Vong War Annals – “Minor Tactical Updates” 09.23.2013

“How bad were our losses?”

At the other end of the comm channel, Izra Dargan grimaced. He looked no worse for wear except for a cut above his eyebrow and some soot on his face. “Six pilots and almost a squadron’s worth of fighters. Ten more wounded to varying degrees and another squadron’s worth of starfighters damaged, but repairable.”

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Vong War Annals – “Where Does the Time Go? (Part 2)” 09.21.2013

Alextravia Judas Grentarii could not be said to be a happy man. Not just in general – that was absolutely expected by anyone who’d ever had the occasion to spend even a few minutes with the man. But even at this exact moment, as he trudged up to the meeting alongside Janet Skyy (now Wyler), he was in a particularly unhappy mood. Alex was suffering under the kind of unhappiness that strikes when you are completely and totally undecided about what you want to do with yourself. Thinking back over the course of the last several months – a task that was surprisingly difficult since he spent most of it in a state of unconscious hibernation – he had been all over the map. All told it was very difficult to say what he wanted to do with his life any more.

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Vong War Annals – “Where Does the Time Go?” 09.20.2013

“What’s this about?” Alextravia Grantarii asked Janet Wyler as they headed to a meeting at ops.

“I…well, it’s…something I should know but…it’s secret. Top secret,” she replied to her old friend from back in the Katarn Commando days. She winced at her lame excuse. Was she getting that old and forgetful? “It’s not to be discussed until we arrive.” Alex seemed to accept this and she breathed a sigh of relief.

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Vong War Annals – “Many Reunions” 03.15.2011

            Trevvik strode into the Stormcrow like he owned the place, calling loudly for his brother. Suddenly Mark appeared before him, looking very surprised to see him. Trevvik stood, swaying unsteadily, chuckling at the bewildered look his appearance had produced from his older brother, and couldn’t be happier to see a grin spread across his face.
            “What the heck – Trev?” Mark rushed at him like he’d tackle him, but in spite of the drink, Trevvik was unmoved by his fierce embrace. Wrapping his big arms around him, he laughed and slapped the smaller man across the shoulders. “What are you doing here, you big bantha?” he exclaimed, backing away to see that he had indeed returned apparently unscathed from his Vong hunt.
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Vong War Annals – “Reflection and Reunion” 10.26.2009

           With Les’ departure, the apartment seemed to settle into a peace that was slightly less uneasy. Mark and Janet stood in the living room, now lit with a single lamp by the door, staring blankly at the door after their wayward Jedi was taken away so suddenly in the night.

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Vong War Annals – “Tagged” 10.23.2009

           So wrapped in his musings that he’d let situational awareness slide, Tag caught Les unawares. Realizing that he’d been caught off his guard, he flew to his feet with surprising quickness, pulling his saber to him through the Force so that it reached his hand before his feet hit the floor, but he stopped short of snapping it on, realizing at the same time just who it was that had invaded his room. All at once he locked the things he’d been turning over in his mind into a safe place; and as they faded from the fore of his thoughts and he looked his new mentor in the eye, all that they had discussed in her office that day as well as his honest and bare plea for help flooded his mind. He felt color rise to his cheeks, and he had to catch himself from casting his gaze elsewhere.
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Vong War Annals – “Yet More Nocturnal Musings” 10.20.2009

            Janet awoke with a start and a gasp. Trembling, she sat up and reached for the lamp, but as the dream that had disturbed her sleep ebbed into reality, she thought better of it. Beside her Mark stirred and resettled on his side, his breathing evidence that his slumber hadn’t been interrupted. She watched him for a while, envying him that everlasting optimism that permitted sleep. Things, she knew, didn’t always turn out, no matter how much time would eventually go by. Cross the galaxy to and fro forever and nothing would ever cloud over the pulling the trigger on one of her oldest and dearest friends, or dispel the memory of the darkness seeded in the eyes of the son she had killed for. Nothing could ever make it better, make it all right. Nevertheless, if she could feel his arms around her, the steady and reassuring pounding within his chest – resting there, she could forget. For just a little while. Reaching out a hand to touch Mark’s shoulder, she almost did, but withdrew before making contact. Tears filled eyes already stinging from lack of sleep. Hadn’t he already been put through enough? The guilt was hers – it was a burden she had taken on herself upon drawing the weapon and ending the Jedi’s life. His life for Les. She had handed her only son a second chance, and yet…oh Jinx….

