Voxyn

"Voxyn. They hunt us."

- Tesar Sebatyne

Voxyn were genetically engineered creatures created by the Yuuzhan Vong to hunt Force users, particularly Jedi. They were developed from vornskr stock from the planet Myrkr and that of the fero xyn which was native to the Yuuzhan Vong galaxy. Voxyn were multi-legged, dragon-like creatures that fought by spitting acid, screeching powerful sonic blasts, or stabbing enemies with a venomous tail barb.

Biology and appearance
The average voxyn was one meter tall and more than four meters long, They were covered in black-green scales nearly as hard as durasteel. A pair of yellow eyes sat squarely above the snout. Their mouths were filled with rows of razor-sharp fangs and a forked tongue. They were capable of singularly assaulting Force-users. A row of sensory bristles traced its spine down to a white-barbed tail, all coated in a powerful neurotoxin. Their paws were coated in a slime layer that contains hundreds of retroviruses, making a rake with the claws fatal.

The voxyn were also capable of spraying deadly, acidic brown saliva nearly six meters. When spat into the eyes, this poison could cause temporary blindness, which could last for 25 days. One of its most feared attributes was its ability to emit a paralyzing blast wave screech powerful enough to shatter eardrums. Voxyn often hunted in packs of four, although individual voxyn were sometimes hidden aboard freighters and smuggled onto New Republic worlds. When a voxyn sensed a Jedi it could blanket its presence in the Force, an attribute garnered from the fero xyn's lack of a connection to the Force. Even in death the voxyn was still deadly since its blood became a deadly neurotoxin in most types of air.

The voxyn also possesses extra vitality that ensured they remained in excellent physical condition for long periods of time, enhanced by an accelerated healing factor. Voxyn could also conceal themselves in cocoons to survive decompression and enter hibernation to survive short exposures to a vacuum environment (although Han Solo was able to kill two of the creatures by venting his cargo hold to create near-absolute zero temperatures).

Each voxyn was cloned from the voxyn cloning facility on Baanu Rass in orbit around Myrkr. The voxyn required a certain nutrient found only on Myrkr since their cells deteriorated at a fast rate and each creature could only survive for a few months after release. As a result, the shapers continually created fresh clones to replace those killed in combat or that succumbed to cellular decomposition.

For a reason unknown to the Shapers, the Voxyn had an intense desire to kill a ysalamiri if one was present. The creature lost its cold cunning and became suddenly violent in its attempt at killing the ysalamiri, going as far as to rip its legs off if they were trapped and preventing it from reaching its prey. It was for this reason that the creatures were often fed to the Voxyn as a reward.

History
They were created by Master Shaper Yal Phaath on the Koros-strohna Baanu Rass, which orbited the planet Myrkr. With the help of the traitorous Senator Viqi Shesh, the Yuuzhan Vong located Myrkr, home to the vornskrs, a species of ferocious predators that could sense Force-users. Yal Phaath turned to the Qang Qahsa to aid him in this project. In the annals of Yuuzhan Vong lore, he located the genetic template for a predator called the fero xyn, a predator with a cellular structure similar to that of the vornskr. The fero xyn was already conditioned to the Yuuzhan Vong and was more intelligent than the wolf-like vornskr of Myrkr.



Despite many failures to create a hybrid of the two beasts, Yal Phaath, being a strict follower of the tradition, refused to bend the Shaping Protocols. From the many failures, however, emerged one success. The single surviving hybrid was greater than Master Phaath had hoped for and the Shapers set to work cloning additional voxyn from the single template. This voxyn queen surpassed both the vornskr and the fero xyn in nearly every aspect.

After the loss of several Jedi to the voxyn, Anakin Solo led an elite seventeen-member team strike force to the Koros-strohna Baanu Rass, where the voxyn cloning facility was located. Since the Baanu Raas orbited Myrkr, the battle is known as the Mission to Myrkr. With the unlikely help of the mysterious Vergere, Jacen Solo succeeded in destroying the Voxyn queen and the irreplaceable voxyn genetic data which were enough to clone more than a million, but many Jedi and Yuuzhan Vong were killed. After the Myrkr facility's destruction, the Yuuzhan Vong abandoned the voxyn project.

The remaining voxyn clones soon fell victim to the ravages of time and cellular decomposition. As the deterioration accelerated, their dark green scales faded to yellow, eventually flaking off, and their movements became listless enough that they no longer snapped at their Yuuzhan Vong handlers. The last of the voxyn were thought to have been slain on a Vong-formed Coruscant (renamed Yuuzhan'tar) by Lord Nyax (formerly Irek Ismaren). However, Warmaster Tsavong Lah had six more voxyn under his command when he assaulted Ebaq 9 several months later, although these remnants proved to be ill and dying.

Appearances

 * Star by Star
 * Dark Journey
 * Enemy Lines I: Rebel Dream
 * Enemy Lines II: Rebel Stand
 * Traitor
 * Destiny's Way
 * Force Heretic II: Refugee
 * The Final Prophecy
 * The Unifying Force
 * Dark Nest I: The Joiner King
 * Tempest
 * Exile
 * Inferno
 * Fury