The creature that stood before them was two meters tall, gnarled and hulking. It possessed nothing as central as a trunk; instead it seemed to be a slithering mass of thorned vine tentacles, many of them plated in bark-like armor. There did seem to be a kind of “head,” one antlered with thorns and possessed of a wide, grinning mouth like the trap of a carnivorous plant, designed to snap shut on its prey. Coming up behind it were at least a dozen more of the same species, all of them enormous. Cohmac realized these things had blended in perfectly with the thickly overgrown greenery within the Amaxine station, but earlier, the creatures had been still.

Dormant.

Until the Jedi had set them free.

“Finally,” their leader said in a low, rumbling voice. “Some meat.”

“Stop hiding,” Reath called to his unseen foe. “Show yourselves.”

The vines around the pod launcher swayed. Branches rustled. Still, Reath saw nothing but plants.…

His eyes widened as he took in the incredibly huge forms approaching him, crawling toward him on dozens of vines, or tentacles. If anything they looked like swamp matter compressed together, plated with bark, then studded with thorns. Only one detail clashed with their arboreal appearance: in their…stems? stalks?…they held blasters that looked both extremely old and extremely lethal.

The enemy hadn’t been hiding in the plants. Somehow they were plants.

“Whoa,” he said. The researcher in him had overtaken the warrior. “That’s amazing. You guys are botanical rather than animal, but you’re sentient?”

They all looked at each other, apparently nonplussed. Whatever reaction they’d been expecting, it wasn’t that.

Reath had already collected himself, but he sensed that keeping the enemy off guard was a smart strategy. His initial response had done that pretty well, so he’d stick with it.

Slightly lowering his saber (while keeping it at the ready), he said, “Your mouths look a little like flytraps. Is that what they are? Or is that the kind of creature you evolved from? Do you have histories that go back that far? I hope I’m not being rude. Just—wow. I’ve never met a species like you.”

“It speaks more than the other one,” said one of the swamp beings to the others. “But it too has forgotten the name of the Drengir.”

“Never heard of the Drengir before,” Reath said truthfully. He was only guessing that was the name of their species, but since none of them contradicted him, it must’ve been an accurate guess. “Or anything remotely like you. There are sentient plants in the galaxy, sure, but they tend to be rooted in place. Literally rooted. Not you guys.”

None of them looked at him even once. One Drengir said, “I think it is younger than the other.”

The Drengir leader snarled, “All meat looks alike to me.”