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Vong War Annals – “Devotion” 5.4.2009

            Janet had come away from her meeting with Indy feeling somewhat lighter of heart, held together for a while longer by a friend’s embrace; her mind removed for a time from things she’d rather not think about by discussing business at hand – namely, a galaxy at war. Les, too, seemed less burdened after his private meeting with Tag Rendar. She didn’t press him about what they had discussed, but gathered from what he did tell that Tag had agreed to take him under her wing. Inwardly she breathed a sigh of relief, felt a glimmer of hope in the midst of a fear that gnawed at her incessantly. All she wanted now was to have her son back, for their family to be whole again. It was, she knew, too much to ask – but ask she would.
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Vong War Annals – “Awkward situations” 4.15.2009

            Tag was perched on the corner of Indy’s desk when the admiral walked in, juggling an armload of files and her own caf cup.  Indy blinked at the other woman a moment, then shook her head.
            “You still remember my lock code.”
            “You still haven’t changed the overrides,” Tag corrected.
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Vong War Annals – “Reunion” 4.08.2009

            The journey back to Xenen seemed to take forever. Little was said between Janet and Les, and he was glad to give his mother space. What he sensed from her was such a mixture emotions, each about to spill over, while she struggled to keep the lid on them, hang in there, survive, keeping her focus on the task of getting them home again. Under the not-so-inconsequential guise of keeping an eye out for the Vong, Les assigned himself to lookout duty, situating himself at a gunner station with a broad bank of windows to the stars, currently a swirling kaleidoscope as the Stormcrow hurled through hyperspace.
            His arm ached. His new one. Absently he flexed that hand, sheathed in a black glove, faintly aware of the servos and wires he felt working throughout, performing duty in place of the muscles and tendons that should be there. It would be a lifelong reminder of the events on Coruscant – of his old master.
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Vong War Annals – “An Outcast’s funeral” 3.17.2009

       When he had first received the news, Kyle Katarn had admittedly felt less than he would have expected a person to feel in a similar situation.  Though he had certainly known his half brother and even spent a few years training with him closely along with Mara Jade Skywalker, their relationship was more like casual friends at best.  During the trip back to Sulon, however, it had set in.  Not so much the loss at first as the isolation…Kyle truly was the last of the Katarn bloodline, save for what little was in Kiiara’s veins.
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Vong War Annals – “Confliction” 3.16.2009

            Les lay sleeping in a hospital bed in a private room. Across the room Janet sat curled in a chair with a blanket around her, looking outside, though there was little to see; the sky was as blank and gray as the walls. It was sitting in the quiet, with the rain streaming down the window, that all those emotions that she had been keeping at bay conspired to overwhelm her, as well as the questions that troubled her…was Jinx right? Even if you get him away from here today he’ll turn again.  Les has tasted the power, he’s let it in Janet…you can’t change that. Was he lost to them, for good? Repeatedly she defied that question. Les had the benefit of family and friends who loved him, no matter what he had become…surely that counted for something. Wasn’t love stronger than hate, light than darkness? There was hope, always hope. By the Raven, there had to be. Where there’s life, there’s hope, as her father had been fond of saying. Yet that scared, lost and alone feeling endured as she wondered what to do from here. How do we handle this? How do I handle this?
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Vong War Annals – “Don’t give in” 3.14.2009

            Jinx’s gaze held her, even after the light in his eyes faded and died away, his final words ebbing into the silence.
            “Jinx…” she pleaded, “forgive me.” He had, that she knew; only she could never be able to forgive herself. It had to be done; for her son’s sake, it had to be done.
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Vong War Annals – “The end of things (part two)” 3.12.2009

     “The hell was all of that about?” Kal’or asked, doing his best to make it as casual as he could though he knew something was wrong.  He had that feeling ever since they came to the cursed planet in the first place, and he was kicking himself for not giving it the proper attention it deserved.  A Mandalorian that didn’t trust his instinct wound up dead.
     Jinx stood there for a long moment, Janet’s words still ringing in his head as a sudden sense of foreboding washed over him.  As he tried to fit the pieces together in his mind, he could begin to feel a disturbance in the Force growing…it was not unlike getting sick to one’s stomach, and yet the pressure it used against one’s mind could become numbing quickly as well.  “I don’t like this,” Jinx said.
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Vong War Annals – “The end of things (part one)” 3.12.2009

