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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Ankh-Morpork Guard" data-source="post: 4252367" data-attributes="member: 10079">Chapter 587: Natural AdaptationsHome to smugglers and other unsavory beings in the galaxy, Myrkr had never been very well developed beyond a few small encampments claiming to be towns or cities pocketed here and there across the planet’s surface. Because of this, the planet’s thick jungles were still teeming with native life that was, on the whole, rather dangerous. It was a wild planet, left untamed but not completely forgotten at the same time. Overall, it seemed like the very last place for the Yuuzhan Vong to take any interest in. There were no abominable cities of duracrete ruining the planet’s natural life, nor anymore than a handful of droids or other pinnacles of technology the Vong abhorred. By all rights, it should have been ignored entirely. There wasn’t even any significant population to exploit.    But it wasn’t.    The Vong had a worldship in orbit, one of their absolutely massive starships that had traveled the void between galaxies. It was the first of its kind that any of the Alraxian Knights had identified, though many had sent reports of them being rumoured at specific locations. This one, in a stationary orbit above Myrkr and looking like a living spiral galaxy, had been spotted by a Knight just two standard weeks prior. A week after reporting that she would attempt to get closer and learn as much as she could, the Knight disappeared entirely along with her Kanyak. The first thing that Marix and Hermes had done upon arrival in the system hours earlier was to search for the Kanyak through various means, all of which had failed. If it had left the system, a report would have been sent...but there was none. The path ended at Myrkr and at the worldship.    Marix had spent a great deal of the hyperspace trip studying the Knight’s reports about the planet. It wasn’t that Marix didn’t know Myrkr, she actually had a great deal of first hand knowledge thanks to her old days working as a smuggler, but she was more interested in what had attracted the Knight’s attention. The detection of the worldship had been the first shock for the Knight, immediately providing access to something they had never had before. It was not something to be passed up, and so she had stayed in system at a distance, working out a way to get in close. But as that plan was being worked out, the Knight began to consider why the ship was even there. Speculation on that had filled her last report.    After reading it all through and seeing the system for herself, Marix was able to dismiss many of the possibilities.  It was not a military stronghold, as there was only a small flotilla of Vong ships guarding the massive worldship. It could have been a trade hub, but that didn’t fit with the Vong profile at all. They didn’t seem interested in trade. The next possibility was supply, which was still definitely in the running considering how many Vong ships would come and go. Still, that did not completely answer all of Marix’s questions. Myrkr was in no way in a strategic location for a supply point, especially in a push to the Core Worlds that the Vong were undertaking. It was just too far behind the line and a little too off the beaten path, as it were.    Which said, to both the Knight and Marix, that the important piece had to be Myrkr itself. While the Knight did not have much working knowledge of the planet, Marix did. There was something that made Myrkr a very unique planet in the galaxy, and that was the native life. Many species on the planet were actually Force sensitive and used that to their advantage. The pinnacle of this came in the form of two species: the vornskyr and the yslamiri. The former was a very dangerous predator which used the Force to hunt its prey. This adaptation made the species an amazing tracker of Force sensitives in the galaxy. The predator also reminded Marix a bit of the Mrrakesh, though they weren’t sentient. Of course, sometimes Marix wondered if the Mrrakesh were sentient...    The yslamiri were arguably a more interesting species, however. They were not predators and did not use the Force to find their food. Instead, for them, the Force was a defensive mechanism. Somehow, the small, lizard-like creatures naturally created a bubble in the Force, blocking it out entirely. Since their use by Grand Admiral Thrawn so many years prior, the animals had proven to be quite an effective weapon in trapping Jedi opponents.    And this was where Marix made the connection between Myrkr and the Vong.    In recent months, the Yuuzhan Vong had proven to be obsessed with eliminating the Jedi Knights from the war, so much so that there were hints that they would leave worlds alone if the citizens turned over their Jedi. The Force might not directly affect the Vong, but the had seen its so-called champions and how effective it made them in combat. The Vong wanted to remove the Jedi, and it made sense to Marix that they would attempt to use the species of Myrkr to assist in that goal. The yslamiri could strip the Jedi of their abilities if the animal was close enough, and Marix could see the Vong attempting to use that trait to their advantage.    But that wasn’t why she and Hermes had taken nearly seven hours to carefully orbit close enough to the planet and make a mad dash to the surface before the Vong noticed that an object that had been in the sky previously was no longer there. It had been worrying that there was nothing to impede their landing, as Marix had expected far worse than a quick flight through the atmosphere and then a tight landing in a not-so-sparse part of the jungle. They had not been spotted at all, as far as Hermes could tell, and hopefully the Vong weren’t paying too much attention to their previous trajectory attempting to mimic a stray asteroid.    Even if they did notice Hermes was not orbiting anymore, it might not matter. Myrkr was no small planet, and Hermes had actually done a good job of hiding himself. And after landing, Marix had shut him up and put him to work scanning the area for the other Kanyak or even the Knight. An hour and a half passed and he found nothing. Marix found herself balancing two objectives. She had come to find the lost Knight, but now upon arriving and thinking of what the Vong might be up to, found herself needing to learn more. If the Vong were trying to use Myrkr’s native life to their advantage, not only the Jedi would be in trouble. All Force sensitives would, and that included a great many Alraxians.    “Where was she last?” Marix asked as she stepped out onto the soft ground. It smelled more like a swamp than a jungle, and Marix’s eyes could see enough movement all around her to know that Hermes had not scared off any of the native life. She was keeping her presence in the Force pulled inward as much as she could, not wanting to attract undue attention from any local vornskyrs.    [The last transmission came from an area ten kilometers to the east of here.] Hermes sounded bored. [She was trying to find out what the Vong were doing here and that’s about it...]    Marix knew that much, but Hermes didn’t seem to care. As she walked under him to head towards the east, Marix idly ran a hand along his underside, “Stay awake, Hermes, and let me know if anything new shows up. I am going to see what I can do about finding our lost Knight.”    There was the feeling of a sigh through the Force from Hermes. [I can’t believe Loki puts up with you just running off and having all the fun.]    Not dignifying that with a response, Marix just started onwards, ducking under some low branches and beginning a careful navigation of a place that was not meant for creatures the size of even a small Alraxian. It was going to take her some time to get ten kilometers if the jungle remained as thick throughout, and Marix expected it was more likely to get worse than better. Tight, enclosed spaces with dangerous predators all over waiting for a snack. It was like being back on Alraxia, outside of the Palace in the native environments where the early Alraxians had somehow managed to survive with their only defense in an under-developed morphing ability.    When she thought that, Marix admitted to herself that there was a bit of romantic ideal to that. Something like that was not a common thought for her.    Of course, Myrkr was not a romantic place at all. Somewhere on this planet, a Knight had disappeared. Somewhere else on this planet, the Vong were likely studying yslamiri. Marix could only hope that they weren’t also studying a newly captured Alraxian Knight.</blockquote>

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