Operation Darkness: That next worse thing
by Arrek Lorrdain


Arrek woke up to blinding pain.  There was not one
part of his body that was not in pain, yet there was
pain where it shouldn't have been.  Raising his right
arm, what should have been a stump was now a proper
limb, but a different limb.  It had obviously come
from some kind of creature, for it was thicker than
the appendage that used to be there, was now an off
shade of orange, and had six fingers and a thumb.  

Flexing all six fingers Arrek couldn't help but wonder
what was happening to him.  They were the enemy of
course, but replacing his arm was one of the last
things he thought they would do to him.  Granted it
was different and its usefulness was yet to be seen,
but still, it all seemed so strange to him and was far
beyond his levels of comprehension.  His thoughts
faded away as he heard the membrane of his cell
opening.

Yan Tao strode in purposefully and stood before him. 
She grabbed his arm and did a quick examination of it.
Arrek had to wonder what she had planned for him, he
was scared and curious at the same time and above all
confused by this whole affair.  When she was done she
stroked his cheek and brought his face close to hers. 
He could see right into her eyes as she looked into
his, analysis tinged with curiosity so far as Arrek
could tell.  Arrek was able to empathise with almost
anyone, but this alien was totally unfamiliar to him,
as he looked deeper into her eyes he saw pain and
acceptance, but also a burning thirst for knowledge
and discovery.  

Unable to hold it back, a tear rolled down his cheek. 
This she watched with great curiosity, it was apparent
to Arrek now that these Yuuzhan Vong don't cry, or
even know what tears are.  As it neared his cheek she
reached out a finger and let the tear settle on the
tip, she then licked the tear from the finger as if
savouring it.  

With the close proximity they had Arrek couldn't keep
his heart from racing.  He thought it insane, but the
more he looked into her eyes, the more alluring she
became.  She was a curiosity to him, he knew she
couldn't be completely evil, maybe misguided or
indoctrinated into the Yuuzhan Vong way, but no being
was totally evil, no matter what race they came from.

Yet, his reasoning for her, it was insane, he couldn't
think these type of thoughts, they'd imprisoned him,
taken his arm and had cut him off from his sister and
his friends.  Arrek knew Sylvana thought he was dead;
it made his heart break every time he thought about
it, but he knew that there was nothing he could do
other than escape or by making her relatively safer by
taking out as many of the Yuuzhan Vong as he possibly
could.

He wanted nothing more in the universe now than to be
with his sister and the others; to be there and watch
out for them, but dwelling on where he wanted to be
was a bad idea considering where he was.  Suddenly he
realised that he was still looking into her eyes and
had somehow gotten lost.  Another tear rolled down his
cheek, instead of catching it with her finger, she
leaned in closer and licked it from his face.