            Jinx landed on the balcony far lighter than he should have, or at least so it would seem to any innocent bystander. Of course they might question where he came jumping from in the first place, given that this balcony was several floors above the next balcony down and so on down the length of the building. 
           He was on the hunt though, the Force flowing through him like some kind of intoxicating drug. It was at times like this that he felt at his full potential, in full control and yet not as the Force guided his actions faster than any normal person. It didn’t make him special, it just put him in a different group than most citizens of the galaxy. The Jedi group.
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Vong War Annals – “In Pursuit” 3.11.2009

            It seemed like years since Janet had visited Indy’s office, so much had happened in the mean time. Once news was swapped and briefings on the current state of the war had been hashed over, the two women kicked back over a cup of caf and reminisced. After so many years and so many missions together, there were innumerable stories to call to mind, comrades to remember, and plenty of laughs to share.
            But before they could get too comfortable, Indy’s comm went off. As she took the message, she smiled at Janet. “Two more back into the fold,” she told her.
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Vong War Annals – “Communication” 6.24.2008

            “I’ll only be gone a little while, I promise.” Janet swept the hair from Asya’s face to better see her eyes. The way she let her long hair fall over her face and peek out from behind the strands made it tempting to have it cut, but she was unsure what that would do to her at this point, she seemed so fragile – fragile, yet strangely strong at the same time. She’d been returned to them an odd tangle of contradictions. “I need to meet with Indy, get caught up on what’s gone on since we’ve been away, all right, honey? Then I’m coming straight back here. We’re staying wherever they put you until Intel releases you back to us. Okay?”

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Vong War Annals – “Reunited” 6.13.2008

Shocked, staggered, stunned, and incredulous in their elation, the Wylers spilled out of the Stormcrow before the echo of the engines had died away in the expansive hangar bay, one of many housed within Wayfarer Station. Tag was there to greet them, unable to conceal a broad smile. It wasn’t very often that she was privileged to be the bearer of good news about a family member to their loved ones in the midst of the dark days of war. It felt great.

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Vong War Annals – “Messages from Afar” 5.23.08

            The atmosphere, so heavily laden with moisture that the ghost-gray clouds that had eclipsed the sky sank lower and lower to the ground, so that by the time Les arrived back to the borders of Arradan, they seemed ready to touch the ground. The light mist that was falling did not drive Les immediately into the house, but he took a detour through the gardens, taking his time as he did, enjoying the familiar scent of damp earth and stone, and trees and plants anticipating the rain. He knew where his steps were taking him, yet continued onward. A few days ago he would have resisted going there, but now he obeyed the wandering of his feet in that direction without trepidation.
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Vong War Annals – “Down Into Darkness” 5.16.08

 Les cinched up his haversack, packed with the bare essentials for his journey, clipped his lightsaber to his belt, and headed out the door of his room, down the columned corridor. He cast his eyes to the floor, focusing on his booted feet to avoid glimpsing Asya’s door as he passed, even though it was closed, as it had been since she shut it for the last time prior to heading back to Xenen. 

 But, no, that wasn’t right, he recalled; late on the first night back home, hoping a midnight stroll might clear his head so he could get some sleep, he’d heard his mother’s voice crying softly from the other side. Feeling as though he were intruding, he passed on by without interrupting her private outflow of grief. 
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Vong War annals – weeks of 2.24.08-3.3.08

            “How does it look?”
            Robyn sighed, hanging up her jacket on the rack by the door, avoiding her husband’s gaze for a moment.  He’d been waiting for her—she was late getting in.  She shook her head slowly, finally looking at him.  “Our defenses can’t stand up to an assault like the one against Xenen.  They just won’t handle it.”
            William Scarlett, governor of Conceli VIII, winced visibly.  “What can we do about that?”
            She shook her head.  “I don’t know.  Request a detachment of NRM forces, I guess, to keep an eye out for trouble.  Get our evac plans in order.  The military-grade reports that are being disseminated…”
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