Outbound Flight Project II

[DarthPoreon]

There was intelligent life beyond the Kathol Rift. There was vicious life beyond the Kathol Rift. The Aing-Tii Monks have seen the vicious war-life of extra-galacticians. The Chiss fear it and do all that they can to protect the rest of the galaxy from it. The Great Baron Fel even feared it, and spent his later life fighting it. The Yuuzhan Vong Invasion proved of extra-galactic life. Vicious Extra-Galactic life. They tore through the galaxy causing rampage and almost destroying the galaxy.

Sifting through the sparse data on the Unknown Regions, the Aing-Tii, and the Yuuzhan Vong, Aaron Astrin noticed something unusual about each of these groups. Their technology was far different from modern tech. They all seemed to use organic ships, or actually living ships. Aaron rememberd the fabled planet of Zenoma Sekot that created living ships. The Jedi Vergere had vanished at that planet. The late Grand Moff Tarkin, Anikan Skywalker, and Obi-Wan Kenobi had all tried to attain the legendary starships Sekot could make. They were fast, and their hyperdrives were even faster.

Aaron frowned. Zenoma Sekot had disappeared from the galactic charts after Skywalker, Kenobi, and Tarkin had visited. Noone had even seen it since. It was just a fable now. The Zenoma Sekot lead was gone, there was too much galaxy to search through to find Sekot.

There were three remaining leads. The Yuuzhan Vong's once held planet of Belkadan, the Chiss in the Unknown Regions, or the Aing-Tii Monks of the Kathol Outback. The first two leads were unappealing to Aaron. The Yuuzhan Vong still gave Aaron the Creeps and the Chiss were known to be praticularly hostile to outsiders. That left the Aing-Tii of the Kathol Outback as the only siezable option to pursuit.

The Kathol Outback would be a five day's hyperspace journey from Bakura. From there, it would be a one hour sublight journey to the edge of the Kathol Rift. And after that, Aaron would wait for the Aing-Tii to contact him.

Aaron left a message at the Aaron Astrin Headquarters building on Xa Fel.

"Gone off to the Kathol Outback. If I am not back in two months, consider me dead or pursuiting a greater cause."

He typed the message into the datapad and left it with his Secretary. Waving a brief goodbye to his valued secretary, it may have been the last, Aaron walked to his private hangar bays. He would take his prized Lambda Shuttle, Goshawk, to the Kathol Outback and the Rift.

[DarthPoreon]

The Goshawk slowly re-entered normal space. Aaron made a quick systems check on his Lambda Shuttle and then made a series of short microjumps, lasting a total of an hour, to the edge of the Kathol Rift.

"It's beautiful." Aaron spoke into his Flight Recorder. He was referring to the collection of yellow suns and the Nebulous gas clouds that comprised the near horizon, and the distan horizon.

He was there maybe a mere three minutes before an unidentifiable Cruiser emerged from hyperspace. Or rather, it didn't emerge from hyperspace like a Capital Ship did or a starfighter. There was just a flicker of light, and the ship was there.

"Aaron reporting to flight log. Five Days One Hour and Four minutes into journey. Suspected Aing-Tii ship has flown into my scanning ranges." Aaron reported the "ship" to his flight Recorder.

"Lambda Shuttle" The Comm Station came to life. "You have encroached upon the Kathol Outback and the Kathol Rift. Stand down your systems and you will be brought aboard the Cruiser, Spectrum."

Aaron flicked a switch on his flight recorder. "This is Aaron of the Goshawk. I am going to be powering down systems and being brought aboard the suspect Aing Tii Cruiser, Spectrum. If I don't come back out of the Cruiser, whoever retrieves this, make sure it's put to good use."

Aaron pushed the Comm button. "Cruiser Spectrum, the is Captain Astrin. I am powering down the Goshawk and awaiting entrance to your cruiser."

The Lambda Shuttle shook suddenly and then slowly began a controlled descent towards the mouth of the Cruiser. It was most likely a tractor beam lock that was pulling the Lambda shuttle into the cruiser.

As Aaron's shuttle neared the cruiser, he was able to make out some of the features that this cruiser had. There were patches of transparisteel and other elements that normally made up a Ships hull. But then, dispersed in no known pattern, were patches of rock. And even more interesting, were the patches of hair protruding from the hull of this oval ship. There also seemed to be weapons on this ship. Though they too, like the designs, were placed in odd spots with what seemed to be no strategic meaning.

The Shuttle was now fully engulfed by the oval ship. The inside looked very similar to the outside, except there was more of the rock than metals. There were also humanoids scurrying around the rock decks. Or they appeared to be humanoids.

[DarthPoreon]

The Lambda Shuttle slowed to a halt and then promptly fell two meters to the ground. Aaron opened the latch on the boarding ramp. Before walking down it, he slid his lightsaber down the ramp and his two SoroSuub blasters.

One of the Aing-Tii closest to the ramp picked up the lightsaber with one of its long skinny arms. "You are a Jedi?"

Aaron cocked one of his eyebrows. "You could say so." Aaron took a cautious step down the ramp. None of the Aing-Tii took this has a threatening move. Aaron continued to slowly walk down the ramp. With a soft thump, his feet were on the rock surface.

The Aing-Tii who picked up the lightsaber inspected it. "That is fine craftsmanship. But craftsmanship is nothing compared to the spectrum that the Force provides. Come, speak with the Mychion Void Travellers. That is why you are here, isn' it?"

Aaron nodded faintly. His mind was elsewhere on the fact that the Aing-Tii truely possessed Force powers. They had sensed his reason for contacting them, but had not seen he was of the dark path, or they didn't care.

