other humans and then shot a raised eyebrow to Loro, “We’re all friendly, aren’t we?”    “They’re irrational,” Loro explained as he picked up a blaster rifle off of the table and checked its power pack, “Every time they see those Vagh Rodiek beasts they just want to take it straight to the Vong.”    With a shrug, Adria decided to check her own blaster, which was the standard-issue, mostly useless pistol all the pilots had, “Can’t say I blame them.”    Holding his blaster in two hands, Loro motioned towards the door, “Lead the way, Harken. But keep your eyes and ears open. Those monsters are quiet as a damned stealth ship until they’re nearly on you.”</blockquote>

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