Zeralin Lah, Commander in the Yuuzhan Vong legions, Lord of the Lah Domain, moved, as silent as a wraith, through the dark night that covered the small town. Dense forest surrounded him, creeping with the sounds of life; chirps, buzzes, and the rest of the myriad of fauna-generated noises forming the soundtrack of the wilderness. This was Zeralin Lah's element; this was where he thrived. The world of constant adrenaline, constant pressure; the world of combat, where the margin for error was as knife-blade thin as the edge of his amphistaff.
Just beyond the edge of the forest was the first building visible within the settlement. The town was old-fashioned; isolated, its people relying on antiquated technology and ancient construction methods. To Zeralin Lah, however, every building constructed by the infidel mongrels appeared the same; poorly constructed, ugly, and dead. That the error of their ways was not readily apparent to the infidels was a source of immense anger for the Yuuzhan Vong commander; how could any species -- any entire
galaxy of species -- be so belligerantly ignorant?
He sprang from the brush just as silent, his Vonduun crab armor making no sound as it brushed the ground, as Zeralin Lah rolled and came to a crouch. In the dim light of the few street lamps, he could see a few of the infidels moving about in the dusk. The began to reach to his ear, to tap the Tizowyrm for its attention -- but thought the better of it. A small town, wooden buildings, unarmed civilians... he would savour this.
Stalking up to one of the buildings, Zeralin Lah watched as one of the infidels strolled casually in front of him. A pair, actually; a male and a female, presumably mates. As they walked in front of him, he drew forth his amphistaff, feeling it go as limp as a whip in his grasp, almost at the mere thought of it. With sudden ferocity, he whipped out the living weapon, feeling the sharp head make contact with the male's leg, both cutting it brutally and breaking bones with the force of it.
The infidel dropped to the ground, his woman screaming in fear. Zeralin Lah's amphistaff went stiff and sharp, as he grabbed the hollaring infidel whore, bringing the staff to her neck. He stared down at the male with a twisted grin of sadistic glee upon his face.
"Are you afraid?" Zeralin Lah asked him. He was conscious that the man possessed no Tizowyrm to translate the speech, and so spoke them in the infidel language of Basic -- he had only enough command of the language to speak a few, select words. These words, he'd learned for a reason.
The man stared up in horror, frightened beyond words. Zeralin Lah shrugged and drew the sharp edge of his amphistaff across the woman's neck, blood gushing from the wound. She screamed sharply, her wail quickly being drowned out by the blood. The Yuuzhan Vong commander let her fall to the ground, staring down at the man.
"Coward," He muttered, again in the infidel tongue. He grabbed the man by the front of his shirt, taking the rigid and placing the small, pointed end to the male's chest. Slowly, he thrust it inwards, as the man cried out and quickly began to bleed. Zeralin Lah removed the staff, and, with strength no infidel could muster, threw the man forward into the centre of the road. There he was left to bleed to death from his chest wound.
Now, the combat had attracted the attention of the other villagers, and shouts of alarm had been raised. With the throwing of the man, they turned to screams of panic and fear -- and suddenly, the calm, peaceful town was awash in fleeing peasants, scurrying for their lives. The Yuuzhan Vong commander rushed forward, grabbing one of them and thrusting him to the wall of one of the wooden buildings hard, then shoving one of his now-deployed battle claw his claw into the man's forehead.
He dropped the dead man, immediately turning to another fleeing, screaming civilian and whipping him in the leg with his amphistaff. He then ordered the amphistaff to become rigid, and stabbed it down into the incapacitated man -- through his chest, and into the ground below, pinning him there to die.
Zeralin Lah continued the melee, as more males of the village sprang forth from the idiotic shacks in which they lived with minor weapons. Farming impliments, mostly; pitchforks and machetes. With his battle claws alone he dispatched them, easily and quickly. As he took the pitchfork from the last of them, impaling it into its bearer's chest and hurling him, pitchfork and all, ten feet away, a laser blast shot his way. Immediately knowing its origin with his keen battle senses, Zeralin Lah ducked it, grabbing his amphistaff from its place pinned in the ground.
More shots came his way, and he deflected them easily with the rigid amphistaff. He pointed the weapon foreward, and it sprayed forth a volley of boiling green acid. It struck one of his attackers -- seemingly a member of a local police force, from his ceremonial, sickeningly unliving garb -- in the chest, causing immediate burns to the man. Zeralin Lah reached to the waist of his Vonduun crab armor, grabbing two thud bugs and hurling them at the other assailants. They exploded on impact, gruesomely amputating one of their heads and sending the other flying away in a shower of blood and gore.
The Tizowyrm in his ear squirmed, the voice of one of his comrades, Kilraak Sovax spilling forth from it. "Planning on letting us participate, Commander?" Came the sneering tone. Zeralin Lah disliked the younger Yuuzhan Vong; he was irreverant, independant, and had a pechant for disobeying authority. Perhaps the commander saw too much of himself in the young second he'd been assigned.
"Yes," Zeralin Lah replied, "That is what I was hoping for. You and the others may join now, however. I have seen what I need to see."
And out of the dark forest surrounding the city, came a litany of blast bugs. They impacted on the buildings around the city, exploding violently and setting them alight. Zeralin Lah looked about at the carnage surrounding him, as the inhabitants of the town continued to attempt to fight back -- futiley.
Yes, Zeralin Lah thought, this planet of Veresh would do nicely.