He entered a dimly lit room. The walls were the rock Aaron had become accustomed to. The single light in the room was slowly fading to an orange, like the setting sun. It might've been near the Aing-Tii night already.

As Aaron's eyes slowly became accustomed to the lack of light, he made out five Aing-Tii seated around a table. The Aing-Tii that led him to the room took a seat next to the Aing-Tii on the right side. The center Aing-Tii spoke first. "Aaron Astrin, I am the Aing-Tii Void Traveller Leader. Why do you wish to travel to the dangerous regions past the void?"

The Aing-Tii's voice was soft and musical. Aaron's voice was that of a business man, deep and to the point. "I am in the Technology Business. I want to know how to travel the Void safely and how to prepare for any outside invasions." Aaron felt that it wouldn't be wise to dance around his reasons. The Aing-Tii already knew his intentions. They just wanted to see how truthful he really is.

The Aing-Tii next to the leader spoke. "The Yuuzhan Vong and hundreds of other perils lie past the Void. The Yuuzhan Vong are vicious. And the other creatures are even more vicious."

Aaron swallowed before replying. "I know the risks are high, but I want to do this on behalf of the Sentient Galaxy."

The third Aing Tii Spoke, "They are vicious and would tear you apart immediately. Why do you risk your life so much on behalf of a greater cause?"

"Because it is what must be done." Aaron's voice was like a three year olds' in the fact that it couldn't be contested.

"Foolish human. Your intentions are good. But it will probably end up costing you your life." The Center Aing-Tii offered advice again.

[DarthPoreon]

Frustration mounted inside Aaron's head, but he mentally counted to ten, calming himself. Aaron sifted through the knowledge he had about the Aing-Tii. Slavery. The word was like white text on a black background. It stuck out vibrantly. The Aing-Tii despised slavers. They would take lengths to rid the galaxy of them.

"My life will not be lost in vain. The knowledge about the slavers of the outside galaxy is more than enough to justify the means for the ends." Aaron hinted at the knowledge he possessed of the Aing-Tii.

"You are very knowledgeable. Knowledge can be very dangerous. Be careful, your destiny has not been set. It will take many turns before it is final, and even then it will be indefinite. Three hours." The Center Aing-Tii gave a final word.

Aaron would have three hours to figure out just what he would do once he reached the other galaxy. One of the Aing-Tii's must have been prying into his thoughts. "Mr. Astrin, don't worry. We know of a safe way to show you beyond this galaxy."

Astrin would take the Aing-Tii's advice; they were to be trusted. He was escorted back to his Lambda Shuttle, which he noticed now sported life-like growths near the engine section. He was told to wait inside his shuttle until the Aing-Tii Mychion Void traveler ship arrived.


Three hours and not a second late, the Aing-Tii Mychion Void Traveller Ship arrived. The Aing-Tii that spoke from the dimly lit room in the center, greeted Aaron.

"Here. We must wear these. Just attach it to your ear and nose like so." The Aing-Tii demonstrated awkardly because he didn't display the same physical traits as Aaron.

Aaron took the object. He pulled it up to his face like indicated. He let out a short yelp as the object latched onto his face. It sent a tingling sensation similar to a passionate kiss over Aaron. He lifted a hand up to scratch his hear. As it passed over his eyes, he noticed that it was madly contorted.

"What have you done to me?" Aaron used the force to calm himself.

"You are wearing an Ooglith Masquer, it is a Yuuzhan Vong Crafted Object, fine tuned by us, that allows the user to match the "programmed" species. This Ooglith has been "programmed" to transform you into a Yuuzhan Vong."

Aaron nodded in understanding. "May I see a mirror?" The words that came out of his mouth were alien to him, but he understood the words. "What's this?"

The Aing-Tii handed Aaron a mirror and explained the translating device. "The Ooglith Masquer has a redefined Tizyworm in it. It translates any speech you speak to the native Yuuzhan Vong tounge, while it translates it back to basic for you."

Aaron clasped the mirrors in his mangled hands. He looked at his face. It was expressionless with no lips or eyebrows. There was a tattoo running the length of his "soft spot" down the broken looking nose to the neck. From there, a new series of tatooes, broken bones, and bruises took over the highly muscular body.

"Aaron, you are a Yuuzhan Vong warrior now. You will hereby be called Vorunth Skedar and will be formily spoken to with the title Commander. Read this Villip on the trip through the Void. It is your history. You are infiltrating the Yuuzhan Vong homeworld of Yun-Lah-Aas; you'll want to be prepared."

Aaron, Vorunth, took the villip with a hesitant, broken looking hand. It felt very weird possessing a body unlike yours. He know knew how the "late" Poreon felt. Looking over the villip, he noticed three holes randomly inserted on the sausage sized object. Guessing, he thought the holes were used for data and communications uplinks and downloads.

"Yuth ugh, Vorunth." the equally disturbing Yuuzhan Vong cloaked Aing-Tii said. The phrase translated roughly into "Do what I say, Aaron."

Aaron would gladly oblige. Walking almost blindly into a dangerous enemy's capital could often cause death with the slightest blunder. Aaron followed the Yuuzhan Vong Aing-Tii into the Void traveller ship which looked even more lifelike than the cruiser.

"What do I call you?" Vorunth's voice spoke.

"Eminence." The Aing-Tii replied smoothly.

"Understood, Eminence." Vorunth noted the rank of command. He looked down at the villip and began reading it as the Void Traveller ship began its journey to the edge of the Outback. Fromt here, the Ship would enter the Rift. Aaron wanted to be through with history so he could observe the Galaxy Gap as he crossed it.