To Fight the Vong

(Author's Note: For those of you who don't read the Expanded Universe, Wikipedia may be helpful here.)

The converted mining ship's turbolasers thrummed as they spat thick green bolts into the darkening sky. The Vong fighters screamed shrilly as they shot overheat; for every one of them knocked spinning into the water around, a dozen passed by unscathed, wreaking destruction on the turrets below. With every passing minute, the ship's defenses weakened. The shields might have given it a fighting chance; but by some chance, or sabotage, they'd failed at the battle's beginning. Now it was only a matter of time.

Dorn Tachi stood in a bunker near the center of the mining ship, surrounded by nervous Republic soldiers. He spoke in a normal tone, yet through a minor Force trick, everyone in the room was able to hear him clearly even over the noise of battle. "I've been sent to the planet by the Jedi Council to stop the Vong from getting their hands on the Timonium that's harvested here. The planet is lost." Dorn had to stop for a moment and raise his hands for quiet before he could continue. "I'm sorry, but we don't have the resources to hold the Vong here. We're falling back all across the front - we do have plans to stop the Vong, but if we try to stop them everywhere, we'll be unable to stop them anywhere."

"My plan has been to either sink or save the Timonium mining ships - Timonium mining requires very specialized equipment, so at the very least we're slowing the Vong by the time and resources it takes them to develop their own mining equipment. So far I've succeeded - this is the last Timonium ship on the planet. The problem is, the Vong know that, too. They're sending everything they can spare at us - thankfully the capitol is still holding out, or the only chance would be to sink the ship. As it is, though, we stand a chance." As Dorn finished his sentence, a loud boom sounded just overhead. Everyone ducked instinctively as the floor and ceiling rattled. "Our engineers are working on the shield generators, trying to figure out what went wrong. Once they're back online, we can make a run for it. Until then, we have to protect them - and that means killing the Vong landing parties that will arrive momentarily."

A weight settled on the ceiling above. Dorn ignited his silver lightsaber and looked up. "Now, actually."

The ceiling went thump-thump-thump as holes appeared, even while the startled Republic troopers struggled to get their blasters in position. Moments later, Yuuzhan Vong warriors began to fall into the crowded room.


The Yuuzhan Vong are ferocious fighters - one of the reasons for their ongoing success in their war against the New Republic. A Vong warrior is raised from birth for combat, and armored in living, 'crab'-shell armor. Their weapons are the best their culture could devise in their centuries-long exile. It is for this reason that, as the Vong fall into the panicked New Republic defenders, only a few of their number fall under the concentrated blaster-fire, while the space beneath the holes from which they fall is swiftly filled only with Vong and corpses.

In the chaos and slaughter, Jedi Knight Dorn Tachi is like an angel of grace. He has trained with Luke Skywalker's own, and he is attuned to the Force that flows within him as he fights. At one moment, he appears behind a Vong warrior, stabs him in the vulnerable armpit, and moves on even as the warrior crumples. In the next moment, he ducks under a stream of venom from a Vong amphistaff and stabs the amphistaff in its gaping mouth, rendering it useless. A moment later, as a panicked soldier fires a blaster bolt directly at Dorn's back, Dorn brings his lightsaber up in a smooth arc behind himself and deflects the bolt into the chest of a Vong warrior, about to strike the killing blow on a Republic lieutenant. The Vong is knocked back, startled, and the lieutenant brings his blaster pistol up and fires directly into his opponent's face.

The New Republic defenders gain courage from Dorn's example, and rally, beginning to contain the Vong attack. Then Dorn is knocked to the floor, bleeding. Behind him, a bug as large as his head folds its wings; a thud bug, Yuuzhan Vong ranged weapon, thrown by the large Vong warrior now approaching Dorn. Dorn rolls away and back onto his feet, brandishing his lightsaber just in time to deflect a vicious stroke from the Vong's amphistaff. The duel begins.

Dorn is hard-pressed - wounded and knocked out of his battle trance, he is forced to dodge attacks by surrounding Vong even as he fights the large Vong, who he surmises to be an officer. Dorn's opponent, by contrast, attacks relentlessly, ignoring the blaster bolts that spatter off his armor. Twice, he lands bruising blows on Dorn; only the Jedi's quick reflexes save him from a painful death by amphistaff venom. Above him, the ceiling creaks from the weight of the Vong landing craft and the damage done to it.

This gives Dorn an idea. Deflecting a horizontal amphistaff blow, Dorn concentrates; lets the Force flow through him freely. Diving backwards from the officer, he pulls on the ceiling.

And the ceiling above the center of the room, filled solely with Vong warriors, collapses, spilling landing craft down onto them.

The Yuuzhan Vong's spirit is not broken by the attack, but their cohesion is. Concussion grenades tossed into the landing craft shred their remaining reinforcements, and the stragglers around their perimeter are cut to pieces by the now-superior Republic forces. Roughly twenty-five Yuuzhan Vong warriors died in the attack; twice that number of Republic soldiers have perished. Nonetheless, there is a spirit of celebration in the room, heightened as no further attack comes. The fearsome Yuuzhan Vong have been driven back!

Then the second-in-command of the Republic contingent approaches Dorn Tachi. "News from the capitol. The Governor's Palace has fallen. Stragglers are still being mopped up, but the main body of their force left twenty minutes ago."

Unbidden, Dorn's eyes rise towards the sky, where a handful of Vong strikecraft circle overhead, preventing escape. The ship's engines, presently protected by the water, would be exquisitely vulnerable if they tried to escape before the shields were repaired. But the only thing that he can do is wait.

An hour passes. Soldiers pace and grumble and gamble, the dead having been moved to one corner of the room for later burial. Dorn is tempted to join them; instead, he sits cross-legged on the floor, meditating on the force. By last report, the main Vong force is less than an hour away. Their escape window is rapidly closing.

It is with great relief that Dorn hears the hum of the shield generators as they go online at long last. The soldiers dance and cheer, heedless of their dead, as the ship rises ponderously into the air. Vong strikecraft dive, but it is too late; they are too few in number to destroy the mining ship's considerable shielding before it reaches orbit. Below the ship, turbolasers previously submersed now open fire, driving the strike-craft away.

And the Noble Protector, former Old Republic cruiser turned mining ship, flies toward freedom. The planet is lost. But the Vong have lost time; and time is all that could be hoped for, in the darkest days of the war against the Yuuzhan Vong.